XIINCIDENTS CONCERNING MEMBERS OF THESUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
TheChief Justice of the United States is the highest legal officer in this country.
The position has always been filled by men of great learning and of high integrity, and, differ as we may concerning the wisdom and justice of some Supreme Court decisions, yet we must believe the judges were sincere and honest in their renditions.
When the country loses confidence in the integrity of this court, the very foundation of our government will be in danger.
The first Chief Justice was John Jay, appointed September 26, 1789. He soon resigned to accept the position of Envoy Extraordinary to England, where, after the Revolutionary War, the adjustment of our affairs demanded a person of great learning and skill. The country was fortunate in having John Adams, John Jay, and, later, John Quincy Adams as its representatives in this delicate and important service.
John Rutledge, of South Carolina, was a later appointment to the Chief Justiceship, but the Senate refused to confirm the nomination. Then William Cushing, of Massachusetts, one of the Associate Justices, was nominated and confirmed, but declined to serve. Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut, was thenappointed, and was confirmed by the Senate March 4, 1796. He served till 1799, when he resigned to go as the Special Envoy and the Minister to England.
John Jay was again nominated and confirmed by the Senate, but refused to serve. John Marshall, of Virginia, was appointed Chief Justice by President John Adams in 1801. He died in 1835. His term and that of Chief Justice Taney cover over sixty important years in the history of our government.
John Marshall had served on the personal staff of Washington in the Revolutionary War, and had suffered the miseries and trials of the camp at Valley Forge. At the time of his appointment he was Secretary of State in Adams's Cabinet. He served in both capacities till the close of Adams's administration.
The Supreme Court, when Marshall was called to preside over it, was held in a low-vaulted room in the basement of the Capitol, and remained there until the new wings were finished, about 1857. Mr. Ellis, in "Sights and Secrets of Washington," tells this story of Marshall: "Upon one occasion Marshall was standing in the market in Richmond, Va., with his basket containing his purchases on his arm, when he was accosted by a fashionable young gentleman who had just purchased a turkey. The young man's foolish pride would not allow him to carry the fowl through the streets, and, taking the Judge for a countryman, he asked him to carry it home for him. The request was promptly granted, and when the young man's home was reached he offered the supposed countryman a shilling for his trouble. The money was courteously refused, and upon asking the name of the person whohad rendered him the service, the young man was not a little astonished and chagrined to learn that his thanks were due to the Chief Justice of the United States."
A bet was once made that the Judge could not dress himself without exhibiting some mark of carelessness. He good-humoredly accepted the challenge. A supper was to be given him upon these conditions: If his dress was found to be faultlessly neat upon that occasion, the parties offering the wager were to pay for the entertainment; but if they detected any carelessness in his attire, the expense was to fall upon him. Upon the appointed evening the guests and the Judge met at the place agreed upon, and, to the surprise of all, the Judge's dress seemed faultless. The supper followed, Judge Marshall being in high spirits over his victory. Near the close of the repast, however, one of the guests who sat near him chanced to drop his napkin, and, stooping down to pick it up, discovered that the Judge had put on one of his stockings with the wrong side out. Of course the condition of affairs was immediately changed, and amidst the uproarious laughter of his companions the Chief Justice acknowledged his defeat.
Mr. Ellis also says: "The following incident in his (Marshall's) life is said to have occurred at McGuire's hotel, in Winchester, Virginia:
"It is not long since a gentleman was traveling in one of the counties of Virginia, and about the close of the day stopped at a public house to obtain refreshment and spend the night. He had been there but a short time before an old man alighted from his gig,with the apparent intention of becoming his fellow guest at the same house. As the old man drove up he observed that both of the shafts of the gig were broken, and that they were held together by withes formed from the bark of a hickory sapling. Our traveler observed further that he was plainly clad, that his knee-buckles were loosened, and that something like negligence pervaded his dress. Conceiving him to be one of the honest yeomanry of our land, the courtesies of strangers passed between them, and they entered the tavern. It was about the same time that an addition of three or four young gentlemen was made to their number—most, if not all of them, of the legal profession. As soon as they became conveniently accommodated, the conversation was turned by the latter upon an eloquent harangue which had that day been displayed at the bar. It was replied by the other that he had witnessed, the same day, a degree of eloquence no doubt equal, but it was from the pulpit. Something like a sarcastic rejoinder was made as to the eloquence of the pulpit, and a warm altercation ensued, in which the merits of the Christian religion became the subject of discussion. From six o'clock until eleven the young champions wielded the sword of argument, adducing with ingenuity and ability everything that could be said,proandcon. During this protracted period the old gentleman listened with the meekness and modesty of a child—as if he were adding new information to the stores of his own mind, or perhaps he was observing, with philosophic eye, the faculties of the youthful mind and how new energies are evolved by repeated action; or, perhaps, withpatriotic emotion, he was reflecting upon the future destinies of his country, and on the rising generation, upon whom these future destinies must devolve; or, most probably, with a sentiment of moral and religious feeling, he was collecting an argument which, characteristic of himself, no art would 'be able to elude, and no force to resist.' Our traveler remained a spectator, and took no part in what was said.
"At last one of the young men, remarking that it was impossible to combat with long and established prejudices, wheeled around, and, with some familiarity, exclaimed, "Well, my old gentleman, what do you think of these things?" If, said the traveler, a streak of vivid lightning had at the moment crossed the room, their amazement could not have been greater than it was with what followed. The most eloquent and unanswerable appeal that he ever heard or read was made for nearly an hour by the old gentleman. So perfect was his recollection that every argument urged against the Christian religion was met in the order in which it was advanced. Hume's sophistry on the subject of miracles was, if possible, more perfectly answered than it had already been done by Campbell. And in the whole lecture there was so much simplicity and energy, pathos and sublimity, that not another word was uttered. An attempt to describe it, said the traveler, would be an attempt to paint the sunbeams. It was now a matter of curiosity and inquiry who the old gentleman was. The traveler concluded it was a preacher from whom the pulpit eloquence was heard. But no; it was the Chief Justice of the United States."
Judge Marshall was followed by Roger BrookeTaney, of Maryland. He was nominated by President Jackson, and confirmed by the Senate in 1836. He died October 12, 1864. His decision in the Dred Scott fugitive case may be ranked as one of the factors which brought about the Civil War. The case was substantially this: A negro slave, with a wife and two children, sued his master for freedom under the plea that, having been taken North into free States a number of times, they were therefore entitled to freedom. The decision covers many pages, but the nation summed it up in these words: "The black man possesses no rights which the white man is bound to respect." Since Moses established a judiciary no decision ever made such a disturbance. In the memory of most people Taney's singularly pure life goes for nothing beside the infamy of this decision. It outraged the conscience of mankind. Taney claimed that he did not make the law, he simply gave its interpretation. The decision was approved by the majority of the court, but he alone was made to suffer the obloquy which followed.
This decision proved sufficient to bring down the wrath of a just God on a nation so lost to human justice. The South suffered for the sin of slavery, the North for conniving thereto.
Judge Taney sleeps at Frederick, Md. (where most of his private life had passed), beside his wife, who was sister to Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
In the summer of 1888 I heard Dr. Wardell, at Ocean Grove, N. J., tell this incident concerning Salmon P. Chase, who was appointed Chief Justice byPresident Lincoln in 1864, and who died in 1873. Dr. Wardell claimed to have the story direct from Dr. Newman, then pastor of the Metropolitan Methodist Church, Washington, D. C.
He said that Chief Justice Chase was in the habit of attending the Metropolitan Church, on Four and One-half Street, Washington, and Dr. Newman (afterward Bishop) noticed that while the Chief Justice was a member of the official Board, and attended faithfully to its duties, yet he always left the church when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered.
After one such occasion Dr. Newman went to him and said: "Why do you not avail yourself of the means of grace in the Lord's Supper?"
The Chief Justice answered: "I do not consider myself worthy to partake of the communion."
The Doctor said: "We invite all who love the Lord, and who do truly and heartily repent of their sins, to join with us in this service."
"Yes, that is just it. What do you mean by 'repent'?"
Then the Doctor gave him a full and clear explanation of repentance.
On the next communion day instead of leaving the church the Chief Justice remained in his seat. After all had communed, Dr. Newman said: "If any soul feels its unfitness for this service, to him this invitation is specially given. If such a one fails to acknowledge the Savior and his own unworthiness before his fellowmen, we are assured that the Savior will not acknowledge him before his Father and His holy angels."
The Chief Justice rose, and staggered, rather thanwalked, to the front, and fell on his knees at the altar railing. After giving to the kneeling man the bread and wine, the Doctor, seeing the strong face of the penitent drawn with grief, with the Justice still kneeling, pronounced the benediction and dismissed the congregation.
The next day, in the robing-room of the justices, Chief Justice Chase said to Justice Miller: "Oh, I want to tell you to-day what the Lord has done for my soul! He came very near me yesterday."
Justice Miller replied: "Well, we will talk of that some other time; now we have the wages of sin and not righteousness before us."
After court adjourned that afternoon, the Chief Justice went down to Alexandria to see an old servant who had sent for him. He said to her: "Oh, Auntie, I received a great blessing yesterday; all life is different. I want to have a closer walk with God."
Within a few days he went to New York to transact some business. The morning after his arrival he did not come down to breakfast. The clerk waited till eleven o'clock, and receiving no answer to his frequent knocks, the door was forced, and there was found the dead body of the Chief Justice. He had entered on his closer walk with God.
It was well known throughout the country that Lincoln was not in harmony with Chase, even when the latter was Secretary of the Treasury, but Carpenter, in his "Six Months in the White House," says: "Notwithstanding his apparent hesitation in the appointment of a successor to Judge Taney, it is well known to his intimate friends that there had never beena time during his Presidency, when in the event of the death of Judge Taney, Mr. Lincoln had not fully intended and expected to nominate Salmon P. Chase for Chief Justice."
The appointment must have come to Chase with a little of the effects of "coals of fire," for he had not been very loyal to Lincoln. He had the Presidential bee in his own bonnet.
From 1874 to 1888 Morrison R. Waite, of Ohio, was Chief Justice. Our present Chief Justice, Melville W. Fuller, of Illinois, was called to the highest judicial position in the country in 1888.