The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1891-1893, 1893-03-16

j
nhed IN saying that nc man Ia our state
ever held higher positions in quicker |
succession, nor more largely inspired the |
confidence OF his fellow men Far lie it |
from me To refer to those days for the |
purpose OF stirring up the ashes Of Old |
political fire. For over fourteen years
the aust has lain upon his coffin. be-
hege that all political animosity lies
Uurled beneath tnat dust. Il the grave
snouio III passions and prejudice born
uI conflict he buried. Justice should
holG the scales III which the acts OF the
dead are weighed, but the time has
Come when we can pass upon the mo
tlVes which inspired the great chief JUS
tice III his decision in the famous haDeas
corpus case. Here before your honors
IN thla the hig hest court of the state,
where you daily mete out justice to the
hVing, claim this measure of justice
jor tae dead, that tue judgment rem
de,eo IN our political haste should DC
| reversed, and that hereafter men In pas
sing upon the motives which inspired
Judge Pearson II e1 parte Moore shall
| ti1d ihat they are III the same which
| guided him III long line OF able decis
lons universally acquiesced In by the
| profes- -lon, love OF justice aud Of truth.
Judge Pearson hlms elf cared not for diff
! ference Of opinion as to the law. but that
those whom he represented should for
one moment doubt the sincerity of his
| CONVICTIONS or question the dlsinterest-
| edness OF MS conduct was indeed to his
/ proud ard sensitive heart q deep and
seIious wound How he bore that wound,
| now .he erdeavored to parry the thrusts
and stabs Of his political foes, have been
described by those who knew him III taose
days better than l and were far abler
30 describe them One friend has said
that he complained bi terly of the in jus
tice done him, another that he suffered
IS the martyr suffers, crying aloud when
pain was past endurance; as for me, l
So " none Of this, though knew him but
short time time after the exciting
scenes to which refer. There was no
murmur then. He was as silent then as
his portrait is silent now. He presented
to nv mind the aspect of some moral
hero who, cons cious of the rectitude Of
his own intentions, had elevated himself
t. position of Independence upon that
consciousness, looked down upon his de
t-actors, and expecting no justice from
his contemporaries, placed his vlndlca'
tion upon his exposition of the law and
COZ tidently expec ted a complete vindl
cation from pOsteTlty. Surely that ap-
peal will not be in vain, for none da {
willingly t. appear before that bar who
nAVe not done, written or said methine
worthy TO be remem bered. The forgot
rea are not there. the base fear to come
judge Pearson, fred by an hOnOrab {
ambition that burnt "a fiercely in hl'
heart az t ever burned IN the heart of {
, c se,ar or \ N.pole0n. wrote to cOnquOl
instant thought He wrote his deo's
, ions, not for his own day nor for an age
but for aIl time; and when the recollec
! | ton OF the Kirk war shall have passed
, away, wh;n pei IsecutOrs and prosecuted
are alike forgotten, men, In readlrg tha
splendid biography written by his owl
! hand in the pages of OUT supreme court
: will clodlv admit that ne WAS q gres
:. Judge and upright man. Il was sad .
!, tnpther. For high above all his mar
velous intellectual gifts, beyond al. tn
;, posi,i ms tnat be held. the ermine tina
he wore. rises his integrity like som
grand old mount4in pesk. there 1t stands
+, firm IS the ealth beneath and pure "a tn
= st2rs above
North Carolina has indeed produce
|. great statesmen, like her Badger, orator
t Ike re, Miller, bur their fame is unsut
Il staftial aud traditional, in ths
s. they have left behind them bl
little written record of their gres
Il ness. She must depend for he
Y intellectual eminence upon her gre'
r iurists her Ruifins and her Pearsons, an
It these two, the one, by common consen
is her great expounder Of equity, the 9th
to the grandest common law lawyer Of II
:. lard. have sustained her eminence n
as ONLY among her sister states, hut carrie
t; it across the sea and firmly fixed it
r the birthplace of English law. 1t is il
De possible to think Of either one of the
le great judges without thinking OF b
at grest rival. The difference betwe'
nv their intelects has been best describe
q. by Justice Reade: If Ruffin had mo
he scope, Pearson had more point If Rr
We fla had more learning. Pearson h'
ch moro accuracv, if Rufin was large
he PEARSON was tiner, both were great
an Permit me to add one more word to II
at distinction: Pearson was more oris
On nal. and it was well for this state th
sr he d possess originality, for the liz
Is, Of his lie fell in the days when gre
rly revolution swept over is COUNT
cd sweeping away all ancient land mari
ess New principles were established up
by tie field of battle. an old constituti
he was abolished, a new one erected up
d | it's RUNS Reconstruction laws We
ID passed. statutes enacted in pursual
ca thereof Il became his duty to expou
ON and apply ali these new laws, He CO,
ted not depend upon precedent, for tn
to was 10 precedent TO guide him in t
the darkness He had to blaze a new r(
red through an unbroken forest, where
lty. foot-steep OF a man had never tr,
It'd Such az exigency required more tt
his, mere case lawyer, than an index
nau decisions. follower Of the opinions
act, Others The times demanded law
BY profound and original and such a L
he was Pearson. He knew all the gr
ia authorities that set IN motion and
be rected the currents Of legal thought.
the the words Of another, ''he traced tt
year currents back to their fountain head
lere sect in the reason of the law,
ille. ran them forward to their logical c
5 of ciusion. makiug them by their expans
zen. 1ess ana Fl xioIiity to cover and
the tect every possible phase and condi
to OF human 3 fl .irs +" Not only did he
the play his originality, driven by the ne
has sltv Of the times, but he did it from
the own habit Of thought. He did not v
pon in the s4me intellectual ways as o
per men. He could not bend his mind
II | u tn ha @