YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY JOSEPH H. CHOATE 'BIOGRAPHY IS BY NATURE THB MOST UNIVERSALLY PROFITABLE, UNIVERSALLY PLEASANT OF ALL THINGS: ESPECIALLY BIOGRAPHY OF DISTINGUISHED INDIVIDUALS." Sartor Buartut ,^d^/tA J^'. ^Aj>cz/€> in '/S9-^ JOSEPH H. CHOATE NEW ENGLANDER NEW YORKER LAWYER AMBASSADOR BY THERON G. STRONG > > I Author of " Landmarks ofa Lawyer's Lifetime' NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1917 COPYMSHT, 1»17, BT DODD. MBAD AND COMPANY, WO. Cj 32.163 r CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY Pages xi to xvii THE NEW ENGLANDER . . . Pages 3 to 55 Ancestors — Their early days — Maternal an cestors — ^Witchcraft — John Choate — Hog Island — Thomas Choate — His father, Dr, George Choate — His brothers — Education — Social enjoyment — Anecdote of his mother — The Choate Family — Birth — School days — Dames' School — The Cen tral School — The schola publica prima — Salem — Harvard — ^William G, Choate — James C, Carter — ^Bishop Phillips Brooks — College days — In structors — Classmates — ^Law School — Instructors — Classmates — Dr, Fowler, the phrenologist — Leverett Saltonstall — Removal to New York — ¦ Letter of Rufus Choate — Association with Mr. Evarts — ^A typical New Englander — Salem ad dress — His New England traits — His bonhomie — His Puritan qualities — The New England So ciety — Addresses at its annual dinners — ^Address describing the dinner in 1855 — Affection for Har vard — ^Address at Harvard Club, THE NEW YORKER . , . . Pages 59 to 123 My acquaintance with him — ^His appearance and demeanor — Personal qualities — Attractive traits — Espousal of worthy causes — ^Abreast of the times — Few intimacies — An omnivorous reader — ^Manner in public address — ^Post-prandial oratory — St. Andrew's dinner and speech — St. Patrick's Day speech — ^Letter referring to it — Popularity as a speaker — Sanitary Pair speech — Political career — Manner in political addresses — Richard Croker speech — Participation in local campaigns — Unpopularity with the bosses — ^Ex- vi CONTENTS planation of it — Fitness for public office — Cause of failure to receive it — Thwarting the political plot of 1891 — Election to the Constitutional Con vention — Elected its President — Movement to elect him Governor — ^Movement to elect him to the United States Senate — Social attractiveness — Fun-making power — His tact — Breadth of inter ests — Resuming life in New York — First citizen — Philanthropies — The Century Association — King of the Twelfth Night Revel— Respect and honor accorded him — Delegate to The Hague Conference — Golden wedding — Attitude toward the war — Address at the Union League Club — Associated Press address — Address of welcome to the French Commission — Address of welcome to the British Commission — Address at the dinner to the Commissioners — His onerous duties — His over-taxed energies — Discussing the immortality of the soul — His farewell to Mr. Balfour — His fortunate life and death. THE LAWYER Pages 127 to 236 Court lawyers fifty years ago — Changes re specting them — A great Court lawyer — ^Address at Lincoln's Inn — Address before American Bar Association — ^What constitutes success — ^Position at the Bar — Personal appearance — ^Manner in Court — Address at the Lord Mayor's banquet — His leadership of the Bar — Independence — En joyment of practice — Versatility — Humor — Tact ful retorts — Charm of his eloquence — ^Relations with the Bar — His first Constitutional ease — ^His varied practice — Evarts, Southmayd and Choate — Address on Mr. Southmayd — ^Mr. Evarts and Mr. Choate — Case of the Hynes estate — Mar tinez vs. del Valle — Hunt vs. Stevens — Stewart vs. Huntington — Retort to Senator Conkling — Funk vs. Godkin — United States vs. Stanford — Feuardent vs. Cesnola — The case of Mr. Justice Field-T-Laidlaw vs. Sage — The Income Tax cases — Their importance — Notable cases — Return to the Bar — Career in the retrospect — An ornament of the Bar. CONTENTS vii THE AMBASSADOR .... Pages 239 to 385 Appointed Ambassador — ^National approval — Criticized by Irishmen — Qualifications for the position — Reception by the Bar Association — At tack of gout — Demands upon him for addresses — Social success — Cultivating friendly intema tional relations — ^Appeal of his humor — Persona grata with Her Majesty — Chambers of Commerce address — Witticisms — ^Bencher of the Middle Temple — The Mansion House dinner — The Hay- Pauncefote Treaty — The Alaska Boundary — The "Open Door" in China — Samoa — The Sutherland Institute address — ^Address at the In stitute banquet — The Actors' Fund address — ^In dependence Day speech, July 5, 1900 — ^Ancient Cutlers' Feast address — Lord Mayor's banquet, November 10, 1900— The Freedom of Edinburgh — ^Dinner to Sir John Tenniel — The Royal So ciety dinner — Address at the Burnley Mechanics Institution — ^Prize Day at University College School — ^Address at the Leys School — ^Address at the Crewe Mechanics Institution — ^Address at the Cheyne Hospital, Chelsea — Dinner of the Au thors' Club— Address at the Coventry Bazaar — Address at a poultry show — Address to the AI- brighton Hunt — Address before the Fly Fishers' Club — ^Address before the Social and Political Education League — Thanksgiving Day — ^Another Thanksgiving Day — ^Independence Day, July 5, 1901 — ^Return to America — ^Farewell. INDEX Page 387 ILLUSTRATIONS Joseph H, Choate in 1894 (Photogravure) Frontispiece FAOINO PAOE Dr, George H, Choate 8 Harvard '52 Class Picture 18 Birthplace, Joseph H, Choate, Salem, Mass,, built in 1773 36 Joseph H, Choate in 1864 62 King of the Revel 72 The King and His Jesters 98 Mr, Balfour and Mr, Choate 120 William M, Evarts , 130 Charles F, Southmayd 158 As Junior Partner of Butler, Evarts and Southmayd 172 During a Trial 188 "The Open Door" 248 Cultivating Friendly International Relations , , 258 "I do enjoy the society of lions, I'm something of a lion myself" 296 "The success of the show season in London, Mr. Choate and his eagle" 370 On his eighty-fourth birthday ...... 386 INTRODUCTORY I do not profess to have prepared a complete biography of Mr. Choate, much less an authorized biography, which would naturally refer to subjects, domestic and social, to which I do not allude. His career of extraordinary interest and bril liancy furnished an attractive theme which I could not pursue when writing my Landmarks of a Lawyer's Lifetime, as it dealt only with persons no longer living, and he was very much alive. I had not sent him, or other members of the Bar, a copy of the book, being uncertain, at the time, whether it would be regarded as a benefit or a burden. But soon after its publication, he read it, and spontaneously wrote me a letter so character istic of his friendliness, and so generous and out spoken in recognition of what he approved and, as weU, containing an interesting reminiscence of his first case in the United States Supreme Court, in which my kinsman, Mr. Justice Strong, wrote the opinion and, in addition, his impressions of Mr. Justice Strong, and my father, that I believe most of it should be inserted here, not only as an indi cation of the man, but quite likely as the inspiration to attempt a pen portrait of him. xi xii INTRODUCTORY "Naumkeag Stockbridge, Mass., June 18, 1914. My dear Mr. Strong: I can't tell you how much I thank you for writing and publishing your Landmarks of a Lawyer's Life time. I have read it with great delight. It recalled many incidents I had forgotten, and told me some which had never before come to my knowledge. I congratulate you very much on the success of the book. I thought your characterizations of the various men whom I have known at the Bar, and with whom I have collided, more or less closely, are almost all very just and fair, I was particularly pleased with your sketch of Mr, Evarts, to whom no justice has been done in the way of a biography. In case you should ever issue another edition, there are one or two suggestions, perhaps, worth inquiring about in regard to Mr. Evarts' career. It is true that he came to the actual front in the trial ''of the Parish Will Case before the Surrogate, but I don't think he was originally retained as leading counsel. If I recollect rightly, it was when Mr. Cutting, who was so retained, unexpectedly and suddenly broke down, and had to retire, and, as it turned out, never to retum, that Mr. Evarts was called in to take his place, which he did so well. Mr. Evarts was not only very highly qualified, but he was exceedingly fortunate professionally, in the INTRODUCTORY xiii fact that while he was at the head of the Bar, and the natural man to be called in for great cases, so many cases of that character occurred, as the im peachment of the President, the Geneva arbitration, the trial of Henry Ward Beecher, and one or two others which gave him great fame, which will long outlast the memory of his official services as At torney General, Senator and Secretary of State, I gave a copy of your book to Lord Eversley, who, as George Shaw-Lefevre, had known Mr. Evarts very well, both on this side of the water, and in England. He was delighted to get it to read on his lonesome way home in the steamer. I remember very well practiciag before your father in several cases in the Supreme Court, and what a serene and dignified judicial officer he was. I had an interesting experience with Mr. Justice Strong, of the United States Supreme Court, when Mr. Evarts became Secretary of State, He had been retained by H, B, Claflin to defend him against an indictment on some Custom House matter that had been troubling him, and was for some technical offense involving no personal fault. Of course, having become Secretary of State, Mr. Evarts could not argue it, and so it was turned over to me. I haven't the volume of the Supreme Court of that date here, but it could be easily found.* The diffi culty was serious in that the same Court, by unani mous decision, two or three years before, against * 97 United States Reports, 646, xiv INTRODUCTORY another party, had decided adversely to Mr. Claflin 's position on the very same point, and Mr. Justice Strong had written the opinion. But the merits were very clear to my mind, and I argued it as if they were so. Presently the decision came out in favor of Mr. Claflin, Justice Strong writing the opinion, reversing himself and the Court in the former case. I thought it a very magnanimous opinion, very characteristic of the man, and proving himself to be just the kind of man that is always wanted for the Supreme Court. Thanking you again for writing the book, which does so much credit to yourself and the profession, I am Most truly yours, Joseph H. Choate." After its receipt I commenced preparing a sketch of him, resorting to sources of information available to the public, supplemented by my knowledge of him, through long acquaintance and in more or less frequent association at the Bar. My intention was to represent him as known to his brethren at the Bar, and gather about him some interesting events of his career, without touching upon private and personal matters which, however interesting, are not of public concem, and can only be revealed in an authorized biography. Fortunately, I was per mitted access to valuable material, which it would have ^een impossible for me to collect, consisting largely of clippings from the newspapers of this country and England, preserved in several volumes INTRODUCTORY xy of scrapbooks. My access to them happened in this way: Being unable to find a record of one of the most interesting and characteristic incidents of his career — ^his "St. Patrick's Day Speech" — ^I applied to him for the date of its delivery. He responded, giving me the information. I found it at the Public Library, in one of the New York papers, and pro cured two photographic copies of it. Thinking Mr. Choate would like to see one of them, I sent it to him by letter, stating that if he surmised from my interest in his speech that I was writing about him, this surmise was correct, but that I was having difficulty, lacking available information, in pre paring anything adequate respecting his career as Ambassador at the Court of St. James. He re sponded that he had kept very full scrapbooks of his experience as Ambassador and, to my agreeable surprise, offered to place them at my service. In the Autumn of 1915 he allowed me to take the scrapbooks, one by one, and examine them at my convenience, and make extracts from them, and, in addition, placed in my hands recollections he had written of his family, remarking that it was the beginning of his reminiscences, but that so far he had only carried them down to the date of his birth, and that, as to that event, he could not say that his memory was entirely clear ; beside this, he gave me, in several conversations, valuable information. In talking over with Mr. Choate matters connected with his career, I urged him to give the subject careful thought, in order to recall interesting inci- xvi INTRODUCTORY dents, and state the facts with accuracy. "Oh," said he, "I could not do that; I hate to think; I always did hate to think. There was Lord Haldane, of whom you know, who was a philosopher and Lord Chancellor. One day he handed me a book he had published, called The Pathway to Reality. Of course, I accepted it gratefully, and when I met him later he referred to it, and I was obliged to tell him I hadn't read it, because I found I was unable to understand it, and I was so averse to thinking on any subject, I could not bring myself to think what he meant. He laughed and said no more about it." Therefore, I regretfully abandoned my effort to induce him to bring forth from his mental treasury his rich store of recollections of Rufus Choate, his remarkable uncle; William M. Evarts, his preceptor and partner; the eminent lawyers and judges at our Bar; aud the English lawyers and statesmen with whom he was on friendly, sometimes intimate, terms. His personal experiences at the Bar, and amid the manifold relations of New York life, would have provided reminiscences of extraordinary in terest. But, without relying on his memory, his scrapbooks were full of choice material. From these, with the other material he furnished, I have drawn freely during more than two years spent in pre paring the succeeding pages, following closely, at times, the lines of thought and occasionally the same phraseology adopted in them. The scrapbooks contained fugitive articles, ephemeral in their na- INTRODUCTORY xvii ture, having no permanent value other than as sources of information respecting his career. To the authors of these I acknowledge, respectfully and gratefully, my obligations for much of what ever value there may be in what I now offer. NOTE It should be stated that in the first eight pages of my book I have employed, to a very large extent, the language used by Mr. Choate in the recollections which — ^with no thought of publication in his mind — he wrote for the benefit of his family. I THE NEW ENGLANDER THE NEW ENGLANDER Mb. Choate 's ancestors were genuine New England ers and, for generations, residents of Salem, Massa chusetts. His maternal grandfather, Gamaliel Hodges, was a fine, sturdy figure at seventy, full of life and health, and good for many years to follow. He was a giant in stature, is said to have been the tallest man in Salem, and at his best, or worst, weighed no less than 350 pounds. His brothers, Benjamin and George, were of like stature. It is related of them that when the master of a foreign ship approaching the dock beheld them he exclaimed, "Is this a land of giants?" He possessed a calm and equable temperament denoting an absence of nerves, and passed his life of eighty-five years without ill ness until that from which he died. Twenty-five years before the mast and on the quarter-deck, full of fresh air and salt water, gave the Choates their good constitution, enabling Mr. Choate to maintain his very strenuous life at the Bar, at the same time rendering conspicuous public service. The early days of this ancestor were those of slen der education, in his case limited to the three R's: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. In the school which he attended, when the hour came for dis- 3 4 JOSEPH H. CHOATE missal, the boys all rose and recited together "Honorificabilitudinitatibus," and with the "Bus" all started for the door with a shout. The origin of this unpronounceable word that gave the sign for dismissal is not easily discover able, but the approval of its use by Shakespeare, when he makes Holofernes, the schoolmaster in "Love's Labour's Lost," use it, is a high recogni tion of it. It must have been a word that came down throiigh tradition in the schools, handed from mouth to mouth, crossing the Atlantic with the first set tlers, for, centuries before, in all probability, it had been used in a similar way in the Latin schools, as it occurs in manuscripts, at least, as early as the twelfth century, in the "Catholicon" of Johannes Janua (1286) and in Dante's "De Vulgari Eloquio," and in late middle Latin dictionaries. The idea seems to have been that any boy who could spell that word could spell any other in the language. Like all Salem boys of well-to-do families in those days, at fifteen he took to the sea, which served him as college and university, through all the grades, as cabin boy, seaman, supercargo, second mate, first mate and captain, and only retired when he had be come not only the master, but owner of his ship. Through his maternal line he traced his descent from the most distinguished of all his ancestors, Philip English, presumably of England, the first great merchant of Salem. He was a most enter prising and successful citizen. He built and owned a large fleet; carried on a great commercial trade; THE NEW ENGLANDER 5 acquired large tracts of land, and was universally respected and honored. In his days, during 1692, the strange witchcraft delusion occurred, and his eminence and success brought upon him and his wife, probably because of envy of their success and high character, a charge of being guilty of witchcraft. They were both ar rested and lodged in Boston jail, but managed to escape to New York City, where they remained until the excitement had subsided : otherwise their names would certainly have been included with the twenty victims of that terrible delusion. So rapidly did it die out that on their retum in the following year they were welcomed with bonfires and other marks of rejoicing. John Choate, from whom all those of that name in America are descended, arrived in Ipswich from the old country about 1643. He it was who acquired the land at Hog Island where he, and his descendants have to this day, continually resided; among them that eminent lawyer and statesman, Rufus Choate. Life on the Island, as everywhere in Ipswich in his time, was extremely simple and primitive. The habits and customs of the people cannot have changed much since the earliest settlement of the Colony, and the only communication with the out side world appears to have been when the head of the family was sent to represent the town at the meetings of the General Court in Boston. The old-fashioned New England discipline pre vailed. The father was the real head of the family; 6 JOSEPH H. CHOATE the mother was the mediator between him and the children, who were entirely subject to his sway. John Choate was a substantial and worthy citi zen and had, with his son Thomas, at least one tmly valuable title to distinction, because, at the height of the witchcraft delusion he possessed the courage to sign a protest in behalf of "certain individuals then under suspicion of witchcraft." In this pro test they say "What God may have left them to, we cannot go into God's pavilion, clothed with clouds of darkness round about; but as to what we have ever seen or heard about them we judge them in nocent of the crime objected." As Upham in his history of Salem witchcraft has truly said, "It is to the memory of these signers that their names should be recorded, and their descendants may be well gratified by the testimony thus borne to their courage and justice." Thomas' third son, Francis, born in 1701, who died in 1777, was Mr. Choate 's ancestor. Among all the Choate ancestors it is said there were none so illustrious for their piety as Esquire Francis and his wife Hanna. He was a ruling elder and a tower of strength in the Whitfield movement. Like many of his time he was a slaveholder, but his will provided for the freedom of his slaves or for their com fortable support when aged or unable to work. It was one of his brothers who built the famous Choate bridge over the Ipswich River, a stone bridge of beautiful proportions, which still stands secure as on the day it was opened, though its low arches were THE NEW ENGLANDER 7 such a novelty in that region that its collapse with the first heavy load that went over it was loudly predicted, and great multitudes are said to have gathered to witness the catastrophe. Mr. Choate 's father. Dr. George Choate, was born in Chebacco, Essex, November 7, 1796. He was graduated from Harvard in 1818 with Phi Beta Kappa honors. His class, which numbered eighty- one members, was the largest up to that time, and continued such until the class of '52, of which Mr. Choate was a member, numbering eighty-eight. He lived until eighty-three years of age and died June 8, 1880. After thorough preparation for the medi cal profession in the Harvard Medical School, he entered upon practice in Salem and became one of its most distinguished physicians. His practice ex tended throughout the neighboring towns, involving strenuous labor, and in it he continued with pro nounced success for nearly forty years. He re linquished it when about seventy years of age, re tiring to Cambridge, where one of his sons resided. He had the satisfaction of witnessing the develop ment of the careers of all of them. Joseph, the youngest, was then about forty-eight years of age and one of the most successful lawyers at the New York Bar, William G,, the first scholar in the class of '52, after a successful career at the Bar, had become District Judge of the United States for the Southern District of New York, Dr. George C, S,, who had been superintendent of the State Insane Asylum at Taunton, was later the head of probably 8 JOSEPH H. CHOATE the leading private asylum for the insane in the country, Charles F,, the first scholar in the class of '49, had become president of the Old Colony Railroad, Dr, Choate was a public-spirited citizen, taking active interest in public affairs, was president of the Essex South District Medical Society and of the Salem Athenaeum, represented Salem in the General Court, served efficiently on the school com mittee and was later an Alderman, and the com munity constantly relied upon his advice and assist ance. He was a pillar of the first church, the church of Francis Higgins, Hugh Peters and Roger Williams. His interest in education was remark able and never failing. He heartily sustained the efforts of Horace Mann which introduced such wonderful reforms in the school system of Massa chusetts. In attending a teachers' convention at Topsfield at which Mr. Mann was to be present. Dr. Choate, his son relates, took him in a chaise to Topsfield. As the distinguished reformer was de sirous of reaching Salem that night. Dr. Choate invited him to accompany him on his retum, and there being no other place for young Choate to sit, he sat all the way upon Mr. Mann's lap which, he said, he always regarded as the actual beginmng of his education. In alluding to the desire of his father and mother that their children should be well educated, Mr. Choate said: "The lives of my father and mother were truly heroic in the matter of the training of Dr. George Choate THE NEW ENGLANDER 9 their children. Having four sons and two daughters they determined, at all hazards, to give them the best education the time afforded, and in so doing set them a wonderful example of self-control, self- denial and self-sacrifice. Everything else was subordinate to this high ideal, and they denied themselves everything to accomplish it." Of that period he said, "I cannot recall my father ever taking a holiday, except for one hot aftemoon in the Summer, when he drove the whole family in a carryall to Phillips Beach for a sail and a fish supper. All the rest of the time, Summer and Winter, was devoted, without stint, to constant work. "Social enjoyments," said he, "were very lim ited. Our family life was in striking contrast to that which prevails among well-to-do people to-day ; but they succeeded to a very remarkable degree, and gave their children an inheritance which was far more precious than any amount of wealth would have been. Many a time have I seen my father pay out what was nearly his last dollar for the settle ment of our college bills, and all he had to give us by will was a hundred dollars apiece, but his tri umph was of the most signal character, for the Harvard College annual catalogue of 1848-49 con tained the names of all his four sons, one a medical student, one a senior, and two freshmen, and when I recall that all this was accomplished out of his narrow professional income, when his ordinary fee for a visit was seventy-five cents, and $7.50 for 10 JOSEPH H, CHOATE bringing a new child into the world, it is hardly possible to conceive how he could have done it, "But they had their reward in the success of their sons and daughters, and their most fervent gratitude, I remember that when my brother William and I graduated at Harvard in 1852, William was the first scholar in the class, so much so that there was really no one second. The faculty, with an unusual manifestation of sentiment, gave him at commencement the valedictory oration, which was his as a matter of right, and to me, although I was only the fourth scholar, the saluta tory oration, which did not belong to me at all, so that we sandwiched the class between us in the exercises of that day. When my mother appeared, with her characteristic modesty and shyness, Mrs. Sparks, the wife of the President, greeted her with the question : " 'Why, Mrs. Choate, how did you come up from Salem r "My mother replied: '1 came in the usual way, by the train to Boston, and to Cambridge in the omnibus.' "Mrs. Sparks exclaimed, 'You ought not to have come in that way, you ought to have come in a chariot drawn by two peacocks. Such a thing as this has never been known before in the history of Harvard — two brothers sandwiching the class on the commencement program.' "I suppose there may be many similar examples of parental devotion and self-sacrifice among us THE NEW ENGLANDER 11 to-day, but they are not apparent. In those days the rule was duty first and pleasure afterwards, and if duty occupied all the time it must be performed at all risks and let pleasure go. . . . At any rate, the old way created an indissoluble bond be tween parents and children, and I have never made any important decision without wondering what my father and mother would have said about it." The Choate family is one of the oldest in New England. The name seems to have been a very old English name spelled, exactly as now, in the English annals as early as the fourth century. One who bore the name Thomas Choate entered in the seventeenth century Christ College at Cambridge University in the same year with John Milton, 1624, remaining there until he took his degree with Milton in 1629. To have been in the same little college with John Milton continuously for four years must have insured to him a liberal education. The earliest an cestor, John Choate, became a citizen of Massa chusetts in 1667. His grandson, also named John, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature from 1747 until 1761, and a member of the Gov ernor's Council for five years following. David, a son of John, and the father of Rufus Choate, was not trained in the law, but, it is said, that having a suit pending in Court, and his counsel not being present, he managed the case himself, examined his witnesses, riddled the testimony of adverse witnesses by cross-examination, followed up with a sound and eloquent argument and won his case. 12 JOSEPH H. CHOATE Joseph H. Choate was bora at Salem, January 24, 1832. His father was a cousin of Rufus Choate, who was then just entering his second term in Congress. In speaking of his birth he said: "I have never had my horoscope cast, but it must have been propitious to account for the cheerful temperament which has marked my whole life, always looking on the bright side and making the best of everything as it came, which has been in itself a great fortune, worth more than many millions," He was the fifth child and the fourth boy, the oldest not yet five, and nurses for children being almost unknown in those days, he was intrusted to the care of a Mrs, Law with whom he lived for seventeen months. The reason he gave for being removed from the paternal roof so summarily was that all the other children had the whooping-cough, which was believed to be fatal to newborn infants, and explains his long resi dence with Mrs, Law on the theory that he was regarded at home as one too many, who would be only in the way if retumed to the parental mansion. In referring to this long separation from the family, he said that there was once a malicious sug gestion that in some mysterious way his identity was changed, and that he was a changeling after all, but he remarked that one had only to look at his mother's features, which were exactly like his own, to see how groundless this suspicion was. It had its origin in the fact that he was really quite unlike the rest of the children in temper and in disposition. THE NEW ENGLANDER 13 But he was not long to enjoy the domestic felicity of home. The sooner children were sent to school in those days the better it was for all concerned, and it must have been a great relief for a great part of the day when all the five children were in school. At the early age of two and one-half years he ac companied his brother William to the Dames' School, which he attended until he was seven years old. The Dames' Schools were a peculiar and very important institution of New England, and had been so from their foundation. Each was entirely independent, related in no way to any other school, and contributed substantially to the support of otherwise helpless dames, and to the welfare of their little charges. The tuition fees must have been infinitely small. And yet they constituted all that his father ever paid for his education until he entered Harvard College. It was very primitive in its educational advantages, kept by an aged spin ster, Miss Lewis, and her widowed sister, Mrs. Strutter, and attended by about twenty boys and girls, the children of the neighborhood. "I per fectly remember," he said, "my first morning at the school when I was put in the charge of the biggest girl among the scholars, who afterwards became a dignified matron of the city, the wife of a distinguished lawyer and the mother of a consider able family. The schoolroom was of moderate di mensions, the boys upon one side of the room and the girls upon the other side. The only punishment 14 JOSEPH H. CHOATE that I remember at the school for any boy who mis behaved was to be compelled to sit among the girls. This was a little awkward at first, but I soon got used to it, and liked it very much. It was like a modern kindergarten without the apparatus, but we did learn to read and write and cipher. I cannot recall the time when I could not do all of these things. Mr. William M. Evarts, with whom I was long associated, is recorded in the life of his father as being able to read the Bible perfectly well at three years of age. I do not think that I was quite equal to that, but certainly had begun to read at that age. "The surroundings of the school were attractive. Across Sewell Street, where it was situated, within a stone's throw of my father's house, there was a wheelwright, and it was great fun for the children to gather about this skillful mechanic and watch his work. His name was Ira Patch. At the corner, as we tumed into Sewell Street from Essex Street, was quite a noted hardware store kept by Jonathan Peele, and his shop window, with its wonderful col lection of all kinds of hardware, was a constant attraction. But best of all, in immediate contiguity with the schoolhouse, was a famous blacksmith shop, kept by Benjamin Cutts, whose forge in active operation it was a daily delight to watch. He was something more to us than a mere neighbor, for sometimes, when one of the boys who was constitu tionally refractory became unmanageable the schoolmistress called out: 'Send for Mr. Cutts; send THE NEW ENGLANDER 15 for Mr. Cutts!' and the sturdy blacksmith came to the rescue and suppressed the offender." The town schools, at that time, were in an ex tremely rude and primitive state, very much as they must have been for two hundred years at least. "I remember perfectly well," he said, "being taken by the hand by my father, the morning I was seven years old, to the public school — an alarming experi ence indeed — ^for the master, Abner Brooks, had the reputation of being a perfect terror. He was a weakly man and made up for that infirmity by a liberal use of the cowhide, which he applied very freely. "The Central School, as it was called, was in Washington Street, kept in one large room, where there must have been about fifty boys, from seven years old to fifteen. We sat on benches which stretched across the room from front to rear with an aisle between, on a sloping floor, and as the youngest boys were on the back seat, we were marched up in the face of the whole room to our place there ; it was really a terrible experience. "All the teaching was done by this one mau, who heard the successive classes recite from nine to twelve in the morning and from two to five in the afternoon. At the close of every day a group of offenders were stopped after school to receive the application of the rod, and this was in addition to the use of the long rod which would reach the backs of half a dozen boys on the same bench, and was applied from the central aisle. 16 JOSEPH H, CHOATE "On the whole it was a pretty brutal affair. There were no games and no" recreation at the school. The only thing that might be so considered was when a new load of wood came ; the best boys were allowed to get it in, which was regarded as a special privilege. Certainly there must have been much waste of time in the years that I spent at that school, ' ' The master had no special gift for teaching. It certainly was a dreary routine with little to miti gate the rudeness and dreariness of it. But, now and then, when our school-teacher felt uncommonly well, he would make us a little speech, and say that hereafter he was going to rule by love, and as proof of it he would cut up both his cowhides and have them burned up in the stove. But in a few days this did not prove satisfactory, and new rods were purchased, and never spared for fear of spoiling the children. "Happily for us all, Horace Mann soon came to the rescue and convinced the people of Massachu setts that decent and sanitary schoolhouses, humane treatment and skilled teachers, really qualified for their task, were the best investment that the State could make." One of his most characteristic and charm ing addresses deals with his youthful days in Salem. There is an intimacy of thought, and a chasteness and simplicity of expression, which impart a beautiful touch of manly feeling to his recollections of childhood associations and THE NEW ENGLANDER 17 surroundings, making it altogether unique and delightful. He gives us with unusual charm and simplicity something of his school-day life in Salem : "In those palmy days of Salem, Mr. Chairman, when I was a child, education was no joke. The business of life begun with us in earnest as soon as we had learned to speak. There was no playing or dallying with the children until they were seven or eight years old, as is now often the case. At three years old the great business of education must have been fairly started. Why, sir, I perfectly remember at the age of two and three-quarters being led by the distinguished judge of the District Court of the Southern District of New York (his brother the Hon. William G. Choate) who had then attained the ripe age of four, and who I may say in passing, even then exhibited those marked qualities of judi cial mind and character which have recently at tracted the attention of the President of the United States — being led by him to that ancient seminary for beginners in Sewell Street, adjoining the black smith's shop of Benjamin Cutts, which as far sur passed modern kindergartens as these excel the common infants' school. Well, then, at the age of seven the boys of Salem of this district were trans ferred to the Central School in Court Street, under the shadow of the old Court House, to be thrashed for the period of three years under Abner Brooks, of blessed memory. Felt, in his Annals of Salem has made one curious and inexcusable blunder 18 JOSEPH H. CHOATE which, for the truth of history, I wish to correct. He declares that the whipping post that used to stand in the rear of the old Court House was not used after 1805. I know better. I can swear from personal knowledge that it was still in active use in 1839, and can show you the very spot. Well, then, we were transferred to the High School under the gentle, the patient, the ever faithful Rufus Putnam, the best model of perfection in a teacher, I believe, that even Salem has ever seen. "And last, not least, came that glorious old establishment on Broad Street, the public Latin School, the schola pubUca prima, which had stood from the foundation of the colony, which sent George Downing, who proved to be one bf its worst boys, to Harvard College, to join its first class, and which has sent a long procession, two hundred years long, of the flower of Essex chosen from the homes of Salem, to graduate at Harvard College; and at last, after our time, was merged in the High School." His subsequent training and surroundings em phasized and strengthened these early influences. Progressing through the High School he found his pathway leading, as was to be expected, toward the classic shades of Harvard. For Harvard, and everything pertaining to it, he always manifested deep interest and affection. Here he found most valuable training in association with his brother, Judge William G. Choate, and James C. Carter, who preceded him by two years, and with whom, in Harvard '52 Class Picture THE NEW ENGLANDER 19 these student days, was laid the foundation of an intimate friendship which survived the strain of many well-fought legal contests, and the often ag gravating differences of professional life, and left its chords unbroken until severed by Mr. Carter's death. He gives us an interesting picture of Mr. Carter in their Harvard days. "When I entered Harvard College in 1848 Mr. Carter, who had already been there for two years, was a very marked man among the three hundred students who then constituted the entire community of that little college. To very commanding abilities he added untiring industry, and to lofty character most pleasing manners, a combination which made him easily foremost. He was filled with an hon orable ambition, and took all the prizes ; he took an interest in the public questions of the day and cul tivated the art of speaking with discriminating assiduity; he was a devoted admirer of Mr. Web ster, who did more than any other' man to kindle the patriotism and arouse the national spirit of the younger generation, and I always thought he modeled himself upon that noble example in style, in expression and in the mode of treating every question that arose. Indeed in his last years I re garded him as the last survivor of the Websterian school. . . . From lack of means Mr. Carter found it a hard struggle to go through College, and even to enter it. For this reason he came two years late. Having, I believe, engaged in some com mercial employment to enable him to enter, he did 20 JOSEPH H. CHOATE not hesitate to avail himself of the generous aid of an admiring fellow townsman, who recognized his great qualities, and meant that they should not be lost to the world. . . . Seeing his manifest ability, his spirited and attractive personality and his sympathetic interest in all our college affairs, we all recognized him as our leader, and he exercised a potent influence upon all his companions. He was made class orator at commencement, and entered upon life with assured prospects of success." In his address at the memorial meeting in New York in honor of the late Phillips Brooks, he paid a beautiful tribute to his memory, and drew a charm ing picture of him in his college days. He said of him: "We were college boys together, and I knew and honored and loved him. Well do I remember, as if it were but yesterday, when my eyes first rested upon him as he entered the Chapel at Harvard College in the freshman class forty-four years ago, a tall and slender stripling, towering above all his companions, with that magnificent head, that majestic face already grave and serious, with those great brown eyes lighting it, beaming with brotherly love and tenderness." Although below his brother William in rank as a scholar he was, nevertheless, rather more promi nent in CoUege, He was agreeable and popular, and known as an easy and pleasant speaker, cul tivating the conversational in oratory, and being one of the pioneers of this mode of addressing an audi ence. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding, THE NEW ENGLANDER 21 Alpha Delta Phi, the Institute of 1770, and at the end of his course, like his brothers, Phi Beta Kappa. During his senior year his room was Holworthy 21. He was under three presidents, Everett, Sparks and Walker. Among the professors was Professor Webster, who was afterwards convicted of murder ; Rev. Frank Francis who prayed so long that it was a saying of the students that when he got going he could not stop, and that one of his familiar prayers was "Oh Lord, we pray thee make the in temperate temperate, the insincere sincere, and the industrious dustrious." There was the never-to-be- forgotten Evangelinus Apostolicus Sophocles, Pro fessor of Greek ; Edward T. Channing, Professor of Rhetoric; Francis J. Childs, of History and Elocu tion; Dr. Beck, of Latin; Cornelius C. Felton, of Mathematics; Professors Henry W, Longfellow, Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray, Speaking recently to Harvard men he said: "I am convinced that our alma mater is more youth ful, more vigorous and more prolific than ever. The President has stated in his annual report — ^which I always read when preparing for this occasion — ^that every year it is becoming harder to get into Harvard College, harder to stay in it and harder to get out of it," Among those who were in the first eight with him in the class of '52 were Addison Brown, subse quently Judge of the United States District Court ; Decia Collins, who fought on the Confederate side in the Civil War ; Honorable Darwin E, Ware, who 22 JOSEPH H, CHOATE died a few years ago; Horatio Alger, Jr,, well known as a writer of books for boys ; William R. Ware, Professor of Architecture in Columbia Col lege; Horace H, Coolidge, President of the Massa chusetts Sun; E, F, W, Gurney, famous as a member of the Harvard faculty; David W, Cheever, eminent as a surgeon ; and James B, Thayer, of the Harvard Law School, From College, the way of the New England aspirant for legal training led, most nat urally, to the Harvard Law School. Here he sounded the depths of legal leaming under notable instructors. Concerning these he said to me : "In the Law School were Joel Parker, formerly Chief Justice of New Hampshire, so tremendously profound I could not get anything from him, The ophilus Parsons, the son of Chief Justice Parsons, of Massachusetts, was a wit, and illustrated his points of law by amusing stories. These I re member. Professor Loring, as United States Com missioner, sent the negro Burns back to slavery. One of his favorite sayings was that 'husband and wife are one, and that one is the husband'." Among his classmates were his brother, William G. Choate; Judge Addison Brown, of the U. S, District Court for the Southern District of New York; Professor James B, Thayer, whose treatises on evidence and on the Constitution attained wide celebrity; and others were U, S, Senators William E, Chandler, of New Hampshire, and James B. Eustis, of Louisiana. I told him I wanted to get some facts conceming his life at the Harvard Law School. He replied: THE NEW ENGLANDER 23 "There was nothing of interest there; aU we had to do was to go to Holworthy once a day and wear out the seat of our trousers." About this time Dr. Fowler, the famous phrenolo gist, was examining students' heads, giving them charts showing their peculiarities and advising them what life work to pursue. Choate had already matured his plans to study law, and his peculiar gifts in that direction were universally commented on in the College. One day he suggested to a class mate that they have their heads examined by Dr. Fowler, just for fun. Fowler's advice to Joseph Choate is one of the immortal jests of that selected coterie that meets at class reunions and lives over the old days. "I advise you, sir," quoth the phre nologist to the young student, after examining his bumps, "to become a merchant. I find that you are fitted for that sort of life." "Well, supposing I should study law, what then?" asked Choate. "Oh, I wouldn't do that," replied Fowler with increased decision. "You will make a great failure if you do." Subsequently, he spent a year in the office of Leverett Saltonstall, a distinguished Boston lawyer, whose memory he has embalmed in an interesting address included in his book Abraham Lincoln and Other Addresses. During his tutelage under Mr. Saltonstall it was one of his duties to take the papers in cases to the Court for use by his senior. As he was proceeding to Court, with a large package 24 JOSEPH H. CHOATE of papers contained in the traditional green bag used by the Boston Bar, he was accosted by a son of Israel with the query: "Old clothes?" "No," he replied, "a new suit!" Recognizing the larger field afforded by New York for the pursuit of his professional career, he determined to forsake New England surroundings and enter upon the life of a New York lawyer. In duced to this, quite likely, by Mr. Carter who, in 1853, had received an attractive offer to enter upon practice in the city of New York, Mr. Choate began, in the following year, to study the code in the office of Scudder & Carter. Perhaps, however, this was an experiment, and not a settled purpose, and he may not have reached a final decision as to the field of his labors until he delivered to Mr. Evarts a letter from Rufus Choate set forth in the preface to his book American Addresses. This letter dated at Boston, September 24, 1855, said : "My dear Mr. Evarts : I beg to incur one other obligation to you by in troducing the bearer, a kinsman, to your kindness. He is just admitted to our Bar, was graduated at Cambridge with high honors, all work. He comes to the practice of law with extraordinary promise. He has decided to enroll himself among the brave and magnanimous of your Bar, with a courage not unwarranted by his talent, character, ambition and power of labor. There is no young man whom I love better, or from whom I hope more, or as much, THE NEW ENGLANDER 25 and if you can do anything to smooth the way to his first step, that kindness will be most seasonable, and will yield all sorts of good fruits. Most truly your servant and friend, Rufus Choate." The letter was productive of larger and better results than any which lofty ambition, or vivid imagination, could have contemplated. Entering the office of Butler, Evarts & Southmayd in 1855 he remained there as an employee until 1859. Mr. Evarts was then only forty years of age, but oc cupied a commanding position at the Bar. Mr. Choate stated in one of his addresses that his most valuable experience was gained in the ten years he followed Mr. Evarts about in the Courts, in the trial of cases and the argument of appeals ; but, of course, Mr. Evarts relied upon Mr. Choate for the preparation of the cases, and for the performance of the routine work which belongs to junior counsel, and this was an exceedingly advantageous experi ence for both. In an address on 'the New England Society in 1855,' he alludes feelingly and with great beauty and force to Mr. Evarts, as follows : "What a splendid example of New England cul ture and New England training was Mr. Evarts. I owe him more than words can tell. My connection with him was very close from my arrival here in 1855 until his death in 1901. I brought to him a letter of introduction, such as I have described, from Rufus Choate, who was then at the very zenith 26 JOSEPH H. CHOATE of his fame. A few years before he had delivered before this Society his famous oration, of which the refrain was 'a Church without a Bishop and a State without a King*. He was most beloved and most honored by all New Englanders, as well as by the rest of the country. When I handed that letter to Mr. Evarts he took me by the hand and said : 'Join the New England Society and come into my office,' and my future was made. My first steps were made unusually smooth by him. What a great profes sional career he enjoyed. How he leaped to the front almost at the beginning of his life here in 1840, and maintained his place to the end against all competitors, and with the entire confidence of the profession and the community." He had been with Mr. Evarts for about four years when he formed an association with General W, H, L, Barnes, an excellent lawyer. He was with him a year when Mr. Evarts wrote inviting him to become a partner in his firm, and informed him that the office business, outside his counsel business, would probably yield about $20,000 a year and that he should have 15 per cent, of this amount, so that he began his career on $3,000 a year. General Barnes then left New York, and went to San Fran cisco, California, where he became a leader of the Bar. Mr. Choate was a t3T)ical New Englander. He was nurtured and educated under New England influences, and imbued with New England char acteristics; he was a graduate of her schools; a THE NEW ENGLANDER 27 disciple of Harvard ; he gloried in his New England birth and New England associations. In his earlier years, he contributed generously of his time and effort to the welfare of New Englanders in the city of New York, at whose annual dinner his wit and eloquence, among the masters of American oratory, were prime attractions, and contributed largely to the success of the occasion. His early life was passed in the center of what may be called New Englandism. If Boston is the "hub" of New England, Salem may be described as the "hub" of New Englandism. Here, sur rounded by characteristic traditions of New Eng land life, he was imbued with their spirit and received the impress of their influence. He felt, as was natural, deep affection for "Imperial Salem," as he called her, and took pardonable pride in his early association with that interesting city, to which he refers as "so queer, so unique, so different from all other places upon which the sun in his western joumey looks down, so full of grand historical reminiscences, so typical of everything that has occurred in the annals of American life." . . . It was this love of Salem that led him to name his beautiful country home at Stockbridge "Naum- keag," the Indian name of the Salem locality. In an address at Salem he said : "Of course, Mr. President, it requires great fore cast for a man to select a birthplace of which he shall always be proud; but he must, indeed, be an 28 JOSEPH H. CHOATE unreasonable creature who, having America for a Continent, Massachusetts for a State, Essex for a County, and Salem for a native Town, is not en tirely satisfied. Of course a man born anywhere can get along somehow, I suppose that the native of Topsfield, of Middletown or of Beverly, if he repents promptly, and moves into Salem, and does well there, may plead some excuse for his original sin, and if he be of a lively imagination will even begin to boast of it. Why, Cicero boasted of being born at Arpinun, and Rufus Choate on Hog Island ; but it was after one had become the great orator of Rome, and the other of Boston, and so by their own fame, as it were, had extended the boundary of the cities of their adoption to embrace the humble but, thanks to them, historic places of their birth." He likes to think of Salem men as different from other men, possessing traits and characteristics peculiar to themselves. He tells us : "And so it is that you may know a Salem man wherever you may be, the world over. He carries about him a little "auld lang syne" that says where he comes from. Sometimes it is in the cut of his jib and sometimes in his coat; sometimes it is the way in which he cuts across the street corner, always slanting, never at right angles; or from his style of shortening things, or the way he utters some familiar word. He never takes off his c-o-a-t but his cote; he never rides upon the r-o-a-d but THE NEW ENGLANDER 29 always upon the rode, and if he should pick up a final g in "ing" you may be pretty sure that some of the Salem people are the unfortunate ones who have dropped it; but if you can hear him say "git" of course you will know his very origin, and almost the street from which he comes. Now, in this family meeting, as an illustration of this subject, perhaps you will pardon me for telling a little personal anecdote, "A short time ago I was arguing a case in our Court of Appeals in Albany with some earnestness, and there sat by me a gentleman bred and born in the South. He listened with attention, and when I got through he congratulated me, but said, 'I would have given $100 if you had not said "git." ' Well, Mr. President, how could I help it. Governor Endi cott said it, my progenitors in this town have said it for 250 years, and so I believe it is more than half right." Through the many years of his life in New York, he was remarkable for a manifestation of real New England spirit and character. New York influences seemed powerless to change him in this respect. He was never so much a New Yorker as a New Eng lander. His New England traits were not much modified, nor his New England idiosyncrasies worn off, by contact with New York and New Yorkers. It would not be surprising if he considered himself a victim of circumstances in that his lot in life had been cast in New York, and regarded it as merely 30 JOSEPH H. CHOATE his residence, while his home was Salem. No one can read his Salem address and fail to realize that in point of real sentiment it had the first place in the recesses of his heart. His characteristics, his practical and moral qualities, were those of the New Englander, He had, at all times and everywhere, a spirit of Yankee independence. He lived his own life, pursued his own methods and ideals, possessed the courage of his convictions, expressed his senti ments fully and freely, undeterred by effect of con sequences, and disregarded unnecessary convention alities. Perhaps he was a little too independent, and too much inclined to mingle with his inde pendence some of the ridicule and badinage of which he was a master, and this may have been in part responsible for the unwillingness of political leaders to seek him as a candidate for such positions as Senator or Governor. His independence alone may not have been responsible for their neglect ; but it is altogether possible that the unguarded jest which strikes the vulnerable point leaves a wound often worse than that of the physical blow, and is not always healed by time. Mr. Choate displayed certain outward qualities which presented a very unusual and interesting combination of traits of character. One of these, his bonhomie, would impress itself upon a stranger at the first glance on meeting him. His cordiality, his geniality, his bright and cheerful words of greeting, his buoyant and hopeful nature, accus tomed to look on the bright side of everything, THE NEW ENGLANDER 31 lent to casual intercourse with him a most de lightful charm. These qualities effused a beautiful light, and were gifts of nature. They made the exterior exceedingly attractive. When penetrated, however, the more matter-of-fact qualities of human nature were not lacking. He possessed, abundantly, certain characteristics of the genuine New Eng lander inherited from a Puritan ancestry, which made the Puritan strong and self-reliant, enabling him to cope with the adverse conditions of his time. There was a reserve and formality which forbade familiar approach. The lawyers spoke of him as "Joe Choate" but I do not. think any lawyer ever called him "Joe." There was a certain air of pride and exclusiveness which gave the impression that he regarded himself as somewhat of an aristo crat, and this prevented him from being, what he never was, a man of the people. This was probably responsible for attributing to him a eertain exclu siveness which deterred old acquaintances from seeking familiar intercourse with him, lest they should be repelled. He was born and bred a New England Unitarian, and beneath his bonhomie was the austerity and formality which characterized New Englanders of that persuasion. He could, when he chose, be cold and repellent, he could he hard and unyielding, and he could use cutting wit and shafts of ridicule to an extent which at times would arouse animosity and resentment; but such oc casions were exceptional and justified by strong provocation. 32 JOSEPH H, CHOATE On the whole, I do not think that Mr, Choate in his fundamental make-up was very different from the great body of successful lawyers who have won their position by what he called "fighting in the Courts" and with it the necessity of insisting on the rights of their clients, the tendency of which is to smother generous instincts. But these character istics were, as I have said, covered by a beautiful robe of bonhomie, and brilliant wit, which rendered the sterner qualities of the successful lawyer less conspicuous. In his mental and moral composition there was undoubtedly considerable of what may be called New England granite. He would not have been a genuine New Englander without it; but when the delightful bonhomie was penetrated it was the same in quality and character as that of his New Eng land forbears. This combination of the outwardly attractive and of the inwardly firm and unyielding were essential elements of his wonderful success, and served, as one of his partners remarked, as a valuable defense against easy familiarity and ef forts to impose on him, which his outward gracious- ness were likely to encourage. He also possessed the practical and everyday qualities of the New England Puritan, He at all times urged the necessity of industry, persistence and perseverance, and displayed the Yankee spirit of resourcefulness and thrift. He knew the value of work. He appreciated the importance of "never give up the ship," and possessed that New England THE NEW ENGLANDER 33 thrift which enabled him to manage with success his private affairs, respecting which, it has some times been said of lawyers, that they neglect their private affairs to protect those of their clients. Then, again, he had the moral qualities of his Puritan ancestry. The chief of these was, I think, his New England conscience. This was his mentor, he did not lose sight of it, he heeded it, he paid attention to its dictates upon moral questions, and with respect to professional ethics he followed the teachings of a genuine New England conscience. This, naturally, brought into action in his daily life rectitude of conduct and a keen sense of duty. As a result, his opinions, founded upon conscientious convictions, were expressive of high moral senti ments respecting questions of public and profes sional life, and controlled his action with regard to them. His natural impulses were undoubtedly kind and generous and led him to consider the feelings and rights of others, and look with allowance upon the follies and frailties of human nature; willing to yield personal preferences, and concede to others freedom to do as they chose, so long as they did not invade his individual rights. He was not one whom individuals would be likely to seek out for sym pathy and consolation in times of trouble, nor to whom personal confidence would be imparted, as to a helpful and warm-hearted friend. His nature was, I think, not calculated to enter into the troubles and confidences of others, in bestowing sympathy 34 JOSEPH H. CHOATE and advice. His tendency and natural disposition was to make light of them, and cast them aside as of no great consequence, instead of offering sym pathy and encouragement, and pointing a way out of a troublesome situation. His New Englandism found an outlet for its most attractive manifestation at the festivities of the New England Society. The dinners of the Society in the sixties were characterized by early hours and puritan simplicity, and differed greatly from those in the nineties and in later years. "Feast of reason and flow of soul" were the prime objects. Those were the days of great orators, such as Rufus Choate, Beecher, George William Curtis, Sumner and Storrs, and yet, among them, Mr. Choate, scarcely thirty-five, to whom Mr. Beecher alluded as "our venerable President," found with his fa miliar and easy style, his graceful diction and lambent wit, a prominent place. On December 22, 1866, the dinner was in Irving Hall at the corner of Fifteenth Street and Irving Place at half -past five o'clock in the afternoon, aud having been served by eight o'clock, the President arose to address the Society. The earliest recorded instance of Mr. Choate taking a prominent part in these celebrations was at this dinner. He was chairman of the Committee on Arrangements and, of course, not on the regular list of speakers; but when the toast to the Army and Navy had been given with three cheers, there were loud calls for Mr. Choate, and, in response, he THE NEW ENGLANDER 35 captivated the assemblage by a graceful address which began as follows : "I know not to what unlucky circumstance I am indebted for being thus ruthlessly dragged from that quiet corner where I had found retreat to this conspicuous post of danger, for it is, indeed, a post of danger, if it is true, as we read in the Scripture, 'that for every idle word we must give an account at the day of judgment,' where I shall then find all of us after-dinner speakers, whether we be clergymen, lawyers, senators or merchants. Our tally will be scored up on that last day of such fearful length that no amount of grace and good works can wipe it out." The recently elected Governor of Massachusetts, Govemor Bullock, was present, and made a speech. It was natural that Mr. Choate, being among New England men, many of them from Massachusetts, should allude to the distinguished guest, which he proceeded to do in these words : "And now, Mr. President, before I go, let me thank glorious old Massachusetts for sending for the first time in a score of years her chief Magis trate to grace our board. He is the successor of a long and glorious line of chief Magistrates, begin ning with that patriot and sage, John Winthrop, whose face graces our walls ; and ending with that other matchless and noble patriot, John A, Andrew, 36 JOSEPH H, CHOATE His election and elevation is another evidence that the people of Massachusetts are true to the lessons they have learned at Plymouth Rock, The first great lesson there taught us was to read and cherish the teaching of the Bible, Everybody who has read New England history knows that in all great crises our forefathers went for aid and instruction to the Scripture, Was an offer of marriage made, the Scripture was consulted whether the lady should accept. Was a child born, they opened the Bible to see what name should be given to the little comer, and they always gave high-sounding Scripture names. When a Governor was to be elected, they looked for aid to the Scripture, and these peculiari ties of the New England people have continued to characterize them. Last Fall, when Govemor Andrew was about to retire, the people again took up their Bible and learned from it as they had done of yore, who was to succeed him. They found in the twenty-fifth verse of the eighteenth chapter of the first book of Kings the words of the good, old, logical Elijah, spoken, it is true, at the moment, to the prophets of Baal, 'choose you one Bullock for yourselves.' " From that time on, for many years, at these dinners, he was a prominent attraction. Governor Morgan, President of the Society, was unable to be present at the dinner of December 23, 1867, and Mr. Choate took his place. He alluded in a delightful way to the affairs of the Society as follows : 00 ffl HEh ffl THE NEW ENGLANDER 37 "I believe, Gentlemen, that it is usual on these occasions for the presiding officer to give some account of the condition and prospects of the Society, I have, unfortunately, mislaid the treas urer's report, and have forgotten all the statistics, but, as fully as I can make it out from memory, the sum and substance of that report is that the Society has of late started on a new course of use fulness and strength; our members have recently doubled ; we spend more money, and do more good, than in any former period of our history; and, on the whole, are better satisfied with ourselves, in general, than ever before; and that is perhaps as far as that characteristic modesty for which our friend the Mayor gave us credit, will permit us to go," Among the subjects touched upon by him was that of long after-dinner speeches. He said: "I have heard of one unfortunate man, in particu lar, years and years ago, who had such a long tale, a tale so full of episodes to relate, that before he got through he was a perfect illustration of the dog who although he went around and around again never could get his tail in his mouth, I submit, gentlemen, for your benefit, and for the benefit of the eloquent men who come after me, that the true rule on an occasion like this is the one General Israel Putnam laid down for his boys for the dis charge of their weapons, 'to bring your audience as close up to you as possible, to fire when you see the whites of their eyes, and then not play with the trigger any more,' " 38 JOSEPH H. CHOATE In 1868 he had been elected President of the Society and this called forth, of course, a mani festation of his playful wit. Here is a part of his opening address: "And now we meet as the New England Society celebrates its grand climacteric on the anniversary of its birth, in the city of New York, to look about us and see exactly how we stand, for we know that that exact age of life is the critical period, and henceforth we must stand and fight and must do or die. It is now sixty-three years since our predecessors in this great metropolis, feeling the want of that mutual protection, and mutual admiration, which makes life an assured blessing, banded themselves together to protect themselves against the representatives of other nationalities, who were always seeking a hostile foothold in the same community. Well, all we can say about it now is, that here we still are, and that the trade in Yankee notions is not by any means exhausted. [Laughter.] I know that they are in the habit of turning the cold shoulder to us in the press, and not seldom in the pulpit, and more especially at the meetings of those kindred nationalities. [Laughter and applause.] They suggest that home is the best place for the New Englander, as for everybody else. Well, we agree to that, and take their own precepts, and endeavor to put them into practice, for you will bear me witness that it is, in the first instance, for every genuine New Eng lander to make himself perfectly at home, wherever he goes [shouts of laughter and applause], aud we THE NEW ENGLANDER 39 have never carried that out more practically than in this great metropolis of New York; at the same time we mean to be very modest about it. [Laugh ter.] We disclaim all credit for New England in those features which make New York a peculiar city among the other cities of the realm. [Laugh ter.] For instance, neither society nor politics are modeled upon the school of the Mayflower. [Laughter.] The administration of her affairs does not partake of our methods [great laughter], even the great successes of her municipal body. (It should be noted that the condition in New York was at the time extremely unsatisfactory and dis creditable and the sentences which follow are in allusion to this.) For instance, this thorough clean ing of the public streets and avenues [laughter], the speedy and economical erection and completion of her public buildings [renewed laughter], the tidy and creditable appearance of her wharves and piers [laughter] and the wholesome and appetizing condition of her public markets [laughter], all these are accomplished without any aid from New Eng land. [Shouts of laughter.] Even the administra tion of her public Courts scorns to borrow any luster from the far-famed jurisprudence of New Englgmd." [Laughter and applause.] At the dinner in 1870, being again President, he said: "Gentlemen, before proceeding to the regu lar exercises of the evening I wish to read a brief correspondence which has passed between us, and the original Pilgrim Society, in their great cele- 40 JOSEPH H, CHOATE bration at Plymouth on the Rock itself, I took the liberty yesterday, in your name, of telegraphing to those assembled there the following dispatch : ' The New England Society in the city of New York to the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth; greetings; we have redeemed the original intention of the pas sengers on the Mayflower to land at the mouth of the Hudson and hope to make up for lost time, and for the treachery of the Dutch pilot who led us astray. We have reclaimed already a fair portion of this wilderness, and hope in 250 years to win back the whole,' In reply, I have received to-day directed to 'Hon, George Partridge, President of the New England Society at Delmonicos,' the fol lowing: 'The great West, the capstone of the monument which shall stand in everlasting memory to the fathers of New England, ' I suppose that the dispatch that the Plymouth Society intended for us has gone to St, Louis, where there is a society of which Mr, Partridge is the President," An occurrence, not unusual in those days, was an accidental extinction of the gas-light, and the Society was obliged to defer its celebration to the following evening. He alludes to this as follows : "Well, Gentlemen, last night we were driven out in our honest intention to celebrate the memory of our fathers by what proved to have been an ex plosion of gas, A strange result followed from such a cause, in such a company, when we supposed that we had been attending New England dinners, in constant succession, to better advantage, I trust THE NEW ENGLANDER 41 the ignominious circumstance will never be re peated, but unless there be any here of weak lung, of those who made up the company of last evening, I advise them now and here to immediately with draw, for I give them solemn warning that a fresh ebullition of the same dangerous compound is about to begin," At the meeting on December 15, 1871, having served the Society, in various capacities, for seven years, he alluded to this fact as follows : "Physiology assures us that once in every seven years the physical man entirely changes his struc ture, so that at the end of that period there remains not one particle of the fluid, or one atom of the matter which composed the original individual at its beginning, and that the whole man is entirely renewed ; so that, in that sense, I may with modesty say, that I have expended the last drop of my blood and the last fiber of my being in the service of the New England Society. Inexorable time, whose noiseless tread and gnawing tooth spare neither presidents, nor as I see, the clergy either, has laid his silent finger upon me, and has given me the summons to join the innumerable caravan of ex- presidents who journey to the dark and silent hall of death; that is one reason for my resignation. Another is that I have, of late, fallen under the discipline of my own worthy pastor, who sits at my side, and he has been teaching me resignation. He told me that I was rapidly approaching that age 42 JOSEPH H. CHOATE when, as the poet says, 'every man must become either a fool or a physician,' and as I could not possibly become the latter, the only escape he knew from becoming the former, at least in the New England Society, was to become a little more serious-minded, to give up those enjoyments we have followed up so long, to remember whose parishioner I was, and what was the number of my pew and to think of the sterner and soberer duties of life." In the following year, the Society could not get along without Mr. Choate, and he was loudly called for, although not on the list of speakers. The President stated that he had pledged Mr. Choate his word he would not insist upon his speaking but, nevertheless, he begged to say he was still in the hall and the festival would be incomplete without listening to his voice. In response Mr. Choate began as follows: "This is a greater outrage, and more flagrant violation of neutrality than was ever committed, even by the New England Society, which for more than 250 years has been no respecter of persons, but has always taken liberties with whomsoever it would. I call upon you, Mr. President, to witness that I came here to-night under your safe conduct, and with your solemn pledge that under no cir cumstances should the seal of silence which, by unanimous suffrage in this Society was placed upon THE NEW ENGLANDER 43 my lips twelve months ago, be broken. I had sup posed that seven years of devotion to the interest of this Society would have entitled me to at least one night of peace and obscurity and that I should be permitted to eat my dinner undisturbed. But when I came around to the President's table, in the early part of the evening, to bask for a moment in the accustomed sunlight that shines there, and boasted that, for once, I had been able to eat a New England dinner in peace and quiet, a sarcastic swain on your left replied that it was the first time for many years that I had given anybody else a chance to say anything at one of these festivals. But, Mr. President, there are examples even for such harsh treatment as this, and this is not the first time that modest merit has been rewarded with ingratitude and oppression. We have read that thousands of years ago Jacob had served seven years for Rachel, and was looking f oi^ard with hope to his one night of peace for that enjoyment which should be the just reward of his trials, when his horrid taskmaster turned him once more into the pasture, and bade him renew the labors with which he was already exhausted, and I suppose that Joseph may not complain of treatment that the old world said was 'good enough for Jacob.' " I attended the dinner on December 15, 1879, at which a number of ladies were present. He re sponded, I think, to the toast "to the ladies," and indulged in these pleasantries : 44 JOSEPH H, CHOATE ", , , I shall not trespass upon your time, but the fair persons in the alcoves behind me remind me that there is yet one tribute that has not been paid, which is due from New England sons, I am sure that not a word has yet been said of the pilgrim mothers, and their fair and worthy daugh ters, A sense of duty has ever been the active virtue of the genuine Yankee from December 22, 1.620, until to-night. The call 'to arms' in whatever form it has been presented has ever received a ready response from him. It was by the pilgrim mothers that the sturdy pilgrims in the perils of the sea, and the still more dreaded wilderness, were called to arms, and the sons of Massachusetts responded when, in four short years of war, out of the million inhabitants of that glorious little State, she con tributed 200,000 soldiers and sailors to the Army and Navy of the United States, and I trust that in this last moment of this protracted festival you will respond with equal earnestness, and with equal zeal, to the call 'to arms' — to the arms of the fair daugh ters of the pilgrims who have too long awaited you," On December 22, 1890, Mr, Choate again re sponded to the toast "Forefathers' Day," and the occasion was remembered chiefly for the inter change of pleasantries between Mr, Choate and Mr, Depew. Mr. Choate began his speech as follows: "Mr, President, and Gentlemen of the New Eng land Society, I thought I was ready to speak, but a THE NEW ENGLANDER 45 few moments ago Mr. Evarts, who sits at my right, put a fearful damper on my spirts, I was express ing to him my profound admiration for Chauncey Depew, 'Yes,' said he, 'he has got all the brains you want,' I am not insensible to the fact that the bubble of New England dinner oratory has been blown of late years to such a proportion, displaying all the colors of the rainbow, reflecting upon its surface not only the picture of New England which belongs there, but that of the whole country of the rest of mankind, that every year it promises to burst from its own size ; then I should like to know what will become of the memory of the pilgrim fathers? Only last week I was waited upon by a representative of one of our great metropolitan dailies, with the polite request that I would furnish him with a copy of the speech that I was to deliver this evening, in order that it might be set up, with the rest, on Monday morning for publication to morrow. 'God bless you,' said I, 'I have no copy to give you. How can I make an after-dinner speech until I am sure of my dinner? My speech will not exist until the President tinkles his little bell as the signal for me to loosen my tongue, or lose my head altogether,' Well, the same little chap pro ceeded to argue the matter, 'Why,' said he, 'we have all the rest already, sir,' 'Surely,' said I, 'you have not got Depew's?' 'Oh, yes,' said he, 'we have got Depew's; we have got him cold,' That was a little bit of slang that he did not attempt to translate, but he left me to 46 JOSEPH H. CHOATE understand that he had got him set up in cold type." Mr. Depew, when his turn came, retumed the compliment as follows : ' ' The reporter who called upon me for my speech said: 'I have them all,' as he said to Choate. Said he, 'Have you any poetry in your speech?' Said I, 'No.' 'Well,' said he, 'Choate has and, after reading it, I think Choate must have written it himself.' " That dinner was remarkable for an after-dinner speech from Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama, which was of such inordinate length that the pa tience of the audience was exhausted. Mr. Choate 's speech followed this lengthy performance, and he began as follows : "Mr. President and Gentlemen; by agreement with the distinguished Senator from Alabama I gave him all my time. I had the pleasure of listen ing to his interesting address, and he has left nothing untouched except what has happened within the last eight or ten days. I had hoped to hear from him upon that interesting subject. I shall not attempt to fill the gap by entering upon even that theme at this late hour. ' ' At one of these dinners I remember that Mr. Choate referred to the Rocks of various countries in these terms : "Rome had her Tarpeian Rock, England has her Gibraltar, we have our Plymouth Rook, and THE NEW ENGLANDER 47 Ireland, who must always have something, has her Shamrock." He once gave a toast to "woman," and it hap pened that, seated in a gallery, were members' wives and daughters who had come to enjoy the feast of oratory. Mr. Choate, glancing up at them, said: "Now I understand the Scripture phrase 'thou madest man a little lower than the angels,' and proposed a toast in the following terms: 'Woman, the better half of the Yankee world, at whose summons the pilgrim fathers were always ready to spring to arms, and without whose aid they would never have achieved the historic title of the 'Pilgrim Fathers.' " In his remarks which followed he pictured them as entitled to greater praise than the pilgrim fathers because, he explained, they endured the same hardships as the pilgrim fathers, and en dured the pilgrim fathers as well. In an address before the Society December 22, 1905, he gave, in his characteristic style, a charm ing account of the annual celebration of "Fore fathers' Day" by the New England Society in 1855. This was a notable occasion by reason of a speech by Oliver Wendell Holmes advocating conciliation of the South on the question of slavery. He said : "We assembled to hear the orator and poet of the evening on the 21st day of December. The orator, Dr. Holmes, was the best embodiment of New England culture and refinement. Tender- •48 JOSEPH H. CHOATE hearted, and unwilling to offend anybody, he de livered a most eloquent discourse, in which he spoke for harmony between the sections of the country, so soon to be divided. . . . "Dr. Holmes was one of the most loyal and pa triotic of men, and no man was more devoted to his country, as the result soon proved; but he never could have dreamed, as he stood there pleading for harmony between Freedom and Slavery, that in less than seven years, immediately after the bloody battle of Antietam, a telegram would arouse him from his slumbers at midnight, telling him that his first-born son, whom he had given to the service of his country, and the cause of liberty, had been shot through the neck, but that the wound was not thought to be mortal; that next moming he would have to start on that famous search for his captain, 'The Hunt for my Captain', and that after a week's journey over hundreds of miles, visiting hospitals and camps and railway stations, that he would find him, at last, among the wounded, in a baggage car entering Hagerstown in Maryland, and should ex change those greetings so characteristic of the self- contained Bostonian, but which he has made so classical and historic. As they came together, the father and the son, their first words were: 'How are you, boy ? ' ' How are you, dad ? ' "When Dr. Holmes sat down, then up rose old John Pierpont, and blew a mighty blast for freedom. Why, you would have thought that his own withers had been wrung by slavery. At any rate, the iron THE NEW ENGLANDER 49 of slavery seemed to have entered into his soul, I think he must have been in State Street when Anthony Burns was hurried down on his way from the Court House in the hands of federal officers and federal troops, to be carried back to bondage in the South, "After Mr, Pierpont had most pathetically spoken of the sufferings and troubles of the pilgrim mothers and the pilgrim fathers, he broke out into a splendid apostrophe to the spirit of liberty, of which the pilgrim fathers had been the finest ex ponents in history, and he concluded with that stanza which he made historic : 'Oh, thou Holy One, and just, Thou who wast the Pilgrims' trust Thou who watchest o 'er their dust By the moaning sea; By their conflicts, toils, and cares. By their perils and their prayers, By their ashes, make their heirs True to them and Thee, ' "Well, next day, came the dinner at the Astor House, which compared with this banquet of yours to-night very much as that ancient and simple hostelry of that day compares with this glorious house of mirth, the Waldorf-Astoria, "Harmony prevailed there, absolute harmony, in spite of all that had happened the night before. Dr. Holmes had improved the occasion over night to prepare some verses for the reunion, and show how little he had been disturbed by what had taken 50 JOSEPH H. CHOATE place the evening before. Let me read you two or three of his stanzas : 'New England, we love thee; no time can erase From the hearts of thy children the smile of thy face. 'Tis the mother's fond look of affection and pride As she gives her fair son to the arms of his bride. Come, let us be cheerful, we scolded last night, And they cheered us and — never mind — ^meant it all right. To-night we harm nothing ; we love in the lump. Here's a bumper to Maine in the juice of the pump I Here's to all the good people, wherever they be, That have grown in the shade of the liberty tree ; We all love its leaves and its blossoms and fruit, But pray, have a care for the fence round the root. We should like to talk big, 'tis a kind of a right, When the tongue has got loose as the waistband grew tight. But as pretty Miss Prudence remarked to her beau, "On its own heap of compost no biddie should crow," ' "Well, the night before, Dr, Holmes had told his audience the story of Io, beloved of Jupiter and changed by him into a heifer, to protect her from the wrath of Juno, but Juno was too much for him, and for her, and sent the gadfly to torment Io, and to drive her careering over seas and continents, until, at last, she brought up in the Valley of the Nile, resumed her original form, became the mother of kings, and the founder of a new dynasty, and was ever afterwards worshiped by the Egyptians as the goddess Isis, He had likened to the gadfly the edicts of Elizabeth and gf James, -which had THE NEW ENGLANDER 51 driven the Pilgrims, and the Puritans, out of the English Church, and had sent them over the broad ocean to found a new empire. And when Mr, Pierpont found in what a delightful frame of mind Dr, Holmes had come there, in spite of the discom fort of the night before, he responded to his verses with this : 'Our brother Holmes' gadfly was a thing That Io knew by its tormenting sting. The noisome insect still is known by this, But geese and serpents by their harmless hiss,' li 'And Dr, Holmes immediately jumped to his feet, and replied, impromptu: 'Well said, my trusty brother, bravely done; Sit down, good neighbor, now I 0 you one,' " I do not know how often Mr, Choate has re sponded to toasts at these dinners, but the instances I have given illustrate his affection for the New England Society, and all that pertains to New Eng land, and the enthusiastic interest they felt for him as one of their chief ornaments, and as a beloved son of New England, For Harvard, and everything past or present per taining to it, he expressed reverent affection, mingled with a good deal of badinage and wit at its expense and of its graduates. Among Harvard men he displayed more of the spirit of intimacy and good fellowship than anywhere else. At such gath erings he evidently felt quite at home and less under the ordinary restraints of social and professional 52 JOSEPH H, CHOATE intercourse. His addresses to Harvard men, some times at the more formal functions of commence ment week, and others in informal, and more dis tinctively social gatherings, contained abundant evidence of this. He was then seen, I think, at his best. An element of sentiment suffused itself through the occasion, warming his heart, and re storing the youthful feeling of his student days, A response he made to a toast in his honor at the annual dinner of the Harvard Club, on the eve of his departure for England as Ambassador at the Court of St, James, well illustrates the truth of this. There was a large assemblage of Harvard men, and from the moment of his appearance he was the soul and spirit of the occasion. Among Harvard men, everyone of them his friend, and each bound to the other by the close ties of Harvard associa tions and memories, he gave free reign to his playful wit. When his turn came to speak, and after he had been cheered to the echo with the "three times three" several times repeated, he began as follows: "I shall speak to you very diplomatically, [Laughter,] I shall endeavor to conceal as strictly as possible what is working in my own mind, [Long shouts of laughter,] I shall make it as clear as possible that there is nothing going on there, [Roars of laughter,] I am taking here my first lesson in diplomacy. Last night I talked to a great company of lawyers whose first feeling was how glad they were that I was going, [Laughter,] I THE NEW ENGLANDER 53 speak to-night to a great company of Harvard men whose last thought I hope is how sorry we are, [Long cheers,] I cannot come up to the standard Professor Kitridge has laid down: He said the great object of Harvard was to have men speak freely. Now my instructions are to refrain from speaking in public except on festal occasions, [Laughter,] I do not think this occasion comes within the rule. In the first place, it is not a festal occasion, and, in the second, speaking to Harvard men is not public speaking at all, [Laughter,] "I did not have the good fortune to be graduated at Harvard under the elective system. There was no system in my time. Those were the halcyon days of Harvard, and there was no such method of edu cation as described by Professor Kitridge, that resulted in a distinct division in each class between the men of ability and the fools. There were no fools in the class of '52, So far as I remember, they were all able men who thought it a virtue once in a while, or quite frequently, to make fools of them selves, [Long laughter,] "I did not know anything of the elective system, but the present athletic system recently developed at Harvard has done a good thing for me, A great event happened last Fall, We marched into the enemies' country and took possession, and remained masters of the field. It was that event which made it possible for me to accept the great office the President has offered me [laughter] ; but for that event I should not have felt at liberty to leave the 54 JOSEPH H. CHOATE country. [Laughter.] I had lived under a solemn vow for years not to leave the country until Harvard had won. When I sat there in the mud and slush and saw from the signals that Harvard was everywhere, I felt the shackles had fallen from my limbs. [Laughter.] But seriously, the old days were the best. Our minds were, at least, not crammed in those days. President Sparks, the greatest President Harvard ever had, left a great motto which makes his name immortal: 'Be to thy faults a little blind, be to thy virtues very kind, but clap a padlock on thy mind, ' ' ' The men in the College were left to take care of themselves and they developed somehow into men who have been a glory to Harvard from that day to this," It was a very appreciative and graceful tribute to Englishmen, and also a testimonial of affection for his alma mater, that led Mr, Choate on April 15, 1905, to present as a memorial of John Harvard, founder of Harvard College, a window for installa tion in St, Saviour's Church in Southwark, to which John Harvard's father belonged, and in which the boy was baptized in 1607, It was designed by the late John LaFarge, and is one of his finest produc tions. In the center of the lower half of the scheme he represents the baptism of our Lord by St. John the Baptist, showing in the openings the angels, traditionally supposed to have figured in the scene, waiting to receive the Saviour's garments. Above THE NEW ENGLANDER 55 the figure composition a purely formal design is worked out, in the middle panel of which is inserted an old bit of glass, long existent in the Church, representing a coat of arms, in which the lion and the unicorn are dimly to be discerned. On the right are displayed the arms of Emanuel College, Cam bridge, to which John Harvard belonged, and on the left, the Harvard arms. The idea was not only beautiful in itself, but his plan of carrying it out in such a manner as to appeal to the religious and artistic sense of the worshipers there, made it a noteworthy contribution to the English founder of the university to which he owed so much as his alma mater. On that occasion he delivered an interesting address on John Harvard which, as might have been expected, was the conspicuous feature of the oc casion, and will be found in his Lincoln and Other Addresses. If Mr. Choate loved New England, she, none the less, loved Mr. Choate. He was of the finest ef florescence of her training and culture, and afforded a notable illustration of New England character istics. His life, for many years, was lived at the same time with a galaxy of distinguished New Eng landers — Beecher, Sumner, Phillips, Lowell, Evarts, Carter, and others, lawyers, philosophers, his torians and statesmen, but among them all he took, at an early age, a high place and, with a luster un dimmed by years, sustained her worthiest tradi tions, and added new honor to her name. II THE NEW YORKER II THE NEW YORKER My acquaintance with Mr. Choate began shortly after my admission to the Bar during the trial to a jury of a case of life insurance, in which he repre sented the plaintiff. It increased in familiarity as the litigation pursued its slow course through the Court of Appeals.* His personal appearance was exceedingly interesting. His slender figure, with a suggestion of the student's stoop; his massive and well-poised head, with its fine brow; his reddish- brown hair, mussed by a habit of ruffling it with his hands; the dreamy expression of his luminous brown eyes; his smooth-shaven face, which, in repose, lacked vivacity, and wore an expression of indifference, but kindled with agreeable and attrac tive animation when anything occurred to interest him; his manner, free from all assumption of dig nity or formality, reflecting, somewhat, the free and easy way of the man of the street; his dis regard of particular attention to dress, although always dressed suitably; his somewhat careless and loose-jointed gait; his deportment, suggesting in difference to appearances and surroundings; his accessibility; the absence of formality, apparently * 63 New York Reports, 643. 59 60 JOSEPH H, CHOATE encouraging familiarity and friendship, presented to the casual beholder a make-up of singular at tractiveness and charm. His outward demeanor, instead of being char acterized by energy and nervous force, created an impression that he had nothing important to do, and did not care much whether it was done or not. This apparent nonchalance and indifference character ized him everywhere. Possessing remarkable characteristics, associa tion with him was always agreeable. He was never excitable, never ill-tempered, never appeared to be keyed up to make an effort. At all times placid aud good-natured, there was also the bonhomie to which I have referred, with its graciousness, its light and delicate touch, its apparent proffer of intimacy. His friendly advances, cheerful com ments, play of wit, approachableness, freedom from assumption, absence of all appearance of suspicion and distrust, made an immediate appeal, as though he were an old friend; the result being that he se cured important advantages, and yielded nothing. Although the fortunate possessor of these out wardly attractive qualities, there was another side. The charm of his genial and gracious outward traits brought into more striking contrast certain in herited qualities which self-interest called forth in public affairs or professional employment. In his make-up there was a blending of the light and humorous, with firmness and dignity which, besides being unusual in combination, attracted men to him THE NEW YORKER 61 and protected him from them. He could be unim pressionable and unyielding ; and it is well he could be so. In social intercourse, and in his public ad dresses, one saw only geniality and bonhomie; but beneath was the austerity of the New England Puritan, He was hard-headed and keen-witted. It was useless to attempt to take advantage of his apparent accessibility and friendliness, for, while one was welcome to roam in the vestibule of friendly association with perfect freedom, the approaches to more intimate relations seemed to bear the inscrip tion: "Thus far shall thou go and no further," With all his amiable and attractive outward quali ties, which at once drew people to him, he knew how to keep them at arm's length. His tendency to make light of situations, and let loose his wit and ridicule, produced an impression of want of seriousness which interfered, ofttimes, with taking him seriously when he meant to be seri ous. When he arose to speak his audience generally expected a laugh. He at all times was easy-going, an advocate of the laisses faire principle, as if it were not worth while to raise issues or start controversies. He, there fore, seldom appeared as a leader in great public crises, or as a reformer of public abuses. In this he was unlike some of his associates who acted on their own initiative and were distinctively leaders and reformers. He did not arouse public sentiment, but gave it expression. After reforms had been initiated and 62 JOSEPH H. CHOATE inaugurated by others, he undoubtedly rendered distinct public service in espousing them, and in influencing public opinion. In the Association of the Bar, in initiating proceedings respecting the Ju diciary, in law reforms generally, there were few occasions when he took any part. Unlike his eon- temporary, Mr. Carter, who assiduously devoted himself to the interests of his profession by attend ing and taking an important part in the meetings of the Bar Association, he did not participate in them, except on rare occasions. He evidently felt it unnecessary to enter upon its discussions and controversies. But, far from being an uninterested spectator, he sustained by his personal influence and advocacy the measures best calculated to obtain the desired result. Mr. Carter, it is said, once remarked that giving Mr. Choate credit for an abundance of excellent qualities, there was lacking in his make-up capacity for moral indignation. This quality made Mr. Carter what he was, a leader and reformer. His moral indignation was aroused by evil tendencies, which others failed to recognize in civic or pro fessional affairs, and led him to act on his own initiative, and point out the way to much-needed reform in such a manner as to enlist co-operation. This capacity for moral indignation and consequent individual action was not so prominently developed in Mr. Choate 's nature. But, because of this, he possessed the advantage of being able, calmly and dispassionately, to take a point of view affording a Courtesy of Frederick H. Meserve Joseph H. Choate in 1864 THE NEW YORKER 63 better perspective, and enabling him to form a more accurate judgment, A noteworthy characteristic of his relations to his fellow-men was that, in all that concerns the body politic, he was always abreast of the times. In National and State affairs, in philanthropic and social movements his opinion, carefully and deliber ately formed, was expressed with conscientiousness, and at the same time with boldness and courage. He could be relied on to do his part as a citizen in all that pertained to the support of causes that had for their object the advancement of the public welfare, or the amelioration of social conditions. This he would do, because he was no cut-and-dried lawyer, no slave to his profession, bound to his office and his cases by bands of red tape, his horizon limited by the courtroom walls, in his outlook on human affairs. He saw rights to be remedied, wrongs to be redressed, social conditions to be im proved, philanthropic objects to be sustained, serv ices of public servants to be recognized, and literary achievements to receive due appreciation; and, on all such occasions, his advocacy was sought and contributed generously, and always effectively, to the entertainment but, better still, to the enlighten ment of his fellow-citizens. He therefore became, in hunself, a recognized institution of New York life. Although he had unbounded, popularity and evoked the admiration of a host of friends, I do not think Mr. Choate was. a man of intimacies. The 64 JOSEPH H. CHOATE friend who came nearest to an intimate was, I think, Mr. James C. Carter, but it is doubtful whether between Mr. Carter and himself there was very great intimacy. He did not mingle with his professional brethren, nor with members of his clubs, in free and familiar intercourse. He was diligent and faithful in his attendance at meetings of his clubs, or of his professional brethren, where official duties required it, but so far as mingling in ordinary social intercourse, where the only claims upon him were good fellowship and sociability, he did not seek opportunities of this kind to meet his friends. Many years ago Rufus Choate, like Lord Bacon, advised lawyers to browse in every pasture, in making all forms of knowledge their own since, in the course of their varied practice, nothing would come amiss. In obedience to his dictum his kinsman has been, and remained, an omnivorous reader. Without a trace of intellectual pedantry, he was able to assimilate the most diverse, and seemingly indigestible mental foods, making them nutritious. His favorite studies were Constitutional and Eng lish History, His favorite authors were George Eliot and Thackeray, and he had Shakespeare at his tongue's end. But he read all the popular books of the day— good, bad and indifferent — and found something in everything. Of course, such a method, to attain wholesome results, presupposes and neces sitates a trained intellect. In speaking Mr, Choate was earnest, when not THE NEW YORKER 65 playful; sometimes in passion, but never declama tory. His voice was tenor in quality, musical, flexible, under control and effective, especially when used in sarcasm. His attitude was easy, in formal and unpretentious, sometimes with a hand in his trousers pockets, or a thumb and forefinger thrust into the vest pocket. Affability and dignity characterized his bearing. When asked how he pre pared his pleas and speeches, he said, "he thought them out, but seldom wrote them out." The truth is he was always preparing for something in what he read, and heard ; and his experiences were tucked carefully away in the pigeonholes of his mind, and labeled as facts, fancies, quotations, or what not, and were readily drawn forth and used. A retentive mind, readiness in repartee and long habit, enabled him to give these accumulations the appearance of impromptu speech. This was true of all his oratory. If he made a speech at a political gathering, if he responded to a toast at a dinner, if he made an argument before a court, his intellectual resources and his manner and style of expression were so perfectly suited to his audience, and his play of humor so captivating, that they appealed with convincing force to the intelli gence of his hearers. One of the most marked features of his post prandial oratory was audacity. He took liberties, and indulged in personalities, such as no other could have done without serious offense ; but his personal allusions, his light and easy badinage, of which 66 JOSEPH H. CHOATE he was past-master, were so good-humored and graceful in quality, so tactful, brilliant and witty, that notwithstanding they might border on undue liberty, this soon disappeared in the general hilarity of the occasion. "Who is that impudent young man?" asked the astounded and somewhat irate Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows at a Harvard dinner in New York years ago. At that earliest of his after-dinner speeches he displayed a quality which scarcely ever failed to reappear in his numerous subsequent performances of the kind. He excelled from the first in a sort of light and fleeting audacity. On the occasion referred to he made fun of the most solemn of the dignitaries before him, to their mingled surprise and horror, and, moved the flustered Dr. Bellows to demand the name of the daring youth who could indulge in such tricks of oratory. This form of the toujours de I'audace evidently has its limitations, though in Mr. Choate 's hands, it produced very great effect. A prominent instance of this was in a speech at a dinner of the St. Andrew's Society of New York, at which the Earl of Aberdeen, then Governor General of Canada, was present, as its distinguished guest. By way of compliment to his Scotch com patriots, the Earl assumed for the occasion the char acteristic dress of Scotland, the kilts and leggins. The bare knees of the Earl attracted Mr. Choate 's attention, and he was so audacious as to make the Earl's costume a subject of comment. He said in part: THE NEW YORKER 67 "Mr. President and Gentlemen of the St. Andrew's Society: Sitting here for the last four hours with the Governor General of Canada — the Gordon of the Gordons — I take great shame to myself that I did not leave off my trousers before I came here. [Laughter and applause.] I do not know what my Puritan fathers would have said if I had so appeared. My impression is that they would have thrown me headlong from the Plymouth Rock, with which the horrors of the Tarpeian are not to be compared. The distinguished Governor General has said that from his early youth he has aspired to join the ladies. Well, I think he has come very near doing it to-night. What is to be come of the modern woman, this nobody knows; but, undoubtedly, in the future as in the past, the sexes will meet, and I can conceive of nobody who represents that union so well as our distinguished Governor General. If I had had a pair of Scotch leggins, had I had a Tartan skirt, had I had the royal sporan, empty though it might have been, I would have worn it. [Laughter.] Let me give you a conundrum. Gentlemen. Why is it that the Tartan skirt and the Scotch leggins however long you may wear them are always along parallel lines? If you cannot answer it I will tell you. Because however extended they will never meet, [Laughter,] Well now he has said a great deal about the Scotchmen in New York, and I do but use his words, that the Scotchmen have a good deal to put up with in New York, That is a very fine sentiment, but I believe, 68 JOSEPH H. CHOATE myself, in reciprocity, and I will ask you to answer this question. How much has New York to put up with in the Scotchmen?" [Laughter,] This was audacious, but the kilted guest was soonest to catch its humor and lead the laughter it produced. Perhaps his most striking achievement of this kind was on St, Patrick's Day, March 17, 1893, as a guest at the dinner of St, Patrick's Society, His address was of unusual spirit and humor, and while some of the Irishmen laughed heartily at his sallies, others could see nothing funny in it. When his shafts of ridicule, for such they were, had time to rankle, there was uproar among the men of Tip- perary. Those were the days of Home Rule agita tion and, although he began by saying that he would not speak upon the subject nearest Irish hearts — Home Rule — his speech was, nevertheless, a plea for home rule of a different kind than that for which the Irish were clamoring. An account of his speech as given the following morning in the New York Sun presents a scene in which generous applause and laughter were accompanied with somewhat different emotions on the part of some present. It was a typical Irish assemblage on the day of all others — St, Patrick's Day, "This," said Mr, Choate, "is the day we celebrate, the day that all Americans celebrate, the day that makes the streets of every municipality impassable," That morning, he said, he put on his tall hat and shamrock scarf, and set out with the idea of joining in the celebration. THE NEW YORKER 69 Recorder Smyth, a genuine son of St, Patrick, was at the dinner, and his stern and severe facial ex pression, as a Judge of one of our Criminal Courts, gave point to Mr, Choate 's reference to him as the first man he met that morning, "We met," he said, "at a barber shop where he was preparing for the day that smooth, that smiling, that implacable, that terrible face of his," This provoked wild laughter and applause, and everyone in the large assem blage was looking toward the foot of the table, where the Recorder sat blushing and laughing. Referring to the parade he said he had missed one feature from the procession — "how it would have been glorified," waving his hand toward the representative of the New England, the Holland, the Southern, the St, Andrew's and St, George's Societies, "if the men of St, Patrick's had laid captive, and bound at their chariot wheels, the rep resentatives of these down-trodden nationalities," But his speech must be quoted to be appreciated : (< 'All these might have been at your chariot wheels. For what offices, great or small, have the Irishmen not taken? What spoils have they not car ried away? But, now that you have done so much for America, now that you have made it all your own, what do you propose to do for Ireland? How long do you propose to let her be the political foot ball of England? Poor down-trodden, oppressed Ireland! Hereditary bondsmen! Know you not who would be free, themselves must strike the 70 JOSEPH H. CHOATE blow?" At this there was laughter and cries of "We can't," and "There isn't any way to do it." Mr. Choate went on: "You have leamed how to govern by making all the soil of other countries your own. Have you not learned how to govem at home; how to make Ireland a land of Home Rule? There is a cure for Ireland's woes and feebleness to-day. It is a strong measure that I advocate. But I am here to-night to plead for Ireland, with the retaining fee in my possession, and I propose to plead. I propose that you should all, with your wives and your children, and your children's chil dren, with the spoils you have taken from America in your hands, set your faces homeward, and land there, and strike the blow. "Gentlemen, the G. O. M, needs you. He is clamoring for you, and the G, 0, P, to which I belong, has been so severely disciplined that it can get along without you. Think what it would mean for both countries if all the Irishmen of America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, should shoulder their muskets and march to the relief of their native land ! Then, indeed, would Ireland be for Irishmen and America for Americans S "As you departed the Republicans would go down to see you off, and bid you a joyful farewell. As you landed the G, 0, M, would come down to receive you with a paean of assured victory. Think of the song you could raise, 'We are coming, Father Gladstone, fifteen million strong,' How the British lion Would hide his diminished head! For such an THE NEW YORKER 71 array would not only rule Ireland, but all other sections of the British Empire, What could stand before you? "It would be a terrible blow to us. It would take us a great while to recover. Feebly, imperfectly, we should look about us and learn, for the first time in seventy-five years, how to govern New York with out you. But there would be a bond of brotherhood between the two nations. Up from the whole soil of Ireland, up from the whole soil of America, would arise one paean — Erin go bragh!" In a letter to me, Mr, Choate referred to this incident. "My scrapbook of that day," said he, "contains a lot of notices about it, and it seems to have made quite a sensation at the time, but they never took my advice. I advocated Home Rule in the most sensible and practical manner in which it was ever presented — that they should simply go back and take Ireland, and apply the science of government which they had learned in America." It was at a previous St. Patrick's Day dinner that he alluded to the generous potions from the "Flowing Bowl," or rather I might say "Poteen," and the mellow condition of his post-prandial auditors, when he referred to them as unquestion able Irishmen "diluted, but not adulterated" and added "I wish I might be allowed fifteen or twenty minutes more to deliver a temperance discourse." No lawyer at the Bar of New York, I venture to 72 JOSEPH H. CHOATE say, not even Mr. Evarts, has been in such great demand at public and semi-public functions of all descriptions as Mr. Choate. On such occasions he contributed more pleasure, I believe, in various ways, than any other lawyer of his time. Being unquestionably a public favorite, his appearance was a guarantee of success. His two volumes American Addresses and Abraham Lincoln and other Addresses give an idea, but not a full and adequate idea, however, of the range of his public appearances which included not only dinners of the New England Society during the years before and during his long presidency; the numerous dinners and receptions of the Union League Club while its president; dinners of the Bar, and receptions of the Bar Association, and in the discharge of his duties as President of the Century Association and King of the Twelfth Night Revels. It may truly be said that these festivities would have been incom plete without his wit and brilliancy to enliven the proceedings. During his long career as President of the New England Society and of the Union League Club he was, of course, expected to represent those organi zations at similar festivities of other societies and clubs. It was fortunate that they had, for many years, such a worthy representative, who not only shed luster on them, but was able to contribute so much to the gayety of the festivities at which he represented them. The instances which I have given of his brilliant performances at the St. King of the Revel THE NEW XOBKER 73 Andrew and St. Patrick Societies, illustrate per fectly that remarkable combination of audacious fun and satirical wit which he heaped good-humoredly upon his entertainers with such remarkable tact as not to afford any just reason for offense. Mr. Choate was always ready, even when pro fessional engagements and public demands upon him of various kinds were most exacting, to respond to calls upon him by philanthropic societies. Some of his most attractive and interesting addresses, thoroughly original in their vein of thought, and lightened up with flashes of delicate wit, were de livered on such occasions. A conspicuous instance of this, at the early age of thirty-two, was an address which he delivered on April 5, 1864, at the opening of the Sanitary Fair when he responded, on behalf of the ladies, to the welcoming speech of General Dix on handing over the fair to the ladies of New York. This address is included in his American Addresses. It was, of course, a great opportunity to show what he could do; one of those rare opportunities which, if im proved, mark the individual as a bright and shining light. From that time on he has always been in great demand on all sorts of philanthropic oc casions. Some of these addresses relate to fresh air for the people ; prevention of cruelty to children ; on behalf of the children of the poor; children in private homes; teachers' salaries; loaning of books; education; and other kindred topics. Others, more or less formal, but of a different character, were in 74 JOSEPH H. CHOATE the nature of appreciation of conspicuous indi viduals such as Phillips Brooks, Carl Schurz and Josephine Shaw Lovell, also contained in his American Addresses, and at the unveiling of busts of noted scientists placed in the Museum of Natural History. Still others were on the needs of com merce ; on the education of women, delivered before the Radcliffe College Club ; on the relations between the United States and Canada, before the Canadian Club; and a notable one at a crowded meeting in Carnegie Hall in favor of a non-partisan judiciary. At a meeting in behalf of the New York Exchange for Women's Work to secure funds for the erection of a building sufficiently commodious to offer show rooms, classrooms and offices, he made this humor ous plea : "There are said to be twelve hundred millionaires in this city. Their money is corrupting them and their families. Now each of you select your mil lionaire or millionaires and get this money from them. Go personally, and take each by the throat, if necessary. Above all, do not make the mistake of approaching them through their wives. That is the worst way. Let some other man's wife take the millionaire by the throat, and see how quickly the money can be raised," While he was most generous of contributions in speech, he has been no less generous in contribu tions of personal service. For years he was Presi dent of the State Charities Aid Association, and THE NEW YORKER 75 also of the Association of the Blind. In the latter organization, in co-operation with Miss Winifred Holt, the real head and moving spirit of it, he afforded valuable support, and contributed largely to its great success. Mr. Choate 's political career began, practically, in 18^6 when he advocated the election of Fremont. Since then he has been known as a Republican, but not a strict party man. He disdained to be unjust to political opponents, and sometimes singled them out for eulogy. His robust independence armed him with reserves of influence for great civic oc casions, but it was also a barrier against political advancement. He was never nominated for public office, except as a delegate to the Constitutional Con vention. He was regarded with suspicion by poli ticians and wire pullers, and considered an untrust worthy orator, whose nimble humor, and mastery of subtle sarcasm were likely to give offense, a notable instance of which was the resentment aroused by his St. Patrick's Day speech. He did his part, according to his conception of what his part was in political affairs, but he was never a politician. In almost every political cam paign he contributed by public speeches to the cause he favored, rendering valuable assistance by his public utterances; but he only appeared on the platform, and was rarely found in the audience. He was ready to speak, but not disposed to listen. He was like a brilliant constellation that shone at a distance. He did not mix with the multitude; he 76 JOSEPH H. CHOATE was not a good handshaker; he was not one of the common people, although the common people heard him gladly. This prevented him, I think, from obtaining a hold upon the affectionate interest of the masses; although it did obtain enthusiastic admiration of his remarkable gifts. He was not a stump orator or spellbinder, in any sense, nor did he enter into statesman-like dis cussions, calculated to educate the people; he was inclined, rather, to make light of his adversaries; and, like light-horse Harry, make a brilliant dash into their ranks, tossing them to and fro in con fusion, prodding them with his lance and leaving them unhorsed, while he rode laughingly away. He loved to poke fun at his political opponents, especially at Tammany Hall and its leaders. No more interesting instance of this can be found than when Richard Croker, boss of Tammany, once twitted him with being an attorney for trusts and corporations and rich men, adding that, unlike his illustrious kinsman, Rufus Choate, he had never taken a case for a poor man. Mr. Choate, who had once acted as counsel for Mr. Croker, replied, "If Mr. Croker will let his mind go back for a few years he will, doubtless, recall that I took a case for a client who was on his own sworn testimony a poor man," and then tumed the tables on him completely by his caustic wit : "This cordial reception that you have given to me is almost as great a compliment as I received THE NEW YORKER 77 (ast week from the voluptuous lips of Mr. Croker tiimself, for I must say that I regard it as the highest compliment for any respectable citizen to be abused by him. [Laughter.] And there is a ^reat deal that hangs on the fact that Mr. Croker, for the first time in this campaign, has opened his lips. The dumb has spoken. [Laughter.] He never speaks when things are going in a way that suits him, and I ask you why it is that this shrewd and calculating politician, at this late hour in the campaign, has found it necessary to open his lips. Well, this audience looks to me like a good old- fashioned audience, who remember things they have read in the Bible. Croker 's speech, and why he spoke, recall to my mind the familiar story of Baalam's Ass. [Laughter.] And in two or three points Mr. Croker reminds us of that very cele brated beast of burden. In the first place, until the Ass spoke nobody in the world imagined what a perfect Ass he was. [Roars of laughter.] If he hadn't spoken he would have passed into history as an average ordinary, silent Ass, who carried Balaam on his way; but when he spoke he was distinguished over all other Asses in the land. [Re newed laughter.] But that is not the only way in which Mr. Croker recalls that story. Why did the Ass speak? Do you remember the story? It was because he was frightened, it was because, as the Bible says, he got into a tight place, where he could neither turn to the right nor the left, and, in that situation, when he saw hhn who bore a 78 JOSEPH H. CHOATE flaming sword confronting him, at last the Ass spoke; and it was in the same tight place that Croker spoke when, at last he was afraid of him who bore the sword before him, and you can tell who the young man is that bore the sword." In local campaigns, involving the election of Mayor and Members of the Legislature, he was often heard at Cooper Union, and in other prominent places of assemblage but, notwithstanding his power as a public speaker, he was almost never heard in other cities of the State, or even in New York, upon State and National issues. According to my ob servation, although able, if necessary, to discuss such issues seriously, he did not feel it his duty or pleasure to do so, and his mind did not work easily in political debate. His cast of intellect, and his style of platform oratory, were of a kind that led him in a different direction. For this reason, he could not be depended upon by political leaders. He was, also, too independent by nature to be tram meled in his platform utterances, and although an adherent of the Republican party, he was yet suf ficiently independent to criticize its aims, purposes and leaders when they did not meet his entire approval, Mr, Choate 's admirable qualities, and remark able ability, qualified him, undoubtedly, for any position, National or State, and he was not with out ambition for public office. His failure to obtain political recognition, after Mr, Evarts' retirement, THE NEW YORKER 79 must probably be sought in his general attitude toward political parties, and political managers. His prominence in his profession, and before the public, would seem to have marked him out for political preferment in State or National affairs. Although a leader of the Bar, and conspicuous in public matters, he never, but once, put his personal popularity, and political opinions, to the test of candidacy for an elective office. He shrunk from the ordeal, not through apprehension as to the result, but because of unwillingness to seek, or even to hold, public office trammeled by party sub serviency. From the standpoint of the politicians he was not favorably regarded, because not always in sympathy with the leaders of his own party, and because of his unwillingness to share their views, approve their methods and make an effort to enlist their support. Though nominally a Republican, he was more often than not out of sympathy with his party, especially in local affairs, and his inde pendence — a marked characteristic — ^led him, at times, to identify himself with political movements of lofty purpose, but hopeless from the beginning, except as a kind of protest, against the action of leaders of his own party. He was not acceptable to politicians, because they could not manage him, In view of Mr. Choate 's ability, high character and attractive qualities it seems scarcely possible that any candidate could have been selected better calculated to call out the enthusiastic admiration and support of the people. But when the matter 80 JOSEPH H. CHOATE is analyzed, an explanation is found, perhaps, in Mr. Choate 's own personal qualities and his attitude in public affairs. He had an abundance of practical common sense, was in accord with popular senti ment and had broad sympathies with common people in their struggle against adverse conditions. But, he was like a brilliant luminary which shines at a distance; he had a kind of reserve, an aristo cratic conservatism, which seemed to remove him from the ordinary sphere of humanity. He could sway a jury, he could arouse the enthusiasm of general audiences and evoke deep interest and hearty applause ; but he was not one of the people. They admired him and honored him; they were charmed with his graciousness ; but they recognized his reserve and dignity which prevented familiar approach. His brilliancy, his humor, his wonderful persuasiveness, his independence and courage won respect and regard, but he seemed to live apart from, and above, the human throng in everyday life. It is quite possible, too, that there was a personal disinclination on his part to public life, which may have accounted, to some extent, for an absence of popular appreciation. He seemed absorbed in his profession and the honors that success in it confers, "I have made it a rule," he said, "never to seek office and never decline it; but my friends knew I did not seek office, and that is probably why they never nominated me," His failure to secure polit ical recognition may quite likely be founiJ ^^ *^® THE NEW YORKER 81 character of his public utterances. He was never afraid to say what he really thought, and what he said was such a combination of sound sense and witty comment that while the sound sense might not in itself have offended, yet when combined with his laughter-provoking power, the effect was to create resentment and opposition. Politicians felt he was constantly poking fun at them, and his ridi cule was far more serious in permanent effect than that produced by sledge-hammer argument or de nunciation. During the many years the Republican party in New York was under the control of Thomas C. Piatt, United States Senator from New York, he found in Mr, Choate an opponent, but it was not Mr, Choate 's opposition that antagonized him, be cause he had the common sense to know that he must expect it from tnose who differed with him, and he recognized the value in public affairs of men who opposed him ; but Mr. Choate not only opposed him, but made fun of him, and the two together aroused his resentment. In one of our interviews I asked him how it was that Senator Piatt became reconciled to his appointment as Ambassador at the Court of St. James. "Well," he replied, "only two were considered by the President for the position. One was Whitelaw Reid, and the other myself, and Piatt supported me because he hated Reid worse than he did me." His speech before the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick is an instance of alienating by his wit a 82 JOSEPH H. CHOATE large and powerful element among the common people. When he conceived the idea of that speech it was too good to resist expression. He meant no offense; he intended to arouse no resentment nor appeal to any prejudice. He evidently miscalcu lated its effect. It produced an almost electric effect among Irishmen everywhere. The papers and periodicals devoted to Ireland and Irishmen poured forth their denunciation and wrath in copious streams of abuse, and probably no indi vidual could have been found in America who was more unpopular among Irishmen. The virulent opposition to his appointment as Ambassador came from the Irish press and Irishmen generally. If their opposition had been based upon anything serious with respect to Home Rule agitation, it might well have been that Mr. Choate would not have been appointed, but, inasmuch as it was founded upon good-natured, mirth-provoking wit, and nothing else, President McKinley declined to view it as a just cause of offense against Ireland or Irishmen. All readers of political history will remember the circumstances of Mr. Hill's plot in 1891 to capture three seats in the State Senate, a sufficient number to give him a majority in that body. The election of 1891 had been held, and the returns declared that eighteen Republicans and fourteen Democrats had been elected Senators. This result was because returns were falsified in Dutchess County; in Onondaga County twelve hundred ballots cast for THE NEW YORKER 83 the successful Republican candidate for Senator were thrown out on the absurd ground that they bore the wrong indorsement; in another Senate district Mr. Hill made preparations to give cer tificates of election to a Democrat who had failed of an election by seventeen hundred votes, as his Republican opponent was claimed to be ineligible. Everything pointed to Mr. Hill as inspiring the Democratic State Board of Canvassers to issue cer tificates of election to the Democratic candidates for Senator in the three districts assailed. It was at this time, when the Democratic State Board of Canvassers were about to meet, that Mr. Choate arrived in Albany. On the night of No vember 30th he came to the Capitol and rapidly gained a knowledge of the critical condition of affairs. Like a true political general, he at once attacked the enemy. The following morning he went before Justice Edwards of the Supreme Court at Troy and submitted affidavits showing that the State Board of Canvassers was about to meet, and that it plainly intended to accept as genuine the fraudulent election retum from Dutchess County. He said to Justice Edwards: "A gross outrage upon the suffrage is being attempted, having as its object to induce the State Board of Canvassers to act upon an election return not legally and properly made, and the affidavits show that this fraudulent attempt of the Dutchess County Canvassers is in danger of succeeding." He informed the Court that this return was already being included in the 84 JOSEPH H. CHOATE State tabulation, and urged the Court, for the vin dication of justice, to lay its hands upon both boards, and restrain them from accepting the cer tificate, and canvassing the returns, including this fraudulent retum, as otherwise the remedy would be gone. Justice Edwards granted an order against the State Board of Canvassers to show cause why a peremptory mandamus should not issue directing the Board of State Canvassers not to canvass the vote of Dutchess County on the basis of this false and illegal certificate. The legal conflict thus instituted by Mr. Choate was extended to every Senate district, but it came at last to a common center in Albany on December 7, 1891, when Mr. Choate obtained from Justice Edwards five writs of mandamus, prohibiting the State Board of Canvassers from deciding any of the election cases until argument upon them should be heard by the Court of Appeals, and a decision rendered, Mr, Choate had thus labored to preserve the Leg islature to the Republican party, and had done his utmost to make fraudulent elections odious, and his able management of the suits before the Courts in 1891 brought about a political revolution, which overwhelmed, and drove from power, the men who had perpetrated the fraud designed to steal the Legislature in the interest of the Democratic party. In 1893 when the Republican State Convention met in Syracuse, a forlorn and hopeless gathering of dispirited partisans, they put him on the ticket THE NEW YORKER 85 for Delegate at Large to the State Constitutional Convention, although at that time it was generally believed that the Democrats were sure of success. His nomination was regarded as an empty honor, and although he was elected, yet, with his inde pendent views, and lack of support his candidacy received from political leaders, he did not poll as large a vote as some of the strict party men on the ticket. The Constitutional Convention was made up largely of lawyers, and furnished an opportunity to render conspicuous service to the State, in connection with the Judiciary and the Courts, and, to no small extent, in the Executive and Legis lative Departments of the State Government. Not only is an election as delegate to the Constitutional Convention an honorable post, which lawyers, especially, are qualified to fill, but the presidency of that body is regarded as an honor not inferior to any State position, Mr, Choate 's distinction, and his leadership at the Bar, served quite naturally, to indicate him as the probable choice for the presi dency of the Convention, In fact, he was apparently the only individual considered by his own party for that high position, and his election was favored by a large number of the opposing party. When the Convention organized he was elected president with singular unanimity, and devoted himself as siduously to the duties of his high office during the months the Convention was in session, and con tributed largely by his speeches, and his advocacy 86 JOSEPH H, CHOATE on important subjects, especially in connection with the Courts, to the framing of the Constitution after wards ratified at the ensuing election. At a meeting of the delegates after his election, he humorously referred to the political patronage within his gift, "I find," said he, "there are forty-three places to fill. Gentlemen, the line will form on my right," His successful guidance of the Constitutional Convention in the conservative construction of a new Constitution, and his efforts to secure its adoption, received the stamp of popular approval. Whatever acceptance the new Constitution obtained, when it was presented for consideration by the people at the polls, was largely due to the fact that Mr, Choate had been actively engaged in the task of drafting it. The high favor with which the new Constitution was regarded, was evident by its re ceiving a majority of nearly 100,000 votes. His prominence in the Constitutional Convention led, quite likely, to his being considered as a possible nominee for Governor, It was unquestionably the desire of the people of the State that he should be nominated, and his nomination was vigorously advocated in newspapers and in large and enthusi astic assemblages. It would be difficult to find an instance where a spontaneous movement for the nomination of any individual has been evoked so enthusiastically. If it had been possible to obtain the opinion of the voters of the State as to the most desirable candidate, the popular favor mani fested in his behalf is the strongest possible evi- THE NEW YORKER 87 dence that a majority of Republicans desired his nomination; but the politicians did not want him. They could not use him. They were afraid of him and of his independent spirit. Senator Thomas C. Piatt was in absolute and undisputed control of the Republican organization in the State ; he was, in fact, the organization ; and the accredited representative of the Republican party. A candidacy was hopeless that did not have his support. Mr. Choate was not acceptable as a candidate to Senator Piatt, and as the latter was in control of the political situation, and of the political machinery of the State, Mr. Choate could not be nominated. In 1896, when Senator Piatt's term of office was about to expire, the question whether he would be permitted to succeed himself was largely discussed, but his strength as a political leader was such that his defeat was practically an impossibility ; but this did not prevent his opponents from contesting his election. Quite naturally they looked to Mr. Choate as embodying in their opinion all that Senator Piatt was not. On December 24, 1896, a very large and en thusiastic meeting was held in Carnegie Hall, New York, at which Mr. Choate 's election as Senator Piatt's successor was advocated. The meeting was a protest against Mr. Piatt, and his so-called bossism. The movement set on foot spread throughout the State. Meetings were held, and testimonials to Mr. Choate signed by a very large 88 JOSEPH H. CHOATE number of the most influential Republicans. The movement gained such proportions that, on the surface of things, it looked as though Mr. Choate might be nominated. But little did his supporters understand, if they appreciated, that the Legisla ture was a mere tool in the hands of Senator Piatt. Mr. Choate, however, appreciated it. In alluding to it Mr. Choate said to me : "I told them I would run if I only got one vote. In fact, I got seven, and I regarded this as a real triumph." The politicians forgot his distinguished services, which were of great advantage to the Republican party, and which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been regarded by practical politicians as calling for recognition by the bestowal of politi cal honors. Although, apparently, never seeking office, yet, in those rare instances when he was induced to enter the service of the State, he dis charged the duties imposed upon him with such fidelity and ability as to cause regret that political conditions, and the interest of party politicians, should have prevented his being called to high public office. Had he received a nomination his personal popularity would have undoubtedly se cured him a very large vote. It is, quite likely, the fact that Mr. Evarts having entered President Johnson's Cabinet as Attorney General, and that of President Hayes as Secretary of State, and sub sequently his election as United States Senator, may have had something to do with Mr. Choate 's re luctance to enter on a political career. In alluding THE NEW YORKER 89 to Mr. Evarts, Mr, Choate used to remark, with grim humor, that one statesman in a law firm was sufficient for business purposes. In social life he shone most brilliantly, and was, of course, much sought for at the dinner tables of his professional brethren, and of fashionable so ciety. One of his witty sayings was at a private dinner at which he and Mrs. Choate were guests. He was asked who he would like to be if he could not be himself. He paused a few seconds, as if thinking over the list of world-celebrities, when his eye rested upon his wife, and solved for him the problem, "If," he answered, "I could not be my self, I should like to be Mrs, Choate 's second husband," On one of his visits to Washington he was a guest of Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, as was also the late Thomas B, Reed, Speaker of the House of Rep resentatives. The conversation tumed upon what some would consider vices, and other frailties, of mankind, and Mr. Choate remarked, "I have never smoked a cigar, never played a game of poker, and never attended a horse race in my life." Senator Wolcott looked pathetically at Speaker Reed and said, "I wish I could say that," Mr. Reed's char acteristic and witty response was: "You can, Choate did." A story is told of Mr. Choate when a passenger on one of the Sound steamers on his way to New port. He was, of course, not ostentatiously attired, but wore a silk hat and carried over his arm a light 90 JOSEPH H, CHOATE overcoat, and in his hand a small dressing case. As he stood on the deck he was approached by a person, somewhat loud of raiment, who inquired: "Where are you going to open. Colonel?" "What do you mean?" retumed Mr, Choate. "I mean what I say," replied the other. "Where are you going to set up the layout, at the port or at the pier?" "Whom do you take me to be?" pursued Mr. Choate. "I do not know who you are, but I could make a good stiff guess at your game. I did call it faro for favorite, but may be it is a sweat cloth for second choice." Mr. Choate put his case on a convenient desk chair and opened it. He displayed a toilet outfit, brush, razors, combs and other necessaries of life. The man with the loud suit looked at it with lofty disregard. "I mistook you for a sport," he said, as he turned away. "If I had known you was a barber I never would have spoken to you. It is one on me." During Mr. Choate 's journeys to and from his office, ofttimes burdened with the weight of heavy responsibilities, or fatigued by arduous days in Court, he traveled by the elevated road, and usually selected a seat which exposed only one side of him to admiring acquaintances who, quite naturally, but without much consideration for him, would seek him out. One of these found him seated in a corner of one of the trains and asked him why it was he se- THE NEW YORKER 91 lected such a place. "I replied," said he, "that I always took one of two seats, either the one in the corner, or else the one next to the window on the transverse seats, and I do this so that I can only be bored on one side at a time." His comments on men and things as he chanced to see them were a constant source of amusement to his office associates. Returning from lunch one day, having seen a prominent member of the New York Bar standing on the steps of a building with his hands in his pockets, he remarked: "I saw a queer thing just now. It was Mr. standing on the steps of the Corn Exchange Bank with his hands in his own pockets." It was a courageous individual, indeed, who would make fun of Mr. Choate for it was almost inevitable that the fun made of him would fall perfectly flat in comparison with the fun made by him. Mr. Depew was sometimes bold enough to attempt to make fun of Mr. Choate, but the latter was always prepared for him. Anticipating that at a dinner which Mr. Depew was to attend he might indulge in some of this fun making, Mr. Choate secured a copy of a prospectus of a natural gas company which was called "The Depew Natural Gas Company, Limited." As anticipated, the fun making began, but when Mr. Choate 's turn came he drew from his pocket the prospectus and read its title, "The Depew Natural Gas Company, Limited," and, looking the company over, he glanced at Mr. 92 JOSEPH H, CHOATE Depew quizzically and, after a pause, inquired with emphasis, ' ' Why limited ? ' ' The tact he displayed in dealing with difficult, because embarrassing, situations, was not, by any means, the least characteristic of his genius — a notable instance being the Commencement Dinner at Harvard, which Governor Butler attended as tha representative of the Commonwealth of Massachu setts, when Senator Hoar, as President of the Alumni, refused to preside, because of Governor Butler's presence. Mr. Choate took Senator Hoar's place and, with President Eliot on his right, and Governor Butler on his left, began with a delight fully humorous allusion to the complications exist ing by saying: "I hardly know how to begin. My head swims when I look down from the giddy, and somewhat dangerous, elevation to which you have unwittingly raised me. Here I have been seated, for the last hour, between the two horns of a veritable di lemma," This tactful and witty seizure of "the bull by the horns" not only relieved the occasion of embarrassment, but, it is said, Govemor Butler, in response to a toast in his honor, delivered a speech entirely different from what he intended, and as full as it was possible for him to make it of the milk of human kindness. Thus, by cheerful and humorous pointedness, Mr. Choate dispelled unfriendliness, disarmed an tagonism, cleared away the embarrassment of the occasion, and out of discord brought harmony. THE NEW YORKER 93 In the breadth of his interests; his success on public and semi-public occasions; his career as a lawyer; his distinction and popularity as Am bassador at the Court of St, James; his literary addresses in this country and in England; the appreciation of his worth, the tokens of good-will, the honorable recognition he received from the English Bar — ^notably his election as a Bencher of the . Middle Temple — justified the claim that he exhibited many attributes of true genius. If to be "always equal to the occasion" is evidence of genius, it was not wanting in his case, for whenever called upon to bear a part in public, professional or social life, the ease and charm with which, in his natural and simple way, he discharged the duty as signed him, was wonderful to behold. Genius was manifested in conveying his most important mes sages in such exceedingly plain and homely words that they were easily comprehended by ordinary in tellects, and were, at the same time, so original in thought and expression, that they created a pro found impression upon able minds. When Mr. Choate returned to resume his place in New York at the conclusion of his distin guished service at the Court of St. James, he had been separated for six years from the activities of his profession, and from all that pertained to life at home. He was then seventy-three years of age and might, quite naturally, have been expected to seek that dignified retirement he had so richly earned. But nothing was further from his 94 JOSEPH H. CHOATE thoughts. His whole nature seemed to rebel against the state of the "lean and slippered pantaloon." He engaged to some extent in the practice of his profession, in its higher departments, and won notable triumphs. The demands upon him for all sorts of public occasions were incessant; wherever there was a worthy cause to advocate, a philan thropy to support, a festivity to enliven, he was sought out as the shining ornament of the occasion. And he gave freely of his best. He entered upon a new phase of his career, and until his death was pre-eminently the conspicuous figure in the public life of New York, He was a remarkable example of an old age filled with living interest, and unquench able zeal, in all that pertained to worthy causes. Hence, the latest years were among the most useful of his life. Free from the cares of an exacting pro fession, he could devote his time and, better still, his wisdom and experience, to whatever might con duce to the welfare of his fellowmen, not merely as a philanthropist but as "a citizen of no mean city," In fact, he was often alluded to as "our first citi zen," But this aroused his wit at a Commencement luncheon at Columbia University in June, 1916, When referred to as such it called forth this humor ous response: "Your President, accidentally, I think, dropped, at the end of his address to me, two words that I didn't at first understand. He said something about 'A first citizen,' He must have spoken in a Shakesperean sense, for you know this is a Shakesperean year, the three hundredth THE NEW YORKER 95 anniversary, I believe, of Shakespeare's death, and President Butler is a wonderful Shakesperean scholar, and he was thinking of Shakespeare at that moment. You remember that in many of the plays of Shakespeare citizens are introduced as a decora tion, or fringe, to embellish the stage, and they are numbered First Citizen, Second Citizen, Third Citi zen, and, in every case, neither of them has much to say, and doesn't say that very well, but they were all equally good, one as good as another, and they might just as well have exchanged numbers, and nobody would have known the difference." When he concluded the chairman said, "Mr. Choate, we thank you from the bottom of our heart, we will take you to our bosom, and will hold you there during the rest of our lives." To which, Mr. Choate, looking at the graduates of Barnard Col lege, wittily remarked: "I hope the graduates of Barnard College will join you in that." But, on the whole, this new phase of his career was char acterized, I think, by a somewhat more subdued and serious tone than that of earlier days. There was brilliancy, of course, and a genial play of wit and humor, but there was less exuberance of his fun- making power than formerly. He had, I think, come to regard his wit as, in a sense, a misfortune, be cause whenever he spoke his audience expected a laugh. Indeed, he said as much, regretting that he had allowed himself to indulge his wit, because it interfered with seriousness when he meant to be serious. None of his addresses, with a few excep- 96 JOSEPH H, CHOATE tions, during his last twelve years were as formal as those in his two volumes of addresses. Most of them were informal, but were characterized by greater seriousness and dignity than those of earlier years. Nor could they well have been other wise, for they were connected with philanthropies, and important public questions, to a considerable extent, while during the last three years they re lated, more particularly, to various conditions arising out of the war. The scope of his activities will furnish an indi cation of the directions in which he bestowed his gift of eloquence as well as of personal advice. I have already referred to his interest in the cause of the blind, and he seemed never weary of acting as their advocate, whenever opportunity presented it self. It appeared to be a favorite philanthropy of his, and he ably and efficiently supported Miss Winifred Holt in her zealous efforts in their behalf. There were also associations connected with his profession in which he had borne a conspicuous part, such as the New York Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers' Asso ciation, of all of which he had been President; the New England Society, the American Museum of Natural History, the State Charities Aid Associa tion, of which he was President for many years, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which he helped organize, and last, but not least, the Century Association, which honored him, upon the death of THE NEW YORKER 97 Hon. John Bigelow, with election to its presidency, much to his gratification, in which position he was serving at the time of his death. He had been a member of the Century since 1858, having been elected to membership at the early age of twenty- six. Within its precincts he had found his most delightful companionship, entering into its festivi ties with zeal, and contributing, in informal addresses, filled with characteristic wit, to the pleasure of its members. Notwithstanding his ad vanced years, he attended, with remarkable regu larity, its monthly meetings, greatly to their exUiven- ment. One of his most recent addresses was de livered at one of these monthly meetings, of which unfortunately no record was made, giving reminiscences of life at the Century in former days. I heard him once put the matter of ad journment in a droll way. Rising with dignity, as if to call for a motion to adjourn, he exclaimed, "All those in favor of adjourning will now adjourn." It so happened that at the Twelfth Night Revel, at the Century, in 1898, having just been appointed Ambassador at the Court of St. James, he of ficiated on that occasion as the King of the Revel, Se was seated upon a dais with his jesters on either hand, who were Judge Howland and his partner, Mr, Charles C, Beaman, He was clothed in the robes of a King, and his fellow members appeared in fancy-dress costumes of various descriptions, from that of the dignified Cardinal down to the 98 JOSEPH H, CHOATE ballet dancer, while knights, courtiers and aU sorts of characters, grave and gay, were in the throng. All were expected to present themselves, and make obeisance, to the King. With no idea of assuming a character having relation to his recent appoint ment, I had arranged with a fellow member to join him in appearing there, he as Brother Jonathan, and I as John Bull. Each of us had very char acteristic costumes. As we were proceeding toward the King, some distance away, my costume caught the King's eye, and, with a welcoming smile, he rose from his throne, and with outstretched hands approached me with the salutation, "Welcome, John Bull." No better evidence could be presented of the respect and honor in which he was held in his capacity as a diplomat, worthy to represent his Government in affairs of the utmost importance, than his selection by our Government as the head of the delegation from the United States to the Peace Conference at The Hague in 1907. In that capacity his personal fame and commanding ability marked him out as a prominent figure in the Confer ence, and his addresses were regarded as among the most powerful delivered. He attracted much at tention, and among the descriptions given of him in the foreign press he enjoyed, more than any other, that of Compte de Saint Maurice, the political editor of Gil Bias, who said of him: "He is the enfant terrible of the Conference. He seems aware, neither of the grandeur of the mission intrusted to Judge Howland Mr. Choate The King and His Jesters Mr. Beaman THE NEW YORKER 99 the delegates, nor of the personal majesty of their excellencies. He is barely a diplomat. He it is who, with an air of innocence, inserts into a discussion a few cold words which effectively shatter the grandiloquent bubbles of his colleagues. He it is who unsmilingly emphasizes some imposing pueril ity. It is he, always he, whose brief logic brings back to earth again discussions which have drifted into the pacific ether. What superb balloons he has thus pricked. What pretentious aeronauts has he brought to earthly realities," But another event which to him was of supreme interest was the celebration in October, 1911, of the golden wedding of Mr, and Mrs, Choate at "Naum- keag," their home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, surrounded by more than a thousand friends, some of them from far distant places, a few of whom had attended the wedding fifty years before. It is said that his address on that occasion was of the most piquant and playful description. He gave an ac count of his meeting with Mrs, Choate which came about through the invitation of a friend to visit a young lady in Amenia, New York, for whom the friend professed a somewhat more than kindly regard, Mr, Choate went and was evidently con quered, for on his return to New York he concluded that his next visit would be for himself, and not for his friend. Therefore, on the fourth of July, 1861, he declined the invitation of other friends to visit them on that day, because he had decided, notwith standing Independence Day, to surrender absolutely 100 JOSEPH H. CHOATE and unqualifiedly. He made a speech, the most diffi cult, he said, in his life, notwithstanding its brevity, offering to surrender the citadel of his affections and, said he, "on that Independence Day, I sur rendered my independence." During the last three years of his life his mind was almost completely absorbed in the war. He found little room for anything else. It called out his patriotic impulses, in which there was none of the conservatism or timidity of old age ; he was full of youthful ardor. From the day Belgium was in vaded, he was outspoken in denunciation of that atrocity; he declined to be neutral; he proclaimed himself as heart and soul with the Allies; he was in favor of prompt preparation and immediate ac tion. From that time on, his voice was heard, loud and strong, everywhere and on all occasions, in favor of giving all possible aid to the Allies. He believed that, sooner or later, this country would be drawn into the war. He advocated as forcibly and energetically as possible the duty of this coun try to prepare for the struggle. He rebuked supine ness and delay, insistently urging that we go forward. In a stirring address at a meeting of the Union League Club, he expressed himself with re markable energy. He said in part : "I never agree to speak in public that I am not always very sorry that I promised to do so. But I could not resist this appeal, for it seems to me to be an appeal to come to the rescue of our country THE NEW YORKER 101 in the hour of her deadliest peril. If the words that I shall utter to you to-night shall be my last I shall feel that I have breathed them in the actual service of my country. "Few of us are old enough to remember the foundation pi the Union League Club in which we are now assembled. I can recall its earliest days, and I know that it was established at a time not unlike this, and accomplished a mighty purpose in carrying out the wishes of its founders. Why, New York was not an American city; it was a foreign city. It was a Copperhead city. Copperheads sprang up everywhere, and their sentiments mightily prevailed. "When a few public-spirited and able citizens gathered together to see what could be done in the way of reforming the city and of coming, in their turn, to the rescue of their country, it was the darkest period of our Civil War. Defeat had fol lowed defeat, and it was only hope that maintained the courage of our citizens and of our great Presi dent at Washington. I am often asked to-day. What can we do; what can we mere citizens do, when our Government is doing nothing or doing so little; what can we do for our country? Let me tell you what they did. They did what the last sentence of the report read by Mr. Bacon said — 'It is arousing a national spirit in our citizens which shall inspire them to pledge themselves whole heartedly to the task of getting ready that the Union League can render to the country service as 102 JOSEPH H, CHOATE useful and effective as it rendered during the Civil War,' "By the founding of this club, and the appeals of its members in public and in private, the whole sentiment of the city was changed, or rather, the loyal sentiment overrode and suppressed the dis loyal sentiment that had previously prevailed. They raised and equipped two regiments for the service of their country, which immediately entered into that service. And when I look on these walls and see their portraits. Captain Charles Marshgill and Jackson S, Schultz and John Jay, I wish they were here to-night to inspire this city as they roused the city in those days, "Now, whatever the Government does, we can at least do that, I understand from the resolutions that we are already engaged in a state of war, I don't care whether you call it war, or, as Lord Salisbury once called it, 'A sort of a war,' or a state of war, or armed neutrality. When it takes the shape of allowing Germany to sink our ships and murder our citizens, it does not matter what you call it, it is time for the people of the United States to rise in arms and assert their rights, "This city is not half awake to the perils that encompass it. Go up and down the streets and avenues of this city, and by day and night you will see people devoted to pleasure, to their ordinary pursuits, tp enjoyment and luxury without limit. They have got to find out what is the matter. They have got to learn that we are in a moment of deadly THE NEW YORKER 103 peril, that we are, as the President said two months ago, 'On the brink of war,' Well, we can't stay on the brink forever — we have tumbled in, that is what has happened, we have fallen in. The President may still be on the brink, but the rest of the people are not. "I was talking the other day with a very dis tinguished Frenchman, He recognized, and nobody can deny it, the lack of preparation in which we find ourselves — unpreparedness, to use a very long word, 'But,' said he, 'if a single brigade, a single division, of American troops appeared on the other side of the water, and took their stand by the side of the French Army or the British Army, it would infuse such new life into all the combatants on the side of the Allies that victory would be immediately assured.' That was the great leader of thought and philosophy for all Europe, and America, too — I refer to Professor Henri Bergson. "Now, I want to say a few words about this war that are not in the resolutions. If we are going into war, if we are in war now, I do not want it to be limited to a few submarines, and here and there a ship sunk. I want it to be spread over a much broader and wider ground, and to grow upon deeper and grander principles than even the defense of our own property. "This war has been from the beginning a contest for freedom, for justice, for civilization, in which we are as much interested as the Allies themselves. I recognized the fact from the beginning that they 104 JOSEPH H. CHOATE were fighting our battle; while we lingered on in this state of stupid unpreparedness they were ac tually sacrificing all their resources, all for the principle of maintaining the right of each Govem ment to maintain its own independence. So I have always thought that if the time came when, by going into the war bang up, with all our might, we could put an end to it in the right way, in the triumph of the Allies, it was the duty of this country to do it. And I believe that the time has now come when by going in, even with the little preparation that we have yet made, we can pass such a balance in favor of the Allies that, very speedily, a final victory is assured. "We can certainly help them a great deal. They won't expect armies to march over there. But I hope that a brigade, that a division will go, and I guess it will. And we can help them in what they sorely need. We can help them to finance the conclusion of this war ; and I shall be ashamed of America, of its bankers and manufacturers and merchants and lawyers and doctors and ministers if they don't all rally to that proposition. "We think we have done a great deal already. We have. We have sold them a great many goods at excellent prices. We have loaned them a great deal of money at a considerable rate of interest ; but I say that every American, and all America, could afford to spend the entire income of one entire year to bring this war to the end that it ought to come to," THE NEW YORKER 105 He grew restive and impatient under the deliber- ateness and seeming delay of the Administration. He at times indulged in rather severe criticism of the hesitation to act, but he was by no means a pessimist. He was always patriotic and, although his opinion in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war led him to be somewhat critical, he was always an optimist, and not only supported the Administration heartily, but generously acknowl edged his mistaken criticism in the light of subse quent events. For instance, in a speech referring to the course of the Administration in Mexican affairs, he said : "Well, what is the most stirring question to-day that agitates the hearts of the American people? Its name has been mentioned several times, but it really is Mexico. What are we going to do with Mexico, or what is Mexico going to do with us? I should like very much to discuss the question of the policy of the United States of America in regard to Mexico. I think I could occupy the whole evening with that, if I only knew what that policy was. [Laughter.] At best, there is only one man who knows what that policy is, and he very wisely keeps his own counsel and won't tell. And I am not sure that even he knows. [Renewed laughter.] I am not sure that we are not all drifting, with him at our head, from day to day, and even from hour to hour, waiting, waiting, like Micawber, to see what may turn up. 106 JOSEPH H, CHOATE "It is a very trying situation; it is a very danger ous situation; but one thing I know, and for one thing I appeal to the heart and head of every gentleman present in this chamber to-night, that in this trying situation there is but one duty for all of us, and that is to stand by the President of the United States, [Applause,] "You may call it diplomatic business; you may call it Executive business, but it is fair to assume that the President is in possession of information vastly superior to that which even all of the members of the Chamber of Commerce of the State possess. He knows what he is talking about. He knows what he is aiming at. One thing we are sure of, that he is for peace; that he is for preserving peace at all hazards, and that by no act of his shall this nation be plunged into a destructive and a dreadful war, [Applause,] He is entitled to that from us without regard to creeds. We must stand by our President through thick and through thin, and we shall come out right in the end." At the annual luncheon of the members of the Associated Press on April 24, 1917, his address on that occasion affords an excellent illustration of his warlike spirit, and of his magnanimity in ac knowledging unjust criticism. He began by saying that he was afraid, for a long time, that we should not get into the war at all, because he believed from the day of the entrance of the Germans into Bel gium, and their trampling upon all human rights, THE NEW YORKER 107 their breaking of treaties and of pledges, that we ought to have gone in then, and continued as follows : "But there was something higher and grander, it seems, that we were waiting for, and it has come at last. I believe that the spirit of Abra ham Lincoln has led us into this war. [Applause.] . "I have tried to find a key and a solution of it, and I find it all in that two-minute address that Lincoln delivered at Gettysburg which is now to be applied and is to have a world-wide application, instead of to our own nation, as he used them. You remember what he said : ' The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we do here.' How unconscious he was of his own immortality ! "And then he went on to express the hope that out of the blood of those who had given their lives for their country this nation should have a new birth of freedom. And it got it. "When slavery disappeared and the new birth of freedom came, the United States entered upon a career of prosperity and nobility such as it had never dreamed of before. And then he concluded with those words which your President has already quoted and which every speaker everywhere during this war, I believe, will quote. You remember them all — that 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.' "Now what do we have? If Lincoln were here 108 JOSEPH H. CHOATE to-day, his prayer would be verified and glorified into the prayer that all civilized nations shall now have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from any portion of the earth. "I think it is not difficult to understand what this war is. It is a war for the preservation of free government throughout the civilized world. And I believe that I may include in that not only free governments of the allied nations and the neutral nations, but of Germany itself, "The truth is that this war upon which we have entered is not going to be any child's play. We all know that. The only way to fight is to fight, and we have not begun that yet. One thing we have already done, and it shows that our entrance into this war has united the whole American people. This great money bill that was passed, very largely for the benefit of our Allies, by unanimous vote, as I understand it, of both houses of Congress, shows that all the people of America are of one mind and are agreed that there is to be no back sliding, no hiding behind any cover, but that we are prepared and determined to face the music and to make whatever sacrifices may be necessary to secure that lasting victory that alone can make certain an enduring peace, "Then there are all those other bills which the Government has presented, as I think so wisely, and with such forethought, that last one of which is under discussion to-day, and which we are assured THE NEW YORKER 109 will pass by the vote of both houses of Congress on Friday, for universal enrollment of all men capable of bearing arms, I do not call it a con scription bill, I think that name has been un happily applied. The Government ought to know where the men are who are capable of bearing arms, what their ages are, and what their addresses are; and the President ought to know when the time comes — and we can trust him for that — what men are fit to go to the front, "We are very much honored by the presence in this country of these two wonderful commissions from these two great countries. The presence of Mr, Balfour here alone is a wonderful demonstra tion of the good-will of Great Britain toward us. And then there are Viviani and Joffre, two of France's greatest men, I noticed that when the flashlight was cast upon the tricolor there was more enthusiasm and ardent applause among you than at any other demonstration that has been made here this afternoon. But suppose they could appear in New York and receive the greetings of the people of this great city — what a thunder of applause would roll across the ocean, reporting to their countrymen abroad how enthusiastically they were received here by us, "Now before I sit down let me say a word about our great President, for he is entitled at every step to the applause and support of every American citizen, man, woman and child, and I believe he has it. [Loud applause,] 110 JOSEPH H, CHOATE "Some of us in the past have criticized the Presi dent, Some of us long hesitated and doubted ; some of us thought that watchful waiting would never cease. But now we see what the President was waiting for." A notable event in his life, and the one which proved to be responsible for his death, was that which began with his appointment by the Mayor as Chairman of the Committee of Citizens to receive the French and British Commissioners, on their visit to the United States, The duties which de volved upon him in that position proved too great a strain upon his vitality. His appointment, by the Mayor, was a recognition of the public estima tion in which he was held as the "Grand Old Man" of New York, He had just passed his eighty-fifth birthday, and his physical condition was such that he could not safely undertake the severe strain which awaited him. It was fortunate for him, it was fortunate for the city, that he was equal to the discharge of his official duties until they came to an end. How well he discharged these duties is not only familiar to all those who saw and heard him, but has now become a matter of history. He was, in himself, the equal, in point of interest, to the distinguished visitors, and his words of welcome, perfectly simple, entirely unaffected, and thoroughly appropriate to the occasion, were char acteristic of his good taste, excellent judgment, and ability to express the prevailing sentiment. As I THE NEW YORKER 111 stood amid the throng in the Aldermanic Chamber in the City Hall, and listened to his speech at the reception of the French Commission, I could not fail to be impressed with the republican simplicity of the occasion, in its freedom from all extraneous display, as his venerable figure presented itself, and gave utterance to his words of welcome. Surely the same impression must have been made upon those to whom he addressed them. Mr, Choate said : "Mr, President, Marshal Joffre, and Gentlemen of Your Associates : I deem it a very proud honor to be the spokesman of this great committee, that stands for all the people of the city of New York, Fifteen minutes ago you landed on the very spot where in 1824, on his last visit to America, La fayette himself landed. It is impossible to express in words how much America owes to France. We had our days that tried men's souls in our original struggle for independence, when Lafayette and Eochambeau came over to the assistance of Wash ington, We had our most trying hours, and Washington himself, with his little worn-out army at VaUey Forge, hatless, shoeless, coatless, almost breadless, presented the most touching picture, as I think, in all American history. It was just at that time that Lafayette came to his assistance, and with those two heroes by his side Washington won the great and final battle of Yorktown, which established the independence of the United States. 112 JOSEPH H. CHOATE "But what we go so far back in history to recall is, in my judgment, nothing, comparatively nothing, to the great service which France has rendered to America during the last two years and nine months. You have been fighting our battles every day. And it is true that at this moment the sons of France are pouring out their blood like water that we and the other free nations of the earth may enjoy liberty forevermore. "I do not know that it is proper for me on this occasion to make any promises. The Mayor has told you what we expect to do. Our Chief Magis trate at Washington has uttered recently, in a docu ment addressed to Congress, the purpose of the United States to maintain the conflict on which we have entered as your allies, and to conquer, in his own language, submarines or no submarines, and we mean to do it. "It is true that we are not used to war. We have hardly yet begun to get ready ; but I believe, in men, in resources, in munitions, in all the equipment for war, we can before long be ready; and for one I shall be disappointed, be much disappointed, if within a few months there is not a solid company, a division at least, of American troops waving the Stars and Stripes, led by competent commanders, crossing the Atlantic to take their stand by the side of Great Britain and France in this great war. "You have come, gentlemen, to show us the way, to show us how to do it, to show us how to get ready, and there is no better representation of the THE NEW YORKER 113 great nation from which you come than you, your selves, by the achievements that you have already done. I believe that there are fifteen millions of men of the right age for warfare among our hun dred millions of people. I believe that we have unbounded resources to sustain our Allies to the end of the war, and I believe from what I have seen this very day, in the last half mile from the Battery to the City Hall, the people of New York undoubtedly represent the whole people of the nation, all of one accord, shouting triumph, wel come, honor to France. "I believe that the people of the United States are ready with your people to shed the last drop of their blood, if it be necessary, to spend their last dollar if it be necessary, to spend their last man in order to achieve that victory we confidently expect." On the following day the scene was again re peated, but with Mr. Balfour and his associates of the British Commission in the places occupied by Marshal Joffre, M. Viviani and their associates of the French Commission. It was, indeed, a graceful act of Mr. Balfour to descend from the platform to which he had been conducted and grasp the hand of Mr. Choate, as an old friend, after which he resumed his place, and again Mr. Choate gave expression to the welcome of the citizens of New York to the British Commission in the following words : 114 JOSEPH H. CHOATE "Mr. Mayor, Mr. Balfour, Your Excellency, and Gentlemen of the Commission: During the six happy years that I spent in England, when I was sent abroad for the good of my country, I remem ber that from first to last, in every emergency that arose, you, Mr. Balfour, stood like a rock of friend ship between England and the United States. And in all that long public career, with which you have illustrated the history of your country and of the world, it was to you that we were constantly in debted for untiring and abiding friendship to the United States. When we entered into a war, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of emancipating a struggling little nation, the smallest, I believe, of all the nations, we were indebted to the British Gov ernment, over which you had a controlling hand, that no interference was allowed between us and the objects of our efforts. "It has always been the ambition and the hope of the people of the city of New York, whom I have the honor to represent for a few minutes now, that this friendship between our two countries might be perpetual and never disturbed. We were just be ginning to celebrate the completion of an entire century of absolute peace between England and the United States when this horrible war that is now upon us broke out. We are disused from war. We do not exactly know how to carry on war, ac cording to the modern methods, and it is our greatest delight that you have come with your able body of experts that accompany you to show us THE NEW YORKER 115 how to enter into the war, to show us what to do, and especially what not to do. I am sure we can rely upon your constant advice for that. "We hesitated, we doubted, we hung back, not from any lack of sympathy, not from any lack of enthusiasm, not because we did not know what was the right path; but how to take it, and when to take it, was always the question. I feared at one time that we might enter into it for some selfish purpose, for the punishment of aggressions against our individual, national, personal rights, for the destruction of American ships or of a few American lives, ample ground for war; but we waited, and it turns out that we waited wisely, because we were able at last to enter into this great contest, this great contest of the whole world, for noble and lofty purposes, such as never attracted nations be fore. We are entering into it under your lead, sir, for the purpose of the vindication of human rights, for the vindication of free government throughout the world, for the establishment of, by and by, soon, we hope, late it may be, of a peace which shall endure, and not a peace that shall be no peace at all. Fortunately, we have now no room for choice. Under the guidance of the President of our choice, at Washington, we stand pledged now before all the world, to all the Allies whom we have joined, to carry into this contest all that we have, all that we hope for, and all that we ever aspire unto. We shall be in time to take part in that peace which shall forever stand, and prevent any more such 116 JOSEPH H. CHOATE national outrages as commenced this war, and have continued it on the side of Germany. Already we have been only thirty days in the war, and it has had a marvelous effect upon our own people. Be fore that there was apathy, there was indifference, there was indulgence in personal pursuits, in per sonal prosperity; but to-day every young man in America, and every old man, too, is asking, what can I do best to serve my country? Mr. Balfour, during your brief stay among us, you will be able to answer that question. ' ' At a dinner at the close of these festivities, Mr. Choate again spoke, endeavoring to impress the duty of enthusiastic support of the Allies, and energetic action in maintaining their cause. On this occasion he expressed very freely his sentiments regarding the army which Colonel Roosevelt pro posed to enlist and lead to France. He said : "Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen: When I survey these galleries, one above the other, and behold what celestial happiness has prevailed there for the last hour, and what earthly happiness has prevailed on the floor below, I made up my mind that there is nothing that women love better than to see the lions feed — until the time comes to hear them roar. "Now that we have fairly embarked in this war, following the lead of those dear Allies of ours. Great Britain, our beloved mother country, and France, THE NEW YORKER 117 our dear, delightful, bewitching, fascinating, hyp notizing sister, there can be no such word as fail. We are in for victory, which must be won together. Why, we have only been at war for thirty days, and see what a change has come over the young men of America, I feel it myself, being young, "I feel inspired with the soul of our dear old Admiral Farragut, You remember when he was making his toilsome way up the Bay of Mobile, lashed in the rigging of the Hartford, the Brooklyn, that was before him, stopped for a moment, as if to throw the whole line out of order, and the Admiral shouted through his trumpet, 'What's the trouble there?' The answer came back, 'Torpedoes,' The Admiral immediately replied, 'Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead,' and he went full speed ahead. He suffered some from the torpedoes but he reached the bay, "Now we are impetuous youths, full of the spirit of early manhood. We want to do something at once; and yesterday, when I ventured to say that we shall call upon our authorities at Washington to hurry up, M, Viviani, I noticed, answered me by saying that he did not see it. So impetuous youth must wait. We have to wait a little while for them. Then I could never see — it was my youthful ardor, because I looked upon it in the boyish spirit — I could not see why a man who had already served his country so nobly and so wisely that his fame had reached the uttermost corners of the earth, and was identified with the name of 118 JOSEPH H, CHOATE America, when he proposed to offer to his country a division of 20,000 soldiers all prepared to cross and take their places by the side of their brethren in France or even Great Britain, why he should not have been allowed to go, I think that if he was willing to take the risk of it we might. But there again a wiser body than any of us, an immortal body, not possessed so much of soul as of immor tality — there Congress stepped in and held me, and Roosevelt, back. So we are here to-night to address you; although we have got a great deal to leam, and happily for us England has sent her wisest and her best, and France has sent her noblest and her proudest to teach us how, "They will show us the way which we want to follow. They will show us how to do it and how not to do it, and following their lead we shall come to that great and last and final victory which will secure us a peace that will never end, "Why has America entered this war? What had she to gain by it? Far removed from the scenes of carnage, her youth untouched, her manhood, and her womanhood undisturbed, a few of her vessels sunk, a few lives lost — ample cause for war, but we waited — we were not ready. We are not very ready now, but by and by America will leam. America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf, America has learned what this war is about, what it is for— that it is for the establishment of freedom against slavery, for the vindication of free govemment against tyranny and oppression THE NEW YORKER 119 and autocracy and all the other horrible names that you can apply to misgovernment. When it came to that there was but one question for America, and our President at Washington has solved it for us. Nobody can tell how far he saw ahead any more than we at this moment can tell how far we can see ahead. "But he solved it for us by calling upon Con gress to declare war. They have declared war upon the Imperial Government of Germany and Congress has placed in our hands all the power, all the privileges that President Abraham Lincoln in the midst of our Civil War ever possessed. So that is one way out of it. We are to go on to victory, and that victory, I believe, will be hastened, not only twofold, but tenfold by the fact of our enter ing into the contest. "That I hope that we can do for these war-worn Allies of ours. How they have suffered. How they have toiled. What horrible sacrifices they have submitted to. Their own homes have been deci mated, their firesides made unhappy, their youths slaughtered, and they themselves are suffering extreme agony, as I believe, while we have gone on indulging in luxuries, increasing our wealth, think ing that no harm could ever come to us ; that no guns could ever be forged big enough to reach our homes. And we began to hang our heads in shame, until the President gave the final order that we must go and help them with all the might we can. For the first time, after two years and a half, I was able to 120 JOSEPH H. CHOATE hold up my head as high as the weight of eighty- five years would allow. "And I believe that is true of every man here. I believe it is true of the husbands and brothers and sons of every woman here. Now, we have got a great opportunity. No country ever had so great an opportunity as we have got. No man was ever prouder than I am, as a citizen of this country, that an opportunity has at last been seized upon and we are there side by side with Balfour and Viviani and Joffre and all those great men, those great and distinguished men, whom we have here seeking to honor." During these four days of entertainment he was engaged from morning until late at night in at tending from two to four formal functions, and others less formal, and these gave him almost no time for rest. Long automobile journeys, up and down town, amid applauding throngs, escorting the visitors up the flights of steps to and from the place of assemblage in the City Hall, and at Columbia University, making speeches of welcome at all formal functions, he was undertaking duties beyond the physical ability of a man of eighty-five. He was introduced by the Mayor as New York's fore most, and most beloved, citizen. When he spoke his voice was clear and his manner vigorous. He told his friends that he was at last happy, after three years of depression, happy that we entered the fight against barbarism, and his speeches rang THE NEW YORKER 121 with warlike spirit. How much Mr. Choate, in these last days, contributed to the formation of patriotic sentiment in the minds of New Yorkers, and a whole-hearted and enthusiastic support of the cause of the Allies, can never be overestimated. On the last night of Mr. Balfour's visit, Mr. Choate invited Mr. Balfour, Dr. Bergson, Dr. Butler and a few other friends, to his home, after the last public function. During the evening he asked his friends to gather around him and discuss a topic he had in mind. Those present expected that it would concem, perhaps, our international relations, or the division of territory after the war, or some other subject intimately connected with the war. But, contrary to expectations, Mr. Choate said that he would like to discuss for a while the immor tality of the soul. For about an hour these dis tinguished men conferred on this subject, which was so soon to become to him a reality. On Sunday he attended service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with Mr. Balfour. After service Mr. Choate and Mr. Balfour bade each other farewell, never to meet on this earth again. His parting words to Mr. Balfour were: "Good-by; remember, we shall meet again to celebrate the victory." On May 13th Mr. Choate, evidently very ill, said to his wife and daughter, who were at his bedside: "I am feeling very ill; I believe this is the end," and soon after passed away. New York has, fortunately, been rich in citizens who, by their natural gifts, intellectual attainments 122 JOSEPH H. CHOATE and public achievements, have added to its glory. But, among them all, none, I venture to say, has been, like Mr. Choate, upon the scene, in the lime light of publicity for half a century, and shone with greater brilliancy, or bestowed on New York and New Yorkers, in so many different directions, more delightful entertainment, and more valuable service. On the roll of New York's most famous citizens, none will have a higher place than Joseph H. Choate. It is frequently said that Mr. Choate 's life was fortunate. This is perfectly true, but if it is in tended to convey the idea that this good fortune was fortuitous or accidental, I do not think it would be correct. On the contrary, he worked out his good fortune by the use of a combination of qualities which enabled him to pursue his profession with industry and perseverance; to take an optimistic view of things; to co-operate harmoniously with others, and to surmount obstacles seemingly in surmountable. There was no "royal road" for him; he traveled the well-worn highway of every day life and succeeded where others failed. But, if he was fortunate in his life, he was no less fortunate in its termination. Forty days earlier death would have robbed him of the crown ing service of his career; his last days were a culmination of patriotic service, filled with noble enthusiasm for a world-wide democracy, and the destruction of military autocracy. No flabby pacifist was he, but a crusader in pursuit of Liberty, THE NEW YORKER 123 of Law, of Humanity, of Popular Rights, of Civi lization. He gave all that was left of life in a struggle with the best weapons heaven had fur nished him — fervid appeal, convincing logic, mov ing eloquence — to inspire his countrymen with a lofty enthusiasm for these high ideals. No one has rendered nobler service. He knew he faced death in rendering it. And, as amid a vast applauding throng in Car negie Hall, he listened to the recital of the inspiring "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and Mr. Balfour's pledge of unity of purpose, he must have felt as if he, too, had seen "The glory of the eoming of the Lord." And when, after his interchange of views with his friends on the "immortality of the soul" he bade Mr. Balfour "Good-by; remember, we shall meet again to celebrate the victory," it was no mournful parting, but with the eye of faith he looked forward to a victorious outcome, and a jojrful reunion. "Say not, good-night, but, in some happier clime, Bid me, good morning." Ill THE LAWYER ni THE LAWYER When Mr. Choate, more than fifty years ago, ap peared at the Bar of New York, the lawyers of distinction won renown by eloquence before juries, and compelling reason before appellate tribunals. Their professional life was spent mostly in the Courts, and to a small extent in their offices. Courts were the avenues to pecuniary success and pro fessional eminence. Lawyers of leaming and ability found opportunity there to display their power, and win their reputations. From their ranks the bench was filled with able judges, and our legislative haUs with distinguished statesmen. The great Court lawyer has well-nigh disappeared from the Bar of New York. It may not be true of other localities, but in commercial centers, where corporate and financial interests congregate, com paratively few eminent Court lawyers are to be found. The gradual development of present-day conditions has been unfavorable to their production, and is responsible for their disappearance. The successful lawyer is, at present, viewed from the standpoint of commercial shrewdness and a large professional income. The measure of his pro fessional worth is his dollar-producing value. If 137 128 JOSEPH H. CHOATE this is the criterion of success, the business lawyer is undoubtedly successful, but he is not the great lawyer. His reward is pecuniary; that of his brother in the Courts is found in the estimation of his professional ability and skill by his brethren of the Bar, and an appreciative public. The business of the Court lawyer calls for intellectual capacity of a high order, developed by assiduous study of the law as a science, and by literary culture. That of the business lawyer is, to a large extent, commercial. He never draws a pleading, nor prepares a case for trial, nor tries a case, nor argues an appeal, and, quite likely, is never seen inside a courtroom. He is occupied with commercial interests, incorpora tions, consolidations, receiverships, insolvencies and reorganizations. The Courts are deserted for busi ness activity — resulting in a deterioration of Bench and Bar. Visitors to Courts where jury cases are tried will, at the present day, rarely find among the counsel leaders of the Bar, but juniors, whose seniors are occupied with more profitable business connected with commercial and financial enterprise. The same may be said of our appellate tribunals, where cases are seldom argued by lawyers of com manding position. The tendency, in recent times, is to graduate from the Court to the more lucrative business of the office, while formerly the lawyer seeking the "bubble reputation," graduated from the drudgery of the office to the more conspicuous activity of the Courts, This remarkable change has been brought about by modern business methods. THE LAWYER 129 growth of corporate interests, enlarged fields of commercial enterprise and various channels for the employment of capital. Of course, there are now, and always will be, large opportunities in the Courts for lawyers of ability and high legal attainments; but it is doubtful whether such distinguished practi tioners as graced our Courts up to the latter part of the last century will be found there in the future. From the time I first saw Mr. Choate, in 1870, down to his retirement from the Bar to enter upon the duties of Ambassador at the Court of St. James, he was essentially and, indeed, exclusively a Court lawyer. His triumphs were forensic. He was con stantly before juries or appellate tribunals. Other departments of professional life seemed to have no attraction for him. Probably he never had any aspiration to succeed other than as a great advocate. His wonderful success as such is well recognized. Certainly none of the temptations or allurements of commercial or corporate activity were able to draw him away from the halls of justice. All his training was in the direction of the Court lawyer, not the least valuable of which was his association with William M. Evarts, during which he was con stantly at his side. Upon the retirement of Mr, Evarts the cloak of Elijah naturally fell upon the shoulders of Elisha, He is a striking instance of the achievement of rare success, and professional renown, by skillful advocacy before Courts and juries. 130 JOSEPH H. CHOATE In his address at the dinner given to him by the Bench and Bar of England at Lincoln's Inn April 14, 1905, he alludes to this : "I will confess that from the beginning to the end of my forty-four years at the Bar, I loved the profession with all the ardor and intensity that that jealous mistress, the law, could ever exact, and so always tried to pay back the debt which, as Lord Bacon says, 'all owe to the profession that honors us.' . . .1 started in life with a belief that our profession in its highest walks afforded the best employment in which any man could engage, and I am of the same opinion still. Until I became an Ambassador and entered the terra incognita of diplomacy, I believed a man could be of greater service to his country and his race in the foremost ranks of the Bar than anywhere else ; and I think so still. To be a priest, and possibly a high priest in the Temple of Justice ; to serve at her altar and aid in her administration; to maintain and defend the inalienable rights of life, liberty and property upon which the safety of society depends; to succor the oppressed and defend the innocent ; to maintain con stitutional rights against all violations, whether executive, by the legislative, by the resistless power of the press, or worst of all by the ruthless rapacity of an unbridled majority; to rescue the scapegoat and restore him to his proper place in the world — all this seemed to me to furnish a field worthy of any man's ambition." How different, and im- William M. Evarts THE LAWYER 131 measurably superior is this to the commercializing spirit that seems to pervade the profession to-day. In his address before the American Bar Associa tion, which will be found in his American Addresses, he plainly showed that he was in love with the law. The law, he said, is a "jealous mistress," and Mr. Choate 's love for this jealous mistress impelled him to permit nothing to interfere with his devotion to her interests. In an address to young men intending to enter the law he gave expression to his sentiments upon this subject. He said: "In the first place, no young man should go into the law unless he is irresistibly attracted by it, unless he is prepared to make of it a profession instead of a trade. Next, he should convince him self that law is not a thing of quibbles and crotchets, but a body of truth as broad and well defined as human right. Next, he should study hard, as it is impossible to get too much knowledge of the subject at the beginning of his career, and finally, he should always be good-natured, honest and persevering, and he should get all the practice he can." On another occasion he said : "I have made it my rule never to neglect a case, no matter how unimportant it may seem. A doctor owes it to the dignity of his profession to treat a cut finger successfully just as he would a fractured skull. The same thing is true of the lawyer^ 132 JOSEPH H. CHOATE although, unfortunately, not all lawyers appreciate the fact." As to what constitutes success he said in au interview : "Success!" said he, keenly catching at the word, "no man is unsuccessful who has plenty to do. So long as one can honestly perform his fair share of the world's work he enjoys the only success it is possible for anybody to achieve. "Money is not necessary, opportunity comes to everyone, but all have not the mind to see. Friends you can do without for a time, good advice we take too late, and popularity usually comes too early or too tardy to be appreciated. The most successful men sometimes have not one of all these early advantages, and it won't bring a man knowledge of the law nor enable him to convince a jury. What he needs is years of close application, the ability to stick until he has mastered the necessary knowl edge. I obtained my knowledge from reading at home, and fighting in the Courts — principally fight ing in the Courts. There was not any good luck about obtaining my first case, unless it was the good luck of having a sign out large enough for the people to see ; the rest was hard work, getting the evidence and the law fixed in my mind. I believe that oppor tunities come to all, not the same opportunities, nor the same kind of opportunities, nor opportunities half so valuable in some cases as in others, but they THE LAWYER 133 do come, and if seen and grasped will work a vast improvement in the life and character of an indi vidual, I have always made the most of good luck and happy accidents. The real struggle to-day is to hold on to every advantage, and strengthen the mind at every important step. There are persons who have learned to endure poverty so well that they do not mind it any longer. The struggle comes in maintaining a purpose through to the end. It is just as difficult to maintain a purpose through riches. Money is not an end, and need is only an incentive Erskine made his greatest speech with his hungry children tugging at his coat tails. That intense feeling that something has got to be done is the thing that works the doing, I have never met a great man who was born rich. Constant labor is happiness, and success simply means ability to do more labor, more deeds far reaching in their power and effect. Such success brings about as much hap piness as the world provides. The man whose great efforts have brought success and with it all the sur roundings of luxury, hosts of friends, applause of all the people, sumptuous repasts and hours of idle ness and ease, is really the one whose life has been a constant refutation of the need of these things. He is the one who has abstained, who has conserved his mental and physical strength, by living a simple and frugal life. He has not taken more than he needed and never, if possible, less. His enjoyment has been in working, and I guarantee that you will find suc cessful men ever to be plain-mannered persons of 134 JOSEPH H. CHOATE simple tastes, to whom sumptuous repasts are a bore, and luxury a thing apart. They may live sur rounded by these things but, personally, take little interest in them, knowing them to be mere trappings which neither add to nor detract from character." In his address before the American Bar Associa tion he expressed his love of the law, of his thorough and enthusiastic belief in his profession, and paid an eloquent tribute to it. Comparing it with other professions he referred to theology as having been formerly considered an immutable science, but having undergone remark able changes from age to age; as to medicine, how its theories had succeeded each other in rapid evolution, so that what were good methods and healing doses, saving prescriptions a generation ago, are now condemned, and all the past is ad judged to be empirical. His love for the law was because, as he expressed it, "among all learned pro fessions it is the only one that involves the study and the pursuit of a careful and exact 'science, which makes void the part where fault is and preserves the rest, as it has been doing for centuries." His lofty conception of the profession and its office bearers could hardly be better expressed than in his words : "So long as the Supreme Court exists to be at-' tacked and defended; so long as the public credit and good faith of this great nation are imperiled; THE LAWYER 135 so long as the right of property which lies at the root of all civil government is scouted, and the three inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pur suit of happiness which the declaration of inde pendence proclaims, and the constitution has guar anteed, are in jeopardy, so long will great public service be demanded of the Bar." If the Bar were called upon to name the most interesting figure among the great Court lawyers of New York, within the past thirty years, a large majority, I believe, would name Joseph H. Choate. He has always been considered one of the finest- looking men of our day, with features classically regular, and a high forehead over which his reddish- brown hair fell carelessly. Until sixty-five, his erect and firm carriage, healthy complexion, curling hair tinged here and there with a suspicion of gray, seemed to belie his age, which appeared to be, at most, not over fifty, and made even those who knew him at all forget that he had been an active factor in the more advanced life of New York, legal, politi cal and social, for over thirty years. In the court room, thoroughly master of himself, he never be trayed embarrassment or lost his self-possession. Cool and imperturbable, in the midst of lively and turbulent proceedings he preserved, throughout, a calm demeanor and serene expression of counte nance. His searching eyes, prominent nose and chin, compressed lips, round shoulders and bushy hair, presented the appearance of an advocate of unusual 136 JOSEPH H. CHOATE character, recognized as such by those who had never seen him before. His skillful management of a difficult case was invariably accompanied by an air of the utmost nonchalance and apparent indif ference to the result. When in the trial of a case, if not on his feet, he would be seated with the chair tilted back, his hands clasped behind his head, or else with his legs stretched out, and his hands in his pockets. He was never excitable ; never ill-tempered ; never appeared to be keyed up to make an effort. Quite likely he would create an impression that he regarded the case as a huge joke ; that instead of having any merit, it was a "make-believe," and his own fun-making power would, more often than not, laugh the case out of Court, To storm or rant was impossible. He argued to the Court or jury in the same quiet, con versational way he would use if he had any one of his listeners in private. A hostile witness was never bullied on cross-examination, but gently led by shrewd and ingenious questions to put the case, be fore he was aware, in precisely the light Mr. Choate desired. It was most interesting to notice his handling of a "smart" witness — the perennial bore of the Courts. Apparently unconscious of the at tempted smartness or evasiveness, he cleverly seized every weak point, following it up by apparently in nocent questions fast upon each other, when the wit ness would suddenly find himself in a corner before he had time to guess what his questioner was after. Standing before judge or jury Mr. Choate was THE LAWYER 137 quite apt to thrust one hand in one of his trousers pockets, or else trifle gently with his watch chain. He would even place one foot upon the rung of a chair. He began speaking as if engaged, apparently in private conversation with an acquaintance, one of the jury. By and by judge and jury and the courtroom throng came to realize that the wonderful charm of his voice, the easy familiarity of speech, the quiet tone, the wit, were controlled by an in visible art whose effect in the making of eloquent speech was most potent. The wonderful fascination of his rhythmic sentences, his powerful diction, sen tence after sentence spoken in the tongue of Shake speare and the English Bible, revealed the fact that a master mind, and a masterly trained mind, was occupied with an attempt to convince Court and jury. Not until his speech was ended, nor after a considerable interval, was the full beauty and force of it realized. He did everything in an apparently easy and careless way, as if it had not cost much of an effort. The nonchalance with which he strolled into Court created an impression that he had not made much preparation; that the favorable result was not by premeditation and study, but on the spur of the moment. Nothing was further from the truth. In preparation he was industrious and painstaking. He was a hard worker. I have heard him dilate on the necessity of hard work to accomplish satisfac tory results. At the farewell banquet given by the Lord Mayor 138 JOSEPH H. CHOATE at the Mansion House, May 5, 1905, he refers to this: "I was brought up," he said, "to believe that work, hard work, was the end and aim of life — that that was what we were placed here for, but on con templating your best examples I have learnt that work is only a means to higher ends, to a more natural life, and the development of our best traits and powers for the benefit of those around us, for getting and giving as much happiness as the life of humanity admits." He gave all his cases thought, study and careful investigation, but there was no outward indication of it. The apparent ease with which he extracted the facts from witnesses, the attractive and delicate play of humor with which he presented them to the jury, were prime factors in securing a favorable result, but they were the outward manifestation of careful preparation. While Mr. Evarts was at the Bar, Mr. Choate was in the background. Mr. Evarts occupied the center of the stage, and was in the limelight. It was not until Mr. Evarts became a member of President Hayes' administration, in 1876, that Mr. Choate took the place Mr. Evarts so long filled. He was then about forty-four years of age. He had been active in the trial of jury cases, but in his profession was little known except as an exceptionally able jury lawyer, who seemed to lack the fundamental legal knowledge essential to THE LAWYER 139 successful advocacy before appellate tribunals on questions of law. Before juries his style was so plain and simple, there was such absence of attempt to produce striking oratorical effects, all was so easy, natural, and quite as a matter of course, that it seemed to jurors very much' as Garrick's acting did to the countryman who responded to an inquiry as to how he liked Garrick's acting, by saying, "Why he did not act at all, he just talked, and went around like any of us; he is no actor." But underneath it there was the well-trained mind of the well-equipped lawyer enabling him through a series of years to cope with the great masters of the law, before the Court of Appeals of New York, and the Supreme Court of the United States, and deal successfully with some of the most important legal problems of our time. As before juries, so before appellate tribunals, he displayed simplicity of style and lan guage, making the matter appear so plain and one sided that it was as if he was explaining to school children something which, to their elders, would re quire no explanation. If an illustration of this in a case of the first importance were needed it would only be necessary to tum to the Income Tax Cases (157 U. S. 429) and read what is evidently a part of his oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States. Before judges, as before juries, he gave the impression that the matter in hand was not at all difficult, that there was really but one side to the case, his side, the justice of the case so self- evident it was hardly worth while to spend very 140 JOSEPH H, CHOATE much time over it. He made this impression, al though always far from saying or doing anything to lead juries and judges to think that he was trying to make it. He never dealt sledge-hammer blows; he was never commonplace; with a jury he was kindly, witty, gracious and familiar, and they felt complimented by his treatment of them. He never quarreled with his adversary, never indulged in wrangling, and won his cases by good-temper, self- control, tactful methods, persuasive humor and ac curate judgment of men. His success before appel late tribunals as before juries was well deserved be cause based on a solid foundation of extraordinary capacity, supplemented by unwearied labor. Conse quently, although without such good fortune as Mr. Evarts enjoyed in cases of national importance, like the Beacher case, the Geneva Arbitration, the Presi dent Johnson impeachment case and some others, he gradually attained to, and completely filled, the place which his great predecessor had occupied, and as an all-round lawyer became leader of the Bar. The only one who could dispute the leadership with him was Mr, Carter, and it was Mr, Choate 's mag nanimity which led him to refer to Mr, Carter as the leader of the Bar, but if a poll of the Bar had been taken as to which was the real leader, I believe it would have shown that it was Mr, Choate. This result would, I think, be the outcome of a general consensus of opinion that in all the qualities of a great Court lawyer manifested before juries and appellate tribunals he was foremost. He was not so THE LAWYER 141 leamed as Mr, Carter, but as an all-round lawyer he was greater. Moreover, he was remarkable for the number of cases he won, frequently against Mr. Carter, while as a winner of cases Mr, Carter was not notable, I know of no one to whom in his oratory I may liken him more than Wendell Phillips, whose style, however, was frigid and lacked humor, but was so beautifully simple, and of such consummate oratorical effect as to charm the listener. In his oratory Mr, Choate used simple words, short sentences, familiar everyday expres sions, nothing strained, forced or unnatural, no oratorical display, weaving into the fabric of his arguments silver threads of sparkling humor, good- tempered raillery and audacious fun, at times, al most appalling. Before Courts he was perfectly independent, never obsequious, and there were times when he could remind judges that they were not above criti cism. This independent spirit was illustrated on an occasion when he indulged in a comment before a judge who, becoming incensed, said from the Bench, "If you say that again I shaU commit you for con tempt," Upon which Mr, Choate replied: "I have said it once, and it is unnecessary to say it again," On another occasion a judge allowed his attention to be diverted from an argument Mr, Choate was making, Mr, Choate stopped, and the judge looked up in surprise, Mr. Choate addressed him: "Your Honor, I have just forty minutes in which to make my final argument. I shall need not only every 142 JOSEPH H. CHOATE second of my time to do it justice, but I shall also need your undivided attention." "And you shall have it," the judge courteously replied. In another case when Mr. Choate asked for the postponement of a trial of an action, until he had finished another trial in which he was engaged: "No," replied the judge, "this case has been kept waiting long enough, the trial must proceed now." "But I cannot leave in the midst of a trial before the Surrogate," expostulated Mr. Choate. "I shall order the trial to proceed at once," exclaimed the judge snappishly. "Your Honor," replied Mr, Choate, speaking slowly and with icy politeness, "undoubtedly has the physical power to order me to proceed with the trial forthwith, but your Honor has not the legal power to order me," The judge flushed with displeasure, but immediately granted an adjournment, A striking instance of his fearless and inde pendent spirit in dealing with the judges was when Recorder Smyth undertook to punish John W, Goff, himself subsequently Recorder, and a Judge of the Supreme Court, for an alleged contempt of Court while defending a prisoner, Mr, Choate volun teered his services in the interest of the protection of the profession in doing whatever may be legiti mately regarded as necessary in the discharge of duty, Mr, Choate, in presenting the case, declared that Mr, Goff had not committed a contempt because his conduct on that particular occasion was not what Recorder Smyth declared it to be, "But," inter- THE LAWYER 143 rupted the Recorder heatedly, "I saw him do it," "Then," replied Mr. Choate quite calmly, "it be comes a question, of course, between your Honor's personal observation, and the observation of a crowd of witnesses who testifled to the contrary. Was your Honor ever conscious," he asked, "of being absolutely convinced, from the very outset of the trial, that a certain person was guilty? If not, then you are more than human. Was your Honor ever conscious, as the trial proceeded, that it was impossible to conceal your opinion? If not, then you are more than human. Well, that has happened in many Courts, and time and again when it does happen, it arouses the aggressive resistance of every advocate who understands his duty; and he would be false to his trust if it did not arouse him." The Recorder was evidently embarrassed, and not at all pleased, but saw that a question of fact was raised by Mr. Choate, and that this question of fact in volved a question of veracity. This manly and in dependent stand in upholding professional inde pendence induced the Recorder to hesitate to pro ceed to extreme measures, and he found a way out of the difficulty, by reading the assemblage of lawyers and others present a homily on the duty of the profession with respect to their conduct in the presence of the Court, and terminated the pro ceedings by taking no further action. In his arguments there was an entire absence of technicality. He never indulged in fine-spun theories, or relied on technicalities. He was broad- 144 JOSEPH H. CHOATE minded; he took a comprehensive view of the law and facts; his appeal was to an innate sense of justice, to reason and intelligence, and he did it in plain, simple, concise and familiar everyday phrases, Mr, Choate 's supremacy as an advocate was due to the lucidity of his mind, which did not have a trace of the pettifogging spirit. He mastered his case, then swept aside the minor details, and tech nical arguments, and directed his attention to the salient points and broad issues. Luminous ex position gained for him the most remarkable triumph of his career — the decision of the United States Supreme Court that taxation of incomes was unconstitutional. Judge Patterson, of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, described him as having so many cases he was sonaetimes obliged to begin an argu ment without opportunity to repossess himself of the facts and line of argument. With a few sen tences of a formal character, at the same time turning over the leaves of his brief, and slowly continuing with unimportant observations, evi dently taking an opportunity to familiarize himself with the case, after a few minutes the points of the case would seem to come back to him, and he would gradually warm up, as he recalled them, and make an argument of really great service to the Court, Before the Supreme Court of the United States he was arguing once, when his opponent interrupted him by saying, "Mr. Choate, you are arguing di- THE LAWYER 145 rectly contrary to what is stated in your brief," to which he wittily retorted, to the great amusement of the Court, "Oh, well, I have learned a great deal about this case since that brief was prepared." It is said that when he presented a case to the United States Supreme Court, where audiences are attracted by the presence of eminent lawyers, the room was almost always packed with listeners. Mrs. Choate happened to be among some lawyers who were speaking "of the other lawyers, when one of them remarked, "then there is Choate who runs on greased wheels all the time." In his practice before the Courts, especially in jury trials, he found a sphere of action entirely congenial and suited exactly to his natural powers. He delighted in forensic contests ; they never palled upon him; they were what he liked best of all things. When he reached an age at which retire ment from active practice might have been expected, he was asked why, after his successful career, he did not retire on his laurels ; his ready response was, that he did not know where so much fun was to be found as trying cases in the Courts. If he got fun out of it, is it not because he put fun into it? We were conversing about litigation in the Courts, and the opportunities for lawyers in that direction, and his final comment was, "I don't think lawyers get so much fun out of it as we used to do." His reply was as innocent of consciousness of his fun-making power as that of Bishop Phillips Brooks was of his attraction as a preacher. When, after preaching to 146 JOSEPH H. CHOATE a crowded audience, in a church of his diocese, which he had been informed was sparsely attended, his comment was that this information must be incor rect for he saw no evidence of it. The versatility he displayed was nowhere more noticeable than in the different branches of the law his large practice involved. Although he undoubt edly had the co-operation of able advisers, notably his two partners, William M. Evarts and Charles F. Southmayd, it would have been impossible for him to master the law and facts of his cases, and win his triumphs without a versatile intellect, capable of appreciating, and assimilating, a great variety of subjects, often involving complicated and difficult questions of business, and abstruse points of law. But this valuable assistance by no means covered his entire career and was confined rather to its earlier stages. He always saw humor in his cases, and if he had indulged all he discovered, it might have proven tiresome, but he had just that tactful appreciation as to how far to go that led him to stop at exactly the right point. With humor as a weapon he was a most formida ble antagonist. Thus armed few could successfully cope with him, and then only with a different sort of weapon. To some, his use of humor was at times exasperating, seeming almost to be taking undue advantage "with malice prepense." For example, after he had goaded one of his adversaries to almost a frenzy, he remarked to his associate as THE LAWYER 147 they were finishing lunch, and the Court was about to resume its sitting: "Let us go over to Court and have some more fun with the opposing counsel." His way of beginning an argument was frequently such as to ridicule, and make fun of the case. To il lustrate, he was arguing a case against the Elevated Eoad involving its right to erect its structure on Sixth Avenue, He began thus: "I do not propose in the portion of the argument allotted to me to follow the learned counsel for the defendant, in seeking for the details of the physical — ^the material — invasion of our clients' soil and buildings, in which they have unsuccessfully groped through our coal hole in search of our supposed cause of action," It is difficult to convey, without the surround ings, the tactful way in which, without exposing himself to criticism, he could, by humor, direct a severe counter-attack called forth by the tactics of his opponent. An instance of this is his summing up in a case in which he represented the plaintiff against a bank. The president of the bank, whose face wore an expression of superior virtue, was dressed in the severely simple garb of a Quaker, with a large white necktie. He was accompanied by the secretary of the bank, an alert and keen man of business. The defendant's counsel had alluded to the high character of these two, and coupled with it a reflection on the plaintiff as a sort of vampire. When Mr, Choate 's turn came he alluded to this in his kindest and blandest tone, as follows: "Gentle- 148 JOSEPH H. CHOATE men, you have heard the defendant's counsel com pare the plaintiff to a vampire. Did you ever see a vampire? Do you know what a vampire is? If not, I will show you what a vampire is. Do you see that old gentleman dressed like a Quaker, with a large white necktie, and that keen-witted young man seated at his side? Well, they are vampires. Now after this you cannot say that you have not seen a vampire." But there were occasions when his attempt to make fun would bring him to grief. No witness could easily disturb his self-possession, but, at least once, he was as nearly disconcerted as it was pos sible for him to be. During the trial of a well-known will case, Mr. Felix McClusky, formerly doorkeeper of the House of Eepresentatives, was testifying. "Now, Mr. McClusky," insinuatingly asked Mr. Choate, "is it not true that you are the modem Munchausen?" "You are the second blackguard that has asked me that within a week," roared McClusky, and he got no further. A shout of laughter, at Mr. Choate 's expense, drowned the rest of the retort. It is no wonder that juries and judges as well should have been unable to resist the charm of his simple and easy eloquence, so informal, of such everyday character, so free from flights of oratory, such simple and direct presentations of the facts of the case, lit up by flashes of wit, that they could not help being interested and amused. This simple THE LAWYER 149 and easy style carried into the appellate tribunals in the presentation of knotty points of law made his propositions appear so plain and indisputable that the vigorous minds of experienced judges were led unconsciously, perhaps, to regard the case as by no means difficult, and almost too plain to require much discussion. After hearing him on such occasions, the casual observer might think it would not be difficult to make as good an argument, and perhaps a better, but it would be the same as with the great verdict-getter, Scarlett (Lord Abinger), whose suc cess evoked from a juryman this explanation of it : "No wonder he gets verdicts; he always happens to be on the right side." His informal methods, ofttimes, in dealing with pert witnesses, is illustrated by the query he put to a witness who had responded to a question as to how he remembered so well events that happened a long time ago by remarking, "Oh, I am older than you think I am, Mr. Choate. " " Indeed, ' ' he replied, "now just tell me how old you think that I think you are." Counsel, too, often came in for a share of this byplay, which he used with ludicrous effect. During a lengthy cross-examination by an opponent — so much so that everyone was wearied — Mr. Choate sat at some distance chuckling to himself. His opponent, thinking he was being laughed at, in quired rather sharply: "What are you laughing at?" "Oh," replied Mr, Choate, "I am not laugh ing at you at all ; I was laughing at something that 150 JOSEPH H. CHOATE happened at the Union League Club last night, when one of the speakers had continued so long that the President reminded him that there was danger of the discussion becoming tedious," But, as in the case of Mr, Felix McClusky, wit nesses were sometimes quite equal to the occasion, and no one enjoyed Mr. Choate 's discomfiture more than himself. In an informal address to the Bar of Rochester, New York, he told them of an incident of this. He said : "I have never been in Rochester before for pleas ure, but I have been here several times to prostrate myself before the judges of the Appellate Division, and you can judge how far from pleasure that sen sation is. It is not the fault of your committee that I have never been here before. I was invited on two occasions, but at these times I was afraid to come. I had met with rebuffs and reverses. In the first instance I was trying a will case, endeavoring to uphold the will, and was examining an old lady, who was chief witness against me. She testified that the testatrix was a pal and crony of hers, and that she had talked with her just before making the will, and that she looked as if she did not understand what she was doing. The witness was an illiterate person, and I tried, by questioning, to get from her just how she looked. Finally I said to her, 'Well, did she look just as I am looking at you now?' After scanning me carefully she replied: " 'Well, yes.' " THE LAWYER 151 This is the way he laughed off one of that con siderable class of individuals who use every loop hole to escape payment of hard-earned fees : A well-known clergyman once employed Mr. Choate 's services at the settlement of a much in volved and heavy estate. In due time he received his bill. The client appeared in a few days with a look of deprecation. "I always understood, Mr. Choate," he objected, "that you gentlemen of the Bar were not in the habit of charging clergymen for your services." "You are much in error," returned Mr. Choate firmly, "much in error. You look for your reward in the next world, but we lawyers have to get ours in this." His relations with his brethren of the Bar were singularly free from acrimony or animosity. He was not one to create animosity or to cherish it. It was difficult to pick a quarrel with him because it takes two to make a quarrel, and he was not quarrelsome. He was so free from the "peppery" quality, so easy-going, that it was almost impossible to arouse in him anything like indignation. I never heard of him losing his temper, or becoming angry. His practice of the law was on broad and generous lines. Although he never fought a case on techni calities, it is probably true that, when hard pressed, he took refuge in a technicality if it happened his way, I do not think he went out of his way to look for it. He was fair, although firm, and he treated his adversary in a broad-minded and open- 152 JOSEPH H, CHOATE handed way. He despised anything like sharp practice. One of his contemporaries, opposed to him, was a prominent Presbyterian, of whom he remarked that "he is a Christian above Twenty- third Street, ' ' His adversary had obtained a some what questionable advantage, which necessitated an application by Mr, Choate to the Court to undo. After the matter was argued the judge promptly decided it in Mr, Choate 's favor, whereupon he remarked quite audibly, "Well, between a Pres byterian and a Jew I want you to give me a Jew every time," When the controversy in the Presbyterian Church over the case of Dr, Briggs, charged with heresy, was at its height, one of the counsel opposed to Dr. Briggs sent him an octavo volume, containing a report of the proceedings. This lawyer was well known for his large practice in matters of re organization of corporations, wrecked by financial mismanagement. When Mr, Choate met the lawyer he courteously acknowledged his gift, but added, "I cannot see what you are after, unless it be to wreck the Presbyterian Church, so that your firm may have the business of reorganizing it," His brethren of the Bar, notwithstanding that beneath his geniality there was a certain reserve and consciousness of superiority that forbade fa miliar intercourse, admired his ability, and were always ready to acknowledge it by the bestowal of any honors within their gift. This led them to elect him President of the Bar Association at an earlier THE LAWYER 153 age than any other of its Presidents, and he served during 1888 and 1889. His ingenuity early in his career in extricating a client from serious inconvenience, the following incident, as related to me by him, will illustrate. "One of the first acts of Mr, Lincoln was to ap point James Watson Webb Minister to a foreign Court, He was heavily burdened with debt, and two or three days before he sailed he came into my office and said that his creditors had been following him up, and an order had been served upon him requiring him to appear before the Court the day following his intended departure, and wanted to know what he could do. I asked him if he owed the money and he said he did. I asked him what defense he had. He said he hadn't any unless I could make up one; so I sent for the Constitution of the United States. It stated that the Federal Court should have exclusive jurisdiction of Am bassadors, Ministers, Consuls and other represen tatives in foreign countries. So I appeared at Court and put in an affidavit stating the fact of General Webb's appointment and moved to vacate the order on the Constitutional ground already stated. My opponent exclaimed, 'this is all non sense, the Constitution refers to foreign Ambassa dors, Ministers, &c,, and not to those appointed by this country to represent it in foreign countries,' 'Well,' I replied, 'let us send for the Constitution and see what it says, and you will find that you and 154 JOSEPH H, CHOATE not I have been misleading the Court,' 'So the Constitution was sent for and I read the provision, 'Here we have it; it does not say foreign Ambassa dors, Ministers, &c,, but exactly as I stated it, and General Webb is a Minister to a foreign country and is protected by the Constitution, The judge held that the language of the Constitution covered General Webb's case and the order was conse quently vacated, and he sailed for Europe leaving his creditors to mourn his departure, "This," Mr, Choate said to me, "was my first great Constitu tional case." The Income Tax cases and that of Neagle who shot Judge Terry in defending Mr. Justice Field show his mastery of Constitutional questions; the Bell Telephone cases of patent law ; the Leland Stan ford and Stewart will cases of testamentary law; the Behring Sea case of international law ; the cases of Hutchinson and Loubat against the New York Stock Exchange, of the law of membership in un incorporated associations; the Fitz- John Porter case of martial law ; the case of the Republic against the Aurania, and his exposition before the second Hague Conference of "immunity of private prop erty at sea ' ' his grasp of admiralty law ; the Gilbert Elevated Railway cases involving the comparatively new and little explored subject of rights of adja cent owners in public streets, and a multitude of cases involving commercial law; the law of do mestic relations and of injuries to persons and THE LAWYER 155 property, exhibit him as a master in widely different departments of jurisprudence. In the General Fitz-John Porter case, where he succeeded in reversing a finding of guilty pro nounced against that officer sixteen years before, the Adjutant-General appeared in full regimentals, with cocked-hat, epaulets and spurs, and indulged in an argument consuming forty-eight hours, in which he dealt mainly with army regulations which, it was said, "veteran army officers knew better than their prayers." Mr. Choate, in his inimitable manner of childlike simplicity, began his argument by saying: "We have listened with patience to the remarks of the distinguished Adjutant-General of the United States Army. His long argument reminds me of the advice once given to the grad uating class in the Theological Seminary of Tennes see: 'Now, boys, remember one thing, do not make long prayers ; always remember that the Lord knows something.' " In the interesting sketches of his uncle, Rufus Choate, of his friend, James C. Carter, and of his partner, Mr. Southmayd, and those relating to the law and the Courts, there is excellent evidence of culture, literary gift and versatility as applied to lawyers and the law, in expressing just and ac curate appreciation of individuals, and in the treatment of strictly legal themes. In referring to his cases, Mr. Choate remarked to me that the most important case and the biggest victory he ever had was in the Fitz-John Porter 156 JOSEPH H. CHOATE case. I was somewhat surprised at this, because there were a number of other cases, including the Income Tax case, which loomed up into greater im portance in public estimation, and I said as much to him. His explanation was that it was exceed ingly difficult because it not only involved the re- establishment of the reputation of a distinguished General of the Union Armies, but the reversal, after a lapse of sixteen years, of the finding of a Court Martial, which, at the time, met with public ap proval and, added to this, was the difficulty in obtaining the evidence necessary to secure it. Furthermore, there was the prejudice that naturally existed in the mind of the Court convened to hear the case, in favor of the impartiality and carefully considered judgment of the previous tribunal. The case was undoubtedly one of very great importance, but quite likely Mr, Choate attached more import ance to it because it was one of his early triumphs and had aroused a feeling of sentiment, which perhaps influenced his judgment. The firm into whose employ Mr, Choate entered was conspicuous for eminence and ability, having been founded long before Mr, Evarts came to the Bar by J, Prescott Hall, a former Attorney General of the State, distinguished as a remarkably success ful practitioner. He was joined by Charles E, Butler who began practice in Virginia, His re moval to New York and partnership with Mr, Hall resulted in attracting important business from which flowed a large volume of professional em- THE LAWYER 157 ployment. With these successful practitioners William M, Evarts, who graduated from Yale in 1837, and was admitted to the Bar about 1840, be came associated and brought, even then, to the firm of Hall, Butler & Evarts ability and learning of a high order, destined, ultimately, to place him at the head of the New York Bar and in the front rank of American lawyers. Upon Mr. Hall's retirement the commanding position of this firm was not only maintained, but materially advanced, by the ad mission of Charles F. Southmayd, one of the ablest, most learned, shrewd, acute and practical counselors of his time. In him the firm found an associate who, appearing but rarely in the Courts, devoted his fine powers to office business and, in so doing, gathered about the firm leaders of finance in New York, and important connections in the financial centers of Europe, The firm of Butler, Evarts & Southmayd occupied probably the first place at the New York Bar. It was with this valuable asso ciation that Mr. Choate became identified as an employee and, after four years, as a partner. The retirement of Mr. Charles E. Butler caused a change in the name of the firm to Evarts, South mayd & Choate. A number of able lawyers of a younger generation were, from time to time, ad mitted to partnership in the firm and one of them, Mr. Charles C. Beaman, was destined to occupy a prominent place in his profession and in the social life of which it was the center. He had obtained wide experience and extensive acquaintance while 158 JOSEPH H. CHOATE private secretary for Senator Sumner of Massa chusetts and, later, as counsel for claimants in the distribution of the award secured by Mr. Evarts as counsel for the United States before the Geneva Arbitration of the Alabama claims. At scarcely sixty years of age, when in his prime and the height of his power as a legal adviser, Mr, Southmayd, wearied with the heat and burden of the day, and with a large competency, retired from the firm. Mr. Southmayd lived for nearly twenty-seven years after his retirement, and died at the advanced age of nearly eighty-seven years. Among Mr. Choate 's addresses of a biographical nature there is none more discriminating or characterized by a more genuine feeling of affection than his memorial of Mr, Southmayd delivered before the Association of the Bar in 1912, It is well worthy of a prominent place among his literary productions as a character sketch of a unique personality — of a type no longer seen — and an admirable specimen of Mr. Choate 'a composition at its best. Of Mr, Southmayd he says : "As he was one of the great lawyers of his time and commanded the unbounded confidence and esteem of all the leaders of the profession, we may well pause for a few minutes to contemplate his career and to consider the great changes which it had witnessed, although to the man of to-day he is only a name and hardly that. But some of us can remember when he was the leading figure in Charles F. Southmayd THE LAWYER 159 everything that involved sound learning and tech nical skill in the law. He came of good old New England stock, the first emigrants of the name having landed at Salem, and I find men of his name, which is an unusual one, graduating at Harvard and Yale in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with whom he was doubtless connected. Through his mother he was proud to trace a near connection with the Gouverneurs, the Ogdens, the Kembles and the Kearneys, although he was the last man to ever sjpeak of such things. He was baptized in St, John's Chapel, which was very near his father's residence on Laight Street near Varick, Nicholas G, Ogden and Edward F. Hammeken being his godfathers, and he always claimed that thereby he had become incorporated into the Church and was entitled to good standing therein for the rest of his life. His school days, which were spent at a private school, seem not to have been much longer than Benjamin Franklin's in Boston; for, at the unripe age of twelve and a half, his teacher announced to hia astonished father that he had taught the boy all that he knew and he had thoroughly mastered it, and what to do with him then was the question. Happily, Providence was on the lookout for him. Although he then actually began the study of the law at a very tender age he found it most congenial and buckled down to it in earnest, "He seems to have had no tuition, outside the office at any rate, except what he may have, got by attending Court; but he had wonderful powers of 160 JOSEPH H, CHOATE concentration, and made such progress, and so rapidly mastered the law that, at seventeen, he came to be known in the office as the 'Chancellor'; and the story goes that when clients called they were apt to find his masters in the outer office discussing public questions, and they would say: 'Do you want to talk politics? Here we are. But if you've come on law business you will find the Chancellor inside,' . . . "In 1837, when Southmayd, as a boy, began his studies, and even in 1841, when he bore the well- earned title of the 'Chancellor,' there were no such floods of books as those in which the law itself is now thoroughly drowned; there were but few New York reports, and still fewer American textbooks; and it was quite practicable for a vigorous young mind to master all the leading cases that had been decided here, and that is exactly what Southmayd did, . . . "In connection with his studious reading and work in the office, he was a frequent attendant upon the Courts, and made himself a finished lawyer, I have no doubt that Coke upon Littleton and Black stone had come in for a share of his attention ; and we may be sure that he knew much of Kent's Com mentaries by heart, the second edition being then available and being, as it were, a complete review of his studies up to date. Of equity he early be came a master, for his mind was naturally adapted to its principles — so fair, so just, so altogether reasonable and undisturbed by the technicalities THE LAWYER 161 that were stUl found so embarrassing in the common law. . . . "A great commercial case in which, while yet unknown to fame, he was deeply engaged with Judge Alexander S, Johnson, and of which I feel certain that he bore the brunt, involved many in tricate and complicated questions of fact and law, and occupied several years, being contested by Johnson and Southmayd on one side, and by Messrs, Butler and Evarts on the other. Not long after it was finished, Mr, Johnson was elected to the Court of Appeals, and this left Mr, Southmayd open to other engagements, an opportunity of which Butler and Evarts, having long observed, in the litigation which he had been conducting against them, his great power of labor, his learning, skill and tenacity of purpose, quickly availed themselves by inviting him to join them on terms which were very soon made equal. Thus, in 1851, was formed the firm of Butler, Evarts & Southmayd which, with various successions, has continued until this day. . . , "During the whole period of his connection with it, until he retired at the age of sixty in 1884, Mr, Southmayd was the mainstay of the whole concern. If there was a knotty point of law or practice to be decided, a difficult will, trust or contract to be drawn, an importaait opinion to be prepared, it was almost always left to him, and he always suc ceeded — he would never give in till the problem was solved; and as he was known to be always at his desk, clients at all hours flocked about him for 162 JOSEPH H, CHOATE advice, which is, I think, the most responsible and difficult part of our whole professional work. And then, too, in consultation he was invaluable. You can imagine what a resource it was to Mr, Evarts or to myself, coming down from Court at the close of a protracted and exciting day, to talk over with him puzzling and unexpected questions that had arisen, and get the benefit of his cool and quiet judgment, "He hated to go to Court himself, and only went very rarely, on great cases which had arisen out of important opinions given by himself, which it was vital to the interest of his clients, who had acted upon them, to sustain, . . . "In truth, Mr. Southmayd had a perfect genius for the law, and there was no department of it to which he was not fully equal, except only trial by jury, for which I think he cherished a secret dis trust. At any rate, he never cultivated any of the forensic arts which came into play in jury trials, and never could have got an impossible verdict, , , , "I do not believe that Mr, Southmayd ever under took the trial of a jury case, where he would have been indeed a fish out of water. But, in all legal questions he was supreme, and no lawyer in this city ever enjoyed more absolutely the confidence of his clients. As the business grew and great ques tions, interstate and international, arose, his pro fessional reputation rose higher and higher, until, as I have heard, the bankers of Holland would not take an issue of bonds under a railroad mortgage THE LAWYER 163 unless Southmayd said it was all right, and the great lawyers of the city sought his opinion upon questions that arose in their own practice. "With many eccentricities, as will presently appear, he had an absolutely honest and straight mind, and with unerring instinct went right to the root of the matter submitted, stripped off every thing that was superfluous and irrelevant, and de cided it upon some impregnable proposition of law. "As a draftsman in his best days he was, I think, without an equal. He seemed to be able to provide for every possible contingency, so keen and acute, and, at the same time, so far reaching was his mental vision. But, in his later years, this habit grew upon him to an almost disabling extent. So that sometimes you had to follow him through sen tences whole pages long in his effort to provide for contingencies that would probably never happen, "In addition to great learning and inexhaustible power of labor, untiring patience and common sense, he had the great and unspeakable gift of character, which is more than all the rest combined in the formation of a great lawyer, stooping to nothing, tolerating nothing small or mean or low, main taining always the highest standard of personal and professional conduct, and putting everything to the test of his own good and clear conscience, "It was in recognition of his eminent position at the Bar and great learning that Yale University, in 1884, conferred upon him the degree of LL,D,, which he most highly appreciated. 164 JOSEPH H. CHOATE "He uniformly refused, for himself and for the firm, to take any pecuniary interest in any matter that was intrusted to his or their professional charge, believing that it tended to professional de generation, and that clients could only be properly served by lawyers who had no personal interest in the matter involved to advance or protect. Of con tingent fees in any form he had a special horror, and regarded the change of statute which made them possible as a serious damage to the pro fession, and the judicial iniquities, the exposure of which led to the formation of this Association, made him one of the most enthusiastic and zealous of its original members. The Bar Association, in fact, never had or lost a member who reflected upon it greater honor. If Mr, Evarts were alive to-day, I am sure he would join with me in declaring that much of our professional success and repute was due to his support, his' assistance, his inspira tion, "For myself, I can give no better illustration of this than in the celebrated Income Tax case, in which was accomplished what was at the time re garded, at home and abroad, as the almost impos sible achievement of overthrowing, in the Supreme Court, the entire scheme of an Income Tax embodied in an Act of Congress, I might almost say with entire truth that it was Southmayd, who never went near the Court, who won the case. He was then seventy years old ; he had retired from practice ten years before, and all that time he had refrained THE LAWYER 165 from any legal labor. In fact, as he claimed, he had ceased to be an attorney at law, and when he had occasion to put his name to a brief, he always signed 'Charles F, Southmayd in person,' "What he regarded as the iniquity of the Income Tax aroused all his old-time energy. By this time he had an ample income of his own which was affected, and he had a strong idea of the right of property being at the foundation of civilized gov ernment. Other men have five senses, but he had a sixth — the sense of property — ^very keen sutd. very powerful; and he also had an abiding allegiance to the Constitution, under which the country had so long prospered, and an abhorrence of any violation of it. So, when he heard that I was to be in the case, he volunteered to prepare a brief, which proved, when completed, to be the keystone of the whole argument, and, indeed, of the decision which overthrew the Act of Congress. . . . "It was his masterful brief that drove the enter ing wedge which by its cleavage demolished the Act, while the rest of us who appeared in Court, and argued the cause to its final conclusions, on the foundation which he had laid, won an undue share of the glory. I have heard from the clerk's office that all the judges called for extra copies of his brief, but for none of the others. "Mr. Southmayd retired from practice at sixty, being afraid, as he told me long afterward, that if he continued, he might make some mistake, which I really believe that up to that time he had not done 166 JOSEPH H. CHOATE — at any rate he had made none that anybody else had found out. "His professional life from the beginning to end had been a signal success, and had brought him ample rewards. But necessarily, from the way in which it was begun and continued, it had cut him off from everything else. Beginning the study of it at twelve, and never relaxing the earnest pursuit of it, he lost his youth altogether, an irreparable loss to any man in any walk of life. Outside of the law, he had almost no interests — ^none of those bright gleams and dreams and illusions of boyhood which, for most of us, sparkle at the threshold, and brighten all the rest of our lives, lighten our burdens and help us to forget our woes — none of those joyful reminiscences and early friendships that light us on our way. Withdrawn from social life, he had but few friends, but with them he was always so genial and gentle that it was ever a thousand pities that he hadn't a hundred times as many. Shut into the deep and narrow canyon of professional study and labor, he hardly knew what was going on outside of it, and had no other interest, no hobby, no possi bility or capacity for sport. But he did enjoy his work, and I am not sure that the keenest pro fessional sportsman ever gets half as much pleasure and satisfaction as he did out of that. "Mr. Southmayd was never married, and led a truly solitary life. Doubtless in his earlier years he must have had some romantic sensations and experiences and, perhaps, disappointments. But, as THE LAWYER 167 the rolling stream of Time bore him along, as the walls of his narrow life began to close in upon him, and his natural love of accumulation grew, he seemed more and more to regard women as pain fully expensive luxuries which might as well be dispensed with. 'Your women folks will be the ruin of you yet,' he used to say to me in a half- joking, half-serious way. Of course there was nothing personal intended. It was merely a con crete expression of his general and abstract dread of cost. But I was bound to defend my own fire side, and always answered him in kind in some way, which pleased him mightily. "His later life was full of apprehensions. When a man retires at sixty from very active practice, with no native resources to fall back upon, no hobby to ride, no studies to pursue, his thoughts neces sarily turn in upon himself and prey upon his inner consciousness, and so it was with him. No sooner was one apprehension dispelled, than others equally groundless came in various and shifting forms — apprehensions for his health and life, for his prop erty and, at last, even for his personal liberty. The ever-growing list of misdemeanors, created by statute, disturbed him, and he even employed counsel to watch for such statutes introduced into the Legislature — man-traps, as he called them — ^lest he might, without knowing it, commit offenses which might involve the penalty of imprisonment. "Thus, as his professional life began too early, so it ended too early and too abruptly, and he lost 168 JOSEPH H. CHOATE the great satisfaction of continuing to the end his usefulness to society which had once been so great. "Of course, he was always a laudator temporis acti. Never changing (and I hardly observed any change in his appearance, his dress, his manners or mode of conversation from the time I first knew him in 1855), he hardly realized that the world was changing all the time as it rushed by him. The judges of to-day he compared with Chancellor Kent, and Chief Justice Marshall, with Justice Nelson and Judge Oakley, and the lawyers of to-day with Daniel Lord, George Wood, Charles 0 'Conor and William Curtis Noyes, He couldn't at all keep pace with the hustle and bustle of modern New York, or with the rapidly changing customs and habits of the profession, "He was really the most conservative man I ever knew, and, of course, prejudices grew upon him as years rolled on. Modern improvements had no charms for him, but his aversion to new methods was always mingled with much pleasantry, which indicated a consciousness in himself of falling be hind the age. Perhaps no better illustration of this was presented than in his attitude toward new modes of locomotion and travel, as they came press ing fast upon each other. His pet aversion was the elevated railroad, and it was his favorite boast, to his dying day, that he had never traveled upon it. When it was first constructed, he declared that he would never go upon it until the Court of Appeals THE LAWYER 169 should decide that its owners were bound to pay damages to the abutting property owners. The failure to provide expressly for this in the original charter shocked that keen sense of property of which I have spoken. Well, it took long years of severe litigation to establish this liability, and in the meantime he had moved out of Ninth Street, where he had lived for a quarter of a century, giving the quaint reason for moving that death had visited every house but his in the block. "But, at last, the Court of Appeals decided, as he thought they ought, that such liability was neces sarily implied in the Act, though not expressed, and so compelled the company to pay many millions of dollars in damages to the abutting owners. Mean while, he had traveled daily all the long journey of four miles from Forty-seventh Street to the office in the Sixth Avenue surface cars ; and I said to him : 'Come, now, the Court has decided as you wanted them to; get on the elevated road with me and shorten your journey home by half an hour.' 'No,' said he, 'it's a fraud, anyway, and I never will ride on it,' and he never did, but continued his slow transit by the Sixth Avenue surface cars. But at last this came to an end. For one cold November day as he entered the car, seeing something unusual under the seat, he asked the conductor what it was, and being answered 'a stove,' he stopped the car and quit the line: 'Never could ride with a stove in the car.' He then took refuge in the Fourth Avenue car, which he liked much better: 'Better cars, better 170 JOSEPH H. CHOATE air, better people.' But this didn't last very long, for one day, standing on the corner awaiting a car, he saw one coming without any horses — an electric motor — and that he could not stand. "He never could tolerate motors — ^never once rode in an automobile — thought severe penalties ought to be visited upon their owners. And thus, at last, he was driven to take refuge in cabs, and here, too, his eccentricity was made manifest, for although he had an excellent pair of horses, coach man and carriage of his own, he never would drive up and down in it. And when I asked him why not, he said because of the common law rule of respondeat superior. 'If I hire a cab and an ac cident happens, I incur no liability. That falls upon the owner.' "His quaintness was always tinged with a sense of humor. Having laid the foundation of his own ample fortune in strict economy and unflagging in dustry, he used to say that every young lawyer ought to begin by laying aside all of his professional income, which he himself had been so situated as to be able pretty nearly to do. 'But,' said I, 'you surely don't mean the whole of it. Wouldn't half do? The man must live,' 'Oh, that doesn't fol low,' said he; 'if he'll only follow my rule, he will soon be able to live upon the income of his income,' "I think one could have almost told his calling as he walked the streets — a solicitor laden with many precious secrets, Matthew Arnold, who made THE LAWYER 171 his acquaintance the Summer that he spent in Stock- bridge, was perfectly delighted with him, and greatly enjoyed his company, saying that he reminded him for all the world of an old-fashioned English solic itor dug out of Dickens or TroUope or Thackeray, and he certainly was all that, with a vast deal of skill and leaming besides. In the quiet confidences of the office, he was quite a match for Evarts in quickness and repartee, and it was a rare treat for the youngsters, in the occasional intervals when there was nothing more serious to do, to hear them chaffing each other in a very merry trim. . . . "His will, made in August, 1899, is not only holographic, but almost autobiographic in its full ness and particularity. Written in his own hand on fifty-seven pages of foolscap paper, it sets forth with extreme particularity many incidents of his life, and recalls and provides handsomely for the children of his deceased partners; remembers even his remote relatives, such as daughters of deceased cousins, second cousins, as he rates it, and second or third cousins or otherwise, as the proper rating may properly be, and leaves considerable legacies to the New York Law Institute and to the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, "Take him for all in all, we ne'er shall look upon his like again — a great lawyer — an absolutely unique character — an honor to our profession for sixty years. I owe him more than I can tell, and am glad to transmit to those who did not know him, this quite imperfect picture of the man." . . . 172 JOSEPH H. CHOATE With these eminent men, and those from time to time associated with them as junior partners, the firm was generally composed of not less than six or seven members. Here Mr. Choate found his great opportunity and won renown. For the first ten years of his association with Mr. Evarts he was busied assisting him in the prepara tion and trial of cases. Mr. Evarts was constantly in Court, in jury trials or equity cases or before appellate tribunals. Mr. Choate 's duty was the preparation of these cases for trial. Of course, this was done, as in all similar instances, after consulta tion between them, in which Mr. Evarts laid out the plan of campaign and Mr. Choate worked out its details. It would have been difficult to find two minds better constituted to get at the merits of a case and the vital points of law controlling it. Mr. Evarts was the great lawyer deeply versed in legal knowledge. Mr. Choate, his junior, could furnish useful suggestions and devote attention to the de tails of preparation which might almost be said to win the case if it were possible to win it. Undoubt edly, it was in the work of preparation primarily that the battle was lost or won, and the responsi bility for preparation belonged to Mr. Choate. It was frequently the ease, as might have been expected, in the large number of cases which Mr. Evarts had to try and argue that at times he would be obliged to go into the trial of a case with little opportunity to know what the case was about, except that general knowledge he had acquired from the fact that the As Junior Partner op Butler, Evarts and Southmayd THE LAWYER 173 case was in his office and that he was expected to try it. In subsequent years Mr. Choate 's experience was similar and, in referring to it, he alluded to Mr. Evarts' experience. "At times," he said to me, "Mr. Evarts would have to go into Court without any preparation. I would be thoroughly familiar with the case and have the evidence in proper form for presentation. The duty would then devolve on me, as his junior, to open the case, if we were for the plaintiff, and commence the introduction of the tes timony. It was marvelous to notice how soon Mr. Evarts would acquire a complete mastery of the case. He would listen carefully to my opening, and while I was introducing formal testimony his eyes would scan the written pleadings, and his ears be open to the testimony, and in an hour's time he would know all about the case, and be thoroughly prepared to meet his adversaries at every point." Thus in these early years in charge of the office and local Court practice and trying the minor cases, which Mr. Evarts could not be expected to manage, in view of the large number of important cases which his constantly increasing reputation, and his firm's distinction, brought to him, Mr. Choate ac quired experience as a trial lawyer. During these years Mr. Evarts appeared in a large number of cases which attracted national at tention, and found in Mr. Choate an able coadjutor, fully worthy of his confidence, and one whose in fluence on his success Mr. Evarts has often acknowl edged. But it was not long before Mr, Choate 's 174 JOSEPH H, CHOATE ability manifested itself clearly. He made the most of every opportunity and proved himself invaluable to his firm. The prestige of his name and fame as a lawyer won by patient endeavor and slow process, was carved out by sheer force of indomitable wUl, untiring industry and extraordinary intelligence. One of his early cases was that of the Hynes Estate which involved the title to a residence on the corner of Madison Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street. Mr. Choate, for the plaintiffs, in his open ing address to the jury, began his outline of the case as follows : "The most observable thing about the case is the startling inequality of the contestants. The two children you see before you are the sons of the deceased; Willie the elder, is about six years old, and Andrew, the younger, is but four. They claim this property as sons and heirs of their father, subject only to the dower right of their mother. The property is claimed on the other side by two wealthy and powerful ladies, the children's aunts, and sisters of their deceased father. It is not a case of the babes in the wood contesting with a cruel uncle, but rather with their kind aunts — two en tirely estimable ladies. As I believe, the question in the case is the claim and a counter-claim on the part of the defendants as to the ownership of this prop erty, and from the answer is disclosed the momen tous and startling fact that these little boys never had a right to be bom. THE LAWYER 175 "As the defendants have not yet shown their hand, we are at a loss to know on what ground they contest the claim of the boys to the property. The question in the case is as to the marriage of the parents of the boys, notwithstanding the fact that they lived together as man and wife, and supposed themselves to hold that relation to each other in England. Their father introduced the mother of the boys as his wife, and she presented him to her friends as her husband. During a drive with his friends he was accidentally thrown from his car riage, and killed, without having made any arrange ment of his affairs. If he had made a will there would not now be any attempt on the part of the aunts to bastardize the two children. When the mother made her way here with the boys, thinking that they had nothing to do but to prove their identity, and claim the property, they were met with the assertion that their father and mother were not married, and, therefore, they could not touch the property." During the trial it became necessary for the defendants to prove the authenticity of thirteen volumes of the official statutes of England, and what occurred in this connection is an illustration of the byplay in which Mr. Choate sometimes indulged. A librarian was called as a witness who testified : "I know that they are the official statutes of Eng land. I never heard them actually cited in Court, 176 JOSEPH H, CHOATE but they are called for largely. They are consulted by lawyers and judges, ' ' "What judge did you ever see consulting either of these volumes," asked Mr, Choate, "I don't know that I could name any one now," "Was it a judge of the Marine Court, Common Pleas or a police court justice that you saw studying them?" "I could not state that definitely." "Can you tell any lawyers that you saw con sulting these books?" "Oh yes, many of them." "Please name one." "Well," said the witness, hesitating, "there was Mr. Brown day before yesterday." "Name another." The witness was evidently much confused and after a thoughtful pause said, "It is very hard to remember just now," and he was allowed to step down. Mr. Choate argued that the proof offered did not conform to legal requirements, that when foreign law was introduced the party appealing to it must bring in a book printed by the authorities of that country, and that the books introduced by the de fendants did not bear any evidence of having been printed by the authorities of Great Britain. The judge suggested that it was sufficient proof of the authenticity of the book that there were printed upon the title page the words "by authority." THE LAWYER 177 Mr. Choate said it was necessary that the book should be printed, not "by authority" of some body merely, but that they should be published by authority of Great Britain, and the title pages of the volume in question did not show that. The Court remarked that there can be no other authority to make laws in England than that of Great Britain. Mr. Choate examined the books and remarked in a serio-comic way that they were probably bogus copies gotten up for the case in dispute. The op posing counsel offered to read a letter of the Lord Chancellor to show their authority. "Lord Chancellor? Who is the Lord Chancellor? He's nobody," exclaimed Mr. Choate. "There is absolutely nothing in these books (turning over the leaves) to show they were published in England unless it is the picture of a lion rampant at the bottom of the title page." [Laughter.] Defendants' counsel (thumbing the leaves of an other volume) : Why, here are the words "Printers to the Queen's most excellent majesty." Mr. Choate (with his eyes fixed on the title page) : Well, there are other "Queen's most excellent majesties." Defendants' counsel (reaching for another volume) : That's so, but not in London. The Court (carefully scrutinizing still another volume) : In this book it appears that these laws were passed at the sixth session of the fourth 178 JOSEPH H. CHOATE Parliament of the present Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Mr. Choate (analyzing the corresponding in scription in his volume) : Well, will your Honor give the printer the right by saying a few words in the book to make it legal? The Court: Well, it says "by authority." Mr. Choate : By authority of the printer. Of course, the Court held that the books might be received as evidence, and probably Mr. Choate 's contention was more for the purpose of making a little fun for the jury. The trial was protracted, and evidently the coun sel who summed up for the defense must have been unusually bitter in his attack on the, plaintiffs, but Mr. Choate with his usual adroitness indulged in a series of left-handed compliments. He began by congratulating the defendants' counsel on his sum ming-up as a magnificent effort. He would like, he said, a sample of the spirit with which the counsel tempered his speech ; he must have taken a deeper potion than usual of gall, vitriol and wormwood to embitter this poor woman. What a gutter of calumny they had deluged this disarmed and help less woman with, and all a grand effort of imagina tion! His feathered fancies soared on eagles* wings, and he indulged from the beginning to end in the purest efforts of invention, making what seemed to be bricks for the condemnation of this woman, without either straw or clay. The counsel built this structure upon what was not proved, he THE LAWYER 179 distorted some of the facts that were in evidence, his speech was all there was of a case for the defense, since they had no evidence to rely on. In commenting upon the presumption of mar riage, Mr. Choate said he stood upon the law that the parties were married in a manner that holds good under the laws of all Christendom, except the British Isles, and that law was no more binding upon American citizens while traveling abroad. The other side, he said, had made a point as to the probability of the children being those of the de ceased Hynes; that in all probability her first hus band, Charles Saunders, was the father. "It has been said that great men project themselves into the future but I do not think that Charles Saunders was so great a man that he could project himself two years and nine months into the future. Some people believe now in miracles, we do not believe in miracles, but we pray to be absolved from such a miracle as that." It did not take long for the jury to find a verdict in his favor. A case which probably gained for him more eclat as a jury lawyer than any other of his cases up to that time, was that of Martinez v. del Valle. It in volved a claim for heavy damages in money against a wealthy Cuban by a beautiful young woman for seduction under promise of marriage. The plaintiff was represented by William A. Beach, one of the most prominent and experienced jury lawyers at the Bar, whose career, until late, was in Troy, New York, and subsequently at the 180 JOSEPH H. CHOATE New York Bar. He occupied an eminent position as counsel, especially in rather sensational cases. The case attracted great public attention and throngs attended the trial. It was said the de fendant offered $20,000 in settlement to prevent the case coming into Court. Mr. Choate won by sheer good humor, getting the laugh on his opponent by alluding in his address to the jury to defendant's acquaintance with the plain tiff having begun by assisting her to rise from a fall on the street. He said : "Now I want to speak a word of warning to all Good Samaritans, if there are any in the jury box, against this practice of going to the rescue of fallen women on the sidewalks. I do not think my client will ever do it again. I do not think anybody con nected with the administration of justice in this case will ever again go to the relief of one of our fair fallen sisters under such circumstances. I know the parable of the Good Samaritan is held up as an example for Christian conduct and action to all good people, but, gentlemen, it does not apply to this case, because it was 'a certain man' who went down to Jericho and fell among thieves, and not a woman, and the Good Samaritan himself was of the same sex, and there is not a word of injunction upon any of us to go to the rescue of a person of the other sex if she slips upon the ice. Why, gentle men, this is an historical trick of the 'nymphs of the pave.' Hundreds of times has it been practiced THE LAWYER 181 upon the verdant and inexperienced stranger in our great city." Mr. Choate 's defense was undoubtedly difficult by reason of the attractiveness of the plaintiff and the ability of her lawyer. He succeeded, however, in saving del Valle from the payment of money dam ages except the insignificant sum of $50. The effect of this was to sustain plaintiff's charge of breach of promise and seduction, and the defendant's claim that she had not sustained any pecuniary damage. In an unguarded moment, under Mr, Choate 's cross-examination, she had admitted that what she desired was not money but the vindication of her character. The explanation of the verdict for this small amount may undoubtedly be found in the use which Mr. Choate made of this concession ; but even with it, the jury might have well considered her as meaning that she did not attach so much importance to money as she did to vindication of character, and have given her a substantial verdict. He subjected her to searching inquiries as to the details of the occurrence on the occasion of the alleged wrong done her, for the particulars of which I refer the curious reader to that interesting book, The Art of Cross-Examination, by Mr. F. L, Wellman. The result was not a sweeping victory for Mr. Choate, because he failed to satisfy the jury that his attack upon her character was well founded. But, 182 JOSEPH H. CHOATE with her disclaimer that the purpose of the action was to recover money damages, coupled with Mi*. Choate 's power over a jury, the paltry damages awarded secured for his client an unquestionable victory and established Mr. Choate 's position as one of the greatest jury lawyers that has appeared at the New York Bar. One of the striking features of the trial was his racy description "of this fair and beautiful woman" while she was giving her evidence. "Gentlemen, have you seen since the opening of this trial one blush, one symptom of distress upon her sharp and intelligent features ? Not one. There was, in a critical point of her examination, a breaking down or a breaking up, as I should prefer to call it. Her handkerchief was applied to her eyes ; there was a loud cry for 'water, water,' from my learned friend, echoed by his worthy and amiable junior, as though the very Bench itself were about to be wrapped in flames! [Laughter.] But when the crisis was over, then it appeared that there had only been a momentary eclipse by the handkerchief — that she had been shedding dry tears all the while! Not a muscle was disturbed; she advanced in the progress of her story with sparkling eyes and radiant smile and tripping tongue, and thus continued to the end of the case ! "The great masters of English fiction have loved nothing better than to depict the appearance in Court of these wounded and bleeding victims of THE LAWYER 183 seduction when they come to be arrayed before the gaze of the world. "You cannot have forgotten how Walter Scott and George Eliot have portrayed them sitting through the ordeal of their trials — the very pictures of crushed and bleeding innocence, withering under the blight that had fallen upon them from Heaven, or risen upon them from Hell. Never able so much as to raise their eyes to the radiant dignity of the Bench [laughter], seeming to bear mere existence as a burden and a sorrow. But, gentle men, our future novelist, if he will listen and learn from what has been exhibited here, will have a wholly different picture to paint. He will not omit the bright and fascinating smile, the sparkling eye, the undisturbed composure from the beginning to the end of the terrible ordeal. With what zest and relish and keen enjoyment she detailed her story! What must be the condition of mind and heart of the woman who can detail such stories to such an audience as was gathered together here!" Another noteworthy illustration of his pungent wit in dealing in his address to the jury with the facts adduced by his skillful cross-examination grew out of certain visits the plaintiff and Mr. del Valle made to Solari's, a well-known restaurant, and her effort to teach him the English language. Mr. Choate: How did Mr. del Valle progress jvith his English? 184 JOSEPH H. CHOATE Miss Martinez: Very well indeed. Remarkably well. Mr. Choate: Did you practice English at Solari's? Miss Martinez: Yes, frequently. Mr. Choate: That was a pretty constant oc cupation at all your meetings in those private rooms at Solari's, wasn't it— practicing or speak ing English? Miss Martinez: We frequently spoke about the rules of the language. Mr, Choate : Did his English during these inter views improve? Miss Martinez : I think it did, Mr, Choate: And you did all you could to im prove it, I suppose? Miss Martinez : Undeniably so, Mr, Choate: You even had a book of conversa tion with you? Miss Martinez : We had, Mr, Choate: And did he make great efforts at those times to improve and advance his English? Miss Martinez : I believe he did. He remarked upon this testimony in summing up to the jury as follows : "Well, gentlemen, I do not know anything about Solari's except what is shown here upon the evi dence. So far as I can make out, however, people go to Solari's for all sorts of purposes. Men go there with ladies, ladies with ladies, men with men, THE LAWYER 185 theater parties, family parties, matinee parties — all sorts of parties — and these parties went there together. But under the developments of this case, Solari's assumes a new importance and acquires a new fame. It is no longer a mere restaurant. It is no longer a mere place of refreshment for the body, where you can get meat and wine and what ever is pleasant for the inner man; it now attains celebrity as a new school of learning, patronized, brought into notice, by my client and the fair plain tiff as a place where you can go to drink of the Fountain of Knowledge. [Laughter.] They had a Guide to Conversation. "I think the fair plaintiff said that there were 'digressions' there. They ate and drank — she thinks they ate and drank for two hours at a time, but I compelled her to say that there was an inter mediate 'digression.' What there was in the 'di gression' does not exactly appear; for one thing, there was this Guide to Conversation, but there were limits even to the regions to which this Guide led them, for they both agreed that it did not bring them even to the vestibule of Criminal Conversa tion, which is a very important point to consider in connection with the history of these meetings at Solari's." [Roars of laughter.] His witty comment on the broken fortune of the Martinez family when the plaintiff met this rich Cuban was : "Never did a privateer upon the Spanish Main 186 JOSEPH H. CHOATE give chase to and board a homeward-bound India- man with more avidity and vigor than this family proposed to board this rich Cuban and make a capture of him. It was a 'big bonanza' thrown to them in their distress." A newspaper description of Mr, Choate during the trial pictured him as follows : "Mr, Choate talks when at 'parade rest' with his hands in his coat tail pockets. When really in action he gesticulates freely with both hands, or with one in his pocket ; the other, moving, is tempted to hit the table and yields to the temptation; some times a stamp with the foot adds emphasis to his speech, and he uses a lawyer's privilege of getting very near to his learned opponent's fair client, bending over her and looking straight into her face when saying the most disagreeable things about her. As she sat with her back to him and the head of Mr, Beach's clerk was in the way he had to look around the corner into her eyes, but she paid no attention," His success in an action brought by that dis tinguished architect Richard M, Hunt to recover from Mrs, Paran Stevens fees earned in the con struction of a hotel was also won by the same delightful humor. Her origin was humble and her husband in earlier- days was proprietor of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, In after years, having acquired THE LAWYER 187 wealth, she posed as a prominent society leader, Mr, Choate, in a serio-comic vein, alluded to her antecedents and to her husband as having "kept a hotel acceptably in the city for many years, ' ' No more cutting remark was ever made in a court room than his utterance in summing up as he sketched, in eloquent terms, Mrs, Stevens' rise from humble conditions to social prominence, con cluding : "And at last the arm of royalty was bent to receive her gloved hand, and how, gentlemen of the jury, did she reach this imposing eminence? [An impressive pause,] Upon a mountain of unpaid biUs," The trial had occupied eight days during which there were numerous displays of his spontaneous wit, bubbling up and gushing forth as water with a pungent tang from a mineral spring, A prom inent instance of this was his adaptation of one of our most familiar nursery rhjmies to the circum stances in the case, so perfectly pat and mirth pro voking that it would have been a dull-witted and unimpressionable jury that could fail to appreciate, from the shouts of laughter with which the court room resounded, that a verdict from the public had already been found in Mr, Choate 's favor, of which the jury was to be the mouthpiece. In his closing plea, he said : "For the last week, gentlemen of the jury, we have been engaged here in a bitter contest. It has 188 JOSEPH H. CHOATE tried us all. Coming by my children's nursery door, this moming, I heard them trying to teach the baby the story of 'The House that Jack Built,' I was almost inclined to think that they had been in Court listening to this case for, gentlemen, we are con sidering 'The House that Jack Built,' My client is the unfortunate 'Jack' and (looking and bowing gracefully to Mrs, Stevens) you, madam, may be called 'the maiden, all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn' — ^which we can easily imagine is the Stevens' estate — while the opposing counsel, who knows he has a bad case and is anxious about his fee, is 'the dog that worried the cat' — worrying the only witness who could tell how the cat caught the rat — the dishonest workmen — 'that ate the malt' and pocketed the money — that lived in the House that Hunt built," Mrs, Stevens poured out the vials of her wrath on Mr, Choate, and started upon what she called a "crusage" against him, and secured the publication in one or two society journals of caustic criticisms on his conduct. She was, Mr. Choate told me, very indignant at the time but, he added, "we became good friends afterwards — so good that she used to invite me to her house." In one of his memorable cases, Stewart against Huntington, which involved the doings of that famous combination of brains and capital, Hunt ington, Hopkins, Crocker and Stanford, and the .2^£i