The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-06-19

significance, and so purely typical of
the spirit i'm which the State of YER
mont had its birth, did not at once take
its place in her annals as a beacon-lght
for the ages to come, and that the name
of its author was not instantly and
spontaneously enrolled among those of
the heroes to be thenceforth celebrated
by orators and poets and perpetuated
by the genius of the sculptor. The
words of the clear-headed, sound-heart-
ed magistrate anticipated by more than
a dozen years the kindred sentiment of
Lord Brougham: "Tell me not OF
rights; talk not of the property of the
planter in his slaves. | deny the right,
| acknowledge not the property. /.
BE the appeal made to the understand
ing or to the heart, the sentence is the
same that rejects IT. There is a
law above all the enactments of human
codes the same throughout the world,
the same in all times; . it is the
law written by the finger of God on the
heart of man; aud by that law, I'M
changeable and eternal, while men des-
pisc fraud, and loathe rapine, and alb
nor blood, they shall reject with indig-
nation the wild and guilty fantasy that
man can hold property in man." The
British statesman and the Vermont
Judge, however widely separated in
point of rank and culture, were yet one
III moral insight aud courage, and their
names should be together enshrined in
the hearts of all the friends of impartial
liberty.
The reader will be glad to learn
something more than | have thus far
told of Judge Harrington. Who and
what sort of man he was will be
learned from an extract of letter,
written at my solicitation by Hon. f..
p. Walton of Montpelier, one of the
trustworthy historians of Vermont
"Iheophilus Harrington was a Judge OF
the Supreme court of Vermont from
December LIST, 1908, until his death,
shortly after his reelection in 1913.
Gle was emphatically a layman, yet
nominally lawyer, since he was adj
United to the Rutland county bar after
he had served three terms as Judge of
that county court, and about the time
OF his election to the Supreme court }
AS Judge he was eminent for his ster-
ling common sense, mis- skill in detect
ing the justice OF each case, and his ig-
norance OF and contempt for the quips
and quirks of the law-alias special
pleading. In an address by Rev. Phin-
cas- White, published in the Rutland
Herdld in 1916, the most that is known
OF him is embraced. His genealogy is
traced, on the fathers side, to Connec-
ticut in 1886, and on his mothers to
plymouth Colony in 1920. lie came to
Vermont III 1885 and picked up a wife
ON the way: settled at Clarendon
Springs and raised family of u chill
dren, ii of whom were in the district
school together. lie was farmer, I'M
learned, rough, uncOuth, but a great
Democrat of the Jefferson school.
Daniel Chapman, leading lawyer in
Addison county and a Federalst, said
he would have case finely prepared
and argue it with every appearance of
success, while Judge II. was apparent
ly asleep through il all. Now, said
Chapman, think have got him sure
ly; but then the old bear would wake
up and kick a bigger hole through that
case than | ever saw done in my life by
any other Judge"
Certainly here is a man whom every
VermOnter and every American should
delight to honOr-a man of clear moral
dlsccrnment, who had the courage of
his convictions, and would not prosti-
tute his power as the magistrate of a
free commonwealth 10 the base uses of
the slave hunter. lie was the North
Star Of American Jurisprudence, by
whose light, il only it had been gener-
ally followed, the nation might have
found peaceful way of escape from
the quagmire of slavery. No marble
is too white, no metal or stone too en-.
during for his monument. appeal to
the sons of Vermont, abroad as well as
at home, to make speedy provision for
the erection upon the capitol grounds
at Montpelier, or in some other suita-
bic place, of statue or monumental
shaft in honor of this too long neg
lected hero Oljcer Johnson in the In
dependent.