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 lit boitor of 3obti marsball Day 
 February 4 1901 
 
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JOSEPH STORY 
 
iff 
 
JOHN MARSHALL 
 
AN ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 MR. JUSTICE STORY 
 
 ON 
 
 Chief Justice Marshall 
 
 • » ' • : 1 • o " » ' • ' i ' 'j 
 
 Delivered in 1852 at request of the Suffolk (Mass.) Bar 
 
 Rochester N Y 
 
 The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co 
 
 1900 
 

 * • « • " • « 
 
 • t <■««», 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE ADDRESS of Mr. Justice Story on the life, character, and services 
 of Chief Justice Marshall, which was delivered at request of the Suf- 
 folk (Mass.) bar on October 15, 1835, and published at Boston in 1852 by 
 Little & Brown in a large volume of Story's Miscellaneous Writings, is not 
 sufficiently familiar to the public, but deserves to be read by every citizen. 
 Story's intimate association with Chief Justice Marshall for twenty-four 
 years on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States gave him ex- 
 traordinary opportunities for knowing the real life and character of the 
 great chief justice, as well as the scope and quality of his work. His mas- 
 terly address on his departed chief is not merely a beautiful tribute of 
 friendship; it pays the fitting intellectual homage of an illustrious judge to 
 a superior whose greatness is supreme. For the purpose of bringing it 
 within the reach of every person, and at the suggestion of the committee of 
 the American Bar Association appointed to provide for the celebration, as 
 "John Marshall Day," on February 4, 1901, of the one hundredth anniver- 
 sary of Chief Justice Marshall's accession to the bench of the United States 
 Supreme Court, this noble memorial oration is now republished. 
 
 The Lawyers' Co-Opebative Publishing Company. 
 Rochester, N. Y., 
 December, 1900. 
 
 M196042 
 
LIFE, CHAK.\CTER, ANB SERVICES OF CHIEF JUS- 
 TICE MARSHALL. 
 
 A DISCOURSE PKONOUIsrCED ON" THE 15tH OF OCTOBER^ 1835, AT 
 THE BEQUEST OF THE SUFFOLK BAE. 
 
 The funeral obsequies have been performed ; the long proces- 
 sion has passed by, and the earth has closed over the mortal re- 
 mains of Chief Justice Marshall. Time has assuaged the first 
 agonies of grief of the immediate relatives who were called to 
 mourn over so afflictive a loss ; and others, who, looking to the 
 claims of private friendship or to the public interests, were as- 
 tounded at a blow, which, though not unexpected, came at last 
 with a startling force, have had leisure to recover from their 
 perturbation, and may now contemplate the event with a calm 
 though profound melancholy. 
 
 It is under these circumstances that we are now assembled 
 together to devote a brief space of time to the consideration of 
 his life, character, and services ; and then to return again to the 
 affairs of the world, edified, as I may hope, by what he was, and 
 warmed and elevated by a nearer approach to excellences, which, 
 if we may not reach, we may yet gaze on with devout respect and 
 reverence. I am not insensible of the difficulties of the task of 
 worthily discharging the duties of the present occasion. I am 
 but too conscious how much more successfully it would have been 
 accomplished in other hands, and how little is my own ability to 
 do justice even to my own feelings in attempting a sketch of such 
 a man. I have not, however, felt at liberty to decline the part 
 which has been assigned to me in the commemorations of this 
 day, lest I should be thought wanting in readiness to do homage 
 to one who was the highest boast and ornament of the profession. 
 
 5 
 
There is this consolation, nevertheless, in undertaking the task, 
 that it requires no labored vindication of motives or actions. 
 His life speaks its own best eulogy. It had such a simplicity, 
 purity, consistency, and harmony, that the narrative of the 
 events in their natural order invests it with an attraction which 
 art need not seek to heighten, and friendship may well be con- 
 tent to leave with its original coloring. 
 
 Of the great men who have appeared in the world, many have 
 been distinguished by the splendor of their birth or station; 
 many by the boldness or variety of their achievements; and 
 many by peculiarities of genius or conduct, which, from the ex- 
 traordinary contrasts presented by them, have awakened the 
 curiosity or gratified the love of novelty of the giddy multitude. 
 I know not how it has happened, but so, I fear, the fact will be 
 found to be, that high moral qualities are rarely the passport to 
 extensive popular favor or renown. J^ay; a calm and steady 
 virtue, which acts temperately and wisely, and never plunges 
 into indiscretion or extravagance, is but too often confounded 
 with dullness or frigidity of temperament. It seems as if it 
 were deemed the prerogative, if not the attribute, of genius, to 
 indulge itself in eccentricities, and to pass from one extreme to 
 another, leaving behind it the dark impressions of its vices or 
 its follies. The deeper movements of the soul in the inmost 
 workings of its thoughts are supposed to display themselves like 
 volcanoes in the natural world, by occasional explosions which 
 awe, but at the same time excite the crowd of eager spectators. 
 They are struck with admiration of what they do not compre- 
 hend; and mistake their own emotions for the presence of su- 
 perior power. They are bewildered by the shifting exhibition, 
 alternately of brilliant deeds and debasing passions, of intel- 
 lectual efforts of transcendent energy, and paradoxes of over- 
 wrought ingenuity ; and, being unable to fathom the motives or 
 sources of anomalies, they confound extravagance with enter- 
 prise and the dreams of wild ambition with lofty and well-con- 
 sidered designs. 
 
 And yet if there is anything taught us, either by the precepts 
 of Christianity or the history of our race, it is that true great- 
 ness is inseparable from sound morals; that the highest wisdom 
 
 6 
 
is but another name for the highest talents; that the genius 
 which burns with a pure and regulated flame throws far and 
 wide its beneficent light to guide and cheer us ; while occasional 
 corruscations serve only to perplex and betray us, or (to borrow 
 the language of poetry) serve but to make the surrounding dark- 
 ness more visible. The calm and patient researches of E'ewton and 
 Locke have conferred far more lasting benefits on mankind than 
 all the achievements of all the mere heroes and conquerors of 
 ancient or modern times. One patriot like Epaminondas, 
 Scipio, or Washington, outweighs a host of Alexanders, Caesars, 
 and ]^apoleons. The fame of Justinian as a fortunate possessor 
 of the imperial purple would have long since faded into an al- 
 most evanescent point in history, if his memorable Codes of Ju- 
 risprudence had not secured him an enviable immortality by the 
 instruction which they have imparted to the legislation of all 
 succeeding times. He who has been enabled, by the force of 
 his talents and the example of his virtues, to identify his owm 
 character with the solid interests and happiness of his country ; 
 he who has lived long enough to stamp the impressions of his 
 own mind upon the age, and has left on record lessons of wis- 
 dom for the study and improvement of all posterity ; he, I say, 
 has attained all that a truly good man aims at, and all that a 
 truly great man should aspire to. He has erected a monument to 
 his memory in the hearts of men. Their gratitude will perpet- 
 ually, though it may be silently, breathe forth his praises ; and 
 the voluntary homage paid to his name will speak a language 
 more intelligible and more universal than any epitaph inscribed 
 on Parian marble, or any image wrought out by the cunning 
 hands of sculpture. 
 
 Reflections like these naturally crowd upon the mind upon 
 the death of every great man ; but especially of every one who 
 may be justly deemed a benefactor and ornament of his race. 
 In the present case, there is little occasion to point out the man- 
 ner or the measure of their application. 
 
 John Marshall was bom on the 24th day of September, 
 1Y55 (a little more than eighty years ago), in the county of 
 Fauquier, in the State of Virginia. His father was Thomas 
 Marshall, a native of the same State, and at the time of his birth 
 
 7 
 
a planter of narrow fortune and retired habits. Of this gentle- 
 man, who afterwards served with great distinction during the 
 Revolutionary War, having been appointed to the command of 
 one of the Continental regiments of infantry, it is proper to say 
 a few words in this place. He was a man of uncommon capac- 
 ity and vigor of intellect ; and though his original education was 
 very imperfect, he overcame this disadvantage by the diligence 
 and perseverance with which he cultivated his natural endow- 
 ments ; so that he soon acquired, and maintained throughout the 
 course of his life, among associates of no mean character, the 
 reputation of masculine sense and extraordinary judgment and 
 ability. JSTo better proof, indeed, need be adduced to justify 
 this opinion than the fact that he possessed the unbounded confi- 
 dence, respect, and admiration of all his children at that mature 
 period of their lives when they were fully able to appreciate his 
 worth, and to compare and measure him with other men of 
 known eminence. I have myself often heard the Chief Justice 
 speak of him in terms of the deepest affection and reverence. 
 I do not here refer to his public remarks ; but to his private and 
 familiar conversations with me, when there was no other listener. 
 Indeed, he never named his father on these occasions without 
 dwelling on his character with a fond and winning enthusiasm. 
 It was a theme on which he broke out with a spontaneous elo- 
 quence ; and, in the spirit of the most persuasive confidence, he 
 would delight to expatiate upon his virtues and talents. "My 
 father," would he say with kindled feelings and emphasis, "my 
 father was a far abler man than any of his sons. To him I owe 
 the solid foundation of all my own success in life." Such praise 
 from such lips is inexpressibly precious. I know not whether 
 it be most honorable to the parent or to the child. It warms, 
 while it elevates our admiration of both. What, indeed, can be 
 more affecting than such a tribute of filial gratitude to the mem- 
 ory of a parent, long after death has set its seal upon his char- 
 acter, and at such a distance of time as leaves no temptation 
 to pious sorrow to exaggerate what he was, or to excite the im- 
 agination to paint what he might have been. 
 
 Colonel Marshall had fifteen children, several of whom are 
 still living. Some of them, besides the one of whom I am main- 
 
 8 
 
ly to speak, have attained high distinction as scholars and states- 
 men ; and one, whom I do not feel privileged to name, enjoys the 
 reputation of a thorough acquaintance with that most difficult 
 of all studies, the Philosophy of History. 
 
 John was the eldest son, and of course was the earliest to en- 
 gage the solicitude of his father. The means of obtaining any 
 suitable education at the family residence were at that period 
 scanty and inadequate. Fauquier was then a frontier county 
 in the State; and whoever will carry back his thoughts to the 
 dangers and difficulties of such a local position, far in advance 
 of the ordinary reach of compact population, will readily com- 
 prehend the embarrassments and sacrifices with which it was 
 attended. Colonel Marshall was thus compelled exclusively to 
 superintend the education of all his children ; and, perceiving the 
 rapid development of the talents of his eldest son, he gave him 
 a decided taste for the study of English literature, and especially 
 for poetry and history. At the age of twelve, the latter had 
 transcribed the whole of Pope's Essay on Man, and some of his 
 moral essays ; and had committed to memory many of the most 
 interesting passages of that distinguished poet. 
 
 The love of poetry, thus awakened in his warm and vigorous 
 mind, soon exerted a commanding influence over it. He be- 
 came enamored of the classical writers of the old English school, 
 of Milton, and Shakespeare, and Dryden, and Pope; and was 
 instructed by their solid sense and beautiful imagery. In the 
 enthusiasm of youth, he often indulged himself in poetical com- 
 positions, and freely gave up his leisure hours to those delicious 
 dreamings with the muses, which, say what we may, constitute 
 with many the purest source of pleasure in the gayer scenes of 
 life, and the sweetest consolation in the hours of adversity. It 
 has, indeed, been said by Sir James Mackintosh, that all men of 
 genius delight to take refuge in poetry from the vulgarity and 
 irritation of business. Without yielding to so general and 
 sweeping a conclusion, it may be truly said, that it is not un- 
 congenial with the highest attributes of genius, and is often 
 found an accompaniment of its nicer sympathies. 
 
 One of the best recommendations, indeed, of the early culti- 
 vation of a taste for poetry, and the kindred branches of litera- 
 
 9 
 
ture, is, that it does not expire with youth. It affords to ma- 
 turer years a refreshing relaxation from the severe cares of busi- 
 ness, and to old age a quiet and welcome employment, always 
 within reach, and always bringing with it, if not the charm of 
 novelty, at least the soothing reminiscences of other days. The 
 votary of the muses may not always tread upon enchanted 
 ground; but the gentle influences of fiction and song will steal 
 over his thoughts, and breathe, as it were, into his soul the fra- 
 grance of a second spring of life. 
 
 Throughout the whole of his life, and down to its very close, 
 Mr. Marshall continued to cultivate a taste for general litera- 
 ture, and especially for those departments of it, which had been 
 the favorite studies of his youth. He was familiar with all its 
 light, as well as its more recondite, productions. He read with 
 intense interest, as his leisure would allow, all the higher litera- 
 ture of modem times; and, especially, the works of the great 
 masters of the art were his constant delight. While the com- 
 mon publications of the day fell from his hands with a cold in- 
 difference, he kindled with enthusiasm at the names of the great 
 novelists and poets of the age, and discussed their relative pow- 
 ers and merits with a nice and discriminating skill, as if he were 
 but yesterday fresh from the perusal of them. 
 
 To many persons it may seem strange that such a love of 
 letters, and especially of works of imagination, should ever be 
 found combined with the severe logic and closeness of thought 
 which belonged to his character, and gave such a grave cast to all 
 his juridical labors. But the truth is, that the union is far less 
 uncommon in the highest class of minds, than slight observers 
 are apt to suppose. There is not only no incompatibility in 
 pursuits of such opposite tendencies; but men of genius, more 
 than any other persons, from their lively sensibility to excel- 
 lence, are prone to have their curiosity awakened by any exhibi- 
 tion of it, in whatever department of knowledge or art it may be 
 displayed. They feel the presence of superior power ; they are 
 touched by the sublime reaches of kindred spirits ; they gaze on 
 the wonders of that workmanship whose exquisite proportions 
 they understand, and whose difficulties of execution they appre- 
 ciate. They see the glory of that eminence, which is so proudly 
 
 10 
 
won, and so bravely maintained. But they can also measure 
 what few other persons can, what vast resources and uncounted 
 labors have been exhausted in the attainment. Thus, their sym- 
 pathies are excited by every triumph of the human intellect ; and 
 the very contrast of their own favorite studies and pursuits with 
 those of others opens upon them new sources of pleasure, in sur- 
 veying the variety, as well as the magnificence, of human genius. 
 But to return to my narrative. 
 
 There being no grammar school in the neighborhood, young 
 Marshall, at the age of fourteen, was sent for his education about 
 a hundred miles from his home, and was placed under the tui- 
 tion of Mr. Campbell, a clergyman of great respectability. He 
 remained with him a year, and then returned home, and was 
 placed under the care of a Scotch gentleman, who was just then 
 inducted as pastor of the parish, and resided in his father's fam- 
 ily. He pursued his classical studies under the care of this 
 reverend pastor as long as he resided in the family, which was 
 about a year ; and he had at that time commenced the reading of 
 Livy and Horace. After this period he was left to his own un- 
 assisted diligence; and his subsequent mastery of the Classics 
 was accomplished without any other aids than his grammar and 
 dictionary. He never had the benefit of any instruction in any 
 college, or other public institution ; and his attainments in learn- 
 ing, such as they were, were nourished by the solitary vigils of 
 his own genius. In English literature, he continued to receive 
 the fostering care and assistance of his father, who directed his 
 studies, and contributed, in an eminent degree, to cherish his 
 love of knowledge ; to give a solid cast to his acquirements ; and 
 to store his mind with the most valuable materials. It is to this 
 circumstance that we are mainly to attribute that decided at- 
 tachment to the writers of the golden age of English literature, 
 which at all times he avowed and vindicated with a glowing con- 
 fidence in its importance, and its superior excellence. His 
 father, too, at this period, was not only a watchful parent, but a 
 most useful and affectionate friend ; and he became the constant, 
 as he was also almost the only intelligent, companion of his son. 
 The time which was not thus passed in the society of his father, 
 he employed in hardy, athletic exercises in the open air. He en- 
 
 11 
 
gaged in field sports; he wandered in the deep woods; he in- 
 dulged his solitary meditations amidst the wilder scenery of na- 
 ture ; he delighted to brush away the earliest dews of the morn- 
 ing, and to watch the varied magnificence of sunset, until its 
 last beams ceased to play on the dark tops of the noiseless forest. 
 It was to these early habits in a mountainous region, that he prob- 
 ably owed that robust and vigorous constitution which carried 
 him almost to the close of his life with the freshness and firm- 
 ness of manhood. 
 
 It was about the time when young Marshall entered on the 
 eighteenth year of his age that the controversy between Great 
 Britain and her American Colonies, which ended in the estab- 
 lishment of the independence of the latter, began to assume a 
 portentous aspect. It could not fail to engage the attention of 
 all the Colonists, whether they were young, or old. in the retire- 
 ment of private life, or in the exercise of public political func- 
 tions. It was a stirring theme of conversation, involving inter- 
 ests of such vast magnitude, and consequences of such enduring 
 influence, that every patriot felt himself called upon by a sense 
 of duty to arouse himself for the approaching exigency. Young 
 Marshall could not be indift'erent to it. He entered into the con- 
 troversy wdth all the zeal and enthusiasm of a youth full of the 
 love of his country, and deeply sensible of its rights and its 
 wrongs. Partaking of the spirit and energy of his father, he 
 immediately devoted his time, with a prophetic foresight, to the 
 acquisition of the rudiments of military manoeuvers in an inde- 
 pendent company of volunteers, composed of gentlemen of the 
 same county, to the training of a company of the militia of the 
 neighborhood, and to the diligent reading of the political essays 
 of the day. For these animating pursuits he was quite content 
 to relinquish all his literary studies; and the pages of Black- 
 stone's Commentaries, to which he had already begun to direct 
 his ambition, were forgotten amidst the din of arms and the 
 preparations for open hostilities. 
 
 In the summer of 1775, he was appointed the first lieutenant 
 of a company of minute men, who were enrolled for active serv- 
 ice, and assembled in battalion at the beginning of the ensuing 
 September. In a few davs they were ordered to march into the 
 
 12 
 
lower country, for the purpose of defending it against a small 
 predatory force of regulars commanded by Lord Dunmore, and 
 also of assisting in the relief of Norfolk, with some other pro- 
 vincial troops. Hearing of their approach, Lord Dunmore took 
 an advantageous position on the north side of Elizabeth, near 
 the great bridge, and at a small distance from Norfolk. A bat- 
 tle soon afterwards took place between the opposing bodies, in 
 which the British were repulsed with great gallantry. On this 
 occasion Lieutenant Marshall took an active part, and had a full 
 share of the honors of the day. The provincials, immediately 
 after the retreat of the British, made their way to Norfolk ; and 
 Lieutenant Marshall was present when that city was set on iire 
 by a detachment from the British ships, then lying in the river. 
 
 In July, 1776, he received the appointment of first lieutenant 
 in the eleventh regiment on the Continental establishment ; and 
 in the succeeding winter he marched with his regiment to the 
 Middle States, then the scene of an harassing warfare; and in 
 May, 1777, he was promoted to the rank of captain. From this 
 period he remained constantly in service until the close of the 
 year 1779. He was present at the skirmish with the British 
 light infantry at Iron Hill ; and he fought in the memorable bat- 
 tles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. During this 
 period of his military life, he was often employed to act as 
 Deputy Judge Advocate, a situation which brought him to a large 
 acquaintance with the officers of the army, by whom he was 
 greatly beloved, and among whom he deservedly acquired an ex- 
 tensive influence. I myself have often heard him spoken of by 
 some of these veterans in terms of the warmest praise. In an 
 especial manner the Revolutionary officers of the Virginia line 
 (now ^'few and faint, but fearless still ") appeared almost to 
 idolize him, as an old friend and companion in arms, enjoying 
 their unqualified confidence. 
 
 It was during his performance of the duties of Judge Advo- 
 cate, that he for the first time (I believe) became personally ac- 
 quainted with General Washington, and (I am sure) with 
 Colonel (afterwards General) Hamilton; for both of whom, it 
 needs scarcely to be said, he always entertained the deepest re- 
 spect, and whose unreserved friendship, at a subsequent period 
 
 13 
 
of his life, he familiarly enjoyed. His opinion of Washington 
 is sufficiently manifested in his biography of that great man. 
 Of Hamilton he always spoke in the most unreserved manner, as 
 a soldier and statesman of consummate ability ; and in a point of 
 comprehensiveness of mind, purity of patriotism, and soundness 
 of principles, as among the first that had ever graced the coun- 
 cils of any nation. His services to the American Republic he 
 deemed to have been of inestimable value, and such as had emi- 
 nently conduced to its stability, its prosperity, and its true 
 glory. 
 
 There being, in the winter of 1779, a great surplus of officers 
 belonging to the Virginia line, beyond the immediate exigencies 
 of the service, the supernumeraries, among whom was Captain 
 Marshall, were directed to return home, in order to take charge 
 of such men as the State legislature might raise for their com- 
 mand. It was in this interval of military inactivity, that he 
 availed himself of the opportunity of attending at William and 
 Mary's College the course of law lectures of Mr. (afterwards 
 Chancellor) Wythe, and the lectures upon natural philosophy of 
 the then president of the college, Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Mad- 
 ison. He left that institution in the summer vacation of 1780 ; 
 and soon afterAvards received the usual license to practise law. 
 In October of the same year he returned to the army, and con- 
 tinued in active service until after the termination of Arnold's 
 invasion of Virginia. Finding that the same redundancy of 
 officers in the Virginia line still continued, he then resigned his 
 commission, and addicted himself to the study of his future pro- 
 fession. The courts of law were suspended in Virginia until 
 after the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army at the mem- 
 orable siege at Yorktown. As soon as they were reopened, Mr. 
 Marshall commenced the practice of the law, and soon rose into 
 high distinction at the bar. 
 
 In the spring of 1782, he was elected a member of the State 
 legislature ; and, in the autumn of the same year, a member of 
 the State executive council. In January, 1783, he married Miss 
 Ambler, the daughter of the then Treasurer of the State, to whom 
 he had become attached before he quitted the army. With this 
 lady he lived in a state of the most devoted conjugal affection 
 
 14 
 
for nearly fifty years ; and her death, not quite three years ago, 
 cast a gloom over his thoughts, from which I do not think he ever 
 fully recovered. About the time of his marriage he took up his 
 permanent residence in the city of Richmond. In the spring 
 of 1784, he resigned his seat at the council board, in order to de- 
 vote himself more exclusively to the duties of the bar. He was 
 immediately afterwards elected a member of the legislature by 
 the county of Fauquier, a tribute of respect from the spot of his 
 nativity the more marked because he had already ceased to have 
 anything but a nominal residence there. In 1787, he was elect- 
 ed a member of the legislature by the county of Henrico; and 
 he soon embarked in all the perplexing political questions which 
 then agitated the State. 
 
 It is to this period, — between the close of the war of the Revo- 
 lution, and the adoption of the present Constitution of the United 
 States, — that we are to refer the gradual development and final 
 establishment of those political opinions and principles, which 
 constituted the basis of all the public actions of his subsequent 
 life. He had entered the army with all the enthusiasm of a 
 young man, ardent in the cause of liberty, devoted to his coun- 
 try, glowing with confidence in the wisdom and virtue of the 
 people, and unsuspicious that they could ever be seduced or be- 
 trayed into any conduct not warranted by the purest public prin- 
 ciples. He knew the disinterestedness of his own heart ; and he 
 could not believe, nay, he could not even imagine, that it was 
 possible, that a republic, founded for the common good, should 
 not, at all times and under all circumstances, be exclusively ad- 
 ministered for this single purpose. The very suggestion of any 
 doubt upon the subject led him to distrust, not his own judgment, 
 but the intelligence or integrity of those who ventured to breathe 
 that doubt, even in the softest whispers. He had never heard of 
 the profound remark of a great statesman, that a young man 
 who was not an enthusiast, in matters of government, must 
 possess low and grovelling principles of action ; but that an 
 old man who was an enthusiast must have lived to little purpose. 
 He could have learned nothing worth remembering ; or remem- 
 bered only what was fit to be forgotten. Like the shepherd in 
 Virgil, in the simplicity of his heart he thought that all things 
 
 15 
 
were at Rome as they were at Mantua ; — Sic parvis componere 
 magna solehat. Amidst the din of arms, he found no leisure to 
 study the science of government. He deemed it useless to con- 
 sider how liberty was to be enjoyed and protected, until it was 
 won. The contest for national existence was then instant and 
 pressing. The only lights which were on the paths of the pa- 
 triot, to guide or instruct him, were those which glanced from the 
 point of his sword. The midnight hours were to be passed, not 
 in soft serenities of meditation, but in mounting guard on the 
 outposts ; in stealthy patrols along the lines of the enemy ; or in 
 repelling the deadly attack in the midst of the flashes and the 
 roar of well-directed musketry and cannon. 
 
 "When I recollect" (said he, in a letter written long after- 
 wards to a friend) "the wild and enthusiastic notions with 
 which my political opinions of that day were tinctured, I am dis- 
 posed to ascribe my devotion to the Union, and to a government 
 competent to its preservation, at least as much to casual circum- 
 stances, as to judgment. I had grown up at a time when the 
 love of the Union, and the resistance to the claims of Great Brit- 
 ain, were the inseparable inmates of the same bosom ; when pa- 
 triotism and a strong fellow feeling with our suffering fellow-cit- 
 izens of Boston were identical ; when the maxim, ^United we 
 stand, divided we fall,' was the maxim of every orthodox Ameri- 
 can. And I had imbibed these sentiments so thoroughly that 
 they constituted a part of my being. I carried them with me 
 into the army, where I found myself associated with brave men 
 from different States, who were risking life and every thing val- 
 uable, in a common cause, believed by all to be most precious ; 
 and where I was confirmed in the habit of considering America 
 as my country, and congress as my government." 
 
 But the times were now arrived, in which the dreams of his 
 early manhood were to be rigidly compared with the sober real- 
 ities about him. The Revolution, with its strong excitements, 
 and its agitations of alternate hopes and fears, had passed away. 
 The national independence had been achieved ; and the feverish 
 and restless activity of the past had given place to a state of lan- 
 guor and exhaustion, which made the advent of peace itself a pe- 
 riod of renewed anxieties, and heavier cares. What had been 
 
 16 
 
gained by the sword was now to be secured by civil wisdom ; by 
 the establishment of wholesome laws, sound institutions, and 
 well-regulated government. And deeply and painfully did 
 every lover of his country then feel the truth of the remark 
 of Milton, — 'Teace hath her victories, no less renowned than 
 War." 
 
 Whoever is well read in our domestic history cannot have for- 
 gotten the dangers and difficulties of those days. The close of 
 the war of the Revolution found the whole country impoverished 
 and exhausted by the necessary expenditures of the contest. 
 Some of the States had made enormous sacrifices to provide their 
 own just contributions for the public service ; and most of them 
 had been compelled to resort to the ruinous expedient of a paper 
 currency, to supply their own immediate wants. The national 
 finances were at the lowest ebb of depression. The Continental 
 congress had issued more than three hundred millions of paper 
 money, purporting on its face to contain a solemn pledge of the 
 faith of the Union for its due redemption, which pledge had been 
 as notoriously violated. And, indeed, this paper money had 
 sunk to the value of one dollar only for one hundred ; and at last 
 had ceased in fact to circulate at all as currency. The national 
 debt was not only not discharged ; but was without any means of 
 being discharged, even as to the interest due upon it. The army 
 had been disbanded with long arrearages of pay outstanding ; 
 and the discontents of those noble bands, which had saved the 
 country, were listened to, only to be disregarded. The very 
 magnitude of the public evils almost discouraged every effort to 
 redress them. The usual consequences of such a state of things 
 had been fully realized. Private, as well as public, credit was 
 destroyed. Agriculture and commerce were crippled; manu- 
 factures could not, in any strict sense, be said to have an exist- 
 ence. They were in a state of profound lethargy. The little 
 money which yet remained in specie in the country was subject 
 to a perpetual drain, to purchase the ordinary supplies from for- 
 eign countries. The whole industry of the country was at a 
 stand. Our artisans were starving in the streets, without the 
 means or the habits of regular employment ; and the disbanded 
 officers of the army found themselves, not only without re- 
 Marshall— 2. 17 
 
sources, but without occupation. Under such circumstances, 
 the popular murmurs were not only loud, but deep ; and the gen- 
 eral distress became so appalling that it threatened a shipwreck 
 of all our free institutions. In short, we seemed to have escaped 
 from the dominion of the parent country, only to sink into a more 
 galling domestic bondage. Our very safety was felt to be main- 
 ly dependent upon the jealousy or forbearance of foreign gov- 
 ernments. 
 
 What aggravated all these evils was the utter hopelessness of 
 any effectual remedy under the existing form of the national gov- 
 ernment; if, indeed, that might be said to deserve the name, 
 which was but the shadow of a government. The union of the 
 States at the commencement of the revolutionary contest was 
 forced upon us by circumstances; and from its nature and ob- 
 jects seemed limited to that precise exigency. The Confedera- 
 tion, which was subsequently framed, was conceived in a spirit 
 of extreme jealousy of national sovereignty, and withal was so 
 feeble and loose in its texture that reflecting minds foresaw that 
 it could scarcely survive the revolutionary contest. Yet feeble and 
 loose as was its texture, it encountered the most obstinate oppo- 
 sition at every step of its progress ; and it was not finally adopt- 
 ed until the war was about to close, in 1781. The powers of 
 congress, under the Confederation, were, for the most part, mere- 
 ly recommendatory, and to be carried into effect only through 
 the instrumentality of the States. It conferred no power to 
 raise revenue, or levy taxes, or enforce obedience to laws, or reg- 
 ulate commerce, or even to command means to pay our public 
 ministers at foreign courts. Congress could make contracts ; but 
 could not provide means to discharge them. They could pledge 
 the public faith ; but they could not redeem it. They could make 
 public treaties; but every State in the Union might disregard 
 them with impunity. They could enter into alliances ; but they 
 could not command men or money to give them vigor. They 
 could declare war ; but they could not raise troops ; and their 
 only resort was to requisitions on the States. In short, all the 
 powers given by the Confederation, which did not execute them- 
 selves without any external aid, were at the mere mercy of the 
 States, and might be trampled upon at pleasure. Even that mis- 
 
 18 
 
erable fragment of sovereignty, the power to levy a tax of ^ve per 
 cent on imports, in order to pay the public debt, and until it was 
 paid, was solemnly rejected By the States, though asked by con- 
 gress in terms of humble entreaty, and the most affecting appeals 
 to public justice. 
 
 The result was obvious. Without the power to lay taxes, con- 
 gress was palsied in all their operations. Without the power to 
 regulate commerce, we were left to the capricious legislation of 
 every State. Nay, more ; our trade was regulated, taxed, monop- 
 olized, and crippled at the pleasure of the maritime powers of 
 Europe. Every State managed its own concerns in its own way ; 
 the systems of retaliation for real or imaginary grievances were 
 perpetually devised and enforced against neighboring States. 
 So that, instead of being a band of brothers, united in common 
 cause, and guided by a common interest, the States were every- 
 where secret or open enemies to each other ; and we were on the 
 verge of a border warfare of interminable irritation, and of as in- 
 terminable mischiefs. 
 
 Such was the state of things in the times of which I have been 
 speaking ; and strong as the coloring may seem to those whose 
 birth is of a later date, it falls far short of a full picture of the 
 actual extent of the evils which the details of the facts would jus- 
 tify. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that the State legislatures 
 were constantly called upon by public clamor and private suf- 
 ferings, to interpose summary remedies to ward off the hard- 
 ships of the times. The people, loaded with debts, and goaded 
 on almost to madness by the thickening calamities, demanded 
 measures of relief of the most extravagant nature. The relations 
 of debtor and creditor, always delicate, became every day more 
 embarrassed and more embarrassing. Laws suspending the col- 
 lection of debts ; insolvent laws ; instalment laws ; tender laws ; 
 and other expedients of a like nature, which every reflecting man 
 knew would only aggravate the evils, were familiarly adopted, 
 or openly and boldly vindicated. Popular leaders, as well as men 
 of desperate fortunes, availed themselves (as is usual on such 
 occasions) of this agitating state of things to inflame the public 
 mind, and to bring into public odium those wiser statesmen who 
 
 19 
 
labored to support the public faith, and to preserve the inviola- 
 bility of private contracts. 
 
 The whole country soon became divided into two great par- 
 ties, one of which endeavored to put an end to the public evila 
 by the establishment of an efficient national government; the 
 other adhered to the State sovereignties, and was determined at 
 all hazards to resist the increase of the national power. Vir- 
 ginia bore her full share in these political controversies. They 
 were constantly debated in the halls of her legislature; and 
 whatever might be the fate of any particular debate, the contest 
 was perpetually renewed ; for every victory was but a temporary 
 and questionable triumph, and every defeat left still enough of 
 hope to excite the vanquished to new exertions. At this distance 
 of time it is scarcely possible to conceive the zeal, and even the 
 animosity, with which the opposing opinions were maintained. 
 The question, whether the Union ought to be continued, or dis- 
 solved by a total separation of the States, was freely discussed ; 
 and either side of it was maintained, not only without reproach, 
 but with an uncompromising fearlessness of consequences. 
 Those who clung to the supremacy of the States looked without 
 dismay upon a dissolution of the Union ; and felt no compunc- 
 tions in surrendering it. Those, on the other hand, who deemed 
 the Union the ark of our political safety, without which inde- 
 pendence was but a name, shrunk with horror from the thought 
 of its dissolution ; and maintained the struggle with a desperate 
 valor, as the death-grapple for constitutional liberty. 
 
 It was in such times and under such circumstances that Mr, 
 Marshall, while yet under thirty years of age, was called upon 
 to take an active part in the legislative deliberations, as well as in 
 the popular meetings in his native State. "My immediate en- 
 trance," said he, in the letter already alluded to, "into the State 
 legislature opened to my view the causes which had been chiefly 
 instrumental in augmenting those sufferings [meaning of the 
 army] ; and the general tendency of state politics convinced me 
 that no safe and permanent remedy could be found, but in a more 
 efficient and better organized general government." Mr. Mad- 
 ison was at that time, and had for some years before been, a 
 member of the State legislature ; and stood forth on all occasionB 
 
 20 
 
an inflexible and enlightened advocate for the Union ; and Gen- 
 eral Washington was the acknowledged head and supporter of 
 the same principles. Mr. Marshall at once arrayed himself on 
 the side of these great leaders ; and while Mr. Madison remained 
 in the legislature he gave him a bold and steady support in all 
 the prominent debates. The friendship which was thus formed 
 between them was never extinguished. The recollection of their 
 co-operation at that period served, when other measures had 
 widely separated them from each other, still to keep up a lively 
 sense of each other's m.erits. N^othing, indeed, could be more 
 touching to an ingenuous mind than to hear from their lips, in 
 their later years, expressions of mutual respect and confidence ; 
 or to witness their earnest testimony to the talents, the virtues, 
 and tlie services of each other. 
 
 It was by this course of action in State legislation at this ap- 
 palling period, that Mr. Marshall was disciplined to the thorough 
 mastery of the true principles of free government. It was here 
 that he learned and practised those profound doctrines of ration- 
 al, limited, constitutional liberty, from which he never shrunk, 
 and to which he resolutely adhered to the end of his life. It 
 was here that he became enamored, not of a wild and visionary 
 republic, found only in the imaginations of mere enthusiasts as 
 to human perfection, or tricked out in false colors by the selfish, 
 to flatter the prejudices or cheat the vanity of the people ; but of 
 that well-balanced republic, adapted to human wants and hu- 
 man infirmities, in which power is to be held in check by coun- 
 tervailing power; and life, liberty, and property are to be se- 
 cured by a real and substantial independence, as well as division 
 of the legislative, executive, and judicial departments. It Avas 
 here that he learned to love the Union with a supreme, uncon- 
 querable love ; a love which was never cooled by neglect, or alien- 
 ated by disappointment ; a love which survived the trials of ad- 
 versity, and the still more dangerous trials of prosperity ; a love 
 which clung more closely to its object as it seemed less dear or 
 less valuable in the eyes of others; a love which faltered not, 
 fainted not, wearied not, on this side the grave. Yes ; his 
 thoughts ever dwelt on the Union, as the first and best of all our 
 
 21 
 
earthly hopes. The last expressions which lingered on his dy- 
 ing lips breathed forth a prayer for his country. 
 
 "Such in that moment, as in all the past, 
 *0 save my country, Heaven,' was then his last." 
 
 While these exciting discussions were absorbing the whole at- 
 tention of the State legislatures, the Confederation was obviously 
 approaching its final dissolution. It had passed the crisis of its 
 fate ; and its doom was fixed. As a scheme of government it had 
 utterly failed; and the moment was now anxiously expected, 
 when, from mere debility, it would cease to have even a nominal 
 existence, as it had long ceased to have any substantial authority. 
 The friends of the Union determined to make one more and final 
 effort. A convention was called, which framed the Constitution 
 of the United States ; and it was presented to the people for their 
 ratification or rejection. This measure at once gave rise to new 
 and more violent political controversies ; and the whole current 
 of popular opinion was impetuously hurried into new channels. 
 Parties for and against the adoption of the Constitution were 
 immediately organized in every state ; and the lines of political 
 division were for the most part the same which marked the for- 
 mer parties. Virginia, as a leading State, became the scene of 
 the most active exertions ; and, as many of her gifted and elo- 
 quent men were arrayed against the Constitution, so its friends 
 rallied for the approaching struggle with a proportionate zeal 
 and ability. 
 
 Mr. Marshall was chosen a member of the convention of Vir- 
 ginia, which was called to deliberate upon the ratification of the 
 constitution, under circumstances peculiarly gratifying. A ma- 
 jority of the voters of the county in which he resided were op- 
 posed to the adoption of it ; and he was assured, that, if he would 
 pledge himself to vote against it, all opposition to his election 
 should be withdrawn ; otherwise he would be strenuously re- 
 sisted. He did not hesitate for a moment to avow his determina- 
 tion to vote for the constitution. To use his own language — 
 *'The questions which were perpetually recurring in the State 
 legislatures; and which brought annually into doubt principles 
 which I thought most sacred ; which proved that everything was 
 
 22 
 
afloat, and that we had no safe anchorage ground ; gave a high 
 value in nij estimation to that article in the Constitution, which 
 imposes restrictions on the States. I was consequently a deter- 
 mined advocate for its adoption ; and became a candidate for the 
 convention." The opposition to him rallied with great force; 
 but such was his personal popularity, and the sense of his integ- 
 rity, or (as in his modesty he chose to express it) "parties had 
 not yet become so bitter as to extinguish the private affections,'^ 
 that he was chosen by a triumphant majority. 
 
 Few assemblies have ever been convened under circumstances 
 of a more solemn and imposing responsibility. It was under- 
 stood that the vote of Virginia would have a principal and per- 
 haps decisive influence upon several other States ; and for some 
 weeks the question of the adoption of the Constitution hung sus- 
 pended upon the deliberations of that body. On one side were 
 enlisted the powerful influence of Grayson, the strong and search- 
 ing sense of George Mason, and the passionate and captivating 
 eloquence of Patrick Henry. On the other side were the persua- 
 sive talents of George Nicholas, the animated flow of Governor 
 Randolph, the grave and sententious sagacity of Pendleton, the 
 masculine logic of Marshall, and the consummate skill and va- 
 rious knowledge of Madison. Day after day, during the period 
 of twenty-five days, the debate was continued with unabated 
 ardor and obstinate perseverance. And it was not until it was 
 known that the Constitution had already been adopted by nine 
 States (which settled its fate), that Virginia, by the small ma- 
 jority of ten votes, reluctantly gave her own voice in its favor. 
 
 During the whole of this most arduous and interesting contest 
 the leading debates were principally conducted on opposite sides 
 by Henry and Madison. Mr. Marshall contented himself with 
 a constant support of his leader. But on three great occasions, 
 the debate on the power of taxation, that on the power over the 
 militia, and that on the powers of the judiciary, he gave free 
 scope to his genius, and argued in their favor with commanding 
 ability. The printed sketches of all these debates are confessed- 
 ly loose and imperfect, and do little justice to the eloquence or 
 ability of the respective speakers. Yet with all their imperfec- 
 tions the most careless observer cannot fail to perceive, in what 
 
 23 
 
-f 
 
 is attributed to Mr. Marshall on these occasions, the closeness of 
 logic, the clearness of statement, and the comprehensiveness of 
 principles, which characterized his labors in the maturer periods 
 of his life. I regret that the brief space of time allowed for the 
 present notices does not justify me in the citation of some pas- 
 sages to illustrate these remarks. 
 
 It is difficult, perhaps it is impossible, for us of the present 
 generation, to conceive the magnitude of the dangers which then 
 gathered over our country. IsTotwithstanding all the sufferings 
 of the people, the acknowledged imbecility, nay the absolute 
 nothingness of the Confederation, and the desperate state of our 
 public affairs, there were men of high character, and patriots, 
 too, who clung to the Confederation with an almost insane at- 
 tachment. They had been so long accustomed to have all their 
 affections concentrated upon the State government, as their pro- 
 tection against foreign oppression, that a national government 
 seemed to them but another name for an overwhelming despot- 
 ism. We have lived to see all their fears and prophecies of evil 
 scattered to the winds. We have witnessed the solid growth and 
 prosperity of the whole country, under the auspices of the na- 
 tional government, to an extent never even imagined by its warm- 
 est friends. We have seen our agriculture pour forth its va- 
 rious products, created by a generous, I had almost said a pro- 
 fuse industry. The miserable exports, scarcely amounting, in 
 the times of which I have been speaking, in the aggregate to the 
 sum of one or two hundred thousand dollars, now almost reach 
 to forty millions a year in a single staple. We have seen our 
 commerce, which scarcely crept along our noiseless docks, and 
 stood motionless and withering, while the breezes of the ocean 
 moaned through the crevices of our ruined wharves and desert- 
 ed warehouses, spread its white canvas in every clime ; and, la- 
 den with its rich returns, spring buoyant on the waves of the 
 home ports ; and cloud the very shores with forests of masts, over 
 which the stars and stripes are gallantly streaming. We have 
 seen our manufactures, awakening from a deathlike lethargy, 
 crowd every street of our towns and cities with their busy work- 
 men, and their busier machinery ; and startling the silence of our 
 wide streams, and deep dells, and sequestered valleys. We have 
 
 24 
 
seen our wild waterfalls subdued by the power of man, become 
 the mere instruments of his will, and under the guidance of me- 
 chanical genius, now driving with unerring certainty the flying 
 shuttle, now weaving the mysterious threads of the most delicate 
 fabrics, and now pressing the reluctant metals into form, as if 
 they were but playthings in the hands of giants. We have seen 
 our rivers bear upon their bright waters the swelling sails of our 
 coasters, and the sleepless wheels of our steamboats in endless 
 progress, l^ay, the very tides of the ocean, in their regular ebb 
 and flow in our ports, seem now but heralds to announce the ar- 
 rival and departure of our uncounted navigation. We have 
 seen all these things ; and we can scarcely believe that there 
 were days and nights, nay, months and years, in which our 
 wisest patriots and statesmen sat down in anxious meditations 
 to devise the measures, which should save the country from im- 
 pending ruin. The task, was, indeed, most arduous; in which 
 success was far more desired than expected. Obstinate preju- 
 dices were to be overcome ; and popular influences were to be re- 
 sisted. They could scarcely hope for their just rewards, except 
 from a distant posterity. But they were governed by a supreme 
 love of their country, and the consciousness of the inestimable 
 value of the objects, if achieved. Events, indeed, have far out- 
 stripped their most sanguine imaginings. By the blessing of 
 Providence we have risen, under the auspices of the Federal Con- 
 stitution, from a feeble republic to a wide-spreading empire. 
 Many of these patriots and statesmen went down to their graves 
 without the consolation of having witnessed the glorious results 
 of their labors. We owe them a debt of gratitude, which can 
 never be repaid. They laid the broad foundations of our gov- 
 ernment upon public justice, public virtue, and public liberty. 
 They reared the superstructure with consummate skill, and of 
 the most solid materials. It is for us to say^ whether it shall re- 
 main through all ages an enduring monument of political wis- 
 dom ; or, toppling from its height, shall bury under its ruins the 
 glory of the past and the hopes of the future. It can be pre- 
 served only by untiring watchfulness. It may be destroyed by 
 popular violence, or the madness of party, or the deeper sappings 
 
 25 
 
of corruption. It may, like the fragments of other great em- 
 pires (may Heaven avert the evil !), it may 
 
 "Leave a name, at which the world grew pale, 
 To point a moral, or adorn a tale." 
 
 But these are topics, which, though not inappropriate upon 
 the present occasion, are of themselves of too absorbing an inter- 
 est to be discussed as mere incidents in the life of any individual. 
 They may be glanced at in order to do justice to eminent patriot- 
 ism ; but they essentially belong to that philosophy which reads 
 in the history of the past lessons of admonition and instruction 
 for the ascertainment of the future. Tacitus in other days ar- 
 rived at the melancholy conclusion, Beipuhlicce Forma laudari 
 faciliuSj quam evenire; vel si evenit, haud diuturna esse potest.^ 
 
 As soon as the adoption of the Constitution had been secured, 
 Mr. Marshall immediately determined to relinquish public life, 
 and to confine his labors to his profession. To this resolution, 
 which was urged upon him by the claims of a growing family 
 and a narrow fortune, he was not enabled to adhere with the 
 steadfastness which he wished. The hostility already evinced 
 against the establishment of the national government was soon 
 transferred in Virginia to an opposition to all its leading meas- 
 ures. Under such circumstances, it was natural for the friends 
 of the Constitution to seek to give it a strong support in the State 
 legislature. Mr. Marshall was accordingly compelled to yield 
 to their wishes, and served as a member from 1788 to 1792. 
 From the time of the organization of the government under 
 President Washington, almost every important measure of his 
 administration was discussed in the Virginia legislature with 
 great freedom, and no small degree of warmth and acrimony. On 
 these occasions, it fell to the lot of Mr. Marshall to defend these 
 measures, and to maintain the rights, duties, and powers of the 
 national government against every attack ; and he performed the 
 service with great zeal, independence, and ability. In 1792, he 
 again retired from the State legislature, and returned to his pro- 
 fessional labors with increased activity ; and soon found himself 
 
 ^Tacitus, Annal. B. 4, n. 15. 
 
 26 
 
engaged in all the leading causes in the State and national tribu- 
 nals. The excellent Reports of this period by my lamented 
 friend, Mr. Justice Washington, exhibit ample proofs of his suc- 
 cess in argument.^ 
 
 But, although Mr. Marshall was for some years withdrawn 
 from public life, yet he was still compelled to take an active part 
 in political discussions. The French Revolution, which at its 
 early dawn had been hailed with universal enthusiasm through- 
 out America, had now burst out into extravagances and butch- 
 eries, which disgraced the cause of liberty, and gave an un- 
 bounded license to ferocious mobs and demagogues. The mon- 
 archs of Europe, alarmed for their own safety, were soon leagued 
 in a mighty confederacy to crush a revolution, dangerous to the 
 claims of legitimacy, and the stability of thrones. It was easy to 
 foresee that, if their enterprises against France were successful, 
 we, ourselves, should soon have but a questionable security for 
 our own independence. It would be natural, after their Euro- 
 pean triumphs were complete, that they should cast their eyes 
 across the Atlantic, and trace back the origin of the evil to the liv- 
 ing example of constitutional liberty in this Western Hemisphere. 
 Under such circumstances, notwithstanding all the excesses of 
 the French Revolution, the mass of the American people con- 
 tinued to take the liveliest interest in it, and to cherish the warm- 
 est wishes for its success. These feelings were heightened by the 
 grateful recollection of the services rendered to us by France in 
 our own Revolution and the consideration that she was strug- 
 gling to relieve herself from oppressions under which she had 
 been groaning for centuries. In this posture of affairs, there was 
 infinite danger that we should be driven from the moorings of our 
 neutrality, and should embark in the contest, not only as an ally, 
 but as a party, foremost in the fight, and in the responsibility. 
 We were just recovering from the exhaustion, and poverty, and 
 suffering, consequent upon our own struggle; and the renewal of 
 war would be fraught with immeasurable injuries, not only to 
 our present interests, but to our future national advancement. 
 France saw and felt the nature of our position; and partly by 
 
 ^See also Mr. Call's Reports. 
 
 27 
 
blandishments, and partly by threats, endeavored to enlist our 
 fortunes, as she had already succeeded in enlisting our feelings, 
 in her favor. The other powers of Europe were not less eager in 
 their gaze, or less determined in their future course. England, 
 herself, had already adopted precautionary measures to compel 
 us to support our neutrality in an open and uncompromising 
 manner, or to assume the state of positive hostilities. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that President Washington, 
 having determined to preserve our own peace, and to vindicate our 
 rights against all the belligerents with an even-handed justice, 
 issued his celebrated Proclamation of I^Teutrality. The whole 
 country was immediately thrown into a flame ; and the two great 
 parties, into which we were then divided, engaged, the one in de- 
 nouncing it, and the other in supporting it, with intense zeal. On 
 this occasion Mr. Marshall found himself, much to his regret, 
 arranged on a different side from Mr. Madison. He resolutely 
 maintained the constitutionality, the policy, nay, the duty of is- 
 suing the proclamation, by oral harangues, and by elaborate 
 writings. For these opinions he was attacked with great asperity 
 in the newspapers and pamphlets of the day, and designated by 
 way of significant reproach, as the friend and coadjutor of 
 Hamilton, a reproach which at all times he would have counted 
 an honor ; but, when coupled (as it was) with the name of Wash- 
 ington, he deemed the highest praise. He defended himself 
 against these attacks with an invincible firmness and ability pro- 
 portioned to the occasion. He drew up a series of resolutions ap- 
 proving the conduct of the Executive, and carried them by a de- 
 cided majority at a public meeting of the citizens of Richmond. 
 
 The result of this controversy is well known. The adminis- 
 tration was sustained in its course by the sober sense of the ma- 
 jority of the nation ; and the doctrine, then so strenuously con- 
 tested and boldly denounced, has ever since that time been laid 
 up as among the most undisputable of executive rights and 
 duties. Probably, at the present day, not a single statesman can 
 be found, of any influence in any party, who does not deem the 
 measure to have been as well founded in constitutional law as it 
 was in sound policy. 
 
 In the spring of 1Y95, Mr. Marshall was again returned as a 
 
member of the State legislature, not only without his approbation, 
 but against his known wishes. It was truly an honorable tribute 
 to his merits ; but it was demanded by the critical posture of our 
 public affairs. The treaty with Great Britain, negotiated by 
 that eminent patriot, Mr. Jay, was then the subject of universal 
 discussion. As soon as the ratification of it was known to have 
 been advised by the Senate, the opposition to it broke out with 
 almost unexampled violence. Public meetings were called in all 
 our principal cities for the purpose of inducing the President to 
 withhold his ratification ; and if this step should fail, then to in- 
 duce congress to withhold the appropriations necessary to carry 
 the treaty into effect. Such a course, if successful (it was ob- 
 vious), would at once involve us in a war with England, and an 
 alliance with France. The denunciations of the treaty were 
 everywhere loud and vehement. The topics of animadversion 
 were not confined to the policy, or expediency of the principal 
 articles of the treaty. They took a broader range ; and the ex- 
 traordinary doctrine was advanced and vigorously maintained, 
 that the negotiation of a coromercial treaty by the Executive was 
 an infringement of the Constitution, and a violation of the power 
 given to congress to regulate commerce. -p 
 
 Mr. Marshall took an active part in all the discussions upon 
 this subject. Believing the treaty indispensable to the preserva- 
 tion of peace, and its main provisions beneficial to the United 
 States, and consistent with its true dignity, he addressed himself 
 with the most diligent attention to an examination of all the arti- 
 cles, and of the objections urged against them. It was truly a 
 critical period, not merely for the country, but also in an especial 
 manner for the administration. Many of its sincere friends, 
 from the boldness and suddenness of the attacks upon it, from the 
 inflamed state of the public mind, and from a natural distrust of 
 their own judgment upon topics full of embarrassment and novel- 
 ty, remained in a state of suspense, or timidly yielded themselves 
 to the prejudices of the times. It has been well observed in the 
 biography of Washington, that it is difficult now to review the 
 various resolutions and addresses to which this occasion gave 
 birth without feeling some degree of astonishment, mingled with 
 
 29 
 
humiliation, on perceiving such proofs of the deplorable fallibil- 
 ity of human reason. 
 
 In no State in the Union was a more intense hostility exhibited 
 against the treaty than in Virginia; and in none were the objec- 
 tions against it urged with more unsparing or impassioned earn- 
 estness. The task, therefore, of meeting and overturning them 
 was of no ordinary magnitude, and required the resources of a 
 well-instructed mind. In some resolutions, passed at a meeting 
 of the citizens of Eichmond, at which Mr. Chancellor Wythe pre- 
 sided, the treaty was denounced "as insulting to the dignity, in- 
 jurious to the interest, dangerous to the security, and repugnant 
 to the Constitution of the United States." At a meeting of the 
 same citizens, subsequently held, Mr. Marshall introduced cer- 
 tain resolutions in favor of the conduct of the Executive, and 
 supported them in a masterly speech ; the best comment upon 
 which is, that the resolutions were approved by a flattering ma- 
 jority. 
 
 But a more difficult and important duty remained to be per- 
 formed. It was easily foreseen that the controversy would soon 
 find its way into the State legislature, and would there be re- 
 newed with all the bitter animosity of party spirit. So odious 
 was the treaty in Virginia, that Mr. Marshall's friends were ex- 
 ceedingly solicitous that he should not engage in any legislative 
 debates on the subject, as it would certainly impair his well- 
 earned popularity, and might even subject him to some rude per- 
 sonal attacks. His answer to all such suggestions uniformly 
 was, that he would not bring forward any measure to excite a 
 debate on the subject; but if it were brought forward by others^ 
 he would at all hazards vindicate the administration, and assert 
 his own opinions. The subject was soon introduced by the op- 
 position; and, among other things, the constitutional objections 
 were urged with triumphant confidence. Especially was that 
 objection pressed, which denied the constitutional right of the 
 Executive to conclude a commercial treaty, as a favorite and un- 
 answerable position. The speech of Mr. Marshall on this oc- 
 casion has always been represented as one of the noblest efforts 
 of his genius. His vast powers of reasoning were displayed with 
 the most gratifying success. He demonstrated, not only from 
 
 30 
 
the words of the Constitution and the universal practice of na- 
 tions, that a commercial treaty was within the scope of the con- 
 stitutional powers of the Executive; but that this opinion had 
 been maintained and sanctioned by Mr. Jefferson, by the Vir- 
 ginia delegation in congress, and by the leading members of the 
 Convention on both sides. The argument was decisive. The 
 constitutional ground was abandoned, and the resolutions of the 
 assembly were confined to a simple disapprobation of the treaty 
 in point of expediency. 
 
 The constitutional objections were again urged in congress, 
 in the celebrated debate on the Treaty, in the spring of 1796; 
 and there finally assumed the mitigated shape of a right claimed 
 by congress to grant or withhold appropriations to carry treaties 
 into effect. The higher ground, that commercial treaties were 
 not, when ratified by the Senate, the supreme law of the land, 
 was abandoned ; and the subsequent practice of the government 
 has, without serious question, been under every administration, 
 in conformity to the construction vindicated by Mr. Marshall. 
 The fame of this admirable argument spread through the Union. 
 Even with his political enemies, it enhanced the estimate of his 
 character; and it brought him at once to the notice of some of 
 the most eminent statesmen who then graced the councils of the 
 nation. 
 
 In the winter of 1796, Mr. Marshall visited Philadelphia, to 
 argue before the Supreme Court the great case of Ware v. Hyl- 
 ton, which involved the question of the right of recovery of Brit- 
 ish debts which had been confiscated during the revolutionary 
 war. It is well known that the question was decided against 
 the side on which Mr. Marshall was employed. On this occa- 
 sion he was opposed by three of the ablest lawyers then belong- 
 ing to the Pennsylvania bar. This was, of itself, under such cir- 
 cumstances, no small distinction. But the sketch of the argu- 
 ment delivered by him, as we find it in the printed Reports, af- 
 fords conclusive evidence of his juridical learning, and the great 
 skill with which he arranged his materials and sustained the in- 
 terests of his client. 
 
 It was during this visit that he became personally acquainted 
 with the distinguished men who were then in congress, as repre- 
 
 31 
 
sentatives from the Northern States. ^'I then became ac- 
 quainted/' says he, in a letter to a friend, ^'with Mr. Cabot, Mr. 
 Ames, Mr. Dexter, and Mr. Sedgwick of Massachusetts, Mr. 
 Wadsworth of Connecticut, and Mr. King of I^ew York. I was 
 delighted with these gentlemen. The particular subject (the 
 British Treaty) which introduced me to their notice was at that 
 time so interesting, and a Virginian who supported, with any 
 sort of reputation, the measures of the government, was such a 
 rara avis, that I was received by them all with a degree of kind- 
 ness which I had not anticipated. I was particularly intimate 
 with Mr. Ames, and could scarcely gain credit with him, when 
 I assured him that the appropriations would be seriously op- 
 posed in congress." The event proved that he was right. The 
 high opinion which he then formed of these gentlemen con- 
 tinued to be cherished by him through all his future life. 
 
 About this period President Washington offered him the of- 
 fice of Attorney-General of the United States ; but he declined 
 it on the ground of its interference with his far more lucrative 
 practice in Virginia. He continued, however, in the State legis- 
 lature; but he rarely engaged in the debates, except when the 
 measures of the national government were discussed, and re- 
 quired vindication, l^ov were the occasions few in which this 
 task was required to be performed with a steady confidence. One 
 of them shall be mentioned in his own words. "It was, I think," 
 said he, "in the session of 1796, that I was engaged in a debate 
 which called forth all the strength and violence of party. Some 
 federalist moved a resolution expressing the high confidence of 
 the House in the virtue, patriotism, and wisdom of the President 
 of the United States. A motion was made to strike out the word 
 wisdom. In the debate the whole course of the administration 
 was reviewed, and the whole talent of each party was brought 
 into action. Will it be believed, that the word was retained by 
 a very small majority ? A very small majority in the legislature 
 of Virginia acknowledged the wisdom of General Washington !" 
 
 Upon the recall of Mr. Monroe as Minister to Prance, Presi- 
 dent Washington solicited Mr. Marshall to accept the appoint- 
 ment, as his successor; but he respectfully declined it for the 
 same reasons as he had the office of Attorney-General ; and Gen- 
 
 32 
 
eral Pinckney, of South Carolina, was appointed in his stead. 
 "I then thought," said he, "my determination to remain at the 
 bar unalterable. My situation at the bar appeared to me to be 
 more independent, and not less honorable, than any other; and 
 my preference for it was decided." 
 
 But he was not long permitted to act upon his own judgment 
 and choice. The French government refused to receive General 
 Pinckney; and Mr. Adams (who had then succeeded to the 
 presidency) from an anxious desire to exhaust every measure 
 of conciliation, not incompatible with the national dignity, in 
 Jime, 1797, appointed Mr. Marshall, General Pinckney, and Mr. 
 (afterwards Vice-President) Gerry, Envoys Extraordinary to 
 the Court of France. After no inconsiderable struggles in his 
 own mind (which are fully developed in a paper now in my pos- 
 session) Mr. Marshall accepted the appointment, and proceeded 
 to Paris, and there, with his colleagues, entered upon the duties 
 of the mission. It is well known that the mission was unsuc- 
 cessful ; the French government having refused to enter into any 
 negotiations. The preparation of the official despatches ad- 
 dressed to that government upon this occasion was confided to 
 Mr. Marshall; and these despatches have been universally ad- 
 mired. They are models of skilful reasoning, clear illustration, 
 accurate detail, and urbane and dignified moderation. They con 
 tain a most elaborate review of all the principles of national law, 
 applicable to the points in controversy between the two nations. 
 As state papers, there are not in the annals of our diplomacy 
 any upon which an American can look back with more pride, or 
 from which he can draw more various instruction. 
 
 On his return home Mr. Marshall resumed his professional 
 business, and had the best reasons to believe that it would be in- 
 creased rather than diminished by his temporary absence. He 
 was determined to pursue it with renewed ardor. But from this 
 determination he was again diverted by a personal appeal made 
 to him by General Washington, who earnestly insisted that he 
 should become a candidate for congress. After a conversation 
 between them of the deepest interest and animation, and breath- 
 ing on each side a spirit of the purest patriotism, Mr. MarshaU 
 reluctantly yielded to the wishes of General Washington, and be- 
 
 Marshall— 3. 33 
 
came a candidate, and was elected after a most ardent political 
 contest, and took his seat in congress in December, 1799. While 
 he was yet a candidate, President Adams offered him the seat on 
 the bench of the Supreme Court, then vacant by the death of Mr. 
 Justice Iredell. He immediately declined it; and it was con- 
 ferred on that excellent magistrate, Mr. Justice Washington. 
 
 The session of congress in the winter of 1799 and 1800 will 
 be forever memorable in our political annals. It was the mo- 
 ment of the final struggle for power between the two great po- 
 litical parties which then divided the country, and ended, as is 
 well known, in the overthrow of the Federal administration. Men 
 of the highest talents and influence were there assembled, and ar- 
 rayed in hostility to each other; and were excited by all the 
 strongest motives which can rouse the human mind, the pride of 
 power, the hope of victory, the sense of responsibility, the devo- 
 tion to principles deemed vital, and the bonds of long political 
 attachment and action. Under such circumstances (as might 
 naturally be expected) every important measure of the adminis- 
 tration was assailed with a bold and vehement criticism, and was 
 defended with imtiring zeal and firmness. Mr. Marshall took his 
 full share of the debates ; and was received with a distinction pro- 
 portioned to his merits. Such a distinction, in such a body, is a 
 rare occurrence; for years of public service and experience are 
 usually found indispensable to acquire and justify the confidence 
 of the House of Representatives. 
 
 It is not my intention to enter into a minute detail of the de- 
 bates in which Mr. Marshall took a part, or to vindicate his votes 
 or opinions. The duty is more appropriate for a different labor. 
 On one occasion, however, he took a leading part in a most im- 
 portant debate, which acquired for him a wide public fame, and 
 therefore requires notice in this place. I allude to the debate on 
 the case of Thomas !N^ash, otherwise called Jonathan Robbins, 
 who had been surrendered to the British government for trial for 
 a supposed murder, committed by him on board of a British ship 
 of war. Certain resolutions were brought forward, censuring 
 the conduct of the Executive for this act, in terms of decided dis- 
 approbation, as unconstitutional and improper. Mr. Marshall 
 in the course of the debate delivered a speech in vindication of 
 
 34 
 
the right and duty of the Executive to make the surrender, which 
 placed him at once in the first rank of constitutional statesmen. 
 The substance of it is now in print. It is one of the most con- 
 summate juridical arguments which was ever pronounced in the 
 halls of legislation ; and equally remarkable for the lucid order 
 of its topics, the profoundness of its logic, the extent of its re- 
 search, and the force of its illustrations. It may be said of that 
 speech, as was said of Lord Mansfield's celebrated Answer to the 
 Prussian Memorial, it was Beponse sans replique^ an answer so 
 irresistible that it admitted of no reply. It silenced opposition, 
 and settled then and for ever the points of national law upon 
 which the controversy hinged. The resolutions did not, indeed, 
 fall lifeless from the Speaker's table, though they were negatived 
 by a large majority. But a more unequivocal demonstration of 
 public opinion followed. The denunciations of the Executive, 
 which had hitherto been harsh and clamorous everywhere through- 
 out the land, sunk away at once into cold and cautious whispers 
 only of disapprobation. Whoever reads that speech even at this 
 distance of time, when the topics have lost much of their interest, 
 will be struck Avith the prodigious powers of analysis and rea- 
 soning which it displays ; and which are enhanced by the con- 
 sideration that the whole subject was then confessedly new in 
 many of its aspects. 
 
 In May, 1800, President Adams, without any personal com- 
 munication with Mr. Marshall, appointed him Secretary of War. 
 Before, however, he was called to enter upon the duties of that 
 office, the known rupture took place between the President and 
 Colonel Pickering; and Mr. Marshall was appointed Secretary 
 of State in the stead of the latter. The appointment was every 
 way honorable to his merits; and no one doubted that he was 
 eminently qualified for the discharge of its arduous and import- 
 ant duties. 
 
 And, here, I cannot but take great pleasure in recording a cir- 
 cumstance equally honorable to all the parties concerned. With- 
 out intending in the slightest degree to enter upon the discussion 
 of the controversy between the President and Colonel Pickering, 
 I may be permitted to say that the circumstances necessarily at- 
 tending the dismissal of the latter from office were calculated to 
 
 35 
 
awaken a strong sense of injustice in the mind of an officer of un- 
 questionable integrity and patriotism. The rupture grew out 
 of a very serious difference of opinion upon very grave political 
 measures; and Mr. Marshall entertained a decided attachment 
 to the views of the President. Under such circumstances, it 
 would have been not unnatural that the late Secretary should 
 have felt some prejudices against his successor ; and that there 
 should have been some withdrawal of mutual confidence and per- 
 haps respect between them. ]^o such event occurred. On the 
 contrary, each, to the day of his death, spoke of the other in terms 
 of enviable commendation ; and their mutual frank and familiar 
 friendship was never in the slightest manner interrupted. I 
 have often listened to the spontaneous praise bestowed on Mr. 
 Marshall by Colonel Pickering (a man to whom might justly be 
 applied the character, — Incorrupta fides nudaque Veritas^ et 
 mens conscia recti ) in his own peculiar circle of friends with un- 
 mixed delight. It was full, glowing, and affecting. It was a trib- 
 ute from one of such sincerity of thought and purpose, that 
 praise, even when best deserved, came from his lips with a studied 
 caution of language. His conversation, always instructive, on 
 these occasions rose into eloquence, beautiful, nay, touched with 
 a moral sublimity. When all the circumstances are considered, 
 I think that I do not overestimate the value of this example of 
 mutual confidence and friendship, when I pronounce it as grati- 
 fying as it is rare. It prostrates in the dust all petty rivalry for 
 public distinction. It shows that great minds (and perhaps 
 great minds only) fully understand that exquisite moral truth 
 that no man stands in another man's way in the road to honor ; 
 and that the world is wide enough for the fullest display of the 
 virtues and talents of all, without intercepting a single ray of 
 light reflected by any. 
 
 On the thirty-first of January, 1801, Mr. Marshall received 
 the appointment of Chief Justice of the United States. It is 
 due to his memory to state that it was conferred on him, not only 
 without his own solicitation (for he had in fact recommended 
 another person for the office) but by the prompt and spontaneous 
 choice of President Adams upon his own unassisted judgment. 
 The nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate ; and 
 
 36 
 
the. Chief Justice accordingly took his seat on the bench at the 
 ensuing term of the Supreme Court. I trust that I am not vio- 
 lating any private confidence when I quote, from a letter of the 
 distinguished son of this distinguished patriot, a passage on this 
 subject to which the whole country will respond without hesita- 
 tion. It inclosed a judicial commission to a gentleman, now just- 
 ly enjoying the highest professional reputation; and says with 
 equal felicity and truth — "One of the last acts of my father's 
 administration was the transmission of a commission to John 
 Marshall, as Chief Justice of the United States. One of the last 
 acts of my administration is the transmission of the inclosed com- 
 mission to you. If neither of us had ever done anything else to 
 deserve the approbation of our country, and of posterity, I would 
 proudly claim it of both for these acts, as due to my father and 
 myself." The claim is, indeed, a proud claim to distinction. It 
 has received, as it deserved, the approbation of the whole coun- 
 try. The gratitude of posterity will also do just homage to the 
 sagacity, foresight, disinterestedness, and public spirit of the 
 choice. It was in moral dignity the fit close of a political life of 
 extraordinary brilliancy. In public importance it scarcely yield- 
 ed to any act of that life, except the motion for the Declaration 
 of Independence. Such honor from such hands was felt to be 
 doubly dear. It was the highest praise from one whose title to 
 confer it had been earned by long services in the cause of liberty. 
 The names of Adams and Marshall became thus indissolubly con- 
 nected in the juridical and constitutional history of the country. 
 From this time until his death the Chief Justice continued in 
 the discharge of the duties of his exalted office with unsullied dig- 
 nity, and constantly increasing reputation. E"otwithstanding 
 his advancing years, no sensible inroad had been made upon his 
 general health until the last term of the Court, when it was ob- 
 vious that his physical strength had passed the utmost stretch of 
 its vigor, and was in a state of rapid decline. His intellectual 
 powers still, however, retained their wonted energy ; and, though 
 he was suffering under great bodily pain, he not only bore it with 
 an uncomplaining spirit, but continued to take his full share of 
 the business of the Court. 'No better proof need be required of 
 
 37 
 
his intellectual ability than his opinions, which stand reeorfled 
 in the last volume of Reports. 
 
 At the close of the term he returned to his residence in Vir- 
 ginia ; and he was afterwards induced, by the solicitations of his 
 friends, to visit Philadelphia, in the expectation of receiving 
 some aid from the distinguished medical skill of that city. His 
 constitution, however, had become so shattered that little more 
 remained to be done, during the last weeks of his life, than to 
 smooth the downward path towards the grave. He died on the 
 sixth day of July last past, about six o'clock in the evening, in 
 the arms of his children, without a struggle ; and, to use the ex- 
 pressive language of one who was present, his last breath was the 
 softest whisper of a zephyr. Fortunately, by the considerate 
 kindness of his friends, he was spared the knowledge of the death 
 of his eldest son, who lost his life a few days before by a most 
 calamitous accident; an event, which, from the high character 
 of the son, and his strong affection for him, would have filled his 
 last hours with inexpressible anguish. 
 
 He was fully aware of his approaching end, and prepared to 
 meet it with a calmness built upon the fixed principles . by which 
 he had regulated his life. Two days only before his death he 
 wrote an inscription to be placed on his tomb, in the following 
 simple and modest terms : "John Marshall, son of Thomas and 
 Mary Marshall, was born on the 24th of September, 1Y55, inter- 
 married with Mary Willis Ambler the 3d of January, 1783, de- 
 parted this life the of , 18 — ." 
 
 What can be more affecting than these few facts, the only ones, 
 which he deemed in his last moments worth recording! His 
 birth ; his parentage ; his marriage ; his death. His parents, to 
 whose memory he was attached with a filial piety, full of rever- 
 ence ; — his marriage to the being whom he had loved with a 
 singleness and devotedness of affection never surpassed; — ^his 
 ovm birth, which seemed principally memorable to him, as it 
 connected him with beings like these; — ^his ovm death, which 
 was but an event to re-unite him with those who had gone be- 
 fore, in a world where there should be no more suffering or sor- 
 row ; but kindred souls should dwell together, even as the angels 
 in heaven. 
 
 38 
 
I have now finished the narrative of the life of Chief Justice 
 Marshall, a life which, though unadorned by brilliant passages 
 of individual adventure or striking events, carries with it (un- 
 less I am greatly mistaken) that, which is the truest title to re- 
 nown, a fame founded on public and private virtue. It has hap- 
 pened to him, as to many other distinguished men, that his life 
 had few incidents ; and those which belonged to it were not far 
 removed from the ordinary course of human events. That life 
 was filled up in the conscientious discharge of duty. It was 
 throughout marked by a wise and considerate propriety. His 
 virtues expanded with the gradual development of his character. 
 They were the natural growth of deep-rooted principles working 
 their way through the gentlest affections, and the purest am- 
 bition. 'No man ever had a loftier desire of excellence; but it 
 was tempered by a kindness which subdued envy, and a diffi- 
 dence which extinguished jealousy. Search his whole life, and 
 you cannot lay your finger on a single extravagance of design or 
 act. There were no infirmities leaving a permanent stain be- 
 hind them. There were no eccentricities to be concealed; no 
 follies to be apologized for; no vices to be blushed at; no rash 
 outbreakings of passionate resentment to be regretted; no dark 
 deeds, disturbing the peace of families, or leaving them wretched 
 by its desolations. If here and there the severest scrutiny might 
 be thought capable of detecting any slight admixture of human 
 frailty, it was so shaded off in its coloring that it melted into 
 some kindred virtue. It might with truth be said that the very 
 failing leaned to the side of the charities of life; and carried 
 with it the soothing reflection — Non multum ahludit imago. It 
 might excite a smile ; it could never awaken a sigh. 
 
 Indeed, there was in him a rare combination of virtues, such 
 only as belongs to a character of consummate wisdom ; a wisdom 
 which looks through this world, but which also looks far beyond 
 it for motives and objects. I know not whether such wisdom 
 ought to be considered as the cause or the accompaniment of 
 such virtues; or whether they do not in truth alternately act 
 upon and perfect each other. 
 
 I have said that there was in him a rare combination of 
 virtues. If I might venture, upon so solemn an occasion, to ex- 
 
 39 
 
press my own deliberate judgment, in tlie very terms most sig- 
 nificant to express it, I should say that the combination was so 
 rare that I have never known any man whom I should pro- 
 nounce more perfect. He had a deep sense of moral and re- 
 ligious obligation, and a love of truth, constant, enduring, un- 
 flinching. It naturally gave rise to a sincerity of thought, pur- 
 pose, expression, and conduct, which, though never severe, was 
 always open, manly and straightforward. Yet it was combined 
 with such a gentle and bland demeanor that it never gave of- 
 fense ; but it was, on the contrary, most persausive in its appeals 
 to the understanding. 
 
 Among Christian sects, he personally attached himself to the 
 Episcopal Church. It was the religion of his early education; 
 and became afterwards that of his choice. But he was without 
 the slightest touch of bigotry or intolerance. His benevolence 
 was as wide as Christianity itself. It embraced the human race, 
 He was not only liberal in his feelings and principles, but in his 
 charities. His hands were open upon all occasions to succor dis- 
 tress, to encourage enterprise, and to support good institutions. 
 
 He was a man of the most unaffected modesty. Although I 
 am persuaded, that no one ever possessed a more entire sense of 
 his own extraordinary talents and acquirements than he, yet 
 it was a quiet, secret sense, without pride and without ostenta- 
 tion. May I be permitted to say that, during a most intimate 
 friendship of many, many years, I never upon any occasion was 
 able to detect the slightest tincture of personal vanity. He had 
 no desire for display; and no ambition for admiration. He 
 made no effort to win attention in conversation or argument, be- 
 yond what the occasion absolutely required. He sought no fine 
 turns of expression, no vividness of diction, no ornate elegancies 
 of thought, no pointed sentences, to attract observation. What 
 he said was always well said, because it came from a full mind, 
 accustomed to deep reflection ; and he was rarely languid, or in- 
 different to topics which interested others. He dismissed them 
 without regret ; though he discussed them with spirit. He never 
 obtruded his own opinions upon others; but brought them out 
 only as they were sought, and then with clearness and calmness. 
 Upon a first introduction, he would be thought to be somewhat 
 
 40 
 
cold and reserved ; but he was neither the one nor the other. It 
 was simply a habit of easy taciturnity, waiting, as it were, his 
 own turn to follow the line of conversation, and not to presume 
 to lead it. Even this habit melted away in the presence of the 
 young ; for he always looked upon them with a sort of parental 
 fondness, and enjoyed their playful wit, and fresh and confident 
 enthusiasm. Meet him in a stage-coach, as a stranger, and travel 
 with him a whole day, and you would only be struck with his 
 readiness to administer to the accommodations of others, and his 
 anxiety to appropriate the least to himself. Be with him, the un- 
 known guest at an inn, and he seemed adjusted to the very scene, 
 partaking of the warm welcome of its comforts, whenever found ; 
 and if not found, resigning himself without complaint to its 
 meanest arrangements. You would never suspect, in either case, 
 that he was a great man ; far less that he was the Chief Justice 
 of the United States. But if perchance, invited by the occasion, 
 you drew him into familiar conversation, you would never forget 
 that you had seen and heard that "old man eloquent." 
 
 He had great simplicity of character, manners, dress, and 
 deportment ; alnd yet with a natural dignity that suppressed im- 
 pertinence, and silenced rudeness. His simplicity was never ac- 
 companied with that want of perception of what is right and fit 
 for the occasion ; of that grace which wins respect ; or that pro- 
 priety which constitutes the essence of refined courtesy. And 
 yet it had an exquisite naivete, which charmed every one, and 
 gave a sweetness to his familiar conversations, approaching to 
 fascination. The first impression of a stranger, upon his intro- 
 duction to him, was generally that of disappointment. It seemed 
 hardly credible that such simplicity should be the accompani- 
 ment of such acknoAvledged greatness. The consciousness of 
 power was not there ; the air of ofiice was not there ; there was no 
 play of the lights or shades of rank; no study of efi'ect in tone 
 or bearing. You saw at once, that he never thought of himself ; 
 and that he was far more anxious to know others than to be 
 known by them. You quitted him with increased reverence for 
 human greatness ; for in him it seemed inseparable from good- 
 ness. If vanity stood abashed in his presence, it was not that 
 he rebuked it ; but that his example showed its utter nothingness. 
 
 41 
 
He was a man of deep sensibility and tenderness ; nay, he was 
 an enthusiast in regard to the domestic virtues. He was en- 
 dowed by nature with a temper of great susceptibility, easily ex- 
 cited, and warm when roused. But it had been so schooled by 
 discipline, or rather so moulded and chastened by his affections, 
 that it seemed in gentleness like the distilling dews of evening. 
 It had been so long accustomed to flow in channels where its sole 
 delight was to give or secure happiness to others, that no one 
 would have believed that it ever could have been precipitate or 
 sudden in its movements. In truth, there was, to the very close 
 of his life, a romantic chivalry in his feelings, which, though 
 rarely displayed, except in the circle of his most intimate friends, 
 would there pour out itself with the most touching tenderness. 
 In this confidential intercourse, when his soul sought solace from 
 the sympathy of other minds, he would dissolve in tears at the 
 recollection of some buried hope, or lost happiness. He would 
 break out into strains of almost divine eloquence, while he point- 
 ed out the scenes of former joys, or recalled the memory of 
 other days, as he brought up their images from the dimness and 
 distance of forgotten years, and showed you at once the depth 
 with which he could feel, and the lower depths in which he could 
 bury his own closest, dearest, noblest emotions. After all, what- 
 ever may be his fame in the eyes of the world, that which, in a 
 just sense, was his highest glory, was the purity, affectionateness, 
 liberality, and devotedness of his domestic life. Home, home, 
 was the scene of his real triumphs. There he indulged himself 
 in what he most loved, the duties and blessings of the family 
 circle. There his heart had its full play ; and his social quali- 
 ties, warmed, and elevated, and refined by the habitual ele- 
 gancies of taste, shed around their beautiful and blended lights. 
 There the sunshine of his soul diffused its soft radiance, and 
 cheered, and soothed, and tranquillized the passing hours. 
 
 May I be permitted also in this presence to allude to another 
 trait in his character, which lets us at once into the inmost re- 
 cesses of his feelings with an unerring certainty. I allude to 
 the high value in which he held the female sex, as the friends, 
 the companions, and the equals of man. I do not here mean to 
 refer to the courtesy and delicate kindness with which he was 
 
 42 
 
accustomed to treat the sex ; but rather to the unaffected respect 
 with which he spoke of their accomplishments, their talentis, 
 their virtues, and their excellences. The scoffs and jeers of the 
 morose, the bitter taunts of the satirist, and the lighter ridicule 
 of the witty, so profusely, and often so ungenerously, poured 
 out upon transient follies or fashions, found no sympathy in his 
 bosom. He was still farther above the conmionplace flatteries, 
 by which frivolity seeks to administer aliment to personal van- 
 ity, or vice to make its approaches for baser purposes. He spoke 
 to the sex, when present, as he spoke of them when absent, in 
 language of just appeal to their understandings, their tastes, and 
 their duties. He paid a voluntary homage to their genius, and 
 to the beautiful productions of it, which now adorn almost every 
 branch of literature and learning. He read those productions 
 with a glowing gratitude. He proudly proclaimed their merits, 
 and vindicated on all occasions their claims to the highest dis- 
 tinction. And he did not hesitate to assign to the great female 
 authors of our day a rank not inferior to that of the most gifted 
 and polished of the other sex. But, above all, he delighted to 
 dwell on the admirable adaptation of their minds, and sensibili- 
 ties, and affections to the exalted duties assigned to them by 
 Providence. Their superior purity, their singleness of heart, 
 their exquisite perception of moral and religious sentiment, their 
 maternal devotedness, their uncomplaining sacrifices, their fear- 
 lessness in duty, their buoyancy in hope, their courage in de- 
 spair, their love, which triumphs most when most pressed by 
 dangers and difficulties; which watches the couch of sickness, 
 and smooths the bed of death, and smiles even in the agonies of 
 its own sufferings ; — ^these, these were the favorite topics of his 
 confidential conversation; and on these he expatiated with an 
 enthusiasm which showed them to be present in his daily medi- 
 tations. 
 
 I have hitherto spoken of traits of character belonging in a 
 great measure to his private life. Upon his public life we may 
 look with equal satisfaction. It was without stain or blemish. 
 It requires no concealment or apology, and may defy the most 
 critical and searching scrutiny. He was never seduced by the 
 allurements of office to a desertion of his principles. He was 
 
 43 
 
never deterred from an open vindication of them by popular 
 clamor, or party cabal ; by the frowns of power, or the fury of 
 mobs. His ambition took a loftier range. He aspired to that 
 fame which is enduring and may justly be conferred by future 
 ages ; not to that fame which swells with the triumphs of the day, 
 and dies away long before it can reach the rising generation. 
 To him might be applied the language of another great magis- 
 trate^ — He wished for popularity; that popularity which fol- 
 lows, not that which is run after ; that popularity which, sooner 
 or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends by 
 noble means. He would not do what his conscience told him was 
 wrong, to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the daily praise of all 
 the papers which came from the press. He would not avoid to 
 do what he thought was right, though it should draw on him the 
 whole artillery of libels ; all that falsehood or malice could in- 
 vent, or the credulity of a deluded populace could swallow. 
 
 There was throughout his political life a steadfastness and 
 consistency of principle as striking as they were elevating. Dur- 
 ing more than half a century of public service, he maintained 
 with inflexible integrity the same political principles with which 
 he begun. He was content to live hy, with, and for his princi- 
 ples. Amidst the extravagances of parties at different times 
 he kept on the even tenor of his way with a calm and undeviating 
 firmness, never bending under the pressure of adversity, or 
 bounding with the elasticity of success. His counsels were al- 
 ways the counsels of moderation, fortified and tried by the re- 
 sults of an enlightened experience. They never betrayed either 
 timidity or rashness. He was, in the original, genuine sense of 
 the word, a federalist — a federalist of the good old school, of 
 which Washington was the acknowledged head, and in which he 
 lived and died. In the maintenance of the principles of that 
 school he was ready at all times to stand forth a determined ad- 
 vocate and supporter. On this subject he scorned all disguise; 
 he affected no change of opinion ; he sought no shelter from re- 
 proach. He boldly, frankly, and honestly avowed himself, 
 through evil report and good report, the disciple, the friend, and 
 
 'Lord Mansfield, 4 Burr. R. 2562. 
 
 44 
 
the admirer of Washington and his political principles. He had 
 lived in times when these principles seemed destined to secure 
 to the party to which he belonged an enduring triumph. He had 
 lived to see all these prospects blasted ; and other statesmen suc- 
 ceed with a power and influence of such vast extent that it ex- 
 tinguished all hopes of any future return to office. Yet he re- 
 mained unshaken, unseduced, unterrified. He had lived to see 
 many of his old friends pass on the other side; and the gallant 
 band with which he had borne the strife drop away by death, 
 one after another, until it seemed reduced to a handful. Yet he 
 uttered neither a sigh nor a complaint. When, under extraor- 
 dinary excitements in critical times, others with whom he had 
 acted, despaired of the republic, and were willing to yield it up 
 to a stem necessity, he resisted the impulse, and clung to the 
 Union, and nailed its colors to the mast of the Constitution. 
 
 It is no part of my duty or design upon the present occasion 
 to expound or vindicate his political opinions. That would of 
 itself furnish ample materials for a discourse of a different char- 
 acter. But it is due to truth to declare that no man was ever 
 more sincerely attached to the principles of free government ; no 
 man ever cherished republican institutions with more singleness 
 of heart and purpose ; no man ever adhered to his country with 
 a stronger filial affection ; no man in his habits, manners, feel- 
 ings, pursuits, and actions, ever exemplified more perfectly that 
 idol of chivalry, a patriot without fear and without reproach. 
 But, on the other hand, no man was ever more sensible of the 
 dangers incident to free institutions, and especially of those 
 which threaten our national existence. He saw and felt where 
 the weaknesses of the republic lay. He wished, earnestly wished, 
 perpetuity to the Constitution, as the only solid foundation of 
 our national glory and independence. But he foresaw what 
 our course would be ; and he never hesitated to express what his 
 fears were, and whence the ruin of the Constitution must come, 
 if it shall come at all. In his view, the republic is not destined 
 to perish, if it shall perish, by the overwhelming power of the 
 national government ; but by the resisting and counteracting 
 power of the State sovereignties. He thought with another kin- 
 dred mind, whose vivid language still rings in my ears after 
 
 45 
 
many years, as a voice from the dead, that in our government 
 the contrif ugal force is far greater than the centripetal ; that the 
 danger is not that we shall fall into the sun ; but that we may fly 
 off in eccentric orbits, and never return to our perihelion. 
 Whether his prophetic fears were ill or well founded time alone 
 can decide ; — time, which sweeps away the schemes of man's in- 
 vention ; but leaves immovable on their foundations the eternal 
 truths of nature. 
 
 Hitherto, I have spoken of the attributes belonging to his 
 moral character, and the principles which governed his life and 
 conduct. On these, I confess that I dwell with a fond and rev- 
 erential enthusiasm. There was a daily beauty in these, which 
 captivated the more the nearer they were approached, and the 
 more they were gazed on. Like the softened plays of moonlight, 
 they served to illuminate all objects, at the same time that they 
 mellowed and harmonized them. But I am admonished that 
 the duties of the present occasion require me to dwell rather on 
 his intellectual, than his moral qualities. He stands before us 
 rather as the head of a learned profession, than as a private citi- 
 zen, or as a statesman. 
 
 He was a great man. I do not mean by this, that among his 
 contemporaries he was justly entitled to a high rank for his in- 
 tellectual endowments, an equal among the master-spirits of the 
 day, if not facile princeps. I go farther, and insist that he 
 would have been deemed a great man in any age, and of all ages. 
 He was one of those to whom centuries alone give birth ; stand- 
 ing out, like beacon lights on the loftiest eminences, to guide, ad- 
 monish, and instruct future generations, as well as the present. 
 It did not happen to him, as it has happened to many men of 
 celebrity, that he appeared greatest at a distance ; that his su- 
 periority vanished on a close survey; and that familiarity 
 brought it down to the standard of common minds. On the con- 
 trary, it required some degree of intimacy fully to appreciate his 
 powers ; and those who knew him best, and saw him most, had 
 daily reason to wonder at the vast extent and variety of his intel- 
 lectual resources. 
 
 His genius was rather contemplative than imaginative. It 
 seemed not so much to give direction to his other intellectual 
 
 46 
 
powers as to receive its lead from them. He devoted himself 
 principally to serious and profound studies; and employed his 
 invention rather to assist philosophical analysis than to gather 
 materials for ornament, for persuasion, or for picturesque effect. 
 In strength, and depth, and comprehensiveness of mind, it would 
 be difficult to name his superior. He sought for truths far be- 
 yond the boundaries to which inquisitive and even ambitious 
 minds are accustomed to push their inquiries. He traced them 
 out from their first dim lights and paly glimmers, until they 
 stood embodied before him with a clear and steady brightness. 
 His sagacity was as untiring as it was acute ; and he saw the 
 conclusion of his premises at such vast distances, and through 
 such vast reaches of intermediate results, that it burst upon other 
 minds as a sort of instant and miraculous induction. It was 
 said, by a distinguished political opponent who had often felt 
 the power of his reasoning, that he made it a rule in argument, 
 never to admit any proposition asserted by the Chief Justice, 
 however plain and unquestionable it might seem to be; for, if 
 the premises were once admitted, the conclusion, however appar- 
 ently remote, flowed on with an irresistible certainty. His 
 powers of analysis were, indeed, marvellous. He separated the 
 accidental from the essential circumstances with a subtilty and 
 exactness which surprised those most who were accustomed to 
 its exercise. 'No error in reasoning escaped his detection. He 
 followed it through all its doublings, until it became palpable, 
 and stripped of all its disguises. But, what seemed peculiarly 
 his own, was the power with which he seized upon a principle 
 or argument, apparently presented in the most elementary form, 
 and showed it to be a mere corollary of some more general truth 
 which lay at immeasurable distances beyond it. If his mind 
 had been less practical, he would have been the most consummate 
 of metaphysicians, and the most skilful of sophists. But his love 
 of dialectics was constantly controlled by his superior love of 
 truth. He had no vain ambition to darken counsel, or encourage 
 doubt. His aim was conscientiously to unfold truth, as it was, 
 in its simple majesty ; to strengthen the foundation of moral, re- 
 ligious, social, political, and legal obligations; and to employ 
 the gifts with which Providence had intrusted him, to augment 
 
 47 
 
human happiness, support human justice, and bind together in 
 an indissoluble union the great interests of human society. In 
 short, if I were called upon to say, in what he intellectually ex- 
 celled most men, I should say it was in wisdom, in the sense al- 
 ready alluded to; — a wisdom drawn from large, extensive, sound 
 principles and various researches ; — a wisdom which constantly 
 accumulated new materials for thought and action, and as con- 
 stantly sifted and refined the old. He was not ambitions of liter- 
 ary distinction. But his great work on the life of Washington 
 shows his capacity for historical composition in the most favor- 
 able light. It will forever remain a monument of his skill, 
 sound judgment, and strict impartiality ; and must in the future, 
 as in the past, be a standard authority for all other historians. 
 
 In contemplating his professional career it cannot for a mo- 
 ment be doubted, that he must have occupied the foremost rank 
 among advocates. Such accordingly has been his reputation 
 transmitted to us by his contemporaries at the bar. From what 
 has been already said, his powers of argument must have en- 
 sured him entire success. In his manner he was earnest, im- 
 pressive, deliberative; but at the same time far more intent on 
 his matter than his manner. I^ever having known him while he 
 was at the bar, I should have silently drawn the conclusion that 
 his forensic arguments were more distinguished for masculine 
 sense, solid reasoning, and forcible illustration, than for impas- 
 sioned appeals, or touching pathos, even when the latter might 
 fairly enlist the judgment of an advocate. But there have been 
 times in private conversations and conferences, in which he has 
 been roused by the interest of the subject to such a glowing strain 
 of animated reasoning that I am convinced that he was no 
 stranger to appeals to the heart ; and that when he chose, he could 
 call up from the very depths of the soul its most powerful feel- 
 ings. 
 
 In regard to eloquence, if by that be merely meant an orna- 
 mented diction, splendor of style, impassioned delivery, and fine 
 flourishes of rhetoric, it could scarcely be said to belong to his 
 forensic addresses. In the view of such a mind as his, there were 
 graver duties to be performed, and more important interests to 
 be secured. He loved the law as a science, and not as a trade ; 
 
 48 
 
and felt the full dignity of being a minister at its altars. He 
 deemed himself under deep responsibility, not to his client alone^ 
 but to the court, and to the cause of public justice. He studied 
 to know what the precepts of the law were, that he might apply 
 them to his cause, and not to pervert them to aid the triumph of 
 injustice, or to swell the trophies of cunning, or avarice, or prof- 
 ligacy. His notions of professional morals and obligations 
 were far different from such mean and debasing palterings with 
 conscience. He argued for the law, and with the law, and from 
 the law. He disdained to mislead the court or jury, if he could ; 
 and he gave to both on all occasions the support and the instruc- 
 tion of his ample studies. 
 
 But if by eloquence be meant the power to address other men's 
 minds in language expressive and luminous; to present the 
 proper topics of argument in their just order and fulness ; to con- 
 vince the understanding by earnest and sententious appeals; 
 and, by the force of reasoning, to disarm prejudices, to subdue 
 passions, and to dissipate popular delusions ; if these be the at^ 
 tributes of eloquence, then, indeed, few men might more justly 
 aspire to such a distinction. I would not claim for him that he 
 possessed the power to seduce men's understandings by persua- 
 sive insinuations or honeyed accents ; but I affirm that he with- 
 drew their understandings from the potency of such artifices, so 
 that they fell lifeless at his feet ; — telumque imhelle sine ictu. 
 To him may unhesitatingly be applied the language of Cicero, 
 pronounced upon one of the greatest lawyers of Rome, that 
 he possessed a mastery of the highest art of oratory ; the art of 
 analyzing, defining, and illustrating a subject; separating the 
 true from the false ; and deducing from each the appropriate con- 
 sequences; — artem, quce doceret rem universam trihuere in 
 'partes, latentem explicare definiendo, ohscuram explanare in- 
 terpretando; amhigua primum videre, deinde distinguere; post- 
 remo, habere regulam, qua vera et falsa; judicarentur ; et qucBj. 
 quihus positis, essent, quoeque nan essent, consequentia. Hie 
 enim attulit hanc artem, omnium artium maximam, quasi lucem 
 ad ea, quae confuse ah aliis aut respondehantur, aut agehantur^ 
 
 ^Cicero De Clar. Orator, cap. 14. 
 Marshall— 4. 49 
 
But it is principally upon his character as a magistrate, pre- 
 siding over the highest tribunal of the nation, that the solid fab- 
 ric of his fame must rest. And there let it rest ; for the founda- 
 tions are deep, and the superstructure fitted for immortality. 
 Time, which is perpetually hurrying into a common oblivion the 
 flatterers of kings, and the flatterers of the people, the selfish 
 -demagogues, and the wary courtiers, serves but to make true 
 greatness better known, by dissolving the mists of prejudice and 
 passion, which for a while conceal its true glory. The life of the 
 Chief Justice extended over a space rare in the annals of juris- 
 prudence ; and still more rare is such a life, with the accompani- 
 ment of increasing reputation. There was nothing accidental or 
 adventitious in his judicial character. It grew by its own na- 
 tive strength, unaided by the sunshine of power, and unchecked 
 by cold neglect, or unsparing indifference. The life of Lord 
 Mansfield was one of the longest and most splendid in the jurid- 
 ical history of England. That of the Chief Justice was longer 
 and may fairly rival it in the variety of its labors, in the glory 
 of its achievements, and in its rapid advancement of the science 
 of jurisprudence. 
 
 The Chief Justiceship of the United States is a station full of 
 perplexing duties and delicate responsibilities, and requiring 
 qualities so various, as well as so high, that no man, conscious of 
 human infirmity, can fail to approach it with extreme diffidence 
 and distrust of his own competency. It is the very post where 
 weakness, and ignorance, and timidity must instantly betray 
 themselves, and sink to their natural level. It is difficult even 
 for the profession at large fully to appreciate the extent of the 
 labors, the various attainments, the consummate learning, and 
 the exquisite combination of moral qualities, which are de- 
 manded to fill it worthily. It has hitherto been occupied only by 
 the highest class of minds, which had been trained and disci- 
 plined by a long course of public and professional service for its 
 functions. Jay, Ellsworth, and Marshall, have been the in- 
 <;umbents for the whole period since the adoption of the Consti- 
 tution ; and their extraordinary endowments have in a great 
 
 50 
 
measure concealed from the public gaze the dangers and the dif- 
 ficulties of this dazzling vocation. 
 
 There is nothing in the jurisprudence of the States which af- 
 fords any parallel or measure of the labors of the national courts. 
 The jurisprudence of each State is homogeneous in its materials. 
 It deals with institutions of a uniform character. It discusses 
 questions of a nature familiar to the thoughts and employments 
 of the whole profession. The learned advocate who finds him- 
 self transferred, by public favor or superior ability, from the 
 State bar to the State bench, finds the duties neither new nor em- 
 barrassing in their elements or details. He passes over ground 
 where the pathways are known and measured ; and he finds 
 pleasure in retracing their windings and their passages. He 
 may exclaim with the poet, Juvat iterare lahores; and he in- 
 dulges a safe and generous confidence in his own juridical attain- 
 ments. 
 
 How different is the case in the national courts ! With what- 
 ever affluence of learning a judge may come there, he finds him- 
 self at once in a scene full of distressing novelties and varieties 
 of thought. Instead of the jurisprudence of a single State, in 
 which he has been educated and trained, he is at once plunged 
 into the jurisprudence of twenty-four States, essentially differ- 
 ing in habits, laws, institutions, and principles of decision. He 
 is compelled to become a student of doctrines to which he has 
 hitherto been an entire stranger; and the very language in 
 which those doctrines are sometimes expressed is in the truest 
 sense to him an unknown tongue. The words seem to belong to 
 the dialect of his native language ; but other meanings are at- 
 tached to them, either so new, or so qualified, that he is embar- 
 rassed at every step of his progress. 'N&j ; he is required in 
 some measure to forget in one cause what he has learned in an- 
 other, from its inapplicability or local impropriety ; and new 
 statutes, perpetually accumulating on every side, seem to snatch 
 from his grasp the principles of local law at the moment when 
 he is beginning to congratulate himself upon the possession of 
 them. Independent of this complicated intermixture of State 
 jurisprudence, he is compelled to master the whole extent of ad- 
 miralty and prize law; the public and private law of nations; 
 
 51 
 
and the varieties of English and American equity jurispru- 
 dence. To these confessedly herculean labors he must now add 
 some reasonable knowledge of the Civil Law, and of the juris- 
 prudence of France and Spain, as they break upon him from the 
 sunny regions of the farthest South. Nor is this all (though 
 much of what has been already stated must be new to his 
 thoughts) ; he must gather up the positive regulations of the stat- 
 utes and treaties of the national government, and the silent and 
 implied results of its sovereignty and action. He must finally 
 expand his studies to that most important branch of national ju- 
 risprudence, the exposition of constitutional law, demanding, as 
 it does, a comprehensiveness of thought, a calmness of judgment 
 and a diligence of research (not to speak of other qualities ) 
 which cannot be contemplated without the most anxious appre- 
 hensions of failure. When these various duties are considered, 
 it is scarcely too much to say that they present the same dis- 
 couraging aspect of the national jurisprudence which Sir Henry 
 Spelman has so feelingly proclaimed of the municipal juris- 
 prudence of England, in his day ; — Molem, non ingentem solum, 
 sed perpetuis humeris sustinendam. 
 
 These, however, are but a part of the qualifications required 
 of the man who holds the office of Chief Justice. He must also 
 possess other rare accomplishments, which are required of one 
 who, as the head of the Court, is to preside over its public de- 
 liberations, and its private confidential conferences. Patience, 
 moderation, candor, urbanity, quickness of perception, dignity 
 of deportment, gentleness of manners, genius which commands 
 respect, and learning which justifies confidence ; — these seem in- 
 dispensable qualifications to fill up the outlines of the character. 
 While I was yet shadowing them out in my own mind, my eyes 
 insensibly turned (as it were) to the Judicial Hall at Washing- 
 ton, and to the very Chair appropriated to the office. The ven- 
 erable form of Marshall seemed still seated there ! It was but 
 a momentary dream; I awoke; and found that I had but 
 sketched the first lines of his portrait. 
 
 Yes, this great and good man was all that we could ask or 
 even desire for the station. He seemed the very personation of 
 Justice itself, as he ministered at its altars — in the presence of 
 
 52 
 
the nation — within the very walls which had often echoed back 
 the unsurpassed eloquence of the dead, of Dexter, and Pincknej, 
 and Emmett, and Wirt, and of the living also, nameless here, but 
 whose names will swell on the voices of a thousand generations. 
 Enter but that hall, and you saw him listening with a quiet, easy 
 dignity to the discussions at the bar ; silent, serious, searching ; 
 with a keenness of thought, which sophistry could not mislead, 
 or error confuse, or ingenuity delude ; with a benignity of as- 
 pect which invited the modest to move on with confidence ; with 
 a. conscious firmness of purpose, which repressed arrogance, and 
 overawed declamation. You heard him pronounce the opinion 
 of the Court in a low but modulated voice, unfolding in lumi- 
 nous order every topic of argument, trying its strength, and 
 measuring its value, until you felt yourself in the presence of the 
 very oracle of the law. You heard (if I may adopt the lan- 
 guage applied to another great magistrate on a like occasion), you 
 "heard principles stated, reasoned upon, enlarged, and ex- 
 plained, until you were lost in admiration at the strength and 
 stretch of the human understanding."^ Follow him into the con- 
 ference room, a scene of not less difiicult or delicate duties, and 
 you would observe the same presiding genius, the same kindness, 
 attentiveness, and deference; and yet, when the occasion re- 
 quired, the same power of illustration, the same minuteness of 
 research, the same severity of logic, and the same untiring accu- 
 racy in facts and principles. 
 
 It may be truly said of him, as it was of Lord Mansfield, that 
 he excelled in the statement of a case ; so much so, that it was al- 
 most of itself an argument. If it did not at once lead the hearer 
 to the proper conclusion, it prepared him to assent to it as soon 
 as it was announced. Nay, more ; it persuaded him that it 
 must be right, however repugnant it might be to his preconceived 
 notions. Perhaps no judge ever excelled him in the capacity 
 to hold a legal proposition before the eyes of others in such vari- 
 ous forms and colors. It seemed a pleasure to him to cast the 
 darkest shades of objection over it, that he might show how they 
 could be dissipated by a single glance of light. He would by the 
 
 *Mr. Justice Buller, speaking of Lord Mansfield, in Lickbarrow v. Mason, 
 2 Term Rep. 73. 
 
 53 
 
most subtile analysis resolve every argument into its ultimate 
 principles, and then with a marvelous facility apply them to the 
 decision of the cause. 
 
 That he possessed an uncommon share of juridical learning 
 would naturally be presumed from his large experience and in- 
 exhaustible diligence. Yet it is due to truth as well as to his 
 memory to declare that his juridical learning was not equal to 
 that of many of the great masters in the profession, living or 
 dead, at home or abroad. He yielded at once to their superiority 
 of knowledge, as well in the modern as in the ancient law. He 
 adopted the notion of Lord Bacon, that "studies serve for de- 
 light, for ornament, and for ability,'' — "in the judgment and 
 disposition of business." The latter was his favorite object. 
 Hence he "read not to contradict and confute ; nor to believe and 
 take for granted ; nor to find talk and discourse ; but to weigh 
 and consider." And he followed another suggestion of that 
 great man, that "judges ought tjo be more learned Jhan witty ; 
 more reverend than plausible ; and more advised than confi- 
 dent." The original bias, as well aslhe choice, of his mind was 
 to general principles and comprehensive views, rather than to 
 technical or recondite learning. He loved to expatiate upon the 
 theory of equity ; to gather up the expansive doctrines of com- 
 mercial jurisprudence ; and to give a rational cast even to the 
 most subtile dogmas of the common law. He was solicitous to 
 hear arguments ; and not to decide causes without them. And 
 no judge ever profited more by them. No matter whether the 
 subject was new or old ; familiar to his thoughts, or remote from 
 them ; buried under a mass of obsolete learning, or developed for 
 the first time yesterday ; whatever was its nature, he courted ar- 
 gument, nay, he demanded it. It was matter of surprise to see 
 how easily he grasped the leading principles of a case, and 
 cleared it of all its accidental encumbrances; how readily he 
 evolved the true points of the controversy, even when it was man- 
 ifest that he never before had caught even a glimpse of the learn- 
 ing upon which it depended. He seized, as it were by intuition, 
 the very spirit of juridical doctrines, though cased up in the ar- 
 mor of centuries ; and he discussed authorities as if the very 
 minds of the judges themselves stood disembodied before him. 
 
 54 
 
But his peculiar triumph was in the exposition of constitu- 
 tional law. It was here that he stood confessedly without a 
 rival, whether we regard his thorough knowledge of our civil 
 and political history, his admirable powers of illustration and 
 generalization, his scrupulous integrity and exactness in inter- 
 pretation, or his consummate skill in moulding his own genius 
 into its elements as if they had constituted the exclusive study 
 of his life. His proudest epitaph may be written in a single 
 line — ^Here lies the Expounder of the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 I am aware of the force of this language ; and have no desire 
 to qualify it. The task which he had to perform was far dif- 
 ferent from that which belongs to the debates in other places^ 
 where topics may be chosen, and pressed, or avoided, as the occa- 
 sion may require. In the forum there is no choice of topics to 
 be urged ; there are no passions to be addressed ; there are no in- 
 terests to be courted. Critical inquiries, nice discriminations,, 
 severe inductions, and progressive demonstrations are demanded 
 upon the very points on which the controversy hinges. Every 
 objection must be met, and sifted, and answered, not by single 
 flashes of thought, but by the closest logic, reasoning out every 
 successive position with a copious and convincing accuracy. 
 
 Let it be remembered that, when Chief Justice Marshall first 
 took his seat on the bench, scarcely more than two or three ques- 
 tions of constitutional law had ever engaged the attention of the 
 Supreme Court. As a science, constitutional law was then con- 
 fessedly new ; and that portion of it, in an especial manner, 
 which may be subjected to judicial scrutiny, had been explored 
 by few minds, even in the most general forms of inquiry. Let 
 it be remembered that in the course of his judicial life, numer- 
 ous questions of a practical nature, and involving interests of 
 vast magnitude, have been constantly before the court, where 
 there was neither guide nor authority ; but all was to be wrought 
 out by general principles. Let it be remembered that texts, 
 which scarcely cover the breadth of a finger, have been since in- 
 terpreted, explained, limited, and adjusted by judicial commen- 
 taries, which are now expanded into volumes. Let it be remem- 
 bered that the highest learning, genius, and eloquence of the bar> 
 
 55 
 
liave been employed to raise doubts, and fortify objections ; that 
 State sovereignties have stood impeached in their legislation; 
 -and rights of the most momentous nature have been suspended 
 upon the issue ; that under such circumstances, the infirmities of 
 false reasoning, the glosses of popular appeal, the scattered fire 
 of irregular and inconclusive assertion, and the want of compre- 
 hensive powers of analysis, had no chance to escape the instant 
 detection of the profession. Let these things (I say) be remem- 
 bered; and who does not at once perceive that the task of ex- 
 pounding the Constitution, under such circumstances, required 
 almost superhuman abilities ? It demanded a mind in which 
 vast reaches of thought should be combined with patience of in- 
 vestigation, sobriety of judgment, fearlessness of consequences, 
 and mastery of the principles of interpretation, to an extent 
 rarely belonging to the most gifted of our race. 
 
 How this gigantic task of expounding the Constitution was 
 met and executed by Chief Justice Marshall, let the profession, 
 let the public, decide. Situated as I am, I may not speak for 
 others upon such an occasion. But having sat by his side dur- 
 ing twenty-four years ; having witnessed his various constitu- 
 tional labors ; having heard many of those exquisite judgments, 
 the fruits of his own unassisted meditations, from which the 
 <}ourt has derived so much honor ; — et nos aliquod nomenque 
 decusque gessimus; — I confess myself unable to find language 
 sufficiently expressive of my admiration and reverence of his 
 transcendent genius. While I have followed his footsteps, not 
 as I could have wished, but as I have been able, at humble dis- 
 tances, in his splendid judicial career, I have constantly felt the 
 liveliest gratitude to that beneficent Providence which created 
 liim for the age, that his talents might illustrate the law, his vir- 
 tues adorn the bench, and his judgments establish the perpetuity 
 of the Constitution of the country. Such is my humble tribute 
 to his memory. His saltern accumulem donis, et fungar inani 
 munere. The praise is sincere, though it may be perishable. 
 "Not so his fame. It will flow on to the most distant ages. Even 
 if the Constitution of his country should perish, his glorious 
 judgments will still remain to instruct mankind, until liberty 
 
 56 
 
shall cease to be a blessing, and the science of jurisprudence 
 shall vanish from the catalogue of human pursuits. 
 
 And this great magistrate is now gone — gone, as we trust, to 
 the high rewards of such eminent services. It is impossible to 
 reflect that the places which once knew him shall know him no 
 more, without a sense of inexpressible melancholy. When shall 
 we look upon his like again ? When may we again hope to see 
 so much moderation with so much firmness ; so much sagacity 
 with so much modesty ; so much learning with so much purity ; so 
 much wisdom with so much gentleness ; so much splendor of tal- 
 ent with so much benevolence ; so much of everything to love and 
 admire, with nothing, absolutely nothing, to regret ? 
 
 And yet there are some consolations even in so great a loss. 
 Cicero, in mourning over the death of his friend, the great 
 Koman lawyer, Hortensius, did not hesitate to pronounce his 
 death fortunate; for he died at a moment happy for himself, 
 though most unfortunate for his country. Quoniam perpetud 
 quddam felicitate usus ille, cessit e vita suo, magis quam suorum 
 civiunij tempore. Vixit tarn diu quam licuit in civitate bene 
 heateque vivere.^ We may well apply the like remark to Chief 
 Justice Marshall. He was not cut off in middle life, in the 
 early maturity of his faculties, while he was yet meditating new 
 plans of usefulness or glory. He lived to the very verge of that 
 green old age, after which the physical strength sensibly declines, 
 and the intellectual powers no longer reach their accustomed 
 limits. He retained, to the very last hour of his life, the posses- 
 sion of all these powers in full perfection, without change — 
 nay, without the shadow of change. Such had been his hope, 
 earnestly and frequently expressed to his confidential friends, 
 with deep solicitude ; for no man more than he dreaded to add 
 another to the melancholy lessons : 
 
 "In life's last scenes, what prodigies surprise, 
 Tears of the brave, and follies of the wise." 
 
 We may well rejoice, therefore, that a life, so long and so use- 
 ful, should have come to its close without any exhibition of hu- 
 
 *Cicero De Clar. Orator, cap. 1. 
 
 5Y 
 
man infirmity. The past is now secure. It is beyond the reach 
 of accident. The future cannot be disturbed by error, or dark- 
 ened by imbecility. His setting sun loomed out in cloudless 
 splendor, as it sunk below the horizon. The last lights shot up 
 with a soft and balmy transparency, as if the beams, while yet re- 
 flected back on this world, were but ushering in the mom of his 
 own immortality. 
 
 58 
 
ADDRESS OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ON 
 
 "JOHN MARSHALL DAY." 
 
 New Obleans, February 4, 1900. 
 To THE Bench and Bab of the United States. 
 
 By direction of the American Bar Association, a committee composed 
 of one member from each state and territory, and from the District of 
 Columbia, has been appointed by the Association in reference to the pro- 
 posed celebration of "John Marshall Day,*' to take place on Monday, Feb. 
 4, 1901, being the first centennial of the installation of that eminent jurist 
 as Chief Justice of the United States. A commemoration of this event, and 
 of the splendid career of Marshall in the great oflBce which he adorned for 
 more than thirty-four years, cannot fail to be an occasion of profound in- 
 terest and importance to the American bench and bar. Soldier, student, 
 advocate, diplomatist, statesman, and jurist — he was one of the finest 
 types of American manhood in its best estate. His fame is the heritage of 
 the nation, and it is befitting that the whole country should celebrate the 
 appointed day. 
 
 In the language of Judge Story, when voicing the sentiments of tb^ 
 great court on the ofiicial announcement of Marshall's death, "his genius 
 his learning, and his virtues have conferred an imperishable glory on his 
 country, whose liberties he fought to secure, and whose institutions he 
 labored to perpetuate. He was a patriot and a statesman of spotless integ- 
 rity and consummate wisdom. The science of jurisprudence will forever 
 acknowledge him as one of its greatest benefactors. The Constitution of 
 the United States owes as much to him as to any single mind, for the foun- 
 dations on which it rests, and the expositions by which it is to be main- 
 tained ; but, above all, he was the ornament of human nature itself, in the 
 beautiful illustration which his life constantly presented of its most at- 
 tractive graces and most elevated attributes." 
 
 The Committee has been charged with the duty of publishing this 
 address to the legal profession of the United States ; also, with the further 
 duty of preparing suggestions for the observance of the day on the part of 
 
 59 
 
the state, city, and county bar associations and other public bodies in the 
 United States. 
 
 The Committee was also charged with the duty of requesting the 
 good offices of the President of the United States in recommending to Con- 
 gress the propriety of observing "John Marshall Day" on the part of 
 Congress and other departments of the government of the United States, 
 and of memorializing Congress to observe befitting ceremonies in honor of 
 the great Chief Justice. 
 
 It is proposed that commemoration services be held at the national 
 capital, under the direction of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 with the aid and support of the co-ordinate branches of the government. 
 
 It is also expected that the day will be properly observed on the part of 
 all state and national courts, by the cessation of judicial business, and that 
 all state, city, and county bar associations participate in proper exercises 
 in such manner as to them shall seem most appropriate. 
 
 Similar ceremonies are recommended to be held in all American col- 
 leges, law schools, and public schools, to the end that the youth of our coun- 
 try may be made more fully acquainted with Marshall's noble life and dis- 
 tinguished services. 
 
 The American Bar Association leaves the execution of this national 
 celebration in the hands of the courts and the public bodies named, and the 
 Committee express the sincere hope that the celebration be national in its 
 character and imposing in its extent and fervor, and that it may have the 
 hearty support of the secular and legal press of our country. 
 
 The active co-operation of the respective vice-presidents and members 
 of local councils appointed by the Association, with the respective members 
 of the National Committee, is respectfully requested and expected. 
 On Behalf and by Authority of the National Committee, 
 
 William Wibt Howe, Chairman. 
 Adolph Moses, Secretary. 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
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 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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