Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1858-07-16
Extract from Hon. J. 2. Benjamin's Speech, dev-
cred in the Senate
Slavery Protected by the Common
Lay Of America,

Now Mr. President, come to another
point IN my argument, which | approach
with extreme pain, with unfeigned regret.
From my earliest childhood | have been
taught to revere the judges of the highest
court in the land, as men selected to rem
der justice between Htigants, not more by
reason of their eminent legal acquiremeStfss
than because of spotless purity OF char
acter, and undimlned lustre of.reputation.
which removed them far, faa<beyond even
a doubt OF their integrity The long line
of eminent judicial worthless, which seem
ed to have eliminated in a Marshall, has
-feen continued in the person Of Que nioon
whom the highest eulogium that can be
pronounce is to say that he was eminently
worthy Of being the successor Of that il
1ustrious judge. [ know not, Mr.. Presi-
dent, whether yon, as /, have had the good
fortune to see that magistrate in the i'd
ministration of justice in hls-os~rI circuit
or In the court sitting below Us, OF Which
lie is the honored chief. [ know not, sir,
whether it has been your good fortune, as
it has been mine, to hear the expressions
of affectionate reverence with which he is
spoken of by the people amongst whom
he has passed his pure, his simple, and his
spotless life. | know not, sir, whether
ven have listened, as | have, with interest
to the expressions of respect and adnra-
ton that come from the members OF his
bar in their familiar intercourse with each
other-spontaneou tributes, worth thous-
and labored eulogies, to his eminent sag gao
itv, to his vast legal learning, towthe@ mild
and serene dignity of his judicfaf@ deport-
ment-above all, sir, above all, to the con
cientious, earnest, almost painful sense OF
responsibility with which he holds the
scales of Justice in even and impartial
hands between the litigants whose rights
depend upon his Judgment.
Mr.. President, he is old, very old. The
infir1nities Of age have bowed his venerable
form. Earth has no further object of am
!. bition for him; and when he shall sink in
TO the grave, after long career of high
office in our county, trust that [ do not
.rudely or improperly invade the sanctity
of private life in saying that he will leave
behind him, in the scanty heritage that
shall be left for his family, the noblest ev-
dence that he died as he had lived, be
ing honorable to the earth from which he
sprang, and worthy Of the heaven to which
he asp1red.
This man. sir, thus beloved, thus rever-
ed. thus esteemed, has been compared
upon this floor to the infamous Jeffreys
by the Senator from Maine, Mr.. Hamlin.
This man has been charged by the Sena
for from New York, Mr.. Seward with q
corrupt coalition with the Chief Magistrate
of the Union lie charges, in fact-not
always in direct language, but partly by
bold assertion and partly by insidious snng
gestions-that the Supreme Executive
Magistrate of the land, and the judges O
our highest court, and the parties to the
Dred Scott case, got up mock trlal-tha
they were all In common colluslon te
cheat the country. lie represents the ven
erable Chief Magistrate of our country
whose reputation has been beyond re
proach-he represents the venerable Chic
Justice-as enaeting a solemn farce, il
the face of the American people, on tht
eastern portico Of this Capitol; and h
tells us, that on the day when that grea
sea of npturned faces was here presented
all looking on the solemn pageant three
passing before them, the Chief justice
Of the nation was whispering into. the ca
of the President the terms of this nefari
GUS bargain-and that, too, at the very
moment when the former was administer