Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 13.pdf/294

 John Marshall. so well in the other departments of the work he had been attached by the strongest of bonds which can unite men — companion ship in clanger and glory. He survived them by a generation; and with pious devotion he guarded the Constitution as the ark of the nation's covenant, containing the treasures of the Revolution and of all our history. He was the last survivor of our great creative triumvirate.1 The decisions of the great Chief Justice during his long service upon the Bench were clear, cogent and conclusive, whatever might be the question involved for determination. Although associated with him upon the bench were a number of men who, during their service there, immortalized themselves as Judges, it is nevertheless true that Mar shall, especially in the determination of con stitutional questions, was practically the Court. . . . No higher encomium could be uttered of any man than that now universally bestowed upon him, especially by the Bench and Bar, that as pioneer jurist in the field of consti tutional law, the paths marked out by him were always straight and in his decisions there was no semblance of error. . . . What greater honor could any man desire than to be able to say, as Marshall could, "Compare the Supreme Court of the United States as it was when I took my seat and when I left it. Let the intelligent judgment of any man answer the question, why the dif ference?" Well might Adams say as he did to a son of the Chief Justice, that this gift of Tohn Marshall to the people of the United States vas the proudest act of his life. Gladstone declared that the American Con stitution is "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." And we may well say that this is a great utterance of a great man, but when this declaration was made our Con stitution had been vitalized and its immortal ity assured by the great Chief Justice provi1 Mr. Chief Justice Shauck.

263

dentially furnished to us for that purpose. So long as this Constitution remains and our Supreme Court continues in its interpreta tion of that Constitution to follow in the footsteps of John Marshall, we need have no fears for the future, and our nation will continue to be, as in the past, the guide of those desiring and loving liberty, and the beaconlight of oppressed humanity.1 The very greatness and completeness of the work of Chief Justice Marshall tends to prevent our appreciating how great it was. He was a great statesman, as well as a great lawyer, and yet constantly observed the distinction between law, as judicially ad ministered, and statesmanship. The Constitution of the United States cre ated a nation upon the foundation of a written constitution; and, as expounded by Marshall, transferred in large degree the determination of the constitutionality of the acts of the legislature or the executive from the political to the judicial department. Marshall grew up with the Constitution. He served in the legislature of Virginia before and after its adoption, and in the convention of Virginia by which it was ratified. He took part in its administration, abroad and at home, in a foreign mission, in the House of Representa tives, and in the Department of State, before he became the head of the judiciary, within a quarter of a century after the Declaration of Independence, and less than twelve years after the Constitution was established. During the thirty-four years of his Chief Justiceship he expounded and applied the Constitution, in almost every aspect, with unexampled sagacity, courage and cau tion. . . . The principles affirmed by his judgments have become axioms of constitutional law. And it is difficult to overestimate the effect which those judgments have had in quiet ing controversies on constitutional ques tions, and in creating or confirming a senti 1 Honorable John F. Follett, of Cincinnati, Ohio.