The life of Rufus Choate

Front matter

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Preface

TO THE

SECOND EDITION OF THE LIFE.

The first edition of the Works of Mr. Choate, with the Memoir of his Life, was early disposed of, and for many years it has been almost impossible to obtain a copy. In the mean time the wish has been frequently expressed that the Life might be republished by itself. In accordance with this desire, the present edition has been prepared. Although in the main unchanged, it will be found to contain some additions in the form of letters, reminiscences, and selections from the writings of Mr. Choate.

While I cannot fail gratefully to recognize the kindness with which the work, as originally published, was received, especially by those most competent to judge, — the members of the Massachusetts Bar, and those who knew Mr. Choate most familiarly, — yet I cannot but feel more than ever how inadequate is any delineation to present a complete picture of that subtle, versatile, and exuberant mind, " to dis-

X PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

play with psychological exactness " (if I may use his own words) " the traits of his nature," to unveil " the secrets — the marvellous secrets — and sources of that vast power which we shall see no more in action, nor aught in any degree resembling it among men."

We shall not fail, however, I trust, to learn some lessons of fidelity, and unsparing diligence, and unremitting labor, for which no genius can prove a substitute, as well as those other lessons of high purpose, and broad patriotism, which informed his life, and which the new condition of the Republic demands of us even more strenuously than did the old.

S. G. B.

Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., Dec. 22, 1869.

PKEFACE

FIRST EDITION OF THE LIFE AND WORKS.

When first requested to prepare a sketch of the life of Mr. Choate, I was not ignorant of the difficulty of writing it so as to present a fair and complete portraiture, — the traits of his character were so peculiar, its lights and shades so delicate, various, and evanescent. The difficulty has not grown less as I have proceeded with the work, and no one, I think, can be so well aware as I am, of its insufficiency.

It may seem singular that none of Mr. Choate's addresses to a jury are included in this collection of his speeches, — that the department of eloquence in which perhaps he gained his greatest fame should here be unrepresented; In this disappointment, those by whom this selection has been made certainly share. It was not until the very last, and after making a careful examination of every accessible report of his legal arguments, that they reluctantly came to the conclusion that no one remained which, considering the nature of the subject, or of the report itself, would do justice to the advocate, or very much gratify the reader.

xii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

As to Mr. dictate's political sentiments and action during the later years of his life, it did not seem necessary to do more than to give his opinions as they were honestly formed and frankly expressed. The time has not yet come for treating fully and with entire fairness the questions of those days. One still " walks on ashes thinly covering fires."

A word should perhaps be said with reference to the fragments of translations from Thucydides and Tacitus, which close these volumes. They were prepared solely as a private exercise and for a personal pleasure and advantage. They were never revised, and are given precisely as found on loose scraps of paper, after Mr. Choate's decease. But they have struck me, as well as others upon whose better judgment I have relied, as affording examples of felicitous and full rendering of difficult authors, and as indicating something of the voluntary- labors and scholarly discipline of an overtasked lawyer, who, amidst the unceasing and wearisome calls of an exacting profession, never forgot his early love of letters.

No one unacquainted with Mr. Choate's handwriting can understand the difficulty of preparing his manuscripts for the press. For performing so well this very perplexing labor, the public are chiefly indebted to Rtjfus Choate, Jr., and Edward Ellerton Pratt, Esqs.

With a singular and almost unaccountable indifference to fame, Mr. Choate took no pains to preserve his speeches. The manuscript of the lecture, — written at first with the most rapid pen, with abbreviations, erasures, and interlineations, — had no sooner fulfilled its temporary purpose, than it was thrust among waste

PREFACE TO THE EIRST EDITION. xiii

papers, and forgotten. He had not the time, or coiild not bring himself to take the trouble to recall his lost orations or legal arguments. His lecture on the Romance of the Sea, one of the most beautiful and popular of his lectures, was lost or stolen in New- York. He was solicited to rewrite it, and could doubtless, at any time for years afterward, have reproduced the whole —

" apparell'd in more precious habit,

More moving-delicate, and full of life,"

than at first, but other matters seemed to him of more importance, and the half promise with which he beguiled his friends was never fulfilled.

When urged, as he frequently was, to prepare a volume of speeches for the press, he usually quieted the solicitor by seeming to accede to his request, or evaded him by some rare bit of pleasantry.

It is a matter of congratulation, then, that so much has been rescued from irretrievable loss. It has even been found necessary, in order not to overcrowd the volumes, to omit many lectures and speeches, which all who heard them would doubtless be glad to possess in a permanent form. Among these are several congressional and political speeches, his speech in the Massachusetts Convention on The Basis of Representation, and his lectures on The Influence of Great Cities, on The Mercantile Profession, on Macaulay, on Rogers, on Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr, and an earlier lecture on Poland.

The engraving which accompanies this volume, from a photograph by Messrs. Southworth & Hawes, is considered the best likeness which exists of Mr. Choate in repose. A very striking portrait by

XIV PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Mr. Ames, — the original of which is in Dartmouth College, — gives the orator in action. Besides these, Mr. Brackett has moulded a spirited head in plaster, and Mr. Thomas Ball has sculptured one in marble, which for dignity, force, and truthfulness, can hardly be surpassed.

While I have received aid from many sources, which I should be glad particularly to designate, I cannot help acknowledging my special obligation to the Members of the Bar, especially of Suffolk and of Essex, many of whom I have had occasion to consult, and from all have received every assistance possible without reserve or hesitation. I am also much indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Everett for kindly placing at my disposal books and manuscripts not easily accessible elsewhere, which were indispensable in preparing the sketch of Mr. Choate's life in Congress ; and to Edward G. Parker, Esq., for a free use of materials which he had collected in preparing his " Reminiscences."

The publication of these volumes, though ready for the press many months since, has been delayed by causes which will occur to every one. In the great peril of the Republic, what else could be thought of? What eloquence be heard but that of the civil war ? But the counsels of the wise will acquire a deeper meaning, and the eloquence of patriotism be listened to with a readier acquiescence, when from the present tumult and strife we shall emerge upon another era " bright and tranquil."

S. G. B.

Hanotbk, N. H., October 13, 1862.

Contents

„ Page

Birth — Ancestry — Bpyhood — Account by his Brother — Studies — Characteristics — Enters College — Bank — Testimony of Classmates — Dartmouth College Case — Its Influence on his Choice of a Profession — Extract from Judge Perley's Eulogy — Tutor at Dartmouth — Letter from Dr. Sewall — Enters Law School in Cambridge — Goes to Washington and studies with Mr. Wirt — Death of his brother Washington — Returns to Essex — Admission to the Bar — Testimony of Mr. Wirt — Opens an Office in South Danvers — Letter to James Marsh — Marriage — Success — Fidelity to Clients — Letter from Judge Shaw — Testimony of Hon. Asahel Huntington.

Removal to Salem — The Essex Bar — Successes — Appearance — Counsel in the Knapp Case — Studies — Letter to President Marsh — Elected to Congress — Commonplace Book — Letter to President Marsh — Enters Congress — Speeches on Revolutionary Pensions, and on the Tariff — Letter to Dr. Andrew Nichols — Letters to Professor George Bush — The Second Session — Georgia, and the Missionaries to the Indians— Letter to Professor Bush — Re-elected to Congress — Speech on the Removal of the Deposits — Resigns his Seat — Removes to Boston — Lecture on the " Waverley Novels," and on " The Romance of the Sea " — Death of his Youngest Child.

Chapter I. 1799-1830

Birth of Rufus Choate — Ancestry — Boyhood — Account by his Brother — Studies — Characteristics — Enters College — Rank — Testimony of Classmates — Dartmouth College Case — Its Influence on his Choice of a Profession — Extract from Judge Perley's Eulogy — Tutor at Dartmouth — Letter from Dr. Sewall — Enters Law School in Cambridge — Goes to Washington and studies with Mr. Wirt — Death of his brother Washington — Returns to Essex

— Admission to the Bar — Testimony of Mr. Wirt — Opens an Office in South Danvers — Letter to James Marsh — Marriage

— Success — Fidelity to Clients — Letter from Judge Shaw — Testimony of Hon. Asahel Huntington.

In the south-eastern part of the old town of Ipswich, Mass., on an island which rises in its centre to a considerable elevation and commands a view of the open ocean and the neighboring villages, Ruftjs Choate was born, as his father, with ancient precision, recorded the event in the Family Bible, " Tuesday, Oct. 1, 1799, at 3 o'clock, p.m." He was the second son, and the fourth of six children. The district was then called Chebacco : it has since been formed into a separate town bearing the name of Essex. The inhabitants, for the most part devoted to agriculture,

2 MEMOIR OF RUEUS CHOATE. [Chap. I.

were enterprising, frugal, thrifty, and intelligent. The earliest ancestor of Mr. Choate in this country was John Choate, whb took the oath of allegiance in 1667. From him, the subject of this biographical sketch is of the fifth generation by direct descent. The family spread widely in Essex County, and several members of it attained to considerable distinction.1

The paternal grandmother of Mr. Choate, whose maiden name was Mary Giddings, was a matron worthy of the best days of New England.2 His father was David Choate, a man of uncommon intellectual endowments, of sound and independent judgment, a wise counsellor, sociable, sagacious, modest, keen, and witty. He was held in high estimation as a man of stability, unswerving integrity, and weight of character, and was often chosen to fill places of responsibility and trust.

On one occasion, as administrator on the estate of his uncle, John Choate, he was obliged to go to Boston to look after a case in court. At the trial, the counsel upon whom he had relied failed to appear. Mr. Choate

; In 1741, John Choate, Esq., was a member of the House of Representatives for Ipswich, and was elected Speaker ; but the election was negatived by Governor Belcher. He continued a prominent member of the House — his name appearing on many important committees — till 1761, — when he was elected into the Board of Councillors, (who were then what both the Senate and Council now are in Massachusetts), to which responsible position he was re-elected every successive year till 1766.

2 Her courage is indicated by an anecdote told of her, that in the war of the Revolution, when all the men left the island, driving to the uplands the herds of cattle which would otherwise have offered a tempting prize to the British cruisers, she, with her two small children, remained fearless upon the farm.

thereupon asked that the cause might be continued. On stating the matter as clearly as he could, the judge, after a little consultation, said to him, " I think you understand the case, Mr. Choate, and we can manage it together. You had better conduct it yourself." Thus unexpectedly summoned to the bar, after some hesitation he called his witnesses, made his argument, and obtained a verdict.

There is a report, which seems to rest on good authority, that at the time of the ratification of the Federal Constitution in Massachusetts he wrote several articles for a Boston newspaper in favor of that measure, under the signature of " Farmer," some of which were currently ascribed to Theophilus Parsons, already an eminent lawyer, and afterwards Chief Justice of the State. Mr. Choate died in 1808, before his son had attained his ninth year.

The mother of Rufus was Miriam Foster, a quiet, sedate, but cheerful woman, dignified in manner, quick in perception, of strong sense and ready wit. Her son was said to resemble her in many characteristics of mind and person. She lived to see his success and enjoy his fame, and died in 1853, at the venerable age of eighty-one.

When his son was about six months old, Mr. David Choate removed from the island to the village on the mainland, about three miles distant, but still retained the old homestead. It had been in possession of the family for four generations, and for more than a hundred years, and is still owned by the descendants of an older brother of Mr. Choate.1 An arm of the sea

1 Hon. David Choate, greatly honored and beloved by all who knew him, died Dec. 17, 1872.

4 MEMOIR OF RTJFUS CHOATE. [Chap. L

flows pleasantly about it, and a little creek runs up to within twenty rods of the old dwelling, which stands on the hillside, hardly changed from what it was sixty years since, of two stories, heavy-timbered, low-roomed, with beams across the ceiling, bare and weather-beaten, but with a cheerful southerly outlook towards the marshes, the sea, and the far-off rocky shore of Cape Ann.

The new residence still commanded a view of the ocean. The little village was the head of navigation for a species of fishing-craft much built there, known along the coast as "Chebacco boats." Frequent excursions to the old farm were, of course, necessary ; and these little voyages down the river which forces its crooked way through the salt marshes, were generally made in a canoe dug out of a solid log. During the war of 1812, the English and American cruisers were frequently seen in the bay. On one occasion especially, the " Tenedos " and " Shannon," tall and beautiful, "sitting like two swans upon the water," were watched from the shore with great interest, and by none with more concentrated gaze than by the boy Rufus. All these circumstances, — the murmur of the sea which lulled him to sleep, the rage of the ocean in a storm, the white sails in the distant harbor, the boats which went out of the river and never returned, the stories of adventures and perils, — naturally tended to stimulate his imagination, to cherish that love of the sea which became almost a passion, and which so often shows itself in his speeches and writings. To the last, he thought that to be a seacaptain was "eminently respectable." Accounts of naval battles he read with the greatest eagerness ;

and many were the mimic contests on land to which they gave birth. " I well remember," says his brother, " his acting over certain parts of a sea-fight with other boys, he telling them what to do, how to load, at what to aim, not how to strike a flag (that never seemed to come into the category), but how to nail one to the mast, with orders to let it wave while he lived. Many of his chimney-corner sports had relation to either naval or land engagements. I remember that while he and Washington * were waiting for the family to breakfast, dine, or sup (that was the way the children were then taught to do), one would have the dog and the other the cat, each holding it fast; and, at the signal, bringing them suddenly together, in imitation of two hostile ships or armies, Rufus, in the mean time, repeating the story of a real or imagined fight with as much volubility as he ever afterwards used in court, and with such an arrangement of the plan of the fight as made all seem wonderfully real."

Scenes of military and naval life fastened strongly upon his imagination. He often said that nothing ever made a deeper impression upon his boyish mind than the burial of an officer with military honors, and the volleys fired over his grave. In August, 1813, he went to Salem to witness the ceremony of the reinterment of the bodies of Capt. James Lawrence and Lieut. Augustus C. Ludlow, who were killed on board the " Chesapeake," and were at first buried at Halifax. Although he could not hear Judge Story's Eulogy, he made his brother repeat to him all that he could remember of it. The opening sentence, " Welcome to their native shores be the remains of 1 His younger brother.

6 MEMOIR OF KUEUS CHOATE. [Chap. I.

our departed heroes," especially filled him with ecstasy. It is not surprising, then, that the dreams of his early ambition should have been of braving the perils of the sea, or commanding a man-of-war.

. His constitution was vigorous, and in all the sports of boyhood he was more than a match for his companions, spending as many hours as any one upon the play-ground, and tiring out almost all his competitors by his activity and skill. In the necessary labor of the farm he was equally diligent and faithful. A man is now living with whom he once worked in laying a stone wall, and who thought it a pity that so strong and active a lad should be sent to College, but pardoned it, when really determined upon, because he worked so well.

"Even in doing field-work," says his brother, "if the nature of the employment could possibly admit of at, he would get up some excitement to enliven the hour. Thus, in the laborious occupation of building the wall, or digging and hauling stone preparatory to it, he was the favorite of the master-workmen. Although no part of the labor was such as admitted of much haste, yet the wall-builder would often refer to these occasions after my brother began to figure a little in life, to tell how springy he was about his work; how he would jump to hook or unhook the chain, to start or stop the team, hand a crowbar, clap a bait (asit is called in New England) under the lever ; and how he would shout when the rock started from its bed and reached the surface, or its place in the wall. A single remark once made by him, while at work as above, goes to show that even then, as he had just got under way in Latin, he sometimes glanced a thought forward to the future : thus, ' Mr. N. (to the wall-builder), if ever I'm a lawyer, I'll plead all your cases for nothing.' "

An intense love of reading and of knowledge in general was early developed. Before he was six years old, he had devoured the " Pilgrim's Progress," and used afterwards to gather his companions and rehearse it to them from memory. Bunyan was always a great favorite. But a few years before he died, he borrowed from his brother the old volume, with its quaint pictures and soiled pages, which brought back so much of his childhood. Another book, of .a different kind, which he used to read with the greatest avidity, was a worn and well-thumbed copy of the " Life of Maurice, Count Saxe," from which a year or two since he repeated page after page, to the surprise and amusement of some of his family by whom a question had been started with reference to the battle of Fontenoy. " Marshal Saxe at the Opera" (accenting the second syllable according to his boyish habit) used long to be one of the playful phrases in use between himself and his children.

The apparent ease with which he mastered the contents of a book has been the subject of remark. This characteristic was as noticeable, perhaps, in childhood as any other. Dr. SewalL his brother-in-law, took the numbers of the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, which came uncut and half-bound. Rufus used to offer to cut the leaves, and even begged to do it. The truth was, that while doing it, and even while conversing with others, he would run his eye over the articles which interested him ; and, as the doctor said, " he knew more about the book by the time the leaves

8 MEMOIR OF EUFUS CHOATE. [Chap. I.

were cut, than he (the doctor) was likely to know for a long time."

His tenacity of memory was equally remarkable, so that to his friends he seemed to remember about all that he read. Years after, indeed, while a member of college, he would take a book into his sleepingchamber and look over a chapter the last thing before retiring, and then on awakening in the morning, without looking at the page, would repeat it to his brother, handing him the book to look over and see if he repeated correctly. Nor were these voluntary trials selected from poetry or fiction or narratives merely, but sometimes, at least as his brother remembers, from such condensed and weighty writings as John Foster's essay on " Decision of Character."

The village library of a few hundred volumes, containing such works as " Rollin's Ancient History," " Josephus," " Plutarch," " Telemachus," and " Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts," he had pretty nearly exhausted before he was ten years old. During all these early years the Bible was read and re-read with more than ordinary thoughtfulness ; and early in the war of 1812, he made what he thought was the great discovery of an undoubted prophecy of Napoleon Bonaparte, in the Book of Daniel. He was, at the same time, an attentive and critical hearer of sermons, even if the minister was dull. " When about nine years old," says his brother, "he took us all

by surprise one Sabbath noon, by saying ' Mr.

(naming the preacher) had better mind what he says about James (the apostle), even James,' repeating the words emphatically. The minister had been quoting Paul, and added, ' even James says, For what is your life ? ' The remark went to show us — the family — not only that he had attended to what had been said (which we had not done), but that he saw an objection to the comparison, implied at least, between the two apostles, both of whom were inspired, and consequently that the inspiration of James must have been as good as that of Paul, because of the same origin in both."

He was remarkable during his youth for the same sweetness of temper, and quick sense of the ludicrous, which he carried with him through life. He was easily persuaded to a particular course of conduct, by his mother or sisters, and could not bear to grieve them, and so in all differences between them, if he could not carry his point by good-natured pleasantry, he would yield with the best grace in the world. By the same humor, he sometimes warded off reproof, even when justly merited. An older sister was once beginning to admonish him for something which he had done, which was clearly wrong. He saw it coming and was determined to break the force of it. While she was bestowing the rebuke with the earnestness which the offence seemed to deserve, happening to raise her eyes, she saw him standing with his right hand up by the side of his head, in the attitude of a person to whom an oath is administered, and with a face of extraordinary demureness and solemnity. The sight of him in this roguish position put an end at once to the lecture and to the feeling which prompted it. The loudest of laughs ended the scene.

In all boyish sports and studies, his companions were few : the most intimate of them all was his brother Washington, a little more than three years younger

10 MEMOIR OF EUPUS CHOATE. [Chap. I.

than himself. Although during his early youth neither of his parents were members of the church, the moral discipline of the family was careful and exact. A portion of the " Assembly's Catechism " was recited every Sabbath, and the lessons thus learned were so deeply engraven on his memory as never to be forgotten. On one occasion in later life, in commenting upon the testimony of a witness who professed his willingness to do any job that might offer on Sunday, just as he would on any other day, Mr. Choate repeated, word for word, one of the long answers of that venerable symbol on the import of the fourth commandment, and then turning to the Court, said, " May it please your Honor, my mother taught me this in my earliest childhood, and I trust I shall not forget it in my age."

Mr. Choate was favored in his childhood with some excellent friends beyond the circle of his own relatives. Among these was Dr. R. D. Mussey,1 who commenced the practice of the profession in which he afterwards became so eminent, in Essex, and for several years resided in the family of Mr. David Choate. At the age of ten years, Rufus began the study of Latin, under the instruction of Dr. Thomas Sewall,2 who had taken Dr. Mussey's place. He continued his studies for a few months, yearly, during the next six years, under the clergyman of the parish, Rev. Mr. Holt, or the teachers of the district school. Among these should be mentioned Rev. Dr. William Cogswell, who taught the school during the successive winters of his Junior and Senior years in college.

1 After a life of great honor and usefulness, Dr. Mussey died in Boston, June 21, 1866, at the advanced age of eighty-six years.

2 Dr. Sewall afterward married Mr. Choate's oldest sister, and subsequently removed to Washington, D.C., where he was long known as an eminent physician.

These opportunities, of course, afforded the young student a very imperfect discipline, but they served in some degree to stimulate his mind, while teaching him the necessity of self-reliance and independent exertion. Certain it is that with his poor chances he accomplished more than most others with the best. He meditated upon what he read, and treasured up the fruits in a retentive memory. His imagination even then pictured the scenes of ancient story, and transferred the fictions of Homer and Virgil to the shores of Essex. " There," said he, pointing out a rocky, cavernous knoll to his son-in-law, as they were riding a few years since from Ipswich to Essex, " there is the descent to Avernus." This habit of making the scenes of poetry and history real, of vivifying them through his imagination, was one which followed him through life, and contributed largely to his power as an orator. Something allied to this is that touch of human sympathy for inanimate objects, of which Dr. Adams speaks in his Funeral Address. When as a boy he drove his father's cow, "he has said that more than once, when he had thrown away his switch, he has returned to find it, and has carried it back, and thrown it under the tree from which he took it, for, he said, ' Perhaps there is, after all, some yearning' of nature between them still.' "

By way of completing his preparation for college he was sent, in January, 1815, to the academy in Hampton, N. H., of which James Adams was then the principal. Here he remained till summer, when he entered the Freshman class in Dartmouth College, near the close of his sixteenth year. His classmates remember him as a diffident, modest, beautiful boy, the youngest in the class with two exceptions, singularly attractive in person and manner, of a delicate frame, with dark curling hair, a fresh, ruddy complexion, a beautifully ingenuous countenance, his movements marked with a natural grace and vivacity, and his mind from the first betraying the spirit of a scholar.

" There he brought," says one of his eulogists,1 " a mind burning with a thirst for knowledge, which death alone had power to quench, kindled with aspirations lofty, but as yet undefined and vague, and stocked with an amount of general information quite remarkable for his years ; a physical constitution somewhat yielding and pliant, of great nervous sensibility, but equalled by few for endurance and elastic strength. He came pure from every taint of vice, generous, enthusiastic, established in good principles, good habits, and good health." The necessary imperfection of his fitting for college, and his own modesty, prevented, in a measure, the full recognition of his ability during the first term of his residence at Dartmouth. But the deficiency, if it were one, was soon supplied. He acquired knowledge with extraordinary rapidity. His memory was very retentive ; the command of his faculties, and his power of concentration, perfect. " His perception of the truths of a new lesson," says one of his classmates, " and their connection and relation to other truths already familiar to him, was so intuitive and rapid, that I have yet to learn of the first man who could study a new subject in company with him, and not prove a clog and an incumbrance." At the same time he was a most diligent and faithful student.