UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
CLOSING REMARKS
OF
PROF. J. V. CAMPBELL
TO THB
GRADUATING CLASS
OF THE
LAW DEPARTMENT,
March 21st, 1863.
ANN ARBOR:
FPiblished by the Clao s
1863.








CLOSING REMARKS.
[The following remarks of Professor CAMPBELL, at the close of his
series of Law Lectures for the present year, having been unanimously
requested by the class for publication, were kindly furnished by him.
Being extempore, and prompted solely by the feelings and emotions of
the hour, it is the wish of those who heard those words of counsel and
farewell to publish them, verbatim, as delivered.]
I HAVE now conclndel all that I have to offer you on the subjects allotted to me.  But i do not feel that I can take leave of those
with whose faces I have been familiar so long, and with whom my
intercourse has been very pleasant and satisfactory, without some
words of parting esteem, and, if you please, of counsel.  I do not
propose to offer you advice now upon your conduct; for, in common
with my associates, I have recognized you always as men of sufficient
age to govern your own conduct-of formed character, and standing
on the same footing with ourselves.
In performing my duties in this place I have seen and recognized you as associates in the same pursuit of a knowledge of the
law, and have sought to aid you in following your studies with the
feeling that we were engaged in a common work, and fellow  laborers
in the same honorable vocation.  And as these times of separation
come, and those with whom we are united go forth fiom among us to
their own ways, they awake feelings I cannot attempt to express.  I
am not sure that I can make you comprehend in what way they
move us.
But among our thoughts the question will arise, To what end
have we been spending this long period in searching out and studying
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4
the principles of the law? You have not come here merely to pass
away quietly and pleasantly your leisure time, nor have you labored
here only to acquire soms useful information.    Why then have you
given your diligent attention so long and so carefully?
It is because you are to go forth to serve and defend the public,
as ministers of the law. Your duty will be to aid in preserving society in peace and order; to protect the weak and helpless against the
strong; to enforce to your utmost the rules of right and justice; to
r3dress private wrongs and public wrongs.  The community will look
to you for counsel and guidance, as interpreters of the law which governs them, and which they may justly expect you will be able to explain. For this reason I sh:ill call your attention to some dangers
which ought to be guarded against. You will soon be sworn to obey
and defend the laws, and it will be your duty to use all your influence and all your efforts, to preserve society from the terrible evils
which must always follow, when it is overthrown or disregarded. If
the sentinels fail, what will become of the army?
What is this law?
It is " the golden chain which binds the universe to the throne
of God;" which binds together in one common bond all civilized nations, making of one blood all the kingdoms of the earth; which
binds together governments, and states, and all communities, and parents and children, by one sacred bond of protection and obedience.
By this is bound together all human society, whereby man is raised
from the brutal state of a solitary savage, and made to yield that base
liberty to obtain the advantages of knowledge and civilization.  In
entering that higher sphere he gives up to the community all those
powers and prerogatives which are needed to make it efficient for all
good purposes.  It is not his right now to assert and follow his own
unbridled will, to enforce by his own act the claims he may think are
justly his, or avenge by his own hand his private grievances. But his
welfare is entrusted to a stronger power, able by the weight of numbers to protect him far more efficiently, while it compels him, with all
its members, to obey what it ordains for the common good.
The power which is held by society to direct and control the
conduct of men can never be withdrawn or relinquished.  No one can
assume to himself any of the functions of the community.  If any
man attempts to correct evils or redress real or fancied grievances by
violence, the law steps in and bids him forbear. It asserts its own




prerogatives; and if he will not yield to its exercise'he'in a manner
outlaws himself, and is justly branded as a criminal.
In times when the public mind is disturbed, it is not very
strange that many men who have no settled or conscious evil purpose,
may in their excitement lose sight of these principles, and slide
almost imperceptibly into serious offences.  While we may extend
charity to the individual, society cannot extend any indulgence to the
crime.  And when men, under the influence of their excited passions,,resort to force to carry out their resentments, they disturb the only
bonds which can hold the community together.  The law is indeed
very tender to human weakness; but it sternly forbids every man
from seeking to remedy any real or imaginary wrong by deadly violence, except in defence of himself or those whom the law itself puts
under his protection-unless he does it in obedience to its own imperative commands. And even where such force may be used.by the
one injured, no one else can in general, lawfully combine with him to
exert it; and that which might have been excused when done by a
single person, becomes by his combination with others a serious and
dangerous crime.  I cannot urge you too strongly to use all your exertions to preserve the community from the terrible consequences of
such indulgences in lawless violence.  The transition from one evil
action to another is swift and sure.  The first crime leads rapidly to
the second, and the second to more and more, until the man ewho almost unconsciously took his first wrong step is driven down into
deadly guilt, from which return is hopeless.
"Hell's descent is smooth,
But to retrace the steep to upper air,
This, this is toil indeed!"
He who refuses to leave the vindication of'his grievances to the
lawful authorities, yields to his own lawless impulses, passes easily
from assault to conspiracy, and from a conspirator to a rioter.  And
conspiracy and riot are the budding seeds of treason.
But how is society to be preserved from these evils?  Next to
the fear of God, there is no other reliance but on a pure and earnest
patriotism.  It is the best and strongest means of upholding ancd pre.
serving human institutions in their integrity-the only thing which
can save any community from  utter ruin.  It is a virtue which has
-been exalted and reverenced in every nation and in every age, as a




6
glory and a strong defence- a divine ardor which makes courage invincible.
And what is this noble quality which is so grand in its working,
and so excellent?  It is not to be found merely in obe iience to law.
The citizen of the happiest nation on earth, when he stands on the
soil of the vilest despotism, owes obedience to its despotic laws so long
as he reimains within its borders.  It is not mere opinion.  In a free
country men may differ earnestly concerning oficers, and measures,
and general policy.  Their differences may be not only earnest, but
bitterly earnest.  And yet those very differences imay be the result of
patriotism in both.  No man can deny the patriotism of another because their political views do not agree.
Patriotism is something far higher than any of these things.  It
is one of those finer elements which can neither be analyzed nor described.  It is a holy sentiment which God himself has implanted in
our hearts, side by side with those better feelings wvhich preserve and
manifest the safety and honor of mankind.  It was given us in union
with all our best affections, and it is like them in all their blessed influences.  It is like the love we bear to father and mother and wife
and children-a love intense and abiding.  It needs no reasoning or
inquiring or urging to rouse it into ardor.  It is that which kindles
the patri;ot's heart to such. glonilng heat, when lie hears or thinks of
his country's glory, that words fail him to express the depth of his
love and devotion.  It is such a feliing as inspires the Scotchlan
at Banr!ockburn, or the Swis   s on i     ancient mouintain battle fieldstlat brins a mianls blood to his cheek and his heart into his throat,
as he lears of tlhe triumphs and  honors of his own land.  It is the
last earthly virtue driven out by wr(-ong;  and while this remains,
though poor and degraded and debased, the fallen soul umay arise
agail, and wian back its ancitent dignity.  Many a man, sunk in vice
r inglorious sloth, lhais been aroused and renovated by the patriotism
that l;y slumbering in his heart, and now  stands in the pride of his
conscious manhood, honored among the honorable defenders of his country.  But to him in whom the love of country has utterly died out,
what room is left for virtue?  No nation has ever, in ancient or modern times, bestowed.on such an unhappy being fame or charity.  We
may weep at the grave of Andre, although he was not only an enemy
but a spy, but in no lhnd on earth was Arnold's name ever uttered




without being abhorred and accursed.  How well Scott has described
the fate of such unhappy wretches, in his beautiful episode on patriotisrn
"Living he forfeits fair renown 
And, doubly dying, sthall go cownl
To the vile dust from whenc e he sprung
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung."
I have not alluded to this subject because I thought that you
were wanting in this spirit of patriotism.  I have had no reason to
believe, nor do I believe, that there is one among you who will ever
be found even approaching this deplorable abyss.  I have only done
so to urge on you the prevention of such evils when they meet your
attention.  We have had many young men in this Department who
have gone forth as you are going forth.  Few-very few-have dishonored themselves or their country.  Some have gained respect in
civil life-many have earned in honorable service the fame of heroic
bravery.  Some have gone up to heaven in the storm  of battle, and
their glory is an im-mortl glory.
May God bloas ani preserve you all, gentlemen, in peace and
honor.