in the senate of the United States from New Hampshire, in 1841. In the autumn of 1845, a vacancy occurred on the bench of the supreme court of the United States, by the demise of Judge Story; this appointment was offered to Mr. Woodbury and accepted. Such are a few of the important datas in the career of Mr. Woodbury's life, and would space permit us, we should be pleased, in this connection, to go into an elaborate description of his personal characteristics and patriotism. His character has ever been remarkable for firmness and consistency, and whether as a citizen, a politician, or a jurist, he has been found a steady supporter of the constitution of the United States.
HON. ROBERT RANTOUL, JR.
We can give no better sketch of Mr. Rantoul's life than to quote from
Hon. Charles Sumner's eulogy pronounced in congress. He was born
August 13th, 1805, at Beverly, in the county of Essex, the home of Nathan
Dane. Here under happy auspices of family and neighborhood, he commenced
life. His excellent father, honored for his public services, venerable
also in years and flowing silver locks, yet lives to mourn his last surviving
son. The sad fortune of Burke is renewed. He who should have been
as posterity, is now to this father in the place of ancestry. Mr. Rantoul
was early a member of the legislature of Massachusetts, and there won
his first fame. For many years he occupied a place in the board of
education in that state. He was also, for a time, collector of the port
of Boston, and afterwards attorney of the United States for Massachusetts.
During a brief period he held a seat in the senate, and finally, in 1851,
by the choice of his native district, remarkable for its intelligence and
public spirit, he became a representative in the other branch of our national
legislature. In all these spheres he performed most acceptable service,
and the future promised opportunities of a higher character, to which his
abilities, industry and fidelity would have amply responded. By fitness,
by study, knowledge and experience, he was formed for public service,
but he was no stranger to other pursuits. Early devoted to the profession
of the law, he followed it with assiduity and success. In the antiquities of
our jurisprudence, few were more learned, and his arguments at the bar,
were thorough. Nor were his intelligence and promptness in all emergencies
of a trial easily surpassed. Literature, neglected by many under the
pressure of professional duties, was always cultivated by him. His taste
for books was enduring. He was a constant student, amidst his manifold
labors, professional and public. He was a reformer in the warfare with
evil, He was enlisted earnestly and openly as a soldier for life. As
such, he did not hesitate to encounter opposition, to meet obloquy, and to
brave his enemies. His conscience, pure as goodness, sustained him in
every trial, even that sharpest of all, the desertion of friends; and yet
while earnest in his cause, his zeal was tempered beyond that of the common
reformer. He knew well the difference between the ideal and the
actual, and sought by practical means, in harmony with public sentiment,
to promote the public interest. Recognizing in the social and political
system the essential elements of stability and progress, he discerned the
office of the conservative and the reformer; but he saw, also, that a blind
conservatism was not less destructive than a blind reform. He was the
