in thought and action, and unalterable in his inclination to do what he believed to be right. He knew his own mind, and always had the courage to act upon his own con victions." I think the reader will be now prepared to believe that no member of the Bar, having such endowments, combined with the highest ideal of honor and integrity, stood better with the court. As he never misled the court with a false statement of law or fact, he rightfully possessed a strong personal influence that counted much in his favor. His word was always a good legal tender. Upon Mr. Libbey's removal to Augusta he soon won his way to a good and lucrative practice, having desirable clients that he re tained until appointed to the Bench. He had a good knowledge of business that served him many ways and made him a use ful and safe bank-officer. He had that clear perception and sound judgment that made him especially valuable in investing trust funds. He began quite early to argue cases before the law court. The extent of his practice is seen from the frequency of his cases in the printed reports. His name ap pears as attorney in twenty-one cases in one volume alone, — the sixty-second volume of the Maine Reports. At the time Mr. Libbey entered the pro fession, among the elder members of the Kennebec Bar there were many experienced and able lawyers, among them Allen, Evans, Whittemore, Danforth and Clay of Gardiner; Clark, Wells, Paine, Baker, Gilman of Hallowell; Williams, Bradbury, Titcomb, Baker, Rice, and Lancaster of Augusta, and many more whose lives were full of devotion to their profession, and but few of whom are now living. Judge Libbey's arguments were not long; and though not an orator he reasoned logi cally and well, marshaling in the facts that bore upon the vital issue to the safe and easy comprehension of the jury. He was the first Democrat appointed to
the Bench of Maine after the resignation of Judge Rice, and when the policy was adopted of giving the minority party a representative on the bench, he was selected with great unanimity. The appointment came to him without solicitation, and he had no knowledge of it until the announcement was made. During Artemas Libbey's service on the bench his courage is in nothing so signally illustrated as in his steadfast devotion to the principles of honest government when the integrity of the State was threatened by the great Count-out Conspiracy. He was a Democrat, but appeals and threats failed to swerve him by so much as an inch from the path of judicial uprightness and an earnest championship of law and order. He stood for justice with his eminent colleagues, and justice prevailed. Governor Plaisted refused to re-appoint him, sending in the names of several other Democrats, including Wil liam L. Putnam, but the executive council refused to become a partner to this attempt to punish an upright judge, and refused to confirm the nomination. The first act of Governor Robie, in 1883, was to re-appoint Judge Libbey, and the nomination was im mediately confirmed, to the great satisfac tion of the people of the State. He had very little personal interest in politics beyond the welfare of his State, and was never ambitious for office, although he was a member of Governor Wells's council in 1856, and was appointed by Governor Dingley in 1874 on the commission to revise the State Constitution. Of Judge Libbey as judge and advocate it may be said that he was the Pygmalion to the Galatea of abstract justice, infusing life into what would otherwise have been but a mass of lifeless, cold facts. In Chief-Justice Peters's eulogy on Judge Libbey he has brought out this trait of his character in forceful and beautiful language : — "How full of significance are facts in their infinite forms when truly interpreted! How full
