Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 1.djvu/44

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��EULOGY OF DANIEL M. CHRISTIE.

��logy, delivered by Col. Daniel Hall, upon the presentation to the Court of the reso- lutions recently adopted by the Strafford County Bar in honor of the deceased :

col. hall's eulogy.

May it please your Honor :

I rise to formally announce an event, the unwelcome intelligence of which has already come to the Court by common report. The Hon. Daniel M. Christie, the most distinguished member of this bar, and the most eminent counsellor of this Court, departed this life, at his resi- dence in this city, on the 8th day of December last, at the advanced age of 86 years. His brethren of the bar of Strafford County, whose leader, and or- nament, and pride he was for so many years, profoundly impressed by this event, and desiring to do whatever is in their power to acknowledge the suprem- acy, illustrate the virtues, and honor the memory of this great man, have with en- tire unanimity, adopted resolutions ex- pressive of the high sense entertained by the bar of the eminent character and ser- vices of Mr. Christie, and their sincere sympathy and condolence with those friends whom his loss affected more nearly ; and have, with a partiality which I gratefully acknowledge, imposed upon me the honorable duty of presenting them to the Court. In the performance of that duty, I will, by leave of the Court, read the resolutions which have been adopted by the bar, and respect- fully move that they be entered upon the records of the Court :

Resolved. That we have heard with pro- found sensibility of the death of the Hon. Daniel M. Christie, the oldest and most distinguished member of this bar, who has by a long life of arduous labor, fidelity to duty, and spotless integrity in every relation of life, adorned and eleva- ted the profession of the law, and impart- ed dignity and luster to the jurisprudence of our State.

Resolved. That in the long, honorable and conspicuous career of Mr. Christie — chiefly as a counsellor and advocate at this bar — distinguished by great learn- ing, sound judgment, unwearied indus- try and unsurpassed fidelity to every per- sonal and professional obligation, we recognize those qualities which entitled him to the respect and veneration which

��were universally entertained for him; and that, by his wisdom, prudence, and conscientious attention to all the duties of good citizenship, he exerted a great and salutary influence upon thecommunitj^ in which he lived.

Resolved, That we take pride in record- ing our high estimate of his extraordi- nary intellectual endowments, his exalted principles, and elevated standard of private and professional morality, and commend his virtues and excellencies of character to the imitation of the mem- bers of the profession which he pursued with such assiduity, and such remarkable honor and success.

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the family of Mr. Christie in the bereavement which has deprived them of an indulgent father and faithful friend, and respectfully offer them such consola- tion as may be found in the heartfelt condolence of the bar, whose leader and exemplar he was for nearly fifty years, and whose affection and veneration he had gained by his pre-eminent abili- ties and blameless life.

Resolved, That the Secretary commu- nicate a copy of these resolutions to the family of Mr. Christie, and that the Committee present them to the Court now in session in this county, with the request of the bar that they be entered upon its records.

May it please your Honor :

I should be doing injustice to my own feelings on this occasion, if I were to re- frain from adding a few words at least to the expressions of grief and sensibility which these resolutions contain.

This, of all places in the world, could our deceased elder brother have selected the scene, would he have chosen to have pronounced above his grave whatever of honorable praise he had earned by a life of high exertion in an exalted profession, of incorruptible fidelity to every trust, and unsullied honor in all the relations of life. And here, certainly, in this building, whose walls will be forever associated with his name and his labors, it is appropriate that such honors as the living can pay to the dead should not be denied to him. Others there are, older than myself, and whose opportunities of observation have extended over a larger period than mine, who can better inform the Court of the varied incidents of his long and useful life, and to their hands I shall mainly leave the task, contenting

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