Memorial of Joseph Hodges Choate [Microform]

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97-84142-5 Root, Elihu

The Association of tine bar of the city of New York

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308 Z Box 79 Root, EHha, 18U5-1937« the bar of the city of New • of A The Association - f • t i York; memorial of Joseph Hodges Choate, by fiUlm Boety r«ad jit the Qbomkm MDrial aset- ing Dmmb9P 20i 1917 33 p« 23i cm.

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The AssQCiattoajQf the city of New York

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THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BAR OF THE CITY OP NEW YORK

MEMORIAL

JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE

BY EUHU ROOT

RBAD AT THE CHOATE MEMORIAL MEETING, HELD AT THE ROOMS OF THE ASSOCIATION. THURSDAY EVENING. DECEMBER 20, 1917 AND

MINUTE AND RESOLUTION ADOFTOD BY THB ASSOCIATION TbB AModatkui of the Bar <^ the Caty of New York

MEMORIAL OP JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE

BY BUHU ROOT

Joseph Hodges Choate was born in Salem, Massa- chusetts, January 24th, 1832, and died at his home in the City of New York, May 14th, 1917, in the fourth month of his 86th year. He was graduated from Har- vard College in the class of 1852, and from the Harvard Law School in 1854. He was then for a year a student in the office of Leverett Saltonstall of Boston, and he was admitted to the Bar of Massachusetts in 1855. In September of the same year he removed to New

York City ; and after passing a few months in the office of Scudder & Carter, he entered the office of Messrs. Butler, Evarts & Southmayd, where he remained for nearly three years. In the meantime, in 1856, he was admitted to the Bar of New York. In August, 1858, he formed a law partnership with Mr. W. H. L. Barnes,

subsequently a leader of the Bar of California ; but early in the folk>wing year he returned to his former associates, and became a partner in the law firm of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, a relation which continued throughout the entire professional lives of the partners. He was married in October, 1861, to Miss Caroline Ehitcher Sterling. There were five children of the marriage,, three sons and two daughters, of whom three survive, one daughter and two sons, one of whom bears his father's name and is a member here.

Mr, Choate was one of tl^j? founders of this Associa- Britain in 1899 were filled by the work of the pure tion, a signer of the preliminary articles by which it lawyer. Neither business nor recreation nor politics was created in December, 1869. He was President of nor any other interest diverted him from a continual the Association in 1888 and 1889, President of the and amazing activity in the trial and argument of Bar Association of the vState of New York in 1906 to causes. He was never an attorney. Circumstances 1908, President of the American Bar Association in and natural adaptation placed him from the beginning 1898 and 1899, and President of the New York Cotmty aift^ther upon the court rather than the office side Lawyers' Association. He was a member of the Com- of that line which exists in the nature of things between mission of 1890 appointed by the Governor under legis- the duties of the barrister and the duties of the so- lative authority to report a revision of the judicial licitor, and made him an advocate. system of the State of New York. He was President He was wise and resourceful in counsel, con- of the Constitutional Convention that in 1894 framed tinually called into conference for opinion and ad- the Constitution under which the people of the State vice for the direction of conduct and avoidance of liti- of his life conflict still live. In January, 1899, he was appointed Ambassa- gation; but the main business was dor from the United States to Great Britain, and he at the Bar. In all branches of the law, civil and crim- served his Country in that office for six years until May, inal, common law and equity, military, ecclesiastical, 1905. On the 10th of April, 1905, the Bar of England patent, probate, marriage and divorce, constitutional, claimed him as a fellow of that great company by elect- international, before juries, judges at Nisi Prius, arbi- martial, statutory committees com- ing him to be a Bencher of the Middle Temple. Upon traitors, courts and all tribunals judicial functions his return to his home he resumed his activity at the missions, in where were Bar; but in 1907 he was again made Ambassador, and to be exercised, up to the Supreme Court of the United potent voice heard asserting main- the head of the Delegation from the United States to States, his was and the Second Hague Conference, where he contributed an taining rights for more than sixty years. He achieved important part to the substantial advance in the estab- the most brilliant and distinguished success. He was lishment and definition of International Law and the delight of juries who yielded gladly to his charm, Procedure accomplished by that Conference. Upon and the pride of courts who felt the dignity of their his return from The Hague he again resumed practice, office enhanced by his appearance before them. His less actively of course than in earlier years. discussion of great constituticmal questi<»is strength- In the meantime he had come to be a Doctor of ened the foundations of our free institutions. His Laws of Amherst, Harvard, Yale, Williams, Union, the shining example was an inspiration to the Bar and University of Pennsylvania, of McGill and Toronto, of the despair of emulation. Cambridge, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Glasgow, The law reports presented continually accumulating and a Doctor of Civil Law of Oxford. evidence of the most substantial basis of a lawyer's The forty-three years which elapsed between admis- r^utation, for the reports of causes argued by him sion to the Bar in 1856 and the Embassy to Great State and National Associations of the Bar, in his supported the judgment of those who heard or read of speeches to the Bar when from time to time it met the arguments that they exhibited a wide range upon casual occasions, in the memorials read before this sound learning, extraordinary discrimination, capacity Constitutional Con- effective Association, in his speeches to the to divine crucial questions, and power of vention, in many of his formal public addresses, first presentation. The reports gave evidence also of an which stands the noble address upon the unveil- high proportion of success in the causes among extraordinarily House period ing of the statue of Rufus Choate in the Court tried and argued, continuing through so long a spirit the posses- in Boston, he expressed so clearly the underlying of years as to be conclusive proof of alone and purpose of the American Bar, he represented with sion of those solid quaUties of advocacy which such cogency and command the Bar at its best of real command enduring success. This great preponderance finest fact, devotion to justice and liberty, that the thought of success in litigation was notwithstanding the him, and conspicuous merit and feeling of the profession came to follow that for so many years of his life his because he tried of diffi- to look to him as a leader, not merely as an advocate brought to him great numbers them more powerfully parties sought to causes more skilfully or argued cult and doubtful cases, in which the of than others; but also, because he put the power and overcome a probabihty of defeat by superiority passed, prestige of his great reputation in the courtroom be- counsel. As the generations of the profession traversed,— hind the thrust of advocacy for the honor and public traditions gathered about the path he had told us brilliant attack service of the Bar as a whole. He has what stories of his great achievements, of cross-examination his conc^tion of advocacy was and his whole life and desperate defence, of wonderful sayings, helped mightily to establish that high standard. He and masterful argument, of wise and witty self-possession said: of humor and satire, of imperturbable and audacity, and poise, of swift insight, of courage "I maintain that in no other occupation to court officers, told by judges and lawyers and jurors and which men can devote their lives is there a nobler and became stand:vrd were repeated wherever lawyers gathered, intellectual pursuit or a higher moral knowledge of the than that which inspires and pervades the ranks a part of the common professional of the legal profession. To estabUsh justice, to history of the Bar. as maintain the rights of man, to defend the help- he grew older in the profession, his attention As oppressed, to succor innocence, and to the less and became less exclusively concentrated upon a lawyer punish guilt, to aid in the solution of those great and was broadened in scope interests of particular cases, questions legal and constitutional which are con- justice as a whole. The to include the administration of stantly being evolved from the ever varying of the profession, public duties of the Bar, the ethics affairs and business of men are duties that may of its great the lessons of its history, the inspiration well challenge the best powers of man's intel- his expe- qualities of the human examples, attracted more of his thought as lect and the noblest as President of the heart" rience increased. In his addresses :

promise which rightfulness of those great rules of Thus, the recognition of power and m the wisdom and was grad- have written into our Constitutions he commanded from his seniors in the 60's conduct wliich we admiration, deference, limitation of official power in its relation to the ually succeeded by universal for the juniors of his and the property of the private citizen, and pride in his leadership among the Ufe, the liberty, rights consciousness of the essential to the maintenance of the most vital later years. Wherever the class are the comrade- day we assert in the courts. He wel- Bar of New York sought expression in which from day to merely protest agamst abuse, in privilege of the American lawyer not ship of social intercourse, in comed the of justice or the application to his client's case of the repelling assaults upon the administration to insist upon action upon American law, but to assert and defend the demands for its improvement, in concerted principles of be the sympa- before the great governing body any great public question, his came to principles themselves the the commanding citizens who make and can un-make thetic leadership, his the clear voice, of American representation of the understood that American lawyers cannot authority, the unimpeachable law. He The great leaders be a separate body cultivating a mystery, noblest impulses of the profession. rightfully life passmg from ought to be an active part of the citizenship and colleagues of his early and middle that they equal or a rival, the Country sharing in the formation and expres- the stage left him alone without an of the revered social and pohtical life, and most eminent, the most admired, and the r^ost sion of its opinion, in its not only of New their special knowledge and training, advocate and counsellor of the Bar by virtue of among their fellows in the com- York but of our Country. leaders of opinion self-government, how- said to the Chicago Bar in February, 1898 In this Country of popular munity. He successful in the in this our ever, it did not satisfy him to be "But at all times, and especially admiration us. long as of causes, or to win the respect and day, great public duties await So trial' and American lawyer in the Supreme Court exists to be attacked of the Bar alone. To be a great Mr. defended, (that sheet anchor of our liberties broadest sense, one must be a great Citizen, and the Government), so long as the public system of law and of our was that. He realized that our are Choate credit and good faith of this great Nation roots far back in the customs and struggles property which striking its in peril, so long as the right of of England were developed, is scouted in which the liberties lies at the root of all civil government condi- to life, to shaped by the fathers of the Republic to suit the and the three inalienable rights generation to genera- the pursuit of happiness which of a freer life, adapted from liberty and tions Independence proclaimed new requirements of National growth, the Declaration of tion to meet the has guaranteed alike public con- and the Constitution always upon the foundation of general of the rests against the action of Congress and justice and to fit and adequate to secure will great victiMi that it is States, are in jeopardy,—so long knew that public re- Bar. preserve individual liberty. He public service be demanded of the in the judicial system our calling. Let us be true spect for law, public confidence "Let us magnify pubUc faith occasions, and respond with all through which the law is administered. to these great T our might to these great demands, so that when our work is done, of us at least it may be said that we transmitted our profession to our suc- cessors as great, as useful, and as spotless as it came to our hands."

These functions of the American lawyer Mr. Choate performed with unwearying interest and devotion, and with signal distinction. He received from him from his Massachusetts ancestry and brought with his old Salem home a large measure of that amazing formative power, which, proceeding from the few scanty settlements on the Atlantic shore, has moulded of people this vast Continent with its hundred millions and to according to the course of the common law, conceptions of right inspired by the spirit of Magna rights Charta, and of the immortal Declaration of unalienable, to secure which governments are instituted. The blood in his veins, the influences of early environment of education and training, the founda- impossible for him tions of his political belief, all made public the conception of a free community in whose private citizen to affairs it was not the duty of every matter take an active part. He took such a part as a his of course, and with an effectiveness natural to exceptional powers. His intense and instinctive patriotism made him keenly alive to the welfare of the Nation, and of the State and City in which he lived. him The strain of labor in the Courts never prevented from doing his full share both in government and in the public movements and private enterprises, through which a democratic community develops the best side of its nature. At the age of 35 he was President of the New England Society in New York, the organization which for more than a century has done honor to the history and spirit of his race. At 41 he was President of the Union League Club, that Institution created in the darkest days of the Civil War to promote, encourage, and sustain absolute and unqualified loyalty Presi- to the Government of the United States. He was dent of the Harvard Club, of the Harvard Law School Association, of the Century Association. For forty years before his death he was a Governor of the New York Hospital. He was President of the New York Association for the Blind. He was President of the State Charities Aid Association. He was one of the incorporators of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and one of its Trustees for the 47 years which followed its organization in 1870; and for many years before his death he was Chairman of its Law Committee, and a member of its Executive Committee, and Vice- President. He was one of the incorporators and during all its existence a Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. He was an active Trustee and the Vice-President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was Vice-President of the Society for the Judicial Settlement of International Disputes. He was a member and Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Elections, of the Committee of 70, that Committee which roused the honest citizenship of New York to the rescue of the City from the shame of the Tweed Ring control. He was Honorary Presi- doit and an active coadjutor in the National Defence League, which did so much to arouse the patriotic people of our Country to realize the deadly peril to their liberty of possible German miHtary domination, and to make them understand that the time had come when American Institutions must be defended agaiii • did not reserve himself for grciat occasiohs and by force of arms, or must perish. He was not a He •great efforts; but gave without reserve to the every- dreamer to reject the natural agency of political parties day activities which taken together fill so great a part in popular self-government, and he did not hold him- of the life of the community. In the multitude of self aloof from the activities of the Party which gatherings half public half social through which the seemed to him the best agent of government. He never members of a community are welded together in changed or wavered in his political allegiance. He sympathy of good fellowship and of opinion, he played made his first public political speech for Fremont in a leadifig part for almost half a century. It is hard to 1856, and his last for Hughes in 1916; but he con- understand how any man engaged in the exhausting ceived of a political Party as an organization by which labors of a crowded professional life could find the many citizens agreed upon major questions of prin- strength and resiliency of body and mind to make ciple and policy may give practical effect to their speeches in vast number at public dinners and opinions in actual government. His interest was in luncheons and meetings for all sorts of objects, where the public effect of Party control, not in office or emolu- he delighted and instructed the crowd year after year ments. His activity was in the leadership of opinion, during his long active life; yet, he did so wilii un- not in Party management ; he took little or no part in diminished brilliancy until the end. It would have been that. He sought no office, and he entered into no impossible but for a strong and active interest in the combinations. He held no Party office. I remember that life of the world, in everything that went on in the com- moving some 40 years ago into a new neighborhood, munity, and a genuine liking for the people among and attending for the first time the Republican Asso- whom he lived, sympathy with their feelings, and dati

repose with the beauty of intellect and nobility of char- 'activities extended a knowledge of his great abilities acter, sublimated and manifestly active and dominant and commanding character to the public at large, and His voice was clear, pleasing to the ear, and far carry- brought appreciation from the general body of good ing. I do not recall that he ever strained it, or seemed citizens. To achieve a commanding position in the to be forcing it unduly. He was never oratorical public life of this great Country ordinarily requires the even in passages of greatest force and feeling. His holding of high office. The office itself cannot give the manner was dignified and courtly, but perfectly simple holder such a position, but it carries to the minds of and unaffected, and it was the same everywhere and the great multitude who have to form their judgments to everybody. Forty odd years ago, when we were in chiefly iipon hearsay, a presumption of a right to be the beginnings of a friendship which has been for me heard in public affairs. The presumption may not one of the chief satisfactions and joys of life, I used be justified and may fade out of existence, but it is to think that he was the most beautiful and splendid the door of opportunity, and few men acquire great specimen of manhood I had ever seen. I have revised public consideration without it. Almost entirely with- for, after the Declaration of my judgment upon this ; out the aid of office, Mr. Choate acquired universal ' War with Germany, when he knew that the manhood recognition as a great public character, a significant and honor of his Country had re-asserted themselves, figure in the public Ufe of his time; speaking with in the benign and radiant face with its lines of old authority and entitled to leadership of opinion. This experience and wisdom, made purer and gentler by position was fully established before he was appointed trial and high endeavor, still alert with intelligence and Ambassador to Great Britain, and he was appointed feeling, shining with the joy of unselfish patriotism, to that office because of it. The basis of that great and in the massive form bowed under the weight of a position was achievement at the Bar, and the devotion noble life, there was a beauty surpassing that of con- of powers trained at the Bar to the duties of a private quering youth ; and the memory of it is a benediction. citizen in the service of tiie community and the Country. His mind was strong, well balanced, and wonder- Nature was very kind to him. She gave him a fully alert and rapid in action. Its response to the sound body, a constitution capable of enduring with- emergencies which so continually arise in court was out injury the strain of long continued and severe instantaneous, and apparently intuitive. Extraordi- effort, and a temperament which saved him from the nary power of discrimination and a sense of material exhausting effect of worries and fears and passions and crucial questions relieved him of the burden of and vain regrets, and she gave him a physical presence bothering over immaterial matters, and enabled him most impressive and attractive. He was tall, fully six to work with great ease. This faculty, combined with feet in height, slender and erect in his early years, his vast experience, led some younger men who were Inroad shouldered, and carrying an impression of poise with him as juniors to think that he worked very and balanced strength; the leonine head was set per- little ; but that was a mistaken idea. He w

influ^ces hard and with great intensity, but he was happy in Hiis letter points to one of the chief direction escaping the great mass of unnecessary work which in the development of his character and the most of us have to do. When he came to New York in of his life. No one who has watched his career and his tribute to 1855 he brought a letter from his father's cousin Rufus has read the address in which he paid Choate, Choate to Mr. Evarts. He prized this letter very the majestic and lovable personality of Rufus they differed highly, and I am sure that he would not have exchanged can fail to be convinced that widely as in their surroundings, admiration it for any patent of nobility. I will reproduce it here: in temperament and and reverence for his great kinsman was one of the Boston, 24 Sept., 1855. controlling influences of the younger life. Much as they differed, there was a striking resemblance in the My dear Mr. Evarts, standards of life, the intensity of application, the I beg to incur one other obligation to you tenacity of purpose, the ardor of conflict, combined with by introducing the bearer my friend and kins- the broad and kindly view, the strong sense of humor, man to your kindness. reliance upon its broadening He is just admitted to our bar, was the love of literature and graduated at Cambridge with a very high and humanizing influence to correct the narrowing reputation for scholarship and all worth, and effect of exclusively professional interests, the impulse of the law, I think, with comes to the practice for public service and the intense love of Country: all extraordinary promise. He has decided to en- these were found in both the older and the younger roll himself among the brave and magnanimous Choate. One was the spiritual successor of the other. of your bar, with a courage not unwarranted the Bar in the year 1823, and he by his talents, character, ambition and power Rufus Choate came to of labor. There is no young man whom I love continued for four years after his young relative's ad- better, or from whom I hope more or as much mission. Thus, for almost a hundred years these two if can do anything to smooth the way and you men of the same name and family, products of the same to his first steps the kindness will be most sea- influences, and inheritors of the same traditions and the sonable and will yield all sorts of good fruits. same ideals, adorned and ennobled the American Bar, Most truly. and each in his turn rose to great heights of honor Your servant and friend, and renown. The younger man was fortunate also in Rufus Choate. associating during the formative period of his career with really great leaders whose influence tended along development. How could there be The particular expression of this letter which he the same lines of loftier spirit than he found in Mr. valued most was the reference to his "power of labor'*, broader scope or and statesman, eloquent, philo- and he never regarded as a complhnent the suggestion Evarts, the advocate delightful companion, the wittiest lawyer of that he reached his results without the exercise of that sophical, Mr. Southmayd, the typical solicitor, powef. his time, and 1i 18 took special delight in jijipoii this ground of vantage, he judgment, the learned, logical, cautious, independent in making his adversary angry, and in reaping stubborn in opinion, caustic in expression. They were not merely partners, they were friends, and nothing He was a loyal and devoted friend, as he was loyal intercourse between he under- could be more delightful than the to every cause he espoused, and to every case them. took; and he left no debt of friendship unpaid. No to Our friend was enabled to use his intellectual trouble was too great, no labor too arduous for him qualities of were power to the highest advantage by two help a friend. His power of satire and ridicule in- the first importance. One was his clear and terrible weapons, and he used them unsparingly, always any im- childlike in stinctive courage. He was wholly free from most fatally when he was most gentle and pediment of timidity. This quality did not impress one manner. When engaged in battle he used all his as being the kind of courage which overcomes fear, weapons without respect of persons, and his thrusts but, rather, as a courage which excluded fear. With often wounded his friends at the Bar more deeply than him, no such emotion as fear seemed to exist. The he probably knew. Yet, I think he never lost a battle other closely allied quality was a universal and in- through friendship, or lost a friend through what he ^'^ncible cheerfulness. In all my varied opportunities said or did in battle. It was impossible to cherish re- for observation for many years, he was the same. sentment against him. He fought as those gay and or I never knew him to be sullen, or sour, or bitter, debonnaire youths of Dumas, who drew their swords cross, or fretful. He strongly condemned some with alacrity, and, rejoicing in their skill, fought joy- things and some men with force and picturesque ously upon all suitable occasions without anger or expression, but never with the least tinge of malev- malice, to death or victory or eternal brotherhood. olence. He had his griefs, which sank deep in his Beiore a jury he was a master of the art of appearing heart, but his buoyant spirits and high courage for- surprised, and of appearing indifferent; but nothing bade them to control his conduct; and, through them was further from .his habit than personal display. face to all, he presented the same bright and cheerful Anyone with his appearance and talents might be the world. He brought to the breakfast table always pardoned for thinking of so agreeable a subject as his spirit which the same genial and cheery lifting of own person ; but he never appeared to do so. He was made him such a welcome guest at the banquet tables thinking always of his object, and carefully studying of New York. He was as lively and interesting with the minds and feelings of those to whom he spoke. a dozen friends, or with one friend, as with 500, He studied his juries, his judges and his audiences because he was entirely free from false pretence, and with sympathetic insight, and his favorite method of he was the same man with the public audience that he capturing their judgment was by boldly invading the was with his close and private friends. He had a most field of their personal experience and interest, serene and imperturbable temper. He never lost his makmg himself at home with them, and when he de- self-possession or entire control of his powers. Safe 17 pitlte for mischief which leads school boys to carry parted leaving his own ideas with his audience as d. their disconcerting pranks to the limit of audacity. part of their household goods. He very seldom He had great force and nobility and purity of char- told a story. His wit and humor did not percolate acter. He made the world his debtor by great useful- through him from the gesta Ronvanorum, or from the ness in many fields. He deserved and received great pages of American humorists. They were the natural praise and admiration for his achievements; but, after reaction of his own mind from his perception of the all, I think it was. the delightful "boy" in him that made persons and events that surrounded him at the time. us love him. It was that which joined to his other He was a fountain, not a conduit, of himior. His qualities made him so different from ordinary men. It speeches were interesting because his way of looking was that blithe spirit which gave color and life and at men and life was fresh and original. light to the whole character. It is quite inadequiate to say that he was always He had something that superior intellect and char- cheerful and interesting. He had in him something far acter do not always give—he had distinction ; and above beyond that, which I cannot describe to myself better all, he had charm—that inexplicable quality whose than by calling it the eternal boy in him. He rejoiced in origins are veiled among the mysteries of life. life. dull care. He bubbled over with fun. He spumed Mr. Choate owed his selection as a delegate at large dearly loved a little boyish mischief. That was He to the Constitutional Convention of 1894 largely to faculty, but the danger gave it zest. rather a dangerous the fact that there seemed little probability of a Mr. There is an old story (I think it belonged to Republican success in the election of 1893. He was that Evarts) of an American assuring an ^igUshman so much of a free lance, his shafts of ridicule had the Potomac Washington could throw a dollar across wounded so many organization leaders, that in ordi- because he had thrown a sovereign across the Atlantic. nary times there was little chance of his receiving a Mr. Choate would never have deigned to tell that nomination really desired by any of the faithful. The ancient joke here, but when he got to England and Democrats were then, however, under the astute before an English audience he could not resist the de- management of Senator Hill in control of the ma- sire to see his English friends contemplating the aerial chinery of the State Goveriiment. They were in flight of their sovereign, and he told it I think several possession of the National Government also, and the times. It befell me to sit near him at a famous influences which had driven the Republicans from St. Patrick's Day Dinner, and he stopped at my chair power both in the Nation and the State seemed still and made a remark which indicated that he was having to be dominant. The Republican ticket for 1893 was huge enjo3rment with himself over scnnething he was accordingly made up rather less than usual under the going to say. When he suggested that the Irish in influence of a desire to distribute Party rewards, and America should redeem poor unhaf^y Ireland by going rather more than usual with a view to present a list home, he was following the same kind of boyish im- of candidates who wotdd secure all the ctemces of suc- joining the fray under the walls of Troy. defeat might be regarded with Olympians cess possible, and whose addi- speeches that rest especially in my memory are: part of the Organization In Two philosophy on the and one the Consti^- one in support of the new judiciary article, the fact that the work of tion to this, There had been an attempt to been rejected by the upon the public schools. tional Convention of 1867 had reported by the Committee on Edu- of the Constitutional Com- insert in an article people, and that the work popular cation a clause which would authorize State aid to 1890 had not received sufficient mission of regarded by the Legislature, schools under religious control. This was prevent its being ignored by support to tending work of the pro- some of us as dangerous in the highest degree, had created an impression that the results. break down the separation between Church and Convention would have no practical to posed public for nominations State, and to destroy our whole unscctarian There was accordingly little pressure succeeded in the committee Choate's name readily school system. The attempt the Convention, and Mr. to reported to the delegates at large as of the whole; but, when the article was found a place at the head of the counter attack, and Mr. Choate the whole ticket Convention, there was a a means of giving distinction to came down to the floor, and made a that there had been a political left the chair, and When it turned out real nature of the thing that the Republicans fine and noble speech. The revolution in the State, and the vote was including all the that was being done was made plain, and had a majority of the Convention, provision defeated. as President of the reversed, and the obnoxious was delegates at large, his selection and for It was my good fortune to be by his appointment Convention followed as a matter of course, during which the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Con- of nearly five months a period custom the in the most vention, and that position carried by Convention was in session he presided the Conven- did not trouble him- leadership of the majority on the floor of deUghtful and effective way. He obliged to be in constant con- technical details of parlia- tion, so that we were self very much about the of it ference over the business of the session. Accordingly, procedure. He preserved the substance mentary and kept getting things done, we took a house together near the Capitol, of course; but he was very fond of surprising short- house jointly during the entire period, and I had and would sometimes make the most the mfluence results, however, which exceptional opportunity to know about cuts to reach results,—always more cum- which he exercised over the conduct of affairs. We would certainly have been reached by the Convention, and never at the sacrifice kept open house for the members of the brous process of slower minds, Convention question was minority, and he always and almost every important of the substantial rights of the practically a as to fill the souls considered and discussed there. He was maintained his positions in such a way their enthusiastic member of every committee, and his clear vision and of the majority with joy and command a heated debate, sound practical sense made themselves felt in every support. Occasionally, when there was were always department of the Convention work through those per- he would take the floor, and his speeches discussions which properly play I always thought of the sonal conferences and of great power and cogency. -SI so America sUlame. Under the diplomacy of Mr. Choate great a part in shaping the judgment and directing so m London and Mr. Hay in Washington a modus the action of every deliberative body. Vivendi was estabUshed; and a treaty was made pro- Mr. Choate's service in the foreign affairs of the viding for the submission of the boundary questions Country was of the highest vaiue. When he was to a tribunal composed of an equal number from each appointed Ambassador from the United States to Great country diarged to hear Ae evidence, and decide Britain at .the s^c of 67, there were several very serious according to law. The tribunal sat in London in the and difficult questions between the two countries which y^r 1903, and by its judgment the controversy was required to be treated with great skill and judgment finally determined. With that stumbling-block re^ if serious controversy was to be prevented. The very moved, every other question which was before the positive defiance of Great Britain in Mr. Cleveland's joint High Commission of 1898 has since been satis^ Venezuela message of December 1895, and the general factorily settled and disposed of. of American feeling in support of that de- expression When Mr. Choate was appointed, the United States fiance, had created an atmosphere not altogether favor- had just reached a full realization of the necessity of able to mutual concessions. This had been modified, a canal across the Central American . Isthmus under but not wholly dispelled, by Great Britain's discourage- American control. We were forced to that realizatiott ment of European intervention during our war with by the results of the war with Spain, the cession Spain, and by the wisdom and good sense of Mr. Hay of Porto Rico, and the responsibility for the protec- and President McKinley on the one side and Lord tion of Cuba, by the growth of population and com- Salisbury on the other during the first two years of the merce on the Pacific i Coast, by the acquisition of McKinley Administration. Only a few months before Hawaii and the Philippines, by the appearance on the Mr. Choate's appointment a joint High Commission horiz

22 other important things removed upon the sole condition of equal treatment to volved. There were many his six years of service. the commerce of the world in the canal to be built and done,—and well done,—during negotiation of controlled by the United States. Let no one suppose that results in the They require long When Mr. Choate went to London, China seemed such affairs come of themselves. judgment of char- to be on the verge of partition by the great Powers, and patient labor, quick perception, Incompetency is fatal. who had established naval and military stations and acter, tact, skill, and wisdom. spheres of influence in Chinese territory, and who, His service in direct relation to the people of Great than his service in mutually suspicious, were reaching out each for Britain was perhaps even greater British Government. The most more control, in order to prevent other powers from negotiation with the important thing in the relations between modem acquiring it. There was no escape from partition, towards excq>t by stopping that process. With partition the democracies is the feeling of two peoples door for American trade with China would be closed, each other. If they like each other and trust each can settled. carried to and the opportunity of China for liberty and self-gov- other, any question be He ernment would disappear. America alone was free Great Britain the same readiness for service, the the cheerful, brilliant from suspicion, and from that vantage ground Mr. same social unselfishness, same public speaker, which Hay nadertook to stq) the process of partition by pro- and interesting qualities as a posing a universal agreement upon the principle of the hstii. made him so admired and beloved at iKmie. attend countless open door. Without the agreement of Great Britain He accepted countless invitations to layings, and openings of effort would have been useless. It fell to Mr. Choate banquets and cornerstone institutions, unveilings, celebrations, and meet- to secure that agreement from the British Goverrmient, and and ings of all kinds, and to make countless speeches. and it was given cheerfully and ungrudgingly, and the principle of the open door was established in China. Ambassadorial dignity did not injure him in the slightest degree. must have been often wearied, So far it has saved for China her territory and her He opportunity to try out her experiment of self-govern- but he was never bored, for he really interested himself in the affairs of people. ment mider Republican institutions. Incidentally, it and the characters the was the relation of mutual confidence established by He talked to than in a sympatiietic way about their

that agreement, which made it possible for the troops affairs, and he told them simply and interestingly of America, England, Japan, France, and Russia, to about the great men of our history and what Ameri- co-operate in the march to Pekin, and the rescue of the cans were doing, and thinking, and feeling. He legations in the Boxer uprising in 1900. was dever and stimulating, and enveloped his serious The diplomatic correspondence of that time shows thought there as he did here with a mantle of the great part Mr. Choate played in these most im- humor and fun. He must have kept our British portant affairs, and how great was the skill and com- cousins guessing for a while at first, but they soon peteiK^ he exhibited in the n^iotiations which ihey in- came to know him, and to understand him with un-

34 26 diluted enjoyment. Upon formal and serious occa- debate, and the technique of diplomatic intercourse. siods he delivered carefully prepared addresses, admir- His brilliant success in the Embassy to Great Britain able in literary form and in serious thought, on Benja- and the high position which he had acquired there min Franklin, on Alexander Hamilton, on Lincoln, on had made his great reputation known to the pub- Emerison and on John Harvard, on the Supreme Court lie men of Europe, who at that time ordinarily of the United States, Education in America, and, knew little and cared less about American lawyers, so appealing to the common sympathies of both countries, that he was able to speak at The Hague with great —on the English Bible. He represented the people of personal prestige and authority. His work at The the United States to the people of Great Britain for so Hague fully met the expectations of his Govern- long a period on so many occasions in so many ways ment, and fully justified his selection, for he became and so delightfully, as to create an enduring impression one of the great leaders of the Conference and held a of the highest value. We did not see then as fully as commanding position in its deliberations, and under we see now that a good understanding between Great him the whole American delegation worked together Britain and the United States was no ordinary inter- with admirable team play. If any part of his work national affair, but that these two nations inspired by were selected for special praise, it should be his the same ideals of individual Uberty and free self-gov- addresses upon the immunity of private property at ernment were destined to fight together, and stand or sea, on International Arbitration and on the establish- fall together, in defense of their common liberty against ment of an International Court of Justice, all of which the hateful dominion of military autocracy; and that show very strikingly how much this Country lost when our friend's six years of unwearied labor to unite the New York failed to send Mx. Choate to the United two nations in strong ties of good understanding and States Senate in 1897. The events of Ac Great War kindly feeling was a special service to civilization. have tended to obscure in most minds the value of the

The selection of Mr. Choate as an Ambassador things dcme in The Hagat Conferences ; but that is only Extraordinary at the head of the American Delega- because the irresponsible brute force of Germany and tion to the Second Hague Conference in 1907 followed her allies has thrown over the whole world the dark naturally upon his career at home and in Great Britain, shadow of a revolt of barbarism against modern No other man in the United States had shown himself civilization. Notwithstanding the fact that all the rules possessed in so high a degree of so many of the quali- of international law declared or agreed upon in The ties necessary for that service. He had learning with- Hague Conferences have been flouted and broken and out pedantry, power of expression which never ground to powder, during the past three years, and not- sacrificed accuracy to rhetoric, or sense to sound, withstanding that the idea of a peaceable settlement courage saved from rashness by jquick perception and for international disputes seems for the moment to long experience, the lawyer's point of view and the have slipped back into the company of idle dreams, statesman's point of view, the technique of forensic yet the declarations and agreements of those Con-

at il ;

voice and pen he pressed his appeal with all the ferences took many fundamental principles and rules authority of his great reputation, with the wisdom of the of nations out of the obscurity of inaccessible of law his experience, the power of an intellect undimmed, of treaties and conflicting text writers, and made them a heart still warm, with the intensity of a great and basis on which the world a distinct and known living patriotism. When that appeal and the appeal rendered its judgment of condemnation upon the has of others who thought and felt with him were an- allies. And when modern conduct of Germany and her swered, and the great decision was made that com- its control, as it is sure to do,— civilization re-asserts — mitted a slowly awakening people to struggle and of nations seeking to regulate its affairs the community sacrifice for the preservation of the institutions which rather than war may be normal, will so that peace he had defended all his life, a great relief and joy point from the platform inevitably make its starting possessed him. He was made Chairman of the New his colleagues at the established by Mr. Choate and York Committee for the reception of the Commissions multitude of plans for Second Hague Conference. A from England and France under Balfour and Viviani of the world after the war have the re-organization and Marshal Joffre, who came to America after the ever since the war began. been appearing continuously declaration of war to confirm and help to make everything except the difficulties Most of them settle inmiediately practical and effective the new league of all in one respect. Their postulates but they are alike Democracy for the war against autocracy. It was his with the conclusions reached by the are identical part to lead the people of his own City in a reception on questions which had been Second Hague Conference of our new Allies, so generous and warm-hearted as doubtful and controverted. to strike the imagination of the people of all three all services whicli Mr. Choate But the greatest of the countries. in his long and useful life was rendered to his Country He met the French Commission and then the realized as he did very soon at the close, when he — British Commission. He welcomed them in our be- —^that the independence after the beginning of the war half with gracious and impressive hospitality. He threatened less and liberty of the United States were rode with them through the streets thronged with certainly than those of Eng- immediately but not less cheering crowds, and shared with them the respect and the German grasp for military land and France, by homage accorded to the significant and representative all the vigor and strong conviction dominion. With figures of that great and unique occasion. He at- abandoned the comfortable leisure to which of youth he tended all the receptions and banquets, and public and him, and threw the ninth decade of his life entitled private entertainments, by day and by night, which enthusiasm into the task of making his himself with attended their visits. Daily and sometimes twice, and the certain dangers that Countrymen see as he saw sometimes three times a day, he made public addresses, the duty that confronted them to lay before them, and appropriate and dignified, and full of interest and deep and act, for the preservation of their rouse themselves feeling. His adequate representation filled his own own liberties and the liberties of the world. With 29 . The Asflodatioii of the Bar of the City of New York people with pride, and aroused their patriotism and their noblest qualities, and he impressed our guests GHOATfi MSMORIAL MEETING with confidence and satisfaction. DMembw M. 1917 When the final service of the crowded week was finished, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Sunday, the thirteenth of May, he bade Mr. Balfour MINUTE AND RESOLUTION good-bye with the words "Remember, we meet again to celebrate the victory", and with stout and cheerful heart he bore the burden of his years to his home to At a special meeting of The Association of the meet the physical reaction that he had been warned was Bar of the City of New York held on December 20, inevitable; and in a few hours the great heart filled 1917, called to conmiemorate the life and services of with impulses of noble service and with love of the Joseph Hodges Choate, the following minute was Country, and liberty, and justice, ceased to beat. He unanimously adopted as an expression of the profound had given his life for his Country. sense of loss on the part of the members of the Asso- ciation and of their appreciation of Mr. Choate's pre- eminent professional and public services: The members of the Association deeply feel and deplore the great loss suffered by the American Bar in the death of Mr. Choate, and hereby record their recognition of his exceptional achievements, his splendid talents, his pure and noble character and his unique and charming personality, and their gratitude for the distinction, honor and glory which have been and will long continue to be reflected upon the profession by his life and services. Throughout his professional career, Mr. Choate displayed extraordinary ability, versatility, eloquence and devotion to his profession in the many branches of public and private law with which he was called upon to deal, and his conduct was always characterized by the observance of the highest professional and ethical standards. He filled in the fullest degree the measure of a great lawyer and a great citizen, and is justly elevated character, his invincible optimism, his ranked with the most eminent of American advocates and genial personality, his gracious charm, his unsurpassed and patriots. his generous sympathy with Mr. Choate's professional services were rendered wit and humor, deep and his brethren at the bar who were in need of help, advice not only in defending the rights of individual clients consolation, his innumerable acts of kindness to and aiding the courts in the impartial administration or associates and juniors, his broad charity and philan- of justice, but in promoting and maintaining, with all his constant interest and activity in every- the powiers of his remarkable talents, ardent patriotism thropy, and tended to promote the instruction, welfare and uncompromising courage, the American system of thing that government, ever urging and teaching that the primary and happiness of the community. duty of the profession is to perpetuate American con- Resolved that the memorial of Mr. Choate pre- stitutional institutions, for which he felt the greatest pared by Mr. Root and read at this meeting be adopted reverence and in which he had the most implicit faith. with the grateful thanks of the Association as most per- Among the many conspicuous public services of Mr. fectly and eloquently voicing the sentiment and appre-

Choate were those rendered as President of the Con- ciation of its members, that together with this minute stitutional Convention of 1894, as to the Ambassador it be made a permanent record of the Association, that Court of St. James, and as Ambassador Extraordi- a copy be sent to the family of Mr. Choate by the nary and Chairman of the delegation representing President, and that it be printed and distributed as the United States at the Second Hague Conference the Executive Committee may direct of 1907. But we desire especially to emphasize his services from August, 1914, to the end of his life in directing and shaping public opinion and in striving with spiritual fervor and eloquence undimmed by age so to stir the conscience and patriotism of the American people in a great crisis and in the face of the outrages and horrors attending the 'European war that America should be ready and eager to enter into tlie conflict in defense of the rights of our own citizens and of humanity and civilization throughout the world. Mr. Choate's life and services will long bear fruit in the noble example which they have set for the inspiration and emulation of the members of his own profession and of the citizens of the Nation. Those who had the great privilege of knowing Mr. Oioate personally can never forget his singularly pure ma ^^^\o H5I i