Eulogium in Commemoration of the Hon. Bushrod Washington: Late One of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

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T.S. Manning, 1830 - Judges - 32 pages
 

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Page 17 - Patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of justice; and an overspeaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal. It is no grace to a judge first to find that which he might have heard in due time from the bar; or to show quickness of conceit in cutting off evidence or counsel too short; or to prevent information by questions, though pertinent.
Page 15 - He was wise, as well as learned; sagacious and searching in the pursuit and discovery of truth, and faithful to it beyond the touch of corruption, or the diffidence of fear: he was cautious, considerate, and slow in forming a judgment, and steady, but not obstinate, in his adherence to it. No man was more willing to listen to an argument against his opinion; to receive it with candor, or to yield to it with more manliness, if it convinced him of an error.
Page 31 - ... have little or no relation to maturity. Life seems a race which they have yet to run entirely. They have made no progress towards the goal. They are born, — nothing further. But it seems hard when a man has toiled high up the steep hill of knowledge, that he should be cast, like Sisyphus, downwards in a moment : — that he who has worn the day and wasted the night in gathering the gold of science, should be — with all his wealth of learning, all his accumulations — made bankrupt at once.
Page 16 - ... but he was as tractable as humility, to the force of truth; as obedient as filial duty, to the voice of reason. When he gave up an opinion, he did it not grudgingly, or with reluctant qualifications and saving explanations; it was abandoned at once, and he rejoiced more than any one, at his escape from it. It is only a mind conscious of its strength, and governed by the highest principles of integrity, that can make such sacrifices, not only without any feeling of humiliation, but with unaffected...
Page 12 - States, to fill the vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, occasioned by the death of Judge Iredell.
Page 31 - Where is the sweet fancy of Sidney, — the airy spirit of Fletcher, — and Milton's thought severe ? — Methinks such things should not die and dissipate, when a hair can live for centuries, and a brick of Egypt will last three thousand years ! — I am content to believe that the mind of man survives (somewhere or other^ his clay.
Page 19 - Judge Washington came to the bench of the Supreme Court at a period when its duties were exceedingly arduous and interesting. The convulsions of Europe, which were felt in the United States, gave birth to questions of national and constitutional law, which involved in their consequences the honour and peace of our country, and which it was the right and duty of this court to hear and determine. Many of these questions, arising out of unprecedented circumstances in the positions and pretensions of...
Page 27 - Let me put the question seriously to the jury — will they have the vanity to think themselves wiser than- all those who have passed opinions upon this important question of law?
Page 26 - Governor, immediately to have in readiness, such a portion of the militia under his command, as might be necessary to execute the orders, and to employ them to protect and defend the persons and property of the Representatives of Mr.
Page 24 - ... a, suit against them should they refuse. The Governor of the State was also required to protect the just rights of the State, by any further measures he might deem necessary; and also to protect the persons and property of the ladies from any process which might issue out of the federal court, iu consequence of their obedience to this requisition.

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