East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1864-05-11
Roverdy johnson on the Supreme
Court.

y
has been reckoned good lawyer,
whatever may be thought of him as a
statesman, or in any other capacity
The rebuke administered by him TO
Mr.. Sumner, in recent debate in the
Senate, for saying that decision of
the Supreme Court had disgraced the
country, was effective. Mr.. Johnson
said:
"Now, Mr.; President, /
think, whatever may be the opinion Of
the honorable member from Massa-
chusetts, or Of any other member of
the Senate, that if there is any de-
partment of Government which, from
the beginning Of its organization to
the present hour, the public may be
proud Of, it is the judicial department
of the Government, so far as the Su-
preme Court constitutes a portion of
that department. And / am not sin
gular in that opinion. 1t isnot neces-
sary to advert to what was the impress
sion of the people of the United States,
the bar and public, during the days
when that tribunal was presided over
by Marshall, for the purpose of call
ing to the recollection of the Senate,
what i am sure is fresh in their re-
membrance, and to which, therefore,
their recollection need not be specially
called, that there was throughout the
length and breadth of the land the
most implicit confidence. not only in
the absolute integrity of every men,
ber of the bench, but in the unequall-
ed abilities of all the members of the
court, and especially of him who in
public estimation lowered above the
rest, John Marshall. And although
it would seem to be, perhaps, inappro-
pirate, let me say TO the honorable
member from Massachusetts, that
much as he may now disparagingly
think of the venerable man who pre-
sides over the deliberations Of that tri-
bunal, and has for the last twenty or
thirty years, he is not alone in that
particular. When his name was be-
fore the Senate of the United States
for confirmation, first as Justice Of the
Court, and secondly as Chief Justice,
his confirmation was resisted steadily,
zealously, by, among others, Clay, of
Kentucky. There was hardly an op-
probrious epithet which, as he told
me himself afterwards, he failed to use
against the nomination and from a
conviction that the nominee was unfit,
and would prove to be unfit for the
discharge of the duties of the judicial
station. But l say it, and it is due to
the memory of the dead, and due to
him who now survives, survives trem-
blingly, his life having been protracted
much beyond, as we know, the ordI-
nary period of human life, and who
has devoted himself with untiring
energy, and with exclusive devotion,
and with unsurpassed ability, to the
duties of his station, that after he had
been upon the bench some four or five
years, and Mr.. Clay had been the wit
ness, from having practised before
him and read his decisions, of the
manner in which his duties had been
discharged, he, as he told me himself,
after hearing an opinion delivered by
the presiding judge went to his quar-
ters to see him, and found him alone;
he said he felt the embarrassment
necessarily incident to the object of
his visit, and after exchanging the
salutations suited to the occasion, and
being about to leave him, he took
him by the hand and said :
"Mr. Chief Justice, there was no
man in the land who regretted your
appointment to the place you now hold
more than j did there was no MEM
Der of the Senate who opposed moro
than / did j; but have come to say to
you, and / say it now in parting, per-
haps for the last time, l have Witness
ed your judicial career, and it is due
to myself and due to you that should
say to you what has been the result,
that / am satisfied now that no man
in the United States ocould have been
selected more abundantly able to wear
the ermine which Chief Justice Mar
shall honored." And with tears trick
ling down the cheeks of both-I speak
the words of Henry Clay-they part
cd, and that opinion he continued to
hold up to the last moment that his
life was a blessing to the country.
Mr.. President, it is no light thing
to assail the Chief Justice of the
United States, or that high tribunal
We have an interest, jurisprudence has
an interest, justice has an interest, the
nation has an interest in maintaining
the character of that tribunal against
all unjust reproach. 1t is no light
thing to pronounce a decision given
by such tribunal as that disgrace
1 never deal in epithets, Mr.. President,
if I know myself. / am willing to
give, and / always do allow, to him
who differs from me upon question
about which it is possible for differ
ence of opinion to exist, the credit of
sincerely and honest conviction and
/ cannot, therefore, stand still and
hear tribunal like that assailed, as /
think unnecessarily, by anybody, and
particularly by the honorable member
from Massachusetts,, who stands, in
the estimation of friends, so high aloft
that his voice is heard the land over,
and is, in their impression potential"
DELIcAoY.-A lady recently called
upon professional gentleman to have
q corn removed from her toe. Being
somewhat modest and refined, she had
drawn q silk stocking on her foot to
conceal it, having frs cut hole in the
garment large enough for the protru-
sion Of the offending cxcrescence.-
The professor contemplated the del
icate arrangement for a moment,
and then deliberately drew from his
pocket and put upon his hauds pair
Of white kid gloves, before proceeding