It
was said that Curtis had a client whose land had been flowed by a
Rhode Island man, and not being willing to pursue him in the courts of
the United States, he framed the bill in question. Of course the bill
failed. Again in 1851 he gave an opinion that Sumner, Wilson, myself
and perhaps some others, could be indicted for the coalition by which
the Whig Party was driven from power in Massachusetts. The opinion was
printed secretly and read in the Whig caucus, where it received so
little support that it was suppressed. When the parties had
disappeared, I read a copy that had been preserved in the office of the
Boston _Journal._
Judge Curtis was a jurist, and that only. He had no literary taste in
the true sense, although the statement has been made that he was a
constant reader of novels. However that may have been, his speeches
were seldom if ever adorned or burdened by illustrations or references
outside of the books of the profession.
George T. Curtis, a brother of Benjamin R., was a member of the House
for several years, between 1840 and 1850. With the overthrow of the
Whig Party in 1851, he disappeared from the politics of the State, and
at about the same time he removed to New York. As a writer he is clear
and methodical, but from choice or fortune many of his subjects have
not been acceptable, and his treatment of his subjects has been counter
usually to the general opinion of the country.
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