The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-11-30
Gossip abouI Washington Lawyers.
Caleb Cushing,

IN nus CITY. One patent agent EeLuEnS an
income Of $4,000, The innumerable
claim agents all get the contingent shave
OF 25 per cent The Chief Justice of the
Court Of Claims is about TO resign TO pros
ecute claims. Some large firms practice
only before the Land Office There are
few lawyers at the local district bar who
receive above $1,000 per aSnum. Davidge
Mertick, n. Wilson, and Cox have the
chief practice, worth perhaps $4,000 a
veal. RpieCa. James 7. Carlisle Is the
most successful OF the native citizens be.
fore the Supreme Court. Other lawyers
practice almost entirely before the State
DEPARTMENT and the Mexican Commits.
sion. "A very considerable proportion OI
the attorneys here ara very poor, and
willing IOl pick up any sort Of case
or adventure. The most extraOrdi.
nary practitioner Is, perhaps, seventy
years OF age is the learned Cush.
ing, the Universal attorney for and
aSainstlths government. His income is
not leSE than $40, 900 a year, and his ex.
penses are Is cents day, his clients pay
ing Tor his stationery. He receives $25,.
900 Der Rpuum from the Mexican Repub.
lie to defend 1t before the existing Com.
mission, besides copious clerk hire. There
is we'll accredited superstition here that
he makes his clerks work, and that he
sets them the example. Besides this fat
thing, which gives him free Office rent,
Cushing is literally the ultima rGliO rt9un
OF the Federal Government. Mr.. Aker.
man coming from the wilds Of the DC.
mulgee, and knowing nothing Of State
DepaYtment cases, flies 10 Mr.. Cushing
andretains HIM in forty or more. Mr..
Bristow, the new Solicitor General, sees
no other alternative. 9 The Demo
cratic election frauds in New York
demand somebody to represent the
administration, and the President Of
the Baltimore Democratic Convention
Is the man. Mr.. Seward leaned upon the
arm Of the delightful Caleb, and the lat.
ter was vulgaFly alleged here TO run" the
State Department. He Is still the benevO-
lent legal encyclopedia of this anti;iuridi.
cal periods political time when "the
party" proposes to annihilate the Supreme
Court because 1t will not upset the Presi-
dent into the bears den OF Congress-
and there appears to be nobody in the
country who Is 50 close TO the official ell
bow. I write all this without mischief
Gushing is the administration's only trust
edlegal adviser. Politics has gained so
much upon law in the last few years that
General Grant has 10 reach into past
Civilization and fetch out John Tyler's
Commissioner 10 China and franklin
Piercc's Attorney General. Who can ex-
plain this necessity, except ON the ground
that Evarts, Curtis, Trpmbull, HoaF, and
other large national men, make the ad-
mInistration uneasy by their "uuchness"
Of character and judgment, and thata fine
old hack lawyer is preferred, to whom all
generations are the same, whose manner
never varies, and who universally disbe-
lieves in everybody! ..i .
Cushing's character Is what might be
expected from man Of New England
birth and domestic education, who began
life By remuneration Of every conVcn-
tiOnal patriotism, and resolved simply 10
be very learned. Without any principles
except few business rules; his decalogue
ten general antipathies, covering every
thing human; no ballast but industry
and over all the facile complexion Of alta
biIity-he has descended TO US through
seventy active years, and for iorty.five Of
them he has been in incidental public life,
He has had for clients nine administra-
tions. His only delight is work 1t is his
repOse, his worship, his substitute for
faith. To see him rise at five O'Clock,
breakfast frugally, and then, with almost
sensual ayidity, repair to his labor, is TO
teach Us the divine economy Of
application US a substitute for
every ideal element II answers for soul
with that unwearing scayenger, the.fiy.
1t gives almost human interest To. a Yam
kee clock, and it links Caleb Gushing to
his species. His only enjoyment is TO 60
fishing, all alone, about twice year, and
he fishes with the intensity Of full
moon, drawing high tide by his aSsidui-
ty. At State dinner he is a delightful
guest, full of anecdotes, "reminiscences and
suavity, but few suspect that all this is
sheer employment with him He writes
for the great reviews, the N0rtA. AtReri-
can, FOTney's Chronicle, etc., with abund.
ant learning, bat only as an attorney,
affirmed or concealed. He went to the
Mexican war tor employment, but ha had
no belief in it Willy, sly, wise, whatever
he may be, he has no definite notion Of
the result which he influences. He is
simply an automatno library and uuiYer.
sal gazetteer, worked by perpetual mo-
ton in the unknown interest Of Caleb
Gushing.
As a pleader in court, Mr.. Cushing is
without brilliancy. He will give an owl
the blues to listen TO him. His three ele.
ments Of success are learning, the long
renowD Of nearly half q centuFy's promi-
hence, and almost constituencies tenacity
to the cause Of his client. Hehad been
eight years in Congress in 1913. He has
been tutor in Cambridge, Supreme
Justice in Massachusetts,, and time and
again in the Legislature since 1888. Au.
thor, cOdiier, foreign traveller, Prince in
high society, wire-puller in politics, the
moderator in that pandemonium. alter the
angel Michael had defeated the slave par.
~, Cushing has descended to us a political
atheist, and it Is general remark among the
lawyers here that his judgment is not
worth IN Office boys. 90 '.7'i
This Is to enter public life without
intentions or sympathies, those two grand
vfrtueS-the one in man, the other in
wOman-whiCh make the political son Of
Hermes. Solomon tried ii longer than
Caleb Gushing, and wound up his career
with the same words: Vanity Of vani-
tics." saith the Iavyer There ia nO re-.
ward to mere industry but industry. A
clock exists no more when 1t ceases to
run. Put it in the town steeple or on the
family mantel, and 10 It's application is
superaddGd q sentiment y duty, bene-
ficence. But Caleb Cushing runs entirely
to himself. He neither tells the time nor
knows 1t. He chews law books for fuel,
and he runs. a,.e