Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1873-03-01
JEFFERSON COUNTY COURT.

Dc NsOull W 40 VI VIZ
last, 18th instant, and was presided over
and addressed by Capt. w. II. kable.
On motion of Justice j. +. Smith, 1t
was
Ordered, That the able and eloquent
address of the President of the Court
be published in the papers Of the Coun-
ty and filed and preserved amongst the
Records of the Court.
ADDRESS OF TIE PRESIDENT OF TIE
COURT
FeNow Citizens and Genhem'n Of
The Bar and Connfy Court With no
purpose of making speech, to which
neither our habits nor inclination lead
us, we desire to acknowledge our appre-
ciaton of the honor which you have
conferred upon us, and OF the response
bilities of the position to which You
have called us.
We have met together to-day, gen
tlemen, to inaugurate a new system OF
government for our county, to establish
a new court for the administration Of
law and justice.
BY your voice, the system under
which you have, for some years past,
lived, has been cast off. as one not OF
Your own choice, i'll adapted to your
wants, and in its stead, there has come,
at your bidding, an old acquaintance,
venerated and esteemed by you in that
past to which the mind, in the expert
ence of the present, loves to revert, and
which we shall long regard as the gold
en- past, the halcyon days of our county
and republic. This old acquaintance,
gentlemen, the County Court system, 1t
is our honor to introduce to you today.
Yet | would not forget, fellow citl-
zens, that the honor and esteem, which,
in your minds, attaches to this Court, Is
due, in no small degree, to the charac-
ter of those who constitute its members.
History is full Of warnings that the oe"
systems of governments and Judiciary,
may become, in the hands of the cor
rupt and INSCRIPTIONS, oppressive ana
CALLING to those who once rejolced III
the freedom of the one, and boasted OF
the purity of the other.
The gentlemen who constituted tins
Court, in days past, were men whose at
tainments, whose acquaintance with the
system, and especially, whose integrity
and purity of character commanded
your highest regard and esteem.
Shall we, fellow citizens, whom you
have chosen to give again this system
life and being in your midst, be able to
fill their places ?
When remember him, who once
occupied this chair to which it has been
my honor to be called, when | call to
mind his legal attainments, his learning,
the dignity and ability with which he
presided, ! dare not hope even to ap-
proximate them, yet there is left to me,
fellow citizens,to initiate and to emulate
his virtues and purity of character, and
if know mine own heart, l can but
wish, that, ere the purity of this posi-
ton which he so spotless kept, shall, on
nv part, receive one spot or stain. L too
NAV be called to lie under the sod
where he, so full of honors, rests from
his labors.
Fellow citizens YOU have called us to
grave responsibilities and have imposed
upon lis important duties. We are men
unskil,ed in the intricacies or mysteries
of the law and if We should make mis-
takes, and dare not hope that We will
not. since those learned in the law, and
distinguished for their abilities are often
found to do the same, We beg your for
bearance, and hope that as our expert
ence enlarges, we may become more
competent, and better fitted to discharge
the duties which devolve upon us.
And. in conclusion, fellow citizens we
can make but this promise, that enter
ing upon our duties with an earnest de
sire to do right, and with nothing but IT
the good of the people at heart,w shall
strive earnestly and faithfully to justify
the confidence which you have imposed
in us.
Gentlemen IF bs Bar You are the
recognised channels through which
much of the business of this court will
be transacted. With high apprecia-
tion of your attainments and ability, L
trust that the kindest and best relations
may ever exist between us. Looking
to you. of necessity, for much Ct or in