AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A PENNSYLVANIAN
in advance a nomination which might never be tendered, would have been, had I complied, to have placed myself in a preposterous position. Carson, who, alone with Quay, knew of the conclusion I had reached, agreed with me that they had no right whatever to force from me a declaration of purpose. My answer ran:
I much appreciate the kindly feeling which pervades your letter. Its main effect has been to sadden me. If you do not care to judge me by the acts of my judicial and gubernatorial life, and you feel that past conduct is not a safe guide by which to determine what may be done in the future, I may at least ask you to suspend all inferences until the facts are disclosed.
- Sincerely yours,
- Samuel W. Pennypacker.
- Sincerely yours,
This ought to have been enough, for a man with his eyes open, to have given a cue, but it was not, and they went along, printed their Round Robin and helped the newspapers in their futile campaign. The next step soon followed. J. Hay Brown so far forgot his obligations as to give to the North American an interview in which he said:
“I cannot say more than that the Bench ever relies upon the Bar to sustain and protect it, and I have faith to believe that the lawyers of the state, and the people who are their clients, will deliver it from what the press, in reflecting the sentiment of all decent people, justly regards as the governor's menace to its safety.”
Here was presented a fine opportunity for Mr. Dickson, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Graham. A justice of the highest court, from the bench, by a publication in a discreditable sheet, sought openly to affect the action of the convention of a political party. With what effect, assured that they stood upon safe ground, could they have discanted upon the “impairment of public respect for that tribunal!” But it passed as a neglected opportunity.
Quay, broken in health, was in Florida. He was not
