Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-09-25
Chief..Jnsfine Chase

l. Never was a man, with or without
judicial training, assigned more diff
ficult trust, at more critical period,
than was eonfidei f. the late Chief.
Justice by his appoir tment as head of
/ the judiciary of the United States. And
few have brought to the performance of
grave and judicial duty higher discre-
tion and flrmness, greater ability and
moderation, or serener self-possession
than he did. These enabled him from
the first to fulfill promptly every re-
quirement of. the position, and to bear
himself as one accustomed to its re-
straints. He was at home in the tradi-
tional gown from the day he took his
seat, and his manner was as Of one sal
ways and altogether a judge"
Although MIR. Chase had never claim
| ed great distinction as lawyer, he had
l f5r many years been regarded as an
able jurist by those acquainted with his
professional career and competent to
judge. And being endowed with ply
steal strength equal to his mental energy
! he WAS no sooner commissioned than
he entered upon the work ot prepare
tion, with all the application of which
he was capable, and with firm resO-
luton to do honor to the place, rather
than to be honored by il. With this
determination he studied the best mod
els of judicial style, familiarized him,
self with any principle of law his prac-
tice, rules, and decisions of the tribunal
over which he was to preside. And so
well did he accom- plish the task that
| the bar of the court and his brethren on
! the bench We're astonished to find his
| opinions at once, as one of the lat er
has expressed it, "mOdels of judicial
excellence" His knowledge of every
department of the law Was discovered
to be deep and profound, and his ac-
guaintance with precedents wide as the
range of decisions This was early re-
marked-sO early that one year after
his accession. when the writer of this
paper first became familiar with the af.
fairs of the court, the fact was already
familiar with the writer of this paper
first became familiar with the affairs OF
the court, the fact was already the
wonder of the profession, and the ex.
clamation of his late political associates
1t Is clear, from a close comparison oi
| styles, that. unless nature endowed
them with such similar mental organi
cations as to beget in their minds likt
processes Of reasoning, his immediate
predecessor, CiIiei-Jtstice Taney, was
his chosen model, and that from habit
uaf study OF his works he iinbibe,i from
him manner of judicial composition
strikingly iciepticaI There is in theil
judicial writings tie same succinc
statement of facts, the same directnes:
in dealing with the main question in d
: case, aud care to avoid irrelevant anG
immaterial matters suggested in the
b argument. There is the same skill in
igrouping, and order in arranging the
! subjects of discussion, and the SINE
4 faculty of marshaling conclusions, sc
that they swell and increase in momen
tum as the opinion proceeds, and cuI
inmate IN convincing logic as it con.
/ ]icluds.F There is the same elegance CT
diction, force of expression, and ease
and lgrace in passing from subject tc
subject. THERE'S is the same concentra.
tion, the same precision and power, and
a like absence of abruptness, c 1arseness
and ineongruity. There is no assertion
no determination, no prolixity, but, in
brief, the presence and absence of every
thing required to make their opinions
exact parallels of judicial completeness
hand intellectual mastery.
I, 1t isnOt claimed that this eminent
! jurist was his special study, admiration
and example, because he did not find
great excellence elsewhere--fOr TO do
so would he to do injustice 10 his esti-
mate of others, and violence to truth
but because Mr.. Taney's terse, unimag-
NATIVE style peculiarly recommended
itself to his taste as forcible and COM
pact form Of expression for judicial ut
terances, hetter adapted to the uses of
reason and logic ethan the more rhetoric
al and embellishesi forms. Marshall
was also an ideal of his of what judge
should be; hut his more elaborate and
metaphorical style had not the sympa-
thetic charm for him which he found in
thesimple, synthetic sentences of Taley
and which are so remarkably repro
! duced in his own writings John S.
Benson, in Harper's Magazine for Oc-
tOber. D.. gr,1Hl 11et