The age-herald., 1897-09-22
,, SUPREME COURT,
interesting Facts Concerning Our Highest Iu-
 dlcal Body.

,szSA<- From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
 stephen J. Field has now the distinc- ton of the longest term on the supreme bench. having. on the 17th of last month. passed the time of John Marshall, which was thirty-four years. five months and six days. Field is now s1, an age when men usually feel like doing little or nothing, but prefers the labors of the court to retirement His mind Is still good, or it would not find fascination in continued and conc :ntrated work. And the solitary, hard studies of judge are more their own reward than those of any other high public officer. The lawyers know him, but the world does not John Marshall held on till 80, but one year less than MT. Flsld.
 Of the chief justices Marshalls long term comprises about one-third of the time from Jays appointment by Wash ington down to today. His predeces- sors were in office but a little while. Before him there had been more CT less vacillation and uncertainty about the position of first judge, and not until he went upon the bench and manif sted his mastery did it assume its fixed charac- ter as the head of great department of government. Just such a man as Mar shall waszneeded at that time for that office, and John Adams has rar5ly shown more sagaeity as statesman than in casting to the winds all impor tunity and theusting it upon Marshall. Patterson was a member of the court, whose nomination Marshall advised, but Adams declined making the appoint ment. The place was then offered again to Jay, who rsfuged it, when the presi- dent decided on Marshall as the man. He hadn't the credentials of a collegi- an, as had the judges before him-Ells- worth, Rutledge and Jay-which were always a big recommendation with Ad- ans, and that h. could overlook this point without scruple spsaks well for his native judgment.
 The whole time of the chief justices, commencing with Jay and continuing with Fuller is 107 years, Marshalls pre- decessors held the office but ten years, So that a century of this time has been filled by five men, beginning with Mar shall John Rutledge hardly numbers with the chief justices at all, for he missed confirmation, though he sat on the bench after being nominated Wash ington had great faith in the ability and integrity of John Jay, and offered him any office under the new government he might want. The station most agre:- able to Jay was the first place on the supreme bench In this he judged him self fairly well. His cast of mind, how ever. was not pre-eminently judicial. fFhs- o,,i1 f,, April, 179O with Jay as chief justice it's construction dating but a year later than that of the government. Jay had been in office two years when he was given an opportunity to run for gover- nor of New York against Clinton, the state executive. With all his federal ism, he thought better of the gover- norship than he did of his position on the supreme bench and entered the race. He was elected, but was not given a majority of the votes. By decision of a committee friendly to Clinton he was continued as governor. When his term expired Jay was again chosen to succeed him, and was elected. He thereupon resigned as chief justice, hay
 ing been in offica five years.
 Jay was born in the city of New York, graduated there from Kings c5llege and became a lawyer. He was in congress at 30, and even then had repu ation for good sense and prao cal sb lly An ad- dress prepared by him, at the instigation of a committee, soon confirmed the gen. eral opinion of his power Without knowing it's author, Jefferson said it was the production eff the finest pen in America. The address gave eo Jay at once an ascendancy that he never lost He had done one of the bast things of his life, and the honor came early, so 1t was advanta geous. In this we trace the lasting influence of a youthful imores- sion, which can net well be oblireratel no nla..er what or how marked the na- tive bent may be. Jay never got clear of the effects of that address, not even after he was made chief justice. I gave him renown from Georgia to the frontier of Canada as young man fiji for foreign controversy and the a.f fbi ment of far reaching questions. 1t stamped him as | a diplomat rather than as a judge, and | later he became identified with the nego- l tiation of treaties, notably one con1lud- l ing peace win Greaf Britain after the | revolution. and another of a commercial | character bearing his name.
 In treating Tor peace, Jay spoke like | the representative of a government able l to command. It was Franklns opinion | that the commission given by King | George to MT. Oswald to erea't with the l United States as colonies or plantations | was sufficient. But Jay, disregard.ng the | attitude of England, France and the | American congress, Informed the British | foreign sacre,. ary, MT. Townshend, that l the United States would treat on the | basis of Independence or not al all In | any other character of negotia ton, he l would take no part. That was in Sep | teniber, 17S2. Oswald was immeda a.ely | authorized to treat with the Ame.i ican | and before the end of the | next month provisional articles were sub | scrlbed to. Twelve years after, when | Jay was on the supreme bench, the re- lations Of this csurLry and Great Britain | were assuming an aspect of open host.li-