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 Roger Brooke Taney vided.

153

But with great strength of will

demanded in judicial expression, was so

he fought both. He availed himself of every opportunity which offered to

limpidly clear as to be sought as a model by Chief Justice Chase who succeeded

speak either in the court room or on the

him, his spoken word accompanied by robust argumentation, and presented

hustings. It is not improbable that these disabilities were intensiﬁed by his always delicate and often inﬁrm health, and the untiring efforts which he was

obliged to put forth when coming in con tact as he frequently did with those great leaders. As Webster strove with Jeremiah Mason, Franklin Dexter and

Rufus Choate until he met them on

with sincerity and conviction, well may

have been of commanding power, whether addressed to the court or to a jury. Of his pure and upright life, his strength of character, his uniform cour

tesy to all with whom he came in con

more than an equal footing, so Taney

tact, his independent thought, his demo cratic breadth, from his early manhood

overcame these limitations until he en

to the close of life, there is today no ques

countered the prominent men not only

tion. Born and nurtured in a slave holding community, his father a slave holder, Taney did not hesitate to defend

of the Maryland bar as their equal, and had his claim allowed, but in the larger forum; and before the court of which he

Gruber, a Methodist minister, who ad

was to become the official head, he did not hesitate to engage with William Wirt, or expose himself to the mighty

dressed about four hundred negroes denouncing slavery, causing his prose

cution for sedition.

In his closing ad

Nor did

dress to the jury which acquitted the defendant, he used this language, which seems to have voiced his convictions as a man, for he manumitted the slaves

he make a single quotation from the

afterwards inherited from his father,

poets.

and never was a slave owner :

grip of Webster.

He has been described

by a contemporary “as seeking no aid from the rules of rhetoric nor from the

supplied graces of elocution.

Yet his English was always

chaste and classical, and his eloquence undoubtedly was great, sometimes im petuous and overwhelming. He spoke when excited from the feelings of his heart, and as his heart was right, he

spoke with prodigious effect." The wine of his opinions, as Dr. John son said of Bacon’s writings, “is a dry wine.”

But his use of English as a tool

was masterly.

Tyler in his memoir tells

us, "he was a diligent student.

Law was

his chief study, but he devoted much time to the study of history and letters. He

not only studied thoughts but be studied words with uncommon care.

vated a severe taste.”

He culti

If his written

A hard necessity indeed compels us to endure the evils of slavery for a time. It was imposed upon us by another nation while we were yet in a state of colonial vassalage. It cannot be easily or suddenly removed. Yet while it continues it is a blot on our national character, and every lover of freedom

conﬁdently hopes that it will be eﬁectually, though it must be gradually wiped away, and earnestly looks for the means by which this necessary object may be obtained.

The road then as now to large public preferment lay through the ﬁeld of politics, and Taney, in party affiliation a. Federalist, entered the political arena. He was defeated for the House of Dele gates, but became a member of the state

style, which is said to have been formed

senate,

from the reading of Shakspere and Ma

contest as a Representative to Congress, owing to the dissensions of the Federalist

caulay, but tempered with the calmness

although

unsuccessful

in

his