The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-08-10
RETIREMENT OF JUDGE EDWARDS
FROM THE BENCH
From the Nelc York Express

RETIREMENT OF JUDGE EDWARDS
FROM THE BENCH.
From The Mem York Express.
JUICE EDWARDS BY the provisions Of State
Constitution Judges ofthe Circuit Court cannot hold
Office after they attain the age Of sixty years by this
unfortunate provision the State is deprived of the ser
vices Of her most eminent soDs-and that too at an
age and period Of life, in most instances, when
they are best fitted for the station which they
have filed. The object of adopting this article in
the Constitution was altogether political; II was to
dismiss from office Of the most distinguished Ju-
lists OF our own State such Chancellor Kent Chief
Justice Spencer Van Ness and others. Like all po-
ca expedients 1t has proved OF pubic injury, II
is about twenty years since this feature formed
part Of our Constitution, since which we have been
deprived Of the talents of number OF distinguished
men and now to lose the services OF Judge
Edwards-a gentleman scholar, and most upright
Judge and this too at period when he is in every
respect better fitted for the station than he has
been To all the qualities Of Judge, he adds those
qualifications which are esteemed most valued in
private life His character is without soil As
father, friend and neighbor can hold higher
I pnk
The following remarks, from the farewell address
Of Judge Edwards taking leave Of the bar, are ad
mifable from the manner in which they characterize
the legal profes son
A this is the last time that shall preside in this
court will avail myself Of the opportunity now az
forded to make my acknowledgements 10 the bar for
the Kind and respectful treatment that have received
from them, and to return them thanks for the aid
which they have afforded me in the discharge of my
arduous duties. So important have deemed them to
be, that / sm penetrated with thorough conviction
that learned and enlightened Bar is Indispensable
for the correct administration Of Justice Nor is their
usefulness confined to the bench but il 10 extended
through all the operations Of government all the
nous of society. Founded our govern
nent upon law, and looking the citizens do to
IIa tuVa far uft,tp n hat ltera
should be rules prescribed for the regulation Of every
These must necessarily be as multiarlous as
the OF human society. These constitute the
great body of the law, and ale mainly the offspring Of
the wisdom and experience Of our ancestors for ages.
The common law has been Justly pronounced to be
the perfection Of human And it is also with
truth said that where there is no law, there is lib
eIty BY its benign influence all the arring interests
Of society harmoDzed, and AMIDST all its tumuts
The still small voice Of law is heard and obeyed. Such
il the independent spirit Of country men that they
will yield TO the ctaon OF any man or set Of men,
but such is their intelligence and sense of duty to
ciety that they will yield ready submission TO law.
U pdcr such order Of things, the necessity Of
having class Of men who thoroughly acquainted
with law and whose business it is TO aid in it's i'm
provemcnt IL apparent. Laws that are unknown
dead letters The legal profession is therefore
sary TO give vitality 10 the law To the law, which,
like the benccen Creator Of all things, respecter
Of persons (tyr there high but that they
must bend to its mandates, and none 80 low but they
entitled 10 it's protection ito the law which fur
nlshes a basis upon which the weakest stand firmly
upon ther rights as the most powerful
Such * the task of the gentlemen of the bar and
can truly say and speak from the experience OF
than - years upon the bench, that far as these
affect the poor their duty has been nobly discharged
and that have never known instance of a poor
mans suffering III just cause for want Of advo-
cate Bu ~ numerous cases have had occasion to
admire the untrng assiduity and fervd zeal with
which they have eapoused without hone Of reward
htt ~ In h,Na h.ap
GEES which have menaccd their liberty or their lives
And can say, with sincerity, That, in my opinion,
"sad would be- the hour, and Iucklcss would be the
day " II should ever arrive, when they should sink
under the accumulated preludces of the people "that
law and liberty would sink along with them and lraud
and violence would rule the land" Those who as
crlbe the Of lgaiions to lawyers mistake the
remedy for the dseasc-thc ply for the patient
Those evils traceable TO the pcrverson of the hui
man heart The violence of the human passions, and
the mpcrcctons Of the human judgment. Ii is not
10 be denied that base to be found among
them. But | will say that when such instances pre-
sent themselves that from class of the community
isthc slow, unerrng finger of scofn more sure TO
he pointed AZ them than from the Bar
ne baI mas ever been u nufsey Of statesmen and
panos. In the mother country, they have always
stood forth a. bold champions and faithful sen,inels
upon the rnmpdris OF liberty. In country, and es-
peciay in own State, during the struggle for our
independence as nation, what class OF the commu-
NIFTY furnished purer patriots ic, nj states.
men, than the legal profession In that galaxy of
statesmen, the wisdom of whose counscls GUIDED our
State through the Revolutionary tempest, stood proud
" pre. eminent the wise the pure the patriotic the
dnntcs- Jay, who, at the early dawning OF our lber-
y devoted his days and nights, and pcnlcd his for.
tune and his life, Tor his country
WHO successfully occupied the most 9 xalted sta
tons. and m every one of them, only raised him
scll hu' raised his country along with him. JAY
Whnrc snl,ss purity and consunmate wisdom not on.
y Shrd honor upon his country, but adorned human
. nature hs,ll-Jay was lawyer.
l"hHn J.. Livingston, formerly Chancellor Of this
Nta'' and enc OF the committee that reported the De
tl1ralion OF INDEPENDENCE was another of that band
81 patriot statesmen. He was truly one of notule's
nobility Possessed OF commanding talents, and
graccd with MI the charms OF eloqucnce he promptly
co-"pcraledin tina, glorious work and staked hi spen
did ortune and his life upon the result
Gouverncur Morris was another that broupht IN Tho
ad Of bis country rare combination of great intel
l,ctua endowments. He united the most extraor,
nary acucness and foresight with powerful talents as
public speaker He ike Livingston was in the en-
Ioyurnt OF large fortune, yet all put at hazard
ios tho good ol has country. And Robert Yates be
NJ Chief Justice OF our State, the learned the ac