Addresses Delivered March 13 1902 1802-1902 Copyright, 1906, by THE LAW ASSOCIATION OF PHILADELPHIA. Made at the Sign of the Ivy Leaf in Philadelphia PREFACE This book is published to commemorate the Centennial of The Law Association of Philadelphia. On March 6th, 1900, at a regular meeting a communication from the Library Committee was read, suggesting that the Association would be one hundred years old in March, 1902. At a later regular meeting held June 4th, 1901, on motion of John Cadwalader, Esq., it was resolved that the Chancellor and the other officers of the Association be made members of the Committee to be appointed to arrange for a suitable celebration of the Centennial of the organization of this Association in March, 1902; and that the Chancellor be authorized to increase the number of the Committee at his pleasure. In pursuance of this authority the Chancellor appointed a General Committee and SubCommittees, as follows: General Committee: Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, Chairman, John Cadwalader, John Samuel, Francis Rawle, B. Frank Clapp, William Drayton, Francis Shunk Brown, Jno. Houston Merrill, Geo. Tucker Bispham, Hampton L. Carson, David W. Sellers, William H. Staake, Samuel Dickson, Frank P. Prichard, Wm. C. Ferguson, Secretary. Financial and Executive Committee: William H. Staake, John Samuel, Francis Shunk Brown, Frank P. Prichard, Jno. Houston Merrill, Chairman. Committee on Addresses: Samuel Dickson, Chairman, John Cadwalader, Francis Rawle, William Drayton, Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker. Committee on Publication: Hampton L. Carson, Chairman, Jno. Houston Merrill, Howard W. Page, Russell Duane, Alfred Percival Smith, William Draper Lewis, John C. Bell. At regular meetings of the Association in October and December, 1901, reports were received of the satisfactory progress of the work of the Committee, indicating that the celebration would be of a character to mark suitably and adequately the closing of a century in the lifetime of the organization. On March 13th, 1902, the celebration was held in Horticultural Hall, Philadelphia. It consisted of a meeting in the afternoon at which two papers were read; an Introductory Address by the Chancellor, Mr. Dickson, and an Historical Address by the present Chief Justice, then Mr. Justice Mitchell. A reception was held at the same place in the evening. The reception room was decorated handsomely, and on the walls were hung the valuable portraits belonging to the Association. Both meetings were attended by a distinguished body of lawyers, including representatives of the bench and bar of Federal Courts, neighboring States and Cities, National and State Bar Associations, and County Bar Associations in Pennsylvania. In his address the Chancellor drew attention to the proposed publication of this volume in the following language: "Arrangements have, therefore, been made by the committee to secure the preparation of the papers, which will preserve some reminiscences of the life of the bar in the middle of the century, and of the methods of teaching pursued in some of the more important offices where systematic instruction was given. One or more volumes to be made up of these papers, and to include also some of the more important speeches and addresses now found only in periodical or fugitive publications, cannot fail to be of interest to any one who reveres the great men of the past, and will prove that we are not indifferent to 'the moral and intellectual affluence of those who have gone before which remains to enrich their posterity.'" Immediately after the celebration the Sub-Committee on Addresses induced members of the Association to prepare the papers published herewith, which eventually were handed to the Sub-Committee on Publication. On October 6th, 1903, the Committee last named reported to the Association as follows: To the Chancellor and Gentlemen of The Law Association: Your committee, to whom was referred the matter of the publication of the proceedings of the Centennial Celebration of the Law Association, beg leave to report as follows: In addition to the introductory address by the Chancellor, Mr. Samuel Dickson, and the historical address of the Honorable James T. Mitchell, the following papers were prepared by request for publication in the centennial proceedings: I. "Some Recollections of the Bar of Fifty Years Ago," by II. "Reminiscences of the Bar," by Hon. Clement B. Penrose. V. "Sketch of George M. Wharton," by Henry E. Busch, Esq. Your committee were of the opinion that the valuable and interesting papers above mentioned should be supplemented by the republication of the following papers dealing with the lives and characters of earlier distinguished members of your Association, first, because taken in connection with the later original papers they will furnish a most interesting and fairly complete series of sketches of leading members of the Philadelphia Bar; and second, because they are literary productions of merit from the pens of well-known members. I. "Leaders of the Old Bar," by Horace Binney, Esq. III. "Eulogium on the Life and Character of Horace Binney," Your committee have reserved for future consideration the question of the propriety of publishing: I. The proceedings of the Bar Meeting upon the death of the Hon. John Sergeant, containing Mr. Binney's celebrated address. |