Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-12-16
JUDAH p. BENJAMIN.

The Remarkable Success of the Confeuer'
ate Secretary in England.
The past publication of an unpreten'
tious little volume affords me the well
come opportunity of referring here
and now to the great career of dis
tinguished countrvmen of yours, the
late Mr.. Benjamin. With Benjamin as
Attorney General, Minister of War and
Secretary in the Confederate Govern
ment, take no concern, except to re-
mark that considering the age at which
he came from fore On country to the
English bar, l agree with the wr ter OF
ga Generation of Judges" that his sue
cess here as a barr ster sis without par
allel in professional annals Although
the hook is about Judges, yet Benja-
min and our native Karslake are in
cluded also, seeing that they were pecul-
iarly distinguished lawyers, and es-
capped being created judges by special
accidents. If Peniam had accepted
the judgeship of the Supreme Court of
the United States, which was offered to
him by President Pierce, or if he had
come by a fatal mishap in the adven-
lures of his escape after the collapse of
the Southern cause, a unique figure would
have been lost to the annals the English
bar. The friendly reception of aim
here, in spite of any difference on the
subject of American politics or any pos
sible feeling of repugnance to him as
an interloping alien, will always be
placed to the credit of the generosity
and open m ndedness of the bar of En-
gland. His marvellous progress and his
fabulous fees excited no jealousy, but
rather satisfaction and adm ration. 1t
was some Judge. if j mistake not, who
recommended any one that desired the
highest intellectual treat, to step into
court and hear Benjamin arguing a
case. One good story is told here
which never heard before. and perhaps
it will be new on your S de. 1t indi-
Gates the marked sense that BENJAMIN
possessed, not merely of his own per-
sonal dignity, but of the respect that is
due to the bar from the bench. The in
session of 1881. Benjamin was arguing
a case in the House of Lords,
with Lord Selborne presiding. Fol-
lowing his accustomed manner. the
learned counsel very early in his argu-
ment formulated the propositions of
law for which he proposed to contend.
One of these, when set forth in its bare
form, without having been led up to or
supported by the substructure of reason
ing which Benjamin had the skill to
make to look so solid and compact, and
without illustration from his capacious
repertorv, drew from Lord Chancellor
Selborne the impatient exclamation
'.Nonesense"' BENJAMIN stopped short,
slowly put his papers together, ed the
tape round them. made low bow, and
left the bar of the house. His junior
had Immediately to fill the breach; but
before he had proceeded far with his
argument the Lord Chancellor inter-
rupted him in order to give expression
to his regret that Mr.. Benjam had left
the house, and his fear that he himself
was the cause of it in saying what he
ought not to have said. 1t is unneces-
sary to say to any one who knows the
Christian conscientiousness and we'll
bred gentility of Lord Selborne that
his lordship must have been suffering
severely when such an expression
escaped the barrier of his teeth or
even framed itself in his mind, and it is
to be observed that in a very short time
thereafter Lord Selborne found it neces-
sary, through indispostion, to abstain
for time from the labors of his office
The magnificent reception accorded to
Benjam in the Inner Temple hall in
June, 1888, when he retired from the
profession, is a memory to be cherished
by all who were privileged to be pres
emit on that interesting occasion. am
not willing to suppose that my personal
qualification in recalling these points in
the career and character of great
American, who has also proved him
self one of the very greatest of the able i
men who a.. adorned the e. bar OF England
dom on your readers, who will no
doubt be generally familiar with the
American phases of Ben strange,
eventful history. london Cor. Pr0ri-
dence Journal.