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ADDEESSES 
 
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 AT A MEETING OF 
 
 THE B^H OF ISTEW-YORK, 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH 
 
 WILLIAM KENT. 
 

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 T)U PLICATE. 
 
 txCHANGtki^ 
 
WILLIAM KENT 
 
 BORN AT ALBANY, ON THE 2d OCTOBER, 1802. 
 
 IDIEID -A-T FISZEiKIILL, 
 
 DUTCHESS COUNTY, 
 
 JANUARY 4th, 1861 
 
JUDGE KENT 
 
 3DIEID -A.T HIS OOXJISrTR'ir RESTIDEr^CE 
 
 (FISHKILt,, nUTOHESS COUNTY), 
 
 ON THE 4 T II JANUARY, 1861. 
 
 When the melancholy intelligence of his death reached the city, 
 on the following day, it was announced in feeling terms in the 
 various Courts which were then in session, all of which adjourned, 
 in token of their respect for his memory, and of their sense of the 
 great loss sustained by the public. 
 
 A meeting of the Bar, called to express the feelings of the 
 profession on the death of their distinguished brother, was held in 
 the General Term room of the Supreme Court, on the 12th day of 
 January, 1861. The following record of its proceedings is publish- 
 ed by its order. 
 
 New-York, 1861. 
 
PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 The meeting was called to order by E. L. Fancher, 
 Esq., on wliose motion (pursuant to request of the Com- 
 mittee of Arrangements appointed at a previous informal 
 meeting of the Bar) the following gentlemen were unani- 
 mously apjDointed as officers : 
 
 ^ r £ S i b C IT t . 
 
 Hon. DANIEL P. INGRAHAM, 
 
 of the Supreme Court. 
 
 ©ice-|3rtsib£iUs. 
 
 Hon. SAMUEL R. BETTS, 
 
 of the U. S. District Court. 
 
 Hon. MURRAY HOFFMAN, 
 
 of the Superior Court. 
 
 Hon. GREENE C. BRONSON, 
 
 ex-Judge of the Supreme Court. 
 
 Hon. lewis B. WOODRUFF, 
 
 of the Superior Court. 
 
 Hon, CHARLES P. DALY, 
 
 of the Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 Hon. JOHN R. BRADY, 
 
 of the Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 DANIEL LORD, Esq. 
 
 ^ £ c r £ t a r i c s . 
 
 WILLIAM FULLERTON, Esq. 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Jr., Esq. 
 J, C. CARTER, Esq. 
 D. B. EATON, Esq. 
 
8 
 
 Judge Ingkaham, the Chairman, said : 
 
 We are convened, on this occasion, for the pnr230se of 
 paying a tribute to the memory of one long known and 
 honored in the midst of us, the late Judge Kent ; and 
 probably there was no one at the Bar of New- York whose 
 loss will be more deeply felt, and whose death more sin- 
 cerely lamented, than his. A long acquaintance with 
 him, commencing more than a quarter of a century ago, 
 and continued with unabated kindness on his part, down 
 to the period of his death, taught me to love and respect 
 him, and I doubt not, the feelings which I entertain will 
 find a response in the heart of every one who had the privi- 
 lege of his friendship. Immediately after his admission to 
 the Bar, Judge Kent entered into the practice of the pro- 
 fession in this city, and early obtained a rank which older 
 praclitioners had failed to reach. In the year 1841, he 
 was appointed a Judge of the First Circuit Court, then a 
 branch of the Supreme Court, and so discharged the duties 
 of that station, that his resignation, in 1845, was received 
 with universal regret. Slight attacks of that disease which 
 has since prostrated him, induced by an ardent desire, on 
 his part, to break down a long calendar left to him by 
 his predecessor, caused his retirement from the bench. I 
 weU remember, when remonstrated with, in reference to the 
 excess of labor which he was, at that time, performing, 
 that he expressed the utmost confidence in his strong con- 
 stitution and uniform good health ; but a few months taught 
 him, as it has others of us who have succeeded him, the 
 error which he was committing, and his resignation soon 
 followed. To those who knew Judge Kent, it would be 
 needless for me to speak of his uniform courtesy and kind- 
 ness, of his great simphcity of character, of his high literary 
 
9 
 
 attainments, of his legal learning, of his judicial ability, 
 and of his undoubted integrity. In all these respects he 
 was pre-eminent. As a judge, as a lawyer, he displayed 
 eminent ability, and I think I may say, without hesitation, 
 there never was on the bench of the Supreme Court, in this 
 State, a judge more courteous to the Bar, and more kind 
 to the young practitioner, or more acceptable to the pro- 
 fession, than Judge Kent. But I forbear to speak in detail 
 of his character and virtues. It is sufficient for me to say, 
 that in private life, Judge Kent was a Christian gentleman, 
 without reproach. As a lawyer, he was an ornament to the 
 profession. As a judge, he was able, learned, and upright. 
 No man could see him but to respect him. None could 
 know him but to love him. In all the relations of life he 
 was honored; in death he will be mourned. We do well, 
 then, to pay honor to his memory, and to record our esteem 
 of his character and of his works, that others may be in- 
 duced to imitate his example, and to emulate his virtues. 
 
 Hon. John Van Buren said : 
 
 Mr. President : The Bar of the City of New-York have 
 received, with emotions of unaffected grief, the sad and start- 
 ling intelligence of the death, in the meridian of his life 
 and usefulness, of one of their most interesting, accom- 
 plished, and distinguished members ; and an informal com- 
 mittee of their number have asked me to propose to this 
 meeting, called by them, resolutions expressive of our feel- 
 ings upon this occasion. Summoned to this melancholy 
 duty, I have supposed I should best consult the proprieties 
 of my position by presenting for their consideration an ex- 
 pression, in the most simple and unadorned phrase, of the 
 sense we entertain of the character of our lamented brother. 
 
10 
 
 and of the loss we have experienced. Intimately associa- 
 ted with him in the latter years of his life, admiring his 
 brilliant intellect, thorough and general learning, rare ac- 
 quirements, and high personal qualities, it is to the native 
 diffidence of his character that I offer tribute in the sim- 
 plicity of the resolutions I propose ; and upon my assurance 
 of what his own modest nature would have preferred, that 
 I venture, when I confine the proposed general expression 
 by us within such limited terms. Those present, who will 
 speak in detail of the life and character of William Kent, 
 will be unable to restrain themselves within such narrow 
 bounds. Dwelling upon the incidents of his judicial and 
 professional career, and lingering over the recollections of 
 his charming personal life, enthusiasm becomes natural and 
 eulogy just. And if the veil should be drawn aside which 
 conceals from public observation his domestic life, and we 
 should stop to contemplate the happy relations of dependence 
 and love which this death has severed, it would almost 
 cause a murmur at the decree of Providence that occasions 
 an affliction so sad for a purpose so inscrutable. 
 
 Mine be the more humble office of presenting, for your 
 unreserved disposition, resolutions touching the more gene- 
 ral and striking features in the character of William Kent, 
 appropriate, as it seems to me, for adoption by this meeting, 
 dictated in sincerity and truth by those who respected and 
 loved him while living, and will ever honor his memory. 
 
 Re.^olred, That the members of the Bar of the city of New- York are 
 profoundly sensible of the loss sustained by them in the death of their 
 late associate, William Kent. 
 
 That, in contemplating the character of our deceased brother, we 
 naturally and fondly revert to those qualities of his mind and heart 
 which graced his personal demeanor and intercourse ; to his ever- 
 cheerful temper, his warm affections, and genial sympathies, his fresh 
 
11 
 
 and playful spirit, and to the rare, varied, and extensive literary and 
 classical acquirements which he possessed in such richness, and held 
 in such ever-ready command. 
 
 That, while thus mindful of the personal attractions now lost to us 
 forevei', we should not omit to testify our high appreciation of the 
 professional learning, the clear and persuasive method of reasoning, 
 the nice power of discrimination, unvarying industry, strict sense of 
 justice, inflexible integrity, and great practical wisdom, which illus- 
 trated and adorned his career as a leading member of the Bar, and as 
 a distinguished Judge of this Circuit, reflecting additional honor upon 
 the great name he inherited, and placing his memory justly by the 
 side of that of his illustrious father. 
 
 That we tender the expression of our sincere condolence to the 
 afflicted family of the deceased, and that a copy of these resolutions, 
 signed by the officers of this meeting, be transmitted to them, and be 
 also published in the newspapers of this city. 
 
 Benjamin D. Silliman, Esq., sj^oke as follows : 
 
 Mr. President : I move the adoption of the resolutions 
 which have been presented by Mr. Van Buren. They ex- 
 press, I am sure, the feelings and the judgment of this 
 numerous meeting of the Bar, which is not convened in 
 mere accordance with the usage of rendering the tribute due 
 to the honored dead, but the spontaneous impulse of our 
 hearts has brought us together to give utterance to our 
 grief at the loss of one whom we have long loved as well 
 as honored. 
 
 It might, perhaps, be difficult to say whether Judge Kent 
 was more remarkable for his intellectual and professional, or 
 for his moral superiority ; but that which, in this hour of 
 bereavement, touches us most nearly, is the surrender which 
 we must make to the remorseless grave of one whose gen- 
 erous and gentle nature, whose genial sympathy, whose warm 
 affections, had so endeared him to us, that our admiration of 
 the lawyer, the jurist, and the scholar, was even exceeded 
 
12 
 
 by our attachment, by our love for the man. He is cut off 
 from us in the very glory of his manhood, with his facul- 
 ties and his affections in the fullness of their strength and 
 action — ere age had dimmed their brilliancy, or impaired 
 their power, or chilled their ardor. 
 
 Judge Kent was born in Albany, in 1802. He had the 
 best advantages of education. After being graduated at 
 Union College, he pursued the studies and entered the 
 professsion in which his father, the great Chancellor, stood 
 pre-eminent. He commenced his career as a lawyer, in one 
 respect, under a disadvantage — that of the shadow of a 
 great name. The world is apt to measure the son of a great 
 man by an unfair standard. Instead of passing on his 
 merits and talents by comparison with those of other young 
 jnen — his cotemporaries and peers — it withholds its com- 
 mendation unless he displays ability which would add to 
 his father's fame. But Mr. Kent quickly showed himself 
 equal even to such a test. He was early engaged in very im- 
 portant causes, in which he manifested powers and learning 
 that placed him at once in the foremost rank of the profes- 
 sion ; and well did he sustain his place there, adding new 
 lustre to the illustrious name he bore. 
 
 His natural gifts were of the highest order, and his at- 
 tainments were such as would have rendered a man of 
 merely common mind distinguished. He possessed remark- 
 able power of analysis, and saw, with the quickness of intu- 
 ition, the right and morality of a case, and the principles of 
 law involved, and he was ever ready with the learning of 
 the law requisite for their illustration. The force of his 
 argument was aided by the singular felicity and purity of 
 the language in which it was always clothed. So beautiful 
 and attractive was his style, so happy his illustrations, so 
 
13 
 
 abounding in wit, and grace, and learning, and thought, 
 that, whether he was arguing a case or trying a cause, not 
 only the court or jury which he was addressing, hut all who 
 were present, having no concern with the subject, including 
 alike the members of the bar and mere spectators, were 
 always eager and delighted listeners. 
 
 The time and occasion hardly warrant me in adverting 
 in detail to the leading cases in the arguments of which 
 Judge Kent was distinguished. There are present many 
 who were engaged with him, either as associates or oppo- 
 nents, in those cases, and none can be more earnest than 
 they in commendation of the power and learning manifested 
 by him in their discussion. 
 
 He continued in the active practice of the profession until 
 1841, when he was appointed to the office of Circuit Judge, 
 on the retirement of the Hon. Ogden Edwards, and " when 
 the ermine rested on his shoulders, it touched nothing less 
 spotless than itself" Never were the high duties of a judge 
 performed with more of purity or fidelity. Never were the 
 scales held by a more even hand. Never were the kindly 
 and charitable impulses of a gentle nature more entirely 
 restrained and subordinated to the duty of an inflexible and 
 impartial administration of the law, whether in criminal or 
 in civil cases. In 1844, his health having been impaired by 
 too close application to his judicial duties, he resigned his 
 station on the bench, to the great — it is not extravagant 
 to say the universal — regret of the profession and of tlie 
 community. 
 
 He then visited Europe, and while there, in 1846, received 
 the invitation, which he accepted, from Harvard University, 
 to succeed Judge Story in the Law School at Cambridge. 
 The same industry, and success, and usefulness, which had 
 
14 
 
 marked his previous career, attended his services in the Law 
 School, until the close of 1847, when he resigned his pro- 
 fessorship, that he might be with his venerable father, whose 
 twilight was then fast fading into night. 
 
 Judge Kent then resumed the practice of the law, and 
 from that time forward continued it in this city with emi- 
 nent success. Among the remarkable cases in which he bore 
 a distinguished part, was that of Clarke vs. Fisher (re- 
 ported in \st Paige B.), in which were considered the nature 
 and degree, and condition of mental power of the testator, 
 requisite to make a valid will. His argument was one of 
 singular ability and learning. It was one of the earliest 
 cases in which he was engaged, and one in which, in the 
 judgment of the bench and the bar, he achieved just, as well 
 as great, distinction. 
 
 I may also mention the case of the State of Illinois vs. 
 Delajield (8 Paige), as to the power of State officers to 
 bind the State in borrowing money for its use, and the 
 limitations of such j)ower ; the cases of Warner vs. Beers, 
 and Bolander vs. Stevens (23o? Wendell), involving the 
 momentous and vital question of the constitutionality of 
 the General Banking Law ; the great case, so universally 
 known in the profession, and out of it, of Curtis vs. Leavitt 
 {17th Barbour and 1 Smith), in which many most im- 
 portant principles were discussed, and an immense amount 
 of property was at stake ; and that of Beehman vs. The 
 People (27th Barbour), involving the law and recondite 
 learning of charitable uses. In these cases (not to speak of 
 very many others) Mr. Kent exhibited ability of the highest 
 order and the rarest learning, and earned a reputation which 
 (in the language of one of the resolutions before us) placed 
 his memory justly by the side of his illustrious father. 
 
15 
 
 The great men of the bar were engaged in the learned 
 discussions of those eases. I may not name those of them 
 who are still among us, and most of whom are now present, 
 but of those who are gone were Jones and Jay, and Ogden 
 and Webster, and Griffin and Sandford, and Spencer and 
 Beardsley, and Hill and Butler. Such were the allies and 
 the adversaries of our departed brother — such were his 
 friends and compeers — such were the great intellects with 
 which his own found congenial intercourse. 
 
 He had latterly withdrawn somewhat from his practice in 
 the courts, but still continued in the active duties of the 
 profession. His opinion and advice were sought in im- 
 portant cases. Difficult and intricate cases were constantly 
 referred to him for decision, and weighty and resj)onsible 
 trusts, embracing vast interests and amounts of property, 
 were eagerly confided to his charge and guidance by indi- 
 viduals and by the courts. 
 
 _ Judge Kent possessed, as did his father, a most remarkable 
 memory. He forgot nothing. Every fact, every rule, every 
 principle, when once attained, remained with him always. 
 He combined what are, perhaps, rarely combined, large 
 general knowledge with great accuracy of knowledge. As a 
 ielhs lettres scholar he had few equals in this country. His 
 reading was not limited by the ordinarily wise rule, " non 
 multa sed multum," but it was both multa et multum. 
 Whatever he studied he studied thoroughly. He read 
 everything, and he remembered everything. What he read 
 did not remain with him a mere accumulation of knowledge 
 and ideas, but became part of his mental nature, storing 
 and strengthening his mind without impairing its origi- 
 «iality. A mind thus enriched, and with such resources, 
 could never have suffered from solitude. It would find 
 
16 
 
 within itself abundant and choice companionship. Emi- 
 nently was this the case with our departed friend and with 
 his venerable father. 
 
 Chancellor Kent, during his last illness, passed many 
 silent watches of the night without sleep. When asked if 
 in those long, sleepless hours, he suffered from depression 
 and sad feelings, he replied that he did not — hut that, on 
 the contrary, he then derived great satisfaction in reviewing 
 in his mind sometimes some leading principle of the law — 
 going back to its origin — to the reasons from which it 
 sprang — and then recalling in their order the subsequent 
 cases, in England and in this country, in which it had been 
 considered, shaped, enlarged, or qualified down to the final 
 settled rule ; at other times he would select some period of 
 history — perhaps some English reign — and recall its politics, 
 its law, its eminent men, its military acts, and its literature, 
 in connection with the cotemporaneous history and con- 
 dition of other countries ; sometimes a campaign, perha;^s 
 of Alexander, or C«sar, or Marlborough, or Napoleon, with 
 its plan, its policy, its incidents, and its results. 
 
 Judge Kent's general reading was but little inferior to his 
 father's. I doubt whether the Chancellor, at the same 
 period of life, had been able to devote so much of his time 
 to other reading than of law, as his son had done. 
 
 One of the early symptoms of the disease which termi- 
 nated Judge Kent's life, was the loss (some months ago) of 
 vision of one of his eyes. He had reason to fear that he 
 should become entirely blind, but when he spoke of it he 
 added, that it would not make him sad or unhappy, for he 
 remembered all the books he had read, and when he could 
 no longer see he should mentally re-peruse them all. 
 
 It is a grateful reflection that, until his last illness, his 
 
17 
 
 life had been one of almost unclouded happiness, save in the 
 loss of his parents. Honors sought him, prosperity at- 
 tended him, friends loved him, and now deeply lament his 
 loss. I have never known a man whose happy temper, and 
 warm heart, and kind and genial sympathies, so won and 
 attached to him all, of all classes, who came in contact with 
 him, or so conduced to the happiness of all about him. I 
 have never known a man whose wit, and humor, and know- 
 ledge, and wisdom, were so abounding and so blended, and 
 the instructiveness, and beauty, and grace, and simplicity of 
 whose conversation, so attracted and fascinated. I have 
 never known a man more fearless in asserting the right, and 
 in the performance of what he deemed his duty. I have 
 never known a man more inflexible in principle, or more 
 strictly upright. , Thougii to a stranger what I have said 
 might appear the strained language of eulogy, yet this 
 meeting is full of witnesses of its truth. 
 
 Mr. President, death has of late swayed his scythe' 
 fearfully through the ranks of our profession. How many 
 familiar faces have disappeared — how many voices of the 
 learned, the wise, the brilliant, the good, to which we have 
 listened within these walls, are stilled forever. Of your 
 honored companions who dispensed justice from the Bench, 
 3rones, and Morris, and Edwards, and Sandford, and Paine, 
 and Oakley, and Duer, and Mason, have gone in close pro- 
 cession ; and, among others from the Bar whose learning, and 
 talents, and virtues, adorned our calling, the grave now hides 
 forever from us the forms of Hoffman, and Ogden, and 
 Grifiin, and Sandford, and Spencer, and Hill, and Wood, 
 and Butler, and Miller, and him to whose memory we are 
 now assembled to pay this last tribute of aifection and 
 respect. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 His death was one of peace, as his life had been one of 
 uprightness. He had so lived and so believed, that when he 
 came to walk through the dark valley he " feared no evil ;" 
 but, leaning on the rod and the staff which can alone sup- 
 port man in that dread hour, he was 
 
 " sustained and soothed 
 
 By an unfaltering trust, and approached his grave 
 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 
 
 I will not trust myself to speak of the personal relations 
 and almost life-long intimacy that make his death to me 
 indeed a calamity, nor of the hopeless sorrow of that home 
 of which he was the light, the pride, and the joy ; but, with 
 the same beautiful invocation which he so lately uttered on 
 the death of Mr. Butler, let me say : '• Tread lightly on his 
 ashes, ye men of genius, for he was your kinsman ! Weed 
 clean his grave, ye men of goodness, for he was your 
 brother." 
 
 Ex-Judge Foot said : 
 
 Mr, Chairman : The duty of seconding the adoption of 
 the resolutions which have been presented to the meeting, 
 has been assigned to me. That duty is freely discharged, 
 as I fully concur in the sentiments expressed in the reso- 
 lutions, and it is moreover grateful to my feelings to have 
 so suitable an opportunity to manifest my regard for the 
 memory of our deceased brother, with whom I have stood 
 'in intimate relations of business and friendship for a life- 
 time. After graduating with credit at Union College, he 
 was placed by his distinguished father. Chancellor Kent, at 
 Kinderhook, under the instruction of Peter Van Schaick, 
 one of the most learned and accomplished lawyers of this 
 
19 
 
 State, and wlio had then been compelled to retire from 
 active service by reason of his impaired sight. There he 
 passed, I think, two years, studying and acquiring a knowl- 
 edge of the 23rinciples of his profession. He then came to 
 Albany, where his father resided, and, in the year 1822, 
 entered my office to complete his clerkship, and more espe- 
 cially to acquire a knowledge of pleading and practice. He 
 remained with me until the autumn of 1823, when his 
 father removed to this city, and he came with him. While 
 in my office he was active, attentive, and studious. He 
 finished his clerkship in this city with the Hon. Josiah 
 Ogden Hoffman, and, on being admitted to the Bar, entered 
 into copartnership with him. I removed from Albany to 
 this city in May, 1828, and entered into copartnership with 
 our deceased brother. We continued in copartnership for 
 two years, and occupied offices in connection with his father. 
 In June, 1828, the Franklin Bank failed, and Chancellor 
 Walworth appointed Chancellor Kent receiver. The affairs 
 of that bank were greatly extended and complicated, which 
 gave our firm of Foot & Kent a large and lucrative busi- 
 ness. My nephew, Henry E. Davies, the present Judge of 
 the Court of Appeals, having removed from Buffalo to this 
 city, a new business arrangement was made in the spring of 
 1830. Mr. Davies entered into copartnership with me, and 
 Mr. Kent formed a connection with William S. Johnson. 
 The partnership of Foot & Davies continued till the spring 
 of 1847, when I removed to Geneva, and then our deceased 
 brother took my place, and formed a copartnership with 
 Mr. Davies. This connection continued for several years. 
 On my way home from this city to Greneva, near the end 
 of the month of September last, I stopped at Fishkill to 
 pass a Sabbath with my relative, Judge Davies, and visit 
 
20 
 
 my friend, Judge Kent. At the close of tlie Sabbath, 
 Judge Davies and I called upon Judge Kent. We found 
 him walking in his lawn. As soon as he saw me he ap- 
 proached and met me. It was our first meeting since his 
 illness. Enfeebled by sickness, he could not command his 
 feelings, nor could I entirely command my own. After 
 walking with him some time over his beautiful grounds, 
 conversing sparingly, and on topics least calculated to excite 
 our sensibilities, we entered his house. A pleasant conver- 
 sation with him and his family ensued. Fearing to prolong 
 my visit, though urged by him to do so, I took leave of 
 him, apprehensive that it would be, as it was, our last meet- 
 ing. Thus closed an intimate business and social inter- 
 course, which lasted for thirty-seven years, without an inci- 
 dent or a remark to interrupt or mar its happiness. This 
 enables me to speak of our deceased brother with knowledge, 
 and to say, what simple truth requires me to say, that he 
 was an honest man, a good lawyer, a learned and upright 
 judge, a ripe scholar, and a finished gentleman. In one 
 respect he excelled all men I have ever known, and that was, 
 in the care and watchfulness with which he avoided inju- 
 ring the feelings of others. No person, high or low, rich or 
 poor, ever heard him make a rude, harsh, or unkind re- 
 mark. It was a lovely trait of his character, and one which 
 rendered him so acceptable, as he was, to all. I could 
 recall and dwell for hours on pleasing incidents of his 
 well-spent life, but they are more appropriate for the social 
 circle, or retired contemplation, than public exhibition. My 
 feelings lead me rather to think than to speak of him ; and 
 I will close my remarks with the observation that we may 
 justly be proud of our country and institutions, when in the 
 one, and under the fostering influence of the other, men 
 like William Kent are raised, live, and die. 
 
21 
 
 Judge Thomas W. Clerke said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman : At the request of tlie Committee, I rise 
 most clieerfuUy, and yet most sorrowfully, to concur in 
 the resolutions. 
 
 For the period of thirty years, during which I have been 
 engaged at the Bar, and on the Bench, in the adminis- 
 tration of the law in this city, this is the first time I have 
 felt justified to speak to a resolution upon an occasion 
 of this kind. Not that all the individuals, whose death 
 summoned assemblages of their brethren to testify their 
 respect and grief, were unworthy of eulogy, but because I 
 could not, with truth say, that I personally knew enough 
 of their characters and manner of life to enable me to offer 
 any satisfactory comments concerning them. Besides, on 
 some of those occasions, I imagined a disposition to bestow 
 praise without discrimination, to give credit for qualities 
 not possessed ; or, at least, to exaggerate the merits of the 
 deceased. But, on the present occasion, I may truly say, I 
 speak that which I know ; and, although I had not frequent 
 opportunity of very familiar intercourse with Judge Kent, 
 I have been rather intimately acquainted with him during 
 the whole period of my professional and judicial career. His 
 sagacity, his suavity, and his legal learning, attracted my 
 early notice and regard ; and I have not been inattentive 
 to the incidents and course of his professional and public 
 conduct. Therefore, the trifling and imperfect tribute 
 which I am able to offer on this occasion, is not offered 
 in obedience to frigid custom — is not the tribute of dry 
 routine — is not the hollow adulation of the lips, but is the 
 voluntary homage of the heart, founded on sufficient knowl- 
 edge of the man, and fortified by the unhesitating voice of 
 the community in which he lived. 
 
22 
 
 To say that William Kent was a gentleman of integrity, 
 of unblemished life, of elevated and honorable sentiments, 
 of great discernment and intelligence, exhibiting affable 
 manners, and possessing professional skill and knowledge, 
 would only be saying what could, with equal truth, be 
 said of many others. These qualities, indeed, he possessed 
 and exhibited in an eminent degree. But I should be 
 doing injustice to my subject, if I did not mention the 
 characteristics which, I think, distinguished him from ordi- 
 nary men. To a profound knowledge of the principles and 
 history of the law, he added the graces of suj^erior literary 
 culture, and a thorough and extensive acquaintance with 
 the classic authors of our language. This infused into his 
 mind a taste, which manifested itself in all his compo- 
 sitions, legal or general. In these you discover no cum- 
 brous redundancy, no attenuation of the thought, no strain- 
 ing for display, no useless parade of authorities, no abortive 
 attempts at high rhetorical flights, which the subject did 
 not require, or which the writer could not sustain. His 
 style was lucid, complete, and elegant. He disdained un- 
 necessary words and meretricious ornament. In short, he 
 was learned without pedantry, precise without ostentation, 
 and copious without prolixity. 
 
 As we all know, he was the son of one of the most emi- 
 nent jurists whom this country has produced, and although, 
 in some respects, it is an advantage to inherit the name 
 of a distinguished parent, yet it is not without its draw- 
 backs and difficulties. Too much is generally expected 
 from a person inheriting such a name, and everything he 
 does in his profession, even when he exhibits considerable 
 attainment and capacity, is apt to be severely criticised, 
 and unfavorably contrasted with the riper endowments of 
 
23 
 
 liis father. This is often accompanied by a popular opin- 
 ion, founded on something savoring of a superstitious no- 
 tion, that great abilities are seldom transmissible to a man's 
 descendants — a notion undoubtedly at variance with the 
 teachings of experience and of mental science, but, never- 
 theless, like a host of other errors, very generally held. 
 The subject of our remark, I suppose, encountered those 
 difficulties, but he successfully surmounted them ; and al- 
 though he was not as extensively known as the Chancellor, 
 all who did know him, capable, of forming an opinion, 
 believed that the ability and learning of the son were not 
 inferior to those of the father. He was only a short time, 
 comparatively, on the bench, and he never wrote a volumi- 
 nous work, like the Commentaries on American Law ; but 
 I am sure, if he remained long enough on the bench, or if 
 he chose to employ his talents in the production of a legal 
 treatise, his reputation would not suffer in comparison 
 with that of his father. Indeed, he could have attained 
 fame and the highest position in any pursuit requiring the 
 exercise of high intellectual qualities ; but his ambition 
 was chastened and moderate, and he seemed to have no 
 aspirations for place or popular applause. He was one of 
 those, of whom the poet says, 
 
 " Although he could command, he slighted fame." 
 
 All who knew him, I am persuaded, feel this day that 
 the Nation, the State, and the local community in which 
 he lived, have sustained a serious bereavement. But our 
 loss is, I trust, his gain. He has left us in the height 
 of a fearful crisis in our country's history. In the words 
 of the evangelical prophet, I may say : " The righteous 
 perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart ; and merciful 
 
24 
 
 men are taken away, none considering tliat the riglitcous 
 are taken away from the evil to come." Our de]3arted bro- 
 ther is spared, probably, the necessity of witnessing what 
 to him would be worse than many deaths — the dread catas- 
 troj^he which, we have too much reason to fear, is now 
 impending over us — which I pray God, even now, in His 
 infinite mercy, to avert. Judge Kent would rather have 
 died, if it were left to his option, than to behold the great 
 Kepublican Empire of the West shattered into miserable 
 fragments — fi'eedom's brightest hopes obscured, perhaps 
 forever blighted — the utter and shameful failure of the 
 most goodly and most complete experiment of self-govern- 
 ment ever designed. No, he loved his country too fervently 
 to desire that he should survive her downfall. To such a 
 mind as his there is something agonizing in the thought 
 of the extinction of this nation ; and, if such a direful 
 calamity should be approaching, many a patriotic heart 
 in this land would consider William Kent a happy man 
 in dying before its consummation. 
 
 I conclude, sir, by cordially concurring in the resolutions 
 proposed. 
 
 Samuel E. Lyon, Esq., said : 
 
 Mr. President : The custom of meeting, as a body, to 
 testify our respect for the memory of a departed brother, 
 obtains only, so far as I have observed, among our own 
 profession, and the havoc that death has made among us 
 within a few years, has called us together with painful 
 frequency. These meetings are characteristic of our pro- 
 fession ; for any one who is familiar with our traditions, or 
 has noticed the daily incidents of our lives, must have seen 
 that we are more closely allied to each other, and more 
 
25 
 
 really interested in the success and advancement of each 
 other, than is the case in most other callings in life ; and 
 when death comes among us, it seems to me that we 
 really feel that we have had, in the kindly language of 
 our guild, a brother taken from us. To-day, no term less 
 near would symbolize our feelings, for our departed friend 
 was in truth beloved by all who came within the sphere of 
 his attraction. To-day, we think only of his heart, and that 
 great flood of warmth which he shed upon those whom 
 he loved. To-day, we forget that luminous mind and 
 exhaustless memory, and pay our tribute to the true man 
 and cordial friend, the grasp of whose hand will meet ours 
 no more. At a future time some fitting pen will do justice 
 to his intellect — for the present we commune over his ashes 
 in view of the things which the head did not fashion, the 
 recollection of which almost makes children of us, and seeks 
 to express itself in words and forms as simple as children 
 would use, grieving over a lost companion. 
 
 No one realizes a great loss at the moment the blow falls. 
 God, in his mercy, has made this to be so : but those of us 
 who have known Mr. Kent for many years, and have been 
 admitted into the inner temple of his friendship, and have 
 passed that period of life after which men make few new 
 friends, will realize, with a consciousness deepening day by 
 day into our hearts, that no inconsiderable part of our store 
 of interest and affection has gone down with him into his 
 grave forever. Yet the memory of his kindly smile and 
 genial tones will stay with us as long as we have a memory 
 to hold the precious gifts of life. 
 
 But, outside of this small circle, and still outside of that 
 larger circle who esteemed and admired him from the most 
 casual acquaintance, Mr. Kent held a peculiar relation to 
 
 f 
 
26 
 
 all the lawyers, and, indeed, I might say with truth, to all 
 the people of this State. 
 
 We held him as one of the heir-looms of the law, and 
 cherished him as a birthright of the profession. There 
 was not a law student, in the most remote county in the 
 State, with whom the name of Kent did not become asso- 
 ciated with his first lesson in jurisprudence, and who knew 
 that down in the city of New- York there was one upon 
 whom the name had descended, worthy to bear the great 
 and spotless mantle that had fallen upon his shoulders. 
 As the only son of him who may be said almost to have 
 created that branch of our jurisprudence upon which es- 
 pecially he shed the light of his intellect, and bestowed the 
 labor of the best part of his life, we considered the child 
 of his loins, in one sense, a co-heritage with that monument 
 of his judicial life, and while we gave to the one our admi- 
 ration, we added for the other our esteem and love. Even 
 at this moment we rejoice to know that they will go down 
 to the coming years together, and that, joined as they were 
 in life, in death they are not severed. 
 
 I do not believe there is a name connected with the his- 
 tory of this State, whose work commenced after the adoption 
 of our Federal Constitution, which is held in the same 
 degree of affectionate regard, even among laymen, as that 
 of Kent. Its inscription upon the roll, where we preserve 
 our honored names, stands in more clearly defined characters 
 now, than on the day when his life passed into the domain 
 of history. It is the best tribute that, in this hour of 
 bereavement, we can render to the memory of our departed 
 friend, that he never sullied that name, or darkened one ray 
 of its conspicuous lustre ; and we cling the more fondly 
 to the memory of our brother, for that he did maintain the 
 
27 
 
 high standard of his inheritance, in spite of his eminently 
 good fortune. With such a name . to fall back upon, with 
 ease, if not affluence, always at his command, and never 
 feeling the spur of necessity, why should he enter the arena 
 of that hard struggle, which begins with its summons upon 
 a wearied brain as the new year dawns, and does not end 
 when the old year goes out ? the soreness of which you, my 
 brethren, alone know, and which these faces around me, 
 pallid with toil, and seared with tracks not made by years, 
 too well attest. 
 
 That he did so, and made a record for himself that would 
 have been honored and loved if his father had left him 
 obscure in name and poor in purse, is one of his highest 
 claims to our respect, and while we will pay a proper hom- 
 age to his lineage, we will cherish his memory in our heart 
 of hearts, for those best things which he himself bestowed 
 upon us. 
 
 Wm. Fullerton, Esq., said : 
 
 Mr. President : In speaking to the resolutions offered, I 
 shall not enter into any detail of the life or character of 
 William Kent. That would be but a repetition of what has 
 been so well said by those who have preceded me. In 
 offering my feeble tribute to his memory, I shall ask your 
 attention, therefore, but for a moment. 
 
 This saddened audience recalls to our minds the many 
 occasions on which we have been assembled, within the past 
 few years, to honor the worthy dead. 
 
 How many shining lights of the Bench and the Bar have, 
 within a brief period, been extinguished by the hand of 
 death ! 
 
 Judges Jones, Edwards, Oakley, Duer, and IngersoU, no 
 
28 
 
 longer adorn their wonted places, and the voices of Sandford, 
 Wood, Butler, and Hill, are no longer heard in the peaceful 
 conflicts of our Courts. 
 
 Thus, one after another, the good and the great are 
 passing from among us, 
 
 " To keep 
 That calm sleep 
 Whence none may awake." 
 
 No man would be more missed by his circle of friends 
 than Judge Kent. For, who of them has not been the 
 recipient of his kindness ? Who of them has not felt 
 the magic of his presence, and been charmed by his 
 genial wit and humor ? Who of them has not profited 
 by his counsel, and enriched himself from the treasures 
 of his learning ? And above all, who of them has not 
 .been strengthened by that unbending integrity, that strong 
 sense of justice, which marked his whole life, whether 
 he held the scales between contending parties, or moved in 
 the less conspicuous sphere of private or professional duty ? 
 
 He will be missed by judges: for he had an experience 
 from which they could learn wisdom. 
 
 He will be missed by lawyers : for whose name was so 
 readily agreed to, to determine the rights of litigating 
 parties, in that important class of cases which are tried out 
 of court, as his — not more for his great learning, than be- 
 cause his name was a guarantee that those rights would be 
 judged, not only by a sound and discriminating mind, but 
 by one whose integrity was above every earthly temptation. 
 
 He will be missed by his personal friends : for his winning 
 manners, amiable temper, and kind and affectionate nature, 
 made him a companion never to be forgotten. 
 
 There is another place where he will be missed, of which 
 
29 
 
 it is scarcely proper for me to speak. But wlio tliat has 
 seen him surrounded by the sweet attractions of a home, 
 where he was the beloved and honored head, can fail to 
 contemplate the desolation which has fallen there ? 
 
 Judge Kent's death, though sudden, was not unexpected. 
 The character of his disease was such, that for many months 
 past it has been certain that his active usefulness was at an 
 end, and his days numbered. 
 
 I have a painfully vivid recollection of the day when 
 his physician, for the first, communicated to him the fatal 
 nature of his malady. Up to that time it had not been 
 suspected. Surrounded as he was by everything that could 
 contribute to human happiness, and possessing an exquisite 
 taste for the world's innocent enjoyments, the announcement 
 was a blow as severe as it was unexpected. He yielded to 
 his fate with a becoming submission, but from that time he 
 sank, 
 
 " yet so calm and meek, 
 
 So tearless, yet so tender — kind, 
 So grieved for those he left behind," 
 
 that the close of his life was a continued exhibition of those 
 graces which were so prominent in his character. 
 
 In honoring such a man we honor ourselves. 
 
 I will not consume the time which belongs to others, but 
 close my brief remarks by adverting to the moral beauty, as 
 well as propriety, of these proceedings. 
 
 As a class, we have paused for an hour, arrested the busi- 
 ness of our offices and courts, that the death of one of our 
 number, eminent for his virtues and noble life, may make its 
 suitable impression upon our own hearts, to the end that we 
 may, to some extent, imitate those virtues, and follow his 
 example. 
 
30 
 
 Nothing would so much honor the memory of him whom 
 we all deplore. For thus would our lives become his living 
 monument, and the princij)les which guide us, his appro- 
 priate epitaph. 
 
 Happy will it he for us, and for those around us, if the 
 contemplation of the character of Wiliam Kent shall enable 
 us to shed around our path some of the many blessings 
 which ever in-adiated his. 
 
 Mr. Maxwell said : 
 
 After what has been said so eloquently and so well, little 
 remains to illustrate the character of our lamented friend 
 and brother. The young and the aged meet together to do 
 honor to the memory of Kent. I come to claim the privi- 
 lege of lamenting, in common with my younger brethren, the 
 death of our friend ; and though our eyes be somewhat dim 
 — though the words flow less readily from the tongue than 
 they were wont to do — we are not less deeply affected than 
 younger men who deplore the death of the good and the 
 wise — one whom we loved and honored for his excellence of 
 mind and heart ; and we come, on this occasion, impressed 
 with the sentiment of the great English moralist, " Far from 
 us be that frigid philosophy that would conduct us, indiffer- 
 ent and unmoved, over any ground ennobled by wisdom, 
 learning, or virtue." 
 
 We have heard from eloquent gentlemen a just eulogium 
 on the professional and moral character of Judge Kent. 
 They have referred to the overshadowing influence of his 
 father's name, and how the son persevered, with modest 
 views of his own personal merits, relying upon them alone 
 for professional success. 
 
 Undoubtedly there might have been a drawback, from the 
 
31 
 
 fact that the public attributed to the illustrious Chancellor 
 acquirements which were scarcely to be obtained by the ex- 
 ertion of the son. This may, in some degree, be true ; 
 but I think the young men at the Bar will not fail to 
 recognize and do honor to the moral beauty and courage 
 in the character of Kent, as exemplified by the unaffected, 
 simple demeanor of his life and manners. At an early age 
 he was thrown into frequent intercourse with many dis- 
 tinguished men, who frequented the house of his honored 
 father. This brought with it the danger of an exaggerated 
 self-esteem — a false estimate of one's self, under such cir- 
 cumstances — too often the infirmity of common men. But, 
 gentlemen, from this trial Kent came forth unscathed. He 
 came forth without a taint of affectation, without a taint 
 of arrogance or presumption. Was not such an ordeal more 
 hazardous than that trial which attends so many young men 
 of the profession — who are obliged to fight the battle of life 
 to attain a position only to be won by nights of study and 
 days of toil, and often amidst the ills of adverse fortune ? 
 
 My friend, Mr. Silliman, has spoken of the genial temper 
 and of the kind feelings in social life by which Judge Kent 
 was endeared to his friends. There are some here who have 
 seen him in moments when he threw off' the cares and anxi- 
 eties of judicial and professional life : some of us — alas ! 
 how few — ^have met him in the brotherhood of the Bar, 
 when "the feast of reason and the. flow of soul" consecrated 
 and ennobled the " sccence nodes quis deorum." 
 
 Allusion has been made to the literary character of our 
 lamented friend. He was eminently distinguished as a 
 scholar of highly cultivated taste. In the range' of French 
 and English literature, few professional men excelled him 
 in the extent and variety of his reading. He was well versed 
 
32 
 
 in the classics of G-reece and Eome. From sucli sources yve 
 may conclude that he acquired, cherished, and honored the 
 glorious sentiment of Kobert Burns : 
 
 " The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
 The man's the gowd, for a' that." 
 
 Mr. President, you have referred, in eloquent terms, to 
 Kent as a lawyer and a judge ; others have united in simi- 
 lar terms of eulogy. The gentlemen and scholars of Cam- 
 bridge have testified to the high estimate you have ex- 
 pressed, accustomed to judge others by the standard of 
 their Websters, their Everetts, and their Storys. Kent was 
 thought worthy of distinguished professional honors of Har- 
 vard. Then, what shall be said of him in his judicial 
 character ? You have said, Mr. President, that the ermine 
 he wore was pure and untainted. You may say, too, with 
 truth, that he came upon the bench with sentiments without 
 which the character of a judge, under our present system, 
 is hardly respectable. He came upon the bench with a just 
 appreciation of the dictanter of Lord Mansfield : "I wish 
 popularity — popularity which follows, not that which is run 
 after — popularity which, sooner or later, will not fail to 
 accomplish noble ends by noble means." He felt the truth 
 and force of the sentiments of the great Koman magistrate : 
 " Ego hoc animo semjjer Jin ut invidiatn virtute jpartam — 
 gloriam non invidiam puforem." 
 
 Sir, he was honored and beloved for his intellectual excel- 
 lence, and for the best impulses of a pure and noble nature. 
 He has left an example which, I trust, will find many imi- 
 tators among the young men of the profession. After a 
 long sickness, the command of Heaven was heard : " Set 
 thy house in order ; thou shalt die, and not live." We 
 
33 
 
 have reason to believe, Mr. President, that the voice of God 
 fell not upon heedless ears. We have reason to believe and 
 to rejoice, that Kent died in the full fruition of Christian 
 faith and hope. 
 
 James T. Brady, Esq., said : 
 
 You may be surprised, Mr. President, that I should 
 rise to address this meeting of my brethren at so late an 
 hour of the day, and after the touching display that has 
 been already made in doing justice to the memory of the 
 worthy man whose loss we now deplore, and whose virtues 
 we commemorate. He has been spoken of in fitting terms 
 of eulogy by his opponents, his associates, his intimate 
 friends ; by the young with reverence, by the old with 
 grief — and, of these latter, by one who comes among us 
 almost from a past generation,* in the full fruition of the 
 honors he so deservedly wears. We hear his welcome voice 
 proclaiming, in words of truth, the great merit that belonged 
 to the deceased, and the solemn duty we owe his memory. 
 
 This, sir, would be enough for any man in any period 
 of the world's history. It would have been an adequate 
 tribute if offered in behalf of that great orator who flour- 
 ished in the palmiest days of Rome, and to whom our friend, 
 Mr. Maxwell, referred, when he quoted to our delighted 
 ears a beautiful passage in that grand old tongue which, 
 it would seem, no worldly change can eradicate, no lapse of 
 time efface. 
 
 I am compelled to say, that I feel reluctant to disturb 
 the harmony of these proceedings by the unconsidered 
 phrases which I must employ at this time. In endeavor- 
 ing to express myself as I should wish, I feel not less 
 
 * Hon. Hugli Maxwell 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 hopeless than did poor Kuth, when she '^ stood amidst the 
 alien corn." There is, in truth, no gleaning to be done 
 here. All that 1 can attempt, is to take the thoughts 
 and words that lie scattered in my intellect, or rise unbid- 
 den to my tongue, and lay them as a heartfelt otfering, 
 and with all sincerity, on the grave of my departed friend. 
 His exquisite taste, his matured judgment, would enable 
 him, were he here, to estimate their truthfulness, and to 
 say whether there was any beauty in the sentiments they 
 expressed. He might exclaim : 
 
 " "We perish as the flowers do, 
 And breathe away 
 Our lives upon the passing wind, 
 Even as they !" 
 
 When I was engaged, while yet a boy, in the study of 
 the law, it was one of my pleasures to attend before the 
 good and gifted Riker, in the Criminal Court, where he 
 presided with so much dignity, and which he quitted amid 
 the regrets of all who had experienced his amenity, or 
 knew his love of truth and right. Our good friend, Mr. 
 Maxwell, in speaking of those of our brethren who have 
 gone before us, reminds me, that in those days when he 
 was so deservedly eminent, there were among the men who 
 appeared in the same tribunal, the lamented Graham, the 
 warm-hearted Blunt, the eloquent Hoffman, and many 
 more whom it i& needless to recall — all gone, but still re- 
 membered for their genius, their acquirements, and their 
 virtues. 
 
 Fortunately or unfortunately, there was then a throb of 
 hope in my breast, that the time would come when even 
 so great and solemn a responsibility as that of defending a 
 man whose life was in jeopardy, should devolve upon me. 
 
The time at length arrived. It so happened that a poor 
 Irishman was charged with the crime of murder. He was 
 an humble person, with few friends and no money. Of 
 his friends, the fondest, most devoted and persevering, 
 was a true-souled little woman, born like her husband, and 
 my own ancestors, in that beautiful country on whose 
 bosom so many generations of noble beings have laid them- 
 selves down in the last repose. She sought my aid in 
 the hour of peril to him she loved, and I could not re- 
 fuse it. None of my profession would. But it was with 
 fear and trembling that I undertook the duty. If I had 
 known the future terrors it was to bring upon my heart 
 and brain, I would have faltered long ere I engaged in the 
 cause. If ambition alone had impelled me to the under- 
 taking, I would have dashed that impulse upon the ground 
 and smiled upon the fragments of its ruins. 
 
 Without considering at large how the fortunate result in 
 that case was accomplished, I may say that, m purehj legal 
 contemplation, the act proved was in any of its aspects a 
 clear case of murder. It had not that awful feature, how- 
 ever, in its moral bearings, and my aim was, of course to 
 present, with whatever slender experience I possessed, all the 
 extenuating circumstances that could be urged in behalf of 
 the unhajipy prisoner. I remember, with painful distinct- 
 ness, that on the eve of the trial I walked homeward with 
 the clerk of the court, and the then vigorous and effective 
 District Attorney, who informed me that the guilt of the 
 accused was so flagrant that it would be his solemn duty to 
 make all legitimate efforts to secure his conviction. I leave 
 my impressions, under the circumstances, to be estimated by 
 those who have ever incurred an equal responsibility. Had 
 I been obliged to undertake this defence where I should not 
 
36 
 
 have received that kindness that was so delicately and so 
 thoughtfully extended to me in that court, I know not what 
 the result would have been to me personally. If there be 
 anything in this life dreadful to contemplate, it is the anni- 
 hilation of the fondest hopes we hug to our bosom — the 
 destruction of the means by which we strive to attain even 
 temporary distinction, and the laceration of the heart by 
 which great disappointments, aflPecting our destiny or pros- 
 pects, are sure to be attended. The trial proceeded, and, in 
 its progress, it would seem that the jury were influenced, in- 
 sensibly, by the exercise of that kindly nature which, ra- 
 diating its benignity on me, and then bestowing its beam 
 and its fructifying influence on the jurors, disposed their 
 minds in his behalf. The judge charged, and charged in a 
 kindly spirit, but omitting no part of the duty exacted by 
 the law, of which he was the exponent. The man was not 
 convicted of murder, but of manslaughter. I can see the 
 jury now, in that room of the City Hall — one of the apart- 
 ments now occupied by that court over which my friend. 
 Judge Daly, presides — I can see in that dimly-lighted cham- 
 ber the prisoner, his frame heaving with convulsive sobs, and 
 the handkerchief in which he buried his face saturated with 
 the perspiration that streamed forth in his agony. I can see, 
 as they entered, the foreman, as he delivered the verdict that 
 restored the trembling criminal to life and hope, and the 
 mild and approving look of the judge as that verdict was 
 announced. Above all, I can never forget the speechless joy 
 of my client, and the features of his poor wife, imbued with 
 the tenderness and fervor that inspires the humblest peasant 
 girl that treads the green surface of the old land — never 
 shall I forget her as she fell on her knees, and with clasped 
 hands and in a voice choking with emotion, breathed in low 
 
tones a prayer for the eternal preservation of liim whose de- 
 parture you are here to mourn. 
 
 We are told that the ocean, being in absolute repose, if a 
 pebble were dropped in its centre, it is possible that the 
 whole deep would be aifected, and that the ripple thus 
 created would reach the remotest shore. It is even supposed 
 by some that in the transmission of a message over the 
 electric wire, each particle of the metal, from end to end, is 
 moved whils the current is being sent forward. Nay, 
 whether it be an effort of profound reasoning or of strong 
 imagination, we have been assured that every word we utter 
 so agitates all space, as to exercise an endless influence over 
 the affairs of the world, and to be felt in some way through- 
 out the universe. Imagination need not carry us so far to 
 afford an assurance that the prayer of that poor woman, in 
 that moment of heartfelt suj)plication and blessing, is even 
 now pleading in behalf of our friend for the enjoyment of 
 the infinite pleasures which crown a good life. 
 
 My poor client was sent to the State prison for a long 
 term of years. His wife almost daily presented herself in 
 my office to learn from me what could be done to effect his 
 deliverance by a pardon. The time at last came when 
 Judge Kent benevolently interfered, and the man was set 
 free. 
 
 There came a bright, sparkling, Christmas day — and on 
 its glorious morning that poor couple, with jo}^ul and 
 grateful hearts, wended their way to St. Patrick's Cathedral, 
 and there, kneeling side by side, and joining in the solemn 
 rites of that old faith, made dear to me by so many sacred 
 memories — the faith in which I live, and in which I mean to 
 die — repeated, with gratitude, with piety, with fervor, the 
 prayer she had before uttered, from the depths of her pure 
 and eloquent heart. 
 
38 
 
 The characteristics of Judge Kent have been described 
 to-day. May I recur to the subject ? A prominent and 
 striking feature in his intellectual organization, considered 
 in reference to the ordinary demands of our profession, with- 
 out confining myself to any particular department of it, was 
 his gentleness of character. I do not mean that his mind 
 had not intrinsically a power to develope all its energies, 
 and to attain success, but it partook of all his nature. It 
 was retreating, rarely satisfied with itself, not endowed with 
 that confidence which we know is so useful to the advocate. 
 He dreaded rude collisicn of thought — not that he was 
 afraid of anything that might be said of him, but that he 
 shrank from those assaults which m(m of hardier natures are 
 accustomed to receive with coolness, repel with vigor, or 
 treat with indifference. 
 
 I remember a case, when the community were in a state 
 of ferocious excitement, clamoring for the life of an unfortu- 
 nate man, whom I believed then to be, and stiU believe to 
 have been, an innocent one ; but who was sacrificed, in my 
 judgment, to the blood-thirsty passions that sometimes sway 
 the public mind. Judge Kent presided at his trial, and, on 
 review, all his rulings were sustained. It occurred, however, 
 to some gentlemen of the Bar, that one step might have 
 been sanctioned in behalf of the accused, without any viola- 
 tion of the strictest legal requirement. That step was not 
 allowed, and the community was loud in its approval of the 
 refusal ; and we, who differed from the public, took the 
 liberty of expressing our dissent. At a public meeting of 
 some members of the Bar, I took occasion to express my 
 opinion to that effect ; though, in my allusions to the 
 judicial action of the deceased, I did not fail to speak of 
 him with that respect which his high character, his position, 
 and his learning, commanded. 
 
39 
 
 Now, this sensitiveness to censure, allied with courage, 
 exhibited itself in Judge Kent. The next time we met he 
 called me to him, and addressed me in a tone and manner 
 that I shall never cease to remember, and in terms that it 
 would be ill-timed and indecorous, perhaps, for me to men- 
 tion ; but his words impressed me with the conviction that 
 he had a yet nobler character than even, with my high 
 regard for him, I had before ascribed to him. In all my 
 future intercourse with him, from that moment, I could see 
 that if his bearing had changed to me, it was only to become 
 more friendly, and seemed to manifest still more the femi- 
 nine grace and gentleness which so largely entered into his 
 nature — the natural attendant of his soft tones, and kind 
 manner, his quiet speech, and thought, and feeling. 
 
 By some of the gentlemen who have already spoken, we 
 have been informed as to his state of mind when he felt that 
 the hand of death was upon him, and I am happy to hear 
 that he was well .prepared to take his leave of earth, and 
 descend to that grave toward which we are all hastening. 
 I do not regard the mere circumstance of physical death 
 with any poignant emotion of grief or sorrow ; but I do 
 contemplate with awe the destruction of an intellect. I can 
 never bear to think, that when the body returns to dust, 
 the mind which animated, vivified, and controlled it, is for- 
 ever lost. I say, with a great writer — 
 
 " Shall tliat alone which thinks 
 Be, like the sword, consumed before the sheath, 
 By sightless lightning ?" 
 
 I think the great dramatist made no greater failure than 
 in his scene where he represents Hamlet holding in his hand 
 the skull of the poor jester. It was an occasion which 
 should have been surrounded with intense feeling, and made 
 
40 
 
 eloquent with profound and elevating tliouglit. Shakespeare 
 must here defer to Byron, whose memorable lines you may 
 not regret to hear : 
 
 " Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall, 
 Its chamber desolate, and portals foul ; 
 Yet this was once ambition's airy hall — 
 The dome of thought — the palace of the soul. 
 Behold, through each lack-lustre eyeless hole. 
 The gay recess of wisdom and of wit. 
 And passion's host, that never brooked control ; 
 Can all saint, sage, or sophist, ever writ. 
 People this lonely tower — this tenement relit ? 
 Well did'st thou speak, Athena's wisest son : 
 ' All that we know is, nothing can be known.' " 
 
 We do not believe that this intellect perishes, though 
 the frame may decay and dissolve into its elements. We 
 hold ourselves to be dignified, as we are enlightened and 
 sustained, by that faith to which the older gentlemen who 
 addressed this meeting might more properly refer. We 
 believe in the sweet assurance and the promise so sweetly 
 expressed by that other great poet, Whittier, of whom our 
 country may so justly boast : 
 
 " And Thou, oh, most compassionate ! 
 Who didst stoop to our estate, 
 Drinking of the cup we drain, 
 Treading in our path of pain. 
 
 " Through the doubt and mystery, 
 Give us but thy steps to see, 
 And the grace to draw from thence 
 Larger hope and confidence. 
 
 " Show thy vacant tomb, and let. 
 As of old, the angels sit 
 Whispering by its open door, 
 Fear not ! for He has gone before." 
 
41 
 
 Mr. Wm. Curtis Noyes said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman : It is impossible to avoid, on such an 
 occasion as tliis, some repetition, and it is to be hoped 
 that any error of that sort may be excused. 
 
 In 1822, an obscure law student, living in a country town, 
 presented to the great Master of Equity Jurisprudence, in 
 this country, an order for the purpose of obtaining his 
 fiat, so that it might be entered by the Kegister. He ap- 
 proached him with awe and diffidence. The order was 
 perused, the magic words written on the back, and kindly 
 he was told, " Young man, now take that to Brother Moss." 
 There was something so familiar in the manner and mode 
 of the address, that it led to conversation, and was follow- 
 ed, on his part, by words of encouragement and kindness, 
 which left an impression and produced an effect that 
 never can be forgotten. He was at that time sitting in a 
 small rear room, in his dwelling in Columbia street, in Al- 
 bany, his table loaded with books and papers, the walls 
 covered with books ; and it was there, undoubtedly, that 
 the great legal opinions which have furnished guides for 
 you, and for the Judiciary generally, ever since that period, 
 were prepared and sent forth to the world. 
 
 At the same time, there was another law student — dis- 
 tinguished — a son of the Chancellor of the State of New- 
 York, studying law in a town adjoining that already re- 
 ferred to ; sitting every day at the feet of one of the 
 wisest men I have ever known, the greatest common lawyer 
 of his day — a man to whom "wisdom, at one entrance, was 
 quite shut out" — and whose teachings were sought by 
 others, like this young law student, anxious to drink in the 
 words of wisdom and learning from his lips. 
 
 We know very little of the student life of the one last 
 
42 
 
 referred to ; but we do know that he led afterward a life 
 of purity, of high professional attainment, of unaffected 
 and unobtrusive piety ; that he became a distinguished 
 judge ; that he received and laid down academic honors 
 and professorial places ; and that, at last, he closed his 
 career by a Christian's death. 
 
 These two students followed different paths — one sought 
 the interior of the State, the other its commercial metro- 
 polis. They met for the first time, at the first Young 
 Men's Political Convention ever held, I believe, in the State 
 of New- York, in the year 1828 ; and he who presided over 
 that body, twelve years afterward, when Governor of the 
 State (now, as is generally understood, to be the premier 
 of this country, and who is to be " the pilot to weather the 
 storm" to which allusion has been made, and I trust, suc- 
 cessfully), conferred upon one of them the office of Circuit 
 Judge of the First Circuit of the State of New-York. 
 That judge was William Kent, whose memory we have now 
 met to honor. A friendship then commenced between 
 these young men (for they were still young men) which 
 has lasted until it has been unfortunately severed by death. 
 
 It is not necessary to speak here, and in this presence, 
 particularly of the life of one so well known and so uni- 
 versally esteemed in this community. His large learning, 
 his professional industry, the unspotted integrity which dis- 
 tinguished him in all he did, in public and private, his 
 social worth, his legal qualifications, have all been adverted 
 to in terms of proper commendation. 
 
 It may be allowed to speak of his professional integrity 
 here, with a view to its practical uses and the benefit of 
 his example, more in detail. He seems to have fashioned 
 his life, in that respect, upon the model given by the good 
 Bishop Saundeson, in his advice to Pleaders : 
 
43 
 
 "Not to think, because he has the liberty of the Court, and per- 
 haps the favor of the judge, and that, therefore, his tongue is his 
 own, and he may speak his pleasure to the prrjudice of the adver- 
 sary's person or cause ; and not to seek preposterously to win the 
 name of a good lawyer by wresting and perverting good laws; or, 
 the opinion of the best counsellor, by giving the worst and the 
 shrewdest counsel ; and not to count it, as Protagoras did, the glory 
 of his profession, by subtlety of wit, and volul)ility of tongue, to 
 make the worst cause the better ; but like a good man, as well as a 
 good orator, to use the power of his tongue to shame wit and impu- 
 dence, and protect innocency ; to crush oppressors and succor the 
 afflicted ; to advance justice and equity, and to help them to right 
 that suffer wrong ; and to let it be as a ruled case to him, in all his 
 pleadings, not to speak in any cause to wrest judgment." 
 
 A careful observation of his life for more than thirty 
 years (a truth which my brethren will attest), authorizes 
 the remark that, in no case, did he go beyond or fall short 
 of these principles. His mental qualifications, so far as his 
 professional course was concerned, are evident from what 
 has been already said. He was too gentle in his feelings 
 and sympathies for the rough and harsh methods of trial 
 by jury. He had a great distaste foi efforts of that descrip- 
 tion, and never sought, but rather declined them. But in 
 the argument of cases at Bar, in the discussion of strict 
 legal questions, no man was more thorough, none more 
 honest, none more sound and logical, than he. 
 
 Allusion is undoubtedly allowable to some of the extra- 
 ordinary cases in which he was engaged. They have been 
 already mentioned ; but a participator in some of them may 
 be allowed to speak of him in reference to them. He was 
 engaged, in 1840, in an argument before the Court of 
 Errors, then consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor, the 
 Senate and the Chancellor, of the cause involving the con- 
 stitutionality of the general banking law. He had for his 
 
44 
 
 associates and antagonists such men as Ogden, and Spen- 
 cer, and Sandford, all of whom have gone down to the 
 grave covered with professional honors — and in the discus- 
 sion of the important questions in that case, upon which, 
 so far as he was concerned, the existence of the Bank of 
 Commerce depended, and the continuance of the best hank- 
 ing system this State has ever known, depended — in the 
 discussion of these questions, he was fully equal to any who 
 were engaged in the case. A reflection was produced by 
 that argument which may have arisen in the minds of 
 some of his brethren here assembled. He said everything 
 so pleasantly, so gently, with so little effort, that he seemed 
 to give scarcely any evidence of the power he possessed, 
 and of the industry he had employed in making himself 
 master of the subject. He never appeared to put forward 
 his whole strength ; there seemed to be always behind a 
 reserved power, which he could command at any time, but 
 which he did not think it necessary to bring forward. It 
 was obvious, too, that he made no parade or pretence of 
 learning. Everything flowed naturally. A beautiful allu- 
 sion took its proper place without effort. Nothing was 
 strained, nothing forced — all was natural ; showing that 
 what he had acquired had become a part of himself; was 
 a portion of the man, and had been incorporated thoroughly 
 into his mental constitution. 
 
 At a later period of his life, and just four years before 
 the day on which his death was announced, he commenced 
 in the Court of Appeals, with others, the argument of what 
 has been mentioned as the " Million Trust Case." There 
 he had associates and antagonists with whom, if he was 
 unsuccessful in presenting his views of the case, or in- 
 ferior in power or learning, the contrast would have been 
 
45 
 
 most unfortunate. Of the dead, he was associated with 
 Mr. Butler ; and of the dead, among his antagonists, Mr. 
 Hill and Mr. Beardsley — all honored names in our gar- 
 ner of legal worthies — were ready to watch, and to ex- 
 pose anything omitted, or improperly urged. By an ar- 
 rangement between the counsel engaged in that cause, 
 a particular department of it had been assigned to him 
 in the Court below, and was, with a confidence that had 
 no doubt, again intrusted to him in the Court of Ap- 
 peals. He presented it, during an argument of two days, 
 occupying some twelve hours in the whole, in the most 
 forcible, in the clearest, and in the most satisfactory 
 light. It was the mercantile part of the case, the integrity 
 of the accounts, some questions of usury, the nature of 
 the relations between this country and England, in regard 
 to exchange, and the financial rules which regulate dealings 
 in exchange — the whole question of commercial accounts 
 and mercantile usage : and he presented everything regard- 
 ing them with a fullness of knowledge, not only of mer- 
 cantile and general law, but of the financial history of the 
 time, in such a manner that it left none of us the slight- 
 est doubt of the success of the cause in that particular. 
 
 He was subsequently engaged, as I believe has been 
 already mentioned, in what is known as the Barthrop Will 
 Case. Having been present when he made a portion of 
 his argument, and having gone over the same ground as 
 his substitute in the case, after his health failed him, I 
 may be permitted to say that there the reputation ac- 
 quired by him was not only not lessened, but increased. 
 It involved the entire doctrine of charitable uses, the orioin 
 and history of the law upon that subject, an inquiry into 
 the civil and ecclesiastical law, as well as the common and 
 
46 
 
 statute law of England and of this State ; and lie made 
 himself master of the suhject. Happy will he be who re- 
 presents the same interest, when the next discussion shall 
 take place, if he can approach to the power and success of 
 the argument which William Kent presented when the 
 cause was in his hands. 
 
 And now, Mr. President, nothing is left us but the 
 melancholy duty of paying our tribute of respect to the 
 memory of a good and great man. He has suffered in con- 
 trast with his father, having, as has been said, had the mis- 
 fortune (and in some respects it is a misfortune) of " in- 
 heriting a great name." Doubtless, it has its advantages — 
 the advantages of early association — of imbibing, from such 
 a father, day by day, and week by week, almost insensibly, 
 the knowledge which he possesses, and which he willingly 
 pours forth for the benefit of his son. But it has also its 
 disadvantages. If he had been the son of one less distin- 
 guished he would, doubtless, have shone with a greater 
 lustre. 
 
 It has been said, in reference to meetings of this de- 
 scription, that they are almost entirely eulogistic. In some 
 sense the remark is a true one ; but it would be difficult, 
 if not impossible, to select the person who, in reference to 
 him whom 'we now mourn, would suggest any fault in his 
 character, except that which is common to every one, as a 
 portion of the lot of his humanity. 
 
 Happy should we all be that he was one of our number 
 — ha})py may any Bar be, that has among its members 
 such a man as William Kent ! 
 
47 
 
 Ex-Kecorder Tillou said : 
 
 May I add a few words to the memory of this excellent 
 man ? I knew him for many years. I held for him senti- 
 ments of respect and admiration. All that has been, on this 
 occasion, said of him, is true. He was, really, a gentleman 
 of many virtues, of extensive learning, of extraordinary abil- 
 ities. Yet in the picture of his character, which has been 
 so eloquently presented, all its hues and blendings may not 
 have been fully delineated. 
 
 His qualities of mind, of thought, of feeling, of judg- 
 ment ; his refined delicacy and sensibility ; his modesty ; 
 his good sense, and his devotion to truth and fidelity, shone 
 forth in his conduct and his actions. While his talents, his 
 industry, and erudition, produced admiration — his kindness 
 of heart, his gentleness, his benevolence of disposition, and 
 his unvarying and graceful affiibility, secured to him esteem 
 and affection. 
 
 Many years ago, when he was Circuit Judge, I was offi- 
 cially associated with him, in the Court of Oyer and Ter- 
 miner. The profound learning in criminal law which he 
 then displayed, the ready promptness with which he applied 
 legal principles and decided important questions, and his 
 easy reference to authorities, manifested, as it seemed to me, 
 a rare accuracy of memory and judgment. But, more than 
 these, the candor, compassion, and impartiality, the dignity, 
 and the uniform suavity, with which he presided, compelled 
 respect and attachment. Even the condemned were dis- 
 armed of all sense of injustice by his gentleness and kind- 
 ness. 
 
 It is said that the education of Judge Kent, his training, 
 and the good influences which were around him, essentially 
 contributed to form his character. So far as this is ap- 
 
48 
 
 plicable to his mental acquisitions, his habits, his profes- 
 sional pursuits, and the direction of his literary tastes, it, 
 no doubt, is true ; but his amiable disposition, his affability, 
 his gentleness and pure impulses, were gifts of nature which 
 no art could create, no training could bestow. From these 
 flowed the grace and beauty of his manner ; from these, his 
 power over the hearts of others. 
 
 It is related of Petrarco, that, upon the trial of a case, he 
 was summoned as a witness, and after the examination of 
 the other witnesses he was called, and that on his oifer- 
 ino' to be sworn, the magistrate shut the Book, and said, 
 " No, Petrarco, your word is sufficient." However question- 
 able may have been the legality of the act, this public 
 homage to that distinguished man was a high honor. Ages 
 have i)assed, and yet the record of it remains ; generations 
 have read it ; ages and future generations will come, and 
 still the record will be read, and the great virtue of truth 
 will, for all time, be known as one of those of which that 
 fascinating poet and scholar was possessed. And this high 
 quality belonged also to Judge Kent : he was its votary, its 
 worshipper, its practiser ; he was tenacious in his strict 
 adherence to it, in spirit as well as letter, and therefore was 
 candid in all his statements : no suppression of a fact, no 
 equivocation, no vague, ambiguous statements, would be 
 tolerated by him ; the truth he regarded as the basis of 
 honor. 
 
 Judge Kent, in his friendships, was fervent, constant, and 
 unfaltering, as is verified by all those who stood in that 
 relationship to him. On an occasion similar to this (the 
 decease of his friend. Judge Edwards), in this same room, 
 he pronounced a eulogy to the memory of the deceased, emi- 
 nently impressive and eloquent — long rememembered for its 
 
49 
 
 elegance and its taste, and for tlie deep and exquisite feeling 
 which he then manifested. 
 
 Again : Judge Kent was not only eminent as an advo- 
 cate, but as Chamber counsel. And herein he was not only 
 a legal adviser, but also a pacificator. Not only did he 
 place before his client a legal view and exposition of his 
 rights and remedies, but presented to him also a statement 
 of the consequences of litigation, whether successful or un- 
 successful, and candidly advised him what was best for his 
 interests, his comfort, or his rejuitation : his advice was that 
 of a kind friend, as well as counsel. 
 
 He was opulent in all that is ojiulent. He was wealthy 
 in mental acquisition, in a vast store of learning, in a mul- 
 titude of happy recollections, and in the resj)ect, friendship, 
 and attachment of the good, the virtuous, and the talented. 
 He was pure in mind, in thought, in im23ulse. His was an 
 uncommon union of great virtues and great abilities. His 
 life is now a vision of the past — but one which presents a 
 beautiful and interesting episode in human history. 
 
E N '10 
 
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