rative, as that of any lawyer in the State. He served
one or two sessions in the Legislature, and the State is
indebted to him for very many of the laws which constitute the
body of her legislation.[1] In 1857 he was nominated for Judge
of the Supreme Court for a full term, and in October of
the same year was appointed by Governor Johnson to fill
the unexpired term of Justice Heydenfeldt, resigned. He
immediately entered upon the office, and has continued ever
since to discharge its duties. Recently, as the reader knows,
he was appointed, by the unanimous request of our delegation
in Congress, to a seat upon the Bench of the Supreme Court of
the United States, and was confirmed, without opposition, by
the Senate.

"Like most men who have risen to distinction in the United
States, Judge Field commenced his career without the
advantages of wealth, and he prosecuted it without the
factitious aids of family influence or patronage. He had the
advantage, however--which served him better than wealth or
family influence--of an accomplished education, and careful
study and mental discipline. He brought to the practice of
his profession a mind stored with professional learning,
and embellished with rare scholarly attainments. He was
distinguished at the bar for his fidelity to his clients, for
untiring industry, great care and accuracy in the preparation
of his cases, uncommon legal acumen, and extraordinary
solidity of judgment. As an adviser, no man had more the
confidence of his clients, for he trusted nothing to chance
or accident when certainty could be attained, and felt his
way cautiously to his conclusions, which, once reached, rested
upon sure foundations, and to which he clung with remarkable
pertinacity. Judges soon learned to repose confidence in his
opinions, and he always gave them the strongest proofs of the
weight justly due to his conclusions.

"When he came to the bench, from various unavoidable causes
the calendar was crowded with cases involving immense
interests, the most important questions, and various and
peculiar litigation. California was then, as now, in the
development of her multiform physical resources. The judges
were as much pioneers of law as the people of settlement.
To be sure something had been done, but much had yet to be
accomplis