Opinion of the Court.

decision and opinion upon it, yet, where the misconception of the application of the Fourteenth Amendment is so obvious, we are unwilling to retain the cause for further argument, and may avail ourselves of the rule ordinarily applicable to the afterthoughts of counsel.

The writ of error is

Dismissed.

APPENDIX.

I.

In Memoriam.

SAMUEL FREEMAN MILLER, LL.D.

THE Court, on meeting pursuant to law, on the 13th of October, 1890, found Mr. Justice Miller lying critically ill at his house in Washington. The Chief Justice on the opening of the court said: "The court reassembles under the shadow of impending affliction. The visit customarily paid to the President of the United States on the first day of the term will be postponed. Cases assigned for the second Monday of the term (October 20) will be set down for the third Monday of the term, the 27th of October. Applications for admissions to the bar will be entertained, and after they are disposed of the court will adjourn until to-morrow."

That evening, at fifty-two minutes past ten o'clock, Mr. Justice Miller died. On the convening of the court on the 14th, the Chief Justice said: "It is with feelings of profound sadness that I announce the death of the senior Associate Justice of this court, Mr. Justice Miller, which occurred at his residence in this city, at fifty-two minutes past ten o'clock, last evening. No business will be transacted, and the court, as a mark of respect to the memory. of its eminent associate, will adjourn until Monday next": which was accordingly done.

On the 16th of October the funeral services in Washington took place in the court room of the Supreme Court, and the body was taken to Keokuk, Iowa, for interment. Mr. Chief Justice Fuller and Mr. Justice Brewer accompanied it.

On the 18th of October, at 11 o'clock A.M., a meeting of the bar

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and officers of the Supreme Court of the United States was held in the court room to take action upon his death. Mr. Samuel F. Phillips was chosen chairman, and Mr. James H. McKenney, secretary. Messrs. William M. Evarts, Wayne MacVeagh, C. K. Davis, A. H. Garland, John T. Morgan, W. C. Goudy, George F. Edmunds, Thomas J. Semmes, George G. Vest, W. D. Davidge, J. M. Wilson, J. M. Woolworth, John B. Henderson and Enoch Totten, were appointed a committee to prepare suitable resolutions, and the meeting adjourned to the 6th day of December, at the same hour and place.

On Monday, October 20, the court met pursuant to adjournment: Present: Mr. Justice Field, Mr. Justice Bradley, Mr. Justice Gray, Mr. Justice Blatchford and Mr. Justice Lamar.

Mr. Justice Field said: "The Justices of this court who accompanied the body of Mr. Justice Miller to its place of burial, in Iowa, have not returned to Washington. There is therefore not a quorum of Justices present to-day, and the court will consequently stand adjourned until to-morrow at 12 o'clock."

On the 6th of December, 1890, the members of the bar and the officers of the court met pursuant to adjournment.

Mr. William M. Evarts, on behalf of the committee, reported for consideration the following resolutions:

"Resolved, That the members of the bar, practising in the Supreme Court of the United States, are affected with profound sensibility at the loss suffered by the court, and by the profession of the law, and the community at large, which has fallen upon them in the sudden death of this eminent lawyer, jurist and magistrate, when at the height and full exercise of his great powers in the service to the nation, in the exalted place which he had so long occupied.

"Resolved, That the length of years, falling not much short of a whole generation, which the judicial service of Mr. Justice Miller has given to the administration of justice in the high functions and the wide scope which belong to the great tribunal in which he sat, and the period of the service, concurring with the march of events in the life of the nation through the civil war, and the difficult tasks of the restoration of order and unity in the working of our government and the reëstablishment of the calm and prevalent maintenance of law throughout the land, place him in the front rank and in close association with the greatest judges that have shed lustre upon the court, in its historic fame and permanent benefits upon the welfare of the people.

"Resolved, That the members of this bar, besides fully sharing in the universal and grateful public estimate of the character and life of this great judge, and grief at his loss, may properly, from their close and constant observation of his personal traits and his relations with the court and the bar in his discharge of his daily duties, bear witness to his admirable conduct in these duties and relations, so just, so firm, so amiable, and feel a personal sorrow at his death.

"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented by the president and secretary of the meeting to the family of Mr. Justice Miller, with the sincere sympathy of the profession in their bereavement, and that the Attorney General be requested to present to the Supreme Court in session the proceedings of this meeting."

After appropriate remarks by Mr. Wayne MacVeagh, Mr. A. H. Garland, Mr. C. K. Davis, Mr. John B. Henderson, Mr. Henry E. Davis, Mr. J. H. Embry, Mr. R. D. Mussey and Mr. Wm. M. Evarts, these resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the meeting was adjourned sine die.

On Monday, December 15, 1890, the Chief Justice and the associate Justices being all present, Mr. Attorney General presented and read these resolutions to the Court, and said:

MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT:

It was a saying of Solon, the lawgiver, that no one ought to be called happy until after death, since storms and calamities in the evening may change the character of the brightest day. Tried by this supreme test, Samuel Freeman Miller was a happy man.

Born of pioneer stock, amid humble surroundings in the simple life of Kentucky, during the second decade of this century, a life from which advancement could be had only along the rugged paths of frugality, integrity and hard work, he was fortunate in the time and place of his nativity.

It is not uncommon to refer to a successful man as having started without extraneous help, as if this rendered the career more remarkable. Quite the reverse is true. To the unambitious youth, content upon the plains of comfortable mediocrity, wealth and influence. may be desirable. But one who aspires to the high places of earth, to climb mountains, and from their summits take in wider landscapes, to be a leader among his fellows, must generally strive under the spur of necessity, along paths impassable to luxury.

In this, also, Mr. Miller's life was happy. Necessity compelled, and an indomitable resolution impelled him to make his own way.