Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-11-13
Chief Justice Taney-A Talk With His
Biographer. f


Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial
WASHINGTON, November 2. 1868.
Attached to the Columbian College, of
this District, is law school. The law
school is held in an old church, off the
City Hall Square. Professors in it are
Ira Harris, whose son and daughter
were with Mr.. Lincoln on the night he
was killed, land they have since been
msrried-Msjor Rathburn, the son of
Mrs. Harris, to Miss Harris, the daughter
Of her second husband, Caleb Gushing,
and Samuel Tyler.
Mr.. Samuel Tyler is Maryland lawyer
and philosopher, distinguished in the
practice as in the theory of law, and in
the latter department he is known in
Europe as the author of treatises, recon-
Cling the progress OF law and society,
which have placed him in correspondence
with the heirs of Sir William Hamilton,
aud the school of philosophers of whom
Hamilton is recognized as the head,
Hamilton being, in the words of Mr..
Tyler, the abest philosopher since
Aristotle. During the life of Judge
Taney, Mr.. Tyler maintained the place
of disciple and confidential friend, and
when the Chief Justice died, he left to
his acquaintance the materials of his life
and times, which Mr.. Tyler is now
writing up for the vindication of the life
of his friend, no less than for the illus
tration of his period. A few days ago, l
met Mr. Tyler, and he being apprised of
my relation to the Commercial, took
pains to satisfy some desire l had to
understand the personal life of the Chief
Justice and his influence upon the judi
cial questions which came forward in his
era
Judge Taney, as you know, was man
of originally tall stature, being upward OF
six feet high, but delicate constitution
had so been affected by his close and
studious habits that, in the generation in
which he was most familiar to ourselves,
he had become bent and warped, so that
his skin was like cracked parchment,
his stature bent, and be walked with diff
Guilty and hardness. Nevertheless, his
hair remained nearly of its original
color, his eyes were bright, and his atten-
uated legs and arms and chest were
always dignifedly clothed.
Mr.. Tyler, an author, as | have said,
is a spirited and amisble Maryland gem
tleman, from Frederick. With John M.
Carlyle he divided the confidence OF
Judge Tauey, and, therefore, feel that
in relating the incisive passages of our
conversation, am perhaps bringing out
some features of Chief Justice fancy s
life which may be useful to the age,
which is in doubt as to the real motive
principles of his extraordinary career.
OF this career civilization will judge in
dependently. I reproduce, merely, the
verdict Of friend.
"Was Judge TaRey rich, Mr.. Tyler Z
mo, sir; always poor. He lived in
Blagden row-the row of succeed houses
nearly opposite the City Hall They are
four-storied; an iron balcony runs above
the first story; two windows adjoin the
hall door. His daughters, at this day,
live upon copying reports and papers
from the Department of the Interior.
One of them, / believe, is unmarried I;
another widow. They are in as nearly
a state of indigence as | care to classify
ladies so teuderly reared. The Judge
himself said to me, during the war, that
be iamented his narrow means, because
he wanted to take another newspaper,
and could not afford il.
"He had not always lived there
mo, sir. BE resided in Bslhmore,
after he Quilted Frederick, down TO a
comparatively recent period. His birth
place was on the Chesapeake Bay, below
Annapolis, and his grandparents we're
English Catholics, who settled in this
country about 100 You know that his
public Offices were Attorney General Of
Maryland, Secretary Of the Treasury,
and. ct last, Chief Justice. He has often
told me that the 6rSt vas the o-ly once