Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-05-12
El.uueu, Tribute. to the Dead yuri.s.
MEETING OF THE COURT or CLAIMS TODAY.
Renarks Of chef Jastice Drake and Others.

O'CLOCK to-day, and MT. X. W. COrw1ne called
the meeting to order. Chief Justice Drake was
called to the chair, and Mr.. Archibald Hopkins,
the clerk Of the court elected secretary.
Chief Justice Drake, on taking the chair
addressed the meeting as follows:
REMARKS or CHIEF JUSTICE DRAKE.
The occupant Of the most exalted judicial
station known to this country has closed an
honorable life Of more than three-score ana five
years, and we are among the many thousands
of hls mouTners to-day. Among all those thou
sands very few had known Salmon p. Chase as
long as had. Next month will be fifty-tvo
years years since since ne and l became acquainted as
ington, Ohio, by his uncle, Bishop Chase. Nine
years later our acquaintance was renewed i'm
Cincinnati, when he opened there his profess
slonai career, and from that time till his death
our personal relations were those of friendship.
he was then a beginner i'm the practice, and
beginner in the study, of the law. saw him
professionally and socially. In recalling the
circumstances of that time with reference
TO HIM, i find that my most distinct memory is
of the calm, steady, unfaltering industry with
which he started out in life in that city. He
went there when a young lawyers success at
that bar was neither easy nor speedy. Num-
beers of them of high social connections and tine
talents had opened Offices there, and that was
all. One by one they had disappeared, the vic
tins OF theiT own Incidence, ideness, or dissipa-
ton. About the year 1880, however, a new and
better set of young lawyers began to appear in
that city, and among them Mr.. Chase was con-
spicuous for his upright life, his personal dig
nifty, his steady devotion to his profession. and
his evident purpose to achieve success If assidu-
Gus, earnest, and faithful labor could command
it.
OF all his contemporaries he had as little fac
ulty as any other for winning practice the
street. From the first il was manifest that
whatever he obtained was to come as the re-
ward of integrity, ability, fidelity, and indus
try. This only made 1T the more certain that
he must wait for success, as must all Young
lawyers. Whether the period OF waiting shall
be to any such the seed-time for a rich harvest
depends upon how II is occupied. He brayely
determined that his waiting time should be
one of work, heavy, exacting work, such rs
probably no young lawyer of twenty-five years
OF age ever yentured upon, before or since.
his was no less than the preparation for pu bill
cation of an annotated edition Of all the general
statutes OF the Northwestern lterritory, and
the state of Ohio, from the first appearance of
written laws in the farmer, in I1Ss, down to
1893, inclusive, period of forty years. Some
idea of the magnitude of this work, and of its
immense demands upon his intellectual facul-
ties and his powers of endurance, NAV be
formed, when il is stated that it required the
careful reading, and the intent study, in itself,
and in all its connections prior and subsequent,
OF every general law that had been enacted
there by annual leg islatures through that long
period. with none of which had he had any
acquaintance before he opened his off ce
I'm Cincinnati; and, In addition, the preparation
and incorporation of such notes and references
as would enable the practitioner to find with
ease and certainty what at any point OF time in
that period was the written law there on any
subject. AS every lawyer will at once see, the
value OF such a work lay in its entire and adj
mitted completeness and accuracy. In neither
OF these points have ''Chases Statutes proba-
bly, ever been questioned; in both they are be-
leved to be unsurpassed by any similar work in
this country. They are at once a monument to
his talents and industry, and his recognized
claim TO the gratitude of the bar of Ohio. 1
have thus referred to the opening work of his
life, because il pointed TO future distinction
and because 1T presents to the young men of the
bar an example of professional ENTERPRISE
bravery. industry. mot 70 h..
wholly eeiipsed by the brilliancy OF his subse-
quent career.
To him who set such an example professional
success was a certainty. He achieved it fully,
and enjoyed II as long as he desired. But in the
course of wears he was called into the sphere of
public action and duty, and theneeforward he
belonged, in one or other high stations, to the
people OF his state or to the nation. Into all he
carried the traits of his young manhood and i'm
all he served with great ability, acknowledged
fidelity, and unl uestiOned integrity.
IL il post INT that the bar should show their
respect for such member OF the legal frater-
nifty by a suitable expression on the occasion of
his removal BIZ death from the last great trust
committed to him. He has passed from his own
august tribunal to one imme asurably more au-
gust, where he no more judges, but il Judged.
and where the scales Of judgment have always
been, and will always be, absolutely and in
variably true. Toi he has taken the record of
a lite marked by personal integrity, earnest
support of what be believed to be right, steady
and faithful labor in his place, fidelity to all
trusts, and. as believe, by the faith aud hope
OF christian. Ii there were faults intermingled
with his virtues-as in every human life there
always are-let Us forget the former in our EMU
lation OF the latter; and We may realize that
though his official eminenee be accessible to
very few, the eminence of an upright, earnest
and faithful life is open to all.
Mr.. Gotorth, Assistant Attorney General,
moved that a committee be appointed to draft
resolutions of respect to the emory of the
deceased; and the motion having been adopted.
Messrs. GOforth, Corwine, Denver, Durant and
Mcpherson were appointed.
Hon. Joseph Segar, during the absence of the
committee, addressed the meeting, paying a
stated that his pro-slavery opinions were first
shaken by the late Chief Justice.
Mr.. GofUrth reported
THE RESOLUTION
from the committee as follows:
The .nt-.rs IF the bar of the Court OF Claims
unite with the brethren # the prOfessivn and with
dhc II thu SUI rene Caurt 81 Of N, me
I nited States, Salmon Portland Chase who's long
entities linn high place among the iIlustrous men
xb0 have passed away from the scenes Of earth after
rherishiIlo tbs pnrest sentiments Of honor and the
lOftiest pTisfples cf Justice and humanity, he oc
and in private If. = al who had the privilege Of
moving him. there are I."ue who will not hold him
in reyerent and ae-tiOnate rsIae EN- In
and to his children and country he has let The rich
OF a spotless fame.
kesoired That the court is respectfully r,qusted
10 direct that thcse proceedings be entered on tn%
minutes OF the court and that the clerk transmit
rCpy thereof 20 the family of the lamented deceased
REMARKS OF MR.. GOFORrH.
Mr.. GofOrth, after reading the resolutions.
delivered an eloquent eulogy on the deceased.
in the course OF which he said: His early life
was a bitter contest with poverty; his early
convictions were bitter struggle NTH preju-
r,c~. uux co, ..
way If its own
RE early struggle with poverty taught him
his fidelity to principle showed i
him the value of truth and honor, and the boy /
school teacher of Washington. the student of i
William Writ, the unpopular anti-slavery law \
yer of Cincinnati came to be Senator of the /
nited States. He served with great ability
and with entire fidelity TO his convictions, his
allotted term. He was then twice made Gov
ernor of Ohio, and again a Senator. Promo
ton followed merit. He was called BY the Pre-
side ut TO be finance minister Of the government.
With matches ability lie executed the duties |
Of his high trust. He found the country bank
rupt, her treasury empty, and her credit gone.
He smote the naked rock and the living waters
gushed forth. He touched the corpse of dead
credit and il lived and moved instinct with life l
and energy. This American lawyer reorganZed
and recreated the currency Of nation In the
midst of the shock of civil war, and subsisted
million of armed men for long years without
the sacrifice of n national security the de-