The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-12-08

LLa.t41 / o." " -
MAS so very eminent as q lawyer. as a
tinted states Senator. and as the chief
rtaaial IN President Jefferson Dayis's Ca
Fnet in the great war. | have some i'm
rr. --i1n. that he was born. of his Jewish
. rareuts in Fayetteville, n. c.. but cannot
farm definitely OF it. Among several
other very able and admirably equipped
leaders IN the South, Of whom Senator
Vest has written SO ~engagingly, there is
not one who more deserves his praise and
skill as q writer than the very accomplish
al. largely endowed and versatile South
SON.. who JeW-bCrn, rose to such great
.a.5ncuce both in. this, ms native country,
and in Great Britain. After the war he
vsat beyond seass, "a fugitive and an
.~slca-t." says MI. Vest, ito become the
Hu.t lawyer III England, ana leader of the
most aristocratic and exclusive bar in
the world This is no doubt true. He
was first in his profession in two coun-
tt.l~. and III England, ~foreign-born as he
va.. and a Jew, he became a Queens
Uoln~ellor. When a candidate for the
United States Senate in Louisiana several
years before the great war, his opponent
Was General Henry Cray "a gentleman
Of high character and great ability"
They canvassed the state, and at Shreve-
rort. General Gray was ~innprudent enough
TO tjunt Mr.. Benjamin by saying that his
Iorefathers had crucifed the Saviour OF
the world. The Esply of Benjamin was
q memorable one, and should have been
NEST crushing as it was well deserved"
lie said: 1T is true. that l am a jew,
and when my ancestors were receiving
the Ten Commandments from the imme-
date hand of Deity, amidst the thunder
lnez and lightnings of Mount Sinai, the
ancestors of my opponent were herding
swine In the forests Of Great Britain
The comment upon this by Senator Vest
is informing: 1T viii be seen that in
this single sentence Benjamin paid the
highest compliment to the Jewish race,
and at the same time appealed to their
well-knoWn prejudice against an animal
pronounced u~nciean by the Mosaic law
Tie entire sketch is both instructive and
interesting, and doubtless Just. That
Benjamin was one of the greatest men
who ever lived in America IS true I may
not doubt. Mr.. Justice Field. Of the Su-
preue Court. heard him for the first time
with the great lawyer of Pennsylvania,
jerry Black, opposed. Benjamin stated
the case briefly and then a recess came.
Field said. that he had never listened in
all his experience to a statement so lucid,
comprehensive and convincing and
when he saw Black he said: You had
letter look to your laurels for that little
Jew from New Orleans has stated your
case out of court Ard that was before
his great argument had been delivered,
that came later on. Mr.. Vest says Dennis
Murphy, official reporter of the Senate
for some forty years, and "a lawyer Of
considerable ability and one OF the best
informed men on all subjects l have ever
known, was asked by him, who in his
judgment. was the abIest and best equip
ped Senator he had known?''he replied
without hesitation, Judah P. Benjamin, OF
louisiana He said he did not mean
that he was the greatest political leader
or statesman whom he had known, but,
without reservation, be believed him to
be the most accomplished and best
equipped public man he had ever met
Others SO regarded him. [ first heard Oh
him in 1874, when he was practlcIng law
in New Orleans. 1t was all praise and
exaItation. He would speak IL the regular
court in English, and then leave and go
to another court and speak IN French.
Senator Veet agrees with Mr.. Murphy,
and says that latter a quarter of a
century's service with the ablest men Of
both the North and South, l can say de-
hDerateIy that, though I have known
greater leaders in legislation and eolitical
management than Judah P. BENJAMIN,
have never met his equal as an accom-
pIlShed, well-equipped and ready debateE
and legislator
Mr.. BENJAMIN had a brother and a
nephew who were graduated at the Uni
versity Of North Carolina-Joseph Z. Ben
.jamin and Lionel L. Levy-the latter the
most gifted. Both were small men physl-
calIy. Joseph was very handsome, and a
warm friend of mine, although my elder
by q few years. He wrote to me, and re-
served his excellent room No. >, second
story, South Building, for me, He died
in South America. where he lived. within
a year. OF Levy I never heard after his
return to Louisiana.
There is a new historical work written
by a highly gifted and accomplished au-
thor, Sir George Otta Trevelyan, the able
nephew of the Incompatible Lord Macau
lay, 1t concerns our own coGntry, and Is
on The American Revolutlon,' embracing
the years from 1875, to 1877. 1t IS III tive
Ume He could not write q poor book
/ have read with delight. ard long ago,
his life Of his eminent uncle. the best piece
Of biography I know after BoawelGs I'M
Cquaiicd life OF DR.. Johnson. and j. 6.
L~ockhaft's great life Of his father-inlaw
Sir Walter Scott. How he treats tins
great Revolution, whether from a strict
ly antiquated English standing-point, OF
with modern breadth and information,
can not determine, never having so mucE
as seen the work. l judge it IS cut OF
the mn0 and may surprise Americans
In Leeky's great History Of England il
the Eighteenth Century," IN the sixth
octave volume. he turns on much light as
to the "Rebellion'' of our forefathers, ant
gives really some new and valuable lntor
maticn. The English War Office and The
Records Of the Government furnished IN
formation that IS new in some degree t.
American historical writer's. OF the Con
unental Congress. MI. Trevelyan writes
as / see it copied in a literary journal:
political power, 50 much as there wa
Of 1T, rested in q collection of individual
Who called themselves a Congress; as the,
might have called themselves a House Q
Commons, or an Assembly of Notables
or Gf they were so minded a Witenage
mote. With less inherent authority thaI
a parish vestry-for legal standing the.