With the form and features of John Marshall, the great expounder of the Federal Constitution and the founder of our Federal Jurisprudence, and with the forms and features of such of his disciples as John H. Peyton, Thomas J. Michie and John B. Baldwin, ever before them, the lawyers who come here to practice their profession should not go wrong. Nor is the presence of the portraits of these great men in this public place without its purifying and elevating influence on the great body of the people who are wont to congregate here. Every community is deeply interested in the qualifications and character of its lawyers. Like people, like bar. If the people want clean and competent lawyers to transact their business, such will be forthcoming; if, on the other hand, lawyers of a different kind are wanted and encouraged, they will abound. But it is not only because the men whose likenesses adorn these walls were great lawyers that they are entitled to the admiration of the public; but also because they were upright and honorable in all the relations of life, both private and public. In political matters they were candid and straightforward, and, above all things, patriotic. They were not office-seekers. So far as they were office-holders, the offices sought them. None of Mr. Peyton's contemporaries ever supposed that he would of his own motion actively seek a political office. But when the people amongst whom he lived desired his services in a public capacity, they were not withheld; and they were rendered with strict regard to the public interests and without any regard at all to his personal promotion. With him, and with those like him, public office was indeed a public trust. John Howe Peyton was never the man to sacrifice a political conviction for office. He was a leader rather than a follower of public opinion, and he always guided it in the ways of justice, of honor, and of patriotism. What was it that first gave to this county of Augusta her high and enviable position amongst the counties of Virginia? It was the custom of putting forward her best men to represent her in the legislature, and in the various public assemblages of the State. The name of Augusta is indissolubly linked with the names of her distinguished sons who are gone. In the eloquent language of a great patriot--"The past is at least secure." I claim to be a man of progress, and I trust duly appreciate the wonderful advances of recent years in the development of the resources and material wealth of our State and Country and in diffusion of education and other blessings; but at the same time, I would hold fast to the former things that are good. In this respect at least, if necessity required, I would rather adopt the motto engraved on the public seal of our country _Redeant in aurum secula priscum_, "Let the ages return to the first golden period."