"Now my task is smoothly done
I can fly, or I can run."
Nature was in various ways lavish in the bestowal of her favors upon him of whom we speak to-day. Not only did she endow him with high intellectual gifts, but he had mens sana in sana corpore. He was a large, well proportioned man, of dignified bearing and pleasing address, with a glow and color indicative of a fine physical constitution. Like jewels in a setting, at once strong and graceful, the mental powers of Mr. Peyton were displayed to the best advantage through his magnificent form and presence. How we all do admire intellectual power, and if associated with physical size and strength and manly beauty, we admire it all the more. But, it may be repeated, intellectual power, talent and genius are always admired for their own sake. The fact that they are associated with bad moral qualities, and indeed with great vices, does not wholly deprive them of their charm. Lord Bacon, sometimes described as the "greatest, meanest of mankind," will never cease to be admired by even the best of men for his towering and resplendent intellect. Satan, as depicted by Milton, while revolting in the hideousness of his moral deformity, excites our interest, and, in a sense, extorts our admiration by the grandeur and independence of his masterly mind. But it was the crowning excellence of him whose memory we honor to-day, that he was as pure and noble in heart as he was great in mind. In him there was that fine and harmonious combination of high moral qualities and great intellectual powers which make the model man. This combination of moral and intellectual qualities is what so greatly commended this man to the regard and esteem of his contemporaries, and it is what still keeps his memory fresh.
And the moral qualities now referred to are not merely such as truth, sincerity, honesty and integrity, which, and the like of which, Mr. Peyton, it is true, possessed in an eminent degree, but also the rarer virtues of firmness, self reliance, persistence in the right, fearlessness in the discharge of duty, a strong sense of justice and a refined sense of honor.
And displaying constantly, as he did, these noble qualities in the practice of his profession, he left the lawyers of this bar and of the bar throughout the State an example worthy of the closest imitation. In the discharge of his duties as a prosecuting attorney, whilst he never permitted those he believed to be guilty to go wholly unwhipped of justice if he could prevent it, on the other hand he would have considered it a crime in himself to have asked for the conviction of one whose guilt was not sufficiently established. He was an independent and conscientious practitioner in the civil departments of his profession. Well it is for the lawyers of the present day, and well it will be for those who are to follow them, that the portrait of such a lawyer should be ever looking down upon them from the walls of this hall of justice.
Its presence here will be at once an inspiration and a restraint.
With the form and features of John Marshall, the great expounder of the Federal Constitution and the founder of our Federal Jurisprudence, and with the forms and features of such of his disciples as John H. Peyton, Thomas J. Michie and John B. Baldwin, ever before them, the lawyers who come here to practice their profession should not go wrong.
Nor is the presence of the portraits of these great men in this public place without its purifying and elevating influence on the great body of the people who are wont to congregate here. Every community is deeply interested in the qualifications and character of its lawyers. Like people, like bar. If the people want clean and competent lawyers to transact their business, such will be forthcoming; if, on the other hand, lawyers of a different kind are wanted and encouraged, they will abound.
But it is not only because the men whose likenesses adorn these walls were great lawyers that they are entitled to the admiration of the public; but also because they were upright and honorable in all the relations of life, both private and public. In political matters they were candid and straightforward, and, above all things, patriotic. They were not office-seekers. So far as they were office-holders, the offices sought them. None of Mr. Peyton's contemporaries ever supposed that he would of his own motion actively seek a political office. But when the people amongst whom he lived desired his services in a public capacity, they were not withheld; and they were rendered with strict regard to the public interests and without any regard at all to his personal promotion. With him, and with those like him, public office was indeed a public trust. John Howe Peyton was never the man to sacrifice a political conviction for office. He was a leader rather than a follower of public opinion, and he always guided it in the ways of justice, of honor, and of patriotism.
What was it that first gave to this county of Augusta her high and enviable position amongst the counties of Virginia? It was the custom of putting forward her best men to represent her in the legislature, and in the various public assemblages of the State. The name of Augusta is indissolubly linked with the names of her distinguished sons who are gone. In the eloquent language of a great patriot—"The past is at least secure."
I claim to be a man of progress, and I trust duly appreciate the wonderful advances of recent years in the development of the resources and material wealth of our State and Country and in diffusion of education and other blessings; but at the same time, I would hold fast to the former things that are good. In this respect at least, if necessity required, I would rather adopt the motto engraved on the public seal of our country Redeant in aurum secula priscum, "Let the ages return to the first golden period."