lay outside the range of his meditation and study. Like Bacon, he took all knowledge for his province." Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treas ury under Lincoln, Johnson, and Arthur, in his very interesting volume, recently pub lished, "Men and Measures of Half a Cen tury," in giving his impressions of Edward Everett, says : " He was perhaps the finest classical scholar of the day, the greatest linguist that ever went to Congress, except Caleb Cushing. It was said of Mr. Cushing that he could translate all the European lan guages. While in Congress there came to the State Department a document that no one in the Department could interpret. Upon the suggestion of some one who had heard of Mr. Cushing's reputation as a lin guist, it was sent to him, and he translated it without difficulty. Mr. Cushing was a ready and effective speaker, and a very able and learned lawyer. He was one of the few men whose voice could be heard in the old House of Representatives, and who never spoke without commanding the attention of the members." Hon. Horatio G. Parker, of the Suffolk Bar, was in a position to form a clear judg ment of Mr. Cushing, and by request has written out his opinion of him. "You have asked me in a few words to give some idea of that eminent man Caleb Cushing as a lawyer. "He was in form and feature a fine speci men of manly beauty, power, and elegance. "At the bar he always showed that he was perfectly familiar with the facts and law of his case, showing as thorough preparation as industry could give. His manner in examin ing witnesses was plain and direct, but very searching, and you felt when he left a wit ness that the examination, whether direct or cross, had accomplished its intended and perfect work. "In addressing a jury, he was quiet and clear, very attractive, and when occasion re quired, bold, powerful, and rising to the height of eloquence.
"He was accomplished in every duty a lawyer could be called upon to perform. Whether to draft a statute, write an argu ment, preside at a jury trial, or decide and write opinions upon cases before the full court, he was equally competent and ready. He had attainments which enabled him to do what very few lawyers could. I very well recollect seeing him dictate an opinion in a Mexican land-grant case to three amanuenses at once, one writing English, one French, and one Spanish. He easily kept the three busy. "As an instance of his grasp of principles of law and ability to frame concisely a statute which should accomplish a broad and deeply reaching change in the law of real estate, Chapter 29 of the Acts of Mas sachusetts for the year 1852 may be cited. The Act reads : ' Aliens may take, hold, convey, and transmit real estate.' I was told by a member of the State Senate at the time that Caleb Cushing drew the Act. The statute now exists in the same words in Public Statutes of Massachusetts, Chapter 126, Section 1. "The statute has never been amended, and the Court has never been called upon to con strue it further than to say that it applies to aliens resident abroad. "Mr. Cushing sat upon the bench in Mas sachusetts only from May 22, 1852 to March 7, 1853, when he resigned to accept the pos ition of Attorney-General of the United States in the Cabinet of General Pierce. He entered upon his duties as Judge as one fully equipped, and performed them with such ease, naturalness, and success as to command the approval, respect, and ad miration of all. "His opinion in Popkin et al. vs. Sar gent et al., 10 Cush. 327, may perhaps be referred to as a model of what an opinion may be in soundness of law and clearness and grace of expression. The case is upon the construction of a will, and is a wonder ful expression of the cardinal principle that in the construction of a will the intention of
