New-York tribune., 1879-01-21
CALEB CUSHING.
A TRIBUTE TO HIS ABILITY.

SlRONf ANilPAIHl I'D fN6lANp.
IRON Tue RECULAE CORRESPONDENT or THE TRIBCVF.l
LONDON, Jan. 3.-Pray allow me a word of regret
and respect TO the memory of Mr. Gushing, of whose
death We hear by cable this afternoon. / know all
that can be said aud has been said against Mr. Cush
ing from Mr. Lowcl's fierce (and alas just satire
down Ia the reckless and ignorant abuse of him III
the English pres with respect to his share in the rc-
neva Arbitration. With the views that governed his
political career have small sympathy. With the
man bad great deal of sympathy, and for his
abilities 1 bad the most sincere admiration.
81 have Tor the he made Of them at Geneva.
Tie services he then did his country were such as
to outweigh Il long catalogue Of mistakes III home
controversies. In SAYING that don't forget the bril-
liant contribution OF Mn Eyarts to the triumph there
won, nor the solid merits of the present Chief JUS
tlcc, nor Mr.. Bancroft Dayla's unweared in
duStry and great-pcrhaps too ereat-ingeuuity, IN
respect of indirect damage. But MI Cushing's
position aud services were in some
spccts unique. The tribunal before which
he appeared mixed tribunal. It's members
belonged to five different natiOnallti's and
possessed hut one language in commOn-the French,
winch was indeed the language strictly belonging
tO no one of them, bnt the only one intelligbc
to all Mr. Gushing was think, the only counsel
on either side who ventured to address the
arbltra;orS in the tongue they all understood.
His command of French gave him great
advantage and he used It to the utmost.
His colleagues and opponents spoke in Eng
lIsh Tor Amercanl, and Their arguments were
aiterward submitted in written translation TO
the Brazilian and Italian arbitrators. NJ. Stimpt
had made himself master of printed English;
whether he understood il as spoken don't Tcmcm-
bcr. Mr. Gushing, at any rate, is entitled to some
thing more than his distributye shaIc of the COM
Dliment paid to the American counsel by more than
one English authority Ii was felt here and it was
said, that the English counsel were oycrmatched Ill
that ease Professional opinion at the English Bar
took the form of remarking that Great Britain
would have come of better had Sir Roundcl Palmer
been arbitrator, and sir Alexander CockbHrn been
counsel. doubt it. Sir Alexander Cockburn has
always shown himself capable. even on the bench,
of taking care of what he deems the right side in
any cause at issue before him. He arbitrator
technically; he was in fact the representative AMI
advocate Of England. and 50 bore himself througi-
out the whole debate to earn the praise which
belongs to a skilled partisan. And 1t was because
Mr.. Cushing exposed, truthlnlly but mcrrilrs>iy,
the role which the Lord Chief Justice of England
played i'm this business that he was rcyIed by Eng
lIeh writer's
Had his critics known how much of the whole
trUth he withheld they might have taken, will
not say more cnlcnt view. for Mr. Cushing woud
have rejected their lcnty with ecorn, but a more
Just view of his book the Treaty Of Washington.
/ know something of the interior history Of the
Geneva proceedings. / know a great deal Of IL
from Mr. Gushing himself. | spent a day with
him in Paris on his return, and | heard from his
lis a narrative of tragicOmical interest with re-
spect TO which can only say none the material of
it exists in some reproducibie form. / sought Mr.
Cushlne's permission at the time to publish it, but
he refused Ii was too early, he said. In his view
its publication at that time would have made mat
tiers worse and moi better, and whatever may have
been alleged of his animOsty to England, he had
10 desire TO cnyenOm the hostility then exist
ing between tie two countries. His scruple
was so strong that | took no notes Of
the conversation. always meant nevertheless, to
have asked leave to make record of il for future
use hut that good intention has never been full
filed, and is recalled when it is too late.
! must pass from that memorable interview,
therefore, and leave the story OF ii untold so far as
Il relates to the main subject. But may say how
clearly remember the peculiar quality of his con-
yrrsation, and what an impression it left on
me of the essential kndliness and sincerity
of his nature. know that in saving
this run counter to a common notion about him.
lie has been called hard and cold and dry. | never
found him so. ] found HIM, then and on other oc-
casions when met hm in private, one of the best
takers | ever met, and | think no man good
talkcr in the best sense unless his talk be sympa-
thetic as well as intellectual. He verliied-in a
somewhat unexpected way. il you like the genial
remark that there Is c0od deal oil
human nature in most men. There was
much more in him than he had credit for.
| brcakfasted with him that day. lie lodged
in the Hotel De Calais rather old-iaNhloned French
house, situated in one Of the n%TroWcs ana dingiest
streets of the most central quarter of Paris. lls
apartment was large one on the hrst noof-anle-
room. salon and bedroom. We sat down to table at
Il and from Il in the morning to ! in the afternoon
the wonderful old man poured out his stores OF
knowledge Of w.t. OF anecd0tc, of cynical Observa-
tion and philosophy mingled with charity
and mmor of kindly goodwill to his
uolitical adversarics, aud Of easy contempt for
those whom he distinguished as personal foes. His
lreakfast-I say it for a reaSOn-waS served with
splcndor, with taste, and with such wines as dont
often come out Of hOtcl cellar lie talked to the
end with Il freshness and buoyant spirit that man
of half his age might have cnyied and with lucid
Intelligence and accurate memory that to tins day
fiji me with admiration as the scene comes back to
me- and nv ear is filed again with the cool tones of
his unweared voice. ! remember hlm at another
breakfast in the same city where he was ono oi a
company OF French, Englsh ana AHleII'dhs; h'N-
eral of them men of great fame and three at least
besides Mr. Cushing, whom should set down As
among the best convcrsers of their time. lie held
his own with the best, and there was on the whole
nobody TO compare with him IN the variety ana
COMPASS of his knowledge, or the neat pre- !
cision-far removed from pedantlc 10ImaI- |
itv with which sentence after sentence came /
from his lips An English lady who sat
opposite him aud who met him for the first tlinc /
told me afteryyari that she doubted whether any
body in England among the few noted diners-out |
still surviving. who was superior to Mr. Cushing |