Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1884-02-28
DEDICATION CEREMONIES.

Mackinaw County Court House at 81.
Ignace COmsecrated 10 Justice.
The dedicatOry services Of the New
Mackinac county court house took place
Tuesday, Feb. 26, according to previous
announcement. The court room which
Is elegantly finished and furnished was
well filed with ladies and gentlemen.
VIM. P. Preston, ESQ.,, Chairman of the
Board of Building committee was called
to the chair, and after few well timed
Introductory remarks, introduce Rev.
Mr.. C0ueters who opened the ceremonies
with prayer. After which Judge Brown,
of the city. delivered the following elo-
Quent address:
JUDGE BROWNS ADDRESS.
Ia behalf of the citizens of Mackinac
county, l present for dedication this
Temple of Justice.
If there be reason for formal dedica-
cation of our houses of worship, where
Justice, Truth and Mercy are taught,
there is also good reason for sitting
apart, with appropriate ceremony. the
building in which all these attributes are
to be respected and. enforced by law.
And when | speak of the law, | may
properly urge, with all the enthusiasm
of the learned Hooker, "that of law no
less can be said than that her seat Is the
bosom of God; her voice the harmony of
the world; all things in Heaven and in
earth do her homage; the very least as
feeling her care and,the greatest not ex-
empted from her power; both angels and
men and the creatures what conditions
sOever, Though each in different sort and
manner. yet all with uniform consent,
admiring her as the mother of their
peace
Burke speaks of law as the pride of hui
man intellect; the collected reason of
the ages, combining the principles of
original Justice with the infinite variety
of human concerns
Blackstone refers to law as "the sci
eRee which distinguishes the criteriOns
of fright and wrong, which teaches to
establish the one and prevent, punish
or redress the other; which employs in
its theory the nOblest facilities of the
soul, and exerts in its practice the cardi-
nal virtues of the heart; science which
is universal In extent; accommodated to
each individual, yet cOmprehending the
whole community"
The clergy may urge upon the con-
scienceless and avariciOus who would
grind the face of the poor, and rob the
widow and orphan, to he just to all; but
1t remains for the lawyer to appeal to
our courts of justice for a decree or
judgment requiring the hardened shy
lock to respect the rights of his victims.
The preacher may declare the Divine
law, "ThOu shalt not steal" "ThOu shalt
not commit adultery Thou shalt not
KILL" He may succeed In lcOnyincing
men that this is the law Goo revealed in
His holy word, and written upon the very
hearts and cOnscienees of men. and yet
the fact remains, evidenced by the his
tory of the world, that property must be
protected by the municipal law; that the
sancity of the hsarthstOnes, the security
of individual honor, and upon code of
human enactments that enables us to
lay our hands upon the offender, whether
he be found in the vale of poverty or rev.
cling in the lap of luxury or in the pal
ace of the rich, and to bring him into
tho temple of justice to answer for his
crimes, and to submit to the penalty of
the law, v penalty that will be inflicted
within the lifetime of the offender; a
penalty that shall prove that even now
1.-THE way of the traRsgressOr Is hard" a
penalty that shall demonstrate that
though preaching may be a good thing
practice is better.
1t is popular notion, at least among
the illiterate and ignorant, that the law
yer Is learned In the law only to enable
him to aid his client in evading it. that
he familiariZes himself with the Drinci-
pies OF justice only to enable him to sub
nit to it.
There may be individual instances of
this character; there may be those who
flee their honor for some temporary and
fault Of the profession, The man of gi-
and logic that enables him to pierce the
mysteries of the human soul, to walk
amidst the darkness that so often envel-
ops crime, and to snatch the truth from
the seething mass of falsehOOd that has
crushed it to the earth, and bid it rise
again. knows we'll the design and pur-
pose Of the law, and IL he be bad man,
if he be vile at heart, he may study the
law only to pervert it, may study equity
to enable him the more successfully to
defeat justice; MAY steal the livery of
Heaven to serve the devil in" But
such man is no more entitled to the
name of laiCyer than the merest petit
logger who has but smattering Of law;
who, though he may know something Of
the latter, has not brain or breadth of
Intellect to comprehend its spirit.
Perlniteme to express the hope that
this temple may never be desecrated by
any effort on the part Of counsel who
may stand at this bar, to use the law as
an engine of oppression.
To you, sir, the presiding Judge of the
18th Judicial Circuit of Michigan, do our