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Recollections of the great Confederate
Secretary of State.
Meetings with him in London in 1873—his Unfailing kindness to Americans.
In a memorable address delivered a few months ago in
Richmond, Va., the
Honorable John Goode, in speaking of
Judah P. Benjamin, described him as ‘the great.’
This ascription of greatness to
Benjamin has often been made tentatively, but the time is, without doubt, fast approaching when the fame of this eminent man will be universally recognized.
Benjamin was one of the most remarkable men that the
United States has produced, and the fact that he was a son of
Louisiana is one of which the
State may be well proud.
It was the writer's honor to meet
Mr. Benjamin a number of times and to become well acquainted with him in the summer of 1873.
At this time
Mr. Benjamin was enjoying a most lucrative law practice, and had his office in Lamb's Building, Temple Bar,
London.
This pleasant acquaintance was most happily renewed and continued five years later, when I was again sojourning in the great English metropolis.
I had several times seen
Mr. Benjamin some ten years previously, when he was a prominent figure in the councils of the Southern Confederacy, filling the positions respectively, of
Secretary of War and
Secretary of State in
President Davis' cabinet.
Then I was only a well-grown lad in my teens, serving in the army of the
Confederate States.
I had often heard of the great reputation he had earned in the United States Senate before the Civil war. I also knew of him as a famous lawyer.
I had heard of him getting the best of Daniel Webster in an argument before the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Benjamin, while serving his two terms in the United States Senate, was considered one of the ablest lawyers of the country.
The brilliant array of talent and statesmanship furnished the Senate by the
South, just preceding the Civil war, was
