The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1878-01-01
- A Black Indictment.

Hon. Jere Black, fresh from his
butchery of poor Stoughton, has ap-
peared as oneof the counsel in The
Vanderbilt will contest, and, in The
course Of his argument, draws pic
ture Of the Commodore that does BY
|,no means resemble the pulpit and
newspaper eulogies Of that remarka-
bic individual, Mr.. Black said ssHe
had one faculty that was preternatu-
rally enlarged, and that was for accu-.
mulatlng property. 1t was So. en-
larged that it dwarfed every other
moral sentiment and every intellec-
tual power. Sanity depends upon
the balance that has been preserved
between the, different intellectual
faculties and moral sentiments, so
that all Of them bear their proper
proportions to one another: Sup
pose a mans liver to be enlar- ed
very much beyond what it ought to
be, is that man a healthy man? Sup
pose any one of his organs becomes
fmuch more active or infiamed than
any Of the others,- as a matter of
course that ahsorhs the powers of
the others. Com. Vanderhilt's bump
Of acgnis!tiveness, as a phrenologist
awould call it, was in chronic state
lof Inflammation all the time. It
grew wonderfully. And he ,cultiva
ted it, and under his cultivation all
the intellectual faculties that minis.
tered to the qualification of that pas
Esion grew at the expense Of every
thing else. Morally and religiously
his mind was a bowling wilderness.
He did not content himself by wor-
shipping Mammon alone. though
certainly he was very jealous de-
votee of that meanest and least erect
of the spirits that fell, whose wor-
ship is most sure to demoralize the
mind, and to corrupt while it weak
ems the understanding. When this
is carried to very great extent, I'M
questionably its victim cannot be
considered sane man. The love of
money in time amounts to mania"
Of course this was uttered profess
sionally, and we leave to conjecture
what the redoubtable Jere would
have announced and lie been retained
on the other side. But what terri.
Bile sketch! 1t occurs to US, however,
that if the Commodore's faculty for
acquicitiyeness was prematurely en-
larged, he was not specially to blame
/ for it, since nature had more to Go
with it than any other agency. Ii
sanity depends upon beautiful har-
mony Of the moral and intellectual
qualities in man, how many persons,
at one time or another, would escape
the mad house? Especially in the
pursuit and love of money how few
would avoid the commission of luna.
cy? The desire for gain may become
a mania, but the faculty of acqnir.
ling vast property and administer.
ing it safely betokens, it seems to us
an eminently sane intellect, and one,
too, of no mean order. Judge Black
/ himself is said to be as keen as any.
body on the scent of a mammoth fee
1 but becomes so absent minded after
| he gets it that his family have tc
hunt in all the pockets Of his old
cocts to discover the hard won but
strangely neglected treasure. And
who would, in his right mind, accuse
Judge Black of being insane? The
man who does so possesses a courage
/ that amounts to !sublimity or fool
hardness, utterly regardless of the
security of his scalp-lock.-[ Augusta
|Chronicle Constitutionalist.
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