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The Green Bag.
with most of their lives behind them, and waiting for the end which gently came to him the other day — who tell their sons, with full heart and suf fused eye, what manner of man Willard Saulsbury was. "His dust is gathered to his native soil; but may not we, too, lay tributes on his tomb, — we, in whose behalf he raised his voice when we were ' passing under the yoke '? . . . "We shall remember him; and to his courage, his magnanimity, and his nobility of nature we shall offer the homage always due to honesty and virtue in public life. "Be noble, and the nobleness in you That sleepeth, but is never dead, Will wake to majesty the nobleness in other men." Idolized, almost, by his friends, who often besought him not to incur the dangers he cared not to consider; maligned by foes who feared his opposition during the stormy times of war and reconstruction, — he held fast to his firm belief in the efficacy and sanc tity of our Federal Constitution, and never hesitated to raise his voice in defence of his convictions, in favor of what he thought to be the right, and against all unconstitutional usurpations of overwhelming force and power. He is said to have been the handsomest man in the Senate during the twelve years he was a member of that body, and in men tal calibre he was unsurpassed. In 1871 he practically retired from political life, and after a brief period of the practice of his profession, during which he showed his old-time fire and energy and won one of the important cases of his life, he was made Chancellor. Surrounded by his books, his life was thenceforth spent in peace and quiet in
greatest contrast to the stormy scenes of his political career. For more than eighteen years in the high est judicial position of his State he held the scales of justice with an even hand. As Chancellor of Delaware, some of the most important questions ever raised in the State came before him; and in the adjudication and determination of all questions presented to him he took a strong and comprehensive grasp of the facts and the legal principles applicable thereto, and allowed no artificial technicalities, " the husk about the kernel of the cause," to hinder or confuse the right determination of a case; and though infirm in body, his bright intellect remained undimmed until his death. Willard Saulsbury and Anna Ponder were married May 11, 1850. For forty-two years she was the loving and devoted wife, a true helpmeet in every sense and in the fullest meaning of the word. In sunshine or in rain, in sickness or in health, in joy or in sorrow, she was ever at his side to assist, to counsel, encourage, and cherish her honor able and revered husband. It was said by a friend who knew them well, and who was not given to flattery, " that of the many gifts of a gracious Providence to the late Chancellor, the richest and best was his good wife." His wife and one son, Willard, a promi nent member of the Wilmington Bar, sur vive him; a daughter, Margaret, having predeceased him at the age of nineteen years, and his eldest son, John Ponder Saulsbury, having died while Secretary of State for Delaware, about three years prior to his father.