The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-06-07
Judah p. Benjamin.

The death at Paris of Judah P. Ben
iamin, the distinguished jurist, former
ly Secretary of State of the Southern
Confederacy, brings to my mind a few
"reminiscences of Mr. Benjamin's his
tory, running back to 1927. It was, !
think, about that period that Judah P.
Benjamin entered Yale College. He
was small, bright-eyed boy, of dark
and swarthy complexion, evidently OF
Jewish blood, and fifteen or sixteen
years of age. Who his parents were
and under whose guardianship he was
placed, did not appear, He apparently
spent his time in sauntering around the
college grounds or dropping in at the
students rooms. No one vouched for
him or seemed to be familiar with his
history. He hailed from New Orleans.
Without any attention to his studies,
and following out this desultory and
and vagrant existence, he easily and
without dispute took at once the high
est stand in his class, and was acknowl-
edged to be riddle and prodigy OF
intellectual power. Falling into dis
grace, the particulars of which l will
not name, and ignored by the students,
he disappeared as mysteriously as he
came. The next we heard of him was
rs q member of Congress, distinguished
for his learning and eloquence. In 1861,
at the Peace Congress, | was in Wash
ington, and had short interview with
Mr.. Benjamin in one of the anterooms
of the Supreme Court. He was polite,
but very reticent and embarrassed
when reference was made to his student
life. Mr.. Benjamin, then so conspicu-
Gus in the councils of the Nation. was
evidently not much known or under
stood at Washington outside of his own
particular circle of Southern friends.
remember that Reverdv johnson, and
perhaps others, learning of my early
acquaintance with him, inquired of me
regarding certain things connected with
his history, etc, and which | did not
feel would be courteous fully to disclose
We used to hear of Mr.. Benjamin Us
one of the chief conspirators of the re-
bellion, and as Secretary of State OF
the Southern Confederacy In the
darkest period of the war, and when
the Union soldiers We're miserably con,
fined and tortured in Libby prison, q
lady from Massachusetts, q widow,
whose only son was sick and prisoner
in Libby prison, called on me to use
my influence to obtain the discharge OF
her son. She had exhausted the usual
methods of procuring his discharge by
interchange, and to no effect. She de
spared of ever seeing her son alive,
but, with a mothers yearning, deter
mined to go herself to Richmond and
plead for her sons release. gave her
q letter to Mr.. Benjamin, and on ar
irving at Richmond, after much diff
Guilty, she was admitted to his presence.
He received her with stern formality
and forbidding countenance. She pre-
scented the letter, and, true to the in
stincts of his early associations, on
seeing the name of the writer he re-
Tented, and her son was released and
came back with her to his friends and
home in Massachusetts Subsequently
the mother called on me and thanked
me for the service had rendered in OBJ
tanning the discharge of her son. 1t
was from the mother that | received the
particulars of her interview with Mr..
Benjamin. w. Hoppjn, IN Prove
deace Journal.