CHAPTER II.

PROFESSIONAL LIFE.

GROVER CLEVELAND had been admitted to the bar in 1859, and in January, 1863, he was appointed Assistant District Attorney for the County of Erie. This position brought young

Cleveland into court, and accustomed him to the trial of causes. At that time the District Attorney had but one assistant, and upon him fell a large share of the work of the office. His industry and evenness of temper fitted him, peculiarly, for his duties, and he soon held a more important relation to the public business than it had been usual for an Assistant District Attorney to have. This was, perhaps, due, in part, to the fact that Mr. Torrance, the District Attorney, did not live in the city, but in a village twenty-five miles distant. He therefore naturally left much to the capable and industrious assistant, who was constantly at hand. The three years in the District Attorney's office were of great value to Cleveland. They gave him confidence in himself, accustomed him to the trial of causes and to addressing juries; enabled him to make a wide acquaintance among the people in the country

towns, as well as in the city, and attracted to him the attention of clients and the bar.

also

The Assistant District Attorneyship brought him into politics. From the time of his acceptance of that office, he was known as a Democratic politician. Mr. Dean Richmond, a man of singular ability and force of character, was then the principal Democrat in Western New York, and governed local affairs with a firm hand. At the expiration of Mr. Torrance's term, Cleveland received the Democratic nomination for District Attorney. His nomination to so important an office, when he was only twenty-nine years old, is the strongest evidence that can be given of the standing he had obtained in the community and in his profession. His opponent was Lyman K. Bass, a young Republican lawyer, afterwards a member of Congress, and who has been prevented by ill-health from completely fulfilling the promise of his youth. After a heated canvass, Cleveland was beaten, a result not to be wondered at, for the county then usually went Republican. The writer of this sketch well remembers meeting Cleveland the day after the election, and recalls the perfect coolness and good-humor with which he took his defeat.

He at once set about the general practice of his profession, and soon formed a law-partnership with the late Isaac V. Vanderpool. In 1867, the writer having been appointed by President John

son, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, offered Cleveland an appointment as Assistant District Attorney. This offer he declined, for the reason that the duties of the office would require frequent absence from the city, and he preferred to attend to his rapidlygrowing clientage. He soon after became associated with the late A. P. Lanning and Oscar Fulsom, a young companion of Cleveland, who had taken the Assistant Attorneyship which the former had declined. The name of the new firm was Lanning, Cleveland & Fulsom.

The writer remembers that one day, early in the autumn of 1870, Cleveland came into his office, and said he wanted his opinion upon a matter personal to himself. He said that his political friends had offered him the nomination for sheriff of the county. "Now," said he, "I know that it is not usual for lawyers to be sheriffs. I do not remember of any lawyer being a sheriff. But, there are some reasons why I should consider the matter carefully. I have been compelled to earn my living since I was seventeen. I have never had time for reading, nor for thorough professional study. The sheriff's office would take me out of practice, but it would keep me about the courts, and in professional relations. It would give me considerable leisure, which I could devote to self-improvement. Besides, it would enable me to save a modest competency, and give me

the pecuniary independence which otherwise I may never have. I have come for your advice. What would you do in my place?" I told him that if I were in his place I would accept the nomination. He received the same advice from other friends. He took the nomination and was elected. Naturally, some of the duties of the sheriff's office were grievously distasteful to him, but he performed them with that strong sense of duty which has always characterized him.

He used the opportunities of the position as he had said he would. He made a considerable saving, and he gave his leisure time to professional and other studies. As soon as he returned to the bar the effect was noticeable. He was a stronger and a broader man than he had been before, and he at once took a higher place than he had ever held.

At the close of his term as sheriff, he formed a partnership with his old antagonist, Lyman K. Bass, and Wilson S. Bissell. Failing health compelled Mr. Bass to remove to Colorado, and afterwards Mr. George J. Sicard entered the firm, which was known as Cleveland, Bissell & Sicard. From this time, 1874, until his election as Mayor, Cleveland practiced his profession with constantly increasing success. He came to have great skill in trying causes, and his arguments to the court in banc were noticeable for lucidity and thoroughness. Many important matters were entrusted to

him, and before he again took office he was beginning to receive large fees. There can be no doubt that, had he remained at the bar, he would have won as great a success as the theatre in which he acted would permit.

But during these years of professional labor, Cleveland was not indifferent to politics. Indeed, he was all the time a counsellor of his party. After the death of Dean Richmond, in 1866, Joseph Warren, the editor of the Courier, became the head of the Democratic organization in Buffalo. He was a native of Vermont, who had, when a very young man, gone to Albany, and from there to Buffalo. He found employment in the editorial office of the Courier, while the late William A. Seaver was its proprietor and editor. Upon the retirement of Mr. Seaver, he succeeded to the control of the paper, and was one of its principal owners. Mr. Warren directed party affairs with great judgment and self-control. He never aspired to office himself, was very appreciative of the talents of others, and always ready to aid in advancing the fortunes of his friends. He was, besides, a promoter of all the generous enterprises which promised to add to the prosperity of the city. All the public institutions were aided by his wise counsel and unselfish labors. Mr. Warren was a warm friend of Cleveland's, and was one of the first to recognise his talents and predict his success. He died in 1876, and thenceforward