The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-05-08
DEATH OF MIR. CHASE.
Meeting of the Judges and Bar of yir-
gtnia this MOrning-ResOlufiOn of
Respect

ginia this Morning-ResoIu o
Respect. aI M i
The judges and bar of Richmond, Vir
ginia. held n Meeting in the limited State,
o,, :. .,..
.o'i Irwin az 'e'' o.ooh ''i'S iiio'n'i'e y
take SUCH action as might seem approprl'
ate concerning the death of Chief Justice
Salmon P. Chase, On motion of Jane.
NeoSo, oOo tbo Tia, Jomos Ivons wo,
49, ~ -. ~ =. 49," s ~.
calieu 10 .he caa'f' anu NJ I. fleasahtE
appointed secretary. After brief but ell
&c Def w Marry tho fol,ow;rc ron.
" =, : ~ 81
tietnen Wers appoih.eo q coililhittee tc
take such order as should be deemed lit
ting on the occasion: Messrs. William
Green, w. A. Maury. General Bradley
T. johnson, James Neeson, Judge e. ii.
Fitzhugh. Judge B. R. Wexford, Z. Barks-
dale. ir., w. w. Henry, Charles Dabney.
j. @. Taylor, j. O. Steger and John
Howard, who, after a brief consultation.
submitted the following preamble and res
olutions, which were unanimously adopted.
after very able and eloquent addresses by
General Bradley Il. johnson and III, Coal
ter Cabell:
Seldom is it that the hand of death
snatches from the place of honor man
more inspired by greatness and moral
worth than Salmon Portland Chase, to
whose memory we are now come together
in these precincts of Justice. which will
know him no more forever, to pay tribute.
His sudden death, after being so re-
Gently amongst us in apparently improved
health, and deepening the impressions he
had already made upon our minds and
hearts. has caused Shock from which we
shall not soon recover, and is another SOL
emn lesson that ssthe paths of glory lead
but to the graye.u From one end to the
other of this broad and varied land will
his death produce grief. and sense that
this time. In yery truth. has Death pulled
down great pillar of state, and that there
are few in the land to supply his place.
Called to the position Of chief Justice of
the supreme court of the United States
from the station of secretary of the
treasury. as was his distinguished
predecessor. like him he rose
superior to the passions and preiud-
ces of the hour. His greatness could not
have been subjected to more crucial test
than by his succession to the position made
vacant by the death of that mirror of ms
tice and judicial proprietv. the venerable
and eyer.to-be.reyered Roger Brooke
Taney. IT had been many wears since
Mr., Chase had any experience at the
bar when he was made chief Justice
and had he not been q man of evfroord;,
narv endowments his annointment would
have been a serious mistake !: but il tnYned
out that in his case the particular in which
he was thought to be wanting sufficient
practical ACQUAINTANCE with iurisnrudenca
was one Of his best qualifications for
he went on the bench at a time when he
WAS soon to encounter those new and i'm
portant questions which arose in the south
ern states after the close of the war.
questions which were only to he satisfac.
torily resolved by mind of vigorous and
comprehensive grasp. accustomed To a fire.
ouent recurrence to great principles. bnt
at the same time. accustomed n
range untrammeled bv ingredients
That the mind of Chief Justice
Chase was of that stamp no person of dis
cernment will question. It NAV be safely
said that there was no man known to us
who was better fitted to handle those
novel questions than he was. His bold
ness and independence. and at the same
time his sobriety as thinker. arc too well
known to be more than referred to. There
was amassiveness and a self.reIiance. a So
lidity and equilibrium about his mind that
were impressive, and singled him out as
one born to figure in matters of great con-
cernment. The high traits of his intellect
were conspicuously shown while he was at
the head of the treasury. the duties Of
which position he administered with dis.
tinguished sagacity and originality: so much
SO that he falsifed predictions as to the
effect confidently made in high quarters in
Europe. The consciousness of his masterly
administration in finances was. it is be-
lieyed. a source of great satisfaction to him.
Imbued with an intellect of such char
aeteristics-a mind impatient of thinos
narrow or technical-it was exceedingly
opportune that during the brief neriod he
held a judicial station there was work for
him of kind both suitable and congenial.
He at once began to deal very mastery
with the great international questions that
come before the supreme court sitting as n
tribunal of prize but perhaps. in no cases
did the greatness of his judicial oualifica-
tons SO generally impress themselves IN
the whole country as in those cases usnalIv
called " the gold cases.n His judgments
in those cases were couched IN terms 50
luminous and enforced by reasoning so irre-
sistible that all nreyious doubts and con.
f1icts--and thew were manv-were af once
laid. and men wondered that matter nom
800 ,N-,, y si'"e " hiotooA "oW