St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-22
PEN PortIait of ,Jud0e Bioeb;.
From the Tenth Chapter Of Mr.. Blaine's Book
.sTMentY Years in CONGRESS ~


Judge Black, who had from the beginning
of his Administration been Mr.. Buchanan's
chief adviser, was man of remarkable
character. He was endowed by nature with
strong understanding and strong will
In the profession of the law he had attained
great eminence. His learning had been IL
Illustrated by prolonged service on the bench
before the age at which men, even of excep-
tional success at the bar, usually attract pub
lie observation: He had added to his pro-
fessional studies, which were laborious and
conscientious, wide acquaintenance with
our literature, and had found in its walks
delight which is yielded to few. In history,
biography, criticism, romance, he had abb
sorbed everything in our language worthy of
attention. Shakespeare, Milton, indeed all
the English poets were his familiar compan-
ions. There was not disputed passage or
an obscure reading in any one of the great
plays upon which he could not off hand
quote the best renderings, and throw origi-
nal light from his own illumined mind.
Upon theology he had apparently bestowed
years of investigation and reflection. A sin
cere Christian, he had been a devout and con-
stantstudent of the Bible, and could quo tie its
passages and apply its teachings with singu-
lar readiness and felicity. To this generous
store of knowledge he added fuency of
speech, both in public address and private
conversation, and style of writing which
was at once unique, powerful and attractive.
He had attained into every excellence of
mental discipline described by Lord Bacon
Reading had made him full man, talking a
ready man, and writing an exact man. The
judicial literature of the English tongue
may be sought in vain for finer models than
are found in the opinions of Judge Black
when he sat- and was worthy to sit, as the
associate of John Bannister Gibson, on
the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania.
In political opinion he was a Democrat,
self-inspired and self-taught for his father
was Wing who had served his state in con-
gress. He idoliZed Jefferson and revered
Jackson as embodying in their respective
characters all the elements of the soundest
political philosophy and all the requisites of
the highest political leadership. He believed
in the principles of Democracy as he did in
a demonstration of Euclid-all that might be
said on the other side was necessarily absurd.
He applied to his own political creed the Lit
eral teachings of the Bible. If Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob had held slaves without con-
demnation or rebuke from the Lord of Hosts,
he believed that Virginia, Carolina and Geor
gia might do the same. He found that in
the case of Onesmus, st. Pauls explicit ap-
proval of the fugitive slave law of 1850, and
in the cruel case of Passmore Williamson he
believed himself to be enforcing the doctrine
of the New Testament Personally unwill-
ing to hold even beast of burden, in oppres
sive bondage, nothing could induce him to
condemn slave-holding in those whose con-
sciences permitted them to practise it. In
the Abolitionists he found the chief disturb
ers of the Republic, and he held New Eng
land answerable to posterity and God for all
the heresies which afflicted either church or
state. He had an uncompromising hostility
to which are termed New-England ideas,
though the tenderest ties of his life
were of New-England origin. ''The New
Englanders Individually greatly affect he
often said, 'but in the mass judge them
to be stark mad.'' 81 think, too,'' he would
add 'sthat if you are going to make much of
a New-Engl ander, he should, like DR.. John
sons Scotchman, be caught young" To
his native state Judge Black was devotedly
attached He inherited the blood of two
strong elements of its population-the Ger
man and the Scotth church-and he united
the best characteristics of both in his own
person.
lie always looked upon Pennsylvania as
the guardian of the Federal Union, almost
as the guarantor of its safety and its perpet-
uity He spoke of her as the breakwater
that protected the slave States from the way
es of radicalism which were threatening to
ingulf southern institutions. The success
of the Republican party in 1860 he regarded
of avil a rro
sent disaster UNNECESSARILY sorrowful. The
excitement in the southern states over the
probability of Mr.. Lincoln's election he con-
sidered natural, their serious protest altoget-
her iustifable. He desired the free states to
be awakened to the gravity of the situation,
to be thoroughly alarmed, and to repent of
their sins against the south. He wished it
understood from ocean to ocean that the
position of the Republican party was incon
sistent with loyalty to the union, and that its
permanent success would lead to the destruc-
ton of the government. 1t was not unnatur-
altbat with these extreme views he should be
carried beyond the bounds of prudence, and
that, in his headlong desire to rebuke the
Republican party as enemies OF the Union,
he should aid in precipitating dissolution
of the Government before the Republicans
could enter upon its administration. He thus
became in large degree respon-
sible for the unsound position and the dan
gerous teachings of Mr. Buchanan.
Lotta Tells on Them.
from her Denver Interview
Gen. Sherman tried to kiss me once in
Washington, when had been singing in
ssTroyatore,'' but drew back and ran away
n ~ r.