December,--nine days after Mr. Buchanan had sent his fatal
message to Congress.

CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF JUDGE BLACK.

Judge Black, who had from the beginning of the Administration been
Mr. Buchanan's chief adviser, now became so by rank as the successor
of General Cass in the State Department. He was a man of remarkable
character. He was endowed by nature with a strong understanding
and a strong will. In the profession of the law he had attained
great eminence. His learning had been illustrated by a prolonged
service on the bench before the age at which men, even of exceptional
success at the bar, usually attract public observation. He had
added to his professional studies, which were laborious and
conscientious, a wide acquaintance with our literature, and had
found in its walks a delight which is yielded to few. In history,
biography, criticism, romance, he had absorbed every thing in our
language worthy of attention. Shakspeare, Milton, indeed all the
English poets, were his familiar companions. There was not a
disputed passage or an obscure reading in any one of the great
plays upon which he could not off-hand quote the best renderings,
and throw original light from his own illumined mind. Upon theology
he had apparently bestowed years of investigation and reflection.
A sincere Christian, he had been a devout and constant student of
the Bible, and could quote its passages and apply its teachings
with singular readiness and felicity. To this generous store of
knowledge he added fluency of speech, both in public address and
private communication, and a style of writing which was at once
unique, powerful, and attractive. He had attained unto every
excellence of mental discipline described by Lord Byron. Reading
had made him a full man, talking a ready man, writing an exact man.
The judicial literature of the English tongue may be sought in vain
for finer models than are found in the opinions of Judge Black when
he sat, and was worthy to sit, as the associate of John Bannister
Gibson, on the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania.

In political opinion he was a Democrat, self-inspired and self-
taught, for his father was a Whig who had served his State in
Congress. He idolized Jefferson and revered Jackson as embodying
in their respective characters all the elements of the soundest
political philosophy, and all the requisites of the highest political
leadership. He belie