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Gift of
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1909

TESTIMONIAL OF RESPECT

¦Hit ut »P
oc\*ho« .<. ;BAR OF NEW YORK,

TO THE MEMORV OF

Alexander W. Bradford, Esq,

NEW YORK:
BAKER A- GODWIN, PRINTERS,
PRINTING-HOUSE SQUARE.
1868.

MEMOIR.

Alexander Warfield Bradford was "born in Al
bany, in this State, on the 23d of February, 1815. He
was the eldest son of the Rev. John Bradford, of that
city. After completing his primary studies at the Al
bany Academy, he entered Union College, Schenectady,
and graduated in 1832. He received his diploma as
Master of Arts, in 1835, and in 1852 the degree of
LL. D. was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater,
and he was at the same time elected a Trustee of the
College, a position he held up to the time of his death.
After leaving college he came to the city of New
York, where he engaged in the study of law in the office
of the late Robert Sedgwick. He was admitted to the
Bar in 1X37, and entered upon the practice of his pro
fession. In 1X1X Mr. Bradford was elected Corporation
Attorney, the duties of which office he discharged with
faithfulness and honor. He was elected to the office of
Surrogate for the City and County of New York, and
was again elected to the same office with great unanimity

6
for two successive terms, thus filling the office for nine
years, with great satisfaction to the community, and giv
ing to the office an entire new character, and creating a
new system of jurisprudence. He then, in 1858, re
sumed his profession in this city, when his abilities were
greatly appreciated by the public, and his practice in
the special department of the law known as the Civil or
Ecclesiastical Law, became cprite as lucrative as that of
any other member of the profession. Indeed, it may be
said that his professional engagements gradually under
mined his health, and for some months prior to his de
cease, his friends became apprehensive that he was go
ing into a decline. He expired on the 5th of Novem
ber, 1867, at the residence of his friend, Professor
Charles M. Nairne, in West 34th Street, in the 53d year
of his age. At the time of his death he was a Trustee
of Columbia College, and an active and efficient mem
ber of very many of the liberal and charitable institu
tions of the city.

PROCEEDINGS OF PHE BAR OF NEW YORK,

IN RELATION TO THE

DEATH OF ALEXANDER W. BRADFORD, ESQ.,

Ex-SURROGATE OF THE CiTY AND COUNTY OF NEW YoRK.

PRELIMINARY MEETING

HELD AT THE GENERAL TERM ROOM OF THE SUPREME
COURT, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 0, 1867.

On motion of Gilbert M. Speir, Esq., Hon. William
H. Leonard was appointed Chairman.
William S. Curtis and Elbridge T. Gerry, Escjs.,
were appointed secretaries.
The following named persons were appointed as
members of a committee to make the necessary arrange
ments for the proposed meeting of the Bar, and to
prepare and report appropriate resolutions for adoption
at that meeting : WILLIAM M. EVARTS.
EDWIN W. STOUGHTON.
JOHN E. BURRILL.
RICHARD O'GORMAN.
GILBERT M. SPEIR.
GEORGE SHEA.
ELBRIDGE T. GERRY.
On motion of Judge Daly, the meeting adjourned
until to-morrow, November 7th, 1867, at 12 o'clock.

Ii

MEETING OF THE BAR OF NEW YORK

HELD AT THE GENERAL TERM ROOM OF THE SUPREME
COURT, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1867.

The meeting was called to order by Mr. E, W.
Stoughton, who spoke as follows :
Brethren of the Bar : We have met again to bury one of our dead ;
we have assembled to pay our last deep heartfelt tribute of affection
and respect to the memory of our deceased brother, Alexander W.
Bradford. Upon this occasion, I move that the Hon. H. E. Davies,
presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals, take the chair.
Which was carried.
Mr. John E. Bdrrill : — I move that the following named gentle
men act as Vice-Presidents :
Hon. SAMUEL BLATCHFOED.
Hon. WILLIAM H. LEONARD.
Hon. A. L. ROBERTSON.
Hon. E. DARWIN SMITH. '
Hon. JOS1AH SUTHERLAND.
Hon. DANIEL P. INGRAHAM.
Hon. GEORGE G. BARNARD.
Hon. THOMAS W. CLERKE.
Hon. RUFUS W. PECKHAM.
Hon. JOHN R. BRADY.
Which was carried.

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Mr. George Shea : — At the request of the committee, I move
that the Hon. W. E. Curtis, Elbridge T. Gerry, and Gilbert M.
Speir, be appointed secretaries of this meeting.
Which was carried.

REMARKS OF GILBERT M. SPEIR, ESQ.
Mr. Speir then spoke as follows :
Mr. Chairman : The fact that I was intimately acquainted with
our deceased friend in our early days ; that he was a classmate in
college, leads me to think that a few plain remarks with regard to
what I knew of him, may not be without interest. It would hardly
be appropriate for me to go into any general details of Mr. Brad
ford's long and successful professional life, while there are so many
here able to do greater justice to the subject than I could hope to do.
Mr. Bradford and myself were not merely classmates in college ;
we occupied adjacent rooms situated on the same floor — belonged to
the same literary and social societies — and the intimacy which grew
up through such daily close relationship, continued during the rest of
his life ; and it now affords me, Sir, the greatest consolation to be
able to say that nothing ever occurred to mar or disturb the early
friendship thus formed between us. Mr. Bradford graduated at
Union College early in life — I think, at the age of seventeen. While
in college, as it has been ever since, his temper was even, his nature
kind, and his disposition generous and forgiving. I do not think, Sir,
there was a particle of jealousy, envy or malice in his composition. I
never knew a young man to go through his collegiate course with
such entire approval among all his associates, whether pupils or pro
fessors — for he was beloved by all. I do not think that there was ever
the slightest difficulty occurring between himself and any member of
our class, or any member of the other classes. On the contrary, his
influence was ever exerted in allaying all petty animosities which are
apt to spring up in the intercourse of school life. This was an extraor
dinary feature in the character of our friend. Frank, friendly, and
sociable, he was a most engaging and agreeable companion.
As regards his acquisitions as a student, and the conscientious
discharge of his duties, he was among the foremost ; and in ability

12
was certainly among the first of his class. He did not confine him
self to the mere studious attention of the stinted lessons in hand, but
extended his researches to all subjects nearly and remotely connected
with them. He was to be found at all times during the interval of
recitations in the libraries, examining, as those studies progressed, all
other cognate subjects. I cannot help but think that this early train
ing and early habit of investigation well fitted him in after life to
discharge the duties so thoroughly as he did, in mastering the practice
and principles of the civil law, and in the discharge of his official
duties as Surrogate of the city and county of New York. His pro
fessional -career in this department of the law, was marked with a
reputation and success rarely equalled, and perhaps never surpassed
in this county.
After Mr. Bradford graduated, he removed to this city — studied his
profession in the office of the late Mr. Robert Sedgwick, with whom
Mr. D. D. Field was associated, and was admitted to the bar at the
age of twenty-one. Like most young men, his profession did not en
gage the whole of his time. He was well prepared, by his general
scholarship, to engage, and successfully, in other pursuits besides that
of the legal profession.
A large portion of our community will remember with what sig
nal success he, conjointly with Dr. Anthon, published and edited
the Protestant Churchman. When Dr. Anthon retired from that
post, the Reverend John Brown, a classmate, then having charge
of the parish at Astoria, was united with Mr. Bradford in this publi
cation. Mr. Brown, like himself, a man of rare endowments, of mod
est worth, and of mental culture, died in early life. At a later period
our friend published a volume on " American Antiquities." I have
only time to repeat of that volume a remark made to me by the late
Rev. Dr. Hawks, and certainly no man in our country at that time
was better able to appreciate such a work — it was his specialty ; he
said " the production was not only a very able work of itself, but
was especially valuable as calling the public attention to that class
of history." Shortly afterwards several works on that subject by
different authors appeared in print.
I had several interviews with our deceased friend in the early part
of the last summer, and discovered that his health was yielding to the
incessant demands made upon his time. We conversed in relation
to the state of his health, and I urged upon him the necessity of seek-

13

ing relaxation from professional business by travel. His answer was,
" I have undertaken to discharge important duties to my clients, and
whatever the result may be, I shall endeavor to perform them — I can
only go to the northern part of the State for a short time." He did
so. Upon his return he went to the house of his good friend, Pro
fessor Nairne, of Columbia College, who had invited him there. Af
ter arriving at his friend's house, he made but one visit to his office,
returned and took to his bed, and two weeks ago this night, a counsel
of physicians the most eminent in this city, pronounced against his
recovery. I may add, what is well known, that the event was not un
expected by himself and his friends — from the first he felt very clearly
that this was his last illness, and so it proved.
Mr. Spier then read the following resolutions :
Whereas, Alexander W. Bradford, a member of this Bar, has, in
the Providence of God, by the hand of death, been taken from us in
the midst of an honorable and useful career, in the prime of life and
in the maturity of his powers, we, his professional brethren, make this
record of his worth and our loss :
Resolved, That we have come together to express our regret for
no ordinary man ; that we deplore with a whole community, the un
expected departure of excellence of a high order, and regard the event
as a calamity to the Bar, the Bench, to the social and public well-being
of the city in which he lived, and to the country.
Resolved, That we recognize in our deceased friend, among the
many traits of his noble character, rectitude of purpose, inflexible
principle, unvarying courtesy, and those qualities which mark the
pure, consistent life' of a christian ; and we refer with melancholy sat
isfaction and just pride to his attainments as a general scholar and
able lawyer ; to his voluntary labors in the service of the public as a
Commissioner of the Code ; to the ability and integrity with which
he performed his duties as a magistrate while presiding in the Surro
gate's Court; to the valuable contributions he has furnished to the
profession and the public in that branch of the law which he adminis
tered so long and so well.
Resolved, That we tender our profound sympathy to the family,
relatives and friends of the deceased, in this great bereavement, and
that the Bench and Bar attend the funeral in a body.

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Mr. George Shea offered the following additional
resolution :
Resolved, That the juridical labors of Alexander W. Bradford
have attained a deserved and permanent recognition in the tribunals
of this country, England and France. That while with pride we
share in the credit thus reflected upon American jurisprudence, we are
especially desirous on this sad occasion to remember the daily benefits
we continue to derive from those and from his minor labors. He has
greatly contributed to build up almost a complete system of jurispru
dence in the Court over which he presided, ascertaining and defining
the province in this State of that part of the ecclesiastical law admin
istered through the Surrogate's Court, making its practice more sim
ple, harmonious and efficient, and giving a new character to the
Court.

REMARKS OF CHARLES O'CONOR, Esq.
Mr. O'Conor, in seconding the resolutions, spoke as
follows :
Mr. Chairman : —
The labors of your committee have so successfully
presented to the public mind the sentiment which must exist through
out that portion of the Bar who have come in contact either with Mr.
Bradford personally, or had occasion to peruse his works, or to re
ceive the benefit of his professional or judicial services, that little
seems left for any observations coming from a private source. There
is, however, some degree of propriety in those who have had this
sort of opportunity, presenting as the thoughts occur, in this moment
of deep tribulation and deep feeling, their personal and individual
views in relation to his character, his claims upon our consideration,
and their sense of the loss we have sustained, in parting with him thus
prematurely. Mr. Bradford made his first appearance at the Bar, in the City of
New York, though born in another part of the State. We have
known him from the commencement of his professional life, and can
therefore, such of us as have been actively employed during the period

15

he was amongst us, speak as competent witnesses to the question
which I have suggested.
Mr. Bradford was remarkable, at the outset of life, for extreme
amiability of manner, perfect unobtrusiveness, and, I think I might
say, a lack of that sort of effort at personal advancement which, in our
country, prevailed to so great a degree. I think, though, this earlier
period of his life, drew to him the attention of his seniors at the Bar,
and excited their esteem and good-will.
He did not, as might reasonably have been expected, reap, during
the period to which I have referred, the rewards that were justly due
to so much natural ability and to so great an amount of laboriously
acquired learning, both in general literature and in the law, as he had
possessed himself of. Indeed, I am under the impression that at the
time when the favor of those who control our elections, led to his be
ing called into a public office, he had, up to that time, been rather
struggling, as many of us do in this country, with the difficulties of a
limited professional employment, limited compensation of course,
limited appreciation of his merit, and limited opportunities for the
display of his decidedly natural abilities. He, however, was called
into public office, and for some ten long years about, has, I think, filled
an office which, during that period, was continually acquiring greater
and greater importance, by reason of the magnitude of the interests
that came under the direction of the judicial officer at its head. Here
Mr. Bradford's modesty and unobtrusiveness remained unchanged,
and reaching a sphere where he could exercise, in a certain degree,
power over the uninfluenced wishes and interests of men, he seemed
altogether unconscious that any change had taken place, and at least
made all around him, that came within the sphere of his influence,
and were subjected to his action, quite unconscious that human pas
sion, human feeling of any description, beyond the mere desire to do
right, ever influenced his action.
He was not elevated in any bad sense of the word, by this attain
ment of power, but in every good sense of it. Indeed here, I think,
it may be said that there was a lack of the rewards that were due to
his merit. We are not apt to appreciate that which is entirely good.
We are not apt to enjoy much the perfection of good in anything. It
requires, it would seem, (such is the infirmity of human things,) that
the pleasures of life should be touched with some of its woes, in or
der to make us appreciate the pleasant passages as they come. But

16
in the case of Mr. Bradford, there was a remarkable equanimity and
uniformity of action. Friends and foes, if any foes it can be supposed
he had, were treated alike. The more proper phrase would be, inti
mates and strangers received precisely the same measure of courtesy,
precisely the same measure of justice, and precisely the same measure
of that kind of favor which is occasionally expected in mere matters
of personal accommodation or facility.
Such a career is too good to excite very great attention, and I do
think that the merits of Mr. Bradford were but slightly appreciated
until, by a turn in the wheel of political fortune, the people found
themselves one bright November morning bereft of the services of
one, who so long served in that department ; then it was, for the first
time, the public voice began to speak of the singular merits of this
worthy public officer. It is true that in the interim he had devoted
himself most laboriously to the duties of his office, conferring public
and private benefit thereby. It is true that his labors in that office
were most arduous. I have seen him seated from ten o'clock in the
morning until six in the afternoon, with an interval of fifteen minutes
allowed for the necessary relaxation, continuously employed in
writing down laboriously the testimony of witnesses, and deciding
every little while some difficult and important question discussed bj
contending counsel of great ability, and determine it, as judges nisi
priiis are compelled to do, upon the spot, and as rarely, certainly, as
any other judicial officer with whom I have had any acquaintance,
committed any error that would strike one as being at all serious, or
that would be likely to produce any result in the case injurious to
either party.
I say when he left this office, the public began to appreciate what
they did not appreciate during the quietude of his life as an attornev
and counsellor-at-law while he still remained at his desk in his office,
appearing only occasionally at the bar, and as they did not appreciate
him during the period of his services as a judicial officer as the hun
dreds, and perhaps thousands, of members of the Bar in this and
other States had not appreciated him, whilst receiving their daily
guidance and instruction in their professional pursuits from the labo
rious works which he issued during this very period.
Mr. Bradford left the Surrogate's office, and at once stimulated
abroad amongst our citizens the desire to purchase for their private
use those talents and services which had for so long a time been

17

unpurchasable, and employed only in the public service. Here was
the period at which Mr. Bradford's "worldly" prosperity, as the
word is generally understood, commenced. He was at once sought
by nearly every one who had any important controversy in our
courts, particularly involving questions of the kind to which he had
been obliged to devote himself during his judicial career, and from
that time to the present, using the word " still " in the same sense I
before employed it as relating to external things and to pecuniary for
tune, Mr. Bradford enjoyed the very highest of professional, personal,
and pecuniary prosperity. Alas, Mr. President ! this ripe period was
too short, and it was marked with some severe calamities — the fireside,
the centre and seat of all that constitutes in this life ease, happiness
and content, our being's end and aim, was visited by the fell destroyer.
One after another of the sons who had grown up during the periods
of trial to which I have referred, and who might now be expected to
participate with him in the joys of prosperity, were taken away, and
the stricken father, whilst enjoying external prosperity, met affliction
too often at home. But such are the ways of Providence.
With character unscathed, with mind unbroken, with industry
undiminished, with fidelity to his labors, still continued with the
respect and confidence of the community, now grown suddenly, as it
were, to full stature, wholly unimpaired to the last moment, he has
been called away in the midst of his prosperity and his grief, to that
final end where grief is not, and where all earthly sorrows will find
their compensation. I have but to add to this brief recital my con
viction, that as I do personally, and as a member of the Bar, deeply
regret his loss at this time, and while I contemplate with pride the
career of our departed brother, I speak a sentiment which is abso
lutely universal : I am sure that he has left no enemies, and the
number of his friends, among those who know him, may be calculated
and judged by the measure of capacity, to entertain spontaneous
friendship for those who richly deserve it, which exists among his
compatriots.
REMARKS OF HON. CHARLES P. DALY.
Mr. Chairman : —
Mr. O'Conor has expressed so fully, so comprehen
sively and concisely the qualities of our late distinguished friend, as a
3

18

man, as a lawyer, and as a Judge, as to leave very little to be added.
It was my good fortune to have had personally, professionally, and
officially very intimate relations with Judge Bradford, and the oppor
tunity to know and esteem the peculiar qualities he possessed for the
profession he so adorned.
He was distinguished in the first place by very extensive scholar
ship. Mr. Spier has spoken of a work which he published upon
" American Antiquities." I have read that work, and am familiar
with the subject, and am enabled to say that he was the pioneer in a
department of investigation exceedingly difficult, in which he has only
been succeeded, not exceeded, by the labors of Squier and Davis.
He was among the first to investigate the history of the peculiar
race of people who first inherited this continent, and who have left
their remarkable monuments behind them, anterior to the period of
our native Indians.
In the production of this work he exhibited all those qualities of
careful research and patient investigation, which distinguished his sub
sequent judicial career.
It became my duty, Mr. Chairman, to fill, for a considerable period of
time, the office which he filled for a period of nine years, and from that
circumstance I became, perhaps, better acquainted than any other gen
tleman present, with his peculiar excellence in the particular depart
ment of jurisjDrudence to which he had chiefly devoted his life. Dur
ing that time he was before me nearly every day, and I had greater
opportunities of judging of him than probably of any other profes
sional gentleman, and, in the discharge of the duties of the office thus
temporarily assumed, received more assistance from him than from
any other professional gentleman. He was distinguished in that de
partment of jurisprudence by a knowledge of it more extensive than
that perhaps of any other individual in this country, with whom, or
with whose name or profession, I am acquainted.
The office of Surrogate has been in existence in this State for a
period of a century and a half. It has been filled by a number of in
dividuals, and by some distinguished persons during that time, but
by none that reflected so much lustre as he did. He was distinguished
by great industry, by great acuteness, by method, by good sense, and
judgment, and he brought to the discharge of the duties of that office,
and afterwards to the discharge of professional duties connected with
that department of jurisprudence, an amount of learning more exten-

19
sive, as I have said, than any other individual with whose name or
reputation I am acquainted.
His knowledge was not only extensive, but it was peculiar ; and it
partook in part of the large comprehensiveness which goes beyond the
boundaries of mere legal acquisition, and seeks for assistance from
other sources of information. The jurisdiction of that department of
jurisprudence is peculiar, mixed up with the common law and with
the civil law, and in some degree with the common law of England.
It is exceedingly difficult of acquisition. It requires a great deal of
labor to be perfectly understood and to be practically administered.
He was not only thoroughly acquainted with the whole system of
jurisprudence, but he was especially acquainted with the adaptation of
that jurisprudence at the very root of the state of society in Great
Britain, to the first unfolding ofa system of jurisprudence, partly civil
and partly canonical, which led to the system which prevailed there
and which we have administered in this State.
His knowledge was so extensive, and at the same time so minute
and accurate, that he was able, in a public lecture, which I, and, I be
lieve, the President of this meeting, (Judge Davies,) had the pleasure
of hearing, to point out the large contributions which the common
law had received from the Roman law, from the fragmentary state
of Roman jurisprudence during the period of Saxon administration,
and as the result of great research and great acuteness, pointed out
that much which we supposed to be the roots of the common law, in
reality had their source, and, perhaps, their full development, in that
wonderful structure which the Roman people left for the imitation of
posterity. He was not only, Mr. Chairman, distinguished in this respect, but
in my judgment he was the most conscientious Judge that ever sat in
a court of justice, and he brought to the administration of judicial du
ties, a tenderness of regard for the interests of others, a quickness in
the perception of them and an uprightness in the dealing with them, as
has 'rarely been rivaled in the history of the Bench. The office which
he administered, if not as elevated as others in this State, is, in my
judgment, the most responsible one in the State, for when it is borne
in mind that the property of every man who dies in this great metrop
olis, must pass through that tribunal, administered by but a single
mind, they will feel the importance of the immense interests that are
disposed of by the judicial judgment of the officer who presides there.

20

Mr. Bradford has left as the result of his labors in that office, and
as the monument of his professional attainments, five volumes of re
ports, and it is not exceeding the fact to say that perhaps no work of
reports, no judicial reports that have ever appeared in this country,
have attained a similar reputation in other lands. So far as my
knowledge and experience extends, his reports have been more fre
quently quoted in English and French courts than any other reports
published in this country, with the single exception of the reports of
the Supreme Court of the United States; — certainly no State reports,
and for so limited a period of time, have become so extensively famil
iar to foreign tribunals, or so frequently referred to by foreign judi
cial writers. When, in connection with this unusual reputation, it is
borne in mind that these reports were prepared very hastily, prepared
frequently after the close of a laborious day, frequently at four and
five o'clock, between the short period allotted for the close of his la
bors and the period when he went home to his house, it becomes the
more remarkable they should be distinguished for the qualities they
possess, and which have made them so eminent.
Mr. O'Conor, Mr. Chairman, has spoken of Mr. Bradford's position
when leaving office. He had brought to the administration of one of
the most important offices in this State, and, in view of the magnitude
of the interests disposed of in this State, the most important perhaps
in this country, qualities of the highest order. He had fulfilled those
duties with great acceptance and with remarkable ability, and at a
salary so inadequate to his merits, when he suddenly found himself, as
the result of a political election, deprived of his office and without
means, that he said to me, on the day when he left that office, the
clay when his tenure terminated, he did not know where he should
turn for bread. I speak of this as a commentary upon the effect of
our political system, where the offices which require the highest
ability, and perhaps involving the largest labor, receive the smallest
pecuniary compensation ; and as an illustration of how much higher
is the appreciation of those, whose interest it is to employ talent and
ability. Mr. Bradford had scarcely hired an office in which to make
the experiment of returning to his profession until he received some
six or seven retainers, and I have his own words for the fact, that
after the discharge of his professional duties the first year he realized
the handsome compensation of $20,000, nearly four times as much as
his former official salary.

21
Mr. Chairman, it were to be wished that a life so valuable, pos
sessed of so many qualities, and so useful to the public, had been pro
longed ; it is to be regretted that a man who did so much, whose intel
lect and industry were so severely taxed, should have added to his
life domestic calamities, which, while they in a certain degree
impaired his usefulness, perhaps tended to render him less efficient
towards the close of his career, if they did not hasten his decease. It
were to be desired that he might have been saved the affliction of the
loss of children, and of other domestic calamities hastening and
crowding upon him at that period of his career when he stood most
eminent before the public, and most worthy of the eminence he had
attained, and that he had lived to a ripe old age to contemplate his
past usefulness and enjoy its fruits. A higher power ordered it
otherwise. But we refer to Mr. Bradford to-day, as it is our duty in
assemblages of this kind, to refer to our professional brethren, by a
strict examination of his life and character, and point to it as an
example and stimulus to those of our professional brethren less
advanced than himself, that they may feel what it is to struggle for
that union of moral excellence and strict discipline for which he was
distinguished, and leave behind them a memory such as he has left,
when the story of their life comes to be told.

REMARKS OF HON. EDWARDS PIERREPONT.
Mr. Chairman . I come not to pronounce a labored eulogy upon
the memory of our departed and beloved friend. I simply come to
cast one humble flower and drop a sincere tear upon his new-made
grave, and then to be hurried on by- the current of that great river
which so soon will drift us all into the dusky, shoreless ocean of
death. Judge Bradford needs no eulogy from us. His life for many
years was public, and all his life — his manly life — was spent in this
city, and no man was better known. 1 shall say of him nothing now
which I would not have said when he was living. I do not much
believe in praising men after they are dead more than they deserved
to be praised when they lived. 1 would speak no higher commenda
tion of him now than I did speak the last time I ever met him, when
in an earnest contest he was my adversary before the Honorable Sur
rogate (Mr. Tucker) who now sits by your side. In that contest I

22
did say of him that which was complimentary, that which he deserved,
that which I felt, and I am very glad that the last time I ever saw
him, and the last words I ever said of him, were those which I would
say over his grave.
Mr. O'Conor, who has spoken of the earlier life and of the lack
of success of Judge Bradford, and then of the success which followed
his first lack of success, has very happily brought before us, and more
especially before those younger members of the profession, a matter
worthy of their deepest consideration. It is what all should well
remember. Every man who has ever attained any place at the Bar
has gone through the same difficulties as those to which Mr. O'Conor
alluded in relation to the early life and apparent want of apprecia
tion which Mr. Bradford felt in his youth. It is a discipline that is
necessary. Every man who starts on the thorny road which leads to
the interior temple of Justice, must expect to be challenged at every
gate. When he comes to enter the door, he is there challenged to
know by what right he claims to enter ; he is examined, and is more
or less terrified and troubled about his examination ; and when he
once passes in, and goes to the next door, there he is challenged to
know by what right he assumes to be in that place which he then
claims to occupy. Every man is challenged as he passes on, and
inquired of to know by what right he presumes to hold the place
which he assumes to take. All that is right ; if it were not so, every
body could go in, and the easy access would render the position of
no value when attained. Let every young man understand that, that
the place to which he should aspire is gained through labor and toil,
and what appears to him at first a lack of appreciation, is the very-
thing which makes the place valuable when he reaches it. If he could
pass along easily, if he could be dandled into an eminent lawyer, or
if idleness would make him eminent, then eminence would lose its
value. All these difficulties to which my friend alluded, through
which Mr. Bradford passed in his early life, are such as every man
has passed through who has ever attained any eminence, and they are
precisely those through which every man must pass who attains any
eminence in this difficult profession of ours. And it should encourage
every one, who learns that after the labors and the toils of years, he did
not give out, but continued firm, determined, persevering to the end,
he did reap the rich reward to which he was entitled. We have some
times heard it said that Mr. Bradford was not a man of high natural

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ability. If you mean that he was not a man of what is called brilliant
genius, it is true. Any man is a man of ability who has those facul
ties which enables him to succeed in the long run in the business
which 'he attempts to succeed in, and no man has abilities — real
abilities — who cannot do that. Ability to study, ability to labor,
ability to continue in any line of action, is a natural gift. Idleness
and inertness arc just as much an inheritance as genius, and no man
with idleness and inertness, whether inherited or acquired, will ever
attain eminence. It is not brilliant qualities that make a lawyer
eminent ; it is good common sense, industry, labor, fidelity to every
duty as it arises, and when each day's duty is done, day by day, then
he is accumulating a power which in after years, as in the case of our
departed friend, will be felt by the community ; but if toil, fidelity,
and careful attention to each duty ceases because they are irksome,
or because one thinks they are not appreciated, he will find his after
life not the brilliant after-life of the late Judge Bradford, who has left
to every young man entering upon the profession of the Law an
example worthy of all imitation.
The question was then put by the Chairman on the
adoption of the resolutions, and declared carried.
On motion of Mr. Burrill, the meeting adjourned.

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