The Irish standard., 1896-12-26

Lyceum, upon the occasion OF the arch,
bishops trip to Europe, Mr.. Coudert
| made the address of congratulation. 1t
may be that his religious connection has
| omething to do with his persistent re-
| fusal to be candidate for public Office,
| which has extended to appointments as
| we'll as to elective offices, and is UNDER
| stood to have been one reason why he
does not now occupy very high, if not
the highest, judicial position in the Unit
ed States, although the precedent of the
| Catholic Chief Justice Taney was in this
case very much in point. To this polit-
| ical disa abiity Mr.. Coudert alluded in his
argument before the combined commit
tees of the last Constitutional Conven-
tion Of New York charged with consider
! ing the prohibition of the appropriation
of public moneys to sectarian institu-
tions:
II know that there are certain Offices
to which neither nor mine can aspire
for years to come, and I am glad of it.
l never had the presidential bee in my
because know that if were the Arch
angel Michael under my insignificant
form, unless l gave up my faith l could
never enter the White House except as
a visitor"
To another fancied disability to public
prefer1nent Mr. Coudert gave playful ex-
preston at a dinner of the Seventh Regi-
ment Association, at which Gen. Grant
and Mr.. Evarts were among his fellow
guests. The badinage is so happy and
characteristic an illustration of Mr. Cou-
dert's style as an after-dinner speaker as
to be worth reproducing:
Certain remarks have awakened no
little Indignation in my breast. Like
every true American, I have sought to
get office ever since I was a boy. Not
of course for myself, but for the service
that might render my country. l have
succeeded in getting but one, and that
has no pay attached to it. The Only
reason that am able to assign for my
life disappointment is the one that has
often kept others, equally lneritorious, in
private life, and the same fact that has
baff1ed my efforts has made my distin-
guished friend Mr.. Evarts one of the
most conspicuous citizens Of New York.
I was born in New York and he was
born out Of it. There, again, see what q
mere accident may do. Had first seen
daylight in Vermont Or Massachusetts,
and he in New York City, we would
no doubt have exchanged places. I
should have had the honor of sitting next
to Gen. Grant, a fact which might have
transmitted to my posterity with pardon
able exultation; he would have sat at
this end of the table and enyiew me.
Such is the disadvantage of being born
ON your own native health
But no man has less right to make
serious complaint of a want of apprecia-
tion on the part of his fellow citizens
than Mr.. Coudert, as doubtless no man is
Nothing in the professional social, or
even political field that he would accept
has been withheld from him. He is an
ILL., D. of Columbia, Fordham, and Sc
ton Hail. and upon him, with very pecu-
liar appropriateness, Columbia first con-
ferred the j. U. D. (Juris Utrius Doctor)
He has been the president of the Coli1n-
! bia College Alumni, of the Young Mems
Democratic Club, and of the Bar Associa"
ton.
In politics Mr.. Coudert has always
been a Democrat, but always an indepen-
dent, whose party fealty was limited by
the extent to which his party fulfilled it's
end of public usefulness. He was an ad
herent of Gov. Tilden, and in 1879, the
year of John Kelly's bolt he earnestly
appealed for party unity. But he was a
vigorous 'anti-snapper" in 1892, and at
tended the national convention as an ad-
vocate of Mr.. Cleveland's nomination.
When the organization of his party at
tempted to foist a lawbreaker upon the
bench of the court of appeals, he was
one of the most vigorous of the protes-
tants, and was a member of the commit
tee of the Bar Association which made
the exposition of the case that was fatal
to the regular candidate. In 1889, upon
the resignation of Manton Marble, he
was elected to the presidency of the Mani
haitian Club, and has ever since contin-
ued in that office. In his official capacity
he attended the banquet of the surviving
founders of the Union League in 1893,
and upon that occasion made a speech
which was strikingly prophetic, for in
the course of it he said:
81 can imagine no calamity that would
not bind us all together. I know Of moth
ing that could menace this nation when
we would not forget the party we belong
to and unite in the one effort, and in the
harmony of patriotic duty turn our backs
on mere partisanship and fight to pre-
serve the Union.
The prophecy has been fulfilled within
the month, when mem bers of the Union
League and the Manhattan fraternized
in circumstances that have become public
in celebrating the defeat of the Demo-
cratic candidate.
The most enviable of Mr.. Coudert's
a:,+;oo+ionc is that tshic mind tO him q