Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-23
HON. ROBERT. J. MCKINNEY.

remarks:
As the law officer Of this Court, and Of
the State, I have been requested by my
brethren Of the bar of West Tennessee,
to lay before this high judicatory their
respectful tribute to the worth and public
services of the Hon. r. J. Mckinney.
Sharing, as do, the pride of my pro-
fessiOnal confreers, in the exalted names
of those who have borne the highest hon,
ora Of the legal arena, and she'd luster on
the brotherhood of the law, l cannot re-
press 4 flush Of emotion, as the herald Of
such n body of men; gentle, true, an! of
noble aims to present in this theater Of
his judicial achievements, and before his
successors in these seats, their loving
homage to the merits, the wisdom, and
the virtues of an eminent Judge; TO cx-
press the sense of the excellence Of his
character, and of his fame rs an admins
TRAITOR Of the law, and their sorrow that
he could not longer live to be recipient
Of such tokens of their respectful consid-
Grafton as such men will know how to
convey to those whom they delight to
honor.
As the melancholy occasion has itself
affected their hearts. so rs the vehicle of
their thoughts, their pride and their sor-
row, l am possessed with a profound
sense Of the sadness Of the occasion, and
ofthe duty imposed upon me.
The impressive lesson which the life of
the deceased affords, is improved it fitting
words in the proceedings which are now
presented to this Court.
Year after year the highest duties of
life are shifted from the shoulders Of those
who go down into the valley of the shad-
ON Of death, TO fall upon such others as
may have the capacity to take them up
Those who have labored and toiled, have
shown endurance and faithfulness, and
truth and probity and all manly excel
lence. To these comes the plaUdit, "welI
done, good and faithful servant, thou
hast been faithful over few things, l
will make thee ruler over many things"
Such was the Judgment which the peo-
pie of Tennessee passed upon the acts of
the honorable counsellor, the faithful a.
gent, the man of untiring toll.
Could l but adequately present to the
mOcking levity of this generation, the
grandeur of labor and faith and earnest
ness, now as in days Of old, the true tails
man of all success, and so stir the hearts
of the young with the lesson Of this hour,
it would indeed be service worthy of
the occasion.
l do feel that each generation of men
men are inheriting from those that 20 be-
fore, more of the virtues of the social
state, and eliminating to some extent the
vices of their fOrefatherS-that as the
tides of time roll on each generation will
grow more and more in gentleness, in
goodness, and in their fitness for the
social relation. Corruption may still tar
nish the fame of many. Greed may lead
many into crime-the savage sense of
honor, reckless of human life, bred of
the time when the life of man was I con-
slant struggle for physical existence, when
his safety depended each hour on cour-
age and prOwess, will long be transmit
ted, and linger in the human race; but
each man of mark, whose moderation and
justice, and sense of obligation to his
kind, makes him distinguished, is to me a
Way-side monument, to make our pro-
gress known and aid its mOvemcnt.-
What were man without his inherit
ance of noble names and noble deeds?
In tho name of the bar of West Tennes-
see, ask of this Court to contribute upon
its records, to perpetuatc the memory of
one more name worthy of honor and en-
ulation.
At meeting OF the Bar of West Ten
nesSee, now in attendance upon the Su-
prcmc Court of Tennessee, convened in
the Court Room at Jackson, on Saturday
the 10th of October, 1879, on occasion OF
the lamented death of the ROBERT j.
MCKINNEY; the Hon. 4. o L. Nicholson,
Chief Justice of the Court, was called to
the Chair, and Jno. III. Freeman, ESD.
appointed Secretary, and on motion Hon.
Isham G. Harris, W. y. c. Humes, }. B.
Heiskell and J. .W. Clapp were APP
pointed Il committee to draft suitable res
Olutions. The meeting then adjourned
to. Thursday, 2Ist day of October, 1873.
On that day the Committee presented the
following preamble and resolutions,
which were unanimously adopted:
We have learned that the venerable
Robert J. Mckinney died GA last Satur-
day morning, ut 81 O'Clock, at his
residence in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the
seventy-third year of his age. He had
passed the allotted span of three score
years and ten, and his declining health
had for some time warned him of THAT
the night cometh;' yet throughout the
state the announcement of his death has
caused men to pause, and has produced q
general gloom, especially with the legal
profession, TO whom he was so long a
lofty object of esteem and veucyation, rs
well for his purity and moral worth, as
his extraordinary attainments in legal
science, and his most useful and brilliant
career as a member of the Supreme Court
Of Tennessee. In his death one of the
landmarks of Tennessee jurisprudence
seems 10 have persisted. The generation
with which he connected us, magnitied
by time and distance, seems race of
giants. Reese, Green and Turlev were TO
our young eyes the personitication of jul
deal greatness. When the former,
whose reputation rs 4 finished scholar
and profound juriSt embraced the whole
Union, left the bench in 1877, many were
the misgivings that his place could not
be worthily supplied; but it was soon Oc-
cupied with universal acceptance, as wOr-
thy TO fill il, by the subject of our regrets
for his loss, and our pride in his judicial
fame. Robert J. Mckinney was born
February lst, 1903, ut Coleraine, in Lon
uonderry, Ireland. At The age OF eleven
he came 10 America with his father and
family, who settled for time at Phila-
delphia, Penn. \ few years afterward
he removed to Hawkins county, in this
State. This future great Judge OF Ten
nesSee spent the best years OF his youth
as laborer ON the farm of his father
near ROgerSyiilc. While 50 engaged. he
spent his nights i'm lIboriOUS study, and
thus, the farmcr-boy acquired his earliest
education, with those habits of industry,
and that mental discipline, and strength.
which pre- emiucntly distinguished the
great lawyer and profound juriSt. He
attended one year aS student at Green
vile College, and then spent Il few months
of study AT Philadelphia. After this he
returned and studied law, under tho tut
tiOn of his uncle, John 4. Mckinney, al
Ro&erSyillc. lie obtained his license. and
was admitted 20 the bar. Dec. oath, 1924,
and commenced the practice of law in
ROgerSyille. In the Spring of lS2G, he
moved To Greenyillc, and there became
permanently established. When he came
10 the bar his modcstv and dif1dence res