290 NICHOLAS ST. JOHN GREEN. 



He handled a question of law not only with tlie mastery of a logician 

 who easily reduced a case under established principles, but, also, and 

 with equal jDOwer, in the light of the history which explains those 

 principles, and the considerations of political science and human nat- 

 ure which justify them. The evidence of his ability was not confined 

 to the lecture-room ; for it is not too much to say, that no man at the 

 Suffolk bar produced a greater effect upon the opinions of the Supreme 

 Court, in the cases which he presented, than he. His arguments, in 

 addition to the qualities of substance which we have mentioned, had a 

 terseness and simple beauty of form which it is impossible to compare 

 with any less-distinguished models than those of Judge Curtis. Mr. 

 Green did not live long enough to construct a systematic work ; but 

 as, with him, theory was not an excuse for ignorance of details, but 

 was based aS much on exact and practical knowledge as it was on 

 broad and careful study outside the law, those who knew him best 

 hoped and expected that, when he was satisfied with his patient prep- 

 aration, he would produce results worthy of his talents. A few notes 

 to his two volumes of criminal cases, two or three articles in the 

 " American Law Review," and three model volumes of reports, are all 

 that the profession can judge him by; and they are, perhaps, enough. 

 But those who have had the benefit of his conversation and criticism 

 know that, although he had already justified the opinion of his friends, 

 he gave promise of still greater achievements with which he might 

 have enriched the world and honored his profession had he lived. 



" He was such a philosopher as needs a Diogenes Laertius to por- 

 tray him," writes, in a private letter, one who was familiar with his 

 modes of thought. " The basis of his philosophy was, that every form 

 of words that means any thing indicates some sensible fact on the exist- 

 ence of which its truth depends. You can hardly call this a doctrine : 

 it is rather an intellectual tendency. But it was Green's mission to 

 insist upou it and to illustrate it. This was his guide, I feel sure, in 

 the study of law. Witness his essay on the doctrine of responsibility. 

 And he desired to apply the same principle to other branches of philos- 

 ophy, — to Logic, to Psychology, &c. But these subjects he did not 

 choose to follow out for himself into detail. He cared for them chiefly 

 as fields to assert his ruling principle in : beyond that, he was more or 

 less out of his province. He rather undervalued systems ; prizing 

 more highly brochures which put some single principle in a strong 

 li<i"ht. Bentham's refreshina: manner of searchinoj for realities, and 

 contemptuously tossing aside formal doctrines of the law in rummag- 

 ing down to the very pleasures and pains which result from different 



