An Autobiography of Seventy Years. coster when a nomination meant election, but refused. "But I preferred my profes sion. I never had any desire or taste for executive office, and I doubt if I had much capacity for it. In addition to the Practice Act, the Sen ator exercised a decided influence on the Equity and Insolvency systems of his State. To quote his exact language: "I think I may fairly claim that I had a good deal to do with developing the equity system in the courts of Massachusetts, and with develop ing the admirable Insolvency system of Massachusetts, which is substantially an equity system, from which the United States Bankruptcy statutes have been so largely copied. And at a later period as Senator he has manifested a deep, constant and enlightened interest in Bankruptcy legislation. Indeed, it is perhaps not too much to claim that the present National Bankruptcy Act of 1898 (amended in 1903), is due almost wholly to the Senator. (See Vol. II., pp. 300-303.) With success at ' the Bar, the Bench loomed large before him, and the oppor tunity of a judgeship came more than once. "As I found myself getting a respectable place in the profession my early ambitions were so far changed and expanded that I hoped I might some day be appointed to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It seemed to me then, as it seems to me now, that there could be no more delightful life for a man competent to the service than one spent in discussing with the admirable lawyers, who have always adorned the Bench, the great questions of jurisprudence, involving the rights of citi zens, and the welfare of the Commonwealth, and helping to settle them by authority. This ambition also was disappointed. I have twice received the offer of a seat on that Bench, under circumstances which rendered it out of the question that I should accept
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it, although on both occasions I longed ex ceedingly to do so." The Senator's legal experience has, how ever, not been lost to the country, and in committee, if not on the Bench, he has had ample opportunity to show judicial quali ties of a high order. "My longest service upon committees," he says (Vol. II., p. 100), has been upon the two great Law commit tees of the Senate,—the Committee on Priv ileges and Elections, and the Committee on the Judiciary. "I have been a member of the Committee on Privileges and Elections since March 9, 1877. I was chairman for more than ten years. I have been a member of the Com mittee on the Judiciary since December, 1884, and have been its chairman since De cember, 1891, except for two years, from March 4, 1893 to March 4, 1895, when the Democrats held the Senate." National questions, however, have not eliminated the Senator's genuine interest in his chose» pro fession and in his associates at the Worces ter Bar, and in the Judges with whom he came into frequent and pleasing contact. These memories are still fresh within him. Two delightful chapters: Recollections of the Worcester Bar" and "Some Judges Г have Known (vol. II., pp. 367-433) are full of local interest. A captious critic might shrug his shoulders at Mr. Hoar's generous estimâtes of these worthies; for if strictly true, the world has rarely seen such a Bar as Worcester County, and the Judges are easily the first of their kind. But the Sena tor's judgment of others as well as of him self is uniformly kind with a couple of exceptions. The adage nihil nisi bonnin, has rarely if ever been more impartially ap plied, and are we not all of us in need of a good word? Heretofore the Senator has sketched his career in Massachusetts; with the year 1869 he entered national politics, and from his
