PRESS TRIBUTES.

From the Manchester "Union," September 13, 1900. The long and honorable career of Harry Bingham, which came to a close at his home in Littleton yesterday, affords a striking illustration of the great truth that no man need sacrifice his opinions or do injustice to his convictions in order to attain success. Men believed in him because he was sincere. When he gave an opinion, it was an honest opinion, whether relating to law, to politics, to business, or to any other of the complex questions pertaining to human conditions. It was well known that he had great influence with juries in the counties where most of his legal battles were fought; and this influence was due, not only to his masterful presentation, plain, forceful logic and cogent reasoning, but to a well-grounded conviction that when he took a case, he himself believed thoroughly in the justice of the cause. It is related of Thomas Jefferson that a venerable man, upon being asked if Jefferson was a good lawyer, replied that he did not know, because he was always on the right side of the case. There was no question that Harry Bingham was a good lawyer, but through all the years of his long and successful practice there was a very general feeling among the people of Grafton and Coös counties that he was always on the right side of the case.

It is futile to speculate on what might have been had Harry Bingham sacrificed his political convictions to considerations of expediency. Had he cast his fortunes with the majority party, there can be no doubt that his ability would have won for him substantial recognition; but no mere consideration of personal advantage could have the slightest weight with such a man. stood true to his convictions, whatever might befall; others received the honors which might have been his; and yet it may be seriously questioned whether any man who has apparently

He

been more successful in politics in New Hampshire during the past forty years has exercised an influence so far reaching and so beneficial to the state as did he. Throughout all the long period of service in the Legislature his keen perception of the fundamental principles of things, his ready apprehension of what was fit and what unfit, combined with his steadfastness to conviction, enabled him to exercise a marked influence upon legislation. As a member of the judiciary committee he checked many an ill-advised or pernicious measure, spared the courts much labor, and protected the people from a vast body of expensive and foolish legislation. His impress upon the character of legislation in New Hampshire will be felt long after many a man who received far greater recognition by the state has been forgotten. In his work in the Legislature he rendered the people of his state great and lasting service.

In politics, as in every walk of life, Harry Bingham was uncompromising, fearless and straightforward. Expediency was with him never permitted to clash with conviction. He did not know how to vacillate and he would not sacrifice principle for securing advantage.

From the Concord "People and Patriot," September 13, 1900.

The death of Harry Bingham is as the falling of a great oak in the forest. Though full of years and past the age of activity, his strong, rugged character stood out in example to all his fellows, and all are bowed in sorrow at his death. There is always inspiration for those who bear the burdens of the day in such a personality as his, and as he lies in death there is an uplifting lesson in a study of his career. The name of Harry Bingham has ever been a synonym for honor, for honesty, for the strictest integrity. He was one of those grand old men of whom there have been far too few in these later days; men who hated sham and hypocrisy in every form; men whom no influence could turn from the straight and narrow path of duty as it appeared to them; men who threw a mighty force of intellect and conscience into their battles for the people's causes.

As a lawyer Harry Bingham stood for more than a generation at the head of the bar of the state. He was a master of legal

principles, and the force and clearness that he employed in their expression made him an authority among the barristers of the state. In politics the same intellectual qualities that won him his success in the law made him a leader of his party. It is not too much to say that had the Democracy been in the ascendent in New Hampshire, he would have been among the foremost in the councils of the nation.

From the Concord "Monitor," September 13, 1900.

There is honest grief for Harry Bingham. His was a life of such lofty devotion to principle, such high achievement in his profession, such inspiration to all who live for duty, that of him it may now be said, in the sense of genuine loss which all will feel, as was said by Froude of Carlyle "A man is dead!" A great man indeed has fallen; great not so much in the mere enumeration of his titles, as in the inherent strength of intellect and spirit and purpose which differentiates mankind and sets them into classes. Harry Bingham was a class by himself. He came down from the days of giants, and can well be numbered among them, for in all the characteristics of titanic brain and herculean purpose he enforced recognition as one of the great of his generation; and it was his proud satisfaction to have lived long enough to witness the general acceptance of this estimate of his services and worth. He lived a rugged, simple life. His tenets were few and he never deserted them. Many a momentary pang he found, no doubt, in the doing of his duty, but he never swerved. He kept the faith, he fought the good fight, with Luther exclaiming, "Here I stand. So help me God, I can do nothing else!"

From the Portsmouth "Times," September 14, 1900.

The death of Hon. Harry Bingham of Littleton removes one who for more than thirty years was recognized as the ablest member of the New Hampshire bar, and the strongest leader of the Democratic party in the state. In knowledge and understanding of the law, in cogency of reasoning and power of statement, Mr. Bingham had few equals and no superiors at the bar anywhere in the country; while his heroic devotion to Democracy and its cause, in the face of continued defeat and discouragement won for him the respect even of his political enemies.

BAR EULOGIES.

At the September adjourned term of the Supreme Court, held at Woodsville, December 11, 1900, the Hon. Robert M. Wallace presiding, a committee of the bar reported the following memorial, which was read:

The members of the bar of Grafton County, deeply afflicted by the loss of their associate, the venerable Harry Bingham, would express their appreciation of him by asking the court to place upon its records the following brief memorial:

By the death of Harry Bingham, the state of New Hampshire has lost a good citizen, a learned and conscientious lawyer, and an honest man.

He was sturdy and resolute in his opinions, which he formed by careful and patient study and reflection, and which, while seriously examining and weighing all arguments against them, he was always ready to defend.

He was animated by a spirit of the loftiest patriotism, and he never consented to or supported a policy which his judgment did not hold to be for the public welfare.

Being endowed by nature with superb mental and physical powers and unquestioned genius for the law, by conscientious effort and study and unwavering fidelity to the courts and his clients, he early achieved, and for more than half a century maintained, an exalted rank in his profession.

His kindly nature and generous spirit endeared him to his professional brethren, and his recognized lofty principles of action and uniform uprightness ensured for him public confidence and trust.

Honored is the state which numbers among its citizens such

men!

While recognizing his profound legal learning, we are not unmindful of his broad statesmanship and his attainments in