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The Green bag
setts Supreme Court in answer to a claim that a certain situation was an impossibility, Cushing exclaimed, "An impossibility! Your Honors! What is an impossibility? It is the greatest of all possible facts." In 1877 Cushing's class at Harvard had its sixtieth anniversary. Of the eighty-one who entered in 1813, sixtyseven were graduated, of whom four teen were present at the reunion. The average age of those present was eightyone. "Cushing," wrote a classmate, in speaking of this reunion, "was the life of the party and charmed all." dishing was a Democrat, knew Jeffer son Davis and other Southern leaders, and had presided over the stormy Demo cratic National Convention of 1800, an undertaking which, it is said, makes large demands upon the physical and mental equipment of the presiding officer. On constitutional grounds he opposed the abolition of slavery, although per sonally objecting to slavery, and he clearly foresaw that the abolition of slavery meant civil war or a severance of the United States. This opposition and his advocacy of Democratic prin ciples aroused bitter resentment and harsh criticism. The abolitionists never forgave him (with some notable excep tions like Charles Sumner) and the press attacked him with marked severity and with as much injustice as it had assailed Chief Justice Taney after the "Dred Scott" decision. The story may be mythical, but it illustrates the bitterness of political feel ing sixty years ago. It is said that a certain Bostonian once held with Edwin P. Whipple the following colloquy: — "Don't you think Daniel Webster was a great man?" "O, yes — really a great man." "But don't you believe he was the
greatest man that has appeared on earth since Jesus Christ?" "Well, no — I couldn't say quite so much as that." "Then you are a d cl abolitionist." "Constantly misrepresented and often misunderstood," declared one of his admirers, "the language of King Henry to Cardinal Wolsey might have been appropriately addressed to Mr. Cushing." You have many enemies that know not Why they are so, but, like to village curs, Bark when their fellows do.
A typical instance of the injustice done him may be given. In 18(50, at the request of the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, Cushing went to Charleston, South Carolina, to make an earnest effort to preserve the Union. "This patriotic act was mis represented by the press," declared Gen eral Butler, "and it was charged and believed that he went to South Carolina to give advice in the interests of the rebellion." Cushing's patriotism and devotion to the Union cause cannot fairly be doubted. On April 24, 1801, at a flag raising at Newburyport, he made a patriotic speech in which he stated : — I have before me the question which divides friend from friend, brother from brother, and sometimes arrays them in hostile camp. What, I ask, is the dictate of duty. Shall we retire in safe seclusion in a foreign country like Hyde, or remain to affront the perils of our lot like Falkland or Vane? The latter course, if not the safer one, is at any rate the more courageous, and I choose so to act. I am a citizen of the United States, owing allegiance to the country and bound to support its government, and shall do so. I am a son of Massachusetts, attached to her by the ties of birth and affection, from which neither friend nor foe shall sever me. I will yield to no man in faithfulness to the Union or in zeal for the maintenance of the laws, and to that end I am prepared, if occasion calls for it, to testify to my sense of public
