All that the head could give, he had--the heart denied
him all: in life he had given it to no one, and his death had touched
no heart; and no tear embalmed his bier, no flower planted by
affection's hand blooms about his grave. Still he has left an
imperishable monument to his fame in his judicial career.
Alexander Porter, the junior by many years of Matthews and Martin, his
associates on the Bench, was an Irishman by birth, and came in very
early life to the United States. He was the son of an Irish
Presbyterian minister of remarkable abilities and great learning. As a
chemist, he was only inferior to Sir Humphrey Davy, of his day. During
the troubles of 1798, (since known as the rebellion of '98,) he was
travelling and delivering lectures upon chemistry through Ireland. He
fell under suspicion as being an emissary of the Society of United
Irishmen, who was covering, under the character of a scientific
lecturer, his real mission to stir up and unite the Irish people in
aid of the views of those who were organizing the rebellion. To be
suspected was to be arrested, and to be arrested was wellnigh
equivalent to being executed--sometimes with the mockery of a trial,
and, where evidence was wanting to fix suspicion, even by drum-head
court-martial.
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