"JOHN MARSHALL" DAY.

THE "JOHN MARSHALL CENTENNIAL.

The Centennial Anniversary of the installation of John Marshall as Chief Justice of the United States was celebrated before the Supreme Court of Illinois under the auspices of the Illinois State Bar Association at Springfield, on the fifth day of February, 1901. This day was chosen for the reason that the court could not be in session upon Monday, February fourth. The term having convened, Judge Jesse Holdom, of Chicago, President of the Association, addressed the Court as follows:

May it Please the Court:

We are assembled here today to do honor to the memory of John Marshall, soldier, statesman, diplomat, jurist, and to celebrate the centennial anniversary of his installation in the Supreme Court of the Nation as Chief Justice of the United States the most exalted judicial position in this Republic.

This celebration is, with the generous sanction of this tribunal, held in the presence of this Court in the capitol building of our State, under the auspices of the Illinois State Bar Association, and like exercises have been held throughout the length and breadth of this land, and participated in by courts and lawyers, supplemented with the attendance of thoughtful citizens, as attentive hearers of the eloquent words which have been voiced in his praise.

It is a matter of no little pride to know that this great outpouring of respect and homage to the memory of the "Expounder of the Constitution" was first made possible by the

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action of the Illinois State Bar Association, and that the initial idea originated with Mr. Adolph Moses, one of its members; that under a resolution passed at its annual meeting in 1899, a committee was appointed to present the subject of such a celebration to the American Bar Association. The labors of that committee were rewarded with success, and a national committee was appointed by the American Bar Association at its annual convention in 1899, clothed with authority to make suitable arrangements for the general observance of the centennial anniversary. No anniversary has ever been more generally observed than that of February 4, 1901.

We of Illinois have an additional interest and pride in this celebration in the fact that the seat of the great chief justice has been for the past ten years filled by Melville Weston Fuller, a citizen of this State, whose name is enrolled as an attorney of this Court, whose eloquent voice has often been heard within these walls in the argument of important legal causes. He also sat in the old State capitol as a member of the House of Representatives, and has left his impress in the formation of the early statutes of this State.

In honor of the day and the event commemorated, all the courts of the country-with some few insignificant exceptions -stood adjourned from the transaction of legal affairs.

We are highly favored in having with us as the orator of the day a native of the State of Washington and Marshalla jurist who has expounded the laws and the constitution as chief justice of a court of dernier resort in a sister State; a statesman who has a seat in the most distinguished legislative body known to our time; a gentleman of learning and culture; an orator of national reputation; a kindly, generous man, who has traveled from the nation's capital to the home of the great Lincoln to afford us the pleasure of hearing his eloquent tribute to the memory of "John Marshall." I have the honor—and it gives me more pleasure than I can find suitable words to express-to present to this court as the orator of the day, Sena

"JOHN MARSHALL" DAY.

tor William Lindsay, of the State of Kentucky, whose theme is "John Marshall."

Senator Lindsay then delivered the following oration:

For the honor of appearing in this august and dignified presence, and for the opportunity of addressing this distinguished audience, I owe the Bar Association of Illinois my most profound thanks.

We do not meet to celebrate the services of a great military chieftain, or the triumphs of a successful political leader. In the common acceptation of the term, John Marshall was neither a hero, nor a leader of the people. He was never the idol of the day. His life and labors were not on lines that excited enthusiasm or challenged popular applause; but combining his personal characteristics, his services and the grandeur of their results, he typified, as few men have done, the fact that "Peace hath higher tests of manhood than battle ever knew."

A country lawyer, without ambition for personal advancement, he avoided office and accepted public trust only from a sense of duty. In the walks of his profession he ripened, unostentatiously and gradually, into one of the profoundest jurists of his day, and as opportunity came and occasion demanded, proved himself among the greatest Judges of modern times.

It was said by Socrates that "Four things belong to a Judge to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly and to decide impartially;" and by Locke, "He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, can not acquit himself of judging amiss."

These tests, each and all, may be applied to John Marshall, and his judicial career failed in no respect to meet them in letter and in spirit.

The world has builded monuments to her rulers and to her soldiers; the books are full of eulogies of statesmen and of tributes to those who have distinguished themselves in

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the walks of literature and science; but in all history there is not a parallel to the demonstrations of yesterday and today, in memory of a man who, during the life of a generation, almost withdrawn from the gaze of the world, wrought out a work which is to endure as long as the American people shall cherish free institutions, and constitutional government shall be preserved.

Respect for the American theory of liberty, regulated by law, inspired the thought of "John Marshall Day," and invoked the movement resulting in the numberless demonstrations in honor of the American Judge who pointed the way through which supreme authority may be freely exercised, while constitutional limitations continue to be observed.

The lessons these demonstrations teach are incalculable in value as they are elevating and ennobling in results. The good, the great and the useful in the fields of beneficent action would live in vain, if the memory of their deeds should be permitted to fade into dim forgetfulness.

We are told by Carlyle, in his inimitable style, that "Great men, taken up in any way, are profitable company. We can not look even imperfectly upon a great man without gaining something by him. He is the living light fountain, which it is good and pleasant to be near. The light which enlightens; which has enlightened the darkness of the world, and thus, not as a kindled lamp only, but rather as a natural luminary shining by the gift of heaven, a flowing light fountain of nature, original insight of manhood and heroic nobleness, in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well with them."

In this spirit we take up John Marshall. With this sentiment we look on his history and contemplating the record of his deeds see him as though he were yet a living, moving, controlling factor in the affairs of men. We can not look on him even thus imperfectly without gain or fail to realize that the light which, two generations ago, was enkindled through him in the realms of constitutional law and of international