Year: 1869

GUsT-MEETISG OF THE BAR-SPEECHEsAN AND
REsoLUTIoNs.-Yeste morning, in pur-
suance of adjournment, the members of the
Richmond bar met in the Supreme Court
room to pay,the last tribute Of respect to the
memory of the late Colonel Thomas z. Au-
gust.


tbs seldom that we see SO fine gathering
of the profession as that of yesterday morn
ing, and the resolutions, as well as the indi-
vidual tributes of the friends and compan-
ions of the deceased, were among the most
appropriate and well-timed we have ever
listened to. ... --.. ..-....,.,- s-s.-g7
The meeting was called to order by Judge
Meredith, its chairman, and Mr.. Austin
Smith was in his place as secretary.


Judge Meredith, on taking the chair,
said:


Gentlemen, The occasion which brings
us together this morning is one of melan-
choly interest. We have met to pay the
last tribute of respect to the memory of one
of the most cherished members of our pro-
fession. In the death Of our friend we have
lost bright intellect and an accomplished
member of this bar. We oil know that he
possessed in q remarkable degree the elo-
ouence of the advocate and the learning Oh
the lawyer. But he possessed other traits
which made him q universal favorite with
his professional brethren, and drew around
him troops of warm and devoted friends.
It was that geniality and amiability of dis
position which made him always welcome,
whether as ati associate or an opponent, IN
the management Of cause and We can
all bear willing testimony TO the fact that
he praeticed his profession upon the high
est principles Of professional honor, leaV-
ing us an example which we should faith
fully initiate if we desire to maintain our
profession in all its integrity. tits rot my
purpose to pass eulogy on our friend,
but our friendship, which has lasted for
more than twenty years, would not permit
me to be altogether silent on this occasion.
I leave the duty of paying fitting tribute
to his memory to those among you who are
better qualified to perform it.


Judge Crump then offered the following pre-
amble and resolutions. After reading them
he paid most fitting tribute to the memory
of the deceased, and spoke of him as he had
found him to be after twenty-five years of
intimate acquaintance. He was possessed
of the greatest amiability and eyenness of
temper. During the legal tilts Of twenty
five years of his professional life the de-
ceased had never shown one evidence of
roughness or harshness, but his utterances
were ever marked by the most exalted pro-
fessional courtesy and the purest personal
kindness.


death, with relentless hand, has taken
from our midst one who was bound to us by
the tenderest ties-one whose spOtless char
acter and brilliant career have reflected
honor upon the profession to which we be-
long.


eve mourn with hearts bowed in sorrow
the loss of Thomas P. August, our friend
and brother. In the very prime of ripe
and vigorous manhood, in the full strength
and development of his intellectual powers,
he has been called hence, and the sun OF
his life has gone down forever.


'ssThis sad event has cast shade Of grief
over the whole community, who lament the
untimely. end Of one who had served them
with unfaltering fidelity and conspicuous
merit both in the halls of legislation and
upon the tented field. But we, his daily
companions in the battle of life, feel with
peculiar poignaucy the bereavement which
has removed from among us an associate
whose genial and kindly nature, whose
noble and benevolent heart, whose gentle
and loving manners, whose generous and
confding temper, had won the admiration
and affection of US all. To us remains
especially the melancholy, yet grateful,
task of commemorating his virtues and his
worth, and of contemplating and striving
to emulate those exalted qualities and that
,,1, oh Ind Inf fa n n1
will embalm his memory.


Mature had bestowed her choicest gifts
upon him in lavish profusion. He possessed
mind at once logical, perspicuous, and
comprehensive-an imagination vivid and
fertile-and the habit of patient invcstiga-
ton and laborious research. This combl-
nation made him not only most eloquent
and effective advocate, but q most able and
prudent counsellor. His knowledge of
mankind, gathered, not by cynical analysis,
but belonging intuitiyely to hlm-as the re-
tiex of his genuine and hearty sympathy
with his race-gave him in many trials an
almost matchless power.


"Thesc, united to q person singu!arly
graceful-a countenance beaming with in
genuousness-ana address polished yet easy
an elegance fervent and earnest-and
winning charm of manner which was his
alone-piaced him among the foremost OF
those who have inscribed their names upon
the roll of Virginia's forensic fame.


"Among his rare accomp mplishments is also
to be reckoned his exhaustless wit and over
flowing humor. These never obstructed the
steady march of his argument, but, spring
ing spontaneously from an Imagination
glowing with intellectual fervor, were re
coenized as sparks from the working en-
gine, and not fireworks for mere show"
and while lighting up his course Of reason
ing, not unfrequently disclosed by their
blaze q weak or false point in his adver-
sary's.


'tThough possessing in boundless atfiuence
this valuable yet dangerous endowment,
its exercise was invariably restrained and
tempered by the generous and kindly in
stincts of his nature. The light which
! flashed from his sword was pure etfulgence-
it neither scortched nor blasted ; and of him
it may with truth be said that


"His wit In the combat, as gentle as bright,
| Ne'er carried u heart-stain away on Its blade


"Thus he but lately stood among us-an
ornament to our circle, our JOY and pride
cherished, honored, beloved. How shall
we speak in fitting phrase of his social viz
tues-of our loving, tender relations with
| him ? These are sacred memories, to be
| preserved in the very sanctuary OF our
| hearts, to animate us with renewed zeal to
initiate his fraternal feelings to oil our
brotherhood. His bright example of per-
feet professional conduct alone Is left US to
signify our sense of his transcendant merit.
Be it therefore


Resolved, That the members of the Rich
mond bar have learned with profound sor-
row of the death of Colonel Thomas P. Au-
gust, who for twenty-five years had filled