Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/196

 152 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS tunately won his first case and a fee of four dol lars. In 1827 he was admitted as an attorney, and two years later as counsellor of the supreme court of the state. In 1830 he removed to Buffalo, and after a brief period formed a partnership with Nathan K. Hall, to which Solomon G. Haven was soon afterward admitted. By hard study and the closest application, com bined with honesty and fidelity, Mr. Fillmore soon became a sound and successful lawyer, attaining a highly honorable position in the profession. The law-firm of Fillmore, Hall & Haven, which con tinued till 1847, was perhaps the most prominent in western New York, and was usually engaged in every important suit occurring in that portion of the state. In 1853, while still in Washington, Mr. Fillmore made an arrangement with Henry E. Davies to renew, on retiring from the presidency, the practice of his profession in New York, in part nership with that gentleman, who, after occupying a judge s seat in the court of appeals, returned to the bar. Family afflictions, however, combined with other causes, induced the ex-president to aban don his purpose. There were doubtless at that time men of more genius and greater eloquence at the bar of the great city; but we cannot doubt that Mr. Fillmore s solid legal learning, and the weight of his personal character, would have won for him