G38 JOHN LOWELL. 



of Harvard University, and a Member of the Massachusetts Historical 

 Society. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Williams Col- 

 lege in 1870, and from Harvard in 1871. 



Before his appointment as District Judge, Mr. Lowell's work at the 

 bar had been chiefly office practice. His clients, if not very numerous, 

 were warmly attached to him, were continually demanding his counsel, 

 uud had the most implicit confidence in the opinions he gave them. When 

 consulted by any one of them he rarely looked at a book ; but after hear- 

 ing what the client had to say, would sit perfectly quiet, until he had 

 sufficiently considered the question, and then advise him in a way show- 

 ing intuitive sagacity and familiarity both with the fundamental principles 

 of the law and their a^jplication by the courts. He was always a diligent 

 student, reading carefully, digesting slowly, and assimilating thoroughly 

 what was new or seemed to him important in the volumes of reports that 

 from time to time appeared, so that when his judicial work began he was 

 well equipped for the duties that devolved upon him. 



The District Court of the United States, of which he was at first ap- 

 pointed Judge, is a court of limited and peculiar jurisdiction ; it has the 

 exclusive cognizance of admiralty and maritime cases, and of all crimes 

 committed upon the high seas ; it is also a prize court, and sits as a 

 criminal court, for the trial of offences against the laws of the United 

 States, such as violations of the post-office laws, revenue laws, etc. The 

 number of jury trials in this court is, however, very limited and mostly 

 confined to criminal cases, usually of great simplicity. Judge Lowell's 

 want of experience in practice before a jury, and in dealing with juries, 

 was for this reason a source of much less embarrassment to him in this 

 court than it would have been in most others. He had, in fact, before 

 his appointment tried only one jury case, and was perfectly aware of the 

 difficulties under which he labored in public speaking. Time and con- 

 stant practice diminished these difficulties, and made it more easy for him 

 to preside at jury trials, as he gradually overcame the obstacles which 

 sprang largely from his want of training and experience, and a lack of 

 confidence in himself The civil war was not over when he was appointed 

 to the bench, and the effect of the destruction of our merchant marine by 

 the guns of the Confederate cruisers, and of the transfer of our ships to 

 foreign owners, now so evident in many other ways besides that of the 

 sadly diminished number and importance of the suits in Admiralty, had 

 not then made themselves thoroughly felt. At the time of his appoint- 

 ment there were many causes pending which Judge Sprague's long illness 

 had prevented his hearing, and Judge Lowell had at first no laclj of 



