The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-03-12

,epart ON his own SecogniAsnce, mucn 20
the amusement of the. lawyers In the court,
! who laughed at the idea of the man being
fool enough to come back again but Mr.
Davis insisted that the fellow had not
| ''tak en-. TO the tall timber" His knowledge
of human nature was justified, for at the
| appointed TINA the farmer returned, like
Regulus, and the Judge sentenced him to
| the penitentiary. Frequently the penal
| ties attached to the violation of the reve-
the fact that they may be ignorantly and
| 'nnocently broken. In such case when
thu least terr, Of imprisonment allowable
bT etatute was one year inItbe penitentary,
Judge Davis sent the prisoner thirty days
TO the county Jail, with the remark that
nobody would mind whether he neglected
the law except the prisoner, and be would
hardly venture to complain about it, In a
case where loyal VIrginian after the war
began suit for O review of the procedure
confiscating $l00, 900 worth of State bonds,
Senator Mcdonald argued that. as the Con-
fscation. act made the procedure in the
nature of an admiralty seizure there could
i" there may be no precedent, as you say,
Mcdonald, for review in an admiralty
case but when such a thing as this can
happen, it is time that there was preced-
ent, and l am going to make one." Instead
of multiplying thess stories further, may
cay tudb OuC oucCuOIc puUileucO III CuO SAh~
cinnati Commercial some time ago, deacrib- |
ing court scene in Indianapolis. Judge
Davis presiding with his coat off, q cigar
in his mouth, aud his feet on table, and
Senator Mcdonald, arguing the cause with
cigar in his mouth and his feet on the
other side of the table, is somewhat over !
drawn. Both parties assert that court was
adjourned at the time, aud that they were
merely continuing the discussion of the
question up for decision for their own pIi
vate satisfaction.
AS politician, the career of Judge
Davis has been peculiar one. Although |
spoken of as possible candidate for the
Democracy, he has never been wholly in
accord with that party. He was born in
Mary land, and settled in early manhood in
Illinois. In the days before the deluge he
was an Old Line Wing, and would prob
ably even yet retain some prejudice in
favor of q protective system and liberal
After the breaking up of the Wing party
he became a moderate Republican, and was
one of the most active partisans of Abra-
ham Lincoln in the Convention which nom
mated him for the Presidency in 1860. He
was Lincoln's warm personal friend, and
presided over the State Circuit Court for
the Springfield district, in which the late
President was often called upon to plead,
By Lincoln he was appointed to the Su-
preme bench, and since the death of his
friend, of whose estate he was administra-
tor, he has gradually drifted into sympathy
with Democratic principle and policy, and
into association with Democrats. With
Did fashioned Republicans in Illinois,
Judge Davis is still a great favorite on &C
count of his close association with Loncoln,
and among the farmers and laboring classes
be is popular, although a man of wealth,
for his well-known bias in favor of the me-
chanic, as against the capitalist, and the
individual as against the corporation. His |
decisions have been almost uniformly in sup
port of grange Legislation so general in the
West during the last two years. He is, there
fore, one of the few men who could carry the !
State of Illinois for the Democracy in 1876,
and that fact "dds greatly to his availabil
ity. 1t is alec worthy. of remark that he is
one of the two men whom the Chicago
Times, the most widely circulated journal
of the West, pledges itself to support if
nominated for the Presidency. The other
is Samual j. Tilden.
1t may be said in conclusion that Judge
Davis, although 80 long upon the ben ch, is
distinguished for his executive not less
than his judicial capacity.