MEMORANDA. RESIGNATION OF MR. JUSTICE GRIER. ON the 31st day of January, 1870, Mr. Justice GRIER sat for the last time upon this bench. He was appointed to it on the 4th day of August, 1846. Possessed, until within three years ago, of health so remarkable as that from the time of first taking his seat, he was never absent from the court, he found himself, in the summer of 1867, without pain, and almost without consciousness of any shock, when attempting to rise from his seat, largely deprived of power of using his lower limbs. Partial paralysis had impaired his ability to move them with strength, and to depend upon them. While not affecting the brain at all, or the muscles of the upper part of his frame, it was observed by him at a later date, that the shock did affect his power to use his hand in writing, and to consult with facility the heavy books of the law. And having now attained to the age of seventy-six years, and discharged judicial duty for nearly forty, he deemed it proper, in view of these increasing physical infirmities, to inform the President of his wish to retire from the bench. The President was good enough most kindly to receive his resignation, and to address to him a letter, as follows: To the Hon. ROBERT C. GRIER. EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 15th, 1869. SIR: Your letter containing the tender of the resignation of your office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to take effect on the 1st day of February next, has been received by me to-day, and your resignation is accordingly accepted, to take effect on that date. I sincerely regret the increasing physical infirmities which induce you to retire from the bench, and with the assurance of my personal sympathy and respect, desire also to express my sense of the ability and uprightness with which your judicial duties have been performed. In looking upon your long and honorable career in the public service, it must be especially gratifying to yourself to remember, as it is my agreeable duty and privilege on this occasion thus distinctly to recognize, the great (vii) service which you were able to render to your country in the darkest hour of her history, by the vigor and patriotic firmness with which you upheld the just powers of the Government, and vindicated the right of the nation under the Constitution to maintain its own existence. With the hope that your retirement may be cheered by the knowledge of public gratitude, as well as by private affection, I remain, very respectfully yours, U. S. GRANT. Upon the adjournment of the court, on the day when Mr. Justice GRIER last sat with it, and after his return to his own residence, his brethren waited upon him there in a body, to express their assurances of gratitude for his services, veneration for his character, and best wishes for his happiness. This was done in the form of a letter, signed by the entire bench, and read to him by the Chief Justice. The letter was as follows: SUPREME COURT ROOM, WASHINGTON, January 31st, 1870. DEAR BROTHER: Your term of judicial service as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, will close to-day, by your resignation. We cannot permit an event so interesting to pass without expressing to you something of the feeling which it excites in us; for some of us have been long associated with you, and, though the association of others has been for briefer periods, we all honor and love you. Almost a quarter of a century ago you brought to the labors of the court a mind of great original vigor, endowed with singular powers of apprehension and discrimination, enriched by profound knowledge of the law, and prepared for the new work before you by large experience in a tribunal of which you were the sole judge. Already you possessed the esteem, the respect, and the entire confidence of the bar and the suitors who frequented your court, and of the people among whom yon administered justice. Transferred to a more conspicuous position, you won larger honors. The sentiments of the profession and of the people of a single city and State became the sentiments of the American bar and of the whole country. We who have been nearest to you, best know how valid is your title to this consideration and affection. With an almost intuitive perception of the right, with an energetic detestation of wrong, with a positive enthusiasm for justice, with a broad and comprehensive understanding of legal and equitable principles, you have ever contributed your full share to the discussion and settlement of the numerous, and often perplexing, questions which duty has required us to investigate and determine. This aid we gratefully acknowledge, and can never forget. Nor can we ever cease to remember the considerate magnanimity with which you have often recalled or modified expressions of which your own reflections have disapproved as likely to wound, unnecessarily, the sensibilities of your brethren of the bench or the bar. Your eminent services as a judge command our respect and gratitude; your magnanimity and kindness as a man, in our official and personal intercourse, have drawn to you, irresistibly, our veneration and love. We deeply lament that infirmities, incident to advancing years, constrain you to retire from the post you have so long and so honorably filled. But, though you will no longer actually participate in our labors here, we trust that you will still be with us in spirit and sympathy. We shall still seek aid from your counsels; we shall still look for gratification from your society. May you live many years to give us both! May every earthly blessing cheer, and the assured hope of a blessed immortality, through Christ, our Saviour, brighten each year with ever increasing radiance! With warm affection and profound respect, we remain your brethren of the bench, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice was sensibly affected during the reading of this letter, and his associates as well. Mr. Justice GRIER was even more so. Thanking them for their great kindness, he received the letter from the hands of the Chief Justice, and promised to acknowledge it in writing on the next day. On the next day, before the opening of the court, he transmitted to the Chief Justice his autograph reply, as follows: WASHINGTON, February 1st, 1870. To the Hon. SALMON P. CHASE, Chief Justice, the Hon. SAMUEL NELSON, and others, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. MY DEAR BRETHREN: Your letter, read to me by the Chief Justice last evening, quite overcame me, and I could then make no reply. I promised to respond in writing. My pen, even now, cannot express the profound emotions it awakened; sentiments of esteem and affection toward each one of you; sentiments of regret, not unmingled, I trust, with resignation that increasing infirmities have compelled our separation, and sentiments of gratitude for such a testimonial from my brethren at the close of my long term of service. In my home in Pennsylvania, whether life be long or short, you may rest assured I shall always cherish for each of you warm affection and sympathy. That God's blessing may rest upon the Supreme Court of the United States and upon each of its members, is the fervent prayer of your late associate and brother, R. C. GRIER. The Chief Justice, on the court's coming in, upon the 1st of February, mentioned the interesting proceeding and correspondence which had taken place, and stated that without reading the letters, the court would order both to be entered on the record. And they are so entered. On the morning previous to Mr. Justice GRIER's retirement, the following letter from the bar was delivered to him by a committee of its members: WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., January 30th, 1870. To the Hon. ROBERT COOPER GRIER, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. DEAR SIR: As members of the bar of the United States, and particularly as members, nearly every one of us, of the bar of its Supreme Court, we cannot permit you to retire from the tribunal which you are about to leave, without expressing our deep regret that the condition of your health makes it, in your opinion, a duty to do so; and our sense of the great loss which the bar, the court, and the country will sustain. During the twenty-three years that you have been a member of the Supreme Court of the United States, your learning and ability have given, if possible, additional authority to its judgments, and illustrated your eminent fitness for the high office which you occupied. It is our earnest and affectionate wish that your life, with health improved by cessation from your arduous labor, may be greatly prolonged, and that your mental powers in all their vigor may remain unclouded to the last. We remain, with the highest respect, Dear Sir, THOMAS EWING (Ohio), Sincerely your friends, HENRY STANBERY (Ohio), S. 8. FISHER (Ohio), W. M. Meredith (Pa.), |