Year: 1875

Indians is mercifu indeed


The Glory OF An Honest Life.


In this land and age Of bitter animosities
the union of all conditions of people in
mourning for Cha~les O'Conor is a remark
able testimonial to the merits of man who
always was q combatant, never a neutral
Catholic and Protestant, democrat and repub-
lican, rich and poor, gentle and simple, join
in the expression Of a common grief, and we
even behold the unexampled spectacle of old
aboltionists and SCARED federal soldiers
shedding tears of heartfelt sorrow around the
death bed of the counsel in the Lennon case
and the steadfast opponent of the civil war.
But the explanation is as easy as the fact is
marvellous. The character of Charles
O'Conor was genuine through and through.
Not an atom of his great fame but was hon
estly earned. From the day, half century
ago, when, an almost friendless STRIPPING he
tried his first cause in petty municipal
court, to the day when, crowned with laurels
in the highest forums of the State and nation,
he led the Bar of the United States, none of
his innumerable triumphs was won by any
other means than integrity, intelligence and
industry. Up his long ascent in prosperity,
from the obscure home of the poor boy who
peddled newspapers from his fathers press,
to the unostentatious but ample ease of the
scholars villa at Fort Washington, his palm
was never soiled with gold ignobly gained.
OF what great lawyer of past or present days
can more be said? OF how many of his liv-
ing rivals can we say so much?


Pre-eminent industry, intelligence and in
tegrity thus have distinguished Mr.. O'Conor's
life from the beginning but we yet hazard
nothing in asserting that his purely profess
sional reputation will not, after brief inter-
val, abide SO vividly in the remembrance of his
countrymen as the public services of a
mixed professional and political character
which he has rendered during the short
term of scarcely five years, since his with
drawal from the active practice of the law.
No fame is more fieeting In the public mind
than the fame of the dead advocate, unless it
be that of the dead actor. The same sad lot
of oblivion befalls every lawyer, however
illustrious in his day, who does not mount
the Bench or else combine other pursuits
with his profession. Not twenty years have
passed since the death of Rufus Choate, and
his memory already is as vague as the men,
ory of Talma. Filed away among the records
of judicial tribunals here and at Albany and
Washington, never to be seen of mortal eye
save by the legal Dryasdust, are proofs of in
tellectual exertions of Charles OConor,
Nd
mirable logic would secure almost an immor-
tality to his name had they been expended
upon philosophy or literature.


1t lis not for US now to discuss the causes and
methods of this speedy obscuration of merely
legal exploits, nor to inveigh against this
usage of mankind. The mere professional
renown of the great lawyer may dwindle into
a shadow, but his name and memory as the
saviour of this city from the disgrace which
stained its government five years ago is GER
tain to endure through many ages. In the
impending presence of his death the people
of New York, with only the exception of the
criminals themselves and of men bound by
retalners to their cause, acknowledge an
unstinted gratitude to him for his courage
and perseverance in delivering them from
the sway of official peculation. But it is
only after he has gone forever that we shall
fully estimate the extent of the obligation
and measure the potent influence which he
has exerted over the colder natures or duller
intelligences of his associates. Behind his
quiet and dignifed manner there was tenn
per of fire and will Of steel His flag was
nailed to the mast and he tolerated no faint
hearts among his crew. Those alone who
have been admitted to his confidence can un-
derstand all the obstacles which have beset
his way since the flush of popular triumph
over the Tammany Ring in 1871 faded into
apathy in 1874, and can appreciate the dis
interested persistence with which he has
waged the war, despite the dismay of the
community at beholding the shining marks
at which he struck. His nature was utterly
fearless, and he denounced Judiciary which
interposed its own ignorance or corruption
to shield peculators as instantly and vigor-
ously as he pursued the criminals themselves.
His last labor, before he yielded to his
fatal illness, was an eloquent criticism of the
opinion Of the Court of Appeals which lib
Grated Tweed from prison by writ of habeas
corpus, and is quoted entire in Mr.. Brownies
review of the Ring decisions of that Court,
which was printed in Harper's Weekly of No
vember 13 and on his deathbed, up to the
moment at which he ceased to busy himself
with mortal interests, his thoughts have been
full of the cause of political reform.


One secret of the generous and utter devo-
ton of Mr.. O'Conor to this cause lay in the
fact that, genuine in all things, he was
genuine democrat Without citing any Of
the countless illustrations of this which
might be drawn from the ordinary incidents
of his life, we cannot refrain from allusion to
the remarkable article, published scarcely a