The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-07-06

j Writ, Binney, Dexter and other giant
! of the Bar, to aid him, much of tn
) learning since embodied in our tex
books, and decisions could be spared
, when a mind so luminous and pen
} etrating as that of the great Chic
Justice, was the crtcible to separate
|, the dross from the gold
Firmness unlike obstinacy is
mark Of the first class judicial mint
and nature, and this quality Judge
Marshall possessed in fullest degree
and with unmatched patience he
heard the controversy to the end Not
hurried or nervous over time properly
occupied in the trial of the cause, the
one consideration with him, was to
have full and fair and free presenta'
ton of the facts and arguments OF
counsel, and If anyone ever attained
that ideal equipose of Judgment which
prevents an irrevokable conclusion
until the end, he was master of it,;
but when that time came, when the
cause was ended and submitted, and
the clarifying processes and workings
of his intellect had revealed to him
the truth, John Marshall declared 1t,
and ltigants and lawyers knew that
the final word had been spoken and
from it there was no appeal.
In reasoning power, he was unap-
proachable. In clearness of menta
vision, in stability of foundation prin-
| o;nlav apd acutapoC. pf ANALYSIS hp
was easily first. Regarding the prin
ciples of our government, with tend
er love and affection. his ardent de-
sire was to so fashion 1t that 1t wOulf
stand for all time, a free government
for free men.
Oppressed, as he had been with
other leaders, by the weakness of the
Confederation of the States, he was
firmly convinced that an entire change
as to federal power must be invoked,
or chaos would result. He recognized
in the Constitution that, while it pro-
vided for a government of limited
powers, it was intended that the pow
ers which were granted should be
ity within those powers should be
supreme. 1t has been said by great
lawyer that reason is the great an
thority upon constitutional questions
and the faculty Of reasoning Is the
only instrument by which it can be
exercised, and it became his duty to
construe the Constitution, to make
it, as it we're. His great reasoning
powers were devoted to the task of
constructions a frame work for flu
ture ages and for the government of
millions yet unborn.
II will be remembered that he was
a member of the convention of Virgin
ia which was formed to consider the
purpose of being submitted to the
states, and on being urged by many
voters in his own county, while a
candidate for election to the conven-
ton. to vote against 1t, he said:
The questions which have been per
petually recurring in the state legis-
lature, and which brought annually,
in doubt, principles which | thought
most sacred, which proved that every
thing was afloat, and that we had no
safe anchorage ground, gave a high
value in my estimation to that arti-
Gle in the Constitution which imposes
restriction on the states. I was con-
sequently a determined advocate of
its adoption"
Here we find clear ray of light
reflected. as early as in the thirtieth
year of Marshall's life, upon the for
native processes of his mind, as al
terward set forth in his many adjudi-
cations upon that great instrument.
John F. Dillon, whom Iowa delights
to honor, has given in language and
in thought unsurpassed, an estimate
of the United States supreme court,
while Judge Marshall was its presid'
ing Judge, and particularly of the eff
feet his judgment had upon the con
stitution, in the following language,
which | quote:
"If the supreme court, during the
period of active political develop,
ment covered by the long official ca,
reer of Chief Justice John Marshall,
had put a narrow and inelastiC con.
struction upon the Federal Constitu'
ton, so that it could not have ex'
banded with the growth and answer,
ed the necessities of great people,
| it would have been calamitous to an
extent no words can portray, and no
imagination conveive. His views left
it possible for the national growth to
take place in accordance with the nat
ural process OF evolution. MarshalPs
judgments upon the National Constitu
ton are among the most original and
massive works of the human reas
on. They are almost as important as
the text of the Constitution which
they expound. Some OF them were
indeed criticized at the time, but they
have immovably established them
selves as right in the general judg
ment of lawyers, public men and the
people. Although changes In political
parties have been reflected In the
personnel of the Bench; although un
foreseen crises in the national life
have been reached and passed, 1t Is
remarkable that on not one OF hi
Fask 49,