26 



The Late Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, 



Naturally and justly, as we think, he held it to be the duty 

 of the citizen to support the country against the enemy, 

 without stopping to discuss the wisdom of the acts leading 

 to the war. He interpreted his duty correctly in the light 

 of public law ; for by that law as declared by the highest 

 court of our state, in the days of Kent and Spencer, every 

 man is a party to the acts of his government. This may 

 appear theoretical ; it certainly raises a question of morals, 

 precisely the same question as that raised by Decatur's 

 famous toast, — " My country, right or wrong" The opposite 

 view, my country only when it is right according to my 

 theory, leads to anarchy and national humiliation; it 

 denies the unity of the Republic, and it repudiates the just 

 authority of government. 



Just at the close of the war, (in 1816), Mr. Taney was 

 elected by common consent a member of the senate of 

 Maryland ; and served out his term of five years with great 

 advantage to the state, and apparently with much satisfac- 

 tion to himself. His biographer tells us, he was not fond 

 of public life, and did not much value or seek after political 

 honors. Without this assurance and judging solely from 

 the facts of his life, we should have inferred exactly the con- 

 trary. Nevertheless, we must admit that these facts are 

 consistent with a higher love for his profession, and that 

 he rose steadily to the highest position at the bar in his 

 native state. He had become a supporter of General 

 Jackson for the presidency, and he was in 1827 appointed 

 attorney general of Maryland. This appointment was made 

 by Gov. Kent, a warm supporter of the administration of 

 Mr. Adams; it conferred upon him considerable power and 

 influence; and it imposed upon him a heavy burden of 

 hard work, work which he performed with ability and un- 

 flagging industry. 



When the cabinet of Gen. Jackson broke up, in 1831, 

 some two years after his inauguration and under rather 



