The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-05-16
FonOrs to the Late Chief Justice.

Judge Rives' court being in session al
Harrisonburg on Saturday last, Colonel
Robert w. Hughes, United States attor.
ney, rose and said:
May it please your honor, 1t seems pro.
per that this court and bar should give
some expression 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 MEM
Der of this court, and he was also the head
of the national judiciary establishment of
which this court is part. The office has
been filled at all times by the most venera-
ted characters of this country, men of rare
general and professional scholarship, SUI
worth and refinement which spread charm
of admiration around them, in every circle
which they entered.
The affectionate generation with which
the people of the United States 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 in
trinsic eminence of the Office, but of the
distinguished character of its illustrious in
cumbents, the Chief Justice of the United
States has come to be regarded by the
American people as the most dignifed and
exalted officer in our whole system of free
government on this continent.
Our national judiciary is a sy stem as
unique as it is expanded, and nowhere has
a parallel in excellence and usefulness on
the globe. The ancients, if such creations
as the American constitution of govern
ment, the judiciary act of 1889, and the
noble system of jurisprudence which has
been erected upon them, had been of their
day, would have ascribed them to the
agency of the gods and apotheosized the
men most instrumental in their establish
ment. And indeed they do seem miracu-
lous creations. They are amongst the
most conspicuous of the many evidences
which we have, that superior hand to
that of man, directs the destinies of our
much.favored republic, purifies and 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 Provi.
dence manifested its favor to the republic
more significantly than in the character o.
the eminent men whom it has placed at the
head of our national judiciary. Our chic
executive is always made more or less the
object of censorious assault, our national
| legislature may be liable to severe animad
version, but the country and the legal pro.
fession can felicitate themselves on the fact
that the supreme judiciary of the United
States, and especially the Chief Justice, re.
tains, without the least abatement, to the
present day, the same confidence and veLe
ration which they commanded in the day!
of John Marshall.
But, in the melancholy event which WI
are now brought to contemplate, we learI
again the lesson of all humanity. Neither
personal worth, nor domestic affection, mo-
exalted station, nor public respect and ad
miration, can shield the favored morta
who enjoys them from the fell hand of tn
destroyer. In the present case, this fel
power has seized the most pure, serene
and elevated officer in the land, before hi
full years of life had run out drawn hin
down from his high eminence, and lai
him IN the grave.
But even in this suddenness, the lat
Salmon p. Chase suffers nothing in the ar
prehensions of those whose good wishe
and affections had encircled him. The
are assured that what seems his earthl
loss is his eternal gain and know that
has gone to that rest to which the goo
and great and devout statesmen Of the +,
public have repaired before him.
His Honor, in impressive words, r.
sponded to the eloquent tribute of Colon
Hughes, and directed the adjournment
the court for the day, in token of respe
to the late Chief Justice.