Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-12-13

won II they are supported Dy nlSi priltS
decision of Judge Clayton" His decisions
and clearness. Being 10 minutes late at
court on one occasian, he directed the
clerk to fine Thomas Clayton $40; holding
that 81 minute was a small price for
that, which was Indispensable to all
human efforts. and when lost or squan-
dered could not be replaced. His tomb in
the Presbyterian cemetery at Dover, is the
mecca of those who reyers just judge, an
honest man and one Of exalted worth.
From 1887 to 1889 John NJ. Clayton, the
cousin of Thomas Clayton above named,
was Chief Justice Twice he was sent to
the United States Senate in the days when
Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton. Grundy,
White, Holmes, Livingstone and Haynes
were there. lie WAS easily the peer OF any
of them in counsel or in debate. Clay
tons fame was widespread. AS Secretary
of State under President Taylor he nego-
tiated the Clayton-B Treaty, which
maintained the Monroe doctrine against
British interference in Central America,
and practically secured control of the
Nicaraguan Canal route to the United
States. He was of commanding presence
and invincible personal magnetism.
Richard H. Bayard succeeded Clayton
and was Chief JUSTICE from 1889 to ISL.
He was the son of James A. Bayard, the
elder, was twice United States Senator and
charge daffairs to Belgium. He is de-
scribed as one of the most handsome and
courtiy men of his day. withal an able
lawyer and judge and he fifty maintained
the dignity and high character of the
bench.
James Booth, the younger, followed
Bayard; serving from 1871 to 1855. Ii is
written of him that he was "a great judge
just man; noble, high-minded afiable
at times facetious, generous and kind
hearted; the friend of all and especially of
the frienGless.''
Samuel NJ. Harrington was chief Justice
from 1856 to 1857, and then became Chan
cellor of the State and died as such. Judge
Harrington was one of the abest niSi prus
lawyers and judges the State has ever
produced Harrington's Reports in i've
volumes, are everywhere regarded as
models; containing apt and lucid conden-
Stations of the common law, and often eX-
pressing in few short sentences. legal
principles. that in modern reporters are
spread over many bageS
Edward Woodward Gilpin was Chief
Justice from 1857 to 1876 For nearly
% years he presided over the civil and
criminal courts of the State and was one
of the leading members Of the court of
errors and appeals. While i'll the full tide
of life, ut the Court House in Dover the
messenger OF death came to him while he
was sitting on the bench, and he was car
ried out OF the courtroom to die. He had
been encouragement for 10 years, and
while at the bar he was sought and re-
tanned in nearly all the leading cases. As
a judge he may have been eXcelled in some
particular points by some of his pre-
decessors but when we consider all his
qualifications, he was altogether without
superior. His opinions in the first four
x.f II..,tR -
almost every legal question, aud are of the
highest value.
Joseph p. Comegys succeeded Judge
Gilpin in 1876 Until 1895, for about II years,
he presided in the courts of Delaware. AL
though Wing in politics, he was APP
pointed over Democratic competitors by
Democratic Governor.
Alfred p Robinson followed Judge
Comegys in 1888 and entered upon his
work with such learning and zeal, such
disregard for his own health, thas in one
short month the cord of life was snapped
He was martyr to his work and zeal.
Next in line followed your speaker,
upon whom in this presence it is unseemly
to comment.
Time will not suffice to speak of the
learned and gifted associate judges who
have added lustre to the bench Of Della
ware. Among them may be named Edward
W. hbpbtClAs JOhh hllllRdu anu
w. Houston, who We're leaders in the
State, and would have been leaders any
where.
Nor have we time to dwell upon the
Chancellors of this State. Nicholas Ridgely.
Kensey Johns, Samuel NJ. Harrington,
Daniel N. Bates and Willard salisbury
and Others who were intellectual giants,
and in larger States and in broader fields
would have been widely noted as jurists.
ftf iIIfaf ri I1FH !
would compare fayorably with the lead
ing jurists of other States, with Appleton
OF Maine, Story and Shaw of Massachu-
sets, Kent and DEMO of New York, Till
man and Gibson of Pennsylvania and
Marshall of Virginia, and others like them
who attained wider repute, but only be-
cause they had larger fields and better OPP
portunities.
In the Senate of the United States Della
ware has maintained from the beginning of
her Statehood. an almost unbreken line Of
great men, Her smaA territory has ever
been coupled with the memory of Ger ex-
ceptionally gifted representatives.
For Judicial positions in her borders,
she has been no less careful to secure men
Of ability. spotless integrity and high
Judicial and legal qualifications. She has
insisted that the men who wear the ermine
and administer Justice, shall be leaders
ddencs of honest and just men every
where. Her mandate has been that the
judge should hold tine scales of justice
evenly and should know no man iii the
administration Of law. In the past her
judges have won this enviable position.
Elk Congressman Martin was intro
duced as follows:
Who'd like to DO a boy again, without woe or
care,
With freciles scattered on his face anu hay.
seed in his hair;
Who'd like to rise at o'clock and do hum
dred CHORES,
And saw the WOOD and feed the hogs and lock
the stable doors;
And herd the hens and watch the bees and
take the mules to drink,
And teach The turkeys how to swim SO that
thoy wouldn't sink;
And milk about hundred cows, and bring the
wood to burn,
And stand out in the sun all day, and churn
and churn and ehurn;
And wear his brothers cast of clothes and walk
four miles to sch ol,
And get licking every day for breaking some
old rule?
1t is needless to say that boy came from
Sussex and proved his grit by blowing his
way to eminence as a man, AS will be told
by our good friend from Seaford, the Hon.
Edward IL. Martin, whom | have the
pleasure of introducing.
Mr.. Martin read some old letters dated
in 1901 and 1902, from a politician of
those times, showing, he said, that the
condition of politics in those days was
not much different from that of to-day.
II appeal to you," he continued, "let
us not, through prejudice or passion,
see the bright, untarnished escutcheon
of that State blurred or blotted by any
thing that may happen in the future"
Francis IL. Hotfecker spoke next. He
was introduced as follows:
The mental size of some statesmen, like
the pupil of the eye, seems to contract
when the light is turned upon them. But
however that may apply in some cases,