University of Maryland School of Pharmacy - Terra Mariae Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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panions of his youth passed away, he drew around him from time to time, men younger than himself. He inspired them with his lofty ideals and - his invincible hope of better things, ' and was kept young himself by the tribute of their enthusiastic and unseltish devotion. The friends, whom the minute spoke of as having lost a cherished and revered companion, were noi the few remaining white-haired men who had begun the work of life with him, but those of all ages, some of them the children and grandchildren of his youthful companions, whom he admitted to an intimacy, rendered delightful by his brilliant conversation and generous hospitality. He never declined to participate in any measure of reform, in any agency for its accomplishment, because he would himself derive no benefit personally from it. In the spring of 1804, while he was sick in bed, only a few weeks before his death, he dictated to his stenographer a letter of great force and power, addressed to the writer of this article, then a member of the House of Delegates, in advocacy of a bill pending in the Legislature, to allow either party to a suit in equity, the right to have the testimony in the case taken orally in Court. He, doubtless, knew full well when he dictated the letter that he never would again appear in Court, but he ungrudgingly gave a portion of his little remaining-strength to the accomplishment of this remedial legislation. It was this constant touch with the present and its activities, this keeping of his face, lighted with faith and hope toward the future with its promises, that, to the mind of the writer, has always seemed one of his most char- acteristic traits. Mr. Wallis was noted for his brilliant wit. and it has been frequently regretted that the many witty remarks made by him in conversation, in h ' s arguments in Court, his public addresses and political speeches, which will soon pass from the memories of those who now repeat them, could not be gathered together and put in some permanent form. It may l)e interesting to give several of these, simply as examples of this rare power, possessed bv him in so eminent a decree Shortly after his return from his imprisonment for fourteen months in I ' ort Warren, in P.oston Harbor, at the outbreak of the Civil War. he was arguing a case in the Superior Court before Judge Martin. The latter was an able Judge, but a very austere and eccentric man. He was an intense supporter of the CTOvernment in its war with the South. Mr. Wallis, who had been largely instrumental in the elevation of Judge Martin to the Bench, told the writer of this article that, when he returned from Fort Warren. Judge Martin seemed at first to hesitate whether he should recognize him 27

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When the writer was asked to contribute something to this pnbHcation, it occurred to him that nothing- couki lie more appropriate than to call the attention of the students of the l niversity to some of those traits of character in the one who was so long its head, which could cause such universal encomiums. It is not the purpose of this article to add — if that were possible — to the unstinted praise, spoken and written wh.en he died, but to point t)Ut some of the characteristics upon which that praise was based. jNlr. W ' allis was seventy-seven years old at the time of his death. He had reached, indeed, for some years had gone beyond, the age when the present and the things of the present, the future, and its developments in the realms of art and science and government are the things that engage the mind. (. )rdinarily, the thoughts of one, in the decline of life, dwell more in the past than in the activities of the present or the expectations of the future ; the gaze is upon what has been, rather than upon what may be done. In reading eulogies of i ir. Wallis one is struck, at once, with tlie absence of any intimation even that he had ceased, by reason of his age or infirmities, to be a present, active, potential ])ersonality. The language is the bar has lost its brightest ornament, n( t one who had been its brightest ornament ; the State, its noblest citizen, not one who liad been its noblest citizen. ' Jdie loss expressed is a present liereavement ; his leadership at the bar passes forever only at the time of his death ; the man, whom the people of the State nozv recognize as its noblest citizen, drops into his grave. It can be truly said of him that he never grew old. No one thought of him as old. His health was always frail, and in his later years his form was some- what bent. et even his physical appearance at the close of his life did not convey the idea of age or decrepitude. r)Ut his mind to the very last was as alert, as vigorous, as outhful, as it was when in the maturity of his ])hysical i)owcrs he had found the lM)untain of )nt]i for which I ' once de Leon souglit in vam : not one, nideed, that would sa ' e him from the end apjioinled unto all men, but which kv )[ him a man, in all the fullness of his powers until the end came, lie not only kejit at the work which the practice of his ])rofession entailed; many others do ihat. and yet grow old both mentally and physically: but his interest in and active effort to promote every movement that tended to elevate the standard of his profession to render more just and speedy and certain the dis]iensation of justice, to diffuse knowledge, to encourage art. to expose and drive out corruption from high places, to purif - jjolitics. to develop a citizenship founded uixm worth and righteousness, never flagged. And because of this be continticd to form new friendshi])s. . s the com- 26

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at all, but tinall - t ave him the most distant bow. as if anything more would compromise the Judge ' s reputation for loyalty It was before this Judge that the argument was being made. A decision of Lord Eldon had been cpioted by the counsel opposed to Mr. Wallis, which the latter admitted was acrainst him, ])ut said it stood alcjue, and was at variance with the current of authority, both in England and in diis country. Mr. Wallis added that it was an example, not without a parallel, of how a great Judge could sometimes go very far wrong. He then said : One of the most remarkable instances of this is the opinion of Judge Story, in a case where a man was convicted of piracy and sentenced to be hung, that he could not grant a new trial, because the Constitution said that a man should not be placed twice in jeopardy of his life. Mr. Wallis then added, as with a sudden gesture he caught the eye of the Judge, wdiile his own eyes flashed fire : It seems to me, if ' our Honor please, that our friends in that part of the country, from which Judge Story comes, have a high regard for the Constitution when it enables them to hang somebody. The turn was so sudden and unexpected that it was a moment before the point was appreciated by those present, while the face of the Judge was a study to behold. In a political speech Mr. Wallis was discussing the qualifications of a candidate for the sherifiFalt} ' , on the ticket which he was opposing. This ii;entleman kept a hotel called the Niagara House, and the records of the Court showed that he had ])een several times indicted for selling liquor on Sunday. Mr. Wallis pointed out that, as the Sherifif ' s duty was to execute ihc law against such offenders, whatever might be the candidate ' s qualifi- cations for other ])ositi()ns, he should not be elected to the one for which he was nominated. I am afraid, said lie, that in dealing with such violat.ons of the law he would have cataracts on his eyes. He convulsed tlie Supreriie Court of the Ignited States in a case where the proceeding was to set aside a conveyance as having been made in fraud of creditors. It aj ijieared from the testimony that on the day before the deed was made the grantor and grantee had taken a long buggy ride together, and the opposing cotmsel in his argument had dwelt at length upon this fact as showing fraud. Air. Wallis said that, at first he had been at a loss to catch the drift of the argument, when it suddenl dawned upon him that the point was that a buggy is a fraudulent conveyance. There is ])rol)al)ly nothing in the literature of wit that excels the following: Air. Wallis was delivering the oration at the commencement (la - of the Johns Jlo|)kins I ' niversit . The exercises were being held in the Academy of Music on Howard street. A season of grand opera was on there, and a 28