Marshall, at the solicitation of his associate, Judge Bushrod Washington, to whom General Washington bequeathed all his papers, wrote the life of Washington, at an inopportune time and under unfavorable circumstances. The work, which was published in several volumes, the first of which appeared in 1804, was not generally well received, and did not add either to the fame of Washington or that of its author. It was labor done out of his chosen field and largely lost both to himself and to the world. It did this good, however: it collected and preserved a great many facts in relation to Washington which have been useful to later historians.

He was in the Constitutional Convention for the adoption of a new Constitution for the State of Virginia, in 1830. With him in that convention were many distinguished men, including Madison and Monroe, with the latter of whom he attended school in his boyhood days, all three aged and venerable in appearance. A writer of the times, referring to Marshall's presence, said: “Whenever he spoke, which was seldom, and only for a short time, he attracted great attention. His appearance was revolutionary and patriarchal; tall, in a long surtout of blue, with a face of genius and an eye of fire." In the convention he acted as moderator, and on questions which brought out serious differences of opinion he led the way to harmony by suggesting a compromise on middle and conservative ground that all could agree upon. In one of his speeches he said, in the spirit of moderation, concession and compromise characteristic of him: "Give me a constitution that shall be received by the people; a constitution in which I can consider their different interests to be duly represented, and I will take it though it may not be that I most approve." In his remarks upon

the question of the courts to be provided for, he said: "The greatest scourge an angry heaven ever inflicted upon an ungrateful and sinning people was an ignorant, a corrupt or a dependent judiciary." He was at this time about seventy-five years old, and though somewhat enfeebled in body, his mind was unimpaired and active, and he continued ably to discharge his judicial duties.

His last judicial utterance was in the important case of Mitchel and others v. The United States, involving the rights and titles of the Indian tribes to lands in Florida, 9th Peters, 723, January term, 1835. A motion for a continuance of the case on the part of the Government hav ing been made, Marshall, then about eighty years of age, ruled upon it, and in part spoke as follows: "The court has taken into its serious and anxious consideration the motion made on the part of the Government to continue the cause of Mitchel v. The United States to the next term. Though the hope of deciding causes to the mutual satisfaction of parties would be chimerical, that of convincing them that the case has been fully and fairly considered, that due attention has been given to the arguments of counsel, and that the best judgment of the court has been exercised on the case, may be sometimes indulged even this is not always attainable. In the excitement produced by ardent controversy, gentlemen view the same object through such different media that minds not infrequently receive therefrom precisely opposite impressions. The court, however, must see with its own eyes and exercise its own judgment, guided by its own reason."

This last deliverance by word of mouth, on the spur of the moment, showed that advanced age had not to any appreciable extent beclouded or enfeebled his lofty intel

lect. With that case his life work was done, and the great book of life was, as to him, soon to be closed with a record of his remarkable career.

Garfield said of him: "He found the Constitution a paper and he made it a power." His contemporaries were Chief Justices Kenyon, Ellenborough, Tenterden and Denman, and Lord Chancellors Eldon, Erskine, Lyndhurst and Brougham; but he borrowed nothing from them. He was made illustrious by the light of his own intellect. He interpreted and gave form and power to a written constitution that was wholly unknown to English jurisprudence. The rise and growth of our nation has developed many able men, but no one greater than Marshall, who, as soldier, lawyer, legislator, statesman, diplomat and jurist, filled all his different offices with great credit and honor to himself, advantage to his country and to the satisfaction of his countrymen.

On the 6th day of July, 1835, at Philadelphia, in his eightieth year, after an illness of but a few months, he died peacefully, without a struggle, at the hour of six o'clock in the evening, near set of sun, a fitting time for the close of such a beautiful and useful life. May we, as members of the profession of the law, regard and venerate him as a model to be imitated, and from his character and works learn a useful lesson to help us more successfully to deal with the complex problems of a lawyer's life.

His chief monument is in the lasting character of his judicial labors, to which every American lawyer and citizen may point with national pride through the coming centuries, so long as constitutional law and republican government shall survive in our free land. His brethren of the Supreme Bench inscribed to his memory

a brief obituary, which appears in the preface of the 10th volume of Peters' Reports, and is, in part, as follows: "His private virtues as a man, and his public services as a patriot, are deeply inscribed in the hearts of his fellow-citizens. His extensive legal attainments, and profound, discriminating judicial talents, are universally acknowledged. His judgment upon great and important constitutional questions affecting the safety, tranquillity and permanency of the government of his beloved country, his decisions on international and general law, distinguished by their learning, integrity and accuracy, are recorded in the reports of the cases adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, in which he presided during a period of thirty-four years. As long as the Constitution and laws shall endure and have authority, these will be respected, regarded and maintained."

No such spontaneous tribute of affection and respect has ever before in the history of the world been paid to a judge or jurist as that which is being paid to-day to the character and memory of Chief Justice Marshall throughout this great nation of seventy-six millions of people; and it is one of the signs of the healthful life of the Republic. May it long live to enjoy the blessing that he conferred upon it as the greatest expounder of its laws.

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA.

The centennial anniversary of the elevation of John Marshall to the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, Monday, February 4, 1901, was celebrated in the city of Philadelphia, under the auspices of the Law Association of Philadelphia, the Lawyers' Club of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The following is mainly taken from the official relation of the proceedings, separately published, with an excellent photogravure of the Inman portrait of Marshall:

At a meeting of the Law Association of Philadelphia, held October 2, 1900, the following resolutions were adopted:

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the Chancellor to provide for a suitable observance, on February 4, 1901, of the centennial anniversary of the elevation of John Marshall to the office of Chief Justice of the United States; and

Resolved, That the State Bar Association, the Lawyers' Club of Philadelphia, and the other Bar Associations throughout the State and members of the Bar in general be invited to unite with this Association in carrying out the object of the above resolution.

The Chancellor appointed the following gentlemen members of that committee: John Cadwalader, Esq., Chairman; Hon. Wm. W. Wiltbank, George Tucker Bispham, Esq., Wm. Brooke Rawle, Esq., Alexander Simpson, Jr., Esq.

Subsequently the committee was increased to nine