HON. JUDAH P. BENJAMIN.
By RABBI CALISCH.
An oil portrait of Mr. Benjamin was presented by members of the Jefferson Club to Lee Camp No. 1, C. V., Richmond, Va., at the meeting of Lee Camp, on November 20th, 1902. The address of presentation was made by Rabbi E. N. Calisch, as follows:
Rabbi Calisch began by saying that it is quite impossible to estimate the influence that any one individual exercises upon his community or upon the common human progress. It is not always necessarily true that those who occupy the most conspicuous positions are the most effective factors in human history or progress. Often the most decisive conflict is fought unheralded and in silence. Among those who fought in this silent and unheralded battle of brains, and not of brawn, was one who gave to the South in her hour of sorest need the power of a mighty intellect, the loyalty of a loving heart, the generous meed of a devoted and self-sacrificing service, one who because of the worth and efficiency of this service earned the sobriquet of the "Brains of the Confederacy," the one whose portrait he had the honor to present, Judah Philip Benjamin.
The rabbi then gave a sketch of the life of Mr. Benjamin, touching upon his birth, his early years, his legal triumphs, his success in the United States Senate, to which he was elected from Louisiana in 1852, and was the first Jew to occupy a seat in the chamber, his work in the Cabinet of the Confederacy, his flight to England, his triumphs again at the English bar, his honor and his death in Paris May, 1884.
This was the life of Judah P. Benjamin. This sketch of it, cursory and incomplete as it is, tells plainly what the man was.
