The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-09-29
Supreme Court of Appeals.


The Court of Appeals of Virginia, sitting in
this place, adjourned on Tuesday last, after q
feeling announcement by Judge Christian,
of the death of President Garfield Be
fore .adiourning, Hon. A. II. II. Stuart was
requested to prepare suitable memorial pa
per to be entered upon the records of the
Court, and to report on Thursday. The fol-
lowing is
MR.. sTUART'S ADDRESS.
At the morning meeting of the Supreme Court
after the formal opening. Judge Christian the Presi
dent of the Court, impressvely announced that
there would be no session during the day.
| In the presence of the dark and dreadful shadow
he said, which to-day hangs over stricken nation
we cannot proceed with our ordinary duties. OPP
pressed with the general grief which weighs upon
every heart through out common country
neither counsel nor judges can perform their accus
toned duties.
| The whole country IS in tears Virginia weeps
with Ohio The South stands with the North, stric-
en- and appalled, with sorrow, by the bier of the great
and noble man whose suffering and courage and
patient struggle with death has swept the chords Of
human sympathy. everywhere and stirred to the
depths the heart OF our common humanity.
The assassin work is finished. The President is
dead God grant that we may not have to say that
Republican liberty died with HIM, for the assassin's
hand which strikes down the Chief Magistrate of
great country. is blow aimed at liberty itself.
Judge Christian then said that the oldest member
of the bar and one who had been prominent in pub
lie life meaning ex-Secreary Stuartl would at the
| request OF the court prepare a suitable address
which would be presented on Thursday. He then
adjourned the court. 4
When the court met on Tuesday last, the echoes
OF the minute-guns and OF the toling bells, which
announced the death of the President of the United
states, were still ringing in their Under cir
cumstances like these the court felt themselves in
no condition to enter on the discharge OF their Off
cia Duties and they knew that the Bar fully parti
cipated in the feeling OF depression which saddened
prae as thought conented Itself WITH nsif the SIM
pie announcement OF the fact and ordered the court
| to be adjourned.
ty which had befallen the country and OF the atroc
ty of The crime which had caused it, they felt that
record more formal exDressi0n of their opinions
| and feelings on the subject.
With this view, they did me the honor to request
that l. one OF the senior members OF the Bar, would
prepare brief paper, intended to give effect to
their wishes in this respect. have no doubt that
in doing so, they desired that the paper should pre-
sent the sentiments not only OF the court but also
| of the members OF the Bar.
In compliance with this request OF the court
have prepared a paper, which, imperfect as it is,
| will now proceed to read.
amity it is eminenty proper not only that the PEG
pie in primary meetings, but that their representa-
| lives in every department OF government, should
give expression to their opinions and feelings in re-
Fifty millions of American freemen stand to-day
overwhelmed with grief at the death, by the hand
of assassin, of the man who had been chosen by
them as the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. Since
the feloni0us would inflicted, the End of July
last, daily and fervent prayers have gushed unbid-
den from the hearts OF the whole people, 10 the
Great Ruler of the Universe. that the life of our
President might be spared to his cOuntrymen. For
| reasons which we cannot fathom, those prayers
have not been granted, and we can only bow, in
humble submission. to the Divine will
In the presence of this great aflictOn every feel
ing of partsanship stands rebuked; sectional pre-
Ss
| The whole people have been welded together by Il
| common sorrow. and local aspirations have been
quenched In nations tearS
The people of the North and of the SOuth-Of the
| East aid Of the West-Republicans and Democrats
feel, alike, that great disaster has befaen them!
ton and to no party! He was the President OF the
United states! He was the Chief Magistrate of the
Nation! He was the representative OF the whole
country, and the impersonaton of their sovereign
will, and power, and majesty!
A wound inflicted on his person was a wound in
| fiicled each and every citizen of the United
States! A blow struck at the chief executive off
Ger of the Nation may justly be regarded as blow
struck at the Nation itself. through its government
of which he was the honored representatives
Under the theory of our free institutions, AL pow
er IS vested n and consequently derived from, the
people, Their will, expressed in the modes pre-
scrbed by the Constitution, is the supreme law.
They Alone through the proper constitutional agen-
cies, are competent to choose President of the
United States, and as it WERE to consecrate him for
the discharge of the duties of his high office!
When their choice has been officially announced,
all differences OF opinion and all acerbities of feel
ing engendered by the canvass at vanish, and
in the decision Of the constitutional majority
Atrocious and detestable as the crime of assassl
nation must be regarded under all circumstances,
it assumes YET deeper dye when it is apparent that
the object OF the murderer was not merely to take
the iii life 81 the I e e out At the time
of the American people, and to change the whole
current of the administration of national affairs!
1t must be obvious to every intelligent mind that
mortal wound, inflicted under these circumstances
the person of the President, is dangerous as
sault on free institutions and the cause of human
llbertyi
Profound, then, as is our grief at the murder of
our President whose great abilities large and varied
attainmentS, catholic patriotism, manly courage.
and Christian character had commanded the
teen and admiration OF his countrymen and of the
whole civilized world; and deep and tender is
our sympathy with his stricken wife, who, in her
actiOn has exhibited many of the noblest traits
of wOmanhoOd-even these strong emotions cannot
cause to forget the great and abiding wrong that
has been done to our government and our country.
Human life is at most but span! By the law OF
our nature the most robust must soon pass away! The
Affections OF individuals poignant ana heart-rend-
ing as they may be- under the merclful ordinances
of our Creator yield to the soothing influences OF
time and the consultations of religion. But wound
inflicted on our free Institutions blow struck at
republican government-is more far-reaching and
permanent in its consequences and endangers the
cause of human liberty through all future ages!
Recognizing these great truths, this court doth Or
der that the foregoing paper be spread upon its
cordseas an enduring memorial Of their grief at the
Of their profound sympathy with his bereaved fam,
!y and of their detestation of the crime which has
throughout the world!
At the conclusion of Mr.. Stuart's address
Judge Christian said:
On Tuesday morning last this court exhibited by
its official action how it was affected by this great
public calamity, and how it sympathized with the
common sorrow OF the whole country
AS soon as the court met on that day its presiding
officer announced the death of the President of the
United States, and the court adjourned.
The court desiring however, to place upon its
records in some more enduring form than the mere
announcement of the Presidents death, and the ad
journment OF the court requested one of the oldest
and most distinguished members of its Bar land
one who during his long and Jnored life, had been
connected with the Administration of the Federal
Government as Cabinet officer,) to prepare such
resolutions, to be entered on the records of this
court, as should stand as enduring memorial of
its high respect and admiration for the honored Dead
OF his heroic virtues as man and patriot as well
as of its profound 8. mpathy in the public bereave
ment., This duty, assigned to Mr. Stuart, has been
wOrthly performed. 1t only remains to say that the
clerk will enter the paper just read by Mr. Stuart
upon the records of this court, and that the court
will now be adjourned.