son tall and imposing, and his manner fas cinating. At times he was eloquent. In all his conflicts with his brethren, which at times were ardent, and sometimes impet uous, he was singularly fortunate in never, even unintentionally, inflicting the slightest wound upon their feelings. He was ever gentlemanly and kind. The same traits of impassioned eloquence reappear, at a subsequent generation, in Ser geant S. Prentiss, the famous orator of Mis sissippi, when he charmed and electrified the country by his wonderful powers. Prentiss used to attend the Mellen-Prentiss family re unions at Portland, where he was recognized by the Chief Justice as a relative 1 and fa vorite kinsman. In 1808, 1809, and 1817 he was a mem ber of the executive council in Massachu setts, a presidential elector in 18 16, and elected to the U. S. Senate in 1817, where he had Harrison Gray Otis for his colleague. The latter situation he held until Maine was organized as a separate state, when, in July, 1820, he was appointed chief-justice of the new State. The same year he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from both Harvard and Bowdoin colleges. His associates on the bench were Nathan Weston and Wm. P. Preble. For this elevated and honorable station, he was eminently qualified by the high order of his legal attainments, his long ex perience, readiness in dispatch of business, and love of justice and equity. Yet his love of equity was not that morbid sentiment which often leads to a blind sacrifice of the principles of law. Hence, he always held the established principles and rules of the law as too sacred to be disregarded; and no judge bowed with more profound respect to the settled law of the land. His thorough knowledge of practice, his familiarity with decided cases, and his quick 1 The late Henry E. Prentiss, of Bangor, was a second cousin of S. S. Prentiss. His ancestor, Caleb Prentiss, mar ried Pamela, sister of Chief-Justice Mellen.
perception of the points and merits of a case, were peculiarly valuable at a time when the new State was forming its system of jurispru dence. The enduring evidence of his sound judgment, his just discrimination, great learning, and the lasting impress of his powerful mind are to be found in his judi cial opinions, which are contained in the first eleven volumes of the Maine Reports. Of the sixty-nine cases in the first volume, the opinions in fifty were drawn by him; of eighty-four opinions in the second volume, he drew seventy-four; and this industry and application is apparent through the whole series, in the last of which, of the one hun dred and six opinions, he drew seventy-four. None of them are of a light or hasty kind; many of them involved points of the highest importance, requiring profound study, nice discrimination, and keen analysis. Perhaps as ready an illustration of all these elements combined is the case of Prop'rs Kennebec Purchase v. Laboree, 2 Greenl. 275, so often cited upon the constitutionality of retrospec tive statutes, where vested rights are in volved. He grew up with the law of the State which he largely shaped; he was as familiar with the modern as with ancient decisions, and kept pace with the progressive learning of his profession. His useful career upon the bench ended October 11, 1834, when he reached the constitutional limit of seventy years, beyond which no judicial office could then be held in Maine. On his retirement from the bench, the Cumberland Bar addressed him with ex pressions of the high sense it entertained of his services and merits, as an upright judge, and of his qualities as a man, to which trib ute of affection and respect he responded with deep sensibility. His last public service, rendered at the age of seventy- five years, was in revising the statutes of the State. He earnestly en gaged in this task, and with the aid of his
