ments. He lent an important but remainder of his life. It was varied in candid support to the Administration, its early years by the publication of his declining the Department of War, when "Life of Washington," a comprehensive it was offered him, but serving for a work, plainly and sincerely written, year in the Department of State, till with no little research and industry. he was summoned, in the beginning of Marshall saw in the Life of Washing1801, to be Chief Justice of the United ton, the history of his country; he States. For thirty-four years, till his therefore, while he presented him as death, he presided over the Supreme the central figure, hesitated not to Court, called upon to decide the most introduce a review of current public important questions of constitutional transactions; he even carried this law, affecting the conflicts of States further by commencing his work with and the General Government, the supe- an elaborate view of Colonial History— riority of the judiciary to the legisla- complete enough in itself to be deture in the final appeal, and whatever tached, as it has been, from the reof a mixed nature arose in the working mainder of the narrative. He had of the government. His rulings and access to the original papers of Washcharge at the trial of Burr for treason, ington, and though he was far from exover which he presided at Richmond, hausting that extraordinary stock of have something more than merely the inestimable materials, drew from them legal interest of many of his decisions. a vast amount of authentic matter. Involving directly the great questions of the liberty of the subject, in relation to the state, they belong to the history of the country, and its vital existence.

The Life of Washington has since been written by various pens-by Mr. Sparks, Washington Irving, and others—but we believe it is acknowledged by those who are most faithful in original researches, that the work of Marshall is truthfulness itself. Surely no one could know Washington better; few could write from so large a personal participation in his deeds of war and peace. In 1829, Marshall sat with the memorable men of his State, that brilliant assemblage of political chieftains which met at Richmond for the revision of the Virginia Constitution.

The writings of Marshall on the Constitution were separately published after his death, under the supervision of Justice Story. They form a volume worthy to be ranked as a sequel to the "Federalist," embracing adjudications of many of the most important points of law arising under the great instrument heralded in that work to the public by Jay, Madison and Hamilton, by one who was the peer of these fathers of the Republic.1 He was now beyond the age of three Marshall's judicial career covers the score, approaching the termination of his career. The fine-hearted old man bore up well through the long years which brought sorrow and infirmity to him, as they do to most; the loss of his

The reader will find an epitome of the more important of Marshall's decisions in that faithful biographical work,

"Van Santvoord's Sketches of the Lives and Judicial Services of the Chief Justices."

wife touched him deeply; Story found occasion to send home a turkey which him, one day, shedding tears at the he had purchased, placing it, without thought of the departed bride of his the least hesitation, in the hands of the youth, and stay of his manhood and Chief Justice, who accompanied the age; he had, too, an afflictive disease- youth home with his burden. It was yet he presided in court to the last, only when the porter pleasantly refused with unimpaired mental power. At pay for his service that the proprietor the close of the term, in the spring of of the turkey began to perceive some1835, he travelled to Philadelphia for thing in the appearance of the old gen. medical relief; the operation to which tleman, whom, upon inquiry, he ascer he submitted was considered successful; tained to be-John Marshall. There but he died shortly after, on the sixth are other anecdotes of equal simplicity of July. His remains were taken to well deserving the pen of some faithful Richmond, and the funeral services Virginian chronicler. performed by his friend, Bishop Moore. He left a modest, simple inscription for his tomb, written but two days before his death, recording only his parentage, the date of his birth and his marriage, with the name of his wife, and a blank space for the day of his death.

Let the youth of America ponder well the great example of his life, and note how few and simple are the ele ments of honorable success in the world. Nature had, indeed, given Marshall a capacious mind, of equal power and discrimination; the rest seems to have been accomplished by a process as spon taneous as the flowering of the plant from the bud: by the simple exertion of straightforward fidelity and honesty. He goes quietly and modestly through the world, never seeking office-the office always seeking him. No controversies or discussions darken his fair fame. His high duty is before him; Washington summons him to it, he would decline it, but goes forward; he had been called to the Supreme Court, and refused, but called a second time, he accepts; and serving longer than the life-time of a generation, his fame growing out around him noiselessly, like a process of nature, he gathers his robes about him, and lies down to rest

In person, Marshall was tall, slender, erect, his eye black, not large but bright, his hair black till age. The simplicity and benevolence of his character were extraordinary. Anecdotes of the Chief Justice are the delight of the social circles of Virginia, in which he is remembered by many survivors They all point to his genuine, unaf fected worth, and the kindness of his nature. The story is told of his club at Richmond, and their innocent, boyish hilarity in pitching quoits, a game in which Marshall delighted from youth. He was careless of dress, quite rustic in his appearance. An anecdote is related of a fashionable young gentleman, not acquainted with his person, meeting him one day at market, and having at fourscore.

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.