Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-02-12

Hon. N cal Brown was orator at the
observance of John Marshall Day in
Milwaukee on the 4th day of February,
and the Board of Education invited him
to repeat the address in the Assembly
Hall at the High school building on
Friday evening last. Mr.. Brown con-
sented, and on that evening was greet
ed by large audience. Mr.. Brown
talked for two hours and was listened
to with the closest attention. The eff
fort is spoken of by those who heard it
in Milwaukee, as being one of the ablest
sin for many a day, and at his home
here it was received with enthusiasm
and Mr.. Brown was roundly congratu-
lated at its close. The Pilot would
like to give the Grafton in full but its
space is limited, hence can only give
brief synopsis. Mr.. Brown spoke in
part:
We do not best remember Marshall
with trite praise. We appoint this ami
versary for his remembrance; we turn
again to his life and work, to the writ
ten page where his toll and genius
stands recorded; We adjure the younger
men of our generation to consider his
character anew, and to take guidance
from him as the greatest and worthiest
example which our profession has
given them.
The accidents of birth who become
kings and the accidents of politics who
many times become presidents, or
otherwise achieve great place, are
largely tailor-made The biographers
have padded them out so that they APP
pear grand ard stately. While bio
graphers thus elevate men of little
consequence, they often do what they
can to spoil the fame of really great
men by servile adulation and a surfeit
of superlatives. Every hero is bound
to have his Boswell to make him APP
pear both excessively wise and exces-
sively foolish. But the art of biography
has never been able to spoil the fame of
John Marshall, and the multitude of
biOgrapherS have never cheapened or
vulgarized any act of his. Whether in
school-boy garb, porting over Milton
| and Shakespeare, or as soldier of the
infant colonies of Prandywine, or in
the blood-stained SHOWS of Valley
Forge, or serving their councils when
peace came, OF as the master mind of
our great tribunal for many years, he
was every inch a man.
1t is not given to any other profession
to have one, universally pre-
eminent name. We could not agree
on the greatest soldier, poet, philos-
opher, novelist, or the greatest states
man or preacher. But I think we
would all name Marshall as our greatest
jurist. Lord Bacon took brides, for
although he was one of the wisest OF
men, he was not wise enough to be
honest. Lord Mansfield, was cold and
unfeeling; Lord Thurlow opposed inter-
ference with the slave trade, Coke
was brutal and unfair; Lord Hard
|
Gus verdict, wrote Ichabod, on the
front of the god-like Webster, because
he did bravely meet the storm that was
gathering over the question of slavery.
But Marshall is not one of these; we
still stand before him reverently and
uncovered, our faith mistaken, our adj
miration and respect unchanged. The
bar did much for Marshall. Before
him came the great lawyers of his day.
1t was an age of saddle-bags and circuit
riding, the golden age of the American
bar. Not golden in fat fees for the
lawyer, but golden in its wealth of high
ambitions and aspirations, in its leisure
for study and reflection. The great
lawyers who came to MarshalrS court
had the primal vigor of new race. A
new heaven and a new earth were in
creation and the morning song of that
creation made vibrant music in the
heart of man. Bunker Hill and York
town were near at hand and the tumult
of the seven years battle yet thrilled the
air. By farm, and forge, and shop, in
the pulpit at the bar and on the bench,
were found the patriots who had faced
the veterans of the king in the great
struggle for independence, and when
evening came they told by their fire
sides, again and again, the tale of valor
and devotion. Mother earth never
before Graded so heroic a race. For
what it had been, and was to be, it was
worthy the prophetic benediction be-
slowed upon the Patriarch, Abraham
Look now toward heayen, and tell the
stars, if thou be able to number them.
So shall thy posterity be-" In this tense,
overcharged atmosphere, men became
warriors and statesmen, stern-faced
and serious. They did not stand in
awe of kings, for their near ancestors
had seen one English king brought to
the block, and another driven forth
and unthroned exile, because of their
expressions.
The youth of Marshall was spent in
this wonder-age. this surging ferment
of great forces, presaging greater
things to come. Marshall and his
father were both soldiers in the revolu-
ton. Its our pride that all of the re-
curing tragedies of-war through which
we have passed, the soldier lawyer has
born we'll his part. He has won the
knighthood of honor on every battle
field of the republic from Bunker Hill
to AppamatoX.
OF this type of man was Marshall.
He loved books better than war, but
when the call TO arms came, he left the
scholars retirement and ease and took
his place with his countrymen. We
give him dead, the four-fold need of
praise, as soldier, lawyer, statesman,