The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-06

was so very eminent as a lawyer. as a
United States Senator, and as the chief
official in President jefferson Davis's Ca
binet in the great war. 1 have some i'm.
preston that he was born of his Jewish
parents in Fayetteville, N. c.. but cannot
affirm 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 writer than the very accomplish
ed, largely endowed and versatile South
ron, who Jew-born, rose to such great
eminence both in this, his native country,
and In Great Britain. After the war he
went beyond seaSs, "a fugitive and an
outcast,' says Mr.. Vest, ito become the
first lawyer in England, and 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-
tries and in England, foreign born as he
was, and a Jew, he became a Queens
Counsellor. When a candidate for the
United States Senate in Louisiana several
years before the great war, his opponent
was General Henry Gray "a gentleman
OF high character and great ability.
They canvassed the State, and at Shreve-
port, General Gray was imprudent enough
to taunt Mr. Benjamin by saying that his
forefathers had, crucified the Saviour Of
the world. The reply of Benjamin was
a memorable one, and should have been
most crushing as it was well deserved"
He said: 1T is true. that I am jew,
and when my ancestors were receiving
the Ten Commandments from the imme-
date hand of Deity, amidst the thunder
ings and hghtnings 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 will 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 unclean by the Mosaic law"
The 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 l may
not doubt. Mr.. Justice Field. of the SUI
preme 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 statement so lucid,
comprehensive and convincing" and
when he saw Black he said you had
better look to your laurels for that little
Jew from New Orleans has stated your
case out of court And 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, he believed him to
be the most accomplished and best
equipped public man he had ever met"
Others so regarded him. l first heard OF
him in 1914, when heewas practicing law
in New Orleans. 1t was all praise and
exaltation. He would speak in the regular
court in English, and then leave and go
to another court and speak in French.
Senator Vest 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-
liberately that, though 1 have known
greater leaders in legislation and political
management than Judah P. Benjamin, 1
have never met his equal as an accom-
plished, well-equipped and ready debater
and legislator
Mr.. BENJAMIN had a brother and
nephew who were graduated at the Uni
versity of North Carolina-Joseph E. Ben
jamin and Lionel L. Levy-the latter the
most gifted. Both We're small men physi-
cally. Joseph was very handsome, and a
warm friend of mine, although my elder
by few years. He wrote to me, and re-
served his excellent room No. 9. second
story, South Building for me. He died
in South America, where he lived. within
a year OF Levy 1 never heard after his
return to Louisiana.
There is a new historical work written
by highly gifted and accomplished au-
thor, Sir George Otta Trevelyan, the able
nephew of the incompatible Lord Macau-
lay. 1t concerns our own country, and is
on "The American Revolution" embracing
the years from 1776, to 1887. 1t is in two
volumes. He could not write poor book.
I have read with delight, and long ago.
his life of his eminent uncle, the best piece
of biography l know after BoswelPs un-
equalled life of DR.. Johnson. and J. G.
Lockhart's great life of his father-in-law
Sir Walter Scott. How he treats the
great Revolution. whether from a strict
ly antiquated English standing-point or
with modern breadth and information, 1
can not determine, never having so much
as seen the work. l judge it is out of
the common. and may surprise Americans.
In Leeky's great History of England in
the Eighteenth Century" in the sixth
octave volume, he turns on much light as
to the Rebellion of our forefathers, and
gives really some new and valuable infor-
nation The English War Office and the
Records of the Government furnished In
formation that is new in some degree to
American historical writer's. OF the Con-
tlnental Congress. Mr.. Trevelyan writes
as l see 1T copied in literary journal:
Political power, so much as there was
of 1T, rested in a collection of individuals
who called themselves Congress; as they
might have called themselves House of
Commons, or an Assembly of Notables
or (lf they were so minded) a Witena ge-