STATE OF IOWA.'

Marshall Day was celebrated in this State at Iowa City, the former Capital and the present seat of the State University. There were present the justices of the Supreme Court; the president and members of the State Bar Association; members of the local Bar and the University faculty and students, as well as a large concourse of citizens. A varied programme was arranged. Two celebrations were held: one in the afternoon at three o'clock, presided over by J. J. McCarthy, President of the State Bar Association, the principal speaker being John N. Baldwin; the other celebration was held in the evening at eight o'clock, Geo. E. MacLean, President of the State University of Iowa, presiding, with four addresses by prominent members of the State Bar on various aspects of Marshall's life and public services. Mr. McCarthy, in introducing John N. Baldwin, said in part:

Introductory Address of J. J. McCarthy.

We meet to observe the first centennial of the installation of John Marshall as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

1 A complete account of the proceedings at Iowa City was published in the Bulletin of the State University of Iowa, New Series No. 33, June, 1901, entitled as follows: "John Marshall Day: Addresses delivered at Iowa City, February the Fourth, 1901, the Centennial of the Installation of John Marshall as Chief Justice, under the Auspices of the State University of Iowa and the Iowa State Bar Association. Published by The University, Iowa City, Iowa, 1901.”

To Marshall constitutional liberty meant a union of States. He was the especial champion of the public faith and credit, and of the sacredness of the rights of private contract. He would palsy the hand raised to destroy either. Public justice, public virtue and public liberty were his maxims. In the struggling days of the Republic he nailed the flag of the Union to the Constitution. And he had the courage of his convictions.

It is indeed appropriate that the University and Bar of the great State of Iowa, unknown and unborn in Marshall's time, should unite to do honor to the memory of the eminent jurist, and aid in perpetuating the principles that have proved a blessing and protection in the past, and will continue to guide and help mankind as long as the science of jurisprudence shall be studied, or human liberty held sacred.

Here, at the old Capital City, now the seat of the leading educational institution of the State, in which we all take just pride, let us signalize in some measure our gratitude for the pure, lofty and imperishable contributions to the cause of free government, bequeathed from the pen of the giant genius whose memory we celebrate.

Address of John N. Baldwin.

John Marshall was installed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States February 4, 1801. We meet to-day to commemorate the first centennial of that great event. Similar meetings are being held throughout these United States. It is fondly hoped by those who instituted these proceedings that they will be so impressive and interesting that hereafter the 4th day of February will be familiarly known as " John Marshall Day," and will be observed by those who are to come,

with as much interest and enthusiasm and with as appropriate ceremonies as the "4th day of July” or “Washington's Birthday."

It was with commingled feelings of pride and diffidence that I accepted the invitation to perform a part in the observance of this day, and at this place of learning and instruction. To be called to make this address upon this occasion and with such a subject, in this presence, before the accomplished and the distinguished, and at my alma mater, is to me a transcendent mark of regard. To those who called and to you who attend, I humbly offer my deepest and most affectionate gratitude.

The greater part of the time which has been so generously allowed to me will be devoted to the consideration of the work and worth of Marshall as the constitutional judge, and I shall feel that I have performed well my part if my rude words shall awaken your interest and incite you to study his life, character and services, not only as a judge, but as a soldier, lawyer, statesman, diplomat, author, citizen and patriot. A careful study of his thoughts and labors from the day of his birth in Fauquier county, Virginia, September 24, 1755, to the day of his death at Philadelphia, July 6, 1835, creates the ineradicable impression that during all of this time, Duty must have guided him, Genius shone upon him, Angels watched over him, the Immortals loved him, and God received him.

He did not need a college to study or a university course to develop. One year's instruction with a clergyman, one year's instruction with a Scotchman, and two years under the fostering attention of a watchful, interested and affectionate father, constituted his whole scholastic training. That most comprehensive mass of

learning, useful, solid and elegant, which fitted him to occupy the highest stations in life was acquired and nourished by the vigils of his own genius and his own untiring efforts. He mastered the classics by his own unassisted diligence, aided by a grammar and a dictionary.

After his return from Paris he took up anew the work of his profession. Responding, however, to a personal appeal from Washington, he became a candidate for Congress, was elected, and took his seat in December, 1799. While he was yet a candidate, President Adams offered him the seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States made vacant by the death of Justice Iredell; this he declined, and Bushrod Washington was appointed. In 1800 President Adams nominated Marshall to the War Department, but he declined the appointment. Thereafter upon the express solicitation of the President he accepted the position of Secretary of State. On January 31, 1801, President Adams nominated him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

John Marshall was Chief Justice of this Court for thirty-four years. In order to understand and thoroughly appreciate the services he rendered his country, and the ability with which he discharged the duties of his high office, we must know the character of the tribunal over which he presided, the time, the questions before it for consideration and determination, the possible effect of its decisions not only upon this people and their affairs, but also upon the world and its affairs.

It was the Supreme Court of the United States, one of the three co-ordinate branches of the government, and the grandest conception of the Constitution. It can an

nounce irreversible decrees. From its judgments there is no appeal. We do not find in the framing of any other society or form of government, of which there is any record, a court possessed of such dignity and powers. No tribunal, either in ancient or modern times, ever had conferred upon it such extensive powers and prerogatives. "No king, no magistrate, no parliament, no congress on certain great topics of judicial control and decision, can overrule or reverse the decrees of this tribunal. Nothing short of a new Constitution of the great nation. that has grown up under this Constitution, by a change in its own sovereign decrees, could reverse these public judgments of this court. When errors have been committed in France or England in their great tribunals, their chambers of government, their parliaments, can change the law, but in this great class of the powers and duties of this tribunal, the power of the law-makers devolved by our Constitution upon the two Houses of Congress, in all its plenitude, cannot change the constitutional decrees promulgated by this court.""

When first created and when first presided over by Marshall, the majestic proportions to which this structure would be carried were not in contemplation or foreseen.

On January 4, 1790, in the city of New York, this Court was organized and held its first session. Sessions were held in New York until 1801, and then-a striking coincidence and favorable omen - on the day of the first meeting of this Court at the city of Washington, as the seat of the National Government, February 4, 1801, John Marshall sat as Chief Justice for the first time.

When he was appointed Chief Justice, American Constitutional Law was an unknown science. To create a national government by a written paper was a novelty,