The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-24
A GLORIOUS ENRICHMENT
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 Connecticut sent us one of her first rep
 resentatives in the senate the man tC
 whom that body largely owed it's eXis-
 tence, And he also stands out conspic-
 uous as one of the great constructive
 legislators of great period of con
 etruction, for it was he who drafted the
 judiciary act upon which the judicial
 system of the United States has rested
 ever since, and to which all subsequent
 legislation for the judiciary has been
 but extension and amendment This
 was his second service to his country,
 so large in it's scope as to give him a lasting place in our legislative history, even as the equality of the states in the senate is his enduring monument in the history of our constitution.
 William Maclay was a senator from Pennsylvania during the first two years of our government. At a period when the senate sat behind closed doors and had no records of debates he kept a careful diary narrating their, proceed ings.
 And what are the comments of the di- arist who records so many deeds and credits such large activities to single man? They are interesting and in the broadest sense instructive. He de- scribed Ellsworth as a tool of "Hamil- ton and his crew" whom he regarded as totally corrupt and toward the close of sessions says, The man has abili ties, but abilities without candor and integrity are characteristics of the dew H."
 How false it all is! How well we know now the greatness the unspotted purity of Washington, the fiery courage and unbending patriotism of Adams, the vast constructive genius of Hamil ton, the commanding abilities, the last ing services, the unsullied honor of Ellsworth! What lesson too is here if we will but take the trouble to learn it! I never remember the time when I have not heard the senate of the mo- ment described as at it's lowest point, as having fallen far from the high level of the earlier and better days. Then I read Maclay and take heart, for if he Is right and our senate and our govern ment were such as he describes, and if the bitter critics of the moment are also right and we are worse now than in the earlier and better days, then indeed has the impossible come to pass, for the re- public still survives, greater and more powerful, more honored at home and abroad than ever before. Then 1 feel sure that the critics of this kind past and present must be wrong, for if they were not the republic would have died. The Maclays, like the poor are always with us, sole proprietors of righteous ness, undisturbed by any outcry against their self imposed monopoly.
 As we see now from the cool eminence of new century the distant figure of Oliver Ellsworth rise up clear and se enc, his brow laurelled with good deeds done for his country, his memory fra grant with patriotism, honor and noble thoughts, it is well to turn to Maclay's diary and to remember that this dead statesman fought once in the dust of the arena, was thus attacked and slam dered and misjudged even by one who stood near him. The career of the statesman and julist shines all the brighter by the contrast and history with her calm voice as she unrolls the page and spreads the whole record be- fore our eyes, bids us even now to be temperate in judgment, to be tolerant as
 
 ent with kindly as we'll as a search ing gaze and above all to take heart and to hold fast to deep and abiding faith in the American people and in the re- public of our love.
 The rejection of Rutledge by the sen ate and the refusal of Cushing to ac eept the chief justiceship made it more than ever important to fill that great | post with a man who would command | not only the support of the Federalists, | but the confidence of the country as | we'll After much deliberation Wash | ington turned to Ellsworth and appoint ed him to the vacant place. He acCep- | ted with reluctance the duty which had | come to hic unsought and was sworn in 1 as chief justice on the 9th of March, | 1796. He came to his great office we'll | qualified both by professional training and by experience as statesman and law-maker
 We became engaged in actual hostili- ties though not in declared war with France. The Federal leaders were for war. John Adams determined to make one more effort for peace. His first step was blunder, for he named William Vans Murray alone to reopen relations with France. Something stronger than that was needed if the confirmation of the senate was to be obtained and the president, conscious of his error and of impending defeat, added Ellsworth and Patrick Henry, for whom Governor Da- wis of North Carolina was afterward substituted, to the commission.
 On November 8, 1799, the envoys sailed from Newport and on the 27th they reached Lisbon. Ellsworth and Davie pressed forward, reached Paris on March 2, 1900, met Murray in negoti- ations with a commission appointed by the first consul and headed by Joseph 
 The extreme Federalists at home thought the negotiations should have ended then but Ellsworth laid aside the points for a more conven- tent season and with his colleagues made treaty by which France agreed to pay her debts to the United States and the commercial relations of the two countries were arranged. The treaty was not thought a very brilliant one at the time, but it is easy to see now that , ,G1N,t