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Kansas University Weekly.
dear" Such was the substance of the advice addressed by Judge Thacher to the young men whom he had instructed in the class room in the science of justice.
Judge Thacher was competent to take important public employments. He was a man whose knowledge of public affairs was extensive and he possessed a profound understanding of their significance. The commission conferred upon him by President Arthur in 1884, as one of three commissioners to the South and Central American States was a recognition of this fact. The primary object of that commission was to promote a closer intercourse and friendship and more extensive commercial relations between this republic and the states of Southern America, an object the importance of which can hardly be over estimated,
It is conceded that the chief work of the commission dayolved on Judge Thacher. The other members, if I mistake not, returned to this country before the commission had completed its inquiries, which, however, were prosecuted to a final conclusion and an elaborate report made by Judge Thacher.
If the labors of that commission have not borne the fruit that was expected of them,this is to be attributed rather to the lack of a continuous consistent public policy touching those relations than to any defect in the work of that commission.
Indeed the effect of the labors of the commission have since borne fruit in the awakened interest manifested by those states in the subjects which occupied its attention.
Judge Thacher was a large personality. He filled a large space in the public mind, a space that expanded as time went on. He never resorted to those arts commonly used by those who seek public prominence, to enshrine his name in a halo of superficial brilliance. He possessed the power to be brilliant, but he preferred to be useful. His public addresses are models of a chaste sober eloquence, their purpose is to instruct not to dazzle. His prepared as well as his impromptu addresses are free from bombast. He never magnified small things for the sake of effect.
He was a modest man. I do not recall in mv intercourse with him any reference to His personal successes at the bar, or his public services. I do not recall any instance in which he indulged in self glorification. He seemed contented to let his work speak his silent praises
He possessed ambition, but an ambition chastened by a deep sense of responsibility. He did not actively seek public position and yet did not shun it when that opened the way for usefulness to his fellow citizens.
His talents were developed in various directions. His large experience, quickness and accuracy of judgement and un
flinching fidelity to his convictions of right and duty fitted him for high executive functions. His scholarly training, the mental discipline through which he had passed, rendering prolonged and consecutive thought the fixed habit of his mind, a mind well stored with rich and various learning, an intimate acquaintance with legal principles, and a profound understanding of their bearing and significance, together with a love of justice and rectitude of purpose, admirably fitted him for high judicial service. At nearly all elections for United States Senator, in late years, his name has come up by a sort of spontaneous and involuntary suggestion as a fit candidate for that honor.
If that honor had come to him he would have served his beloved country with fidelity and usefulness.
In all the relations of life his walk was blameless He was considerate and kind and helpful.
In trying to delineate a life we cannot view it in its wholeness. We see but portions of it. We gather up a fragment here and another there and we study their significance. We see a young man pursuing with patient industry a prolonged course of difficult studies, and we say he is of a grave character. We see him espousing generous principles and entering with enthusiasm upon the service of the public and we say he is patriotic. We see him diligently working out a successful career in business or professional life, and we conclude that he is a man of talent and solidity of character. But the influence of a thousand acts in that life which have escaped our observation has gone out into the world and none but the eye of omniscience can trace and measure the circle of that influence.
A good life is a benediction, the memory of which is to be cherished forever more.
ADDRESS BY REV. RICHARD CORDLEY.
Governor Charles Robinson will always stand among the prominent figures in Kansas history. He seems to have been prepared by the experience through which he had passed for the place he was called to fill. Christian people would say he was was prepared by Providence for the work Providence had for him to do. Others would state it differently, perhaps, and say he was the product of the historic process of which he formed a part. But with us the historic process is nothing more nor less than the movement of that higher thought which prepares for the emergencies it is designed to meet
Governor Robinson was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1818. He was educated in the schools of his neighborhood and in Amherst college. At the beginning of his judior year his eyes
failed and he left college and never returned. He soon after began the study of medicine. He practiced his profession for several years with great success. In Springfield, Massachusetts, he was the partner of Dr. J. G. Holland, known in literature as Timothy Titcomb. In 1847 he removed to Fitchburg and began practice there. He was there in 1849 when the discovery of gold in California created such a sensation all over the land. Dr. Robinson went to California as surgeon with a company of gold seekers from Massachusetts. They went by the long and tedious overland route. They purchased their teams in Kansas City and passed up the Kansas river. They climbed the spur of the hill northeast of the university and looked over what was to be the townsite of Lawrence from university hill. When five years later the Kansas question came up he recalled what he had seen and was able to speak with authority of the country and its promise. When he had been in California awhile he encountered a state of things which involved some of the same conditions he met in Kansas. Settlers in Sacramento had taken government claims and were improving them as farms, when some speculators secured one of those elastic Mexican titles which they undertook to stretch over all the good land of the valley, and so rob these men of their homes. The courts were owned by the speculators and the settlers had no recourse. Dr. Robinson took the part of the settlers and put himself at their head. In the conflict which followed the mayor of Sacramento was killed and Dr. Robinson was severely wounded. Though almost in a dying condition he was arrested and indicted for murder. He was confined in a prison ship for several months before he could get a trial. When at last a trial was given him he was acquitted, and he was the hero of the hour. The speculators and their venal courts were defeated and the settlers secured their homes.
This experience specially fitted him for the larger and more complicated operations in which he afterwards took so prominent a part in Kausas. It not only prepared him, but it marked him for it, and attracted him to it.
In 1854 it was determined to attempt to save Kansas for freedom according to the terms of the Kansas-Nebraska bill itself which was intended to enslave her. The Kansas-Nebraska bill provided that the people of the territory themselves should determine whether she should be slaye or free. Then said the people of the north, we will settle Kansas with freedom loving men, and so make her free. The friends of freedom in New England organized the New England Emigrant Aid company. This company chose Dr. Robinson, on account of his western experience,