The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-10
IN HONOR OF HARLAN
A NOTABLE DINNER WAS GIVEN IN
WASHINGTON.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT THERE
OTHER DISTINGUISHED MEN WE'RE
SEEN AND HEARD.

Compliments - Twenty-Five Years
the Supreme Court Bench.
President Made a speech That
Pleased the Veterans on Both
Sides of the Civil War.
Washington, Dec. 9.-The dinner by
the bar of the Supreme Court of the
United States at the New Willard Ho-
tel tonight to Justice John Marshall
Harlan, in recognition of the compile
ton of twenty-five years of service on
the bench of the Supreme Court, was
a brilliant function.
In the absence of Attorney General
Knox, Wayne MacVeagh presided.
When the guests had been seated,
grace was said by Rev. Richard D.
Harlan of Lake Falls, Ill, eldest son
of the justice, who had come to Wash
ington especially for the occasion.
Justice Harlan was in his happiest
mood and gave every evidence of his
appreciation of the honor bestowed on
him. His two other sons, James S.
Harlan, chief justice of Porto Rico,
and John M. Harlan, o. Chicago, were
also present., WnlIe anu MIS-. f1dF-
Ian and a host of friends were in
terested spectators in the gallery.
Interest in the banquet outside of
Justice Harlan centered, in President
Roosevelt. His arrival shortly after
$3.50 was the signal for a great out
burst of applause. The President
warmly congratulated Justice Harlan,
grasping him by both hands before
taking his seat.
The President Speaks.
When the time for speechmaking ar
rived, Wayne MacVeagh, in a few
appropriate remarks, introduced the
President, who said:
"Mr. Justice Harlan has served for
a quarter of a century on that court.
During that time he has exercised an
influence over the judicial statesman
ship of the country of a kind such
as is possible only under our own
form of government. For the judges
of the Supreme Court of the land
must be not only great jurists, but
they must be great constructive states
men; and the truth of what 1 say
is illustrated by every student of Amer
ican craftsmanship, for in not one
serious study of American political
life will it be possible to omit the
immense part played by the Supreme
Court in the creation, not merely the
modification, of the great policies
through and by means of which the
country has moved on to her present
position.
Thrice fortunate is the court when
1t has as one of its members a man
who has played great part in other
spheres of our composite life. Mr..
Justice Harlan came from Kentucky,
a state in which the patriotism of the
people was put to so peculiar test in
the Civil War. / remember, Mr.. JUS
sice, being told by an American who
was a staunch friend of yours and one
Af the greatest lawyers and most pa
kriotic citizens whom this country had
John Mason Brown-that he came
from a trip from the West as young
man of 81 years just at the time of the
outbreak of the Civil War, just after
Sumter had been fired upon, and his
mother brought down to him the sword
that his father had carried in the Mex
lean war, and said to him: My son,
this is the sword your father carried.
/ hope you will draw it on the side
that defends the flag for which your
father fought, but for one side or the
other, draw it. you must
Praise for the Blue and Gray.
'In any audience in any state of the
Union, take it as far north as you wish,
/ can appeal with confidence to the
people 1 address when l say that next
to the homage we pay to the men who
proved the truth of their endeavor as
they battled in the blue uniform is the
homage we pay to the men who, with
equal sincerity, with equal devotion, to
the right as it was given them to see
the right, wore the grey. loud and
continuous applause)
N"And having said that, I am sure
that none of my friends who fought in
fnHn 10
derstand me, or will grudge what 1 am
about to say, when l say that the
greatest debt owed by this country to
any set of men is owed by 1t to those
men of the so-called border states. the
men who in craftsmanship followed
Clay and the Crittendens and the
Blairs; the men who as soldiers fought
or the same side with Thomas and
Farragut, the men who were for the
Union, without regard to whether their
immediate associates were for it or
not. (Applause.) In New York, in
Massachusetts,, in Illinois. in Iowa,
men who stood for the Union went
with the stream. In parts of Ken
lucky, of Virginia, of Missouri, they
stemmed the torrent.
"And, gentlemen, 1 am half a South
erner myself. Two of my uncles fought
in the Confederate navy. One of them
served unUeT the IdlneT-ln-laW OF vice
Gov. Luke f. Wright of the Philip
pine Islands. And so 1 think I have
the right to say that. knowing the
Southern people as l do. would
heartily advocate fighting twice as
hard as you fought from 81 to IS for
the privilege of staying in the same
union with them" daughter and ap-
plause.)
Justice HarIan's Response.
AS the President took his seat, Mr..
MacVeagh introduced Justice Harlan.
The cheering was so prolonged that it
was some time before the Justice could
speak. Justice Harlan, after expressing
his pleasure at the signal honor done
him, said that II his countrymen
thought that he had discharged the
duties of his Office with conscientious
regard for what he deemed TO be the
law and with an eye single to the ends
OF justice and right and truth, his de-
scendants would have in this estimate
OF his judicial life a legacy more pre-
cious than any that he possibly could
leave 10 them.
He rejoiced that IN the judgment OF
America, the Supreme Court had stead
ily held the country IN the path OF
safety. so that to-day our people be-
lieye that the preservation Of the I'm
ion. under the Constitution, II the sur
est guarantee o. liberty regulated BY
law as well az of the success 81 al
movements and al policies demanded
BY fh6 common good"
There ia abundant reason, be said,