The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-03-02

! President Garfield WA. During that
preme Court, and the late President, for
whom it was never claimed that he WAS
first lawyer in the country, had thirteen !;
Senator Edmunds, who is acknowledged
TO be one Of the ables; lawyers in the
United States, had nineteen Some Of
the cases that Senator Conklng argued
before the Supreme Court were cases
| wneIe All influential Senator might have
been as important as q learned lawyer.
Oi.2 ii his cases was that or the New
York Central railroad, which was resist
ing the collection of take, by the gov
ernment. The case was first tried in 4
Federal Circuit Court, presided over by y
Judge whose appointment to tie bench
was attributed TO the senator. Here he
won his case. The government appealed
the case TO the Supreme Court, and there
Mr. Conkling not only lost his case, but
he lost it unanimously; not single
Justice took the view OF the law that he
did. During this same period Mr.. Conk.
ling had five cases before the New York
Court Of Appeal, one or two of the cases
being Of n political character, and in one
he WAS employed rs associate counsel by
vas iD-
litical obligations to him. He is report
ed to have received one large fee; it was
$4,000 from the Jayne gang of special
agents Of the treasury. ou, of money ex-
toried from Phelps, Dodge & Co. Nr.
ConIling was very Indignant year and
half ago because Senator Bayard init
| mated that he divided the proceeds oi
the raid made by Jayne he did not
divide any proceeds Of any raid accord
ing 70 his friends, he merely took fee.
1t would appear, then, that persons en-
pioyed by the government in the colcc.
ton of its revenues, who were entitled
to all tie law they needed gratuitously'
from the District Attorney in New York
and from the Attorney General of the
United States, decline to avail themselves
of this privilege, but recklessly hired 4
lawyer Of their own at the expense Of
$4,000. lfit was only legal advice that
they wanted. this seems like wild ex.
trayagance, but the District Attorney
and the Attorney General were not M lem
bers Of the senate, or the chief political
powers of the administration ot that time
and perhaps Jayne and his companions
knew what they needed, and got it where
it was to be had
ANcl SHici OuStICc ODdsS uICu res
dent Grant had a disastrous time
| trying TO get successor 10 him. The
| present incumbent's name was the third
that he sent to the senate, and the senate
was full Of his friends, who would much
rather have confirmed than rejected q
nomination by him. Besides Williams,
Gushing and Waite the president offered
the place to Roscoe Conkling The
salary Of the Chief Justice had been in :
creased during Mr.. Conklings term in
the senate, on account Of which fact he
was ineligible and declined position to
which he could not have been confirmed.
His ineligibility was not generally un-
derstood, and it was supposed by most
persons that he declined because he pre-.
ferred 10 remain in the senate. A New
York lawyer was asked one day why he
supposed Mr.. Conklng declined an ap-
pointment to the Supreme Court. He
replied II suppose for the same reason
that | would not accept the mission to
China do not understand the Chinese
language" Possibly Mr.. Conkling has
been devoting his time latterly to the
acquisition OF the language OF the Su-
preme Court.