iv ADDRESSES ON RETIREMENT OF HON. SAMUEL TREAT.
through legislation or otherwise. Though often impeded by obstructive and
unwise legislation, the judicial mind has ultimately to control. Every judge
of the supreme court of this state and of the local bench who were in office
when I commenced my first judicial labors; every jlustice of the United States
supreme court, and of the district courts, save t ree, when I passed to the
United States bench; all of my contemporaries at the bar, except a favored
few,-have gone to that "bourne whence no traveler returns." Those who
survive patiently await the inevitable. One after another has fallen, and
others must fall by the way, as the "innumerable caravan" moves forward.
It has been my painful yet grateful duty to pronounce from the bench just
tributes to the memory of those who, from year to year, have been numbered
among the departed. To-day, oilicially, I join the departed, and invoke the .
charity implied inthe well-cherished maxim, "De mortuis, " etc., which, liber-
ally interpreted, reads, "Speak no ill of those who are gone. " The elder mem-
bers of the bar will call to mind from the portraits in yonder court-room those
who nave been with me in my arduous labors. First was Justice CATRoN of
the United States. supreme court, "clmum et oenerabilc h0men."_ .Next, the
still living justice allotted to this circuit, whose judgments have been treasures
of wisdom. and whose opinions on the supreme bench have shown a strength
of learning and forecast which, as I well know, have commanded the admi-
ration, not of this country alone, but also of all cognate judicial tribunals
abroad where free government obtains. As associates, on the district bench,
I had at iirst the lea1·ned, wise, and experienced judge, Rommr W. WELLS,
who was followed in omce by one whom you all honor, and who still is with
us, ARNQLD KBEKEL. Under the changed conditions of judicial organiza-
tion, came United States circuit judges: First, that wise, learned, and hon-
ored judge, J om: F. DILLON, followed by Gnonem W. MoCnARY, equal to
all the high demands of his great oiiice; then our present circuit judge, "non
longo inte1·vaZZ0," who favors us with his presence at this hour, and whom
you all know and honor. His predecessors have been forced from their high
position through inadequate compensation, as others have been. Now may
it so be that those who remain or succeed are not to be starved into retire-
ment when theineeds of public and private justice demand such able and wise
judges forthe conservation of whatever is dearest and best to each and all in
every department of life. He will administer the oathof office to my succes-
sor, which terminates my oiiicial career, and I congratulate my successor that
so able and worthy coadjutors will be with him in the consideration of the
many important questions to be presented for their determination. i
With gratitude and thanks to each and all who have aided in my important
labors, I request the same measure of kindness and fidelity for my successor,
who you know is eminently worthy in all respects of the high trust com-
mitted to him. ~ · ' —
May I cause to be read for my- last orlicial words the following communica-
tion, which has touched me profoundly: » ‘U . »
__ U · " DEPARTMENT or J usrrcn, WASHINGTON, February 26, 1887.
"S1R: I ain directed by the president to acknowledge the receipt of your
U letter of the seventeenth inst., tenderin_g your_resignation of the office of
United States district judge for the Eastern district of.Missouri, to take effect
on the fifth day of March proximo, aud, at the same time, to express his re-
gret that the public are now to lose your valuable services, and his earnest
hope that the retirement upon which you are about to enter may be marked
by the tranquillity and happiness which all who love justice and good govern-
ment wish may attend the able and upright judge when he lays down his
oiiice. I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
U "A. H. GARLAND, Attorney General.
"T0 Hon. Samuel Treat, United States District Judge, St. Louis, ]l{o."