Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-18
JUDAH p. BENJAMIN.
Points in His Career Gathered from
Various Sources-His College Days
His London Law Office.

His London Law Office.
The late Judah P. Benjamin was a
short man, not over five feet eight. with
well-padded frame and a most graceful
and courteous manner. His hair and eyes
were black, and the latter were large.
liquid, open and fun of soul. His face
was rather tar than dark. and his short
clipped yet black whiskers made this
fair complexion a prominent feature. He
dressed plainly, and did not affect the
dandihed air and jewels Of DisTaeli. He
had sllYery voice, and spoke easily and
elOquently. He was one Of the lions Of
the Senate in his day, and the galleries
always filed when he was TO deliver a
great speech.
THERE WERE SOME CURIOUS AND INTER
EsTING INCIDENTS
in his domestic life. He married early in
life very beautiful woman. She did
something which offended the society Of
New Orleans. Mr. Benjamin was much
devoted TO her, and ii wounded him keen
ly. He spent years and vast amount Of
trouble and money to win back for her her
place in society, but he never succeeded.
Once he gave grand ball in New Or
leans: all the men invited came, and not
single woman. That crushed his hopes
then. When he was elected to. the Senate
he brought his wife to Washington and
set up magnificent establishment. The
old grUdge against his wife was remem-
Dered, and he again found himself obliged
to 20 in society without his wife or to re-
main in seclusiOn. He sold his splendid
household effects at a great loss, gave up
his house, and said deseondently to a
friend, Il am bankrupt in heart, purse
and reputation
HIS WIFE THEN WENT TO PARIS
where he supported her in splendor and
visited her often. His own tastes were Of
the simplest kind, and his personal ex-
penses hardly a 1.-THE Of his great earn
ings. He knew how to charge clients,
and often described with a relish his plan
of making fee. First he said, Il
charge a retainer, then l charge a remin-
der, next l charge a refresher, and then l
charge a fnisher." He was exceedingly
liberal, and had no love Of money for
moneys sake. His law office in London
was the darkest and dingiest Granny
imaginable. There were two rooms, one
tolerably comfortable, which was Occu-
pied by his clerks, and the other abso-
lutely meagre, occupied by the great iuTist
himself 1t was a favorite resort of
Southerners, and a pilgrimage to the
shabby little law office was religiously
performed by nearly every Southerner who
visited London.
JEFFERSON DAVIS, SPEAKING OF Mr..
BENJAMIN,
Immediately after his death, said: 81
remember in the spring of 1868. il must
have been in April, we were going from
Greensboro to Charlotte, \. c., BENJAMIN
was in an ambulance with Cooper and
George Davis, and l went ahead on horse
back, as usual. 1t was toward evening
that / reached a farm house which looked
like eligible quarters for the night but
the ambulance not coming up, / turned
and rode back to ascertain what had be-
come OF the party. After some
distance / found the ambulance
stuck fast in the mud, while Benjamin
was engaged in his faYorite recitations
Of TennysOn, apparently depending solely
upon Providence to pull the ambulance
out OF the scrape. He was an enthusiast
Of TennysOn, and placed him even above
Byron, who is great fayOrite Of mine.
On one occasion he had discussion con-
corning the merits of each, insisting that
Tennyson should rank first, and appealed
to me to decide. Upon my making some
objections he, with his good nature and
exquisite bOahOmte, exclaimed: "Well,
let us admire both"
he WAS NOT MAN OF STRONG
convictions, nor Of vast energy. He was
cool, adrOit, accomplishing bis ends bv
with Jefferson Davis was unbounded, and
it was because he always waited to find
out what jefferson Davis wanted, and
then took that side and maintained it
with all his matchless ingenuity, lucidi-
" and FEASIBILITY. He was thus not so
much an adviser in the Confederate Cabi-
net as an advocate to defend any position
that its Chief might take. This was very
deXterOus, but it was lacking in sincerity;
h- het hot
prejudices, and whims, and tempers Of
Jefferson Davis led him astray; yet he de-
Tended these errors with the same skill
and responsiveness that he did the best
actions. By this course, however, he
maintained a commanding influence over
Jefferson Davis, and was, indeed, the
power behind the throne greater than the
throne.
He landed in England in September,
1865. In June, 1866, he was admitted to
practice at the English bar. His admis-
sion was granted by the benchers of Lin
coin inn, in six months instead of three
years, as the rules generally require, on
the ground that he was an old member of
the bar of a country governed under the
system of the common law, and the fact
that he was a political exile. He pub
lished his Benjamin on Sales" in 1868,
having in the intervening years supported
himself and his family by writing leading
articles for the newspapers.
HE ENTERED YALE COLLEGE
in 1925, but left, without graduating, in
1928, when he went to New Orleans, and
was admitted to the bar in 1882.
Mr.. Holpin, of Boston, in a letter few
days ago, speaking of his student life at
Yale, said: HE was'a small, bright-eyed
boy, of a dark complexion, evidently of
Jewish blood, and Is or IL years of age.
Who his parents were and under whose
guardianship he was placed did not ap-
pear. He apparently passed his time in
sauntering around the college grounds or
dropping in at the students rooms. No
one YOuched for him or seemed to be
familiar with his history. Without any
attention to his studies, and following out
this desultOry and vagrant existence, he
easily and without dispute, took at once
the highest stand in his class, and was
acknowledged to be riddle and a prodigy
of intellectual power. He disappeared as
mysteriOusly as he caue. The next we
heard Of him was as a member of Con-
gress, distinguished for his learning and
eloquence. In 1861, at the Peace Con-
gress, | was in Washington, and had a
short interview with Mr.. Benjamin in one
of the ante-roOms of the Supreme Court.
He was polite, but very reticent and en-
barrassed when reference was made to his
student life"