Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

informed that the chief dish was a barbecued pig. No discussion of either politics or religion was permitted and the best of humor always prevailed. Walking was a favorite exercise. He walked rapidly; and until very late in his life kept up the pastime, as he called it, of taking a long walk before breakfast. Although he preferred to remain at home, so far as the mere personal enjoyments of life were concerned, he nevertheless took pleasure in the amenities of the social life at the capital. In a letter to his wife, written in 1829, he refers to having dined with the President, and of having been seated between Mrs. Adams and the wife of a member of Congress, whom he was pleased to observe he found quite agreeable as well as handsome. He alludes also to a second invitation for dinner from the President which had not been extended to the other judges, and therefore he accounted it an act of personal civility; especially as he states that never before, during the same session of court, had he been called upon to dine with the chief executive twice. But as an evidence of the devotion he uniformly exhibited toward the presiding genius of his home he closes the letter by a finishing touch which must have given her peculiar satisfaction, expressing the wish that he could leave all the festivities about to occur at the then forthcoming inauguration and go to her. "How much more delightful," he wrote, "would it be to sit by you than to witness all the pomp and parade of the inauguration."

His friendships were numerous, ardent and sincere, and his conversation with friends continued to be marked by cheerfulness and lack of restraint. He had few real enemies. He had, of course, opposition, but it is only through opposition that great strength of character is fully developed. When party spirit was unusually aroused, or his convictions demanded conscientious and forcible expression, or some decision which his judgment impelled him to render was antagonistic to the theories or desires of political opponents he encountered adverse criticism, some of which seemed at the time to be unkind; and surely it was unmerited. Censure of any kind was hurtful to his rather sensitive nature; but he preferred censure to a disregard of duty as he saw it. Be

tween Washington and Marshall there existed a warm and deep attachment; and for Hamilton, Marshall had an ardent admiration and strong feeling of friendship.

He was a man of strong moral convictions and unflinching courage in performing his duty as a man, public officer and judge, in accordance with what he deemed to be right. Nevertheless, it is recorded that he had neither frays in boyhood nor quarrels in manhood, but was on the contrary "the composer of strifes." Whatever may have been his opinion of any particular individual he spoke ill of no man. Entirely conscious of the rascality and evil in the world, he was ever ready to throw the mantle of charity over even the worst deeds of a man, and preferred to believe that every one was possessed of some attribute of virtue, and some purity of thought and desire.

The judicial fairness not only, but the fortitude of John Marshall stood out more strikingly, perhaps, upon the occasion of the trial of Aaron Burr for treason than in any other individual instance in his career. Notwithstanding his strong friendship for Hamilton, who had been slain by Burr, it will be continually heralded throughout all time that John Marshall, as Chief Justice, presided over that trial in such an impartial manner as to attract peculiar notice; and pronounced his judgments with consummate fidelity to his convictions, in the face of a public clamor for the punishment of the accused seldom equaled in this country, and with a knowledge on the part of Marshall of the censure which the inflamed passions of the day would cause to be brought upon him and to be written and spoken about him, should the trial result, as it did, in Burr's acquittal.

It may be interesting; it has been interesting to me, and I will quote from a contemporary, who was present at the trial of Burr, and thus portrayed the scene when the grand jury handed down the indictments against Burr and Blennerhassett: "I never saw such a group of shocked faces. The Chief Justice, who is a very dark man, shrunk back with horror upon his seat and turned black; he kept his eyes fixed upon Burr with an expression of sympathy so agonizing, and horror so deep and overwhelming, that

he seemed for two or three seconds to have forgotten where and who he was. I observed him, and saw him start from his reverie under the consciousness that he was giving way too much to his feelings and looked around upon the multitude to see if he had been noticed." And the writer adds: “He is, I believe, one of the greatest and best of men; some of our political friends, warped by their prejudices, think him too much warped by his; if he is so, he does not know it, for never did I know a man who was more solicitous to cast every bias from his mind and decide every proposition on its abstract merits. I think he has sometimes decided wrong, but it is much more probable that I myself am wrong."

Although John Marshall was conspicuous for his indifference to dress, and gave little attention to display or artificial adornment of his person, his charın of manner, purity of thought, and unconcealed admiration for the fair sex made him attractive to ladies, whose society he greatly enjoyed. Their many virtues inspired in him a degree of reverence which rendered impossible in his presence any flippant, or uncomplimentary reference to womankind. In him the intelligence and claims of women found a ready and an able champion. He retained an estate in Fauquier County, where one or more of his sons resided; and it was his annual custom to visit them. On each of these occasions a dinner was given attended by all his relatives in the neighborhood. Thus he remained in agreeable intimacy with his children and grandchildren. At such times the simplicity of his manner disarmed any feeling of restraint which awe for his high office, or admiration for his ability might otherwise have occasioned; and there was that freedom of association between himself and his grandchildren not differing from the case of any ordinary individual.

It was the privilege and joy of his friends to speak and write enthusiastically of the purity of his life. He was an honest man in all relations, and what is equally if not more creditable he was honest with himself.

Although a slaveholder he was not an admirer of the system. He earnestly wished that it might be totally eradicated, but he did not favor immediate emancipation, which might involve the

retention of the negro population in the locality where they had served their term of bondage. He strenuously supported a scheme then attracting some attention for voluntary deportation which was proposed by what was known as the Colonization Society. In his will he made provision for one of his slaves, his body servant, whom he designates as "my faithful servant Robbin." He directed his emancipation if the latter should choose to "conform to the laws on that subject requiring that he should leave the state, or if permission can be obtained for his continuing to reside in it."

The Chief Justice was not a communicant of any church, but was a regular attendant upon the services of the Episcopal Church. Until near the close of his life he entertained views held by the Unitarian denomination; but they were finally changed, and he was about to join himself with the church in which he had so long worshiped when overtaken by his last sickness, and although he finally felt in full accord with the doctrines of that branch of the Christian church he was prevented by sickness from formally entering into membership communion with it.

The peculiar sweetness of Marshall's character was exalted in a loving devotion throughout the entire forty-eight years of their married life to the companion who, on account of his well known and unswerving loyalty, was spoken of by his acquaintances as unquestionably a model wife. With her he was at all times most tenderly considerate. For many years she had been an invalid, and there is not recorded in all history a more beautiful devotion of husband and wife than that felt and displayed by Marshall. He never ceased to be the lover of their earlier years. Mrs. Marshall was a beautiful and a cultured woman, and had her health permitted she would have been an ornament to society. Her complaint was such that the noise of celebrations, particularly, annoyed her, or to speak with greater accuracy they affected her nerves unpleasantly. On such occasions, early in the morning it was the custom of Judge Marshall to accompany his wife to the residence of some friend in the country and there quietly pass the day. Upon her death in 1831, Marshall felt himself indeed sorely stricken; and he never ceased to revere her memory and mourn

her loss with that fidelity which had always characterized his devotion during her life. On the first anniversary of her death he wrote a tribute to her character beautiful and touching. By that tribute Marshall not only perpetuated the character of a noble and charming woman, who had been estimable as a wife and mother, and deserved all commendation capable of expression, but it unconsciously betrayed the beauty and sublimity of his own nature. It was Christmas day, and he writes: "This day of joy and festivity to the whole Christian world is to my sad heart the anniversary of the keenest affliction which humanity can sustain. While all around is gladness, my mind dwells on the silent tomb and cherishes the remembrance of the beloved object it contains." Without further using his words, he refers to her who had gone as the companion that had sweetened the choicest part of his life, had rendered toil a pleasure, had partaken of all his feelings and was enthroned in the inmost recesses of his heart. He recalls having often relied upon her judgment in situations of some perplexity; and states that he did not recollect to have once regretted the adoption of her opinion.

John Marshall died July 6, 1835, at Philadelphia, where he had gone for medical treatment. Thus there passed from the stage of earthly activity a grand personality, one who had been unrivaled as a jurist and had been admired and beloved by his country; a man who possessed the rarest endowments of mind and heart, had cherished the loftiest sentiments that ennoble the moral and spiritual constitution of mankind, had retained a steadfast reliance upon the beneficence of Divine Providence while partaking of the bitter cup of bereavement, and finally entered upon that sleep which knows no waking this side the grave with fortitude and serenity of spirit.

Consistent with the notable simplicity that had dignified his life, the inscription for the stone marking his last resting place, written by himself as the hour of dissolution drew near, contains only a brief statement of his birth, parentage, marriage and death. Fifty years later an appreciative country caused to be erected a monument to his memory consisting of a bronze statue near the

« ZurückWeiter »