Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-01-03
Our Boston Letter.
THE RECENT JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS IN
MASSACHUSETTS,.

date for this district iudgeship. The office
is one Of the best that can be obtained with
out the direct suffrage of the people, not so
much, however, for ITS financial benefits as
for the social position that it involves. \
dozen or more candidates were in the field,
among whom it was generally supposed, in
the eastern part of the State, Oliver Wen
dell Holmes, Jr, son of the eminent poet and
professor, held the inside OF the course. But
the rumor leaked out Of the White House
that Hon. Charles Allen, OF this city, had
received the nomination. The report was
received here with no little surprise, to be
sure, but it was, nevertheless, very highly
commended While the friends of Mr. Allen
we're yet corgratnla,ing him on his appoint
mcnt, a Trustworthy report was received
contradictipg the rumor.
Lawyer Thomas L. Nelson, Of Worcester,
one of the very best read lawyers in
New England, will succeed Judge Lowell.
Mr.. Nelson was a student at Dartmouth for
a year, believe, and afterwari graduated
at the L. V. NJ. His high reputation as
lawyer depends rather upon his comrrehen-
sve knowledge, his asziduity and his ex
IRENE care than upon any ability as
pleader. 1t is said there has been scarcely
any important legal case in Worcester
county for six years in regard to which Mr..
Nelson has not been consulted. With such
record as his has been in the city where
he has resided for the last twenty-three
years, it would be needless to add that the
nomination which the President will submit
to the Senate on its reas%embling is uniyer-
sally commented.
If any murmur of dissatisfaction is audi
bic, it comes from those who arc p2iufully
aware that Worcester is getting more than
its share of Offices. Some time ago when
the candidaturc Of the different aspira1ts
was warmly discussed. the Springfield
Republican suggested, in disintcrcsted way
of course, that Worcester was coming
to be to Massachusetts, what Ohio is to the
Union. There is ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Deyens
who is a citizen Of Worcester and votes there,
though be has no residence in that city.
Senator IIoar resides there ana occupies
say on the very best authority that he is not,
as .he papers have generally affirmed, Law
,,rtnor 81 tla bNpnroi Senator Adm
Thayer, chairman of the Republican State
Central Committee, not only calls the conven-
ton to meet in that city, but that city is his
home. John d. Washburn, who with Ladd,
of Springfield, Wade, of Newton, and NOyes,
of Boston, is in the front rank Of candidates
for the Speakership IN the Tooth State
Legislature, is lawyer in Worcester.
Judge Thomas, lately deceased, adds one
more to the list And now to appoint Mr..
Nelson at the head of the Judiciary in this
State appears like piliug both ossa and
Pelion on top of Olympus.
We shall have to grant that Worcester has
moro than its share of Office holders, and
that that very fact tends to increase the
number. 1t cannot be denied that the in
huence Of Senator Hoar and Attoraey-Gen-
eral Deyens was the lever that made
Mr.. Nelson United States District Judge, |
and this | say, too. without imputing
to any of these gentlemen any but the most |
honorable motives. But ii Springfield wants |
her share of fat Offices she must growl about |
besides the good fortune CT her
unequal rival. Offices would naturally be
distributed on the basis of population. Why
then should Springfield growl, since Joseph
Cook has stated a. the result of his mathe
NAUTICAL calculations, that if Massachusetts,
were balanced according to its population the
point of support would be in Mount Auburn
cemetery? Had not Eastern Massachusetts,,
given her share CO ofhcos m past
times to hsr own Webstcrs, her Eseretts-
lea cL,.t,-, LcI wilson's, her Summers,
and the Connecticut valley might
ejoico if they were given occasionally a
Governor, to say nothing of a
Unit ID States Senator.
The promotion of Judge Lowell to the
Judgesh.p of the first Circuit (Maine,
Sew HAMPSHIRE, Massachusetts,, and Rhode
sland) made vacant by the death Of Judge
'hepley. was contemplated by the President
ong before Attorney General Deyens deter
aimed to remain in the Cabinet. | think it
) conceded by the legal fraternity that in
he department of bankruptcy Judge Lowell
as few, if any, equals lie is generally
Tell read in law, and thirteen years expert
nee as district judge was an invaluable
chool to fiji him for the wider field Of service.
he great-grand-father Of the present judge
;as the first district Judge in Massachusetts,
aving been appointed by Washington in
7S9; and when the first circuit was es-
lbished in 1901, one Of the last olhcal acts
President John Adams was to promote
Judge John Lowell from the district to the
ircut court. His grand father was another
Judge John Lowell and one Of the most ia 4
lous lawyers of his day excepting, per-
aps, Fisher Ames, he was the foremost |
.wyer of the Massachusetts, bar. His fa- |
her, if mistake not, WAS once judge, and ;
now living in extreme old age-John \. :
DWELL, the founder Of the Lowell Institute, /
hich for some thirty eight years has had a i
Owcrlul educating influence in the mctrop-
lis. The present Judge John Lowell, the ,,
'urth Of the name, was appointed district
dge by President Lincoln in 1865 and /
lis appointment was the last official act he
before his assassination by Booth. =
Among the eminent lecturers who have y
zen listened to at the Lowell Institute,
ason after season, by large and enthusiast :
C audiences, was Bayard Taylor, late min h
ter to Berlin. Many are the recollectiOns
lat have been recited here since his death "
r many literary men in this vicinity have Il
noun him well ever since he was mere II
". He was only twenty-three when he u
st came to Massachusetts. James T. q,
elds has published letter detailing the al
cidents of that first visit of the modest ri
cnnsylvania youth, and the promise of fu- N
re greatness they saw in that simple, OBJ eC
rving, earnost etudont Of nature. MIR. u
elds' letter is well worth reading if for bl
other purpose than to see what de- "
,htiul and charming letter Mr.. Field can ii
rite when he tries and, in fact, he never
rites or says anything without first having al
lde a choice selection Of thoughts and ex- u u
essions That the hcartiness of the wei u
mo to young Taylor tbirty-two years ago :,
Longtellow, Holmes, Field and others, is a,
Chilly exaggerated in his minds eye | do So
l pretend TO deny, for the work of those II
irty-two years has thrown halo about W
c name Of Bayard Taylor, but | cannot hi
ubt that the kind word Of those authors st
-eady known to fame gave the young as lie
rant to favor no little courage to trans NJ
The the thoughts of his inner lie. oil
H. ) b ev