Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/261

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The Green Bag.

from the Court of Appeals. His death was announced in all the courts in Baltimore, and a meeting of the Bar was held in the Superior Court room, including leading members of the profession. A committee of seven was appointed to prepare resolutions, who re ported the following : " Resolved, That we mourn the loss of John Carroll Le Grand, late Chief Justice of Maryland, as the departure of one whose mind and culture have ennobled his name in the judicial ministry of his native State. "Resolved, That lost though as he now is to our cordial converse, and to the light of jurisprudence, there is consolation in offering to his memory the expression of our admiration for his commanding and philosophic intellect, his ample and well di gested learning, and for his judicial independence, impartiality and efficiency, which ever had truth and justice for their end, and that have secured for him the fame that shall brightly live in the re cords of our highest judicature. "Resolved, That not less for his intellectual and official honors is he in remembrance endeared to us for his soul of kindness and his unpretend ing manner, and for the impulses of a good and tender heart, always and practically swayed by the claims of right and of suffering." Then followed expressions of sympathy for his family, and the resolution to attend his funeral in a body, and to wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. In presenting the resolutions, Charles F. Mayer, Esq. said : " The death-roll in our forum has again been called, and the shrouded ' Who next?' has been answered. John Carroll Le Grand has been summoned from our fellowship — from the toils and the honors of life's little, fretted hour — to the home of the soul—i- into the vast awe of eternity. As closed his official day, so in the same horizon was the sunset of his life. Thus in his last vision of earth has he made up his memorial of public service, and in scribed himself upon the'record of our civil history. Let us read that tablet, not seek ing to deck it with undeserved eulogy which mocks the dignity of the tomb and profanes

the sincere solemnity of death; but let us rehearse the imprint of his career as merit alone there traces truth, and gives light that should live above his grave. Let us con template our departed brother as he was in his mind, his culture, and his heart — in the service of his public functions, and in the kindness of his nature." Mr. Mayer went on to give an elaborate sketch of- Judge Le Grand's career as a lawyer and as judge, dwelling specially upon the analytical cast of his mind, and of his independence as a thinker. John P. Poe, at that time a most promis ing member of the Baltimore Bar, now the Attorney-General of Maryland, paid a very feeling tribute to the deceased Chief Justice. He said : " His career was, in many respects, a remarkable one. Called at an early age to a seat on the Bench, he soon exhibited that clearness and force, that quickness of comprehension and that power of analysis which were the leading characteristics of his mind. The Governor of the State, recogniz ing his peculiar fitness, gave him the position of Chief Justice, and it is to his decisions, while holding that high office, that his friends take pleasure in referring as the best eulogium upon his character. There will be found the existence of those qualities of mind and heart which are claimed for him. There will be seen the operations of a comprehensive mind, eliminating from long records the vital questions involved,' and clothing in vigor ous, clear and precise language the result of his reflection and study. There will be seen the principles of the law, aided, though not encumbered by its authorities, invoked in the settlement of protracted suits upon the firm foundations of justice. In them may easily be traced broad generalization, searching analysis, lucid arrangement, and vigorous argument. "Judge Le Grand was not more distin guished for quickness of apprehension than for uprightness and impartiality. He never suffered his feelings for the parties or the