of
consummate ability; but he steadily refused to withdraw from the
professional path along which he was to move with such distinction.
Until Kent's appearance, the administration of the law had been
inefficient and unsatisfactory. Men of ability had occupied the bench;
but the laborious and business methods which subsequently gave
strength and character to the court, had not been applied. The custom
of writing opinions in the most important cases did not then obtain,
while the principles and foundation of the law were seldom explored.
But Kent began at once, after a most laborious examination of the
cases and the law, to bring the written opinions which enrich the
reports of Caines and Johnson, to the consultations of the judges,
thus setting an example to his associates, and opening the way for
that admirable and orderly system of jurisprudence that has adorned
the judiciary of New York for more than a century. The men of the
older school had had their day. The court of Hobart was closed; the
age of Kent had opened.

Radcliff, the other judicial appointee, was not a new name in 1798;
but it was destined to become dearer to every lover of a chancery
lawyer. He had a natural gift for chancery, and no natural inclination
whatever for politics or the bench. So, after serving a single term in
the Assembly, two years as an assistant attorney-general, and six
years on the Supreme Court, he returned to the practice, to which he
devoted the remaining forty years of his life, save when holding the
office of mayor of New York in 1810, and again in 1815 during the
brief retirement of DeWitt Clinton. Wherever he appeared, Radcliff's
erect, dignified bearing and remarkably handsome face, illuminated
with large eyes and a highly intellectual expression, marked him as a
man of distinction. He set the custom of dictating bills in chancery
to an amanuensis, doing it with such accuracy that a word had seldom
to be changed. Of the same age as Kent, he must have been of great
help to that distinguished jurist, had he continued with the court.
While hovering somewhat uncertain between the bench and the bar, he
removed to New York City, where the opportunities for one of his gifts
soon settled the question.

Other appointments of Jay were equally satisfactory. The
comptrollership of state, recently created, went to Samuel Jones in
return for having patiently worked out this more perfect method of
controlling and disbursing state funds. A