Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 22.pdf/409

 Life and Character of judge Wallace assume a rebellious attitude as to the

385

placed alongside of one who is really great, the result of which is, that

binding force of the judgment of the Court. His object in giving to the world his views upon the legal proposi

creases in stature.

tion involved was that in the esti

Judge Wallace marshaled alongside of

mation

the nation's chieftains, he was not the one to shrivel. His qualities, upon his introduction to President Cleveland,

of the

members

of

the bar,

and the public generally, he should stand vindicated as far as the integrity of his motives was concerned. But the work that he did was not unfruitful of wholesome consequences. The fear inspired by the movement penetrated to the abodes of wrongdoing, and for many years good government prevailed

in our city. The paper above referred to which he read upon the dissolution of the grand jury found its way into the legal literature of the times, and received widespread recognition as a master piece of forensic discussion.

One way of testing a man's intellectual stature is by comparison with others;

in fact it is by that method that we reach conclusions upon controverted questions of fact, such as the beauty of a picture, physical dimensions of an

object, the character of a people and so forth. Adventitiously it has occurred that I have tested the deceased by the method of comparison. Immediately after the inauguration of Grover Cleve land, upon his ﬁrst election to the

Presidency, I was in a public position in Washington.

At the election of Mr.

Cleveland, by a coalition of circum stances involving no merit of my own, I was the only Democratic Congressman that was elected west of the Missouri River. Judge Wallace at that time held no public position, and to assist me by his counsel he came to Washington and was brought into daily intercourse

the ﬁrst shrivels up, and the last in

But when I saw

were of a nature so captivating, and his greatness was so readily discerned, that as I know from the President himself, Wallace became installed at once as one whose wisdom and patriotism could

be implicitly relied upon. I betray no conﬁdence at this day in view of my knowledge of the fact, that if a vacancy had occurred upon the Supreme Bench of the United States during Cleveland’s ﬁrst administration, Judge Wallace

would have been appointed. Now let me be understood respecting one matter.

I have said that if Judge

Wallace had anything to do, he did it well; but I have further said that his industry was not of the bustling, restless character; to the enjoyments of belles

lettres and particularly the biographies of great men he was keenly alive. I remember to have spent an evening with‘ him just as he had completed reading the life of Daniel Webster by Harvey, a work which presents with great ﬁdelity the true Webster; upon

my stating that I had never read the book, be poured forth, until the evening was gone, a stream of quotation from and comment upon the work-giving me ‘its very essence in a way that I shall long hold in memory. The task were a vain one to attempt to place upon paper the multiform endowments of this man. By one of

higher capabilities than myself an ap

with cabinet ministers and others dis tinguished in the annals of the country.

proach to it might be made. Not by me. Much might be said, but the

It may have chanced that you have seen a man of talents and character

of the language.

effort only demonstrates the limitations The canvas invites the