May it please your Honors:
I have been delegated by my brothers
of the bar, to perform the sad duty of presenting these resolutions for
the consideration of the court, in connection with a motion I will make
before I sit down.
The resolutions themselves give an
outline of the character of the deceased, and in fact contain everything
usually selected as the framework of __logium.
But the subject of them has left
behind him the memory of many virtues, that rise before the mind's eye,
on this occasion, like spectres of departing hope, to crave at our hands
the feeble tribute of a passing notice.
He was among the last, as yet, to
obtain at this bar admission to the high position of the legal profession.
We all know under what deep embarrassment
the young practitioner begins his labor at the bar. We all have felt the
shock of an irrepressible emotion, when first we encountered the experience
of the old practitioner, or appealed to the riper wisdom of the court.
Many a youth possessing adequate native talent to guide him to eminence
in his profession--mistaking this experience for superior mental endowments--has
returned with his spear and shield unused, from the very gateway of brilliant
professional career.
These embarrassments beset the pathway
of our deceased young brother with a double potency, for before him had
gone the prestige of his name, in the bright example of his distinguished
father: He well knew that on the one side stood the professional critic,
upon the other the disappointed suitor, with censuring tongue, each measuring
his abilities by that father's experience. Is it then strange that he should
fain turn from the theatre of his fathers labors, from the scenes of his
triumphs, and under the sentence of his own modest judgment, become a voluntary
exile, from the society of cherished friendships, and dearer objects of
childhood memories? Is it not rather natural that he should prefer to commence
his career where strangers would view him in the light of his own merits,
and find a ready apology for the errors of inexperience in the admiration
of his native talents! -- No doubt but a conspiracy of such feelings, determined
for him the propriety of wiping the blush of professional youth from his
brow in a strange forum. That forum he selected in the town of Metamora,
in the State of Illinois. There he had already, in fact, laid the foundation
of that Castle, in the affections of the people, and knowledge of the law,
that less aspiring youth are ____________________________________________________________.
Whether he would have successfully
completed his work, so well begun, I know it would be but reckless conjecture
to attempt an answer, and would be but little regarded by those around
me, who know so well the Lawyer's pathway leads through treacherous ____,
rocks and breakers, depths and ____, beset him on every side; one day he
sails through tranquil waters, under bright and ____ing sun--the next he
must hold the helm against the threatening tempest. If he can keep his
sails above the murky wave, and display his colors untarnished at the destined
port, his reward is justly measured out to him in proportion to the responsibilities
of his perilous journey. But if ambition or avarice lures him to some unseen
rock, the wreck becomes, to him, a desolation; he sinks to rise no more.
The vicious will taunt him with their cases less execrations--and the good
can administer no palliative for the pang of a ruined character.
But for the deceased we may say with
truth, he possessed all those native elements of character that gave assurance
of his future usefulness as a man, and eminence as a lawyer. He combined
a sound judgment, with an acute discrimination, tempered with a high ____
morality, and unusual urbanity--a vigilant assiduity in their practice,
and an industry and energy before which every obstacle to preferment seemed
to recede.
He lived in the enjoyment of the
confidence and esteem of all who knew him: He had a happy past to think
upon, a bright future to anticipate. Thus he stood in the brightness of
youth's unclouded morning, confidently looking forward to a tranquil evening
of age, when like the laborer he could lay down the implements of his toil,
and retire to his last rest in the light of an example worthy of those
to come after him.
But man is only the harbinger, not
the ruler of his own destiny; over him is ever extended the potent hand
of a mystic Providence, from whose decrees there is no appeal. For some
wise purpose, that Providence, despite the anguish of a widowed mother's
heart, and the prayers and entreaties of friends for his welfare, has visited
our young brother with this terrible judgment--and while we bow in humble
submission to the sad demise, let us not forget to improve the passing
lesson of the hour, but appropriate it as constant admonition to remind
us, that we too 'are passing away.' Our young brother is gone, cut off
in the morning of life, while the dews of youth were yet glittering on
his brow, and now as a last sad tribute to his name, as a monument to his
virtues, let us here make a record to commemorate the one, to perpetuate
the other; a record that will endure while the law has a notary, or society
an existence: Let it be made alike in respect to the memory of the dead,
and as a consolation to the living; and in after years which we yield our
place to those who are to come after us, it may serve as an example to
encourage some faltering ______ by the way.
To this _____ it please your Honors
to move the resolution __ entered upon the minutes of the Court and ___
among the records thereof, and that the Court do now arise.
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