MR. JUSTICE STORY.* Ar a meeting of the Suffolk Bar, held in the Circuit Court Room, Boston, on the morning of the 12th of September, the day of the funeral of Mr. Justice Story, Chief Justice Shaw having taken the chair and announced the object of the meeting, Mr. Webster rose and spoke substantially as follows: YOUR solemn announcement, Mr. Chief Justice, has confirmed the sad intelligence which had already reached us, through the public channels of information, and deeply afflicted us all. JOSEPH STORY, One of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, and for many years the presiding judge of this Circuit, died on Wednesday evening last, at his house in Cambridge, wanting only a few days for the completion of the sixty-sixth year of his age. This most mournful and lamentable event has called together the whole Bar of Suffolk, and all connected with the courts of law or the profession. It has brought you, Mr. Chief Justice, and your associates of the Bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, into the midst of us; and you have done us the The following letter of dedication to the mother of Judge Story accompanied these remarks in the original edition : "Boston, September 15, 1845. "VENERABLE MADAM,-I pray you to allow me to present to you the brief remarks which I made before the Suffolk Bar, on the 12th instant, at a meeting occasioned by the sudden and afflicting death of your distinguished son. I trust, dear Madam, that as you enjoyed through his whole life constant proofs of his profound respect and ardent filial affection, so you may yet live long to enjoy the remembrance of his virtues and his exalted reputation. "I am, with very great regard, your obedient servant, "TO MADAM STORY." "DANIEL WEBSTER. honor, out of respect to the occasion, to consent to preside over us, while we deliberate on what is due, as well to our own afflicted and smitten feelings, as to the exalted character and eminent distinction of the deceased judge. The occasion has drawn from his retirement, also, that venerable man, whom we all so much respect and honor, (Judge Davis,) who was, for thirty years, the associate of the deceased upon the same Bench. It has called hither another judicial personage, now in retirement, (Judge Putnam,) but long an ornament of that Bench of which you are now the head, and whose marked good fortune it is to have been the professional teacher of Mr. Justice Story, and the director of his early studies. He also is present to whom this blow comes near; I mean, the learned judge (Judge Sprague) from whose side it has struck away a friend and a highly venerated official associate. The members of the Law School at Cambridge, to which the deceased was so much attached, and who returned that attachment with all the ingenuousness and enthusiasm of educated and ardent youthful minds, are here also, to manifest their sense of their own severe deprivation, as well as their admiration of the bright and shining professional example which they have so loved to contemplate, an example, let me say to them, and let me say to all, as a solace in the midst of their sorrows, which death hath not touched and which time cannot obscure. Mr. Chief Justice, one sentiment pervades us all. It is that of the most profound and penetrating grief, mixed, nevertheless, with an assured conviction, that the great man whom we deplore is yet with us and in the midst of us. He hath not wholly died. He lives in the affections of friends and kindred, and in the high regard of the community. He lives in our remembrance of his social virtues, his warm and steady friendships, and the vivacity and richness of his conversation. He lives, and will live still more permanently, by his words of written wisdom, by the results of his vast researches and attainments, by his imperishable legal judgments, and by those juridical disquisitions which have stamped his name, all over the civilized world, with the character of a commanding authority. "Vivit, enim, vivetque semper; atque etiam latius in memoria hominum et sermone versabitur, postquam ab oculis recessit." Mr. Chief Justice, there are consolations which arise to miti gate our loss, and shed the influence of resignation over unfeigned and heartfelt sorrow. We are all penetrated with gratitude to God that the deceased lived so long; that he did so much for himself, his friends, the country, and the world; that his lamp went out, at last, without unsteadiness or flickering. He continued to exercise every power of his mind without dimness or obscuration, and every affection of his heart with no abatement of energy or warmth, till death drew an impenetrable veil between us and him. Indeed, he seems to us now, as in truth he is, not extinguished or ceasing to be, but only withdrawn; as the clear sun goes down at its setting, not darkened but only no longer seen. This calamity, Mr. Chief Justice, is not confined to the bar or the courts of this Commonwealth. It will be felt by every bar throughout the land, by every court, and indeed by every intelli gent and well-informed man in or out of the profession. It will be felt still more widely, for his reputation had a still wider range. In the High Court of Parliament, in every tribunal in Westminster Hall, in the judicatories of Paris and Berlin, of Scockholm and St. Petersburg, in the learned universities of Germany, Italy, and Spain, by every eminent jurist in the civilized world, it will be acknowledged that a great luminary has fallen from the firmament of public jurisprudence. Sir, there is no purer pride of country than that in which we may indulge when we see America paying back the great debt of civilization, learning, and science to Europe. In this high return of light for light and mind for mind, in this august reckon. ing and accounting between the intellects of nations, Joseph Story was destined by Providence to act, and did act, an important part. Acknowledging, as we all acknowledge, our obligations to the original sources of English law, as well as of civil liberty, we have seen in our generation copious and salutary streams turning and running backward, replenishing their original fountains, and giving a fresher and a brighter green to the fields of English jurisprudence. By a sort of reversed hereditary transmission, the mother, without envy or humiliation, acknowledges that she has received a valuable and cherished inheritance from the daughter. The profession in England admits, with frankness and candor, and with no feeling but that of respect and admiration, that he whose voice we have so re which, by extending your reputation, have given credit and fame to your country. "None cherish with more interest these, the lasting memorials that you have given of your patriotism and devotion to the welfare of your fellow-citizens, than those who now tender this token of their esteem. "We have the honor to be, with the highest respect, "Your friends and fellow-citizens, "ALFRED L. ELWYN, CHARLES W. CHURCHMAN, FREDERICK FRALEY, JOHN ASHHURST, ALEXANDER H. FREEMAN, JOSEPH B. MYERS, HENRY WHITE, To this letter Mr. Webster made the following reply in acceptance of the invitation: "Washington, May 1, 1846. "GENTLEMEN,-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 27th of April, inviting me to a public dinner in Philadelphia. "The character of this invitation, as well as the friendly manner in which it is expressed, give it a peculiar claim on my regard, and render it indeed, on my part, not easy to be declined. "You describe those whom you represent, or who join you in this mark of respect, as men of business, removed from the party strifes of the country, though deeply affected and interested in all their relations by the action and agitation of party movements.' "I deem it a high honor, Gentlemen, to be requested by such men to accept a mark of their esteem; and when my public duties shall allow, I will gladly meet you and your friends on such day as may suit your convenience. "We are in the midst of all the business of one of the most important sessions of Congress which have been held under the Constitution. During its continuance I shall hardly be able to leave the duties of my place, even for a few days; but after its conclusion, if you will allow me, I will confer with you upon the time for carrying your very respectful purpose into effect. "I am, Gentlemen, with entire regard, "DANIEL WEBSTER. "To MESSRS. A. L. ELWYN, C. W. CHURCHMAN, D. S. BROWN, and other Gentlemen of the Committee." Mr. Webster's duties at Washington prevented this invitation from taking immediate effect, and other causes of delay occurring, the dinner was postponed till the 2d of December, when it took place in the great |