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exactly what his witnesses will testify to, and as for the law, long experience in this class of cases has made him, so to speak, an encyclopedia of railroad decisions."

Our space will not permit a general review of the important civil cases in which Mr. Harris has been engaged. Many of them were of great public interest, giving Mr. Harris much distinction throughout the State.

During the legislative session of 1884, William McDonald was arraigned at the bar of the Senate for refusing to answer questions before a legislative committee. He was committed by the Senate to imprisonment in the common jail for contempt. In proceedings taken in the courts for his release, Mr. Harris appeared as one of his counsel, and his argument for McDonald, which required and received at his hands as much research and learning as has been displayed in any case brought before the courts in late years, greatly extended his reputation as a profound lawyer. The commitment was declared by the General Term of the Supreme Court illegal, and McDonald was dis

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charged. The case is reported in 32 Hun, 563. During the legislative session of 1882, Mr. Roosevelt preferred charges against Mr. Justice Westbrook, of the State Supreme Court, for misfeasance and malfeasance in the discharge of his judicial duties. It was alleged, among other things, that the judge, without stint and without regard to judicial propriety, had appointed relatives to office, in which they had received large fees; that he had been guilty of judicial impropriety in the celebrated Manhattan Elevated Railroad Case; that he had improperly given advice aiding the defense of the Manhattan Company, and that he had improperly informed Jay Gould and others touching certain actions of the court." The charges against the judge, taken together, made a strong prima facie case against him. The alleged facts were ingeniously marshalled and strengthened by accumulated allegations. They were sent to the judiciary committee of the Assembly for investigation after a spirited debate.

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whole article is highly complimentary to Mr. Harris. The judge was honorably acquitted.

We have thus given a sketch of Mr. Harris as a lawyer. We shall now briefly consider his political career, which, though extended, has been subordinate to his profession.

Quite early in life he became prominent in the Whig party in Albany county, advocating its measures on the platform and with his pen with such fidelity and ability that he soon took his place among the leaders of the party in the county and State. In the autumn of 1850 he was elected member of Assembly from the county of Albany. It was at this session of the Legislature that the building of the State library and the improvement of the State capitol became a prominent subject of legislation. Its success was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Harris. He was also a member of the joint committee of six to call State conventions and to construct a new party platform which was one of the first steps in the formation of the Re. publican party. Mr. Harris aided largely in founding the Republican party, and has always been justly regarded as one of its strongest and ablest champions. From 1862 to 1870 he was a member of the Republican State committee; from 1862 to 1864 he was chairman of the executive committee; from 1864 to 1870 he was chairman of the Republican State committee, in which position he displayed great executive ability, and by his skillful political management more than once led his party to victory in closely-contested State elections. As has been said of him by a prominent writer: "His keen intuitions and his rare skill as an organizer, with a singular union of discretion with boldness render him a natural leader of men." As a delegate in many State and National conventions Mr. Harris was active and strongly influential in sustaining the measures of his party. The Hon. James G. Blaine, in his history of "Twenty Years of Congress," after recounting the action of Mr. Harris in the Republican National convention of 1868, speaks of him as a man of marked sagacity in political affairs."

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Mr. Harris was retained by Judge Westbrook to conduct his case before the committee. The investigation before the committee began on April 21, 1882, and finally closed on the 27th of the following May, Mr. Harris making the closing argument. Judging from the comments of the press his argument was one of extraordinary power and eloquence. The Troy Press, speaking of it, says: "The argument of Mr. Harris was very able, and exposed the wickedness and absurdity of the charges against Judge Westbrook." The Albany Evening Journal says: There can be no answer to Mr. Harris' defense of Judge Westbrook, the only counsel before the committee who can be truly said to enjoy a large experience in his profession." The New York World, of May 29, in an able review of the case, said: "Mr. Hamilton Harris' argument in vindication of Judge Westbrook fills a closely-printed pamphlet of nearly fifty pages; but so close and clear is his presentation of the case, that no lawyer will object to its length." After quot-character, and with a strong cause committed to him, ing to some extent from the argument, the review his uniform courtesy and persistent labor carried the continues its favorable comment upon it, and the project through the crisis."

At the legislative session of 1865 the question of erecting a new capitol at Albany, which had been agitated for many previous sessions, culminated in more decisive action. Mr. Harris was elected president of a new board of capitol commissioners, serving until 1875 with ability and success so marked that he has been frequently termed "the father" of that great measure. The Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, commenting upon the subject, says: Let the people of Albany remember that to Hamilton Harris more than any other man they are indebted for the new capitol from its inception in 1865 to its progress in 1879." To this the Albany Evening Journal made answer: 'Never fear; Albanians will always remember it." The Albany Express, speaking of Mr. Harris' labors in behalf of the new capitol, says: "In other hands all the doubtful elements of the situation would have worked against it. Not so in the hands of Mr. Harris. The leader of the Senate, by force of

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In the autumn of 1875 he was elected to the Senate of the State from his district. On taking his seat in that body he entered into its deliberations and its proceedings with a facility that indicated natural legislative abilities.

As chairman of the finance committee, of the committee on joint library and of the select committee on apportionment, his labors were useful and exhaustive.

On the floor of the Senate he always took a prominent part in the discussion of leading public questions. His arguments never failed to command respect and attention.

At the expiration of his senatorial term he was, in 1877, re-elected by a large majority. Having served his second term in a manner which brought to him high senatorial honors, he decided to abandon public life and devote himself exclusively to the extended duties of his profession. From this resolution he has deviated but in one instance. In the fall of 1884 he ran as one of the Republican electors on the State ticket. In October, 1879, his name was prominently brought forward for re-election to the Senate, and under circumstances so flattering that few could have resisted the nomination. But Mr. Harris, adhering to his resolution, on October 3, 1879, in a brief note published in the Evening Journal, most respectfully but peremptorily declined to accept the nomination under any circumstances.

Among his senatorial addresses which have passed into history are those touching the new capitol; on the question of convict labor; on the Grand Army bill; on the question of historical societies holding real estate for preservation and monumental purposes; on higher education; on sectarian appropriations, and on taxation. He closed his senatorial career under the following high tribute from the Morning Express: "Mr. Harris is a natural leader; he unites discretion with boldness. His zeal is regulated by mature reflection. His knowledge of men is intuitive, and his intuitions have been sharpened by wide intercourse. He is a close thinker, a cultured scholar, a thorough lawyer, a skillful organizer and ready debater, and he has a wide knowledge of and devotion to the interests of the State."

We shall close our sketch with some remarks touching his literary acquirements and labors and as we conceive him to be in private life.

Mr. Harris is one of those who believe that to com. plete a lawyer's education, to enable him to take an elevated position in it, much more is needed than mere knowledge of law; but that he should honor and cultivate as unspeakably useful that literature which corresponds to, and calls forth the highest faculties, which expresses and communicates energy of thought, fruitfulness of invention, force of moral purpose, a thirst for the true, and a delight in the beautiful.

Mr. Harris has exhibited his literary taste and culture and abilities as a writer on the lecture platform, and as a speaker in the popular assembly. He possesses the rare faculty of putting his readers or his audience in full possession of his thoughts, and in keeping the communication between himself and them always open; always avoiding those affected grasps

after originality, on the one hand, and that sickly prettiness of style on the other so much sought after by commonplace lecturers and writers.

Several of his addresses have been published. We cannot avoid, in this connection, some reference to an admirable lecture delivered by him on the subject, "Politics and Literature" before the Young Men's Association of Albany.

In this admirable address Mr. Harris denied that public men and politicians are absolved in any degree from the obligations of strict honor and morality. He insisted that political power is not a prize which justifies mean acts and compliance with usages that would be scorned in private life; that platitudes, intrigues, hollow pretensions and appeals to base passions deserve signal rebuke when employed to compass political ends.

"The man," said the lecturer, "who devotes him self to politics as a business for the purpose of securing position for support is worthy of little consideration, and gathers the least satisfaction that can be derived from any of the employments of men. His existence is a miserable one of servility and solicitation, delays and disappointments, to end generally in poverty and obscurity. He who would best serve the State and win a name and secure public confidence should possess lofty principles: a keen faculty of vision to discover the wants and interests of society; an accurate acquaintance with current events, opinions and social tendencies; a deep penetration into the motives of human action, and a clear determination of the results of measures and movements."

The manner in which Mr. Harris illustrated the advantage of combining literary attainments with political acumen was very forcible and happy. He gave many instances from history where the treasures of literature increased the usefulness and strength of political labor.

"The low ambitions of life," he said, "and the grosser pleasures of sense are characteristic of the illiterate. Literature is the source of refinement and enlightenment; it imparts wisdom, elevates thought and adorns character.'

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The numerous favorable comments of the press upon this address evince at once its ability and its effect upon the public mind.

Perhaps nowhere in the language of eulogy can there be found a more well-deserved and more touch

ing and well-expressed tribute than that paid by Mr. Harris to the memory of John Morrissey in the Senate of this State.

The "Memorial Wreath," as he appropriately called his beautiful eulogy upon that great lawyer and beloved citizen, Lyman Tremain, commanded general admiration; in that, as in all other like productions, Mr. Harris did not become the extreme panegyrist. He drew his mental portrait with truth to the original, avoiding on the one hand inordinate praise, and on the other a stinted denial of true merit.

The literary taste of Mr. Harris is exhibited in his elegant home, which abounds in books. The recondite productions of great and gifted writers of all ages are found in his large, valuable and carefully-selected library. To use the language of another: "Mr. Harris has made the selection of books a specialty; he has brought together on his shelves all the prin cipal works of eminent English and American states

men, orators, poets, jurists and scholars."
He spends
much of his time in his library; to him it is peopled
with living minds, speaking to him of history, of
philosophy, eloquence and all the riches of ancient
and modern literature. Here voices come to him from
the Athenian arena, from the Roman forum, from the
English Parliament, from the American Senate, from
our own great scholars, writers and scientists, from
the bench and bar of the world.

It is natural that a mind thus devoted to books and research should be a friend to the cause of education and the diffusion of knowledge by the establishment of schools and colleges, and we find that not only in private life, but in his legislative career he has been the warm advocate of the cause of popular and higher education.

One of his ablest speeches in the Senate was in support of higher popular education. This speech, which was widely circulated through the State by the friends of popular education, was delivered January 29, 1879, in committee of the whole having under consideration the governor's message. That document recommended the abandonment of the system of aiding the public high schools which had prevailed so many years in the State. The governor, in his message, took strong grounds against the State's aiding in giving higher education to the children of the poor, terming it legalized robbery to do so. Hon. Thomas C. Ecclesine, senator from the city of New York, strongly sustained the governor in a speech delivered in the Senate. He insisted that higher education disqualified the poor for the duties and labors to which alone they are by nature adapted, and that injustice is done by trying to educate the children of the poor for callings which they can never fill.

46

This attack upon the education of the poor brought Senator Harris to his feet, and he repelled it in the admirable speech to which we have alluded. The debate was long and ardent, continuing at intervals until the 5th of February, 1879, when Mr. Harris closed it. He reviewed the various laws which had passed favoring popular education, and the great advantages flowing to the people from these laws. "The true theory," he said, upon which the State educates its children is not simply for the benefit or advancement of the individual, but it is to enlarge his mind and elevate his character, so as to increase his efficiency and value as a citizen, and thus add power and influence to the community in which he lives, contributing thereby to the prosperity and elevation of the State. The time has arrived in the history of the world when a nation takes rank according to the intelligence and elevation of the people. The hope for the prosperity of free institutions especially rests upon popular education." Again, Senator Harris said that "the doctrine that higher education disqualifies the poor for their duties and labors is the old doctrine of caste and aristocracy which debars the people of despotic countries from rising above the condition in life in which they were born. It is the expression of the belief that all men are not equal. It is the utterance of a disbelief in the first principles upon which our government was founded. It is not the doctrine of America, which throws wide open the door of every school-house that all children may receive the benefit of the best education, so that they may better their own condition in life, and thus better the condition of the State itself."

Thus Hamilton Harris was champion of the cause of popular education on the floor of the Senate. We could cite many instances where he strongly advocated our system of popular education, did space permit.

Thus he naturally became popular with the friends of education throughout the State. Early in the year 1885 two vacancies occurred in the board of regents of the university. When the Legislature convened that year his name was very soon brought forward as a candidate to fill one of the vacancies. The members of the Senate and Assembly, fully appreciating his accomplishments for this honorable position and his services in the educational interests of the State, favored his appointment. On the 10th of March, 1885, the Republican members of the Senate and Assembly convened to nominate regents, and Mr. Harris, with Mr. Beach, of Schuyler county, was unanimously elected.

This action, being ratified by the Legislature of our State in joint convention, was greeted with general approbation by the press and the voice of the public. Speaking of it, the Evening Journal said:

"The position of regent of the university is the single honor within the power of the State to bestow upon its scholars, and the unanimous accord of the nomination for that position to the Hon. Hamilton Harris, of this city, was a fitting and especially appropriate tribute to his learning and ability. To be State would be a great compliment to confer upon any chosen out of the many public-spirited scholars of the citizen. To be chosen unanimously and without the consideration of any other name is a recognition that has seldom been awarded by the State to learning. The designation of Senator Harris, of Albany, for the position is one the propriety of which our citizens will gratefully recognize.

Thus we have rapidly traced the early life of Mr. Harris, his entrance into his chosen profession, his successful career as a lawyer, writer and speaker, his career as a legislator and in other public places. His private life needs no mention here. He has been singularly fortunate in his domestic relations. In 1850 he married, in Buffalo, Lucy Moody Rogers, the eldest daughter of the late Nathaniel Rogers, of that city, and has two children - Frederick Harris, who is now associated with him in the practice of law, and Lucy cultured family, occupies and adorns a distinguished Hamilton Harris. He, with his refined and highlyposition in the brilliant social circles of the capital city.

He may be called a positive man. It has been said of him truthfully that "He throws himself heart and soul into whatever business he does and whatever cause he espouses." His opinions, both of persons and he is entirely free from the errors which spring from things, are decided and confident. In forming them undue examination or want of just appreciation. In other words, he weighs men very much as they are, regardless of adventitious circumstances. Long a promi nent resident of Albany, he has exhibited, as we have seen, the character of a liberal and public-spirited citizen; has identified himself with all prominent measures tending not only to the advancement of the city but of the State and country, and has fairly won for himself an honorable place in history.

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The Albany Law Journal.

ALBANY, FEBRUARY 27, 1892.

CURRENT TOPICS.

and sales as a beverage under proper restrictions
may not be injurious; but no such argument applies
to prostitution; it is always immoral and danger-
ous, abhorrent to the sensibilities of all decent peo-
ple, never practiced except in secrecy.
The very
worst thing about it is that it licenses and legalizes
and thus encourages the perpetuity of the most de-
praved and despised class in any community. Let

THERE to a Gulf us for the positio of

HERE seems to be a Gulf Stream of immorality, us, for the honor of the State, hear no more of this

iana and in New York. Although the Supreme Court decision has seriously embarrassed the conduct of the Louisiana lottery, yet no one at the north believes Mr. Morris' assertion that he is going to give up the fight. In fact the rumored importation of arms by the lottery people indicates that they are going to try by violence to foist their wicked scheme on an unwilling people. Now is the time for the governor to show what stuff he is made of. But we should not too censoriously regard the mote in our brother's eye when we have a beam in our own. There are two measures pending in our Legislature of the most unprincipled and dangerous character, and one of which at least is unprecedented in this country, we believe, for de-ing laws and regulations against resident foreigners. Let an American editor be flogged, as was the novelist pravity. We refer to the excise bill and the bill Dostoyefski, for saving a fellow-prisoner from drownfor legalizing and licensing houses of ill-fame.ing contrary to a major's order. Let an American lady Under pretense of framing a convenient and comprehensive Code, the former is reactionary to a dangerous extent and gives the rumsellers almost every thing they could wish except free rum. It legalizes selling on Sunday after one o'clock P. M.; hinders, if it does not absolutely prevent, police inspection; reduces license fees and allows an unlimited number

In the January number of the Edinburgh Juridical Review, Mr. N. J. D. Kennedy, under the title of "Lynch," makes the late New Orleans massacre the text, for a very telling argument that if our Federal government cannot afford protection to foreign subjects in the various States, and declines to make reparation for outrages on them by the citizens of a State, it ought not to expect foreign governments to protect the citizens of a State in their territory or make reparation for wrongs done to them there. He says:

"Suppose Russia were to enforce some of her exist

be exiled to Siberia because prohibited books, such as Adam Smiths' "Wealth of Nations' or Emerson's "Self Reliance," have been found in her possession, and for slapping an official's face, stripped and whipped to death, as happened to Madame Hope Sigida. Russian justice and lynch justice are near akin in their methods. Does any one doubt that the United States would instantly demand reparation and indemnity? Would the answer be accepted that the persons injured had enjoyed the same rights and received as full

protection as native Russians? Could the Russian government escape responsibility by retorting to the Federal government that lynch law was no better, or (as a writer in the Century Magazine, commenting on the Sigida case, put it) that 'more women have been flogged in the United States than in Russia during the last ten years?' Would it be heard to say, 'Your citizens must take our laws and government as they find them. We are not going to alter them or introduce invidious distinctions to suit the pleasure of Americans who may see fit to come among us to live?'"

"But under the Federal Constitution it is quite clear that the component States have no claim to international recognition, and no liability to international duties, and that the Federal government is the sole representative of the nation of the United States so far as international relations and purposes are con cerned. Is any government entitled to demand in

of licenses; permits all-night licenses for ball-rooms; withdraws such power of local option as is now allowed, and repeals the Civil Damage Act. This is a villainous scheme, and its passage would mark a relapse of this State into a despicable state of barbarism. The Civil Damage Act is one of the most useful and beneficent pieces of legislation ever passed in this State, and such is the opinion in many other States where it prevails, and its repeal would be a public disgrace. As to the exact title of the other act we are not informed, but it ought to be "An act for the legalization and encouragement of adultery and fornication, for the promotion of domestic discord and misery, and for the entailment of vice and disease on posterity." If this act should become a law we should expect that every decent man in the State would hang his head for shame. We pre-ternational rights, while it invades or denies its intersume it provides for medical inspection of those unhappy women who are thus to be licensed to prey on the human race, but it thus removes the single thing that deters many from the house of prostitution the fear of contracting foul disease and communicating it to innocent wives and helpless children. The argument that men will sin in this way and cannot be prevented is no reason for making it easy or safe to sin. The distinction between the licensing of liquor-selling and of prostitution is evident; all liquor-selling is not criminal-sales for mechanical and medicinal purposes are necessary, VOL. 45 No. 9.

national duties on the ground of weakness or inefficiency? It is the duty of each nation to organize such a system as will place its government in a position to fulfill international obligations, and enable it to control and punish members of the uation who injure friendly states or their citizens. If their laws are incomplete, or their procedure inefficacious for that end, especially if these defects are foreseen, they cannot plead their own neglect to exempt them from responsibility. In the particular case the weakness is due, punish offenses against the law of nations and enforce not to the Constitution, for Congress may define and the provisions of the Constitution by appropriate legislation, so much as to the omission to legislate.

But

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