The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1873-05-29
HoDors to the Late Chief Justice.l

Judge Rives' court being in session
Harrisonburg on Saturday 10th, Colonel Ro
/ bert kW. Hughes, United States attorney
rose and said !:
May it please your HONOR it seem proper
chat this court and bar should give some ex-
preston of their estimate of the personal and
official character of the late Chief Justice Of
the United States. whose funeral obsequies
take place to-day.
That exalted officer was by law a member
Of this court, and he was also the head of
the national judiciary establishment of which
this court is part. The Office has been filed
at all times by the most venerated characters
of this country, men of rare general and pro-
fessional scholarship supreme dignity of
character, and social worth and refinement
which spread charmof admiration around
them, in every circle which they entered
The aHeetlonate veneration with which
the people Of the United Ststes cherished the
names Of John Marshall and Roger B. fancy
had been fully secured by Salmon P, Chase $;
and not only by reason of the intrinsic emf,
nence Of the Office, but of the distinguished
character of its ilustrious incumbents, the
Chief Jnstice of the United States has come
to be regarded by the American people az
the most dignifed and exalted officer in our
whole system of free government on this con-
tinent
Our national judiciary is system as uni
cue as 1T is expanded, and nowhere has pa
rallel in excellence and usefulness on the
globs. The an clients, if such creations as
the American constitution of government,
the judiciary act Of 1889, and the noble sys-
tenn Of Jurisprudence which has been erected
upon them, had been of their day, would
have ascfibed them to the agency Of the gods
and apotheosized the men most Instrumental
In their establishment And indeed they do
seem miraculous creations. They are
evidences which we have, that superior
hand to that Of man, directs the destnies of
our much-favored republic, puriGes aud ma
lures its institutions, raises and trains up
worthy men to administer them, and turns
every apparent adversely into the means Of
new progress, growth and development
In no one particular has Divine Providence
manifested its favor to the republic more
significantly than 10 the character Of the en-
inent men whom it has placed at the head of
our national judiciary. Our chief executive
is always Dade more or less the object Of
censorious assault, our national legislature
may be liable to severe animadversion, but
the country and the legal profession can fe-
licitate' themselves on the fact, that the su-
prsme judiciary of the United States, aud es-
pecialy the Chief Justice, retains, without
the least abatement, to the present day, the
same confidence and veneration which they
commanded in the days Of John Marshall.
But. in the melancholy event which we are
now brought to contemplate, we learn again
the lesson Of all humanity. Neither personal
worth, nor domestic affection, nor exalted
station, nor public respect and admiration,
can shield the favored mortal who enjoys
them from the fell liand Of the Destroyer
Eu the present case, this fell power has seis-
ed the most pure, serena, and elevated officer
iu the land, before his full years of life had
run out drawn dim down from his high en-
inece, and laid him in the grave.
But even in this suddenuess, the late SAL
mon ?. Chase suffers nothing in the appres
tensions of those whose good wishes and af-
fections had ereircled him. They are assur-
ed that what seems his earthly loss in his
eternal gain; and know that he has gone to
that rest to which the good aud great aud de-
vout statesmen of the republic have repaired
before him.
His Honos,sin impressive words responded
to the eloquent tribute of Colonel Hughes,
and directed tho adjournment Of the court
for the day, in token of respect to the late
CHIEF Justice.