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��EULOGY OF DANIEL M. CHRISTIE.
��It would seem to be superfluous to speak of the intellectual greatness of Mr. Christie before a tribunal which has been so often charmed and enlightened by the displays of his power. But, unfor- tunately, so modest was the great man whose loss we now deplore, so reserved, so careless of his achievements and fame, so content with circumscribing his pro- fessional employments almost within the limits of the small county in which he dwelt, and never, that I am aware of, going beyond his own State in a profes- sional capacity; and so fleeting indeed are the records and impressions of the nisiprius trials in which he principally gathered in his fame, so transitory even the remembrances of these conflicts and struggles which rapidly pass out of con- temporary memory and are gone forever, that it would seem desirable, if it might be, for the Court and the bar to place on record somewhere some suitable memo- rial of the intellectual power of such a man as Mr. Christie, — something which might rescue some of his striking traits of character from the oblivion that so soon shrouds the fame of the practicing lawyer, and inform the future generations of our people, and especially his succes- sors at the bar, that a great man has fal- len here and now. I trust, therefore, that your Honor, and my brothers of the bar who are to follow me in this tribute of respect to his memory, will commem- orate his remarkable gifts and services in language of enduring and permanent value, leaving "something so written to after times, as they should not willingly let it die."
Mr. Christie did not reach his ultimate greatness, as some men do, at a bound, but his was a steady growth, and labo- rious ascent to the table lands of the law. Through a long series of arduous exertions, he "ever great and greater grew," until for years before his death I think the front rank, and the leader- ship — primus inter primos — of the front rank in the profession of the law was accorded to him by the universal voice of the profession and the bench in New Hampshire. So various and so large were his powers and his attainments that i t is difficult to make a critical analysis or
��estimate of his capacity. Mr. Webster said the characteristics of Mr. Mason's mind were real greatness, strength, and sagacity. I have often thought this con- cise summary to be equally true of and applicable to Mr. Christie. He was cer- tainly a man of extraordinary endow- ments, and these had been wonderfully cultivated, improved, invigorated and strengthened by the untiring industry of a long life given to the law with a singleness of heart and purpose, which disarmed the jealousy of that proverbially jealous mistress. He had prodigious in- dustry, and could work terribly. He had indomitable will and tenacity of purpose. He had good sense and sound judgment. He had a vast and exact memory. He had a logical and capacious understand- ing. In volume of intellect, in ability to grasp a legal proposition, or grapple with a problem or an argument — in pure and simple brain power — he certainly had no superior if any equal in New Hampshire in these later years of his life, and I doubt if in the annals of our illustrious jurisprudence, or in the list of our great forensic names, he was ever surpassed.
He was not quick of apprehension — he was cautious, wary, and slow to advise. He never promoted litigation, but often discouraged it by refusing to give any guarantees of success. He observed the precept of old Polonius, to
"Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but. being in, Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee."
When once engaged he was labori- ous to the last degree, and never came to the trial of a case without the most thorough, pains-taking and exhaustive preparation. He spared no time or labor — he turned the night into the day— he shrunk from no diligence or exhaustion — he studied his cases over and over, and through and through, and looked at them in every possible aspect — and when he came to the trial, his thorough under- standing of his case, its weakness as well as its strength, his anticipation of every possible position of his adversary, and his complete devotion to his cause and his client, made him the most formi- dable antagonist any man could en-
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