The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-05-05

peerless man, a noble heart an invinci-
BILE soul.
1.-THE formative period of life, his boy
hood and early manhood, was spent amid
scenes calculated TO intensity the char
acteristics with which he was endowed by
| birth and race. At Princeton he spent
| the second period of his life. from 1854 to
| 1864, the period when his early character
was formed. The history of Princeton, its
traditions, its story of patriotism, the high
character of its citizenship, it's institu-
tions of learning, the academic atmos-
phere, the fame of it's scholars, the re-
fined tone of it's social circles, all played
upon the soul of the young student and
made of him a harmonious man. They
fixed for him the standards of thought
and right reasoning; created for him the
standard of morals and right living, and
! imbedded in his character the bright
| jewels which were ever after the shining
qualities of his perfect manhood.
s.In these early days his politics and his
patriotism were as decided and unchange-
able as his character. He allied. himself
| thus early with the great Democratic
party from principle, and from his earliest
| days that party had his unswerving al
| legiance, always following with unerring
| fidelity always true to what was con-
ceived by him to be the patriotic prin-
ciples on which his party's true creed was
| founded. His patriotism was no less
marked, and it was with his courage and
his loyalty to hts country that he heard
her call, and while yet in his under
graduate days his name was entered on
the nations roll of honor-with men with
whom he served till camp fever contracted
at the front brought him back to home
and fireside.
ssMr. McGill was formed in heroic
mould. He was brave without being bold,
fearless but not rash. This characteristic
was a physical one. He was a superb
horsen7an. When he had entered man
hoods estate he came to Hudson
County and made IT his home and the
theatre of a busy life. His learning. his
profound and genuine moral earnestness,
his logical mind and an unyielding grasp
on the fundamental principles of honor
and honesty, gace him at once a standing
at the bar which mere brilliancy or even
genius would have failed to win. They
gave him that same confidence of
the public which in later years
was the noblest fruit of his pub
lie life and his public service. His
career was inevitable. Nature had with
lavish hand endowed him with splendid
faculties and talents of a high order, and
she had coupled with these qualities the
determination to bring them to their full
fruition.
"a quarter of a century of this short
life, so inexpressibly sad in the very
haste with which it ended, was spent in
the public service. AS law maker, as
City Counsel. as Prosecutor of the Court
of Common Pleas. as Chancellor, and as
presiding officer of the court of last re-
sort, he was exact and patient in all his
deliberations, never satisfied with first ap-
pearance, never leaving subject till the
search was made exhaustive and COM
plete.
"As q legislator the honesty of his pur-
pose was his simple and unerring guide;
with the peace and welfare of the
county in his keeping, relentless
adherence of evil, a. stern and uncom-
promising hatred of crime won for him
the love of the law abiding, the fear of
the guilty and the respect of all. AS
Judge he was marked by an answering
adherence to judgments formed after due
deliberation.
'In private and in public Mr. McGiH
was the same mature, well rounded man;
the same man of action and man of
thought; the same implacabIe enemy of
everything that savored of the vulgar;
there was the same simplicity, the same
sincerity, the same purity, fidelity to duty
and unaffected dignity-all Joined together
bit by bit to make of life fine mosaic,
a beautiful picture.
HE was loyal son, true brother. a
loving and devoted husband. If he had a
passion that burned more brightly than
the lamp of duty, it was his passion for
his home, and there shone the qualities
of his heart; there his lighter nature was
unmasked. There he showed gentleness,
a sweet reasonableness, an indefinable
but most potent charm, and a refined and
sensitive intellectually that was all his
own.
"And yet with all the impressive dig
nifty which was so marked in the man
upon whose memory we love to linger,
with all his learning, with all the stern
and unyielding qualities of moral right
eousness, the morning and evening stars
which made his benignity so harmonious,
were his ineffable gentleness and sweet
ness. He loved nature. He loved
humanity. He loved men. He loved
the dumb animal The sweetest,
tenderes't picture of his life, like the
tenderest picture the world has ever seen,
the Christ picture, had it's setting in
stable. There, with tears of grief that
came from sorrowing soul, he wept
when his faithful horse, the dumb part
ner of his mornings pleasures, died at
midnight with his head across his mas
ter's shoulder.
"In the death of Alexander T. McGill,
New Jersey has suffered an irreparable
loss, but that death comes with peculiar
sadness and closeness to the bar of this
county. With US, and for us, he was
more than Judge, more than Chancellor.
He was at all times our close comidant
and wise counsellor. fancy that the key
to this universal sorrow is found in the
firm belief of each one that for him the
Chancellor had a special feeling. Some
sentiment of personal regard perchance
was uttered, some word of confidence
dropped-some tri1ing confidence perhaps
something that laid one beneath the
bonds of a love that henceforth naught
could break. And then what an educa-
tion, what delight to bask in the sun
shine of his natural dignity, to drink in
that cordiality which made intercourse
with him more alluring than any sort of