New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-16
Joseph II. Choate

Joseph II. Choate had unique position
in this community. He was its senior
"leadng citizen He had stood for years
at the head of the New York bar. His dis
tinction had been won by service in many
capacities-as a lawyer, an orator, foe
of venalty in government and low grade
leadership in politics, a spokesman for all
good civic causes and a representative of
all that has been broadest and worthiest
in the city's intellectual life and culture.
Mr.. Choate became leader Of the bar at
a time when such professional recognition
meant more than it does to-day. His
friend and partner, William NJ. Evarts,
had enjoyed that honor before him. Like
Evarts. he rose to the full height of the
Obligations which such eminence formerly
imposed. They were of the same mind in
holding that lawyer of the first rank
ought TO give freely of his best to public
service-that he ought to be a representa-
tive citizen as we'll as a successful practi-
toner. They lived up to the stricter tradi-
ton of earlier days in putting themselves
at the disposal of their fellow citizens for
work in the public interest. And the COM
munity has looked to men like Choate,
Evarts, Tilden, Carter and Root for the
sort of guidance in public affairs which 1t
has almost ceased to expect from the sue
cessful lawyers of later generation.
1t is hard for the average New Yorker
Of to-day to realize that Mr.. Choate's
career as a lawyer runs back to the decade
before the Civil War. Most of us think of
him as the genial, gracious, inspiring coun-
sellor and man-of- the-world who from so
many platforms has addressed US his words
Of ripened wisdom. We think of him as
another "grand old man." acquaintance
with whom would have quickened and
freshened Cicero's famous observations on
Old Age. We forget his earlier and more
colorful activities We forget that he
helped to prosecute Tweed and that he
made a chivalrous fight against the boss
ism of Thomas C.. Plat. We forget his
savage examination of Russell Saga
process which he described as "skinning
an intellectual eel''-and incidents like his
biting remarks many years ago at GER
tain dinner of the Friendly Sons of St.
Patrick.
His intellectual fertility and freshness
were extraordinary. For fifty years he
had been making speeches to audiences
kere-audiences whose tastes and temper
have changed vastly in that time. But he
rever lost touch with the public. He never
weakened his welcome. He alone survived
of many famous figures of the past.
The speeches he made last week-speeches
which probably FASTENED his death -
showed no decline in those qualities which
lad so endeared him to those who value
wit, fancy and the delicate play of thought
in public speaking, in which he so long
exercised a mastery.
Mr.. Choate's services 10 the community
and to the country were varied and con-
spicuous. He did admirable work as Am
bassador to Great Britain and as the rep
resentative of the United States at the
Second Hague Conference. He was law
yer of extraordinary ability. He was a
legal New Yorker, a conscientious, high
minded citizen. But New Workers who
have known him longest and best will re-
member him above all else for his singular
personal charm, the ripe urbanity and
kindness, the keen human interest, which
triumphed over the ennui of age and left
him, even at eighty-fve, vital and appeal
irg figure, with unimpaired esprit and un-
diminished intellectual vitality.