sensibilities without which no man can be an orator. To these were added a majestic presence and those indispensable accompaniments of manner, voice, intonation, attitude, pause and gesture. He suited the action to the word, the word to the action. When he rose to speak his very soul seemed to be in arms, and his whole countenance was aflame, but in the torrent, tempest whirlwind of his passion he acquired and begot a temperance that gave it smoothness. A great orator has said, "When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake and strong passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech farther than it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force and earnestness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence indeed does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire after, they cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires with spontaneous, original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech shock and disgust men when their own lives and the fate of their wives, their children and their country hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued as in the presence of higher qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent-then self devotion is eloquent. The clear conception outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his object. This, this is eloquence, or rather it is something greater and higher than eloquence; it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action."

1

With this definition of true eloquence we can understand how Patrick Henry carried captive the hearts of the people. We can understand that picturesque and soul-stirring scene as depicted by Mr. Wirt at Hanover court-house on the 1st of December, 1763, when the forest-born Demosthenes, at that time unknown to fame, appeared in the trial of the "Parson's cause." We can understand how his aged father, who sat upon the Bench as one of the Magistrates, was so filled with rapture that tears streamed down his cheeks. We can understand how the people stood in deathlike silence, their features fixed in amazement and awe, all their senses listening and riveted upon the speaker as if to catch the last strain of some heavenly visitant, and how, when the verdict was rendered, they carried him amid acclamations of triumph upon their shoulders out of the court-room and around the court green. We can understand how the members of the Virginia Convention as they sat listening to his irresistible eloquence while with "thoughts that breathed and words that burned" he portrayed the wrongs of the colonies, arose as one man and cried out "to arms, to arms "; just as his great prototype had moved the Athenians to exclaim, "Let us march against Philip; let us conquer him or die.”

In conclusion I beg leave to congratulate you that thus far you have faithfully observed the requirements of the 2d Article of your Constitution. You have cultivated and advanced the Science of Jurisprudence, you have promoted reform in the law and in judicial procedure, you have facilitated the administration of justice in this State, and you have upheld the standard of honor, integrity and courtesy in the legal profession.

While this Association has reason to be proud of its past achievements, and of the service already rendered to the State, I beg its members to remember that much yet remains to be done. As Napoleon Bonaparte said to his Army in Italy, there are other marches to be made, there are other battles to be fought, there are other victories to be won.

Let us resolve that

we will dedicate ourselves with renewed enthusiasm and with

redoubled energy to the service of our beloved Commonwealth. Her future prosperity and glory will depend in no small degree upon the efforts of the State Bar Association. But whatever may be said of her future, we have the proud satisfaction of knowing that her past at least is secure. The unfading civic wreath has by the universal verdict of all mankind been placed upon her venerable brow, and the fame of her great names will endure as long as her beautiful blue mountains shall lift their summits towards the sky, and as long as her magnificent rivers shall roll on to the sea.

ANNUAL ADDRESS

BY

HON. ALEXANDER POPE HUMPHREY,

OF KENTUCKY.

THE IMPEACHMENT OF SAMUEL CHASE.

It was on January second, 1805, that Samuel Chase, then one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, was summoned to attend at the bar of the Senate and answer to the accusation of the House of Representatives. The hall where the trial was conducted perished in the burning of Washington by the British in 1814. The chronicler has been particular in telling us how everything was ordered. The covering of the seats of the Senators was of crimson cloth, and these were arranged on each side of the presiding officer facing the audience as in any other court. Those of the House of Representatives were covered with green cloth, and those of the Managers and Counsel for the defendant, with blue cloth.

There were special arrangements for seats for distinguished hearers. In fact the memory of the trial of Warren Hastings was fresh, and this was expected to be its American counterpart, but it went on without a single dramatic incident. The presiding officer was Aaron Burr, then Vice-President of the United States. He was coldly impartial in his rulings; decided questions of order and matters of course just as any chief justice of a court would do, without submitting them to a vote. On one occasion when several Senators left the room before adjournment, he expressed the strongest disapproval of their conduct and de

clared that if such a thing again occurred he would submit the matter to the Senate for their judgment.

John Randolph, of Roanoke, was the principal figure among the Managers. He was then at the height of his political power. Indeed, from the failure of this impeachment he never recovered. His closing argument was rambling, discursive and lacked even that fire and sarcasm which were the chief elements of his power in debate. The Managers were entirely overmatched, and with the exception of Rodney, of Delaware, won no praise.

The counsel for the defense were the strongest lawyers of the day, and to use a modern expression "the tiger hunted the Frenchman" from the beginning to the end of the trial. Luther Martin was naturally the most conspicuous, and the speech of this "Federalist bulldog," as Jefferson called him, was the crowning event of his career.

He

His intimacy with Judge Chase, lasting a lifetime, and many kindred qualities put him in full sympathy with the case. minced no matters of fact or law. He ridiculed the argument of the Managers, showed scant respect to their public station; criticised with strong severity Lewis and Dallas, the Pennsylvania counsel for Fries, and laughed at Hay and Wirt, counsel for Callender.

This may be taken as a specimen of his style. Mr. Randolph had said that " the conduct of the counsel for Fries merits an abler eulogium than it is in my power to make. My gratitude as an American citizen and a friend of liberty will never cease to flow to them, for they stood up against arbitrary conduct and oppression," to which Luther Martin replied: "I have long been at a loss for the enmity the State of Pennsylvania has shown for its bar and the desire of its citizens to get rid of their lawyers, but if such is the manner in which the lawyers conduct themselves to their courts I wonder no longer that the citizens of that State wish to be freed of them, and will readily join in the sentiment, the sooner the better."

Among the witnesses, the most interesting personality was