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character, with that which is and must be as durable as the frame of
human society.

All know, Mr. Chief Justice, the pure love of country which animated the
deceased, and the zeal, as well as the talent, with which he explained
and defended her institutions. His work on the Constitution of the
United States is one of his most eminently successful labors. But all
his writings, and all his judgments, all his opinions, and the whole
influence of his character, public and private, leaned strongly and
always to the support of sound principles, to the restraint of illegal
power, and to the discouragement and rebuke of licentious and
disorganizing sentiments. "Ad rempublicam firmandam, et ad stabiliendas
vires, et sanandum populum, omnis ejus pergebat institutio."

But this is not the occasion, Sir, nor is it for me to consider and
discuss at length the character and merits of Mr. Justice Story, as a
writer or a judge. The performance of that duty, with which this Bar
will no doubt charge itself, must be deferred to another opportunity,
and will be committed to abler hands. But in the homage paid to his
memory, one part may come with peculiar propriety and emphasis from
ourselves. We have known him in private life. We have seen him descend
from the bench, and mingle in our friendly circles. We have known his
manner of life, from his youth up. We can bear witness to the strict
uprightness and purity of his character, his simplicity and
unostentatious habits, the ease and affability of his intercourse, his
remarkable vivacity amidst severe labors, the cheerful and animating
tones of his conversation, and his fast fidelity to friends. Some of us,
also, can testify to his large and liberal charities, not ostentatious
or casual, but systematic and silent,--dispensed almost without showing
the hand, and falling and distilling comfort and happiness, like the
dews of heaven. But we can testify, also, that in all his pursuits and
employments, in all his recreations, in all his commerce with the world,
and in his intercourse with the circle of his friends, the predominance
of his judicial character was manifest. He never forgot the ermine which
he wore. The judge, the judge, the useful and distinguished judge, was
the great picture which he kept constantly before his eyes, and to a
resemblance of which all his efforts, all his thoughts, all his life,
were devoted. We may go the world over, without finding a man who shall
present a