RESIGNATION

OF

JUDGE DAVIS.

WITHIN the period of time embraced by the present Reports, the Honorable John Davis, the learned and venerable District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, resigned the office, which for more than forty years had been graced by his dignity and wisdom. Upon an intimation, that it was his intention to resign, a meeting of the Suffolk Bar was held on the 9th of July, 1841, at which it was unanimously resolved:

"That the Attorney of the United States be requested, in the name of this bar, to make known to Judge Davis the high sense we all entertain of the importance of his judicial labors, which for so many years have exhibited varied and accurate learning, sound and discriminating judgment, unwearied patience, gentleness of manners, and perfect purity; and that Mr. Attorney be requested to express our heartfelt wishes, that he may find in retirement that dignified repose, which forms the appropriate close of a long and useful life, and to bid him an affectionate farewell."

In accordance with these resolutions, Franklin Dexter, Esq., the District Attorney of the United States, at the time appointed, rose and addressed Judge Davis as follows:

May it please your Honor:- By these resolutions I am requested, in the name of the Suffolk bar, to express to you their high sense of the value of your judicial labors, and their acknowledgment of the personal kindness, as well as the distinguished ability, with which they have been performed. This is, Sir, to me a most grateful duty;- and yet I feel the difficulty of giving any adequate expression of the deep feelings of my brethren, without danger of offending the modesty, which, through a long life of usefulness, has adorned so many talents and so many virtues. I will not, therefore, depart from the simple but comprehensive language of the resolution in describing to you our general estimation of your judicial character and conduct. But let me assure you, Sir, that these are not words of mere form, required by the occasion; but the sincere and spontaneous expression of the feelings and opinions of every member of the bar, and of this commercial community. It can rarely happen, that a judge, who is called upon to decide so many delicate and important questions of property and of personal right, should so entirely have escaped all imputation of prejudice or passion, and should have found so general an acquiescence in his results. It is not to be forgotten in the peaceful tenor of the present times, that your official career has been formerly marked with extraordinary difficulties. When you assumed its duties, — more than forty years ago, before any of this fraternity had begun the active business of life, the stores of judicial learning in that peculiar branch of the law, which you have been called most frequently to administer, were by no means so near at hand as at present; then it was necessary petere fontes, and from those fountains your own decisions have, with those of your distinguished contemporaries in Europe and America, drawn down the principles of the admiralty law within the reach of comparatively easy exertion. A few years after that time the system of commercial restrictions,

adopted by the general government threw this portion of the country into a state of unparalleled distress and exasperation. An abundant and overflowing commerce was suddenly checked in all its issues and enterprises, and the revulsion threatened to break down the barriers of law, by which it was restrained. It was in the District Court, and under your administration, that this struggle took place; and although juries refused to execute the obnoxious restrictions in cases, required by the constitution to be submitted to them; yet the supremacy of the law suffered no detriment in the hands of the Court. Few of us can remember this Civium ardor jubentium, but all can imagine, how painful a duty it was to be thus placed in opposition to the feelings and interests of this community. Perhaps I may be pardoned for recalling to the minds of the bar, in your presence, the beautiful language in which your own regrets were expressed, when you felt obliged to declare, that, disastrous as its consequences were to the country, the embargo was still the law of the land, and as such to be obeyed.

"I lament the privations, the interruption of profitable pursuits and manly enterprise, to which it has been thought necessary to subject the citizens of this great community. I respect the merchant and his employment. The disconcerted mariner demands our sympathy. The sound of the axe and of the hammer would be grateful music. Ocean, in itself a dreary waste, by the swelling sail and floating streamer, becomes an exhilarating object; and it is painful to perceive, by force of any contingencies, the American stars and stripes vanishing from the scene. Commerce, indeed, merits all the eulogy, which we have heard so eloquently pronounced at the bar. It is the welcome attendant of civilized man, in all his various stations. It is the nurse of arts; the genial friend of liberty, justice, and order; the sure source of national wealth and greatness; the promoter of moral and intellectual im

provement; of generous affections and enlarged philanthropy. Connecting seas, flowing rivers, and capacious havens, equally with the fertile bosom of the earth, suggest, to the reflecting mind, the purposes of a beneficent Deity, relative to the destination and employments of man. Let us not entertain the gloomy apprehension, that advantages so precious are altogether abandoned; that pursuits so interesting and beneficial are not to be resumed. Let us rather cherish a hope, that commercial activity and intercourse, with all their wholesome energies, will be revived; and that our merchants and our mariners will, again, be permitted to pursue their wonted employments, consistently with the NATIONAL SAFETY, HONOR, and INDEPENDENCE."

From that time, Sir, down to this most interesting period, when you are about to surrender the high trust, you have so long holden, it is enough for me to say, that the bar have felt undiminished confidence in the ability and integrity of your administration of the law, and that our filial respect and affection for yourself has constantly increased with your increasing years. And while we acknowledge your right now to seek the repose of private life, we feel, that your retirement is not less, than it ever would have been, a loss to the profession and to the public.

I am further instructed, Sir, by the fraternity, to bid you an affectionate farewell, and to express to you their heartfelt wishes, that you may find in retirement that dignified repose, which forms the appropriate close of a long and useful life. May it be so, Sir. May you live long and happily, as long as life shall continue to be a blessing to you; and so long will that life be a blessing to your friends and to society.

Judge Davis was sensibly affected at this address, and it was some moments before he was able to respond. When he commenced his reply, the bar rose and gathered round the

bench, while the venerable judge delivered the following address.

Gentlemen of the Suffolk Bar:-I receive gratefully and with deep sensibility your generous and kind expressions, communicated by a representative most justly entitled to that selection, and to whom I would tender my acknowledgments for his very acceptable performance of the duty, which it has been your pleasure to assign to him on this occasion.

There are considerations, besides habitual taste and temperament, which would dispose me to meet the event of this day in silent soberness, with the full persuasion, which, I was assured, might be indulged, that our official relation would be dissolved with mutual friendly regards. But I yield to an arrangement, which is more consonant with your kind wishes, and in which there seems to be an obvious propriety and fitness. At all times, and especially in this place, we are bound to regard the fitness of things.

Somewhat more than half of my life has been spent in the office, which I am now to relinquish. With the members of this bar, and with their predecessors, I have had frequent, gratifying, and improving intercourse. Should I attempt to give expression to the recollections, which on this occasion arise rapidly and somewhat confusedly to my view, I could do it but imperfectly. If a history of my time should ever be sketched, it must be with more deliberate preparation. Some reminiscences, however, seem due to the occasion; the indulgence is among the privileges of age, hope, which will not be abused.

a privilege, I

The Suffolk Bar, at the commencement of the present century, was not numerous, though even then, I believe, solicitous aspirants were heard to complain, that the profession was crowded. The whole number was but thirty-three; five barristers; twenty attorneys of the Supreme Judicial Court, and eight of the Common Pleas. The barristers were James