Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-03-07
WILLIAM N. EYARTS.

III within Maxwell Evarts, who died
New York on February 2Sth, says
he New York Times, there were four
Memorable incidents upon which the
Ugh lights must fall in any sufficient
Biography OF that brilliant and power
advocate and high. minded statess
an. He delivered the address placing
e name Of Seward before the Repub-.
Moan convention in Chicago in 1850,
Nd, when the defeat of his candidate
40 assured, moved the unanimous
limitation Of Lincoln. d. ,e s!'
He did not again appear prominently
w public life until after he had passed
E 50th year, in 1863, when he made
o FAMOUS three days argument be-.
re the United States Senate sitting
" a court of impeachment, which re-.
NJ suited directly in theSaoqnittal Of
\ President johnson, and thus saved the
nation from the shame of national
act of iniustioe and the party to which
the advocate belonged, from the day of
its birth to the day Of his death. front
the commission OF an error which must
eventually have already greatly weak
ened IT. but which seemed inevitable
&Rhen the impeachment proceedings
began.
The eloquent and learned argument
of Mr.. Evarts before the Geneva Board
OF Arbitration In 1872 was tremendu.
onsly potent In eifenting a peaceful
and honorable adjustment Of the claims
4 OF direct damages Of the United States
4 against Great Britain for the devasla-
q tione Of the Alabama and other cruisers
\ built, equipped, or manned in British
ports. 4
His adfoit and able argument for the
N Republican side before the Electoral
Commission empowered in 1877 to do
eide the contest between Tilden and
Hayes for the Presidency was open to
the oharge of being influenced by par
tisanship and political expedenoy, of
course. But the grett ability of the
ldyocate was not the less clear.
Tl Scarcely less noteworthy, from a
\ ipopular point of view, than these
public acts. however, was the apnear.
Z ance of Mr.. hvarts as senior counsel
4 for the defendant IN the tlial of the,
4 notorious Triton. Beeoher suit 10 1876,
(which resulted in the Disagreement OF
the jury. This, even, more than any OF
his other public doings, fixed hi i'm in
the eye OF the multitude, which, of
course, was hugely interested IN every
detail of that deplurable affair. 1t
served to make him, too, r.ore Of d
public fayorite than even his brilliant
triumph before the Arbitration Com
mission, because 1t focused him more
clearly In the public eye. The element,
\ of personal humor in his composition
now first impressed tho public, as 1T
had long before impressed his aaso!
ciates at the bar, aud finding him, in
some sort, humorist, the people liked
him the better. NJ
As Secretary OF State in the cabinet
Of President Hayes, from 1877 to 1884,,
3 be was rather disappointing to the
many who had supposed man Of his
vast attachments would particularly
shine in that exalted position. But
the moderation, calmness, and sagacity
z OF Secretary Eyarts were MT ques-
TONED, and perhaps he did the State
more service by refraining from any
brilliant coups Of diplomacy than he
might have done il he, had permitted
the public and the Senators to i'm
hueuoe him in taking high stand 10
The Panama Canal matter and other
questions which he anroitly avoided. i
Before his appointment as chief, ad.
wiser to President Hayes he had only
held Office briefly as Attorney General
10 Jchnson's cabinet, after the failure
of the impeachment proceedings, all
though he had also been sent abroad
90 confidential mission by President
Lincoln 10 1869, at the tims OF the
French Interference 10 Mexico.
As q matter of fact, however, from
the very inception of the Republican
party, in spite OF his foremost plaza ia
its councils at the start, he was not
popular with the extremists. The
violent abolitionists disdained the
leadership OF a metropolitan lawyer,
whose views of pubic policy wore
naturally tinged by the conservative
y influences amid which he worked. lie
was finally elected to the United States
Senate In 1885, but achieved no new
distinction In that body. He had not
the temper or the constructive faculty
of the legislator. 1t is even doubtful
If he would ever have made good
Judge. As an advocate, however, he
twas without superior in his time.
x Mr.. Eyarts was born in Charlestown,
Mass. February 9Th, 1918, the son OF
& Jeremiah Eyarts and mis- wife, a
daughter Ut Roger Sherman, one OF
the signers Of The Declaration ri inde,
pendence. Jeremiah Evarts, who was
Dative Of Vermont, was employed in
his early youth as tho editor OF a
religious journal and was largely in.
terested in foreign missions. He died
when William Maxwell manned for u
prominent Virginia lawyer was Is
years old. The boy was sent 10 the
Boston Latin School and afterward
4 went to Yale, his fathers college. In
/ his class, 1887, we're also Morrison r,
Waite and Samuel j. Tilden, upon
whose careers the influence of their
classmates was to be SO strongly eserted.
X Having been graduated at the Har
ward Law School, young Evarts cams
to New York and entered the Office ii
Daniel Lord. lie was admitted to the
bar In l841. Without the advantages
ut influential social or Professional
connections, he soon established b i'm.
self firmly. His native talent and sound
attachments soon told. From almost
X the beginning OF his career at the bar
s. his skill and eloquence before Jury
n were marked. HIS rhetorical style was
N often open to criticism, even in his
n most famous forensic achievements.
u But bis long sentences which, in the
M period when he was most conspicuous
IA in the public mind, were often mar
n veled over, never seemed to impair the
clarity of his arguments; the vein OF
Y hupor he could inluse in the driest
case. the logic and yigoT OF his utter
anees, the goundness of his informa-
tion, the great thoroughness OF, his pre-
patation, were all factors ID his sue-
cess, Bnt, OF course, these do not
account altogether for his triumph as
an advocate, which was largely due to