The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1888-05-17


dard Of responsibility higher than he.
He voted according to his judgment,
his conscience. He made no bargains
he neither bought nor sold.
To correct evils, abolish abuses and
inaugurate reforms he believed was
not only the duty, but the privilege.
of legislator. He neither sold nor
mortgaged himself.
He was in Congress during the
years of vast expenditure, of war and
waste-when the credit of the Nation
was loaned to Individuals; when
claims were thick as leaves in June;
when the amendment of statute, the
change of single word, meant mil
lions, and when empires were given to
corporations. He stood at the sum-
NIT Of his power, peer of the greatest,
a leader tried and trusted. He had
the tastes of prince, the fortune Of
a peasant, and yet he never swerved
No corporation was great enough or
rich enough to purchase him. His
vote could not be bought "for all the
sun sees, or the close earth wombs, or
the profound seas hide" His hand
was never touched by any bribe, and
on his soul there never was a sordld
stain. Poverty was his priceless
crown.
Above his marvellous intellectual
gifts-above all place he ever reached
above the ermine he refused, rises
his integrity like some great noun
tain peak, and there it stands, firm as
the earth beneath, pure as the stars
above
He was a great lawyer. He under
stood the framework, the anatomy,
the foundations of law; was familiar
with the great streams and currents
and tides of authority. He knew the
history Of legislation-the principles
that have been settled upon the fields
Of war; He knew the maxims, those
those crystallizations Of common
sense, those hand-grenades of argu-
ment.
He was not case lawyer-a deci-
sion index, or an echo; he was origi-
nal, thoughtful, and profound. He
had breadth and scope, resource, learn
ing, logic, and, above all, a sense OF
Justice
He was painstaking and conscien-
tious-anxious to know the facts
preparing for every attack, ready for
every defense. He rested only when
the end was reached. During the
contest he neither sent nor received Il
flag of truce.
He was true to his clients, making
their case his Feeling the response
bility, he listened patiently to details,
and to his industry there were only
the limits Of time and strength.
He was student of the constitu-
tion He knew the boundaries of
State and Federal jurisdiction, and no
man was more familiar with those
great decisions that are the peaks and
promontories, the headlands and the
beacons of the law
He was an orator, earnest, logical,
intense and picturesque. He laid the
foundation with care, with accuracy
and skill, and rose by "cold gradation
and well-balanced form" from the
cornerstone Of statement to the
domed conclusion. He filled the stage.
He satisfied the eye-the audience
was his. He had that indefnable
thing called presence. Tall, COM
manding, erect = ample in speech,
graceful in compliment, Titanic in
denunciation, rich in illustration prod
igal of comparison and metaphor
and his sentences, measured and
rhythmical, fell like music on the en-
raptured throng.
He abhorred the Pharisee, and
loathed all conscientious fraud. He
had a profound aversion for those who
insist on putting base motives back Of
the good deeds Of others. He wore no
mask. He knew his friends-his enc
mics knew him. He had no patience
with pretense, with patriotic reasons
for unmanly acts. He did his work
and bravely spoke his thought.
Sensitive to the last degree, he
keenly felt the blows and stabs of the
envious and obscure, Of the smallest,
Of the weakest; but the greatest could
not drive him from convictions filed.
He would not stop to ask or give an
explanation. He left his words and
deeds to justify themselves.
He held in light esteem friend
who heard with half-believing ears
the slander of foe. He walked a
highway of his own, and kept the
company of his self-respect. He
would not turn aside to avoid a foe
to greet or gain a friend. In his ma
ture there was no compromise. To
him there were but two paths-the
right and wrong. He was maligned,
misrepresented and misunderstood,
but he would not answer He knew
that character speaks louder far than
any words. He was as silent then as
he is now, and his silence, better than
any form of speech, refuted every
charge.
He was an American-proud of his
country, that was and ever will be
proud of him. He did not find per-
fection only in other lands. He did
not grow small and shrunken, with
cred and apologetic, in the presence Of
those upon whom greatness had been
thrust by chance He could not be
overawed by dukes or lords. nor fiat
tered into vertebrateless subserviency
by the patronizing smiles of kings.
In the midst of conventionalities he
had the feeling of suffocation. He
believed in the royalty of man, in the
sovereignty of the citizen, and in the
matchless greatness Of this republic
He was of the classic mold-a figure
from the antique world. He had the
pose of the great statues-the pride
and bearing Of the intellectual Greek,
of the conquering Roman, and he
stood in the wide free air as though
within his veins there flowed the
blood of hundred kings.
And as he lived he died. Proudly
he entered the darkness-or the dawn
that we call death. Unshrinkingly
he passed beyond our horizon, beyond