The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-07-06
JOHN MARSHALL
Address Of Hon j. L. Carney Marshatown President
Bar delivered before annual convention
Thursday, June 10Th, 1911

sessions in the city of New York, bu
when Marshall took his seat as Chic
Justice, it began its sessions a
Washington, the capitol of our coun
try.
President Adams has justly beer
eulogized for the choice that he made
of a Chief Justice. If he had render.
ed no other service to his country
this one service would give him un.
dying fame. 1t would be deeply in.
| teresting to know what influences
were brought to bear upon the presi.
dents mind to induce him to select at
that time for that particular place,
the one man who by the united voice
of those persons whose judgments
have any weight, since the memory
of the heated discussions over some
of the decisions made. have passed
away, was best fitted for the exalted
position. We say exalted" position
now, but at that time it was not so
regarded. The name of Marshall was
not then known as that of a great
lawyer. He had had, as we know,
but limited educational advantages.
He had acted well his part in the
army in a place of limited authority.
| He had spent some years at the bar,
entering the practice at q years OF
age, and had attained in a few years
prominence in the profession in
state where great lawyers and great
men had their homes in the state OF
Virginia Together with his entry
into professional life or soon there
after, he entered the legislative ser
vice of his state, and so with these
two avenues to public notice, he
broadened his mental grasp upon the
great issues of the day, while his
mind was becoming fitted by refiec-
ton and study to lay deep and strong
in the position he was soon to occupy,
the foundations for popular govern
ment.
The preparation of John Marshall
for his life work had been of the
broadcast character. He had been as
has been seen, a soldier, member
of the legislature, and finally ap'
pointed on a mission to France. He
had on his return yielded to the soil
citation of Washington, and became
a member of congress. He retired
from congress to accept the office OF
Secretary of War, and for few
months held the Office of Secretary
of State.
He had filed each and every sta
ton to which he had been called
without any solicitation on his part
or thought of personal advancement,
with that fullness of success which
marks pre-eminent ability, and gave
to him that wonderful preparation of
mind and knowledge for the discharge
of the duties of presiding judge of the
supreme court during the most crit
ical period of our history.
For nineteen years did this work OF
preliminary training continue, Until
the fateful moment when he should
be called to his life work. 1t is i'm
possible now to conjecture what
would have been the fate of these
United States had President Adams
choice been other than it was. He
could have found no one who, as
subsequent events transpired, was
more fitted for the task. Suppose for
the moment he had chosen a weak or
yaciIIating chief justice at that for
native period. We may as well re
feet upon possible results had Presi-
dent Buchanan's election been defer
red four years later than it was, and
had he taken the presidency in the
beginning of the Civil war instead of
Abraham Lincoln.
The wisdom of man is not adequate
to predict the result, but it might
we'll have been the end of the Union.
When we witness in our history
these repeated instances of the man
fitted for the deed, being ready for
the mighty task, as was Washington
in his day, as was Marshall when
needed, as was Lincoln when he was
called for the trying duties Of the
hour, we must believe that there Is
Providence that shapes our ends,
rough hew them as we may.
No wonder that with the approval
and heartfelt consent of patriots
everywhere, ten years ago, the Tooth
anniversary of the accession OF that
beloved man to his high office should
have been celebrated all over this
broad country with reviews OF his
life work by orators of the Bar and
Bench, and that his name in previous
years should have been perpetuated
in being given to so many cities and
other localities in the Union.
The work upon which John Mar
shall entered, in his accession to the
chief justiceship. was new and un'
tried. He had not had the advantage
of experience in a nisi prius court in
hearing testimony or arguments and
which is in some respects as admira'
Bile course of training for higher judi
cial responsibilities He had sub.
stantially no precedents or landmarks
to guide him in In Interpretation Of
the Constitution in regard to whoch
his opinions have challenged the ad'
miration of the world.
While there had been only two de-
cisions rendered before he took Of