p /54- A MEMOIR OF THE LATE HON. PETER McCALL, (Chancellor of the Law Association of Philadelphia.) Read before the Association, at the Hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, on Thursday Evening, January 13, 1881, Hon. Isaac Hazlehurst. A MEMOIR OF THE LATE HON. PETER McCALL, (Chauctllor of the Law Association of Philadelphia). Read before the Association, at the Hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, on Thursday Evening, January 13, 1 88 1, Hon. Isaac Hazlehurst. IN exckang* No. 208 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, November 6, 1880. Hon. ISAAC HAZLEHURST, My Dear Sir: At the meeting of the Law Association held upon the 5th instant to take action upon the death of Mr. Peter McCall, its Chancellor, the following Resolution was unanimously adopted : " Resolved., That Mr. Isaac Hazlehurst be invited to read a memoir of Mr. McCall before the Law Association, at such time as may be convenient to him." Hoping that you will gratify the Association by granting their request, I remain Your obedient servant, • A. SYDNEY BIDDLE, Secretary Law Associaiion. No. 508 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, November /j, 18S0. To A. SYDNEY BIDDLE, Esq., Secretary, etc. Mv Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your communication of the 6th inst., enclosing a Resolution of the Law Association that I should be "invited to read a memoir of Mr. McCall," the late Chancellor. I shall take a peculiar pleasure in attempting to discharge the duty to which I have been assigned, and I will as soon as possible comply with the terms of the Resolution by naming whatever time and place shall best serve the convenience of the Association. ,1 remain, sir, very truly and respectfully, ISAAC HAZLEHURST. & No. 528 Walnut Street, PJiiladelpJiia, January /j, 1S81 . Hon. ISAAC HAZLEHURST, My Dear Sir : It is my pleasant duty to advise you that at a special meeting of the Law Association, held on the 13th inst., the following Resolution was unanimously adopted: "Resolved, That the thanks of the Law Association be tendered to the Hon. Isaac Hazlehurst for his eloquent and instructive tribute to the memory of its late Chancellor, Mr. McCall ; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the address to the Association for publication." I trust that it will be entirely agreeable for you to comply with this request. Very respectfully yours, ROBERT D. COXE, Secretary Laiv Association. No. 2020 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, January i/, iS8r. To ROBERT D. COXE, Esq., Secretary Law Association. My Dear Sir : I willingly comply with the request of the Law Association as expressed in the Resolution adopted on the occasion to which you refer ; and I beg to thank you at the same time for the courteous terms in which you have communicated it to me. I remain, sir, very truly yours, ISAAC HAZLEHURST. I THINK, sir, it speaks well for an association that has counted so many learned and distinguished men among- its members that it has united as a body in this tribute of respect to the memory of the great and good man who has passed away — and that the people of Philadelphia have good reason to congratulate themselves upon the opportunity your invitation has afforded them to testify by this distinguished representation to the value of his civic and patriotic services. But you have forestalled me, Mr. Chancellor, for you have pronounced yourself the highest eulogy upon him, when you said, in a sentence of rare and fitting estimation, that what w^as said of him while he was living could hardly be added to when he had died. I know of nothing more graceful by way of sentiment, or more felicitous in expression, than your chosen words ; and I trust, sir, 1 may be allowed to congratulate you upon so just and eloquent a tribute to his incomparable worth and worthiness. When I said that 1 would lake, what 1 d(.)ubted not to hnd, a peQiiliai- pleasure in attempting to discharge the duty of this evening, I did not appre- ciate the difficulties that have embarrassed me. Words of high praise, deep affection and lofty admiration it would be an easy task to arrange in conventional order. But " why should calamity be full of words " ? To honor the citizen, all his fellow- citizens are agreed. The -eye of observation is not strained that marks the course of the just magis- trate. No voice dissents from the verdict of his acquittal of all that was not pure and upright in the discharge of every responsibility. His brethren consent that the learned and accomplished lawyer shall take the first place in their affectionate memory and esteem. But all this would only expose him to the hardship and peril of a separation from the love and honor that w^aited upon him constantly, and abandon his memory to the fate of a distant admira- tion, upon whose height it might lie white and pure as the Alpine fiower, but in the bitter cold of the upper air. The value of his friendship consisted in the countless opportunities that the generosity of his heart embraced. The graces of his nature were discovered where their praises were continually sounded — in daily intercourse. All that belonged to him were quahties above value, and everything that makes up our recollection of him was some one of those sweet and modest delicacies of character that would make the tenderest hand of its ex[)osure seem unchaste. He needs to stand upon no higher level than tlu? love? of all who knew him, nor to l)e seen in any kindlier light than is shed from that Lamp that was a lio-ht unto his feet. He walked throuorh Hfe as one might tread some graceful measure, with the law of commandment in his heart and a song of the sweetest testimonies upon his lips. It is only from an uninterrupted intercourse — for there was nothing about him that captivated on the instant — that the testimony can be gathered from which even an estimate may be formed of his charac- ter. And that testimony is of a peculiar kind. It is the testimony of going witnesses, and is being taken late in life's afternoon. Of his cotempo- raries, not a handful are left ; of his companions, but a few more. A new generation of men is on the stage of active life. A new professional race is in training. It is another day. Time is said to be an enemy. I give him hostages from the ranks Mr. McCall commanded by the supremacy cjf his own fitness and goodness, and which he inspired again and again by the display of his own noble courage. Few members of this Bar have sustained the peculiar relation of preceptor and professor to so large a number of their juniors ; and it would be a base thought to entertain of those who profited by his instruction that they could soon forget the lesson of his example. For he taught more by example than by precept. He dignified authority and ennobled maxim. The performance of his duties as an instructor passed the muster of that stern scrutiny to which he subjected the motive of every action in his life, and that he faithfully discharged them a grateful generation is on hand to testify. But, after all, what were the elements that com- bined in such singularly fit proportions to make his character eminently striking and effective among a multitude of other worthy and admirable examples that have been set and followed in our midst? For it is impossible to deny that such was the fact. The admission does not need to be extorted. It is not a charitable tribute to the dead. But in what particu- lars was it so ? Mr. McCall was not a man of more than ordinary endowments. His mental consti- tution was not nearly so vigorous and robust as many another's, who, at the time when he was in most active practice, won professional honors that escaped his ^grasp, even if his hand was ever extended to secure them. Was it a fortunate social |)osition ? Nearly, if not all, the men who secured distinction at the time shared that advantage with him equally. Ancestry had conferred upon them all the obliga- tion of distinguished names. Surely the posthu- mous son of a poor merchant who had withdrawn years before his death into a strict retirement, could have had no early infiuence or advantages that secured him exceptionally easy terms with fortune, or exaggerated his capacity beyond a fair estimate of the average ability — if it even conceded that. He had little wish or liking for prominence, though he exhibited all that virtuous propriety that makes ambition excellent. With a lofty indifference to the intolerant opinions of others, he was careful of nothing l)ut to deserve their respect li)' tlie lionest and timely expression of his own. Of the public lo offices he held, only one had any patronage and a very moderate compensation. Could it have been by eloquence ? Though his taste was always exquisite, his composition graceful and elaborate, his method elegant and his manner distinguished, he was inferior to many others who then delighted and com- manded a forum " where immortal accents glowed, and still the eloquent air breathes." What was it then ? Men talk of the average man, and in a way that seems to take for granted, or, at all events, rouses a very strong suspicion, that all his qualities are of the second class, and that he is intended to be put at a disadvantage by their comparison with some one or two that shine with conspicuous brightness in another. Mr. McCall is best described, to my mind, as a man fully up to the average measure of every private virtue and every public excellence. If he had been more generous than he was just, for instance ; if he had been less virtuous than he was modest ; if he had been more partisan as an advocate than he was prudent and judicious as an adviser ; if he could ever " upon the winking of authority, have understood the law ;" if he had ever forgotten that the natural man and the professional man were one and the same person, — there might have been more striking moments in his life — moments of crowded admira- tion — more effective dramatic opportunities ; but we might not then be able to say of him as we do now, and feel the pride an angel might take in saying it, that while no man is perfect, he, who was certainly the average best iif everything, was not very far from it. Nor Is the judgment to be entered upon a gen- eral average. That is altogether too vague and loose a phrase. Selected qualities only are appraised, and made to count in it. The standard varies even between particulars. It is general in every sense. But with Mr. McCall, not selected qualities, no matter how numerous and imposing, but every one that he possessed, whether of heart or mind, passes into the total at the appraisement of virtue itself. His life was a piece of concerted music. This is high praise, and it is hard to be impartial at the grave. But I ask you, who knew him, if I have spoken too well of him ? That it is striking, even to surprise, is in consequence of its entire truth and justice. It is not speaking no ill of the dead, but it is telling God's own truth about him. It was this sense of its perfect harmony that stamped upon his very countenance — integrity ; and I use the word in its oood old Latin meanine, — a man upright and whole. The disproportion of ingredients, the improper admixture of colors, the bad arrange- ment of light and shade, produce their effect at once. The shock is instantaneous. It does not hurt us, and even to feel it may not be an unpleasant experience. It may be of the very slightest kind, and perhaps may not swing through a wider arc than between praise and excuse; but the judge who is to give sentence upon the pure and blameless life that has passed now into his presence, has his seat upon the throne of the universe whose harmony is the praise of his glory. This leaves very little room l(j accommodate the dis- tinction between natural qualities and attainments ; which, I am sometimes inclined to think, is one of the most invicHous distinctions that can be made. For it supphes the most vicious source from which the idle and dependent draw comfort, if they ever feel com- punction, and the proud and silly replenish their vices as from a well-filled store-house. In fact, there can be no such distinction. It is imagined only to console the miseries of some poor conceit, or to serve as a lame excuse for some lamentable and utterly contemptible failure ; for it is to be remembered that until a man's natural powers, every one of them, are exhausted, he has no ritrht to rest even so much as to eat bread from the constant exercise of their full vigor. The full use of them is required at the hand of every man, and then his attainments will be the rich, purple fruit that hangs in heavy clusters from his own faithful and conscientious work. Certainly there never was a man who was more entirely just and true and honest to himself in this respect than Mr. McCall. And what he was in the community and to society everywhere, he was because, being always in attendance upon that business of his life, he could not then be false to any man. The value of character is always to serve for an example. The power of char- acter is another thing. It is an enabling power. It creates influence. It commands opportunity. It receives respect and confidence. It honors and is honored. But in the ambition they excite, and in the encouragement they give to others to hold them for an ensign^to imitate them — lies, the real value of the services that men of rare and conspicuous excellence and virtue render to their time. A man of virtue and goodness ensures a posterity of them by just as sure a law as keeps ahve his name and protects his property. He becomes the father of a family of vir- tues to bless and honor him from, one gfeneration to another. The Bar of Philadelphia, when Mr, McCall joined it, was a society of national fame and importance. Its illustrious rnembership was yet intact. Mr. Binney was still in the full possession of those mature powers that shortly afterwards " on his crowned head confirmed the crown." Mr, Serjeant was at his best; so was Mr, Ingersoll, Mr. McCall's preceptor, and, to the last, one of his most appreciative and ambitious admirers; and a host of other unforgotten worthies — names of bright renown — long since gathered to " the rest of their bones and soul's delivery," and their memories taken into the keeping of a grateful pride. Across the sea, the famous champion of the royal credit had just closed a brilliant argument in the only case where the credi- bility of a sovereign has been impugned, A great trav- eler had just written : " The lawyers are the only real aristocracy of America ; they comprehend nearly the whole of the respectability, talent and gentility of the United States," A curious and inquisitive thinker had barely finished his researches that traced one-sixth of the English peerage to the Bar. In fact, scarcely at any time has so much attention been called to the profes- sion generally, and at no time has it deserved the confidence and veneration of the public more than then, for it secured them by a display of the most pro- 14 found learning, the greatest rectitude of private character, the most finished and brilHant efforts of forensic skill and eloquence, as well as by a thorough and liberal education, that was as familiar with the polite letter as the black. Just at that time, Mr. McCall was entered as a student in the ofhce of Mr. Joseph R, Ingersoll, where he began his studies in company with some dozen or sixteen "young gentle- men," and where he continued them until his admission to practice as a member of the Bar in 1831. He came upon the scene with nothing in particular to indicate or recommend his subsequent career, except that everything might be confidently expected as the issue of his noble resolve " never to be clouded by dishonor or the consciousness of having done an ill deed." His entrance was as noiseless as his last foot- fall. He left it the Chancellor. Now what was it that accomplished that result ? The bestowal of that high honor was in acknowledgment of what special fitness ? Mr. McCall was not a great lawyer, but he was a great gentleman. Not in the miserable and corrupted sense that serves to mark some triflincr affectation of manner, a grace of bearing that is excused as cour- tesy, or some hypocrisy of manner that passes for gentility; but in the brave sense that "bears without abuse the grand old name." When Thackeray had finished his story of the most famous (because the most infamous) family of kings England ever had, and when he flung the last of them away from him in scorn and derision, he turned as if in search of rest, to find a true gentleman. He wrote of the 15 Nelsons, the Collingwoods, Judge Cleaveland, Southey and his Edith, and he said, " Without love, I can fancy no gentleman." And then, in all that brilliant com- parison, he asked " What is it to be a gentleman ?" Let hint answer. " It is to have lofty aims ; to lead a a pure life ; to keep your honor virgin ; to have the esteem of your fellow-citizens and the love of your fireside ; to bear good fortune meekly ; to suffer evil with constancy, and througli evil or good to maintain truth always." Sir, all the chancellors of this institution have been distinguished men. From 1827 to 1880, Mr. Rawle, Mr. Duponceau, Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Binney, Mr. Ingersoll, Mr . Meredith, and Mr. McCall, were chosen in succession. It is, indeed, " a shining list!' " They were the Day of those proud years. The Evening we : perchance the Night." Mr. McCall entered the Bar with this advantage that his family had been citizens of Philadelphia from the beginning of the last century, where the earlier branches that came to this country were largely and favorably known as prosperous and enterprising mer- chants, and were generally to be found filling the part of leading citizens at the town meetings when questions were under discussion that disturbed the peace of mind of the community, and called for the adoption of remedial measures of some sort. The name of some one or other of them is almost always to be found In the cotmclls of the city or In the Assembly, and on several occasions they served In the different mayor- alities. Nearly always they espoused the Royal cause 16 until near the close of the war, when they were occa- sionally found bearing- the American arms. The family is descended from the ancient border clan McCall, an offshoot of the famous McCauley clan, as it, in turn, had been of the clan McAulay, a portion of the divided clan of McGregor of Dumbartonshire, one of the most southern Highland clans, where the proper name is to-day in large landed possession, and from the neighborhood of which the McCalls came to this country. Probably all these clans had originally been one and the same ; but, however that may have been, the clan McCall does not exist now, nor, indeed, has it existed, ms a claii, for many years. Lord Macaulay traced his own descent to the same clan, and his great-grandfather's name was Aulay McCauley, so '^X singular a combination of the two names as to be hardly accidental ; and so did George McCauley, a London alderman, who died in 1778. They are reached, however, with entire certainty, early in the seventeenth century, when the records show that in 1690 one Samuel McCall was married in Glasgow to a daughter of Robert Dundas, of the county Midlothian, a famous judge of the time, who seems to have enjoyed the reputation of a man of sound learning, and to have held a high social place. Mr. McCall was one of the largest and most responsible of the merchants of the city, and was reputed to be a man of wealth. Mrs. McCall, who was distinguished for her beauty, as well as for the grace and elegance of her manner, was the aunt of Viscount Melville. They had two sons, of whom Samuel remained in business with his father at Glasgow, 17 and Is the head of the branch of the Scotch McCalls, as they are called ; and George McCall, who came as a very young man to the United States, to engage in the business of a merchant. Their eldest daughter married Mr. William Herring, of Croydon, in Surrey, cousin of Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury ; and their second daughter married, in 1766, Sir Francis Baring, whose son, the first Lord Ashburton, married back into the family through the Binghams. Less difficulty than usual has attended the verification of these facts, as the McCalls have always been people of influence and position in the different communities where they have lived, and won wide respect by the dignity and propriety of their private characters ; taken, too, in con- nection with the fact that they seem to have been always people of large wealth. The records of the family at this time, and ever since, are comparatively full and per- fect. Soon after his arrival in this country, Mr. George McCall became a large colonial proprietor in Pennsyl- vania, and in Virginia as well, though subsequently all of them were confiscated on account of his Tory sentiments and affiliations durino- the war. He settled in Phila- delphia in the year 1701, and from that day to this the name he founded in this country never represented anything but a large measure of its culture and respectability. Influence it has always commanded by the highest personal excellencies and attainments. As soon as he was settled in Philadelphia he identified himself with old Christ Church; and a curious item of contribution to his history is found in a paper under date of May 7, 1739, preserved among the parish records, in which his name appears as a con- tributor to a fund that was being raised to build a new church. The extract is as follows; "The church wardens are required to give notice to Mr. George McCall, tenant of the parsonage house, that his rent from this date is to be paid into their hands for the use of the church." He was a man of much more — very much more — than the usual local prominence and importance. He was a member of councils, and of the Assembly in 1722, about which time he was married to Ann. a daughter of Jasper Yates, an ancestor of the learned Chief Justice, and one of the earliest reporters of the cases at law in Pennsylvania. Mr. McCall acquired much real estate in and about the city proper, and by deed dated June 20, 1735, for a consid- eration of two thousand o^uineas became the owner of a tract of land in Montgomery County containing about twelve thousand acres, much of it embracing the lovely valley of the Schuylkill, and not very far from that beautiful section of country that was the continual subject of the late Chancellor's enthusiastic admiration ; amonor whose hills and woods he made his home, and on one of whose sunny sides he died. The tract was for many years called "McCall's Manor," and in the county records, though they are not entirely satisfactory on the subject, there is mention of the McCall Forge on Manatawny Creek. Mr. McCall's name is found attached to a large number of petitions prepared and circulated by merchants and men of vari- ous business upon every conceivable subject of com- mon and general importance ; so that the first bearer of 19 the name in this city and neighborhood set the clear and unmistakable example of the duty to act in unison with his fellow-citizens upon public subjects where his probity of conduct and wise counsel could be of service to them, — an example that no one of his descendants has hesitated or forgotten to follow. Mr. McCall died in 1740 and his wife in 1744. They were both buried in the Christ Church burying-yard, which has ever since continued to be the family cemetery. Mrs. McCall is spoken of as having -been a lady of great personal beauty, of which her portrait by Hesselius is ofood evidence ; of charmino- address, and most admirable in the entertainment of the distinsfuished company of that time. They had ten children, of whom their daughter Catherine married her cousin, Mr. John Inglis ; a gentleman whose reputation as a wit and beau shows that, in his case, it must have been anything but a bauble. He was a partner of Mr. Samuel McCall of Glasgow, who had come to this country on a visit, but, upon his marriage, resolved to remain. Although he entered the firm of McCall and Inglis, merchants, his reputation as a man of fashion and leisure makes it scarcely probable that he was more than nominally a man of business. Peale painted his portrait for the "City Dancing Assembly," of which he was for years the manager and oracle. Yet he was a man who, in his time, accepted larger and heavier responsibilities than the management of a ball. He became a memljer of the St. (ieorgc's Society in 1792, was for several years collector of the port, and was elected to the Comnion Coimcil in 1745. A number of allusions to him in the correspondence of that day show him to have been a gentleman of rare amiability and numerous polite accomplishments, versatile and vivacious, a kind and faithful friend, and a general favorite. Of their children, John was made a British rear-admiral, and was constantly engaged during the War of the Revolution in operations upon the Amer- ican coast. Samuel died young, and is buried in Christ Church yard. George "of Abingdon," as he was called, lived till 1833. Catherine died in 1821 ; Mary married Colonel Julius Herring, a man of great wealth, and a large property owner on the island of Jamaica, whose daughter became the wife of the Hon. Henry Middleton, at one time the governor of South Carolina, and United States Minister to the court of St. Petersburo-. Their eldest daufrhter married the late Joshua Francis Fisher. Ann, who died in 1771, married an English merchant ; and Jaspar, a young man who is said to have been of singular promise, and gifted with fine natural abilities, together with some of the wit and versatility of his father, died at Philadelphia in the year 1847, during the first epidemic of yellow- fever. Mary married her cousin, a son of Mr. McCall of Glasgow, and settled in Philadelphia. Samuel died in 1762, a prominent and successful merchant, who was one of the sicrners to a remonstrance against levying a tax on imported slaves. He was a member of the councils in 1747. George, who died in 1758, was a member of the Assembly from 171 2 to 1720; a member of councils in 171 2, and alderman in 1719, and mayor of the city from 1723 to 1741. Archibald, who died in 1727, was die first East India merchant in Philadelphia, a man of great fortune, of whom it was said that his importations alone supplied the Province. He built and, for a time, lived in a house at the north- east corner of Third and Pine streets, and afterwards in the large house at the north-east corner of Second and Union streets, where General Gage, a relative of Mrs. McCall, made his headquarters. He was a man who lived in all the luxury of the time, and it is noted, in token of his magnificence and display, that he kept " one chariot or post chaise." He was on the patriot side in i 765 ; joined in the open revolt excited by the passage of the Stamp Act ; was one of the committee of seven appointed to wait upon the stamp agent on the arrival of the Royal Charlotte, though, for some reason, he afterwards espoused the Royal cause. He was a member of councils in i 764 ; joined the St. Andrew's Society in 1769. In 1762 he was married to Judith, the daughter of Peter Kemble, of Mount Kem- ble, N.J. They had eighteen children, of whom a daugh- ter, Mary, married Lambert Cadwalader, a distinguished and gallant colonel of the patriot forces ; a son George, who married Margaret, a daughter of George Clymer, the signer; and Peter, the father of the late Chancellor, who was born March 27, 1773, and died May 7, 1809. He was mairied to Sarah, a daughter of John Gibson, who was a member of councils for many years, and mayor of the city in 1771. Mr. McCall failed in business, and retired from Philadelphia into the country near Trenton, where he died, from the effects of a sunstroke, not long before the birth of his son Peter. '^