He retires as
poor as when he entered, owing nothing and owning little,
except the title to the respect of good men, which malignant
mendacity cannot wrest from a public officer who has deserved,
by a long and useful career, the grateful appreciation of his
fellow-citizens. We think that we may safely predict that,
in his new place, Justice Field will fulfill the sanguine
expectations of his friends."
J.G.B.
SAN FRANCISCO, _May 1, 1863_.
[1] He was in the Legislature only one session.
* * * * *
In 1855 a circuit court for California was created by Congress, and
clothed with the ordinary jurisdiction of the several circuit courts
of the United States. Hon. M. Hall McAllister was appointed its judge.
In January, 1863, he resigned and my appointment as his successor was
recommended by our Senators. They telegraphed me what they had done,
and I replied that I could not accept the place, that I preferred to
remain Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State than to be a
judge of an inferior federal court, but that if a new justice were
added to the Supreme Court of the United States, I would accept the
office if tendered to me. Notwithstanding this reply my appointment
was urged, and I was nominated by the President. The Senators have
since told me that they pressed my nomination from a belief that
another justice would soon be added to the Supreme Court, and that
the appointment would be made from the Pacific States, and that if
I were circuit judge it would more likely be tendered to me than to
any one else.
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