Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1876-02-26
[CoMMUNicArED.l
The Late ReyeIdy Johnson.
NIrssrs. En-raRs Far PaEss !:

PAGE 3IlCG page ui "tu'iA li1tItt4.tc W. A'SNVi"l
johnson, and not one account has recalled the
man to me as | recollect him. Biographical
sketches ia the form of obituary notices are
proverbially ridiculous. Cicero. SO the story
runs, used 10 write drawer full o. these puts,
aud when anybody of note died he would take
one out, no matter which Of them, and filing
mp the blanks left for the name, rattle it off in
memory of the distinguished dead. suppose
the custom will Continue 10 the e0d.
Reverdy Johnson is a big enough person to
stand on his own legs without having cork
ones put under him lie was lawyer. inch
by inch Of him. from top 10 toe, remorseless
ugic and li1n-lkc tone making up the sun
of the natural man When he was young
bar!is,er If he couldn'. beat his opponent on
the merits Of lis case be would brow-beat him
with forensic TRADE at which be would haye
been match for Daniel O'Cunuell himself
Holding himself amenaJie to the code, he knew
how 10 lisht as well as to scoli and this cir
cumstance heightened the effect by throwing
in the colors Of cLivalry pagan not chrisuaal
and making him prone in popular esteem t.
honor tie most unlimited drafts on bis cour-
are. He was a man OF abuuudlug spirits aud
when his temper was rUliied 10 the sharp con-
hicts Of the bar or congressional debate, he
looked aud really was 4 gladiator IN ierocily
and a barbaric King in the fierce play OF intel
lec,ual passions. A notable instance Of hIs
capacity for the rapture Of the strife WAS
that which occurred during the Impeachment
trial Of Andrew Johnson Benjamin +. But
Ter yenturci on one of his blIcksUard filings At
the expense Of the Senator from Maryland
have been It'd by gentleman who was
present that be never saw Bntcr vince under
an attack before, bat that his face and bald
head turned as red as scarlet u icr the meyci-
ess blows Of the euIascl Mary !aaler, the
great throDs il the Seuate ialry holding its
t-cath with P.in daring the hurricane.
Uu another occasion Tedckie Wallis, ore Of
the most accomplished members OF the Bllti-
more bar, attempted TO give an amusing turn
to an argument ul Mr.. johnson IN favor OF the
admission of certain evidence IN Il case they
Nere trying II was utterly ridiculous, sad
Wallis, would simply bore the jury, aud if Of
f,rcd seriously by anybody else except his dis
tiugu'Shcd brother would cause him to be
laughed out Of court aud much more to the
same effect Noi disturbed by Wallis elegant
saicasms johnson, looking bIs uglest ,exclHim-
ed with voice uf thunder: d" ] stake the cause
on this ridica'oGs evidence, and demand a YER
diet on il aluuc; ant then turning on Wallis,
bee added IL tone OF iuimitab.e Lumor, and
III have it, to, Brother Wallis, in about five
minutes" The jury promptly returned a ver-
diet 10 Jphns,us favor.
Ia the scieace Of constitutional law Mr.
Johuson was probably the best read lawyer in
the country. Sydney ). Baxter, loTu.erly At
turucy- General Of Virginia aud himself a law
yer uf 20 mean aDihIy, was once engaged IN q
cause of the utmost Importance IN the Supreme
Court # the United States The question in
yolyed constitutional interpretations OF great
lntricacy The day bs,ure tie hearing. the
counsel on the other side tell sick aud tele-
guphed Rrvrrdy Johns n 10 take his place
lie dId 50, aui Ia spite Of the short notice.
made al uuAnswerabe argument rcpictc with
eruditiun aud exhaustive 90 tue chi-i points ou
bis side OF the case. Baxter asked MIN on the
way down from the capitol how he found time
% study up his case ~ "a single night.
didn't study i, a; al was the reply. " Ii
hal, would have been hpprlesSly trnmmeIed
and oveFtaSked. applied general principles
with which have hal forty years familiarity
in place Of special authorities, with which OF
course | could not be familiar Oh 50 short a
notice" Mr. Baxter, who told me this story,
added that he had never listened to an ADLER
al hoe argument in the Supreme Court.
The late Chief Justice Scot, of Baltimore,
who was bitterly opposed u Mr.. johnson III
politics, nevertheless ranked him above all his
contemporaries at the bar. lie once entered
lutJ a somewhat lengthy criticism Oh the sub
iect in a conversation with the present writer
He did not thiuk he Was So distinguished fer
learning Us for power at NiSi PTias, though
eminent for learning too. But his success tie
Chief Justice attributed to his eloqueuce ahd
resources as au advocate OF CAUSES. In that
respect he esteemed him as the superior OF any
man who has ever Appeared at the American
bar meutiuhing William Pnkuey and Daniel
Webster as less wonderful advocates, III his
Judgment, than Rrverdy Johnson. 1t is SOME
where recorded Of Daniel Webster that he too
once declared johnson the able>t lawyer IN the
United States. have read this hut cannot
~ this time recall where.
But non omHiq lossUMus omncs Rcvcrly
j husuu's greatness 10 The bar, and in conS,i
tuiousl exposition of the law rs interpreted in
tue decisions of the Supreme Court, deserted
him the moment he stepped outside the limits
81 the profession. In the true sense of the
word he wa, neither scholar n.ra statesman.
His written productions are not characterized
by a classical or good style. but are rather
clumsy In construction aud faulty in rhcturi-
cal art Compare him with Webster in TIN,
respect, and he suffers extremely JUDGED
many If our public met butu living and dead
who arc decidedly inferior O. Mr. Johnson N
yigor aud conp rehcnsivcucs, at power, are vet
better and more attractive writers than was
he once heard one # the NEST cultivated
of Southern lawyers declare that hc cIuA pick
a grammatical flaw ont of any three sentences
Revoriy johnson ever wrote. aud suspect he
was nearly right But il was not merely style
in which DC was deficient In speech made
al PjttShUrg four or five years ago, On the oc-
caSion Of banquet ut the opening Of the Con-
uel'Sville branch of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. Mr. johnson declared that the pros
pcrity Of Pennsylvania was due 20 the fact
That the foo, Of slave had never cursed its
suil that the great apostle Of freedom aud en-
envy of slavery in every form, the glorious
William Penn. had dedicated the colony 10 the
exclusive uses If liberty forever, &c, &c
The trjiljug circumstance that Penn was
tLr lc.a'eCS mentioned 90 that instrument bad
evidently never come 60 Mr Johns ms know.-
edge, though Bancroft mentions 1t in his his
tory The fort er fact was Of course unknown
90 h;ul that The census or the L. ) FIR 1890,
1900. 1910. 1870 and 1880 contains FIR each
ul tbu>c decades tnumprIiiO.S of slaves IN
Pennsylvania. there having teen over 8. coo in
that state iu 1890 which hunter wa grldu-