TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE VIRGINIA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION HELD AT HYGEIA HOTEL, OLD POINT COMFORT, VA., JULY IST, 2D, AND 3D, 1890. HYGEIA HOTEL, OLD POINT Comfort, Va., Charles M. Blackford, of Lynchburg, chairman of the Executive Committee, called the Association to order at 11 o'clock A. M., and said: My Friends,-I ask this meeting to come to order. Another year of toil has passed to us all since we gathered last year for the noble purpose of advancing our profession, and purifying and ennobling it. That year has been one of joy to some and of hope and of sorrow and despondency to others; but we are here to forget the sorrow and commingle our joys in the sentiments of a common friendship, bound by a common and a noble aim. And it is my duty, as chairman of the committee which has charge of the mere mechanical part of this Association, to welcome you earnestly and heartily to this gathering of our clan-our guild. But when we gather thus in joy, to extend fraternal greetings one to the other, we cannot forget the sad thought that all are not here, and that death has been busy amongst our ranks. In one short year five of our number have been called to a land beyond the jurisdiction of earthly courts. Bagby and Gunter and Berkeley, in the full vigor of early manhood, have surrendered to the grave the aspirations of their youth; and who is it that is here that does not sorrow when he remembers that we miss to-day in our midst the tottering step and faltering form of our brother, whose genial smile and whose earnest zeal lent the weight of his character and the wisdom of his counsel to the organization of this body. and who, but one year ago, taught us, at his feet, lessons of such wisdom-Colonel John H. Guy, of the Richmond Bar? It is true his body was frail, but it the more clearly disclosed the bright jewel of a mind, of which it was an unfit casket; and as it let go its hold, the grandeur of the intellectual man stood out in more noble proportions, until, in the full majesty of his strength and in the very zenith of his usefulness, he was translated to a higher and a holier land. So, too, we cannot forget that the metropolitan bar stands here today and asks us to mourn with it an honorary member of this body, its learned Judge E. H. Fitzhugh, judge of the Chancery Court of the city of Richmond, who laid down the ermine after many days of usefulness upon the woolsack, and who retired into the rest of the grave crowned with well-earned honor, garlanded with the love of his peers, leaving a noble example to the bar, and giving new glory to the bench These are solemn thoughts, my friends, and it is fit and proper that we should stop one moment and cast a tear upon the memory of our lost companions. But still the duty of the hour is present here. We still have to uphold the profession to which we are so devoted; still to carry out the high principles and high purposes of our organization. For that it is we are assembled here; and, in behalf of the Executive Committee, I have no other duty to perform but to introduce to you your President, my life-long friend, Mr. R. G. H. Kean, of Lynchburg. The President then read his address. (See Appendix.) |