538 ' CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



forensic orator who is the author of this letter, by reflecting 

 that I am sustained in my opinion by men of such weight 

 of character as cannot well be exceeded in this country. 

 Let me mention a few of them. In the first place, I will 

 mention him who holds the first rank as a jurist in the 

 United States; first, unquestionably, in position, and, as I 

 believe, not surpassed either in the variety and extent of his 

 legal learning, the vigor and acuteness of his logical facul- 

 ties, or the purity of his professional and private life, by any 

 man in this country, or elsewhere — I mean Chief Justice 

 Taney, with whom I consider it to be exceedingly fortunate 

 that I concur in opinion on this question. 



Next, sir, I may be allowed to mention a gentleman from 

 Georgia, a member of General Jackson's Cabinet, his first 

 Attorney General, for many years a distinguished ornament 

 of this body, and now, in spite of years somewhat advancing, 

 retaining all the vigor of those physical and intellectual fac- 

 ulties which made Mr. Wirt characterize him, thirty years 

 ago, as a man of splendid ability, and who at this time main- 

 tains, as he has done for thirty years, a proud position in 

 the front ranks of his noble profession — I mean Mr. Berrien, 

 of Georgia. 



Then, sir, I may mention a gentleman who was also once 

 an Attorney General of the United States, Secretary of the 

 Treasury, and Minister to England and to France, himself 

 more intimately connected with this institution than any 

 other person whom I know, having been the agent ap- 

 pointed by the Government of the United States to proceed 

 to London and prosecute the suit in chancery, upon which 

 the determination of this fund depended ; a gentleman of 

 ample ability, of high cultivation, and mature experience — 

 I mean Mr. Richard Eush, of Pennsylvania. 



I shall not, in his presence, bestow any eulogium upon 

 my friend, the honorable Senator from Virginia, [Mr. Ma- 

 son,] who is one of those who have concurred with me. But 

 even in his presence I may say this much : that for many 

 years — more perhaps than he would be glad to acknowl- 

 edge — he has been engaged in a large and successful prac- 

 tice, and in the higher walks of his profession ; and that 

 this furnishes some small reason to infer that he is quite 

 competent to construe an act of Congress. 



Of the other members of the Board of Eegents who con- 

 cur with me, I need not make mention further than to say 

 that, though not legal men, they are all men of great emi- 

 nence in this country, and their eminence has been recog- 



