New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-07-22
FROM BOSTON.
From Our Own Correspc nden,.


He vas great favorite Of all lawyers and fire.
ouenters Of the Courts There is nobody worth
hearing for bis own sake nov. We loungeis shall
90 10 hear the great trials, whoever is engaged in
them. but Mr.. Choate was the only man who could
make dull and unmpOrtant case interesting. He
ave bis great faculties readily and as iully to
trial Of cause for the value of :" good, safe,
Isourd, substantial secOnd-hs harness" (to quote
ups of bis curious descriptiOns), as to trial for
murder or an action for damages involving
500 900. He always exhibited the same brilliant
qualities AID the same thorough mastery OF
bs case / believe that some Of the other leading
men ut the bar turned up their noses at bun be-
cause be went into The Municipal Court, and up to
the State House, to argue questions before Legs
lstye Committees; but it was this readiness to
enter upon any work that fell in bis way that
heIped make hun popular There nonsense
about him; no dietantism. His support OF Me.
Buchanan in 1856 was, in certain seose, creolta-
bic to him; that is, it was much better than the
Mandy pambysm of politics which characterized
the Everetts WintbrOps and Hillards OF tbs city,
and of which Mr.. Hiram Ketchum appears to be
the most distinguished exponent in your region.
Mr.. Choate was too HuDkerish to go for FIRE.
mont and had too much sense aud too little
leisure to waste his time upon Fillmore
ian. SO he went in for Mr. buchanan;
and the people liked him better thsn those who,
goserned by the same general hostility to free
principles, did not dare to show that hostility so
publicly but preferred to 'let l dare not wait
d upon | would, like the cat in the adage.'
/ have always supposed that CIR. Choates
latter day Huukerism grew, IN a large degree,
out of his devoted friendship to Dir. Weo
ster. When, 10 $780, Alr. Webster apostatlzed
from bis Anti-Slayery principles, 1t became tue
lit, nd nt I'm
of his former friends and partsans-to denouoce
him ard finally to place themselyes 10 array aganst
him AID his party. The battle waxed hot. MIR.
Choate could not look upon the contest unmoved.
He followed the fortunes Of the man be reyer-
enced and loved, aud OF course became soured
against the whole Anti Slavery party. He was
naturally reitber more nor less PrO'Slavery man
than a majority of the Wing party. l recOllect
hearing him, in Is44 denOuUce the Texan annex
ationists as land jObbers and feshjobters, and
this was about savage a DESCRIPTION OF slave
holder as could well be invented. But this was
when the whole Wbig party, in the North at least
took Anti-Slavery ground. Mr.. Choate spoke as
an advocate lie made political speeches in the
same spirit with which he entered upon the trial OF
a cause-to win; and addressed himself to the
principles and feelings OF his hearers for the sake
of carrying his point, ms he would sometimes
single out a Juror and address to him some
argument or Illustration based upon what he would
1t il possible that sympathy foe his pastor, the
Rev. SouthsiIe Adams, who was also the object of
deserved attack aud detes'atiOn of all humane men.
NAV have gone some way toward making MIR.
ChOate so devoted Hunker How far that dis
tpguishtd clerical doughface is responsible for his
parshOners neglect of the interests OF tue country
and Of humanity cannot be known; but We k0oS
that in the very last of his public addresses, MT
Choate put in the shape of 8 compliment what
might more appropriately have been put IN the
shape of maledcton, viz, his testimony that the
pastor had never said word in the pulpit
calculated to disturb the indifference OF
his people toward the fate OF four mu-
, lions Of human beings who have not only bodies
10 be enssved but souls to be damned. The
dreadful crime of indifference as to the temporal
and eternal fate of those people Mr.. Choatc seemed
10 consider an actual merit. So benumbing an III
nuence had this dispenser OF spiritual chlorOfOrn
exercised over man neither more nor less mar
dened than the average Of men. But whatever may
have been the cause of Mr.. Cb0stes entering upon
the PTo-Slavery psth ii is certain that he pursued
il with his customary ardor. 1t is tribute TO
the badness of the cause he esp0used, that
he felt Obliged to assall the Declaration OF
Indepe ndence and it, authors, as the surest way oil
obtaining the confidence of hts ne" irienus.
And now, one of the ProSlayery newspapers,
as if for the purpose OF checking the yer! general
and very crcdtable manifestations of sorrow and
regret, parades most Extensively the worst and fool
shest things he ever saidihings which his friends,
If they are wise, viii prefer to have forgotten as
speedily as possible.
MIR. Choate was certainly man of genius; one OF
the few men of genius in polti ,a and professional
life. This was after all, the great secret OF the
liking people had for HIM. There were DINER
LAWYERS as learned as he; for Instance, Mr.. Is. IL.
Curtis. Mr. G.. G. Loring, Mr.. Sidney Bartlett.
There were also others as acuts and sknu As he In
the trial al causes for instance, Mr.. Is. r. Butter
and Mt Otis p. Lord but these though men OF
learning al d shrewdneSs, were not men oil g'nius;
especially the r,na ned class had not this qnalty.
They were not men of whom anecdotes are told;
men Nho say things worth reporting and renem.
boring, poetical things. i have been tod
that when Mr.. Choate first came tn Boston,
the lead ing lawy ers were disposed to prevent him
from rising in the world. But they soon had to
give way. He raked them all down (to use a yul-
Ssrism) The man who came nearest rlvalship TO
him in tie field of eloquencc, was Peleg Sprague,
who soon after lSiO, was placed upon the 0ench
of the District Court. Richard Fletcher, one oi
the most persuasive of men, as well as one OF the
ablest of jursts must have been very formidable
antagonist; but he has been upon the benco, or III
private life. for the last dozen years. Me- han
toul might have disputed with MIR. Choate the
palm of superiority at the bar, for he was Tar
greater man in most respects having the logical
faculty and the debating power better developed
than almost any Massachusetts, man OF this century;
but he chose the broader and nobier held oil pou-
tics. Mr.. Choate soon reached the position OF
sckuovle6ge d leader of the bar, and kept I'll he
died. -,...
Although he mingled to some extent in politics
ard legislation, he never succeeded IN these heds.
He was great lawyer, rather great trier oil
causes | am not aware tina, he ever ala anything
toward simplifying or amellOrating the law, OF
getting rid of its old world rubbish. lie was
neither Brcueham nora Rcmilly In hispecui'iI
sphere he was ubrivsed, but that sphere was not
L..