Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-12-18
Tribute to a Departed
Judge.
Address in the Supreme Court on
the Death of Judge Nelson.

]
the Death of Judge Nelson.
Judge Sneed, on behalf of
the court, spoke as follows:
MIR. ATTORNEY GENERAL
In responding to your touching
tribute to the memory of our
departed brother, l may say, on
behalf Of my brethren of the
bench, that there is no man
whose honorable fame as a law
yer and a Judge is more deserv-
ing Of preservation on the rec
ords Of this court than his.
AS a statesman, his name will
be perpetuated in the historic
annals Of his country. AS a
citizen, in the memories Of his
admiring countrymen; as the
head of a family, among his
own cherished household gods:
but this was his forum, and
here he achieved substantial
Irenown.
He was a great orator. AS
was said Of Lord Ellsmere, "he
was a great and grave orator,
and greatest when he was most
provoked" In the proceedings
Iof the bar meeting some allu-
sion is made to a great effort Of
his in the United States Con-
gress. | was present in the gal
lery Of the House, and remem-
Der the occasion well. He was
struggling to avert the threat
.ened disruption Of the Govern
ment which followed soon after.
| remember how his elOquence
thrilled me, and how proud | felt
at the moment, that | too was a
Tennesseean. | remember that
great bitterness of spirit was
manifested against him by some
extreme men Of the House and
how he sood against them
Like the hope of Troy
Against the Greeks that would have entered
Troy
For he was man Of peerless
courage and knightly honor, and
there was one grand historic
character Of whom he then re-
minded me, as | looked down
from the gallery upon him. 1t
was Cato, the great Senator, as
described amid the falling for
tunes Of Rome:
"a brave man struggling with the storms
Of fate,
And greatly falling with falling State"
He was not only an oratOr,a law
yer and astatesman, but he was a
man of a most exquisite literary
taste. He was a fiuentand pol
ished writer of his mother
tongue, and gifted with the fin
est poetical talent and tempera-
ment. Lord Campbell tells us
that the envious dispositions Of
men induce them to believe that
a man of general accomplish
ments cannot possibly be a law
yer; and a converse, if a man
has shown himself, beyond all
contrOversy,to be deeply imbucd
with law, that he is a mere law
yer, and nothing more. That
this is a great error, no better il
lustration could be afforded than
the fine and rare combination
that made up the mentality of
this eminent citizen.
He death is a public calamity.
It is a special bereavement to
the jurisprudence of the State,
and the deep fountains of feel
ing that were so visibly stirred
in this hall on Saturday morn
ing, show that it is rooted
sorrow to the bar of East Ten
nessee.
Gentlemen of the bar: The
world will still move on with
its fluctuating tide Of thrift and
adversely, of joy and of sorrow,
but for many a year to come we
will sigh
"For the touch Of vanished hand,
And the sound Of voice that is still"
The proceedings Of the meet
ing will be entered upon the rec
ords Of the court and published
in the next volume Of reports.
What relation is a loaf of
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