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 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, 
 
 
 BORN 
 
 AT 
 
 KINDERHOOK LANDING, COLUMBIA CO., N. Y., 
 
 
 December 14, 1796. 
 
 
 DIED 
 
 
 AT PARIS, NOVEMBER 8, 1858. 
 
 
 Aged 63 years, 10 months, and 15 days. 
 
' 3 3 i' j-p 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 Mr. Butler sailed from New York in tlie steamship 
 "Arago," October' 16, 1858, accompanied by his two 
 youngest daughters, and intending to be absent about 
 two years. His proposed tour was undertaken partly for 
 health, partly for mental relaxation and repose from pro- 
 fessional labors. It was his design to travel leisurely 
 through France to Italy, and to spend the greater part 
 of the winter at Rome. He reached Havre on the 29th 
 October, and remained there three days for the purpose of 
 resting after the discomforts of the voyage. While there 
 he made an excursion to Honfleur, and also to Harfleur. 
 On Monday, November 1, he proceeded to Eouen, and 
 spent nearly two days in visiting the objects of interest in 
 that ancient city, reaching Paris on Wednesday, the 3d. 
 In a letter dated on the following morning, he says, " I 
 cannot tell you, if I had the physical strength, which I 
 have not, of the delights of our forty hours at Rouen." 
 But the sight seeing, " though intensely interesting, 
 proved too much for me, and I was consequently brought 
 to Paris an invalid. I am in good hands, and decidedly 
 convalescent." On the same day his illness became 
 alarming, and Dr. Beylard, an eminent j)hysician, 
 (whose views were subsequently confirmed by Drs. Ray- 
 er and Trousseau,) being called in, pronounced his 
 
case a serious one. The disease made rapid progress, 
 and lie continued to sink until Mondaj^, November 8tli, 
 when he breathed his last, about twenty minutes past 
 nine o'clock P. M. He was fully conscious of his ap- 
 proaching death, which he anticipated with serenity and 
 joy, and communicated to his friend and fellow-travel- 
 ler, Mr. Frederick Brown, of Philadelphia, (who, as 
 well as Mrs. Brown, shared with his daughters in min- 
 istering to all his wants during his last sickness,) his 
 final wishes, among which was the request that upon the 
 stone to be placed over his grave at Greenwood Cemetery, 
 in a spot designated by him before his departure, there 
 should be inscribed the following scripture : 
 
 " LOOKING FOR THE MERCY OF 
 
 ®m ITorb |csus Qni&t 
 
 UNTO ETERNAL LIFE.'' 
 
MEETING OF AMERICANS IN PARIS. 
 
 At a Diimerons and tigUy resj^ectalble meeting 
 of American citizens, convened November 12, 1858, 
 at the banking-house of Messrs. Joiij!^ Mujstroe <fe 
 Co., Rue de La Paix, for the purpose of a public ex- 
 pression of their respect for the hfe and character, 
 and their grief at the lamented death, of the Hon- 
 orable Benjamin F. Butlee, of New York, who ex- 
 pired in Paris on the 8th November, after a brief 
 illness, the Honorable John Y. Mason, of Virginia, 
 was unanimously called to the chair, and Mr. Cooley, 
 of New York, appointed secretary. Judge Mason, 
 on taking the chair, addressed the meeting in a feel- 
 ing and impressive manner, alluding to the eminent 
 public services and private virtues of the deceased, 
 in terms highly appropriate to the occasion. At 
 the conclusion of his remarks, the Honorable Ham- 
 
6 
 
 iLTON Fish, of New York, presented tlie following 
 preamble and resolutions, wliicli were unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 Whereas, in the inscrutable Providence of God, we are called 
 to lament the decease of our sincerely respected fellow-citizen, the 
 Honorable Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, who having but 
 a few days since left his country and home for what he joyously 
 called his " first holiday," has been, here at the threshold of his 
 anticipated enjoyment, suddenly summoned to his final rest. 
 
 Resolved — That the mysterious Providence which has sud- 
 denly and in a foreign land taken from among us our distinguished 
 and lamented countryman, Benjamin F. Butler, while overwhelm- 
 ing us with sadness, impresses upon us the conviction that we are 
 all but pilgrims and sojourners in a strange country ; and that 
 our home is not here. 
 
 Resolved — That the eminent public services and private 
 virtues which endeared the deceased to a large circle of warm 
 friends and earnest admirers, afford us a pleasing and grateful 
 retrospect in this hour of sudden bereavement. 
 
 As an advocate, as a legislator, as the codifier of the statutes of 
 his native State, as the law officer of the Federal Government, he 
 has left us the example of a life directed by a lofty sense of duty, 
 rectitude and patriotism, and illumined by the brightness of a 
 refined and cultivated intellect. 
 
 In private life he exemplified the chai'aeter of the true friend, 
 the upright citizen, the sincere and earnest Christian ; in whom 
 gentleness was beautifully combined with firmness, modesty with 
 decision, and whose manly boldness and self-reliance were tem- 
 pered and chastened by a pure and childlike simplicity of taste 
 and of manners. 
 
 Resolved — That while we are admonished not to obtrude upon 
 the sanctity of a house of mourning, we desire to tender to the 
 bereaved family of the deceased our sincere and heartfelt con- 
 dolence. 
 
 Resolved — That the president of this meeting be requested to 
 forward a copy of these resolutions to the family of Mr. Butler. 
 
On motion of Mr. Scheoeder, of Rhode Island, 
 
 Resolved — That the proceedings of this meeting be published 
 in " Galignani's Messenger." 
 
 On motion of Mr. Prentice, the meeting then 
 adjourned. 
 
 J Y. Mason, 
 J. E. CooLEY, Chairman. 
 
 Secretary 
 
MEETING OF THE BAE OF THE CITY OF 
 
 NEW YOEK. 
 
 On Weduesclay afternoon, Dec. 1st, at 3 o'clock 
 P. M., the members of tlie Bar assembled in the 
 United States District Court Room, to do honor to 
 the memory of Bexjamix F. Butlee. There was a 
 very large attendance of the Judiciary and members 
 of the profession, as well as many others who em- 
 braced this opportunity of paying a last triljute of 
 affection and respect to the deceased. 
 
 Fraistcis F. Maebury, Esq., called the meeting 
 to order, and nominated Hon. Judge Nelsoist, of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, as Chairman. 
 
 Judge Nelson, on taking the Chair, said : I beg 
 to return my acknowledgments to the gentlemen of 
 the Bar for the honor conferred upon me in presid- 
 ing over them on this melancholy occasion. Our 
 deceased brother, Benjamin F. Butlee, was long 
 
9 
 
 and intimately known to most, if not all of us. We 
 admired him for his great learning, and as an able 
 and aecomplislied advocate. His distinguished pub- 
 lic and professional life, in his own State, here, in the 
 midst of us, and in the counsels of the nation, as 
 well as his pure and elevated j^rivate and Christian 
 character, well deserve this tribute of affection to his 
 memory from his professional brethren. As a mem- 
 ber of the profession of which we are all proud, he 
 has contributed his full share to its honors and 
 renown, and for this alone his memory is entitled to 
 our lasting gratitude and respect. 
 
 On motion of Chaeles Teacy, Esq., the follow 
 ing gentlemen were appointed — 
 
 Vice-Peesidents : Hon. Samuel L. Seldeis^, of 
 the Court of Appeals ; Hon. Samuel K. Betts, 
 United States District Court ; Hon. James I. Roose- 
 velt, Supreme Court ; Hon. Jos. S. Boswoetii, Ch. 
 J. of the Superior Court ; Hon. Chaeles P. Daly, 
 First Judo^e of the Common Pleas. 
 
 Seceetaeies: Chaeles P. Kiekland, Esq., and 
 E. H. Owen, Esq. 
 
 Samuel J. Tlldes-, Esq., of the Committee on 
 Kesolutions, said: 
 
 Me. Chaieman: I have been commissioned to 
 submit to you and to this meeting a series of resolu- 
 tions, as a collective expression of the sentiments 
 
10 
 
 with whicli we regard the death of Mr, Butlee. In 
 doing so, I limit myself to this simple office, for I 
 feel that it belongs to others, more his compeers 
 than myself, to bring together ronnd his bier the of- 
 fering of their esteem and affection, and to do to his 
 character and services that justice which is due to 
 the dead, and due also to the living members of the 
 Bar, in the noble example which will be portrayed 
 for their imitation and improvement. 
 
 Resolved — That in the death of Benjamin F. Butler the legal 
 profession and the public at lai-ge are called to mourn the loss of 
 a jurist who illustrated by his abilities and learning an active 
 career as advocate and counsel, of more than forty years' duration, 
 embracing eminent services as Attorney General of the United 
 States, and in many other important civil trusts ; and who in the 
 results of his labors, jointly with John C. Spencer and John 
 Duer, in the revision and codification of the statutory laws of the 
 State of New York, has left an imperishable monument of his 
 attainments as a lawyer and his capacity as a legislator. 
 
 Resolved — That while we thus express our sense of the abili- 
 ties and achievements as a jurist of our departed brother, a just 
 appreciation of his character and services prompts us to a special 
 commemoration of the scrupulous care with which he ever sought 
 to guard and promote the dignity and usefulness of our profession, 
 and to make it the means of purifying and strengthening the ad- 
 ministration of justice; his devotion to it as a liberal and scien- 
 tific pursuit; bis efi'orts to improve the legislation and jurispru- 
 dence of this State ; the equity and afiectionate courtesy which 
 pervaded his intercourse with his brethren during the long period 
 of his active practice at the bar ; the generous freedom with 
 which he ever opened to an associate the use of the ample stores of 
 learning and thought which he had laboriously prepared, even 
 though that associate was to precede him in the argument ; his taste 
 for liberal studies, cultivated even amid the severest pressure of 
 
11 
 
 business ; and, above all, his Christian virtues, whose charities, 
 without losing their energy, embraced all religious denominations 
 and all classes of men ; whose graces adorned his daily life, and 
 cast a beautiful lustre over its closing hours. 
 
 Resolved — That as a mark of respect for the deceased, and of 
 our deep sense of the loss which the public and the profession 
 have sustained, the members of the Bar now present will attend 
 his funeral in a body. 
 
 Resolved — That a copy of the foregoing resolutions, attested 
 by the Secretaries of this meeting, be transmitted by them to the 
 family of Mr. Butler, as an expression of our sympathy and con- 
 dolence. 
 
 Resolved — That these proceedings be published under the 
 direction of the Secretaries. 
 
 The Hon. William Kent then addressed the 
 meeting as follows : 
 
 Mk. Chairman : In rising to offer my feeble 
 tribute to the memory of Mr. Butler, I believe I 
 may claim a longer acquaintance with him than can 
 any other person in this meeting. Others may have 
 been more intimate with him, and more familiar 
 with his domestic circle ; but my acquaintance, 
 though there was a difference in our years, runs 
 back to my childhood. I knew him first when he 
 was an assistant of Mr. Van Buren in his ofiice at 
 Albany ; and I may remark that there was a strik- 
 ing uniformity in his physical and mental qualities 
 throughout his life. Time touched him lightly. 
 They who saw him in his last years, beheld the 
 same light and graceful figure, the same quick and 
 elastic step, the bright and beaming eye, the pale. 
 
12 
 
 refined, and intellectual cast of countenance, which 
 he exhibited when young. It was the same with 
 his heart and mind. No excesses stained his un- 
 sullied youth. He was always simple in feeling, 
 pure in morals, assiduous in study, kind and engag- 
 iug in manners ; and he early attracted notice for 
 the facility in acquiring knowledge, the endurance 
 of SQV'2re and protracted labor, and the clear and 
 analyzing intellect which his professional friends 
 have long recognized and admired. In one respect 
 — and exhibiting in that the surest test of a noble 
 nature — his character matured and mellowed as he 
 advanced in life. Every year I thought I observed 
 that, while he preserved the ardor of his political 
 opinions and unwavering zeal in his religious faith, 
 he became more indulo-ent and tolerant of those 
 who diifered from him in politics and religion. 
 
 The deep feeling which j)ervades this meeting is 
 drawn forth by the private and unofficial life of Mr. 
 BuTLEE. He held several high offices in the State 
 and National Governments, and admirably fulfilled 
 their duties. In the early years of our acquaintance, 
 he was discharging with energy and characteristic 
 humanity, the office of District Attorney at Albany. 
 He was an active and efficient member of the State 
 Assembly. You, Mr. Chairman, know better than 
 I do his course as Attorney General and Secretary 
 of War in Washington ; but, knowing the man, I 
 
13 
 
 know tliat lie cannot have left a duty of liis office 
 unperformed. It was nnder the peculiar observa- 
 tion of two of the gentlemen who preside at this 
 meeting that he conducted the business of law offi- 
 cer of the United States in this city. But well as 
 all those duties were executed, my remark must still 
 be felt to be true — and it speaks encouragement to 
 the young members of the Bar who hear me — that 
 we are drawn together this evening by our admira- 
 tion, not of the official, but of the life of Beistjamiit 
 FEAisTKLiisr Butler, as a private citizen and an unti- 
 tled lawyer. 
 
 As a lawyer, it seems almost superfluous to speak 
 of him to such an audience as this. Who has left 
 such deep traces on almost every page of our reports 
 and statute-books ? Of what suliject of our multi- 
 farious law has he not left his record ? He prac- 
 tised in all the courts that have existed among us 
 since our State constitutions have existed ; in the 
 old Court of Chancery — in the Supreme Court, in 
 the time of Spencer — in the old Court for the Cor- 
 rection of Errors, in which his influence was for a 
 time predominating — in the Supreme Court, while 
 you. Sir, (Mr. Justice Nelson,) presided there — 
 and all the courts of our existing judicature. The 
 student, in pursuing his studies, is surprised to find 
 in all his books such vast and various memoranda 
 of the professional labors of this remarkable lawyer. 
 
14 
 
 He finds Lis arguments on the old, ingenious, and 
 artificial rules of special pleading, both at law and in 
 equity. He finds evidence of his professional learn- 
 ing in the subtle distinctions of the English law of 
 real property, and in all the doctrines which govern 
 the creation and devolution of estates, the interpreta- 
 tion of devises, and the construction of settlements 
 and deeds, tracing, with the erudition and intellectual 
 subtlety of Feaene, and Sugden, and Peestoist, the 
 rules which control real property, through number- 
 less and bewildering cases, to their deep sources in 
 the obscure recesses of the Mediaeval Law. The 
 books are filled with his arguments on the ordinary 
 law questions which occuj^y our courts, exhibiting 
 the extent of his studies in constitutional and com- 
 mercial law, and showing how completely he brought 
 ^o bear in his discussion all the legal learning of 
 England and America. 
 
 It was in those disquisitions and arguments I 
 have seen him engaged, as associate or opponent, 
 with the great lawyers of Central New York ; with 
 VajST Bueen, and Heney, and Talcott, and Van 
 VECiiTEisr ; and since his removal to 'New York, 
 when he appeared '"''primus inter pares^'' with the 
 skilled veterans of the Metropolitan Bar. 
 
 There is one aspect of his professional character 
 on which I love to linger : I allude to his treatment 
 of his junior associates. Never did he appear to 
 
15 
 
 me so engaging and so truly magnanimous as in his 
 chamber consultations. His briefs, his memoranda, 
 all the treasures of his learning, and fruits of his 
 investigation, were offered to his associate. He 
 encouraged the young lawyer in his timid efforts, 
 and unrestrainedly presented all he knew to the 
 compeer counsel who was associated with him. He 
 was indifferent to his position in the argument, aid- 
 ing the lawyer who preceded him with suggestions, 
 or with citations of authorities ; with briefs, which 
 perhaps had cost him hours of studious labor, in 
 entire abnegation of his own interests, and, indeed, 
 unconsciousness of vanity and selfishness. Nothing 
 could be more cordial or unaffected than his sym- 
 pathy with an associate in his success, recalling the 
 fine trait of Virgil's character : " usque adeo invidicB 
 expertem^ ut si qtiid erudite dictum inspiceret altv- 
 rius^ non nimus gauderet^ ac si suwn fuisset.^'' If 
 the other exhibitions of professional excellence at- 
 tracted adnairation, it was this evidence of innate 
 generosity that fixed our love. 
 
 Im23erfect as are these allusions to Mr. Butler's 
 13rofessional lal^ors, they would be still more defec- 
 tive if I did not mention his share in the production 
 of the Revised Statutes. You, Mr. Chairman, re- 
 member, as I do, the reluctance and apprehension 
 with which those laws were received. All changes 
 in a nation's law unavoidably produce inconvenience. 
 
16 
 
 and familiarity and study are necessary to produce 
 a general acknowledgment of their benefit. This 
 acknowledgment the Kevised Statutes have now 
 received from even the seniors of the profession. 
 The princij)le of the revision was wise and conserva- 
 tive. Acknowledged evils only were removed; 
 doubts were cleared away ; the doctrines of impor- 
 tant decisions were extended ; anomalies were sup- 
 pressed or reconciled ; but still the essence of the 
 old laws was preserved, and even the habits of the 
 lawyers were wisely respected. The peculiarity of 
 the common law itself appears to have been the 
 guiding rule of the Revisors, and the statutes were 
 formed, not on the model of an inexorable and ab- 
 stract system, but in accordance with the customs 
 and wants of the profession and the nation. This 
 code w^as not the direct and arbitrary statute, going 
 straight to its object, like the cannon ball, shatter- 
 ing what it reaches, and shattering, that it may 
 reach ; but resemljled the village road described in 
 the beautiful lines in Wallenstein : — 
 
 " The road the human being traA'els, 
 That on -which Blessing comes and goes, doth follow 
 The river's course, the valley's playful windings, 
 Curves round the cornfield and the hill of vines, 
 Honoring the holy bounds of property." 
 
 I am not able to make partition of merit among 
 
17 
 
 the three distinguisliecl men wlio performed this 
 e:reat leg-fxl work. We know that some of the most 
 important chapters were the j)roduction of him 
 (Judge Duek), whose exuberant learning and talents 
 received recently a touching and eloquent eulogy 
 from Mr. Butler himself, in this vicinity. All who 
 know the hardy genius and indomitable energy of 
 JoHisr C. Spencer, will readily believe that his spirit 
 pervaded the whole work. But, judging only from 
 internal evidence, I cannot avoid believiug that 
 much of the essential excellence of the Revised 
 Statutes, and more of the labor which adapted them 
 to our general system of Jurisprudence, — the plan 
 and order of the work, — the correctness of its style, 
 — the learning of the notes, — the marginal refer- 
 ences, — and the admirable index which accompanied 
 it, — should be ascribed to the Ihnce lahot\ — the 
 patient touches of unwearied art, bestowed by the 
 skill and matchless assiduity of Mr. Butler. 
 
 I leave the religious element of his character to 
 those more authorized than I am to speak of it, and 
 who more deeply sympathized with him. Yet it is 
 impossible to pass it by entirel}^, so inseparably was 
 it connected with the man, and exhibited in his 
 daily life. It was interwoven with his character : 
 it was intermingled with every act and thought of 
 his life. No one was ever in his company without 
 being conscious of the presence of a man of the 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 deepest religious convictions and opinions, which 
 were, when occasion j^ermitted, always most nne- 
 qui vocally, though modestly, avowed, — yet never 
 offensively obtruded. Their expressions never hurt 
 the feelings of others, nor offended their taste, — but 
 were guided by a sense of gentlemanly courtesy. I 
 have been reminded, while observing his bearing 
 and demeanor in society, of Dryden's lines : — 
 
 " Refined himself to soul, to curb the sense, 
 And almost made a sin of abstinence, — 
 Yet had his aspect nothing of severe, 
 But such a face as promised him sincere : 
 Nothing reserved or sullen was to see, 
 But sweet regard and pleasing sanctity." 
 
 In the Summer of 1856, I became aware that 
 Mr. Butlee's health was yielding alarmingly, 
 and I made a vain attempt to check the intensity 
 of labor which I perceived was rapidly wearing 
 away his strength and vitality. I was associated 
 with him and two other lawyers in the conduct of a 
 case, which for voluminous and complicated plead- 
 ing and proofs was jDerhaps unj^aralleled in our 
 courts. It was deemed necessary that a condensed 
 statement of the evidence of the whole case, and 
 legal points, with minute references to the proofs 
 and authorities affecting every point, should be pre- 
 pared for the Court of Appeals. Two of the associ- 
 
 m^ 
 
19 
 
 ate lawyers were prevented by other engagements 
 from undertaking the work ; I shrunk from it, as 
 utterly beyond my powers, — and it fell to the self- 
 sacrificing industry of Mr. Butler. Our confer- 
 ences in relation to it were of daily occurrence; 
 and I observed, with alarm, its gradual effect on 
 his health. Often have I left him bending^ over his 
 desk, late of a July night, and found him the next 
 morning in the same posture, which had been varied, 
 in the interval, by only a brief period of intermis- 
 sion, in which he has told me that sleep was often 
 sought in vain. I remonstrated often, seriously, — 
 almost angrily. I remember his once answering me 
 by repeating Wordsworth's " Ode to Duty." It 
 was impossible to withdraw him from his work ; 
 and thus health was wasted at the midnight taper, 
 — ^life itself consumed in the severe labors of his 
 office, — and when his task was finished, to the ad- 
 miration of his associates and op^Donents, the anxious 
 eye of friendship saw too surely that the stamina 
 of his constitution was gone. It enhances our idea 
 of his energy, to know that this too protracted labor 
 was in part performed while mourning a bereavement 
 the most afflicting that could occur to a man of his 
 domestic affections. I have no right, even in the 
 spirit of panegyric, to invade the privacy of his 
 domestic affections ; but it is not improjDer to say 
 that the loss of the beloved and honored partner 
 
20 
 
 of his life gave additional effect to Lis fatal labor, 
 while our admiration is increased when we think that 
 he carried on his work, enduring in silence and com- 
 posure a heartfelt wound, which had touched a 
 nerve where agony resided. 
 
 Yet there was for me another moment of 2:)leas- 
 ing illusion. I met him in Nassau street a few days 
 before his departure for Europe, and heard, with 
 unraingled pleasure, the anticipations he had formed 
 of his tour. He spoke of Italy and Rome ; of Tibur 
 and the Anio, the haunts of his favorite Horace ; of 
 the Tusculau retreat of Cicero, and, sportively, 
 promised to write me a letter from the ruins of the 
 Forum. I spoke to him of England, which he 
 hoped to revisit, — and I anticij^ated the pleasure of 
 his wanderings in the homes of the great Jurists 
 whose works had been his lifelong study, and who, 
 like him, had mused on the common law, and 
 brought philosophy and learning to aid in its pro- 
 gress and improvement : of Haegeave, and Chaeles 
 BuTLEB, and Mansfield, and Romillt. Why think 
 of death ? was my reflection, to one so full of joyous 
 hope and expectation ! I left him in a pleasant 
 delusion as to his health and future life, — to be 
 suddenly startled by the intelligence that his earthly 
 career was ended, and that his gentle and generous 
 spirit, worn by toil, had sunk on the highway of 
 life, to awake, as we reverently believe, " an angel 
 still." 
 
21 
 
 If, to a stranger, this imperfect sketcli of the 
 Friend we mourn shall appear to be too uumingled 
 a eulogy, I can only say that I believe I have been 
 attempting to describe a man in whom I knew no 
 fault. Such, I believe, is the feeling of his friends. 
 To his brethren of the profession which he adorned, 
 instructed, and loved, I can sincerely address the 
 appropriate invocation : 
 
 " 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 ! " 
 
 Mr. M. S. BiDWELL then spoke as follows : 
 Mr. Chairman, I follow with diffidence my 
 friend who has just addressed you ; as he has ex- 
 hibited the character of Mr. Butlee with so much 
 truth, and at the same time with so much beauty. 
 But I shall take the liberty of referring with more 
 particularity to the history and life of Mr. Butlee, 
 from facts which are withia my own knowledge, or 
 which have been obtained from others. I think 
 this is a suitable occasion to enter into some detail, 
 with regard to the history of one who was so dis- 
 tinguished a member of our profession, and so 
 remarkable a man. 
 
 Mr. Butlee was born on the 14th of December, 
 1795, and his earthly career of honor and usefulness 
 was terminated by his death at Paris, on the 8 th of 
 November, 1858. 
 
90, 
 
 Altliougli he had not the advantages of a col- 
 legiate education, and of that direction and assist- 
 ance in his studies and labors which he would have 
 appreciated and improved diligently, yet he was a 
 student of distinction and great j)romise, as I am 
 able to testify from an incident within my own 
 recollection. Passing through Albany, in 1816, 
 then a lad, I recollect very well having heard his 
 name mentioned by a gentleman of remarkable 
 talents, acquirements, and discernment, who spoke 
 of him as a young student of great brilliancy and 
 promise ; and he added a fact, so characteristic of 
 Mr. B., that I will mention it : that he was at that 
 time one of the teachers, or Superintendent, of a 
 Sabbath School in that city. 
 
 In 1817 Mr. Butlee was admitted as attorney 
 of the Supreme Court of this State. In the same 
 year he made a public profession of religion, and 
 became a communicant of the Presbyterian church 
 then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. Ches- 
 TEE. This step, and his being a Sabbath School 
 teacher, were at that time incidents of much more 
 singularity than they would be at present. They 
 are evidence of the honesty, indej^endence of mind, 
 and frankness which belonged to his character. In 
 1818, it was his great good fortune, and a source of 
 the highest felicity to him through life, to be mar- 
 ried to Miss Allen, the sister of a gallant officer in 
 
23 
 
 the Navy of the United States, who perished in a 
 melancholy manner at the hands of pirates in the 
 Gulf of Mexico. In 1820 he was admitted as 
 Counsellor at Law ; and this, in connection with his 
 almost immediate employment in important profes- 
 sional business and offices, will illustrate his charac- 
 ter, by showing his great j)roficiency as a student, 
 and the acquirements he had made at that very 
 early period of his life. On his admission as attor- 
 ney, he became the partner of Mr. Vais^ Bueejst, a 
 connection which continued for years, and led to an 
 intimate friendship between those gentlemen that 
 was mutually honorable, satisfactory, and useful. 
 
 In 1821 he was appointed District Attorney at 
 Albany, and held that office until March, 1825. 
 He was, almost upon his admission as counsellor, 
 employed in most of the important cases before the 
 Supreme Court, and especially before the Court for 
 the correction of Errors. 
 
 In Nov. 1824, a law was passed by the Legisla- 
 ture of the State, appointing Chancellor Kent, 
 Governor Root, and Mr. Butler Commissioners to 
 revise the Statute Laws of the State. Previous to 
 that, he had been prominently engaged as counsel, 
 and the very first cause which he argued in the 
 Court of Errors was an important one, involving 
 abstruse questions of law. He had the honor of 
 being associated with Aaeon Buer and Mr. Van 
 
24 
 
 BuEEN, and was opposed by Mr. Heistrt, well known 
 as one of the distinguished lawyers of Albany ; but 
 his argumeiit was so complete and thorough that his 
 eminent colleagues declined to say any thing, — and 
 the cause was left on his opening argument, and 
 decided in his favor. 
 
 In 1825, the Revisers, who had been appointed by 
 the law of 1824, not having entered on their duties, 
 another law was passed, by which Mr. Butler, Mr. 
 DuER, and Mr. Wheaton (whose j^lace was soon 
 afterward filled by Mr. Spencer), were appointed 
 Commissioners to revise the Statute Laws of the 
 State. The selection of Mr. Butler, then so re- 
 cently admitted as counsellor at law, carried with it 
 evidence of the high estimation in which he was 
 held Ijy the Legislature. His was an undertaking 
 f great hazard to professional reputation, as well 
 as of great labor. It necessarily involved for a 
 time the almost entire sacrifice of his business, as he 
 was obliged to devote himself exclusively to that 
 dutv. It was a most toilsome and difficult task. 
 But he did not shrink from it. He undertook it ; 
 and notwithstanding the prejudices which it at first 
 encountered, it was carried through to a very suc- 
 cessful termination. I need not add any thing to 
 what has been said in reference to the extent and 
 value of this work. It would be difficult for any 
 of us to appreciate now the labors of the gentlemen 
 
25 
 
 wlio conducted tliat revision. Mr. Butler was 
 concerned in it from the beginning to tlie end, and 
 I am persuaded that tlie part wliicb. lie took was 
 onerous and important. 
 
 Upon the occasion which last convened the 
 members of the Bar — the death of Judge Duer — 
 Mr. Butler made an address which will be remem- 
 bered by all then present ; at the conclusion of that 
 meeting I expressed a wish to him that, as he was 
 the sole survivor of the gentlemen concerned in that 
 labor, he would reduce to writing a statement of 
 the manner in which it was accomplished, and the 
 diiferent parts which the Revisers took in it. He 
 expressed his willingness, if it was the desire of the 
 members of the Bar, to do so. On inquiry I found 
 it was, as I anticij^ated, the general desire of the Bar, 
 and I had taken measures to have it accomplished 
 when he was obliged to depart for Europe. I 
 regret that I did not do it before, for I am ap- 
 prehensive that Mr. Butler did not find time to at- 
 tend to it. The statutes, previous to this revision, 
 as is well known, were in a state of chaos. The 
 undertaking was novel, in the mode in which it was 
 proposed to carry it out. The plan of arrangement, 
 the style, and all were novel ; and it was carried 
 through with great felicity, and with an improve- 
 ment in point of phraseology, as well as regard to 
 arrangement of the whole statutory laws of the 
 
26 
 
 State in a regular system, in such a manner as to 
 remove tlie inconvenience which had occurred from 
 desultory legislation for many years previously. It 
 was a pioneer work, and it has been followed, I be- 
 lieve, in most of the States of the Union. Many of 
 the provisions contained in the Revised Statutes, 
 which were suggested by the Revisers, have been 
 incorporated, without just acknowledgment, in the 
 legislation of Great Britain since that period, as 
 will be apparent to any one who examines the Brit- 
 ish Statutes. 
 
 1 Mr. Butlee's exertions in regard to this great 
 work were not confined to his proper task as a 
 Reviser ; for he was elected a member of Assembly 
 in 1827, and during the extra session of the 
 Legislature which was held for the special purpose 
 of considering the proposed revision, he was inde- 
 fatigable and prominent in the discussion on the 
 subject in the Assembly. The extent of his exer- 
 tions, and the im23ortance of the part which he took 
 in these discussions, may be inferred from the num- 
 ber of his speeches, exceeding five hundred during 
 the session. ^ — ' 
 \ In 1829, Mr. Butlee was elected Regent of the 
 University, and he held that ofiice until 1832. I 
 believe that was almost the only office he held, 
 which did not impose uj^on him res2:)onsible and 
 severely toilsome duties. . ^ 1 
 
2T 
 
 In 1883, the nomiuation was tendered to him, 
 of Senator of tlie United States — a unanimous nom- 
 ination on the part of members of the party to 
 which he belonged, — which was equivalent to an 
 election ; but Mr. Butler peremptorily declined 
 that great honor, and expressed his determination, 
 to which he adhered through life, — not to accept 
 any office which would withdraw him from his pro- 
 fessional studies and pursuits. The same year 
 (1833) he was appointed Commissioner for the pur- 
 pose of settling a dispute as to boundary, between 
 this State and New Jersey. The dispute, which 
 had continued for fifty years, was likely to embroil 
 the two States, and led to frequent and serious con- 
 flicts between their citizens. Most happy was the 
 selection on the part of this State and of New Jer- 
 sey, that State having appointed Mr. Feelinghuy- 
 SEisr — thus leaving the arrangement of the matter in 
 controversy, to two most congenial spitits, — both 
 considerate, conscientious, and cautious men. The 
 result was an amicable settlement of that long dis- 
 pute, which was calculated to produce much mis- 
 chief and trouble, if it had not happily been brought 
 to an end. 
 
 ' The same year he was appointed Attorney 
 General of the United States, being the youngest 
 man who had ever held that office, succeeding: Mr. 
 Taney, the present Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 
28 
 
 Court of the United Statesj/(and wliile holding the 
 office of Attorney General, he was in October, 1836, 
 also appointed Secretary of War, which office he 
 held, in conjunction with that of Attorney General, 
 until the 4th of March, 1837. The reason, as I 
 understand (and I suppose it is matter of notoriety), 
 for the appointment of Mr. Butler, was the reluc- 
 tance of General Jacksojs", so near the conclusion 
 of his presidential term, to appoint any person as 
 Secretary of War, w^ho might occasion embarrass- 
 ment to his successor, Mr. Van Bueen, in the 
 selection of his cabinet, and the great confidence 
 which he had in Mr. Butler's ability and prudence ; 
 and by his earnest request, Mr. Butler was induced 
 to undertake the labors of that office, in addition to 
 the duties of Attorney GeneraLj' This was during 
 the Seminole War. There was an accumulation 
 of business, and not a little want of order ; and Mr. 
 Butler, by his assiduity, care, and systematic 
 method, brought up the arrears of business, restored 
 order, and left the department in a satisfactory state 
 to his successor. 
 
 He resigned the office on the 4th of Marcli, 1837, 
 upon the accession of Mr. Van^ Buren to the Presi- 
 dency. He retained his office of Attorney General 
 until 1838, when he resigned it, — in the second 
 year of the presidential term of his intimate and 
 
29 
 
 warm friend, Mr. Vat^ Bueeist, — ^and returned to 
 this city, to devote himself to private practice. 
 
 In 1838, after his return here, the office of Dis- 
 trict Attorney for the United States l3ecame vacant 
 by an unexpected event, — and Mr. Butler was ap- 
 pointed to succeed Mr. Peice. I think it my duty 
 to allude to the manner in which that office became 
 vacant, as it shows that Mr. Butlee did not come 
 back here with any purpose or any expectation of 
 obtaining the office conferred upon him; but a 
 vacancy having occurred, it was very natural, and I 
 presume all will agree, very proper, for Mr. Van 
 BuREN to ask Mr. Butlee to accept the office. 
 That office he held until the inauguration of General 
 Haeeison, in 1841, when he resigned, and a succes- 
 sor was appointed. 
 
 In 1844, Mr. Butlee was at the head of the 
 Electoral College of this State, — when the vote of 
 the State was cast for Mr. Polk as President, and 
 for Mr. Dallas as Vice President. In 1845, after 
 the election of Mr. Polk, and before his inaus^ura- 
 tion, he requested Mr. Butlee to take the office of 
 Secretary of War ; but Mr. Butlee declined, ad- 
 hering to the resolution which he had taken in early 
 life, not to forsake the profession to which he had 
 devoted himself, and of which he was so brilliant and 
 accomplished an ornament. In the same year, how- 
 ever, Mr. Polk, without solicitation, conferred upon 
 
30 
 
 him tlie office of District Attorney, and lie retained 
 that office until he was removed in 1848, on politi- 
 cal grounds. 
 
 1 In the latter year, or about that time, Mr. 
 BuTLEE was ap23ointed, without his consent or pre- 
 vious knowledge, as a commissioner to codify the 
 laws of this State, in conjunction with the Honorable 
 John C. Spencee. Governor Fish had the commis- 
 sion made out in form and under the seal of the 
 State, and sent it to Mr. Butlee, with a particular 
 request that he would undertake the duties of the 
 office. Mr. Spencee also wrote to Mr. Butlee, 
 suggesting to him that it was a very important 
 duty, and that if he would join him, and some third 
 person could be found, of similar character for in- 
 dustry and learning, to unite with them, he would 
 be willing to undertake the duty. But Mr. Butlee 
 declined it, for various considerations, which are 
 not necessary to be mentioned. ^— ' 
 
 In 1853, Mr. Butlee sustained a great calamity, 
 the great and irreparable calamity of his life. He 
 was fond of domestic life. The felicity of his home 
 was very great ; but the time had come when it 
 was to be invaded by the unrelenting enemy of 
 man, — and the endeared companion of his life, — 
 who had cheered his toils and lightened his cares, 
 whose heart had ever throbbed in unison with his, — 
 who was " the desire of his eyes," and the light and 
 
31 
 
 joy of his liappy home, — was removed by death. 
 It was a bereavement in which his friends sympa- 
 thized with him deeply ; but it brought out the 
 force of Christian principle, which has been advert- 
 ed to, very strongly. Hapj^y as he had been, and 
 greatly as he had occasion to appreciate the bless- 
 ing which God, who had bestowed it, had with- 
 drawn, he bore his sore affliction with serene resig- 
 nation, — although not without deep and abiding 
 sadness ; and thus exhibited the strength of his 
 religion in a way that was equally impressive and 
 edifying to all who had an opportunity of witness- 
 ing it. 
 
 / In 1856 he made a short visit to Europe, — a 
 very brief excursion to Great Britain, — and re- 
 turned almost immediately, in order that he might 
 complete a professional duty he had undertakenj_] 
 which has been referred to by Judge Kent, and 
 his devotion to which for a long time, I have no 
 doubt was the fatal cause of his declining health 
 and death. 
 
 After his return, he was selected as one of a 
 committee of nine, by the American Bible Society, 
 to settle an important controversy which agitated 
 the religious public not a little, with regard to the 
 publications of that Society. The selection of Mr. 
 Butler as one of a committee taken from the coun- 
 tr}' at large, for the performance of this difficult and 
 
32 
 
 delicate task, evinced tlie estimation in wLich he 
 was Leld, and tiae confidence wliicli was felt, and 
 whch tlie event justified, in his wisdom, sound 
 judgment, and Christian principles. 
 
 On the 16th of October last, Mr. Butlep. sailed 
 from th,s city to Europe. I have ever considered 
 It a great honor and privilege to have been ac 
 quainted with him, and to have been favored in 
 some measure with his friendship ; and on that oc 
 cas.on I could not deny myself the pleasure of bid- 
 ding him farewell, without, however, anticipating 
 the calamity so near at hand. I went with a friend 
 on board the steamer to take my leave of him I 
 Lave a distinct recollection of that short interview 
 His face beaming with intelligence and kindness, as 
 It always did, he spoke with cheerful hope of the 
 eftect of the excursion in restoring his health, and 
 of the pleasure he e.xpected to derive in visitin. 
 foreign lands; ex-pressing the hope that he mi^ht 
 be able to extend his travels to Palestine, and other 
 places of great interest. 
 
 I have thus gone rapidly through the history of 
 Mr. BuiiEB's life, and its principal incidents. It 
 would not perhaps be right for me to trespass lon£,er ' 
 on the patience of the meeting. I cannot, however 
 forbear to advert to some things suggested by this 
 kstory. One is the great force of character dis- 
 played by him, in sustaining himself at that very 
 
33 
 
 early period of professional life, in tliose great cases 
 in wliicli lie was engaged. He was necessarily ex- 
 posed to severe criticism. There was a very higli 
 standard of professional merit and attainments at 
 the time when he commenced his career as a lawyer. 
 The Bar of this State had been distinguished for 
 its Icr.rning and ability, from the time of HAMiLTOisr, 
 and LiviJsrasTois", and Mokeis. There were very 
 able men at the Bar, with whom he was immediately 
 brought into competition. The days of Emmett 
 had not entirely passed. There were Oakley, Geif- 
 riN, Heistey, and others whom it is unnecessary to 
 name in this audience, then in their prime ; and 
 Mr. BuTLEE was brought forward, a young man, 
 not long admitted to the Bar, overwhelmed with 
 the labors of his office, to meet them in great and 
 important public contests ; and he sustained this 
 trying competition with honor and success. And 
 when we consider the vast field of labor and research 
 which the members of the profession in this State 
 are compelled to explore and occujoy, we find a 
 very striking evidence of his great ability, as well 
 as of his industry and acquirements. In this State 
 differing entirely from the Bar of England, to which 
 we look with so much interest, every lawyer of dis- 
 tinction is required to have a familiar acquaintance 
 not only with one branch of law, and not merely to 
 practise in one Court, but with every branch of law 
 3 
 
34 
 
 and to i:)ractise in every Court. He must liave a 
 knowledge of the Englisli Common Law, in all its 
 vastness, and in all its intricacies, and all its tech- 
 nicalities ; of Equity Jurisj^rudence ; of Admiralty 
 Law ; of Ecclesiastical Law. In addition to these, 
 great questions of American Constitutional Law are 
 frequently arising, and calling for the exercise of a 
 profound power of reasoning. And then he is ex- 
 pected to be familiar, not merely with the adjudica-' 
 tions of the courts of this State and the courts of 
 England, but with the judicial opinions and decisions 
 of all the sister States. When we look at the amount 
 of legal acquirements that is required of him, and 
 remember that he is expected to engage in trials be- 
 fore juries, as well as arguments before the Courts, 
 and to have ever readily at command a knowledge 
 of the different matters involved in scientific ques- 
 tions and the mechanical arts, as well as in the di- 
 versified operations of commerce and transactions of 
 business of every kind, it will appear at once to be 
 sufficient to overwhelm the most energetic, the most 
 mature, and the most richly-stored mind. But Mr. 
 BuTLEE uniformly sustained himself with credit and 
 honor from the first ; and w^hile the quickness of his 
 apprehension and the variety and readiness of his 
 resources, as well as his urbanity and candor, were 
 always conspicuous, he was equally distinguished for 
 the fidelity and patient labor with which he pre- 
 
35 
 
 pared himself to discliarge the trusts confided to his 
 professional care. 
 
 I' Professional ability, however, was not the sole 
 excellence or distinction of Mr. Butlee. His social 
 qualities, his love of literature and his cultivation of 
 it, amid all the demands of his profession, were re- 
 markable. He had a true, generous love of litera- 
 ture ; he was a man of very refined and elegant taste ; 
 his kno^^ledge of helUs-lettres was extensive ; and 
 he had taken pains, by his own aj^plication and in- 
 dustry, to become a good classical scholar. In pri- 
 vate life, he was the charm of every circle. From 
 the high position which he occupied, his acquaint- 
 ance was extensive — ^his hospitality was equally ex- 
 tensive — and those who have shared it will remember 
 with deep interest and pleasure the scenes they have 
 witnessed under his roof. And no one who knew 
 him can forget his gentle manners and the suavity 
 of his disposition, which were combined in so re- 
 markable a manner with force of character and an 
 inflexible resolution in all matters of princij^le and 
 duty. Modesty was another trait in his character, 
 a modesty which remained undiminished amidst all 
 his success, attainments, and high honors. J 
 
 I But the great and distinguishing feature of Mr. 
 Butler's character, as has been already mentioned, 
 was his religion. It was ever present with him, 
 from the time he was a Sabbath-school teacher, in 
 
36 
 
 1816, to the close of his life. Keligion, with him, 
 was the best and greatest of all things that he could 
 contemplate or in which he could engage. It was 
 not merely a matter of profession, or of sentiment, 
 or of emotion. It was all these. He was sincere in 
 his behef of Christianity, and therefore he did not 
 at any time shrink from the avowal of itj he 
 was open in the profession of his conviction of the 
 truth and sacred authority of the Bible as a Divine 
 revelation. But he was more than a merely sen- 
 timental, or professional, or emotional Christian. 
 With him religion was practical, influential, and a 
 matter of principle, regulating and controlling his 
 conduct at all times. Amid all the temptations 
 and gay scenes by which he was surrounded when 
 he was a member of the Cabinet, and in the highest 
 society of the capital of the nation, amid all the ex- 
 citement of political life, in which he engaged from 
 conviction of the truth of the principles he espoused, 
 and from his sense of duty as a patriot : in all these, 
 in every scene, in every emj)loyment, at all times, 
 his religion was exhibited. 
 
 I am aware that at one time there were ungen- 
 erous calumnies in reference to his political exer- 
 tions — which, however, have passed away — and I 
 am sure no one can now doubt that with him it was 
 not merely an ardent temperament, but a settled 
 conviction of duty to his country that made him 
 
37 
 
 enter into politics. And in regard to that, every 
 reflecting mind must agree tliat it is the duty of the 
 citizens of this country to take a warm interest in 
 the political affairs of the nation. Mr. Butlee did 
 so, openly and avowedly, and he never shrank from 
 the declaration of his opinions, whether popular 
 or not. 
 
 His career is now closed ; but it is a happy re- 
 flection that it has been a career of so much honor 
 to himself, and of so much usefulness to others. It 
 is the end that crowns the work. His work has 
 now been crowned by a peaceful, holy, sanctified 
 death. He was taken ill on the 4th of November. 
 He had arrived in Paris on the 3d, and on the 4th 
 he wrote a long letter to his son. In the evening 
 of that day he was taken ill, and notwithstanding 
 all that kindness, and attention, and medical skill 
 could do, the disease progressed rapidly. He re- 
 tained his consciousness, however, until the noon of 
 Monday, November the 8th, and in the evening of 
 that day his earthly career terminated. It is consoling 
 to us to reflect, that the end of this career was the 
 very commencement of one of exalted and endless 
 glory and blessedness. He had filled up the mea- 
 sure of his days with usefulness and honor. He 
 lives no longer in the frail, decaying earthly tene- 
 ment, but he is not dead : he lives the life eternal ; 
 and he lives and will live in our hearts and memo- 
 
38 
 
 ries. His life was a lioly and consistent life, and his 
 deatli crowned it all ; and, for one, I do not look 
 upon it with the same degree of gloom that many- 
 do. His remains will rest in his native land : they 
 will rest " in sure and certain hope " of a glorious 
 resurrection, when he will appear in greater beauty 
 than ever — and therefore, in reference to him, the 
 concluding lines of Beattie's beautiful elegy may 
 justly be applied — 
 
 " On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending, 
 And beauty, immortal, [will] wake from the tomb." 
 
 Ex- Judge Edmonds rose, and said : 
 
 Mr. Chaiemax : I feel that I should be doing 
 great iujustice to my own feelings, if I permitted 
 this oj)portunity to j)ass, without adding my mite 
 to the tribute of resj^ect which we are paying to 
 the memory of our deceased brother. 
 
 My first acquaintance was formed with Mr. But- 
 lee when I was but a mere lad. I knew him early 
 in life, when he and I were comj)anions together of 
 her who has preceded him from this life. I suc- 
 ceeded him in the office in which he completed his 
 studies for the law, and from that time to the hour 
 of his deatli, the personal friendship and confidence 
 which existed between us has never been impaired. 
 I feel, therefore, as if upon an occasion like this, 
 when my brethren of the Bar are assembled to pay 
 
.39 
 
 tlie last tribute of respect to his memory, I ouglit 
 not to be silent ; but I feel also, sir, that here, and 
 within the limited time allotted to a meeting like 
 this, I can do nothing like justice to my own feel- 
 ings or to his worth. I have seen politically, pro- 
 fessionally, socially, and personally, so many of his 
 merits, — I have witnessed his generosity, his mag- 
 nanimity, his talents, his industry, in so many in- 
 stances, that I feel I can do no more now than sim- 
 ply thus generally to allude to those characteristics, 
 and commend them to my brethren as worthy 
 of their admiration and imitation. I dare not trust 
 my own feelings to speak more in detail ; I dare not 
 venture now into a more enlarged examination of 
 his claims to our regard, — for I feel that I should 
 fall far short of what is due, alike to him and to 
 this occasion. And you, sir, and my brethren will 
 pardon me, if upon this occasion I content myself 
 with offering, as an expression of my feelings, sup- 
 pressed and controlled as they are by the recollec- 
 tion of the loss that I, as well as they, have suffered, 
 the amendment that I hold in my hand to the reso- 
 lutions already offered before you. It em})odies my 
 feelings, and I hope it will meet the approbation of 
 my brothers here. 
 
 Besolved — That in Mr. Butler we recognize the character- 
 istics of uniform courtesy with great firmness ; of generosity with 
 inflexible justice ; of fidelity without subserviency ; of great in- 
 
40 
 
 dustry without unchastened ambition; of the highest purity with 
 uniform charity for the offences of others : 
 
 And we will cherish his memory because of its affording to us 
 in these respects an example worthy alike of our admiration and 
 imitation. 
 
 As a writer and an orator, he was fluent, imaginative, and 
 particular ; in private life he was exemplary and affectionate ; 
 as a jurist he was cautious, conservative and comprehensive ; 
 and as a statesman he was upright and patriotic. He has 
 therefore left behind him a reputation well worthy of a long life 
 well spent, and an affectionate remembrance of him among a large 
 circle of devoted friends well merited and enduring. Therefore 
 
 Resolved — That while we mourn his personal departure from 
 the midst of us, we will welcome the abiding of his memory 
 as an incentive to us who remain behind him to equal purity and 
 elevation of character. 
 
 Mr. Daniel Loed said : — 
 
 Mr. President, altlioiigli the time is limited, yet 
 the duty is not altogether discharged. I conceive 
 it is our duty to consecrate those treasures which 
 are left to us, by the example of the eminent and 
 good. The example of good men is the greatest 
 legacy which they leave to those who succeed them. 
 Their works j)erish. The works of a lawyer are 
 transient ; — but the example handed down by tra- 
 dition and history influences truth, encourages vir- 
 tue, and as ages roll on, with accumulated power, it 
 leads to all that is honored and noble in the embel- 
 lishment of our race. Therefore, the time is well 
 spent, which we appropriate in taking care of those 
 treasures which are occasionally presented to us in 
 the characters of such men; 
 
41 
 
 Sir, this is not merely a personal tribute. Un- 
 doubtedly i^ersonal friendsbip has to do with it. 
 But is not this of itself, a tribute to the merits of 
 him whom we mourn, that we can scarcely find an in- 
 dividual in the community in which he lived, of whom 
 it may not be said, that he was his personal friend ? 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I fear no exaggeration in that 
 which has or can be spoken of our distinguished bro- 
 ther, Benjamin F. Butlee. His character was 
 symmetrical. Its proportion of virtues was a right 
 proportion. It was not a character overbearing 
 here with some remarkable excellence, and deficient 
 there, with, some remarkable defect ; but the pro- 
 portion of his virtues w^as that of beautiful harmony, 
 
 leaving nothino^ to be asked but its continuance. 
 
 I — • • • 
 
 ' It is, in my judgment, one of the great excel- 
 lencies of Mr. Butlee, that he was a genial man. 
 I lay aside the idolatry of intellect ; I lay aside the 
 idolatry of learning ; I lay aside all that which so 
 often attracts numbers by its power and force. As 
 my hair is turned, I change my opinion as to the 
 seat in which the greatest excellence is to be found. 
 I look for it in the heart. I look to the man whose 
 heart has been as warm as his talents were great, — 
 and in this resj^ect, I call you to witness, that we 
 have lost a man almost without an equal. I came 
 to the Bar about the immediate period of Mr. But- 
 lee. I am of his age. In the early part of my 
 
42 
 
 professional life, I met him as au adversary : I was 
 opposed to liim iu politics : there was almost every 
 thing in my condition, to make me hostile to him. 
 But circumstances occurred which brought me into 
 close intimacy with Mr. Butlee; and it is a grate- 
 ful thought that I have been thus permitted to 
 come into closer association, into a nearer concep- 
 tion of his virtues, by which all prejudices were 
 washed away ; and I cheerfully add my conviction, 
 that seldom anywhere, in any annals of any country, 
 has a man of more genial nature, and professional 
 worth, passed away from the society iu which he 
 lived, leaving his mark upon the age. Sj 
 
 Our profession has embraced two men who gave 
 ns some points of similarity to the departed : Sir 
 Samuel Eomillt, and William Wirt. No two men 
 have ever been in the profession, whose, merits were 
 more extensive, or whose memories have been more 
 deeply cherished ; and yet of l3oth it was perhaps 
 the crowning excellence, that their genial, domestic, 
 personal and private character, swallowed up all 
 that otherwise was added to it by artificial endow- 
 ments. Mr. Butler, like them, was governed by 
 the feelings of his heart. He always acted upon a 
 sense of duty. If you look at him as an eminent 
 lawyer, it was because his duty called upon him, 
 that he was laborious, that he was assiduous, that 
 he was patient, that he was persevering. It was 
 
43 
 
 Ms duty as a jurist, that made liim careful, that 
 made liim seek iuformation from every source ; 
 tliat made liim conservative, that made him efacient. 
 As a politician, it was a sense of duty, that made 
 him firm to his principles, firm to his friends. 
 Parties might change, and he would not be stable 
 to his party, provided he felt he was stable to his 
 principles. His friends might leave him, but he 
 would not leave his friends. 
 
 Sir, as a private man, I do not scruple to raise 
 the veil. It is too often true, that in approaching 
 great characters, we are warned there are hearths not 
 to be invaded ; we are warned in the language of the 
 satirist, in another view, that there is a skeleton in 
 every house. But in regard to Mr. Butler, his friends 
 may cheerfully lift the. veil from the most private re- 
 cesses of his life ; they will find no trace of any thing 
 there which the most ardent friend, or the purest man 
 would desire to leave undiscovered. I speak the 
 judgment of the vast number of the community ; I 
 speak from the universal reputation which he bore,— 
 notwithstanding he has gone through the conflicts of 
 party— notwithstanding he has been in the struggles 
 of poHtical life,— and I challenge the mention of any 
 thin^ that would stain the purest private character. 
 Sir, his prosperity was progressive, but it was 
 not uniform. It was the prosperity that followed 
 upon labor,— that followed upon well-doing. Ad- 
 
44 
 
 versity overtook him ; — and lie quailed not before 
 it. He liad a spirit to meet adversity, and to re- 
 ceive from her the precious jewels which she is said 
 to bear, resignation, experience, and patience. It 
 would be unjust to any full consideration of his life 
 not to look at his domestic qualities. It would be an 
 injustice to his memory, and to the memory of his 
 affections, not to allude to that amiable and happy 
 partner with whom he lived from early manhood to 
 that very recent period, when the staggering blow 
 struck him, which bereaved him of the graces of a 
 beautiful woman, the strong sense, the warm affec- 
 tion, and the accomplishments which charmed his 
 home, — which were with him to encouras^e and to 
 adorn his labors, and to lessen the fatigues of a 
 studious and rightly ambitious life. His house, as 
 my friend has said, was the seat of elegant hospital- 
 ity ; a place in which to find men of the highest 
 distinction in the State, — men eminent in literature 
 and science ; and the door never was shut to per- 
 sons of the most modest pretensions, whose merits 
 were merits of the heart. The time has been allud- 
 ed to when that blow was struck, from which, doubt- 
 less, he never fully recovered. Allow me to recall 
 the fact, that a similar blow struck Sir Samuel 
 RoMiLLY. Some thirty years ago. Lady RomLLY 
 was removed by death. She was in the same hap- 
 py relations to her husband, as Mrs. Butlee was to 
 
45 
 
 liers. lu three days Sir Samuel Eomilly succumb- 
 ed, — his mind sank, and he was taken off by suicide ! 
 Our esteemed friend suffered a blow no less severe, 
 under circumstances no less trying, and at a some- 
 what earlier age. He met it. He was sustained, 
 not by Philosophy, but by Religion. 
 
 I do not think the religious character of a man 
 is often a fit subject for public notice ; but when it 
 enters so largely into the man's character, — when it 
 is the basis of his virtues, — when it is the basis of 
 that which calls forth our highest admiration, — we 
 cannot withdraw our view from it. In his religion 
 Mr. Butler was free from bigotry. His religion 
 was intelligent. It was the religion of the under- 
 standing and of the heart ; it entered into all his 
 life. As it was the religion in which he expected 
 to die, — by which he hoped to find consolation in 
 his last moments, — he also felt it was a religion to 
 live by, and to govern him in all he did towards his 
 fellow-men. It constituted the charm of his char- 
 acter in life, — and it was the beautiful event of his 
 death. On the last day of his life, when he felt 
 that his hour approached, he uttered the expression : 
 " I feel no pain : I die a happy man ! " 
 
 Sir, that death was a fit crown to his life. That 
 death speaks to us that the idea of immortality is 
 not a dogma ; that it is a reality ; that the Scripture 
 has not said to us in vain : " Eye hath not seen, nor 
 
46 
 
 ear heard, nor liave entered into tlie lieart of man, 
 tlie things which God hath prepared for them who 
 love Him." 
 
 Mr. TiLDEN having accepted Judge Edmonds' 
 amendment to the resohitioDS, they were put by the 
 Chair, and carried, after which the meeting ad- 
 journed. 
 
FUNERAL SERVICES. 
 
 Mr. Butler's remains liaving arrived in tlie 
 steamship " Arago," on Monday the 29th November, 
 the funeral services took j^lace in the Mercer street 
 church on" Thursday, December 2d, at 3 o'clock. 
 
 The following gentlemen officiated as Pall 
 Bearers : — 
 
 Thomas W. Olcott, Esq. 
 Hon. Samuel R. Betts, 
 Hon. James J. Roosevelt, 
 Hon. Aaeon Yajstderpoel, 
 Hon. John L. Masoist, 
 Stephen Cambeeleng, Esq., 
 William Cullen Bryant, Esq., 
 Horace Holden, Esq., 
 John F. Gray, M. D. 
 
 After the singing by the choir of the Hymn, 
 " Sow blest the righteous when they die^'^ 
 
48 
 
 The Eev. Dr. Skinnee read an approjDriate selec- 
 tion of Scripture passages, and offered prayer, and 
 then spoke as follows : 
 
 In this house of mourning, in which the repre- 
 sentatives of many classes and interests are assem- 
 bled, the church w^hich worships here has the chief 
 place, next to the family of the beloved and hon- 
 ored man, whose death has occasioned our meetino;. 
 With this sole exception, there was no circle of in- 
 terest or sympathy so near to him, and none to 
 which his removal is so deep an affliction. No sen- 
 timent was more deeply seated in him than that 
 which he was wont to express in the inspired words : 
 " A day in thy courts is better than a thousand : I 
 had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, 
 than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." And it 
 was among the meml^ers of this church, for nearly 
 twenty-three years, that this holy sentiment had its 
 purest, warmest, completest manifestation. For 
 this period of time, he was one of its most faithful 
 and active members, one of its principal pillars, one 
 of its brightest ornaments. He was in full commu- 
 nion with it, loving and loved, blessing and blessed 
 of it, when he died. 
 
 The chief benefit a church has from its mem- 
 bers, better than all particular gifts, labors, sacri- 
 fices, — dearer to Christ and his Angels, — ^precious 
 
49 
 
 above price, is character — true piety exemplified. 
 Now of this piety the test is symmetry ; proportion, 
 consistency, harmony of attributes ; profession 
 sustained by the life ; soundness and vigor of belief 
 attested by good works ; intelligence vitalized and 
 elevated by S23iritual affections ; trusting in Christ, 
 and the imitation of Christ before the eyes of the 
 world ; glorying in the cross, and crucifying the 
 flesh ; at peace with God through justification, by 
 faith, and walking humbly with God in all the ways 
 of holy living ; contemplative, yet active — consist- 
 ently active — ^in all the spheres of life, domestic, pro- 
 fessional, secular, sacred ; devout, solitary, studious 
 of the sacred oracles, penitential, self-searching, 
 earnest and constant in secret 2:)rayer, yet social and 
 cheerful, and always, unconsciously or intentionally, 
 making others haj^py ; adorning the profession of 
 piety, by sweet, amiable and gentle manners. Such 
 is the ideal of true piety ; and of piety such as this, 
 he whom we to-day lament, was a very beautiful 
 and a very rare example. Yes, every trait in the 
 outline just given, has been taken from a real ex- 
 ample, and one which it has been the privilege of 
 this church, to have before its eyes, to be in constant 
 and near communion with, for more than a score of 
 years. I speak for the whole church, without fear- 
 ing that one of my words will strike a dissonant 
 chord in any individual. There is not, I am sure, 
 4 
 
50 
 
 in this large church, a single one, who would not, 
 if he might, bear 023en witness to him, how holily, 
 how amiably, how uublamably, he behaved him- 
 self, in all his fellowship with them, as a brother in 
 holy covenant. His late pastor, as able as any one 
 to give his estimation, says of him, in a letter writ- 
 ten to me from Paris, a few days after his death, " I 
 received this afternoon a detailed account of his last 
 days, and have rarely listened to the narrative of a 
 Christian death, with such intense interest. Mr. 
 
 BuTLEE was a remarkable man, of pre-eminent re- 
 ligious culture, and will receive, I trust, a commem- 
 oration of his fine and noble qualities, from some 
 fitting pen." 
 
 Such is the impression which this church has of 
 the i^iety of its departed member. Consistent with 
 it was the part he bore in special activities. His, 
 commonly, was a post of labor, at all church meet- 
 ings for business, in committees, in devising ways 
 and means to meet special exigencies, and in carry- 
 ing forward all 2:)lans for promoting the usefulness 
 of the church, whether within or without its j)ale. 
 
 For myself, I forbear to open the treasure of 
 sacred and happy impressions with which my heart 
 is filled, when I call to mind my long and unvaried 
 experience of his delicate sympathy, and singular 
 kindness to me from the time of our first acquaint- 
 ance until the evening I passed with him just before 
 
51 
 
 lie left us, an hour, now to me so full of tender and 
 sacred interest. His life has been, eminently, " as 
 the path of the just which shineth more and more 
 to the |)erfect day," that celestial day, the dawn of 
 which they saw, who were with him when he died. 
 What a transcendently serene and lovely dawn was 
 that ! What a scene of bright tranquillity and tri- 
 umphant hope, this chamber of death ! What a 
 beautiful entrance to the Temple of Immortality ! 
 Holy angels were there. A heavenly radiance 
 illumined the place. It were pleasing to dwell on 
 this instance of the victorious power of our Faith over 
 all the terrors of death ; but I must give place to 
 another, an earlier pastor of our beloved friend, the 
 Rev. Dr. Speague. 
 
 I have said nothing of Mr. Butlee's distinguished 
 abilities, culture, and attainments ; or of his profes- 
 sional and public eminence : it has suited my feel- 
 ings on this occasion, to limit my thoughts to that 
 very uncommon spiritual excellence, by which his 
 whole life was dignified and adorned. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Sprague then delivered the fol- 
 lowing Address: 
 
DR. SPRAGUE^S ADDRESS. 
 
 There is tliat in cleatb, independently of charac- 
 ter or circumstances, that stamps it with awful so- 
 lemnity. You hear of its having found a new victim, 
 and it impresses you as little as the changing of the 
 wind ; but when you come to resolve it into its dis- 
 tinctive elements, and see how comprehensive and yet 
 how mysterious it is ; when you think of its ante- 
 cedents, its attendants, its consequences ; when you 
 take into view the premonitory pangs, the rending 
 of the man in twain, the separation from earthly 
 scenes, the disruption of tender ties, the closing of 
 the period of trial, and the beginning of an illimit- 
 able retribution — when you take these things into 
 the account, I say, and break away from the illu- 
 sions of sense and of habit, as you contemplate them, 
 you cannot but feel that this most common of all 
 events is also the most momentous. Be it so that 
 the world is making one of its very humblest con- 
 tributions to the land of silence ; that the death that 
 
53 
 
 lias occurred lias set no liuman heart to tlirobbing, 
 and lias awakened no interest except tliat the re- 
 mains should be buried out of sight — still, even 
 there, death has done his perfect work, and the only 
 reason why you view it with indifference is that you 
 do not think of it at all. 
 
 But while death, considered in the most general 
 view, is a momentous event, — an event with which 
 none but the fool or the madman can trifle, — its 
 aspect is essentially modified by the character of its 
 subject ; and where the character has been moulded 
 by the Divine influence of Christianity, the work 
 that death accomj^lishes is at best but a mock 
 triumph. What he does seems indeed terrible 
 enough ; but you have only to take one step beyond 
 the visible to find that, under the guise of a mon- 
 ster, he was performing the office of a good angel. 
 Nothing dreadful appears on this side the vail, but 
 has a glorious offset on the other. The dying 
 Christian is taking leave of friends who are dear to 
 his heart ; l)ut he is going into the embraces of 
 other friends w^ho have j)receded him in the upward 
 course, and is about to join a glorified community, 
 to all of whom, through Christ, he wdll sustain a 
 most endearing relation. He is closing his connec- 
 tion wdth all earthly objects and interests, but he is 
 forming a connection with a new and glorious world, 
 where there will be full scojDe for his exalted and 
 
54 
 
 ever brightening faculties. He finds the death- 
 struggle hard, and those who look on, turn away 
 and weep; hut wait a little, and that struggle is 
 over, and with it all suffering, and then comes the 
 exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The body 
 is about to be dressed for the grave, andl there it 
 will moulder, and ultimately turn to common dust ; 
 but ere long an omnijootent word shall reconstruct 
 it into a glorified body, and bring it up from its 
 lowly resting-place, and animate it with the spirit 
 which death had dislodged, and thus the entire man 
 ' shall start forth on a fresh career of immortality. 
 Make the Christian's death-bed seem as dark and 
 revolting as you can, and we haA'e only to hold up 
 the blessed Gospel, and let that shine upon it, and 
 it becomes illumined as with light from the third 
 heavens. 
 
 But while death is essentially modified by char- 
 acter, the Christian's death is, to some extent, mod- 
 ified by circumstances ; and one of these circum- 
 stances is worldlv consideration and rank. To the 
 dying Christian himself this indeed is nothing, ex- 
 cept as his fidelity in the high stations he has oc- 
 cupied, must come up gratefully l^efore him, as a 
 witness to his Christian integiity, and a voucher for 
 the genuineness of his hope. In all the essentials 
 of death, especially in the great matter of going to 
 appear before God, he is conscious of being on a 
 
55 
 
 level with tlie liumblest of the race. But to others 
 his death takes on a peculiar type, from the fact 
 that it closes a hfe of public service and honor. 
 They have watched, perhaps admired, possibly 
 envied, him, as they have seen the laurels accumu- 
 late upon his brow, have heard the congratulatory 
 welcome by which he has been introduced to one 
 lofty station after another, and have marked the 
 impress of his high and honorable deeds upon the 
 surrounding community, — ^perhaps upon the country 
 at large. He has seemed to them to be w^alking 
 through the world in glory ; and possibly they have 
 had no higher aspirations than to be in this respect 
 like him. But now that the time of his departure has 
 come, they follow liim in their imaginations and their 
 inquiries at least, to his death-bed, curious to know 
 the history of his passage through the dark valley. 
 And the grand revelation that is made to them 
 there is, that there is nothing stable but religion. 
 It is not the great man or the honorable man that 
 appears now^, but it is the humble Christian — the 
 Christian in communion with the Conqueror of death, 
 and becoming entranced wdth visions of immortality. 
 To his view all earthly distinctions have faded into 
 insignificance ; while the one grand distinction of 
 being an adopted child of the Lord Almighty, fills his 
 eye and satisfies his soul. As he lies there panting 
 his life away, he is preaching, oh, how impressively, 
 
56 
 
 of the littleness of tlie world, and tlie majesty of 
 religion. Witli a hand that death is palsying, he 
 is holding up a balance, in the one side of which are 
 the honors which the world has poured upon him, 
 in the other, the salvation which Christ hath 
 wrought in him ; and he bids all take note that the 
 former are outweighed by the latter, more than an 
 atom is outweighed by a world. 
 
 I have made these few remarks, my friends, as 
 illustrative of the sj^irit of the occasion that has con- 
 vened us. The event, when viewed in its more gen- 
 eral bearings, casts into the shade, in solemnity and 
 impressiveness, all the most striking events in the 
 history of our departed friend that had preceded it. 
 When viewed in connection with the sanctifying 
 power of Christianity, it takes on a cheering aspect, 
 and bids the mourner not let his heart be troubled. 
 When viewed as crowning a life of great worldly 
 distinction, it becomes especially monitory to those 
 who are sacrificing to the honors of earth the glories 
 of heaven. The man who is addressing us from the 
 silence of his coffin to-day, was another Joseph of 
 Arimathea, " an honorable man and a counsellor, 
 who also waited for the kingdom of God." He died 
 full of honors, but full of faith and of the Holy 
 Ghost. It is not my purpose to enter minutely 
 into the details of either his life or character ; but 
 I should not feel that I had met the demands either 
 
57 
 
 of the occasion, or of a long-clierisliecl and affec- 
 tionate personal friendship, if I were not to indicate 
 briefly tlie manner in which his life has been spent, 
 to point to some of the monuments of his public 
 usefulness, and to hint at those fine intellectual, 
 moral, and Christian traits with which his highest 
 distinction was identified. 
 
 Benjamin" Feankldst Butlee was, on the paternal 
 side of Irish, on the maternal of Puritan, extraction. 
 He was born in the part of Kinderhook that is now 
 Stuyvesant, on the Hudson River, December 14, 
 1795. His father, who was an intelligent, enter- 
 prising, and influential man, took a deep interest in 
 the cause of education, and gave to this son the best 
 early advantages within his reach; and the son 
 showed his appreciation of them by improving them 
 most diligently, and thus developing at once the 
 strongest aspirations for knowledge and a remark- 
 able facility at acquiring it. / Having served as an 
 assistant to his father in different occupations, and 
 completed a brief course of preparatory study, he 
 became a student at Law under the direction and 
 patronage of Mr. (now Ex-President) Vaist Bueen, 
 with whom he was afterwards most intimately asso- 
 ciated in his professional and public life, and for 
 whom he always cherished an affection scarcely less 
 than filiaL [ In 1817 he was admitted to the Bar; 
 and Mr. Van Bueen, then Attorney General of the 
 
58 
 
 State, and a resideDt of Albany, received him as a 
 partner in business, and tins connection continued, 
 with the excej^tion of a few months in 1819, till 
 December 1821, when the senior partner was ap- 
 pointed to the Senate of the United States. Mr. 
 Butlee's first appearance in the higher courts of 
 the State is said to have attracted much attention, 
 and to have drawn from some distinguished jurists 
 the highest testimony to his ability and the most 
 confident 23redictions of his future eminence. In 
 February, 1821, he was apjDointed the District At- 
 torney of the city and county of Albany, — an office 
 which often brous^ht him in conflict with some of 
 the ablest members of the jn'ofession, but the duties 
 of which he discharged with signal diligence and 
 success. In November, 1824, he was appointed, to- 
 gether with two other eminent lawyers, to take 
 charge of the revision of the laws of the State of 
 New York ; an apj^ointment which, considering his 
 youth, nothing but extraordinary intellectual and 
 moral qualities could have justified, but which, in 
 the marked ability and fidelity with which it was 
 discharged, showed the wisdom that dictated it. In 
 182Y he was chosen member of the Assembly from 
 Albany, with a special view to his explaining and 
 vindicating the new code which was then oifered 
 for the sanction of the Legislature ; and here, as in 
 his other public relations, he neither sought nor 
 
69 
 
 would he have accepted any dispensation from the 
 most intense labor. In 1829 he was appointed a 
 Eeo-ent of the University, bnt he resigned the place 
 in 1832. In 1833 he acted as Commissioner on the 
 part of the State of New York, to settle a long-agi- 
 tated controversy between that State and New 
 Jersey ; and the negotiation proved successful. In 
 November of the same year he accepted the office 
 of Attorney General of the United States, under 
 General Jackson's administration, and by his urgent 
 request ; and to this office he brought not only the 
 energies of his vigorous and comprehensive mind, 
 but his ever wakeful and discriminating sense of 
 moral obHgation, and that diligent and patient re- 
 search, that untiring assiduity, that never faltered 
 at the sio:ht of obstacles which it was possible to 
 overcome. In this high station, he earned for him- 
 self, by the manner in which he discharged its du- 
 ties, proportionally high honor, and the amount of 
 labor which he performed, and well performed, dur- 
 ing this period, is said to have been almost incred- 
 ible. From October, 1836 to March, 1837, a period 
 of about five months, he consented, by the special 
 request of the President, to perform the duties of 
 Secretary of War ; and here also he showed him- 
 self alike capable and faithful. It had been his 
 purpose to retire from the office of Attorney General 
 at the close of President Jackson's term ; but he 
 
60 
 
 was i^ersiiaded to retain the place for a single year 
 under the administration of his successor. His la- 
 bors in this department were not finally terminated 
 until September, 1838. After this, he was, at two 
 different periods. United States District Attorney 
 for the Southern District of New York ; and at the 
 commencement of Mr. Polk's administration he de- 
 clined an earnest request to return to Washington 
 in the capacity of Secretary of War. During sev- 
 eral of his last years he was withdrawn entirely from 
 public office, and was assiduously devoted to his pro- 
 fessional duties. So heavy and incessant were the 
 drafts that were made upon him, that his physical 
 constitution, naturally vigorous, began at length to 
 yield. There is reason to fear that the warnings 
 which nature often gives of approaching evil from 
 the neglect or violation of her laws, were not in his 
 case heeded soon enough. Scarcely had he begun 
 to give himself to relaxation before he rested from 
 all his earthly labors. 
 
 It is only a short time since our honored friend 
 determined to break away from all professional 
 cares, and avail himself of the invigorating influence 
 of a voyage across the ocean and a temporary 
 sojourn in foreign countries, by means of which 
 also he might gratify his intellectual tastes, and en- 
 large the stores of his knowledge. Accordingly, on 
 the 16th of October, with two of his beloved daugli- 
 
61 
 
 ters for his companions, lie embarked for Havre in 
 the steamer Arago, with every prospect that his 
 health would be confirmed, and expecting no doubt 
 ere long a happy reunion to the circle of friends 
 who parted with him so reluctantly, and who fol- 
 lowed him with their blessings and prayers. But, 
 little as he suspected it, he was going away only to 
 die ! 
 
 He reached the destined port in safety, and still 
 there was nothing to cast a shadow upon his path. 
 With an almost boundless but well-directed curi- 
 osity, he looked out npon those scenes of antique 
 grandeur with which he was surrounded, and was 
 gathering rich material for both the imagination 
 and the intellect to work u2)on ; and his family had 
 already begun to reap the fruits of his foreign tour 
 in the fascinating reports of his daily observation 
 which he was sending them. He has arrived in the 
 capital of France, and still, for aught that he knows, 
 all is well. But scarcely has the splendor of that 
 great city begun to ojoen upon him, before he be- 
 comes convinced, as if God had written it upon the 
 wall, or an angel had whispered it in his ear, that 
 he has reached the spot where he must die. Sad 
 thoughts about the loved and the loving on both 
 sides of the ocean no doubt obtrude themselves ; but 
 living faith is mighty to tranquillize and to elevate : 
 it does not indeed make him forget the objects of 
 
62 
 
 Lis tenderest affection, but it makes liiin strong to 
 endure the pang of separation, — strong to commit 
 tliem to God's gracious care. And there that stran- 
 ger in a strange land, baj^tized by the Holy Ghost 
 for the emergency, meets his final summons, not 
 only with quiet submission but with holy triumph. 
 He rests on his Saviour's arm all the way through 
 the dark valley. When he has nearly reached the 
 connecting point between earth and Heaven, he 
 sends back a joyful testimony to his Redeemer's 
 all-sustaining power and grace. He has died far 
 away from home, and friends, and country, but what 
 matters it, so long as he has died in the faith of 
 Jesus, and the Heavenly mansions are just as acces- 
 sible from one point of the globe as another. 
 
 In turning my thoughts to Mr. Butlee's char- 
 acter, I find myself disposed rather to dwell upon its 
 general beauty, and harmony, and efiiciency, than 
 to resolve it into its distinctive elements ; rather to 
 look at that admirable combination of qualities to 
 which are to be referred, under God, the great re- 
 sults of his life, than to contemplate the intellectual 
 and the moral, and the distinct attributes of each, 
 as so many constituent parts of an admirable whole. 
 It was the perfect symmetry that pervaded the 
 entire man, body, mind and heart, that made him 
 an object of such rare atti'action while living, and 
 
63 
 
 that now renders liis memory so fragrant and 
 beautiful. 
 
 As, however, the occasion would seem to require 
 that I should speak of his character somewhat more 
 in detail, I may say that his intellectual endowments 
 were originally of a very high order. There was a 
 graceful ease and freedom in all his mental opera- 
 tions. He perceived clearly ; he judged cautiously, 
 but correctly ; and his memory was so exact and 
 retentive as to be a safe depository for almost every 
 thing that it had ever received. Indeed, so minute 
 and perfect was his recollection of all the details of 
 almost any event which had come within his knowl- 
 edge, that in any relation which he might make, 
 you felt as sure that you were hearing the exact 
 truth as if he were reading it to you from a record 
 which he had made when the event occurred. His 
 faculties were all subjected to careful and constant 
 culture ; and the amount of knowledge which he 
 acquired, not only in his own profession but in the 
 various departments of learning and practical life, 
 at once rendered him at home in any circle, and 
 qualified him for almost any field of usefulness. 
 
 In his moral constitution also Mr. Butler was 
 eminently favored ; though in speaking of him in 
 this respect it is impossible to ignore the aid which 
 he derived from Christianity. He had a simplicity 
 and directness of aim that forbade the thought of 
 
64 
 
 any thing dark or sinuous in liis views or conduct. 
 He had mucli of that prudence that sets a watch at 
 the door of the hps, that they do not needlessly of- 
 fend. He had that benevolence that delights in the 
 welfare of others, and is willing to make sacrifices 
 to promote it. He had that melting compassion 
 that not only feels but weeps for another's wo,— 
 upon which bleeding and broken hearts act as an 
 irresistible attraction. He had that modesty, which 
 is rather the ornament than the veil of true great- 
 ness, and yet that self-possession and dignity which 
 would have done honor to the Court. He combined 
 an almost womanly gentleness with a manly firm- 
 ness ; and while he would never needlessly wound 
 the feelings or assail the prejudices of any, yet where 
 any great question of duty was concerned, and his 
 convictions in relation to it were thoroughly estab- 
 lished, he had a will of iron. He was forbearing 
 and forgiving towards those who iujured him ; in 
 rendering evil for evil I am confident he never took 
 the first lesson. He was a cheerful and thankful 
 recipient of the Divine favors ; and when trouble 
 came, he bowled in reverent submission and blessed 
 the hand that sent it. I have seen him rejoicing in 
 an exuberance of domestic comforts, and other 
 temporal blessings ; but I never saw him when 
 the spirit of gratitude towards his Heavenly Bene- 
 factor even seemed to wane. I have seen him when 
 
65 
 
 the deep waters came over his soul, but I never saw 
 him when he betrayed by a word or a look the least 
 sign of unwillingness that God's will should be done 
 concerning him. However some of these qualities 
 may exist in a humbler form as a natural growth, 
 yet no one could witness their development in him, 
 without feeling assured that they rose to the higher 
 character of graces of the Spirit. 
 
 You perceive that I have said little of Mr. But- 
 ler's high professional distinction or of the success 
 that marked his public career. These are themes 
 which I would rather treat, if I were to treat them 
 at all, at a greater distance from his coffin. It is 
 his character as a Christian., — an earnest, active, 
 consistent, uncompromising Christian, upon which 
 it seems most fitting, as it is to me most delightful, 
 here to dwell. I may say, without the fear of contra- 
 diction, that religion with him was an all-pervadiDg 
 principle. You could not persuade yourself that it 
 was something put on ; you felt that it was a mighty 
 inward power, directing all his purposes and ac- 
 tions, and ftioulding his whole character into a form 
 of rare loveliness and beauty. He was not afraid 
 to stand forth a witness for Christ in any circum- 
 stances ; and although never unduly forward in his 
 religious demonstrations, it was as clear as the light 
 that he was ready to follow the Master whitherso- 
 ever He might lead. In his family he was a model 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 of conjugal and j^arental tenderness and fidelity ; 
 and the very last time I saw him, he told me out 
 of a full heart, and in a tone of inexpressible thank- 
 fidness, that God's covenant faithfulness had been 
 manifest towards him by bringing every one of 
 his dear children to the Cross. In the Sabbath 
 School (for in one school at least I know he was 
 not only a teacher but a superintendent) he drew 
 the children towards him with cords of love, and 
 labored for their best interests with as much sin- 
 gleness of mind and heart as if that had been his 
 only vocation. At the weekly prayer meetings of 
 the church he considered it a privilege to be present 
 as often as his manifold ensfao^ements wonld allow ; 
 and never shall I forget the last meeting of this 
 kind which he attended under my own ministry, in 
 which with more than a l^rother's tenderness he 
 bade us farewell. He was earnest in his prayers 
 and eiforts for the advancement of Christ's cause ; 
 while yet he was jealous for the preservation of the 
 order of God's house, and looked with little indul- 
 gence upon any thing which he thought 'involved a 
 departure from the simplicity of the Gospel. Those 
 who saw him in his daily walk, saw that he was 
 living nnder the influence of the powers of the world 
 to come ; but those only who knew him in the most 
 familiar and sacred communings of Christian aflec- 
 tion, could form any adequate idea of tlie vigor of 
 
67 
 
 his inner life. And if I may judge from my own 
 intercourse witli him, I may say that his sj^iritual 
 growth became more strongly marked in his later 
 years. It is only w^ithin a few months that he 
 made me a hasty call in a brief interval of leisure 
 during his professional engagements at Albany ; 
 and I found that his principal errand was to rejoice 
 with me over the hopeful conversion of one of our 
 mutual friends. 
 
 Far be it from me to say that my lamented 
 friend was without imperfections ; his uniformly 
 subdued and lowly spirit is the evidence that he 
 would have been the first to repudiate such a sug- 
 gestion ; but I will venture to leave it to those who 
 have fewer imperfections than he, to show what 
 they were. I know that he was prominent in some 
 political conflicts, — a position which no man can 
 occupy without having his motives arraigned, not to 
 say his character assailed. It is not for me to pro- 
 nounce upon either his general course or his partic- 
 ular acts ; but that whatever he did, was done not 
 from the' wild dictates of caprice or passion, but 
 from the honest dictates of conscience, I always felt 
 a perfect assurance. When I have heard of him 
 doing his part manfidly in the battle and storm of 
 political life, I may have been tempted to wish that 
 he was breathing an atmosphere more congenial 
 with his gentle and peaceful spirit; but I never 
 
68 
 
 douLted tliat lie was acting from tlie liigli convic- 
 tions of duty any more than wlien I liave seen liim 
 dispensing liis charities to the poor, or bowing at 
 
 the altars of God. 
 
 I look upon this dispensation as specially moni- 
 tory in its public and national bearings. I cast my 
 eye over this assembly, I look abroad upon this 
 great nation, and I see everywhere men in the 
 exercise of civil authority, and thus, in a humbler 
 or higher degree, giving direction to the destinies of 
 our country. All these I would solemnly invoke, 
 first by a regard to their own best interests, and 
 next by their love for the land in which they dwell, 
 to heed the lesson that is going forth from this 
 coffin, in respect to the paramount importance of 
 personal religion. I would admonish them that 
 thoufrh they are wise men and counsellors, legisla- 
 tors, "and rulers, still they are immortal men, and 
 will soon reach the point which our friend has 
 already passed, where there will come a mighty ex- 
 igency, which nothing but hviug Christianity can 
 meet. I would remind them also that religion is 
 the very soul of patriotism ; and that as they would 
 render their country the highest service, they must 
 come reverently and humbly to the Fountain of all 
 Wisdom. And if I could, for a moment, command 
 the nation's ear, I would bid her take heed how 
 she enthrones infidelity and profligacy in her high 
 
69 
 
 places. I would read to lier a terrible chapter from 
 the history of other nations, showing that impiety 
 and tyranny are twin demons, and that madness is 
 in the heart of those who would think to yield to 
 the one and escape the other. And I would ven- 
 ture to tell my country, that her interests will never 
 be seriously imperilled even by the honest mistakes 
 of her rulers, pro\dded only that to the proper meas- 
 ure of intelligence they add that spirit which dis- 
 poses them always to keej) a conscience void of 
 offence. 
 
 Oh, that the gracious Comforter might now fol- 
 low in the track of death, to minister consolation to 
 the multitude of stricken hearts ! Here is a Church 
 mourning that one of its pillars has fallen ; here 
 are Christian brethren calling up scenes of goodly 
 fellowship, in which the voice now hushed in death 
 bore a welcome part; here are young disciples 
 whom the same voice has counselled and encouraged, 
 and who are sad because their friend and helper is 
 laid low. Here are pastors who have successively 
 broken to this Israelite indeed the bread of life, and 
 have found their burdens lightened by his intelli- 
 gent and zealous co-operation. Here are some of 
 the friends of his early years, who have loved him 
 from their youth, and whom he has loved in return, 
 and who are now oppressed by the reflection that 
 they shall see his face no more. Here are those 
 
TO 
 
 whose parents were also his parents ; who were 
 nurtured Avith him under the same roof and trained 
 under the same hallowed influences, and who have 
 found their pulsations becoming quicker and more 
 tender as they have remembered that he was their 
 brother. And finally, here are the children who 
 have come thus far on life's journey under his pater- 
 nal guidance ; who have been used to repose alike 
 in his wisdom and his love ; who have never feared 
 darkness as long as the sunshine of his presence was 
 within their reach ; but upon whom the reflection 
 now falls, as a cold shadow, that his countenance 
 has beamed upon them its last loving smile. Verily, 
 I am standing in the presence of a bereaved assem- 
 blage ! Come, ever blessed Christianity, and dis- 
 play thy gracious, healing triumphs here! May 
 each mourner receive the baptism that brings light 
 out of the cloud, and lifts the soul towards its eter- 
 nal rest ! 
 
 After the chant by the choir, '' Tliy Will be 
 Done^'' Rev. Dr. Adams S2:)oke as follows : 
 
 After the Forum has uttered its eloquent voices 
 of condolence and panegyric ; after the Pulpit has 
 furnished its most truthful and instructive testimo- 
 
71 
 
 nies ; there remains to ine the tender and solemn 
 service of conducting you into the very chamber 
 where this good man hath fallen asleep. Far am I 
 from countenancing the idea that the conduct of a 
 man in moments of death, irresjoective of all his 
 manner of life, is the best and happiest ordeal to 
 which character can be subjected ; but how grateful 
 are we all when we are permitted to see a peaceful 
 death terminating a well-ordered and Christian life ! 
 Our beloved friend went abroad for o^est; and the 
 manner of his death testifies to us that he found that 
 rest which remaineth to the people of God. 
 
 What I am about to read might seem at first to 
 l3elong exclusively to the sanctuary of domestic pri- 
 vacy ; but you will agree with me that it does not 
 belong alone to stricken friends at home. It be- 
 longs to us ; it belongs to the Son of God ; for these 
 are the* testimonies in honor of our religion, and 
 these are the trophies which glorify our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ. That feeling which is so often 
 expressed at the death of a public man, which would 
 make inquiry as to the manner of his death, is not 
 to be set down to vain and idle curiosity. It is the 
 testimony of the deep-seated conviction that we are 
 all of us personally interested in that event, that 
 we are all linked by inseparable destinies to that 
 same act and article of death ; and every cheering 
 voice that comes back to us from the pillow of 
 
72 
 
 the dying Christian, is to us a new evidence of the 
 reality of our religion. 
 
 One week before the death of Mr. Butler he 
 was in the ancient city of Rouen ; and in the last 
 letter ever written by him, on the 14th of November, 
 he gave an account of the manner in which the day 
 was spent. The letter contains an incident which 
 happily indicates the genial, Catholic character of 
 his reli2:ion. 
 
 He reached Rouen, he says, on Monday evening, 
 just as the bells of the Cathedral were ringing the 
 evening chimes by which the services of All Saints' 
 Day were closed. At 8 in the morning he had been 
 in the old church of Notre Dame de Havre. The 
 buildiusf was crowded. Mr. Butlee took a seat near 
 a bright-looking, hardy young peasant, who neverthe- 
 less was reading, with fervency and a correct pronun- 
 ciation, the Latin prayers. Mr. Butlee joined with 
 them in that portion of the service wherein he found 
 nothing that the strictest Protestant could object to ; 
 and after he turned from the Cathedral, when other 
 forms of the service which were not so cono-enial to 
 his feelings and judgment were introduced, he made 
 use of that beautiful expression of Wesley : 
 
 " God, for Cheist's sake, forgive all su23erstition, 
 but accept the heart service ! " 
 
 And now I shall not venture to change a single 
 word of that which I am permitted to read to you : 
 
73 
 
 " On tlie very day on wliicli tlie above letter was 
 written, lie was found to be seriously ill, and a pby- 
 sician was sent for. To his question on entering, 
 ' What is the matter, sir ? ' Mr. Butlee replied, with 
 his invariable cheerfulness of manner, ' First of all, 
 sixty -three years ! ' 
 
 " His case was pronounced a critical one. A young 
 friend sat up with liim during. the night. Early the 
 next morning, one of his travelhng companions heard 
 him talking earnestly, and on going into the room, 
 
 Mr. Butlee said to him, 'Young Mr. has just 
 
 been reading my five Psalms to me.' " 
 
 (He was in the habit of reading five Psalms each 
 day, thus going through the entire book every month. 
 Would that all were accustomed to use this beautiful 
 hymnology, not merely to read, but use it, after this 
 method, every day ! The Psalms read on that day 
 were the 21st to the 26th ; and if, when you retire, 
 you turn to them, you will see that he could not have 
 well chosen any more appro23riate, if he had known 
 his death so nearly approached. One, the 23d Psalm, 
 is beautifully expressive of confidence in the Great 
 Shepherd : " Yea, though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou 
 art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort 
 me.") 
 
 " ' Young Mr. has been reading my five 
 
 Psalms to me, and I have been expounding them to 
 
74 
 
 him.' He had explained to the reader several pro- 
 phetical allusions to our Saviour, of which he had 
 not known before. 
 
 " The disease made rapid progress. He suffered 
 little pain, but it soon became evident that there 
 was little prospect of recovery. He received the 
 announcement of this fact not simply with resigna- 
 tion and peace, but with gratitude and thanksgiving. 
 He said, ' This is a most comforting illness. I should 
 like to die here, if it is God's will, it is all so pleas- 
 ant. If He chooses to spare me for twenty years 
 longer, to become a dotard, His will be done ; but 
 it is all so pleasant and comforting here.' 
 
 " This was on Sunday. He repeated, with some 
 help, 
 
 ' Sweet is the day of sacred rest ; ' 
 
 and said, ' I am all ready and prepared to go if it 
 
 is God's will. I have given Mr. B ■ my last 
 
 wishes. I feel like Pilgrim in the waters: all is 
 right, body and soul, body and soul.' He had pre- 
 viously remarked, ' I bought Taylor's Holy Living 
 and Dying, forty years ago, and ever since then 
 death has been familiar to me.' ' I trust I may not 
 for any pains of death fall from the Saviour ; that 
 is what the prayer book says — good prayer book — 
 I mingle all these good books — good thoughts — 
 good hopes of my dear Saviour.' 
 
75 
 
 "At anotlier time: ' I am a sinner, oli, liow 
 great ! but my sin can be cleansed. I liave a Sa- 
 viour, Jesus Christ tlie rigliteous. Ob, precious Sa- 
 viour ! oh, mighty Lord ! If we say we have no 
 sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ; 
 but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just 
 to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all uu- 
 riffhteousness.' 
 
 " Again : ' I have 2:>eace, perfect peace,' with em- 
 phasis ; and then repeated the text, ' Thou wilt keep 
 him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.' 
 " On Monday, Nov. 8th, he gradually l:)ecarae 
 unconscious ; during the morning, however, he re- 
 cognized both his daughters with expressions of the 
 greatest affection, and several times repeated the 
 words, ' I die a happy man— I die a happy man.' 
 
 " ' Rock of Ages, cleft for me,' was also a phrase 
 often repeated after a half-unconsciousness had settled 
 upon his senses, as if his spirit sought in its expiring 
 impulse to link the memory of the melodies of Zion 
 with the anticipation of the songs of the redeemed." 
 The closing scene is thus described : 
 " You will never be able to realize, much as we 
 may speak to you of it, how calm and beautiful, 
 how heavenly, in what perfect harmony with all 
 his life, his illness and death were. Mere human 
 thoucrht could never have conceived so heavenly an 
 end. He had, apparently, been unconscious as to out- 
 
76 
 
 ward things since tliree o'clock, even the conscious- 
 ness that we were beside liim, constantly waiting 
 on Mm, seemed to have gone, but I can scarcely 
 doubt that the soul was already rejoicing in the 
 foretaste of immortal joy. About nine o'clock he 
 opened his eyes a little, and then it was that the 
 very act of death began. It would be impossible 
 for any mortal pen to describe it ; it was like the 
 very gentlest breath of a sweet infant, coming for a 
 moment, then going ; we waited in breathless, mo- 
 tionless silence for each succeeding one. It came, 
 it went — it came, it went ; it was the most beauti- 
 ful music that any one could ever hear in this world. 
 Those who heard it can have some faint conception 
 of the music of Heaven. It was, in truth, the har- 
 mony of an immortal soul, whose muddy vesture of 
 decay had grown so pure and heavenly, that its 
 harmony was really audible. It was at fifteen 
 minutes past nine that there was a longer pause — 
 a softer breath — then just a stirring of the limbs — 
 one breath more, and at what moment we could 
 scarcely tell, between fifteen and twenty minutes 
 past nine, our Father's soul sighed itself away. 
 
 " There was the most j)ure and perfect expression 
 of peace upon his face, a smile uj^ou his lips, in 
 which you might read the whole sweet story of 
 mortal sickness without pain, and a soul entirely 
 prepared. They say there might be a thousand 
 
11 
 
 deaths, and not one so calm and peaceful, or even 
 approaching it in peace." 
 
 A good thing is it for ns, my fellow- citizens and 
 friends,— a good thing is it for us to come up into 
 the house of God, and receive such testimony as this ! 
 My dear friends, bereaved in the unexpected 
 loss of one whom you have revered, loved, and 
 honored, thank God to-day, that you have had such 
 a friend, and that he has been spared to you so long. 
 Congratulate him, congratulate yourselves, that his 
 has been such a safe and happy death. 
 
 To those Christian friends who have been asso- 
 ciated with him in church privileges, and whose 
 voices have often joined in this place with his in 
 prayer and praise, let me say, take comfort and 
 encouragement from the new evidence of the reality 
 of your religion, that has been thus addressed to you. 
 My fellow-citizens, honored members of that 
 profession which has furnished us so many of the 
 laws of evidence, as applicable to our religion,— so 
 many noble specimens of Christian character in our 
 own and in foreign lands,— from whose profession it 
 has pleased the Holy Ghost to borrow so many fo- 
 rensic analogies in illustration of the moral govern- 
 ment of God,— oh! receive the testimony thus 
 brought to you from an honored brother and asso- 
 ciate^^nd understand how great a thing it is to be 
 truly religious ! 
 
IS 
 
 To die, is to be denuded of every thing but our 
 moral affections. More tlian tlie glory of tliis 
 world, — more than all the gifts of intellect, are 
 those qualities that are nurtured in us by the S23irit 
 of God. To be a Christian, to live as a Christian, 
 and to die as a Christian, is the greatest of all things. 
 Deep down beneath your politics, and your jurisj^ru- 
 dence, and your merchandise, and all the turmoil of 
 this life, is this consciousness of your own, that to be 
 a believer in Jesus Christ is the one incomparable 
 wisdom ! The testimony comes to us from those lips, 
 now pale and sj^eechless. Oh ! that they had lan- 
 guage to-day, and they would testify to us more elo- 
 quently than ever, that to believe in Jesus Christ is 
 the way to extract the sting of Death. His own 
 happy experience is the best comment on the words 
 of Scripture: "The sting of death is sin, — Behold 
 the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the 
 world ! " Death is safe to him that believeth in tlie 
 Son of God. 
 
 The Hymn " JiocJc of Ages'"' was sung by the 
 Choir. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Bethune then said : — ■ 
 
 I trust, my friends, you will pardon me for de- 
 taining you a little longer from the private medita- 
 tions which should follow a scene like this. When 
 tidings of the death of Mr. Butler reached this 
 
19 
 
 city, they found me in my library, and I bowed my 
 head upon my hand, and felt the sorrow that one 
 has in losinof a dear friend. But we had been 
 separated so much in life, and, in fact, been so sel- 
 dom together at any time, that I never thought 
 of being remembered by him or his, as especially 
 amons: the number of his friends, — thouo;h I leaned 
 upon the thought that I might love him always. 
 Judge, then, with what grateful pleasure, in these 
 melancholy circumstances, I received from the rep- 
 resentative of his family a recognition as one of 
 those who knew him well, and a request for a few 
 words from lips w^hich they knew were those of 
 friendship — words that would be inspired by 
 truth ! 
 
 / My first acquaintance with Mr. Butler, was in 
 the course of a controversy which occuj^ied many 
 minds at the time, when we held the same views, 
 and differed from many good men. The next time 
 I had the j^leasure of meeting him was one of great 
 interest. It was at Washington, when he was 
 Attorney General of the United States. He did 
 me the kindness of calling to see me on a Saturday, 
 and said, " To-morrow is the Sabbath. It will be 
 more pleasant for you to be with friends than in a 
 public house. Come and dine with us." I went, 
 as you may suj^pose, with great cheerfulness, thank- 
 ful for the courtesy, and the relief which it ofiered 
 
80 
 
 from the bustle of a noisy hotel. The dinner, plain, 
 as a Sabbath dinner should be, I saw was evidently 
 hurried by my host, — when his admirable wife, 
 with that graceful vivacity which you who knew 
 her must remember, and yet with affection that 
 showed itself through the slight tone of badinage, 
 said: "Now I know what you intend. You are 
 going to take Doctor Bethune from his dinner, to 
 see your Sunday Class." It was so. He did not 
 hesitate to hurry me from the table, and take me 
 into a distant part of Washington, into the gallery 
 of a church, where there were certain square or 
 quadrangular pews, — and he there introduced me 
 to some six or seven boys — his Sabbath-School class. 
 He showed a devotion to his work there, and a con- 
 fidence that I would sympathize with him in it, that 
 was very delightful. 
 
 I do not know how it appears to you, but it 
 struck me as one of the finest spectacles of Christian 
 consistency that could be presented. The first law 
 officer of the United States delis^htino; — not actino- 
 as in a matter of form or show — but delighting to 
 hide himself from all his honors upon God's holy 
 day, to lead a few boys nearer to Christ ! 
 
 That was Mr. Butler. My friends, religion was 
 given to us to make us more like God — like our 
 God : not the God of the Hindoo mythology, who 
 lives retired from the interests of the world, absorb- 
 
81 
 
 ed in the contemplation of liis own infinite attributes, 
 bnt the God of constant action, the God who is 
 ever delighting to bless, to do justice and to save ! 
 That is the religion he had, and which we should have. 
 I read of the religion of eminent preachers — of 
 their services and their faith, — but I read without 
 much astonishment. It is their business, it is their 
 duty to be pious. I would as lief think of congrat- 
 ulating a soldier for his courage, as wonder at a 
 preacher because he is religious. It is an insult 
 to a soldier, as I take it, to speak of his bravery. 
 He should be brave as a matter of course. Then, 
 again, I look upon that sort of religion which lies in 
 one's diary, or in the prayer-meeting, or on the Sab- 
 bath — (lies only there, mark you), — as of little or no 
 account in testifying to the power of Christianity. 
 That is religion which is to a man's daily, ordinary, 
 constant life, what the soul is to the man, — what 
 the life is to the body. Religion should pervade 
 the whole of our nature and conduct, or it is not 
 the religion of Christ. We are of various tempera- 
 ments, and placed under different circumstances. 
 One man has a strong physical existence, another 
 is weak and feeble ; one has a vigorous philosophical 
 mind, another is impulsive and warm. But it is the 
 office of true religion to take all these differences 
 and blend them in harmony, in those principles of 
 faith and action which characterize the doctrine of 
 6 
 
82 
 
 God's lioly Word. For tliese differences we are not 
 resj)onsible — they belong to the personal nature 
 God has assigned as ; and grace will work through 
 these differences according to our peculiarities, yet 
 will blend them all in harmony by the great prin- 
 ci23les of faith and action taught us on the pages of 
 God's holy word; and thus the Master provides 
 himself with servants for every department of his 
 work. 
 
 This was the character of him whom we mourn, 
 yet rather congratulate, for his testimony to the 
 power of Christianity. He was a man. He put 
 nothing away from him that was man. I do not, and, 
 I am sure he would not, adoj)tthe sentiment casual- 
 ly and but partially expressed by my dear and Reve- 
 rend friend (Dr. Sprague), who " almost " regretted 
 to find him fighting in the controversies of political life. 
 My friends, I ask you — as he would have asked — 
 why should a man, because he is a Christian, be un- 
 faithful to his country ? What is the use of his re- 
 ligion, as a citizen, if it does not consecrate him to his 
 political duties ? I do not know how it may strike 
 you — some of you doubtless have agreed with him, 
 some have differed from him, and others have at vari- 
 ous times, agreed, or differed with him, and from him, 
 as I have, but this is true,^ — that if we had more 
 Benjamin F. Butlees in our jDolitical life, we should 
 have a better government and a better State. It 
 
83 
 
 is because you, Christian men, do not do your duty 
 as citizens at primary meetings, at the polls, and in 
 more public offices, it is because you do not do your 
 duty, that our land is given up so mucli to trading 
 office-seekers, and hired gladiators. We may not 
 all think alike, but I should as soon tbink of ex- 
 communicating a man from my Christian symjDathy 
 because be was a Baptist or an Episcopalian, as of 
 denying a man's patriotism because his views of 
 political expediency or doctrine were not the same 
 as my own. It is preposterous to say that where a 
 country, like ours, is divided so nearly into two great 
 parties, that one or the other half of the nation, 
 must be either rogues or fools. 
 
 But when we have men of large and noble minds 
 and sentiments to discuss those questions of diifer- 
 ence, — when we have men whose hearts are con- 
 trolled by responsibility to God, who in all the 
 earnestness of working out their own salvation, can- 
 not forget the interests of their country, as public 
 servants, then may we hope for better things than 
 now. The character of Mr. Butler was consistent 
 throughout. "Whatever might have been said of 
 him in the hurly-burly of pohtical strife, — in the 
 glow and heat of party contest, — there is not one 
 who can stand beside that coffin, and say of the 
 sleeper within it, that he was not a true man. 
 
 I beg pardon for allowing myself to be led so 
 
84 
 
 far out on this subject, but I feel strongly what I 
 say. 
 
 When the great Pompey was sick at Neapolis, 
 and was supposed to be near death, the whole 
 population put garlands on their heads, and went 
 to the house in which he lay, to congratulate him 
 upon so happy and easy a close of such an honored 
 life. He recovered, and he recovered to die at last, 
 assassinated by a eunuch and a slave upon a desert 
 shore. 
 
 My friends, I have more of congratulation for 
 the spirit which animated this clay than I have of 
 grief He lived well; he died well; and now he 
 lives for ever more ! Not a shadow over his pre- 
 cious memory, except the softening light of that 
 blessed evening, the precursor of a morning which 
 shall never fade. No abatement of his natural 
 strength, — no failure of his strong mind, — no chill 
 of his ardent heart : nothing to regret : all to hope 
 for. Did he not die well ? 
 
 It was in a foreign land, — ^but those who were 
 dearest to his heart, brought home about his bed, — 
 and Paris is as near to Heaven as New York. He 
 died well. And he went to his heavenly home, not 
 unwelcomed. There was one to meet him on the 
 very threshold of his Father's house — one, after 
 whom we may believe his heart, since he lost her 
 for a brief season, never ceased to yeal-n. He died 
 well ! He lives for ever ! 
 
85 
 
 He was a man whose piety was his life, and you 
 will pardon me for recurring to that theme for a 
 moment. My dear mother said to me once, of a 
 person whose manner I had spoken well of : "My 
 son, he puts on his politeness as he does his best 
 coat. Give me a man whose politeness is in his 
 skin ! " So it was in Mr. Butlee's religion. It was 
 part of himself There was no affectation about it. 
 No one ever supposed there was. It shone out of 
 his bright eye (can it be, that that bright eye will 
 never shine on us again), it beamed from his coun- 
 tenance, — it came from his heart, — it was a trans- 
 figuration from within, that made his life so beauti- 
 ful in all the grace and kindness of a Christian 
 gentleman. 
 
 Let me say one word more, as I look over this 
 assembly. I am a younger man than Mr. Butlee, 
 though a difference of ten years is not what it was 
 when we were boys. I see before me many, of 
 every period of life, some older, some younger. 
 But how many are absent ? How many of those 
 who were associated with us, — whom we have loved, 
 and honored, and cherished, — with whom we have 
 walked together, — how many have gone, — and how 
 rapidly is the number diminishing ! We must all 
 come to it, my friends. We, too, must die, and die 
 soon. Are we ready ? 
 
PRISON ASSOCIATION. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Prison Association 
 of New York, tlie following resolutions, presented 
 by Jajies H. Titus, were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved^ That the Prison Association of New York, deeply 
 sympathize in the general lament produced by the death of Ben- 
 jamin F. Butler, and have peculiar cause for such sorrow, inas- 
 much as he was one of the most efficient of those individuals who 
 first projected and organized this institution, and has continued 
 since, by official services, wise counsel, and material aid, to pro- 
 mote its usefulness. 
 
 Resolved^ That in the life and character of Benjamin F. 
 Butler, we acknowledge a pattern worthy of imitation by those 
 who venerate virtue and love truth ; seeing that he was, as a 
 jurist, learned and upright ; as a statesman, sagacious in discern- 
 ment, bold in position, and prudent in action ; as a patriot, pure 
 and firm ; as a citizen, discreet and active ; as a man, faithful in 
 business and exact in moral rectitude ; as a Christian, zealous 
 without enthusiasm, devout without superstition, charitable and 
 catholic in spirit, showing his faith by his works. 
 
 Resolved, That the members of this institution tender their 
 condolence to the family of our deceased associate, and that a 
 copy of these resolutions be transmitted to them as evidence of 
 our appreciation of his memory. 
 
87 
 
 After wliicL, on motion of Iseael Russell, the 
 Board adjourned to attend tlie funeral of their de- 
 ceased member. 
 
 JAMES H. TITUS, 
 
 President. 
 John H. Griscom, Ohairman Ex. Com. 
 Jaivies C. HoLDEisr, Hec. See. 
 
 LAW DEPARTMENT OF THE NEW YORK 
 
 UNIVERSITY. 
 
 At a meeting of the Students of the Law De- 
 partment of the New York University, November 
 27th, 1858 ; the following preamble and resolutions 
 were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas^ The sad intelligence of the death of the Hon. Ben- 
 jamin F. Butler has recently been received with sorrow by this 
 community, which for so many years, he has, by his public and 
 private virtues so eminently adorned : and 
 
 Whereas, The deceased was for a period of more than twenty 
 years, intimately connected with the interests of this University, 
 and for a long time its principal Professor of the Department of 
 Law : therefore 
 
 Bcsolved, That the friends of the Institution, as well as the 
 community at large, have, in this bereavement, been deprived of 
 one of its most efficient and worthy members ; and that it is 
 with emotions of profound sorrow, that we pay this tribute of 
 respect to the memory of one, who secured, while living, the 
 esteem and admiration of all with whom he was associated. By 
 
^ Mi 
 
 88 
 
 his fine acquirements as a scliolar, as well as by his fine personal 
 qualities, he had attained an enviable position at the Bar ; while 
 by his labors in the cause of private benevolence, and public 
 charities, he had endeared himself to the hearts of this whole 
 community. 
 
 On motion of Mr. E. B. Holmes, it was resolved, 
 
 That a copy of tlie preamble and resolutions, as 
 
 adopted, be sent to the family of the deceased. 
 
 GILEAD B. NASH, 
 
 per President. 
 William Wirt Hewett, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 » t « 
 
 NEW YOEK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 At the meeting of the New York Typographical 
 Society on Saturday ev-ening, the following resolu- 
 tions were offered, and after remarks from several 
 members, were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas^ The Society have learned with regret the death of 
 one of our most esteemed honorary members, the Hon. Benjamin 
 F. Bdtlek, which sad event recently took place in Paris, whither 
 he had gone for the benefit of his health ; and 
 
 Whereas, Mr. Butler took a deep interest in our welfare, 
 and had proposed some important improvements in regard to our 
 library, which, had he been spared to consummate, would, in all 
 probability, have placed it in a position to compete in usefulness 
 with any similar institution in the city; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That in consideration of the loss this Society has 
 sustained in the death of Mr. Butler, as well as to pay an hum- 
 ble tribute of our esteem and respect to his memory, the Printers' 
 Free Library be draped in mourning for one month. 
 
 09 
 
I 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 lilHIIilllll II I Hill 
 
 011 838 167 1 ^