The Portland daily press., 1877-04-12

TO parents highly respectable but not wealthy;
relieved IN his youth by reason Of his delicate
physical organization from the manual labor
which seemed in the outset to be his lot, and
aiioWed to seek the liberal education and cul'
ture for which he was by nature SO much better
ntted. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1911,
stuuled law IN York county and settled In Saco
IN 1914. For short time partner with the
iate ! uoge Preble, he had, by the vigor OF bis
intellect his tenacity of purpose, and unwear-
led application, aimed prominence as law
yer whlie this state was still a part of the old
Commonwealth. And those were the days In
which Melen and Whitman and Orr and Long
| fellow and Samuel Fessenden and Greenleaf
and Davies and Holmes and Emery were either
IN full practice in his vicinity, as his seniors at
| the par, or as competitors striving with him
for the honorable distinction which they at
| tained.
AT the age of thirty years he was one of the
fathers and founders of the state, ardentIy fav-
| orDg the separation from the parent Common
| wealth. He was elected to the Legislature
| IN 1919, to promote it, and subsequently, to the
convention to form the constitution for the
new state. In 1921 he was appointed District
Attorney of the United States and held the po-
sltion till he was chosen to represent the state
| as Senator in Congress in 1888 as the col
| eague of Peleg Sprague and tie successor of
John Holmes He loved his chosen profession
| better than the political honers that were omen
to him, and in 1885 resigned the Senatorship to
accept a place as justice of the court with
which he was connected as associate or chief
| justice for nineteen years,
Were l to attempt here and now to deineate
his character as judge. or to tell how he
| filled and adorned the position he held so long,
| l should encounter the name difficulty to which
| Pericles refers in his Grafton on the soldiers
| who died in the first year of the Peoponesian
war, where he says in substance. 81 have
always thought it a thing both difficult and
superhuous to praise in words those who are
already .exaltedsby their deeds; for whatever
one may say, to some it will seem to fall short
of the merit which it seeks to portray, and
envy will inspire others with the thought that
it savors sof sycophancy, and no one will be
satisfied" Yet do not hesitate to declare my
conviction that the language of your resolutions
is simply just without aduiation; and that the
notew orthy traits in his character and conduct
are therein set forth without partialty or ex-
aggeratiOn. The amount of judicial labor
which he performed was very great. To form
any idea of it would be necessary to examine
not only his numerous opinions contained in
volumes IA, 40 inclusive, of our reports but the
dockets and files of the court in the different
counties all over the State, at the many pro- |
traeted terms where he presided, and where, |
it is safe to say, that justice never failed for |
want of diligent and faithful labor on the part |
of the judge. He had the rare faculty of |
doing two things at once, and both well. 1 |
have known him to give his aid to inexperien- |
ced counsel in the preparation or condensation |
of case to go forward to the full court, with |
out apparently relaxing in the discriminating |
attention which he was giving to another case |
in progress before the jury. Many member
of the bar was indebted to him not only forkind
ly words OF encouragement, bnt for graver
words of admonition and reproof, as kindly
meant. His rulings were prompt, reliable and |
peremptory, precluding further discussion
but have known him, after laying down the
law in his usual decisive manner, to say Just
as emphatically, 81 take that back, on bsing
satisfied that through inadvertance an error
had been com mitted, or that there was danger
that what he had said might be
was no want may BE- there
precision in the ultimate expression of
his views on the case, whether it was of great
pecuniary Importance or not To say that he
was impartial is but common praise. If he
had an idol it was the law; and no swerving
from it could be tolerated. Simon Greenlaaf
reports him when at the bar as replying to the
assertion of opposing counsel that the justice
or thtlr claim was obvious. 1.-The law is the
rule OF decision, and the law is the Justice of
every case" On the bench he adhered to this
doctrine, and recognized the duty of the court
to decide cases according to the legal rights of
the parties. and not to suffer tancied or seeming
equities between the immediate contestants to
make shipwreck of the law. But the law to
which he adhered was not the confused mass of
clashng decisions and dicta that Is found in
the digests, from which selection may always
and seasily be made, which would seem to
warrant decision in cases depen ding on the
the next; but it was the law as described by
Hooker, "whose seat is the bosom of God, and
whose voice is the harmony Of the world.' He
would say with Sir John Powell ''let US consider
the reason of the case, for nothing is law that
is not reason"
He seldom dissembled--not becouse of any
weak fear that sound law would suffer from |
the fullest discussion, nor because of any idle
notion that numbers or unanimiiy would give
any lasting force as authority to an erroneous
but because the clearness and
precision with which his views were presented
almost always commanded assent His judg-
ments We're such as Sallust describes those Of
Cato Uticeusis
'Postquans Cato ossedit consa.lares onnes
1teneq0e sendtas magma 1ars, sententian ejus
tduddnt; Cato clGrNs dtque naognuS hGbetur;
Selsatu decretuna tit, siculilte censuerat."
IL was was not 10 his CHOSEN profession and
ties alone, that he sought the good of his fell
low men. Seriously disposed from his early
manhood. he was the warm friend of all instl-
tutions designed to promote morality Id relg-
iOn and always gave his efficient aid to the
cause of thorough educoton.
For thirty-seven years he discharged the du-
lies of trustee of BowdOin College, and gave
much time and attention to its affairs. He
was the last survIver in this state of the origi-
nal corporators of the Maine Historical Society,
and little more than a year ago evinced his
undeminished interest in its object and work
by brief address at public meeting of the
society held in this city.
Full of years and honors, he entered the
long desired haven of eternal rest January 16,
1877.
Of him. as of one of England's late honored
chief justices. it may properly be said, ''In dis
the duties of his high Office without !
ever losing sight of the civil or religious liber-
ties of the people, he was vigilant to maintain
the dignity of the constituted authorities and
the law of the land In private life he was
duitiful SOB, a tender husband, an affectionate
thor n fail nj frsa arI e;p
tian."
The clerk will enter your resolutions on the
records, and in token of our sincere respect to
his memory, the court will now adjourn.