Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-09-07
On the authority Of Justico Field whom


a reporter caught in the golden moment
which intervenes between after dinner
and the after.diDner nap, il was announced
in New York Democratic paper that
Mr.. Justice Bradley had had two opin-
ons on the Electoral question. 1t was
said, in the first place, that Justice Brad
ley had read to Justices Field and Cliff
ford, during the sitting of the Electoral
Commission, an opinion which gave the
vote of Florida TO Tilden. Furthermore,
II was said that influences were brought
to bear upon Mr.. Justice Bradley which
induced him to reverse his opinion and
give the State to Hayes. AS Florida was,
so to speak, the pivotal State, it followed
that this change of opinion, if there was
a change, gave the Presidency to Hayes.
While there is no positive statement to
the effect that this information came from
Mr.. Justice Field, it is we'll understood
that the charge, if we may so call it,
could not have been made on the author.
ity of anybody else. Mr. Justice Field,
as we have remarked, loves to talk; and
when the influences of good cheer have
softened his judicial mood he does talk
in a most unjudicial manner. The an
cient traditions of the United States Su.
preme Court are peculiar. We we're
wont to consider the Minos and Rhada-
manthus of the Supreme Bench as be-
longing to a race of . superior beings
What was said and done in the awful
seclusion of the consultation.room was
impenetrably hidden from common men
Into the arcana where walked the JUS
uces in their robes, far removed from the
passions and prejudices of mankind, no
vulgar reporter, no tattling rdconteur
could enter. For generations no human
being has been able to tell us what the
Justices of the Supreme Court of the
United States have said, or thought,
about any given subject. The Justices
have been sort of Delphic oracle mul
tiplied by nine, Sphynx rolled out into
several excellent gentlemen in silk gowns
We are indebted to Mr.. Justice Field for
an entertaining account of what was
said in the consultation-room of the
United States Supreme Court concerning
the decision to be given on the Florida
election case. At least, if it was not
what was said about this case, it is what
was fancied to have been said, by Judge
Field, who, as already remarked, is gifted
with forid and vivid Imagination,
According TO the original statement,
Mr. Justice Bradley is reported to have
read his opinion (Which was favorable to
Tilden) to Field and Clifford A San
Francisco reporter interviewed Mr.. JUS.
tice Field, who is now unbending his
eminently judicial mind in California.
The Judge, according to the report
which is telegraphed to US across the
continent, declared that Mr.. Justice
Bradley did not "read" any opinion to
him in advance of the decision of the
Electoral Commission. There was such
significant emphasis on the word "read"
that the persistent reporter returned to
the attack with the subtle insinuation that
the opinion was verbally expressed, not
committed to writing. You have my
answer" said Mr.. Justice Field, with a
accession of dignity. AL the answer
can now make is that Mr.. Justice Brad
ley did not read to me the opinion as al
legged" And the California Rhada-
manthus was again observed to lay fresh
emphasis on the word "read" We are
gratifed to learn that Mr. Justice Field,
with that dignity and caution which
characterize him under normal condi-
tions, emphatically refused to go further
into the subject, urging that members
of the commission were bound by reso-
luton to respect. the secrecy of their
deliberations"
Next day, it appears, Mr.. Justice
Field, seeing in print his "reminiscences
of the Electoral Commission, was visited
with qualm of conscience, and the Cal
ifornian Rhadamanthus declared that
nothing that he had said, or emphasized,
could, would, or should justify any in
ference derogatory to Mr.. Justice
Bradley. If Mr.. Justice Bradley had
changed his opinion on the Electoral
question over night, and Mr.. Justice
Field had said as much, such report
would have been decidedly derogatory to
Mr. Justice Bradley. Let us, then, re-
spect the tardy accession of dignity
which next day" discredits the lively
Imagination and loose tongue of the day
before. When the Electoral Commission
was proposed, the Times ventured to say
that the inevitable result would be that
gossips and scandal-mongers would be-
foul the Supreme Court, the highest and
most august tribunal in the land. 1t
was felt that the Justices of the Supreme
Bench ought to be left above the reach
of partisan rancor. The result has been
a justification of our worst fears. But,
until lately, we had supposed that the
Judges were themselves free of ten
dency to blab. We evidently over
looked Mr.. Justice Field. AS for Mr..
Justice Bradley, we are bound to give
him credit for common sense and dis
cretion. There is no evidence whatever
that he ever had more than one opinion
on any question before the commission,
And if he had changed his mind over
night it is morally certain that he could
not have contided his secret to the
jovial and talkative Justice from Cali
fornia.-N. Y Times.