The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-16
SENATOR BENJAMIN HARRISON.
His Standing as Lawyer and Politician-In
the Senate and at Home.

here as pure lawyers; there are his equals if not
his superiors as pure advocates; but i'll the all
| round management and generalship of a case
and ability to get there he is conceded to be
the first lawyer in the State. One among the
best lawyers here told me that in a long practice
he never had known of but one instance in
which he thought Harrison was surpassed as a
cross-eXaminer, and that was i'll ex Judge Full
lertons work during the Beecher-Tilton trial.
In case at law he brings amoral force to bear
upon any crooked work or conceahnent that is
as powerful as any skill in handling it. His
scoIm and sarcasm has an ugly honesty in its
expression that will skin scalp the victim,
cording to the degree of his culpability. In
speaking he has high shrill voice, unpleasant
TO the ear for the first few moments but great
clearness of enunciation soon absorbs the sense
i'll the subject. His manner is very earnest, and
at any proper point sweeps on like a cavalry
charge He has aggressive streak in his ma
ture as his square, firm jaw and the ''clench'
with which he shuts his mouth indicate. He
has abundant pluck in the use Of it. and with an
aroused conscience is no respeeter of persons. l
suppose those two eminent Democrats, Thomas
A Hendricks and d. w. Voorhees,, have never
been so pitilessly fayed by any man alive as by
Senator Harrison.
The general manner of utterance describes his
political as well as his jury work. except that in
the former, with a connected theme that does
not necessitate the ruggedness of treatment
which the exposition of case at law does, there
is a compactness, smoothness and logical devel-
opment in the matter that | think fairly entities
his speeches to the epithets scholarly and elo-
quent." They are lucid and simple in style but
adorned here and there with a phrase of rare
beauty and lighted at points by expressions of
fine humor. As one illustration of this ] quote
from memory from a speech he made in Boston
some years ago, in which he told the "Hubbites'
that Ben Butler had just been out West and to
awe us with scholarship had quoted Latin to say
that the creation of money followed the natural
order of creation, which began with fiat lux.
Very good" said General Harrison but when
God Almighty sand fiat lux there was the power
of God Almighty behind it, and | cannot help
but think what Ben Butler would look like sit
ting on the rim of the morning and shouting at
chaos: Fiat lux"
Upon another occasion here. in the 1880 cam
paign, he made u most merciless onslaught upon
Hendricks for having said in speech that Gar
field had completely with the Louisiana fraud
speech more lighting hot made with all the
skill of a Jury plea has rarely been made on the
but how about the fraud of 1876" The Gin
cinnati convention had at that time Just refused
to nominate either Tilden or Hendricks. Quick
as fash, Harrison responded: THAT question
settled at Cincinnati" The roar of laugh
ter that followed this shook the rafters.
1t has been said that Harrison is no politician,
and his frankness. sfearlessness and ability to
say no may be taken as proof of it. But how
is it that man with his conceded generalship
in law cases and his acknowledged ability in the
handling of men, both in the jury-boX and on
the witness stand should not handle men in
political case refer it to his difidence, as APP
piled to a case of self-seeking | may not be
credited with this, said, as it is, of man of his
age and with long public career both IN evil
and military life, but believe those who know
him well will bear me out. Put him in charge
will be- To concur with this estimate comes a
story concerning one of the prominent Repub-
lican politicians of this State, at one time can
didate for a congressional seat
He was an admirer of HarriSon's. and at the
time of the latter's choice as senator in 1880
came down here ito see the lay of the land"
He found it all for Harrison and then went and
called on him. He had early urged Harrison to
make a campaign for the Senate, but had fire.
quently been disguised, as he said, at Harrsons
refusal to take hold When he would urge
Harrison to make some point Harrison would
say YES, l see. but | haven't the talents for
such sort of work l can't be a politician So
when this friend went to see Harrison the latter
asked anXiOusly about the senatorial situation
Il can do no good here replied this friend
You know you are no pol -ician, and there isn't
Il wilier one in the State than So-and so. The
pins are all set; discovered that in half an
hour
The General began to sit uneasily, when, after
a moments silence the friend said Look here,
you have been deceiving me. You told me you
knew nothing of politics. were no politician
Here you have got this thing set up so orderly
that you will be nominated by reclamation in
the caucus And he was.
This man afterward in telling the story said
that while Harrison was not a politician in the
ordinary acceptation Of the term for the simple
reason that he didn't "buttonhole' and drum
for support that for accurate Judgment on gen
eral results he surpassed any man he ever knew;
that he knew Williams would be elected in 1876
and knew why, aud remember during the
senatorial contest of 1880, Harrison, hearing of
a remark that he had heen rewarded once with
the nomination for Governor retorted that it
was a queer definition of reward" to stand a
man up to be knocked down and trampled on
when he knew that was to be hisfate The friend
above alluded to passed the judgment upon Har-
rson and the presidential nomination that if the
nominee of his party he would be perfect master
of the situation, but that as % candidate cam
paignng for the nomination and pulling wires
to get it. he would be helpless, for he wouldn't
do it.
Ha1rison's relation to and standingin his State
may be briefly photographed. Morton was first
in the minds and hearts of a majority of Repub-
Leans so long as he lived; but before his death
natural selection largely looked upon Harrison
as a coming power in Republican counses. In
this there was nothing Inconsistent, for there
was no rivalry in the contemplation and both
Harrison and Morton we'll knew their status and
relative positions. In 1876 the nomination for
Governor would have been rendered Harrison
on a silver salver or in any other shape. but he
steadily and positively refused to have it. He
was in the woods of Michigan for a short rest
when he was summoned by telegraph to take the
place of Orth, crowded off. Harrison wanted it
less than ever under such circumstances, but his
tons and Judgment in his pocket and stood up
manfully till he was knocked down and tram
pied on, election day, Oct. TO- 1876.
He did wide and effective service in following
campaigns speaking in many States. At the
I Chicago convention he worked disinterestedly
and Loyalty The inside history of that contest
wound make what the late Horace GreeleY used