Chief Justice Taney. patriotism he had carried over to thfe period the traditions and doctrines of the court's golden age. In two of these cases in which the reactionary tendency is most manifest, he dissented for reasons so convincing that it is difficult to see how the conclusions of the majority could have been reached, and in terms which plainly suggest his veneration for the memory of the fallen chief by whose luminous reasoning he had been led from the narrow opinions of his youth to an adequate comprehension of the meaning of the consti tution and the vast purposes for which it was adopted. Not only did the members of the court in this period profess the highest respect for the great opinions from whose doctrines they were departing, but most of them appeared to be unconscious of the departure. Nor can there be found in the opinions of more than two of them indications of the least hostility to the general government or a re luctance to accord to it the powers which they believed had been granted by the terms of the constitution, even if regarded in the light of the circumstances attending its adop tion. With respect to questions of this character, the attitude and opinions of Judge Taney show the most reverent attitude and the highest appreciation of their gravity. While questions of this character did not evoke his greatest powers, they did not fail to enlist his conscientious care to the end that correct principles might be applied and maintained. His ability for the mastery of the other subjects embraced in the vast jurisdiction of the court was conspicuous, even among the eminent men by whom he was surrounded. That he was free from prejudice against what he believed to be legitimate federal power, is shown by cases in which he aided in extending it beyond the limits which some of his associates thought proper. So admirable was his bearing, and
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so marked with propriety was his conduct in his great office that in twenty years from his accession he was held in general esteem which amounted nearly to veneration. Even those who most deplored the reactionary tendency of the court with respect to ques tions of governmental power, bore testimony to his personal worth and his general ability. Story, so filled with forebodings regarding the calamitous consequences which he feared from those reactions that his friends could with difficulty restrain him from quitting the bench, never wearied of affirming his respect for the character and abilities of the Chief Justice. Those who had assailed him most bitterly in the exciting conditions of his -ac cession substituted praise for censure, though not ceasing to deplore the aid he had given to those decisions which indicated the reac tion. On the 31st of January, 1851, Sena tor Seward asked permission to inscribe to him a speech which he had made on the subject of the French spoliations. The request was made for the two reasons that the cause would be aided by the public knowledge that it had the sympathy of the Chief Justice, and, to use the words of Mr. Seward : " It would be an expression of the high regard which in common with the whole American people I entertain for you as the head of the judiciary department." In the meantime the agricultural develop ment of the South had gradually increased the value of property in slaves, and the belief that slavery is wrong, which had been uni versal among the fathers, became sectional. That vanishing virtue, love of the union, had grown and waned in the hearts of many as the existence of the union and the mainte nance of its powers had favored or opposed their desires or interests. The indifference or hostility which had previously appeared among those who uttered or applauded the sentiment that " The constitution is a cove
