osition. As such a party man he went into the State
Legislature, and became an acknowledged leader. He possessed that great
quality for a leader, the faculty of extempore speaking, joined with the
ability to condense and elucidate the topics he took in hand. But he never
submitted the convictions of his judgment to party dictation; and soon
after his entering the arena of legislative warfare, he bravely stemmed
party tide in advocating an increase of salaries for the State judges. The
latter were all federalists, and it was not to be wondered that the
republicans of that day, who wore in their noses the rings of party,
should shrug their shoulders at the prospect of benefiting political
opponents. But by his firm conduct, and by his confident assertion and
able arguments in favor of the measure, it was carried. And to Joseph
Story, more than any other man, Massachusetts is indebted for the
opportunity of employing ablest judicial officers, without making their
families beggars.

It is the disgrace of our country that its judicial officers are the most
poorly paid of all professions and pursuits. And in every section of the
Union, that distinguished lawyer who accepts a seat upon the bench, must
hold the glories of his honor at a very high price, to surrender his
ordinary professional emoluments for the wretched pittance which the
various States dole out for days of public toil and nights of private
study. We desire to look no further than this Empire State for examples.
This Empire State, with its magnificent resources and proudly developing
energies, should be the last to unite in adjudging its judicial officers
to the labors of galley slaves, and to then pay them by the year less than
a ballet-dancer receives by the month in all its principal cities. Two
thousand five hundred dollars per year is the astounding sum which this
same Empire State pays to its highest judicial officers. If we reverse the
saying of Walpole, and read "_every price has its man_," we may not wonder
if Dogberries and grandmothers are occasionally found upon the bench,
dispensing their honest but destructive platitudes, and their Malaprop
constructions of commercial law, to juries of astounded merchants.

From the arena of State politics, Mr. Story next changed his position to
the temple of national discussions at Washington. His career in Congress
was, however, limited to one session, and to a vacancy-seat occasioned by
a death. He declined re-e