INTRODUCTION. Section L. Plan, scope and purpose of the present work. III. Marshall's influence in establishing the principle of IV. Final ascendency and universal acceptance of Mar- V. Marshall's influence in establishing the constitutional VIL No part of Marshall's opinion in Marbury's Case is obiter or extra-judicial. VIIL Marshall's rulings on the Burr trials awarding subpoenas directed to President Jefferson reviewed and approved. IX. Marshall's personal life and character. I. My relation as Editor of these volumes came about in almost an accidental way. A distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States concluded a letter acknowledging a copy of my Albany Address by 1 Mr. Justice Shiras. saying: "A collection of the addresses delivered on John Marshall Day, if put in a permanent form, would, I think, be very interesting as showing a consensus of opinion concerning Marshall on the part of eminent lawyers in all parts of the country." Just after the receipt of the letter it chanced that I had occasion to write to the publishers of this work, and I inclosed the letter of the learned Justice and asked them to undertake the publication, even though the enterprise might prove unprofitable. With characteristic liberality they acceded to the proposal, annexing the single condition that I should collect, arrange and edit the addresses, with a suitable Introduction. Having suggested that they should make any pecuniary sacrifice which the publication might involve, I felt estopped to make the objection, however well founded, of want of time. And so I consented. Only those who are familiar with such work can appreciate how much time it has required; but it has been for me a labor of love, carrying with it its own exceeding great reward,- perhaps the last instalment, small enough at the best - the widow's mitethat I shall be able to pay on the inextinguishable debt that every lawyer owes to his profession, the basis of the obligation being that he is a member of a perpetual body of men, and therefore an inheritor of all the accumulated treasures of the past. Through correspondence with the various bar associations and institutions of learning it appeared that the day was publicly commemorated, not only at the National Capital, but in thirty-seven States and Territories of the Union. In the few States in which the day was not formally observed, the omission was due to accidental causes. In several of the States there were celebrations at different places. It was found that more than fifty orations, not counting minor ones, were given by leaders of the bar, by members of the highest Federal and State courts, and by eminent statesmen and scholars. "Such honors Ilion to her hero paid." How to deal with such a mass of material was the cause of no little embarrassment. Should I undertake the invidious office of selecting a dozen or twenty, to the end that their publication might be comprised in a single volume? Such a curtailment of this truly national event, the most remarkable voluntary, spontaneous tribute in its extent and character, which, in the history of our profession, in any country or in any age, was ever paid to the name and memory of a judge long since deceased-was not for a moment to be thought of if it was possible to avoid it. Moreover, an examination of the addresses showed such a general high order of excellence and varied ability that to make a just selection would be an ungracious and difficult if not impossible task. The publishers concurred in the view that the publication ought to reflect the unique occasion in all its amplitude. And accordingly what was at first thought could be compassed in one or at most two volumes has taken three; but we have the satisfaction of presenting a record of the great event, substantially complete and undismembered. The principal official addresses have as a rule and wherever practicable been given in full, and nothing has been omitted from any except repetitions of biographical matter, of extracts from accessible volumes, and of details not connected with Marshall's judicial services, for it was Marshall's judicial services which chiefly gave to the day its inspiration and essential character. One other word in explanation, and, if need be, in vindication of the plan adopted: While the same great judgments of Marshall construing the Constitution, delimiting its boundaries and settling its most vital and fundamental principles, have necessarily passed under the review of the speakers, yet these decisions are discussed from such different points of view, or with such different objects, and in such different styles, that there is an unfailing variety which the interested reader will be sure to perceive and enjoy. This is so marked that it may with truth be said that the addresses, though running on the same general lines, could have been delivered to the same audience, and it would have found in each address something new in thought, expression, suggestion or purpose. II. The history of the movement leading to the institution and the first centennial commemoration of Marshall Day appears so fully in these volumes as to render extended reference to it unnecessary. The suggestion by Mr. Adolph Moses of the Chicago Bar of such a day struck a sympathetic chord which vibrated throughout the land. It was indorsed by the Bar Association of Illinois, and met with the hearty and weighty sanction of the American Bar Association. This body assumed the charge and direction of the celebration, and thus assured its success on a national scale. To this end it appointed a Committee composed of one member from each State and Territory and from the District of Columbia. In suitable and earnest words this Committee publicly addressed the Bench and Bar of the United States, setting forth the reasons why the whole country should commemorate the centennial of the installation of the Chief Justice, and urging upon the State and National Courts, the State, City and other Bar Associations, the Universities and institutions of learning and public bodies throughout the land the due observance of the day. At the Committee's instance President McKinley recommended to Congress the propriety of a fitting celebration of the occasion on the part of all the departments of the gov The text of this excellent address and also the names of the members of the National Committee are given in the Appendix. b |