Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-04-28

WAS right Hardship is the grIndstone
that sharpens intellectual faculties. and
the swords with which to strike effect
lively for God and ones country.
The reason that life to so many is
failure is because they do not have OPP
position enough and trials enough OF
because they ANONYMOUSLY lie down to
be run over by them instead Of using
them for stairs on which to put their
foot and mount Those "born with
gold spoon in their mouths are apt TO
take their last medicine out Of pewter
mug. Have brave heart in all depart
ments, ye men Of many obstacles There
is no brawn or character without them.
The roughs glaring and growing around
about the shed Of a courtroom in Marys-
vile, Cal, had as much to do with
Judge Fields development as Mark
Hopkins, the great Williamstown col
lege president Opposition develops
couroge like the ring Of Martin Lu-
ther's defiance when be said 10 the
Duke of Saxony. Things are otherwise
ordered in heaven than they are at
Augsburg" +"
Honor of the judiciary.
Notice also how much our friend did
for the honor of the judiciary What
momentous scenes have been witnessed
in our United States supreme court, on
the bench and before the bench. wheth
er, far back, it held its sessions in the mp
per room Of the Exchange at New York
or afterward for ten years in the city
hall ut Philadelphia. or later in the
cellar Of yonder capitol, the place where
for many years the Congressional library
was kept, a serulcher where books were
buried alive. the hole called by John
Randolph 1.-THE cave Of Troph0niusl
What mighty men stood before that bar
pleading in immortal eloquence on ones
tions Of national import Edmund Ran
dolph and Alexander Hamilton and
Pinkney and jeremiah Mason and Caleb
Cushing and the weird and irresistible
Rufus Choate and George Wood and
Charles O'Conor and James T. Brady
and Francis B. Cutting and men now
living just as powerful
How suggestive the invitation which
William Writ, the great Virginian,
wrote his friend inviting him to yonder
supreme courtroom Tomorrow a
week will come on the great steamboat
question from New York Emmett and
Oakley on one side. Webster and myself
on the other. Come down and hear it
Emmett's : whole soul is in the case, and
be will stretch all his powers Oakley
is said 10 be one Of the finest lOgicians
of the age as much a Phocion as En-
nett is Themistocles, and Webster Is
as ambitious as Cesar. He will not be
outdone by any man if it is within the
compass Of his power to avoid it. Come
TO Washington. 1t will be a combat
worth witnessing. The supreme court
has stood so high in England and the
United States that the vices Of few
who have occupied that important place
have not been able to disgrace it, nei-
ther the corruption Of Francis Bacon,
nor the cruelty Of Sir George Macken-
zie. nor the Sabbath desecration Of Lord
Castlereagh.
To that highest Of all tribunals Abra-
ham Lincoln called our friend, but he
lived long enough to honor the supreme
court more than it had ever hOnoreG
him. For more than 81 years he sat in
the presence Of this nation and of all
nations a model judge Fearlessness.
integrity, devotion to principle, char
acterized him. No bribe ever touched
his hand. No oprofane word ever scalded
his tongue. No blemish Of wrong ever
marred his character Fully qualified
was he to have his name associated in
the history Of this country with the
greatest of the Judiciary.
As at - o'clock day by day on yonder
hill the gayel falls in the supreme
court room and it is announced that the
chief Justice # the United States and
the associate justices are about TO en-
ter. and all counselors at the bar and
all spectators rise to greet them. and
the officer with the words "Oyez
ovez. oyezr' announces that all is now
ready for a hearing and exclaims. "God
save the United States Of America, go
wish we could in imagination gather
together those who have occupied that
high judicial place in this and other
lands. and they might enter and after
the falling Of some mighty gayel had
demanded attention we could look
upon Marshall, the giant Of
American jurisprudence, and John Jay
of whom Daniel Webster said in com
memoration, "When the spotless ermine
of the judicial robe fell on John Jay. II
touched nothing less spotless than
itself. and Rutledge and Cushing and
Ellsworth and Joseph Storey, called the
Walter Scott Of common law, and Sir
Matthew Hale and Lord Eldon and
Lord Tenterden and Sir James Mcln-
tosh and Mansfield and the long line OF
lord chancellOrs and the great judges
from both sides the sea-and after they
had taken their places in our quickened
imagination the distinguished cases Of
centuries which they decided might
again be called on. after the assembled
nations had calculated. God save the
United States of America. God save
Great Britain "God save the ma
tons
The Sanctity of LAW.
All. how the law honors and sancti-
fes everything it touchesl Natural law
Civil law Social law. Commercial
law. Common law Moral law. Eccle-
siastical law international law. Oh,
the dignity. the impressivenes. the
power Of law 1t is the only thing be-
fore which Jehovah bows, but he bows
before that, although the law is OF his
own making. The law BY it worlds
swing. BY it the fate OF centuries Is
decided. BY it all the affairs Of time
and all the cycles Of eternity will be
governed. We cannot soar so high or
sink so deep or reach out so far or live
so long as to escape it. h is the throne
on which the Almighty sits. To in
terpret law. what a profession What
responsibility What an execration
-. A.. ,,,dro ha q Lord IQffrQVal 4