Biog. & Crit. 
 Moncure, H.C.L. 
 
 Cataloged 
 
 : ; - 
 
 s 
 
 pP'm O'GElIlDIU GKS 
 
 IN 
 
 MEMORIAM 
 
 OF 
 
 Judge R. C. L. MONCURE 
 
 AND 
 
 Judge ROBT. OULD- 
 
 «* » 
 
 RICHMOND : 
 D ALTON & GUTHRIE, Print. 
 
 1883. 
 
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 £ 
 
 Duke University Ubtftiy 
 
PBOOEEDIUGS 
 
 IN 
 
 MEMORIAM 
 
 OF 
 
 Judge R. C. L. MONCURE 
 
 AND 
 
 f . 
 
 Judge ROBT. OULD. 
 
 RICHMOND : 
 DALTON & GUTHRIE, Print. 
 1883. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The lives and deaths of persons who have been eminent 
 in the different spheres in which they have been prominent 
 actors are worthy of the highest commemoration by the 
 living, as incentives to similar attainments by subsequent 
 generations ; and thus, though dead, may still speak through 
 past words and actions with eloquence rendered more 
 impressive and solemn by the consideration that only thus 
 can their elevation and excellencies be preserved as pre- 
 cious treasures by their admiring and appreciative cotem- 
 poraries. 
 
 ■ Our State and country have reason to lament the recent 
 departure of some of its brightest intellectual luminaries 
 in Judges E. C. L. Moncure, and Kobt. Ould and Hon. Jas. 
 Lyons. Public meetings and addresses have occurred, 
 exciting interest throughout the country and desire for 
 their publication. 
 
 It has been thus determined to collect them for presen- 
 tation in convenient form for preservation and perusal, as 
 exhibited in the following pages. 
 
v . r\ ~i THE LOWERS COLLECTION 
 
 3 I Oct * G7"/ r 
 
 Cataloged 
 
 Judge R. C. L. MONCURE. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS, &c. 
 
 The meeting held by the Bar of Richmond to take me- 
 morial action on the death of Judge R. C. L. Moncure was 
 very largely attended "by the members of the profession, 
 not only in Richmond, but from distant parts of the State. 
 
 The court-room of the Court of Appeals was nearly filled, 
 and the exercises were of the most interesting and solemn 
 character. 
 
 Judge Christian was, on motion of Judge Fitzhugh, 
 made chairman. He made a beautiful and feeling address, 
 as follows : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Bench and Bar of Virginia : 
 
 I accept gratefully and with pride the position you have 
 assigned me as president of this meeting. 
 
 This large assemblage of the representative men of the 
 Bench and Bar of Virginia attests more eloquently than 
 any poor words of mine the respect, reverence and filial 
 affection which we all feel for that great jurist and noble 
 citizen whose memory we come to honor to-day. 
 
 Within this hall and at the other places of session of 
 this court in the last twelve years we have had many sad 
 meetings to express our sense of bereavement by death of 
 so many, alas ! so many of our beloved companions of the 
 Bench and Bar of the State : a long catalogue — Allen, Lee, 
 Joynes, Bouldin, Hallyburton, Daniel, Guigon and Mere- 
 dith of the Bench, and William Green, R. T. Daniel, N. P. 
 
4 JUDGE E. C. L. MONCUEE. 
 
 Howard, Patrick H. Aylett, John G. Williams, Henry A. 
 Wise, Holladay, Peachy E. Grattan, John Baldwin, Michie, 
 James W. Sheffey, Campbell, Hnmes, Beverly Johnston, 
 and a number of others, old and young, who in the short 
 period of twelve years have passed away, admonishing us 
 of the uncertainty of life, and painfully impressing us of 
 how many great and good men in this brief period of 
 twelve years have been lost to our profession and to the 
 State. 
 
 This is a galaxy of great names of which any State 
 might be proud — jurists, and orators, and scholars who 
 illustrated by their great talents, and genius, and learning 
 that the Bar of Virginia was second to no Bar of any State 
 in the Union. And now we come together again, after 
 laying in the grave so many of our brethren, to honor the 
 memory of him who was more than a brother to us all, 
 indeed the father of our profession. 
 
 We come reverently to perform a filial duty. 
 
 Not only every surviving member of this Bench, but 
 every member of the Bar of the State and the whole peo- 
 ple of the Commonwealth to-day mourn the death of that 
 great jurist and noble citizen, Judge B,. C. L. Moncure. 
 
 He had the respect, affection and reverence of the peo- 
 ple as well as the Bench and Bar. 
 
 His pure character, his simplicity, his blameless life, his 
 courage, his inflexible devotion to duty, unostentatious and 
 unselfish life won the hearts of the people, and there are 
 thousands and tens of thousands of people to-day in Vir- 
 ginia who, knowing nothing of him as a great jurist as he 
 is known by the Bench and Bar, yet love him as a man, 
 love and cherish his memory, and love the example of his 
 noble life ilustrated by so many manly and Christian vir- 
 tues, and who will say of him, a purer and nobler man 
 never lived or died. 
 
 But in opening these proceedings as president of this 
 meeting, I will not attempt to pronounce his eulogy. I am 
 not equal to the task. After seventeen years of service on 
 the Bench I feel I have no aptitude to speak on such an 
 occasion. There are distinguished members of the Bar 
 present who will eloquently discharge that duty. I will 
 leave it to them. 
 
 I can only briefly refer to the public career of this great 
 and good man, and to the striking points of his noble char- 
 
JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. O 
 
 acter. I think I am at least equal to this task. I knew 
 him as well as any man can know another, and I loved him 
 .as well as any man could love another. He was for more 
 than thirty years a judge of the Court of Appeals, and for 
 fifteen years its president. There are many of us now 
 present who never knew him, except as a judge of the 
 Court of Appeals. You will pardon me for a reference to 
 myself, simply because it illustrates his character. 
 
 The first case of importance, after I came to the Bar, 
 when I was a very young man, I argued in the District 
 Court of Appeals at Fredericksburg, of which Judge Mon- 
 cure was president, sitting with Lomax, Clopton, Meredith 
 and Tyler — all now sleeping in their honored graves. 
 
 I shall never forget, but will ever gratefully remember, 
 the kind words of encouragement with which he spoke of 
 my poor argument in that, my first important case. 
 
 What he said to me then was a stimulus which had its 
 effects upon my professional and judicial career. 
 
 Afterwards, for seventeen years, I sat by his side on the 
 Bench of the District Court and the Supreme Court of Ap- 
 peals. 
 
 In all that period I looked up to him as the Nestor of 
 the Bench, whose wisdom not only guided us in our deci- 
 sions, but which inspired the public mind with confidence, 
 because the public trusted the integrity, purity and learn- 
 ing of this great head of the Judicial Department of the 
 State. 
 
 All men felt and knew that the decisions of Judge Mon- 
 cure were the utterances of a pure and incorruptible judge, 
 who always declared what he believed to be right without 
 fear, favor or prejudice. 
 
 It will ever be the proudest recollection of my life that 
 this great and good man was my friend, and that I can 
 truly say of him, as was once said by a great lawyer of a 
 great judge, "I did love the man and do honor to his mem- 
 ory on this side of idolatry as much as any." And if his 
 reputation as a man and as a judge had ever been assailed, 
 and needed any defence, I would have been as quick to 
 defend him from all assaults as a son would be to shield 
 his father. 
 
 Let me now briefly refer to his public career. Coming to 
 the Bar at the early age of twenty he soon attained the 
 first rank in his profession in the courts in which he prac- 
 
6 JUDGE E. C. L. M0NCUEE. 
 
 ticed. His first public service was in the Legislature of 
 1849-'50. 
 
 Such was his learning and accuracy as a lawyer, and so 
 did he impress himself upon that body of great men and 
 great lawyers, that he was placed on the committee for 
 the revision of the statute law of the State, and every 
 lawyer before me knows how diligently and faithfully he 
 performed that great work of revision and brought out of 
 chaos and confusion, and aided by his great associates, 
 produced the most compact and comprehensive system of 
 statute law to be found in any State of the Union. 
 
 During the same session of the Legislature, on the 13th 
 of March, 1851, he was elected to fill the vacancy occa- 
 sioned by the death of the venerable Judge Brooke. 
 
 Under the Constitution of 1851, which provided that 
 judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals should be elected 
 by the people, Judge Moncure was elected one of the five 
 judges. This position he held up to the close of the war, 
 when for a brief period he retired to private life, but as 
 soon as the restored government was established he was. 
 again elected by the Legislature of that government, and 
 was then elected as president of the Court. 
 
 Again, in the dark days of reconstruction, when the mil- 
 itary government came in, he retired once more to private 
 life. But as soon as civil government was restored upon 
 the adoption of the present Constitution he was again 
 elected by the Legislature as one of the five judges of the 
 Court of Appeals, and was again appointed its president, 
 which position he held up to the time of his death, which 
 occurred on the 24th of August, 1882. 
 
 It thus appears that he was for more than thirty years 
 on the Bench of the Court of Appeals of this State, and 
 for more than fifteen years its president. And for all that 
 thirty years the ermine he wore was pure and unspotted 
 until he laid it aside for the habiliments of the grave. 
 
 In twenty-seven volumes of Grattan's Keports, extend- 
 ing from 7th Grattan to 1st Matthews, or 75th Virginia, 
 may be found his great opinions, covering a period of over 
 a quarter of a century. 
 
 These opinions will stand forever as enduring memorials 
 of his great judicial career. 
 
 "Though dead, he yet speaketh," and for years to come 
 will continue to speak to the Bench and Bar of Virginia 
 
JUDGE E. C. L. MONCUKE. 7 
 
 and of the whole country, words of wisdom to guide "both 
 Bench and Bar in the application of these great principles 
 of law which protect and guard the rights of life, liberty 
 and property in every free country. 
 
 But this brief sketch of his public services would be in- 
 complete without reference to his private character, in 
 which he shone as an exemplar of every manly and chris- 
 tian virtue. 
 
 He was of all the men I ever met on this earth, the most 
 devoted and earnest lover of truth for truth's sake. 
 
 When reflection convinced him he had been wrong, he 
 took the first opportunity to acknowledge it. He was 
 often the earliest to discover his own mistakes as well as 
 the foremost to correct them. 
 
 I think the language of a great judge in reference to the 
 character of that great jurist, Chief- Justice Gibson, of 
 Pennsylvania, may be well applied to Judge Moncure : 
 " He was inflexibly honest. The judical ermine was as un- 
 spotted when he laid it aside for habiliments of the grave 
 as when he first assumed it." I do not mean to award to 
 him merely that commonplace integrity which is no honor 
 to have, but simply a disgrace to want. 
 
 He was not only incorruptible, but scrupulously, deli- 
 cately, and conscientiously free from all wilful wrong in 
 thought, word, or deed. 
 
 The benevolence of his heart was one of the most mark- 
 ed features of his character. Affectionate and kind to 
 his friends, he was magnanimous to his enemies, who were 
 few if any. Benefits received by him were engraved on 
 his memory as on a tablet of brass. Injuries were written 
 on sand. He was quick to forgive, and " never let the sun 
 go down upon his wrath." 
 
 The most conspicuous trait of his character was devotion 
 to duty, and his whole life illustrated that conscientious 
 purpose, never to disregard the obligations of duty, so graph- 
 ically set forth by the great orator of America when he 
 said: "There is no evil that we cannot either face or fly from 
 but the consciousness of duty disregarged. A sense of 
 duty persues us ever. It is omnipresent like the Deity. If 
 we take to ourselves the wings of the morning and dwell 
 in the uttermost parts of the sea , duty performed or duty 
 violated is still with us for our happiness or our misery. 
 If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the darkness as 
 
8 JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 
 
 in the light our obligations are yet with us. "We cannot 
 escape their presence. They are with us in this life, will 
 be with us at its close ; and in that scene of inconceivable 
 solemnty which lies yet farther onward, we shall find our- 
 selves surrounded by the consciousness of duty, to pain us 
 wherever it has been violated and to console us so far as 
 God may have given us grace to perform it." 
 
 It may be truly said of Judge Moncure, he was without 
 prejudice as well as without fear. His firmness and moral 
 courage were only equalled by his simplicty, which was 
 sublime, and to him may be applied the words of the poet 
 laureat of England : 
 
 "Rich in saving common sense, 
 And as the greatest only are, 
 In his simplicty sublime." 
 
 And looking now upon that portrait hanging before you, 
 recently placed in this hall, in woich the great artist has 
 brought out every lineament of his noble features, we may 
 say of him as the same poet said of the Duke of "Welling- 
 ton, 
 
 " O. good grey head, which all men knew, 
 O, iron nerve, to true occasion true, 
 O, fallen at length, that tower of strength, 
 Which stood four-square to every wind that blew." 
 
 And now I cannot close these remarks without reference 
 to his godly life and Christian character ; the picture would 
 be incomplete without reference to this. I have spoken 
 already of the sublime simplicity of his character. His 
 Christian faith was simple as that of a little child. He 
 believed the Bible, and accepted it all as true. He was no 
 bigot. He was an ardent Episcopalian, believing in all 
 the doctrines and tenets of that Church, but of broad and 
 catholic spirit. He recognized in all the churches the 
 principles of the Christian religion, and accorded to them 
 all the right to believe in the doctrines of their own 
 church. 
 
 This was illustrated by a remark he has often made to 
 me, which was in effect this : " In all the churches there 
 are good Christians, and when I meet a man whose life is 
 governed by the commands and precepts of the Bible, I 
 greet that man as a Christian, and never inquire to what 
 church he belongs — such a man, whether Catholic, Episco- 
 
JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 9 
 
 palian, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Methodist, I recognize as 
 my Christian brother, believers in the same great doctrines 
 of the Bible." 
 
 I heard him say on one occasion (and this I want to put 
 on record) to some young graduates of the University of 
 Virginia, who came to us for examination, and in reply to 
 one who asked the question, What is the best law book for 
 a young lawyer to read ? he said : " The best law book, 
 young gentlemen, to start with, is the Bible. Kead and 
 study that as the foundation of all law and of all juris- 
 prudence of every civilized country." * 
 . And now, in conclusion, I cannot refrain from giving you 
 an account of his peaceful end. 
 
 We all know how he lived, let me tell you how he died. 
 
 It was my mournful privilege to take leave of him on 
 his death-bed a short time before he passed away. 
 
 He was the only man I ever saw who was not only will- 
 ing but anxious to die. He was then greatly enfeebled in 
 mind and body, a mere wreck of his former self. But he 
 recognized me at once and expressed great pleasure at see-' 
 ing me before his death, saying it was the last time we 
 should ever meet on earth. With difficulty of speech he 
 inquired affectionately after all his brethren on the Bench 
 and of many of the members of the Bar, with whom he 
 was closely associated and dearly attached. He said to me 
 when we parted, taking me by both hands, and with some- 
 thing of the fire and energy of his former nature, " Fare- 
 well, my dear old friend, we shall never meet again on 
 this earth ; you have sat by my side for seventeen years 
 on the bench of the District Court and the Court of Ap- 
 peals. All that time we have been fast friends, we have 
 tried to do our duty in the most trying and difficult period 
 in the history of our State. You see me now a dying man ; 
 I have no fear of death ; I long to be at rest. I can no 
 longer be of any service to my family or to my State, and 
 am ready to go. I wish I could die now while you are 
 standing by my bedside and holding my hand. My affairs 
 in this life are now all closed, and I long to enter upon 
 that immortal life. There is only one thing that now dis- 
 turbs me : I fear I am sinning against our Heavenly Father 
 by my impatience to die and go at once to my eternal 
 rest." 
 
 These were the last words I heard him utter, and I de- 
 2 
 
10 JUDGE K. C. L. MONCUKE. 
 
 liver tliem to you to show how a great and good man can 
 meet his death. 
 
 He served his country well. He died wept and honored 
 "by a whole Commonwealth. 
 
 " And now he wears a truer crown 
 Than any wreath that man can weave him." 
 
 At the conclusion of his remarks, and on motion of Judge 
 George L. Christian, St. George E. Fitzhugh, Esq.., and Ma- 
 jor Robert Styles were elected secretaries of the meeting ; 
 and on motion of Major Legh R. Page, the following Com- 
 mittee on Resolutions was appointed — viz. : Messrs. Legh 
 R. Page, Judge E. H. Fitzhugh, James Alfred Jones, Judge 
 Beverly R. Wellford, Judge Robert Ould, Judge "W. W. 
 Crump, Judge George L. Christian, John O. Steger, John 
 H. Guy, Judge Richard Parker, J. S. Harnsberger, J. 
 Thompson Brown, John A. Waddill, James M. Stubbs, ex- 
 Senator John "W. Johnston, and J. V. Brooke. 
 
 During the absence of the committee letters were read 
 from Prof. John B. Minor, John A. Campbell, Henry E. 
 Blair, Prof. S. O. Southall, Hon. John W. Daniel, Hon. A. 
 H. H. Stuart, C. W. Wattles, Judge James Garland, and 
 Robert Crockett. 
 
 Speeches were made by E. G. Booth, Esq.'., Judge B. R. 
 Wellford, Jr., Robert W. Ward, Esq.., Judge Richard Parker, 
 Major Robert Styles, C. G. Griswold, Esq.., and W. C. 
 Roane. 
 
 The Committee on Resolutions made the following re- 
 port : 
 
 The members of the Bench and Bar of this Common- 
 wealth, called together by the death of the Hon. Richard 
 C. L. Moncure, desire not only to express a deep sense of 
 their loss, but to bear witness to the great value of his 
 public services, to the rare simplicity of his character, the 
 courtesy and kindness of his manner and his single-minded 
 devotion for a long life to the profession of his choice. 
 
 Very early in life he was elected a member of the Legis- 
 
JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 11 
 
 lature from Stafford, his native county, but he soon retired 
 from political life, and devoted himself to his profession. 
 He was then appointed Attorney for the Commonwealth, 
 which place he filled until 1849, when he was prevailed 
 upon to represent the county as a member of the House of 
 Delegates. The revision of our laws then excited a great 
 measure of public attention, and he was appointed by that 
 body chairman of the committee. While a member of the 
 Legislature he was elected a judge of the Court of Appeals 
 to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Brooke. 
 Soon thereafter he was, under the new Constitution, again 
 elected to the same office by the people, and without oppo- 
 sition. He continued to hold the position, with the excep- 
 tion of a brief period, until removed by the military power 
 in the days of reconstruction. When that political era had 
 ended he was re-elected for a term of twelve years from 
 January, 1870, and was chosen by his associates as presi- 
 dent of the court; and there he remained until death closed 
 his useful and honored career. 
 
 The patient and earnest industry with which he investi- 
 gated every case before he formed his judgment is well 
 known, not only to his associates upon the bench, but to 
 the bar throughout the State. His recorded opinions, cov- 
 ering a period of more than thirty years, best attest his 
 profound learning, his extensive research, and the indepen- 
 dence with which he maintained the views he had delib- 
 erately formed and believed to be right. If any discrimi- 
 nation is to be made as to the value of his opinions, those 
 in which he enforced the great cardinal principles of equity 
 jurisprudence will, it is believed, be most highly esteemed 
 by the profession. No one could have discharged the 
 duties of his high office with greater zeal and industry and 
 a loftier integrity. 
 
 While absolutely free from all ostentation or pretence of 
 any kind, and caring nothing for the externals of office, he 
 had a just sense of the dignity of the tribunal over which 
 he so long and so ably presided. There can be no doubt that 
 his nature was vehement and passionate, but he had sub- 
 dued it, and though often provoked, it is believed that he 
 seldom or never spoke harshly of any one. In his friend- 
 ships he was sincere and zealous, of a warm and generous 
 heart, and a most gentle and devoted husband, father, 
 and son. 
 
12 JUDGE R. C. L. MOMCURB. 
 
 From early manhood Judge Moncure was an earnest 
 member of the Episcopal Church. Indeed, the corner- 
 stone of his reputation as a man, a lawyer, and judge was 
 his Christian character, manifested by his love to God and 
 his neighbor, consistent always — forgetful never. He had 
 an ever-present sense, that as one of the chief magistrates 
 of Virginia, he was a ruler as well as a law-giver, and was 
 always mindful of the sacred injunction that "He that 
 ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." 
 
 We do not mourn for him as one stricken down in the 
 midst of his usefulness, for we know that the ravages of 
 disease had made life a burden too heavy to bear; that he 
 was at the end of his pilgrimage — on the very bank of the 
 river — awaiting the last summons. He had kept the faith, 
 and was ready to be delivered. 
 
 The loss of such a man at any period is a calamity that 
 all good men must deplore, but in these times the blow 
 falls most heavily. It is our duty to take care that we and 
 those who come after us do not lose the benefit of so pure 
 and spotless a life. We cannot willingly let die the mem- 
 ory of such virtue and excellence as that which dignified 
 and adorned the life of our loved and venerated friend and 
 brother. 
 
 Resolved, That the foregoing is but a just tribute of respect and admi- 
 ration to the eminent ability, profound learning, and rare private virtues 
 exhibited in the long and distinguished judicial career of the Hon. Richard 
 C. L. Moncure. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretaries of this meeting forward a copy of these 
 proceedings to the family of the deceased, with the assurance of our dejep 
 sympathy with them in their bereavment. 
 
 Resolved, That Robert Ould, Esq., be requested to communicate these 
 proceedings to the Court of Appeals, and ask to have them entered on the 
 records, and that copies thereof be published in the "Virginia Law Journal" 
 and daily papers of this city. 
 
 Mr. E. G. Booth followed Judge Christian, after resolu- 
 tions were submitted. 
 
 \ 
 
JTJDGB R. C. L. MONCUltE. IS 
 
 REMARKS OF Mr. E. G. BOOTH. 
 
 Mr. Chairman: 
 
 If this be the time for remarks, and if it be neces- 
 sary to move the adoption of the resolutions, I will now 
 say, by way of reserving the best for the last — expecting 
 many to succeed me — that though entitled* to the privileges 
 of your court, or through the United States courts, I was 
 impelled in accepting the kind invitation to be present on 
 this occasion by different and more tender considerations. 
 
 I believe, sir, that of those committees to which such 
 reference has been made, selected to revise the laws in 
 1849, and of which Judge Moncure was chairman, only 
 Conway Robinson, Wm. M. Ambler, Esqs., and myself 
 remain. Neither of the others being present, I alone can 
 appear as the representative of those committees. 
 
 He was really called and passed by the soubriquet the 
 father of that committee. I thus can commingle my tears 
 with the lugubrious current rolling through this assem- 
 blage in the loss not only of a friend, but a father. The 
 last time I recollect to have met him in this building, 
 hearing I was in the adjoing room, he left the bench and 
 came in with open arms to embrace me. He had a warm 
 heart, as well as clear, wise head. 
 
 Associated as he was on that committee, with such giants 
 as John M. Patton, Conway Robinson, Burr Harrison; Robt. 
 E. Scott, in strength of intellect the peer of all creation, it 
 would be invidious and unnecessary to say that Judge 
 Moncure was the best man I ever knew, or the best judge 
 or the best advocate. 
 
 But, sir, take him all in all, and in general combination, 
 I may say, without the fear of successful contradiction, 
 that we ne'er or rarely will look upon his like again ; my 
 distinguished deceased friend, Judge Thos. S. Gholson, 
 occurring to me as in the same category. 
 
 Sir, you were perfectly correct in saying his whole im- 
 pulse was from a sense of duty. 
 
 His seat in the hall of the House of Delegates to my left, 
 his form and manner, are vivid before me at this time, 
 though over thirty years ago ; much more so than the pic- 
 ture before me, as he arose to oppose the removal of the 
 Legislature from Richmond to Fauquier Springs in appre- 
 
14 JUDGE E. C. L. M0NCURE. 
 
 hension of the cholera, and uttered the solemn words, 
 " The path of duty is the path of safely — trust in God !" 
 
 Sir, I can truly say that in the eight months of our asso- 
 ciation I never heard an unkind word or witnessed an 
 unkind manifestation. I could write a hook of incidents 
 illustrative of his character, but fear I am trespassing on 
 the time that might be so much better occupied by others. 
 I will state one incident so illustrative of his benignant 
 disposition. 
 
 While the committee was seated around a table in an 
 upper room of the Capitol, some inferior officer occupying 
 the position, as I understood, as runner for the Governor — 
 but regarding it, perhaps, as above the Governor — entered 
 the room and enquired if we were engaged in making the 
 laws of the State. He was answered in the affirmative 
 and referred to the chairman of the committee, remarking 
 that he had some suggestions to make connected with the 
 duties of his position, and enquiring if there could not be 
 some mitigation of them. At the end of each enquiry he 
 received the most pleasant, polite response, " Certainly, sir." 
 He was thus encouraged to repeat his suggestions and 
 enquiries with the same response. At the conclusion, 
 instead of ordering him off, Judge Moncure remarked with 
 the kindest and blandest manner, " I suppose you under- 
 stand that in thus relieving you of the duties of your office 
 there should be a corresponding reduction of your salary." 
 It was amusing to see the fellow's change of countenance 
 and change of base — certainly never returning with sim- 
 ilar interruption. 
 
 It seems inscrutable that we should mourn the departure 
 of such individuals while so many less worthy remain. 
 
 We read, however, that — 
 
 " Empires decay, and nations die, 
 Our hopes to winds are given, 
 The vernal blooms in ruin lie, 
 Death reigns o'er all beneath the sky, 
 There's nothing sure but Heaven." 
 
 Sir, your impressive description of his death-bed illus- 
 trates the sentiment, "Mark the perfect man and behold 
 the upright ; for the end of that man is peace." 
 
 Indeed, sir, well may we enquire, 
 
 " Is that a death bed where the Christian lies ? 
 No, 'tis not his ; 'tis death itself that dies." 
 
JUDGE E. C. L. MONCUEE. 15 
 
 He had appropriated those great doctrines of faith, 
 repentance, Holy Spirit, atoning blood, sovereign grace, 
 substitution, adoption, that make death and the grave run 
 like cowards. The valley may be dark and the clouds 
 lowering, but spanned by a bright bow of promise dispel- 
 ling all gloom. Sir, how appropriate to paraphrase and 
 explain your description, this desire to depart, &c, with 
 the verse — 
 
 " The clouds disperse, tbe light appears, 
 
 My sins are all forgiven, 
 Triumphant grace has quelled my fears, 
 Eoll on thou sun, fly swift my years, 
 
 I'm on my way to Heaven." 
 
 Sir, while much might be said and written, the whole 
 may be summed up in a small compass. 
 
 " He was — 
 
 But words are wanting to say what — 
 Say what a person ought to be. 
 And he was that.'''' 
 
 Sir, his sun of life has set forever ; but the bright beams 
 of his example will long linger on the horizon to cheer the 
 rising youth of our country in the paths of virtue, of honor, 
 and renown. 
 
 Note. — Mr. Booth will make appendix towards the con- 
 clusion. 
 
 REMARKS OF JUDGE WELLFORD. 
 
 Me. Chaieman : 
 
 I offer no apology for occupying the attention of this 
 large assemblage of my brethren of the Bench and Bar of 
 Virginia for a brief period. To most of them Judge Mon- 
 cure was only known in the maturity of his and their own 
 lives. I recognize around me a few, but very few, whose 
 recollections, like my own, ante-date his public life and 
 reach back to a time when he was little known outside of 
 that community in which, except when called from home 
 by official duty, he passed his life from the cradle to the 
 
16 JUDGE ». C. L. MONCURE. 
 
 grave. I was born and raised in that community. He was 
 a generation ahead of me. His oldest son, now an hon- 
 ored occupant of the Bench in a sister State, and myself 
 were associated in our first experiences of life by ties and 
 feelings which time and distant space have never oblite- 
 rated or obscured. Judge Moncure, though some years 
 younger than either my father or mother, was their con- 
 temporary and a hereditary friend of his and her family. 
 
 When I can first remember him he was a comparatively 
 young man, engaged in the laborious and successful prac- 
 tice of his profession. No man ever commanded to a 
 greater extent the affectionate confidence and esteem of 
 the community in which he lived. It was a community 
 whose praise or censure was not of little value. Rich in 
 remote traditions, recent memories and the present posses- 
 sion of honored sons, in measuring every claimant upon its 
 confidence it subjected him to a high standard. Men and 
 women of middle age in that community, when Judge 
 Moncure began life, detailed in daily conversation to their 
 juniors vivid recollections of their association in earlier 
 life with Washington, and Madison, and Monroe, and 
 George Mason, and the Lees, and Grayson, and John Tay- 
 lor of Caroline, &c, &c. The homestead which sheltered 
 the declining years of Mary Washington was there. The 
 humble office from which James Monroe first hung out his 
 sign as a candidate for practice as a lawyer was still stand- 
 ing. Upon the one side of the river the memory was as recent 
 as ours of the late war of an animated election for Repre- 
 sentative in Congress in which the personal influence of 
 George Washington cast the scales in favor of Lighthorse 
 Harry Lee. While upon the other shore the fathers told 
 their sons with honest pride of their maiden vote under 
 the Constitution of the United States for James Madison 
 to represent them upon the floor of Congress. That vene- 
 rable man was still living, and a few years later was sum- 
 moned from his retirement to close his official life as a 
 representative of that same people in the memorable Vir- 
 ginia Convention of 1829. 
 
 When Judge Moncure came to the Bar Fredericksburg 
 was the seat, under the old Constitution of 1776, of one of 
 the four or five District Chancery Courts of the State. 
 Three of the five then judges of the Court of Appeals 
 were residents of the immediate vicinage. Judge Brooke 
 
 \ 
 
JUDGE E. C. L. M0NCUEE. 17 
 
 lived but eight miles below Fredericksburg, Judge Coalter 
 immediately across the river, in Judge Moncure's own 
 county of Stafford, and Judge Green, who had spent in 
 Fredericksburg his active life as a practicing lawyer, and 
 for some time as judge of the District Court of Chancery, 
 was living some twenty or thirty miles distant in the 
 county of Culpeper. The then circuit judge of the Fred- 
 ericksburg circuit was William Brockenbrough, who subse- 
 quently became a judge of the Court of Appeals. Robert 
 Stanard, also an after judge of the Court of Appeals, was 
 then in the maturity of his early fame at the head of the 
 resident Bar of Fredericksburg. John Tayloe Lomax was 
 only temporarily absent as the first Professor of Law in 
 the University of Virginia, from which position he was 
 recalled by the General Assembly to succeed Judge Brock- 
 enbrough as judge of the Circuit Court. 
 
 The non-resident Bar whose constant attendance made 
 names and faces familiar embraced among its elder mem- 
 bers two subsequent judges of the United States Supreme 
 Court — Philip P. Barbour and Peter V. Daniel — and other 
 such men as John Scott of Fauquier, John S. Barbour, and 
 Andrew Stevenson. 
 
 Among Judge Moncure's own contemporaries of the 
 younger Bar it suffices to name John M. Patton, Arthur A. 
 Morson, the venerable ex-Governor ¥m. Smith, Robert E. 
 Scott, fm. Green, John L. Marye, Lawrence W. Berrey, 
 Thomas B. Barton. 
 
 At that Bar and among those people Judge Moncure 
 began his professional life without the advantage of early 
 education or the patronage of older lawyers. He staked 
 his success upon his worth as a man, his capacity for the 
 work he undertook, and his earnest consecration to that 
 work as the duty of life. 
 
 He succeeded. How well he succeeded has become mat* 
 ter of history in Virginia. 
 
 Upon that point I need not dwell. There are times and 
 occasions which are suggestive of more than any eloquence 
 of speech could equal, and I do not mean in this presence 
 to attempt any expression of my own appreciation of 
 Judge Moncure's merits as a lawyer and a judge. Before 
 that Bench from which he has these many years spoken 
 the law ; before this audience, each of whom have thumbed 
 the thirty volumes of Virginia Reports which transmit in 
 3 
 
18 JUDGE E. C. L. MOKCURE. 
 
 the most permanent literature of this Commonwealth the 
 results of his judicial labor, it would he idle to say that 
 he was a great lawyer and a great judge. 
 
 But Judge Moncure was a great lawyer and judge less 
 from native talent and acquired learning, eminent as they 
 were, than from the force of personal character as a good 
 man in principle and in action. 
 
 His head was always under the domination of a heart 
 which recognized his obligations to God and to man, and 
 accepted as the standard of his own life the golden rule of 
 doing as he would be done by. He earnestly believed that 
 the limit of human authority in the Legislative Depart- 
 ment was to order, and in the Judicial and Executive De- 
 partments to enforce between man and man, in all the re- 
 lations of life, the observance of that cardinal principle. 
 
 Upon that theory he practiced at the Bar and he spoke 
 from the Bench, and the only reproach which I have ever 
 heard suggested upon his long judicial career was that in 
 his honest, purpose to command from every suitor before 
 him strict and even justice proportioned to the facts of the 
 case, he may sometimes have weakened the force of tech- 
 nical rules and precedent cases. 
 
 Judge Moncure's life was spent in the labors of his pro- 
 fession. He was not unfrequently tempted to enter the 
 political field with assurances of promotion and success, 
 which would have diverted the current of almost any other 
 man's life. But he steadfastly refused the temptation. 
 His connection with political life was limited to a brief 
 period of service in the General Assembly, mainly for the 
 purpose of assisting in the formation of the first Code of 
 Virginia, and in the Constitutional Convention of 1849. 
 
 But no man ever felt a deeper or profounder interest in 
 political affairs. His opinions upon every question of po- 
 litical policy were always of the most pronounced charac- 
 ter, and whenever occasion required or justified their ex- 
 pression, Ms voice never bore an uncertain sqund. He was 
 an earnest patriot and intensely a Virginian. His emigrant 
 ancestors had found their homes among her people, and 
 nothing which affected her honor or her interest was a 
 matter of indifference to him. 
 
 He cherished her past, he was jealous of her present, 
 and in her darkest hours looked with hope and confidence 
 to her future. No son of hers was ever more loyal to the 
 
JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 19 
 
 mother that bore Mm, and never had mother a son in whom 
 she had better cause to feel an honest pride. The soil of 
 Virginia is rich in honored dust, but her great bosom never 
 opened to receive a form which tabernacled a soul more 
 earnestly consecrated to her in life than when the sods of 
 his native Stafford rattled upon the coffin of Richard C. 
 L. Moncure. 
 
 R. D. Ward, Esq., made the following remarks : 
 
 REMARKS OF Mr. WARD. 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 I desire to add my humble tribute to the memory 
 of a man whom I have known for forty years, and who by 
 many acts of disinterested kindness to me during that long 
 period I know was my friend. 
 
 The members of the Bench and the Bar of the State have 
 assembled to commemorate the death of Judge Richard 
 C. L. Moncure, late President of the Supreme Court of 
 Appeals of Virginia. When such a man dies, the public 
 looks for and his life deserves more than a mere passing 
 notice. He possessed a character so worthy of emulation 
 and example to all, and discharged so many and such im- 
 portant public trusts for a long life, that some account of 
 them will be interesting and beneficial. 
 
 Richard C. L. Moncure was born in the county of Staf- 
 ford in the year 1805, of highly respectable and honest 
 parentage. His father, Col. John Moncure, held an office 
 under the United States Government, was a man of large 
 possessions and much given to hospitality, his house being 
 all the time full of guests. He died when Richard was 
 only three years of age, and his fortune had melted away 
 and after his death it realized for his children almost noth- 
 ing. Richard was left to the care of his mother, Miss 
 Alice Gaskins, of Northumberland, with nothing but his 
 own talents, perseverance and industry to make his way 
 in the world. He had no other school advantages than 
 those furnished by an old field school in the county of 
 
20 JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 
 
 Stafford, which he attended for three years, and a school 
 of higher grade in the village of Falmouth, which he at- 
 tended for one year. When about thirteen years of age 
 he removed to Falmouth to live with his brother, who was 
 sheriff of the county, and while with him he assisted him 
 and "borrowed law books from lawyers in that village and 
 in Fredericksburg, which he read during his time of leisure 
 from his regular pursuits. In this way he acquired a 
 knowledge of law, and in 1825 he was admitted to the 
 Bar. He commenced practice in Falmouth, and in one 
 year thereafter, when only twenty-one years of age, he 
 was appointed Attorney for the Commonwealth for that 
 county. In the same year he was elected to the Legisla- 
 ture from that county, and he served in that body five 
 sessions. When just arrived at age he married Miss Mary 
 C. Conway, an estimable lady, who was his life-long com- 
 panion and still survives him. He was a member of the 
 Constitutional Convention of 18 49-'50, and while a mem- 
 ber of that body he was appointed by the Legislature one 
 of the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals of 'Vir- 
 ginia, on the bench of which he has remained until his 
 death (except during the years of reconstruction), a period 
 of over thirty years. Thus from youth to old age his life 
 has been spent in the service of his State in the discharge 
 of the most important and honorable duties which can be 
 imposed upon a citizen. In all her annals no official of the 
 Commonwealth ever performed the duties of his office 
 with more conscientious fidelity or with more constant 
 effort to do his whole duty. The measure of his success 
 is seen in his labor in the revision of the laws and every- 
 where upon the pages of Grattan's Eeports, and its com- 
 pleteness is acknowledged in the respect and veneration 
 in which he is held by the whole Bar of the State as well 
 as all her people. The work of the revision of the laws 
 was one not only of great importance, but it required a 
 vast amount of thought and labor. In 1846 the General 
 Assembly passed an act appointing John M. Patton and 
 Conway Eobinson, Esq_s., to revise and digest the civil 
 code. It was made their duty to revise all the civil statutes 
 then in force, and to report to the General Assembly which 
 of the general statutes ought and which ought not to re- 
 main in force, with drafts of such bills as might seem to 
 them ought to be passed. The revisors finished their work 
 
JUDGE K. C. L. MONCURE. 21 
 
 in 1849, having bestowed upon it their most careful con- 
 sideration which their training and abilily as eminent 
 lawyers enabled them to do. They made their reports to 
 the Legislature, who referred them to the joint committee 
 of the two Houses, which was composed of the following 
 members : On the part of the House of Delegates — Messrs. 
 Moncure, Scott, Harrison, Conway, Whittle, Smith, and 
 Booth ; and on the part of the Senate — Messrs. Thompson, 
 Witcher, Sloan, Kinney, and Ambler. Judge Moncure was 
 made chairman of the joint committee, and the labor 
 which he especially, as well as others of the committee, 
 performed was continuous and exacting. Owing to the 
 prevalence of cholera at Richmond the General Assembly 
 sat at the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, and it was at 
 that delightful spot that the labor of the committee was 
 performed. It was employed in examining the revisors' 
 reports and conferring with them, and making such amend- 
 ments thereto as they deemed proper. Judge Moncure 
 bent his whole energies and gave all his legal experience 
 and learning to this work. In the committee and in the 
 House ef Delegates he took a leading part in the discus- 
 sions of the various bills which were reported. The whole 
 work of the revisors and of the Committee of Revision re- 
 sulted in the Code of 1860, every page of which is stamped 
 with the labor and learning of this distinguished jurist. 
 In addition to the prominent part which Judge Moncure 
 took in perfecting the civil laws of the Commonwealth, 
 he, with Messrs. Scott of Fauquier, Harrison of Loudoun, 
 Mosby of Campbell, and Mayo of Richmond city, in 1848 
 framed, and the General Assembly passed, the act of 
 March 14th, 1848, to reduce into one the several acts con- 
 cerning crimes and punishments and proceedings in crimi- 
 nal cases, which, later, was substantially accepted and 
 reported by the revisors, and became the criminal law of 
 the State. 
 
 During his long service as a judge of the Supreme Court 
 of Appeals, Judge Moncure delivered the opinion of the 
 Court and dissenting opinions in about 400 cases, com- 
 prising about 3,000 pages of Grattan's Reports. These 
 opinions are generally indicative of a clear understanding 
 of the cases, expressed in apt language, and lay down 
 sound principles of law. They have received the sanction 
 and approbation of the profession, and no counsel ever 
 
22 JUDGE E. C. L. M0NCUKE. 
 
 heard Judge Moncure read an opinion, even though he de- 
 cided his case against him and he might have thought at 
 the time that he was wrong, ever doubted his integrity 
 and honesty of purpose, and after a while did not come to 
 the conclusion that he was right. Virginia may have had 
 other judges whose legal learning and scholastic training 
 was greater, whose powers of mind were stronger and more 
 comprehensive, whose treatment of judicial questions was 
 more profound and whose language was more concise and 
 pointed, but among the long line of distinguished jurists 
 that have adorned her Bench not one can be found who 
 possessed more conscientiousness in the discharge of his 
 whole official duty or used more diligent and industrious 
 efforts to perform it. Of all the public men of the State 
 that I have known for the last forty years, there is not one 
 who throughout his whole career has exhibited greater 
 zeal, earnestness and conscientious industry to discharge 
 his public duties. I know of many little incidents which 
 beautifully illustrate the child-like simplicity and purity 
 of his character ; but I will relate only one, which shows 
 his scrupulous conscientiousness in regard to the expendi- 
 ture of public money. On one occasion some years ago, 
 with the stationery I usually purchased for the court, I 
 bought knives for the judges. When I presented one to 
 Judge Moncure he declined to take it, saying his old knife, 
 which he had had for twenty years, would last as long as 
 he lived. I suggested to him that he had better take the 
 knife, that it would just suit to trim his .trees at home, 
 and that surely he should feel justified in taking from the 
 State one knife in twenty years, when the members of the 
 Legislature and other State officials got them every year. 
 He consented at last and put the knife in his pocket. The 
 next morning when he came to the court-room he said to 
 me : " Mr. Ward, during the night I have been thinking 
 much about the knife you gave me," and with his old 
 wornout one in his hand said, " Take it back to the store 
 from which you got it ; I have concluded to use my old 
 knife the balance of my life, and do not feel satisfied to put 
 the State to the expense of a new one for me when I can 
 do without it." What a contrast to the conduct of many 
 of our public officials of the present time ! How advan- 
 tageous to the country it would be if they were inspired 
 with the sentiment which pushed the old Judge to so 
 
JUDGE E. C. L. MOMCUBE. 23 
 
 overmuch scrupulousness. For the past twelve years, 
 during which time I have occupied an humble position in 
 this court, I have observed the veneration and love enter- 
 tained for him by his brethren of the Bench, as well as 
 the honor and respect felt for him by the Bar of the State, 
 and when, in the last year of his declining health, I called 
 on the members of the Bar of Richmond for the means to 
 purchase yonder excellent portrait which now hangs on the 
 wall of this court-room to remind us of the living form 
 which we have seen so often on that bench, and which will 
 hang there, I trust, through all time, to encourage future 
 generations of lawyers to study, admire and emulate the 
 sublime character of the man and judge, I had no diffi- 
 culty in getting the money, but I had to put the subscrip- 
 tion quota very low in order that all might have the 
 privilege of subscribing, and many lawyers outside of the 
 city expressed to me their earnest desire to subscribe. It 
 was put there without his consent or knowledge in his 
 lifetime, and when he was absent from the city. When 
 the old Judge first looked upon it and was told its history, 
 unshed tears stood in his eyes and his heart swelled with 
 emotions inexpressible as he gazed upon the patent, lasting 
 tribute of the respect, esteem and honor thus bestowed 
 upon him by his professional brethren who knew him so 
 well and loved him so much. 
 
 Alas ! Judge Moncure has gone from earth. We will see 
 him no more in this forum, no more in the paths he so 
 often trod ; but yet he still lives, and will continue to live 
 so long as men delight to contemplate the deeds of an 
 honest life, of a wise counsellor, of an upright judge and 
 a Christian gentleman. He still lives in his character and 
 his example — an inestimable legacy to his professional 
 brethren if they will but rightly appreciate it and emulate 
 it. He lived a worthy, true life, and he died triumphant 
 in the Christian faith, and angels have borne his immortal 
 spirit to that glorious City of God not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens. 
 
 It is but natural for his friends and companions to sor- 
 row and grieve when such a man departs, but let us rejoice 
 that he has obtained so great a reward, and let us all try 
 so to live that we may secure a similar one. 
 
24 JUDGE B. C. L. MONCURE. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the letters and some of the 
 speeches and documents of the Bar meeting could not "be 
 conveniently procured for this edition. Since it was closed 
 letters have been received from Judge Sheffey, Judge 
 Watson, Samuel Price, John A. Thompson, Wm. M. Bur- 
 well, Esqs., all breathing the same exalted devotion and 
 appreciation, and thus from one learn all. Mr. Burwell's 
 gives assurance that the mantle of a noble sire has fallen 
 on a noble son, now of Louisiana. 
 
 REMARKS OF JUDGE OULD 
 
 Remarks of Judge Ould in presenting the resolutions 
 of the Bar meeting to the Court of Appeals : 
 
 May it please the Court : 
 
 On the first day of this term a large number of the 
 members of the Bench and Bar of the State assembled in 
 this room to pay their tribute to the memory of the late 
 president of this court, who, in the interval of its sessions, 
 at his own home and in the midst of a loving household, 
 was released from the labors of a long and eventful life. 
 I was instructed by that meeting to present the memorial 
 and resolutions then adopted to this honorable court, over 
 which he so long presided, with a request that they be 
 entered on its records. 
 
 The death in office of the president of the highest court 
 of the Commonwealth is an event of such moment that his 
 survivors can well turn aside from the judicial routine and 
 perpetuate on their records the memory of one who, for so 
 long a time, was their honored chief and friend. 
 
 Judge Moncure, in early life, was compelled to struggle 
 with the privations of poverty. But he was born of a sturdy 
 stock ; and to one who meets such difficulties with the 
 spirit which he at once displayed, they are not a real dis- 
 advantage. Most of the world's worthies have had this 
 training, and by it were made more independent, more 
 
JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 25 
 
 "buoyant, more self-reliant, more athletic in mind and body, 
 and thus braver and stronger in the subsequent battles of 
 life than their brothers reared in luxury and ease. 
 
 Although Judge Moncure was called to the bench at a 
 comparatively early age, he had previously won great dis- 
 tinction at the bar in a section of the State prolific in able 
 lawyers. His studious habits and pure life gave him the 
 confidence of the people, and they ever watched his course 
 with interest and followed his fortunes with their affection. 
 He had all the qualities to make him a noted man in the 
 community, zeal for the cause he espoused, and strong com- 
 mon sense,, which, a distinguished judge has aptly called, 
 the great solvent of legal perplexity. Nature also had 
 built his body on a breadth and strength of plan which 
 capacitated him for great labor and endurance. His tri- 
 umphs in his profession were not confined to the local bars 
 of his section. He distinguished himself in arguments 
 before this Court, when it was not common for local coun- 
 sel to follow their causes to this tribunal. One of the most 
 noted of them was in Yerby v. Lynch, 3 Grattan, which was 
 made memorable by reason of its connection with the 
 death of Judge Stanard, who was stricken with a mortal 
 illness while writing an opinion in that case, in which he 
 paid a high compliment to Judge Moncure's argument. 
 
 Judge Moncure began his judicial career in April, 1851, 
 and with but little intermission continued on the Court of 
 Appeals, either as Associate Justice or its President, until 
 the time of his death. His published opinions are found 
 in twenty-eight volumes of the Virginia Reports, running 
 from 7th Grattan to 1st Matthews, inclusive, and embracing 
 a period from April, 1851, to November, 1880. During the 
 greater part of this time he was the President of the Court, 
 and it can be truly said of him that his wisdom and purity 
 had no little to do in inspiring the public with confidence 
 in its decisions. During this judicial career he analyzed 
 and mastered the most difficult questions of jurisprudence, 
 and presented them with clearness and precision. Some 
 of these subjects were fields which he had scarcely ever 
 traversed in his practice at the bar, such, for instance, as 
 commercial securities, yet his great industry and accuracy 
 soon made him master of all that was essential to be 
 known. In treating obstruse matters, he was free from all 
 pedantry and affection of learning, and in the noble func- 
 4 
 
26 JUDGE -R. C. L. MONCUHE. 
 
 tion of construing constitutions and statutes, of determin- 
 ing the controversies of men, of disentangling complicated 
 questions of law and fact, and reducing them into harmony, 
 he was patient, industrious, impartial, bringing to his high 
 office all the graces of a conscientious spirit. If, he com- 
 mitted errors by inattention, want of time or precon- 
 ceived opinions, it is a wonder, in his long judicial life, he 
 did not make more. In the controversies which come for 
 judicial determination before courts, it must needs be that 
 there are matters of difference that are almost equally bal- 
 anced, where some parts of the record are apparently for 
 one party and others are against him ; and in such cases, 
 common to all courts, it would be too high a praise to be 
 given to any judge, that he had always decided correctly. 
 No man would have been prompter than Judge Moncure to 
 deny any general infallibility on his part, earnest as he 
 was in almost every case to insist upon the view which he 
 had maturely adopted. That he did hold to such opinions 
 in the face of any opposition cannot be denied. The second 
 opinion which he delivered in this Court, that in Dabney 
 v. Kennedy, 7th Grattan, was one of dissent from the other- 
 wise unanimous judgment of the Court, consisting of Cabell, 
 Allen, Baldwin, Daniel and himself, when he was junior, 
 both in years and term of service, to all of them. He had 
 such independence of character that dissent from the ma- 
 jority of his brethren was not an uncommon occurrence in 
 his judicial life. 
 
 This self-reliance of Judge Moncure was also shown by 
 the fearless way in which he walked through the dark 
 places of the law, where the light of precedent did not 
 reach him. Some of the best opinions he ever delivered 
 fall under this class. But when he was required to blaze 
 his own way, he never moved rashly and hastily, but al- 
 ways with circumspection. If direct precedent could not 
 be found, he followed what was its best substitute, the 
 analogies of the law, Yet, it cannot be altogether denied, 
 that while he held that the artificial reason and judgment 
 of the law ought to come into play in deciding causes, as 
 well as natural reason, still, he had such a predominating 
 sense of justice that he was sometimes led to the very 
 verge of the law in his effort to decide a case upon its par- 
 ticular right. 
 
 Of course, we of the Bar know nothing of Judge Mon- 
 
JUDGE B. C. L. MONCUEE. 27 
 
 cure's conduct in conference, but all of us can speak of the 
 kindness of his manner in leading the public business of 
 the court, of his gentleness in imposing any restraint when- 
 ever it was necessary, of his noble courtesy, of his patience 
 in hearing counsel, even when they were extravagant. 
 How often have we seen him as much out of kindness to 
 the advocate as from a desire that the case might be thor- 
 oughly sifted, almost fain doubts, or put questions which 
 would lead counsel to the pith of the case. In the same 
 spirit he adopted the opinion of Lord Kenyon, that it was 
 " the duty of every court to administer justice as well as 
 could be between litigating parties, and that another and 
 not less material duty was to satisfy these parties that the 
 whole case had been examined and considered." Acting 
 upon this view, it may be, and doubtless is true, that some 
 of his opinions, especially in his later years, are too much 
 in detail and too prolix in the discussion of facts when 
 tested by the best models; but this very natural fault 
 grew out of 
 
 NO DESIEE TO DISPLAY, 
 
 but resulted from a purpose to show to all interested in the 
 controversy that he had not overlooked any material fact. 
 Judge Moncure never turned out of his way for figures of 
 speech or rhetorical adornment. He clearly stated, in. a 
 transparent style and in vigorous words, what he clearly 
 saw, and with that was content. He made no claim to 
 classical taste or acquirement, or to any superior literary 
 excellence. Indeed, it must be admitted that in his foren- 
 sic efforts he displayed but little of what is called in these 
 days oratory, and in his judicial opinions the student who 
 seeks the classic eloquence of Lord Stowell or the polished 
 rhetoric of Chief -Justice Gibson will be disappointed. He 
 was too direct and too impetuous for any such finery. 
 
 THE FULL STEEAM 
 
 of his thought never loitered on its way to make eddies, 
 but rushed directly to its end. So intent was he about this 
 that if any one had brought against him, with any degree 
 of truth, the accusation that he had preferred ornament to 
 substance, he would have felt that he had been untrue to 
 his great office. He never thought of display, and seemed 
 unconscious that he had the power to make any. 
 
28 JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 
 
 One of his judicial characteristics was his devotion to 
 his native Commonwealth. It was almost a passion with 
 him. In every controversy in which her honor, her inter- 
 ests, or her prosperity was concerned, he came to the front 
 as her guardian and protector and with fervor that sprung 
 from instinct, and was made more intense by habit. It 
 made no difference whether it was an assault by bad men 
 from within upon her penal statutes, or an encroachment 
 from without on her dignity or honor, he stood at the gate 
 " with flaming sword, which turned every way." He was 
 
 A MAGISTRATE OF DAUNTLESS COURAGE — 
 
 a courage which, as Carlyle says of Henry Irving, was not 
 "pugnacious nor ferocious, but as of the generous war- 
 horse, gentle in strength, yet that laughs at the shaking of 
 the spear." No terror or force could overawe him. He 
 would have gone to the stake rather than recant a judg- 
 ment in which he had, to his own satisfaction, established 
 a right or defended a principle. 
 
 In thus depicting Judge Moncure's judicial life I have 
 not indulged in what is so natural, but yet too common, 
 indiscriminate praise. No human figure is all of gold, and 
 I have not pretended to present him as such. But I do 
 mean to say, and perhaps no higher eulogium could be pro- 
 nounced, that if he could have had an enemy, who would 
 undertake to write his biography with any regard to truth, 
 he would be compelled, in spite of any private malice, to 
 present a figure of unblemished integrity, purity, and 
 inflexible purpose to do right, as of a man living con- 
 sciously under his Maker's eye. 
 
 Turning from his judicial life, I desire to speak a few 
 words of him 
 
 AS A MAN. 
 
 What is ordinarily called pleasure had but very little 
 charm for him. He took greater delight in disentangling 
 a record, or in following the run of a principle through the 
 books, than he could have felt as an honored guest in a 
 king's palace. He was wonderfully simple and domestic 
 in his tastes, preferring the routine of his own home and 
 the attractions of his household to the hospitality and 
 feasts of his most valued friends. 
 
JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 29 
 
 So direct was his mind, and so intent was he about the 
 duties and issues of life, that he never perceived a jest, un- 
 less he was led up to it and elaborate explanation made ; 
 but yet, without contradiction, no soul was more genial 
 than his, no one's laughter more hearty, and no man's sym- 
 pathies more quickly kindled. He had a genuine urbanity' 
 and delightful unreserve which gave a charm and beauty 
 to his daily life. 
 
 But the most distinguishing characteristic of Judge Mon- 
 cure was his simplicity. It might be called massive, not 
 only in the materials of the structure, but also in its style 
 and order. And that simplicity was made more noble and 
 beautiful by reason of his unconsciousness of the fact. If 
 he had speculated or built upon it, or, indeed, if he had 
 been aware of it, it would have lost much of its charm. It 
 attended him as closely as his shadow — nay, more so, for 
 that follows, while the grace to which I have referred sat 
 upon him like a glory. It was a characteristic as well 
 known to all the classes of the people with whom he had 
 intercourse as to his brethren of the Bench and Bar. It 
 was never thrown off. He could not have done so had he 
 tried. I have dwelt thus long on this trait of his, because 
 it is so rare with those who have had much to do with men 
 and their affairs, public and private, and still rarer to be 
 seen anywhere in such unconscious beauty. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding all I have said, I have heard that 
 in his youth and early manhood he was of hot temper and 
 easily provoked to wrath. We who' have seen him on the 
 bench, not frequently perhaps, but now and then, when he 
 was delivering ore tenus a dissenting opinion in a case where 
 he had caught fire, can well understand how this statement 
 can be true. 
 
 HIS TEMPERAMENT WAS ARDENT, 
 
 and his nature fervid, and on occasions, even in his later 
 years, he would break into vehement speech. But however 
 he might kindle, there was never malice or any unchari- 
 tableness in these utterances, and he was never moved even 
 to them, unless he believed that some great and valuable 
 principle of the law had been disregarded, or that some 
 personal right had been invaded. 
 
 The truth of the matter is that Judge Moncure, having 
 become in early life a Christian disciple, his volcanic na- 
 
30 JUDGE R. C. L. MONCURE. 
 
 ture was presided over and controlled by a supernatural 
 grace — by a divine power which stooped from the heavens 
 and lifted him above his natural plane. His faith was 
 simple and reverent — not a cloudy abstraction, nor even a 
 succession of gleams followed by darkness, but something 
 that glowed with the celestial radiance of a perfect day. 
 Perhaps no man that ever lived was more absolutely free 
 from doubt or indecision as to the matters which pertained 
 to his lasting peace than Judge Moncure. He put his hand 
 into that of the Eternal Father with all the filial trust and 
 confidence of a little child, and thus, far more than by his 
 original nature, was held to duty with all the precision 
 with which gravitation holds a planet in its sweep. 
 The Roman poet says : 
 
 " Pallida mors, oequo, pulsat pede pauperum tabemas 
 Regumque tures ;" 
 
 but Judge Moncure himself, without a tremor, knocked at 
 the door of Death, not complainingly, or indeed with any 
 assertion of self, but in reverent submission to the will of 
 God. The shadows had been long gathered about him, 
 each day deepening the gloom, and the plaintive cry was 
 wrung from him by bodily anguish that the darkening twi- 
 light might close at once in night. But even in this the 
 sensitive soul feared that he might show a lack of submis- 
 sion to the divine will. The release came in its appointed 
 time, welcomed by no one as by him — " the silver cord was 
 loosed and the golden bowl broken." Let us thank God 
 that He gave to the country such a patriot, to the State such 
 a citizen, to the administration of the law such a magis- 
 trate, and to those that loved him, such a friend. 
 
 " Crown me with flowers," cried Mirabeau in his last 
 hour, and loving friends brought them. But our elder 
 brother needed no human hands to bring him garlands, for 
 
 GOD HAD ALREADY CROWNED HIM, 
 
 and out of a pure and noble life had already sprung eternal 
 flowers, which bloomed not only on earth, but were glori- 
 ous enough to be transplanted from that quiet Stafford 
 death-bed to the celestial gardens. 
 
 Though a senior to all of us, he has preceded us but a 
 little. The hearts of even the youngest of us are but 
 
JUDGE R. C. L. MONCTJRE. 31 
 
 "muffled drums, beating funeral dirges to the grave." 
 Even while we are viewing the procession of the dead, the 
 order comes for us to fall in. And now, in this moment, 
 when I am speaking the last words which I will ever utter 
 in the presence of this Court, as it is now formed, I can ex- 
 press no better hope for Bench and Bar than that when 
 our summons comes we may receive and welcome it as did 
 our friend and chief. 
 
judge ROBERT OULD 
 
ADDRESS of Rev. Dr. HOGE 
 
 AT THE 
 
 FUNERAL Of Mp ROBERT ODLD, 
 
 Second Presbyterian Church, Sunday, December 17th, 1882. 
 
 The funeral of Judge Robert Ould took place from the 
 Second Presbyterian Church in this city at 1\ o'clock P. M. 
 on Sunday, December 17th, 1882. A great concourse of 
 people were assembled to do honor to the memory of the 
 illustrious deceased. The services were conducted by the 
 Eev. Dr. Hoge, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Peterkin and the 
 Rev. Dr. J. L. M. Curry. The following is a report of the 
 remarks made by Dr. Hoge on the occasion : 
 
 Were a total stranger to this city, ignorant of all that 
 had occurred in it during the past week, now to enter this 
 church, he could not look around him for a single moment 
 without being impressed by the fact that some event of 
 more than ordinary interest was now absorbing the minds 
 and affecting the hearts of our people. 
 
 This vast assembly, so hushed and still, these badges of 
 mourning, these tears, not only of bereaved relatives, but 
 of a bereaved community, would tell him in a language 
 more impressive than words that to-day we all together 
 constitute one household, smitten of God and afflicted and 
 needing consolation. 
 
 It is not true that out of the abundance of the heart a 
 ready utterance always comes. There are times when the 
 very fullness of emotion makes silence more natural than 
 
 5 
 
34 JUDGE EOBEET OULD. 
 
 speech. When men stand in the presence of appalling 
 danger their words are few. In the midst of overwhelm- 
 ing sorrow they are dumb. "I opened not my month 
 because thou didst it." When God makes some soul-sub- 
 duing manifestation of himself, he seems to say, " Be still, 
 and know that I am God." 
 
 My friends, I am troubled. Outside the circle of the 
 immediate family, I am the most bereaved — the chief 
 mourner. When I look upon this great, sorrowing assem- 
 bly, and then remember whose dust it is that this coffin 
 encloses, I feel like asking you to permit me to leave this 
 pulpit and take my more appropriate place among those 
 who weep beneath it. "Lord send me help from the sanc- 
 tuary, and strengthen me out of Zion." 
 
 It is not my custom to make funeral addresses. If I 
 deviate from this now, it is because of the assurance I 
 have received that there is a pent-up feeling in the whole 
 community that demands some expression, and that such 
 expression would be a relief even to those most nearly 
 touched by this bereavement. I shall have your sympathy 
 while I attempt to give vent to these struggling emotions, 
 and all the more if what I say is not so much a tribute to 
 the man, the friend, the brother, for whom we mourn, as 
 to the grace of God which was magnified in his life and 
 in his death. 
 
 The child Of eminently pious parents, never even in the 
 days when the gay world with its enticements, its ambi- 
 tions, and its pleasures most possessed him, did he wholly 
 forget the example, the prayers and the instructions of 
 those who consecrated him to God at his birth. 
 
 In early life he chose the profession which he preferred 
 to all others, save one, which in later life he ranked above 
 it, and his choice was a noble one. " Our human laws," 
 says a modern writer, "are but copies, more or less perfect, 
 of the eternal laws, as far as we can read them." Law has 
 been called the perfection of reason. It is the visible im- 
 personation of justice, the tangible embodiment of right. 
 It touches society at every point ; guards property, life, 
 and character ; it curbs license, protects the feeble, hon- 
 ors good faith, circumvents fraud, and binds the turbu- 
 lent in chains. It secures social order, shields domestic 
 happiness, and makes national prosperity possible. Such 
 was the noble profession of his choice. 
 
JUDGE ROBERT OULD. 35 
 
 How well lie discharged the duties of his high calling, 
 with what fearlessness, with what fidelity, with what suc- 
 cess, will be told in another place ; and honored will be 
 the man who, at the command of Bench and Bar, will 
 place on record for the instruction of the profession in all 
 coming time an adequate tribute to Judge Robert Ould, as 
 t an instructive illustration of what distinction may be won 
 when genius, learning, industry, and personal honor are the 
 constituent elements of success and the sure guarantees of 
 the eminence which will be accorded to one who possesses 
 these characteristics, by all the legal tribunals of this Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 But, my friends, to-day our concern is not with the lau- 
 rels of earth, or the monuments which genius erects for 
 itself, but with the interests which pertain to a higher 
 life, and with the judgments which belong to a higher 
 tribunal. 
 
 The most pathetic of the ancient prophets on a certain 
 occasion, exclaimed, "How is the strong staff broken and 
 the beautiful rod." Manly, physical strength and the 
 fairest creations of human intellect are frail at best and 
 evanescent. "Thy rod, thy staff," cried one of the greatest 
 American statesmen in a dying hour, "that is what I want." 
 The staff of the Lord, our Shepherd,' alone is strong. His 
 rod, like that of Aaron, is the only one that buds and bears 
 perrenial blossoms. All other dependences are but as the 
 frail web that the spider weaves across the chasm. All 
 the glory of man is but the flower of the grass. All the 
 posthumous honors, won by human toil and talent, bring 
 no joy to the heart which lies still and chill in the coffin, 
 and all the music of the world's applause cannot penetrate 
 the dull cold ear of death. The honor which God confers 
 on those who serve him, and the glory to which he sum- 
 mons the redeemed soul, alone are endearing and satisfy- 
 ing. It is only the sweet remembrance of what God's 
 grace did for my departed friend and brother that gives 
 me comfort to-day, and this remembrance along gives me 
 strength to pay this tribute of tender affection. It is not 
 of the jurist that I would speak, eminent as he was in 
 his profession, nor of the man, attractive as he was by his 
 virtues, but of the Christian, the servant of Christ, and for 
 His sake the servant of the Church he loved. 
 
 I cannot better refer to the great and eventful change in 
 
36 JUDGE ROBERT OULD. 
 
 his life — a change that gave a new direction to his whole 
 future — than in his own words. On Christmas day, 1870, 
 he sent me as a keepsake a volume recently published by 
 a distinguished divine. In the round, clear hand which 
 he wrote, he covered the whole of the first fly-leaf of the 
 book with an inscription, the first sentence of which was 
 this : "I desire to record in this Christmas offering the 
 fact — the supremest in my life — that just one year ago the * 
 Spirit of God led me to your ministry. I do so in this 
 form in the hope that it may the more readily meet your 
 eye in future days, perhaps when I am no more." What 
 follows is too delicately personal for repetition, but it is a 
 grateful record of the spiritual experiences of that me- 
 morial year. From that day to this I have known him in 
 his public and in his private walks ; known him in his 
 joys and sorrows ; known him when success crowned his 
 labors and when disappointment chilled his hopes ; known 
 him when misrepresentation assailed his good name, and 
 when with a magnanimity which was as rare as it was 
 beautiful, he chose to suffer in silence, assured that God in 
 his own good time, would bring forth his righteousness as 
 the light and his judgment as the noonday. I have known 
 him as a student of theology, taking it up after his con- 
 version, as he would a new treatise on science or inter- 
 national law, and mastering it as few divines in the pulpit 
 have done ; known him as a student of polemics and church 
 government, coming to an unalterable conclusion as to the 
 Scriptural origin of the creeds and confessions of the 
 church of his choice ; known him in the humble, but in 
 his esteem, the honored office of superintendent of a Mis- 
 sion Sunday School in the suberbs of the city ; known him 
 as a teacher of a Bible Class for which he began to pre- 
 pare his lectures on Monday morning lest the pressure of 
 professional duties should hinder him at the close of the 
 week ; known him as an office-bearer in the church, giving 
 to his paster all the hearty co-operation, encouragment and 
 support which a man of his clear judgment and generous 
 nature was so capable of rendering ; known him as a de- 
 vout and regular attendant on all the services of the church 
 on the Sabbath and during the week, in heat and cold, in 
 sunshine and storni, even when failing health rendered 
 such regular attendance difficult and hazardous ; known 
 him as the friend of the. poor, and the generous contribu- 
 
JUDGE KOBEftT OULD. 37 
 
 tor to all the enterprises of Christian benevolence ; known 
 him as a member of eclesiastical courts, always heard with 
 deference when he spoke because of his familiarity with 
 eclesiastical law and his fair, lucid and conciliating style 
 of discussion ; known him as a friend congenial to my in- 
 tellect and heart, loyal, true, and loving ; known him as 
 an appreciative hearer, never listening critically, captious- 
 ly or distrustfully, but giving me his fullest sympathy and 
 confidence, so that he was to me (none of you will misun- 
 derstand what I mean) as it it were, an audience in him- 
 self. And now that I shall no more see him coming with 
 slow and measured step along that isle, no more look upon 
 his calm and placed face, full of light and loving kindness, 
 I feel like this church hereafter cannot be to me all that it 
 has been since 1870. 
 
 I hasten to the close. I was absent from the city when 
 the mortal chill seized him. When I entered his chamber 
 on my return and expressed my concern at finding him so 
 ill, he smiled and quietly said. " You came near losing one 
 of your Elders last night." Little did I think when I kneel- 
 ed and commended him to God, that this was my last inter- 
 view. The next morning I lost him — oh, no, not that — if 
 heaven found him, and if while walking with God, he was 
 not, because God took him. 
 
 His departure was sudden, but sudden death is sudden 
 glory to the Christian. It seems to bring the eternal world 
 nearer when one makes the transition from earth to heav- 
 en by a single step. When one dies by long and lingering 
 illness, it interposes, as it were, a wide and dreary territory 
 between the two worlds, like a broad and barren beach of 
 sand between cultivated fields and the ocean. Not so 
 when the green grass comes down to the very margin of 
 the blue water and is kissed by its rippling waves. Not so 
 when the spirit with a bound leaves its encumbering clay. 
 Then heaven is not distant but near ; a door in the very 
 house we live in, a door in the very house we die in, sud- 
 denly opens, and in an instant we are in a house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
 
 It is touching and impressive to remember that the last 
 effort of his noble intellect and loving heart was in por- 
 traying the character and commemorating the virtues of 
 the lamented Judge Moncure— who wore his ermine spot- 
 less until he put on brighter robes in heaven— and that in 
 
38 JUDGE ROBERT OTJLD. 
 
 so doing lie was unconsciously pronouncing his own eulogy. 
 That tribute to the pure and incorruptible Judge, spread 
 upon the records of the court, will form a part of the ju- 
 dicial history of the Commonwealth, and will go down to 
 other generations as the testimony of the lawyers and 
 judges of our time, to the superior dignity and worth of 
 moral excellence above all the adventitious advantages of 
 birth,wealth and power — a testimony not from theologians 
 and the editors of religious journals, but from judges 
 and lawyers to the nobility of a life whose foundations 
 were laid in Christian faith, and whose superstructure was 
 a harmonious and symmetrical development of Christian 
 manhood, and thus to compel even the frivolous and pro- 
 fane to feel " how awful goodness is," and see " virtue in 
 her own shape how lovely." 
 
 The pause he made when he said, " this is the last time 
 I shall ever address this court," before he added " as it is 
 now constituted," was prophetic. The assertion that, " as 
 we review the procession of the dead the order comes for 
 us to fair in," is now historic. 
 
 I have said we shall see our friend no more, but I recall 
 the words, for 
 
 " Hope looks beyond the bounds of time, 
 When what we now deplore 
 Shall rise in full immortal prime, 
 And bloom to fade no more." 
 
 We consign these mortal remains to the tomb in the sure 
 and certain hope of resurrection. "We part a while from 
 this chastened spirit, but in the midst of our grief we are 
 glad that the ties which bind us, to those who die in the 
 Lord are not severed by the stroke of death, but that these 
 Christian friendships, cemented by the love of Christ, shall 
 have a resurrection beyond the grave, and spring up and 
 flourish beautiful and immortal in the paradise of God. We 
 will regain our departed friends in the land of re-union, 
 recognition, and communion, in glory everlasting, and so 
 we may say, though with vioces made tremulous with emo- 
 tion, " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
 Holy Ghost ; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever 
 shall be, world without end. Amen, 
 
JUDGE ROBERT OULD 39 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIBLE CLASSES 
 
 Of the Second Presbyterian Church Relative to the Death of 
 
 Judge ROBERT OULD. 
 
 Pursuant to an invitation of the Bible Class of the late 
 Hon. Robert Ould, LL. D., a joint meeting of all the Bi- 
 ble Classes of the Second Presbyterian Church was held 
 in the north gallery of the Church, Sunday morning, De- 
 cember 31, 1882. 
 
 Hon. George L. Christian was called to the chair and 
 Mr. G. Watson James was made Secretary. The Chairman 
 stated that the object of the meeting was to take action 
 touching the death of Judge Ould. 
 
 Mr. James Pleasants, who, at the request of the Chair, 
 had consented to draft a memorial, after paying a brief 
 and touching tribute to the memory of the deceased, sub- 
 mitted the following : 
 
 Resolved, 1. That in the death of Judge Ould the members of his Bible 
 Class have sustained an incalculable loss. We honored, admired and loved 
 him. He excelled as a teacher of the Bible ; his great talents nowhere 
 shone more conspicuously. He brought to the task not only eminent moral 
 qualifications, such as untiring zeal, gentleness and patience of temper, a 
 courteous bearing and a faithfulness "unto death," but abilities and accom- 
 plishments of a very high order. He was a profoui d thinker, and his well- 
 trained and vigorous intellect had been ripened by culture and scholarship. 
 He was intimately versed in the knowledge of the Scriptures and a devout 
 believer in their teachings, and his studies had taken a wide range through 
 the fields of theolygy and Biblical learning. His well-known brilliant 
 powers of eloquence and debate, both as a speaker and a writer, lent to his 
 discourses and essays on the grand and solemn themes of Holy Writ the 
 charms of style and oratory; he always handled those themes with the skill 
 and ability of a master, convincing the understanding and persuading the 
 heart, 
 
40 JUDGE ROBERT OTTLD 
 
 Resolved, 2. That we, for whose good he discharged during many years 
 his "work of faith" and "labor of love" in the cause of his beloved Lord, 
 feel that ours is a peculiarly tender sorrow, beyond our common grief with 
 the citizens of this community and the members of this Church. The rela- 
 tions between him and us were so friendly and cordial ; our communion was 
 of so sacred and sweet a nature, and the tie between us so strong and holy, 
 and our intercourse so easy and delightful, that, like the Ephesian brethren 
 of old on taking their last leave of Paul at Melitus, we would weep sore, 
 sorrowing most of all that we shall see his face no more. And in this hal- 
 lowed place, where he delighted to gather us around him, and had so en- 
 deared himself to us by his loving kindness and self-sacrifice — where he 
 
 "Allured to brighter worlds and led the way," 
 
 would we record our lasting appreciation of his pre-eminent worth, our 
 gratitude for his labors and our affection for his memory. 
 
 Resolved, 3. That the works of Robert Ould, consisting of his dis- 
 courses, and essays and lectures before this class, would form a valuable 
 addition io Bibl'cal literature and learning, and should live after him ; and 
 we request of his literary executor their publication for the good of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Resolved, 4. That a copy of these proceedings be given to the widow 
 and family of our lamented teacher, and another to the session of this 
 Church, with a request that they may be spread on their minutes. 
 
 Dr. George W. Harris moved to amend the resolutions 
 so as to emlbody a request that the proceedings of the 
 meeting be published in the "Central Presbyterian." 
 
 On a motion of Mr. James, seconded by Mr. S. H. Hawes, 
 the resolutions, as amended, were unanimously adopted. 
 
 Adjourned. 
 
 Geo. L. Christian, Chairman, 
 
 G. Watson James, Secretary. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 By Mr. Booth, previously referred to : 
 
 Being the only living associate of Judge Moncure on that 
 Revision Committee of the House of Delegates in 1849, 
 (Mr. Ambler the only one of the Senate,) it has been deemed 
 appropriate and important, and expressly suggested and 
 impressed by Judge Ould, that I should present and thus 
 perpetuate any incidents and concomitants entwined and 
 interwoven in the history and associations of that great 
 and good man ; his legal fame and subsequent promotion 
 emanating from his connection and paramount achieve- 
 ments in what others have pronounced the best code of 
 laws the State ever had — and thus the circumstances of its 
 preparation of value in any subsequent exigency of simi- 
 lar character. 
 
 I will first state that it was a much better Code when it 
 passed from the committee than from the Legislature, and 
 I do not think I can enforce a more important injunction, 
 that never again should a code of laws be submitted to the 
 ratification of a promiscuous assemblage of one hundred 
 and thirty-five persons, some not highly skilled in the 
 rudiments of the inferior sciences. Some, with officious 
 pretentions in proposed alterations or amendments, would 
 excite prejudices against the explanations and protection 
 of the committee by the remark, " It is your work, and, of 
 course, we do not expect your concurrence in any amend- 
 ments," and thus succeeded in mutations and mutilations. 
 The strong-minded Vincent Witcher was put on that com- 
 mittee, as General Scott, speaker of the Senate told me, in 
 representation and protection of the county courts and 
 common people, and most faithfully did he discharge the 
 trust confided to him. He might well be regarded one of 
 6 
 
42 APPENDIX. 
 
 nature's no blemen, a " Native born Demosthenes," though 
 it is said he was late in life learning the orthography of 
 the English language, though able to use it more effectively 
 than some of the most learned scholars. He was the hardest 
 man to beat out of any position he once took I ever saw, or 
 ever expect to see again, though pleasant and courteous in 
 all his demonstrations, and a favorite with the committee. 
 
 He made war against every latin word requiring satis- 
 factory explanation of full meaning in all its ramifications. 
 
 When beaten on motion to strike out the words " bona 
 fide," he quietly left the Senate chamber where we were 
 then sitting, and after considerable absence, I well recol- 
 lect his tall form as he opened the door on his return, 
 seeming to be elongated several inches, and with magnifi- 
 cent air of triumph vociferated, " Gentlemen, I have exam- 
 ined every dictionary in the library, and the words bona 
 fide are not in one of them." 
 
 The words "bonus" and "fides" never occurred to him. 
 It was really amusing to see the chairman attempting to 
 explain and illustrate the meaning and derivation of these 
 latin words. He was generally tolerably successful until he 
 came to the words "mutatis mutandis, de bene esse," &c. 
 Ghastly ghosts with gory locks could scarcely have presented 
 a more frightful apparition. It must be admitted the chair- 
 man had all he could do to the extent of his prolific resources, 
 and a little more, but never losing his equanimity and 
 good temper. I was really not aware myself of the diffi- 
 culty of such explanation to the unsophisticated in such 
 language. However, the things to be changed, as he 
 thought, were not changed. But in the efforts of the com- 
 mittee to withdraw the intricacies of litigation from the 
 county courts and transfer them to the superior courts, and 
 simplify the proceedings by motion, Ac, were much muti- 
 lated, and, I may say, destroyed. I never attempted it in 
 my practice but once, and it then seemed so disjointed and 
 unintelligible that I never repeated it. By way of putting 
 it in better hands I gave my book, with original draft and 
 marginal notes of the different phases, to my learned friend 
 James Alfred Jones, and have no doubt he could devise 
 proceedings preferable to either. But we must make the 
 best of such matters, and leave them where we find them. 
 
 It was in this session of the Legislature, with which 
 Judge Moncure was so prominently connected, that what 
 
APPENDIX. 43 
 
 were known as the " all hazards and last extremity resolu- 
 tions" were discussed, and in which the transcendent 
 abilities of Robt. E. Scott shone with such surpassing bril- 
 liancy. With a personal courage unkown to Julius Caesar 
 (costing his valuable life, perhaps), he had to repel the 
 taunts of timidity from those who were for going out before 
 breakfast and never returned to be heard amidst the trum- 
 pet's clangor and the cannon's roar. Men in earnest about 
 fighting, and mean to stand up to it, never spoil for it, how- 
 ever — they may spoil the fight. Those gallant men at 
 Chancellorsville, so eloquently and thrillingly described 
 by General Fitz. Lee, required and possessed more than an 
 effervescence to support their heroic bravery and unrivaled 
 achievements. 
 
 Well do I recollect Mr. Scott's poised, extended arm, his 
 handsome, radiant, determined countenance, flashing eye 
 (his accurate photograph before me as I write), as he por- 
 trayed and expressed how he thought he could stand up in 
 a cause sustained by all the elements of deliberation and 
 forbearance, and determined to bear the consequences in 
 exigencies of final resort. His power seemed sufficient to 
 shake a mountain. He was immediately followed and 
 ably sustained by John A. Thompson, Esq. The angry, 
 foaming current had become too strong for effective resist- 
 ance. 
 
 Judge Moncure, I think, being so engaged otherwise, did 
 not fully embark amongst these raging whitecaps, and 
 not in full accord with party affiliations. He was fully 
 alive to all the requirements for the interests of his section 
 and constituents in questions pertaining to them — failing 
 in protection in what he regarded the blighting effects of 
 some conflicting railroad enterprise. In addition to those 
 intellectual giants previously named, that Legislature pre- 
 sented a galaxy that would glitter in any position they 
 might occupy. No ordinary man could exhibit any special 
 effulgence amongst such luminaries or actors. The present 
 living roll-call is thus fully illustrative, embracing the 
 names of Faulkner, Thomson, Barbour, Thomas, Sheffey, 
 Watson, Price, Fairfax, Ferguson, Laidley, Boyd, Dorm an, 
 Critcher, Rogers, Finney, Ambler, McCue, Burwell, Irving, 
 Chapman — others, perhaps, not occurring to me in hasty 
 enumeration, and others deceased equally meritorious. I 
 have not designed to "be discriminating or exclusive in any 
 
44 APPENDIX. 
 
 selection of names. I might thus embrace as a member of 
 that committee, as almost a part or counterpart of Judge 
 Moncure himself, in Judge Conway — really a brother-in- 
 law, I believe, {par nobile frairum) — of most exemplary Chris- 
 tian devotion and excellence, and general desirable attain- 
 ments, he and Judge Moncure concurring in politics and 
 differing from the majority of the" committee, but never, 
 that I am aware of, exciting a word of political dissension, 
 all at times uniting in Mr. Scott's social parental mansion, 
 exhibiting the fountain of his intellectual power with the 
 amenities of real elevation. Indeed, there was never any- 
 thing approaching the appellation of cold except some 
 delightful ice-cream, for which I strongly suspected that 
 Mrs. Conway Robinson was responsible, and exciting warm 
 commendation and appreciation. 
 
 Neither in debate or elsewhere did Judge Moncure have 
 any use for what the world calls bravery, bravado, pugna- 
 city, &c. He might have lived a thousand years and never 
 given or received any such offence or occasion. Nor did 
 he have any fear unless the fear of that in " fearing which 
 there's nothing else to fear." All this may be fully illus- 
 trated in the sentiment — 
 
 " I saw the martyr at the stake, 
 And not fierce flames his faith eoulcl shake, 
 Nor death his sould appal. 
 I asked him whence such strength was given? 
 He looked triumphantly to Heaven, 
 And answered, Christ is all," 
 
 As long as he felt it was his duty to be in Rich- 
 mond he didn't fear the cholera any more than he did 
 his breakfast. And here he and Mr. Witcher came in 
 direct and somewhat amusing conflict and contrast. 
 While Judge Moncure with great dignity, solemnity and 
 earnestness was uttering the expression, "The path of 
 duty is the path of safety — trust in God," Mr. Witcher 
 told the anecdote of a good, pious old lady in his sec- 
 tion, a great devotee to Providence and Providential dis- 
 pensations. He said the horse hitched to a buggv ran 
 away with her, and she afterwards said she trusted in 
 Providence till the breeching broke, and then she gave up. 
 He said he trusted in Providence till the cholera came, 
 and then he gave up ; and he carried the Legislature an4 
 Judge Moncure with it to Fauquier Springs. 
 
APPENDIX. 45 
 
 But except that I am now detailing the incidents of 
 Judge Moncure's associations, so interwoven with these 
 occurrences as to defy elimination, and in the conclusion 
 which any one can read or not, some of these presentations 
 might be regarded a digression. 
 
 In connection with the resolutions to which I have 
 referred, incidental conferences with such as Hons. Thos. 
 Ewing, Samuel F. Vinton, John J. Crittenden, Sherman 
 Seward, Mr. Lincoln's favor for Root. E. Scott, Esq., as 
 Cabinet officer, in protection and satisfaction of the South ; 
 corresponding resolutions in the handwriting of Thos. 
 Ewing, presented to a committee of the Legislature by 
 Judge Henry W. Thomas, might be profitable subjects for 
 allusion for future benefit, a sufficient length of time hav- 
 ing elapsed for the consideration and indulgence of calm 
 and deliberate meditation. 
 
 They might be considered unsuited to the present con- 
 templation and open wounds it were better to cicatrise, 
 Gov. A. H. Stephens having with great ability and research 
 written two volumes of "War Between the States." 
 
 Not so with Judge Ould. The wounds are too fresh, 
 bleeding too profusely ; the dirges sounding too solemnly 
 and extensively for any general historical biography. 
 
 Little did vre think when returning together from the 
 bar meeting for Judge Moncure, and when suggesting the 
 appropriateness of my present occupation, how soon sim- 
 ilar lamentations and appreciations would be expressed 
 for him. Truly, " in the midst of life we are in death." 
 "We had recently been associated at his own house in ani- 
 mated and elevated bridal festivities; at his own private 
 table, with charming surroundings ; in his own pew, under 
 exalted ministrations. We were Elders in the same church, 
 had associated as representatives in the same judicatories, 
 had taken " sweet counsel and walked to the house of God 
 together," realizing — 
 
 " 'Tis pleasant in our pilgrimage, 
 In fair or stormy weather, 
 To meet a traveler Zioti bound, 
 And journey on together." 
 
 His eloquent, impressive enunciatiations in presenting 
 the resolutions of the bar meeting to the Court of Appeals 
 were the re-echoing and reverberations of himself. In the 
 beautiful, eloquent, expressive words of Judge Sheifey, 
 
46 APPENDIX. 
 
 addressed to another — " I feel deeply with you in connec- 
 tion with all that pertains to that great and good man 
 whose eulogy Ould so recently pronounced with burning 
 eloquence and then died. It would seem that in gazing 
 upward, where Moncure had gone before, the attraction 
 was irresistible, and Ould was drawn up too. Two pure, 
 bright lights extinguished on earth, but still shining in 
 Heaven." 
 
 It was once, at least, the prevailing impression that the 
 profession of the law was unfavorable to the profession of 
 religion. I can only say, that with Judge John Tayloe 
 Lomax as a preceptor in the rudiments of the law, and 
 Judge Moncure as chairman of a committee revising the 
 laws, and other distinguished judges and lawyers I could 
 name, and have named, and may name, no brighter illus- 
 trations of Christian excellence and perfection need be 
 presented effectually to refute such misconception. Indeed, 
 in a former production on the "Personality of the Holy 
 Spirit," written chiefly during the war for the souls of the 
 Confederate prisoners, while supplying their bodies, I 
 remarked : " This personification or reality by faith should 
 enliven every occupation or profession, especially that 
 accustoming its votaries to the association of a judge — a 
 judgment seat, a bar, advocate, trial, judgment, penalty, 
 final decree." What surer guaranty of justice, fidelity, 
 integrity and propriety in a judge or advocate than the 
 impressive and abiding conviction that lie may become 
 the subject of similar proceedings in a court from which 
 there is no appeal from the sentence "Depart ye cursed," 
 or "Well done, good and faithful servant," &c. And when 
 the trembling convict retires under the affecting and 
 despairing benediction, "May the Lord have mercy upon 
 upon you," what an opportunity for personifying the expres- 
 sion of the martyr John Bradford under similar exhibition. 
 " There goes John Bradford, but for the grace of God," or 
 the similar expression of John Bunyan in reference to the 
 profane swearer. The written commendations of these and 
 similar sentiments are appended in the little tract or trea- 
 tise containing them, by the eminent Christian Supreme 
 Court Chief Justices Woodward and Sharswood, of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and Judge Strong, of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, and others, as well as most distinguished divines. 
 
APPENDIX. 47 
 
 General Wm. H. Broadnax, of Dinwiddle county, and 
 Gov. Gilmer, of Albemarle county, Ya., were members of 
 the Virginia Legislature at the same time, and boarded at 
 the same house. Another member, fond of gaming, &c, 
 boarded with them there. He said, when he came to his 
 breakfast with loss of sleep, appetite, and with other 
 uncomfortable annoyances, and saw his two associates come 
 in with smiling countenances and their elegant, pol- 
 lished, happy manifestations, he could not stand it, and 
 went to them in consultation, perhaps, or their actions 
 spoke louder than words ; and the consequence was he cer- 
 tainly became a member and, I think, died an Elder in the 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 General Brodnax died calmly at his home in the zenith 
 of professional fame and popularity, surrounded by all the 
 comforts and embellishments of life, remarking on the 
 morning of his death, it was the most important court he 
 was ever required to attend ; but left to his choice, he pre- 
 ferred to attend the court of Heaven, and was gratified. 
 
 Governor Gilmer had no such warning, and needed none. 
 But oh ! how unspeakably important the necessity of prep- 
 aration exhibited in an event which cast a whole nation 
 into mourning. So far from digression, these illustrations 
 follow irresistibly in the wake and presentations exhibited 
 for the distinguished individuals referred to in the public 
 remarks that have occurred, and others likely to occur, as 
 to them and others alluded to. What now remains of the 
 mighty warriors, statesmen, and others who have lived and 
 died without this faith? — perhaps .only weeping, wailing and 
 gnashing of teeth. It is said that Sir Walter Scott, who 
 had electrified the world by his books, when on his dying- 
 bed desired waiting companions to read to him. They 
 enquired from what book ? He replied there was but one 
 book in the world, and that was the Bible. 
 
 On such occasions there are sentiments and feelings too 
 big for utterance, as with Judge Anderson following 
 Judge Ould — overwhelmed by such effort and emotions for 
 his dear old friend and associate. I can only conclude with 
 the exclamation : Farewell dear friends ; we shall never 
 again meet on earth. But as this whole life compared 
 
627 
 
 48 APPENDIX. 
 
 with eternity is but a twinkling, the aching interval is 
 scarcely long enough for a parting salutation. And as to 
 those who remain — 
 
 " Then let us each in strength divine 
 Still walk in wisdom's ways, 
 That we and those we love may join 
 In never ceasing praise. 
 
 The good shall meet above, 
 
 The good shall meet above. 
 
 O ! that will be joyful, 
 
 O ! that will be joyful, 
 
 To meet to part no more."