"Yet I do not know that I ever saw in the same official position more dignified demeanor. I never saw a judge listened to with more deference, and treated with more respect than in this instance, in this same village court, in the 'wilds' of western New York, though Judge Balcom wears his own hair--black as Morven's--and came to court without the blowing of even so much as a penny whistle. * * * * * "Seated within the railed space--his arms folded on his breast, his face raised upward in attentive listening attitude--was a man who instantly struck me as being singular among the throng around him. He might be sixty years of age; a powerfully built frame and expansive chest gave indication of physical strength and energy; but it was _the face_ that impressed me. It was one of those that Rembrandt loved to paint; the grave serenity of strength in repose; the warm glow of life's autumn evening upon a countenance expressive of quiet dignity and intellectual power. The spacious dome of a massive head was covered with silvery--nay, snow-white hair, lending a venerable, though not an aged, aspect to the man. He was very plainly dressed; the blue cloth body-coat, with brass buttons, was perfectly American; the large high shirt-collar standing out from the lower part of a face entirely shaven; and a black silk neckerchief loosely fastened around in the very carelessness of effect or appearance, was in perfect keeping with the simplicity of his _tout ensemble_. This was the Honorable D. S. Dickinson, the contemporary in politics of Webster, who found in him, in many a passage of arms, a foeman worthy of his steel. For some years Mr. Dickinson has remained in retirement from active public life, notwithstanding many efforts to induce him to reënter the arena. Yet it is shrewdly suspected that his counsel is not seldom sought and acted upon by the great ones of that party of which he once was so active and able a leader." We now proceed to make a few extracts from Mr. Dickinson's public speeches. Here is an extract upon disunion: