AND SPEECHES OF JEREMIAH S. BLACK. WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. BY CHAUNCEY F. BLACK. NEW YORK: 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1885. 55. COMPILER'S NOTE. THE speeches and essays comprised in this book are selections from the most important productions of the author. It has not been without difficulty that some of them were recovered for the purpose. When Judge Black had uttered a speech, or written an essay, he concerned himself no more about it, but left it to find what entertainment it could in the world. He preserved little, and the compiler is indebted to friends in various parts of the country for copies of some of the most famous papers in this volume. He is under obligations peculiarly heavy to Hon. Levi Maish, of York, Pennsylvania, for favors of this kind. The open letters to Vice-President Wilson on the character of Edwin M. Stanton, the letter to Mr. Adams on the character of William H. Seward, and the article entitled "A Great Lawsuit and a Field Fight," are taken from the "Galaxy" magazine. The replies to Mr. Ingersoll, Mr. Boutwell, and Mr. Howe, and the article entitled "The Great Fraud," are copied from the "North American Review," in which they originally appeared. The compiler regrets that he is unable to present the great speech in the McCardle case. The original report of this speech was so defective that Judge Black repudiated it altogether, and had dictated about two thirds of a revised report, when the work was suspended and never resumed. It would be obviously unfair to offer the reader either the discarded newspaper report, or the incomplete revise, and so the speech has been wholly omitted, great and celebrated as it was. Except in one instance, the compiler has not encumbered the following pages with notes of any description. It will be found that each speech and essay will itself contain a sufficient explanation of the circumstances under which it was spoken or written. There has been for many years a steadily increasing demand for the republication of these papers in some appropriate and permanent form; and if this volume shall meet the wants of the many persons whose individual requests for separate copies the family and friends of Judge Black have been unable to honor, the object of the compiler will have been accomplished. BROCKIE, January, 1885. CHAUNCEY F: BLACK. |