Something of Men I Have Known | Page 6

Whig, and in Southern Illinois by an
anti-Nebraska Democrat. I cannot hold the Whig responsible for what
the abolitionist says, nor the anti-Nebraska Democrat responsible for
what either of the others say, and it looks like dogging a man all over
the State." There was no further allusion to the subject, and Mr. Lincoln
soon after called. The greeting between Judge Douglas and himself was

most cordial, and their conversation, principally of incidents of their
early lives, of the most agreeable and friendly character. Judge
Lawrence Weldon, just then at the beginning of an honorable career,
was present at the above interview, and has in a sketch of Mr. Lincoln
given its incidents more in detail.
Courts of justice, and the law as a distinctive calling, are the necessary
outgrowths of civilization. In his rude state, man avenged his wrongs
with his own strong arm, and the dogma, "Might makes right," passed
unchallenged. But as communities assumed organic form, tribunals
were instituted for the administration of justice and the maintenance of
public order. The progress of society, from a condition of
semi-barbarism and ignorance to a state of the highest culture and
refinement, may be traced by its advancement in the modes of
administering justice, and in the character and learning of its tribunals.
The advance steps taken from time to time in the history of
jurisprudence are the milestones which stand out on the highway of
civilization. All along the pathway of human progress, the courts of
justice have been the sure criteria by which to judge of the intelligence
and virtue of our race.
Truly it has been said: "With the coming of the lawyer came a new
power in the world. The steel-clad baron and his retainers were awed
by terms they had never before heard and did not understand, such as
precedent, principle, and the like. The great and real pacifier of the
world was the lawyer. His parchment took the place of the battle-field.
The flow of his ink checked the flow of blood. His quill usurped the
place of the sword. His legalism dethroned barbarism. His victories
were victories of peace. He impressed on individuals and on
communities that which he is now endeavoring to impress on nations,
that there are many controversies that it were better to lose by
arbitration than to win by war and bloodshed."
It is all-important, never more so than now, that the people should
magnify the law. Whatever lessens respect for its authority bodes evil
and only evil to the State. No occasion could arise more appropriate
than this in which to utter solemn words of warning against an evil of

greater menace to the public weal than aught to be apprehended from
foreign foe. In many localities a spirit of lawlessness has asserted itself
in its most hideous form. The rule of the mob has at times usurped that
of the law. Outrages have been perpetrated in the name of summary
justice, appalling to all thoughtful men. It need hardly be said that all
this is in total disregard of individual rights, and utterly subversive of
all lawful authority.
By the solemn adjudication of courts, and under the safeguards of law,
the fact of guilt is to be established, and the guilty punished. The spirit
of the mob is in deadly antagonism to all constituted authority. Unless
curbed it will sap the foundation of civilized society. Lynching a
human creature is no less murder when the act of a mob than when that
of a single individual. There is no safety to society but in an aroused
public sentiment that will hold each participant amenable to the law for
the consequences of the crime he either perpetrates or abets. This is the
land of liberty, "of the largest liberty," but let it never be forgotten that
it is liberty regulated by law. Let him be accounted a public enemy who
would weaken the bonds of human society, and destroy what it has cost
our race the sacrifice and toil of centuries to achieve.
The sure rock of defence in the outstretched years as in the long past,
will be the intelligence, the patriotism, the virtue of a law-abiding,
liberty-loving people. To a degree that cannot be measured by words,
the temple of justice will prove the city of refuge. "The judiciary has no
guards, no palaces, no treasuries; no arms but truth and wisdom; and no
splendor but justice."

II IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOTABLE MEMBERS OF THE FORTY-FOURTH
CONGRESS--TRIAL OF GENERAL BELKNAP--THE
PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST BETWEEN HAYES AND
TILDEN--CREATION OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION--THE
WRITER'S SPEECH ON THAT OCCASION-- PROMINENT
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE DURING THIS

CONGRESS--ANECDOTES OF MR. BLAINE--OTHER
MEMBERS--ANECDOTES OF MR. HOAR--ELECTION OF THE
"BLIND PREACHER"--MR. LAMAR'S ERROR AT TABLE--"BLUE
JEANS WILLIAMS"--RETIREMENT OF DR. BUTLER FROM THE