Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-03-01
JUDAH T. BENJAMIN.
His Remarkable Career at the r,.,,.,,
bar.
Irrom the London Daily Telegram /,


For many months he has passed ,nore
OF his time in Paris than in London
ana MS Intimate friends had long becn
aware that the end of one of the mo.t
distinguished forensic careers Tint
Westminster Hall has ever witnessed
could not be far distant. Nearly three
years since Mr.. BENJAMIN had n lad
iall In Paris from tram-car on the
road running parallel TO the
seine. Forgetting that he was not
quite SO young as when last in New
orleans, he jumped, as had formerly
been his habit when resident in the
Crescent City, from the car while it
was still in motion, and, losing his
feet, he held on to the rail, and was
dragged many yards, dislocating his
shoulder and breaking two or three
OF his ribs. From the shock thus sus-
tanned Mr.. Benjamin has not, ~ yet,
we regret to say, entirely recovered,
and one of the worst effects resulting
from the accident was that ii brought
back an internal disorder, some symn-
toms of which had manifested them
selves at Richmond, in Virginia, dur
ing the American civil war. More
over, it was not generally known: and
least of all by those in the habit of
watching Mr.. benjamin, as he argued
a heavy appeal case in the house
of lords with vigor and acute
ness, learning and per-
suasiveness which have rarely been
equaled in the long and splendid an
mails of the English bar, that the dis
tinguished advocate was much older
than he appeared. 1t was in 1911 that
Mr.. Benjaman first saw the light, and
luckily for him, rs q British subject
born upon Danish Island In that
year his father and mother, both of
them British subjects, had set forth
from London in sailing ship bound
for New Orleans. Upon reaching the
Gulf of Mexico the captain found that
the mouths of the Mississippi were
closely blockaded by British fleet,
although what is known as the war of
1872, between this country and the
United States, had not as yet been
officially declared. 1t became neces-
sary to "bout Ship and to put into
the Danish island of st. Criox, where
Mr.. benjamin was born. There he
remained for four years until the war
was over, when his parents made their
way to Charleston, III South Carolina,
and thence little later on, to New
Orleans.
Mr.. Benjamin landed safely in this
country to find that his fame MS q
lawyer and statesman had preceded
him, and that the Confederacy which
he served so warmly had still some
friends. Mainly NY the advice and as
sistancc of the late Chief Justice Pol
lock- Mr. Benjamin contrived to get
called to the English bar without los
ing three years keeping terms. He
was ~ years old when he first put on
the wig and gown of an English bar
rister, and the tremendous experience
through which he had already passed
would have exhausted the energy OF
most public men. With the exception
of comparatively small sum lodged
by him in the hands of Messrs. Over
end aud Quincy, Mr.. Benjamin had
nothing wherewith to make new
start in life, and he had come, more
over, at a mature age to an old coun
| try, where to rise Antmus-lilse, from
the ground, is n thousand times more
difficult than upon that young and ex
uberant continent which he had left
! behind him.
The history of the English bar viii
hereafter have no proudcr story to tel
than that of the marvellous advance OF
Mr.. Benjamin from the humble posi-.
ton he occupied as a junior in 1866 10
the front rank OF his profession in
1888. Adversely, however, had not
vet done with him when che sent him
broken indeed in fortune, but en-
dowed with ineXhaustible vitality
and hope, to this country at the end
of 1860. In the following year there
I 4, 10 nj WI
/ which il not vet forgotten in city cir
cles and was caused by the sudden
/ suspension of Messrs. Overend " Cur
ney. BY the fall of that great house
! Mr.. BENJAMIN lost the sum of $4,000
AL that he possessed on earth-and
! had to cast about for something TO do
until his book on the ''Sales Of Per-
sonal Property was completed. Hay
! ing 4 wife and daughter to maintain
| in Paris, and himself in London, he
prepared with that easy adaptability
/ TO circumstances which has dis.
tinguished him throughout the
whole of his versatile and
/ many-sided career, to sustain himself
| for awhile by writing for the press. II
was under these circumstances that ht
temporarily Joined the stall OF the
/ Ddiiy 1eiegrdph, and contributed for
4 many months series OF brilliant lead
ing articles to the columns OF this
journal. The publication of his book
upon personal Property" brought
him Immediately iuto notice; non
could any evidence of his quick and IN
cisive diagonis be adduced than The
fact that in the great and tangled viii
tlerness of British jurisprudence he
should so readily have discerned one
tract which was as yet unlnapped
shortly after its publication, Baron
Martin. when taking his seat one
morning upon the bench, asked t.
have Mr. Benjamin's work handed "a
! him. Never heard of it, NY Lerd,
was answer of thc chief clerk. Never
heard of it, calculated Sir Samne
Martin: 'mind that never take my
seat here again without that book by
my side 1t was soon after this dat
that, speaking to one of Mr.. Benjamin's
most intimate friends, the same able
Judge pronounced the new ornament
OF the English bar to he the greatest
advocate that he had heard since
Eear!ett.p Ii is doubtful, however
4 whether Mr.. Benjamin would evel
hive been so effective before q British
4 Jury. or in the atmosphere where sear
letf was omnipotent, us be was IN tht