sumed by mere convention; and men must discover it and discover it
fully at their peril. Failure even after the utmost effort will not be
forgiven. If the truth be found it will be a sure guide in life. If it
be not found the lives of men will so far go awry. That it may be
difficult to find, that we may never be sure we have found it, makes
no difference.

Are there any attributes of justice of which we can speak so
confidently as being necessary, inherent, and self-evident? That
justice ranks next to truth, if not with it, seems to have been, and
to be, the general judgment of mankind. It has engaged the thought and
fired the imagination of the greatest minds. A few quotations from
such, ranging from ancient to modern times, will illustrate this.
The Hebrew Psalmist gloried that "justice and judgment" were the
habitation of Jehovah's throne. Aristotle wrote, "political science is
the most excellent of all the arts and sciences, and the end sought
for in political science is the greatest good for man, which is
justice, for justice is the interest of all." Early in the 12th
century the jurist Irnerius, distinguished for his learning and
for his zeal in promoting the revival of the study of law and
jurisprudence, and also as the reputed founder of the famous Law
School at Bologna, imaged justice as "clothed with dignity ineffable,
shining with reason and equity, and supported by Religion, Loyalty,
Charity, Retribution, Reverence, and Truth."

Six centuries later Addison, famed as a clear thinker and writer,
thus wrote of justice: "There is no virtue so truly great and godlike
as justice.... Omniscience and omnipotence are requisites for the full
exercise of it." Almost in our own time Daniel Webster, called in his
day the great expounder and even now reckoned among the greatest of
men intellectually, in his eulogy upon Justice Story thus
apostrophized justice: "Justice is the great interest of man on earth.
It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations
together. Wherever her temple stands and so long as it is duly
honored, there is a foundation for social security, general happiness,
and the improvement and progress of our race." Perhaps, however, none
of these laudations is so vividly impressive as is the pithy remark of
an old English judge that "injustice cuts to the bone."

But what is this justice, declared to be so great a virtue, so
ineffable, so supremely important? I have said we feel