obliged to act, think, and speak indepen dently; at other times disappointing his friends. But he had within himself the ele ments of greatness and when fully aroused, was equal to any emergency, and competent to grapple with the abstrusest principles. A lucky hit brought him prominently into notice as a lawyer in the early part of his practice in Freehold. He was retained to defend a client who was indicted for an as sault and battery. Mr. Dayton feared that the defendant could not be acquitted on the merits of his case, and strove to find some technical point on which to base an argument to quash the indictment. He ascertained that the grand jury had not been legally summoned, moved to quash the indictment, and his motion was sustained. The result was that every indictment found at that term was dismissed. This, of course, brought him very speedily into public notice; clients flocked to his office, and his practice soon be came very large. Political honors were early accorded to him. He was naturally an ambi tious man; and rightfully so, for he was a born politician, and was fitted for public life. Such natures as his must necessarily find their true position, and whatever trammels may surround them, or obstacles withstand, the end is sure and certain. Monmouth was overwhelmingly Demo cratic; young Dayton was a Whig, and it seemed a forlorn hope for any one of his party affiliations to seek the overthrow of the oppos ing organization. But this was just the task which suited Dayton's inclination. In 1837 he was nominated by his party as its candidate for the Council. This placed him at the head of his ticket, and he succeeded not only in securing his own election but that of his fellow-candidates. A new field of endeavor was opened to his aspirations, and in this arena he was destined to gain his greatest glory, to win his brightest laurels. He was a young man, untried as a legislator; just thirty years old, and had never been in office. But at once he became the leader of his party in the Legislature, and prominent in all move
ments in the Council. It soon became patent to all thoughtful observers that the proper sphere for a man of Mr. Dayton's con summate abilities was in the domain of poli tics, and here began a career of almost un exampled activity and brilliant success. Mr. Dayton was a broad-minded patriot, of high resolve and honorable aims. He never de scended to the low arts which too often char acterize those who seek political preferment. He never did a mean act; he never sullied his life by baseness. It was while he was in the Legislature that the Circuit Courts of the various coun ties were established, and the success of the plan was mainly due to his exertions. Alex ander C. M. Pennington, a leading lawyer from Essex County, was a member of the Assembly while Dayton was in the Council; and he prepared and presented the statute which provided for the adoption of this ad mirable system. Mr. Pennington was an acute-minded lawyer, and fully competent to prepare such a law as was required for so radical a change in the jurisprudence of the State. Mr. Dayton was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Council, and was charged with the duty of reporting and acting on the new statute. Doubtless it received his strictest scrutiny, and in all probability was improved by his additions and amendments. He heartily approved of it, and it became the law of the land. The result has fully demonstrated the correctness of Mr. Dayton's judgment. The Courts of Common Pleas have been almost entirely abandoned by suitors who were obliged to seek redress by resort to civil suits. The Circuit Courts have received the fullest con fidence of lawyers and their clients; even the Common Pleas have been remodelled, and lawyers of standing and learning placed at their head. One defect in the admirable system exists : the judges who are assigned to the larger circuits, with their duties in the Supreme Court and in the Court of Errors and Appeals, added to those of the County Circuits, are overworked men. v
