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 COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS 
 
 i>i:i.ivi:iti',j) A 1 I Hi-. 
 
 HALI, '"■ ''HI- HISTORICAL SOaEFY OF prvvQvi \mx|\. 
 
 November 10, 1884, 
 
 JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE, LL.I)., 
 
 J.ATE rUESTDENT OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 BY 
 
 M TTPVT>^.- VI yvnrT?^ 
 
 I'HILADELl'HIA: 
 COLLINS PRINTIXG HOUSE, 705 JAYNE STREET. 
 
 1884. 
 
3/f 
 
 IN MEMORY 
 
 JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE, LL.D. 
 
THOMAS C. AMORY. 
 
2? (/lj~e,i^'^^cy>x^^ 
 
COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 HALL OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 November 10, 1884, 
 
 JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE, LL.D., 
 
 LATE PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 BY / 
 
 Mr. henry FLANDERS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 COLLINS PRINTING HOUSE, 705 JAYNE STREET. 
 
 1884. 
 
Tb-'i 
 
 20772 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 Mr. Wallace died on Saturday morning, January 12, 1884. A special 
 meeting of the Council of tlie Historical Society was held on the after- 
 noon of the Monday following, and his decease was announced to that 
 body by its Chairman, the Hon. James T. Mitchell. 
 
 Upon motion of Mr. Charles R. Hiklehiini the following resolutions 
 were unanimously adopted : — 
 
 The Council of tlie Historical Society of Pennsylvania have heard 
 with profound sorrow of the death of John William Wallace, who for the 
 last fifteen years has presided over this Society with great ability and 
 dignity. It is therefore fitting to give immediate expression to their 
 sense of his services as an enthusiast in the cause of learning ; of attain- 
 ments as profound as they were varied ; ps a student of American history ; 
 as the Reporter of the law laid down by the highest court of the land ; as 
 an officer of this Society to whose interest the last years of his life were 
 devoted ; and as a man whose courteous manners and warm heart have 
 endeared him to all. 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of John William Wallace, IX. D., this 
 Society has suffered the loss of one to whose wise counsels, generous and 
 constant benefactions, and unfailing interest in all its aims, it is most 
 deeply indebted. 
 
 Resolved, That the members of the Council are painfully sensible ot 
 the loss of an associate whom they have long held in the highest esteem. 
 
 Resolved, That the Council will attend the funeral in a body. 
 
 Resolved, That the Society be recommended to take appropriate action 
 at an early day, and that a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the 
 family. 
 
 A stated meeting of the Society was held upon the evening of the same 
 day, Vice-President George de B. Keim in the chair, at which the above 
 Resolutions of the Council were read. 
 
6 
 
 Mr. Frcilerick D. Stone llien nioveJ llmt the Society approve the senti- 
 ments expressed in the resolutions of the Council, an*l thiit the following 
 Ik* entered u|K(n the minutes of the Society : — 
 
 The Ilisloriciil Society of Pennsylvania, in the death of the Honorable 
 Jiiliii AVilliani Wallace LL.I)., its late President, has met with a 
 niisforttine of exceeding severity. He was a gentli-man iif active ami 
 vigorous intellect, of the most extended cidlurc, and the most varied 
 attainments. He wivs imbued with an enthusiastic fondness lor the cause 
 of historical pursuits, and wiiii a proper pride in the achievements of the 
 people of Pennsyhania, and to his cultivated judgment, cArnest efforts, 
 and generous ciuitributions, iii'"l' •■'" i''-- 'I'-x ••ti)|ini>-nt and prosperous 
 growth of till- Society is due. 
 
 li^ it ihfrej'orr Resolved, Tiuil tlie C'imuiiII 1«- reipiesled to select an 
 i-arly day at which there shall be a suil^ible expres^iion of our appreciation 
 of the strength of chanicter and merits of our late President, and of our 
 acknowledgment of the many benelils he has conferred U|(on the Society. 
 
 This motion was seconded with appropriate n-marks by the Hon. 
 Honitio fiates .lones. and unanimously pa.ssed. 
 
 l'|K)n motion of Mr. Hildeburn, it was resolved thai when this meeting 
 ailjourns it will be to meet on Monday evening next, .January 21. 
 
 .Mr. .bines then moved that out of resjiect for the memory of Mr. 
 Walhici-, ilie meeting now adjourn without tninsjicting any further busi- 
 ness, and that the members of the Society attend his funiM-iil iit .St. PcIit's 
 Church to-mori-ow, Tuesday, l.'ilh inst., at eleven A. .M. 
 
 A meeting of lli« Council was In-ld February C<, 1881. 
 
 On motion of .Mr. Cnrpi-nter. the Chairman was authorized to ap|ioint 
 a committee to take into consideration the subject of an address to be 
 dflivi-red before the Society as a memorial of the late President, .Mr. 
 Walhice, with |io\ver to act. 
 
 The committee appointed consisted of .lohn ,lortlan. .Ir., .Snniiii'l W. 
 Pennyimckcr, and William HrcM)ke liawle, and at its re<|uest the following 
 letter was addre.sseil In Mr. Ilinrv Flanders: — 
 
HisTOHicAL Society of Pennsylvania, 
 Philadelphia, April 10, 1884. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Shortly after the death of Mr. John William Wallace, The 
 
 Historical Society of Pennsylvania directed its Council to make such 
 arrangements that appropriate action should be taken by the Society in 
 honor of tlie memory of its late President. The members of the special 
 Committee of the Council, to which this matter was referred, have ex- 
 pressed their earnest wishes thiit you siiould deliver the memorial address, 
 and on behalf of the Committee I have the honor to tender you an invi- 
 tation to do so at such not too distant period as may suit your conveni- 
 ence. 
 
 Hoping to I'eceive Irom you a favorable reply, 
 I remain very respectfully, 
 
 Your Obt. Servt. 
 
 WILLIAM BKOOKE llAWLE. 
 Henuy Flanders, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Flanders communicated his acceptance of tiiis invitation to the 
 Committee in the following words : — 
 
 Philadelphia, April 12, 1884. 
 Dear Siu : 
 
 In reply to your favor of the loth inst., asking me on behalf 
 of a special Committee of the Council of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
 vania to deliver the memorial address in honor of Mr. John AVilliam Wallace, 
 the late President of the Society, I beg to say that it will give me pleasure 
 to comply with the wishes of yom- Committee. 
 
 I remain. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your Obt. Servt. 
 
 HENRY FLANDERS. 
 
 Wm. Brooke Rawle, Esq. 
 
 The Address was- delivered at the Hall of the Society on the evening of 
 Nov. 10, 1884. A large number of ladies and gentlemen, members of 
 the Society and friends of Mr. Wallace, were present. In the absence of 
 the President, tiie Hon. Horatio Gates Jones, a Vice-President of the 
 Society, presided. 
 
 After the speaker had concluded, Edward Shippen, M.D., U. S. N., 
 arose amd offered the following resolution : — 
 
Resolced, That the ilmnks of the Society be extended to Mr. Flanders 
 for his ap|)ro|iriate tribute to the memory of our hite Pre^iident, and that 
 he be requested to furnisii a copy of his address to tlie Society for publi- 
 cation. 
 
 This resolution was seconded with remarks by Ex-Governor the Hon. 
 Henry M. Hoyt, and unanimously adopted. 
 The meeting then adjourned. 
 
'?^n/t 7^ ///rrr/ny /4i^yUace. 
 
COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 John William Wallace, the late President of the His- 
 torical Society of Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, 
 on the 17th day of February, 1815, and died in the city of 
 his birth on the r2th day of Januarys 1884, in the 69th year 
 of his age. 
 
 To those who believe that, following a physiological law, 
 character, as well as physical qualities, is inheritable, and 
 descends in a family from generation to generation, a brief 
 sketch of Mr. Wallace's ancestry may not be uninteresting 
 or inappropriate to this occasion. 
 
 The first of his line who came to this country was John 
 Wallace, a son of the Rev. John Wallace of Drumellier, on 
 the Tweed, Scotland, and Christian Murray, his wife, whose 
 lineage, Mr. Burke, in his book on " Royal Descents," traces 
 back to the royal family of Scotland.' 
 
 John Wallace settled at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1742, 
 and several years after at Philadelphia. 
 
 He man-ied here the daughter and only child of Joshua 
 Maddox, a respected and honored citizen, a warden of 
 Christ Church, a founder and one of the original Board of 
 
 ' See Appendix, 
 
Tnistccs of the University of Pennsylvania ; and for a period 
 of nineteen years a justice of the Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 John AN'allare was a prosperoiis and successful merchant. 
 He was too a man of literary tastes, and interested in public 
 affairs. It is recorded on the monument that marks his 
 last resting-place, in St. Peter's Church-yard, that he assisted 
 to foiuul tlie public library at Newport, since become the 
 Pedwood ; that he was a founder of St. Andrew's Society 
 in this city; and that from 17.j5 till the dissolution of the 
 Koyal Government in ITTCi he was a councilman of the city. 
 He died at liis country seat, Hope Farm, New Jersey, Sep- 
 tember ','(it]i, ]>:{. 
 
 His son, Joshua Maddox Wallace, after graduating; at the 
 University of Pennsylvania, was placed in a counting-house 
 with a view to his pursuing a mercantile career. But his 
 tastes for science and literature were stronger than for 
 coiiuncrce, and marrying at an early age a daughter of Col. 
 ^^'illiam Bradford, the patriot ])rinter and soldier, he sul)- 
 secpietitly retired to liis farm called Ellei-slie, in Somerset 
 County, New Jersey, and there and at Burlington passed 
 the residue of liis life. " lie lived," writes the mother of our 
 late president, "upon the income of a lilx'ral inherited fortune, 
 and in the exercise of conspicuous and unostentatious hos- 
 pitality gathered around him the most distinguished men of 
 the state and comitry."' TIr did not, however, sink into the 
 indolence of mere lettered ease, but was an active and 
 energetic citizen. He was a member of the Convention of 
 New Jersey that ratified the Constitution of the United 
 States ; a nuMnl)er of the Ix'gislature of that State dining 
 
11 
 
 the exciting political contests that grew out of the convul- 
 sions of the French Revolution ; a Trustee for many years 
 of Princeton College ; a frequent delegate from the Diocese 
 of New Jersey to the General Convention of the Episcopal 
 ('hurch ; and a Judge of the Pleas of Burlington County. 
 lie died at Burlington in 1819. 
 
 His son, John Bradford Wallace, was born at EUerslie, 
 his father's farm, August 17, 1778. He graduated at 
 Princeton in 1794 at the early age of sixteen, and received 
 the highest honors of his class. Designed for the law, he 
 pursued his studies under the direction of his luicle, William 
 Bradford, who was not more distinguished as a lawyer, and 
 as the attorney-general of the United States in the adminis- 
 tration of General Washington, than for those solid virtues 
 and that well-compacted character which made him honored 
 and beloved in life, and lamented in death. 
 
 Mr. Wallace was admitted to the bar, at Philadelphia, in 
 1799. It was a bar composed of very able and eminent 
 men ; men whose fame, surviving the accidents of time, is 
 still gratefully cherished by their successors. But in the 
 shadow of these great names, such was the happy constitu- 
 tion of Mr. Wallace's mind, and so fully was it imbued 
 with legal principles, and adorned with general culture, 
 that he soon stood, not first perhaps, yet in the very first 
 line of his profession. He pursued the practice of the law 
 in this city with increasing honor and success until the year 
 1819. That was a year memorable for commercial disaster 
 and distress. Many fortunes in that storm were swept 
 away, and many families ruined. Mr. Wallace's elder 
 
brotluT, \\\\i> was extensively engaged in foreign eomnierce, 
 was one of tin' victims of the crisis, and Mr. NN allace was 
 involved in the disastrous issue of his brother's affairs. De- 
 clining jirnffers of assistance from his friends, and equally 
 declining compositions with his creditors, he set himself, 
 with a stout heart, to the serious task of discharging the 
 ol)ligations which his brother's misfortunes had thrown upon 
 him. Owning and controlling large tracts of land, heredi- 
 tary and acquired, in the nortlnvesteni comities of Penn- 
 sTlvania, he determined to remove to that region, and bv 
 his personal management and suix-rvision endeavor to re- 
 trieve his ft)rtunes. Accordingly, in iS'iJ Mr. \\";dla(i' left 
 rhiladel|)hia, and fixed Ins residence at Meadville, Crawford 
 County. "This section of country.'' wrote Mi-s. Wallace, in 
 1H48, the year before her death, -'now beautiful with culti- 
 vation, peopled with educated yeomanry, and evervwherc 
 marked l)y the institutions of civility and religion, was at 
 that day signalized by the worst characteristics of democratic 
 colonization." The track of the Indian, it is sjiid, was then 
 scarcely ol)liter.ited. and the primeval forest still skirted the 
 streets of the town. 
 
 Into tills region Mr. ANallace bore liis courteous and 
 dignified manners, his refined tastes, his cultured intellect, 
 and his trained abilities as a lawyer. They won, as they 
 could scarcely fail to win, recognition and rcsi>ect, and 
 secured to him as well the confidence and affection of the 
 jMHiple among whom he lived. Although dirtering with him 
 in political sentiment, the electors of Crawford sent him as 
 their representative to successive legislatures, and until. 
 
13 
 
 triumphant over his pecuniary difficulties, he removed from 
 Meadville, and resumed his residence in Philadelphia. 
 
 Mr. Wallace may, with truth, be said to have established 
 the church of his faith, and of his fathers, in the north- 
 Avestern counties of Pennsylvania. " Conveying in his own 
 hand probably the first prayer-book that made its way 
 thither," says Mrs. Wallace, . , . . "he saw in a few 
 years the ministry of his affections planted and established. 
 His fiftieth birthday was fitly honored by the consecration 
 of Christ Church, Meadville." 
 
 His endeavors and his abilities had led him out of the 
 wilderness of pecuniary troubles, in which he had been com- 
 pelled to wander, and with reviving fortune, in 1836, he 
 returned to Philadelphia, here to spend the evening of his 
 day. But he was not to realize the poet's aspiration and 
 crown — 
 
 " A youth of labor witli an age of ease." 
 
 In apparent perfect health, he suddenly, without premo- 
 nition of the coming event, died on the seventh day of Janu- 
 ary, 1837, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. 
 
 Mr. Wallace married a sister of the late Horace Binney. 
 She bore, without elation, his early successes, and shared, 
 with a serene courage, his later adversities. Surviving him 
 many years, she wrote, hi the seventieth year of her age, a 
 sketch of his life ; a sketch marked by dignity and grace of 
 expression, and breathing in every line the sincerest respect 
 and affection. Her virtues, too, and her endowments of 
 mind and character, have been delineated, and by a kindred 
 hand. When she died at her country-house in Burlington, 
 
14 
 
 New Jersey. i>ii tin- »'i;;htli of July, in the year l.S4f), her 
 brother, Mr. IJinney, sketched, not for tlie public eye, but in 
 his ])rivate journal, and, as he says, to gratify himself, and 
 assist his children's recollection of her. two or three of her 
 strikinix characteristics. 
 
 "My sister and myself." s;iys Mr. Binney, "had probably 
 as strong an attachment to each other as brother and sister 
 have ever known. Both of us I think were deeply indebted 
 to the Giver ol" all good for vouchsafing both its strength 
 and continuance for so long a time. She was endued 
 witii uncommon faculties and virtues, and adorned with fine 
 acquisitions both intellectual and external. I know of no 
 particular in which she was not to a remarkable degree 
 finished and accomplished. .She would have become any 
 station from tlu- highest which wears a coronet or sits upon 
 a throne, to the humblest to which is promised the King- 
 dom of Heaven From her earliest womanhood 
 
 to her death, she luul the most unilbrmly and uninter- 
 ruptedly bright and vivid mind that I have ever personally 
 known in man or woman. I mean that at no time, in no 
 variation of her health or condition, for the term of fifty 
 years at least, did her mind appear to suffer the least sink- 
 ing or decline, the least obscuration or diminution of light 
 or lustre. I have ne\er jx'rsonally known any other man or 
 woman, however intellectual, whose mintl was not occasion- 
 ally torpid or drowsy, as it were, on the wing, however able 
 generally to soar. I have often felt this myself; I mean a 
 drowsiness or torjwr of the mind. But Mrs. ^^'allaec's 
 mind was at all times, and in all .states of health or spirit.*. 
 
15 
 
 ' wide awake,' not in the flashy sense of that expression, 
 which implies animal rather than intellectual vivacity, but 
 as a watchful and sleepless spirit that had all its ministers 
 about it, arrayed and alert for the service of the moment, 
 whatever it might be — action, defense, conversation, sym- 
 pathy. Her intellect, to use the apt Bible word, was girded 
 about, and indeed it was a golden cincture, which diffused 
 light, while it supported and compacted together all her 
 
 faculties Her spirit was oftentimes deeply 
 
 grieved by vicissitudes of fortune which filled her with 
 cruel apprehensions for those in whom she was bound up. 
 It was impossible to feel more acutely or to apprehend more 
 sensitively either the present or the contingent evils of such 
 vicissitudes. She had even deeper griefs than the loss of 
 fortune. She lost her husband, possessing and worthy of 
 all her love, at the first dawn of his reviving fortune, and 
 her oldest daughter in the maturity of her loveliness, when 
 the young mother and her first child were laid in the same 
 sepulchre. She lost several younger children. Her life 
 was anything but equal and cheerful ; and her spirit in con- 
 stant sympathy with her condition was sometimes bent to 
 the utmost, and though it remained unbroken, it never recov- 
 ered what the world calls cheerfulness Yet 
 
 her intellect was ever and uniibrmly bright and vivid — ever 
 girded about with strength and truth — ever ready, even at the 
 very moment of sufl'ering, to act and to serve, as if itself 
 were impassible. It seems to me as if no eclipse of fortune, 
 no cloud of adversity could dim for a moment the ethereal 
 rays that were shining there. And I must speak of another 
 
n; 
 
 ol her characteristics, merely because it is so rare an adjunct 
 to such accomplishments and acquirements as hers. She 
 was totally destitute of vanity, and I believe never said or 
 did anything in her life under such an impulse. 
 
 '• In this mortal state, if nature has not so moulded us. and 
 culture so expanded us as to dispose us to the love of others, 
 and of other things, strongly and almost passionately, a bril- 
 liant mind may become a worsliiper at its own shrine, and 
 neither make nor allow any sacrifices but to self; and the 
 heart may become half dead to other affections by the mere 
 want of nutriment. So moulded and cultured from birth, 
 Mrs. ^^'allace not only escaped this peril. Itut I never per- 
 ceived that she was exposed to it At no time 
 
 in my life did I discover that she had the least particle of 
 vanity, or looked to her own distinction as the special end 
 of anything she said or did. For many years before her 
 death, her religious sentiments would have cast out such a 
 motive as unbecoming lur professions. But. in truth, I do 
 not think it ever existed in her. She was no doubt conscious 
 of her powers ; she could not be otherwise. But she valued 
 other things so much more than admiration, and embraced 
 so many pei-sons by her love, her family, her friends, her 
 dpp<>ndauts, and sought and found her happiness in them to 
 such a degree, that self was subordinated, and her heart 
 became as much enlarged as her mind." 
 
 Thus did Mr. and Mrs. Wallace a])[»ear tn the eye of kin- 
 dred affection, and thus did they ap]>ear to observers not 
 bound to them by any ties of blood. Mr. Webster, whose 
 attention had been arresttnl bv an article in one of the maga- 
 
17 
 
 zines from the polished pen of Horace Binney Wallace, 
 wrote to him from the Senate chamber at Washington, 
 under date of Feb. 4, 1848, and thus speaks of his parents: 
 " With but only a slight personal acquaintance, I am yet 
 not ignorant of your character, standing, and attainments ; 
 and you the more win my esteem from the affection which 
 I entertained for your excellent father, and the fervor with 
 which I cherish his memory. It is nearly thirty years since 
 I first became the guest of your parents in Philadelphia. 
 No house was ever more pleasant, no circle of acquaintance 
 more agreeable than I found there. The remembrance of 
 those times and those friends is dear to me. Your mother 
 I am happy to hear enjoys good health, and all the happi- 
 ness arising from the love and affection of good children, 
 and the respect and kindness of all who know her." 
 
 The late Bishop Hopkins, in a letter to his son dated 
 July 7, 1863, referring to his own labors in Western Penn- 
 sylvania, thus speaks of Mr. and Mrs. "^^'allace : " He was 
 a very superior man, and a most zealous churchman, and 
 the days in which we worked together at Meadville .... 
 are still very fresh in ray memory. Mrs. Wallace too was a 
 rare union of remarkable cultivation, intellectual power, and 
 deep piety, combined with a high refinement and untiring 
 energy, which, on the whole, made up a character superior 
 to any that I have seen in the qualities which secure a com- 
 manding influence in society." 
 
 Such were the parents of John William Wallace as 
 described by their contemporaries. He was seven years old 
 when they removed to the western wilderness, and a large 
 3 
 
18 
 
 part of his boyhood was passed in that primeval scene. No 
 doul)t the advantages were greater tlian the disadvantages. 
 Countrv air and country life impart a certain robustness of 
 bodv and mind wliich tlie liabitudes of the city are not so 
 likclv to confer. - It may be wliimsical, but it is truth," 
 says Goldsmith, " I have found by exjxjricnce, that those 
 who have sjx-nt all their lives in cities contract not only an 
 effeminacy of habit, but even of thinking." Besides, he had 
 before him, in his parents, the daily example of cultured 
 manners, and his education was the object of their unremitted 
 care and attention, lie laid the foundation of his classical 
 attainments under the guiding hand of his father, and in the 
 same domestic school formed those excursive literary tastes, 
 and tliose habits of studv wliich distinguished him through- 
 out his life. In his fifteenth year he entered the University 
 of Pennsylvania, and graduated in the class of 1833. One of 
 his classmates writes me, that at college he was " a nuirked 
 individuality, and was held in high consideration ior the 
 extent of his knowledge on many subjects outside of the col- 
 lege course." These " outside subjects" so engiiged his 
 attention that " hi- did not work for or obtain the honors of 
 liis class, though all agreed," says his classmate, " that he 
 could liiive had them had he cliosen to try for them." 
 
 His college course ended, he was registered as a sttulent in 
 the office of his father, and in his father's office, and the office 
 of Mr. John Sergeant, he completed his course of legal study. 
 He was admitted to the bar of the Old District Court on the 
 27th dav of October, ls3(i, and on .Tan\iarv 3()tii. Is37, on 
 
19 
 
 motion of Mr. William M. Meredith, to the bar of the Com- 
 mon Pleas. 
 
 Mr. Wallace never actively engaged in the practice of his 
 profession. His tastes did not incline him to the conflicts 
 of the forum, and his circumstances did not compel him to 
 engage in them. To most members of the profession the 
 law is "a service and a livelihood;" to Mr. Wallace it was 
 an abstract and liberal pursuit. 
 
 Throughout all his life, as has been truly said, he was a 
 worker, not a dilettante legal trifier, but an earnest, accom- 
 plished, and useful worker. In 1842 he edited "Jebb's 
 British Crown Cases Reserved," being cases reserved for 
 consideration and decided by the Twelve Judges of England 
 and Ireland, between the years 1822 and 1840. In 184:1, 
 having become the treasurer' and librarian^ of the Law 
 Association of Philadelphia, his attention was called to the 
 comparative merits of the reports from the year books down. 
 The result of his studies was a book upon the subject, a 
 book upon the driest of themes, but which with his scholar- 
 ship, his cultivated tastes, and quiet humor, is invested with 
 
 ' He resigned the office of treasurer Dec. .3, 1804. In his letter of resignation 
 lie said : " Need I say that it is not without some emotion that I decline further 
 election to an office which I have filled for nearly twenty-five years, a term of 
 service longer than that of any other treasurer, and that I leave the office with a 
 grateful sense of the confidence so long entertained towards me, and with my 
 best wishes for one and for all of the numerous gentlemen with whom I have 
 been so agreeably connected." 
 
 * He resigned the office of librarian Nov. 26, 18G0, and in recognition of his 
 services, the association conferred on him the appointment of honorary libra- 
 rian, and the use of the library for life. 
 
'20 
 
 an interest that has challenged and held the attention of a 
 wide circle of readers, and both in England and this conntry 
 ^^'allace's •• Reporters" has achieved high distinction, and is 
 jnstly regarded as a legal classic. 
 
 As illustrating his treatment of his theme, I may be par- 
 doned a singU" (juotation. Si)eaking of Vernon's Reix)rts, 
 in the time of Charles II., he says : " It appears from the 
 case of Atrherly r. \'ernon, that Mr. Vernon's MSS. reports, 
 found in his study alter his death, were the subject of a suit 
 in chancery lK>tweeii his widow, his residuary legatee, and 
 the heir-at-law. The widow claimed them as included in 
 the bequest ' of household goods and furniture ;' the trus- 
 tees of the residuary estate regarded them as embraced by 
 the expression, ' the residue of my |)ersonal estate ;' while 
 the heir contended, that 'as gnuriJinn of the reputation 
 of fiis (ince^tor^ the MSS. belonged to him ; in the same 
 way as would a right of action for the defacing of his 
 ancestor's tomb. ' The printing or not printing of these 
 papers,' says the counsel for the heir, ' may as much affect 
 the reputation of Mr. \'ernon as any monument or tomb. 
 Possibly they are not fit to be printed ; jwssibly they were 
 never intended to be printed.' ' Suppose a man of learning 
 should have the misfortune to die in debt, can the creditors 
 come into this court and pray a discovery of all his papers, 
 that they may 1k' jjrinted for the payment of his debts ?' 
 
 ** Lord Macclesfield, finding the decision difficult (and the 
 parties probably thinking that it was doubtful), tiic dispute 
 was arranged by the chancellor's keeping the MSS. him- 
 self; and under his direction, with that of I/ord Kin" it 
 
21 
 
 was that they were first published As it ap- 
 peared, the lieir had a good deal of weight in his arguments. 
 The MSS. were not very ' fit to be printed,' and probably 
 were ' never intended to be printed.' " 
 
 In 1844 Mr. Wallace was appointed standing master in 
 chancery of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and I am 
 told by one of the most eminent equity lawyers at our bar, 
 and who had occasion to appear before Mr. AVallace, in 
 very important causes, that he discharged the duties of his 
 semi-judicial position with zeal, learning, and ability. 
 
 In 1849 he undertook to report the decisions of the 
 United States Circuit Court for this circuit, and three vol- 
 umes of reports, known as Wallace Junior's Reports,' were 
 the result of his labors. They are characterized by care in 
 the statement of facts, and precision in the statement of the 
 law. They have " none of the book-making scissor- work," 
 said Judge Grier, "that disgraces so many of our books of 
 reports." 
 
 In the spring of 1850, Mr. Wallace visited England. 
 He went thither as the representative of the Law Association, 
 "to visit the societies of Lincoln's and Gray's Inn and of 
 the Temple in the city of London ; the Facvdty of Advocates 
 in the city of Edinburgh, and such other similar institu- 
 tions abroad" as he might deem fit, and to report to the 
 association how far the regulations " adopted by the wisdom 
 of the bar of England through so many generations for the 
 
 ' So called to distinguish them from his father's "Reports of Cases in the 
 Circuit Court for the Third Circuit." The first edition of this latter work was 
 published in 1801 ; the second in 18;i8. 
 
'2'2 
 
 preservation of its lionor and interests." might be applicable 
 to our younger and more popular institutions. 
 
 His mission and his letters of introduction gave him access 
 to the highest circles of social and legal life. He made the 
 acquaintance of Sehvyn, Sir David Dundas, Mr. Sergeant 
 Goidl)urn, and others of the bar; and the great lights of the 
 bench, Lord Chief Justice Campbell, the Lord Chief Baron 
 Pollock, and Sir Fitz Roy Kelly paid him marked attentions. 
 Ivord Cam])l)ell writes him a note under date of June 8, 
 1H50, and says, '"If you an- at any time in the Court of 
 (Jueen's liench. I >liall be much pleasc^d to j)lacc you l)y my 
 side, and to take your advice as my assessor." Mr. ^^'allace, 
 it seems, accepted this invitation, for I find among his 
 papers a letter (under date of June '20, iS.jO), from Mr. Ser- 
 geant (ioidburn, in which he says: •' I have been requested 
 by Lord Campbell, whom I saw yesterday in Hyde Park, to 
 express the pleasure it would give him if you were to rejieat 
 your visit to him on the Bench. He is now trying causes 
 at Nisi Prius, some of them I doubt not of much interest. 
 My elder brother also would be very glad if, when you re- 
 turn to your country and see Mr. Clay, yt)u would remember 
 him most kindly, lie lias a very lively recollection of that 
 gentleman's wortii and agreeable qualities whilst thrown 
 with him at (ihont in the year 1S14. Of coiuse you will 
 not iiiil to tell Peter how much I tliank liim for reminding 
 me of him in so agreeable a manner by the introduction of 
 yourself." 
 
 1 may be pardoned fiT (pioting one other letter, as a 
 memento nf Mr. Wallace's visit to Kngland. It is fiDm 
 
23 
 
 Baron Pollock. " Accept my very sincere thanks," he says, 
 "for your valuable present Avhich I highly estimate, but 
 chiefly as a memorial of your visit to this coimtry, which has 
 afi"orded me much pleasure. I have long desired to make 
 such an acquaintance, and personally to know some mem- 
 bers of the western branch of our great family, and I could 
 not have had my wish gratified in a more agreeable manner 
 than the occasion of your visit has fortunately presented. 
 What history has recorded of our separation (which for the 
 greatness of both nations and the happiness of mankind 
 has taken place) may be forgotten like the differences be- 
 tween relatives in very early lile, but there must always re- 
 main the common origin, the common language, the rmited 
 literature, almost the same laws, and -the same generous and 
 noble objects ; the advancement and improvement of the 
 human race by the most free and liberal institutions. I am 
 obliged by your kind off"er, and beg in return to say, I shall 
 feel grateful for an opportunity of showing to any friend of 
 yours, how much pleasure your visit has given us, by doing 
 everything in my power to render his sojourn here agree- 
 able.'" 
 
 "While Mr. Wallace was gratifying his legal tastes and 
 curiosity, and was aided in every way by his legal friends 
 in attaining the objects of his mission, he saw at the same 
 time a good deal of the higher social life of England through 
 the attentions of the Earl of Carlisle, Eord Murray, and 
 Lady Clavering. But he seems to have been most impressed 
 by what he observed in the walks of his own profession, 
 
 I DatedJune 21, 1850. 
 
'24 
 
 iuul "by those voucrabk- colli'<,'os oi the law" (The Inns of 
 Court) *' whicli," he writes, "throu»jh so many genemtions 
 have kept tlie Bar of England together, not only with un- 
 tarnished honor and elevated dignity, but in delightful fel- 
 lowship, and with the sense, and in the power of unity." 
 
 The year following his visit to England, Mr. Wallaee 
 delivered a discourse before the Law Academy of Philadel- 
 phia, on TJte DiscrejHtricies of our Home Commercial Law, 
 and prefaced it witli a charming description of one of the 
 Inns of Coiu-t. As interesting in itself, and as illustrative 
 of his style, I shall venture to make a quotation from it: 
 ••The Temple," he says, " is situated in the most ancient, 
 populous, and busy part of London. If with us you should 
 suppose a site — sjiy from Market to >\'alnut Street, and 
 sloping gently from Third Street to the edge of the Dela- 
 ware, you would have some idea of the site of this Inn, in 
 relation to the other parts of the city. Around the three 
 sides of its site are built connectedly, and with more or less 
 irregularity, the continuous structures which make the 
 Temple. The outside, that is. the parts upon the street, 
 are used for purposes of business ; law booksellers, stationers, 
 and other persons who supply the convenience of the Bar, 
 being among the occupants. It is the inner part around 
 and ujKtn the square which constitutes the resort and 
 abodes of the profession of England. Turning away from 
 the mighty stream of business life which rolls by day and 
 night along the strand, and entering thn)Ugh an archway 
 that attracts no notice and reveals nothing within, you find 
 yourself, after a short walk, w ithin the Temple close. Here, 
 
25 
 
 and in the neighboring Inns, is congregated the whole pro- 
 fession of England ; and here every student must enter for 
 his education. Many lawyers and judges who are Avithout 
 families, live here entirely, having a house or apartments 
 with offices and servants more or less expensive ; living ex- 
 actly as each man here does in the house he owns. Some 
 occupy ' chambers' only, or ' offices,' as we call them — 
 dining in the Temple Hall, where all students are obliged 
 to dine. In this place you find the active members of the 
 profession, whether leaders at Nisi Prius and the courts, 
 members of Parliament, of whom a great number are always 
 barristers, or the great law officers immediately connected 
 with the crown. Plere also are those eminent cJiainher 
 counsel whose opinions settle half the concerns of London ; 
 and those law-imters, perfectly known to the profession 
 everywhere, whose voices, however, are never heard in court, 
 nor their names within the ' city.' .... The Tem- 
 ple grounds, which break upon you when once within its 
 close, are beautiful. You are aware that the place was 
 many centuries ago the residence of the Knights Templars, 
 and like Fountains, Netley, Tintern, and other religious 
 hoiises in England, was selected and disposed by its founders 
 with comprehensive and exquisite taste. Before you lies 
 the Thames. On its opposite side, above, rise the time- 
 honored spires of Lambeth, and in greater distance the swell 
 of the Surrey Hills. The trees and walks and cloistered 
 gardens of the Temple impress you by their venerable 
 beauty, and the air of repose which they inspire to every- 
 thing around Here is the Temple Church. 
 
 4 
 
L'ti 
 
 An idea of its beauty may be formed by tlio fiict that 
 XTO.OOO have recently been expended in its repairs and deco- 
 ration. Its services arc confined to the memlwrs of the Inn ; 
 and lieinjL' thus sustained by male voices only, have a monas- 
 tic and ])eculiar air. As the church comes down from the 
 religious order of Temiilars, it is said to be the only one in 
 
 London in which no cliild was ever baptized 
 
 In the (ireat Hall of the Middle Temple, a venerable struc- 
 ture with massive tables and benches that look as if they 
 had defied the wear of centuries, the members and students 
 of the Inn dine. Tlic room is about sixty feet high. On 
 its richly stained windows you see the Armorial displays of 
 nearly two hundred of the great lawyers of ancient and 
 modem times, including among the latter, those of Lord 
 Cowjwr, Vorke, Somers, Kenyon. Ahanley, and Eldon. On 
 the wainscoted walls you have the names of the Kcathrs of 
 the Tern pic for more than two centuries back : and portraits 
 of great benefactors. Hero, too, the Bur assembles for occa- 
 sions of state and festivity, and for ancient celebrations — 
 some very curious — wliich arc still kept up with that instinct 
 of hereditation which belongs to no (ountrv but England. 
 
 " Everywhere about you. in short, in the names of avenues 
 and walks, in the designation of buildings, in the objects of 
 curiosity or interest or veneration, you have the names and 
 associations of the Jaw before you. The profession is here in 
 its corporate dignity and impressiveness. It has about it all 
 those influences which Mr. IJurke thought sovalualde in the 
 structure of a state. It bears the impress of its name and 
 lineage, and inspires everywhere a consciousness of its 
 
27 
 
 ancient and habitual dignity. The past is everywhere con- 
 nected with the present, and you feel that the profession is 
 an inheritance derived from forefathers, and to be trans- 
 mitted to posterity." 
 
 In 1852 Mr. Wallace had the deep grief and misfortune 
 to lose his gifted brother, Horace Binney Wallace ; a grief 
 and misfortune which were shared by all lovers of literature, 
 and by all students and professors of the law. For he 
 possessed a rare and radiant mind, which illumined every 
 subject that engaged its attention. He had been one of 
 the editors of Smith's Leading Cases in various branches ot 
 the law, and of White and Tudor's selection of Leading 
 Cases in Equity ; and of American Leading Cases in a diversi- 
 fied class of decisions. And he had shown in these labors a 
 discrimination, a subtilty of thought, a power of analysis 
 and reasoning, and a power of expression that were alike 
 unusual and remarkable in a man of his years. 
 
 Upon the death of his brother, Mr. Wallace took his place 
 in the editorship of two of these works, and Smith's Leading 
 Cases and the American Leading Cases contain additional 
 notes and references from his hand. 
 
 In 1857 Mr. Wallace again went abroad accompanied by 
 his family,' and remained abroad until 1860. He passed 
 most of these years on the Continent, residing chiefly at 
 Rome and Florence. He had a cultivated taste, and a great 
 love of the arts, painting, sculpture, and architecture; and 
 
 ' Mr. Wallace married June 15, 18.i)3, Miss Dorothea Francis Willing, a 
 daughter of George Willing, Esq , of Philadelphia. The only child of this mar- 
 riage is the wife of John Thompson Spencer, Esq., of the Philadcl|ihia Bar. 
 
•28 
 
 he gratiticd and cnlartjcd both liis tasto and knowledge by 
 sUidying them in their native air and home. His critieisms 
 npon these subjects, however, liave never been printed, and 
 are not in that finished fnrm tliat indicated on his part any 
 intention to give tliem to tlie ])ress. 
 
 lie liad at all times a deep interest in ecclesiastical his- 
 torv ; and the religions life of that ancient and venerable 
 church which for fifteen centuries was the bulwark and 
 only representative of Christianity in Western Europe, very 
 closely attracted, during his residence in Italy, his observa- 
 tion and studv. lint he was not alone interested in the 
 church in its outward and visible aspects, as it had appeared 
 on the theatre of history in the long succession of the ages, 
 but he had exjdored the foundations of the structure, and 
 made himself familiar with its dogmatic defences. Says one, 
 who was once his pastor and always his friend, "upon vital 
 questions touching the history, the discipline, and the doc- 
 trines of the church, l)ut few even of the clergy of his day 
 could be said to have been more thoroughly furnished.'" 
 
 Always a student and always engaged with law or let- 
 ters, his life, in youth and age, was a life of busy occupation. 
 In \SM. he ])ul)lished a pami)hlet on -'Pennsylvania as 
 a liorrower." In this j)roduction. he considers the finan- 
 cial history of the State in the past, and points out what he 
 deems her true policy in the futvne. He reflects severely 
 on some passages of her financial legislation, but in doing 
 this he says : " I hojjc no reader will charge me with want 
 of loyalty to my State. I deny his riyht to consider himself, 
 in any particular or from any cause, more completely a 
 
 ' I lir lli\. \\ \V. Itrnllson. 
 
29 
 
 Pennsylvanian, however much worthier a one he may be, 
 than I am." 
 
 On the 2()th of May, in that year (1863), he dehvered 
 before the New York Historical Society the commemorative 
 address on the two hundredth birthday of his ancestor, Mr. 
 William Bradford, who introduced the art of printing into 
 the Middle Colonies of British America. This address has 
 all the characteristics of Mr. Wallace's literary labors, grace of 
 style, and fulness of information and illustration. A stranger 
 in reading it, said Bishop Odenheimer, might well ask, 
 " How many professions hath Mr. Wallace studied 1 in which 
 of the arts and sciences manifold hath he made greatest 
 proficiency?" "It is," said Bishop Alonzo Potter, '-a most 
 graphic and lifelike picture of the olden time, and opens 
 quite a new chapter of our early history. The typography is in 
 admirable keeping witli the subject and the occasion, and 
 the whole forms a gem as unique as it is valuable." And 
 our venerable historian Bancroft thus wrote in respect to it : 
 " Accept my best thanks, dear Mr. Wallace, for your charm- 
 ing present. I like your address in the perusal still better 
 than in tlie hearing ; it is very interesting and exhaustive, 
 in that best of taste which does full justice to a chosen sub- 
 ject, and avoids exaggeration." 
 
 While engaged in these literary pursuits, on the 21st of 
 March, 1864, he was appointed tlie reporter of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States. " Oii that day," he says,' " be- 
 ing in a very private station, and engaged in studies having 
 but slight relation to the law, he was gratified, quite unex- 
 pectedly to himself, by an invitation from the Supreme Court 
 
 ' Pi-cfaoc to vol. i. of W:ill;icc's Reports. 
 
m 
 
 of the United States to become the reporter of the decisions 
 of tliat tribunal. He repaired, witli but little delay, to the 
 seat of government." 
 
 Mr. ^^'allace had very dear and definite views as to the 
 mode of i)reparing books of reports. It was a subject that 
 had engaged his reflections, and a subject too upon which 
 he had the light of his own experience to guide him. "Al- 
 most the first thing, therefore,'' he says, "after my reaching 
 Washington, was to seek an interview with cacli member 
 of the coin-t, in relation to wliat I deemed a matter neces- 
 .sary to be attended to in the style of reporting, and without 
 an attention to which I api)rehend we can never have clean 
 and satisfactory reports. I was able, however, from the 
 lateness of my arrival in \\ ashington prior to the adjourn- 
 ment and separating of the Court, to have less full confer- 
 ences with the judges on this matter than 1 could have 
 desired. Eight of the bendi, as I understood, including the 
 Chief Justice, as I know, agreed with my views. ' You ex- 
 press exactly my ideas,' said Taney, C. J., 'as to the mode 
 in wliich the reports should be made. It is the only proper 
 mode. Tile case, arguments upon it (if the question is a 
 difficult one), and an opinion without a statement, is wluit 
 should appear in the published report, in whatever form tiie 
 ojjinion may have been iieard from the bench.' Two judges 
 were of different opinions; their own. Certain of the reports, 
 therefore, are not in as clean a form as others." 
 
 Ml. Wallace held the position of re[)orter for a period of 
 twelve years. The labors of the Court during that time had 
 been va.>;tlv increased bv the civil war; bv the increase of our 
 
31 
 
 population ; by the growth of our railway system ; by the 
 multiplication of patents ; by the extension of our domestic 
 commerce ; and by new and grave questions of constitutional 
 law. All the varied cases arising out of these new and 
 original sources, that came before the Court, many of them 
 foreign to the system of law in which he had been educated, 
 were most conscientiously studied by him, and each opinion 
 of the Court was preceded by a carefidly prepared statement 
 of the facts, and the law of the case. ]\Iake any deductions 
 you please for any faults of style or taste, whicli a friendly 
 or unfriendly critic may perchance disclose, these twenty- 
 three volumes of Wallace's Reports are nevertheless an in- 
 valuable legacy to the profession, and a memorial of the 
 faithfulness and ability of the reporter. They constitute his 
 monument and earthly fame. Monuments, indeed, perish. 
 " There must be a period," says Lord Chief Justice Crewe, 
 " and an end of all temporal things. Finis reruin, an end of 
 names and dignities, and whatsoever is iei-rene," but so long 
 as our Federal jurisprudence shall subsist and endure the 
 name of John William Wallace will remain inscribed on the 
 walls of its temples. 
 
 He resigned the office of reporter on the 9th of October, 
 1875.' In his letter of resignation, addressed to the Chief 
 
 • On the 3il of October, 1875, Mr. Wallace informed his publishers, the Messrs. 
 Morrison, of his intended resisnatioii of the office of reporter, in the following 
 letter: — 
 
 " My Dkar Moukisons : 
 
 I shall not come to Washington again. I am tired of such uuintermitfcd 
 labor as my office (much changed in this respect since I took it) now puts upon 
 
3-2 
 
 Justice, he says: '•! do not sever my relations with the 
 Supreme Court, in whicli rny term of hibor, if not a long one, 
 is perhaps hardly to be called short, without a measure of 
 feeling. My prayer shall be for the Court ; its stability^ its 
 harmony, its continuance in wisdom and leai'ning, and for 
 every blessing to all who belong to it." Upon receiving 
 this letter, the Court made this order: •Ordered that the 
 resignation by John William Wallace, Esq., of his office of 
 reporter of the Court be accepted, to take effect upon the 
 
 me. I am lirt'fl of living liiilf llic ywir in ii tavern ; away from the society of my 
 wile ami rliild, anil from the ilecencies of home. I am sixty years old, and emve 
 independenre from embarrassment \<y any one in what I sec tit to do. It is not 
 without some emotion that I put an end to my relations with the Kedend eity. 
 I have made some ao<|uaintanees there whieh are nnion<; the most a-rn'eable of 
 my life. I have many rceolleetions whieh, while my memory remains, will be 
 pleiuiuralile. I nniy say, however, with truth that I shall reeall no persons with 
 a mon- sineere n-gard than I shall always both of yon ; that I shall have no more 
 pleasnrable recollections than those of the many hours that I have spent where 
 you were. In an intercourse of business running thro' twelve years, and em- 
 bracing many transactions, there has never, once, been a question between us, 
 nor one thought, I may venture, I am sure, to say for both of us, other than 
 those of confidence anil reganl. between us. I have ever found you mort" ready 
 to advance my interests than you seemed to be to advance your own ; most 
 obliging in every matter by which my convenience was to be prnmoled, and in 
 the performance of engagements, prompt, cheerful, and liberal ; faitht'ul to the 
 letter, true to the spirit. And all this intercourse has been the pleasjintest im- 
 aginable ; far from re,straint.s and forms of any sort. Tho" we shall see each other 
 no more as we have long done, 1 still hope not nnfreipicntly to see you. I trust 
 that neither of you will l)e in this city without letting me know. I shall cer- 
 tainlv never be near Washington without coming to see you. Heaven guard, 
 guide, and bless you both and all that concerns or which belongs to you I So 
 prays, dear Morrisons, your alllrtionate fricnil, 
 
 .KillN U11,L1.\M \V.\IJ,ACE. 
 
33 
 
 completion and publication of his twenty-second volume of 
 reports. And it is further ordered that when communicat- 
 ing to Mr. AVallace the fact of this acceptance, the Chief 
 Justice be requested to assure him, on behalf of the Court, 
 of their high appreciation as well of his uniform courtesy of 
 demeanor, as of the fidelity with which he has discharged 
 the duties of his office, and also to express to him their best 
 Avishes for his future." 
 
 The Chief Justice, in communicating this action of the 
 Court to Mr. Wallace,* says : " We do all appreciate in the 
 highest degree the uniform courtesy and fidelity with which 
 you have performed the duties of your office during its many 
 years of patient labor, and you have from us, one and all, 
 the best of wishes for your future." 
 
 Mr. Wallace was elected a member of this Society, Nov. 
 24, 184-4; one of its Vice-Presidents Feb. 8, 1864; and its 
 President April 13, 1868. From the time he became a 
 member of the Society he evinced a warm interest in its 
 objects, and availed himself of any opportunity that occurred 
 to serve it. When he became its President, though his 
 duties as reporter necessarily withdrew him for several 
 months of each year from the city, and absorbed much of 
 his time, he yet, at whatever cost of personal comfort or con- 
 venience, endeavored to be present at all of its important 
 meetings. And notwitlistanding the labor which the pre- 
 paration of his reports imposed on him, botli during the 
 sessions of the court, and during the vacations, he yet com- 
 
 ' The letter bears date Oet. 18, 1884. 
 
posed and delivered before the Society a scliolarly discourse, 
 commemorative of the virtues and services of that distin- 
 guished chureliman, tlie Rev. lienjamin Dorr. D.l)..' and a 
 discourse on the inauguration of the new liall of the Society, 
 at 820 Spruce Street ; a discourse which recalls the history 
 of the Society, and at the same time is replete with informa- 
 tion, illustrating the annals of the city and State.- During 
 the same period' he gave to the press a historieal sketch of 
 the corporation for the relief of the widows and children of 
 clergymen of tlie Protestant Episcopal Church, under the 
 title of "A Century of Heneficence. 17(J9-1S()9." 
 
 A\'hen he had resigned, and completed his work as re- 
 porter, his leisure was devoted to the affairs of this Society. 
 In addition to .MSS. hooks, and money, wliirh at various 
 times he gave with a liberal hand, the Society owes him 
 mucli for his own personal labor and efforts to promote 
 its interests. '• lie assisted personally," says the accom- 
 plished librarian of the Society, " in the arrangement of its 
 manuscripts and i)ampldets, and generously supplied many 
 works wliich were needed in its collections. In our meet- 
 ings he took an especial interest, and made it a point that 
 ever)" gentleman wlio was invited to address us should, if 
 possible, be met witli a lull and appreciative audience. His 
 presence as j)resiibng officer n\um such occasions could 
 always be counted upon, and tlie dignity and easi- witli 
 Avhich he ])erformed that office were sure to leave upon the 
 minds of nnr guests pleasing and lasting impressions. 
 
 ' IVlivortil Oi-t. 27, 1870. 
 
 ' IVlivt-n-il Mnrrh 11, 1872. ' 1870. 
 
35 
 
 Indeed, few who met him in oiir hall could fail to be struck 
 with his kindness and attention, and his perfect manners. 
 It was his constant aim to make the Society an institution 
 commensurate with the importance of our State." 
 
 And, if it has, in some sort, attained to that proud posi- 
 tion ; if its material interests are on a safe foundation ; if its 
 historical treasures are rich and valuable ; if its importance 
 as a collector and preserver of historical memorials is now 
 generally recognized and acknowledged, then, surely, for 
 these large results, without disparagement to the generosity 
 and labors of others, we may justly ascribe liberal praise to 
 the generosity and labors of Mr. Wallace. 
 
 The last two years of his life were mainly devoted to the 
 preparation of sketches of Col. William Bradford, the grand- 
 son of that William Bradford who, as we have already seen, 
 introduced the art of printing into the Middle Colonies of 
 British America. A limited edition of this work was printed, 
 and only for presentation to his friends. But it is a most 
 valuable memorial of the times in which Col. Bradford lived, 
 and particidarly interesting and instructive as to the history 
 of our Revolutionary War. " The papers and manuscripts," 
 says our librarian, " from which these sketches were pre- 
 pared, he had arranged and bound for the Society in a style 
 which a gentleman who has enjoyed the privilege of 
 examining the manuscripts in the principal libraries of 
 Europe denominated as princely." 
 
 In a little more than a month after presenting this volume 
 to the Society, Mr. Wallace died, and was gathered unto 
 his fathers. 
 
3(5 
 
 Ami now having skotchod the outward and \isible hibors 
 of Mr. ^^'allace's Uiborioiis career, it remains to me to dwell 
 for a few moments upon his general characteristics and 
 qualities. 
 
 A lover of books ; books, either in production or study, were 
 the chief part of his life. He had a jx^culiar fondness for every- 
 thing that relates not only to the inward grace of letters, 
 but to what he termetl their external charm. lie had an 
 accurate knowledge of the art, conservative of all the arts, 
 the art of printing. No skilled and practical printer sur- 
 passed him in this sort of knowledge. A well-printed page 
 and a well-bound book were a great attraction to him, and 
 gave him a genuine pleasure. 
 
 His temperament was somewhat reserved, and he avoided, 
 I think, general and promiscuous associations. But to those 
 who came in close contact with him there was no reserve ; 
 and his powers of conversation, and his genial and humor- 
 ous vein made him a delightful companion. He had en- 
 joyed the acquaintance of many distinguished persons, and 
 he imparted his recollections of men and things he had known 
 and seen with a vivacity and freedom that were charming. 
 
 He was generous and charitable. But when he gave, either 
 to public objects or to relieve and to make less onerous the 
 burdens of private life, he did not sound a trumpet before 
 him, nor let his left hand know what his right did. His 
 charity sprang from a sense of duty, aTul not from any motive 
 of ostentation. 
 
 He was a man of very positive likes and dislikes. And 
 this extended as well to peoples and parties as to indiviihials. 
 
37 
 
 He liked the Latin races, and he disliked the Teutonic 
 races. He liked the Federal party, and he disliked the Demo- 
 cratic party. And although this latter feeling did not pre- 
 vent or interrupt his friendship for individual Democrats, 
 yet, I suspect, there was always an after-thought in his mind, 
 that these unhappy people had inherited and were tainted 
 with somewhat more of original sin than might otherwise 
 have fallen to their lot. 
 
 There are in every country and every community two 
 classes of men : the one looking to the past, and struggling 
 to maintain the institutions, the modes of thought, and the 
 habits of life inherited from the past ; the other looking to 
 the future, intent on change, and hoping for progress and 
 improvement. These conflicting classes keep the Avorld, and 
 particularly our modern world, in constant agitation, unrest, 
 and discontent. Open war is, for the most part, averted by 
 the so-called conservatives yielding their hold on somethings, 
 and by the so-called liberals sparing for a time other things, 
 although in the end the stream flows on, however tempo- 
 rarily impeded in its course. 
 
 Mr. Wallace, from temperament, from association, from 
 his habits of study and habits of life, stood in the ranks of 
 the conservatives. He looked to the past rather than to 
 the future. 
 
 Mr. Wallace was a sincere and devoted churchman. 
 Modern speculations about man's evolution from some 
 primal molecule, or some remote oyster, or some lively 
 monkey, were foreign to all his habits of thought, and to all 
 the instincts of his nature. He believed in God the Father 
 
38 
 
 Almi<jhly, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all thin<;s 
 visible and invisible, and in the soul, and in immortality. 
 And he lived and he died in the communion of the Catholic- 
 Church, and in the confidence of a certain faith. 
 
 The next volume of the Supreme Court Reports that 
 appeared after Mr. Wallace's death very appropriately con- 
 tained a brief sketch of his life. And it sununed up his 
 merits and accomplishments in these words, words whidi I 
 conceive will be echoed by all those who knew him : •• Mr. 
 Wallace possessed a peculiar and charming; cultivation ; his 
 acquaintance with history, l)ioi;raphy, belles-lettres, and art 
 was varied and exact, liis conversjxtion most attractive, and 
 his old-time courtly manner, whether to the young or old, 
 brought pleasure to both. Last and best, he was an upright, 
 honored, and lionorablc man, and in public and jirivate bore 
 himself throughout as became an American gentleman." 
 
39 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (Extracted from " Royal Descents," etc. " By Sir Bernard Burke, LL.D., Ulster 
 King of Arms," etc., ed. London, 1S64.) 
 
 mialUtt, of ^l){latrtl))f|fa. 
 
 JHtnrj MI.=Elcanor. 
 
 L , 
 
 Eleanor, dau. of Fer- = Edward I.,=Mai!jaret dau. of Philip III. 
 dinand of Castile. | | of France, 2nd wife. 
 
 I 
 
 iiofitrt 33ruct, King 
 of Scotland. 
 
 T 
 
 Ed- 
 ward 
 
 n.. 
 
 King 
 
 of 
 Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Edmund Plantage- =:Margaret, sister and heir The Prin-=Walter, 
 
 ' * "' Lord High 
 
 Steward of 
 
 Isabel- 
 la of net, of Woodstock. | of Thomas Lord Wake, cess Mar- 
 France. {—' gery 
 Edwarb the = Joan Plantage- == Lord IIol- 
 
 Black Prince 
 ;3rd husband. 
 
 net, the Fair 
 Maid of Kent. 
 
 H 
 
 Richard IL, d. x. p. 
 
 land, 3nd 
 husband. 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Robert IL, Kins of 
 Scotland . 
 
 Edward III.,=Philippa of Thomas de Holland, ^^ Lady Alice 
 
 I Hainault 2nd Earl of Kent. 
 
 John of Gaunt, ^Catherine Swynford. 
 
 Fitzalan. 
 
 John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, =Lady Margaret Holland, 
 and Marquess of Dorset. | 
 
 , 1 
 
 Robert III., King ol 
 Scotland. 
 
 Lady Joan Beaufort, =James I., King of Scotland. 
 I 
 
 I ^ 
 
 James, 3rd Earl of Angus, lst=The Princess Joanna. —James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton, 
 husband. | I 2nd husband. 
 
 No issue. 
 
 Ladv Janet Douglas, only daughter. ^Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Both- 
 
 I well. 
 
 Adam Hepburn, 2nd Earl Lady Margaret Hepburn. =John Murray, of Falahill and Philip- 
 of Bothwell. I liaugh, the Out'aw. 
 
 James Murray, of Philip- William Murray, of Stan-=;Janet,.sole dau. of William Romanno, 
 haugh. hope. | of Romanno. 
 
 ^^'i]liam Murray, ol' Stanhope and Romanno, 1.5:j1. ^Margaret, dau. of Tweedie, of Drum- 
 
 I mellier. 
 
 John Murray, of Stanhope and Romanno, l.'iS" 
 
 -.\iincs, dau. of Nisbet, of Nisbet. 
 
 Susan, dau. of John Hamil-=Williani Murray, of Stanhope^Elizabeth, dau. of John Howi- 
 ton,of Broomhill, 1st wife. 1 and Romanno. | sou, of Braehead, 2nd wife. 
 
 I 1 .\dain Murray, of Cardone, 
 
 From whom descend the Ki.iT. = 
 
 Murrays of Stanhope, elder i ' 
 
 branch. William Murray, of Cardone. 
 
 Margaret=Sir Alexander 
 Murray. I Murray, of Black- 
 I barony, 2nd wife. 
 
 1 ' 
 
 From whom descend the 
 Murrav.s of C'ringletie. 
 
40 
 
 I 
 
 CliriittiBii Murray,* <;. •_•! Nov. IT"*.'), airt-d T'.l. — Riv. John Wallace, Mlninter of Drumollier. 
 
 I 1 
 
 John Wallatp, of Ho|»i> Farm, SoniiTwt = Mary, sole dau. of the Hon. Joshua Maildox, 
 County in New Jerwy, Esq., h. al Drum- I Esq. 
 inelzierTJan. 171S, wint to .\nieriea in 174:.'. 
 
 The Hon. Joshua -Madilox Wallace, Esq., of = Taee, dau. of Colonel William Bradfonl, of 
 
 Ellerslicand Burliiit;lon in Somerset County 
 in New Jersey, b, 4 Oct. 17.52, m. 4 Au-r. 
 1773, d. 17 Muv. IMH. 
 
 the American Army of 177(i. 
 
 1. Joshua .Muddox Wallace, 
 Esq., 6. 4 Sept. 177ti, tl. 7 
 Jan. W2\, m. in \>i*>r,. Re- 
 becca, dau. of William .Mdl- 
 vaine, M.D. = 
 
 John Bradfoid Wallace, = 
 Es<i., of I'liiluiU'liiliia. Bur- 
 lin!;ton, and .Meadville, an 
 eminent Barrister, 6. 17 
 Aug. 177S, (/. 7 Jan. lS.t7. 
 
 Susan, dau. of Barnabas Bin 
 ney, M.U., a Surirom in the 
 .\merican .\rniv nl 177li. m. 
 2 April 1805, J.' 8 July, 1849. 
 
 1. Joshua=AHce Other 3olin Sailliam SHal- 
 
 Muddox 
 Wallace, 
 h. l.S Jan. 
 IHl.l. </. 
 1(1 Nov. 
 1S.51. 
 
 l.ee, issue. 
 
 duu. of 
 
 Wm. 
 
 Slii|>- 
 
 [H-n, 
 
 .M.I). 
 
 la:t, 3:sq.. of Phila- 
 delphia, only sur\°i%'- 
 ine s«)n. It. 17 Feb. 
 ISI.V 
 
 Horace I. Susan llnuirord, i/i. 1<> 
 Binney, June, 1S41. Clias. .Maca- 
 b. 27 " lester. and (/. 1842. 
 
 Feb. 2. Mary Binney, m. 21 
 
 1817. Nov. is:57. John Sims 
 
 Kiddle, and d. in 1852, 
 
 leaving issue. 
 
 1. raiUiam iWtlllbailit, b. 28. 2. Shipi)en, b. 2<! Feb. 18.1(1. 8. .Mary Cox, 6. 35 Oct. 1&51. 
 Aug. 184«. 
 
 • Extract from the Rcjcrlster of .Marriuires in the I'arish of Drumnielzier, co. Peebles. S»-ot- 
 land :— " .Mr. John Wallace, Minister at Urnininellicr. and Christian .Murrav. law ful daughter 
 U) the deceased William Murrav of Cardon." 
 
 See also Burke's "Peerage and Baronetaco," pp. 72(1 and 721 (ed. I8.'>4).and Burke's 
 "VisitaiiMii of S.iii, aii.l \rin~." p. 31, and Plat.- \1 'M Series, ed. IS-M). 
 
 Xote — John William Wallace married Dorothea Francis, daughter o! (ieorgi' Willing, Esq., 
 of Philadelphia, and had issue Rebecca Bluckuell Willing, who married John Thompson 
 Spencer, of .Maryland, and has issue Willing Harrison SixMicer and Arthur Ringgold Spencer. 
 
 LB D 14 
 
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