5o2
The Green Bag
D, master of dodges, would jockey old scratch; For acuteness of practice, you'll ne'er find his match.' E, keen but high-minded, would courteous have been, If his name were not written too others be tween.9 I sits on the judgment seat; if nut profound; He's a good and true gentleman, honest and sound.10 P's arguments always come after the judgment." First the President comes — (only Latin can do him) Persona verbosa et grandis, "!K>W to him."" Then a judge of dark countenance, swarthy and stern, Strong of will (but with some jurisprudence to learn)." X, Y, and Z all to stage properties fall; Cases, Counter Cases, Summaries; Arguments, and such like mummeries, Hooks of International Law, Infinite in number, Which our weary shelves encumber; Who in the world ever saw' Such heaps of useless lumber? SERVICES AS MINISTER TO SPAIN
At the conclusion of the arbitration Cushing returned to the United States with the intention of resuming his law practice. But the so-called "Virginius affair" had severely strained the rela tions between this country and Spain. The Virginius, a vessel sailing under the American flag, was captured by a Spanish war vessel in 1873, and its captain and fifty-five of its crew were hanged by order of a summary drumhead court-martial. Of the persons executed, nine were Americans. The affair nearly brought on war between Spain and the United States, and excited our people almost as much as did the blowing up of the Maine twenty-five years later.
- Davis.
9 Evarts. 10 Itajuba. » Palmer. » Sclopis. 13 Staempfli.
Again our government called upon dishing for public service. He was then in his seventy-fourth year and had earned retirement from public duties, but he accepted the call and went to Spain as our minister plenipotentiary. It is said that the Imperial Court of Spain were amazed to hear Cushing, the courtly American, speak Spanish with the ease and accuracy of the best Spanish scholars, an accomplishment rarely to be found among the ambassadors of the great European governments. On his arrival at Madrid, Cushing handled the delicate situation with rare diplomatic skill, and, although such authorities upon international law as Wheaton and Dana justified Spain's action in seizing the Virginius and executing its crew, he brought about a settlement, by the terms of which our flag was saluted and a satisfactory indemnity paid. Upon his return from Spain he took up his residence in his beloved Ncwburyport, "the city which," in the words of Attorney-General Devens, "had loved and honored him in his youth, his man hood and his maturer years." . . . "The anchor of the storm-worn ship was to fall where first its pennant had fluttered in the breeze." And there, at his old home, surrounded by loving relatives and friends, he went to his final rest on the second day of January, 1879. A study of the characteristics of such a man as Caleb Cushing should be in teresting and instructive. He is de scribed as simple and unaffected in manner, and indifferent to money and dress, while his disposition to respond to every appeal endeared him to all. His personal integrity was unchal lenged, his professional conduct was stainless, and no scandal marred his private life. In religion he was attached to the "Presbyterian Remnant."
