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	England In England, Benjamin established a new career in the law. He was called to the bar in 1866. In 1868, he wrote a classic treatise on commercial law in England (Treatise on the Law of Sale of Personal Property) known even today to law students as "Benjamin on Sales." In 1872, he became a queens counsel, practicing with wig and robes in the House of Lords and appearing in 136 major cases. For an individual of such prominence, Benjamin’s kept his personal life and views somewhat hidden. In her autobiography, Jefferson Davis’s wife, Varina, informs us that Benjamin spent twelve hours each day at her husband’s side, tirelessly shaping every important Confederate strategy and tactic. Yet, Benjamin never spoke publicly or wrote about his role and burned his personal papers before his death, allowing both his contemporaries and later historians to interpret Benjamin as they wished, usually unsympathetically. While Judah Benjamin preferred such obscurity, his prominence as a Jew assured that he would come under harsh scrutiny during and after his life. For example, Perhaps the best-known posthumous caricature of Benjamin appears in the epic poem John Brown’s Body, by Stephen Vincent Benet. Describing him as a "dark prince," Benet depicts Judah Benjamin as "other" in Confederate inner circles: Benjamin prospered for a time as a sugar planter, helped organize the Illinois Central Railroad, and was respected as a great orator throughout his life. History has absolved both Benjamin and Davis from any responsibility in the assassination of President Lincoln. But the psychological and emotional impact on Benjamin of the long period of hysteria that followed the assassination must have taken its toll, especially since Lincoln's death fell on Good Friday and 2,500 sermons were given on Easter Sunday comparing Lincoln to a fallen Christ figure, as the nation acted out a passion play. There is no record of what Benjamin thought of the various published accusations against him. If Benjamin's role in history has been misjudged by historians and was minimized even by participants, much of the responsibility for that lies with Benjamin himself. He chose obscurity early in the war with the unwavering decision that he could best serve the South by serving Davis and remaining in the presidential shadow. For reasons that have puzzled historians, Benjamin burned his personal papers--some as be escaped from Richmond in 1865 and almost all of the rest just before he died--and be left only six scraps of paper at his death. One historian has called him a "virtual incendiary." Late in life, he retired and moved to Paris to be with his family. Benjamin died on May 6,1884, and was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris under the name of "Philippe Benjamin" in the family plot of the Boursignac family, the in-laws of his daughter. In 1938, the Paris chapter of tbe Daughters of the Confederacy finally provided an inscription to identify the man in the almost anonymous grave: JUDAH PHILIP BENJAMIN BORN ST. THOMAS WEST INDIES AUGUST 6,1811 DIED IN PARIS MAY 6,1884 UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL, SECRETARY OF WAR AND SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, QUEENS COUNSEL, LONDON Benjamin's image comes down through history as "the dark prince of the Confederacy," a Mephisto-phelian Jewish figure. Stephen Vincent Benet in John Brown's Body reflected the contemporary view of him: Judah P. Benjamin, the dapper Jew, Seal-Sleek, black-eyed, lawyer and epicure, Able, well-hated, face alive with life, Looked round the council-chamber with the slight Perpetual smile he held before himself Continually like a silk-ribbed fan. Behind the fan, his quick, shrewd, fluid mind Weighed Gentiles in an old balance. . . . The mind behind the silk-ribbed fan Was a dark-prince, clothed in an Eastern stuff, Whole brown hands cupped about a crystal egg That filmed with colored cloud. The eyes stared, searching. "I am a Jew, What am I doing here?"
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