, and with
a sufficient clientage, spent in that manly emulation and
honorable companionship.

The habit of giving dissenting opinions which has become
so common both in the Supreme Court of the United States
and of late in the Massachusetts Supreme Court did not then
exist. If there were a division on an important question
of law the statement of the result was usually "a majority
of the Court is of opinion." That was all. I do not believe
any court can long retain public confidence and respect when
nearly all its opinions in important matters are accompanied
by a powerful attack on the soundness of the opinion and the
correctness of the judgment from the Bench itself. The Reporter
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is, I believe, authorized
to report the decisions of the court more or less at length
at his discretion. If he would exercise that discretion by
an absolute refusal to print dissenting opinions, except in
a few very great and exceptional cases, he would have the
thanks of the profession. It may be harder to put a stop
to the practice in the Supreme Court of the United States.
That will have to be done, if at all, by the good sense of
the Judges. The recent opinions of the Court in what are
known as the Insular Cases have shocked the country and greatly
diminished the weight and authority of the tribunal. This
was not because of public disapproval of the opinion of the
Court. It was because upon one of the greatest questions
of Constitutional law and Constitutional liberty that ever
went to judgment, there could be found no single reason for
the decision of the Court strong enough to convince any two
judges.

The fact that I have been for nearly thirty-five years in
public life, and likely to be, if I live, in public life a few
years longer, is an instance of how--

The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft a-gley.

Down to the time I was admitted to the Bar, and indeed for
a year later, my dream and highest ambition were to spend
my life as what is called an office lawyer, making deeds and
giving advice in small transactions. I supposed I was absolutely
without capacity for public speaking. I expected never to
be married; perhaps to earn twelve or fifteen hundred dollars
a year, which would enable me to have a room of my own in
some quiet house, and to earn enough to collect rare books
that could be had without much cost. I can honestly say with
George Herbert: "I protest