Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-22
THE NEW FEDERAL COURT ROOM.
Appropriate Dedication Address from
Ex-GOy. NeiIi 4. brown.

Ex-GOy- NeiIl =. Brown.
The Federal Court met yesterday morn
ing at 10 O'Clock, Judge Trigg presiding.
The court room was densely packed with
attorneys, visitors and persons who had
been arrested ON the charge of illicit dis
ulling and witnesses in these cases.
Just before the business of the court was
commenced Judge Trigg stated that as they
had recently moved into their newly fur
nished apartments, he thought it would be
proper to dedicate the court room. He then
called upon Ex-GOv. Neili S. Brown to de-
liver the dedicat6ry address, and that dis
tlnguished gentleman replied TO this re-
quest in the following remarks:
l congratulate your Honor and the bar
and the citizens on the establishment of
this court in its own household. All the
arrangements before us and around us are
In good taste and adapted TO the comfort
and convenience of the Court and all its
officers. Whether it is the best building
that could have been selected, | am unable
TO determine. / could have wished, that
had 1t been consistent with the interests
and policy of the Government that a house
OF its own could have been erected upon its
own ground and with its own prescribed
arrangements; but this has not been done,
and we are here assembled in these beauti-
fully furnished apartments to transact the
business of this district. / rejoice that the
court and its officers have at last a place
that they can call their own, and where, L
hope and believe, justice will be adj
ministered without sale, denial, or delay.
/ n withhold. on this occasion, the
expression Of my gratitude and my grati6-
cation, for the kind and temperate spirit
which has marked the course Of admins
tration by the present incumbent of this
Beneh-and l refer especially and with
mournful pleasure to the period immedi-
ately succeeding the close Of the late war.
Then the wave of passion were running
high, and many of our people, together
with their property, were exposed TO the
sword Of technical power. To this court,
without any compromise of its dignity, or
any abandonment ofits memorable duties, we
owe the safety of many of us, and the
paciicatiOn of u community, Justice
was kindly and discreetly tempered with
mercy, and those two great attributes
of the Judiciary were never more nObly
and happily blended than during that try
ing period. regard the Judiciary as the
great balance wheel mall free governments.
1t is there that temperate thought can be
maintained, and calm action preserved,
free from the tumults and passions Of more
popular tribunals. And to it, and to the
firm maintenance of its authority, the
country must look for the prevention of in
cipient evils, and the support of law and
order.
Senator Grundy, one of the most elo-
quent men l ever heard, once uttered a
beautiful apostrOphe to the judiciary when
he said athat if the genius of liberty in
America was ever expelled from her seat,
that her last lingering footsteps would be
heard along down the steps that led up to
that magnificent platform In every age
of liberty, the same solemn truth has been
uttered in every variety Of warning pro-
phecy.
To our present peaceful condition, in the
possession of the franchise and ali the
rights of freemen, the Judiciary tribunal
has contributed its full share. That terri
bic volcano which lately emitted in our
midst fire and flame, has been extinguish-
ed, and all along its spreading slopes, are
now to be found blooming vineyards, and
orchards, and gardens, vocal not only with
the songsters of the grove, but with the
notes of the thrifty husbandman.
i thank God that the animosities engen-
dered by our late civil strife are fast dying
out. Like the waves Of the sea, they are
passing under the ship and will soOn dis
appear forever. II is the interest and the
duty OF every citizen to sustain the judici-
ary, as well as the whole govern
ment, by all his influence and power.
This is a free government, Of powerful re-
sources, and may be made-and | hope will
be-perpetual. To accomplish this de-
ponds upon the honest discharge of duty By
all-officials and citizens. Among these
elements mona stand higher than the
indiciary-and applying to it the language
of the eulOgist of Jefferson, "when wave
after wave shall have passed over the land,
sweeping o~fcOuntless generations Of men,
vet still may this noble tribunal remain in
tact, unimpaired and unadulterated-the
palladium Of safety and justice to all, but
especially to the humble and ~downtrod-
den.
Let it be able to impress upon the sons
of toll when they return to their homes
after the labOrs of the day, and when they
wipe the sweat from their brows, that they
have a fortress of protection over them and
around them
thrust and believe that these walls now
dedicated as a temple of justice, will never
be desecrated by acts of oppression, but
that they will remain silent and mute but
eloquent monuments of all the practical
exemplifcations of justice tempered by
mercy.
At the conclusion Of the above address,
Judge Trigg said that he rendered in behalf
of the government his thanks for the above
kind and liberal sentiments.