The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1903-10-28
THE LATE FEDERAL JUDGE---MORRIS
M. ESTEE.--BY HENRY E. HIGHTON

might be appointed was unquestionable,
if success depended upon his personal
efforts on his own behalf, failure was
inevitable. He was uncompromising in
his adherence to principle, frank and
even blunt in his opposition to what
he conceived to be wrong, fully per-
Suaded that, in the United States, the
office should seek the man and that no
man should run after an office, and, for
these various reasons, while he became
political factor of far more than or
binary consequence, he was ineXpert
in what are termed practical politics.
and never utilized his many large op-
portunitieS as other men might have
done. Now that he has passed away,
it may be fairly said that some of the
episodes, in Judge Estee's life which
were temporarily stigmatized as fall
ures, in the deeper comprehension and
appreciation that follow the departure
of e. strong personality, were among his
greatest successes and will enter into
that lasting reputation and influence
that survive the grave.
Judge Estee opposed attacks upon the
public welfare, at all times, without
counting the cost. OF several examples
of this sort, one may be appropriately
mentioned, which also furnishes an evil
dence Of his moderation. The Funding
Bill, proposed in Congress, at the in
stance of C. P. Huntington, and back
ed by the brains, influence and money
of that extraordinary man and his as
sociates, was bitterly opposed by an
overwhelming majority of the people of
California. Judge Estee, Henry E.
Highton and the octogenarian and
eminent lawyer, John T. Doyle, were
appointed committee to prepare a
memorial to Congress against the meas
ure, and each Of those gentlemen draft
ed memorial, which expressed his own
views. There We're some Emergencies
between the three papers, and, at Judge
Estee's suggestion. Mr.. Highton became
a committee of one to mould them into
consecutiveness and harmony. The
work was done and the bill was de-
feated-one of the unfrequent instances
of failure by Mr.. Huntington in the
legislative department of his work.
A NATIONAL HONOR.
In 1888 Judge Estee was accorded the
distinguished honor of presiding over
the National Republican Convention,
and the skill, courtesy, rapidity and
precision, with which he performed the
duties of that trying position, attracted
the admiration of the country. As a
presiding officer over any body, state,
municipal. political, or fraternal, he has
been rarely, If ever, excelled by any of
his contemporaries. Always unpre-
tentious, never dogmatic, homely and
lucid in his language, free from temper
or partisan intensity, and yet firm in
his opinions, when they were once
formed, and strong in their expression.
and also possessed of pungent humor
; that in no way weakened his argu-
ments, as speaker and a debater, he
was invariably interesting and attrac-
tive, and dangerous antagonist to the
opposite side of any question. His dis
cussion of the tariff with the late Sena-
tor Stephen M. White, in all important
places in the State of California, is
firmly impressed upon political his
tory, and, on both sides, became mem
orable.
Judge Estee was also a Mason and an
Odd Fellow of high distinction, and had
filled many of the most important of
fees in each order. The services of
, this morning, like the court proceedings
!, of yesterday, will attest the esteem in
(which his name is held, not only in
fraternities, but in the profession to
which he was SO long attached and in
the judicial station he subsequently
adorned.
| His marriage in 1868 to Miss Frances
Divine was followed by forty years of
unbroken domestic happiness. In all
his labors and struggles his wife stood
unfalteringly by his side and, now
shares in the general sympathy his
death has evoked.
! Judge Estee filed the measure of a
righteous citizen, true husband, sin
cere friend, an honest legislator, a
| tender brother, an able and honest
lawyer, a conscientious statesman. a
just and incorruptible judge. He has
gone to his earned rest, amidst the sin
icere regret and the touching emotions
| of his fellow men, and the Hawaiian
heart viii swell and gentle tears will
fall from Hawaiian eyes, as his remains
are committed to the peaceful ocean for
final interment in his cherished home.
Nil nisi bonum" has been the invoca-
| tion for the dead in many ages. In this
instance of arrested mortality mil nisi
verum" is the only essential. attribute
of eulogy.