The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-03-26
CHANCELLOR JAMES KENT
WAS THE SUBJECT OF 4 LECTURE
 BTJUDGE ELLIOTT

nOoR-many InteEestIng Facts cOn-
 cernIng This Great Jurist-Large
 Audience Present.
 Before large and appreciative audi ence in Hendrie hall, at Yale, yester- day afternoon, Judge Elliott, of Min nesota, delivered a very interesting lecture on the subject, Chancellor Kent and the Judicial Tribunal" The lecture in abstract, follows:
 From the study of the lives of our great and illustrious men there is much to be learned. much for us to think over and to profit by the examples they have set us. Of the many great Americans to whom we can look for such example and edification there is none better fitted to offer it to us than James Kent. Contemplate him and we realize the ideal of the profession. His indefatigable industry and his sobriety astonished all. He put to blush the un- scrupulous, and encouraged those who thought that the lawyers profession had become degraded.
 Young men who dream of success without learning, should look to him. His was a success which can only be gained by learning-the result of hard and consistent work, work which knew To rest from the days before he enter ed college to his old age. But success can be gained without this ceaseless grind. It is, however, a different kind of success. It will not last, and is like fitting phantom. The great jurists stand out in all times as the opponents of their age. Blackstone's influence is not eclipsed by Shakespeare. The ideas of the jurist are those that sway men. Legislative acts are insignificant to them. The law has been molded and formed by their commentaries. Their works yielded a tremendous influence. And it is the quiet man, the hard work
 ing stdent who originates these laws, though they are given to the world through lips of others. Often the origi- nator gets none of the credit. The great Justinian is known to the world to-day only as the author of book of laws. In his own day that was almost the least of his achievements. He was a soldier, a conqueror, and everything else that contributed to so-called greatness. All else has passed away, and to-day Jus tinian Code alone remains. Even this, was not his-but the work of his great lawyers given to his subjects un- Ger his name. The same may be said of Napoleon. His work in moulding na- tions and establishing thrones has all passed away in a short one hundred years, and as Lord Rosebery says, the only influence left is the Napoleonic code.
 Looking to our own land we find no one more worthy of mention that that noble son of Yale, Chancellor James Kent. Spending his childhood in the days of the Revolution he had much to think about. He was but thirteen when peace was declared, tnd the fol- lowing year entered Yale. The college curriculum then was about equal to the ordinary preparatory school of to-day. He studied hard, and left college seri- ous and thoughtful youth. He had found copy of Blackstone and read it with much earnestness. He entered the office of the attorney general of New York and read many standard tonnes. Still studying his literature, 1t was for him to introduce in his writings some form and style, of which most all that then existed were then totally barren. He says of himself at this time that he did not drink, dance or play cards, and though his associates twitted him for his dullness, he lived to see several of them died in a few years, and out lived most of the rest. He studied thus till he was twenty-one and then mar ried the daughter of his boarding mis- tress.
 Settling down immediately, he work ed even harder than before, and here he laid the real foundation of his great learning. He was a federalist and great friend of Hamilton, though seven years his senior. He had a strong dis like for Aaron Burr. He ran for con- gress from his home, Poughkeepsie, but was defeated. He then moved. to New York, and was appointed to the su- preme court bench. He was made chief justice and, served till he was retired at the age limit of sixty years He | then wrote his Commentaries and en- joyed a quiet life till his leath."