chairman of its judiciary committee. Again he distinguished himself in the labors of that body.

Indeed, it may be said of him that while he undertook much, more perhaps than his health warranted, whatever he undertook was always thoroughly and well done. Nor were his labors confined to his judicial position. He was one of those men, very rare in these days, who seemed to be sought after in widely divergent avenues of life, and he was most unwilling to refuse active assistance to any one in need. He was an excellent and very thrifty business man, and from that fact he was for many years selected as president of the leading bank in western Michigan, and was generally regarded as a safe counselor and a tower of strength to its directorate. He was prominent in church affairs, having become a member of the Congregational church in 1848 and ever remaining a prominent member of that denomination in the state as well as beyond its boundaries. He was very consistent in his daily life as a Christian man, and perhaps to his efforts as much as to those of any layman was due the leading position that denomination has taken in the state of Michigan.

It was the privilege of the writer to be very near him for several years, and to observe closely his labors at chambers and upon the bench during an important period of his career as a judge. It was impossible to be thus situated without being impressed with the many strong traits of character which his daily life evidenced.

His health continued delicate; he

was unable to indulge in much physical exercise, and this no doubt had its effect upon him, for under the pressure of many cares and duties he was sometimes stern, almost severe, and those who did not understand the circumstances were often misled as to the general character of the man. But notwithstanding this seeming impatience and severity, there were few better hearts with warmer sympathies and kindlier and more charitable feelings toward all mankind, than that of Judge Withey.

He was one of the most merciful men in his sentences upon those who had offended the laws of the land, and his consideration for their welfare and possible reformation was such that it seemed sometimes as if he carried his humanitarian views and feelings to ex

cess.

His integrity as a judge was never the subject of even momentary suspicion. He kept his ermine spotless. Probably few men ever labored more perseveringly and honestly to know all there was in a case and to decide it correctly. As before remarked, his sense of fairness, by nature large, had been cultivated with such care that it was as near perfect as men can expect in their fellows. He seemed to have no strong pride of opinion, and would often remark from the bench that he had none, and was willing to change his views at all times when convinced of error and receive light from any source whatever. He had a good fund of practical common sense, and was better pleased to use it than to indulge in finespun theories or hair-splitting distinc

tions. The bar, as well as the jurors called to serve in his court, generally understood what was going on in his mind from the words which fell from his lips. He was not particularly graceful in his diction, and never seemed to trouble himself to make use of high or fine sounding language. His opinions were largely sustained by the court of last resort in this country, and his services were eagerly sought after as judge or referee from outside the district and the state. One very noteworthy case of this kind was that of the famous Tennessee railroad bond cases, wherein over one hundred and forty millions of dollars were involved, and where a large number of the most eminent men in the United States, including Charles O'Connor, Stanley Matthews and Governor Hoadly, agreed upon him to hear the case. It was very intricate as to the points of law involved, and voluminous almost beyond belief. In this case he bore himself in such manner as to obtain the confidence and respect of all, and the result he arrived at was after wards confirmed by the supreme court of the United States.

During the last year or more of his life his health failed steadily. In the hope of receiving benefit from a change of climate and complete rest, accompanied by his devoted wife, Marion L. (Hinsdill) Withey-a woman of great ability and many noble traits of character, who had been his companion and the sharer of his vicissitudes, labors and triumphs since their marriage in 1845-he sought the Pacific coast. For a time it seemed

as if change of air and complete rest from his cares and labors were benefiting him, but it afterward became apparent that they would not accomplish the desired result. Easter day, 1886, had been celebrated by the Christian world as a memorial of the rising of the Master whom he had served so long and so faithfully. On the evening of that beautiful day, with his wife and daughter at his side, at San Diego, California, Judge Withey quietly and peacefully entered into rest. He had enjoyed the day; he had taken supper at the dining table of the hotel; was seized with a momentary feeling of weakness and pain about the heart; was assisted to his room, and died sitting in his chair, with scarcely a struggle.

As it was everywhere said of the Master on that day, "He is risen," so on the eve of that day might it have been said of Judge Withey.

The bench, the bar, the press and the people of Michigan united to pay tribute to the memory of a good man, an eminent citizen, an able, fearless, just and honest judge.

His life and public services reflect honor upon the state in which he was born, and were an ornament and a blessing to the state of his adoption. His example was worth more than books to the profession of his laborious love, and to his family he left, in addition to ample means, ample means, a legacy of honorable reputation, worth more than mines of wealth.

J. H. S.

I PROPOSE to present the briefest possible outline of that Ohio field of biography and history which it would be both pleasant and profitable for all Ohians especially to explore. That territorial and state history relates to historical events and historical men. Some of these far-reaching events, worthiest of our particular study, are the first permanent settlement at Marietta in the spring of 1788; the second settlement at Columbia, near the site of Cincinnati, in the autumn of the same year; the establishment of a territorial government with General Arthur St. Clair as the first and only duly commissioned governor; the formation of the first four counties in the territory, with the noble Revolutionary names of Washington, Hamilton, Wayne and Adams; the disastrous defeat of General Harmar, by the Indians, in June, 1790; the more disastrous defeat of Governor St. Clair, November 4, 1791, in that western Ohio county since appropriately called "Darke ;" the inspiring victory of General Anthony Wayne in August, 1794; the enactment of needed laws by the governor and territorial judges; the assembling of the the first territorial legislature on September 24, 1799; the ceding by Connecticut of her claims to all that territory called the Western Reserve of

Connecticut, on May 30, 1801; the formation of the first state constitution at Chillicothe, in November, 1802; the first general election under that constitution, in January, 1803; the transition from a territorial to a state government in February and March, 1803; the Burr conspiracy, with the state's vigorous action in suppressing it, in 1806; the gallant defense of Fort Stephenson and Perry's splendid victory on Lake Erie during the war of 1812; the establishment of the permanent seat of government at Columbus in 1816; the beginning of the construction of the great canals of the state at Newark, in the fitting presence of Governors Jeremiah Morrow, De Witt Clinton and Senator Thomas Ewing, July 4, 1825; the creation of the noble institutions of charity, benevolence and learning and of the system of public schools, which so honor the state in all succeeding years; the construction of the first and the other great lines of that network of railways which has done more than any single agency to advance the material interests of the state; Ohio's preparation and part in the war for the Union; her action with respect to the latest and best amendments to the national constitution, and her courageous course in the prolonged contests for a sound currency with coin resumption, and the

maintenance, untarnished, of the state's and the nation's credit and faith.

Turning from events, some of which can be treated in essays, others only in volumes, to the meritorious men identified with Ohio's history-men whom we all ought to know more about, much more than the libraries can teach uswe can not omit from the historical list General Rufus Putnam and Dr. Manasseh Cutler, so worthy to be the founders of a great state; General Arthur St. Clair, who passed from the presidency of the American congress to the governorship of the Northwestern Territory, remaining our territory's executive chief through successes and defeats for fourteen years; Dr. Edward Tiffin, president of the convention which framed the first constitution of the state and first governor of Ohio under that constitution; Return Jonathan Meigs, the first cabinet officer that Ohio furnished the republic, whose grave is one of the objects of historic interest in old Marietta; Judge Jacob Burnet, the western Lycurgus, who gave our confused mass of laws consistency and adaptation; honest old Jeremiah Morrow, the last and the best of the governors of the pioneer stock; faithful Peter Hitchcock, for twenty years in the legislature and in congress, and for twenty-five chief justice; William Henry Harrison, the pure patriot of highest virtue, whose political triumph in 1840 was not greater than his earlier triumphs over our Indian foes; Justice John McLean, who combined the manners and graces of the old school of jurists with the learning of the new; Samuel F. Vinton, the able and dignified Whig

leader who preferred his dignity to his existence in office; the brilliant and eloquent Thomas L. Hamer, who sent Grant to West Point; Judge Bellamy Storer, alike popular on the bench and on the stump; Hocking Hunter, every inch and in every fiber a lawyer, Henry Stanbery, the perfect type of a courtly gentleman, and Charles Hammond, one of the strongest and greatest of the members of the American bar.

Especially should we of this generation learn more about the two most distinctively representative historical men of Ohio, Thomas Ewing and Thomas Corwin, the one the embodiment of all the robust strength, physical and mental, of the giant west, declared to be at the period of his death the ablest lawyer in the United States; the other, in the concurrent judgment of all who have felt the spell of his matchless eloquence, as great a natural orator and as marvellous a wit, mimic and master of the passions of men, as this continent has yet known.

Passing from these two extraordinary men, who taught the great men of the later period what it was to be great— but not forgetting in passing the highminded and massive-minded Chase, liberty-loving Joshua R. Giddings, bluff Ben. Wade, brainy, burly Brough, and the strong but gentle Tod-we reach that race of native historic men whose. lives touch ours-we might almost say, whose lives preserved ours-Grant, the peer of the modern world's first soldiers

thunderbolts of war; Sheridan, who turned retreats and defeats into advances and victories and rode with the swiftness of the wind to fame; Sherman, the only soldier or statesman in American history who refused in sincerity the honor of the Presidency when it was thrice within his reach; Hayes, who called around him the ablest cabinet the nation has had, and whose administration of the national government was so acceptable to the people that they voted for another politically like it; Garfield, the most learned President(not excepting John Quincy Adams) who has filled the executive chair, the pathos of whose death touched all hearts in all lands; and tenderly-loved McPherson, whom death alone deprived of equality with the greatest.

And in what more fitting connection can we refer to those two peerless living Ohio statesmen, similar in name and fame, Sherman and Thurman, the one greatest as a financier, the other as a lawyer, both of highest distinction in the making and in the administration of law, and each honored for his public services by the discriminating, everywhere.

Conspicuous for their eminent abilities as are Rufus P. Ranney, William S. Groesbeck, Samuel Shellabarger, John A. Bingham, Jacob D. Cox, Thomas Ewing, George H. Pendleton, Chief Justice Waite, and Associate Justices Woods and Matthews, among living Ohians, we must not forget in our biographical studies other useful or brilliant men who have passed away, leaving honored names worthy of long remembrance within and beyond the

It will not, I

limits of their own state. trust, seem invidious to call to mind George E. Pugh, Caleb T. McNulty, Elisha Whittlesey, Samuel Lewis, Joseph R. Swan, William Dennison, Samuel Galloway and William Allen, or such benefactors as James G. Birney, Dr. Daniel Drake, William Woodward, Lyne Starling, Nicholas Longworth and William Probasco.

Such born jurists and gentlemen as Justice Noah H. Swayne and Judge H. H. Leavitt are everywhere held in honor, as will also long be revered the names of those eminent divines, Dr. Lyman Beecher, Bishop Philander Chase, Bishop McIlvaine, Bishop Edward Thomson and Presidents Finney of Oberlin, and Andrews of Marietta. There are other Ohio names that are too prominently connected with the history of the nation to overlook, among which are those of Generals McClellan, McDowell, Quincy A. Gillmore, Steadman, Schenck and the McCooks; the great inventor, Edison, the Artic explorer, Dr. Hall, the astronomer, O. M. Mitchell, and the director-general of our national centennial exhibition, Goshorn.

What are Ohio's honored names in literature, intelligent readers of course know all about; and while her sons may have accomplished less, perhaps, in that field than in war, politics or art, one can safely say that Artemus Ward and Petroleum V. Nasby, compare favorably with the first humorists of the nation, William D. Howells with the foremost novelists of his day, while Charles Hammond, Samuel Medary, E.