widest reputation were acquired in the practice of his profession, and his chief fame must rest upon his forensic displays in the tribunals of justice; and it is as a great lawyer and an eloquent advocate that, in this place at least, we most appropriately remember him. In full practice for nearly thirty years, and during half or more of that time occupying a foremost place at the Boston bar, his career was almost equally remarkable for its laboriousness and its success. In accounting for this success, there is a disposition sometimes manifested to overlook that very feature of his professional character which, perhaps, more than any other, contributed to its accomplishment. Whatever others may think, that which has most struck me in the mental efforts of Mr. Choate is not his exuberant rhetoric, his glowing style, or his vigorous logic, but that extensive erudition and legal learning by which all his brilliancy and oratory were sustained, and which could only have been the fruit of persevering industry. In this respect, by the younger members of the profession at least, his example well deserves to be held in constant recollection. It is another admonition added to a multitude of a similar character which have gone before it, that, to be an eminent lawyer, it is necessary to be a student. With all his acknowledged genius, his warmth of fancy, his command of rhetoric, his quickness of perception, his power of logic, Mr. Choate felt himself forced, nevertheless, to make his way upward to his professional fame by close study and assiduous toil. It is said, indeed, that he became so wedded to his books as to seek in them at once his instruction and his relaxation, so that after being worn down by a trial in court he would solace himself at home by an hour with Shakespeare or a conversation with Plato. But for this solace he has himself told us, in that beautiful tribute to the value of books which is doubtless fresh in all your memories, he would at times have hardly known how to still his throbbing brain, or how to keep the balance of his excited mind. Better for him, perhaps, and better for all of us, since his life might have been prolonged, if his relaxation had sometimes been differently chosen, and if he had given a portion of that time to the refreshment and renewal of his physical energies, nearly the whole of which he lavished upon the culture of his mind. But although he did not live to be old, he lived long enough to achieve an honorable and, I trust, an enduring fame, and to leave behind him a cherished memory and a bright and instructive example. In these we may all of us find a consolation and an encouragement, and his nearer and more intimate friends will profit also by the recollection of those social attractions, which, though they form for them the most delightful part of his character, do not yet belong so emphatically to the public estimate of his loss. All his hopes and his fears, his perplexities and toil, have now ceased, but the remembrance of his success, and of his well-earned position as the leader of the Boston bar, remains to encourage those who come after him in the profession of his choice to follow in his footsteps and emulate his example. That encouragement, I repeat, addresses itself most forcibly to the younger members of the profession; and it may not be amiss to admonish them, that whoever may aspire in future years to occupy the place now made vacant by death must not expect to realize the fruition of their hopes through any other instrumentalities than those so unremittingly employed by the subject of these remarks from the time he was first admitted to the bar to the close of his brilliant and successful professional career. Judge Sprague also replied, and expressed his entire approval of the motions. Whether a suit claiming damages for the non-fulfilment of a charter-party, on account of a refusal to furnish a specified cargo, can be sustained in admiralty, or whether the party must resort to his personal action for damages as in other cases, quære. Rich v. Parrott et al., 55. AFFREIGHTMENT, CONTRACT OF. See DELIVERY, 2, 3; JURISDICTION, 8. 1. Where a cashier of a bank took a note running to him as "cashier," without specifying of what bank, held, that evidence was admissible to show that, in taking the note, the cashier was acting as agent of a certain bank. Bank of Newbury v. Baldwin, 519. 2. Between the original parties to a bill or note the general rule appears to be, that the facts are open to inquiry; and that an agent is not liable to be sued upon contracts made by him in behalf of his principal, if the name of the principal is disclosed to the person contracted with at the time of entering into the contract. Ibid. 3. Where on the face of the note the person to whom it was given was designated "cashier," and it was furthermore agreed in the case that such person was in fact cashier of Newbury Bank, held, that the case must be viewed as if the words "cashier of Newbury Bank" had been written on the note. Ibid. ALIEN. Where an interest in real estate is devised to an alien, he will be entitled to hold See EQUITY, 3. AMENDMENT. Under the act of Congress, August 19, 1841, limiting suits by or against ANSWER. 1. If the answer of the defendant is responsive to the bill, it is evidence in his 2. Where the complainant sought to recover damages of the respondents, because APPRAISAL. 1. Where sugar imported into the United States is appraised by samples which 2. And where, upon appeal to merchant appraisers, the samples were, after the 3. If the samples are fairly selected from one in ten of the packages, and are See DUTIES, 1, 2. |