which she contended; that they were those in which this government was founded by our fathers, and the only ones on which constitutional liberty can ever safely rest in this country. "But whilst his devotion to the South was so ardent, and he avowed it whenever and wherever occasion demanded, yet no man accepted the results of the war in better faith, or was more loyal and true to the Federal Government when the Union was restored than he was. "Indeed, Judge Anderson was a true patriot, a useful citizen, a firm friend, and true in every relation of life."
This imperfect outline of Judge Anderson's life cannot be better concluded than by the closing sentences of the eloquent address of Judge Joseph Christian, one of bis surviving colleagues, of the Court of Appeals in pre senting to that court the memorial adopted by the bar of that court : — "His devotion to his native State was that of a patriot worshipper who could have no other idol; and when the time came when he had to side with his State or with those who came as her invaders, he was quick to range himself under her flag, and to do all he .could to save her from degradation and conquest. After the close of the war, and when the dark days of reconstruction were over, and Virginia was permitted to re-establish her own government, Judge Anderson was appointed one of the judges of this court "How honestly and ably and faithfully he dis charged the duties of his high office, is fully attested in the sixteen volumes of the reports of the deci sions of this court, as well as by the profound impressions his death made upon the bench and bar and people of this State, as shown by the great meeting which assembled to honor his memory, and illustrated by the eloquent and touching me morials to his private virtues and public services which we all listened to with so much pleasure on that occasion. . " Judge Anderson brought to the bench a strong, active, and well-balanced mind, — well stored with the great principles of the law, and a heart full of the innate love of justice, with a dauntless courage that would carry him to the stake for his convictions. "It was fortunate for the State that a man of such firmness, such courage, such high sense of justice,
such desire to do right, should be placed on the bench of the highest court at a time when all was chaos; when the times were out of joint, and cases arose that were without precedents; when the debris of revolution covered up decisions and sta tistics, and when the court had to blaze its way through an unbroken forest without a tree or a star to guide it. Then was a time to bring light out ot chaos, and to mould judicial decisions so as to declare the very rights of the case where there was no statute to guide and no precedent to follow. "In this crisis in judicial affairs Judge Anderson was the right man in the right place. His innate sense of justice, his fearless courage to do right. his strong practical sense, enabled him at once to solve, upon equitable principles, all the difficult and perplexing questions arising out of the multi form contracts made under Confederate statutes and in Confederate currency. The conduct of fidu ciaries, of personal representatives, guardians and agents, public and private, — his masterly opinions upon these difficult subjects do credit both to his head and his heart. In these cases, and indeed in all the cases he considered in his careful, thoughtful, and laborious way, the polar star which guided him to his conclusions was the question. ' What is right? ' and such was his high sense of justice that he would break through the meshes of the technicalities of the law to get at and declare for the very right of the case, and when convinced where the right lay, nothing could move him from his conclusions. He had the spirit of a martyr, and would have sacrificed his life, rather than give up his honest convictions of duty and of right. "I sat by his side for nearly thirteen years, and I can truly say of him that he was one of the bravest men I ever knew. Courageous to do right, his only fear was that he might do wrong. Not conceited or bigoted in his opinions, he would always listen patiently and respectfully to the views of others, and would cheerfully yield his own views if convinced he was wrong. He had wonderful capacity to labor. He patiently and thoroughly investigated every case, — always seek ing light, always pursuing the right, never weary in his tireless work. When convinced of error, he was quick to correct it; but when he felt he was right, no power could move him from his purpose. "I should say of him, as I had the opportunity to observe his character as a man and a judge, he
