Under these circumstances, it was most fortunate for the Country, that the great Chief Justice retained his high position for thirty-four years, and that during all that time, with scarcely any interruption, he kept on with the work he showed himself so competent to perform. As year after year went by and new occasion required, with his irresistible logic, enforced by his cogent English, he developed the hidden treasures of the Constitution, demonstrated its capacities, and showed beyond all possibility of doubt, that a Government rightfully administered under its authority, could protect itself against itself and against the world. Hardly a day now passes in the Court he so dignified and adorned, without reference to some decision of his time, as establishing a principle which, from that day to this, has been accepted as undoubted law. In all the various questions of constitutional, international, and general law, the Chief Justice was at home; and when, at the end of his long and eminent career, he laid down his life, he and those who had so ably assisted him in his great work, had the right to say, that the judicial power of the United States had been carefully preserved and wisely administered. The Nation can never honour him or them, too much for the work they accomplished. _Chief Justice Waite_ (_Arranged_) THE GREAT CHIEF JUSTICE _I have always thought from my earliest youth till now, that the greatest scourge an angry Heaven ever inflicted upon an ungrateful and a sinning People, was an ignorant, a corrupt, or a dependent Judiciary._ JOHN MARSHALL _Respected by All_ When the venerable life of the Chief Justice was near its close, he was called to give his parting counsel to his native State, in the revision of her Constitution. A spectacle of greater dignity than the Convention of Virginia in the year 1829, has been rarely exhibited. At its head was James Monroe, conducted to the chair by James Madison and John Marshall, and surrounded by the strength of Virginia, including many of the greatest names of the Union. The reverence manifested for Chief Justice Marshall, was one of the most beautiful features of the scene. The gentleness of his temper, the purity of his motives, the sincerity of his convictions and his wisdom, were confessed by all. He stood in the centre of his native State, in his very home of fifty years, surrounded by men who had known him as long as they had known anything, and there was no one to rise up even to question his opinions, without a tribute to his personal excellence. _The True Man_ This admirable man, extraordinary in the powers of his mind, illustrious by his services, exalted by his public station, was one of the most warm-hearted, unassuming, and excellent of men. His life from youth to old age was one unbroken harmony of mind, affections, principles, and manners.