Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard
University in 1879, were models of rich
thought, graceful diction, and lucid argu-
ment, vindicating his right to be classed
as one of the most impressive orators of
his day in the United States. Of his
address before the Phi Beta Kappa So-
ciety, the Boston "Daily Advertiser" ob-
served :
If there were any need for justification of the
custom of annual addresses before the college
societies, such an address as Judge Bradley's
yesterday gave that justification completely. It
is, indeed, remarkable to see an audience of so
distinguished men of leading position in every
walk of life. It is remarkable to have so much
good sense, so many important suggestions, nay,
so many of the fundamental truths upon which
civilized society rests, crowded into one hour.
The power of the speaker on his audience, the
hold with which he compelled their fascinated
attention were again and again referred to
through the afternoon. This is not simply the
attention which people give to what they hear
with pleasure, it was the satisfaction with which
the audience received important principles, of
which they felt the value, whether they were or
were not new to the hearer. Vero pro gratiis indeed
might well be taken as the motto of the ad-
dress, the passage which showed how the bar of
the country must be relied upon to maintain at
the highest the dignity of the bench was received
with profound sympathy and interest. It deserves
the careful attention of the bar in every part of
the country.
His oration on "The Profession of the
Law as an Element of Civil Society,"
pronounced June 29, 1881, before the Societies
of the University of Virginia, was
regarded "as a learned and profound dis-
cussion of this subject, in which he argued
that the bar is essential to the ad-
ministration of justice, that the adminis-
tration of justice is essential to the ex-
istence of society, and the existence of society
essential for the protection of man
in his endeavors to live according to the
laws of his being."
Judge Bradley married (first) April 28,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
220
1842, Sarah Manton, daughter of Joseph
and Mary (Whipple) Manton, of Provi-
dence, Rhode Island. She was born
March 10, 1818, and died December 12,
1854, survived by three sons: 1. Joseph
Manton, who died March 7, 1879, unmar-
ried. 2. Charles, of whom see forward.
3. George Lothrop, of whom see forward.
Judge Bradley married (second) August
4, 1858, Charlotte Augusta Saunders, of
Charlottesville, Virginia, and she died in
May, 1864, her daughter, Janet Laurie,
dying in the same month. He married
(third) in May, 1866, Emma Pendleton
(Ward) Chambers, of Winchester, Vir-
ginia, who died February 28, 1875. Judge
Bradley died in New York City, April 29,
1888, while on a visit to his son, the late
George Lothrop Bradley.
(VII) Charles (2) Bradley, son of the
late Chief Justice Charles Smith and
Sarah (Manton) Bradley, was born in
Providence, Rhode Island, May 6, 1845.
He received his early education under
Dr. S. F. Smith in a private academy in
Newton, Massachusetts, and later attended
the University Grammar School of
Providence, where he prepared for college.
He entered Williams College, and
was graduated therefrom in 1865. Shortly
afterward he entered business life and
went to Chicago, where he was engaged in
business for several years. He next went
to Colorado, where he was interested in
gold mining, but, tiring of this venture
and of business life, he returned to Prov-
idence, where he determined to enter the
legal profession.
He prepared for the bar in the office of
his father in Providence, and after being
admitted at once began the practice of
his profession in the office of Bradley &
Metcalf, of which noted law firm his fa-
ther was senior member. His legal prac-
tice dealt more with the technical and in-