Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1845-10-03
RaO.l. Levi Woodbury..

Our readers learned from our last paper that
this distinguished son of New Hampshire has
been appointed by the President to fill the va
cancy on the Supreme Court bench, occasion
ed by the death Of the gifted Joseph Story.
From circumstances, we then had not time to
do any thing more than make the announce
ment. We would do injustice to our own
feelings, were we not to express both the plea
sure and the pain, which this, the most impor-
tant appointment, as the Union says, which the
President has made since the fourth of March,
gives US. We have long looked upon Levi
Woodbury. as one Of the abIes:, as well as one
of the purest statesmen in the Union. His
intellect, matured as it is by time and expert
once, and cultivated by assiduous and unre-
hitting study, fits him we'll for the new sphere
in which lie will move. Therefore his APP
pointment gives us pleasure. Bnt. then, the
loss which the Democratic party will sustain
in his withdrawal from the floor of the Senate,
is great indeed, and we cannot but feel pain
when we take this view of the matter. AS a
Southern man, particularly, do we regret his
withdrawal from the Senate. He was with
the South in all her great struggles to preserve
inviolate the compromises Of the constitution.
He was with US on the tariff, the slavery ques-
ton, and indeed on all the great questions
which the States right party have had to bat
tle for. Can his place be filed! We hope
our friends Of the Granite State will be partc-
uIar in their choice of his successor. Who
ever he may be, his will be no easy task in
occupying the position where Levi Woodbury.
stood. Subjolned, we give from The Boston
Times, a short synopsis of the distinguished
career of this gifted man:
ssLevi Woodbury. was the son of farmer,
Peter Woodbury., and was born in Frances
town, N. H., December 2, 1889; consequent
Nv his age now is but Sc. He entered Dart
mouth College at the early age of l6. and
graduated in 1909, being then only twenty
years Of age. For three years he studied law
at LtchlieId, CT, under the direction of the
eminent Judge Reeves, and within four years
after his first commencing practice, or in 1916,
he was elected clerk of the N. Fl. Senate, and
in the same year was appointed a judge of the
Supreme judicial court of New Hampshire,
and he held this high Office till 1928, when
he was elected by the people Governor Of the
State. He was a member of the House of
Representatives from Portsmouth, in 1924,
and was the same year elected speaker. In
1925 he was chosen by the people member
Of the State Senate, FROM district No. /, but
soon resi- ned the Office, being elected the same
year, by the legislative body, as Senator in
Congress. In 1881 he was appointed district
Judge of New Hampshire, and subsequently
minister to Spain, by General Jackson; which
Offices he declined. During the same year he
was appointed by Gen. Jackson secretary of
the navy, and in 1882 secretary of the treasu-
ry, which Offices he held for several years, and
the arduous duties of which he discharged
with consummate ability. He was appoint
ed, about this period, chief justice Of the SUI
preme court of New Hampshire, but felt him
self compelled to decline the Office. He re-
turned again to the u. S. Senate, and is still
a member of that body"