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Annual Address 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Maryland State Bar Association 
 
 BY 
 
 Hon. JAMES ALFRED PEARCE, 
 
 AT OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND, 
 
 July 3d, 1902. 
 
 HAN ZHOU K ic <X>MI»ANV. 
 
 •_> T^KJIIT STKKKT. 
 V 1 »02. 
 
Annual Address 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Maryland State Bar Association 
 
 BY. 
 
 Hon. JAMES ALFRED PEARCE, 
 
 'J 
 
 AT OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND, 
 
 .July ;J<1. 11)0^2. 
 
 HAT/riMORE: 
 
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 •2 L.IOHT STKKKT, 
 
 1002. 
 
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L 
 
 Hon. RICHARD BENNETT CARMICHAEL. 
 
 Mr. FrcsidciU, and i;eiUlcmL'n of the Maryland State Bar 
 Association: 
 
 In complying with the request to read one of the minor 
 papers upon this occasion, I shall not venture upon the 
 treatment of any purely legal topic, and shall only seek to 
 make a modest contribution to the Legal Biography of our 
 State, in recognition of the duty which rests upon our pro- 
 fession to pay just tribute to the memory of its departed 
 leaders. 
 
 In selecting from the long list of those who might thus be 
 fitly honored, but whose praise is yet unsung, I have chosen 
 one who "dwelt beside untrodden ways," who sought no noto- 
 riety in life, and who, judged by the standards ordinarily 
 accepted, attained no great pre-eminence among his cotem- 
 poraries; yet one who was recognized by all who knew him 
 well, as a man of real intellectual power, a lawyer of unques- 
 tioned ability, and a learned and just jutlge, who, in his great 
 office, illustrated the highest virtues of citizenship and the 
 most exalted courage in the discharge of public duty. 
 
 Those whose lot has been cast among the great ones of 
 earth, whose faculties and talents have been developed, and 
 whose ambition has been stimulated in the strife which large 
 fields and arduous competition render inevitable, fill a large 
 space in the public gaze while living, and suffer no eclipse 
 when their sun goes down in death. These need no biogra- 
 pher. Tradition, with its thousand voices, trumpets their 
 fame to posterity, and their shadow grows larger and larger 
 upon the horizon as time recedes. But it is not thus with 
 those, however fitted .by nature for great things, whose lives 
 are passed in the seclusion of rural communities. 
 
4 Maryland State Bai' Association. [1902 
 
 "******** Strongest minds 
 Are often those of whom the noisy world 
 Hears least; ****** who leave 
 Their graces unrevealed and unproclaimed, 
 Though they are filled with inward light." 
 
 These have their little day, and are beloved and honored 
 by their homely friends and neighbors with whom they leave 
 a fragrant memory, but their simple annals are unknown be- 
 yond the narrow circle in which they have lived and died. 
 
 One, who has himself won immortality as a poet, has said 
 
 of such, 
 
 "We count the broken lyres that rest 
 Where the sweet wailing singers slumber. 
 But o'er their silent sister's breast, 
 The wild flowers, who shall stoop to number? 
 A few may touch the magic string 
 And noisy fame is proud to win them; 
 Alas ! for those who never sing. 
 But die with all their music in them." 
 
 The subject of this paper is the Hon. Richard Bennett 
 Carmichael, who, from April 23rd, 1858, to March 10th, 
 1864, was the Judge of the then Seventh Judicial Circuit of 
 Maryland, composed of the counties of Kent, Queen Anne's, 
 Caroline and Talbot. He was born in Centreville, Queen 
 Anne's county, on Christmas day, 1807. His father was 
 William Carmichael, a distinguished lawyer of that period, 
 and a friend and fellow student of Chief Justice Roger B. 
 Taney while the latter was reading law under the direction of 
 Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase. Judge Taney has left in 
 the first chapter of Tyler's Memoir of his life, which is from 
 his own pen, an allusion to William Carmichael, which may be 
 appropriately reproduced here, as showing the stock from 
 which Judge Carmichael was descended. Judge Taney says: 
 "I have always deemed it a fortunate circumstance that Wil- 
 "liam Carmichael of the Eastern Shore of this State came to 
 "Annapolis to read law while I was there. We became inti- 
 "mate friends, and roomed together for a year. We read in 
 "different offices; but we read the same books, and at the 
 
1902] Annual Address by Hon. J as. Alfred Pearce. 5 
 
 "same time, and every night we talked over the reading of 
 "the chiy, and the principles it established and the distinctions 
 "ant! qualifications to which they were subject. We did not 
 "talk for victory but for mutual information, and neither of 
 "us felt, or was entitled to feel, any superiority of genius or 
 "information over the other." 
 
 Here I feel that, I may fitly interrupt this passage from 
 Judge Taney's Memoir, to observe that these words, written 
 when he was nearing th(> fod of his career, are at once a 
 splendid trilnitc to the intrllcctual jjowcr of Mr. Carmi- 
 chael, and a signal proof of the modesty, which characterised 
 his own long and illustrious life. 
 
 Resuming, he says: "Mr. Carmichael afterwards became 
 "eminent at the Bar; but inheriting, by the death of his father, 
 "a large landed estate, and attached to a country life, he grad- 
 "ually withdrew himself from the profession, and finally, while 
 "he was yet in the prime of life, abandoned it altogether, and 
 "devoted himself to tlu- pursuits of agriculture. He died a 
 "few months ago. The friendship formed between us when 
 "students, continued uii!)roken and undiminished to the time 
 "of his death, and 1 could not write my i)iography without 
 "recording our early associations, nor can I introduce his 
 "name without expressing the cordial frien<lshi[) I entertained 
 "for him. He was a frank, manly, high-miiulcd gentleman." 
 
 Such was the sire of Judge Carmichael, antl we do not need 
 to question the moral and mental atmosphen- in which he 
 grew to manhood. riic homely adage, "like father, like 
 son,'" had never better proof than in the legal ability, the 
 spotless integrity, and the lofty courage for which he was 
 distinguished. 
 
 He was for a time a student at Dickinson College, but was 
 graduated at Princeton, in 1S2S, with the first honors of his 
 class; immediately began the study of law, and was admitted 
 to the Bar of Queen Anne's County in 18:^0. He was at once 
 taken into the confidence of the business community, and soon 
 established himself as one of the leaders of the Circuit, con- 
 tinuing in active and important practice until ht* went upon 
 
6 Maryland State Bar Association. [1902 
 
 the Bench, nearly thirty years later. In politics he was a 
 Democrat, and was elected to the House of Delegates of 
 Maryland in 1831, and again in 1841 and 1866. In 1833 he 
 he was elected to the House of Representatives from a dis- 
 trict then embracing Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Caroline and 
 Talbot, but declined to become a candidate for renomination 
 in 1835. In 1847 he was again nominated for Congress, the 
 district being then changed by detaching Caroline and adding 
 Harford, and was defeated by Hon. Alexander Evans of 
 Cecil; in 1872 he was nominated for Congress, without his 
 knowledge and consent, and declined to accept the nomina- 
 tion. In 1856, 1864, 1868 and 1876 he was a delegate to the 
 Democratic National Convention, and in 1867 he was a mem- 
 ber, and President, of the Constitutional Convention which 
 framed the present Constitution of the State. Although a 
 Democrat, he was, upon the death of Judge Hopper, in April 
 1858, appointed Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, by Gov- 
 ernor Thomas Holliday Hicks, who had been elected by the 
 American Whig or Know Nothing Party, and, although that 
 party was then very strong in that Circuit, it refrained from 
 making any nomination in 1859, and he was nominated and 
 elected without opposition, for a full term. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this article to give an elaborate 
 biography of Judge Carmichael, but to deal with a single inci- 
 dent in his history as a Judge. The references which have 
 been made, however, to the positions of trust and honor which 
 he held, will serve to show the confidence reposed in him by 
 the people and by the authorities of the State. His lineage 
 gave assurance of the inheritance which was his, and when he 
 came to the Bench he had demonstrated to the people of the 
 Circuit, in his private and public life, that their rights of 
 person and property, the honor and the welfare of the State, 
 would be sacredly guarded in his hands. From his induction 
 into oflice, in the Spring of 1858, until the Spring of 1861, he 
 pursued the even tenor of the way which is characteristic of 
 life in all agricultural communities, treating with respect and 
 consideration the counsel who conducted the business of his 
 
1902] Annual Address by Hon Jas. Alfred Pearce. 7 
 
 courts, and with grave and gentle courtesy the humble men 
 who were the greater part of the suitors; winning the confi- 
 dence and regard alike of counsel and suitors, because each 
 believed in his absolute sense of justice. 
 
 Sydney Smith has said: "The most obvious and important 
 "use of this perfect justice is tliat it makes nations safe; under 
 "common circumstances the institutions of justice seem to 
 "have little or no bearing upon the safety or security of a 
 "country, but in periods of real danger, then it is the advan- 
 "tages of just institutions are discovered. Instances are re- 
 "membered where tiie weak prevailed over the strong; one 
 "luan recalls to mind when a just and upright judge protected 
 "him from unlawful violence, gave him back his vineyard, 
 "rebuked his oppressor, restored him to his rights, published, 
 "condemned and rectified the wrong. This is what is called 
 "country. Equal rights to unequal possessions; equal justice 
 "to the rich and poor." In these United States the unit of 
 the nation is the State, and the courts with which the people 
 are chiefly brought in contact, and from whose administration 
 of law their ideas of justice and right are derived, are the courts 
 of the several States which compose the Federal Union, and 
 according as this administration is just, impartial, and firm, 
 their confidence is generous and assured. Their point of 
 contact with the Federal Courts is that of a tangent only, and 
 their standards of judicial conduct and constitutional right are 
 formed vipon their obser\ation of the State Courts which are 
 subject not only to the Constitution and laws of the State, but 
 to such provisions of the Constitution and laws of the United 
 States, as are made paramount to those of the State. 
 
 The inauguration of civil war in the early part of 1S61 
 precipitated new and difficult questions upon the people and 
 upon the State and Federal governments, and in no State was 
 the situation more delicate than in Maryland, a border State 
 embracing the Federal capital, and adjoining for the whole 
 length of the Potomac, our sister State of \'irginia, the great 
 bulwark of the Southern Confederacy. It would be idle 
 affectation to deny that the sympathies of the people of 
 
8 Maryland State Bar Association. [1902 
 
 Maryland were from the first with the South, and especially 
 with Virginia, and that this feeling continued throughout that 
 great struggle; but it is none the less certain that after the 
 reaction from the conflict in the streets of Baltimore on the 
 19th of April, it was recognized by all thoughtful citizens of 
 the State that its geographical position, and its relation to the 
 seat of government fixed its political status also, and thereafter 
 the policy and purpose of the State in all departments of 
 government was that of honest and deliberate adherence to 
 the Union. Moreover the doctrine of secession, though sin- 
 cerely and ardently believed by many persons, was denied by 
 a large majority of the citizens of the State, and there was 
 never a time when the voters of the State, or any convention, 
 had one been called for the consideration of the question, 
 would not have declared emphatically against it. This was ap- 
 parent to all intelligent and well-informed observers, neverthe- 
 less the mistaken statesmanship of those who surrounded the 
 President was "to treat the State as an alien or conquered 
 "province, and her people as public enemies. The civil 
 "power was overborne and military rule established on its 
 "ruins." Hundreds of peaceful citizens, guiltless in deed or 
 thought, were arrested without warrant of law, by military 
 force, without even the charge of crime, and were denied any 
 form of trial. The Marshal of Police, and the Mayor of Bal- 
 timore, who risked their lives to protect the Massachusetts 
 soldiers from the mob which beset them, and the Police 
 Commissioners of the City, were thrown into government 
 forts and prisons. The Legislature of the State was invaded, 
 dispersed, and its most distinguished and law abiding mem- 
 bers were consigned to gloomy dungeons beyond the State, 
 and subjected to personal indignities and hardships, which, in 
 this country, have never been inflicted upon covicted felons. 
 For one who witnessed these deeds it is impossible, even after 
 the lapse of forty years, to speak of them without betraying 
 the indignation which every fair minded and patriotic citizen 
 then felt, whatever may have been his views upon the ques- 
 tion of secession, and I should be wanting in sincerity if I 
 
1902] Annual Address by Hon. Jas. A/f red Pearce. 9 
 
 soujT^ht for any reason to conceal or veil the indignation which 
 tlu'ir memory now recalls. 
 
 The historian or biographer, however humble, if he wcnild 
 justify himself and his theme, must state facts as he finds 
 them, without distorting or veiling them in false courtesy to 
 possii)le difference of opinion among his hearers; and if a 
 lawyer, speaking" upon a question of legal right, and address- 
 ing himself to an association of lawyers, must speak with 
 bated breath, U'st his taste and manners be called in cjuestion, 
 we should, indeed, have fallen upon evil times; but I shall not 
 insult your generosity nor your manhood by the anticipation 
 of any adverse criticism upon my theme or the freedom of 
 my speech. 
 
 The spring jury tfrms in Judge Carniichaers'Circuit had 
 been held before any of the xiolations of law, to which I have 
 referred, had occurred in that jurisdiction, but, during the 
 summer, a number of military arrests were made in several of 
 the counlies, and as the time drew near for the election of the 
 various county otitices, these arrests increased in frequency. 
 Military camps were established at various points to overawe 
 all voters who did not favor the candidates of the Union party, 
 and soldiers were made the tools of the base and cowardly 
 element which made merchandise of its professed loyalty. In 
 Queen Anne's County, where Judge Carmichael resided, the 
 Clerk of the Circuit Court was Madison Brown, Esq., a law- 
 yer of distinction, and a former partner of Judge Carmichael. 
 A few days before the November term of that court he was 
 arrested by United States soldiers, and carried before the 
 Colonel in command, at a camp near Centreville, to answer to 
 some imaginary charge of treason. He was paroled, however, 
 before the court was opened, the instigators of the outrage 
 believing that his arrest would indicate the power and purpose 
 of the Government to override all law, and would strike terror 
 into the hearts of citizens and State otticers alike. These law- 
 less and violent acts did create wide spread alarm, and re- 
 duced the timid and weak to the state of desired submission, 
 but they produced no such effect upon the intrepid soul of 
 
10 Maryland State Bar Association. [1902 
 
 Judge Carmichaei. It had been the immemorial practice in 
 that Circuit, and in some other parts of the State, to charge 
 the grand jury, generally, as to all infractions of law, and 
 specially, as to any unusually flagrant violation, and Judge 
 Carmichaei was not the man to omit the performance of any 
 duty because of any personal danger involved in its perform- 
 ance. Accordingly he charged the grand jury that these 
 arrests were arbitrary and unlawful, and that it was their duty 
 to present those who made and instigated them. To the 
 honor of the citizens of that county, presentments were 
 found, but the soldiers who made the arrests were ordered 
 away before process could be served. The court met in 
 Talbot two weeks later. Similar arrests had been made 
 there, and the grand jury was charged in the same terms, and 
 presentments were found with the same result. This charge 
 was in writing, and has been preserved. It is a legal classic, 
 worthy of study by every lawyer in Maryland; an exposition 
 of our muniments of constitutional liberty to be cherished by 
 every American citizen, and it so illustrates and illuminates 
 the high character and splendid courage of Judge Carmichaei 
 that I shall not hesitate to quote freely from it. After refer- 
 ring to the ordinary matters brought before the body, he 
 said: "Having now, charged you, generally, of the duties of 
 "your high office, here I would dismiss you to your chamber, 
 "if my duty did not require me to. invite your notice to acts 
 "of outrage and violence unusual in this quarter. Through 
 "the public papers, and otherwise, it has come to my knowl- 
 "edge that violations of law have been committed by" persons 
 "holding themselves above the law, which, by tacit accord, 
 "for some reason have as yet escaped the cognizance of the 
 "authorities. Violent and dangerous injuries have been com- 
 "mitted upon your citizens, while the process of law has been 
 "forbidden to reach the offender. Arrests have been made, 
 "utterly groundless as it turned out; but whether with cause 
 "or not, by persons having no legal competency to make 
 "arrests, and without 'warrant of law,' or process from legal 
 "authority. A squad of soldiers, with no pretence of author- 
 
1902] Annual Address by Hon Jas. Alfred Pearce. 11 
 
 "ity but their arms, it is said, have invaded the homes of your 
 "fellow citizens and dragged them to their camp. There they 
 "have been detained as long as it suited the pleasure of their 
 "captors. 
 
 "These are the cases to which \'our attention is directed; and 
 "now a word about the law, and but for the very peculiar 
 "state of affairs, I should be content to leave you to the 
 "counsels of the State. But it belongs to every department 
 "to bear its share of duty in the administration of the law. 
 "Yours is imperative, mine is not less so. 
 
 "Is there one in your panel here, where the law has been 
 "held supreme, where, twice in every year, from time imme- 
 "morial, its ministrations have been conducted, who does not 
 "know that the facts stated constitute offence against the 
 "law ? 1 have told you that your duties extended to every 
 "case of public wrong. The mandate of your solemn obliga- 
 "tion requires that you make true presentment of all such 
 "matters as shall come to your knowledge, and if all, then 
 "there is no exception, and your cognizance must be exercised 
 "on the matters mentioned, unless you find some dispensing 
 "power, of which I have found no mention in the law. 
 
 "Offences are the acts of persons. Every person, public or 
 "private, high or low, is subject to the visitation of the law. 
 "Whether invested with the robes of power, or clad in rags, 
 "all are alike amenable to its sanctions. That the law only is 
 "supreme in this land, you have heard proclaimed by my 
 "honored predecessors, from this place, at every term. 
 "Heretofore I have so pronounced — my duty now still bids 
 "me to repeat the same to you, gentlemen, the grand inquest, 
 "its chosen ministers. 
 
 "Arbitrary, illegal and false imprisonments have been un- 
 "known to our modern history. * * * * Almost every 
 "crime anil misdemeanor, with this exception, have found 
 "persons wicked enough to commit them. It will strike you 
 "how sacred the right of ])ersonal freedom has been held 
 "within this jurisdiction. * "*" * * It is the hereditary 
 "ri^ht of .\m(M"ican freemen. It was the right of their an- 
 
12 , Maryland State Bar Association. [1902 
 
 "cestors before American independence. Before that day, a 
 "British subject could not be arrested but under process of 
 "law. * * * * This process was required to be founded 
 "on oath, disclosing the cause of arrest. Made otherwise, it 
 "was false imprisonment, an offence which an eminent Eng- 
 "lish jurist declares 'a heinous public crime,' for which 'the 
 "law demands public vengeance.' Exemption from the 
 "exercise of power to make or order such arrest, is the birth- 
 "right of Americans. They trace it back in the musty scrolls 
 "of the mother country for ages long past. It is inscribed, 
 "in letters of light, in the Constitution of Maryland. This 
 "right may yet be found in the Constitution of the United 
 "States — the supreme law before which every person, poten- 
 "tatc, and power in the United States must give place. 
 
 * * * * "This freedom from imprisonment without 
 "due process is absolute in the citizen, with only two except- 
 "ions. One, in which he is found in the very act of commit- 
 "ting a felony, which obtains in England and in this country; 
 "the other, where he has exchanged the citizen for the soldier, 
 " — 'in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia 
 "when in actual service in the time of war or public danger.' 
 "The circumstances in which we are, instruct me to remind 
 "you, that your inquiries into, and action upon, this subject, 
 "are to be conducted unmoved by prejudice, unswerved by 
 "favor, and unawed by fear. I cannot doubt that you will 
 "not be warped by prejudice nor by favor. As you are free- 
 "men, you are required to swear that you will not be restrained 
 "by fear in the discharge of your duty. A freeman should 
 "have no fear but of his God. The law is ordained by Him. 
 "It commands what is right, and forbids what is wrong. It 
 "would be mockery, and I would not permit you to take the 
 "oath to act without fear, if there was an earthly power to 
 "restrain your free will. ***=;: With the conditions 
 "of our unhappy country, the evils which exist, their causes, 
 "and who are to be blamed, I have nothing to say here. I 
 "have my own strong opinion. Others entertain another 
 "opinion. They are entiUed to their opinion and I am equally 
 
1902] Annual Address by Hon. Jas. Alfred Pearce. 13 
 
 "entitled to mine. I would not trespass upon my own sense 
 "of propriety by alluding to these subjects here. But I should 
 "feci myself, and I should be regarded by others, unworthy 
 "of this place, if I should fail to charge you of offences 
 "against the law, be the offenders who they may." 
 
 The delivery of this charge produced a profound sensation, 
 and created deep apprehension for the safety of Judge Car- 
 michael, but not until the succeeding May term of the Talbot 
 Court, were these fears realized. At that time, while the 
 judge was engaged in the trial of a cause. Provost Marshal 
 McPhail, with a number of deputies, and a squad of soldiers 
 detailed for the purpose by General Dix, entered the court 
 room, and surrounded the bench. The Marshal informed the 
 fudge that he was under arrest without stating upon what 
 charge. The Judge replied: "I do not recognize your author- 
 ity;" and upon being seized by one of the deputies, indig- 
 nantly threw him off, when he was immediately assailed upon 
 all sides with blows upon his bare head from the butts of pis- 
 tols, dragged bleeding and senseless from the bench, and 
 borne to a steamer in waiting, by which he was conveyed to 
 Fort McHenry. 
 
 After remaining there six weeks in close confinement, he 
 was removed to Fort LaFayette, and for two months was im- 
 prisoned in a damp casemate, where he contracted rheuma- 
 tism which lamed him for life. Later on he was transferred 
 to Fort Uelaware, where he remained till December 10th, 
 when he was discharged without a word of explanation. 
 
 To two respectful letters addressed to the President, one, 
 during his imprisonment in July, 1862, and one immediately 
 after his discharge, both asking to be informed with what 
 offence he was charged, no reply was vouchsafed, nor did he 
 ever learn the alleged cause of his arrest. For more than 
 seven months no civil or criminal process issued or was exe- 
 cuted in that Circuit, the courts of which were as effectually 
 closed to the administration of justice as if they had been 
 abolished by constitutional means. "Inter arnia silent leges," 
 
14 Maryland State Bar Association. [1902 
 
 had ever been the tyrants plea. It was now proclaimed a 
 canon of free constitutional government. 
 
 During the new dispensation thus inaugurated, a number 
 of citizens of Caroline County and Kent County were arrested 
 and imprisoned by military force, and at the spring terms of 
 those courts, in 1863, Judge Carmichael repeated substantially 
 the same charge previously delivered in Talbot County, 
 saying in addition: "If that charge contained the law then, 
 "and for those juries, the same is the law now, and for you, 
 "gentlemen. To the same effect have several of the courts 
 "in Northern States held the law within a few months, and 
 "many eminent jurists have lent the authority of their names 
 "in maintenance of its obligation. Is it possible for any to 
 "gainsay it? If it is so written in the Constitution, and if that 
 "which is written there be the law, that a citizen is not liable 
 "to arrest without warrant of law, then he cannot be arrested 
 "without legal process, unless the Constitution has been re- 
 "pealed by the power which brought it into being, or unless 
 "it has been deposed by an usurper. That it has not been 
 "repealed by the authority which created it, need not to be 
 "said to you, because that could not be done without your 
 "individual agency in part. If you say it has been deposed, 
 "be that your part, not mine. Until a new regime is declard, 
 "my obligation stands in the terms and meaning of my oath — 
 'to support the Constitution of the United States, and to bear 
 "true allegiance to the State of Maryland.' Your obligation 
 "is the same, and being the same, it'is not necessary to say it 
 "is binding on your conscience, and ought to be supreme 
 "over your wills. It would be a disrespect of which I shall 
 "not be guilty, to persuade your performance of a duty, to 
 "which you have been sworn. * * * * And now I dis- 
 "miss you to your chamber." 
 
 Is it too much to say that I believe nobler words were 
 never spoken, and may I not safely leave to you, a represent- 
 ative body of Maryland lawyei's, to determine what was the 
 quality and degree of personal and professional courage re- 
 quired for their utterance, and what our debt of gratitude for 
 them ? 
 
1 1»0-2] Annual Address by Hon. J as. Alfred Pearce. 15 
 
 Broken in health, and wounded in spirit by the treatment 
 received at the hands of his country, having done all that was 
 in human power to execute the sworn duties of his ofifice; and 
 to maintain the constitutional rights of the people, he resigned 
 the judgeship and retired to private life, with the benedictions 
 of all good and true men in the State. 
 
 We are justly proud of the honor reflected upon the Fred- 
 erick County Court by its decision that the odious Stamp 
 Act of ITGo was unconstitutional, and we boast that all the 
 majesty of the Crown and of the Parliament was not sufficient 
 to deter those judges from so declaring. 
 
 We all feel that the crowning glory in the judicial career 
 of Chief Justice Taney was his calm and fearless assertion of 
 the supremacy of the Constitution in the celebrated habeas 
 corpus case of John Merryman. Every noble word and brave 
 deed, spoken and done in the discharge of duty, or in the 
 maintenance of liberty under the law, strikes a responsive 
 chord in every generous and manly heart. 
 
 If then, I have correctly understood the purposes for which 
 this Association was formed, and if I have not misinterpreted 
 the spirit and temper of the Maryland Bar, you will commend 
 the motives which induced this humble effort to commemorate 
 the personal and professional heroism of Judge Carmichael, 
 
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