Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-09-15
HEBREW GENIUS.
intellectual Triumphs of ]. 2. Benia-
min the New Rival Of D'Israeli.

min the New Rival of D'Israeli.
It was announced by "Cablegram,' y
that J. P. Benjamin, Confederate Sec
rotary of State and Minister of War, al
the instance of the Lord Chancellor
hathaway has been raised to the rank
of Queens Counsel, the leaders of the
English bar. The London Standard
says:
We trust there are none of Mr.. Benja-
minis former copatriOts and competitors
in the courts of the United States who
will not rejoice to hear that their COM
rade has achieved success in his new ca
reer, and is once more restored to a pO-
sition not unworthy of his talents and
industry, however far below that which
he might have held, and did once hold,
in his native land. Mr.. Benjamin is
DOW an old man-but as an English bar
rister he is probably the youngest that
ever appeared in a silk gown. Twenty
wears ago, at the age of forty, he was
among the foremost pleaders of the
United States, and represented Louis
ians in the Federal Senate. Ten years
ago he had resigned that position on the
secession of his State, and was first Sec
rotary of War and then Secretary OF
State in the government of the ll-rated
Confederacy. In the former post it was
his misfortune to be officially response
BILE for evils and disasters which no re-
sources at his command could avert; to
have, under the supreme direction of q
/ chief whose special aptitude and eXpe-
rience were those of a war minister, to
maintain without money, without ships,
! /. l. -A.I.r- nth Gaonfrv Errnn1fAg
! of arms and ammunition, and very in
adequate numbers, a life and death
struggle against the overwhelming pow
er of the North. His v~indication lies in
the fact that it took four years TO crush
the Confederate States. As Secretary OF
| State. and director of the foreign policy
| of the government, he was cOnfessedly
as successful as the circumstances per-
mitted. In 1865 the fall Of Richmond
sent the Confederate government into
/ Punishment, and the capture Of the Pres
ident finally dissolved it. Mr.. Benja-
min was fortunate to escape into exile
a ruined man. A great lawyer, a man
/ of fortune and position in his native
land, late First Minister of an incipient
| Commonwealth, he had to begin life
again at the age of ffty-five in 81 foreign
country, and without any of the advan-
tages of fortune, interest or connection
which he had won in the purse Of a
long and laborious career. Most men
would have sunk into despair and apa-
thy, finding their own fortunes and the
hopes Of their country ruined by the
same blow, and compelled at so advanc-
ed an age to start again with all the
difficulties of youth, but without the
strength and spirits of youth to conquer
them. Not a few would have been sim
ply stunned by the depth of the fall.
Not so Mr.. Benjamin. The late First
Minister of his country recommended
life as a law student; the leading lawyer
began again to learn the laws of another
country. He was called to the bar after
a years study-a becoming and right
full concession to his years and learning;
but one which, as Mr.. Benjamin would
be the first to acknowledge, scarcely
any bar but that of England would have
made in favor of the foreigner and an
exile. Still the former leader had to
take rank as the junior of Juniors; and
in that position it is very difficult for a
barrister to obtain lucrative or import
ant business, seeing that the etiquette of
the bar places the lead in every case, in
the hands Of the senior counsel engaged,
and that the juniors. work is.at once the
least distinguished, the worst paid, and
the fullest of mere drudgery. Mr.. BENZ
amin had but this one Incidental advan-
tage, that the close of the war had en-
tailed certain suits between the United
States government and the agents of the
Confederacy of Europe, and in some of
these he vas retained by the latter, and
the conduct of the cause leftin his hands.
Such a man needed only an opportunity
of proving his quality. Mr.. Benjamin
forced solicitors to recognize him as n
ofthe best lawyers at the common law
bar; his professional brethren treated
him with generous respect and consid-
Grafton, and within six years from his
admission to the bar, he has achieved a
position of which the rank now bestOw-
ed is but the formal sanction and ac-
acknowledgement. Nevertheless, we give
Lord Hatherley credit for q just and
graceful act, as we give credit to the bar
for their prompt decision to call Mr..
Benjamin after a years study, waving
all technical rules and usages in his fa-
vOr. He has had such fair play as good
viii and courtesy would give to a stran-
ger, and nothing more. The victory he
has achieved is due to no favor or inter-
est, but purely and simply to his Unques-
tionable superiority as an English law
yer, after but seven years spent in Eng
land.
We, personally, may and do feel a spe-
cial pleasure in recognizing the success
of the ex-Minister of the gallant Cohfed-
eracy. We have never affected to forget
OF repent our sympathy with the ''lost
cause,n or deigned to apologize for aid
] sr,or nth tho uraaE aud nv f,rfr1noFn DIT
apart from all political feelings we well
come the success Of a brave man in a
gallant struggle against fortune, as hun
dreds will do who never shared, or have
long ago forgotten, that strong sympa-
thy with the Sonth. A Northern gem
tleman in exile and under like circum-
stances would have received the same
courtesies and the same fair play from
the English gentlemen who adorn the
profession of the law; and we ourselves
should not have grudged an expression
of admiration for similar efforts and a
frank congratulation on parallel success
to a member of Mr.. Lincoln's cabinet.
We hope, therefore, that both on this
and at the other side of the Atlantic
those who did not sympathize with Mr..
Benjamin viii not the less understand
the meaning of English sympathy with
his career, and of the spirit of generous
and impartial hospitality which offers
an equal welcome to the banished mar
tyrs Of every honest cause-equal cour-
tesy and good will to eXies, Republican
and Legitimist, Revolutionary and Con-
sentative fair field for the exertion Of
all who have courage and energy to at
tempt the retrieval of their fallen for
tunes, and a hearty pleasure in their
success. In any special regard we may
show for Mr.. Benjamin we speak simply
for ourselves, who stood by him and his
cOuRtry through q long and arduous
struggle, and felt rs a personal calamity
the catastrophe that drove him hither
in our recognition of a gallant and suc-
cessful battle with misfortune, and our
rejoicing over the rare spectacle Of a man
of eminence beginning life again in adj
vanced age, and winning back for him
self fortune and position by his own
courage and resolve, We speak the COM
mon sentiments of all true Englishmen,
and of all who are worthy to use the
English tongue, whether their good
wishes went with North or South, with
Grant OF Lee; our common respect for
manliness of temper, simplicity of char
acler, and firmness Of purpose; our COM
mon delight in seeing these qualities
achieve their due reward in spite Of for
tune; our English reverence for calami-
ity; our hearty admiration of the spirits
which no calamity can crush, and
which, at every external disadvantage,
can fight their way out of the depths Of
disaster to honest and deserved success.