the practice of his profession. But he kept up with the political movements of the day. Having been born during the administra tion of the elder Adams, he had reached the age of early manhood when the Jcffersonian school of politics was almost univer sal, and being an adherent of that school, he soon found himself a member of the Democratic party. He. remained with that party until 1850, when he joined the Free Soil party, which was pledged to resist the extension of slavery. On the organization of the Republican party, he became an ac tive member of it. In 1862 the Republi cans elected him to represent the eighteenth Ohio district in Congress. He at once be came one of the leaders in that body. He was elected to Congress three successive times; with the close of the fortieth Con gress his legislative career ended, declining a further nomination, declaring it his intention to retire from public life. Judge Spaulding was not an ordinary man, but was of such marked personality that it would have given him prominence anywhere. Long in public life, it has well been said that " The history of the Ohio bar, of the judiciary, legislature, and politics, of this State, could not be faithfully written without assigning to his name a conspicuous place." " As a lawyer he was master of the general principles to so great a degree, that he was able to successfully grapple with the most varied questions." A sincere man, no act of his life was per formed but from a sense of duty, and the right once understood, no power could move him therefrom. JUDGES UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1851. There have been thirty-nine judges of the Supreme Court under the present Con stitution, two of whom were also judges under the old Constitution. Sketches of their lives will here follow. The good qual ities of many jurists are seldom extolled
until . they have been called to plead their own case before the High Court of Chancery presided over by the Judge on high. In singing the praise of the living the innuendo should be adopted, not to show the slander ous quality of the words, but to extirpate the fulsomeness of seeming flattery. The polished editor who rocks the " Easy Ch air" of The Green Bag voices the pro per sentiment when he pokes fun at the propensity of lawyers for spreading the color thick when writing legal biography. It is to be hoped that the living judges and ex-judges of the Buckeye State have not been patted on the back, in this article, to such an extent that any of them will become "humped up," and that the " laudatory ad jectives " arte not too profuse. But the good humored editor of the aforesaid " Easy Chair" should remember that the maxim, that "He who does not blow his own horn, for him no horn shall be blown," has especial application to this class of literature. In undertaking to " write up " the Supreme Court of your dearly beloved State, it is your solemn duty to blow its legal horn as loud as the lungs of the pen may permit. If you don't, who will? So it is with legal biography generally. Thomas Welles Bartley, the son of Mordecai and Elizabeth (Welles) Bartley, was born February 11th, 1812, in Jefferson County, Ohio. He received a liberal educa tion, graduating from Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He read law in Washington City, and was admitted to the Bar at Mansfield, Ohio, in 1834. He soon became a leading mem ber of the Bar. Was elected AttorneyGeneral of the State, performing the duties of that position for four years; was United States District Attorney four years; served six years as a member of the General As sembly of Ohio, and in 1844, on the resigna tion of Governor Shannon, he became Governor and performed the duties of that office until his father, Governor Mordecai
