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 The

Vol. XIV.

No. 12.

Green

BOSTON.

Bag.

December, 1902.

CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY. Bv Hon. John A. Shauck, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. FROM the point of present retrospect, the appointment of Roger B. Taney to the place on the bench of the Supreme Court left vacant by the death of Chief Justice Marshall seems to have been most natural. He was a man of dignified and lofty charac ter. He was distinguished for intellectual vigor. An eminent contemporary spoke of him as the man " of moonlight mind. The moonlight of the Arctics with all the light of day, without its glare." He had won and long held a place among the foremost lawyers of the nation. He had discharged the duties of attorney-general of his state and of the United States with an ability and fidelity which were known to all men. He had cordially supported the President in his dra matic assault' upon the nullification scheme of South Carolina, though he did not approve of all of what was called the " centralization doctrine " of the proclamation issued upon that occasion. A few months before one of the associate justices, who was a firm adherent to the national theory of construction, re signed his seat, but only after becoming sat isfied that Taney would be appointed in his stead. His nomination was sent to the Senate. Among the papers of one who at the time was a member of the Senate was afterward found a note from Chief Justice Marshall, expressive of a desire that the nom ination should be confirmed. It was indefi

nitely postponed. But the Senate was still engaged in the controversy over the United States bank, and its action with respect to the nomination did not imply an adverse judgment regarding either the character or the abilities of the nominee. The consider ations which most favorably commended him to the President operated conclusively against him with a majority of the senators and with the people who agreed with them respecting the propriety of continuing the bank. The Senate did not overestimate the importance of his influence in the overthrow of that in stitution. Even the great talents of Calhoun were devoted to his denunciation. Mr. Web ster sneered at him as " the pliant tool of the President." For that sneer there was no ex cuse. He had been an active opponent of the bank before entering the cabinet as at torney-general. His addresses and papers concerning it show that if his opposition was expressed less vehemently than was that of the President, it was placed upon grounds which indicated a much clearer conception of the reasons involved. Being convinced that the continuance of the bank would be a pub lic detriment, he struggled unremittingly for its overthrow. He stood alone in the cabi net in advising the veto of a bill to recharter it. When the Secretary of the Treasury re fused to make the order to withhold further deposits from the bank, he consented to be