The morning call., 1894-04-14

one. of most remarkable family-a fam.
lily that has left and is still leaving its I'M
print upon the history of the western con-
tinent David Dudley Field was easily
the Nestor of the New York bar. though
all his life was touched with-well, be was
Field and he did much good after ALL
The whole history of this remarkable band
OF brothers. the Fields, is an Intervening
of good to mankind with other things
which perhaps would not be called good,
whatever else they might be termed. That
is the family history, at least. except so
far es it concerns the youngest brother
and the sister. Mrs. Brewer, wife of a
missionary TO the Turks in Asia Minor
The youngest of the Fields. Henry Mar
tyn, was clergyman like his father before
him and writer Of books OF travel which
obtained some vogue. His balance of
good and evil must be struck elsewhere
than there. The sister was good woman.
in that she was woman never mentioned
outside her own family circle, and the
mother of Mr.. Justice Brewer of the Su-
preme Court of the United States. There
stands the balance, for the recent history
of Mr.. Justice Brewer and his peculiar
ideas of his duty and his discretion are
known of all men.
Cyrus w. Field, the third brother. now
dead, laid the first Atlantic cable, q work
of superb daring, wedding two hemis-
pheres, was decorated by European princes
and received the freedom OF the city of
New York and a gold snuffbox. Then he
went into Wall street, walked the street in
the approved fashi of spectators, accu-
mulated million upon million, solved the
problem Of rapid transit in the American
metropolis by the construction of the first
81" road and. at last. ran counter 10 Jay
Gould and was himself cinehed, disgrace
being added to ruin by the crimes of his
son, Edward, who was sequestered in an
asylum for the insane at Buffalo for time
after his fathers death, but who was re-
Gently brought out to stand trial for
swindling.
Stephen j. Field. Justice of the Su-
preme Court of the United States, and on
the bench yef. though past the retiring
age. is the second brother. His balances
are nos yet made up. They cannot be
until the curtain is rung down.
David Dudley Field was in Congress for
three months in 1876. serving out the un-
and he was a member of the Peace Con-
vention, but with these exceptions he held
no public Office during his long life, al
though taking an active interest IN poll
tics. His fame rests upon the c0dification
and reform of the practice Of the law,
civil and criminal, and to bring about this
reform he did more than any jurist who
ever lived, ancient or modern.
In politics he had the broad catholicism
Characteristic of large-brained men, being
no stickler for party. He called himself
for the most part a Democrat, yet he sup
ported John G. Fremont for the Presi-
dency, and during the dark days the ad-
ministration of Abraham Lincoln had no
firmer ally with brain and pen than David
Dudley Field. Possibly 1t was in some
measure due to this fact that President
Lincoln appointed his brother to the Su-
preme Bench. Politics presents strange
necessities sometimes to the best of men.
Again, in 1876, Mr.. Field arrayed him.
self on the side of Samuel Tilden as against
Rutherford B. Hayes for the Presidency,
and before the Electoral Commission was
the ablest advocate of the Democratic
claimant.
He has not appeared so prominently be-
fore the public since that time. The dis
asters of Cyrus w. Field and the career OF
the Justice have kept the family In view.
one way or another, all the time, while
David Dudley Field has been allowed to
devote himself to lucrative practice and
to his favorite studies of law reform.
What he has accomplished will be seen in
the fact that his codes, civil and criminal,
have been enacted into law in number Of
States. including California, and partially
adopted in his own State, New York,
where he resided nearly all his life.