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 Copy 1 
 
 EtJLOaY 
 
 I PON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 CHARLES J. Mf'DONALD, 
 
 PRO-\OUNCED BY . 
 
 FENRY R. JACKSON, 
 
 At Marietta, April 20tli, 186L 
 
 ATLANTA, GA. : 
 
 WOOT), IIASI.F.ITEK, KKK <b CO., Pr.OVRlETOP.S. 
 
EXJLOaY 
 
 UPON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 THE iioi?tora:b2:.e 
 
 IHARLES J. MCDONALD, 
 
 RONOUNCED BY 
 
 HENRY R. JACKSON, 
 
 At Marietta, April 20tli, 186L 
 
 ATLANTA, GA. : 
 
 F-ItANICLIlV PRI]VTi:iVG^ HOUSE. 
 
 WOOD, IIANLEITER, RIOK A CO., PKOPKIETORB. 
 
 18G1. 
 
In Eschauge 
 DukG Uinversity 
 
 < 
 
 ,-A^ 
 
 ^.•? 
 
THE FLOWERS COLLECTION 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen — 
 
 Poetry has well numbered among the choicest of her 
 gems the simple description by an Indian "brave" 
 of the death of his chief, renowned in war but not 
 in battle slain : "A great tree has fallen in the still- 
 ness of the forest !" • The winds were at rest, yet 
 there had been the rush ; the skies were cloudless, 
 yet there had been the shock : echo had responded 
 from the bosom of solitude, and all again was hush- 
 ed; "the soul" of the listener "retired into itself. 
 and the night was holy." 
 
 Where shall I seek an apter illustrati(jn of the 
 sad, yet impressive, theme upon which I come to 
 address you to-day? A great tree has indeed falhMi 
 in your midst, my friends, swaying and hiscerating 
 in its descent many that stood nearest to its sliad- 
 ow, while the rush and the shock have boon heard 
 and felt in the deptlis of the forest far away ! For 
 who will deny that, in his tribe and generation. 
 Charles J. McDonald was a Cliief? To the fixa- 
 tion of this significant fact it is wliolly imma- 
 terial whether you trace the main element of 
 his power to the force of his intellect, the firmness 
 
4 EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 of his will, or the grandeur of his soul ; it is quite 
 sufficient that, in his manhood's consummation, 
 God had desii^'ned him rather to lead than to fol- 
 low, rather to command than to obey ; that in him, 
 by the happy combination and normal adjustment 
 of all the forces of the mental Jind moral nature, a 
 strength, symmetry and practical efficiency had been 
 attained, more controlling in their influence upon 
 mankind than the irregular developments of gen- 
 ius — rendered withal in his case singularly potent 
 by fit association Avith the rare beauty of his person, 
 and the rarer grace of his manner ; his words and 
 his movements, alike and always, indicating that, 
 while he might cherish the highest respect for the 
 capacity, opinions and acts of others, he at last held 
 his own judgment in reserve — to analyze, to combine, 
 to decide ; and, should the occasion require it of 
 him, in the end, to command ! Thus, while at no 
 time and under no circumstances could the most 
 cynical critic discover, in his language or his bear- 
 ing, the absence of a dignified modesty, or the j^res- 
 ence of a self-exaggerating egotism, at all times and 
 under all circumstances, the most superficial reader 
 of human nature was made to feel the presence of 
 strong thought self-poised ; and, should an emer- 
 gency evoke it into action, the consciousness of 
 power self-concentrated and self-sustaining. These 
 were the traits which peculiarly fitted him to be a 
 leader among men ; and I think it may be safely 
 said that no statesman of his day in Georgia exer- 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 cised so pronounced a sway over those who were 
 brought within the sphere of his personal influence, 
 or aroused, in the bosoms of his followers, so profound 
 a sentiment of personal devotion ; that no citizen 
 in the communities where, at different epochs of his 
 life, he resided, possessed more of their respectful 
 regard and confidence, which crowned his maturer 
 life wdth the highest trusts and dignities, and deco- 
 rated his declining days with the lieart's most pre- 
 cious tributes of affectionate demonstration ; that, 
 in a word, while (leorgia might still point, with a. 
 glow of honest pride, to brilliant genius, pouring- 
 out its floods of eloquence in her cause, to experi- 
 enced statesmanship, capable of guiding the bark 
 of her destiny upon the troubled sea of American 
 politics, and to devoted heroism, ready, if need be, 
 to perish in vindication of her honor, yet, when 
 McDonald sickened, languished and died, a jewel 
 was stricken from her diadem whose broad place is 
 vacant still. 
 
 It seems but natural to us, and yet for him how 
 lofty the panegyric ! that we, who knew him best, 
 should feel this most ; that the void he has left be- 
 hind him should ache most painfully in the hearts 
 of those who were nearest to liim when he died ; 
 and that, while the rush of the agitated times in 
 which we live may be constraining the thoughts of 
 others to topics of a more immediate, practical and 
 selfish interest, we must needs leave the impetuous 
 stream to sweep by us as it may, while, stepping to 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 tlic bank, we commingle our sighs above his sacred 
 ashes, and wreathe around his memory a tear-wet 
 garland of tenderest bloom. 
 
 And now that he has gone from among us forever, 
 .when neither the voice of praise, nor the sob of sor- 
 row, can break through death's "cold obstruction" 
 to reach that generous heart ; when unrequited fa- 
 vors must remain unrequited forever, and unatoned 
 wrongs remain forever unatoned, how touching the 
 interest which attaches to the events of his check- 
 ered life*as the}' rise up, each in its old sequence, 
 before the eye of thought, all of them wearing the 
 same unifonii habilliments of dignilied manhood, 
 transparent integrity and unsullied patriotism ; so 
 working out the grand result of a successful public 
 and happy private life, as to mingle glad reminis- 
 cence with our grief over his loss, like the last beams 
 of the sun that is set all the sweeter because irradi- 
 ating the tear-spangled draper}^ of a clouded west, 
 and making him in the almost artistic perfection of 
 his character, and at every stage of his advancing 
 life, a study to all who stand responsible for the fu- 
 ture of as yet ingenuous and pliable youth ; the 
 model man to whom, hereafter in Greorgia, the proud 
 but solicitous parent shall not fail to point the as- 
 piring boy. His childhood, ennobled by the com- 
 panionship of a noble sire, who had staked his all 
 in the war of the revolution, and "upon the surren- 
 der of General Lincoln at Charleston, had preferred 
 rather to endure the confinement and privations of 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 a prison ship than to accept protection on the terms 
 tendered by the British officers ;" his boy's heart 
 attuned by the sweet influence of a highly refined 
 mother, to respond to the chord that vibrates be- 
 tween the moral creature and the Supreme Creator ; 
 and taught, as well by the example as by the pre- 
 cepts of both, ''to desire to merit, rather than to 
 covet, the approbation of those with whom he might 
 come in contact," and to find "his rule of action" in 
 "the law of love," itself the soul of " the refined 
 courtesies of life which spring from the heart and 
 reach to the heart." Thus streamed forth, from an 
 early and redundant fountain, that soft yet vivifying 
 light, which never failed, amid the trials and vicis- 
 situdes of after life, burdened though he might be 
 by private cares or public responsibilities — which 
 never failed to play around his personal presence, 
 and to distinguish him in the domestic circle as the 
 "obliging, the good-tempered, the cheerfuJ, the 
 hopeful," and, in the social circle, be it of chosen 
 friends or casual acquaintance, as the courteous, the 
 affable, the genial; in a Avord asj9«r excellence, the 
 gentleman ! How true it is that the graces of per- 
 son and the captivation of manner, themselves the 
 sweet fragrance of social life, are exhaled from the 
 heart ; and that the culture of the heart, too often 
 neglected, is of even greater consequence than the 
 culture of the intellect ! ^ Give me the man of a 
 great soul ! Him it is I would grapple to me with 
 hooks of steel. He it is whom men continue to love. 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 long after his physical form has mouldered away — 
 long after the dust has tarnished the page he read, 
 or rust devoured the sword he Avielded ; who alone 
 can bequeath the love of others to his own descend- 
 ants, as if it were a vested claim upon humanity ; 
 the body crumbles, the intellect pales, for both are 
 earthy ! the soul, the soul, alone celestial, is alone 
 immortal ! 
 
 And thus the boy grew up : surrounded by these 
 ennobling moral influences, inhaling vigorous 
 health from the pure forest air, living close to the 
 bosom of nature. Who among us now fails to pic- 
 ture him, the brave, handsome boy ! sporting near 
 the shoals of the Ogeechee, darting pebbles into its 
 sparkling foam, and responding in merry shout to 
 its fretful roar ! And yet the world had deemed 
 that a misfortune which had left his father, through 
 one of those reverses incident to commercial life, 
 . with little else than " a spotless name," and had 
 thus transferred the young McDonald from the 
 crowded streets of a sea-port town to the primeval 
 forests of the State with whose history his own 
 name was so soon to be identified. 
 
 The same blow had entailed u])on him the ne- 
 cessity of early and self-sacrificing labor, and we 
 next find the future Governor of Georgia behind 
 the counter of Mr. Hugh Taylor, of Sparta. Mer- 
 cantile life, however, was not congenial with his 
 taste, and, relieved from it by the interposition of 
 an elder sister, he was taken into the household and 
 
EULOGY 
 
 CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 Sub- 
 i por- 
 board 
 
 under the charge of her husband, the Rev. W. T. 
 Brantley, then Rector of the Richmond County 
 Academy. There, doubtless, while the refinement 
 of his character was advanced by the softening in- 
 fluence and purifying companionship of a superior 
 and affectionate woman, the youth entered u})on that 
 struggle for self-development, and for excellence, 
 which was to fit the man for the trials and respon- 
 sibilities of life. 
 
 With him it was indeed to be a struggle ! 
 sequently, at Mr. Beman's school, teaching; 
 tion of his time to pay the cost of his own 
 and tuition ; borrowing the means of securing for 
 himself a collegiate education ; entering the Junior 
 Class of Columbia College, undertaking at the same 
 time to prosecute the studies of the Sophomore half 
 advanced ; finally, in the year 1816, graduating 
 with credit to himself, and shorllv after refunding 
 the money which had thus been loaned to him. 
 
 What parent, contemplating the true school in 
 which the successful men of this continent have 
 been fashioned, can covet affluence, or even compe- 
 tence without labor, for a son ■ That school is not 
 to be found in academic or collegiate hall. Its viv- 
 ifying waters stream not from professor's lip or 
 classic page. They well up from the consciousness 
 of self-dependence for future respectability ; of the 
 necessity of self-sacrificing labor to secure, not sim- 
 ply an honorable distinction, but a becoming liveli- 
 hood. For this, at last, is the midnight oil surely 
 
10 EULOGY : CHARLES J. I\I DONALD. 
 
 burned, until the lines and letters of the bleared 
 page are finally lost to the aching eye. For this 
 the lender muscles of the young intellect, by con- 
 tinuous effort, are fully developed and firmly knit, 
 until the man steps forth into life, like the Roman 
 gladiator into the Colliscum, disciplined for the con- 
 flict, trained for triumph ! 
 
 What wonder that the insipid labor of a law- 
 yer's office was light to McDonald — he had learned 
 to toil ! that the long days, bringing no fee to an 
 empty pocket, brought no discouragement to a manly 
 heart — he had learned patience ! that temptation 
 to dissipation, so often successfully assailing the 
 young practitioner in the absence of employment, 
 could obtain no audience of him who, upon one 
 occasion, after due notice given, had risen in his 
 room at college from the book he was studjang, had 
 approached the table where his room-mate, with boon 
 companions, were commencing a game, and delibe- 
 rately taking up the cards and throwing them into 
 the fire, had left tlie young idlers disconcerted, if 
 not appalled.'-' In learning to command himself he 
 
 •i-NoTE. — Ap|)allcd, not, of course, by physical apprehension, but by the calm 
 exhibiuon of seir-conimand and moral ascendancy, t or a inonient his rooni- 
 niaic, with a shade upon the 'orovv, eyed hiiu. but said nothing. The next day 
 he spoke of the oc<-,nrrence to thisellect: '■ Well, chuni. I had like to have got 
 veXeil last night, but i rcllectcd thiU you had jiiven lue i-air warning, and 
 lliereiore I had ko uioiir r<> complain 1' Kor the incinory of this friend, who 
 was A young man of Ijnlliaiil (alciils and. in ihe main, tine qualities of heart, 
 and will) died many years sime, Govciiior McDonald chi-rished an afiectionate 
 regard. This incident has been selicied from his earlior lite as indicating the 
 liicl that, even then, the moral courage of Ihc latter was sutiicienlly develo()ed 
 to triumph over 1 lie public, opinion >il the •■ l.i,-t" lioys of a college, which, as 
 all who have been in a college mu>t know lull well, is a very formidable 
 a■^tagoni^t. 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. I\i'D0NALD. 11 
 
 had already learned the easier lesson of command- 
 ing others. The former is the major, the latter is 
 the minor proposition. 
 
 And what wonder that, thus endowed hy nature, 
 and thus disciplined by education, his career before 
 the people of Georgia, wdiether in professional or 
 political life, shoukl have been crowned with suc- 
 cess and with honor. Admitted to the bar in 1817, 
 Solicitor General of the Flint Circuit in 1823, Judgfe 
 of the same circuit in 18*25, representing the county 
 of Bibb in 1830, Senator from the same county in 
 1834 and 1837, Governor of the State from 1839 to 
 1843 inclusive. President of the Nashville Conven- 
 tion in 1850, Judge of the Supreme Coiirt in 1857, 
 for many years an active Trustee of the State Uni 
 versity, and, when not engaged in the discharge of 
 official duty, assiduously prosecuting a laborious 
 and lucrative practice at the bar, in all positions, 
 and at all times, he was not only equal to, but dis- 
 tinguished, the place he filled. 
 
 My auditors, 1 am sure, will concur with me that 
 I shall seek in vain a fairer or more graphic sketch 
 of his professional life and character than the one 
 furnished by the pen of a contemporary, who knew 
 him and wlio loved him well. '' To know him was 
 to love him." 
 
 •• Early alU-r eniffiiiif «(|n)ri his |ir<t:i'!<.sion siiccetis began to demonstrate his 
 irapacity as a lauer. C lieiits were not u-antiii<;:, and his reputation as a sound, 
 industrious, and Ctitlifnl practitioner, was soon established. Duii. jj the wliole 
 of his life. ex<-ept whilst in the Executive Chair and upon the bench, he was in- 
 defatigable in pursuit of his profe-sion. His circuit was extended, and )iis va- 
 
12 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 rioiis engagemenis involved greal energry and assiduity. His cases were pre- 
 pared and prosecuted willi unconiinon labor. His perseverance was indomil- 
 able. He seemed almost incapable of abandonmir a cause. When defeated, 
 his case, if possible, revived in some new form. His touch of the earth seem- 
 ed, as in the case of the fiibled wrestler, to impart new strenjrth. lie was con- 
 sidered, and justly, an eminent pleader — inferior in fact to no one of his colem- 
 poraries. When the Governor came to the bar. and for many years afterwards, 
 the pleading-s of the common law, relieved, it i< true, of somethin^r of their 
 subtlety by our statutes, obtained in the courts of Georjria ; and familiarity with 
 them Vv-as an indispensable qualification. His skill as a pleader is referred to 
 as proof of his ability as a lawyer, inasmuch as it was unattainable without 
 thorough knowledge of elementary ])rinciples. The pleadings in a cause are 
 a logical statement of the facts with a view to a clear ascertainment of the 
 rights of a parly. A knowledge of the principles upon which those rights de- 
 pend becomes essential, therefore, to good pleading. The writer of this article 
 has had occasion freijuenlly to note, the admirable logic of Bills in Equity 
 drawn by him. His oratory was not impassioned — nor remarkable for fliieiu'y. 
 His language was pure, for he was a good classical scholar. His manner o( 
 speaking was rather grave, for he had no excess of imagination. He gave 
 himself more especially, to the solid matter of his subject, whether at the bar 
 or in the Senate. His style of oratory wa> upon the whole, more forensic than 
 popular. Still his addresses to the jury were eflcclivc. because of iiis clear 
 perception of the strong points in his case, and his persj>icuous handling of 
 facts. No doubt, much of his succe.is as an advoi- ate. was attributable to hi> 
 accurate knowledge of men — his ready insight into character. Coming into 
 life without the advantages of fortune or numerous connections, he fought his 
 way to professional and political distinction among the people, and in the 
 midst of able competitors. It is in such a s'-hool, that, in our country, men 
 'earn to be great. It may not be forgotten, however, by those who would pro- 
 fit by the example of this gentleman, that the Ibundaiions of his reputation 
 were laid in sound principles^in scrupulous intejrrity and persevering indus- 
 try. Conceding that something is due to natural gifts and much to education, 
 yet it remains as an incontrovertible proposition, that no man ever vet became 
 a great lawyer, without hard work. Xo one ever achieved judicial renown by 
 inspiration, by clap trap pretension or even eloquence. He who would win 
 the highest professional honors, and wear them by consent of his fellows, mu^l. 
 like Judge McDonald, devote a life time to the enterprise. As a.Iudge. his im- 
 partiality was never impugned, and his lirmness never que>tioned. Like other 
 Judges, including Mansfield and Marshall, he may havi- committed errors, but 
 the profession concede that he brounhi to his judgments ujirightness. and the 
 best resources of a >trong and well trained intellect. lie was not an 'oft 
 speaking" Judge but for the most part silent — patient and courteous. He abid- 
 ed authority, believing th^it rights depend greatly upon the permanency and 
 uniformity of the rules which guard them. He had not the vaniiy to believe 
 that he was wiser than an hundred generations thai preceded him. or that u 
 
eulogy: CHARLES J. m'donald. 13 
 
 principle was erroneously sellied, because an ingenious man could give plau- 
 sible reasons against it. Ilis recorded opinions whilst upon the Supreme Court 
 i)enoh, are characierised l)y brevity, perspicuity, learning and pure Saxon Eng- 
 lish. They are highly creditable to the Judicial literature of the State." 
 
 It were idle to undertake, in a brief address, to 
 do justico to tlie public services of Gov. McDon- 
 ald Fortunately, they are of such recent date, 
 and were themselves of so marked a character as 
 to render the attempt from me a work of superero- 
 gation. 
 
 Political consistency has been pronouncer! a jewel 
 by reason of its rarity, and yet who could deny to 
 him the possession of that jewel ? Consistency, 
 however, is but a pitiful counterfeit of paste, unless 
 it be crystalized from the elements legitimately 
 composing jewels. Gov. McDonald was a consis- 
 tent because he was a philosophical statesman. No 
 time-server, his opinions were the result of his own 
 observation and meditation, not the suo-o-estions of 
 an occasion, or of an engrossing attention to the 
 wliimsical shiftings of the popular breeze. Labo- 
 rious in all things, it was but natural for him to 
 elaborate his political thought; his promptness aiid 
 self-possession in action were not (indeed, can they 
 ever be?) the mere inspirations of the moment. 
 " Consul/o, et ubi consulueris, mature facto, opus 
 estr 
 
 He preferred the fame that endures, generally 
 secured m free countries by warring against error, 
 when error is popular, to the effervescent reputation 
 
.14 EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'doNALD. 
 
 born of flatterino- the popular vanity at the sacrifice 
 of truth and of manhood. Lookint^ beyond tlie 
 moment, the triumph of the moment did not (rreatly 
 elate him on the one hand, nor the defeat of the 
 moment greatly depress him on the other. He con- 
 fided in the power of true principle to vindicate 
 itself, ere the race should be run ; and his personal 
 promotion, save as a fair sequence from the triumph 
 of the truth, vras something- he neither expected nor 
 desired. Hence, he carried into politics no acrimo- 
 ny of feeling. If he warred against a political op- 
 ponent, he warred for what he deemed to be the' 
 right ; it was a political and not a personal warfare ; 
 he warred in public, not in private ; it wms a prin- 
 ciple of his life to say nothing against a political 
 antagonist in private — nay, not even to the partner 
 of his bosom — which he was not prepare'^ to sav in 
 public and before the world. 
 
 At every stage ot his life he was emphatically a 
 man of the people ; he was beloved by the masses ; 
 not, however, because he either tolerated the vices, 
 flattered the follies, or toadied to the caprices usu- 
 ally ascribed to the masses by shallow politicians. 
 He knew the great heart of the people better. Even 
 had he been himself capable of enacting a truthless 
 part, his own honest instincts taught him that llio 
 people are keen to detect assumacy of any kind, be 
 it the assumacy of pompous pretension, or the as- 
 sumacy of self-debasing demagoguism. Neither in 
 deportment, nor in dress, nor in language, was he 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. m' DONALD. 15 
 
 ever aught else than Charles J. McDonald, tlie 
 man incapable of a lie, pursuincr the even tenor of 
 his way^ respecting humanity, whenever and 
 when-ver humanity was self-respecting and there- 
 fore respectable, but nowhere else ; meeting every 
 man (until the reverse should be made to appear,) 
 upon the ennobling assumption that, like liimseif, 
 every free American realized the sovereignty of his 
 own position, was prepared to succumb neither to 
 individual dictation nor to popular clamor, and, 
 when the knee was to l>e bended, knelt alone to his 
 God! 
 
 To each one of you, my auditors, I appeal, to 
 recall from the shadowy past the imposing form 
 which at one time was wont to grace your streets ; 
 the warm grasp of the hand, mute eloquence of the 
 sympathetic heart ; the fascinating smile that lit up 
 the noblest of features ; the frank, kindly tone that 
 questioned you of your own welfare, and that of 
 your family, and designate, if you can, one solitary 
 occasion when he departed from the simple dignity 
 of the true gentleman of nature, for the purpose of 
 producing a dishonest effect, or pandering to a vul- 
 gar instinct ; or debased, by word or act of his, the 
 standard of thought, of morals, or of deportment 
 befitting a man, or a people, undertaking to be free ! 
 Was not his contact with the masses, as with indi- 
 viduals, always elevating to them, never depressing 
 to himself; winning their warmest regard, without 
 detracting from their profoundest respect? Let us 
 
16 eulogy: CHARLES J. m'donald. 
 
 learn, then, from this dignified life that a true hu- 
 manity, a generous sympathy with the people, has 
 but little in common with the demagogue ! 
 
 An uncompromising adherence to the Constitu- 
 tion was the distinguishing feature of his political 
 life, from its commencement, in the dead calm which 
 followed the last war with Great Britain, to its re- 
 cent close, amid the oratherino; clouds and the mut- 
 tering thunders of the storm which has just dashed 
 the old Union in twain. In his theory of republi- 
 can government, as the abstract law had been sub- 
 stituted for the more material rule of the elder po- 
 litical civilizations, the abstract law had been made 
 to speak like a tyrant, and, like a tyrant, must be 
 obeyed. No European monarch had subject more 
 loyal to his person than was he loyally devoted to 
 this vital principle of republican civilization — obe- 
 dience, implicit obedience to the law; — the crowned, 
 the sceptred, the sovereign, the constitutional law ! 
 
 The following sentences, extracted from a letter 
 addressed by himself, in March, 1840, to Messrs. 
 Alford, Dawson and others, enunciate in emphatic 
 language the cogent philosopliy of his thought : 
 
 "The Slate, ill her s(iv(jrei<rii capacity, zealously guarding- all of lier attri- 
 hiites, yet sternly tleiiianding tVoin the Federal Government the full dij^charge 
 of its Constitutional duly : inajesiically spurning all invocations of sympathy, 
 all su|)plication for interposition from any quarter not oontemplated by the Con- 
 stitution, while Georgia will jealously watch ihe operations of the General 
 GoverniiKjul. and inanfully war against her assumption and exercise of undel- 
 egated powers, she will as sternly demand of her the performance of all Con- 
 stitutional ohligations. She does not regard her co-Slates, except as represent- 
 ed ill Congress, as having Cons'.itutional power to carry into execiifion, any 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'dONALD. 17 
 
 Constitntional provision, and will neither invoke their !<yinpathy. nor suiipiicale 
 their inlerposiiion, in any trial she may have." 
 
 His life afforded marked occasions wiien he car- 
 ried these principles into practical application, 
 though warring with the interest, the passion, tlio 
 apparent expediency of the moment. 
 
 "It was. I think, about the period of the threatened collision between South 
 Carolina and the General Government that, during the week of one of the an- 
 nual coinnieni-ements, in Athens, a meeting of the citizens and visitors was 
 called to consult as to what would be the best course for our State to pursue, 
 in order to bring about a redress of existing evils. At this meeting a resolutiim 
 was introduced, recommending the ensuing legislature to tax all such Jvorth- 
 ern goods a.s should, after the passage of the act, be brought to our market. — 
 When the question was put. the whole house seemed to respond affirmatively. 
 but when the nays were called for, there was one emphatic no. A division was 
 then demanded, when JUDGE McDONALD rose. lie l)elieved himself to bi; 
 alone, but, on looking around, he saw four other gentlemen standing. Amon<; 
 these, was, I think, Mr. VVms. Rutherford, Sen. 
 
 My memory may not be quite accurate, though I belive it to he so. The 
 reason assigned to his friends for this vote was that such an act would be un- 
 constitutional." 
 
 It will be remembered that, during his Guberna- 
 torial Administration, the Federal law dividing 
 the States into Congressional Districts was adopted. 
 A Democratic Lecrislature beinrr in session, a bill 
 was passed, by a decided majority, districting Geor- 
 gia so as to give her a delegation in Congress whol- 
 ly Democratic. Yet the Governor, himself a De- 
 mocrat, did not hesitate upon constitutional grounds 
 to veto the bill, thereby greatly endangering his 
 personal popularity with his own party. 
 
 Says the same biographer from whom I hav.'^ al- 
 ready quoted : 
 
 "To illustrate his moral courage, the following incidents are presented. In 
 o 
 
18 EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 ISil. wlieii tlie pecuniary emlmrrassnients of the Stale were yet unrelieved, 
 the lefrislaltire passed an a^■^ to reduce the Inxes twenty per i-ent. He veined 
 ilie act. Vetoes in that day were rare thinf;s. To intervene liv executive 
 aiitlioriiy to prevent a reduction nflhe taxes, was to iuiperil most seriously llie 
 popiilarily olilie Governor, yet he did not hesitate to laNethe hazard. Airain. 
 in 18|-J. he had made an urijenl appeal to the li-gislature to provide (or the ne- 
 cessities of the Treasury liy an increase of taxes. A l)ill in accordanie with 
 his V ews was introduced, and lost. Upon learning-, toward ihe close of ihe 
 si-ssion, ihat the Treasurer was. as usual, paying to the inemliers their k-jzal 
 compensation, hefore the passage of the appropriation bill, he issued an execu- 
 tive order, forbidding further advances. The supplies l)eiiig thus r-topped. the 
 (Jcneral Assembly was thrown into violent ag tation, but neither the r'-ujon- 
 sirances of his frierids, nor the denunciations of his enemies, availed to uiili- 
 draw the order. He .stood firtn, and the bill was passed. These incidents, now 
 that the passions of the hour have died away, will be. looked upon liy all candid 
 men. as striking illustrations of character."' 
 
 'Ills Gubernatorial term began at a time when the State labored under se- 
 vere financial emliarrassments. Didicullies surrounded the Treasury, which 
 seemed almost inextricable. The Western and Ailaiitic Uailroad, a work which 
 lias contributed incalculably to the wealth and greatness of the Slate, had been 
 begun, but now lingered in its progress, for the waul of means. The Central 
 Hank, which had been matle llie (iscal agent of ihe ^tate, and charged wiih ihe 
 burden of supporting it wilhoiil taxation. j)res.-ed altogether bt\oiid Us ca- 
 jiacity — had fallen into discredit in the comniercial world. The credit of the 
 rotate was prostrate by reason of a protest oi its obligations to a large aiiiouni. 
 The taxes, under the delusive idea that the Cenlral Bank would furni>h ample 
 provision for the public necessities, had been withdrawn and given loilie coun- 
 ties, and the Treasury was euipty. it is, therefore, apparent thai his ndiiiuii- 
 siralion started under inost iiiaus()icious circumstances. It is ihe crowning 
 glory of that administration that it exirii-ated the Si ate ("rom her embarras>inciiis. 
 (Jovernor McDonald a<-hieved this inumph by a manly and persisiciii demaml, 
 that Ihe wants of the Government should be supplied by taxation. 
 
 Discanling expedients, and confronting the exigency with iinliinching cour- 
 age, he exposed the true condition of the liiiances. and counselled the p nple, 
 and the legislature to restore the taxes to ihe Treasury. Iji> a|)peals to 
 the pride and honor of the country were not in vain, alilioiigh tiiidily and 
 sonit'whal reluctanlly met. They however were met. aiul the crcili ol the 
 Stale restored, ller great work of internal improvemeui atlvaiiced. and his 
 suci-essors had little to do, but to Jbllow out the line of policy wliieh lie had in- 
 augurated.' 
 
 Tc) illustrate the simple, Spartan view which he 
 took of the discharge of duty when opposed to par- 
 tizan expediency, or to popular clamor, the follow- 
 
eulogy: CHARLES J. m'donald. 19 
 
 ing sentences, extracted from a letter to Col. Gard- 
 ner, dated in 1847, and referring to tlie same inci- 
 dents, are presented : 
 
 ••Whoii I went into ofl'u-e I found «he State credit proslrated by the proie^i 
 of a delit of §300.000, due the Pha?nix Bank of New York, not one dollar com- 
 ing into the Treasury from taxeti, nnd'ilie only reliance the notes of the i)ro- 
 lested BaiiL 1 he Legislature of IbSO required one half o( the meagre tax 
 levied by it to he paid into the Treasury. The Legislature o( ISIO voted it bai;'i 
 to the counties, and ordered the small amount paid into the Treasury to he 
 paid back to the Tax Collectors. The pretext was that the Act of 1S39, direct- 
 ing the taxes to Imj paid into the Treasury, was unconstitutional. The position 
 was not tenable, and J should have vetoed it. had it not been that the Collec- 
 tors, who had no*, settled at the Treasury, would not have paid, with the ex- 
 pressed views of ihe Legislature that the Act was unconstituiional. and the 
 expir-nse and trouble of coercing them would have cost more than it was wonh. 
 In 1S40, I recommended the Legislature to resume the whole amount of the 
 ta.K, whii h they did. and for which they are entitled to just the amount of (TetKl 
 that any body of men are entitled to wlio do their duty."' 
 
 Surely the following high eiilogium, pronounced 
 upon him by one of his distinguished colleagues of 
 the Supreme Bench, was well deserved ! 
 
 '•Need I speak of his indexible integrity — that moral and physical courage 
 which were the prominent traits of his character? Such was his bravery — 
 that, like Luther, when summoned to the diet of Worms— he would fearless'y 
 have repaired to tlie post of duty, though he knew there were as many devils 
 there as tiles on the house, ilis conduct while Governor, during the years 
 1811 and 1S12, aflords striking proofs of the truth of this assertion." 
 
 The grand events, which have recently passed 
 with such startling rapidit}'' into the history of this 
 continent, cannot fail to direct the attention of the 
 just and the thoughtful — especially of those most 
 conversant with the opinions of Gov. McDonald — 
 to the positions which, for long years, he so con- 
 sistently held in regard to the Federal relations of ths 
 United States. To some, who remember his words, 
 
20 EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'dONALD. 
 
 both in public and private, when speaking upon this 
 momentous subject, he will now seem to have been 
 endowed with a vision almost prophetic. And, as- 
 suredly, next to the gift of prophecy comes that ol 
 a ])atient, laborious logic, purified by a heroic de- 
 votion to principle, which elevates the mind far 
 above the mist-ridden realms of passion, prejudice, 
 and short-sighted expediency, enabling it to follow, 
 by the simple rule of cause and effect, the springs 
 of public mischief to their streams, their rivers, their 
 lakes, their seas, their ocean, and thus to map out 
 the speculative future with the full faith and precis- 
 ion of practical observation. 
 
 In proof of the possession by Gov. McDonald, in 
 an eminent degree, of this, the very highest power 
 of the statesman, I might quote indefinitely from 
 his speeches and writings upon what, in his day, 
 were known as national politics. This task, though 
 pleasing and instructive in itself, is rendered wholly 
 unnecessary by a document which I hold in my 
 hand, addressed to a committee of gentlemen in 
 Charleston, under date of the 26th December, 1848 ; 
 a letter never published to the world, of which it is 
 no exaggeration to say that it had foreshadowed the 
 subsequent progress of Federal events down to the 
 very moment in which we breathe, with an accu- 
 racy absolutely marvellous. 
 
 Nay, farther, in this one letter are grouped to- 
 gether the most striking evidences of his profound 
 devotion to the old system and union of States as 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. AI'dONALD. 21 
 
 contemplated and created by the fathers; of his 
 firm trust and reliance in the calm justice of a su- 
 perintending Providence ; and of the possession by 
 him of a lofty tone of political ethics, worthy of the 
 exalted civilization commended to the world by the 
 grand example of Washington. I feel most sensi- 
 bly that its perusal, before an appreciative audience, 
 were the highest political eulogium which I could 
 pronounce upon its author. The letter is enough 
 to establish any man's fame. Time fails me, how- 
 ever, to do more than to quote at random from it„ 
 
 How calmly, and yet how forcihly, does the fol- 
 lowing paragraph describe the political condition of 
 the United States during the epoch commencing 
 just at the time he wrote, upon the conclusion of 
 the Mexican War ; the gathering clouds, the mut- 
 tering thunder, the close, hot atmosphere, pres- 
 aging the tremendous tempest which might be ap- 
 proaching, unless the Supreme Ruler of events, to 
 wdiom, not alone the timorous, but the good, look 
 up to avert great national calamities, should once 
 again intervene for our protection. 
 
 ■'The lime has arrived when the subject to which your circular relates, must 
 command the deliberate consideration oflhe American people. Disappointed 
 ambition, coml)ining with a mad fanaticism, have marshaled their united (orces 
 to assail the Constitutional rights ofa large portion of the citizens of this, hith- 
 erto, happy country; and the assault is made in the halls of Legislation. If 
 they succeed there, the Constitution and the Union are buried in a common 
 grave, unless the Judiciary, which 1 have considered the bulwarlc of Liberty, 
 standing firmly between a reckless or corrupt Congress having the cooperation 
 ol'a weak, arbitrary or perverse Executive, and the people, shall come to the 
 rescue. My forbodings may be too gloomy. I trust they are. Angry clouds 
 have heretofore arisen in our political liorizon, which seemed to menace the 
 
22 EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'donald. 
 
 fair fabric which God has c-onstriicled for us; hut they passed away and lefl a 
 beHiitil'iii calm. The same Great Being. U'ho proteeled us in liiose limes, m.iy 
 spread His mantle over us now, and sliield us fVom the threatening evil." 
 
 How completely do the next sentences refute the 
 charge, at one time made against him by his op- 
 ponents, of cherishing purely revolutionary senti- 
 ments. 
 
 " It has always been my creed that the people ought to await the action of all 
 the coa>titiited aiithorilies of the conntry, before tiiey resort to revolutionary 
 measures. If one ol'the Departments of' Government meditate an evil, another 
 may arrest jt. ( 'ur political system is most admirable, and perhaps no case 
 has Occurred since the organization of the Government", which so strikingly 
 illustrates its value, us that which is now likely to present iiself An immen>e 
 territory has been acquired by the Government. It is the property of no State, 
 but of all the Slates. 
 
 It is proposed to organize Governments in this Territory, and it is insisted 
 by .sectional Representatives, that the GovermiieiU shall be so organized; as to 
 exclude slavery from them, while it is contended by the Hepreseiitatives of 
 otiier .>iectioiis, that Congress has no |)Ower to enact this e.xclusion. If" Con- 
 gress should enact it. the President may arrest it; and i(" he approve it, the 
 Judiciary may annul it. As nnpromising as the prospect is, it may, perhaj)*, 
 not yet come to this." 
 
 That "the prospect" was indeed, '■'unpromising ;'' 
 that his '■'■f(i7'iihodi7ig.<' were not 'Hoo glnomy''' the 
 subsequent history of this continent has demonstrat- 
 ed ; more especially as regards the action of the 
 Federal Congress. There corrupt demagoguism, 
 and rampant fanaticism, left but a handful of men 
 from the North who (to use his language,) had "pat- 
 riotism enough to desire the happiness of the people, 
 and the prosperity of the country." 
 
 Failing patriotism in the Congress, a corrupt dem- 
 agoguism and sectionalism triumphing over the prin- 
 ciples of justice, and the sovereignty of the Consti- 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. I\l"l)aNALD. 23 
 
 tution, hear how nobly he invokes the national Ex- 
 ecutive to the dischari^e of duty ! 
 
 •ir.-ci'tional power be .^iidk'ieiitly strong, it may l)e exerted for the most op- 
 pressive purposes. Rut the President represents not sections— exeep: as piiils 
 ine.liided in a wiiole. He is the servant and iinniediate representative ol ihe 
 .whole people, and iThebean ii|)ri;;lu magistrate, and loves justice and will 
 maintain right, lie will not permit a wrong to be done to a single one ot Ins 
 eonstiluen's. by an unjustilKible exercise of power. The objeet ofall Govern- 
 ment is the , attainment and eriroreefneiit of justice, and he is an indiHerciit 
 minister who does not use his power to accomplish its ends. It was one of the 
 wise men olGreece, I believe, who said that -that Government is best, in which 
 an injury to the meanest citizen is an insult upon the whole community"' — ;i 
 seatii'.ient as worthy ofa christian, as a chivalric people."' 
 
 Failing both Congress and Executive, then he 
 invokes the judiciary to the rescue, and enters into 
 a logical argument to prove that, if "a modebe pro- 
 vided for carrying a case before the Supreme Court," 
 any law impairing the rights of the slave-holder 
 in the common territories must be pronounced un- 
 constitutional. — When it is remembered that this 
 argument was written years before the decision of 
 the Dred Scott case, Gov. McDonald's letter will 
 be regarded, not only as a prediction of what tliat 
 decision must be, but as suggesting in advance the 
 very grounds upon which it was eventually made 
 to rest. It is due to his memory that the argument 
 should be given in whole. 
 
 •'But what are the grounds lor supposing the Supreme Court will decide the 
 law unconstitutional ? Congress has no power over the subject ; nor can it dele- 
 gate a power which it does not possess, to the people o( a territory. It is said, 
 however, that Congress has already exercised the power, and it has l)een ap- 
 proved by the President. But it has never been ratitied by the Supreme .Ju- 
 diciary. The usurpation o( the power, cannot establish the authority. Re. 
 peated usurpations can confer no power. Our Constitution is written. Ji is 
 noi made up of usages, and usurpations, and old charters, like the boasted Com- 
 
24 EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'doNALD. 
 
 siiiiition of England. It is written, and the government and its several depart- 
 ments are limited by the writing, to tlie powers granted. It is a grain ; and 
 a grant, too, which is not to lie conMrued most strongly against the grantors_ 
 i)iit in their favor, by the terms of the instrument itself: for the powers not 
 lii'Icgated, are reserved to the Slates, or to the j>eople. 
 
 The power to legislate for territories is not to be found in the Constitution, 
 while the power of legislation over the District embracing the seat of gov- 
 eniineiit. is expressly granted. It could never have been within the contem- 
 philion of ihe framers oflhe Cons' itinion, ihat the power of exchisive legisla- 
 tion conferred on Congress, should authorize that body, so to e.xercise it, as to 
 cflect the interest of the States making the cession ; or to adopt, and fix, on an 
 unrc|iresented people, any political regulations whatever. The power of mak- 
 'iig all needful rules and regulations, respecting the territory and other proper- 
 ty ot'tlie United States, is not a grant o( legislation over the people inhabiting 
 ierritorie.s. Before the adoption of the amendment of the Constitution, restric- 
 tive of the power of Congress, a greater latitude of construction might have 
 been contended for, with more propriety. But that restriction is positive, ab- 
 sollute; and when Congress attempts the enactment of a law, the (irst thing to 
 be looked to is its power. It it cannot be found, there is an end of it. It ex- 
 cludes all considerations of expediency. The great mind of Chief Justice 
 jMar.-liall could not determine satisfactorily the source of the power, while he 
 declared the possession of it by Congress unquestioned. He declared that 
 Florida was governed by that clause in the Constitution, which empowers 
 Congress to make all needdil rules an<l regulations, respecting the territory or 
 other property belonging to the United Slates. But he proceeds to say, that 
 'perhaps the power of governing a territory, belonging to the United Slates, 
 which has not, by becoming a State, acquired the mean-s of self-government, 
 may re>ult necessarily from the fact, that it is not within the jurisdiction of 
 any particular State, and is within the power and juri.-diction of the United 
 Siiites. The right to govern may be the inevitable consequence of the right to 
 acquire territory. Whichever may be the source, whence the power is deriv- 
 ed, the possession of it is unquestioned." The very dilhculty of so powerful a 
 mind, to establish its source, is evidence of its nonexi.-tence. 1 he power was, 
 doubtless, assumed from the neces>iiy of the case, that the people might have 
 lau' for their protei-tion, until they were capable of selt'-goverument. It was a 
 p-nver usurped, (the least exceptionable kind of usurpation.) to prevent an- 
 archy, and the people would not object, because it was exercised for their be- 
 nelit. But how far did the exercise o( this ex uecexxitate power extend, and 
 how far can it extend, supposing the asstiinption of it, in the first instance, to 
 have been legitimate for the purpose intended ? Not beyond the portion of the 
 inhabitants in the enjoyment ol' their civil rights. Congress cannot enact a 
 political law for the territories of the Union, nor have the people of the terri- 
 tory any such authority prior to their organization into a State. Such a law is 
 not necessary to the protei^lion of the life, liberty, health, reputation or proper, 
 ly of the people ; and it affects the people of the States. The law that prohi- 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 25 
 
 l>ils the condition ofslavery is political, not municipal; and when enacted for 
 a territory belonging to the United States, the rightis oCthe people oC the Stale;', 
 who have the right of removal there, with their property, are afl'ec'.ed by it. 
 The.<e rights eannoi be abrogated by the assumption of a power to legi.sbite for 
 territories, a grant for whieh cannot be found in the Constitution. That tiiis 
 power has been exercised by Congress, is no arfjunient, or a very (eeble one. 
 ill Mippori of It. Perhaps the Ordinance of 17S7, in relation to the N. VV. Ter- 
 ritory, was considered by Congress, a precedent for their action on other terri- 
 tories of the Union. Jl is no precedent. That Ordinance, which contains a 
 declaration of political rights, was adopted under the old Confederation and 
 provided for in the ("onslitution. The articles of that Ordinance were declared 
 to be articles of fow/wrt. between the original States, and the people and the 
 States in the lerriloiy, and were to remain forever unalterable, unless by com- 
 mon consent: and all engagements entered into, before the adoption of the 
 Constitution, were declared to be as valid against the United States under the 
 Constitution, as under the Confederation. The Consiiiiition declares also, that 
 all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United 
 States, shall be the Supreme law of the land. The act of Congress, passed al- 
 ter the adoption of the Constitution, on the subject of that territory, was not 
 pretended to be the exerci.-e of an original i>ower over it; but was intended 
 merely to adapt the Ordinance to the Con>titution. Hence, neither that Ordi- 
 nance, nor the action o( Congress on it. can be referred to as a precedent for 
 its action on the other territories. In what light is the Missouri Compromise 
 to be regarded ? It grew out of agitation which i)receded the admission of iliiit 
 State into the Union. iSew States may be admitted by the Congress into the 
 Union. Its action on the application of a State for admission into the Uiuon 
 is arbitraiy, and a tuajoriiy of the members may reject the applicant at its plea- 
 sure. It was insisted that the Slate ol' Missouri should not be admiiteil with a 
 Constitution tolerating slavery. It was contended on the other hand that i (in- 
 gress should impose no siicl terms, and the contest between tlie parlies on 
 each side of this question was heated and violent, and menaced the integrity 
 of the Union. Great, wi>c and patriotic men, co-operated in an eflbrt to adjii>l 
 the ditiiculiy, and it resulted in the well-known Missouri Compromise. 'J he 
 language used by Congress in its resolution on that occasion, is strong; viz: 
 that ''slavery and involuntary servitude oti'erwise, &■(^, shall be and is hereby 
 lorever prohibited," and was applied to that part of the United Stales Territory 
 which lay North of thir|y-six degrees, and thirty minutes of North latitude. — 
 But this language, strong as it is, could not have prevented the |)eople re.-id- 
 ing on ihat territory, from ado[)ting a Constiluiion tolerating slavery, w hen they 
 organized themselves into a State Government ; nor did it impair the power of 
 a future Congress to admit a State North of that parallel of iatiiute, w liich ad- 
 mitted of the institution of slavery. One Congress could not tie the hands of 
 another. It was simply what it purported to be — a Compromise, and a Coni- 
 pron i>c loo. the observance of which depended entirely on the good faith of 
 the peo|)le, who should remove to the territory, and the (mure Kepreseutaiives 
 
26 EULOGY : CIIARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 ot'llie people in Coiigrfss; for there is no power Known to tiie Cunstitution i)y 
 wliicli its execution could be enlbrt-ed. 
 
 What did the Comprouiise amount to. then, if it was not authoritative and 
 eould not lie enforced ? Simply to this : that it'lhe people oflhe territory should 
 organize themselves into a Stale, and present themselves for admission into 
 the Union, with a Constitution not prohibiting slavery, their api)lication sliuiiKI 
 be rejected ; not because ol the operation of any consiraining power; but lor 
 the respect due to the compromise ofa disturliing question. Suppose a new 
 I'-tate, organized in the territory north ol'the parallel of latitude specified in the 
 act ol' Congress, were admitted into the Union, iiaving a Constitniion proliibii- 
 ing slavery, that State would certainly possess the power, in virtue of its sov- 
 ereignty, to annul the clause containing the pruliibiiion there being noihing 
 in the Constitution of the United Stales proiiibiting the exercise o( such a 
 power. The act iui;;ht be regarded as a violation of the terms ol' adml~^ion, 
 and perhaps a secession from the I'liion ; Inil nothing more. It wonic! not re- 
 lapse into the condition ot'a dependeni or a colony. Suppose a Slate, organ- 
 ized with a Constitniion without the prohibition and rejccled on an ap;)lication 
 for admission into the Union, what would be its coiulilioii ': It would be a 
 Slate out of tlie Union, capable olexeriiiig all the fuiutions of an iiidcpendcnl 
 sovereiirnty ; for new Stales may be formed without the consent of Congress, 
 provided they are not formed within the jurisdici ion of any other State, or by 
 the junction of two or more Slates, or pans of Slates. The power to admit 
 Slates into the Union, implies or pre supposes liie power of the people to erect 
 themselves into States — and that without the consent ql Congress, exirept In 
 the cases stated. Hence, it seems clear to me that Congress has no jurisdic- 
 tion of the (juesiion of slavery, and can only exercise the arbitrary power of 
 refusing to a State tolerating it admission into Ihe Union. The rejected Stale 
 has to make its elei tion between an acquiescence in the demand of Congress, 
 and the consequences of erecii'ng and mainlaining a sovereignty, on territory 
 which had belonged to the United Stales. Entertaining the opinion, then, tliat 
 Congress — however it may yield to the pressing necessity of establishing a 
 (iovernmenl /or a people without law — can nol assume the anthorily. under 
 the plea of that necessity, to make political regulations aifecting the rights ol 
 the |)eo()le oflhe Stales ; and thai tl'.erc is a want of corii^iilutional aiKliority lor 
 any kind of action on the subject. I cannot believe thai the Supreme Court 
 will otherwise decide. Should the Supreme Court, however, sustain Congress 
 in the usurpation of this power, and sanction the erroneous and dangerous 
 principle ihal Congress may, by mere usage, acquire a power never delegated 
 to it by the peojjle or the States, those .Stales whose political rights are inl'ring- 
 ed by the uneonstitutional legislation, must convene and adoi)l such measures 
 as their interest and safely demand. "Our glorious Uninon was built upon an 
 (Equality among the Slates, and upon that foundation aloni; it can stand." 
 
 Who can read this argument and deny to its au- 
 thor the possession of the comprehensive thougljt 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'dONALD. 27 
 
 of the statesman with the clear kigic of the jurist ? 
 And now listen to the !anfriia(]re of the whole-sonled 
 patriot, rising far above the mere partizan character 
 of the political era in which he lived ! For is it not 
 true, o-cntlemen, is it not too true, that, for liilly a 
 generation past, the politics of those who have been 
 out of power has been vivified, controlled and poinl- 
 ed vrith the belittling view of waging successful op- 
 position to those who were in? 
 
 •Hilt, gentlemen, iiulopendeiil of the consiilerations already stated, against 
 tlie iiiiiiiediate call of a Convenlioii of Slates, it !^ee^ls to me that it would not 
 lie treating General Taylor with the respeiit due to the Chief Magistrate elei-t, 
 to adopt i-o important a step, on the assumption that he will tolerate the ag- 
 gression on Southern rijjhts whicli we fear. I cast my vote for his very dis- 
 tinguished opponent. Imt I am willing to 'let his Administration be judged iiy 
 his arts.'' We must hope that he will n"t allow his .(Administration to lie sig- 
 nalized by the damning injustice, and its fatal consequences. The consequen- 
 ces will follow, as certainly as day succeeds night; and consequences, loo. 
 which must sadden the heart of every philanthropist and patriot. Is it too late 
 to hope that the separation of the States may be prevented by the return of 
 ••Wisdom, .Justice and Moderation" to our national councils.' If it is, those 
 who have hitherto been united in the bonds of |>olilical brotherhood, will be 
 converted into strangers and aliens; for amongst the first measures of a new 
 Conlederacy, would lie the enforcement ot non-intercourse with the other 
 American States, as the only measure of absolute security to the interest which 
 they have so perseveringly assailed.'" 
 
 Is it not difficult to decide which is transcendent 
 ill the character of this (jreat man — the far-seeincr 
 statesman, or the grand-hearted patriot? 
 
 M' e thus perceive that, adhering strictly to the Con- 
 stitution, Gov. McDonald belonged to the only school 
 of logical, philosophical statesmen produced under 
 the old system. Against the assumption by the 
 Federal Government of any power not granted by 
 
28 EULOGY : CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 the strictest letter of the Constitution, he energeti- 
 cally warred ; and that with an eye, not so much 
 to the immediate effects of such unanthorized leg- 
 islation, as to ultimate, revolutionary laxity in all 
 legislation, and the final substitution of the arbitrary 
 will of a numerical majority for the sovereign law 
 of the land. A wanton violation of the Constitu- 
 tion, in itself, of itself, by itself, a rank revolution- 
 ary movement, was, in his judgment, to be resijNted, 
 resisted at once, resisted at all hazards, resisted to 
 a disruption of the Union itself, nay, resisted even 
 in a blaze, if need be, of internecine war. To this 
 great end, calmly and philosophically, but none the 
 less firmly and assiduously, did he labor to infuse 
 into others the stern, Spartan element of his own 
 manhood. 
 
 It is well known to all that these were the prin- 
 ciples upon which he planted himself in the mem- 
 orable crisis of 1850, and which he proclaimed to 
 the world as President of the Nashville Convention. 
 Temporary quiet might indeed be restored to the 
 country by a time-serving policy of compromise, 
 but, in a recofj^nized violation of the Constitution, 
 permanent security never ! The peel might be 
 fresh and tempting to the lip, but the fruit was rot- 
 tin"; at the core ! 
 
 And these were the principles which he announc- 
 ed in sustaining the course of the seceders from the 
 Charleston Convention; wliich he would have pro- 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'dONALD. 29 
 
 mulgated everywhere in Georgia, iiad he possessed 
 the physical strengtii to enter actively into the Inst 
 Presidential canvass, and which it was among the 
 most earnest desires of his closing daj^s to have re- 
 duced to writing, but the disease-smitten frame 
 declined responding to the patriotic purpose ! 
 
 Ah ! my friends, is there not a profound patlios 
 in the picture of this most excellent man, sickening 
 and perishing by degrees, and as if in due ratio with 
 the development into life and sunshine of the prin- 
 ciples for which he had been contending through 
 long and dreary years of doubt and of gloom ; now 
 grasping his pen with feverish excitement, as the 
 din of the distant canvass came to his ear — eaorer, 
 once ag^ain, thouo;h it miofht be for the last time, to 
 commune with the people whom he had been con- 
 ducting through the desert, when the sands were 
 parched and the waters scarce, but to behold it fall 
 from a trembling hand ; led, as it were, to the Pis- 
 gah height of inspiration, and pointed to the city of 
 Palms, and the cedars of Lebanon, to the orcliards 
 and vineyards, the green pastures and the still wa- 
 ters of the land of promise, but to hear, in the pro- 
 fundity of his soul, the organ tones, " I have caused 
 thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go 
 over thither." 
 
 It frequently occurs that men of decided charac- 
 ter and eminent position, rousing, as they inevitably 
 must, violent antagonism in the bosoms of others, 
 fail to receive the meed of praise which is justly 
 
30 EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'dONALD. 
 
 their due, until the grave, closing above their mortal 
 forms, presents the only impervious shield to the 
 poisonous shafts of envy and of malice. No states- 
 man, however, in Georgia, has been the recipient, 
 during his life, of so many and such continued evi- 
 dences of personal appreciation as Gov. McDonald. 
 Before the people he wns rarely defeated for any 
 office ; before his own party — never ! It must be 
 fresh in the niemories of all that, when a candidate 
 the second time for the Gubernatorial chair, although 
 opposed by the most popular man of the then Whig- 
 party — the Hon. Wm. C. Dawson — with the pres- 
 tige in the preceding election of S,<iOO majority, he 
 was retained in office by a flattering vote. When- 
 ever his own immediate party needed their strong- 
 est man, he was selected as their candidate, and, 
 irrespective of all personal considerations, never 
 refused to bear the brunt of the struggle. Hemliiig 
 the electoral ticket of Breckenridge and Lane, in 
 the late presidential election, he also led it by a con- 
 siderable majority, although wholly unable to take 
 an active part in the canvass; and I am a witness 
 to the fact that wherever, from mountain to sea- 
 board, his honored name was mentioned, it did not 
 fail to elicit an outgushing expression of popular 
 affection. 
 
 And yet it was at liome. in his own family, among 
 his personal friends, that he was best appreciated 
 and most beloved. If the question should be pro- 
 pounded : Why was this? assuredly the answer is 
 
eulogy: CHARLES J. m'donald. 31 
 
 at hand ! With Gov. McDonald, ambition was 
 never allowed to grow into despotic proportions. 
 Tie never permitted it to devour the kindlier emo- 
 tions of the soul. It never embittered his personal 
 relations; did not dry nj) any of the fountains of 
 social enjoyment; was not enthroned in his spirit 
 as the dispenser of personal happiness. His whole 
 life indicates how profoundly he realized that his 
 own happiness was to be sought and found at home ; 
 how fully he appreciated the senliment so exquis- 
 itely embodied in the lines: 
 
 " Why have I strayi'd from plea.«tire and repose, 
 
 To ."cek a ffood earli govfriiiijeiH liesiows ? 
 
 In every jrovernnient, ihoiiiih lerrors reign. 
 
 Though tyrant kings or tyrant laws re.'^train, 
 
 IIow small, if all that liiiinan hearts endure, 
 
 That pari winch laws or kings can cau>e or cure! 
 
 Siill to our>elves in every pl-aee {•onsigned, 
 
 Our own Celiiily we make or (ird. 
 
 Willi secret ci)in>e, \\ huh no loud .'^torms annoy. 
 
 Glides the snioolli cuireni ol domestic joy : 
 
 The lilte<J axe. the agonizing wheel, 
 
 Luke's iron erdwii. and Daiiiiens lied ol steel. 
 
 To men remote iVom power Imi rarely known. 
 
 Leave rea>oti. f'ailli and coii>cien<,'e all our own."' 
 
 Does the young heart wish to know whether the 
 loftiest triumphs of ambition, at the sacrifice of the 
 home affections, ever conduct to happiness ? Bright 
 'shone the sun of Austerlitz, as if to reflect the glory 
 of one transcendent man. The i^mis-officier of a 
 French Company had become the armed dictator of 
 a continent; and yet, with a continent at his feet, 
 Avith a career already contided to history, in com- 
 parison with which the proudest achievements of 
 
32 EULOGY : CHARLES J. m'donald. 
 
 the proudest of the Csesars had been made to pale, 
 writino- from the retirement of his own soul to Jo- 
 sephine — his reproachful wife ; Josephine, restless 
 in her empire — woman's empire — the empire of the 
 heart, which she would have had more boundless 
 than visible space, and more enduring than time ; 
 complaining of how much she suffered on account 
 of his absence in hot pursuit of her sole rival — Am- 
 bition ! the soldier, the consul, the conqueror, the 
 Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, penned these most 
 significant words : " Thou and I have lived long 
 enough to know that to live is to suffer." Ah ! won- 
 derful man, and did it not occur to thy profound 
 thought that a just God had made neither thyself 
 nor Josephine to suffer ? that the same spirit of 
 eternal law^ which guides, in the world of instinct, the 
 burdened bee from the robbed flower to his six-sid- 
 ed cell of wax — must, if implicitly obeyed, conduct 
 the human soul to its final rest, "lone-wandering" 
 at times, it may be, but not wholly " lost?" And 
 it did not then require the barren rocks of St. Hel- 
 ena, nor the monotonous roar of ocean, which saluted 
 thy walk upon that desolate strand, as if chanting 
 the funeral dirge of Hope herself, to teach thee that 
 no triumphal march of Ambition, however gorgeous ;- 
 no achievement of human genius, however God- 
 like ; no terrestrial empire constructed by indomita- 
 ble energy, massive block upon block, as the Egyp- 
 tian architect reared the pyramid ; no " pomp and 
 circumstance of glorious war;" no "starred and 
 
EULOGY ! CHARLES J. m'dONALD. 33 
 
 spangled court where low-born baseness wafts per- 
 fume to pride," can compensate for the sacrifice of 
 07ie devoted woman's love ! 
 
 Look first npon that picture, and then upon this ! 
 We mourn the fall of no Bonaparte ; yet, thinli you, 
 we grieve the less profoundly for that ? History 
 shall prepare no garland of conqueror or emperor, 
 to decorate the memory of him we deplore ; yet, 
 think you, the fiowers which we have been gather- 
 ing are less beauteous in tint, in fragrance less pure, 
 to the angel in heaven less acceptable than they ? 
 
 Unholy ambition has not as yet enacted — God 
 grant that it may never enact ! — such tragedies upon 
 this continent as have crimsoned the annals of the 
 elder world. Yet, impure ambition has been the 
 curse of American life ; the fever parching out the 
 tenderer and holier emotions of the soul ; the cancer 
 eating towards the heart of the noblest of political 
 civilizations, and, if it be not exorcised or exalted 
 by the influence of model lives like the one we con- 
 template, must inevitably destroy it ! It is, at last, 
 in the home circle — around the family altar — that 
 the hot breathings and tempestuous palpitations of 
 a morbid ambition are soothed into the natural flow 
 of a dutiful and self-sacrificing patriotism. There- 
 fore 1 say that, not simply the peculiar beauty, but 
 the crowning glory in the character of him we have 
 lost, was that, however exalted the statesman's aspi- 
 rations to serve his country, he never immolated 
 
34 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 CHARLES J. M DONALD. 
 
 upon the shrine of selfish ambition one of the home 
 duties of the heart. In the picture of iiis life the 
 statesman stands not in solitude, nor overshadowing 
 ail. The Husband, the Father, the Brother, the 
 Master, the Friend, behold the development into 
 their natural proportions of all the social phases of 
 the true man — each sustaining the other — no artis- 
 tic grouping of earth's creation — grouping designed 
 by God himself! 
 
 I am admonished that here I tread upon ground 
 which is holy, and my step must be light. I invoke 
 ^once more to my aid the inimitable eloquence of his 
 distinguished friend and associate : 
 
 "Life's work Ijeiiig done and well done — this great and good man was gather- 
 ed to his Fathers lull of vears and full of honors. I would not violate the 
 delicacy which good breeding imposes, by invading the sanctity of social in- 
 tercourse., I shall be pardoned, I trust, for stating that, in obedience to his 
 earnest invitation, I paid a visit to my late associate not long before his de- 
 mise. It was difficult to realize that the feeble and attenuated frame before 
 me was all that was left of that once powerful and muscular man — who would 
 have won prizes as a wrestler at the Olympic games; and who was a stranger 
 to disease till within the last few years of his life. His wife, a fine specimen 
 of a Virginia lady, was then on her sick-bed, never to rise again. Upon hear- 
 ing of her death, I addressed a note of sympathy and condolence to my grief- 
 stricken friend — in which I expressed the hope that "the self sacrificing spirit 
 of his loved and lost companion had already received its appropriate rc^ward, 
 lionor, glory and immortality at the right hand of God." To which he responded 
 in language the most tender and touching — concluding with these words, "It 
 a soul was ever prepared for peace and bliss in that hallowed mansion of rest 
 hers was. May (lod enable me to bear my bereavement, and prepare me to 
 meet her in His Holy Habitation." 
 
 I trust that his prayer was answered, and that his sjJirit redeemed from 
 death has found his friend again within the arms of God !'" 
 
 So the last leaves in the book of his life were 
 moistened by tears;, '' solvuntur Jletu tabular'' and 
 
EULOGY : CHARLES J. IM DONALD. 
 
 35 
 
 yet how precious were those tears ! Might not the 
 "disconsolate Peri," beariiio; one of them to "Eden"s j 
 garden gate,'' have claimed admission to the lost i 
 Paradise ? 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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