Yale University Library

39002006350376

Du Ponceau, Peter Stephen
Eulogium in Commemoration of William Tilghman,
Philadelphia, 1827.

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YALE UNIVERSITY
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1941

EULOGIUM
IN COUHEMOIUTIOir OF THE H0ir01IBABI.E
WILLIAM TILGHMAN, LL.D.
Chie/' Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,
AND PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHIOAL SOCIETY, HELD
AT PHILADELPHIA, FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
3SeUSjeveTi tief ore ttie Societ^^
PUBSUAST TO THEIR iPPOISTMEBT,
4T THE UJ\riVERSITr, OJf THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1827.

BT
PETER STEPHEN DU PONCEAU, LL. D.
One of the Vice-Presidents of the Society.

PUBIiIS^ED BV ORDBB.

PHILADELPHIA:
K. H. SMALL, No. 165, CHESVUT STREET.
RwtseU iF Martien, Printers.
1837.

4 S3

Hall of the Society,
October 12th, 1827.
«9 Special Meeting of the American Philosophi
cal Society having been called, for the purpose of
returning the thanks of the Society to Peter S. Du
Ponceau, LL. D. for the Eulogium which he
pronounced, on the 11th inst. on William Tilgh-
man, LL. D. late President of the Society;
It was Resolved, That the thanks of the Society
be presented to Mr. Dp, Ponceau, for the able man
ner in which he performed the duty which had been
assigned him..
It was Resolved, That a copy of the Eulogium
he requested of Mr. Du Ponceau, for publication.
Extract from the Minutes. G. ORB, Secretary.

EULOGIUM.

Gentlemen of the
^American Philosophical Society ^
A SHORT time only has elapsed since we were
assembled in sad commemoration of our former Pre
sident, Thomas Jefferson. A like melancholy occa
sion calls us together. The chair of Franklin is
again shrouded in mourning. Our excellent Presi
dent, William Tilghman, is no more.
This Society has now existed nearly sixty years.
During forty six of that period, three illustrious
Presidents, Franklin, Rittenhouse and Jefferson,
successively filled the Chair. Three others in turn
have succeeded them, who, with Jefferson, have died
within the short- period of the last nine years.
Death seems to have taken his aim at the seat that
was first occupied by the great Franklin, as if to re
mind us that neither superior wisdom, nor exalted
virtues, are a shield against his unerring shafts !
These three last Presidents so rapidly snatched
from us, were Wistar, Patterson) and our lamented

Tilghman. Patterson, whom his profound know
ledge in the higher sciences had deservedly raised
to the greatest honour in our power to bestow ; but
whose modesty could not bear the idea of being
praised even after death, expressly desired that the
usual tribute of an eulogium should not be paid to his
memory. In compliance with his wishes, the Society
reluctantly forbore the public expression of their sor
row for his loss. But his memory will live in our
hearts. I am forbidden to expatiate upon his merits,
therefore, I shall remain silent upon the subject. I
hope his venerated shade will forgive this momen
tary effusion, forced upon me by the recollection of
his talents and of his virtues.
His predecessor, Wistar, whose cherished name
will long be in- honour amqng us, had an Eujogist
worthy of himself; Tilghman was the orator whom
the Society chose on that occasion. You all recollect
with what eloquence he displayed before us the life,
the character j the talents, the virtues of that ex
cellent man ; how he mastered our feelings, rais
ed them from sorrow to admiration, and sunk
them agaiii from admiration to sorrow. But you
will hear him no more ! Those mild, those moving-
accents, the sound of which still seems to vibrate
upon our ears, have vanished in empty air. Wistar
was fortunate in having a Tilghman to celebrate his
worth. Yet when a man dieg, so generally respected.

so universally beloved, our feelings are sufficiently
excited by the event, and do not need the adventi
tious aid of eloquence. Had you thought otherwise,
you would not have made choice of me on this
mournful occasion :
I shall not, therefore, when addressing you,*who,
like me, were the personal friends of the deceased,
endeavour to revive, by pathetic touches, that poig
nant sorrow with which we were all affected at his
death, and which the lenient "hand of time has begun
to assuage. Griefj has had its day, and must give
place to sentiments more dignified, more worthy of
our exalted nature as men, and more consistent with
our principles as members of a Philosophical Associ
ation. The Society had other views in instituting
publip Eulogiums of their departed Presidents, than
to indulge ^private feelings; they wished to hold up
the lives and characters of those distinguished men
as examples for the imitation of others, and at the
same time to preserve a memorial of those whom they
delighted to honour. In future times, when centu
ries shall have passed away, this Gallery of Portraits
will be viewed with the highest interest by our suc
cessors; and that interest will increase as ages roll
on, ^nd as the mist of time shall cast an additional
shade of grandeur over the men and the scenes of the
present day.
We are now in the heroic age of our country. In

the last half century we have lived more than in the
two hundred years which preceded it. During that
period all seemed listless and inanimate, and the
whole land appeared as a picture of still life. The
last fifty years have exhibited a scene fraught every
where with spirit, vigour, and animation. What
wonders have not been achieved during this short
space of time? Independence conquered, a free,
yet a strong government firmly established; immense
territories acquired without blood-shed; the boun
daries of our Rep;ublic extended to the Pacific ocean;
time and space subdued by the alliance of two hos
tile elements, which the genius of one of our asso
ciates first applied to the use of Navigation, and
which defying distance has given to our States that
compactness which nature had denied them ; nume
rous roads and canals concurring to the- same end;
manufactories flourishing all around, where, but a
little while before, a single iron nail could not be fa
bricated ; distant nations clothed by those who but
yesterday had not a blanket to cover the nakedness
of their defenders. Towns, cities, states, millions
ef men organized as free, regular, and independent
Societies, rising, as it were, by enchantment out of
the bosom of the wilderness ; so that Geography, in
despair, throws away her pencil and compasses, un
able to follow the rapid changes which the face of
the country every where exhibits.

9
When we consider these facts, we may reasonably
expect that our posterity will look on the present
epoch with wonder and admiration. To them it will
be the golden age. All those who, during the last
fifty years, or during the fifty years next to come,
have distinguished or shall distinguish themselves by
their talents, valour or patriotism, will be looked
upon as the heroes of old with a degree of reverence
that will increase with time. It will be said " there
were giants in those days." All our distinguished
men will be painted larger than the^life; it will be
an honour to trace one's pedigree to an ancestor who
was known in the " great age^"
There cannot be, therefore, a stronger induce
ment to those who are now living to exert themselves
to the utmost, in order to catch the eye of that pos
terity^ whose feelings I have anticipated, and, for the
same reason, it is our duty to hold up to their view
the meritorious dead. Not that I think that this
honour should be made too cheap; for it would then
fail of its effect, and this Society have done wisely
by restricting it to those whom they distinguished,
while living, by placing them at the head of their
institution. Thus confined to a few, it will be pro
ductive of the best results.. It will excite emulation
amongst our associates, and make thexihair of Frank
lin an object of high and dignified ambition. Science
and letters will gather round that chair, in hopes to

10
reach its elevated seat, and we may expect to see it
again filled with other Franklins, other Jeffersons,
and other Tilghmans.
Under the impression of this cheering hope, I
shall proceed to obey your orders, by laying before
you a sketch of the life and character of our depart
ed President: — A life, the greater part of which was
spent in the midst of us ; a character which we all
well knew and justly appreciated. In retracing both,
I shall but recal facts still fresh in our remembrance,
and echo sentiments common to us all.
William Tilghman was born on the 12th of Au
gust, 1756, in Talbot county, on the Eastern Shore
of Maryland, on his father's estate, near the town
now called Easton. He was descended from an an
cient and respectable English family^ who resided
from time immemorial at a place called Snodgrass,
near Aylesbury, in Kent, where the family records
trace them so far back as the reign of Henry' VIII.
His great grandfather, Richard Tilghman, was the
first of them who emigrated to America. He is said
to have been a surgeon in the fleet of Admiral Blake,
in the service of the commonwealth. He came to
Maryland with his family shortly after the restora
tion of the Stuarts. They settled on the east side of
Chester river, in Queen Anne county, on the estate
now occupied by. Col. Richard Tilghman, one of
their descendants. One of their sons, named Rich-

11
ard, was married to Anne Maria Lloyd, and had by
her several children, one of whom was James, the
father of our deceased President. James was an
eminent lawyer in his day. He studied law under
Tench Francis^ whuse, eldest daughter, Anne, he
afterwards married, and William Tilghman was his
fourth son. Tench Francis had emigrated from Ire
land, and was brother of Richard Francis, the au
thor of the Maxims of Equity, and of Dr. Philip
Francis, the celebrated translator of Horace. Seve
ral of his descendants still reside among us, and move
in the foremost ranks of society.
William was but six years old when his father re
moved to Philadelphia with his family, in hopes of
restoring his mother's health, which was much im
paired. The war between England and France, the
principal theatre of which was in this country, and
which was by its consequences to decide the fate of
the British colonies, was drawing to a close. But a
few years more, and those colonies were to rise into
independent States. As if to prepare for that great
event, literature and science began to be cultivated
in Pennsylvania with an ardour that had not been be
fore witnessed. A public library had been, founded
under the auspices of Franklin ; a society had been
established for the promotion of useful knowledge,
which was the first germ of our association ; the col
lege and academy of Philadelphia, then in the

12

twelfth year of their existence, flourished beyond
all expectation, under excellent masters, and under
the care of their learned and indefatigable founder.
Dr. William Smith. Young Tilghman was placed
in the English school of that institution under the
Rev. Mr. Kinnersley. In two years he was fitted
to enter the Latin school, of which Mr. Beveridge
was then master. There he continued during six
years, his preparatory classical studies under Wallis,
the Rev. Mr. Patterson, and the Rev. Mr. David
son, who successively filled the master's chair. At
the end of that time, being then fourteen years of
age, he was removed with his class to the college.
In those days no royal road had been discovered
to shorten the rugged path to science. The same
course of studies was pursued which had raised Mil
ton and Newton, Pope, Dryden, Locke, and the nu
merous host of English worthies, to that emineiice
which so few now are able to reach. We had not yet
been told that the study of the ancient languages was
useless, nor that they might be learned in the short
space of a few months, without the aid of grammati
cal rules. Knowledge was still sought for at the
fountain heads, and sufficient time and labour were
devoted to its pursuit. It is, therefore, no cause of
wonder that so many great men appeared and
blazed upon us at once, at the period of our Re
volution.

la
Near three years were spent by our Tilghman in
the college exercises, during which time he improv
ed his knbwledge of the ancient languages under
Dr. AlTisOn, studied Mathematics, Philosophy of
Rhetoric, under the learned Dr. Smith, and French
under Paul' Fooks, (anemigraiit Hugonot,) then the
only teacher of that language in this City. He un
derwent a public examinatioit, and had been several
months entitled to his degree, but his father had
concluded to let him continue his studies some
time longer in that excellent institution, when to
wards the close of the year 1771, the death of his
mother put an end to these projects.
Tilghman's father was now growing old, and was
left with the charge of a family of ten children. He
saw the necessity of losing no time to put our Wil
liam in a situation to provide for himself, in case he
should lose his remaining parent. This compelled
him to abandon the plan of education which he had
so wisely begun. He therefore withdrew his son
from college, and placed him as a student in the of-'
fice of the late Mr. Benjamin Chew, who was then at
the head of the legal profession in this City, and was
afterwards the last Chief Justice of the Province un
der the proprietary government, and President of
the High Court of Errors and Appeals under the
Commonwealth, in which office he continued until
that Court was abolished. An intimate friendship

14
had long subsisted between Mr. Chew and the elder
Tilghman, and therefore it must be presumed that
he took the greatest care to promote his son's ad
vancement in knowledge, for which no one was bet
ter fitted than himself.
William Tilghman remained four years under the
tuition of Mr. Chew, assiduously attending to his stu
dies and to the duties of the office. But while he
was so engaged, the Revolution broke out, and in
1776 the independence of these States was formally
declared. This rendered a change necessary in the
arrangements of the family. His father, who stood
high in the esteem of the proprietaries, had enjoy
ed under them an honourable and lucrative office^
which he, of course, lost, when the old government
ceased to exist. He was now sixty years old, at the
head of a numerous family. He had a valuable
estate in Maryland, to which he was obliged to look
for support. He therefore determined to remove
again to that colony, now become an independent
state, and struggling with the rest for its political
existence. In consequence of this new arrangement, William
Tilghman left Mr. Chew's office in December, 1776,
and proceeded to Maryland, where some of his bro
thers and sisters had preceded him. From that time
until the summer of 1799, he lived in great retire
ment on an estate of his father, in Queen Anne

15
county, called the Forest, which estate, after his
father'^s death came to his share, and continued in his
possession until he died. During that period of two
years alnd a half, he pursued with ardour his favourite
studies. Jurisprudence, History, and the Belles
Letters. In the summer of 1779, he removed to
Chester Town, where his father had fixed his
residence. And there, until the close of the revolu
tionary war, in the year 1783, he continued his
studies with the same zeal and perseverance as he
had done in his former retreat ; and during those six
years that he spent at the Forest and at Chester
Town, he became intimately acquainted with the
great writers of Greece and Rome, and acquired
that taste for ancient Literature, which adhered to
him to his last day.
The family of Tilghman, it appears, entertained
different opinions on the great question which at that
time divided the mother country from the Colonies.
His eldest brother Tench Tilghman, had at an
early period taken a decided and active part in favour
of the revolution. His military talents were soon
distinguished by Washington, who attached him to
his person, as his aid-de-camp, in which capacity he
remained until the conclusion of the war, after
which, like the modern Cincinnatus, he returned to
his farm. One of his younger brothers, Philemon,
took service in the British navy, and married a

daughter of Admiral Milbanke, by whom he had
several children, who now reside in England- The
others took different parts, as their opinions or incli
nations led them. Such are the lamentable effects of
civil wars. Another effect of those political storms,
which this country for a while severely felt, is,
that when they break out, those young men whose
education is not yet finished, are called too soon into
active life, and a whole generation feels the deficiency
of the precious instruction which it would otherwise
have acquired, and of which the country would have
received the benefit. It is happy for a nation, when
under such circumstances, some young men are
found, who, like Tilghman, leave the helm of State
and the brunt of battles, to more ardent and aspiring
minds, and prepare themselves in silence to repair in
peace the evils produced by war.
At last the temple of Janus was closed ; the pomp
and circumstances of war were laid aside, and the
American nation sat down to enjoy her dear bought
independence. Tilghman had now entered his twen
ty-seventh year ; he saw that it was time to abandon
his beloved retirement, and to act a part on the great
theatre of the world. He began the practice of the
law, in which he soon became eminent, and the eye
of the public from that time was fixed upon him.
In this country, public employments follow a man of
merit as surely as the shadow follows the substance.

17
William Tilghman, in the midst of his successful
and lucrative pjfaetice, was three times successively
elected to serve as a member of the legislature of
Maryland in the years 1788, 1789, and 1790. In
1789, he was proclaimed one of the electors appoint
ed to choose the first president under the federal
constitution. In 1791, he was elected a member of
the state senate, and continued in that elevated sta
tion until his removal to Pennsylvania, which took
place some time towards the end of 1793, or begin
ning of 1794.
Various motives contributed to induce this change
of residence. He had always felt a strong attach
ment to this State, where he had received his educa
tion, and had spent the happiest days of his early
youth. His reverence, however, as well as his filial
affection for his aged parent, who preferred the resi
dence of Maryland, had fixed him to that soil. This
impediment was now removed, as his father had died
on the 24th of August, 1793, at the advanced age of
eighty years. Another motive of a softer kind, pro
bably also attracted him to the city of Philadelphia ;
for on the 1st of July, 1794, he was married to Mar
garet, the second daughter of James Allen,, son of
the Hon. William Allen, who had preceded Mr.
Chew, in the office of chief justice of the province
of Pennsylvania, a lady whose personal and mental
qualities were in every way calculated to engage his

18
affection, and whom he most tenderly cherished
while she lived, and bitterly lamented after her
death. No sooner was he settled in Philadelphia, than he
applied himself to the practice of the legal profession.
The Bar of this city at that time was justly consider
ed as the first in the United States. Wilson, indeed,
had quitted it for a seat on the supreme bench of the
Union, and the elder Sergeant had recently fallen a
victim to that dreadful disorder, which will make
the year 1793 ever memorable in our annals ; but
Bradford, then attorney general of the United States,
Lewis, Dallas, the elder Ingersoll, the elder Tilgh
man, and others of the old school, not yet entirely
extinguished, were still alive, and in the full display
of their brilliant talents. In addition to these, Phi
ladelphia being then the seat of the general govern
ment, its courts were resorted to by Hamilton, Ames,
Pringle, and other eminent advocates from the neigh
bouring and from the most distant States, and our
halls resounded with the thunders of their eloquence.
Such were the competitors, in the midst of whom
Tilghman was suddenly placed.
His talents were not of that cast which distin
guished most of the men whom I have just named.
Modest and diffident of his own merit, he never
could entirely conquer those feelings, which men of
superior minds have so often found in the way of

19
their professional success. This must be ascribed to
the long time that he spent in studious retirement,
which, while it added to his stock of knowledge and
strengthened his judgment, left him deprived of those
advantages which a bold and ready elocution can
command. Yet his practice was respectable. His
profound knowledge, his discriminating mind, and
his logical acumen, made him a powerful antagonist
in those cases where not the passions of a jury, but
the discernment of enlightened judges, must be ap
plied to. There he felt conscious of his powers, and
displayed them to the greatest advantage, and very
often with success. He could be eloquent also when
not called upon to display that talent on the spur of
the moment : you, my colleagues, have witnessed on
more than one occasion, and particularly when he
roused all your feelings on that of the death of our
beloved Wistar.
Thus dividing his time between a profession that
he loved, and a wife whom he adored, he enjoyed as
much happiness as may be expected to fall to the lot
of man; but that hapipiness, alas I was not to be of
long duration. A little more than three years had
elapsed from the time of his marriage, when he had
the misfortune to lose that wife, on whom he had
rested his fondest hopes. She died in the month of
December, 1797, leaving behind her a daughter, the
only pledge of their mutual affection, who was also

20
doomed to an untimely fate. But we must not anti
cipate. His feelings under this affliction, may be
more easily imagined than described. From that
moment he vowed never to unite his fate to another
woman, and he was faithfiil to his vow. The wound
which that loss inflicted never was entirely cured.
He seldom spoke of his departed wife, even to his
most imtimate friends. The papers he left behind
him, are full of the endearing recollections of that
excellent woman.
Like all men endowed with strong sense, he did
not, however, suffer himself to be mastered by the
passion' of grief; but plunged into business to divert
his mind from the contemplation of his sorrow. The
acuteness of his feelings roused him to increased ex
ertion ; his talents were displayed with more force
than they had been before, and soon became so con
spicuous as to point him out to the national, as well
as to the state government, as a fit character for the
most elevated stations in the judicature of his coun
try. The opportunity soon offered to place him in
a situation worthy of himself.
Congress having thought proper to establish a
new organization of the Circuit Courts of the United
States, Mr. Tilghman was appointed by President
John Adams, on the 3d of March, 1801, presiding
Judge of the third circuit, which consisted of East
ern and Western Pennsylvania, and the states of

21
New Jersey and Delaware. His associates were
Mr. Griffith, of New Jersey, a lawyer of great emi
nence, and Mr. Bassett, of Delaware. He was in
this manner placed at the head of the federal judi
ciary of three States ; but did not remain long in that
situation, as in the year following, the system was
again altered, and the new courts abolished. This
last change is still lamented by many well wishers to
the good government of this country.
Under that arrangement two circuit courts only
were held in the city of Philadelphia, the part of his
circuit where arose the causes of the greatest impor
tance. There he began to display those judicial
talents for which he has become so justly celebrated.
On the dissolution of the court, he was seen to
descend from the bench with universal regret.
Still modest and unassuming, he at once returned
to the exercise of his profession. But he had not
long to continue in it. Oh the resignation of judge
Coxe, in the year 1805, he was appointed by Gover
nor M'Kean, President of the several courts of the
first judicial circuit of this State, which then consist
ed of the city and county of Philadelphia, and of the
counties of Bucks, Montgomery, and Delawai'e.
This was only a step to a more elevated seat.
About the close of the same year, the office of
Chief Justice of this commonwealth became vacant,
by the resignation of the venerable Edward Shippen,

22
a few months before his lamented death. The
appointment of a successor to that great and good
man was become an object of the most serious consi
deration. Party spirit was then high in Pennsylva
nia. There were men at that time who sought popu
larity by exciting the people against the judiciary
order. The bar was the principal object of their
animadversions, and lawyers were the butt of their
constant invective. Nothing less was talked of than
their entire destruction. This spirit, strange as it
may seem, had found its. way into the Legislature,
who in the beginning- of 1806, passed two celebrated
laws, the object of wTiich was to enable parties to
manage their causes, without the aid of attornies or
counsel. By one of them, the forms of judicial
proceedings were altered with that special view ; by
the other, a compulsory mode of trial by arbitration
was established. These acts are still in force ; but
their effect has not been such as was expected from
them. Under those circumstances, it became of the high
est importance to place a proper person at the head
of the judiciary of Pennsylvania. Governor M'Kean,
than whom there was not a better judge of merit,
found in Mr. Tilghman, a man profoundly versed in
the laws of his country, a man of firmness of charac
ter, and at the same time of a mild and conciliating
disposition, and he made choice of him for that high

23
station. His choice was justified by the event.
The prejudice against the law and lawyers which
had risen to such an alarming height, gradually sub
sided, and every thing soon returned to its usual
channel. That temporary effervescence is now
almost entirely forgotten.
Mr. Tilghman was appointed to the office of Chief
Justice, on the 26th of February, 1806, and held it
during the space of 21 years, to the time of his death.
It was before that appointment, and while he was yet
at the bar, that he was elected a member of our
Society, on the 19th of April, 1805.
At that time, it must be acknowledged, and from
thence until after the peace of 1814, our Association
seemed struck with an extraordinary apathy ; the
spirit which Franklin and Rittenhouse had infused
and kept alive, no longer stimulated us. Jefferson
was, indeed, our President, but his residence was
too far from us, and being at the head of the Gov
ernment of the United States, he had no leisure to
attend to the calls of science ; the commerce of the
world which oui' country, fbr a long time enjoyed,
interrupted as it was by the orders and decrees of the
then two great powers of Europe, and the short war
which followed, engrossed the attention of our
citizens; literature and science were not encouraged,
their friends seemed to be folding their arms in.
despair, and waiting for better times.

24
Those times at last arrived, and a new spirit was
felt in the passing breeze. Mr. Jefferson resigned
the Presidency which he could not exercise at a dis
tance from the scene of our labours, and recom
mended Wistar for his successor. Wistar was
elected in January, 1815, and Jonathan Williams,
the nephew of Franklin, and one of our most active
and useful members, was raised to a Vice President's
seat by the side of Patterson and Barton. From
that moment our Society began to revive ; a new and
strong impulse was given, the effects of which did
not remain long unperceived.
Till then the Society had confined their pursuits
to the sciences and arts which have the material
world for their object, to the exclusion of those
which are called, by way of distinction, the moral
sciences. Many of our members, however, had
paid more attention to the latter, than to the former
of these two great divisions of human knowledge, and
therefore were prevented from sharing in the
labours of their Society. It was at once perceived
how important it would be to secure the co-operation
of those men, by enlarging the field of the Society's
researches. A new committee was added to the six
that already existed, which was denominated the
Committee of History, the Moral Sciences and Gene
ral Literature. Like all innovations, this was not
introduced without difficulty; but the friends of the

25
measure at last succeeded. Among those who
exerted themselves to procure its adoption, Mr.
Tilghman was conspicuous. His successful exer
tions were rewarded with the honourable appoint
ment of chairman to the new committee, his conduct
showed that that trust could not have been placed in
better hands.
The Society did not limit to that the expression of
their gratitude. In the year that I am speaking of,
they suffered the loss of two of their vice-presidents,
who rahked among their most distinguished mem
bers. Jonathan Williams, whom I have just men
tioned, and Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, died witWn a
short period of each other. Williams was deeply
skilled in natural philosophy ; his valuable communi
cations enriched our memoirs, and some of them re
ceived the honours of a translation into various Eu
ropean languages, even into the Russian. The fame
of Barton as a naturalist and philologist, extended
over both worlds. His Elements of Botany were re
printed in England, and translated at St. Peters
burg. His numerous memoirs and dissertations threw
considerable light on the natural history of our coun
try. And he was the first who, by the publication of
his "New Views," drew the attention of the learned
to the languages of our American Indians, which now
constitute so interesting a part of the philological
science.

26
At the election of officers which took place in Ja
nuary, 1816, Mr. Tilghman was chosen to succeed
Dr. Barton, as one of the vice presidents of the So
ciety, while he remained at the same time at the head
of the Historical and Literary Committee. In this
double capacity he displayed the greatest activity
and zeal.
The Historical Committee was then engaged in an
extensive correspondence, in order to collect the
fleeting materials of the history of our country. For
that purpose they met regularly every week, and
their labours were crowned with success. They ob
tained a large quantity of important documents,
which probably otherwise would have been lost to
our posterity. In his eulogium on Dr. Wistar, Mr.
Tilghman feelingly described those meetings, and
told you how they were often prolonged to a late
hour in the night, while the members sat heedless of
passing .time " over the embers of a dying fire."
But he did not speak of the part he had in creating
that interest, which riveted us to the spot, while he
poured out the rich stores of his classic mind. At
those meetings he never failed to attend. Tilghman,
Wistar, Correa, occasionally Heckewelder, and
others still living, formed the active part of the com
mittee. Tilghman and Wistar were its life and soul,
and their labours were not the less unremitted, nor
less important, for not being so conspicuous as those

27
of the members whose exertions they stimulated and
encouraged. In this manner three short years elapsed,
in the course of which the Society published a vo
lume of Philosophical and one of Historical Transac
tions : but those three years were marked by private
and public calamity.
On the 17th June, 1817, our excellent Tilghman
lost his only daughter, on whom, since the death of
his beloved wife, he had fixed all his happiness in
this life. She died in child-bed at the premature
age of 23 years. She had not been long before uni
ted to the man of her choice, who enjoyed and me
rited her tenderest affection. The grief of Tilghman
on meeting with this sad stroke, can only be com
pared to that of the Roman orator, when he lost his
adored Tulliola. With what pathetic feeling did it
burst from him, when called upon, in the succeed
ing year, by this Society, to perform the mournful
task of commemorating the death of his friend
Wistar ! " We have lost him," said he, " in the
strength of life, and vigour of intellect ; too soon,
indeed, for his family and his country ; but not too
soon for his own happiness. Protracted life might
have been embittered by bodily pain ; the frailties
of nature might have dimmed the lustre of brighter
years ; or death> which spared him, might have de
solated his house, and left him solitary and cheer
less, to encounter the infirmities of age. Happy,

28
then, wert thou, Wistar, in death, as well as in
life." Thus Tilghman spoke. The tears which inter
rupted him, at this part of his discourse, made a
deep impression on the audience. Every heart re
echoed — happy, indeed, wert thou, Wistar! and
we forgot for a moment our sorrow for the death of
that great and good man, to ponder on the misfor
tunes of his venerable Eulogist.
He had now, as he expresses himself in a pathetic
effusion, found among his papers after his death, at
tained the age of sixty years, and survived parents,
brothers, sisters, wife, and child, and but few of his
dearest connexions remained in this world. On6
would think, that he had exhausted the cup of afflic
tion. But another trial remained for him. Before
three years had elapsed, he lost his last hope upon
the earth, his grand-child. I shall not dwell on
that melancholy event. When the mind has been
shaken by a great calamity, it is prepared for every
.thing, and it is but moderately affected by subse
quent strokes. Tilghman had learned the vanity of
earthly blessings, and fixed his hopes on a better
world : he looked down for a moment again upon
earth, dropped a tear, and sought consolation in the
bosom of his God.
There' he found sure and solid comfort. Another
paper found after his death, in which he poured out

29
before his Maker, the sorrows of his afflicted sovAf
breathes such a spirit of placid resignation to the wilt
of Divine Providence, as shows that his prayers had
been heard, and that he had been inspired with for
titude from above.
The death of Wistar was the public calamity to
which I have alluded. He died on the 22d of Janu
ary, 1818. I will not recal the feelings which
were excited by that lamented event. He was suc
ceeded by Patterson, who died on thte 22d of July,
1826, and Tilghman, now near the close of his life,
was, on the 7th of January following, elected to suc
ceed him.
The Society, as I have before mentioned, had eX'
tended the sphere of its labours, so as to take in the
whole circle of physical and moral sciences, and the
useful arts. Its chair was successively filled by
representatives, as it were, of the most promi
nent objects of our investigations. The press was
first honoured in the person of Franklin. With
Rittenhouse, astronomy took its place. The phi
losophy of nature next sat with Jefferson. With
Wistar, triedicine, and with Patterson the mathe
matical sciences were placed at the head of our
Institution. Legislation and jurisprudence remained,
and Tilghman was deservedly chosen as the fittest
person among us to receive the' homage due to that

.iG
science on which depends the peace, the social or
der, and the happiness of mankind.
The honours which our Society thus conferred
upon our lamented President, were by him unsought
as well as unexpected. He was too diffident of his
own merit to pretend to scientific or literary dis
tinctions. He never bought fame while he lived,
and probably never dreamt that it would follow his
name after his death. While in the stillness of his
closet, he was penning those judgments, which, by
the care of able and faithful reporters, now fill nume
rous volumes, and will go down with applause to pos
terity, he little thought what a solid monument he
was erecting to his own fame, and the happiness of
his country.
The merit of those decisions does not lie in a bril
liant or pompous style, nor in any of those meretri
cious prnaments, which, however attractive to the
vulgar, are unbecoming the dignity of a judge.
Simplicity, clearness, profound learning, close rea
soning, sound logic, and pure morality, are the cha
racteristics of the judicial opinions of that distin
guished jurist. But what makes them most valua
ble in our eyes, and forms his proud title to the dis
tinctions which he received at our hands, is the phi
losophical spirit which they breathe. It is the alli
ance of philosophy with law; sister sciences too long

ai
divided, and which he happily reconciled. The
twenty years of his chief justiceship will form an
epoch in the jurisprudence of our State. I am not
called upon to expatiate on the judicial labours of
Mr. Tilghman. That task will be accomplished by
an abler hand than mine. My task is to draw out of
them the evidences of his philosophical mind, and to
show the profound philosopher in the learned judge.
In England, and in most of the United States, law
and equity are distinct codes, administered by dif
ferent tribunals, or if in some places by the same
judges, yet as different laws, and by different forms
and modes of proceeding. The one system is founded
in a great measure on the civil, the other acknow
ledges only the common law. Thus justice in her
balance has different weights and measures, accord
ing to the tribunal in which she is sought. What is
just in one Court, is illegal in the other. . Coke and
Ulpian are often at variance, and the plain citizen is
at a loss to know which of the two he is to obey.
This anomalous system never was introduced into
Pennsylvania ; all the attempts that were made to
establish here a Court of Chancery, whether on the
English or American model, successively failed ; it
followed, that the common law was, in many cases,
found insufficient for the purposes of justice. Before
the revolution, this evil was little felt ; as in thqs'e

32
4ays the affairs of men were simple, and complicated
transactions seldom took place. But when, after the
general peace, commerce began to flow in upon us,
numerous questions arose which the common law
could not equitably solve, and cases occurred in
which it could not afford adequate redress. Profes
sional men in general thought that a Court of Chan*
eery wa§ the only remedy to be recurred to ; but
the Legislature and the people thought otherwise. A
few remedial statutes were made from time to time^
to provide for new cases as they occurred ; but the
evil was yet far from being cured.
At last the illustrious M'Kean proclaimed from the
bench, that " Equity is a part of the common law of
Pennsylvania," and that the ordinary Courts are
competent to apply its rules under their own forms
of proceeding, and on this principle he decided a
question which the common law, left to itself, would
have resolved into injustice. By equity he did not
mean, as some have affected to understand that word,
the fluctuating notions or opinions of a Judge, but
those eternal principles of right and wrong, the
offspring of genuine philosophy, which the wisdom of
the ancient jurists discovered, and the Courts of
Chancery have sanctioned; a science consisting of
positive rules, reduced to a regular system, the
superiority of which over what is called the strict

33
common law, is so wdl established, that whenever
courts of law and equity exist together, the former
do not hesitate to submit to the injunctions of the
latter ; thus admitting the superior equity of the
chancery code over their own.
This happened in the year 1787. But the bar
were not then prepared to give their full aid to the
establishment of this excellent system. The ¦princi
ple was, indeed, admitted ; but more in theory than
in practice-^-difficulties seemed to occur at every
step ; nearly twenty years elapsed under this kind
of hesitation^ until a chief justice was selected from
our ranks, and a philosopher ascended the bench.
Let prejudice misrepresent thee as it will ; still,
Philosophy ! thou art the friend and benefactor of
mankind. Justly did the great poet of nature bestow
upon thee the epithets of charming and divine :
How charming is divine Philosophy I
'Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lEte,*
Nor impious and vain, as presumptuous igno
rance has pretended ; but hand in hand with thy
sister religion, leading weak mortals to sound know
ledge in. this world, and through knowledge, to hap
piness in the next. Whether with thy Newton, thy
Franklin, and thy Galileo, thou discoverest the hid-
* Shakspeave.

34
den laws of nature and the course of visible worlds; or
with thy Bacon and thy Locke, thou divest into
the depths of the human mind, and from the harmo
nies of moral truths, elicitestthe eternal and immuta
ble rules of reason and justice — thou art entitled to
the veneration and gratitude of the human race.
Thine it is to unravel the complicated affairs of men,
to still their wild contentions, and, by thy powerful
light, to direct the Judge, amidst his maze of prece
dents, to the point where the rays of truth and justice
meet, and where no technical illusions can obstruct
|iis sight.
It was reserved for Tilghman, with the aid of able
and enlightened colleagues, to carry into effect the
plan which the genius of his great predecessor had
conceived. His philosophical mind perceived at
once, how equity could be combined with law ; how
two systems, apparently discordant, could be amal
gamated into an homogeneous whole ; he found in
the common law itself, principles analogous to those
which courts of equity enforce; principles too long
obscured by the unmeaning distinctions and frivolous
niceties of scholastic men ; he wiped off the dust from
the diamond and restored it to its pristine splendor ;
and though he did not entirely complete that im
mense work, which still wants the aid of wise legis
lators and liberal judges, he brought it to that degree
of perfection which defies all attempts to destroy it

^5
in futurej and Pennsylvania boasts of a code of laws
which her ordinary courts may safely administer
without the fear of doing injustice, and without need
ing to be checked by an extraordinary tribunal pro
fessing a different system of jurisprudencie.
With the same enlightened and philosophical spi
rit, Tilghman always gave a fair and liberal con
struction to the statutes which the legislature made
from time to time for the amendment of the law
and simplifying the forms of proceeding, which,
however they might be suited to the meridian of
England, were not well calculated for this country.
If those statutes were not always drawn with the re
quisite skill, he would supply it by their spirit, and
would, as much he could, carry into effect the inten
tions of the legislator. Thus, by his interpretation
of the statutes called of Jeofail, our practice is now
freed from those technical entanglements by which
justice was too often caught, as it were, in a net, and
the merits of a cause made to yield to formal niceties,
while chicane Rejoiced at the triumph of iniquity.
Nor did he hesitate to brush away the cobwebs of the
old English law, when he found them inconsistent
with the spirit of our own constitution and laws, or
with the habits, manners, and feelings of our people.
He was, nevertheless, a friend to the common law.
As a system, he admired it; as th%law of this land, he
enforced if. He cherished it principally as the foun-

36
tain of those principles of civil and religious free
dom, which, while despotism enslaved a willing world,
it was the first to proclaim, and which the nations
of the old and new hemisphere, through bloody wars
and revolutions, have been, and are still striving with
various success, to naturalize in soils not yet, per
haps, sufficiently prepdred for their reception. Trial
by jury, the liberty of the press, the sacred privi
lege of habeas corpus, always fou'nd in him a warm
and an able supporter; and on these subjects it is
enough to say, that he established the long contested
general rule, that security for good-behaviour should
not be demanded before conviction, particularly in
cases of alleged libel, where the accusation involves
the great principle of the liberty of the press; a de
cision worthy of Holt or Camden, and of the best
times of English frfeedom.
His opinions on constitutional likw, wiir remain a
lasting monument to his feme. No man understood
better than himself the complicated mechanism of our
federal system ; no one pdrceived with a clearer ken
the limits which sep&rate the rights and powers of
the National and State authorities; none ever defined
those rights with greater precision and accuracy, or
asserted them with grealtfer firmness and impartiality.
He never would assume jurisdiction when it appeared
to him that the courts of the United States Were ex
clusively entitled to it, and on the other, he never

shrunk froni the exercise of his own rights as a State
judge. Thus, in a well known case, he maintained
the doctrine, that a State court might interfere and
give relief, when a citizen was illegally deprived of
his liberty under colour of the federal authority.
In cases depending on international law, his vast
knowledge and erudition particularly shone. He
settled several important points, on questions of
conflictus legum ; a branch of the legal science not
yet sufficiently investigated, either in Europe or in
this country, and the principles of which still re
main to be fixeti on that broad and liberal basis,
which the mutual convenience of nations seems to
require. It is a remarkable fact, that during the twenty-on";
years that he presided over our Supreme Court, his
opinions never were over-ruled by a majority of his
colleagues, except in one instance, in which it is dif
ficult to say which sentiment ought to have prevail
ed. In the other States of this Union, his decisions
are considered as a high and weighty authority, in
many cases, as leading and dt|jcisive. His rank is
now established among the first judicial characters
that this country has produced.
In politics, he was a warm patriot, and a friend to
civil and religious liberty. But he never mixed in
party intrigues, and never learned to hate men for
6

38
being of a different opinion from his own. When
great and important questions arose, which involved
the fate and the happiness of his country, he took a
decided part, and his talients and influence were de
voted to the support of the opinion that he had es
poused. Thus we know that he was a zealous friend
to the adoption of our present happy constitution,
and that he promoted it by his exertions in the Ma
ryland legislature. We know also that through life
he was sincerely attached to its principles, and con
sidered the union of the States as the bulwark of our
future happiness. He was a warm admirer of Wash
ington, who, on his part, entertained a high opinion
of his character, and honoured him with his familiar
correspondence. There was between them a per
fect congeniality of sentiments and feelings. His
opinions on political subjects were never concealed ;
but he did not espouse the passions of any party ;
much less did he carry them with him to the high
seat of justice. A scrupulous adherence to the con
stitution and laws, a strong attachment to liberty, or
der, and good government, are all that can be ga
thered of his politics from the mass of his numerous
judicial opinions.
His politics, indeed, were of that enlarged cast,
which accorded very little with party feelings. He
viewed the interest of his country on the most ex-

39
tended scale. He looked forward to posterity, and
was not contented with raising a tottering edifice for
the present generation. Agriculture and manufac
tures he considered as the most solid foundations of
our national prosperity. Commerce he did not un
dervalue, but it would be sure to follow and prosper
in their train.
Consistently with these principles, he was a zea
lous and active member of the Philadelphia Society
for promoting Agriculture. In the year 1814, he
was elected their vice-president, in the place of the
patriotic George Clymer, and continued in ths^t office
to the time of his death. While residing on his fa
ther's farm in Maryland, he had become familiar
with the subject of their investigations. T^ie dis
course which he delivered before them on the 18th
of January, 1820, is replete with practical as well as
theoretical knowledge. It abounds with interesting
facts, and displays at the same time the talents and
eloquence of the writer.
He was the president of the Society for the encour
agement of American manufactures, and there he may
be said to have been pursuing one of the objects near
est to his heart. He thought that America never could
be independent without manufactures. We might
as well have remained colonies to Great Britain as
not to manufacture for ourselves ; for the prohibition

40
of those arts was the basis of the English colonial sys
tem. Indeed, he carried this feeling to that degree
of enthusiasm, that for ten ytars before his death he
would not wear any article that was not manufactured
in this country. He had once the satisfaction to
make an importer of British goods, strongly preju
diced in favour of his merchandise, acknowledge
that a piece of superfine American cloth which he
showed him was better dyed than the best English
cloth of the same quality. How he triumphed on
that occasion, his friends to whom he was fond of re
lating the circumstance, may well remember.
How he patronized the arts and sciences, and
every species of American improvement, I need not
tell you who have been witnesses of his exertions.
But those were not confined to the bosom of our So
ciety, they displayed themselves in every scientific
and literary institution to which he belonged, and
those were numerous. Of the Academy of Natural
Sciences, and of that of the Fine Arts, he was a va
lued associate. He was distinguished as one of the
Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania,
over whose deliberations he and a venerable member
of our Society, now living, were generally called
upon to preside. The Philadelphia Athenaeum,
founded in 1814, and now so flourishing, chose him
for their president. He presided in like manner

41
over the Society which was incorporated in 1821,
for establishing the Law Academy of this city, to
whose success he mainly contributed. The Academy
will ever revere the memory of their illustrious
patron. I would never have done, were I to enumerate the
religious, charitable, and benevolent associations of
which he was an efficient member. In most of those
Societies he held a distinguished rank; for his
fellow citizens delighted to honour him. Nor were
the tributes of respect he received, confined to this
city or to this State. In the year 1814, Har
vard University, that ancient and celebrated in
stitution, which is known not to be lavish of its
honours, conferred upon him, unsolicited, the de
gree of Doctor of Laws; he was also elected a
member of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. Those distinctions, though unsought, must
have been grateful to him, from a city which rivals
Philadelphia) in her zeal for the promotion of know
ledge. Of his attachment to science, and in particu
lar to our Institution, he gav(^ a proof in the last
solemn act of his life. By his last Will and Testa
ment, he left a legacy of two hundred dollars, to our
Society; and a like one to the Athenaeum of Philadel
phia. Such was the patriotic citizen, the enlightened phi-

42
losopher, the learned and upright judge, whose loss
we deplore, in common with the country to which he
belonged. As his associates, as his friends, we have
yet a tribute to pay to his private worth; I cannot quit
this mournful subject without retracing those per
sonal qualities which endeared him to us all.
You, who have known Wistar and Tilghman
while they both lived, cannot but have observed that
similarity of disposition and feelings which produced
the warm and intimate friendship that subsisted be
tween them. The same expansive philanthropy, the
same love of truth, the same constancy in their
attachments, the same solidity in their friendships.
Alike modest and diffident, each admired in the other
those virtues, which in himself he considered as of
ordinary value. The hearts of those two excellent
men were cast in the same mould, and a true picture
of the one is a faithful delineation of the other.
Tilghman was born with warm passions ; but he
had learned early to subdue them ; the successful
efforts which he made, joined to his excessive modes
ty and diffidence, gave to his first appearance an air
of coldness and reserve, which might be mistaken for
pride or a want of the kinder feelings : but this soon
disappeared on a nearer acquaintance ; yet he pre
served always in his person and manners that proper
dignity which checks undue familiarity, while it

43
puts no obstacle to decent hilarity, or to the warmest
effusions of confidence and friendship among those
who know how to respect themselves and each
other. The genuine warmth of his heart found its noblest
channel in acts of charity and benevolence. His ac
counts show more than seventeen thousand dollars,
expended by him in a few years, in charitable dona
tions, and accommodations of mere kindness. His
contributions toobjects of public utility, form a large
item in the list of his expenses. Yet he was not rich ;
the property he left behind him is far from consi
derable; but his .prudent economy, and the great
order and method with which he managed his pri
vate affairs, enabled him to live as became his sta
tion, and to give full scope to his kind feelings, by
generous and charitable acts.
He was punctual to his engagements ; when he
had made an appointment, he never failed to attend
at the precise moment. In the Court over which
he presided, business Was never delayed on account
of his absence, for he was always ready at his post.
Even a very few days previous to his last illness,
when the signs of approaching dissolution might be
traced on his countenance, he attended to his duty as
long as his strength permitted him. On one of those
days, before the Court was opened, being asked by

44
a friend how he was, he looked steadily in his face,
and answered, "I have not long to live." A few
weeks afterwards he was no more.
He loved justice and equity for their own sakes.
What in others is a virtue, was in him a feeling and
a natural propensity. His strict adherence to truth,
his abhorrence of falsehood, his unshaken integrity,
were known to every one, and from his earliest youth
stood among the most prominent traits of his charac
ter. In Maryland he was called the honest lawyer,
and while in the legislature of that State, this quali
ty, and the well known soundness of his judgment
procured him an unbounded influence. A member
once entered the house while an important question
was taking. Somebody tried to explain it to him.
" It is no matter," answered he, " which side did
Mr. Tilghman support? With him I am sure to be
light." While he was chief justice, he understood
that a case was to be submitted to his decision, in
which the Bank of the United States was concerned.
He immediately sold a share which he held in the
stock of that institution, lest, unknown to himself,
his mind should be in the least biassed. He was so
much on his guard against his private affections, that
his friends used to say, that his enemies had the better
chance of a favourable judgment. The truth is,
that he considered neither friends nor enemies ; jus-

45
tice in his judgments was the single object that he
had in view.
In this line of conduct, which he pursued to the
last day of his life. Philosophy was not his only
guide. Religion also lent her aid. Tilghman was
religious, without" bigotry ; a regular attendant on
public worship,. and a zealous member of the Pro
testant Episcopal Church, to which he belonged.
He feared God and God alone. He was in the ha
bit of communing with himself and with his Maker.
On every return of his birth-day, he reviewed his
past life, and in the presence of God, formed virtuous
resolutions, which he committed to writing. This
was not known to any one until after his death.
Forgiveness of enemies is a leading precept of the
Christian religion. Tilghman not only forgave his
enemies, but did them all the good in his power.
This sentiment was the last which he breathed : " I
am in peace," said he, "with all the world. I bear no
ill will to any human being, and there is no person in
existence, to whom I would not do good, and render
service, if it were in my power; no man can be
happy who does not forgive the injuries that he
may have received from his fellow creatures!"
This was the last time he conversed at any length.
He died in the night of the 30th of April, in the
present year.
7

46
But he will live long in our remembrance. This
is not the last time that we shall indulge in the recol
lection of his virtues. Often will his name be on our
lips, and long will his memory remain in our hearts. It
will be, however, a consolation to us, that the emana
tions of his luminous mind still remain a 'blessing to
our age, and to future generations. As a philosopher,
and as a jurist, his name shall be honoured among us
through a long series of ages.
When, at some distant day, posterity, pointing to
the list of our departed Presidents, shall ask: Who
was Tilghman ? What merits entitled him to this
dignified station? They will be answered: He seat
ed Philosophy on the bench of justice ; Philosophy
in return, placed him in the seat of her Franklin
and her Jefferson. And posterity will exclaim with
one voice : He could not have obtained a nobler re
ward, nor could it have been more justly bestowed.

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