I 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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 HolUnger 
 
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 Ox\ THE LATE 
 
 HON. THEOBOBB GAII.3iARD» 
 
 One of the Judges of the Cowt of Common Pleas y and formerly 
 « Chancellor of South Carolina, 
 
 DELIVERED, 
 
 jlGREEABLT to appointment, in ST. MICHAEL'9 CHPRCHj 
 
 2MEA7 19, 1829; 
 
 BY WILLIAM LANCE. 
 
 ' Quidenicn tarn dislans, quam a severitate comitasT Quia tanen un> 
 qoam te aut sanctior est habi(us ant dulcior ? Quid tarn difficile quam iq* 
 plurimorum controrersiis dijudicandis ab omnibus diligi? Consequeris 
 tamen, ut cos ipsos, quos contra statuas, tequos placatosque dimittas. Itaqu« 
 efficis, ut cum gratice causa nihil facias, omnia tamen sint grata, que facifl." 
 — Orat.ai Brut. S. 10. 
 
 PRINTED lY W. BILET, 110 CHURCH-STREEt. 
 1829, 
 
^^ 
 
 n^ 
 
 "^^^ 
 
 TO WM. LANCE, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Agreeably to tli© request of several Oentiemeii of tn» 
 Bar, who were at the meeting which appoiateJ yon to cle- 
 liver an Eulogy upon the late Judge Gaiilard, I heg the fit- 
 vour of you to furnish a copy of your just and eloquent re- 
 marks for publication. In being the organ of their request, 
 upon this subject, pernait mc at the same time to add thai 
 it will be a source of great gratificatioa to me to peruse 
 what so much delighted me at the hearing. 
 
 With great respect, your's truly, 
 
 JOHN L. WILSON, 
 
 May 25th, 18?9. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Agreeably to your request, I have sent you a copy of tie 
 Eulogium on Judge Gaillard for publication. With consid- 
 erations of respect and esteem, 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Your Obedient Servant, 
 AVILLIAM LANCE, 
 
 June 15^ 1829, 
 Hon. John L. Wilson- 
 
'HUM. 
 
 OUR community, fellow-citizens, has by the 
 ^lispensaticn of Providence been bereaved of a 
 •member* whose excellencies were the delight of his 
 Tsocial circle, and diffused a steady lustre over his 
 public career. Witliin a few weeks, there has 
 descended to the tomb, but several years below the 
 measure of a long human hfe, an individual whose 
 private friends^lip many of us proudly andintimate- 
 iy enjoyed, and whose honorable fame all of us 
 have engraven on the "table of the memory" as 
 connected with some interesting eras of the com- 
 inonwealth. 
 
 The office of sketchmg an outline of his striking 
 characteristics has been assigned to one who ear- 
 nestly wished to see it in hands, nearer to and asso- 
 ciated with his meridian. The colleagues of his 
 zenith, could more amply and justly recount his 
 rise and ascent. To them it would be but a remin- 
 iscence of scenes and things, that like the fashion 
 of the world, have been shifting and passing away. 
 To such it would be but a retrospective glance at 
 the parts of our history in which they themselves 
 had been actors, — at periods and events during 
 which they too had flourished and figured. The 
 office to be sure, confided to whom it may, is a 
 
melancholy one ; but molaiicholy as it is, the dis- 
 charge ot it may be accompanied with some salu- 
 tary effects and animating reflections. It reminds 
 those, of a similar age, that il is the season for 
 preparation, and that they should b?iry their colli- 
 sions before they themselves are inurned. What 
 were before objects only of incidental thought, 
 might be brought closer to their observance. They 
 might be induced to contemplate what should, and 
 what ought, and what they expect and hope to be 
 said of them when they also shall be gone, and the 
 places tliey fill *' shall know them no more." It 
 may be an excitement to some who have latterly 
 hazarded a stake at renown, to recollect that their 
 desire to be remembered can be gratified only by 
 exertions in something worthy of remembrance. 
 
 It is not, fellow -citizens, as an idle matter of 
 course, and to lavish praises on the character of the 
 deceased, (whose loss many of us deplore, and 
 some V e know bitterly and irreparably feel,) that 
 we have now been called togellicr. It is not un- 
 meaningly to licar panegyrized in general extrava- 
 gance, qualities and usefulness which in some par- 
 ticulars, or in various degrees, are distinguishable 
 in many (but only of the gified order of our spe- 
 cies,) that you have been invited on this occasion. 
 It is to see exhibited in no other aspect than merit 
 exacts of truth, an intellect and a genius whicli, 
 every man capable of appreciating them considered 
 a rich possession. It is to present a merited and 
 peculiar oblation fairly and equitably due to the 
 memory of one whom death has parted from his 
 country and his friends, and who occupied certain- 
 
ly no cunfined space in (he fortunes of Carolina. 
 An Eulogium is but a correct delineation of the 
 mental powers, the moral traits, the acquirements, 
 the services of eminent men who have at important 
 junctures received the confidence of tlieir country. 
 The effort of him who assumes such an imderla- 
 king, should be as direct and as independent, as 
 that of the Sculptor or Painter whose design is to 
 represent the persons and the lineaments of tlie li- 
 ving or the dead. 
 
 In this view of the memorials oftered to departed 
 spirits, they may too be some consolation to afliic- 
 ied hearts, which the affections of natiire must for 
 a time plunge in grief and sorrow. The portraits, 
 the statues of ancestors — ^^near or remote, though 
 unhonoured or undistinguished, infuse sensations of 
 pleasurable solemnity. They keep before t.he eyes 
 of youth, of manhood and of old age, as it were, 
 the presence of those with whom the first and inde- 
 lible impressions of infancy are so universally and 
 dehghtfully connected. If the preservation of the 
 countenance, if the ^^counterfeit presentment" of 
 the form can afford at times some comfort to the 
 woes of survivors, if they transmit to descendants 
 the resemblance of those whose shades they are 
 taught to honor and venerate; the image of the 
 mind, though imperfect and incomplete, may bring 
 some alleviation to distress. It may excite an ad- 
 ditional njotive to maintain the rank and integrity 
 of a family. It cannot but be gratifying to the ra- 
 ces who came after, to find recorded either in the 
 archives of the historian, or in the tributary annals 
 of private friendship^ that the name they bear has 
 
6 
 
 done the Stale some service, and has been conspi^ 
 xiuous and esteemed in memorable epochs. Why 
 read we biography, why study that *' philosophy 
 which teaches by examples ?" Is it simply to in- 
 dulge a vague curiosity, or to annihilate heavy and 
 heedless hours? The manes of Plutarch, of Ta- 
 citus, of Johnson, of Gibbon, of Hume, would 
 frown indignantly at such a perversion or forgetful- 
 ness of the grand aim of their labors. 
 
 It might too occur to us, my friends, in commemo- 
 rations like th<3 present, that reviewing the course of 
 a distinguished contemporary who has gone before 
 them to another world, can never disparage the 
 greatnt^ss or lessen the celebrity of the living. 
 Such a tribute draws nothing from the treasury of 
 si!rvivin<T fame. The truth uttered of him who is 
 " gathered to his Qithersj" dispossesses of no laurel 
 brows, still the shining ornaments of the land. 
 
 Our lamented fellow citizen, the subject of this 
 obitu^rv respect, received his nativity in the parish 
 of St. Stephen, in this District. His ancestry 
 both paternal and maternal, were of Huguenot 
 origin, and of first and ancient respectability in 
 France. Towards the close of the revolutionary 
 conflict, he embraced the facilities of a patrimonial 
 independence, to pursue in England the studies 
 which conduced to his future destinies. He be- 
 came a polished scholar. He a:ttained a perfect 
 knowledge of the languago so universal in Europe, 
 and spoke it with a familiarity, elegance and puri- 
 ty nearly vernacular. Passing from the accom- 
 plishments of the classics, and the polite literature 
 ot the academy, he approached the Gpmin9nJ.4^w 
 
in her very oracular temple, the Inns of Court in 
 London. Hia velocity of genius and superior-rate 
 talents soon rose above the difficulties of that ar- 
 duous study, which, (lo use the emphatic words of 
 Edmund Burke) '^ is one of the first and noblest of 
 human sciences ; a science which does more to 
 quicken and invigorate the understanding, than all 
 the other kinds of learning put together; but it is 
 not apt, except in persons very happily born, to 
 open and to liberalize the mind exactly in the same 
 proportion." He was unquestionably ''so happily 
 born." He displayed in a remarkable degree a 
 combination of force and enlargement of capa- 
 city with rapidity and brilliance of conception. 
 His mental vision soon extended from the centre to 
 the circumference of the orb he was to revolve in. 
 No contractedness of thought, no narrowness of 
 scheme, no limited or confined view of the profes- 
 sional instruction he was acquirmg, could discover 
 an inlet for their sordid influence, into an intellect 
 at once so elevated and so far sighted. Law he 
 Studied, iM)t merely as a livelihood and a medium 
 of money -getting, but as the magical and invincible 
 ilispenser under Heaven of equal justice and equal 
 Ifights to his fellow- creatures. From her libraries 
 ^and volumes, his preconceived sentiments and sa- 
 gacious comprehension readily amassed the know- 
 ledge which justified him in foreseeing success and 
 eminence. The power which enabled him soon to 
 -master the great elements, could secure an easy 
 rrpassage to the practice of his profession. Before 
 returning to the land of his birth, to engage in the 
 "^active scenes of the world, he added to his literary 
 
8 
 
 i\uCi professional acquirements, the improvement of 
 travel in an European tour. He was one of the 
 very few of those who have in our re2;ion ascended 
 the seat of justice, who enjoyed such an advantage. 
 Not that the survey of countries, nations and man- 
 ners foreign to our own, of necessity widens the 
 range of the mental faculties. But if there is al- 
 ready an expanse of intellect, enriched with the 
 lore of learning, a keen and observing discernment 
 and an inluitive insight into human nature, much 
 valuable information may be gathered by scanning 
 our species in various climates, under multiform 
 governments and diversified religions. Its influ- 
 ence though not distinctively marked from the other 
 qualities of great talents, yet mingles with them in 
 pervading the spacious field of usefulness to the 
 public. At the period of Mr. Gaillard's arrival 
 in Carolina, her bar could boast of some of ths; 
 first and greatest lawyers in the United* States. 
 This being matter of history, I need but refer your 
 recollection to the splendid catalogue. It was a 
 constellation whose effulgence cannot be outshone. 
 May congenial luminaries through all times of our 
 liberty, reflect an equal light on the system which 
 surrounds them ! To be bright among such as then 
 adorned the profession, is no, equivocal stamp of 
 sterling celebrity. To be prominent among bril- 
 liant orators, erudite jurists, finished scholars, and 
 accomplished gentlemen, is an insurance of posthu- 
 mous fame, which can never be weakened or en- 
 dangered, while history is disinterested but in 
 transmitting the truth, and men take a concern in 
 what has past, as well a§ in the present, and in 
 
9 
 
 that which is to come. As a practitioner at the 
 bar, he was unsurpassed in uprightness, in judi- 
 cious zeal, in ability in the cause of his chents; 
 many of whom stiil spared to our society, I have 
 heard speak of him with raptures of satisfaction. 
 In the conduct of business the felicity of his genius 
 arrived at its substance, while many were toiling 
 through its forms. He went through it with the 
 energy, alacrity and patience appropriate to the 
 occasion. He employed no indiscrimmate ma- 
 chinery. In the most important case, there was 
 no parade, or hurry, none of that grovelling pomp, 
 which is sometimes supplied as a substitute for real 
 capacity, or resorted to as a shew of occupation, 
 or a stratagem for employment. In all matters of 
 his professional avocation, there appeared ease 
 and regularity, without the tedious particulars of 
 mere method. He lightened on the strong holds 
 and '• vantage ground" of his cause, while some 
 by slow degrees were wading through intricate and 
 unimportant minutiae. Though he studiously re- 
 garded the technical apparel of the law when inter- 
 woven with the essential merits of a case, he dis- 
 dained the wiles and nets which to the " shadow 
 of wisdom" only are serviceable as instruments. 
 He carried his aim upon its intrinsic worth. If 
 he lost it, the client was always content that justice 
 was done him by his counsel, though he might 
 murmur at what he conceived its denial by the oc- 
 cupier of its seat. The widow and the orphan al- 
 ways found in him the warm friend and gratuitous 
 advocate. — His lively cast of temperament and af- 
 fability of manners relieved the wearmess which 
 
10 
 
 must sometimes overcome the niost industrious of 
 a vocation whose responsibilities are so numerous 
 and weighty His pleasantry rendered the busi- 
 ness either of the Court or the oflice, easy to him- 
 self and agreeable to others. There was no as- 
 sumption, or affectation, or simulation about him. 
 To his associates at the bar, he was unreserved, can- 
 did, and explicit, — neither cold nor repulsive, nor 
 yet too compliant. He urged with fearless perse- 
 verance the views presented to his own judgment, 
 without passing the boundaries of complaisance- 
 He estimated the dignity of his post too highly to 
 admit an identity of the counsel with the party he 
 represented. He scorned advantage, though he 
 insisted on right. He considered himself not the 
 instrument, but the protector of a litigant. 
 
 An intellect so active, well-stored and vigorous, 
 so commanding and comprehensive, was not per- 
 mitted to continue in one department. His politi- 
 cal talents were of the highest order. They parti- 
 cularly attracted the admiration of the State at 
 the signal revolution of 1800,. which brought the 
 llepublicans into power. It was a crisis more than 
 any other since the overthrow of a foreign mo- 
 narchy, pregnant with the fate of substantial liberty 
 and popular rights. To borrow the words of one 
 of the greatest of modern orators on a different 
 occasion, " It was a time for a man to act in. We 
 had powerful enemies ; but we had faithful and de- 
 termined friends and a glorious cause. We had a 
 great battle to fight, but we had the means of fight» 
 ing. We did fight that day, and conquer." That 
 conflict, my friends, was not the every-day strug- 
 
11 
 
 gle of mere competitors for office : It was not u 
 contest waged chiefly tor the selection of men, not 
 the common rivalship for personal popularity dis- 
 connected from the comparative qtialifications and 
 claims of the candidates, too often " a conclusion," 
 (to employ an expression of Dr. Johnson) " in 
 which nothing is concluded." The most virtuous 
 patriots and consummate statesmen were arrayed 
 in the contending ranks« It was a mighty warfare 
 for principles involving the very " breath of life" 
 of the national constitution. It was a crusade 
 against measures, a policy and a conduct which, 
 (however righteous the motives of their projectors) 
 the people of the United States felt unsuited to their 
 genius, and a violence to the safe -guards of the 
 Republic. Th« victory then achieved, (if I may 
 be allowed the expression) '' saved alive the soul" 
 of the government. *' I speak with the freedom of 
 history, and I hope without offence." 
 
 It was at this triumph that the constituents of his 
 native parish a second time selected our deceased 
 friend their representative in the Legislature. His 
 election as Speaker of the House, proclaimed the 
 voice of Carolina for Mr, Jefferson, and he was 
 appointed an elector of that illustrious ornament of 
 the age, whose name and fame are as imperishable 
 as the spark of liberty is inextinguishable in the 
 bosom of Americans. The presiding officer of a 
 legislative body at a season of such political effer- 
 vescence, must necessarily possess great talents 
 to preserve dignity and order in their deliberations. 
 No ordinary degree of j idgment and tact is then 
 requisite to enforce and regulate the employment of 
 
the time dedicated to the pubhc ousiness. It may 
 safely be asserted that in so arduous a station, no 
 one could have excelled him. He was never taken 
 by surprise at the parliamentary questions arising 
 so suddenly in debate, frequently proceeding from 
 warmth, and made the test of relative strength, 
 and too often handled as were the Parthian arrows, 
 as the last expedient of those who are retreating 
 under defeat. He resolved them without hesita- 
 tion, and with reasons so lucid that all assented to 
 the conclusion, with a conscious impartiality so 
 evident to both sides of the house, that an appeal 
 to themselves seemed almost obsolete from disuse 
 In such scenes and elements he shewed a genius, 
 
 " populares 
 
 Vincentem strepitus etnatum rebus agendis." — 
 
 As an Orator whether at the forum, in the Senate, 
 or in a popular assembly, his rank vvas among the 
 most eloquent. He was both persuasive and over- 
 whelming. His style was perspicuous, easy, for- 
 cible and glowing, far removed from effeminacy 
 or redundance, or the slightest seemingness of pre- 
 paration. It was decorated by the suitable orna- 
 ments of a most finished education, and exhibited a 
 fine and classical taste, acquirements which must 
 always command a superiority. It was fervid, with- 
 out exti avagance, florid without inflation, chaste 
 and elegant without conceit or affectation. His 
 language, where the occasion required it, (and an 
 exquisite judgment could not mistake when it oc- 
 curred) could rise to the loftiest elevation of elo- 
 quence ; — it was always striking and pointed, ne- 
 ver below the dignity of the most fastidious olr 
 
13 
 
 refined understanding. It could flow in a majestic 
 stream, and like the Pactolus roll golden particles 
 in its current. There was in it too a peculiar con- 
 ciseness, energy snd terseness seldom united with 
 so much grace. 1 here was no timidity or weak- 
 ness of expression, — no ambiguity or obscurity of 
 phrase, no masking of the real purpose of the dis- 
 course by vague terms. His ideas seemed as ra- 
 pidly communicated to his hearers, as they passed 
 over his own creative imagination. Ihey escaped- 
 from his lips clothed in the garment exactly fitted 
 to them, illustrating the philosophical remark cf 
 Bufibn, " Le style est I'homme mcnie." The 
 light and fire and vehement enthusiasm of his mind, 
 were transfused to the sentence uhich was the in- 
 stantaneous conductor of his thoughts to the intelli- 
 gence of his audience 
 
 In argument and debate he was powerful. He 
 had a penetration which could fathom the abysses 
 and trace the most intricate windings of the human 
 heart. No recesses or mazes were undiscoverable 
 by his sagacity. The labyrinth of craft and arti- 
 fice was as passable to his scrutiny, as the straight 
 road of plain dealing. He saw his way distinctly 
 himself, and could illuminate it for others by the 
 torch of his genius, and open it by the clew of his 
 acute perception. In truth he was 
 
 " a great observer, and looked 
 
 Quite through the deeds of men." 
 He was capable too of rousing and captivating the 
 passions, when eternal justice cried aloud for ven- 
 geance on her insult. He could then seize the cita- 
 dels of the sensibilities and tender susceptibilities 
 of our nature, and gain the trophy of pathetic ar- 
 
H 
 
 dor. 'I'his was strikingly exGiiiplified in a ver} 
 memorable case, the arraigning of the murderer of 
 a relative. On this occasion so awful and impres- 
 sive, he poured forth the tremendous invective and 
 overpowering philippic of Cicero against Catiline 
 and Vcrres, and the all-subduing denunciation of 
 Anthony over the dead body of Caesar. Every 
 feeling of abhoiTence at the atrocious enormity of 
 the crime, was excited in the breasts of the crowded 
 audience, whose eyes were suff jsed in tears for 
 the untimely and violent fate of the^ assassinated 
 friend of the Orator ; and the perpetrator of the 
 deed paid t!ie forfeit of his life, exacted by the 
 laws of earlh and heaven, and claimed by the an- 
 guish of an agonised family, and by an offended 
 country, through the feeling and s[)lendid appeal of 
 the accuser, who vindicat(;d their wrongs and 
 aven.Ged the ghost of his slaughtered kinsman. 
 
 It was not only in tlie style, reasoning, and solid 
 strength of his speeches, that he evidenced an inex- 
 haustible treasurof^^f natural and acquired endow- 
 ments as an Orator. There was a melody, an har- 
 monious compass of voice, a distinctness of elocu- 
 tion, an ardent animation of manner, which en- 
 chained the fixed attention of his hearers, to the 
 end of a discourse always limited in its range by a 
 happy condenseness. His whole delivery delight- 
 ed them, enlivened the arena of public and forensic 
 business, and carried the conviction that he argued 
 in the fairness ofreasoning, aloof from the ensna- 
 ring or entangling subtleties of a recondite and ab- 
 struse logic. His oratory was a happy* specimen 
 of what Cicero admired as uniting the valuable 
 
attributes of a public speaker — " Eloquens is, qui 
 in foro, causisque civilibus, ita dicet, ut probet, 
 ut delectet, ut flectat. Probare necessitatis est; 
 delectare, stavkatis : flectere victorise. Nam id 
 unnm ex omnibus ad obtinendas causas potest 
 plurimum."— (Ora^. ad Brut. S 21.) 
 
 It was not in his extemporaneors speeches alone 
 that lie was distinguished. As a writer, his com- 
 positions were an admirable model of imitation. 
 One I well remember, (as do many who are here 
 present) delivered by him where I have now the 
 honor of appearing before you. IIo was the first 
 Orator appointed at the formation of the '76 Asso- 
 ciation. On the anniversary of the nat-ional consti- 
 tution, he pronounced a finished encomium on its 
 august framers, and a most luminous commentary 
 on the blessings it would secure to our happy land, 
 and the sanctuary which would be opened to the 
 persecuted and oppressed of all nations and climes, 
 under this wonderful, and I hope indestructible, 
 edifice of republican government. 
 
 He possessed too in a transcendent degree that 
 rare talent which, like the poet's, is a gift of na- 
 ture, genuine wit. It was playful and sportive, 
 elastic and recreative in the hours and toils of bu- 
 siness, diffusing cheerfulness and social charm, but 
 never outstepping dignity. It exhibited a mirthful 
 irony, without violating courtesy. It conveyed 
 the sting too when deserved, and the aptness of the 
 moment never escaped his sagacity. His sarcasm 
 could be poignant and bitter. W hen the occasion 
 called for it, ridicule was a formidable weapon in 
 his bands. In his satire, there mingled sometimes 
 
16 
 
 the sprightly and instructive vivacity of Horace, at 
 others the serious and terrible severity of Juvenal. 
 Perhaps no faculty of the mind requires more wa- 
 riness and prudence in its just and wholesome ex- 
 ercise, and none so frequently confounded with its 
 spurious substitutes. Risibility can easily be ex- 
 cited by the humour of burlesque and drollery, but 
 this is the proper diversion of a farcical afterpiece. 
 The pretence of rudeness or flippant conceit, mis- 
 takes as a sign of its triumph, what is its best pun- 
 ishment, unretaliating silence.. 
 
 After a service of several years in the Legisla- 
 ture, (during which he declined a re-election to the 
 Chair, from the principle he professed that such 
 honors should be partaken of in rotation by others) 
 he retired to more tranquil scenes. But in the con- 
 test of 1808, which resulted in the elevation of 
 Mr. Madison to the Presidency, and the continu- 
 ance of the Republican system of administration, 
 he was induced to add the weight of his abilities, 
 political popularity, and influence, to the cause of 
 his party. He was returned a member of the 
 House, from the Parish of Christ Church. His 
 able discharge of the duties of Speaker, was still 
 fresh in the rememberance of all. The station was 
 again conferred on him under circumstances highly 
 flattering and complimental. 
 
 It was during this session that the Court of Ap- 
 peals in Equity was established, a tribunal which 
 greatly meliorated the condition of our judicature. 
 It was a reformation introduced and supported by 
 the most enlightened of the profession. The ac- 
 knowledged talents, erudition and experience of 
 
IT 
 
 tho oilicei* who presided over the house, identided 
 hiiii at (Mice witJj the institution they had created. 
 He was investo<} witii the ermine by an unanimity 
 seldom paralleled. In this ofHce so vitally impor- 
 tant to the great interests of property, and the do- 
 mestic and business relations of society at large, 
 his unclouded intelligence, quick-sighted acumen, 
 and solid strength of judgment, applied with readi- 
 ness and singular aptitude the doctrines of Chan- 
 cery to the cases which called for his adjudication . 
 Of these doctrines his knowledge wns extensive, 
 profound and eminently practical. His decrees 
 were pronounced with a promptness arid decision 
 equally removed from precipitancy or unnecessary 
 delay. They were the exact type of his ideas, 
 clear and easily inLciligiblo to all. They were 
 encumbered by no superfluous reference to autho- 
 rities, no pedantry of the science, (of which for the 
 occasion he conceived himself the expositor and 
 the minister,) no useless elaboration in arriving at 
 a conclusion. His analyzing mind had thoroughly 
 investigated the original sources of our jurispru- 
 dence by which he was to be governed. A most 
 felicitous memory could array instantly the printed 
 guides he was to follow, while his nice discrimina- 
 tion developed the spirit and reason of the equitable 
 and legal codes he was dispensing. No Chancel- 
 lor submitted with more deference to points already 
 decided, though they met not his concurrence. 
 No one was more zealous in preserving inviolate 
 the great land- marks of the system, though the 
 bold independence and activity of his penetrating 
 
 vnind ^vould discern, and would fearlessly assert, 
 8 
 
IS 
 
 when requisite, the inapplicability of some antique 
 principles to our unparalleled institutions. What 
 was said of Lord Thurlow by an admirer, may be 
 repeated of him, " I never found that he meant to 
 break through the rule. No man criticised more 
 upon rules laid down by other judges, but no man 
 was more rigid in observing them, when he could 
 once deduce them." — Sd Vesey^ 527. 
 
 Judge Gaillard, though anxiously desirous 
 of sustaining the boundaries between the tribunals 
 of law and equity, wished to assimilate as far as 
 is practicable in wise discretion, and to amalga- 
 mate in the administration of justice, the nature 
 of each Vvith the other. His view might be some- 
 what similar to w hat Lord Eldon declared of two 
 objects of his admiration — " Chief Justice De 
 Grey said, he never liked equity so well as when 
 it was like law. The day before 1 heard Lord 
 Mansfield say, he never liked law so well as when 
 it was like equity ; — remarkable sayings, (he added) 
 of those two great men, which made a strong im- 
 pression on my memory."'' — 6 Fes. 259. There 
 was a very general acquiescence in or confirmation 
 of his decrees. When he differed with the bench 
 of his judicial colleagues, it was then he took more 
 than ordinary pains. His lights and learning be- 
 came then peculiarly public property. They 
 were put forth to be examined by all, not for dis- 
 play or effect, but from an imperative sense of indis- 
 pensable duty, which would withhold nothing from 
 the suitors, the bar and the community. His am- 
 bition was lo satisfy himself that his judgment was 
 supported by principle and precedent^ — and when 
 
19 
 
 precedent failed, the exuberance of his intellect 
 was never bewildered in reaching the point where 
 justice should prevail. A Judge who should com- 
 mence with, " Having had doubts upon this Will 
 for twenty years," would, (however extraordinary 
 his attainments) in our country, he soon transfer- 
 red to the chair of a professorship, as better adapt- 
 ed to his lucubrations than the business for which 
 laws and courts are designed. 
 
 The satisfaction afforded by the amenity of his 
 manners, the resolute and wise exercise of his offi- 
 cial power, the disposition to accommodate where 
 there was no sacrifice of what he deemed not under 
 his control, by the safety and correctness of his 
 decrees, and a judicious despatch of business with- 
 out haste or impatience, was fully manifested by a 
 re-election of our lamented friend as complimen- 
 tary as his first, when the Chancellors resigned to 
 receive a compensation more equivalent to their 
 labors ; — a testimonial certainly not of doubtful 
 cliaracter. 
 
 In 1824, a new arrangement of the Circuit and 
 Appeal Courts was organized. Whether this inno- 
 vation is an improvement on the preceding models, 
 (one of them coeval with our Constitution, another 
 existing for sixteen years,) must be left to a test of 
 the same duration, if a triumvirate is not long be- 
 fore superseded by other experiments. At this 
 period of the partition and division of judicial la- 
 bors, the duties of the law bench were allotted to 
 Judge Gaillard, — the number of Chancellors 
 being reduced to two, and they and the law Judges 
 rendered subordinate to the appellate. The ver- 
 
sAtility of his genius^ tlao vajic' y of his ihtoriiiatioii,' 
 and the speediness with wliich he could recover the 
 recollection of former and grnsp (he extension tjnd 
 accuhiulation of any knowledge, soon rendeied 
 his novel situation light and fainiiiar to him. It 
 furnished too a wider and more apposite scope for 
 bis popular, delightful and commanding eloquence, 
 than the fabric of the Chancery scarcely ever pre- 
 sents. His chargQg to the Jury compris(=d so suc- 
 cinct a compendiuin of the circumstances and 
 proofs, that the various capaciti<^s of our citizens 
 embraced without fatigue the compass of the case. 
 His abstract so divested it of the extraneous and 
 irrelevant, that their good sense con Id review the 
 concentrated weight of the testiuiouy with the ease 
 their memory could retain the incidcuiS of an im- 
 pressive narrative. In conducting their atlention 
 to the law ^hich was absolutely to control them, 
 he was distinct, crontident -muI energeJir, avoidmg 
 alithoritative dictation, but mnintuining tf:e prero- 
 gative of office bestowed by tlic j.opnlnr sovereignty 
 for the public good. He kiuwv and pnrliciuated in 
 the feehngs of ihe people of liiis country too well, 
 not to be certain that they would firmly and consci- 
 entiously enforce the dominion of their laws, the 
 only omnipotence under heaven which they ac- 
 knowledge. 
 
 As a magistrate, no one was actuated by a more 
 strict and accurate senseof his duties to the public. 
 During the sixteen years he served as a Chancel- 
 lor, an excellent constitution, with uninterrupted 
 health, enabled him to be constant at his post, and 
 vigilant and unwearied in tbe discharge of itsfu«c- 
 
tions. He kncv well the rational allowances for 
 the difiiciilties in which the counsel and clients, 
 with all thoir diligence and zeal, must at times he 
 embarrassed in their progress. But he avoided in 
 his indulii^ence the extreme of either lenity or rio;or. 
 When business could be done with efficiency, (the 
 mere show of it he detested,) his co-operation and 
 unrelaxing attention would accelerate its march. 
 In a judicial administration approaching a quarter 
 of a contury, (but one year less than Sir Matthew 
 Hale's,) his good fortune would have been singuiai' 
 indeed, had he escaped the insinuations and mur- 
 murings of unjust discontent, oJ' jealousy or of en- 
 vy, to which that celebrated English Judge was 
 exposed, and vvhich all,- ^vhose pre-eminence 
 eclipses inferior but \ispiring intellects, must in the 
 general course of events expect to follow their sn- 
 periority. The sturdy independence of Lord Coke, 
 and the inflexible integrity of Clarendon, could not 
 avert the stroke aimed by the vin<]ictiveness and 
 malignity of enemies. The resentment of subor 
 dinate minds, or narrow hearts, can never be ex- 
 tinguished or appeased. It can only be silenced, 
 if not satiated, by the removal or the downfall of 
 the colossus which daily casts a shadow on the 
 diminutiveness ot their statues. On such occasions^ 
 pusillanimity is propelled by both consciousness of 
 wrong and the dread of its object Such examj)lep 
 verify the remark of the Roman historian who 
 held the key to the human heart, that ill-will to- 
 wards an individual is but the necessary conse- 
 quence of having, injured him. A really great man 
 should, however, treat the calumnies and scandals 
 
QC> 
 
 of the assailants of his public character and the de- 
 famers of the purity of his motives, with the dis- 
 dainful contempt uttered by Mr. Burke for those 
 who attempted to discredit him with his constitu- 
 ents at Pristol— " The highest flight of such cla- 
 morous birds is winged in an inferior region of the 
 atmospliere. We hear them, and we look upon 
 them, just as you do, gentlemen, when you enjoy 
 your serene air on your lofty rocks, look down up- 
 on the gulls that skim the mud off your river, when 
 it is exhausted of its tide." 
 
 In reference to the more active pursuits of life, 
 and the frequent recurrence of occasions which call 
 forth the strong and sometimes the violent emotions 
 of the mind, as to passing scenes, perhaps Judge 
 Gaillard's predoniinant passion was a deep, in- 
 tense and ardent in'erest in the political fortunes and 
 concerns of his country. From those of high rank in 
 the profession, and on the Bench, in this hemisphere, 
 we almost naturally look for this propension of the 
 mind. All our institutions being reared on the 
 foundation of I'rcedom and equal rights, those who 
 from youth have imbibed in daily study the spirit 
 of our laws and constitutions, appear as it were the 
 vanguard in descrying their transgressions, and 
 detecting aberrations from their injunctions. They 
 habitually become guardians of the rights of their 
 fellow-citizens, sentinels over the movements of 
 those in power, antagonists of encroachment, 
 champions of a constitutional and wise administra- 
 tion, and suppressors of factious and indiscriminate 
 opposition. To be the head of a party at any time 
 is in general a testimonial of some talent, or some 
 
2-3 
 
 signal service. But to be a loader ia the times 
 which brought him on the pohtical stage, is an in- 
 controvertible proof of intellectual supremacy. 
 The immortal author of the Decline and Fall of 
 the Roman Empire, who as a member of Parlia- 
 ment studied men, as in his unbounded scholarship 
 he studied languages and books, records from his 
 personal observation, Mr. Fox's " argumentative 
 vehemence, who in the conduct of a party approved 
 himself equal to the conduct of an empire.^ ^ 
 
 In the political sentiments and acts of our de- 
 ceased friend, there were always discernible deci- 
 sion and consistency. He was a greal advocate of 
 the reform of our representation in the legislature, 
 and of the extension of the elective franchise which 
 has given our citizens equal privileges and equal 
 participation in the enactment of the laws which 
 are to govern them. lie was a politician, not for 
 the gratification of his own ambition. He never 
 swerved from uniformity to gain oflice, or for his 
 own aggrandizement. He declined the solicitation 
 of influential admirers during the late war, (while 
 he resided at Columbia,) to represent them in Con- 
 gress 5 as also two appointments (of District Judge) 
 from the General Government. He was satisfied 
 with the judicial honor which his native state had 
 bestowed on him, though nature seemed to have 
 destined him for a statesman. 
 
 I have spoken chiefly of his public course. But 
 in private life he possessed an alliance of qualities 
 which endeared him to his friends, and of virtues 
 which will render his memory sacred where the 
 awful calamity of his loss is mostseverelv and hea- 
 
24. 
 
 til}' felt. He was benevolent and kind to the poor, 
 compassionate and charitably indulgent to the in- 
 firmities of our iiature. Added to all, he was a 
 religious man. In his Christian faith he was sin- 
 cere and impregnable. I do know that h^i was 3. 
 devoted and protbund student of divinity. An im- 
 mense portion of his very generally extensive read- 
 ing, was of the highest standard theological works. 
 lie studied the inspired volumes for himself, but 
 sought with an unabating avidity for the opinions 
 and exi)ositions of learned divines, on the doctrines 
 and mysteries of revealed religion. 'J'hough his 
 preference of the faith and institutions of Protestant 
 Episcopalians was decided and unmoved, he was 
 too pious a man and too enlightened a citizen, not 
 to hold in reverence all other pci'suasions and sects. 
 Neither bigotry nor polemical controversy mingled 
 with his own belief or liis atlJichment to the forms 
 of worship wkicii he preferred. He claimed only 
 for his own conscience and his own church, the 
 inalienable iberties which our glorious, and happy 
 constitsjtion lias guaranteed to all who worship God 
 in spirit aial in truth. He thought with the ancient 
 Christrians of Constantinople, "•Our bodies are 
 Ccesar's, but our souls belong only to God." 
 
 I'hat his devotion in the advancement of religion 
 was fervent, and his piety ardent and practical, *'ever 
 witness for him" two conspicuous monuments — 
 The establishment of the fund for promoting the 
 independence of the episcopate, and enabling the 
 incumbent to supervise with undivided attention 
 the general interests of the Diocess, was an object 
 ef his intense solicitude. The erection of a holy 
 
25 
 
 mansion for Episcopal servjce at the Capital of our 
 State, was projected and achieved by his unremit- 
 ting exertions. Philanthropy and industry, indeed, 
 marked his steps towards every work in whose 
 completion his foresight augured benefit and pros- 
 perity to the public. 
 
 Within the last three years of his life, it pleased 
 Heaven to visit him with grievous affliction, which 
 for a time deprived the State of his services. His 
 sufferings were great, but he bore them with the 
 serenity and fortitude of philosophy, — and with the 
 patient and humble submission of the pious, who 
 look to " things which must be hereafter." As 
 soon as his physical frame could gratify the aspira- 
 tions of his mind, his irrepressible sense of duty 
 rose paramount to every terrestrial consideration. 
 He undertook the remote journeyings requisite in 
 the performance of judicial functions. The last 
 act of his high offiqe, was the trial of a citizen for 
 his life. He thought the accused innocent and in- 
 jured. His eloquent charge conduced to his ac- 
 quittal. His robust mind rose above bodily debi- 
 lity, and the blaze of his genius flamed radiant and 
 resplendent like the light of the setting sun. But 
 the infirmity of his system could not long sustain 
 the weight or support the active operations of so 
 powerful an intellect. This was too observable to 
 the friends and gentlemen of the Bar who were 
 around him. With a kindness and tenderness, the 
 unerring indication of magnanimity, they endea- 
 vored to arrest even his further thought of business. 
 Their urgent advice could not prevail over his own 
 ViMVMofius duty. He proceeded on his journey to 
 
26 
 
 the adjoining districf, — but nature was exhausted, 
 and his mortal career was drawing to a close. 
 Convinced that his end was approachinjj, he looked 
 to it as a termination of his woes. With the un- 
 daunted Koman he thought — 
 
 " Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, 
 
 It seems to me most strange that men should fear ; 
 
 Seeing that death, a necessary end, 
 
 Will come — when it will come." — 
 
 It had no terrors for him. He had done his earthly 
 duties to the best of his powers. He met it as a 
 "welcoming messenger. It was his relief that he 
 had finished his course It had been his hope, that 
 like his venerable brother, (that amiable and exem- 
 plary statesman, so long the popular President of 
 the national Senate,) he should terminate his life 
 while in the actual service of his country. That 
 hope was realized, and 
 
 " He gave his honors to the world again — 
 
 His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace." 
 
 This excellent man, this public-spirited patriot, this 
 pure and worthy magistrate, expired at a distance 
 from his home, and unsurrounded by his family. 
 Kis fate in this was peculiarly like Agricola's. 
 ** Omnia sine dubio, optime parentum, adsidenie 
 amantissima uxore^ superfuere honori tuo, pauci- 
 oribus tamen lacrymis compositus es, et novissima 
 in luce, desideravere ahquid oculi tui." 
 
 If through the inscrutable wisdom of Omniscience, 
 it was denied to affectionate children to administer 
 the last offices to parental love, it is a comforting 
 solace that he died not among stran^^ers. His last 
 day was with those who could condole and lyrapa* 
 
27 
 
 thize with their bereavement, and who in a long 
 lapse of years well knew his virtues and his useful- 
 ness. His obsequies were performed and attended 
 by admirers of his life, and venerators of his me- 
 mory. To them, I am commissioned on behalf of 
 sorrowful distress and wounded hearts, to express 
 their warmest obligation and most lasting gratitude. 
 
 'J'he departure, fellow citizens, of our lamented 
 friend, from the scenes of this life, seemed ordained 
 by Heaven, " in its wise mercy," at a crisis suited 
 to and congenial with his fame. From the nature 
 of his affliction, which the preparation of his mind 
 had made him certam would eventuate in his disso- 
 lution, he did not look forward or ever hope for a 
 prolongation of existence, under the prospect of 
 being unequal to the labors of his station. It is a 
 consolation to his surviving friends, (as I know it 
 was the pride and desire of his latter days) that it 
 should be said of him — He died at his post. 
 
 Every good citizen, and every faithful public 
 servant, may wisely and piously repeat, " Let my 
 last end be like his." 
 
Sii 
 
 vin 418 410 5