Regiment, of Massachusetts Militia, that same organization which years afterwards made a history for itself on the bloody day in Baltimore, during its march through that rebellious city, on its way to defend the National Capital, at the beginning of the Civil War. Enlisting as a private, he passed successively through all the grades until he reached the highest known to the State troops, that of Major General. The drills, parades and annual encampments, for many years, were the only relief from his work he permitted himself to indulge in.

An incident is recorded of his life at this time which tell more than volumes could of his determination to know the "why and the wherefore" of everything he attempted to investigate. The first locomotive, then a strange sight, made its appearance in Lowell and young Butler was determined to see and learn all about it. For that purpose, he visited the house where the new curiosity was sheltered and spent five whole hours in mastering its mysteries, which he did by examining it and questioning the engineer, so that by the time he had finished his exhaustive inquiries, he was as competent to run the thing as was its master.

The young attorney soon won his way to a lucrative business; his politics, he thought at first, would be an obstacle to success, for to be a Democrat in Lowell was "like living at Cape Cod and voting against the fishing bounties or in Louisiana and opposing the sugar duty." But his boldness, his diligence and special belief that his duty was to his client at all hazards, brought him causes by those who were as bitterly opposed to him, politically, as it is possible to conceive of, yet as they desired to gain their case they took it to him, for he was sure to win if within the limits of possibility. These opinions of him at that time, and afterward, are here quoted freely from various sources:

"In some important particulars, General Butler sur

passed all his contemporaries at the New England Bar. His meatrory was such that he could retain the whole of the testimony of the very longest trial without making a note. His power of labor seemed unlimited. In fertility of expedient and in the lightning quickness of his devices to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, his equal has seldom ever lived. To these gifts, add a perseverance that knew no discouragement, and never accepted defeat while one possibility of triumph remained."

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"His devices and shifts to obtain an acquittal and release are absolutely endless and innumerable. He is never daunted or baffled until the sentence is passed and put into execution, and the reprieve, pardon or commutation refused. An indictment must be drawn with the greatest nicety or it will not stand his criticism. verdict of guilty is nothing to him, it is only the beginning of the case; he has fifty exceptions, motions in arrest of judgment, and after that the habeas corpus and personal replevin. The opposing counsel never begins to feel safe until the evidence is all in, for he knows not what new dodges General Butler may spring upon him. He is more fertile in expedients than any man who practices law among us. His expedients frequently fail, but they are generally plausible enough to bear the test of trial, and faulty and weak, as they often are, Butler always has confidence in them to the last, and when one fails, he invariably tries another. If it were not that there must be an end to everything, his desperate cases would never be finished, for there would be no end to his expedients to obtain his case."

"Unexampled success attended his professional efforts, so characterized by shrewdness and zeal. When the war summoned him from these toils, he had a larger practice than any other man in the State. I have no doubt he tried four times more causes, at least, than any other lawyer, during the ten years preceding the war. The

same qualities which made him efficient in the war, made him efficient as a lawyer. Fertile in resources and stratagem, earnest and zealous to an extraordinary degree, certain of the integrity of his client's cause, and not inclined to criticise or inquire whether it was strictly constitutional or not, but defending the whole line with a boldness and energy that generally carried court and jury alike. His ingenuity is exhaustless; if he makes a mistake in speech or action, it has no sinister effect, for the reason that he will himself discover and correct the error, before any 'barren spectator' has seized upon it."

"He is faithful and tenacious to the last degree. There is no possibility of treachery in his conduct. 'He could not betray the devil to his fellow.' No man in America can remember facts, important and unimportant like General Butler; whatever enters his mind remains there forever, and his knowledge is available the instant it is needed without confusion or tumult of thought. The testimony delivered through days of dreary trials, without minutes or memoranda of any kind, he could recall in fresher and more accurate phrases, remembering always. the substance and generally all the important expressions, with far more precision than the other counsel could gather it from their 'writing books', wherein they had endeavored to record it. Practice for a long series of years had so disciplined his mind in this respect that it is quite impossible for him to forget, and as he has mingled constantly with every kind of business and interest of humanity since he was admitted to the Bar, he has be come possessed of a marvelous extent and variety of knowledge respecting the affairs of mankind."

"Such energy and talent as this, could not fail of liberal reward. After ten years of practice at Lowell, with frequent employment in Boston courts, General Butler opened an office in Boston, and thenceforward, in conjunction with a partner in each city, carried on two

distinct establishments. For many years, he was punctual at the depot in Lowell at seven in the morning, at Boston soon after eight, in court at Boston from half past nine till near five in the afternoon, back to Lowell and to dinner at half past six, at his office in Lowell from half past seven till midnight or later. When the war broke out, he had the most lucrative practice in New England, worth, at a moderate estimate, eighteen thousand dollars a year. At the moment of his leaving for the seat of war, the list of cases in which he was retained numbered five hundred. Despite his enormous and incessant labors at the Bar, he was a busy and eager politician. From his twentieth year he was wont to stump the neighboring towns at election time, and from the year 1844, never failed to attend the National Conventions of his party. Upon all questions, both of State and National politics, which have agitated Massachusetts during the last twenty years, his record is clear and ineffaceable. Right or wrong, there is not the slightest difficulty in knowing where he has stood or stands. He has, in perfection, what the French call 'the courage of opinion.""

The District Attorney, Mr. Morse, who occupied that position for seventeen years prior to 1871, said of General Butler's legal abilities: "General Butler defended a great many criminals during my term of office. He was a most dangerous adversary and every point had to be most carefully defended lest he pick a hole in it. He was very ingenious,and as a technical lawyer was the ablest I ever saw."

Judge J. G. Abbott says: "I have probably tried more cases against General Butler than any other lawyer. In the period 1840 to 1860, we met often. In one faculty I have never known him to be excelled; this was the keeping out and the getting in of evidence."

Of late, General Butler's legal battles have been confined to the courts of Boston, New York and Washington. His criminal practice has been permitted to diminish

Civil cases and cases relatabout all his time for he

more and more year by year. ing to pensions have taken up is just as hard a worker as ever. In the United States District Court, no lawyer is better known than the General. The court officers hear of his appearance with much the same feeling that they receive the announcement of the arrival of the Judge. General Butler's peculiar methods of fighting a case have been described; he has changed little even in his later days in this respect. "I object your honor" has been said by him, probably, more times than any man living or dead. His life in fighting cases has been one great objection, so to speak, in this respect. Just at the moment when he becomes snugly composed in his chair, and his eyelids drop down over his eyes as if he were asleep, the objection is liable to come. With it his massive frame begins slowly to rise from the chair, he goes over to the Judge's desk, braces himself and the Judge then hears the objection, and quite frequently the jury does too, for General Butler has always been a firm believer in the enlightenment of juries, even when the opposing counsel thinks only the evidence is fit for their ears. When any papers are entered in a case by the opposing counsel, the General's objections are all the fiercer; a paper thus introduced never had a closer scrutiny than that afforded by the General. He never wears glasses, even in his old age, consequently a close application is necessary and the paper is drawn from side to side with both hands, as near to his face as his nose will permit.

The General's voice is not as powerful as it used to be, in fact it is now difficult to hear him any great distance, though he occasionally fires up and some of the old time force presents itself. He still relies considerably on the sympathy of the jury, especially when he is. defending a woman. His method of arguing his case is the same in substance as it always has been. Plenty of