USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 14
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"I. That the people of Ohio, believing that the preservation of the unity of government that constitutes the American people one people is essential to the support of their tranquillity at home, of their peace abroad, of their safety, of their prosperity, and of that very liberty which they so highly prize, are firmly and ardently attached to the national Constitution and the union of the States.
"II. That the general government cannot permit the secession of any State without violating the obligations by which it is bound under the com- pact to the other States and to every citizen of the United States.
"III. That whilst the constitutional rights of every State in the Union should be preserved inviolate, the powers and authority of the national gov- ernment must be maintained, and the laws of Congress faithfully enforced, in every State and Territory until repealed by Congress, or adjudged to be unconstitutional by the proper judicial tribunal ; and that all attempts by State authorities to nullify the Constitution of the United States, or the laws of the
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federal government, or to resist the execution thereof, are revolutionary in their character, and tend to the disruption of the best and wisest system of gov- ernment in the world.
"IV. That the people of Ohio are inflexibly opposed to intermeddling with the internal affairs and domestic relations of the other States of the Union, in the same manner and to the same extent as they are opposed to any interference by the people of other States with their domestic concerns.
"V. That it is the will and purpose of the people of Ohio to fulfill in good faith all their obligations under the Constitution of the United States, according to the spirit and intent thereof, and they demand the faithful dis- charge of the same duty by every State in the Union ; and thus, as far as may be, to insure tranquillity between the State of Ohio and the other States.
" VI. That it is incumbent upon any States having enactments on their statute books conflicting with, or rendering less efficient, the Constitution or laws of the United States, to repeal them ; and it is equally incumbent upon the general government, and the several States, to secure to every citizen of the Union his rights in every State, under that provision of the Constitution which guarantees to the citizens of each State all the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several States; and thus inspire and restore confidence and a spirit of fraternal feeling between the different States of the Union.
" VII. That the Union-loving citizens of those States who have labored, and still labor with devotional courage and patriotism to withhold their States from the vortex of secession, are entitled to the gratitude and admiration of the whole American people.
"VIII. That we hail with joy the recent firni, dignified and patriotic special message of the President of the United States, and that the entire power and resources of Ohio are hereby pledged, whenever necessary and demanded, for the maintenance, under strict subordination to the civil authority, of the Constitution and laws of the general government by whomsoever administered.
"IX. That the governor be requested to forward, forthwith, copies of the foregoing resolutions to the President of the Nation, and the governors of all the States of the Union, and to each of the senators and representatives in Congress from this State, to be by them presented to each branch of the national legislature."
Well has a distinguished contemporary said that those resolutions, so patriotic in their spirit, merit for Mr. Harrison a just immortality. They passed the Senate with but one dissenting voice, and received but two oppos- ing votes in the House. In February following, when Abraham Lincoln, President-elect, was on that memorable journey to Washington, he stopped at Columbus, and, while the guest of Governor Dennison, Mr. Harrison was pre- sented to him as a member of the State Senate. The President-elect at once inquired if he was the Harrison who was the author of the patriotic and ·timely resolutions, and, upon being so assured, expressed great pleasure at meeting the author. At the special request of Mr. Harrison, the venerable Thomas Ewing, one of the most honored and trusted of Ohio's statesmen and jurists, was appointed by Governor William Dennison as one of the commis- sioners to represent Ohio in a conference of the States, called by invitation of the Virginia legislature, to assemble at Washington, D. C., on the 4th of Feb- ruary, 1861, to consider the then impending crisis. But the God of battles could not be staycd-the purity and perpetuity of our Federal Government could
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be secured only by the baptism of blood. The guns of treason belched forth their fire upon Sumter, and the Nation, horror-stricken, trembled at the issue. Naught but physical frailty prevented Mr. Harrison from enlisting in his country's service, but there was sore need of staunch citizens at home, no less than courageous soldiers at the front. Mr. Harrison was foremost in that noble number of loyal statesmen who in the legislative forum fought as per- sistently and patriotically to sustain the National Government as did the boys in blue on the tented field. Shortly after the adjournment of the legislature in 1861, Mr. Harrison was chosen by the electors of his district to the seat in Congress made vacant by the resignation of ex-Governor Thomas Corwin upon his appointment as Minister to Mexico. He took his seat in the National House of Representatives at that momentous extra session called by President Lincoln, and which convened July 4, 1861. Here Mr. Harrison was called to cope with the great questions that presented themselves to the legislative body of a nation tossed in the throes of armed rebellion. Mr. Harrison's participa- tion in the deliberations of this session need not be related in detail. The acts of that Congress are a memorable part of our national history. The voice of Mr. Harrison, when uplifted, but echoed the patriotic inspiration of his purpose, and his vote on every question but emphasized the loyalty and wisdom of his action. The close of this Congress, March 3, 1863, marked the retirement of Mr. Harrison from public life. By the legislative re-apportion- ment of the Congressional Districts of Ohio, in 1862, Madison county, in which Mr. Harrison resided, was attached to the Franklin District, in which the Democratic majority was large, and Mr. Harrison was succeeded by Sam- uel S. Cox. Since that retirement from the political field Mr. Harrison's pur- suits have been exclusively confined to the line of his profession. His stewardship as a statesman, so creditable to himself and so valuable to his country, ripened his experience, broadened his knowledge and enlarged his mental vision, but did not allure him from his profession, for which he was by nature so eminently fitted, and which he has, by his achievements, so splen- didly adorned. As has been noticed by one of his distinguished biographers, Judge W. H. West :
"The opportunities of Mr. Harrison, while pursuing his legal studies, were most fortunate. The Bench of Springfield was adorned by the modest learn- ing of Judge J. R. Swan, its Bar by the sterling qualities of Edward Cum- mings, the courtly dignity of Sampson Mason, and the brilliant genius and gifted versatility of William A. Rodgers. The lesson of precept and of example derived from these model " gentlemen of the old school " ripened into fixed and most agreeable traits of professional character. Not less fortunate was the opening of Mr. Harrison's professional career. The ancient "circuit practice " had for him a fascination which yet continues. The intricate system of land titles peculiar to the Virginia Reservation, within which his " circuit " lay, had not ceased to be a fruitful source of litigation. The magnitude of individual estates in the Scioto Valley often gave rise to controversies about their succession. His rapid rise at the Bar soon opened to him these fields of legal contention, in which he was early accustomed to encounter, and often successfully contend with ex-Justice Swayne, Mr. John W. Andrews, Mr. P.
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B. Wilcox, Governor Nelson Barrere, the lamented Judges Briggs, Sloane and Dickey, Mr. Jonathan Rennick, distinguished for his great good sense, the late Hocking H. Hunter, and to occasionally meet the venerable Thomas Ewing. In these rencounters he early learned that there could be no excellence without labor ; that undisciplined genius may transiently soar, but only toil can maintain the ascent it makes. To have once achieved success in these contests was worth ambition ; to maintain the conflict on equal terms through a succession of years was its goal. To this he bent his powers, and has not been disappointed. Jealous a mistress as is the law, he paid her assiduous devotion, crowning her with garlands gathered from every department of her domain. Studying her precepts as a system of philosophy. he applied them as a science, not as an art. Not omitting to cultivate familiarity with adjudicated cases, it was rather to extract from each its underlying principle than to employ it unintelligently as judicial ipse dixit. Aided in this by strong sense, quick perception, discriminating judgment, and great power of analysis, he has united familiarity with the intricacies of procedure to a substantial mastery of judicial construction and interpretation, and the general principles governing in the adjudication of the multiform rights which spring from the ever-collid- ing relations of life.'
Mr. Harrison's early practice was, as before intimated, under the old regime of the "circuit-travel days," which gave a far wider and more varied field for observation and experience with men than the modern methods of judicature. On this subject we cannot do better than quote a passage by Mr. Harrison himself, concerning the "Early Ohio Bar," to which subject he so felicitously responded at the Thurman banquet, November 13, 1890 :
"In the early history of Ohio each judicial circuit was composed of many counties, and each county was very large. The lawyers traveled with the president judge of the circuit from county to county, on horse, over wretched roads, a great part of the year, with their papers and books in their " saddle- bags," and some of them not without " flasks " and " packs." They were often compelled to lodge two-in-a-bed, thus carrying into practice Blackstone's theory that the science of the law is of a sociable disposition. A session of a judicial court in a country was an event of interest to all the inhabitants thereof. It was largely attended by mere spectators. The lawyers were thereby stimulated to do their best, much more than they were by the pittances received from their clients. The elegant court rooms of the present day, devoid of spectators, are by no means as favorable schools or theaters for advocacy and oratory as the primitive log court houses, crowded with appre- ciative listeners. The early lawyers were noted for their mother wit, their knowledge of human nature, and their knowledge of the underlying princi- ples of jurisprudence and of right, and the facility and accuracy with which they applied them. There were active and influential politicians, and they sought the gratification of their ambition by service in public life. In these times, to render the State some service was regarded as honorable and praiseworthy as to have rendered service to the Nation. (Would that this view were again adopted !) The early lawyers were not dwarfed by the barren littleness of the profession when followed as mere trade. They were less anxious about fees than they were to win the applause and gain the suffrages of their fellow- citizens. They practically illustrated the notion which regards the fee of the lawyer as the offering of gratitude, not as the wages of labor, and that a lawyer is the servant of his fellow-men for the attainment of justice, in which definition is expressed both the lowliness and the dignity of his calling. There
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were no stenographers in the times of the early lawyers. Trials were of short duration. The lawyers went straight to the material points in controversy, and the fray was soon ended. A trial was not a siege, but a short hand-to- hand contest.
" The Early Ohio Bar cultivated a warm professional feeling, and their standard of professional integrity and honor was high. There were then no Bar associations with disciplinary jurisdiction. None were needed. Profes- sional ethics and professional honor were very rarely violated, and, when vio- lated, the offender was at once completely ostracized by his brethren, and his occupation was gone. The free, and open, and fraternal, and honorable char- acter of the profession of the law has never been better illustrated than it was by the Early Ohio Bar."
In 1870 Mr. Harrison was a candidate for judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, but with his colleagues on the ticket he was defeated at the election. In 1875 Governor Hayes, recognizing the superior fitness of Mr. Harrison for the position, appointed him a member of the Supreme Court Commission of Ohio, and the Senate promptly and unanimously confirmed the appointment, but Mr. Harrison declined. He could ill afford to sacrifice a large and lucra- tive practice for the inadequate emoluments of judicial office. Afterwards, upon the decease of Judge William W. Johnson, in 1887, Governor Foraker ten- dered a seat upon the Supreme Bench to Mr. Harrison ; but he declined the honor. Hr. Harrison's life, so fraught with the results of acts accomplished, is a striking illustration of the rewards received for unceasing and untiring effort. His genius is that genius which Carlyle designates as " hard work." Though endowed with talents of the highest order, though armored in mind with all the weapons of wisdom, knowledge and experience, yet he bestows the utmost conscientious and painstaking labor in the preparation of his cases. It is his habit upon occasion, not merely to burn the midnight oil, but not infrequently his task finds him tireless at his desk till " night's candles are burned out," and "morn, waked by the circling hours, with rosy hands unbars the gates of light." His briefs are clear and exhaustless treatises, not only upon the prin- ciples, but the application of the law to the facts pertinent to the points at issue. They are models in logical and legal arrangement of the case at Bar. recited in all the potency and perfection of a masterful command of language, Nor have his herculean labors, the handmaid of his natural powers, been restricted to the immediate pursuits of his practice. Possessed of a large and fruitful mind, he has chosen for his intimate and familiar companions, the leaders of thought, speech and action in all ages. A constant reader, with a remarkably retentive memory, his mind is stored with the choicest productions of ancient and modern classics. One who has been both his associate and his antagonist in the legal forum has said of him :
" His style is logical, terse and compact, though not barren of illustration and embellishment. His singularly agreeable voice, distinct enunciation, candor of statement, and great earnestness of manner, win sympathy, secure confidence and carry conviction. In this, hardly less than in the logic of his words, lies the secret of his success. But the magic of his power is the courage of conscious right, and the boldness of thorough preparation, which distinguish him. Armed with these his attack is direct, pinioning
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wrong by exposing its deformity, and rearing about justice a fortress of truth. Mastery of self is the strength of his armor. Ever subordinating temper, his quickness of repartee and keenness of sarcasm render him invul- nerable; yet so playful and pleasantly does he employ these weapons that, while their victim rarely wishes to provoke their second employment, his repartee punctures without sting, and his sarcasm cuts without wounding."
It is in the consideration of questions of constitutional law that the men- tal acumen and legal ability of Mr. Harrison have found their most adequate and fitting field. As a constitutional lawyer his reputation is national, and he is ranked among the foremost of American lawyers. His success in the Boesel Railroad Cases, reported in Granger's Ohio Supreme Court Reports (1872), established his eminence as a lawyer on constitutional questions, while, at the same time, it saved the people from the imposition of an oppressive sys- tem of taxation that would yield no return. Since that time Mr. Harrison has appeared either on one side or the other, before the Supreme Court, in the leading contests concerning the validity of legislative enactments. Mr. Har- rison proceeds to the presentation of his case in absolute frankness and fair- ness, but with the facts and law marshaled like the forces of an unconquerable general, with every point of the line guarded for the attack, be it offensive or defensive. But, great as are his powers of argument and logic, his disposition is judicial rather than disputatious, and, as has often been said by his acquaint- ances of both Bench and Bar, it is to be regretted that the highest position in his profession, a seat in the National Supreme Court, has not demanded his services. Indeed, it is an interesting incident that he was at one time selected for that position. Mr. George Alfred Townsend, the famous newspaper cor- respondent, relates in a recently published letter, that when a vacancy on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States was caused by the decease of Mr. Justice Lamar, President Harrison, in a recent conversation in New York with some members of the Bar, stated that it was his intention to nominate Mr. Harrison to fill the vacancy, but that a question arose as to Mr. Harrison's age. Quiet inquiry developed that he had just passed his sixtieth birthday, which precedents had established as the time limit. That fact alone prevented his nomination. Though having declined, among other honors, appointments to fill vacancies of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Presi- dent Harrison was satisfied that Mr. Harrison would have accepted the appointment he was about to tender him. It would have come as acknowl- edgment of Mr. Harrison's unquestioned qualifications for the position. The late Judge Howell E. Jackson was appointed to fill the vacancy. In many causes in the Federal and State Courts Mr. Harrison has acted either as Referee or Special Master in Chancery. Some of them are reported. In each case his decision, except in so far as his conclusions were founded upon express direction of the court of first instance, was sustained. Mr. Harrison's domestic relations have been as happy and delightful as his professional career has been honorable and brilliant. On December 21, 1847, he was married at London, Ohio, to Miss Maria Louisa Warner, a daughter of Henry Warner, one of the honored pioneers of Madison county.
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Three daughters and four sons were the result of this union. One of the daughters and two of his sons are deceased. The youngest son, Warner, who gives promise of being a worthy son of his distinguished father, is now asso- ciated with his father in the practice of the law, the firm being located at Columbus, and known as Harrison, Olds, Henderson & Harrison. The firm was formerly Harrison, Olds & Marsh. Mr. Marsh, now deceased, was a son- in-law of Mr. Harrison. D. K. Watson, formerly attorney-general of the State of Ohio, and congressman from the Franklin district, is a son-in-law of Mr. Harrison. To Mr. Harrison the principles of the law are more than a science, its practice more than art-to him the profession of the law is a mission, a sacred calling, demanding not only the highest attributes of the mind, but the consecration of character, the honesty and integrity of the most exalted and noblest manhood. At the opening of the College of Law of the Ohio State University, at Columbus, October 1, 1891, Mr. Harrison delivered the address, and his tribute to his profession on that occasion deserves place in this sketch. He said :
"Law is not merely the instrument of government. Many persons seem to so regard it. But this conception of law is an erroneous one. On the con- trary, the truth is, law is the basis of public liberty, and also the safeguard of each individual citizen's public and private rights and liberties. This is at least what the law of the land is in every free country. It is pre-eminently what I have described it to be, in our own State and country. Wherefore there must necessarily be in our own, and in every free State, a body of men who have a thorough and profound knowledge, an enlightened appreciation, and an enthusiastic love of the fundamental principles which constitute the basis of public liberty, and the private and public rights and liberties of the individual citizen. These liberties and rights cannot be expounded and vindicated, and maintained in their integrity without such a body of men. From their ranks magistrates, known as judges, must be chosen to administer the constitutional, statutory and common law of the land, and thus dispense public and private justice, and maintain the rights of every citizen. It is a plain truth-perhaps an obvious common-place-that without an enlightened judiciary no one's life or liberty or property or reputation is safe. And the efficiency of the administration of the law depends as well upon the learning, ability and integrity of the Bar as upon the learning, ability, impartiality and independence of the Bench. They are correlatives. As showing that the pro- fession of the advocate and jurist is one of the principal supports of public liberty and of individual personal rights and liberties, is the historical fact that this calling has flourished most amidst free institutions, and under the most popular governments. Not only so. This profession, in any State or country or age, is an efficient activity in promoting the public welfare, especially when its controlling members are, before entering upon their active duties, deeply instructed, not merely in the law of the land, but also in the ethics of the profession of the Bar as taught by those who are alone worthy of being its masters and guides."
Mr. Harrison's considerate courtesy and uniform urbanity to all, old or young, with whom he comes in contact, are the rare qualities of the older school of gentlemen, alas, too little exemplified in the present generation. Such an one as man, citizen and lawyer, is Mr. Harrison. Those who have enjoyed
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the boon of his friendship, aye, even the privilege of his acquaintance, will ac- knowledge it but due praise to say of him that he is foremost of those
" Men who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain."
Through the characters and lives of such in the noble purpose of their vocation, are the lines of the poet true, that
"Sovereign law, that states collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill."
JOSEPH R. SWAN, Columbus. The late Joseph R. Swan, who was born in Oneida county, New York, December 28, 1802, and died at Columbus, Ohio, December 18, 1884, became eminent and distinguished in his profession. He acquired his literary education in his native State and came to Columbus at the age of twenty-two, when the city was a village containing not more than eighteen hundred inhabitants. He entered the office of his uncle, Gustavus Swan, then and for many years one of the ablest lawyers in the State of Ohio, who was appointed to the Supreme Bench in 1830. He applied himself with such assiduity under the guidance of his capable preceptor as to be qualified for practice very soon. Upon admission to the Bar he commenced the practice in Franklin and adjoining counties, to which the prestige of his uncle immedi- ately introduced him. Little time was required to demonstrate his own abilities and independence of adventitious aids, and he advanced rapidly from a respectable beginning to a position of great eminence. His first office was prosecuting attorney of Franklin county, to which he was appointed in 1830 by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. In January, 1833, a statute was enacted making the office elective, and in October of the same year Judge Swan was elected prosecuting attorney by the voters of Franklin county. The faithfulness and ability with which he discharged the duties of public prose- cutor, which was then an office of great importance, received the swift and unqualified approbation of the Bar, and their approval found expression in the action of the general assembly, electing him judge of the Common Pleas Court within a year. The circuit comprised the counties of Franklin, Madison, Clarke, Champaign, Logan, Union and Delaware, and the legislature elected Judge Swan first in 1834, and re-elected him in 1841. No judge ever presided on the Bench with more dignity ; none was ever more profoundly impressed with the gravity and delicacy of judicial duties. His character and presence inspired respect on the part of members of the Bar who practiced before him, and the decorum which should ever characterize a court of justice followed without the exercise of ministerial power with which the law clotlies a judge. There was that in his character as a man, no less than his high qualifications for the judicial office, which commanded unfeigned admiration and deference. His natural reserve may sometimes have been mistaken for austerity, but he
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