The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-16
LAWYERS WELCOME CH0ATE.
HE BRINGS A GIFT FROM ENG
LAND TO BAR ASSOCIATION.

Grover Cleveland . Guest At the Bis Re
ceptionDThe GIFT Bust OF LORI
Russell Sent over by the Present
CHER .Justice-Elihu Root Presides
Joseph n. Choate was one OF the founders
of the Bar Association and its president In
1883 80, and he got the heartiest welcome
| In the history Of the association when he
came back to his own again last night.
The applause when Mr.. Choate arose
TO speak was OF long duration. but even
this was exceeded when he presented to
the association bust OF Lord Chief Justice
Russell of Killowen, which. he said he was
commissioned to present to the bar Asso.
citation by the Lord Chief Justice Of Emf gland
as token OF the friendship and good VIII
of the bench and bar Of England for men,
bers Of the profession in America.
Grover Cleveland was the most prominent
of the 500 men who gathered to do the return
ing Ambassador honor, and his reception
was not a bit less cordial than that accorded
Mr.. Choate. Mr.. Cleveland entered while
the reception was In progress. He walked
through the hall on the arm OF Frederic
de p. Foster and was cheered tumult-
uously
After the reception In the parlors OF the
association all went to the meeting room,
where buffet luncheon was served. In
the course OF this Elihu Root, president OF
the association, arose and said;
Gentlemen Of the bar and you trlstful
laymen who have ventured here Tonight
/ have the honor to represent to you under
new colors and with a somewhat new and
fuller form the old heart and the old head
that you know 80 we'll Of our old friend
and leader His Excellency the Honorable
Joseph H. Choate OF the Middle Temple.
To us he is the mentor OF the Middle Temple.
Not until tonight does he resume his natural
form. Tonight. like the heroine OF the
epitaph:
who burst this shell Of mortal sin
And Matched into Cheruolm
he ceases to be a mentor and comes back
to the same inimAtab BILE, immortal Choa te.
MIR Choa te referred at first to the swelter-
ing conditions in the room which was
packed from door to door. His collar
was wilted and he was mopping the per-
SEPARATION from his brow as he began;
ever had in my life. I have been through
a great deal, but through nothing to equal
this. 1t seems but six days instead OF
six years since you gave me Godspeed on
the part Of the bar OF America.
cancy was that l thought my departure
created; you sent me of with rousing cheers,
but there may have been a double meaning
in this. You may have considered that |
was leaving the country for the country's
good. or that | was leaving the bar for the
good Of the bar.
in England they often asked me how
the bench and bar got along together.
and they told me that America must be
the paradise Of the Judges if not OF lawyers.
since in that country there are but thirty
~; hi Intn IF
New York there are 100 such Judges, and
the lawyers are eternally clamoring for
more.
.Then they reminded me OF the immense
profits coming to American lawyers. re-
torted by telling them the story OF my
first fee. 1t was when was in a law office
in Boston with Mr. Saltonstal'.
1.-TWO farmers from Vermont had had
two carloads of potatoes frozen, and the
question arose, Was the loss Of the potatoes
company? 1t was too much for Salton-
stall and he said, Here's Choate; that case
will be about right for him.
by some chance the jury decided that
the, railroad company was Responsible,
was an entirely unknown realm to me,
and accordingly !, told them, that 50 would
do. They said that they had talked II
over on the way down to Boston and had
come to the conclusion that 81 carload
/ am delighted to say that this moderate
measure of compensation l always after
ward followed.
Sold dollars were common then. and
gave one of them to friend who was at
the same stage of his practise. He died forty
years afterward and his widow sent this
Identical dollar to my daughter. with
letter saving that it had been preserved by
her husband as Joe Choate's first fee,
seriously, / think that If the incomes
~ l,o al inn In, lnfh
sides of the Atlantic, leaving out. Of course
my friend Root since he retired from the
Cabinet, were to be compared. they
could be exchanged without giving any
thing to boot on either side.
Il bring you gift from the bench and
bar Of England, presented through the
Lord Chan celor and the Lord Chief Justice,
and with 1t ! bear you their kindest greet
ings. They wanted to give it to the bar Of
America, but told them that the American
Property s and advised that il be- o}rered to
the Bar Association Of New York. 1t is
replica Of the statue Of Lord Russell of
kllowen in the Royal Courts OF Justice Of
England.
Eng ishman and no lawyer could he better
received. He was the greatest advocate
of his time among all English speaking
peo%gi s friend Root hs. commented upon
only saw that when went abroad | was
determined to meet the Englshman half
way. | may have overshot the mark
but think hit it about right. The question
now is. Is there room for me among you'
"A short time before | returEeo. was
Offer ed a chance to axe part in what was
told was one of the greatest ntroversies
ever contested on this earth in all time
l felt constrained to decline. Now that
| am hack, ] see that my friends Root and
Cleveland and Morton have profit cd from
it all.
In conclusion, ] want to tell YOU ALL
and to tell it with sincerity. that am de-
lighted to find myself back member of
the bar which l left only temporarily six
years ago"
MIR. Root accepted. on behalf Of the Bar
Association, the gift brought by Mr.. Choate
in speech in which he referred particularly
to the close bond Of kinship between the
two nations.
10 thsu said that there was present one