Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/253

Rh Cooper DeLeon says of him, p. 34: "The Attorney General, &c.," p. 34.

The intended slur, contained in the concluding lines of the reference from DeLeon, are not justified by anything that I can find in the history of this most remarkable man, and eminent lawyer and statesman. On the contrary, the honors he achieved, both as a lawyer and statesman in this country, and especially the position attained at the English Bar, I think, fully attest the contrary. On his enforced retirement, on account of failing health, from the English Bar, the celebrities of that Bench and Bar gave him a complimentary dinner at which the Attorney General, the Lord Chancellor, and the Lord Chief Justice, vied with each other in showering compliments upon him, not only as to his accomplishments and ability as a lawyer, but also as to his integrity and worth as a man. The Lord Chief Justice, in the course of his speech, said:

"He came among us as a foreigner, in mature life, with great known celebrity, yet he has told us how he was received, and he knows that from no member of the profession, high or low, was there ever one spark of jealousy at the unrivalled success which he so speedily attained both on Circuit and in Westminster Hall. He knows that we are all proud of him. He knows that with a unanimity, remarkable even in this generous profession, Bench and Bar have met to-night with enthusiastic cordiality to do him honor. I am told by a learned friend of mine, older than myself, and who knows everything, that forty years ago some similar honor was intended for, though, as it happened, it could not be actually received by Story. Forty years have elapsed, and we pay such an honor to one more distinguished than Story."

"Approbation from Sir Hubert is praise indeed."

When Mr. Benjamin went to England, he had lost practically all he had in the wreck of the Confederacy. The civil law being in force in Louisiana, he had to become a law student again, to become acquainted with the common law, and thus fit himself for admission to the English Bar. This he bravely set to work to do, maintaining himself in the meantime by one contribution a week to one of the great London