Show THE EMINENT T jurist NOW SOW DECEASED tiie tile following summary mmary ssu siu of the leading eventa events in the life iffe of judge jeremiah fahs lahb S black appears in the san ban francisco chronicle a paper opposed to the political views and many of cf the acts nets of the great lawyer whose loss loea Is felt by the nation the manliness to give credit to the deceased for his hib eminent abilities rectitude of character and to place him in inn ina a true light before the country those who through spite and the bitterness which flows from a small email and crabbed soui boul berate the erand grand old inan man because he had the boldness to defend the unpopular mormons cormons Mor mons 22 cannot comprehend his bravery and devotion to constitutional principle they can call only judge him by their own mercenary spirit tand and actions but bat from the following account it will be seen that he was just jasi as fearless when he disagreed with his chief in the executive cabinet as when he espoused tho the cause of a despised people whose rights were in danger mis his object in either case oase was not gain gains but the maintenance of the right jeremiah 8 black was an eminent public character the best beat years of his life were devoted to the service of his country judge black blaek was of scotch irish descent he was born on january 10 1810 in somerset county pennsylvania and his early years were passed upon the farm of his sire where he acquired a liking for rural life which was never wholly destroyed by the experiences ax perien perlen ces of later years but h habits of study boon soon acquired in deuced in him an ardent desire for learning rendering him too ampa and ana to long the a plow p low at the time when most lads lado wire ware were puzzling kneir heads over the textbooks text books commonly used need in the schools jeres brain was wrestling with the If conduct of the un uh by locae locke and with drew drew draw on the soul boul his literary tastes seemed to be about equally divided between the classical and metaphysical he soon became imbued with the doctrines of christianity ohr Chr istl iati which he afterwards atter atten warda vigorously defended against the assaults of such liber ilber allsto alista as robert Q G in gerroll ger soll at the age of 23 years he joined the Cam church the educational advantages which he enjoyed were not of the best even in those primitive times like the poet burns he received his rudimentary lessons lemons behind the tb a plow and in the common schoola in his district he concluded hia hla schooling at a private academy in fayette county in his leisure hours he read great authors arid arld and during the eighteen elgh teen teea months mouths which he passed upon the farm after leaving school and prior to beginning his law studies ho he translated very many of the classics into english self belr culture with him did not eosso cosse with hib hla school days put but increased with hib his years and continued through nearly all his life graduating at the age of 17 ye yearb years ars arb jere black who mentally and physically was then unusually well matured soon after began the study of law with chauncey chaun Chann cey forward of somerset and before he was of age wan waa admitted to the bar and became prosecuting attorney of somerset county me he rose nose rapidly in his profession fes sion for which he appeared to possess all the natural qualification and mr forward having been elected to Con congress grehs greks went to washington and certified all of his clients cases to jere black who wag was in the second term after his admission left with an extensive practice including one side of every case on the calendar 2 in addition to his duties as prosecuting attorney deterring Ee to this period of his life judge black was subsequently overheard to say bay 1 I would have run away from such responsibilities if I 1 could I 1 would rather have hauled mauled rails it would have been play by the bide alde of the work I 1 had to do but nut there was a strong incentive the desire to earn sufficient Jen t money to pay an indebtedness for his tather father which ed ad the estate that sustained the courage of the young attorney and aided him in carrying his difficult professional duties to a successful completion the unusual jove that jere haj hsi for his hla sire in ia illustrated by the following anecdote the democrats in W 18 iliad had decided to nominate him black for congress Con giess and joshua T cox had been agreed upon as the candidate cf the whigs but nut when the tho whigs met the action was re conal considered dered and instead of cox the nominee selected was henry blac elac 1 for the purpose of preventing the I nomination of his bon son jere by the democrats the plan was a su success e jere despite the solicitations soli citations s ot of partisans would not consent to run against his father and so it resulted that henry black elack was sent to congress while his son remained at home henry black died in 1812 while serving his first congressional alterm term the episode above nar black in an equivocal position with hia bia party and was more deeply regretted by him than any other experience in his political career in 1838 jere black then 28 years of age was married to the daughter of his preceptor and patron miss mary forward and four years yearb later 1842 he be was appointed by gover nor porter as ag president judge of the court cf common pleas for the circuit cincu t comprising the counties of franklin frankiin fran k somerset bedford biair and fu fulton eulton iton he ile held the office for nearly ten years during which time he won for himself an enviable reputation as a jurist his decisions were marked by brevity and accuracy but few were ever appealed and fewer a still till were reversed in 1851 1861 he became chief justice of the supreme court of pennsylvania and in 1854 1851 he helas was wag reelected elected re to the supreme bench by a large jarge majority a though although at that time the wave of known nothing ism swept the political deck clear of nearly all other democrats who were upon it after serving two of the fifteen years for which he had been reelected elected re to the office of chief justice judge black was called to the cabinet of president buchannan Ba channan as attorney general of the united states for a long iong time he was the sincere friend and trusted adviser of president Buchan anfor whose ability be ever entertained the highest esteem it was not until 1860 in the fourth year of judge blackb black s official term when the rising rebelton waa nearing maturity that he and the president began to drift apart and anally finally became openly antagonistic upon the vital political issues of the day buchanan la in the policy of a temporizing delay black in the prompt and uncompromising enforcement ot of the uhe laws in lu november 1860 the president asked the attorney general tor for a legal legs opinion on the rights of ol 01 states under the constitution and the power of the executive in suppressing rebellion the document prepared and presented by judge black elack contained the following pertinent paragraph rhe the union Is neoe nece manry marRy perpetual no 0 state stale can lawfully withdraw or bo ida expelled from it the tule federal constitution la as much a va parl part in of ghe bho constitution of every mato mate as if it had d been textually inserted therein tho the federal government la is sovereign within its and acts A directly upon the individual citizens ot at every state within these thebe limits lw its coercive amplo to defend itself its ita laws and its property properly it can suppress insurrection ight tattles conquer at disperse hostile combinations and pun ish any or all of its enemies it can meet re repel ropel pil and subdue all wl those who riso against ita it but nut 1 ul it cannot obliterate a single commonwealth mon wealth irom the map of the union or deewe declare indiscriminate tsar wan alt ait the inhabitants habitants of a section confounding the inlo innocent with the guilty gunty president buchanan declined to receive this opinion which so illy accorded with his hla own sentiments and desired in its stead a mere for mai mal legal answer to questions he had propounded without any comments or arguments to show the mistakes of the incoming power or the follies of the southern leaders leadens Je adens aders the result was a formal opinion of november 1860 for which judge black was Ee verely severely criticized the next serious difference between the president and the attorney gene ral arose nrose over the annual message ge to con congress greas in the following december buchanan bachanan had written no jno power has been delegated to coerce into submission a state that thai is attempting to withdraw arbab or hab has entirely withdrawn from the confederacy 11 judge black objected to the above expression and argued against its appearance in the message but was overruled by the president the gul guif which had thus thua opened between the president and judge black grew wider with the lapse of time when lioyd eloyd then secretary of war proposed to surrender the southern forts to the se there was a memorable cabinet seene beene in denouncing the suggestion judge black said there never was a period la in the history of the tha english nation when any minister could mop POP propose to 0 giva give up to on an enemy of his government a military post which was capable of being defended without beinar bein brought to the mock this language was not relished by the presidents president who rebuked both black and stanton for a too free expression of their anti benti senti ments when president buchanan appealed to judge black to take the office of secretary of state vice general cass oabe resigned he declined to accept it except upon the condition that edwin M stai stanton iton be ap pointed attorney general the president hesitated but at last assented and thus was judge black successful in getting stanton into the cabinet to aid him la in the struggle against secession at the expiration cf his term as to the seclusion of his home in pennsylvania near the town of york not having grown wealthy in public life he here resumed the practice of law within the last twenty yearb years he argued many nota ble bio cases oases before the supreme CO court of hla hib native state perhaps hia hit hl greatest eabe cabe that of the wag wa new almaden bukk gul gui silver mining company com pan y of callao Call cali C aw fo C nia the testimony in the case cue COT coy ered printed page pagey and the length of the opposing counsel briefs was 1700 pages in thid this cal eal judge black had to contend wl buch bach eminent lawyers as deverd johnson charles oconnor and JQ jn dah benjamin benj amin and on other oem alone he has met mgt with such disik gulshen advocates as caleb cuga and K R 13 curtis cantis his argame ati lh ih many cases involving the comb of the act are historical in his greald great e fort in the milliken case which ai cured a decision from the court cour t daubing the right of a ada lda raly rali tary commission to try a ata kr fe his life judge black was wag with the late president gusy guse his services ser sen vicea before the edw commission where he appe etem VIAM one of the democratic coun ati abl of too comparatively recent dati datt to 10 require any exten extended dod mention by reason of his winning gen yen vt language his bis oratorical power powen iii ili classical clae and legal learning as 11 as for the strict rectitude of ahli h character and his patriotism is the name of jereme d S black entitled to honorable rhea ngn tion in the civil and political r the united states |