Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-06-02

u
sent, OF the 1,Oi2 opinions he rendered
none was more potent or memorable
than those rendered while he was in
small minority and sometimes in mi
nority of one. A learned and distin-
guished lawyer of this country said he
would rather be the author of Judge
Fields dissenting opinions than TO be
the author of the constitution of the
United States. The tendency is to go
with the multitude, 10 think what 9TH
ers think, to say and do what others do.
Sometimes the majority are wrong,
and it requires heroes 20 take the mega
tive, but to do that logically and in
good humor requires some elements of
make up not often found in judicial dis
senters or, indeed, in any class of men.
The Declaration of American lnde-
pendence was a dissenting opinion.
The Free Church of Scotland, under
Chalmers and his compeers was n dis
senting movement. The Bible itself,
Old Testament and New Testament, is
protest against the theories that
would have destroyed the world, and is
dissenting as well as a Diyinely in
spred book. The Decalogue on Sinai
repeated ten times Thou shalt not"
For ages to come will be quoted from
law books in courtrooms Justice Fields
magnificent dissenting opinions.
Notice that our ascended friend had
,1,np ~ o,,l
alone can develop, He had not come to
the soft cushions of the supreme court
bench stepping on cloth of gold and sa-
luted all along the line by handicap
ping of applause. Country personages
do not rock their babies in satin-lined
cradle or afterward send them out into
the world with enough in their hand to
purchase place and power. Pastors
salaries in the early part of this CEN
fury hardly ever reached $T00 year.
Economics that sometimes cut into the
bone characterized many of the homes
of the New England clcrgymen. The
young lawyer of whom we speak to-
day arrived in San Francisco in 1s40
with only ten dollars in his pocket
Wiliamstown college was only intro
ductory to postgraduate course which
our illustrious friend took while admin
isterng justice and halting ruftianism
amid the mining camps of California.
Oh, those "forty-niners," as they were
called, through what prvations,
| through what narrow escapes, amid
what exposures they moved! Admins
tering and executing law among out
laws never has been an easy undertake
ing. Among mountaineers, many of
whom had no regard for human life;
and where the snap of pistol and bang
of gun were not unusual responses, re-
quired courage of the highest metal.
Behind dry goods box, surrounded
by tallow candles, Judge Field began
his judicial career. What exciting
scenes he passed through! An Internal
machine was handed to him, and in
side the lid of the box was pasted his
decision in the Pueblo case the decis-
ion that had baked unprincipled spccu-
lators. Ten years ago his life would
| have passed out had not an officer
of the law shot down his assalant. II
took n long training of hardship and
abuse and misinterpretaton and threat
of violence and flash of assassin's knife
to fit him for the high place where he
could defy legislatures and congresses
and presidents and the world when he
1 ln .t.rI,N Il, =, \.
grindstonc that sharpens intellectual
faculties and the sword with which to
strike effectively for God and ones
country.
Notice also how much our friehd did
for the honor of the judiciary. What
momentous scenes have been Witnessed
in our United States supreme court, on
the bench and before the bench, wheth-
er far back it held its sessions in the
upper room of the exchange at New
York or afterward for ten years in the
city hall at Philadelphia or later in the
cellar of yonder capitol, the place where
for many years the congressional Ii
brary was kept, sepulchcr where
books were buried alive, the hole called
by John Randolph "the Cave of Tropho-
nius!" What mighty men stood before
that bar pleading in immortal elo-
quence on questions of national import!
How suggestive the invitation which
William Writ, the great Virginan,
wrote his friend inviting him to yonder
supreme courtroom: "To-morrow a
week will come on the great steam
boat question from New York. Emmett
and Oakley on one side, Webster and
myself on the other. Come down and
hear it. Emmetts whole soul is in the
case, and he will stretch all his powers
Oakley is said to be one of the finest
logicians of the age, as much Phocon
as Emmett is Themistocles, and Web
ster is as ambitious as Caesar. lie will
not be outdone by any man if it is with.
in the compass of his power to avoid
it. Come to Washington. 1t will be G
combat worth witnessing" The SUI
preme court has stood so high in Eng
land and the United States that tho
vices of few who have occupied that
important place have not been able tc
disgrace it, neither the corruption o
Francis Bacon, nor the cruelty of Sil
George Mackenzie, nor the Sabbath
/ desecration of Lord Castlereagh.
To that highest of all tribunals Abra
, ham Lincoln called our friend, but III
: lived long enough to honor the supreme
| 81 InI
him. For more than "a years he sat il
the presence of this nation and of al
, nations model judge. Fearlessness
+ integrity, devotion to principle, charac
, terized him. No bribe ever touched hi
: hand. No profane word ever scaldct
, his tongue. No blemish Of wrong eve
, marred bis character. Fully qualified
/ was he to have his name associated il
} the history Of this country with tn