The Late Judge Kingsley

The following is the tribute to the late Judge Kingsley, written by Judge Lawrence, and read by Bev. Wyllys Hall at the fuueral services : Judge Kingsley was amoug the first practicing lawyers in the couuty. He beheld the judioiary in its infancy as a Territorial court, under the administration of Judge Dexter, who obhged some culprits to swear to a plea of guilty, and wituessed its rise and progresa through its various changes and gradations, uutil it had assumed a name and character inferior to none m this vast and mighty Union. In all these courts, froni that of Justioe of the Paace to the Supreme (Jourt, he, as a member of the bar, played his part and played it well. His professional careor was always honorable, jus,t and mauly. His word was as good as his boud, and it required no written stipulation to refresh his recollection ; naturally truthïul and honest, he had not learned how to prevarícate or evade, and in all his extensive praciice uo occasion ever arose to question his integrity or honor. As a practitioner he was without reproach and utterly incapable of meanness or chicanery. He was as honest in his professen as out of it. His integrity was too real to be bartered for temporary gain and too natural to be even tempted. It cost him no eftort to be honest, but it was naturally impossible for him to bo otherwiee. As a mere lawyer, Mr. Kingsley always held an honorable position. His mind was exceediugly acute and discrimiuating. In the trial of causes and in the scrutinizing of testimony no important fact ever escaped his notice. He was quick to see the stroug points in his own case, and the weak ones in that of his adversary. His discrimiuation and good judgment rarely allowed him to misapply the law to the facts. He was a well read and sound lawyer, and his judgment, aided by hls common sense, rarely deceived his cheuts, While maintaining an honorable position as a lawyer, as an advocate and orator, ia a certain class of cases, he, at the bar of the county, was without a peer. Ridicule is sometimes the most effective argument that can be used, and when the state of the facts would allow it, no uian ever better uuderstood or wielded it, as a matter of defense, with more power or success. At the bar and in deliberativo assemblies Mr. Kiugsley often resorted to this mode ot deteating his opponent, and the recollectiou of many wonderful exhibitions of this faculty is still fresh in tho minds of those who wituossod them. No revende, no malignity, accompanied those efforts, but a simple and genuino wit, characterized by an inimitable marnier of dehvery, carried all bef ore it; courts, junes, and public assemblies. His memory will ever be associated with these masterly efforts of real wit and genuiue eloquence, and the day may be far distant wheu his equal shall again appear. The deceased is entitled to the highest encomium that can be given to a human being- he was an honest man. In all his iutercourse with men, both in his professional and individual capacity, there is and ever has been but one, and that a universal judgment in favor of his integrity ; and perhaps all that might be said of his varied powers ot intellect and the remarkable manifestatious of his natural eloquence is far outweighed by a just estimation of his real character by the familiar though homely appellation on the tougues and in the hearts of all that knew him,- "Honest Jim Kingsley." Mr. Kiugsley, after a long Iife of daily acts of kindness and friendship to all within his reach, lavished with a too liberal hand for his own aggrandizemeut, if that eau be misspent which is expended for humanity, has flnally left the earth without an enemy, and we trust in the Iife beyoud, the same faculties of mind and heart more fully developed will meet with equal success and appreciation in heaven.