The sun., 1873-07-04

uon OF nus great once except those OF lg-
noranoe and inexperienoe, so narvely ad-
mitted in this extenuating plea, the badg-
cred practitioners and ruined suitors who
were afterward brought into his court
would have had reasons for devout
Thanksgiving.
He occupied the bench ms Chancellor, and
was &c 06ict0 "a member of the Court of
Errors for about twenty years. Vain, con-
oeited, loquacious, irascible, always over
bearing, often grossly partial, and some
times outuageously unjust, he finally be-
came so unpopular that for n long while it
was one of the standing arguments in
favor of framing new Constitution that
in that mode the people could get rid of an
obnoxious Chancellor by blotting his court
out of existence. And when the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1876 Indignantly tore
his seat from under him and brought him
TO the ground. the bar of the whole state
felt that they had been relieved of n bur
den which had long before become intol-
cradle. For the last half of his term many
of the foremost members of the profession
appeared in his Court with extreme reluc-
tance, and some Of them absolutely re-
fused To argue eases in the tribunal over
which he presided.
In the Court of Errors he became some
thing closely akin TO II nuisance. He af-
fcctcd learning without possessing il, and
would sometimes quote fnr-nway decisions
from llindoo or Arabian law, having no
bearing upon the ease under review. to the
amusement of the younger members of
the bar and the disgust of their elders. His
manner was to the last degree offensive.
When counsel ia the Court of Errors were
arguing appeals from his own judgments,
he would disturb and annoy them 10y re-
pcatcd interruptions aud contradictions.
For this mdclicate conduct he on one occa-
sion recciN eel q singing rchukc. The late
JouN &. SrENCKR was arguing such AN
appeal. and was subjected 10 this
rude Kind of annoyance. SPENCER
bore il "A while, and then took the ground
that the Chancellor had not only no right
to take part in the hearing, but ought not
to be personally present at the argument.
He pressed the point with so much power
that the Court finally resolved on the spo'
that the Chancellor must leave, and leave
he did. The Court may have been wrong,
but right or wrong, they were dcsirous Of
being rid of the Chancellor, even though
for the brief space of Mr.. SPEN, rRs argu-
mont ON appeals from the Supreme
Court Chancellor WALwoRrm usually as
sumed 10 give the leading opinion in the
Court of Errors; and in looking over its
decisions 1t Is sometimes evident that the
majority of the Court voted against him
simply because they disliked him 50 pro-
foundly.
such was REUBES HYDE WALwoRTH, the
late Chancellor. strictly abstemious, Pres
idcnt of the American Temperance Union,
Il ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church,
he INDUCED in no such eNcessrs ~ would
have impelled him to write such IA series of
letters n his Son MANSFIELD addressed to
his wife. But MANSFIELD was his legiti-
mate offspring; and had Their way of life
been the same, and had the sire been sur
rounded and stimulated bv the circum-
stances which cumeshed and inilamrd the
unfortunate son, then if sobrety and re-
ligiOu had not stayed his hand, we are 10y
no means sure that something very like
these sc;Lndalous productions might not
have flowed from his pen.
At all events, IL is an encouraging fact
that in this city parrioide cannot escape
conviction IN IA court of justice simply be-
cause his grandfather was REuBrN HYDE
WALwoRru, formerly Chancellor OF the
state of New York.