The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-23

Judge Prescott, which also will be found
on page S6T: -Sir, the prejudices OF the
day will soon be forgotten; the passions,
II any there be, which have excited OF.
favored this prosecution will subsidc; but
the consequence OF the judgment you arr.
about to render will outlive both them and
you. The respondent is now brought a
single, unprotected individual. to thi:
formidable bar Of judgment. to stand agains
tho power and authority of the State
|, know you can crush him as he stands before
you, clothed IA you are with the sovereignty
Of the State. You have the powsr u.
change his co,mtenance and to send HIM
away Nor do l remind you that You.
judgment il to be reiudged by tho co:-.
munity: and, az you have summoned him
for trial TO this high tribunal. that you
are soon 10 descend yourselves from these
| seats Of justice, and stand before tho higher
| tribunal OF the world would not rait
! 30 much In respect to this honorable Court
az TO hint that 10 could pronounce a sentence
which the community will reverse. No, sir
II IL not the worlds revision which I would
| call on you TO regard but that Of your own
consciences, when years have gone by, and
| you shall look back on the sentence YOU arr,
about TO render. II you send away the
respondent condemned and sentenced.
from your bar you are yet to meet him in the
world on which you cast him out. You will
| be called to behold him, disgrace to his
family, sorrow and a shame to his chll-
dren, living. fountain of grief and agony
to himself II you shall then be able to be-
hold him only as an unjust judge, whom
vengeance has overtaken and justice has
blasted you viii be able to look upon him,
not without pity, but yet without remorss.
But il. on the other hand. you shall see
whenever and wherever you meet him, a
victim of prejudice or OF passion, a sacri-
flee to a transient excitement. If YOU shalt
zee In him a man for whose condemnaton
any provision OF the Constitution has been
violated or any principle of law broken
down.-then will he be able, humble and low
az may be his condition. then will he be able
TO turn the current OF compassion back
ward. and to look with pity on those who
have been his judges
VII.
Upward Of one hundred and fifty pages ~
the authors second volume are devoted to
BanJ amin Il. Curtis, who in 1851, at the age
OF AZ, was appointed by President Fillmore
at the solicitation of Daniel Webster and
Rufus Choate an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court Of the United States A
We have seen, Mr. Veeder considers him
the oonsummate master Of pure intellectual
style among American lawyers of recent
times He Ia here represented by his jul
dicial opinion in the bred Scott case. by
his charge to the jury In the McGlue case,
and by three arguments, those, namely,
In defence Of President johnson, in the
case Of harrington Va. Saunders, and in the
case OF Garnett vs.. the United States WEBB
or aatH ~ him hat ahia al
characteristic was clearness Whenever
I have heard Judge Curtis state PROPOSE
ton on the subject which ! had myself
made a matter Of study" said Richard
Henry Dana, Il listened to it with some
thing Of the surprise and delight with which
one who has labored through the slow and
repetitious process of arithmetic sees his
work done before his face by the methods
and signs OF algebra 1t was Justice
Millers conviction that Curtis was "the
FIRST lawyer Of America, Of the past or the
present time" Mr.. Veeder for his part is
disposed somewhat to qualify that opinion:
while resembling Marshall closely IN
character and in intellect, il may be doubted
whether In Marshalls position he would
have displayed the originality and breaarh
OF mind necessary to create new depart
IbichL OI JuFbpruutHCe. he aCke0 tllt
forecast OF the statesman. The momentou-
political and social problems Of the time re-
ceived very slight impressions from his
powerful mind 1t Ia, at the same time,
willingly conceded that "a man who has
administered the law in judicial positions
the bar, In such a manner as to Strengthen
the foundations OF society, and to illustrate
the value Of absolute justice, has surely
earned title to the gratitude OF posterity,"
In the opinion written by Justice Curtis
in the bred Scott case he dissented from
that part Of the decision rendered by The
majority OF the court in which it was averred
that person Of African descent cannot be-
citizen of the United States He main
tanned that to determine whether any
free persons descended from Africans held
in slavery were citizens Of the United States
under the Articles Of Confederation, and.
consequently at the time Of the adoption
OF the Constitution of the United States,
1t was only necessary to inquire whether
any such persons were citizens of any Of
the States under the Confederation at tn"
time of the adoption Of the Constitution
doubt. At the time Of the ratification OF
the Articles OF Confederation all free
native-born inhabitants Of the States of
New Hampshire Massachusetts, New York.
New jersey and North Carolina, though
descended from African slaves. were not
only ClllZeHR OF InOSe states, DuJ hUCn OF
them as had the other necessary q,lalitica-
tions possessed the franchise OF electors
on equal terms with other citizens. II
shall not enter, wrote Justice Curtis, into
an examination Of the existing opinions OF
that period respecting the African race,
nor into any discussion concerning the
meaning Of those who asserted in the Dec
laration OF independence that all men are
created equal that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienahIe
rights; that among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit OF happiness. My own
opinion is that a calm comparison Of these
assertions Of universal abstract truths ana
OF their own individual opinions and acts
would not leave these men under any re-
proach OF inconsistency; that the great
truths they asserted on that solemn occa-
sion they were ready and anxious TO mako
etYeotual wherever necessary regard to
which no states nan can dis
regard without producing more evil than
good would allow, and that II would not /"
just to them nor true In itself TO allege tina
they intended to say that the Creator of q
men had endowed the white race exclusively
with the great natural rights which IT,"
Declaration OF Independence asserts. Iu,
this Is not the place to vindicate their men
Org. As conceive, we should deal here,
not with such disputes if there can be
dispute concerning this subiect--but win
those substantial facts eyinced by the VIII
ten Constitutions of States and by the no.
'orious practice under them. And t!"v
show, in a manner which no argument can
that In some of the original Thu