that it was
unfair to place him under such condemnation, while two associate
Justices in the North, Grier and Nelson, joined in the decision
without incurring special censure, and lived in honor and veneration
to the end of their judicial careers. While, therefore, time has
in no degree abated Northern hostility to the Dred Scott decision,
it has thrown a more generous light upon the character and action
of the eminent Chief Justice who pronounced it. More allowance is
made for the excitement and for what he believed to be the exigency
of the hour, for the sentiments in which he had been educated, for
the force of association, and for his genuine belief that he was
doing a valuable work towards the preservation of the Union. His
views were held by millions of people around him, and he was swept
along by a current which with so many had proved irresistible.
Coming to the Bench from Jackson's Cabinet, fresh from the angry
controversies of that partisan era, he had proved a most acceptable
and impartial judge, earning renown and escaping censure until he
dealt directly with the question of slavery. Whatever harm he may
have done in that decision was speedily overruled by war, and the
country can now contemplate a venerable jurist, in robes that were
never soiled by corruption, leading a long life of labor and
sacrifice, and achieving a fame in his profession second only to
that of Marshall.

CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY AND MR. SUMNER.

The aversion with which the extreme anti-slavery men regarded Chief
Justice Taney was strikingly exhibited during the session of Congress
following his death. The customary mark of respect in providing
a marble bust of the deceased to be placed in the Supreme Court
room was ordered by the House without comment or objection. In
the Senate the bill was regularly reported from the Judiciary
Committee by the chairman, Mr. Trumbull of Illinois, who was at
that time a recognized leader in the Republican party. The
proposition to pay respect to the memory of the judge who had
pronounced the Dred Scott decision was at once savagely attacked
by Mr. Sumner. Mr. Trumbull in reply warmly defended the character
of the Chief Justice, declaring that he "had added reputation to
the Judiciary of the United States throughout the world, and that
he was not to be hooted down by exclamations about an emancipated
country. Suppose he did make a wrong decision. No man