New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-20
CUIEF-JUSTICE WaTTE.

tDIEf-JtSfItE VdffN.
We have at last our Cbief-Justice. The su-
perstition which attributes especial virtue to
third trials will probably not be weakened by
the result Of Mr. Waite's nomination. In
all probability he will be promptly con-
iirmed. There is no good reason why he
should not he. OF course, he ia not the
best man who could he named for the
place. Neither tho President Who nominated
him, nor the Senator's who Will confirm him, so
consider him. But we long ago ceased to
expect ideal appointments from Gen. Grant,
and after the successive shocks which right
thinking people received In the nominations
of Mr.. Williams and Mr.. Gushing. they
were prepared to accept with something like
equanimity any appointment which should not
be scandalous. 1t Is dcplorabe effect of this
titful mediocrity in the Executive Office, that
the public get into the habit of ceasing to
demand high standard of excellence in
exalted stations. and of acquiescing in any
thing which does not tlagrantly offend the
general taste and conscience.
The Presidents fourth choice is ut least
better than any preceding one. Mr.. Waite Is
more of lawyer and less of partisan than
Mr.. Conkliug. lie is better and moro favor
ably known i'll the profession than Mr..
Williams. 1t is true he has never made
prominent figure except in few
instances, but then no acquitted himself
in manner which contrasts favor
ably with those melancholy exhibitions
which the Acknowledgement has made when
ever he has had the opportunity. While he
does not compare for moment with Mr..
Cushing in learning, cleverness. legal skill,
and adrotness or in that wider development
of all the intellectual faculties which is called
culture, he has decided advantage over him
in moral weight and character. TO that great
mass Of serious people who believe III the prlnc
Piles for which we went to war, and who regard
it as the duty of the National Legislature to
fortify and defend those principles by statute,
and the duty of the Judiciary to take care
that they receive no dctrmcnt through hostile
constructions of the law or the Constitution,
the correct political antecedcntS of Mr.. Waite
will seem far more important than all the
learning and brilliant abilities of Gen. Gushing.
But this is all that even q partial friend
ship can urge in favor of Mr.. Waite. lie Is
not SO young that we may hope to see new
and unsupported capacities develop them
selves in him on the Supreme Bench His
name has never been mentioned rs one of the
great iurists of the country. He cannot he
said to have stood at the head of the bar of
his section, or even OF his state. lie
has highly respectable local posi-
ton and solid and lucrative clicntage.
His lack of political prominence does not
result from his devotion TO the law or dislike
of partisan strife. He has been, in small
way, an active and somewhat bitter politician.
Bnt the influence and echo of his work in this
direction, as in that Of the law, have never
spread very far beyond the corporate
limits of Toledo. The defeat of Gov
Ashley is the most significant trophy Mr.
Waite has ever borne from the political
field But SO weary has the Senate become of
its long two handed battle with the Executive
on one side and public opinion on the other,
that it will not venture TO consider whether
Mr.. Waite is precisely the man for Chief
Justice, but will look only to his respecta-
BILE standing as n lawyer, rs citizen,
and as a Republican, and gladly vote him
into a seat where we had hoped never
to see any one of less heroic stature than
Marshall and Chase.
When we consider the attitude which Gen
Grant has assumed towards the Senate and
the bar in relation to this great office, we
cannot help congratulating the country upon
the nomination of Mr.. Waite, and expressing
our trust that it may be confirmed with
out further delay There was no hope
of overcoming the antpathy which the
President cherishes toward all the men of
eminent character and special fitness whose
names rise spontaneously to all lips when the
matter is discussed When his most unques-
tionng champion in this city, the Hon. Tom
Murphy was asked the reason Of the Presi-
dents resoute refusal to take what his best
friends recognized as the only proper
course, no replied. Why everybody
wanted - or -, and that made the old
"man mad" There is no knowing to what
lengths his surly vindctiveness may have led
him. and we have not sufficient confidence in
the powers Of resistance possessed by the
Senate TO wish TO see them exposed To a
long succession of nominations like those of
Williams and Gushing. Mr.. Waite is an
honest man and fair lawyer, and that is rs
much as we can reasonably expect from the
President