The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-28
Charles 0'Conor.
n. \. Sun of the l4th inst. I

/ ~ i l'uii Va lAIE iTbIl Ills L.
At the home of his old age, in Nan.
tucket, Charles OConor died Yesterday.
He had spent more than half a century
III this city in the practice of the law
The intelligence of his death will be re-
ceived here with genuine regret. His
career has been peculiar, and his char
act;r commands espect rather than any
warmer sentiment; but the public faith
in the honesty of his motives was un-
doubtedly very great. The ardor of his
assaults upon official corruption is fresh
in the memory of the community. I'm
fortunately, it carried him bevond the
limits of propriety, and led him to make
assaults on brother lawyers as upright
and as true as himself.
From all infancy of comparative pow
erty, end with little more than ordinary
education, Mr.. O'Conor rose to be one of
our mo& eminent lawyers. His distinc-
tion was not due to any great legal prin-
ciple of which he was the advocate, or
any great popular cause of which he
WAS the champion In him were none
of the elements of an Erskine or a
3rougham. He owed his success chiefly
to qualities of the intellect His nature
was cold, severe, and unsympathetic.
All the fire which it possessed was like
the chilling gleam Of electricity. But
he was clear, acute, logical, and sarcas-
tic in argument, untiring in industry,
firm in purpose, and fearless in the pur-
suit of his object. And so he won his
way spward. Of the many great causes
in which he was engaged, perhaps the
Forrest divorce case is the most cele-
brated. His ability and astuteness were
the more strongly set forth in that case
by contrast with the remarkable loose
ness and folly with which the opposite
side was conducted by Mr.. John Van
Buren. His later appearances in court
we're in the Jumel case, in the defence
of Walworth, and in the prosecution of
the well-kuOwn civil suits against the
Ring Many lawyers were amazed at
the popularity Of his defence of Wal
worth. 1t consisted largely of vehement
denunciation of the crime of parricide,
the very offence with which his client
stood charged
Throughout his whole career Mr..
| OConor was an advocate and supporter
of human slavery. He did not. like
most slave owners, regard it as an evil
difficult to be got rid of, but as some
thing in itself good and right: bene-
| licent, il not divine institution. In
| 1889, the Lennon slave case was argued
before the Court Of Appeals. A Vir.
ginian named Lennon had brought
eight slaves to this city and placed them
on steamer here, about to sail foI
Texas 4 writ of habeas corpus was
| issued out of the Superior Court in their
behalf, and they were discharged on the
ground that our statutes rendered them
free. Mr.. 0'Conor argued the case foI
the slave owner before the Court of Ap-
peals, not only on the letter Of the law,
bat on principle. "Thereis no violation
of the principles of enlightened Justice, .
he said, "nor any departure from the
dictates of pure beneVolence, in holding
negroes in a state of slavery" "NO
civilized State on earth can maintain
/ this absolute outlawry of negro slavery
for in some Of its forms slavery has ex.
Isted in all ages, and no lawgiver Of
paramount authority has ever con
demned it. We select these sentences
out of many of like import, to show the
position which Mr.. 0'Gonor assumed il
regard to the most important question
of his time. He was successfully op
posed in this case BY Mr. William NJ
Evarts, and the order discharging tht
slaves was affirmed With the aboli
ton of slavery, Mr.. 0'C0nor's excessive
devotion to that institution, which wa:
/ his most striking characteristic as pub
lie man, was rendered powerIess.
The only public office ever held b
Mr.. 0'Conor, unless his membership il
the Constitutional Convention Of 1861
be regarded as such, what that of Uni
i ted States District Attorney in this city
during the administration Of President
Pierce, position well adapted to hi
peculiar bent Of mind, but one whirl
be retained only little over q year
Against his will, he was a candidate fol
4 President in 1872, having declined
nominations which were rendered hin
Il BY = convention Of workingmen ii
Il Philadelphia and Democratic Conven
ton at Louisville, Notwithstanding
which he polied over 0,000 votes
We share in the general regret st til
1 loss Of so distinguished, SO worthy, and
50 venerable 4 citizen. Yet here, IS II
the case Of 50 many whom we are caIlet
upon 80 mourn, it IS melancholy 70 e
feet how prominent man may be i
the estimation 0f his contem porariel
and still leave nothing behind him b
keep his memory bright, ii benefit
which his learning, industry, OF geniu
might have conferred upon generation