The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-11-01
J BY :
!: S AV @ Y ARD F.;
q
:, sssNo<s,e<sse<ss
!, sssNo<.se<sse~sSspe
s<sss@:

L
ed with that quality men call common
sense. If one would see that Illustrated
let him get the debates of the convention
that formed the constitution of Kentucky
of 1s49 and read Hardins speeches.
He was not a lcvable man. He was q
great many things that Rufus Chcate was
not. Proctor Knott relates an anecdotc
that is characteristic of him. Hardin
prosecuted the accused in the famous
wilkinson trial at Harrodsburg, Ky, and
there he met S. S. Prentess, the cher
counsel for the defense. Hardin was
never very famous for very good man
rers. and he did not stand in any awe
OF the great Prentiss, and let that gentle
man. the bench, the bar, and spectators
know 1T.
Some years after that, Hardin had pro-
fessional business in Mississippi, and was
at Jackson. The legislature wa in ses-
sion, and somebody offered a resolution
to invite him to address the two houses.
Before the vote was had, Prentiss went
Oh the floor and exerted his influence to
defeat the resolution. and he succeeded.
Hardin went over to Vicksburg to take
boat for Louisville, and while waiting
at his hotel the arrival of the boat from
New Orleans, he saw a bulky legal record
in the office and picked it up and found
i the transcript of a suit that had been
decided by the State Court of last resort,
and an appeal had been made to the SUI
premc Court of the United States He
soon became absorbed in it, and read it
very carefully. S. S. Prentss was one OF
the parties to the suit and his whole
tate and more, too, Were involved.
Hardin remarked to gentleman in the
room that it was most interesting case.
II so happened that this gentleman, to-
tai stranger, was party to the suit with
interests adverse to those of Prentiss. He
had been defeated in the State courts,
was much discouraged, and had resolved
to abandon the appeal. He asked if Har-
din was n lawyer, and when he got reply,
he asked his name. Pen Hardin, of
Kentucky was not a strange name any
where in the Mississippi Valley, and this
man had heard of it. Before they separ-
ated Hardin was engaged to prosecute
the appeal. John ]. Crittenden, another
Kentuckian, appeared for Prentiss, but
Hardin gained the case. 1t beggarcd Prem
tiss, and shortly after he moved 10 New
Orleans to regain his fortunes. 1t is SAID
that Old Ben had some communication
with him after the final order of the Su-
preme Court. in which he was not very
chivalrous, but proclaimed woe TO the
vanquished
Choate served one full term and a part
of another in Congress, and resigned 20
go to Boston and engaged in the practice
of his profession. He was now famous
man--celebrated for his intellect, his
learning, his accomplishments, and his
elCquence. He was a modest and sweet
tempered man. Had he been endowed
with the mighty spirit of Mirabeau or the
pugnacious spirit of John =. Adams, there
IS no telling what he might have become.
But the court room was the place tor
Choate, and now he was leader of the
bar. Before Jury he was invincibe. As
a criminal lawyer he had no peer. He
would have been a rich man if he had
known the value of money but he prac-
t;ced law for the love of it and threw
money away as fast as he got it. He
was like no other man. He was genius
whom it was difficult to understand. He
was a lawyer, a scholar, poet, and an
orator, and it was said of him. AS it was
of Charles James Fox that his intellect
was all feeling and his feeling was al!
intellect"
When Webster went into Harrison
Cabinet Choate was his successor in the
Senate, sent there to Guard Webster's
fortunes, and it is altogether probable
that had Webster had no ambition to he
President, Choate would never have been
Senator. 1t was for this that Clay chal-
lenged him. Clay could be a very naughty
and a very overbearing man. He Wa
some times unreasonable in that respect
and had he been more moderate Jonathan
Cilly might not have fallen before the
gun of Graves. He had detected Webster
in what he considered blowing with
the Democratic heifer in the case of Ste
venson, who had resigned the speaker
ship to be Minister to England. He adj
ministered a terrible rebuke to Weos
on that occasion. and it was not to be
expected that he would have much con
sideration for the man his rival in the
Wbig party had sent to the Senate IL
guard that rivals interests Thus it was
that when Choate was guilty OF the in
discretion of admonishing The Senate that
only a certain sort Of bank bill would
escape veto, all supposed his knowledge
came from Webster and Clay was I'M
fell on Choate. and was intended for
Webster. The incident recalls the episode
il the English Commons when Pitt the
Clay of that body. b. gesture of cor
tempt. crushed thet other great advo-
cate Erskine. who had been brougnc
into Parliament to aid the cause and the
PARTY of Fog.
1t was while Choate was Senator that
Edward Everett was nominated by TIE
President for Minister to England. There
was much opposition to the appointment
because Everett had advocated the abo-
lition OF slavery in the District Of CO.
lumbIa. Choate made u speech in favor
of confirmation that was said TO be one
of the greatest efforts ever heard in the
Senate, but which lives only III tradition,
for it was delivered in executive session
Mr. Buchanan. then Senator and q
Democrat, praised the speech in extraNa
CANT terms and related that so great
was Its effect on Preston, of South Caro-
lima. that overcome with emotion. he cx-
GAINED. i shall vote no. hut. by ---- he
shall not be rejected
Choate also made great fame in the de
bate Of the tariff bill of 1Si3. when he