The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-07-17
BENJAMIN HI. STEELE.

After filling measure of fame and Use
fulncss permitted to few men of his age,
Benjamin II. Steele quietly passed from
carth at St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday
last, at the early age of forty years. tits i'm
possible to forctell the loss that Vermont,
or the country, has sustained in his early
demise. standing, as he did, foremost among
those who, if his life had been spared,
would have been so active in shaping her
policy and controlling her destiny. He was
a native of Canada, having been born just
across the border, in Stanstead, but his
habits education, instincts and principles
were all American. Having obtained a
common s.i,oui c,iu,a,iv..,
witch University but, after year, entered
Dartmouth College, where he graduated in
1857, among the leaders of his class. He
here developed and displayed those methods
of investigation, habits of thought and
felicity of expression, which ever after
ward characterized him. If his preference
for one study over another was especially
marked, it might be said that English
classics and oratory more especially claimed
his attention. The benefits he derived from
his readings and studies, in these branches,
were particularly noticeable, in after years,
in his efforts at the bar, his charges to the
jury, his opinions as a judge of the Supreme
Court, and, later, in his political addresses.
During his college course, he pursued his
legal studies, at leisure moments, and with
so much effect, that after some six months
study, if we mistake not he was admitted
to the bar in Boston, after a most rigid ex-
animation, receiving the especial congratu-
lation and commentator of Rufus Choate
for the thoroughness of his preparation and
the knowledge and understanding of the
principles, which underlie all law, which
he evinced.
| He Immediately, or soon thereafter, en-
tered upon the practice of his profession at
Derby, and, at bound, took the leader
ship of the bar in Northeastern Vermont,
and in the bordering counties in Canada
His practice was large, lucrative and con-
stantly increasing he standing without n
peer or, even, a rival. If he was pre-emi-
nent for anything in particular as a law
yer, it was for ready and correct appre-
hcnsion of the facts and law of case and
brilliancy and force as an advocate. At
the call of the state he left the profession,
having been appointed by Governor Dill
lingham, November Both, 1865, to fill
the vacancy on the bench of the Supreme
Court of Vermont, caused by the trans
fer of Judge Poland to the United States
Senate. As judge he exceled at nisi
prius, determining, almost by intuition, the
law, as well as the degree of credit to
which an individual witness might be en-
titled. $50 in preparing his decisions upon
questions of law, in the Supreme Court, his
mind would grasp, at once and without ap-
parent labor, the guiding and controlling
principles, and his opinions were always
perspicuous and terse, and the reasoning
impregnablc. He would, probably, have
remained upon the bench during his life,
but for the necessity of attending to bust
ness matters, thrown upon him by the
death of his wife's father. These personal
interests demanding his undivided atten-
ton, caused his retirement, and he declined
a reelection in 1870.
Judge Steele remained at Hartland, width
erhc had removed after his retirement from
the bench, absorbed in business, until called
out by the political campaign of 1872 lie
was member of the State Convention
which assembled at Bellows Falls, drafted
the resolutions, and was elected one of the
delegates at large to the national republican
convention. At Philadelphia he was d
member of the committee ON resolutions,
greatly aiding in shaping the platform OF
principles, many of the more important
declarations thereof being drafted by him.
He came home, entered zealously into the
work of the canvass, laboring night and
day until the consummation in November.
He was candidate for the congressional
nomination in opposition to Judge Poland,
but his defeat had no effect in diminishing
his labors, and his life was sacrificed by