few remaining human bemgs who linked it with a comparatively
Digitized by VjOOQIC
356 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
early part ot its history, and our local bar loses i»robably the
last survivor ot a pnrfessional period which was especially i»olific
in lawyers ci unusual intellect and force. Merely as a human
landmark Mr. Machen was peculiarly interesting, since his long
life of nearly 89 years embraced an era of municipal change and
progress which the young man and woman of to-day must realize,
if at all, only at second hand and on the testimony of others.
Mr. Machen was a part of old Baltimore as well as new Balti-
more, of the Baltimore of the distant past as well of the Baltimore
of the present, of the days ^dien the railroad and the telegraph
were still a wonder, and of the days ^dien the automobile has
become almost as common as the barnyard fowl, and when travd
by air is becoming as familiar a spectacle as travel by stage coach
once was.
Bom ten years hdote the birth of The Sun^ and coming to the
bar sisty-two years ago, the mind of a man of Mr. Machen's
breadth and training became the permanent depositary of local
history, the sensitive and recq>tive film on which the pictures of
men and events were impressed with special clearness and signifi-
cance. His life was a part of the onnmunity life for so long that
his passmg creates a very keen sense of &mily loss. A human
factor has gone which we cannot replace, one which helped to
preserve the feeling of conununity continui^ and to keq> us in
living touch with our past. What an addition a man such as
Mr. Machen could have made to local history had he been able
to find the leisure to put down in black and white his personal
remmiscences of men and things!
As a member of the bar Mr. Machen belonged to an era to
idiich we can always point with pride. That he hdd a recQgniised
place in the front rank ci his profession in a day which boasted
such men as TeacUe Wallis, Charles Marshall, Bernard Carter,
Judge Ritchie and John P. Poe, and in which Reverdy Johnson,
Steele, McMahon, Nelson and Schley still held their own as vet-
eran intellectuals, is the best tribute to his legal ability and stand-
ing. What gives him a wider daim to ordinary human interest
and sympathy than his professional achievements was his intense
and critical literary taste, and the broad culture by which he
strengthened and rounded his professional studies. The lawyer
Digitized by VjOOQIC
EDITORIAL COMMENT 357
of the old regime was suiq)osed to be a maa of education and
reading, and the old system built up its legal superstructure on a
wide and solid foundation of learning. Mr. Wallis illustrated the
fact that l^gal ability is not necessarily narrow and one-sided,
and Mr. Machen, though he did not enter the realm of literature
as a producer, maintained his love for it in sjHte of all the pro-
fessional demands upon his time, and there can be little doubt
that it returned his affecti<m with profitable dividends in his
legal labours.
The lawyer of to-day is necessarily in a hurry. The competi-
tion is greater, the rewards are larger for the dect. We cannot
e]q>ect the same breadth of culture as in the earlier days, though
legal learning and legal ability may be as profound and as marked
as in the past. But when we review a career like that of Mr.
Machen, we cannot but r^ret that the old school of l^gal training
has so few representatives remaining, in this country at least,
and that keen but narrow specialists occupy so large a place in
a profession which was once the centre of literary arts and graces.
On Monday, Janiuury 10, 1916, the Bar of Baltimore City
met in the Superior Court Room upon the call of the Su-
preme Bench to do honour to his memory. The following is
the report of the proceedings.
Memorial Services in Honottr of the Late Arthur W.
Machen.
Memorial services were held in the Siqperior Court room yester-
day afternoon at 2 pjxu in honour of the late Arthur W. Machen,
who died on Sunday, December 19, 1915, in the eighty-ninth
year <rf his age. The memorial minute was read by CoL D. G.
Mcintosh. The order of the other addresses is as follows:
memorial minxtte.
The committee iqqxnnted by the Supreme Bench to prepare a
^'memorial minute" upaa the death of Mr. Arthur W. Machen,
beg leave to present the foUowing:
Digitized by VjOOQIC
358 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
When the bowl of life is filled to the overflow, and the end has
come to a prcrfessional career marked by great success, — when
the end comes quietly without a jar or pain, and it hai^^ens on a
day set apart as a day of rest, and at a moment when the soul of
man has been engapsd in the act of public worship, — ^we may
well indulge the wish that our last end should be like his.
Arthur Webster Machen was bom cm the 20th of July, 1827,
in the dty of Washington, where his father at the time was Qiicf
Clerk to the Senate of the United States. He died on December
19, 1915, in the 89th year of his age, the oldest member of the
bar, and a connecting link with several generations of the past.
Much of his boyhood was spent on his father's farm in Virginia.
He attended private schools, and took a collegiate course in what
was then the Columbian University in Washington, but much
of his education was self-taught or received under the guidance
and instruction of his father.
Well equii9)ed and well grounded in the classics, he entered
the Law School at Harvard in 1849 and graduated in 1851, hav-
ing finished the course in less than the usual time. He returned
to the school, however, and spent another year laying broad and
deq> foundations upon which he built his success.
While at Harvard he was made librarian of the schocd, which,
besides a small honorarium, gave him the additional advantage
of unrestricted access to the Ubrary. While there he wcm the
friendship and admiration of Professor Parsons, who availed
himself of Mr. Machen's assistance in preparing his work on
Contracts, two entire chapters on Specific Performance and on
Slavery being contributed by him.
Impaired health and trouble with his sight compelled relaia*
tion from his studies; but with these restored by farm life, he
came to Baltimore and was admitted to the bar in the year
1853.
At this time his means were limited and he utilized his literary
tastes by writing magazine articles and prize stories, but always
iiP<og, and taking special care lest a suspicion shoiild arise that
he was woomg the muses rather than the law.
While at Harvard he formed a dose friendship with the late
Richard J. Gittings, and some little while after their admission
Digitized by VjOOQIC
MEMORIAL MEETING OF BAR 359
to the bar they entered into a partnership for the practice of the
kw.
The association was fortunate for both. Differing in tempera-
ment and in personality, no two men practising law together ever
complemented each other more happily. Without surrendering
their independence of thought they respected and deferred to
each other's opinions. Their mutual confidence was supreme.
Congenial and sympathetic, it was delightful to witness the
warmth and cordiality of their personal relations.
They were not long in waiting for clients, and had soon to break
their lances in the arena where Reverdy Johnson, McMahon,
Schley, Alexander and others of no less note bore <^ the prizes.
Mr. Gittings was the winning, persuasive advocate, gifted with
a hai^y intuition in handling a witness, and possessed of wonder-
ful tact in reaching the sympathies of the jury.
Mr. Machen made no attempt to cultivate the grace of oratory,
but no one surpassed him in force and energy of expression. His
arguments, whether to the Coiut or the jury, were always pointed,
earnest and convincing. If addressed to the Coiut they were
amply supported by precedent and authority. His mind was
naturally logical and he cultivated severely the reasoning facul-
ties. He furnished a capital illustration of what has been said
of mental training and the study of the law by a statesman and
one esteemed as among the first scholars of the day: "That
there is no better discipline for the faculties of the mind than
the study of law. It not only teaches men to reason closely
and exactly, but it also drives home the great lesson so often
left unlearned, that to most questions there are two sides at least
and that it is necessary if you would master a subject to know
every side and phase, and be prepared to meet all kinds of ob-
jections if you wish to be successful in presenting yaoi case."
As safe and wise counsellors the reputation of the firm grew,
and many large and hnportant interests were confided to their
care. The firm was dissolved in 1882, by the death of Mr. Git-
tings. Mr. Machen continued m active practice with great suc-
cess afanost up to the day of his death, his son, Arthur W. Machen,
Jr., having been associated with him for a number of years.
Mr. Machen's learning made him an authority upon many
Digitized by VjOOQIC
360 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
brandies of the law, and probably no one of his day was
so UunxMighly versed in the law relating to the perpetuity of
estates. With all his Ifaiming he was most exact and careful
in the preparation of papers, and nothing passed through his
hands which did not receive the most carnal scrutiny. His brieb
in the Court <rf Appeals were marvek in industry and skill, and
possessed the first virtue of a brief, that of being instrucrtive to
the Court. His relaticms to the Bench and his idea of what
those relations should be, can be gathered f rcmi the remarks whidi
f dl from him in addressmg Chief Judge Alvey upon his retirement
from the Court of Appeals ot Maryland. That eminent jurist
declared in private that Mr. Machen's words aff<Mrded him more
gratification on that occasicm than those which fell from the
lq)s of any other ^)eaker. His labours in the Court of Appeals
are to be found in the records of that Court, and in the printed
volumes, begfaming with Volume 10 and running through the
succeeding one hundred volumes.
It was said <rf Blackstone the Commentator, when he Altered
Parliament, that he deserted his studies which brought him a
fame worthy twenty judgeships, for the hot and sordid arena d
party strife. Mr. Machen never sought and would never accept
office. In 1859 Governor Hicks sent him unsdidted a commis-
sion as Judge of the Superior Court of Baltimore City to fill an
existing vacancy, but the <^er, though tempting, was declined.
He preferred the richer prizes of his caUing, even if they had to
be won by greater labour. The glow of the mountain top was
what attracted him.
Mr. Machen was naturally modest and retiring. He never
sought to project himself to the front, but back of his modesty
lay great deteraunation of character, not without a strain of
genuine herdsm, as was witnessed when more than sixty years d
age he plunged into the surf at the seashore with his dothes (m,
and, swimming out, at which he was an expert, rescued an un-
known girl from drowning. His sense of humour was keen, and
whilst not a raconteur or given to telling stories, no one oijoyed
more thoroughly a pointed rq>artee or a good j<^e.
In politics Mr. Machen was a Democrat. Attached in early
life by heredity to the traditions of the old Whig party, as h^>-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
.- -1 Hv' K
Digitized by LjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
MEMORIAL MEETING OF BAR 361
pened to many others, these traditions were dissipated by the
Civil War, and his active, though quiet, sympathies and interests
became allied with the policies of the Democratic party.
His heart, however, was always in his profession and his books.
His interest in the Law Library was transferred from the room in
the old Court House, looking out on Lexingtcm street, ^diere he
was long a constant habitu£, to the larger quarters in the new
buildmg, and for thirty years he had been its honoured president.
Looked up to by the members of his prof es8i<m with veneratkm
and respect, enjoying the confidence and esteem of his clients
and business associates, fulfilling worthUy his duties as a citizen,
a consbtent Christian and devoted to his church, of which he
was kmg a trustee and elder, beloved by his family and friends,
we mourn his loss, while we have an abiding faith that he has
gone ^diere he will receive the reward which belongeth to the
just.
D. G. MdNTOSH,
A. C. Trippe,
Randolph Bartok,
Jos. Packard,
Chas. J. Bonaparte,
D. K. EiSTE Fisher,
Wm. L. Marbury,
Albert C. Ritchie,
MosES R. Walter.
ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERT C. RITCHIE
May it please the Court:
There is no surer iospiratioQ that a young man coming to the
Bar can have than the iospiration which radiates from older
members of the Bar vrbose work and character have crowned
them with honour and success. Those of us who came into the
profession during the closing years of the last century were rich
in this inspiration. There were then in active practice a groiq>
of men who splendidly maintained the learning and ideals whidi
have ever been the heritage of the Maryland Bar. How splendid-
ly they maintained that heritage we are realizing more and more
Digitized by VjOOQIC
362 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
as the yean go by. Many of them, most of them, have paased
nofw into the great b^ond, and it has been our sad piivikge to
assemble here from time to time to pay them the last tribute of
love and respect fxom the living to Uie dead. Once more are we
assembled for that purpose.
The life and influence of Arthur W. Machcn have been pictured
in the memorial minute wfaidi has just been read. It is not for
me to add to that eulogy, nor to pronounce again the qualities of
mind and heart which made the community and the prof essicm
richer tor his imsence and poorer for his going.
'The primal duties shine aloft, like stais;
The charities that smooth and heal and blesi
Are scattered at the feet of men like flowen."
Ttuly the charities that smooth and heal and bless were hugely
his. They spoke through the purity of his private life, the in-
tegrity of his public conduct, the faith he had in God. These,
with a disposition that was gentle and affections that were warm,
are titles to remembrance better even than the prcrfessional suc-
cess which was so completely his.
We are grateful that he was spared to live and move among us,
until the full evening of his life, and now that the evening is over
and the long night begun, it is comforting to know that we who
are not yet called will live our lives and do our w(Mrk the better
because of his influence and example.
IfR. CHARLES J. BONAPABTE
We do honour to the memory of a lawyer ^ose life justifies
us in calUng the law an honourable and a learned profession.
When we are tempted to doubt, as, I fear, all of us must be some*
times, whether in thoroughness of training, in scientific knowledge
of the law, in patient research and in scnq>ulous integrity and
honour, the lawyers of our day and country are worthy to rank
with their forerunners, we may rememb^ with thankfulness and
just pride that, for so many years, the Bar of Maryland included
such a man as the brother who has lately left us. During lua
long and distinguished professional career, he diq)layed all those
Digitized by VjOOQIC
MEMORIAL MEETING OF BAR 363
great qualities irfiich traditi<Hi has for ages associated with the
eminent advocate called to aid in the administraticHi of justice
under the Common Law. He had that ^olesome legaxd for
precedent, that salutary respect f<»: rules of interpretaticm and
practice sanctioned by long established judidal observance,
that wise conservatism of judgment and temper which have
made American lawyers and judges such bulwarks of stability
in otu: orderly freedmn. He had that real interest in the law as
a science which marks the genuine scholar at the Bar and he ever
showed the modesty and industry which prove that a man knows
much because he doesn't think he knows all there is to be known
about everything. Finally, in his long and blameless life, in his
punctilious fulfilment of every demand of prcrfessional duty, in
the respect and confidence ^diich he gained from all who knew
him, because all ^o knew him also knew no man could' better
deserve respect and ccmfidence, he has left us an example which
the Bar of Maryland must and will follow, if the Bar ci Maryland
is to remain worthy of its dignity, its mission and its past.
IIR. WnXtAM L. MAKBURY
May it please Your Honours:
The death of Arthur W. Machen may be said to mark the end
of an era in the history of the Maryland Bar.
His professional career, extending over more than sixty years,
b^;an during a period when the names of the leaders of our Bar
were household words throughout the State, and in the case of
some, throughout the United States.
''The old order changeth," or, as we look back over the records
of that time, we seem to think so — whether for the better, or
otherwise, let us not now stop to inquire.
However this may be, that old order was very fine in its day,
and its history was in no small d^ree the history of our good
State and her just pride.
Mr. Machen was distinctly a part of that old order, and when
we say, as we easily may and do, that by reason of his high abili*
ties, his great learning, his tireless industry and reproachless char-
acter, he contributed his full share of those things which made
Digitized by VjOOQIC
364 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
in that day the fame of the Maryland Bar, we have said all that
need be said to justify what we say and do this day to honoor
and peii)etuate his memory.
When we think of Mr. Machen's well-known chaiactmstics as
a lawyer, his great age, his learning, his familiarity with the anti-
quity of the law and the long, long period during which he was
held in such high esteem by the profession and by the community
in wfaidi he lived, we are reminded of the story which the chroni-
cler of the profession in Enj^d tells of Sergeant Maynard, an
aged member of the English Bar, who by reason of his fidelity to
the reigning house of Stuart had been compelled to discontinQe
his practice during the period of the commonwealth. When the
great Civil War was over, ^en the restoration had taken place,
one of those ^o came to offer their congratulations to King
Charles was Sergeant Maynard. The Merry Monarch noticed
the great age of the distinguished lawyer and he was said to have
remarked to him: ''You must have outlived all your contempo-
raries." ''Yes," replied the dd lawyer, "and if your majesty had
much longer delayed your coming, I might have outlived the
law." So Mr. Machen outlived all his contemporaries, all the
great men who adorned the Bar during his lifetime. It remams
to be seen whether we who have outlived Mr. Mach^ shall also
outUve any of the high standards of conduct, the great traditi^MiSy
the great ideals of our noble precession which he in his l<mg pro-
fessional life did so much to maintain and iQustrate.
lis* A* ۥ TRSFBE
May it please Your Honours, in seconding the motion for the
adoption of the minute submitted, permit me to add a word,
more especially of personal reminiscence. I knew the old Bar to
which it refers. I was a student with Mr. James Mason Camp-
bell, the son-in-law of Chief Justice Taney, and mare or less ac-
quainted with its leaders of that day. There was Reverdy John-
son, who made his first appearance in the celebrated ca3se of the
mail robbers, making the opening speedi on the law of "standing
mute," with an apology for the inexperience of the artist, and
who grew to be the leading lawyer of our State and of the Su-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
MEMORIAL MEETING OF BAR 365
preme Court of the United States, equalled by few and surpassed
by none. There was Nelson, the model of exact diction. You
could not take a word from one of his sentences, or a sentence
from a paragraph, without destroying the chain of argument
which culminated in a conclusion, as I heard him once express to
the Court, ''Thisis the rock upon which you can stand. All the
rest is sea.'' There was Schley, learned, acute, wdl read in the
law, with his short and emphatic sentences, winning contests
wherever possible. And Campbell, scholarly, deeply read in the
law, but with bright imagination and ready wit illuminating the
discussion of the dryest subject with aiqnropriate illustration and
keeping the jury in friendly humour while he explained the facts.
When these men had a case in Court, and one or the other were
always retained for plainti£f or defendant, it was a field day for
the students, and indeed for many in the community, for the
cases were of more public interest, and the citizens took more
interest in the Bar than is done tonday.
The ambition of the Bar was the fame of professional and in-
tellectual success to which the pecuniary compensation was only
incident and not the chief aim, and inspiring its members to dili-
gent and honourable action was the memory of Pinkney and Wirt
and Taney, the great chief justice.
In this school Arthur Webster Machen entered and became one
of its most honoured and able scholars and practitioners. He
was deeply read in the law of his profession. His books bear
the marks of his annotations indicating not only reading, but
study of the question in the texts.
Without referring to others that have been mentioned, I think
that the most extraordinary instance of his learning, tenacity and
skill was shown in the case of Clark and another against one of
our fidelity companies upon a bond involving a large sum of
money. Sjiowing that the cause would be vigorously contested
mostly on questions of pleading and law involved, I secured Mr.
Machen's assistance. That case ran the whole gamut of plead-
ing. On looking at my docket it noted 44 demurrers, and at
last the defense, led by the lamented Cans, filed a plea in rebuttal,
I believe it was, every word of whidi was true and as set forth
made a complete bar to the action. I read it over and took it to
Digitized by VjOOQIC
366 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
Mr. Machen and we discussed it together. Then taking it in
his handy his eye sparkling as I have often seen it do ^en he had
a difficult problem of law to handle, he said, ^'Give it to me until
to-morrow." The next morning I called upon him and from the
stores of his legal knowledge he dug up the faunous plea of '^absque
hoc/' which had been long forgotten, and it broke the force of the
plea and led to the settlement of the case.
In the days of the old Bar there was not that avalanche of
decisions which overwhelms the Bar to-day, making the prepara-
tion of cases so largely mechanical, with a modified mental opera-
tion in their differentation. These cases were decided upon hg^
principles which gave a larger field for the ezerdse of the lawyer's
learning, talent and ingenuity.
But Mr. Machen was learned in other directions than in the
line of his profession. I remember once in returning from a visit
to Palestine he was very anxious to learn from me about the area
of the walls of Jerusalem. I coidd not make out at first why he
desired this information, but found out on inquiry that he had
been reading the history of Josephus and was trying to under-
stand whether the number of persons killed by sword and femine
in the siege of Titus, as rq[)orted by the historkn, could have been
enclosed in the city's waUs. Thus he tested the knowledge he
acquired.
During the fall of 1863 and 1864 I was convalescing at B^uaq>-
den Sidney, \^ginia. The faculties of the seminary and college
used to meet every fortnight in a dub which discussed all sorts
of moral, theological and intellectual subjects. I was always in-
vited to attend and formed the audience coming away one night
with Dr. Peck, who had formerly held a ministerial charge in
Baltimore, inquired for Mr. Machen, and when his question
was answered, I asked him how he came to know him, and he
told me of a dub which once met in Baltimore that discussed
the various schools of intellectual philo6(^y and eq>ecially that
of Sir William Hamilton, that was then in vogue, and he added
that Mr. Machen was one of the best read and intellectually
able members of the coterie.
But his studies and researches had higher aims then these.
Danid Webster was once f oimd in prof oimd thought and when
Digitized by VjOOQIC
MEMORIAL BfEETING OF BAR 367
asked the occasion of it wpVMf ^'I am thinking of the problem