on it has devolved upon me to
inaugurate the talking on all occasions. [Laughter.] When I had supposed
last evening that I should hear the eloquent voice of your then
President, Judge Porter, to get up the enthusiasm which was necessary, I
was surprised to find that he was absent, and that the distinguished
gentleman who presided did not feel called upon to fill his place in
that regard, though he did the honors and discharged the duties of the
office very gracefully; and now when your own Governor, and when the
President of the United States are toasted in advance of the body of
which I have the honor to be a member, there is nobody with the
respectful and cordial approval of the Association here to respond to
the sentiments in their honor. But I have had the honor of sitting for a
couple of hours in this body, and to find that although a moderate
speaker myself, I had opened the way for a good deal of disposition to
talk [applause]; and I trust it will be found that there will be a
similar experience this evening, as I find here the Judges of the Court
of Appeals and of the Supreme Court of this State, and others, who know
how to speak, and who, no doubt, will speak in response to toasts.

The sentiment of De Tocqueville, to which I am in some sense called
upon to respond, is one which those of you who have read his work on
"Democracy in America," written forty-five years ago, must know has
reference to a much smaller body of judges than now existing. Perhaps I
shall entertain you a little by telling you about what are the Federal
judges, and how many of them there are. We have fifty-seven or
fifty-eight district judges who are Federal judges. We have nine judges
of the Circuit Court of the United States; we have five judges of the
District of Columbia; we have five judges of the Court of Claims; and we
have nine judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, and these
are all considered and treated as constitutional Federal judges. That is
to say, they enter their offices as officers of the United States, and
hold their offices during life or good behavior. We have, in addition to
these, eight Territories, each of which has three judges, who are
Federal judges, although in a different sense. They are not called
constitutional judges--I do not know that that is a very correct
distinction--and they are only appointed for four years. These are the
Federal judges, the name which De Tocqueville applies to them.

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