It can not be considered out of place, and it will not be deemed in any way amiss, to mention some of those who represent by their frequent appearance before the Supreme Court, the character and worth of the local bar. Some of these men have gained national reputations; all of them will be recognized as lawyers whose names deserve a prominent place in any history of the bench and bar of the District of Columbia: Walter D. Davidge, Samuel Shellabarger, Jeremiah M. Wilson, Enoch Totten, Albert G. Riddle, William B. Webb,' J. Hubley Ashton, Nathaniel Wilson, William F. Mattingly, Augustus S. Worthington, Martin F. Morris, John Selden, Leigh Robinson, Saul S. Henkle, R. Ross Perry, Reginald Fendall, Calderon Carlisle, Henry Wise Garnett, Henry E. Davis, Charles C. Cole, George F. Appleby, Joseph J. Darlington, and Linden Kent. To this list many more might be added whose names would do honor to the bar of which they are members, but those who have been mentioned are believed to be largely representative men, and as such their names are made part of this history.

1 William B. Webb was born in the city of Washington September 17, 1825; received his early education at the private schools of Washington and at a boarding-school near Baltimore; in 1840 he entered the freshman class at Columbia College, now Columbian University, at Washington, and graduated in 1844, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts from that institution, which afterward bestowed upon him the degree of Master of Arts. He studied law and was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia in 1847, and commenced the practice of his chosen profession in his native city. On the breaking out of the War in 1861, he was elected captain of a company of volunteers, and offered the services of himself and his company to the Government, but there being no organization of troops at the time to which his company could be assigned, his offer was not accepted. In the fall of 1861, upon the formation of the metropolitan police for the District of Columbia, he was elected by the board of police superintendent of the force, which office he accepted. After successfully organizing the force, he resigned his position in 1863, and resumed the practice of his profession, which he quietly pursued until 1885, when he was appointed by President Cleveland the Republican Commissioner of the District of Columbia under the law creating a permanent government for the District. He was, at the expiration of his term of service, reappointed by the President, but the Senate failing to act upon his nomination, he again, in 1889, returned to the practice of his profession.

2 William F. Mattingly, one of the prominent lawyers of the city of Washington, was born in Washington May 30, 1837. His education was received in the private schools of the city, and at Columbia College, from which institution he graduated in 1857. He has occupied numerous positions of trust in his native city, having been one of the trustees of Columbian University since 1872; and since 1888 he has been lecturer in the law school of the same University, on practical commercial law. He studied law in the office of William J. Stone, Jr., on leaving college, and was admitted to the bar of the old Circuit Court in October, 1860, since which time he has been constantly and successfully engaged in the practice of law in Washington.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CLAIMS.

The Prosecution of Claims against the Government-Claims Growing Out of the Wars of the Country-The Board of Commissioners on Mexican War Claims-Nature of These Claims Requires Lawyers of the highest Standing and Ability-The Court of Claims-Amounts Paid Out in Pensions-Importance of the ProfessionGeorge E. Lemon's Building-Names of Some of the Attorneys Engaged in the Prosecution of Claims.

HE business of the prosecution of claims against the United States for amounts due because of services, civil, military, or naval, for balances unsettled on contracts, and for property impressed and used for the Government during the wars that have occurred, has become one of the professions of the country. As such cases must be prosecuted at the Capital, before the departments and the courts and commissions established for their adjudication, and as many of them must be argued before the Supreme Court of the United States, this profession is not only one of the largest in the city of Washington, but its members have a standing second only, if not in every way equal, to that of the regular profession of the law. There are many members of this profession who are exclusively devoted to its demands, while others are connected also with the regular practice of the law in the courts of general jurisdiction. Some of these are men who have occupied the highest positions in the services of the country as officers of the military, naval, judicial, and executive departments, as bureau officers, or as members of either branch of Congress.

From the very beginning of the history of the country these claims have existed, arising in greater numbers after the prosecution of the wars in which the Government has from time to time been engaged. The War of the Revolution gave rise to a very large amount of these claims, many of which required for their proper prosecution the aid of men competent to construe the acts of Congress under which the claims arose, and to understand and present the principles governing contracts in all their various forms. among the claims were those for half pay granted by Congress to the men who had fought in the Revolutionary armies, and the various methods of commutation of that half pay. It is not worth while to

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