The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-13
A PROMINENT LAWYER
A Figure Out of New York's
Picture Gallery.
William M. Evarts. the Most Con-
spIcuOus Lawyer I'm the Country.
A Type OF Body OF our
AbIest Men.

WIN the exception or ESLer cooper ana
Bryant, who were always pushed forward
as the two honest men of New York City,
few figures were more FAMILIAR to our citi-
zsns than O'Connor and Evarts. The death
Of the former has left the latter the most
prominent lawyer in the country.
Mr. Evarts is Of interest not for himself
alone, but as a type of no small body of our
ablest men. These are the dignified but
melancholy shapes who haunt the hither
side of the river that flows around the
presidential chair, and await the tardy
boat that shall ferry them over to that seat
Of empire.
The body of our great lawyer is as trans
parent as his mind is Opaque. Tell and
slsnder, heresembles Ralph Waldo Emerson.
somewhat as file resembles blade Of grass.
This difference is due to the diverse actions
Of law and poetry, the former of which has
given TO Mr. Evarts more stable and per-
sistent back bone than would be appropri-
ate 60 a votary of the latter.
Born In Boston in 1878. Mr.. Evarts has
been conspicuous in the triple character of
lawyer, orator and statesman for more than
quarter OF q century. AS lawyer his
reputation has grown without interruption
since his admission to the New York bar in
1874. Contrary to the general opinions
American law is even more exacting upon
lawyers time than English. Based upon
tho English common law, changed, re-
changed. enlarged and contracted by our
State and Unitsd States statutes as WELL
the changing detail OF our law requires such
constant study that it is next TO impossible
Cor an American to be great lawyer with.
cut being otherwise minute.
In the impeachment of Andrew johnson in
1858. in which Mr. Evarts was his principal
counsel. his merits as lawyer and his
natural defects as larger student were
marked. His English reputation reached its
highest point when he represented the United
States in ths Alabama claims. In his
speeches before the tribunal Of arbitration
his wonder nj memory of details, and the
staying power of his sober oratory that car.
ried him day after day through spectral
clouds of figures and over sandy legal wastes
struck the hearts of his learned opponents
cold
The great Beecher trial showed us the fur
niture OF Mr.. Evarts brain more clearly
than any other. No one can deny that as q
lawyer heearned his moderate fee of seventy
ave thousand dollars. But the case de-
nanded not only a legal, but a moral
acquittal. and to the latter Mr.. Evarts can
hardly be said to have greatly contributed.
EIe should have taken a hint from his
enemies and employed scholars to select
from Saint Augustine, Calvin, Knox, JoIa'
than Edwards and other great divines sem
fences in which they accused themselves OK
every form of Wickedness. In this way he
would have taken the wind out Of those
sentences in Mr.. Beecher's letters which, in
the opinion of many literal persons, were
damaging to his cause.
In thu war against the Tweed ring Mr..
Evarts course was more creditable than
that OF the well-known jurist, David Dudley
Field. That war, as is not generally known
was begun and waged by young lawyers, to
whom was presented the alternatives OF
starvation or enlisting under the banner OF
the thieves
Though Mr.. Evarts' fees from our large
corporations were probably little less THAI
those Of Mr.. Field, he did not long hesitate
about joining the young crusaders, and in
ons Of his speeches against the ring made his
nearest approach to impassioned oratory in
the sentence that warned the ring that in
GGLuLQR Ot4YOlcbS SLCIo - IL AoASO NO0AO-
As an orator Evarts does not stand the
severe test Of being able to be read.
As statesman Evart's career eliminated
;ss Hayes administration, when he held the
offlcs of Secretary of State. Since then his
influence seems to he e rapidly declined. The
cause of a public mans powers waxing or
waning Is as hard to discover as the secret OF
the weather. Yet sometimes one can make a
lucky guess. There is, of course, the gem
eral reason which we have given, that a
great American lawyer cannot well to DAY
be anything else. There is perhaps another
reason.
Men trip not on mountains
They trip on ant hills"
When Mr.. Charles A. Dana attacked
Grant, Mr.. Evarts, who had been one of the
hackers of The Sun, at once sold out his
stock. It has been often remarked that nen
fesl g1oat injuries far less than sights. AZ
Il was custom at that time among some
Republicans to speak of Mr.. Dana as =
brakan Eap, Mr. Eyarts probably did net