Early deprivations, and the necessity of a most rigid economy to meet the exigencies of this straitened condition, created habits of abstinence and saving which he never gave up.  On the contrary, like all habits long indulged, they became stronger and more obdurate as life advanced.  Before his elevation to the supreme Bench, he had accumulated a fortune of at least one hundred thousand dollars, which he had judiciously invested in the city of New Orleans.  The tenure of his office was for life, and his ambition never aspired to anything beyond; but he devoted himself to the duties of this with the assiduity of one determined, not only to know, but faithfully to discharge them.  Judge Martin was conscientious in all that he did as a man, and remarkably scrupulous as a judge.  He was unwilling to hasten his judgments, and sometimes was accused of tardiness in rendering them.  This resulted from the great care exercised in examining the merits of the case, and to make himself sure of the law applicable to it.

The peculiar organization of the Supreme Court of Louisiana imposes immense labor upon the judges; they are not only charged with the duty of correcting errors of law, but the examination of all the facts and all the testimony introduced in the trials in the District Court.  In truth, the case comes up de novo, and is reviewed as from the beginning, and a judgment made up without regard to the proceedings below further than to determine from the record of facts and law sent up, holding in all cases jurisdiction as well of facts as law—­and in truth it is nothing more than a high court of chancery.

Judge Martin was fond of labor, but did not like to do the same labor twice; hence his particularity in examining well both facts and law, in every case submitted for his adjudication.  He wished the law permanently established applicable to every case, and disliked nothing so much as being compelled to overrule any previous decision of the Supreme Court.  His mind was eminently judicial; its clear perceptions and analytical powers peculiarly fitted him for the position of supreme judge.  But there was another trait of character, quite as necessary to the incumbent of the Bench, for which he was altogether as much distinguished.  He was without prejudice, and only knew men before his court as parties litigant.  It was said of him, by John R. Grymes, a distinguished lawyer of New Orleans, that he was better fitted by nature for a judge than any man who ever graced the Bench.  “He was all head, and no heart.”

This was severely said, and to some extent it was true, for Judge Martin appeared without sympathy for the world, or any of the world.  He had no social habits; he lived in seclusion with his servant Ben, a venerable negro, who served him for all purposes.  These two had been so long and so intimately associated, that in habits and want of feeling they seemed identical.  Ben served him because he was his master and could