Morning journal and courier., 1881-06-29

ish Parliament had been radical and for the | benefit of the landlords, yet they were no more radical than the plan which the Irish l tenants seek to right their wrongs today. The address of Mir. Peck was received with | applause. The final Townsend prize oration on "Cromwen as Legislator" by MT. Corrlng- ton, was a very fine effort, and his remarks were frequently applauded. The subject was handled in a way that pleased the entire au- dience, and on it's conclusion the expressions of approval were very general
 Following, the Masters Grafton" was de- livered by Louis Hood, B. A., IL. B. Go lumbia College), attorney-at-law, Newark, N. J. His subject was 1.-The Codifcation of the Common Law.'' The oration of Mir. Hood was fine effort and was well received by the audience. He is an easy and fluent speaker, and his remarks could be distinctly heard ln every part of the church.
 The interest of many present centered in the orator and the oration which followed by Hon. George F. Hoar, LII. D., United States Senator from Massachusetts. His subject was ''The Function of the American Lawyer in the Founding of States" He spoke in substance as follows:
 There is nothing in history attractive and TO- mantle the founding of State There is nothing pregnant with great results as the founding or a republic. The scholarly imagination of Bacon de- lighted in the myths which surround the infancy of with nt Raleigh. and Winthrop and Carver He says %fiantations amongst ancient primitive and he roca works :" and in his degrees of sovereign hon. or he awards the chief places thus:
 EThe true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign honor these: In the first place are Conditoreg- founders of States In the second place Legisla toresaw givers, which are sometimes called second founders or Perpsts hr1ae1pes because they govern
 Below the Conditores and below the givers of per- petual laws who the second founders he ranks in order the Lberatorss to whom States owe their dom from foreign or domestic tyrants, and the Pro- pagatores Imper such as in honorable wars enlarge kI.o ala Ot1 iD- Last of the five he places the Patres patris the good administrators, which reign justly and make the times good where in they live" pr. Lieber, of the wisest and most thoughtful of modern writers the philosophy of history. says: Arnold Winkelreids carcass, mangled and trodden down, became the corner stone of the Hell vetic republic" Dr. Lieber was right It was not 8 mere heroic example of courage and sefsncrthce such as can be found in Grecian Roman story. The time and the occasion and the historic event have made Arnold Winkelreid to the young Swiss for five hundred years the type and eE amp of To be Swiss is to his aspirations opportunity to be Winkelreid It the Uirt.s
 des Hepetiorr inst gathered into its breast at Sem
 So in the civil conduct of States. The sentiments and opinions that are established by their early g.n- ions that behind constitutions and statutes like the doctrine of the divine right of kings that played they are affirmed in conjunction with great historic action like Declaration of Independence, embodied in written unchangeable fundament- al laws like Magma Charta the Bills of Bights in early constitutions the most potent forces in determining their history Mr. Stubbs declares that the whole of the constitutional history of England is little more than commentary on Magma Charts It the first great public act of the English nation after it had recognized it's identity. Of these things not the creation of individuals They and the cedar of Maine and Georgia pine that make her ribs have slowly added ring to ring for many summer and winter But the shipwright that them and puts them in place is the lees the builder of the ship. In many scholars study. sturdy sense both in Old England and New, was wrought out the idea of the rights of and the ob. opening sentences Of the Declaration of Independ- ence But none the less is the placing them as the corner stone in the foundation of our republic max ing them, Hamilton declared, '.the fundamental constitution of every Stae the foremost actiou of human history.
 Coming to the framing and adoption of the consti
 tuition of the United States the greatness and power ously manifest The Declaration was in obedience to the irresistible march of events It affirmed 1th founded in the nature of things and which the public understanding had already accepted as self evident but the constitution exhibits the highest creative and constructive power of statesuanship and it's adoption was the result of most skiful lead ! ership.
 Thirty out of forty of the members of the con venton that framed the constitution had been prac little to the formation of the instrument The great authority of Washington, the President, helped mucE to secure the adoption Of 'he constitution Dy nj. debates. The wisdom and calmness of the aged threatened to break up the assembly, But we shsl all that it is fortunate that his propositions for a single house, for President and Senators without salary for an executive council for power in th' President to suspend the laws, and that votes or bills should be cast by States in proportion their contribution not inserted in the instru ment. Gerry and Mason refused their assent to thu whole plan Let us by no means underrate the valu' of the silent members in that great delberative sembly But 1t is the less true that the construc
 tive gsnlns Fn + which masured the ! posed was that. of the lawyers of the body.
 have not time to state in detail the service of tht men of our profession in the forma of the earl
 State constitutions, especially the Bills of Rights those wonderful bulwarks of right and liberty sure | according to MT. Webster than the constitution ! themselves Many things they contain are not orig | inaL Many sentences in the Bill of Rights of Vir writer like Sydney Locke or in early Englisl statute, But alike in what they selected from th naaxs of earlier times, and in what they added tha | was new, how marvellous was their practical wisdom These few simple rules have been in large degree tn safety of life and property and liberty They hay stood the test of time. The experience of hundred
 years ago has suggested little to add to them an'
 The constitution of the United States s a documen of few pages It would be an instructive historica study to take the great constitutional judgments o John Marshall in cases where the decisions of Stat
 courts were reversed, and where arguments able an hard to made for the losing party, an
 consider what would have been the of his tory had the decision been otherwise. Reverse Gib
 bons U. Ogden and commerce wouldSbecoms subjec
 to the varying laws and manifold exactons of thirty
 eight States. Reverse Dartmouth college Woodwar
 and every institution of learning and charity become l subject to popular caprice. Reverse McCuIoch
 Maryland and the politics that saved the Union be ! come unlawful the rebellion would have succeede | or been subdued only by revolution. In Lord Ba
 cons of honor he ranks next the founder tho propugnatores who defend the State honorabl ! wars If am right in claiming the builders of tn
 constitution the civil founders of the republic.
 might if it were within the compass of my discourse
 claim the propugnatores reipublicR the champion
 who have defended law and liberty in the fields o
 civil contest when in danger.
 But it is not this that I wish to dwell. I wisl
 to speak of the empire whose foundations we are t
 lay and by which we ourselves to be governed
 The Atlantic republic has taken it's place anon
 great and free nations. With all the blots it ! history we may say of it's founders that they wei
 understood what may be briefly stated in the word
 of the eatest orator of antiquity and the greate
 political philosopher of modern times-words whicl
 Sir James Mackintosh, in the close of his noble dis course, declares S'state the substance, the objec and the result of all morality, and politics ana 1aw"-''Hoc 0erssinnt, sine sunsrpa jtlstia reaspu6
 ttcan gerT 1uLo 1odo posse :" Justice is itself thu
 9ent departure from it. under any
 lies under the suspicion of being policy at an."
 Whether justice and law shall be the standing rule of free State depends upon the in whic1 they held by the great body of the people Wheth they held in by the great body of tn, people depends upon the method of their administra pend upon that profession from whose ranks must b
 taken the judges who not only declare the ment within it's proper limits that profession with out hose powerful aid the judge would inadequst, to his function and without whose jealous watchfuI ne.s the judge himself would become a tyrant.
 The profession that will aspire to this honor and known by the people as the officer of justice, heIpins the court to judge the fact and the law helping th ''the Swiss sells the strength of his arm and the sharpness of his spear to the highest bid l der.'' The accused must be defended and not pre- | judged. The court must be aided in judgment by . collection of the arguments each side by trained officers selected by each party for himself, who for each solely in that service But the moral sens I of mankind has rejected Lord Brougham's extrava gant and immoral statement of the duty of the ad vocste Especially when great public interests ] stake before legislative bodies, depend tn, peoples decision, and wealth and power appeal to thu lawyer to aid in accomplishing what is wrong, let be understood that every honest member of the pro fesson has original and perpetual retainer on thu l other side
 On the conclusion of Senator Hoar's ad dress, which was 8 masterly effort Hon. R | S. Silliman, ILL. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y. announced the decision of the judges in re l gard to the award of the Townsend prize fol the best oration at graduation. The commit | tee of award, in addition to Mir. Silliman, con sisted of Hon. s. w Kellogg of Waterbury and Henry Holt, Esq, of New York.
 MT. Silliman said that as all of the gentle 1 men had acquitted themselves with so muct | credit it had been a difficult matter for then to decide in regard to the award. After de liberation, however, they had concluded that it should go to Mir. Corrington. The an nouncement was received with applause.
 The remaining prizes awarded for 1881 art as follows: