The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1883-03-17
judah ?. Benjamin.
London Times.1

career at the English bar is the
bench from which the principles
on which rest the pleadings of the
advocate may be promulgated as
DEGREES. None could have been
selected wOrthier than Mr.. Benla-
min of the distinction which usu-
ally crowns a practice like his. BY
the universal confession only one
or two of his rivals a dozen years
ago matched his claims for exalted
judicial rank. Whatever the appa-
rent Inconvenience in the way of
his elevation, we must avow our
disappointment that they should
have been held enough to deprive
Justice of "A minister extraOrdina-
rily fitted to maintain its rights and
reputation.
Mr.. Benjamin's condition of
health is not of nature to have
forbidden continued Judicial toll,
though it warns him against the
wear and tear of forensic conten-
tion. He has won his absolute re-
pose at the cost to the making of
English law Of some considerable
help which he could have fur.
nished. But il is not to be sup
posed, because the exploits of a
great advocate sink gradually into
mere tradition, that they have
been wasted and Intellectual. Mr..
Benjamin was an advocate in the
sense that he devoted the whole
power of his reasoning to demon.
strate one side of the case. On
the presumption that there lay the
truth, his argument was as judicial
a statement as could have been the
weightieSt summing up from the
bench. He employed no sophis-
tries; he did not represent weak.
ness as if it were strength. The
use of advocacy is to show forth
the entire force of one suitor's po-
sition, and all the flaws of that of
the adversary. That the Judge
who holds the balance may infalli.
bly, discern which way the scales
incline he needs advocates like
Mr.. Benjamin. In his own espec.
ial department Of mercantile law
Mr.. Benjamin had equal authority
with a standard textbook. His
client might be right or wrong; q
defect could rarely he discovered
in his cnunciation of the principles
by which the result had to be gov
erned. For many years he hat
been more like an assessor of tht
Supreme Court of Appeals than {
simple practitioner. Over the bal
the influence of such an advocat,
is hardly less important than owe
the bench. English law suffered
when Mr.. Benjamin quilted "nis
prius" practice. There is no sc
verer check upon the address tC
iuries of inconscquent reasoning
than a feeling that the opposing
candidate is marking and register
ing and scorning every concealed
blcmish and speeious fallacy. It II
to the honor of the English bar al
well as to his own that the ascen
dcncy Mr.. Benjamin gained pro
voked neither anger nor jealousy
He was called to the bar by tn,
benchers of the Inn of Court, will
the enthusiastic assent of all i'll
members. 1t excited no emotion
of envy or indignant surprise tha
he took, in q moment, an eminen
and speedily q supereminent place
He seemed to have been admitted
not only among barristers, bu
among leading barristers; ant
none questioned his title. A sen
timent of eager good will welcomed
him to his rightful precedence; hi
had and kept it because it was hi
right. A lively interest was nee
essarily aroused about a foremos
chief in the most gigantic civil wal
which history records. 1t wal
strange and affecting to see, al
many have seen, prince of the Sc
cession, whose combinations ant
statecraft the world had watched
and waited upon for four tremen
dous years, sitting in Lincoln's-inl
Hall the most quiet and unpre
tending of students among yOunI
! University graduates and under
graduates the very reverse 0
meek. Neither sympathy witt
frustrated hopes nor interest il
the hero Of an eventful page o
history would have carved out fo
| him a third career to replace th'
two he had forfeited, without
wonderful elasticity of temper AM
courage which refused to acqui
esce in defeat. He was of the mum
Der Of those whom diflicultie
nerve and steel. 1t is his owl
fault if the sympathy of which h
has been The object never bor
a