Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-07-04
Chief Justice Marshall.
SOME Personal RECOLLECTIONS-
TRAITS OF CHARACTER
AMUSEMENT.
I"Gath's" letter.

The basis of MarshalPS aDlllty aV
the bar was his understanding.
Not highly read, he had one OF
those clear understandings which
was equal to a mill-pond of book
learning. His first practice was
among his old companions IN
arms, who felt that he was a SOL
dier by nature, and one of those
who loved the fellowship of the
camp better than military or po-
litical ambition. Ragged and
dissipated, they used to come to
him him for protection, and at a
time when imprisonment for debt
and cruel executions we're in vogue.
He not only defended them, but
loaned them money. He lost some
good clients by not paying more
attention to his clothing, but these
outward circumstances could not
long keep back recognition Of the
fact that he was the finest arguer
of a case at the Richmond bar,
which then contained snch men as
Edmund Randolph, Patrick Henry,
and later William Writ.
He was not an orator, did not
cultivate his voice, did not labor
hard, but he had the power to
penetrate to the very centre of the
subject, discover the chief point
and rally all his forces there. If he
was defending case he would
turn his attention to some Other
than the main point in order to lei
the prosecution assemble its powers
at the wrong place. With mill
tary eye he saw the strong and the
weak positions, and, like Rem
brandt painting, he threw all his
light on the right spot. The char
acter of his argument was per
spicuous, easy, onward, accumula
tive reasoning statement. He had
but one gesture, to lift up his hand
and bring it down on the place be-
fore him constantly. He discard
ed fancy or poetry in his argu
ments.
Among the cases he argued was
the British debt case, tried in
1898. The United States now had
it's circuit court, and Chief Justice
Jay presided at Richmond. The
treaty of peace of England provi
ded that the creditors on either
side should meet with no lawful
impediment to the recovery of the
full value of all bona fde debts
Heretofore contracted. The ques
ton was whether debts sequestrat
ed by the Virginia legislature dur
ing the war came under this treaty
1t is said that the countess oil
Huntington heard the speeches on
this case, and said that every one
of the lawyers, if in England,
would have been given a peerage'
Patrick Henry broke his voice
down in this case, and never again
could speak with his old force
Marshall surpassed them all in the
cogency of his reasoning. Atthat
time he was thought to be rather
lazy.
He went into the state legisla-
ture in 1882, just before he was
married. His personal influence
was snch in Richmond that, al
though he was constantly in the
minority, he was always elected.
His principal amusement was pitch
ing the QUOT, which he did to the
end of his days, and could ring the
meg, it is said, at a distance of
sixty feet frequently. He arose
early in the morning and went to
market, without servant, and
brought back his chickens in one
hand and his market basket on the
other arm. He never took offense,
and once when a dude stopped him
on the street and asked him where
there was a fellow to take home
his marketing, Marshall inquired
where he lived, and said, ~ will
take for you" After he got home
with the other mans marketing
the dude was much distressed to
find that Mr.. Marshall had been his
supposed servant. l'F|d