The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-08-13
OBIT UARY.
HORACE DINNEY.

80 ~ r..test living LAWYER OF the United States.
Horace Binney died bis home in Philadelphia tran
gully and happily, in the ninety year of lls age
His life was purely Phladephian, and the traditional
fame of its Bar seemed to crystalline around him He
lived as we have said far beyond the ordinary limit OF
human existence having been born in the midst of tho
American Revolution. He in his twentieth year
when Washington died, and had been a member Of
the for seventy five years, having survived
not only all the contemporaries Of his YOUTH
but his eldest son, man sixty years
OF age. lie of the old Bar and thus recorded
IN old ago the reeoections OF those great men with
whom nc passed his youth. "a lawyer who has lived
from early life in tho society Of such menu hese arc
his words) sis the happier for it through life,
and especially in old age. On all occasions Of
vexation o. WEAKNESS with things at
hand he can escape pleasure into
the paths of these men, full OF their influence, full also
of judicial independence dignity and full OF proies
sional honor with unlimited public respect from which
the few clouds that be found in the cearest
Ekes have been absorbed dpeed by it, and to which
the clouds OF his day. if there any, cannot fol-
low him."
Mr. .Bnney the son of surgeon in the Revoiu-
tionary army and born IN Philadelphia on the 4th
of January 1850 His whole life with the exception of
his absence college, spent there. He was gradu-
ated at Harvard University 1884, and its catalogue
tells us that among those with him there, though not
all his classmates were Theodore Dehone afterward
Bishop of south Carolina the great philologist John
Pickering; DR. John C. Warren, William Eery Chan
ming and Joseph story Mr. Bnney was first honor
man and though he always spoke of his Alma Mater
with Affection owing perhaps religious antagonisms,
which strong with him. he sent his sons 70
Cambridge. They all graduated Yale Even
when at college NV. Binney's tendencies were to the
Bar, and in work TO which shall
olvp fha Of
life he thus recorded of his early professional
elections 81 familiar f." says he, wth the praise
Of Theophilus Parsons Massachusetts, while /
receiving my education ut Cambridge, and still
thankful for the opportunity enjoyed of witnessing in
the Supreme Court Of that State, in 1895 1896,
hibton of intellectual gadature of tho brightest kind
between Parsons counsel for Clan indicted for
blasphemy, and James Sullivan, the Attorney General
of the State The basphemy will not repeat, but it
gave Mr.. Parsons occasion opportunity Of show
ing up of the supposed phases Of Calynisc theo
ogy or, accurately, some of the opinions Of
writers supposed to be of that school, which gave
tenance, he thought what charged basphemy,
and were if any thing else rather supposed
she time there help for tho prisoner and dare
say that bad as any blasphemy may be- there may be
found in some extreme views very different schools
of theology something quite bad; but the marvel
to see the prompness and acueness with which Par
sons repeated, explained applied and enforced his
citations in the best form for his client MD
Imagination fired at the spectacle of this
homo, well versed in theology law and
of much repute for Greek English
IN his subety and otherwise in his careless dress
his purple bandana handkerchief cured loosely his
ieckcloth, and his reddish-brown scratch something
wry-he all the while pouring from under it the doc
rnes he had cued and weaving them with the subtlest
Ingenuity to make covering broad enough for his
client 1t was glory of the Bar but the stiff old
statute too much for him l think / Tecollect a
part OF the sentence strange the of Pennsyl
hyana lawyer that he should hour upon the gal
lows with rope round his neck Barring the rope
should have been willing there for two for
basphemy, but 10 hear a repetition of Parsons When
returned to Philadelphia not surprised at the
reputation which was surrounding the name OF Theo-
phus Parsons" These were the instincts Of the early
lawyer. Mr. Binney returned from college to Phadel-
pha, and entered the Office of Jared Ingersol then
the height of his professional fame, the great Phade
phia advocate. His fellow student John Sergeant
whom he survived and to whom he paid the tribute of
his most earnest eloquence No beaut
ful GRAFTON of this sort is to be found anywhere.
II is reported with great accuracy Mr. Wallace's
Circuit Court Reports. This eulOgy, and about the
same time Mr. Chauncey, interesting the rev
citation of the who made them and of his views of
tho ideal lawyer whom they typifed They well
worth the study of every American professional of
any meridian any time The address on the death Of
Mr. Sergeant rs touching and Impressive in this 1t was
far back 1882 and the tribute Of man of sew
entytwo to one who year his senior In it he
said, and he kept his word SIT has been my most CRATE
full and most painful duty to declare this Bar upon
two occasions the impressions that been left upon
me by the death of two eminent men, my own contem
porares and dear friends Let envy mo the task
however great the satisfaction may be- short retro
spect to myself Henceforth such duty remains to
have uttered the last words at a Bar meeting on
the departure OF friends have probably Uttered my
final words to tho Bar Of Philadelphia except the ex-
precision of my most cordial regards and my alice
tomato situations TO you all :" This was peaceful
and in his natural imagining, tho moyiturus
saiutO, and yet have seen, Mr.. Binney lived
ninety five years
But to return to our memorial sketch Mr. Binney
admitted 20 the Philadelphia Bar on the 3lst OF
March, 1900 He served for single in the State
Legislature in 1S0GO7 then and for a long time after
ward the school OF all rising lawyers In 1910 ho be-
the reporter Of decisions Of the Supreme Court
Pennsylvania, reporting adjudicated from 1899
1914, during which time the most of it. they wero
the record Of his professional success There had
been but one experiment at reporting before this in
America, Mr. Dallas and tho now attempt is obviously
an Improvement on the FIRST As the hero using tho
word In classical and in athletic sense OF Sir
James Burrows Lord Mansfield so was William
Tighman the third Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Mr.
Binneys ideal, and thus at a period much later he
portrayed him 1t is perfect specimen of effective and
arectionate character painting 1t is Mr. Binney him
self wo quote From tho moment of the lato Chief
Justices appointment to that Of his DEATH Of u.s.
my brethren, have stood around him and have wit
messed the great work upon which his reputation
His life has been the bench, his family has been the
Bar, his children now before So obvious have
been his works to also radiant with that light which
Is reflected from the faith Of tho just that part of
them Is unknown to you; and l shall revive the i'm
pressions and assist the recolocons Of each while
deavor to sketch the extent Of his abors the character
ofhs judgments and Of his mind his temper and dis
position, social, moral and religious
"rhe higher Judicial Offices OF country arc posts Of