Memoir of John Howe Peyton / in sketches by his contemporaries, together with some of his public and private letters, etc., also a sketch of Ann M. Peyton

by Unknown

MR. PEYTON'S LETTER ON BEHALF OF THE BAR TO JUDGE TUCKER.

In 1841, H. St. George Tucker resigned his position as a Judge of the Court of Appeals, in order to accept the position of Professor of Law in the University of Virginia. The following proceeding took place. A meeting of the bar assembled over which Mr. Peyton presided, and the meeting appointed him a committee of one to express their sentiments on the occasion which he did, and the Court adopted them as its sentiments and ordered them to be placed on record, as follows:

Virginia: At a Court of Appeals held at Lewisburg on Thursday, the 5th day of August, 1841:

Present: The Honorable Francis T. Brooke, William H. Cabell, Robert Standard and John I. Allen. The remaining members of the Court of Appeals cordially concurring with the Bar in their sentiments expressed in their letter to the late President of the Court on his retiring from office, it is ordered that their letter and reply to it be put upon the records of the Court:

Dear Sir:

At a late meeting of the Bar of the Court of Appeals at Lewisburg, assembled for the purpose of giving expression to the feelings occasioned by your retiring from the office of President of that Court, I had the honor to act as Chairman, and to be instructed by the meeting, with perfect unanimity, to communicate to you their sentiments of sincere regret and most kind and respectful regard. We know from observation the great responsibility, the arduous labor and high qualifications required by the eminent station which you have so long and so ably filled. The talent, the learning and research displayed in your judicial opinions are known to the country at large. But none can know and appreciate, so well as the officers of your Court, the spirit in which your duties have been most promptly and unremittingly discharged. Your untiring application, unaffected zeal and exemplary fidelity, have won our humble applause; but our hearts have been touched by your uniform gentleness, kindness and courtesy of deportment, as well in the hall of justice as in the private circle; and you take with you our regrets, not merely for the loss of the public officer, but of the delightful companion and friend. I have thus endeavored, though imperfectly, to express the sentiments of our public meeting, to which let me add the assurances of my

Great respect and regard,
John H. Peyton.

Lewisburg, August 1, 1841.