Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-09-13


aigh ideals of the ethical character of
the legal profession and whose lives
have added luster to the bar of this
county and of the entire State. Some
If them were men of might" who
were identified with the public life of
he State in those
Grand historic years when liberty
Had need of word and work.
and their eloquent voices were heard
not only in this county and State, but
u the halls of the federal congress-
and the highest councils of the nation
in defence of the great principles OF
equal liberty and equal justice. Some
of them were not only of "knightly
but of heroic deed" as we'll.
and by intrepid service on the battle
fields of the great war for the Union.
added lustre TO the military history of
he county and State. The past re-
nown of this bar is not forgotten in its
present eminence or in the excellence
Of its future promise.
You do not need to be assured that l
I'M deeply sensible of the distinguished
honor which this bar. the bar of my
native county. have conferred upon me
onight, in recognition of my appoint
ment as chief justice. / do not need
% assure YOU that this is the most
gratifying incident i'll all of my public
md professional life, and that am
profoundly grateful TO each and every
member of this bar, not only for this
special manifestation of their good
will. but for the kindly sentiment
which inspired it, for the eompl-
nentary terms in which the speakers
ave referred to my modest service
ipon the bench for the last 80 years,
and for the kindness and courtesy
which | have uniformly received from
he Kennebec bar during the entire 45
fears since I have been a member of
t. Nor am | unconscious of the fact,
hat with respect to all OF my judicial
appointments and official positions |
nave been principally indebted to the
generous sentiment of respect. conf
ience and good Will in my behalf
which appeared to emanate from the
oar of my native county.
But in making these personal ac-
acknowledgements. / beg that you will
lot consider that I have intended to
appropriate to myself all of the honor
If this occasion. / know that as loyal
md worthy members of the most i'm
oerial and exaeting of all the learned
professions. in giving this function.
,ou have been influenced in large
measure by an impersonal regard for
he honor of the legal profession and
he dignity or the law, and by that
'eyerence for Judicial courts and the
sanetity Of justice which in New Eng
and has even grown and fiourished
Ike the lilies OF the field. You may
also have been moved in a small de-
gree by a pardonabIe feeling Of pride
hat the chief justiceship has come
again. after a lapse of 10 years, to our
sood county of Kennebec.
do not receive at their full value
all the terms of eulogy which have
been inspired, fear, more by conven-
sional courtesy and the warmth and
good fellowship OF the occasion. than
by your deliberate judgment. But !
Mill frankly admit that they bring to
ne what Lord Mansfield. in free
translation of an old Latin line, aptly
termed that pleasing sensibilty which
praise from the praiseworthN never
'ails to give"
l am specially conscious. also, that
my chief qualification for the position
If chief justice was my seniority OF
service on the bench, but | derive such
satisfaction as I may from the fact
hat | have been deemed worthy to be
continued on the bench long enough TO
,eoome the senior in service. While l
nay not presume to emulate the great
earning and ability of the eminent
wrists and magistrates among my
PREDECESSORS, | may at least cherish
With reverence the honored traditions
# the Office in the years that have
one before, and indulge the hope and
5elief that the court as now con-
itituted will omit no duty and no eX-
triton TO maintain the excellent repute
which it enjoyed in the days of our
predecessors. for the soundness of its
learning and the independence and up
rightness of it's judgments, and will
strive to keep it's standard full high
advanced" to meet the new light of the
future.
| we'll remember my only predecessor
in this county, Chief Justice Nathan
Weston of Augusta, who retired from
the bench in 1S41, 20 years ago at the
age of 50 years and died in 1872 at the
age of so years. He was the grand
'ather of Melville Weston Fuller, the
ate chief justice Of the L. 5. supreme
,ourt. Like many other learned lur-
.sts he is better known as a judge than
rs a practicing lawyer. He had been
at the bar less than five years and was
only 90 years old when in 1911 he was
appointed by Governor Gerry of Mas
chief justice of the second
circuit of the court of common pleas
With BENJAMIN Ames and Ebenezer
Thatcher as associates. He remained
n the court OF common pleas until
1920 when. upon the organization OF
the new State, he was appointed an as
,ociate Justice of the supreme judicial
court, with Prentiss Mellen. chief jus
ice. and William T. Preble. associate.
This position he held until near the
lose of the year 1884, when Chief JUS
ice Mcllen having arrived at the age
If 20 years. the constitutional limit of
he Office. Judge Weston was promoted
o the position of chief justice as the