STATE OF MISSOURI.

Appropriate proceedings to celebrate Marshall Day were had in the United States Circuit Court at St. Louis, in the State Circuit Court, and at the St. Louis Law School, concluding with a banquet at the Southern Hotel in the evening. The exercises were had under the auspices of the Bar Association of St. Louis, which appointed the following committee to arrange for the celebration: Amos M. Thayer, Elmer B. Adams, D. D. Fisher, Horatio D. Wood and Jacob Klein.'

PROCEEDINGS IN UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT.

Pursuant to the recommendations of the committee of the Bar Association of St. Louis, at the opening hour of the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern Division of the Eastern District of Missouri, sitting in St. Louis, February 4, 1901, there were present Henry C. Caldwell, Walter H. Sanborn and Amos M. Thayer, Circuit Judges of the Eighth Circuit (Judge Caldwell presiding), and Elmer B. Adams, United States District Judge. Henry S. Priest, former United States District Judge for the

1 The proceedings were afterwards published by the Bar Association of St. Louis, embellished with an engraving of the Inman portrait of Marshall, under the following title: "John Marshall Day' proceedings of the Bench and Bar of St. Louis. Celebrating the Centennial Anniversary of the Accession to the Supreme Court of the United States of Chief Justice John Marshall. February 4, 18011901. Published by the Bar Association of St. Louis."

Eastern District of Missouri, having been designated to move an adjournment of the court in conformity with the recommendations of the committee, presented such motion and addressed the court in the following language:

Address of Henry S. Priest.

One hundred years ago to-day John Marshall of Virginia became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Considering the condition of the nation then, reviewing the events since, and, in the light of these, contemplating the possibilities of the future, and remembering what a potent influence he wielded in shaping its course, we should be constrained by feelings of unfeigned gratitude to venerate his memory and do honor to his

name.

He will ever live in the hearts and affections of this great nation, an example of the most accomplished jurist and devoted patriot. He had served in many fields with › distinction and with advantage to the public welfare before being called to preside as the chief magistrate of the Supreme Court, but it was in this office that his great genius found those profound questions of political and juridical philosophy that were worthy to engage its fullest capacity. Nature had given him an extraordinary mind, and by energetic study, research and contemplation he vastly improved upon the gifts of nature. His intellect was massive, clear and penetrative. It was disciplined to honest thought and courageous expression. He sought truth by all the methods of true philosophy, and worshiped as an idolater at the shrine of his country and his countrymen. Patriotism, with him, was not a mere rapturous sentiment, but a moral principle ever delight

ing him to do and advocate that which reason instructed him was the best for the happiness and prosperity of his country.

Marshall perceived in the Constitution an animated thing conceived to respond and capable of responding to the high purposes and ambitions of the people of the nation, and he made the Supreme Court its living voice. He discerned the "theoretical excellence of the government, the attainable prosperity and power of the States united, the magnificence of the national life which would spring from the Union, and the unbounded physical resources which stood ready to nourish its strength." In the spirit of these views he went forward expounding the Constitution, never transcending its letter or offending its spirit. Jefferson did not discover in it the power to acquire new territory by purchase, and determined to usurp it. Marshall demonstrated its existence and acquitted Jefferson's conduct of offense. He dared not usurp power - he did not shrink from duty.

In the grandeur of our united country, in the supremacy of law, in the harmony of governments which constitute the nation, and in a well regulated liberty, we discern the vindication of his courage and his penetrating genius.

For thirty-four years, with hostile executive and legislative departments, save an intermission of one administration, his masterful genius controlled and influenced the course of the judiciary. At the time he ascended the bench the court was without that prestige which its place in the trinity of governmental powers entitled it to enjoy. Its decisions had been few and not widely disseminated. Jay had just previously been offered the place for the second time. In declining the tender of ap

pointment, he said: "I left the bench perfectly convinced that under a system so defective it could not attain the energy, weight and dignity which were essential to its affording due support to the National Government."

It is said in Grecian mythology that all who consulted the oracle of Trophonius came away melancholy and depressed. Mr. Randolph spoke of the court as "the cave of Trophonius." Mr. Jefferson, long after his career as President, reflecting the sentiment of hostility towards the court which he always entertained, said: “The judiciary of the United States is a subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working underground to undermine the foundations of our confederate fabric."

Two years after Chief Justice Marshall's death an eminent lawyer, reviewing his life and services, said of the court: "How transcendent in power and dignity is this tribunal! It is the concentrated force of the whole Republic. There is nothing on earth like it. Its arms embrace the extremities of this vast empire; its voice is heard and obeyed in its remotest parts. Proud, powerful and sovereign States submit to its decrees, and the assembled representatives of sixteen millions of freemen may stand rebuked before it."

The years which have since passed have but confirmed of the court what was then said, and we cannot refrain from expressing the thought that this eloquent and truthful characterization is chiefly attributable to the services, talent, character and influence of Chief Justice Marshall. As tribute to his memory, the most illustrious of all the great Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, I submit to your Honors a motion to adjourn for this day the several courts over which you preside.

Response of Judge Amos M. Thayer, on behalf of the

Court.

The members of this court share fully in those feelings of admiration and reverence for Chief Justice Marshall which have prompted the members of the legal profession throughout the United States to observe the one hundredth anniversary of his accession to the Supreme Bench with appropriate ceremonies.

The great Chief Justice has been dead for more than sixty-five years. The passions and prejudices evoked by heated political controversies which affected the judgment of some men during a portion of his active career, and possibly led to some false estimates of the man and his achievements, have now subsided. The great judicial and political structure, of which Chief Justice Marshall was one of the principal architects, is now in a state of completion. The Constitution of our country, as he understood and construed it, has been on trial for more than a century and has withstood the test of time, proving itself to be a shield against wrong and oppression, and, as he labored to make it, a source of national power fully adequate to meet all emergencies. The years that have elapsed since Marshall's death have given increased weight to all of his judicial utterances, and owing to our recent acquisition of new territory in a remote quarter of the globe, peopled by strange races, the lawyers and statesmen of our day are studying his decisions on constitutional questions with renewed interest, to discover, if they may, some casual thought or expression, hitherto unnoticed, to aid in the solution of some of the vexed problems which now confront us.

Looking backward from our present vantage ground to the conditions that existed one hundred years ago, all