mi YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY PORTRAITS EMINENT AMERICANS NOW LIVING: WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OP THEIR LIVES AND ACTIONS. BY JOHN LIVINGSTON, OP THE NEW-yoEK BAR. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL, II, CORNISH, LAMPORT & CO,, 8 PARK PLACE. SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO, 1853. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by JOHN LIVINGSTON, -In the Clerk's OfiSce of the District Court of the United States for the Sonthem District of New- York. TO GABRIEL WINTER LIVINGSTON. Mr Dear Son, As I can scarcely expect to be here when you shall have reached the age of maturity, I dedicate to you the second volume of my Biographical Work, as a memorial of my desire for your advancement in learning, and not veithout the hope that some of the examples it contains will incite you to the pursuit of that wisdom which may enable you to con fer many benefits on your friends, your country, and the whole race of mankind, and lead you so to behave yourself as to give the world no cause to regret that you ever were born. Remember that, as honor is due to those only who dare to associate with pain, and have trampled pleasure under their feet, so oblivion, if not disgrace, awaits such as allow their hearts to be enslaved by the charms of enervating and inglorious ease. Nothing can exempt a man from labor, who desires to distinguish himself, and it is a folly to aspire to a superior character, without a superior virtue and industry to support it. Honorable distinction is not to be obtained by idle vows and supplications ; and when people give themselves up to sloth, it is in vain for them to pray for that success which awaits those only who are active, vigilant and provident. I trust, therefore, the time which so many other young men bestow upon their sports or trifling diversions, or the lazy indolence of a luxurious life, you will studiously employ in the acquisition of knowledge ; so that, if I shall be permitted to approach the limit assigned to man's earthly pilgrimage, you may add happiness to the declining years of Your affectionate Father, JOHN LIVINGSTON. CONTENTS. NAMES OP SUBJECTS CLASSIFIED ALPHABETICALLY. [Page, ANDERSON, SAMUEL, of Murfreesboro', Tennessee, Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the Sth Circuit, vol. ii 419 AYER, RICHARD H., of Manchester, New-Hampshire, Manufacturer, President of the Amoskeag Bank, vol. i. 1 13 BADGER, LUTHER, of Binghamton, New-York, Lawyer, formerly Member of Congress, vol. ii 505 BARRINGER, DANIEL M. of Cabarras County, North Carolina, Lawyer, formerly Member of the United States Congress, now Minister to the Court of Spain, vol. i. . 51 BATTLE, WILLIAM H., of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, iiai^jyer. Judge of the Superior Court, vol. ii. . . 771 BIDDLE, HORACE P., of Logansport, Indiana, Lawyer and Author, President Judge of the Sth Judicial Circuit, vol. i 257 BOWLES, JOSHUA B., of Louisville, Kentucky, Financier, President of the Bank of Louisville, vol. ii. . . . 645 BOWMAN, JAMES L., of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, Mer chant, President of the Monongahela Bank, vol. i. . 357 BRIGHAM, JOSIAH, of Quincy, Massachusetts, Merchant, President of the Quincy Stone Bank, vol. i. . . 31 BROWN, AARON V,, of Nashville, Tennessee, Lawyer, late Governor of Tennessee and Member of Congress, vol. i 89 BROWN, SAMUEL A., of Jamestown, New-York, Lawyer, formerly Member of the New- York Assembly, vol. i. . 53 BULLOCK, WILLIAM F., of Louisville, Kentucky, Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the 6th Circuit, vol, i. . 283 BURNET, JACOB, of Cincinnati, Ohio, Lawyer, late United States Senator and Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, vol. i 265 CAMPBELL, JOHN C, of Wheeling, Virginia, Physician, President of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia, vol. i. 161 CATRON, JOHN, of Nashville, Tennessee, Lawyer, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, vol. ii. . 805 CHURCH, LEONARD, of Lee, Massachusetts, Paper Manu facturer, President of the Lee Bank, vol. i. . . . 35 CLARKE, WILLIAM B., of Hagerstown, Maryland, Lawyer, Member of the House of Delegates in 1844, and Senate in 1846, vol. i 299 VI CONTENTS. [Page. 133 CLAY, JOHN RANDOLPH, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Diplomatist, Charge d' Affaires of the United States to Peru, South America, vol. i. . . ¦ • • COLT, JAMES B., of Saint Louis, Missouri, Lawyer, Judge of the Criminal Court of Saint Louis, vol. i. . . • 149 COOPWOOD, THOMAS, of Aberdeen, Mississippi, Lawy&r and Planter, vol. ii. ....•• • 631 COXE, RICHARD S., of Washington, D. C, Lawyer, vol. i. 247 CULVER, REUBEN, of Logan, Ohio, Lawyer, President of the Logan Branch Bank, vol. i 95 CUTLER, PLINY, of Boston, Massachusetts, Merchant, Presi dent of the Atlantic Bank, vol. i. .... 327 DARBY, JOHN F., of Saint Louis, Missouri, Lawyer, Member oftheXXXIId. Congress, vol. i 333 DEAN, GILBERT, of Poughkeepsie, New-York, Lawyn, Member oftheXXXIId. Congress, vol. i. . . .339 DEVENS, DAVID, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, Merchant, President of the Bunker Hill Bank, vol. i. . . . 21 DE WITT, ALEXANDER, of Oxford, Massachusetts, Finan,- cier and Politician, President of the Mechanics' Bank at Worcester, Member of the XXXIIId. Congress, vol. i. 315 DEXTER, S. NEWTON, of Whitestown, New-York, Mer chant and Banker, President of the Bank of Whitestown, vol. ii , . 819 DIXON, ARCHIBALD, of Henderson, Kent\xckj, Lawyer, United States Senator, vol. ii 737 DOBYNS, JOHN PORTER, of Maysville, Kentucky, Mer chant, President of the Maysville Branch of the Far mers' Bank of Kentucky, vol. i 7 DOWNES, GEORGE, of Calais, Maine, Financier, President of the Calais Bank, vol. i , . 239 DUTTON, HENRY, of New-Haven, Connecticut, Lawyer, Professor of Law in Yale College, vol. ii. . . . 687 EAVES, NATHANIEL R., of Chesterville, South Carolina, Lawyer, Member of the Senate of South Carolina, vol. ii. 597 EDMONDS, JOHN W., of New- York, Lawyer, Judge of the Supreme Court of N. Y., vol. ii 797 EMMONS, H. H., of Detroit, Michigan, Lawyer, vol. ii. . 451 FOGG, FRANCIS BRINLEY, of Nashville, Tennessee, Law yer, Member of the State Constitutional Convention of Tennessee, in 1834, vol. ii 667 FOSTER, LA FAYETTE S., of Norwich, Connecticut, Lawyer, formerly Mayor of Norwich, and Speaker of tlie Con. necticut House of Representatives, vol. i. . . . 1 FULLER, HENRY H., of Boston, Massachusetts, Lawyer, (deceased since the publication of his memoir,) vol. i. . 173 GARLAND, HUGH A., of Saint Louis, Missouri, Lawyer and Author, vol. ii, . . . . . . 557 GILMER, JOHN A., of Guilford County, North Carolina, Lawyer, vol. i 343 CONTENTS. VII [Page. GOODWYN, ROBERT H., of Columbia, South Carolina, Physician, Financier and Planter, President of the Bank of the State of South Carolina, vol. i 193 GORDON, GEORGE H., of Woodville, Mississippi, Lawyer and Planter, Delegate to the Democratic Convention of 1852, vol. i • . . 45 GOULD, JACOB, of Rochester, New- York, Merchant, formerly United States Marshal for the Northern District of New- York, now President of the Farmers' and Mechan ics' Bank, vol. i. 75 GRACE, WILLIAM P., of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Lawyer, vol. i 323 GRAVES, CALVIN, of Locust Hill, North Carolina, Lawyer, formerly Speaker of the House of Commons, vol. i. . 187 GRIDLEY, ALBERT GALLATIN, of Clinton, New-York, Merchant and Banker, President of the Kirkland Bank, vol. 1 63 GRIER, ROBERT COOPER, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lawyer, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, vol. ii 813 GRISWOLD, HIRAM, of Cleveland, Ohio, Lawyer, late Re porter for the Supreme Court, vol. i 373 HALL, SAMUEL, of Princeton, Indiana, Lawyer and Farmer, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana, vol. i. . . 259 HALL, WILLARD, of Wilmington, Delaware, Lawyer, Judge of the United States District Court for Delaware, vol. ii. 421 HAMILTON, ALLEN, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Financier, President of the Branch Bank at Fort Wayne, vol. i. . 275 HARPER, JOSEPH M., of Concord, New-Hampshire, Phy. sician, President of the Mechanics' Bank, vol. i. . . 107 HARRINGTON, SAMUEL MAXWELL, of Dover, Del aware, Lawyer and Author, Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Delaware, vol. i 129 HAYNE, ISAAC W., of Charleston, South Carolina, Lawyer, Attorney-General for the State of South Carolina, vol. i. 383 HUMPHREYS, WEST H., of Nashville, Tennessee, Lawyer, Reporter and Attorney-General for State, vol. ii. . . 829 HUNT, BENJAMIN F., of Charleston, South Carolina, Law yer, vol. ii. 401 JANUARY, ANDREW M., of Maysville, Kentucky, Mer chant, President of the Maysville Branch of the Bank of Kentucky, vol. ii 445 KEITH, CHARLES F., of Athens, Tennessee, Lavn/er and Planter, Judge of the Circuit Court for the 3d Circuit, vol. ii 763 KNOWLES, JOHN A., of Lowell, Massachusetts, Lawyer, President of the Appleton Bank, vol. ii. . . . 727 LABAUVE, ZENON, of Plaquemine, Louisiana, Lawyer and Planter, Member of the Louisiana State Senate, voL i 11 Vni CONTENTS. [Page. LANDES, JOHN, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Farmer, Pre- sidentoftheLancasterCounty Bank, vol. 11. . • O'**' LAWRENCE, WILLIAM , of Bellefontaine, Ohio, iiawyer, late Member of the State Legislature, and Supreme Court Reporter, vol. i. . . • • •. • LUMPKIN, JOSEPtl HENRY, of Athens, Georgia, lawyer. Justice of tlie Supreme Court of Georgia, voL 11. . . 757 MARCHBANKS, ANDREW J., of MoMinnviUe, Tennessee, Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the 13th Circuit, vol. ii , .' ^o^ MARSH, MULFORD, of Savannah, Georgia, Lawyer, vol. i. 289 MASON, WILLIAM, of Taunton, Massachusetts, Manufac turer, President of the Machinists' Bank, vol. i. . . 13 McCLURE, WILLIAM B., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Law- yer. Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the 5th District, vol. i. . 381 McLEAN, JOHN, of Cincinnati, Ohio, iaaiyer. Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, vol. ii. . . 789 MEEKER, BRADLEY B., of St. Paul's, Minnesota, Lawyer, As sociate Justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, vol. i. 319 MERRICK, PLINY, of Worcester, Massachusetts, Lawyer, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, vol. i. . . .39 MILLS, WILLIAM H., of Bangor, Maine, Financier, formerly Mayor of Bangor, Cashier of the Eastern Bank, vol. ii. 665 MINER, HENRY J., of Fredonia, New- York, Merchant and Financier, President of H. J. M.'s Bank, vol. ii. . . 509 NASH, JOHN W., of Powhatan, Virginia, Lawyer, Judge of the 2d Circuit Court, vol. ii 577 NELSON, THOMAS, of Oregon City, Oregon, Lawyer, Chief- Justice of Oregon Territory, vol. ii 559 NORTON, GEORGE W., of Russellville, Kentucky, Merchant, President of the Southern Bank of Kentucky, vol. ii. . 575 ORR, JAMES L., of Anderson, C. H., South CMoMwa,, Lawyer, Member of the XXXIId. Congress, vol. ii. . . . 393 OVERTON, ARCHIBALD W., of Carthage, Tennessee, Law yer and Planter, formerly on the Bench, vol. ii. . . 565 PADDOCK, LOVLAND, of Watertown, New- York, Mer- chant and Financier, President of the Black River Bank, vol. i • ... 67 PARKER, WILLIAM, of Boston, Massachusetts, Lawyer and Merchant, President of the Boylston Bank, vol. i. . . 23 PATTERSON, ANGUS, of Barnwell District, South Carolina, Lawyer and Planter, late President of the State Senate, vol. i 387 PERRY, BENJAMIN F., of Greenville, South Carolina, Law yer, Editor, and Planter, vol. ii. . . . . . 581 PHILLIPS, WILLARD, of Boston, Massachusetts, Lawyer, and Author of Phillips on Lnsurance and other works, vol. i.. 301 PICKENS, EZEKIEL, of Selma, Alabama, Lawyer and Planter, formerly Circuit Judge and Member of the Alabama Legislature, vol i 215 CONTENTS. IX PILLOW, GIDEON J., of Columbia, Tennessee, Lawyer and '^*^*' Planter, Major-General in the Mexican war, vol. ii. . 691 PIRTLE, HENRY, of Louisville, Kentucky, Lawyer, Chancel lor of the Louisville Chancery Court, vol. ii. . , 731 POMEROY, NOAH, of Meriden, Connecticut, Manufacturer, President of the Meriden Bank, vol. i. . . . . 243 POPE, JOHN, of Memphis, Tennessee, Planter, President of the Union Bank, vol. ii . 623 PRENTISS, SAMUEL, of Montpelier, Vermont, Lawyer, Judge of the United District Court for Vermont, vol. ii. . . 717 PRINTUP, DANIEL S., of Rome, Georgia, Lawyer, Agent for the Bank of the State of South Carolina, vol. ii. . 443 ROST, PIERRE A., of New-Orleans, Louisiana, Lawyer and Planter, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, vol. i. 121 SAUNDERS, ISAAC, of North Scituate, Rhode Island, Manu- facturer. President of the Citizens' Union Bank, vol. i. . 79 SMITH, WILLIAM R., of Fayette, C. H., Alabama, Member oftheXXXIId. Congress, vol. i 207 TALLMADGE, DARIUS, of Lancaster, Ohio, Financier, Pre sident of the Hocking Valley Bank, vol. i, . . . 295 TEALL, OLIVER, of Syracuse, New- York, Manufacturer and Financier, President of the Onondaga County Bank, vol. i 101 TURNER, JESSE, of Van Buren, Arkansas, Lawyer, vol. i. . 235 WALKER, THOMAS A., of Jacksonville, Alabama, Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit, vol. i. . 225 WALWORTH, REUBEN H., of Saratoga Springs, New-York, the last of the New- York Chancellors, vol. ii. . . 487 WARNER, HIRAM, of Greenville, Georgia, Lawyer, Judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia, vol. i. . . . 255 WARREN, LOTT, of Albany, Georgia, Lawyer, formerly Judge of the Superior Court, vol. ii 747 WHEELER, ALFRED, of San Francisco, California, Lawyer, Attorney for the United States in California, vol. ii. . 435 WHITTEMORE, THOMAS, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Clergyman and Financier, Fditor and Author, Presi dent of the Cambridge Bank, vol. i. . . . . 135 WILLIAMS, ARCHIBALD, of Quincy, Illinois, Lawyer, U. S. Attorney for the State, vol. ii. .... 679 WILSON, DANIEL A., of Lynchburgh, Virginia, Lawyer, for merly one of the Judges of the General Court of Vir ginia, vol. ii. ....... . 429 WOODSON, DAVID M., of CarroUton, Illinois, Lawyer, Judge of the First Circuit Court, vol. ii. . . . 681 CONTENTS. STATES CLASSIFIED ALPHABETICALLY. ALABAMA— [Page. EZEKIEL PICKENS, of Selma, Lawyer and Planter, for merly Circuit Judge and Member of the Ala. Legislature, vol. i 215 WILLIAM R. SMITH, of Fayette, C. H., Lawyer, Member of the XXXIId. Congress, vol. i 207 THOMAS A. WALKER, of Jacksonville, Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit, vol. i. . . . 225 ARKANSAS- WILLIAM P. GRACE, of Pine Bluff, Lawyer, vol. i. . 323 JESSE TURNER, of Van Buren, Lawyer, vol. i. . . 235 CALIFORNIA- ALFRED WHEELER, of San Francisco, Lawyer, Attorney for the United States, in California, vol. ii. , . . 435 CONNECTICUT- HENRY DUTTON, of New-Haven, Lawyer, Professor of Law in Yale College, vol. ii 687 LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER, of Norwich, Lawyer, formerly Mayor of Norwich, and Speaker of the Conn. House of Representatives, vol. i. . . . . . . .1 NOAH POMEROY, of Meriden, Manufacturer, President of the Meriden Bank, vol. i 243 DELAWARE- WILLARD HALL, of Wilmington, Lawyer, Judge of the U. S. District Court for Del., vol. ii 421 SAMUEL MAXWELL HARRINGTON, of Dover, Law yer and Author, Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Del., vol. i 129 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA- RICHARD S. COXE, of Washington, Lawyer, vol. i. .247 GEORGIA- JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, of Athens, Lawyer, Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, vol. ii. ... 757 MULFORD MARSH, of Savannah, Zfflwyer, vol. i. . .289 DANIEL S. PRINTUP, of Rome, Lawyer, Agent for the Bank of the State of South Carolina, vol. ii. . . . 443 ¦ jf, HIRAM WARNER, of Greenville, Lawyer, Judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia, vol. i. .... 255 LOTT WARREN, of Albany, Lawyer, formerly Judge of the Superior Court, vol. ii. . . ... 747 XII CONTENTS. ILLINOIS- '^^'¦ ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS, of Quincy, Lawyer, U. S. Attor- ney for the State, vol. ii. •••'if DAVID M. WOODSON, of CarroUton, Lawyer, Judge ot the First Circuit Court, vol. ii "°^ INDIANA- HORACE p. BIDDLE, of Logansport, Lawyer and Author, President Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, vol. i. . 257 SAMUEL HALL, of Princeton, Lawyer and Farmer, for merly Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, vol. i. . . 259 ALLEN HAMILTON, of Fort Wayne, Financier, President of the Branch Bank at Fort Wayne, vol. i. . . . 275 KENTUCKY- JOSHUA B. BOWLES, of Louisville, Financier, President of the Bank of Louisville, vol. ii 645 WILLIAM F. BULLOCK, of Louisville, Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit, vol. i. . . . 283 ARCHIBALD DIXON, of Henderson, Lawyer, U. States Senator, vol. ii. ....... . 737 JOHN PORTER DOBYNS, of Maysville, Merchant, Presi- dent of the Maysville branch of the Farmer's Bank of Ky., vol. i , .... 7 ANDREW M. JANUARY, of Maysville, Merchant, Presi dent of the Maysville Branch of the Bank of Ky., vol. ii. . 445- HENRY PIRTLE, of Louisville, Lawyer, Chancellor of the Louisville Chancery Court, vol. ii. .... 731 GEORGE W. NORTON, of Russellville, Merchant, Presi dent of the Southern Bank of Ky., vol. ii. ... 575 LOUISIANA— ZENON LABAUVE, of Plaquemine, Lawyer, Member of the Louisiana State Senate, vol. i. .... 11 PIERRE A. ROST, of New-Orleans, Lawyer and Planter, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of La., vol. i. . 121 MAINE— ¦ GEORGE DOWNES, of Calais, Financier, President of the Calais Bank, vol. i. ....... 239 WILLIAM H. MILLS, of Bangor, Financier, formerly Mayor of Bangor, Cashier of the Eastern Bank, vol. ii. . 665 MARYLAND- WILLIAM B. CLARKE, of Hagerstown, Lawyer, Member of the House of Delegates in 1844, and Senate in 1846, vol. i 299 MASSACHUSETTS— JOSIAH BRIGHAM of Quincy, Merchant, President>f the Quincy Stone Bank, vol. i. . . . . ^ .31 LEONARD CHURCH, of Lee, Paper Manufac'turer,''PrBs\- ,i dent of the Lee Bank, vol. i. . . . . . .85 PLINY CUTLER, of Boston, Merchant, President of the At^ lantic Bank, vol. i. _ 327 CONTENTS. XIII DAVID DEVENS, of Charlestown, Merchant, President of ^"^^" the Bunker Hill Bank, vol. i. .... 21 ALEXANDER DE WITT, of Oxford, Financier and Poli tician, President of the Mechanics' Bank at Worcester, member of the XXXIIId. Congress, vol. i. . . . 315 HENRY H. FULLER, of Boston, Lawyer, (deceased since the publication of his Memoir,) vol. i 173 JOHN A. KNOWLES, of Lowell, Lawyer, President of the Appleton Bank, vol. ii 727 WILLIAM MASON, of Taunton, Manufacturer, President of the Machinists' Bank, vol. i. . . . • . 13 PLINY MERRICK, of Worcester, Lawyer, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, vol. i 39 WILLIAM PARKER, of Boston, Lawyer and Merchant, President of (he Boylston Bank, vol. i. ... 23 WILLARD PHILLIPS, of Boston, Lawyer, and Author of Phillips on Lnsurance, and other works, vol. i. . . 301 THOMAS WHITTEMORE, of Cambridge, Clergyman and Financier, Editor and Author, President of the Cambridge Bank, vol. i. 135 MICHIGAN- H. H. EMMONS, of Detroit, Lawyer, vol. ii. . . ,451 MINNESOTA- BRADLEY B. MEEKER, of Saint Paul's, Zawyer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, vol. i. . . 319 MISSISSIPPI- THOMAS COOPWOOD, of Aberdeen, Lawyer and Planter, vol. ii. 631 GEORGE H. GORDON, ofWoody\\\e,Lawyer and Planter, Delegate to the Democratic Convention of 1852, vol. i. . 45 MISSOURI- JAMES B. COLT, of Saint Louis, Lawyer, Judge of the Criminal Court of St. Louis, vol. i. .... 149 JOHN F. DARBY, of Saint Louis, Lawyer, Member of the XXXIId. Congress, vol. i 333 HUGH A. GARLAND, of St. Louis, Lawyer and Author, vol. ii. 657 NEW-HAMPSHIRE— RICHARD H. AYER, of Manchester, Manufacturer, President of the Amoskeag Bank, vol. i. . . . 113 JOSEPH M. HARPER, of Concord, Physician, President of the Mechanics' Bank, vol. i. . . . . 107 NEW-YORK— LUTHER BADGER, of Binghamton, Lawyer, formerly Member of Congress, vol. ii 505 SAMUEL A. BROWN, of Jamestown, Lawyer, formerly Member of the New- York Assembly, vol. i. . . 53 GILBERT DEAN, of Poughkeepsie, Lawyer, Member of the XXXIId. Congress, vol. i - 339 S. NEWTON DEXTER, of Whitestown, Merchant and Banker, President of the Bank of Whitestown, vol. ii. .819 XIV CONTENTS. ^p^g^ JOHN W. EDMONDS, of New-York,_ Lawyer, Judge of the Supreme Court of New- York, vol. ii. . ¦ • '^' JACOB GOULD, of Rochester, Merchant, formerly United States Marshal for the Northern District of New York, now President of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, vol. i. 75 ALBERT GALLATIN GRIDLEY, of Clinton, Merchant and Banker, President of the Kirkland Bank, vol. i. . .63 HENRY J. MINER, of Fredonia, Merchant and Financier, PresidentofH. J. M.'sBank, voL ii 509 LOVLAND PADDOCK, of Watertown, Merchant and Financier, President of the Black River Bank, vol. i. . 67 OLIVER TEALL, of Syracuse, Manufacturer and Financier, President of the Onondaga County Bank, vol. i. . . 101 REUBEN H. WALWORTH, of Saratoga Springs, the last of the New-York Chancelors, vol. ii. ... 487 NORTH CAROLINA- DANIEL M. BARRINGER, of Cabarras county. Lawyer, formerly Member of the United States Congress, now Minister to the Court of Spain, vol. i. . . . 51 WILLIAM H. BATTLE, of Chapel Hill, Lawyer, Judge of the Superior Court, vol. ii. . . . . . 771 JOHN A. GILMER, of Guilford county, Lawyer, vol. 1. 343 CALVIN GRAVES, of Locust Hill, Lawyer, formerly Speaker of the House of Commons, vol. i. . . . 187 OHIO- JACOB BURNET, of Cincinnati, Lawyer, late United States Senator, and Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, vol. i. 265 REUBEN CULVER, of Logan, Lawyer, President of the Logan Branch Bank, vol. i 95 HIRAM GRISWOLD, of Cleveland, Lawyer, late Reporter for the Supreme Court, vol. i. 373 WILLIAM LAWRENCE, of Bellefontaine, Lawyer, late Member of the State Legislature, and Supreme Court Re porter, vol. i. 365 JOHN McLEAN, of Cincinnati, Lawyer, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, vol. ii. . . . 789 DARIUS TALLMADGE, of Lancaster, Financier, President of the Hocking Valley Bank, vol. i. .... 295 OREGON- THOMAS NELSON, of Oregon City, Lawyer, Chief Justice of Oregon Territory, vol. ii. ..... . 559 PENNSYLVANIA- JAMES L. BOWMAN, of Brownsville, Merchant, President of the Monongahela Bank, vol. i. . 357 JOHN RANDOLPH CLAY, of Philadelphia, hiplomatis't, Chargfe d' Affaires of the United States to Peru, South America, vol. i. . . . . J33 ROBERT COOPER GRIER, of Philadelphia, Lawyer, Jus tice of the Supreme Court of the United States, vol. ii. . 813 JOHN LANDES, of Lancaster, Farmer, President of the Lancaster County Bank, vol. ii g29 CONTENTS. XV [Page. WILLIAM B. McCLURE, of Pittsburgh, Lawyer, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Fifth District, vol. i. . 381 RHODE ISLAND- ISAAC SAUNDERS, of North Scituate, Manufacturer, Pre sident of the Citizens' Union Bank, vol. i. ... 79 SOUTH CAROLINA- NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, of Chesterville, Lawyer, Member of the Senate of South Carolina, vol. ii. . . 597 ROBERT H. GOODWYN, of Columbia, Physician, Finan cier and Planter, President of the Bank of the State of South Carolina, vol. i 193 ISAAC W. HAYNE, of Charleston, Zawyej-, Attorney-Gen eral for the State of South Carolina, vol. i. . . . 383 BENJAMIN F. HUNT, of Charleston, Lawyer, vol. ii. . 401 JAMES L. ORR, of Anderson, C. H., Lawyer, Member of the XXXIId. Cong ress, vol. ii. 393 ANGUS PATTERSON, of Barnwell District, Lawyer and Planter, late President of the State Senate, vol. i. . . 387 BENJAMIN F. PERRY, of Greenville, Lawyer, Editor and Planter, vol. ii 581 TENNESSEE- SAMUEL ANDERSON, of Murfreesboro', Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit, vol. ii. . . 419 AARON V. BROWN, of Nashville, Lawyer, late Governor of Tennessee, and Member of Congress, vol. i. . . 89 JOHN CA.TRON, of Nashville, Lawyer, Justice of the Su- preme Court of the United States, vol. ii. ... 805 FRANCIS BRINLEY FOGG, of Nashville, Lawyer, Mem ber of the State Constitutional Convention of Tennessee in 1834, vol. ii. . • 667 CHARLES F. KEITH, of Athens, Lawyer and Planter, Judge of the Circuit Court for the Third Circuit, vol. ii. . 763 WEST H. HUMPHREYS, of Nashville, Lawyer, Reporter and Attorney-General for the state, vol. ii 823 ANDREW J, MARCHBANKS, of McMinnville, Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court for the 13th Circuit, vol. ii. . 563 ARCHIBALD W. OVERTON, of Carthage, Lawyer and Planter, formerly on the Bench, vol. ii 565 GIDEON J. PILLOW, of Columbia, Lawyer and Planter, Major-General in the late Mexican War, vol. ii. . 691 JOHN POPE, of Memphis, Planter, President of the Union Bank, vol. ii .623 VERMONT- SAMUEL PRENTISS, of Montpelier, Lawyer, Judge of the United States District Court for Vermont, vol. ii. . . 717 VIRGINIA- JOHN C. CAMPBELL, of Wheeling, Physician, President of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia, vol. i. . . . 161 JOHN W. NASH, of Powhatan, Lawyer, Judge of the Second Circuit Court, vol. ii 577 DANIEL A. WILSON, of Lynchburg, Lawyer, formerly one of the Judges of the General Court of Virginia, vol. ii. , 429 MOlf. JAMIRS TL = OlRllt , M.p. OF SOUTR CAROLIW^. Ena ^ fer Bi^i^riLphjjyO/ Skatch&s af S'ni-.u.'TU: Amjsri^zar.^ BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. WITH PORTRAITS. HON. JAMES L. ORR OF SOUTH CAROLINA. The subject of this sketch was born at Craytonville, in Anderson district, South Carolina, on the I2th day of May, 1822. His father was Christopher Orr, and his mother Martha McCann. His paternal grandfather was John Orr, a native of Wake county. North Carolina, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. His maternal grandfather was Robert McCann, a native of the County Down, Ireland, who emi grated to the United States about 1786. His father commenced life without pecuniary means, but by a successful prosecution of mercantile pursuits acquired the means of educating thoroughly a family of three sons and two daughters. At an early age he was placed at a country school, and after acquiring the rudiments of an English education he was placed at an academy at Anderson and commenced the study of the languages (Latin and Greek) under the Rev. J. L. Kennedy, a teacher of considerable reputation in the upper districts of Carolina. His academical education was completed under Mr. Wesley Leverett, a classical scholar of fine attainments, and a teacher who has educated more young men who are useful in society than any man of his age in the region of country where he has taught. Whilst prosecuting his academical course his education in business and human nature was not neglected. On public days, in the village where his father resided, he was transferred from the school-room to the merchant's counter and counting-room, and made a most efficient salesman and book-keeper. The knowledge he thus obtained of practical business and of men has perhaps been one of the most active influences in moulding his subsequent career, which has thus far been more successful than most men of his age. In the eighteenth year of his age he matriculated a student at the University of Virginia, preferring that institution for the reason that he could devote himself to such studies alone as would be peculiarly 25* 394 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. serviceable to him in prosecuting the profession of the law, which he had at this early period determined to embrace. His first year was spent profitably in pursuing the following studies : Natural, mental, and moral philosophy, political economy; logic, rhetoric, belles-lettres, medical jurisprudence, geology, and miner alogy, as also international, constitutional, and the elements of com mon law. He was graduated the first year in moral philosophy, including meta physics, political economy, and medical jurisprudence. ^ The second year he devoted his entire time to the law, under the direction of the late j. A. G. Davis, professor in the university, but before its termi nation Professsor Davis was most unfortunately killed by one of the students, and the board of visitors, in the emergency presented, feeling the necessity of supplying Professor Davis' place at once, as the law class numbered some sixty or seventy students, gave the temporary appointment for the remainder of the term to a young lawyer of Rich mond, but as he had little experience in his profession the subject of our memoir determined to return to his home, where he supposed he could prosecute his studies with more profit in some office in his own state. The course of study prescribed at the university was very comprehensive, and he who waded through it, understandingly, could hardly fail in making himself a good elementary lawyer. Mr. Orr studied here the commentaries of Lord Coke upon Littleton, and ad vanced as far in exploring this fountain of English jurisprudence as the youthful mind could go ; and he has often declared that his knowledge of the principles of the English common law, and more especially those governing real estate, was derived from this quaint but profound jurist. It is much to be regretted that so few of the lawyers of the present day have any familiarity with the commentaries of Coke, for it is really the foundation-stone of the common law, and none can understand the law of real estate satisfactorily without its comprehension. He who bravely encounters its quaintness and intricacies, and reaches his beauti ful benediction to the student, where he says, " And now farewell to our jurisprudent ! We wish unto him the gladsome light of jurisprudence, the loveliness of temperance, the stability of fortune, and the solidity of justice," has indeed achieved an intellectual and professional triumph, and has panoplied himself in such solid legal learning as never to cause the heart to quail in encountering a professional rival. The year 1841, being the first after his return from college, was spent in society, and in reading history, ancient and modern, Hume's and Lingard's, with the same care as law-books ; and the former is as indispensable to the course of a lawyer's reading as Blackstone or Kent. In January, 1842, he entered the office of J. N. Whitner, Esq., then the solicitor of the western circuit, who has since been promoted to a judgeship, and commenced reading the course of study prescribed by the law court of appeals of South Carolina, preparatory to applying for admission to the bar. The course is very comprehensive, and applicants for admission are subjected to a strict examination thereon, in presence of the whole court, before granting a license ; if found prepared, upon the exami nation, are admitted ; if ijot, are rejected. Judge Whitner was in per forming the duties of his office, necessarily absent from home at least JAMES L. ORR, OF SODTH CAROLINA. 395 six months in the year, and whilst Mr. Orr was his student very much of the office business and practice was devolved upon him. He not only issued cases and prepared the pleadings, but often, ex necessitate, gave counsel to Judge Whitner's clients, and he derived two very im portant advantages therefrom — first, it familiarized him with the practice in the courts of law and equity, and furnished the occasion of applying the elementary principles of his reading to actual cases ; and secondly, it gave him confidence in his judgment, and capability to determine a legal proposition. He completed the course, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1843, at the age of twenty-one. He opened an office at Anderson, South Carolina, where he was reared and educated, and within a few miles of his native place. He was more fortunate than most young lawyers, for within eighteen months after he was licensed he was surrounded with quite a respectable practice. In the fall of 1843, having a taste for politics from boyhood, he established a newspaper in the town in which he resided, entitled the Anderson Gazette, and took the chair editorial, which he filled for one year. In November, 1843, he married Miss Mary Jane Marshall, second daughter of Dr. Samuel Marshall, of Abbeville district. In the follow ing spring he became a candidate for the legislature, and after an ani mated contest he was elected at the head of the ticket, and by an over whelming majority over his whig opponents. He canvassed the district very closely, and every voter had the opportunity of hearing him on the stump. His party friends were highly gratified at the ability he ex hibited in the canvass, and appreciated in no stinted measure the signal services he rendered in the democratic cause and in favor of Mr. Polk's election to the presidency. In this connection it is proper to relate the fact, that Mr. Orr from boy hood intermingled freely amongst the people, and before he was twenty he was personally acquainted with most of the citizens of his district. His bland manners, his address and his conversations made him a favorite in all ranks. This favorable knowledge of him, as a boy and youth, se cured him friends and practice at the bar, and when he was a little more than twenty- two years old he was elected to the legislature, re ceiving about 2500 votes. The same district in 1840 gave a majority for the whig candidate for the presidency. He entered the legislature, having received a higher vote than any man in the state, but being a new member he participated only occasionally in debate. In the dis cussions in which he participated he acquitted himself to the entire satis faction of his friends and constituents, and at the next election he was re-elected. He entered actively into the debates of these two sessions. There have never been reporters of the proceedings of the South Caro-' Una legislature, and we have consequently none of his speeches pre served. His principal speeches were made on reforming the free school system, giving the election of presidental electors to the people, (now selected by the legislature on joint ballot,) in advocacy of extending the aid of the state in constructing the Greenville and Columbia, the Charlotte and South Carolina, and the Wilmington and Manchester rail-roads, and on various questions connected with the federal relations of the state. In 1845 he formed a copartnership in the law with J. P. 396 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Reed, Esq., now the solicitor of the western circuit, which continued until the spring of 1848, when he became a candidate for Congress. The records of the court shew that nearly one-half of all the business of the courts of law and equity was transacted by this firm ; and they had quite a good practice at some others of the courts of the circuit. Mr. Orr ha.s studied human character to great profit in the management of his causes in court. His perception of the strong features of his case is clear and quick, and he consequently does not make long speeches to the jury. His most elaborate argument in a will case, in which he took a deep interest, was concluded in a little more than one hour. His speeches are argumentative, put principally in the style of interi-ogation, without any effort at oratorical display. The court of chancery has always been his favorite branch of juris prudence. The success with which he has practised in that court is an enduring memorial of the excellence of his tact and judgment in fram ing bills and answers. The first bill he ever drew was in a case involved in the greatest intricacy, and the presiding chancellor said of it that it was the most skilfully drawn bill he had seen out of the city practice in Charleston. In 1848, as we have already stated, he became a candidate for Con gress. His opponent was a lawyer of talents and great professional reputation, with much experience in political affairs, having served some fifteen years in both, branches of the state legislature. They were both democrats, and the contest was therefore purely personal. The canvass was an exciting one, both the aspirants devoting nearly their whole time to it for six months preceding the election, which took place in October of that year. When the votes were counted it was ascertained that Mr, Orr had beaten his opponent about seven hundred votes. Un der all the circumstances itwas a most signal manifestation of the con fidence and esteem by the people for one so youthful. He took his seat in December, 1849, a member of the 3Ist Congress, a Congress which has been distinguished for more startling incidents than any other in the history of this government. He was opposed to the settlement of the sectional question on the basis of what was denominated the compromise. He believed that the settlement did injustice to his sec tion of the country ; that one or the other side was cheated in the or ganization of the territorial governments of Utah and New-JNIexico, the north asserting that Mexican law excluded slavery, and the south the opposite opinion ; that Congress had no constitutional power to buy a part of a sovereign state and place the population thereon under a ter ritorial government ; that if the land belonged to Texas, the govern ment had not the right to buy ; if it belonged to the United States then, it was wholly indefensible to take $10,000,000 from the public treasury to pay for that which was already their property ; and lastly, that Cali fornia was admitted with excessive territory, without an enumeration of her citizens, having formed her constitution without the authority of Congress and against all the precedents existing in the previous history of the goveinnient. The principal speech he made at this session was on the slavery agitation, in which he discussed very elaborately the tendency and ultimate end of agitation if it was not arrested, and also presenting views why California should not be admitted into the Union JAMES L. ORR, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 397 before she had passed a territorial pupilage. He therefore voted against all the measures of compromise except the fugitive slave law. He participated occasionally in the general debates of the house at this session as also at the next. When he returned home in March, 1851, at the close of the short ses sion, the State of South Carolina had called a constitutional convention, and delegates thereto had been elected, a large majority of whom were pledged to vote for the secession of that state from the Union, on ac count of the injustice of the compromise. Mr. Orr advised originally against the call of the convention, as, we believe, did a majority of the South Carolina delegation in Congress, as he was unwilling that South Carolina should incur all the hazards attendant upon secession without she had the co-operation of other sister southern states. The constitu tion of South Carolina provides for calling a convention when two- thirds of both branches of the legislature concur therein ; and when the convention was called the separate state actionists hadnot quite two- thirds, the other third being in favor of providing simply for the election of delegates to a southern congress, as recommended by the Nashville Convention, and opposed to isolating South Carolina from the South. Neither party could carry their measure, and the two were blended into one bill, entitled, an act " to provide for the appointment of deputies to a southern congress, and to call a convention of the people of the state," and passed, the minority having been induced to vote for the call of the convention to have the state ready to co-operate with any other state or states, or, in the event of a failure, to act then, that a convention might be ready to ratify or reject what might be done in the southern congress, if it assembled. The elections were ordered in February, as already stated, and resulted in the choice of a large majority who were favor able to separate action, and the pretence was then set up by the seces sion organs that this was the original purpose for which the convention was called. Colonel Orr's congressional district had elected about two delegates in favor of secession to one against it, and such was the state of parties when he returned home. He, however, notwithstanding his belief that he was in a minority of one-third, openly proclaimed his op position to the policy of those who claimed to be a majority ; and in a public speech at Pickens, a few weeks after his return home, he warned his countrymen against the disasters which would inevitably follow if the policy of separate secession was carried out — not denying, however, the right of a state to secede from the Union if she chose to do it ; for he has always expressed the opinion that there was but one eflectual shield against a central despotism by the general government, and that was in upholding and maintaining the rights of the several states who are parties to the federal compact. The right of peaceable secession he holds to be the highest attribute of sovereignty, and its denial leads ir retrievably to consolidation. Early in May he attended as a delegate the convention of the southern rights' associations, held in Charleston. It was a body of great intelligence, and numbering some 450 delegates ; but, representing the southern rights' associations, it was made up of the most ultra men in the state, and the modej-ates did not exceed thirty. Among that number, however, was the Hon. R. W. Barnwell, late United States senator from South Carolina, Judge Butler, the present 308 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. senator, and Colonel Orr, each of whom addressed the convention in opposition to the policy of the majority. Colonel Orr introduced the resolution upon which the minority founded their report, and which at- terwards formed the basis of the co-operation party ; for the one was known as the secession, and the other as the co-operation party. Lol Orr's speech was the most effective he ever made on any theatre, and so highly was it appreciated that it was published by the executive committee of the party in Charleston, and circulated in every district and parish in the commonwealth. The election of delegates to a southern Congress was ordered for October, and as no other popular election was to occur, except that, until the probable meeting and action of the convention, the co-opera tion party determined to test the strength of parties in that election. Two deputies were to be chosen in each congressional district, and the party, by common consent, determined to bring forward Colonel Orr and Colonel Irby, of Laurens, as their candidates. The secessionists, after declining to run opposition to those gentlemen, subsequently brought forward two gentlemen, who enjoyed more personal popularity than any other two persons in the congressional district. The Hon. R. F. Simpson, a member of Congress for several years, a gentleman of high character and great moral worth, and the Hon. H. C. Young, long a member of both branches of the legislature, a distinguished lawyer, a man of talents, and enjoying a sweeping practice at the bar. Colonel Orr commenced the canvass early in August, and was either on the stump or on the road almost every day, until the second Monday in October. After finishing the tour of his own district, he went into the adjoining districts, on special invitations from his political friends. He encountered the eloquence and personal popularity of his Excellency Gov. Means, who was reviewing the militia in that section of the state — who, when the drill was ended, would address the people, and urge them that secession was not only practicable, but that it was their only remedy against the wrongs of the federal government. The governor and Colonel Orr each addressed six of the eight regiments of militia in the 2d district ; Colonel Orr subsequently addressed the remaining two. Upon counting the votes, it appeared that Colonel Orr had received 5,010, and his highest opponent 1,806, giving the former a majority in his district, of 3,204 votes. When the canvass opened, five of the six newspapers in his district assailed his position and brought all their infiuence to bear against him. When the canvass ended, he expressed the opinion that there had not been such a change of public opinion as was supposed, that the opposition to secession had merely developed itself, and that the secessionists had deceived themselves in assuming that the majority was overwhelming in their favor in the outset. Du ring the same month, the Circuit Courts commenced, and his labors turned to a new field ; in most of the important cases at Anderson and Pickens he was retained. He added, during this circuit, much to his reputation as a jurist and advocate. His duties at Washington prevent him from attending, every other year, the spring courts of his cir cuit and the courts of chancery, and, all the time, the appeal court This has and will militate much against his practice — whenever a lawyer consents to embark in politics, he may make up his mind, m a great JAMES L. ORR, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 399 measure, to give up his profession. In the great press of political and legal pursuits. Colonel Orr has found time to prepare several orations on various topics. He delivered, in 1845, the anniversary oration be fore the literary societies of Erskine College, and, in 1851, before the literary societies of Mercer University, Georgia. His style of speaking is earnest and impressive. His voice is strong and clear, and his enun ciation distinct. He is never tedious, but secures attention by the sound and sensible views which he takes of the subjects which he dis cusses. The character of his intellectual efforts discloses the fact that he is capable of close and continued application, and possesses, in a high degree, the power of discrimination and analysis — much of his success is referable to confidence in his ability to achieve what he undertakes, and a temper naturally sanguine, sustained by an unusually healthy phy sical organization. Naturally cheerful, he loses none of his energies in despondency, and will always make the most of the knowledge he may acquire. He is a striking illustration of the frankness of the southern gentleman in his manner — with fine colloquial powers and a decidedly social turn, he is a most agreeable companion, always contri buting his share to social pleasures. He writes with facility and cor rectness, and has acquired a style well adapted to his pursuits. There is little artificial either in the manner of his speaking or writing, and much of the force of both is derived from this circumstance. Indeed, the frank and honest earnestness with which he impresses his views give great force and effect to his efforts as a speaker or writer, and a fund of sound infor mation, always at his command, must necessarily secure to him decided influence. Col. Orr is stout and athletic, exhibiting the vigor of matured manhood combined with a striking personal appearance ; his phrenological developments indicate quickness and decision combined with consider able powers of analysis. Kind and courteous, his intercourse with his fellow-men will always increase the number of his friends, and, should he continue in public life, he is destined to render valuable services to his country. He represents the district in which the distinguished and lamented Calhoun resided, and, in common with all who knew him, venerates the memory of that illustrious statesman. Like most of the politicians of his state, he cherishes an enthusiastic attachment to South Carolina and her interests, which has, at all times, so secured to such public servants the confidence of their constituents, as that the term of office, as a representative, although nominally but two years, is conti nued by renewal as long as they desire to serve. To this continuance of the same individuals in Congress for a number of years is to be at tributed the great influence of that state in the public counsels — a poli cy founded in wisdom and justified by experience. ¦'^ A^^^^^^zA^ BENJAMIN F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 401 BENJAMIN FANEUIL HUNT, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. [We have been furnished with the following memoir from the pen of a literary friend and cotemporary of Col. Hunt, in Charleston. — Editor.] The subject of this memoir was born on the 29th day of February, 1792, at Watertown, near Boston, Massachusetts. His father was the descendant of a clergyman, who emigrated with the early settlers of the state. Having completed his education at Harvard University, on the morning of the day of Bunker's Hill, his father accompanied General Warren, at that time his guest, to the battle-ground, where his conduct merited such approval as to induce General Washington, on his arrival in Massachusetts, to appoint him quarter-master in the American army. His original books remain in the possession of his son, and contain many curious details of that interesting period. After the war he com menced his career as a lawyer, and became extensively engaged in busi ness, which continued until his death in 1804. Maternally, the subject of this memoir is equally well related. His mother was a daughter of George Bethune of Brighton, and Mary Fa- neuil, a descendant of the Huguenots, who left France at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,* At the death of his father, in 1804, Mr. Hunt was left to complete his education and prepare himself for business. Apt to learn, he became ambitious of receiving a liberal education, and, such was his determined * The name of Faneuil is thus derived, as appears by a communication in the Boston Evening Transcript : " In 1685, at the period of the revocation of the Edict of Nantz, there were living in or near Rochelle, in France, three brothers and two sisters of the Faneuil family. When the persecution commenced, so ably and touchingly described by James Saurin, two fled for safety to foreign lands. An drew, the elder brother, escaped into Holland, and took up his abode in Amsterdam, where he married that pre-eminently beautiful lady whose portrait is now in the possession of Col. Benjamin Faneuil Hunt, whose mother was Jane Bethune, a daughter of Mary Faneuil. Andrew, before many years, came to this country as early as 1709. In Holland he acquired his passion for flowers, which he gratified in his seven-acre Eden. He acquired a large estate, which he distributed among the public funds in France, England and Holland. He died February 13th, 1737. Benjamin Faneuil, his brother, was closely associated with that little band of Hu guenots, who clustered around about the town of Narragansett, at the very close of the 17th century. In 1699, he married a French lady, Anne Bureau. The transcript is thus, in French (translation) : 'The 28th July, 1699, Benjamin Fa neuil and Anne Bureau were married at Narragansett, in New-England, at the house of Mr. Peter Ayross, by Mr. Peter Daille, minister of the French church in Boston. Benjamin Faneuil, the propositus or stirps, became the father of eleven children by his wife, Anne Bureau, all born in New- Rochelle, in the State of New- York. Peter, who was the donor of Faneuil Hall, was born 20th June, 1700.' Benjamin, his brother, and maternal grandfather of Col. Hunt, was born December, 1701. He was a merchant and frequented England and France. Peter died in 1742—43, and left a large possession, which fell to his brother Benjamin, who survived until October, 1785, when he also died. He resided at Brighton, near Boston, and was two months less than eighty-four years old when he died. He had for many years 26 402 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. purpose and confidence of future success, that his mother was induced to furnish the necessary means to defray the expenses of his academical and collegiate education. Accordingly, in 1806, he entered Harvard University, and four years afterwards, in his twentieth year, graduated. His health being delicate, and his family physician advising that a warmer climate could alone save him from consumption, a disease which had carried off all his brothers, he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, which has ever since been the place of his abode. On the first day of November, 1810, Mr. Hunt reached this city. He brought with him a good education, a few letters of introduction, a mother's blessing and a determination to succeed. His reception was marked by the proverbial hospitality and kindness of the place; but intending to become a citizen, he at once determined to put aside the claim of guest and take his place on an equality with others in the competition of use fulness and honor. The late Keating Lewis Simons was, at that tirae, a distinguished lawyer at the Charleston bar. Mr. Hunt entered his office for instruction, and, during the time of his studies, no student per haps ever worked more faithfully. With classical studies he was fami liar, from the excellent training of his particular tutor, the late Profes sor Frisbey. After two years' study, Mr. Hunt applied for admission to practice law, and was duly adinitted to the bar. To a less resolute •and hopeful mind, the opening prospect would have proved anything but inviting. Eminent men crowded the Charleston bar ; and, for most of them, family wealth and parentage had done quite as much as in trinsic merit. Mr. Hunt saw this, and his fiiends -NVere so discouraged •at his prospect, that they even advised him to abandon the vain hope of breaking through such an array of established practitioners and leave the metropolis for some less thronged theatre. prior to his death, adopted his grand-daughter, Jane Bethune, the mother of Col. Hunt, who became his reader and amanuensis, and thus acquired an earlv know ledge of the realities of life, and acquired those clear and strong views of its obliga tions and duties that so peculiarly marked her character and rendered her one of the best examples of ' an old-time lady.' On the birth of her son, she gave him the name of her venerated grandfather." The following description of this patriarch is taken from a description attributed to a distinguislied writer of the article, "Dealings with the Dead," Speakin.r o.r Benjamin Faneuil, hesays : "This veteran had been a generous liver all his days. He was not a man whose devotion was ab dominal, whose God was his belly. He v/as no anchorite in this species of devo tion, but as an advocate tor .social worship, he was pre-eminently hospitable. For ¦more than forty years from the period when Peter's death alforded him the means, his hospitaUty had been a proverb, a by-word, but never a reproach. There was a refinement about it. It was precisely such hospitality as Apicius would have prac ticed had Apicius been a bishop. His appetite never forsook him. He died sud denly ; ate a cheerful dinner on the day of his death, and wont not to his account on an empty stomach, a nephritic malady occasioned his decease." His grand-daughter also attained the venerable age of eiolity-three, and lived to see her son and her son's sons gathered around her, and retained her early acquired habit of reading until a few months of her death, in 1846. She was a lady of un usual firmness and good sense, and of great decision of character. She continued even in the evening of her days an example of the dignified manners of the age m which she was educated, and her mansion was the cherished resort of her relativen and friends, young and old, and she carried to her tomb the love and veneration of her posterity and the profound respect of the c. immunity which she adorned by her excellent judgment and uniform kindness and benevolence. E». BENJAMIN F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 403 He differed with them however, and argued that the ability of his antagonists would rather tend to sharpen than discourage his faculties and stimulate his exertions ; that the people were his family, and he could always find relations enough among them to supply the necessary amount of professional business. Nor was he mistaken. Just at this time, a new order of things was taking place in South Carolina, The agricultural interest, though not less extensive than before, was not the only one of importance. Family influences, if not passing away, were then becoming less material, and Mr, Hunt felt that he had that within him which, in the legal conflicts likely to arise, would enable him to become a bold and efficient advocate. Such a reliance implied great mental courage on his part. It will be seen that he neither misjudged himself nor mistook events. Soon after his admission, Mr, Hunt found oppor tunities of coming into collision with some of the most distinguished members of the bar, and instead of lingering for years on the outskirts of the profession, he was almost at once entrusted with the management of important cases. It is a truth, now, as then, that lawyers and doc tors are employed not so much from favor, as a security to the lives and estates of those who employ them, and when either of these is at stake, those interested are not slow in discovering where the most avail able assistance is to be found. Mr, Hunt was already pointed to as one of those young men who had determined •¦ To scorn delight and live laborious days," and his fellow-citizens did not miscalculate in supposing that their busi ness would be properly managed when entrusted to his care. Unusual success attended his efforts, and, while the profession were literally bewildered to learn why such favorable issues attended most of his cases, the public, not regarding the reason, but only looking at the re sult, steadily increased its patronage. Envy and malice are the sha dows which usually follow success, and the former redouble as the latter increases. Such was Mr. Hunt's case. The young man, whom it was safe to smile upon, while struggling up the professional ladder, was now reaching too crazy a height, and professional brethren were not wanting who were willing to bring him back to reason by stopping his too rapid ascent, " Kill or cure," was the practice suggested for the patient ; nor were those wanting who were ready to administer the pre scription. As Mr. Hunt had been brought up in a society where " pri vate war" was seldom resorted to, his forbearing tenvper was, perhaps, too much relied upon. It became necessary to disabuse his opponents on this point at once. Accordingly, he made up an issue with them, invited them to the field, and proving the better marksman, his weapons have been permitted to rust ever since, and he has prided himself upon healing ihe controversies of his fiiends by an open, candid admission when wrong, united with a firm resolve to suffer no injustice himself nor permit others who confided in him to do so. Mr. Hunt now found that he had taken a vantage ground, to maintain which demanded ceaseless vigilance and industry. If dangers, however, surrounded him — if sometimes he doubted whether friends would stand itrue to him, he did not quail, but, falling back upon himself, he sus 404 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. tained himself in the rule of the wise man — " Take counsel of thine own heart, for none can be more faithful unto thee." In 1818, Col. Hunt's popularity* had increased so much that he was elected to represent Charleston District in the state legislature. In this capacity he his, at intervals, served his fellow-citizens to the present time. Nor have his services been without eminent advantages to the jurisprudence of the state. The act of 1822, requiring the legislature to sanction every act of emancipation, has wisely brought the whole mat ter under the control of the whole state, and put an end to the death bed follies which servants were able to induce by working upon the im becilities of owners. The wisdom of this act has been abundantly mani fested in the increased peace and order of the slave in his relations with those around him. Mr. Hunt was also successful in procuring the abolition of the old common law rule, confining debtors, admitted to jail bounds, to within a hundred yards around the jail walls — a cruelty perfectly gratuitous, as it moved the unlucky debtor from his home, and compelled him, to remain in idleness and want, and without the power of exertion. He finally succeeded in having the limits extended to the boundaries of the judicial district — an amelioration which has greatly diminished the suf fering of the unfortunate without impairing the rights of any one. But to proceed with Mr. Hunt's professional career. To the well-read lawyer, Mr. Hunt's numerous legal triumphs are familiar. A brief review of some of them, however, may not prove unininteresting. The State v. Antonio, for coining, was among the first cases that established his reputation at the bar. From design or blunder, the re porter has placed another name instead of Mr. Hunt's as the counsel engaged in the management of the suit. The case was tried in the Ap peal Court as early as 1816, while as yet Mr. Hunt had only been three jfears at the bar. At that day, instead of a simple " concurrence," each judge was required to deliver his own separate reasons for his decision. Antonio was indicted for coining a silver dollar, the current coin of the United States. Coining, under the state law of I7S5, anterior to the constitution of the United States, was punishable with death, but the act of Congress punished the offence with only imprisonment. To save the life of the prisoner, it became important to remove the case from the state to the United States Court. Mr. Hunt made the attempt, which was considered almost ridiculous by a majority of the bench and bar. His argument, however, arrested the attention of that acute and able ornament of the Carolina bench. Judge Nott, who, against the opi nion of all the other judges, sustained Mr, Hunt's position, not only as * On the declaration of war in 1812, Mr. Hunt aided in organizing a company. which was drafted, during the, war, into the service of the United States, and throughout its continuance faithfully fulfilled the responsible duties of his com mand. He successively rose through the intermediate grades, and about the year 1818, was-promoted to the colonelcy of the si.Tteenth regiment, and served in that capacity nearly twenty years. Since then, Mr. Hunt has been popularly and fami liarly known as " Colonel Hunt." In his military position he has always manifested the characteristic traits of energy, fearlessness, and ability, both as a soldier and a tactician, that have so singularly distinguished him as a lawyer and a legislator BENJAMIN F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 405 to the jurisdiction of the court, but for a new trial. This opinion being overruled by a majority of the court, Antonio was sentenced to be hanged. But Mr. Hunt was bent upon saving the prisoner, and he was not to be baffled in his purpose. Casting about for a remedy, he fear lessly entered a prosecution against his client in the United States Court, charging him as guilty of counterfeiting the current coin of the United States, and caused application to be made to Judge Johnson, of the Federal Court, for Antonio's arrest. The application was granted, and a collision arose between the marshal of the United States and the sheriff of South Carolina as to who should hold the prisoner; the former to have him tried, and the latter to have him hanged. The case was a novel one, and, from the daring position taken by so young a practitioner, and from the ability with which he fortified it, great excitement was created. In this dilemma the pardoning power of the governor was ap pealed to, when he, appreciating the correctness of Mr. Hunt's position, granted a free pardon to the condemned, and the necessity of executing the Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum was prevented. In Nott and McCord's Reports for the year I8I9, page 546, is the case of the State v. Hey ward, for perjury. Mr. Hunt's argument shows how scientifically he had studied his profession. So strong and well sustained was his position, that Judge Cheves reversed his own decision on circuit, and arrested the judgment. In the same Reports, page 132, is another important case, displaying Mr. Hunt's legal ability. The question involved the liability of the owner of goods received at an intermediate place for pro rata freight. Mr. Hunt obtained a verdict for his client against Lorent and Steinmetz. From this, Mr. Simons, his former preceptor, appealed, and, although opposed by such formidable talent, Mr. Hunt sustained his verdict. In the case of Gough v. Walker, (Nott ahd McCord's Reports, page 469,) involving the question, "whether a renunciation of dower must be recorded to render it valid," Mr. Hunt did not only succeed in re versing the circuit decree, but evoked from Judge Cheves, in his dis senting opinion, a high encomium on the argument of counsel. The Reports of Nott and McCord for the years 1819 and 1820, con tain a large number of cases involving a variety of complex questions, in most of which Mr. Hunt had a part, and always appeared to advan tage. Although Mr. Hunt has been so frequently censured for making con stitutional questions, he has nevertheless seldom failed in them. In Harper's Reports, are several cases famous in their day. In Dunn v. City Council of Charleston, page 189, he procured a prohibition against the city, because the state law was unconstitutional, taking the whole lot of an individual to widen a street, when part only was necessary, and the city attempting a speculation on the residue. This was in 1824, It met the high encomium of that eminent jurist. Justice Nott, (see page 195,) the whole of whose decision is the most perfect specimen of constitutional argument in our books, and worthy of the careful study of every lawyer. The case of Singleton v. Bremar (Harper 201) is one in which Mr. Hunt was matched against the reporter, the late Chancellor Harper, one of the ablest men at the Carolina bar. 406 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. The case of Marshall vs. White (page 122) involved a. question novel in South Carolina, as to whether the right to a pew in a church was real estate which was decided in his favor. The case of John Stoney vs. The Union Insurance Company (Harper's R., p. 235) is somewhat characteristic. Mr. Hunt had obtained a ver dict, and the court ordered a new trial; when a verdict was a second time rendered against the charge of the judge. At the next trial, the Judge (Huger) instructed the jury, that the case had been decided by the Appeal Court, Mr. Hunt told the jury "that unless the judge granted a nonsuit he had no right to dictate a verdict, which twelve men were to swear was a true verdict." The jury a third time found for his client. Upon this another appeal was made, and the Appeal Court again ordered a new trial, Mr. Hunt still insisting that the court was wrong, and so said the jury. When the case came up once more, it was argued in May, and Mr. Hunt requested the court to take the interval to the winter sitting, to read his authorities. In January, Judge Nott, who was appointed to write the decision before the court opened, called Mr, Hunt and handed him what was intended to be, the opinion of the court, now sustaining the verdict, but strange to say, the judges, who had not studied the case, refused to concur. A new trial was therefore ordered, and a new verdict obtained. This time the ap peal court was changed, and consisted of three justices : Judge Nott presiding, and Colcock and Johnson associates. Judg6 Johnson, how ever, being sick. Judge Huger supplied his place, and two being a majority. Judges Nott and Huger, who had both been convinced, rejused a new trial, and Mr. Hunt recovered the amount from the insu rance company. It is curious, that Mr. Hunt has seldom had any associate. Most of his cases have been argued by himself, and generally from his original notes. The case of the Medical College (2 Hiirs Reports, 368) is one illustrating the tenacity with which he adhered in the appeal court to his first view of his client's case. His arguments are not crowded with a parade of obsolete legal learning. He ascertains what legal posi tions the facts of the case give rise to, and these he maintains by a close application of the principles of the law sustained by the decided cases. His practice in the court of equity kept pace with that at law. Among his first cases was a bill filed by McBurney against Dillon. Dillon was a surveyor, and was employed by one Thompson to survey the present site of Walterborough, and pass it to a grant under the location laws of South Carolina. Dillon made the survey but took out the grant to himself, and the bill was filed to set aside the grant as fraudulent and void, and raised the novel question, " whether the judicial power extended to setting aside a grant iinder the great seal?" In England, it was conceded that it would not, but Mr. Hunt insisted that no such deference was due to wax and parchment, and there was no majesty so high as to sanction fraud. Opposed in this view by some of the oldest and most learned solicitors, he successfully maintained his position. The grant was declared void, and McBurney got his title to the village as heir of Thompson. A notice of a few of his cases before the court of equity, will serve to show his mode of reasoning. The case of the Vestry and Wardens BENJAMIN F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 407 of Christ Church vs. Thomas Barksdale (Strobart's Equity R,) exem plifies his way of stating his propositions, A majority of the vestry of one of the oldest established Episcopal Churches in South Carolina, removed in the summer to a sea-shore residence. There, they erected a summer church, and invoked the patronage of the old church, protest ing they would not interfere with its funds. J3ut by dint of getting a majority in the vestry, they applied a long-established charity to pur poses unknown to the donors. Mr, Barksdale, a descendant from the old stock, resisted, and Chancellor Dunkin ruled in favor of the powers that be — the modern vestry, stating, "that a complete remedy exists through the quiet remedy of the ballot-box," Mr, Hunt, before the appeal court (page 208), replied, "that the reference to the ballot- box is unfortunate in a case where the law is appealed to to protect the minority, which is its most honored function." This case he insists was a perversion of the law of public charities. There it stands, how ever, and when no pressing antagonistic prejudices shall longer exist, this case will remain a simple, but characteristic monument of his claim to his professional rank. In the celebrated case of Pell and Ball, Mr. Hunt occupied a distin guished part. Mr. and Mrs. Ball both perished in the Pulaski, a steamer blown up at sea. No witnesses saw either actually perish. The wife, however, was heard screaming for her husband, but amid the general confusion, no one could find him. On the fact, "whether the wife or husband was 'the survivor,' " an estate depended. This fact, a single judge undertook to decide ; not by direct testimony, for there was none; but by the civil-law style of arguing. The opinion of Chancellor Johnson ruled, " that the husband probably perished first, because he was a man and quietly went about to seek a rescue, and that his screaming wife, being the last ' heard from,' was the survivor, and the estate, thus vesting in her during the few seconds they were in ^articulo mortis,'' v/ent to the wife's representatives." Mr. Hunt insisted that es tates ought not to pass on such pure conjectures, and his argument is sub mitted to the profession, and the good sense of the public, as conclusive. The next branch of this prolific case is in 1 Richardson's Chancery R. 361 and 419, in which the jurisdiction and practice of the court of equity are directly called in question. Mr^ Hunt in that court challenged the circuit decree of Chancellors Johnson and Harper, that an appeal from the circuit decree did not per se act as a supersedeas. He waived all British authorities and relied on the statute of the state establishing the appeal court. Judges Johnson and Harper placed their decree on the cases of Riggs and Murray, Green and Winter, (3 Johnston's Chan, cases, 70, 160,) " that an appeal does not suspend the execution of a decree, and until reversed, it operates as a full authority to the officers acting under it" (p, 366), Mr. Hunt chal- lent^ed this, as a decision in the very teeth of the law of South Carolina, and the express rule of the court, " that no execution to enforce a decree could issue until thirty days after the final decree of the appeal court." Nevertheless, it is true, that he proved to demonstration that neither of the chancellors had ever read the case on which they relied as authority, for it was exactly an authority the other way, but in no manner was it an authority in South Carolina,. 408 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. whose own laws ruled the case.'* The bold manner in which Mr. Hunt charged the court in this case, with clear and palpable error, may imply that he is no favorite with the bench. Such, if true, may be accounted for in the fact that he believes the election of a man to the bench, if he is of fairly balanced intellect, may strengthen his re solve to mete out equal justice to all, yet he has always denied that it conveyed any such exemption from intellectual or moral infirmities that admit no possibility of error. Believing all men liable to the infirmities of our nature, from which even an election to the bench does not entirely exonerate them, he has seen too many instances in which personal antipathies, or personal predilections, if they have not corrupted, have misled. That judges have listened to tales outside the sanctuary, affecting the moral justice of cases that never could have passed legitimately its threshold ; thus the scales of justice become uneven, and her bandage becomes mesmerically luminous, and enables a judge to see who will gain, and who will lose by his decree. No honest lawyer, who is not afraid to tell the truth, can deny that he has seen favored lawyers who will exercise undue influence beyond the law and the facts, or that judges have sat in judgment on the rights of men, who stood a better chance than absolute indifference would have left them. It is within the range, at least of possibility, that a judge may be so self-confident in his own integrity, as to sit in judg ment when his relations to the party would render a man who pos sessed a more nervous conscience, to distrust himself, and in all such cases, a lawyer owes it as a duty to warn him, and by ceasing to push himself into such cases a judge may at least " avoid the appearance of evil." Let each lawyer say, if he has not often calculated "who would hold the next court," not purely to select the best talent, but to get a judge whose prepossessions at least are not adverse. Mr. Hunt has never asked any other favor than to be listened to, by a court willing to get at all the facts, and weigh all the legal authori ties and principles adduced. When so treated he has never come in collision with any member of the bench. It is true, he speaks plain English, and intends to speak the truth, and no one rejoices more in repairing an inadvertent error ; but he can never be turned aside by mere power or fear of consequences. But when a judge refuses, with cold indifference, to answer his positions, or even rule against him, he is certainly rather impatient, and does not often fail to indi cate it very unequivocally. The slightest exhibition of arbitrary power by a judge raises his indignation ; and some of his finest bursts of elo quence have been on occasions of this kind. He maintains that judges are the paid servants of the people, not the owners of judicial authority ; that the bar represent the people, "their well-approved good masters," and are entitled to a patient and respectful hearing, and to a fair and impartial decision, without favor or affection ; and that true judicial dignity is most surely obtained by an upright and civil performance of judicial functions. He insists, therefore, that a lawyer is as much a'publio functionary as a judge, and in his place equally independent. His argument, at page 382, gives an almost ludicrous view of the gravity of quotuig a wrong case. The late Mr. Bailey, attorney-general, * See note at end of memoir. BENJAMIN F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 409 supported Mr. Hunt in the same case, and, at page 384, confirms the position that the court was " right wrong," These two branches of the case of Pell and Ball place Mr. Hunt -where his friends are willing to leave him.* In relation to the equity jurisdiction, to which he prefers to limit his practice, he regards the system of South Carolina as wholly behind the age. The necessity of requiring a defendent to answer on oath, and thus purge what he may not possess — a conscience — is absurd. His testimony, if voluntarily asked for, is required at peril. But to ex tend to every defendant a right to answer all direct allegations, is only equaled by the still greater absurdity which gives to such an in terested answer not only the effect of ordinary disinterested testimony but even renders it conclusive, unless controverted by two positive witnesses, or one with corroborating circumstances. This iniquitous rule, -which has banished more than half the practice from the court, is a remnant of monkish pretension. The defendant is supposed to be put to his purgation by the interrogatories of the bill, and his father confessor, the court, is supposed to scour him out, and exhibit the truth of what he knows, believes, or has heard. As Chancery is no longer a court of conscience, buT a place to administer the law, according to the more comprehensive rules of equity, Mr. Hunt considers such pro ceedings the merest folly. He objects also to the very unsatisfactory mode of obtaining testimony. Under existing circumstances a master or commissioner is neither a judge nor a jury, and has no right to give his opinion on testimony, although it is the practice to do so. He should simply record facts, otherwise it only acts as an excuse for the judge to avoid the responsibility of deciding himself, and places suitors in the power of a weak, prejudiced, or ignorant master. He maintains that it is still more against principle for the appeal court to refuse to review a decision of the master, on facts, when the circuit judge coin cides, which he may do to avoid the necessity of a strict consideration of the case. It is this very imperfect mode of ascertaining the truth of facts that destroys public confidence in our courts of equity. Mr. Hunt very properly maintains that if the defect is not remedied the court will be superseded, and its rules and principles retained to be applied to facts more satisfactorily established. Mr. Hunt's views on the subject of special pleading are equally clear and simple. He holds special pleading to be a severe logical system. But, as lawyers and judges are not always strict logicians, its rules are so liable to be perverted and turned to purposes of chicanery, delay and false issues, that it has degenerated into a wretched system of pro_ •* The case of the state of South Carolina against the banks of that state, reported by the late Attorney-General Bailey, contains Mr. Hunt's argument in full in that case. The question was, whether the suspension of specie payments by the banks worked a forfeiture of their charters. This argument states fully Mr. Hunt's views of the nature and obligations of bank charters, and was well considered by the Court of Errors, who sustained his position. In this case the attorney-general ex hibited his extensive learning and great power of argument. Colonel Hunt was associated with him by the governor of the state. The report of this case, with the arguments in full, occupies a large octavo volume, and was published by order of the legislature of South Carolina. The case was one of great importance, and com prises all the law of banking and bank corporations, and as such, is extremely valu able to the mercantile as well as to the legal portion of the community. 410 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. fessional and technical peculation.* In the beginning, pleadings were settled by the judge from the oral statements of the litigants. But when pleading was committed to the lower orders of the law, it became a science of quirks and quibbles, and even all the learning of the Eng lish bench has been unable to save special pleading from universal and well-merited obloquy. IN or would Mr. Hunt destroy the old plan without a remedy. He prefers such rules of practice as will present the points at issue plainly and cleariy, and especially notify both par ties what they are to litigate, and thus avoid the trickery of snap-judg ments and nonsuits on points not affecting the true merits of the case. In short, he esteems the law too grand and elevated a profession for its members to devote so much of their time and study to low trickery and disingenuous prevarications. In his arguments, he insists that the great requisites in a good judge, is a proper appreciation of facts. The habit of catching at an isolated fact and applying it to some old legal saw is the very character istic of a self-important and downright pettifogger. A case is no more dependent on one fact than the countenance is on one feature. There may be, and is, in all faces, one leading outline, but the full expression and character depend entirely on the grouping of all the parts. It is so much easier and saves so much labor to seize on one fact and one fa miliar rule than to compare all the facts with all the rules and the proper deductions, that inferior minds seldom take such trouble. The instance of Lord Eldon is an admonition in point. He doubted, and reviewed, and reconsidered all his cases carefully, but he said that, " although he may have delayed cases, he felt a satisfaction in the reflection, that he never took an estate from one who was justly entitled to it, or gave one to a person who had no good right to it." Mr. Hunt often illustrates this truth by bringing up cases which, at the first blush appearing hopeless, are listened to with impatience by those slightly considering them. Al though there may appear an air of boldness and novelty in most of Mr, Hunt's legal positions, as presented in the books, yet, when well consi dered, they will be seldom found to deviate from the sound rules of law. Among his most successful cases was the celebrated " Jewel case," argued in the Supreme Court of the United States. In this case he was matched by that accomplished lawyer and scholar, the late Attorney- General, Hugh S. Legare. Mr, Legare admitted the case to be a fair trial of his strength. Sanguine of a complete triumph over Mr. Hunt, he stated to one of the judges of that court, that " if there ever was a * It is a somewhat singular fact, that over three-quarters of the decisions reported in the older books were decided and adjudicated on purely technical grounds, involv ing merely the niceties of special pleading, without in any wav touching or affecting the m.erils of the question at issue between the parties. In this way the blunders of the lawyer must be paid for by the client, perhaps in ruin and desolation. There are many instances on record, where judges have confessed that their decisions have worked great hardship, and, upon the fads, perhaps, should have been decided the other way. Every lawyer familiar with the old reports will perceive at once the truth of the above observation and the correctness of Mr. Hunt's views on this subject, a he doctrine of stare decisis is at once wholesome and injurious. An enlightened judiciary can alone discriminate between the evil and the good, aided oy the sound views and practical experience of able lawyers and jurists -—Ed BENJAMIN F, HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 411 case suited to his powers it was this." After a full argument, in which he had the reply, Mr. Hunt was successful. The case was briefly this : " Jewel in early life, being a Jew, intermarried with a young refugee from St. Domingo, and lived with her upwards of twenty years, during which time they had born to them, seven or eight children, who became grown-up and respectable men. She lived in Charleston with him, and was always called and treated as his wife, even to the execution of a release of dower, on the sale of some real estate. But the actual ceremony which took place thirty years before the trial, was not the subject of written proof. After aiding in accumulating his estate, she, growing old. Jewel married again according to the full ceremonies of the Jews, a young Hebrew, by whom he had several children. He lived with his last wife in Louisiana, but on a voyage returning from New-York, he was drowned at sea." The question was, "who were the heirs at law of his estate V In a word, " which set of children were legitimate'?" both having acquired great respectability. A case in ejectment, for a trifling piece of property made the case. The verdict was for the first set of children. An appeal carried the case to Wash ington, and involved the whole question of lawful marriages. Mr. Legare brought ail the rich resources of his legal learning to the case, and felt sure of success. After the opening for the appellant, one of the ablest lawyers of the New-York bar, then attending at court, said to Mr. Hunt, " You will lose this case 1" Mr. Hunt's reply was : ^^ Audi alteram partem." When Mr. Hunt had concluded an argument of two days, the critic began to question his prediction, and the opinion of Judge Taney settled his doubts. The contemporaneous opinions of the press abroad, to whom Mr. Hunt was an utter stranger, are the best evi dence of the effect of this forensic effort. Of the interest which this case created at the time, and of the able manner in which it was conducted, argued and decided, all the Washington correspondents at the time, speak in high terms of appreciation. A writer in the United States Gazette "" thus describes it: "Mr. Hunt occupied the whole of yesterday, with out concluding, in an argument which, for beauty and terseness of lan guage, cogency of argument, force of reasoning, profoundness of research and legal learning, has rarely been surpassed, even in this theatre (if I may be allowed thus to express myself), where the great minds of the nation meet and grapple in manly and generous conflict." Under circumstances highly flattering to his reputation, Mr. Hunt has also been called to argue cases out of the state. He has extended his practice to Georgia, where he was employed in a very interesting case : that of the Executors of Wightman vs. Dewes, in which the pre sent Judge Berrian, then at the bar, was on the other side. In Newark,, New-Jersey, he also argued the case touching the will of the late Thomas Gibbons, assisted by Judge Hornblower and Governor Pen nington, of that state, and opposed by David B. Ogden and George Wood, of New- York, two of the ablest lawyers in the United States. The case excited deep interest, and to the bar there must be referred the character of his argument. He was also engaged in the City of New- York in the case of Stoney against Dudley and Stuyvesant, and established the first mortgage, although unrecorded, against the subsequent one to the Josephs and 412 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. others, and thus secured twenty valuable lots of ground to his clients. The bankrupt case of Laffan and Redmond, he argued before Judge Betts in the same city, and again sustained the reputation of the Carolina bar. Last year, before Judge Woodbury, at Boston, he argued the case of B. D. Herriott and Son vs. Assignees of Smith, affecting directly the question of cash purchases on the «ve of in solvency, and succeeded fully to the extent of the fund. Generally, however, he has confined his practice to the courts of South Carolina and to the Supreme Court of the United States.* In Washington he is on neutral ground, and takes his appropriate stand free from all local predilections or prejudices, for the impar tiality of strangers is more reliable than opinions formed by rivals. But in citing cases in which he has appeared, we only weary the at tention of our readers. Clear as the demonstration appears when com mitted to paper, it is only when the mathematician himself works out his problem that all its beauty and logic are apparent. So with Mr. Hunt. To appreciate his full powers, he must be seen and heard on some great occasion. No matter how high public expectation may have been raised, he has never keen known to fall below it. What, it may be asked, has given him such power 1 The answer is plain. A mind singularly active and full of natural strength, and -\vithal so well trained * The case of Lambert and Brothers against the ship Martha and owners, in ad miralty, argued before the Supreme Court of the United States at "Washington, dur ing its last session, and decided recently by that court, (though not yet pubhshed,) was the last distinguished legal triumph in Mr, Hunt's career. The District and Cir cuit Courts at Charleston, in a case of libel in admiralty against Abraham Rich and others, owners of the ship Martha of Boston, alleging damages sustained by the cargo in a voyage from Liverpool to Charleston, condemned the vessel to be sold, and the amount of damages ascertained by the register, and all costs of the litiga tion, to be paid out of the fund. Col, Hunt contended that the injury to the cargo was caused by sea risks, excepted out of the bill of lading, and wcis a loss to be borne by the insurers, and not by the owners as common carriers. The court be low having very peremptorily overruled him, the case was carried by appeal at once to the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, where it was argued in February last, by Mr. Hunt, and Mr. George Evans, of Maine, for the appellants, and Mr, Coxe and Judge Butler, of South Carolina, for the appellees. Thecaseat circuit had been carefully prepared by B. F. Hunt and son, the proctors on record. Twenty witnesses from Boston, and as many from New-York, comprising the most experienced officers of insurance companies, masters of vessels, and importing mer chants, were examined by them upon commission. After the circuit decree, one point, the seaworthiness of the vessel at the time of leaving Liverpool, was still fur ther fortified, by issuing a new commission, read for the first time in the Supreme Court, according to the admiralty practice. The reply on the argument fell to Mr. Hunt as senior counsel. His success was as astounding to the bar and mercantile public in Charleston, as it was in itself complete. All the judges, except the judge whose decree was reversed, united with Mr. Justice Nelson, who read the decision, in reversing the decree of the court below, and on the precise grounds taken on the appeal. It is the intention, we understand, of Mr. Hunt to devote himself hereafter to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, and have a resident associate there to prepare business, as that city is more accessible than many districts of his own state. His efforts in that court, have hitherto been almost uniformly successful, and conclusively attest that it is the tribunal where long experience and professional industry will ever find the most adequate remu neration. — Ed. BENJAMnr F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 413 by constant and judicious exercise as to improve by art all that nature ever gave it. Quick to perceive, ingenious to plan, bold to execute, always hopeful, willing, and able to encounter either mental or bodily labor to an almost incredible extent ; not exultant in victory or cast down by defeat — these are the elements that would make any man great, and are characteristic of the subject of this memoir. The same traits which have marked Colonel Hunt's professional career belong to him as a legislator. On entering the legislature of South Carolina, after an interval of some years, he was placed at the head of the committee on Federal relations. To this committee all matters concerning the laws and operations of the general government are entrusted, and his reports upon the leading questions of the day — the tariff, the tenure of the presidential office, and the distribution of the sales of the public lands, are elaborate and well written, and have been received as texts-books of states-rights' democracy. On the subject of the tariff, he maintained the doctrine that the general welfare clause gave no sanction to protection ; that it was a fraud upon the donors; and a breach of trust to distribute the sales of the public lands among the states, expressly given for general and national uses. He maintained that to render an incumbent ineligible for a second term of the presidency, was in fact to fetter the people, who have a right to elect whom they please, and that a faithful dis charge of duty to their satisfaction ought not to be a disqualification, since in time of war it might be vitally important to avoid any executive change. He maintains the wisdom of placing a qualified veto, as designated by the constitution, in the president, to protect the public from ill-con sidered and hasty legislation ; that the president being the chosen repre sentative of the people is the proper guardian of their interests ; that if two third of Congress will not sustain a measure, by him considered of doubtful constitutionality, it is safer to give it up. In 1842 Colonel Hunt retired from the committee on Federal rela tions, and was made chairman of the Judiciary committee, by far the most important and responsible office in the state. With the excep tion of a single term, he has presided over this committee ever since. Of Mr. Hunt's usefulness as a legislator, not a session passes without evoking from every quarter the highest commendation of his labors. We never knew a man who represented his constituency more faithfully, and we very much doubt if there ever was a legislator who attended to his duties more industriously, and with greater usefulness. The follow ing, from the Wjnyaw Observer of 1842, published in Georgetown, South Carolina, is a tribute of praise, in the justness of which every mem ber of the South Carolina legislature will unite : " Colonel Hunt is one of the most useful, able, and efficient legislators we have ever known — a real working man, as his many able, instruc tive, and, we believe, always successful reports at the two last sessions most amply evince; — indefatigably industrious and persevering, re markably clear-headed, sound-principled, and well-informed ; never speaking or acting but to enlighten the subject, and excite the interest and respect even of those who differ from him, and never wasting a moment either of his own time or that of the house. He is truly a 414 SKETCHES OF EMINEN'T AlVIBRICANS. most valuable acquisition to the legislature — a man to whom the whole democratic people of the state may well feel deeply grateful for his most able and efficient labors in their cause, both in and out of it, and whose public services they raight well deeply regret the loss of — a loss we trust they will not soon have to experience." The constitution of South Carolina contains many anti-democratic features, against which Mr. Hunt has been battling for years. One of the most objectionable is the life tenure of judges. He holds that age ought not to prove a disqualification. One m:in is older at fifty than another at sixty ; but a life tenure is a violation of all the analogies of a republican government. We chocse a governor for two years, a re presentative for two years, and a senator for four years. These last make the laws, but a judge holds for life. This is wholly against prin ciple. Each generation has the right to choose its own rulers, legisla tive or judicial ; but a judge, elected tvrenty years ago, may still hold office when the generation that elected him is gone. The people alone continue sovereign. A man is chosen a judge before he is tried. He may disappoint all expectations, and yet he is fastened on the state for life, without the people having any redress. He ought, at least, to pass a probation. The people seldom do any lasting wrong. All their in terests prompt them to select pure and able men. If judges were re- sponsiljle, at intervals, to the people, they would be careful to deserve re-election. Independence in the judiciary is desirable, but the advan tage of being independent of the sovereign power itself is not so clear. In time, people will wonder why they adhered so long to a thing thus against principle, as to except judges out of all other magistrates. A life tenure is purely a monarchical feature in our jurisprudence. Sena tors, representatives, and governors, are trusted no longer than four years without being again approved hy the people, and yet we perpe tuate a judge, perhaps elected to get him out of the way of an impatient aspirant to his official emoluments of practice. There he must remain through a long life, perhaps an incumbrance to the administration of justice, and an example of the lingering love of our people to the aristo cratic and monarchical usages of our English progenitors. Col, Hunt holds the life tenure of judges a practical reproach upon the provisions relative to all the other chief agents of the people who are periodically called 0:1 to give an account of their steward.ship. He regards it as demonstrating how slowly republican principles supplant monarchical practices in the conservative State of South Carolina, and how hesitating some men still are of the ultimate good sense and true conservatism of a free and educated people. Mr, Hunt has been frequently called upon to act the orator on public occasions and at popular gatherings. He has never failed to satisfy. Nor has the satisfaction been confined to his spoken addresses only ; he is equally successful in print. One of his most elaborate orktions was that b.jfore the Washington Society of Charieston, delivered'on the 4th day of Juiy, 1839, In expansiveness of thought, philosophy of reflec tion, force and vividness of expression, in the clear development of the causes which have produced the American Revolution, and in the wise exposition of the best means of perpetuating its principles, this will well compare with any similar production in our country. BENJAMIN F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 415 In 1840, Colonel Hunt was invited to address a mass meeting of the democracy in the Park in the city of New-Y'ork. His speech on that occasion elicited the highest commendation from friends and foes. It was delivered at the same moment Mr. Webster addressed the mer chants of the same city at the corner of Wall and William streets. In deed a portion of Mr, Webster's speech was struck off and handed to Mr, Hunt while speaking on that occasion. A few days after this he ad dressed the democratic young men of Boston at Faneuil Hall, and made what his friends considered one of his best efforts. Even the whig papers admitted that it put their party to their best to reply to it ; and the re putation of the speech was followed by another invitation to appear on a similar occasion before the democrats of Salem, At New- York, from fifteen to twenty thousand persons attended to hear him, and all who were present speak of the triumphant manner in which he acquitted himself Of the Boston speech, the editor of the Charleston Mercury thus writes : " At the great meeting of our Massachusetts friends the other day, Mr. Woodbury, 'the Rock of New-England Democracy,' made a speech which was powerful in its effect, and which, to judge from a report that professes to be no more than a mere sketch, must have been unusually ' interesting, insisting as it does upon that equality which involves the simple justice, which is all the South demands, and which usurpation would hazard the Union in withholding, by making the confederacy a burden and curse instead of an advantage and a convenience to the several states which ordained it. We wish it had been fully reported. " He was followed by Col. Hunt, of this city, in a speech chiefly de voted to the Texas question, of which also we regret to have received no more than a meagre sketch, and which, judging ex pede Herculem was as successful and effective as Mr. Woodbury's. It was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and the Boston Times eulogizes the merits of Col. Hunt as a speaker very highly ; but not a whit overmuch, as all who have heard him thoroughly warmed on a great political question can avouch, and which those who never having heard him will readily con jecture, if they will read his speech delivered in the Park at New-York, in which he met Daniel Webster upon every point of an elaborate harangue, and signally defeated him on all. The name of the old Hall Faneuil is part of his own name, and the kindred associations it excited, could not have failed to inspirit him on the late occasion. He ought to have his speech reported fully. He is always strong, even when wrong, and when right he makes a deep and lasting impression from the di rectness and true vigor of his language." The speech was afterwards published and hailed by democrats all over the Union as a most noble and unanswerable vindication of their principles. In 1844, while on a professional tour to Savannah, he was again called on to address the democracy of that place. The speech, which was published, did much for the cause in Georgia, and while the whig papers denounced the conclusiveness of its arguments, all of them ad mitted its ingenuity and force. The Savannah Georgian, a democratic paper, says that " The speech of Col. Hunt did not disappoint his audience, and this 416 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. speaks volumes in its praise. It was one of the ablest efforts of the human mind which we have ever had the pleasure of hearing. He ar gued the propriety of the immediate annexation of Texas with a force of logic which could not have failed to convince any doubter who might have heard him. His remarks upon the character of the democratic candidates, and upon the nature of the present political contest, were just — all of them just and true to a word. The contrast which he drew between the two jDolitical parties of the country, in relation to their devotion to men and principles, was clear and striking. The whigs of the country, like the blind disciples of the Grecian philosophers, look up for direction to the ipse dixit of Mr. Clay ; and when asked why they support this measure, or oppose that, their only answer is, ' The master says so,' It were useless for us to attempt to portray the power of eloquence and of argument displayed by our distinguished guest. When he had concluded, no one could have been surprised at the fact, that his voice had gone with more power to the hearts of the people in Faneuil Hall, than the voice of the great man of Massachusetts him self, and that Daniel Webster found a hard customer to deal with in this able Carolinian. What ^Yonder is it that the people of Carolina are 80 proud of their great meni" Within the present year, Mr. Hunt has been bereaved in the loss of his wife, a Carolina lady, whom he married early in life. She has left him three sons and a daughter. One of the former is his associate in business. Col, Hunt's extensive practice and constant employment have chiefly absorbed his time, and in a measure restricted his opportunities for so cial intercourse. When, however, he does indulge in society, few men are more pleasant or entertaining. Full of information, racy in anec dote, and large in the experiences of the world, it is seldom that any one converses with him without learning-something new and instructive. He is now in his sixty-first year. His faculties are in unimpaired vigor, and time has only given additional impressiveness to a person, always commanding, dignified and manly. Of his early struggles, of the intrepidity with which he encountered and overcame them, of his numerous triumphs as a hxwyer, of his usefulness as a legislator, of his splendid achievements as an orator, and of the manliness and indepen dence of his character, we could add much to what we have already Written, But we must forbear. When his full course shall have been run, those better qualified than ourselves shall gather the many memo rials of his life, and do them fitting honor before his countrymen. NOTE, BY A MEMBER OF THE NEW-YOEK BAR. The novelty and the gravity of tbe charge made by Colonel Hunt and the late attorney-general, Mr. Bailey, who was alike distinguished for learning and accuracy, has induced us to look into this matter. If the allegations are true, they serve to illustrate still further the tenacity of Colonel Hunt in practising at all before a tri bunal which can he so blinded by its antipathies, but renders the admitted fact ol his unu.sual success still more remarkable, and imposes upon the friends of both Judges Johnson and Harper— and, indeed, all the court of error who signed the decree— no slight obligation to vindicate their judicial character by some conclusivo refutation of the fact, that Colonel Hunt, or rather his client, "Nonus Ball wa- BENJAMIN F. HUNT, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 417 denied the benefit of an appeal secured hy the constitution of •South Carolina, and that his lands and slaves were sold pending an appeal upon the very question whe ther he was entitled to have them delivered to him under partition I If true. South Carolina must re-organize her appeal system, or lose that precious reputation which ehe has hitherto sustained. Our knowledge of her courts of equity is chiefly derived from Chancellor De Saussure''s first volume of reports. We there flnd both the acts of her legislature and her rules of court. By these it appears that, in 1808, the state was subdivided into equity circuits, and a court of appeals established. 1 Dess. Reports, p. 91-93, the law expressly provides " how appeals are to be made." The 25th rule, made two years after, is thus : " 25. No execution or attachment for the en forcement of a decree shall issue until thirty days after the rising of the court during which such decree was pronounced ; and iftker-e be an appeal, then such execution shall not issue until thirty days after the adjournment of the court of appeals at which the cause shall be determined,^^ ^c. If language has any meaning, the course of both Chancellors Harper and Johnson will render them liable in an action to this young man ; and no title to his lands can be good under a sale so palpably illegal ; at least no other civilized people would sub mit to so clear a wrong. We confess that the enormity of this case of Pell and Ball leaves us in doubt how we can trust our own conclusions ; and yet, there is the report, and here is the rule. When we advert to the cases quoted from Chan cellor Kent, in our own reports, our wonder is increased ; for it is not to be ques tioned that no authority is found here that an appeal from the circuit is not a super sedeas, but the very reverse ; and we fear that, instead of reading for themselves, these learned chancellors leaned too much upon counsel, who, in their own cases^ are not Safe judicial monitors. The decision would render appeals all but a delu sion ; and yet so scrupulous was South Carolina on this point, that in her very con stitution she secured to her citizens the benefit of an appeal. The case of Green vs. Winter (1st Johnson's Chancery Rep., p. 79) was heard in June, 1814 ; and the very point of the case, and all its authority, depends upon a statement of how the case came up. It was a petition, stating the previous pro ceedings, from the filing of the bill to the decree. An appeal had been taken, and the petition prayed " that the cause might proceed, notwithstanding the appeal." Chancellor Kent decided (p. 82) " that the application for leave to proceed, &c., is denied with costs." How learned judges can rely on such a decision as authority for the position that an appeal is no supersedeas, passes all conjecture. The whole matter is, that in the English Chancery, until 1798, long after the Revolution, an appeal to thcHouse of Lords did work a supersedeas. Since then, the question, whether it shall or not, depends on rules and orders adapted to each particular case. But Chancellor Kent is explicit, and the subsequent cases where, on motion of the appellee, special order was made to preserve the fund, pending the appeal, so far from weakening the rule sustains it, and so an ordinary acquaint ance with the reports would prove. From the case of Green and Winter we leam that Lord Chancellor Apsley, in Pomfret vs. Smith, Wyatt's Prac. Reg,, 35, 36, decided " that the practice, on appeal to the House of Lords, was, that the chancel lor's jurisdiction was susperseded, only as to the matter appealed from," In this case the matter appealed from was the authority of a circuit chancellor to sell the real estate and slaves of young Ball. Chancellor Kent says, " I believe the prac tice in this court has always been according to the more ancient opinion in the English chancery, and the appeal has been considered as a stay of proceedings. This appears also to have been the understanding of this court as declared in the 35th, 36th, and 37th rules of June 1806. My conclusion is, that an appeal does, in the first instance, stay proceedings on the point appealed from, and that, if any party wishes to proceed, notwithstanding the appeal, he must make application to thechancellor for leave to proceed," &c. The difference between the English practica and ours is, that by the former the plaintiff must apply for an order to stay proceed ings, but here the defendant in appeal must apply for leave to proceed . M. 27 Sng,"^ \ hi ipn <^/JV'i ^^'^/^/^ OF i.ii.iisa.-.ESB ?.to :v;Azvs;.Si.'2 j SAMUEL ANDERSON, OF TENNESSEE. ' 419 HON. SAMUEL ANDERSON, OF murfreesboro', tenn. The subject of this sketch was born on the 5th of January, 1787, in Rockbridge county, Virginia. His parents were of Scotch and Irish descent. Their religious creed was of the Presbyterian faith, and he was educated according to the strict and rigid rules required by the standards of that church. In the year 1800, his father removed with his family to Knox county, Tennessee, and settled about seven miles from Knoxville. He had a large family, and being in moderate circumstances, the present judge was compelled to work on the farm with his youpger brothers, until he attained the age of twenty-one. His oldest brother, however, was sent to school, -with a view to ob tain as good an education as the literary institutions in the country at that day could furnish. He finished his collegiate course at Washing ton College, near Lexington, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Samuel Anderson obtained from him a smattering knowledge of Latin and Greek, and some of the sciences. Shortly after becoming of age, he commenced the study of the law. He obtained a license in the winter of 1810, being then in his twenty-third year. He practised in Knoxville and some of the adjoining counties, until early in the year 1811, when he settled in Murfreesboro', where he has ever since re sided. He represented the county of Rutherford in the legislature of hisstatein 181'7 and 1819, and the called session of 1820. Inthewinter of 1835, he was appointed by the then governor judge of the fifth judicial circuit of the State of Tennessee, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the Hon. James C. Mitchell. He was elected by the legislature judge of the same circuit, under the new constitution, for the term of eight years, in the fall of 1835 ; was again elected in the fall of 1843 for another term of eight years. Mroa aM'av , ///////f ./-///, Tmrrnn statk-s Di-r/ruc'/.- .u/Di-'i-: /-v-/z us^juiwyLRE . -£'ff^-'0'r //'y7;yj/,r,.',i7 .¦¦'/.. h-/,.:,- , f £i,u/i«n^ Am-jri.-.i. WILLARD HALL, OF DELAWARE. 421 HON. WILLARD-HALL, of DELAWARE. Willard Hall, District Judge of the United States for Delaware district, is a native of Massachusetts. He was born at Westford, in the county of Middlesex, the twenty-fourth of December, 1780 : his father, Willis Hall, was born and died in that town; his mother, Mehe- table Pool, was of Hollis, New-Hampshire. His grandfather, Willard Hall, was a graduate of Harvard College, in the class of 1722. He was, soon after, ordained and settled the first pastor of Westford, erected, just before his settlement, into a town ; the west part of the territory of Chelmsford being set off for that purpose. He has been represented as a pious, useful minister. Dr. Payson, fifty years ago pastor of Chelsea, near Boston, spoke in strong terms of the gratification of having been acquainted with him, and mentioned as re markable the clearness and strength of his mind. He united the offices of pastor and physician : the condition of society at the time extending greatly his usefulness. He was a strenuous sup porter of common education. The town, on one occasion, con sidering themselves excused by a special emergency, from laying the required school taxes, he complained to the General Court, and arraigned his own charge before that tribunal. In this he offended, as he knew he should, many of his people ; but he would make no com promise with delinquency in this matter. He was a man of taste in agriculture ; he had a good farm ; he cultivated fruit trees, plums, apri cots, peaches, pears, apples, currants, black, white and red ; his garden, his orchards, his fields, years after his death, bearing witness to his skill and industry. In consequence of an academy being instituted in Westford, in 1792, Willard Hall, the grandson, was placed in the way of a liberal edu cation. He entered that academy with the first scholars. He was prepared for college at the Harvard commencement in 1794, and then was examined and received ; but he returned and continued another year at the academy, and entered the freshman class of 1795. The disposition then seems to have been to protract the term of education. Now, a contrary disposition prevails, that leads — instead of enteriflg freshman two years in succession, not to enter freshman at all, but overleap one, or, if it can possibly be done, two years of college course. The evil — the better expression is ruin— ^of this impatience of elementary education, is not properly considered : it is not examined and tested by experience so as to be understood. The writer has in view a gentleman of good natural endowments and estimable moral character, who has been delving at a profession twelve years or more, in barrenness, whose want of success, he believes, is attributable to having been unfortunately sent to a small, incompetent college, and acquiring there, for he could acquire no other, a superficial education. His education, instead of investing his mind with the elements of power, 422 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. has formed it to feebleness — made it incapable of vigor and persevering strength. Judge Hall graduated at Harvard at the commencement of 1799. At the time of his leaving college, Groton, adjoining his native town, was distinguished by the residence of two eminent lawyers of the Middlesex bar, Timothy Bigelow and Samuel Dana. Mr. Bigelow was a man of great ability, and elevated moral and religious character. His speaking was rapid, rapid to a fault ; but it was earnest, energetic, and full of matter. He filled the circle in which he moved; but on the broad extent of his state and nation he never attained to the eminence that was due to him. Personal idolatry, so rife now, was then unknown. Mr. Dana was a good lawyer, a graceful speaker,v with a melodious voice, an interesting gentleman. He abounded with anecdote ; there could be no more entertaining companion. Much in structive personal history has been lost by his death. The offices of Mr. Bigelow and Mr. Dana were nurseries of lawyers. The recollection of them, in connection with the remark that has been made on the difference of the present from the former course of educa tion, brings to mind an observation made by Mr. Dana to the writer long after he had left his office. Said he : " When you and others left my office, I had not a misgiving concerning you ; I was as confident of your success, as a farmer is of a crop from a well-cultivated field ; but that assurance is gone ; and for those now setting out I feel nothing but apprehension." Many had acquired the profession in these offices before the writer. Several were there with him. All became indebted for the tuition-fee ; and most for something additional. On leaving, they gave their notes. He has been informed, and he does not doubt it, that nothing was ever lost of these notes. Judge Hall entered Mr. Dana's office, March, 1800. In March, 1803, he was admitted to the bar of Hillsborough county, New-Hampshire ; Mr. Dana practising in that county. Having read, in a speech in Con gress of James A. Bayard, then the distinguished representative from Delaware, some accounts of the bar in this state, placing it in an ele vated moral position, and representing the practice as reasonably pro ductive, he addressed to him a letter of inquiry. The gentlemanly and favorable answer of Mr. Bayard induced him to make choice of this state for prosecuting his profession. lie left his father's house in Westford, April 7, 1803 ; and traveling on horseback he reached Wilmington, Delaware, the 16th of that month; from thence he proceeded to Georgetown, Sussex county, where the Court of Common Pleas was beginning its spring sessions. lie had letters from the late H, G, Otis, of Boston, to Mr. Bayard and Mr. Rodney, and a record of his admission to the bar in New-Hamp shire, and upon the application of Mr. Bayard, and a subsequent report of hira and the late Rev. James P. Wilson, D. D., of Philadelphia, then at the bar in Georgetown, Sussex, he was admitted an attorney and counselor of that court. In May, 1803, he settled at Dover, in the practice of law, and sedulously pursued this practice for twenty years. In this period he never allowed himself spare time sufficient to visit Massachusetts in modes of traveling then in use. He mar- willard hall, of DELAWARE. 423 ried, and had one child ; he yearly devoted a fortnight to a change of air in Pennsylvania, to escape the intermittent fever of the level country of his residence. He always felt guilty in starting and returning on this excursion ; for he considered that professional ser vices are needed by the community, and that a professional man is bound to make it convenient to the community to have the benefit of these services. He never saw father nor mother after leaving them, in April, 1803. Settling, a stranger among strangers, in a part of the country whose customs and manners were strange to him, without one auxiliary of patronage either of person or circumstance, and in competition with gentlemen in prime and vigor of life, of commanding ability, first-rate education, held in highest personal esteem, in the midst of their own people and having a full start, his movement was slow, but progressive. It continued so. In 1811 he was appointed Secretary of State, and exercised this office till January, 1814. In 1816 he was elected one of the representatives from the state to the Congress of the United States, and was re-elected in 1818. In 1821 he was again appointed Secretary of State ; in 1822 he was elected a member of the state Senate ; and in 1823, May 6th, on decease of Judge Fisher, he was appointed by President Monroe District Judge of the United States for Delaware district. When this office was conferred, his practice at the bar was better than it had ever been, and increasing more certainly and substan tially than it had ever done. But he was wearied with twenty years' labors and anxieties ; toiling harder for his clients than they would work for themselves, and feeling more deeply than they felt for their own interests. Upon the application of the General Assembly of Delaware, he re vised the statutory laws of the state. He completed the work in 1829, reducing six volumes of laws, 8,646 pages octavo, to one octavo volume, of which the public laws occupied 563 pages. In this revision he retained, in their own language, all old provisions, clearly expressed and unaffected by subsequent legislation. The mass of the laws did not admit of this. Upon most subjects the law was found in many acts amending, supplying, varying. In such cases his course was to determine the laws resulting from all the statutory provisions, and ex press it in a bill prepared for the purpose, in plain, clear language, without redundancy, repealing all former acts in pari materia. It is believed, that from 1829 till 1852, when another revision was made, not a difficulty in practice, nor a vexed question, or perpleMty, has been occasioned by this work. In 1831, a convention was called in Delaware to revise the constitu tion. Judge Hall was then a resident of Wilmington, in Newcastle county, having removed from Dover in March, 1825. He was elected a delegate from Newcastle county to this convention, having been placed; on the ticket of both parties. His views of democratic republicanism upon the engrossing subjecfj of offices, found no favor on either side. These views were, that a demo cratic republic consists of its citizens, each individual having place, and, weight, and duty : individual talent, enterprise, industry and worthj composing the common stock ; that every citizen, therefore, should 424 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. have scope and inducement to employ to best advantage his talent, enterprise and energies ; that if there be two offices affording places for two men, when one office with one of them would be competent to discharge all the functions, there is the loss of a man, and even worse, for the two will probably become indolent, and be drones, while one discharging all the duties would be kept active, and by his energy be felt beyond his office in building up social improvement ; that this was not mere theorizing, for under his own observation several young men of highest promise, with advantages to be ornaments to society, had been allured by present apparent benefits into little offices, and de stroyed, becoming idle, incapable and worthless. The question of offices should be determined with a sole view to the accommodation of the people, to be served through the functions. Their business should be done well, with as little expense and great conve nience to them as consistent with justice to the office. If what is done in four offices can be done as well in one, by discontinuing three, and assigning the functions of four to one, the people wUl be served with more convenience and less expense to them ; there will be a better officer, and he will be better supported. The republican view of the subject presents these considerations. It is utterly anti-republican to create offices for the sake of distributing favors to individuals. This is taxation — taxation of the most unjust and baneful nature, wantonly imposing public burden, injuring the favored men whose talents and industry urged to exertion in some useful pursuit, would gain a better living, and more influential standing, and harrassing tbe community by negligently executed offices. But the petty interests sustaining the opposite view are too strong to be overcome by argument. While Secretary of the State of Delaware, Judge Hall had advocated provision of public schools, and suggested a plan. In 1829 a com mittee of the legislature applied to him for a bill forming a school sys tem for the state. He drafted a bill which was passed, with the excep tion of a provision conferring the power of taxation, omitted, not ac cording to the judgment of the members, but through their apprehension of the unwillingness of the people. This feature was restored in a mo dified form ; but another important feature, that a school district should receive from the school-fund of the state no more than it raised in itself, was marred by allowing a district to draw its dividend upon raising the mimmum sum of $25. With these variances, the school system of the state is as framed by this bill. Under this system each county was divided into school districts; and to the school voters in each district was committed the power, in lawful meeting, to choose a school committee to provide a school open to all the white children of the district, and to raise mofley to enable them to discharge their duties, each school district being a community invested with power and responsibility to maintain a school for its youth, and the school voters being the fountain of this power and Responsibility. It has been objected to the system that it is too democratic, resting on the will of the people, without inherent power for healthful action. The answer : — It adopts the vital principle of our civil polity, contain ing the elements of all our institutions, and imparting to them form and WILLARD HALL, OF DELAWARE. 425 life, viz.-: that the people best understand their o-wn interests, and are the trustworthy keepers and directors of them ; and that they for themselves, and none others for them, must concert and mature all plans for bettering their condition ; that this principle should pervade, and be practical everywhere in conducting all public concerns com mitted to communities, so that the people shall be trained to discretion, intelligence, and sound judgment. The people need educating as well as the children ; they have the power ; it can neither be reclaimed nor abridged ; the only safety, and therefore the course of wisdom, is in their learning to use it. The people of this country are in everything unlike those of the Old World. There they are to be amused, recreated, and kept contented : here they are to be trained into capacity, to under stand and pursue the common good as their true and individual in terest. Train the mass of the community in common schools, and se lect classes in select schools, and by the process you plant the substra tum of society with roots of bitterness, diffusing noxiousness through the soil, and producing a most baneful growth. Feelings of child hood influence through life ; the disposition and temper remaining after the emotions in which they originated have passed away, and are forgotten. It cannot be disguised that great jealousies pervade com munities. One class being supposed too high, prejudices are invoked and fostered to prostrate them. Men distinguished for ability and aptness to fill stations are not selected, because of jealousies arising from this very ability and aptness. Worth is thrown away ; common good sacrificed ; public detriment incurred of choice. The fact that the persons proscribed by the common opinion have never been a part of the mass, but have always moved in a separate sphere, has much to do in occasioning this result. It is essential to the prosperous action of our institutions that all classes begin together, and go through an interesting part of their course in company. The counterpart of the disposition producing the mischief just noticed, can be formed only in childhood. A jealous temperament once formed cannot be corrected. Remedies, apparently the most judicious, merely increase it. There is no calcu lating the reciprocal influence in childhood of general association : that of the poor is as beneficial to the rich as that of the rich to the poor ; instilling and imbibing lessons of practical life that can be learned in no other way, and indispensable to the harmonious working of the whole community. Another objection has been made to this school system — that it allows country districts to be too large, as some scholars may be dis tant two miles from the school-house. This objection is noticed here to introduce the remark of the writer, that to the necessity which his home in childhood laid upon him to walk two miles and a half to school, going in the morning, returning at night, with a crust of bread in his pocket for his dinner, he attributes it that, with a constitution by no means robust, and at the age of twenty-two leaving New-England and settling in a climate deemed sickly, he has enjoyed uniform good health, rarely interrupted even by slight indisposition, and has reached an advanced period of life without feeling the pressure of age. Con sidering how much is lost to business energy, and how much pain is 426 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. suffered in consequence of the debilitated frames of professional men, this remark may be of some value. Of the late James A. Bayard, whose name has occurred in this narra tive, the writer may be allowed a passing notice. His was not a noisy fame, but no man's was more solid. Those who knew him held him in the highest estimation : a man of elevated principle and commanding intellectual power. Mr. Madison, through admiration of his ability, appointed him, an opponent in politics, and a citizen of the smallest state, hence without local influence, on the commission with Albert Gallatin, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay, to maintain the rights and interests of this country in the negotiations at Ghent. The writer has heard some of the most eminent lawyers of this na^ tion : Samuel Dexter, Luther Martin, William Pinkney, Daniel Web ster, and others, and has knowledge of other distinguished members of the profession, but he has heard and has knowledge of no one whom he considers superior to Mr. Bayard. Of the bar of his state he was the pride, and most justly : he was an ornament of that of the nation. He was no case hunter. He placed little stress on authorities, unless unequivocally decisive. He grasped the governing principles, took a lucid view of his case, and in the application argued with overwhelming effect. He prepared himself with diligence and care ; examined and under stood the matters that were to form the argument ; would touch nothing that could be turned against him. The writer, concerned -with him in a case involving new and important points, had found an authority which he deemed pertinent and weighty. He went into an argument to show how clearly applicable were the principles involved in the decision, and how a position apparently contradictory not only was not so, but was corroborative of these principles. Mr. Bayard, after listening atten tively, replied — " This is all very well ; it would be a pleasant exercise to a student thus to unfold and show the application of the principles ; but we have to do with judges, who, while we are reasoning to show- that the general principles, of the case are decisive, may run away with the position that carries on its face an opposite appearance. Never," said he, " cite a case that does not run on all four." He rejected the case, and gave the writer an impressive and useful lesson through the mode in which he treated it. Judge Hall made public profession of religion in 1827. Beginning late, he considered that special diligence was required. His attention was directed to youth, where there were no suitable means of training and education — their whole moral being in a forming state, and they de pendent on others to be moulded with skilful care or marring neglect. Men inculcate upon their fellow-men obligations to be worthy citizens of a free government, moral virtues requisite to the comfort and safety of society, and the religious course which Revelation portrays and en joins as emphatically the way of life. But the character of the men to whom these lessons are addressed is already settled — either to go for ward in the prescribed way, and therefore the direction is superfluous, or to pursue a different track, and therefore it will not be heeded. The work to which all this points has been done, or is past douig — the pro per time, the fit state, childhood and youth. Hence his labors in the WILLARD HALL, OF DELAWARE. 427 cause of common schools have been unintermitted, and he has been a teacher in Sabbath schools from the date of his religious profession. A gospel minister, speaking of a classmate, said, that he had been under strong religious convictions, but he would not yield to them because he had determined to study law, and he considered that the practice of law could not be advantageously followed consistently with avowed religious character. The minister thought his classmate's view correct, and approved his candor. The reply of Judge Hall was : Of all men a lawyer should be a reli gious man. He especially needs the guidance and power of religion — not because lawyers are more apt than any other profession, not except ing the apparently most safe, to swerve from rectitude, (for this is not so : if the temptations are strong, so are the motives to pure, unbend ing integrity,) but because no one can better manifest the graces of re ligion, nor fulfil its duties. When we have completed a college course, and pursued our law studies for the regular period, and especially if in both we have been diligent, we are confidently sent out as prepared to enter upon a business life. But the most important element of preparation is wanting — acquaintance with God, knowledge of His government and laws, discovery of the source of all moral principle, of all hope to ani mate and establish purpose, of all energy against discouragement, of the motives of all rational life, and familiarity with exercises to keep these attainments fresh, vigorous, and growing, as the germains of all useful ness and enjoyment. It is admitted that religion is associated, in many minds, with imbe cile cant, boastful self righteousness, gloomy or debasing superstition, blind, distempered zeal. But these are abuses of religion. Nothing so expands, elevates, and strengthens intellect, as religious observance, under the prayerful study of the Bible, to enlighten and invigorate con science, and direct practically the life ; and nothing can be so exalting and enriching as tracing the hand of the Mighty Maker and Director in common things or occurrences, the hidden, but abounding and wonder ful recesses of nature, or the higher wonders of the celestial world, under the conviction, all these hath God wrought, in infinite wisdom and good ness, for infinitely wise and good ends. And I am occupying my place through His wisdom and goodness, working out His designs, and exist ing, therefore, for their high and glorious consummation. It is with continually fresh and increasing admiration the well-read lawyer quotes Lord Mansfield's declaration — " The substantial rules of pleading are founded in strong sense and the soundest, closest logic; and so they appear when well understood and explained." For he has ex perienced the truth in mental discipline and legal attainment. The pious lawyer, in the study of God's word and works, hearing His voice and seeing His hand, experiences higher discipline and attainment, finds stronger sense and sounder logic, abundantly "manifest when well understood and explained." The mind becomes conscious of inherent living power before unknown, and that power is constantly drawn out to profitable effect. tWfc'SS*^ — . ^z_ "i * /*:^^^ *j'. Eit^^'h J K/'.p ¦••--'¦ 7''/)iimcSi .V Y '^-Z^ Ji,l.,^^:W-!l/.yr.,,,/:n:,iA.;-l.;,.:, ,.r hm.n, r.l ^¦l,,.,;;c.„ DANIEL A. WILSON, OP VIRGINIA. 429 HON. DANIEL A. WILSON, OP VIRGINIA. Daniel Allen Wilson was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, the 21st day of May, 1790. His ancestors were among the early set tlers of the state. His father, Richard Wilson, of James City, served in the Revolutionary War as an officer of the Virginia militia, and was engaged in the battle of Guilford and the siege of Yorktown, which ter minated that ever-memorable struggle. His mother, Priscilla, was the daughter of Daniel Allen, of Cumberland. At an early age he entered Hampden Sydney College, at which celebrated seat of learning he ac quired a high reputation for scholarship and honorable deportment. The manly and generous qualities that exhibited themselves in his inter course with his fellows ; the kindliness, sincerity, and independence of spirit that formed his social character, won for him, to an unusual de gree, the esteem of those with whom he was associated ; while the faith ful performance of his scholastic duties, and the facility with which he mastered his studies, attracted the regard of his teachers, and excited hopes of future distinction, not disappointed in the sequel of his life. After his academic studies were completed, he entered the law-office of William Daniel, subsequently one of the most eminent judges of the General Court of Virginia, under whose direction he prosecuted the study of the law. In 1810 he was admitted to the bar, and entered at once upon a lucrative practice. As a lawyer, he gained most reputa tion as an advocate ; and was particularly distinguished for his success before juries in criminal cases. In all the duties of the practitioner — multiform, delicate, and trying as they are — his integrity was above reproach ; and his fairness, ability, and skill, commanded the confidence and admiration alike of his professional brethren and of the public. He was esteemed by all as a conscientious counselor, an eloquent advocate, and a learned and discriminating jurist. During the war of 1812 he performed two tours of service, as lieu tenant of a volunteer troop of cavalry, from his native county ; and though the fortunes of war did not bring him into the presence of the enemy, the promptness with which the company rallied to the defence of the country, and the high degree of discipline and soldiery excellence attained by the Cumberland calvary, made it one of the most noted corps in the service. In 1814, having resumed the practice of his profession at Cumberland courthouse, he was united in marriage with Ann Rebecca, daughter of John Macon, of Powhatan. He continued the practice of the law with unvaried success and distinction until the year 1824, when, yielding to the solicitations of others, and lured, it may be, by political aspirations, he became a candidate for, and was elected to a seat in the General Assembly. From that period untQ 1828, when he declined being a candidate for re-election, he continued to represent his county in the House of Delegates without opposition. During the term of his ser vice in this capacity, and afterwards, he was on terms of intimacy with 430 sketches of EMINENT AMERICANS. Tazewell, Randolph, Giles, and other statesmen of Virginia of world wide renown. This era of the legislative history of Virginia was mark ed rather by an unusual amount of talent than by political excitement or agitation. The subject of this sketch was one of the leaders of that division claiming to adhere most rigidly to a strict construction of the Federal Constitution. He was chiefly instrumental in the election of Tazewell to the Senate of the United States ; and in the contest of 1826, between Randolph and Tyler for a seat in the same body, he exerted himself warmly in favor of the former. During the cessation of party strife that succeeded the election of Jefferson, and characterized the administrations of Madison and Mon roe, and the early part of Adams', the legislature of Virginia was main ly engaged in the consideration of questions of state policy. Wherever questions of a party character arose, and especially such as involved the rights of the states, Mr. Wilson was always found co-operating with those who demanded that the action of the federal government should be restricted to powers clearly granted by the constitution. He was a firm supporter of the doctrines of that school founded by Jefferson and Madison, and of the principles set forth in the celebrated resolutions of 1798-99. But during the political calm to which reference has been made, no question, of other than minor interest, involving federal poli tics, arose. Among other subjects of state policy, a reformation in the judiciary system came under consideration. In imitation of the English practice, and without regard to the sparseness of the population, the common law and chancery jurisdiction were divided, and vested in separate tribunals. The common law jurisdiction was vested in Cir cuit Courts, held by judges in each county of the state — while the chancery jurisdiction was vested in Courts of Chancery, held by chan cellors for large districts — the whole state being divided into only five. This arrangement occasioned very great inconvenience to suitors, and sometimes led to a denial of justice. Not unfrequently the Courts of Law and those of Chancery differed as to their respective jurisdictions, and in some cases there was no mode of determining which was the rightful tribunal. But the chief inconvenience resulted from the size of the districts. Suitors were required to travel great distances, and re main at great expense, awaiting the tedious action of lawyers and the court, and the dilatory movements of parties, whose interest it frequent ly was to retard the decree of the chancellor. This attendance upon the courts was the more arduous from the want, at that time, of all facilities for travel, except the ordinary roads and conveyances. Experience of the evils of such a system prompted Mr. Wilson to undertake its reformation, and accordingly he moved a resolution of inquiry into the matter ; and shortly afterwards, as chairman of the committee appointed for the purpose, reported a bill, blending the com mon law and chancery jurisdictions, and conferring it jointly on tbe Circuit Superior Courts of each county in the state. The bill, through his influence, passed the House of Delegates, but was lost in the Senate. The scheme was, however, so favorably received by the people, that it was adopted a few sessions later, and yet remains almost the only fea ture of the judicial system that has not sfnce undergone a change. Its DANIEL A. WILSON, OF VIRGINIA. , 431 adaptation to the circumstances and wants of the people of Virginia has been tested and approved by the experience of twenty years. In 1829 Mr. Wilson was elected by the General Assembly one of the eight members of the Council of State. In 1830, the Council hav ing been reduced by the amended Constitution, from eight to three, he was again chosen one of the three. The office of Councilor was, at this period, one of great responsibility and corresponding honor. By the organic law of the state, the Governor was directed, before he exercised any discretionary power conferred on him by the Constitution or laws, to require the written advice of the members of the Council. In the absence, or at the death or resignation of the Governor, the eldest Councilor acted as Governor of the state. The era of which we are speaking, is one of the most brilliant in the history of Virginia. Then Giles, Floyd and Tazewell stood at the helm of state. Randolph, of Roanoke, was* in the zenith of his unequaled powers, and, with all his mental idiosyncracies, was the steadfast advocate of state rights. Taze well was the most accomplished and astute statesman and jurist of the age. Giles was possessed of a most vigorous and searching intellect, and was an ardent co-laborer with the others in support of the Virginia construction of the Federal Constitution. Peter V. Daniel, who now adorns the bench of the Federal Judiciary, was then prominent and in fluential in controlling the policy of the state, and moulding the political sentiments of its people. These were the associates and friends of Mr. Wilson. With these kindred spirits, he assisted in directing the desti nies of the " Old Dominion" for a series of years, more glorious than any since the days of the Revolution. In 1840 Mr. Wilson, having again become a private citizen, was elected by the General Assembly one of the Judges of the General Court of Virginia. The office was conferred at the solicitation of many members of the legal profession in the circuit, with whom he had been long and intimately associated in the practice, and who possessed the amplest means of knowing his moral and mental qualifications for the high trust. Its acceptance imposed no ordinary amount of duty and responsibility. The docket, with perhaps a single exception, was the largest in the state ; and many of the cases involved interests of vast and extended moment. In the town of Lynchburg, and the county of Buckingham particularly — the one the most active and enterprising place of business for its number of inhabitants in the state, the other a large and populous county, in which unfortunate speculations had en tailed a class of suits extraordinary in number and character — the diffi culties of the post were most embarrassing. In Lynchburg, a heavy bank defalcation had involved the citizens and money institutions in prosecutions and litigation, that brought up the most intricate principles of criminal law, and the m.ost delicate questions of commercial relation. In the discharge of these trying duties, the Judge's fixed and unwearying purpose seemed to be, to arrive at the truth, and to administer the law. He displayed throughout the tedious process of the various trials, (what are indeed the striking characteristics of his judicial bearing,) patience, courtesy, dignity, and veneration for the laws, as they are written. In no other department of civil government do such important occa sions so frequently occur for the exercise of the rare and exalted endow- 432 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. ments of moral and mental excellence, firmness, decision and foresight, as the judiciary. The timely and efficient execution of the laws — the protection and preservation of the public and private rights of the citi zen — the dispensation of impartial justice between excited parties — and the maintenance of the quiet dignity — the calm, temperate and com placent manner — that will inspire confidence, respect and obedience — are some of the varied and momentous obligations which devolve on those to whom its administration is intrusted. The character of the iudge must, therefore, possess a well adjusted combination of the purest and noblest mental and moral elements. Unmoved by the impulses and frailties that seem the inseparable concomitants of humanity, he has daily to observe and to analyze their practical operations and effects in others ; impassive and emotionless — the chosen incarnation of the law — he delivers, expounds and administers its will and its judgment ; and, with truthful conceptions of the peculiar and complicated linea ments of each case of litigation, he is prompt, when the palliation of circumstances dictates the course, to relax the rigor of the law, and to give full and free expression to the mild, just and humane spirit from which it emanates, and for whose vindication and protection it ought alone to be enforced. Under the happy influences of our popular institutions, it may be said with striking propriety, that the usefulness and efficiency of the tribu nals of the country are secured and enhanced in proportion to the con- fidence and respect with which they inspire the members of the com munity. The cheerful obedience, which the good citizen acknowledges to be an indispensable duty he owes to the tribunals of the law, will become a sullen submission so soon as the dispenser of the law fails to display prominently, in the discharge of judicial duties, the essential attributes of the good and upright judge. No American can resist the temptation to indulge an excusable impulse of national pride, while re flecting upon, the widely different circumstances which, in this respect, attend the administration of the laws of theUnited States and of England. The judicial systems of the two countries, though springing from the same venerable source, and founded on the same great, unchanging principle, bring into requisition the appliances of their peculiar and con genial agencies in order to inspire respect and to secure obedience. In England the law is administered by officers, who, elevated high above the people, alike ignorant of the social and moral composition and the interests of those whose private and public rights they adjudicate and determine, seek to make themselves respected only by the display of official insignia, and to awe men into unworthy obsequiousness by their imperious manner ; they are sustained in authority and their decrees enforced by the constraining presence and vigilance of a powerful con stabulary. Here the judge, selected from the body of the people, has the honorable distinction conferred upon him exclusively in con sideration of the possession of the high qualifications requisite to the station ; he will retain the manner to which a freeman may consistent ly and honorably yield a cheerful and ready obedience, and will endear himself and the tribunal over which he presides to the hearts of the people by the continual display of his ardent love of justice, his impar tiality, firmness, independence, unvacillating judgment, and kind, cour DANIEL A. WILSON, OF VIRGINIA. 433 teous and dignified bearing. The strength, efficiency and moral influ ence of a tribunal thus organized — appealing directly to the republican loyalty and devotion of the people — are inconceivable. It exerts a widely diffused, ennobling influence which elevates the sentiments of all to the standard of its own excellence. Parties freely submit their dearest rights to its arbitrament, confident that justice will be consult ed and its unerring judgment rendered. The court becomes truly the temple of justice — the shrine of purity and of truth — and every citizen that crosses its consecrated threshold bows instinctively to the irresist ible emotions of respect, obedience and veneration, which a sense of the presence of the embodiment of virtue, justice and exalted worth in spires in the manly heart. Judge Wilson discharges the onerous duties and responsibilities of his office with an industry and ability which few of his distinguished compeers have attained. He is ardent and untiring in devotion to business — of inflexible sternness and independence — of sound, discrimi nating and far-reaching judgment and sagacity — thoroughly imbued with the passion of the great masters of the profession — and familiar with all the useful and ornamental attainments of the accomplished jurist. He presents,' in a remarkable degree, the rare combination of all the essen tial qualifications for the position which he fills with so great honor to himself, and so much of usefulness and benefit to his native state. Judge Wilson forcibly illustrates, in his official bearing, the happy tendency of that conservative republicanism which pervades alike all the institutions of the country. Plain and unostentatious, his judicial manner harmonizes with the impressive simplicity of his characte . Generous, frank and cordial, no man approaches him insensible of the genial inspirations of his presence. His temper is, at all times, even under circumstances of the most annoying and provoking nature, in perfect subjection to his will. Cool and dispassionate, he allays, by the silent influence of his example, the angry feelings and fierce passions which are so often momentarily engendered in the transaction of legal business ; and the rude and wicked spirit that defies the physical appli ances of the law's power, stands reproved, abashed, silent and respect ful in the serene and dignified presence of the virtuous judge. He is the type of the republican judge. The universal love, admiration and esteem in which he is held by the people of the circuit where he presides, evince their high appreciation of the public and private worth and excellence of his character, and is per haps the most congenial, as it deserves to be the most enduring monu ment of his matchless virtues. Notwithstanding the constant pressure of judicial duties. Judge Wil son has not been insensible to the patriotic impulses of a true son of the " Old Dominion." He has been the sterling advocate of a liberal internal improvement policy. He felt that the vast commercial, manu facturing and productive resources of Virginia were to be explored and developed, before she could hope to attain the pre-eminent place that nature seemed to have designed her to occupy ; and this result could be accomplished alone by the prosecution of an extensive and judicious " system of internal improvement, that would, in time, unlock her moun tain fastnesses and expose their hidden treasures — afford the varied pro- 28 4 Si SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. duotions of her fertile soil quick and cheap access to market — and reach out arms of iron to embrace the trade and travel of the populous cities and growing states of the rich and teeming valley of the Mississippi. Judge Wilson became the early friend of this policy, and has continued one of its staunchest and ablest advocates. When that link in the chain of the great southwestern improvement — the Virginia and Ten nessee Rail-road — received its charter from the legislature of the state, in the newspapers and on the hustings he exerted all the energies of his vigorous mind and the fervor of his eloquence in its behalf His heart glowed with a new life in anticipation of the re generation of the old commonwealth. ' He looked to this mighty im provement as an essential element in the consummation of this result ; and he felt a commensurate interest in its success. With the wise men of the state he foresaw that the connection of the capes of Virginia with the California seaboard, by a continuous railway, penetrating the heart of the richest mineral and agricultural regions of the state, and drain ing the broad valley of the Mississippi, would speedily secure to Vir ginia an increase of population, energy, wealth and prosperity of which even an approximate estimation would startle and astound the mind, , The cycle of a few years will prove that his labors in this behalf have not been the least valuable of the services he has rendered to his native state, the memory of which will endear his name to her people, and ex cite their profound and lasting gratitude* HOB', AVlliFlUlEB 'WlflllBmir.lBlK, . V.S.ATTOKKEY FOttTim SOUfOEim DISTBICT OF CALITORSIA. i:ruj ^foT 3io.-jra^hioa.1 Shtitches of Smi^fUyAjruu-iazrv lau/ye. ALFRED WHEELER, OF CALIFORNIA. 435 HON. ALFRED WHEELER, of california. San Francisco, California, April, 1852. *********** The statesmanship of a Webster, and the eloquence of a Clay ; the learning and wisdom of a Marshall, a Story, or a Kent — these would make pages of life for the philosopher to admire, and the student to emulate. Their greatness has been accomplished, and their histories have become immortal ; but men, who have as yet but begun to do, might prove weak guides and uninteresting examples to those who aim at greatness and have the genius to achieve it. Such as my life has been, I have concluded to send it to you ; and, as no one so well as ourselves can know the motives that guide us in our career, or which instigate the prominent incidents of our own histories, I have thought it better, for the sake of truth and frankness, to write it myself than to trust the task to a friend, whose prejudice might dimin ish the faults and magnify the virtues. Should it seem to you, as it does to me, tame and uninteresting, consign it to the flames, and make light of it. I was born in New-York city, on the 30th day of April, 1822. My father was, at that time, and for many years afterwards, a merchant of considerable business in New- York, and a descendant of one of the pil grims of Plymouth Rock memory, and an officer in the war of 1812. My mother was the grand-daughter of John Suffern, Esq., of Rockland county. New- York, for many years first judga of that county. I have never traced out a pedigree of great and heroic ancestors, and I believe that the only nobility to which they could aspire was that of worth and honesty, and to have served their country during the days of '76. My parents had inarried for love — I was the eldest son, and, as they have told me, the one of whom they had much hope. I would probably have been, like most of eldest sons, a spoiled child, were it not that, fearing the unwholesome air of a city life might cut short my career and their hopes, they sent me down east, as soon as I could leave a nurse's charge, to receive the foundation of an education, and breathe the invigorating air of a country life. It is with the town of Greenwich, State of Connecticut, that my ear liest associations and recollections are blended. The old school-house, where I first learned Latin from my teacher, and love from a little blue-eyed sweetheart ; the old church with a tall, straight spire, that seemed to me to scrape the sky ; the old hill, called " Putnam's Hill," and down which General Putnam rode at full gallop, when the British soldiers chased him, and where I used to look, with boyish wonder, for some stray footprint of his horse's hoof; and the old house on top of the hill which stood there when he ran down, and which, they said, was a hundred years old, and in which I lived, while there at school, every 436 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. summer for six or seven years. These are the chief recollections of my boyhood, until 1 was brought home to New-York to prepare for college and for manhood. The earliest ambitions which I cherished -were to be twenty-one years of age and a lawyer. The first, to my boyish mind, constituted a man, the second, a great man. My father aimed at giving me as good an education as money and care could bestow, and, being of strict religious principles and belief, hoped to direct my inclination to the church ; but the purpose and hope never found favor nor consent with me, as I did not feel fitted for the station, either in my heart or my head. I loved gayety and mirth, and was ambitious. At sixteen, I entered the freshman class of the New- York University. The books which I loved the most were rhetoric, oratory and the poets. I had a remarkable memory, and had exercised it from childhood. I could readily commit to memory whole pages, and could retain the re collection as easily. I was quick of apprehension, and could, with half the study that many would require, accomplish the same task. Fun was ray delight. I omitted no opportunity to let off sallies of -wit to my professors, when it could be done with respect to them, and to excite the mirthfulness of the class. Being naturally ready with the pencil, I caricatured everything. The black-boards were filled with my illustra tions, and the walls about the building had my pencil-mark upon them. I read volumes of poetry and scribbled pages of rhyme, and every text book which I used had on every fly-leaf doggerel rhyme and improvise sketches. There was no portion of college routine in which I took so much interest as I did in that of oratory. On every Saturday represen tatives from each class appeared in the chapel, before the faculty aud students, to exercise and exhibit their oratorical powers. To this reci tation I always looked forward with pleasure. The histories of the Greek and Roman orators, and no less those of modern times, were to me a delightful study. I read and committed to memory -their best orations, and daily recited them to myself in my own room. I studied elocution, to the neglect of Greek and Latin, and thought that to be an orator was to be the greatest of men, I had not been long in the University before a great change took place in the pecuniary circumstances of my father. The reverses and convulsions of '36 swept from him a moderate fortune, which he had acquired by his own industry and talent, and he was compelled to aban don a style of city life which had been elegant and independent, for one of strict economy in the country. Till this time he had lived in New- York city, but having a large family to educate and rear, he removed to a small village upon the Hudson, where my mother had a farm which she had inherited from her father. I had thus far lived at home. Now, if I remained at the University my expenses would be increased, and situated as my father was, he felt compelled to tell me that he could not afford to keep me at college. He proposed to me to go to the country with the rest of the family, and pursue the study of law in a coun try lawyer's office there and board at home, or to enter a lawyer's office in New- York city as a clerk, and thus earn sufficient to pay my own expenses. This was at first a great blow to me and a damper to my hopes ; but I revolved the matter in my mind and came to the conolu- ALFRED WHEELER, OF CALIFORNIA. 437 sion to adopt neither of his suggestions, but to remain at college, sup port myself as I best could, and, if necessary, rough it out. I had never earned a dollar in my life and did not know how to go about it, but 1 had the determination to persevere and the hope to succeed, and trusted to my ingenuity for assistance. I told my mother of my resolve, and she, with a mother's anxiety and affection, asked me what I should do for a livelihood, to which I replied, that others had found opportunities to make a living and I did not know why I could not ; that I had some leisure hours which I could devote to labor of some kind, and that, at least, I was determined to try. She begged me to go with the family to the country, but I said no, and asked her to leave me such furniture as would be necessary to make a room in college comfortable, and to prepare for me a small stock of provisions-, sufficient to supply me for a week or two, as I would not go to board until 1 had business that would enable me to pay my expenses, and meanwhile, would keep bachelor's hall. She accordingly stored a large two-bushel basket with all the good things that a mother would think of — a few cold roast chickens, a boiled ham, some pies, bread, butter, cheese, and not for getting such delicacies as cake and sweetmeats — and with this hamper of things for the inner man and furniture for my room, a good stock of clothing and five dollars in my pocket, I parted with my family as they sailed away, and I started on my own career. I hired a room in the University building, paid one dollar out of my five for cartage of my goods and chattels to it, and having taken posses sion, swept it out and arrayed my furniture, I spread a table and took a solitary meal. It was rather lonesome and depressing to my spirits at first, but I felt the pride of determination and independence, and 1 thought of the future. My little stock of stores lasted me nearly a month, and I began to fear that when they had gone I should be in a predicament — with but four dollars in my pocket, and too honest to in cur a debt without the means of paying, too spirited to borrow, and too proud to tell a solitary friend of my situation. One day, as I sat before my fire, (it was only at meal-time that I in dulged in the extravagance of a fire,) toasting a slice of ham upon a fork preparatory to my afternoon meal, a rap at the door started me from a reverie into which I had fallen while gazing upon the glowing coal and enjoying in anticipation the relish that appetite gives to food, I hastily hid within the pantry the evidence of my occupation, and taking a book in my hand, with the look of one absorbed in study, opened the door. My visitor was an early college friend and companion, who had often visited me at my father's house in town, and had eaten peaches and other delightful fruit from our beautiful garden, and knew nothing of the change that had happened to me. " Wheeler," said he, as he en tered, " what an intolerable smell of cooking there is of late about this building. I fancy our janitor must have brought his kitchen into the college." " I have noticed it," said I in reply. " Perhaps some one of our professors is about to give us a lecture with practical illustrations in the art of cuisine. I am sure I should take great interest in it." He remained but a tew moments and left without discovering the secret that I would not have had him know for a thousand dollars. As the provisions grew less, so I made my appetite conform, but at 438 -SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. last they were all gone, and the few dollars I had were resorted to. After dark I used to take a little basket in my hand and go to the near est grocery and purchase a loaf of bread, some slices of bacon or dried beef, a few crackers with some cheese, and with this simple fare keep body and soul together, feeding upon hope to make up what I lacked in provisions. During this little period of darkness, I lived for one week upon less than fifty cents, indulging in no luxury other than bread for that period, and eating this with a relish that I had never enjoyed be fore. The secret of my life was my own. I told it to no one ; and my replies to my mother's fond inquiries of how I was getting along, were, that I was accomplishing my purpose. I daily read all through the ad vertisements in the papers in search of some want which my capacity could fill during such hours of the day as I was not occupied at the uni versity. I found none to my purpose; but just as my scanty purse was empty, I was so fortunate as to get employment with the pencil, for the afternoon hours, in the office of an architect in town, who had been an old acquaintance of my father, and who, during my father's prosperity, had received his patronage. My pay was small, but so were my wants, and I was content to get just enough compensation to support me with economy. I remained in his employ until I graduated ; each day after the recitations were through, plodding my way to his office, and passing the time till dark in architectural drawing. Situated as I was, I could not and did not take any of the honors of our class when we graduated. Oftentimes, on the commencement of a new text-book, I was for weeks without a book for want of means to buy it, and my only time and opportunity for study was an hour before recitation in the morning, when the library was open. But I had a satisfaction which no one could take from me. I was battling out my purpose and succeeded ; and when I took my degree, no one knew how hard I had worked and how much I had suffered to earn it. After graduating I found an opportunity, by teaching a class in Latin and mathematics and drawing, in a select school, to earn better compen sation than before ; and in this manner supporting myself, while I pur sued my legal studies in the office of an eminent practitioner in New- York city, until, at the May term of 1845, 1 was admitted to the Supreme Court of the state. I threw myself at once upon my profession, abandoning all other labors, although, during the last year of my law studies, I had earned six hundred dollars by teaching, and could not expect to do so well at once in my profession. But I had gained the lever with which I was to work in future, and I determined to use it at once. The first year's labor brought me four hundred dollars ; the next seven hundred and fifty ; the next twelve hundred, and the next two thousand. This brought me to the May of 1849. During my law studies, and during these four years of my practice in New- York city, I had entered somewhat into political life. I had always, from my first investigation of the political questions at issue in the country, chosen the whig school as the faith of my adoption, and I felt, when I had made my first politi cal speech, which was for " Tippecanoe and Tyler too," as though I had taken the first step on the ladder of fame, and might ascend. The excitement that pervaded every part of the country on the dis ALFRED WHEELER, OP CALIFORNIA. 439 covery of gold in California did not at first interest my mind nor direct my aspirations tpwards this region. I was making money and friends. I was happy, and surrounded with congenial objects. Those too whom I loved were there, and the thought of severing all these ties at first never entered my mind. But as the tide of emigration swelled onward from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific, and as friend after friend, taking his departure for this El Dorado, came to bid me good-by, I be gan to look at the subject with more careful calculation. I saw in the future a great state that should rival, during the present generation, her most prosperous sister states. I saw that the silent solitude of the Pacific Ocean was to be at last broken by the genius of American enterprise, and that its commer cial wealth was to pour through this golden gate a tide of treasure as precious as the gold that was tempting half the country to emigra tion. I saw that there was a future for California that no man could picture, and that to grow with her growing and to be prosperous with her prosperity, to become identified with her interests, and to be a part of herself, was worthy of my ambition. I saw around me at home men of genius and ambition who had toiled for years struggling against ill-fortune, and who, though worthy, had yet come no nearer to wealth or renown. The field at home was wide and splendid, but the aspirants and con testants for position were many, and the race for fame and pre-eminence was to be against those skilful and experienced, and there was but little chance for advancement save by the slow and steady perseverance of years of toil. I had already begun to acquire some little fame. I had scribbled rhyme and prose for the journals of the day, and was known somewhat as a poet and a man of literary taste, but Parnassus was not the hill to which I aspired. I had, too, for sundry political speeches, been puff ed in the newspapers, and on several occasions had received the praise of professional brethren, and the congratulations of clients for efforts at the bar. I was making money besides, but I was restless at the tardi ness with which fame and wealth were to be won, and so I resolved, in the face of expostulations and warnings of friends, to emigrate to California. Packing up a select law library of about a hundred volumes, I took passage, and on the 19th of May, 1849, sailed, via Cape Horn. I landed at San Francisco on the ISth day of November following, the day of the adoption of the constitution of the new state, and had the gratification of depositing my vote in its favor as the first act of my citi zenship here. Having taken breath, after a long and tedious sea, voyage, I looked about to familiarize myself with the anomalous condition of affairs. Business was done without care and without system, and money flowed about from hand to hand as though it had no value. " Qo it blind" was the maxim that ruled. Buy to-day and sell to-morrow — anything, no matter what; real estate or merchandise — everything was in demand. Gold-dust was the currency, and everybody had his pocket full. I was amazed, and so was each new-comer. The condition of af fairs was indescribable. One fact was apparent — industry was here the mother of wealth; and as to fame, nobody thojbght of it. It was an empty bubble which, though you might buy, you could not sell, and was not worth keeping. 440 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. As to the c&urts, there were two, one called the Court of First Instance, and the other the Alcalde's— names preserved from the former dis pensation under Mexican rule. These ran a sort of opposition business, each claiming to be superior to, and independent of the other. About a dozen lawyers, all young men, and most of them shrewd and mtelli- gent, practised before the courts. Every system of practice prevailed, and every kind of jurisprudence known to the common or the civil law, and much which would have been found in neither, was in force ; and the great and ruling doctrine seemed to be that the plaintiff must be en titled to his case, or he would not have brought suit. The pay of the judges was in the shape of fees ; and on the rostrum of the judge, where the scales of justice should have been, the scales for gold-dust were in sight. Of course, business was dispatched with alacrity. Summing up a, case to the jury was not to be permitted except in extraordinary circum stances. The jury having heard the evidence, were presumed to know just as much about the case as the counsel, and were not permitted to be mystified by any legal sophistry ; besides, the docket was grovmg in length houriy. Counsel fees were of that extraordinary amount which would have been horrible to clients anywhere else. Forty-eight pounds of gold-dust an acquaintance told me he paid "to one lawyer for only a few days' services in a single matter. But all these things have been now a hundred times repeated, and are familiar matters of history. I looked at my purse, and found that my outfit and expenses had re duced it to about five hundred dollars. An office, not much larger than a good-sized packing-box, demanded two hundred and fifty dollars a month rent in advance. Board was for forty dollars a week, and furni ture higher than anything else. I looked about for a partner in busi ness and in expenses, not daring to venture on such a sea of outlay alone. I found one who, like myself, had just arrived, with a small library and a small purse, and who had, like myself, large hopes and great deter minations. We agreed to try the field together. We hired an office, bought a couple of chairs, (more were unnecessary, as clients had no time to' sit down,) and, finding that a common table would cost from fifty to a hundred dollars, we bought a pine board for fifteen dollars, and, with hammer and saw and our own ingenuity, made a table for our selves. The next day our shingles, with golden letters, brought all the way from home, where they had not done us a great deal of service, were most invitingly and conspicuously nailed upon the outside of the building. A week passed away, and we had made a thousand dollars. Wje felt that our star had begun to shine, and that we might breathe freely when looking at the future. Party politics at this time were at a low ebb, though the democratic party had got the start, and had filled all the offices that were to be filled with men from their own ranks. Those of us who felt an interest in the whig party saw that, to guard the future, we must look out for the present. We met, and organized a whig committee as a nucleus for the gathering of whig forces in time of need. After I had been here six weeks making money and acquain tances, a vacancy occurred in the house of assembly of the state legisla ture. An election, to fill the vacancy, was called, and the prominent whigs of the city proposed that I should accept the nomination of the ALFRED WHEELER, OP CALIFORNIA. 441 party. It is no vanity to say that I reluctantly consented. 1 was mak ing too much money to go to the legislature for sixteen dollars a day. However, it was agreed upon, and my name was put in the field as the whig candidate, and Mr. O'Grady as the democratic. His name de feated him, and I was, as they said, triumphantly elected. I took my seat, and became an active and I hope useful member. After the adjournment I returned to my professional duties, and was soon after appointed, by the council of the city of San Francisco, com missioner to investigate the tenure by which real estate within the city was held, and the title of the city to land within its limits. I was en gaged for some months on this matter, and took great pains to make a report which should become, as it has, a standard-book of reference with every real-estate lawyer in the city. For these services the city paid me ten thousand dollars, though, considering the labor performed, and the prices of professional labor, they were in reality worth more. Fortune favored me with prosperity and her most substantial favors. On the 22d of August last, I had the honor to be appointed, by his Ex cellency Millard Fillmore, United States Attorney for the Southern District of California. The death of James M. Jones, United States Judge for the same district, and the non-appointment of any new incum bent, has prevented the organization of that court, and I have not been able, therefore, to enter upon my official duties. I hope, however, soon to do so, and shall, in my career there, aim to tread that path which my early hopes pictured, and to wnich all my aspirations in life have been directed. You will see that in this brief biography there is no brilliant achieve ment that can call forth admiration — there is no remarkable career that might not have happened to every reader. I claim no genius that is not common to all men. I started in life with a purpose, and the determi nation to achieve it. If I have been blessed with fortune's substantial tokens and some worldly honors, perseverence and industry are the only talismanic charms that I have used. I am, very respectfully, yours, Alfred Wheeler. HOW, DAWIEIL, iS , rRIIWTU.r.,. DANIEL S. PRINTUP, OP GEORGIA. 443 COLONEL DANIEL S. PRINTUP, OF ROME, GEORGIA, Was born January 22d, 1823, in Montgomery county. New- York. His father was of English descent ; his mother's parents emigrated from Holland. Colonel Printup's early education was very limited, but, like many men who have risen'to eminence in the legal profession in this country, this defect in his education only served to call forth the energies of his mind. A common school in his native county furnished him with the elements of an education, and at the early age o^ fourteen he left the paternal roof, and, with a sorrowful heart, turned his face to the cold, calculating world. For the space of two years he engaged in various pursuits, which not only afforded him a subsistence, but en abled him to devote three months of his time to study, which short period was spent at a select school in the village of Fultonville, New- York. Much benefited by the knowledge he obtained, gladly would he have prolonged his stay, but the want of means prevented him at this time. He left this school with the intention 'of going to New- York, which he soon reached, and soon procured a situation as clerk in a mercantile house. Not relishing this sort of life, he determined to relinquish it; and, accordingly, in the month of September, 1839, he sailed for the " sunny south," and arrived in Georgia. Here, contrary to his inclination, he was induced to accept of a situation similar to that he had so lately and so heartily relinquished, yet still looking forward to a brighter day, when he might be enabled to complete his education. While here, he saved his salary with such scrupulous care that, at the end of two years, he had a sufficient sum to warrant him in pursuing his studies. Accordingly, February, 1842, he entered an academy in Paulding county, Georgia. The principal of this institution was a sound scholar and excellent teacher. He soon perceived that his pupil was a youth of more than ordinary capacity, with an ardent thirst for know ledge, consequently he afforded him every facility in his power. The student applied all his energies, and with such unparalleled success, that in the short pCriod of nine months he was, in the opinion of his pre ceptor, sufficiently prepared for admission to college. The legal pro fession he had always liked, and at this time made up his mind to qualify himself for the bar, if possible, his limited means appearing the only barrier; he however received such assurances of assistance from his brother, Joseph J. Printup, as to induce him to make the necessary arrangements for entering college. This he accomplished ; and in the month of April, 1843, entered in advance Union College, Schenectady, New- York, furnished by his excellent teacher, Benjamin T. Mosley, Esq., with a letter of recommendation to the president of that institu tion — a part of which letter we here transcribe. Mr. Mosley says : " I take pleasure in recommending to your friendly regards a young gentleman, who possesses talents of a high order, to the cultivation of which (though neglected in early youth) he is most ardently devoted. He comes to seek from your institution that preparation which -will best qualify him for the profession of law." During his collegiate 444 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. course he sedulously husbanded every hour, (after preparing his recitations and attending his classes,) and devoted himself to his legal studies. His college-life was emphatically one of labor, but the youth was now the man, and throughout the three years of college-course he ranked among the first in his class. An incident occurred at the commencement of the second term of the " senior year," which serves to show the position he occupied in the esteem of his class-mates. This was his election to the office of class-marshal by his fellow-students, notwithstanding he was opposed by a young gentleman, the son of one of the first men in the United States. Subsequently he was also elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and we would state that this honor is only confer red on persons of the highest standing for scholarship. Having gradu ated in 1846, he returned to Georgia, and was admitted to the bar of that state in April of the following year ; his practice soon became respectable, and at the present time it is quite lucrative. Connected with his legal practice, he has held for years the office of agent for the principal bank of the State of South Carolina. His present residence is Rome, Georgia. Col. Printup in stature is at least six feet, and of rather slender form for one so high ; his appearance is that of a great student ; he is thought ful and grave, but very pleasant in conversation. We predict for him, if he lives, a bright career and an unenviable fame ; and as a lawyer and high-toned gentleman, he richly deserves it. ^^y/nt^^ ANDREW M. JANUARY, OF KENTUCKY. 445 HON. ANDREW M. JANUARY, PRESIDENT OF THE MAYSVILLE BRANCH OP THE BANK OP KENTUCKY. _ The department of biography is crowded with the lives of men dis tinguished in war, politics, science, literature and the professions. All the embellishments of rhetoric and the imagination have been essayed to captivate, stimulate and direct into these " upper walks of life," as they are entitled, the youthful mind and ambition of the country. Not content to make the academies and higher educational institutions hot beds and nurseries to germinate and train aspirations for fame, military and civic, the most brilliant achievements in the field, the forum, the hall, and at the bar, of the great men of the past and present, have been ex hibited in colors warm and glowing, to charm and inspire. Example has been added to precept ; the teachings of the lecture-room have been enforced by illustrations from real life, and the chaplet of glory and re nown has been held up as the great and only prize. The result of this system is manifest, and by no means fortunate. The ranks of the professions are filled and overflowing. Pettifoggers, quacks, pedants, demagogues and militia officers are manufactured by wholesale. Thousands of young men of respectable abilities, entirely capable of achieving competence and character in the useful and more unpretending employments, are annually allured into professions for which they are entirely unsuited, and in which they can never succeed. Disappointment and idleness, or charlatanry and vice, are unfortunately the too frequent results, instead of thrift, independence and respectabili ty flowing from wiser counsels. To instill into the minds and hearts of the young respect for great attainments, reverence for great virtues, and to excite the generous emulation, by holding up, as examples for admiration and imitation, the lives of the wise, and great, and good, is commendable and right. But the field of example should be extended, and lessons on industry, ener gy, usefulness, virtue, honor, the true aims of life and the true sources of happiness, should be gathered and enforced from all the various pro vinces of human labor however humble. Our country is eminently in need of increased intelligence in commerce, agriculture and mechanism. Those great divisions of labor should be rendered not only lucrative and respectable, as they are but honorable and attractive to the young in all classes of society. The lives of eminent merchants, farmers, manufacturers, mechanics — of all who by honest labor have achieved distinguished success in the different occupations, should be written and commended to the young men of the republic. The path of labor and usefulness should be indicated as the highway to honor. In this view we have selected the subject of this sketch; a man of humble but honest parentage, born at the pioneer period in the history of Kentucky, reared in the forests, with a slight elementary education, and no accomplishment but his trade ; who, by the force of high purpose and invincible resolution, industry, energy, enterprise, and a bold and vigorous mind and an honest heart, has not only achieved inde- 446 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. pendence, but won a name for sagacity, public spirit, punctuality and probity amongst the foremost and most distinguished men of business in the west. Andrew M. January was born 3d August, 1794, in Jessamine coun ty, Kentucky, about 12 miles from the city of Lexington. His father, Ephraim January, who was born in Pennsylvania, was the grandson of a French Huguenot. The persecution which drove the emigrant from his native land confiscated his estate, which was said to be very large. Ephraim January married Sarah McConnell, near McConnellsto-wn, Pennsylvania, whilst they were both very young. In 1780, they emi grated to Kentucky, and passing down the Ohio River, with several other families, in small flatboats fitted up to resist the attacks of In dians, landed safely at Louisville in the spring. They took their little property to a fort called Spring Station, six miles from Louisville, and remained there six months. They then removed to the fort at Har- rodsburg, Kentucky, where they lived twelve months ; they afterwards went to the fort at Lexington, and remained there till the fall of 1783. Such was the unsettled condition of the country at that period, and the character of the savage warfare waged by the Indians, that a family was only safe when inside of a fortification. Andrew McConnell, the grand father of A. M. January, and from whom he was named, was killed at the battle of the Blue Licks, which occurred in the summer of 1782. Although that battle resulted disastrously, additional forces pressed upon the Indians and drove them out of Kentucky, and an increase of emi gration in the course of a year so checked the incursions of the Indians, that families were justified in making locations of their own in the neigh borhood of Lexington and some other parts of the territory. Ephraim January accordingly obtained a pre-emption right to 1000 acres of land in the county of Jessamine, built a small log cabin on it in the midst of the forest, and moved his family, consisting of his wife and two young children, into it in 1783. His nearest neighbor was six miles distant. There he raised a family of eleven children — five sons and six daughters — and there the father and the mother lived and died — he, in 1823, in the 64th year of his age; she, in 1850, in her 87th year. They were both persons of ardent piety, belonging to the Associate Reformed, a branch of the Presbyterian Church, and gave great care to the religious training of their children. The family was large, and the father unable to provide capital to set up his sons in business. They all remained at home and worked on the farm until they were 17 or 18 years old. Each was then suffered to select some mechanical branch of business. In 1812, Andrew became an apprentice to the silver-plating business in Lexington, Ky., and served in that capacity three years and a-half Being a high-spirited boy, and feeling that his father was unable to fur nish him with any other than the plainest clothing, he applied himself assiduously to the business and interests of his employer, and soon gained his confidence and good-will. He was allowed to do over-work, for which he received full price, and often worked as late as 12 o'clock at night. He was soon enabled to make one dollar per day for over- work, and thus to present a reputable appearance in society during his ap prenticeship. He found his early religious training of great service to him at this period. He was beset by temptations from many quar- ANDREW M. JANUARY, OF KENTUCKY. 447 ters, but steadily resisted them. He had promised his mother, on leav ing home, that he would avoid all evil company and the vices of the town, and he did so. Young and inexperienced as he was, possessing only the common English education of that day, obtained mostly in the winter season, and during rainy days, when work could not be done on the farm, he nevertheless determined to overcome all obstacles he might encounter, fix his mark high, and force his way upward to fortune and honor. In the spring of 1816, he commenced business on his own account, in Lexington, and in the ensuing winter married Sarah Huston, daughter of William Huston, an old and highly esteemed resident of that place. He continued business there until the spring of 1818. It had promised well at first, but the country, shortly after peace was, declared between the United States and Great Britain, became flooded with goods and manufactured articles. The silver-plating business suffered with others to such an extent that ware could be bought in the stores for less money, in many instances, than the cost at home of the rough material. Mr. January soon found that the time spent in qualifying himself for his business, had been to a great extent lost ; to pursue it was useless ; and with that promptness and decision which have ever marked his career, he determined to abandon it. Maysville, a town in northern Kentucky, on the Ohio river, was then as it has been since, the great point of ship ment and distribution of the productions and merchandise of that por tion of the state. In the summer of 1818, he removed to that place and opened a small grocery ; and in October of that year he purchased an interest in a commission house conducted by his uncle. In the spring of 1819, he bought the entire interest of the concern, and his uncle retired from the house. This was a bold step, as he had but slight experience and very limited means. He purchased on stipulated payments of one, two and three years. Few persons under such cir cumstances would have undertaken such a responsibility ; but he had rare industry, energy and resolution, and a self-sustaining confidence in his own abilities. Every payment, as it fell due, was promptly met. He soon found that, by close application to the interests of his cus tomers, his business was increasing from year to year. After paying for his establishment, he had in a short period accumulated quite ai handsome sum, and was in a full tide of prosperity, when the whole was suddenly swept from him by the instrumentality of an individual in whom he had unfortunately confided, and he found himself involved to the amount of $3,000. This heavy reverse did not dishearten him ; tie met it courageously, and determined to retrieve his losses. He continued his business, retained his customers, sustained his credit, and in one year realized enough to pay off all demands. His business con tinued to improve and enlarge under his close application and judicious management. Maysville, at that time, contained a population of only 1,200 or 1,500 inhabitants ; but few of the streets were paved, there was no paved road to the river, and the landing was bad. All the roads to the interior were rough ; poor even in the summer, almost impassable in the wmter and spring. He therefore turned his attention to the subject of internal improvements, and in a few years, ¦with the assistance of 448 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Other enterprising citizens, he succeeded in having all the streets paved, and good roads made to the river. In 1828, when there were not twenty miles of turnpike road in the state, a charter was procured from the legislature for a turnpike road from Maysville to Washington, a town four miles from the river in the direction of Lexington. The stock was soon subscribed, and the road put under contract. In the summer of that year, being sanguine that the road could be extended a distance of sixty miles to Lexington, he mounted his horse, and in com pany with an engineer, explored the intervening country, and raised a subscription along the line to pay the expenses of a survey. When at Lexington, he issued a card for a public meeting, had a conference with Hon. Henry Clay, enlisted him in the enterprise, and induced him to address the meeting in its behalf The meeting was successful ; public attention was excited, and means to defray the expenses of the neces sary surveys secured. The next winter a charter was obtained extend ing the road from Washington tp Lexington. As this road subse quently became famous in national politics, a short history of the efforts and means by which it was completed will be pardoned. At that time but few persons in Kentucky had ever seen a turnpike, still fewer appreciated the benefits such an improvement could confer. Very few believed such a work practicable ; the cost was considered beyond the resources of the country. The state, up to that time, had contributed nothing to the cause of internal improvements. It was an enterprise of great boldness, and required great energy, perseverance and firmness. Upon the petition of the company to the legislature, a law was passed authorizing a subscription of $25,000 on behalf of the state so soon as $50,000 should be subscribed by individuals. By -great ex ertions on the part of the directors of the road, of which Mr. January was one, the requisite amount of $50,000 was obtained from individuals, and the sum of $75,000 thus secured. The road was im mediately put under contract to the extent of that sum ; and at a suc ceeding session, the legislature was induced to subscribe 650,000 more upon the condition that individuals should raise an additional $75,000. This was done in a few months by extraordinary efforts, and the $125,- 000 secured. It required $200,000 more to complete the road; and as it would be used by the United States government for the transporta tion of the great eastern and western mails, the directory determined to petition CongressTor aid to the amount of $150,000. The petition was favorably received, and a bill was passed appropriating that sum. The country recollects the fate of that measure. President Jackson struck it down with his veto, and left the enterprising company to their own resources. They resolved to carry the work forward. The directory negotiated loans upon their individual responsibility, and issued the scrip of the company to the amount of $70,000, The whole road was put under contract, and the legislature appealed to for further aid. Itwas granted by a subscription of stock equal to that of individuals; and in four years the road was completed at a cost of $426,000, being the first good McAdamized road in the United States, and the pioneer work of internal improvement in the State of Kentucky. This import ant enterprise, commenced and completed mainly by the public spirit and perseverance of four or five citizens of Maysville, including A. M. January, gave a powerful impetus to the whole system of internal im- ANDREW M. JANUARY, OF KENTUCKY. 449 provements in the state; and is still the best work of the kind proba bly in the United States. That road completed, Mr. January engaged heartily in the construction of two or three other turnpike roads leading into the interior, and at the same time conducted with great and increasing success an extensive commission business. His habits of business were then, and still are, of the most systematic and laborious character. He neglects nothing; he attends punctually to everything. His correspondence has always been conducted chiefly by himself, and has been so heavy and extensive, as for many months during the year to occupy his time until twelve and one o'clock at night. Situated at a way-port between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, where boats stopped at all hours of the night to deliver and receive freight, his life was for many years one of great hardship, trial and ex posure. His whole life has been spent in constant activity, and faith ful and energetic attention to business. He has been successful, and has deserved success. He is now fifty-eight years of age, and although his constitution has been much broken by exposure and over work, he is still a man of great labor and unrelaxing energy. Upon the location of a branch of the Bank of Kentucky at Maysville, in 1835, he was appointed its president, which post he fills at the present time. He is also president of the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Road Company, having been connected with that road from its com mencement in 1828. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Maysville and Lexington Rail-road Company ; and no enterprise of a public nature has ever been undertaken in Maysville for the last thirty-four years, in which he has not taken a prominent and zealous part. And yet he has never sought any office, declining many indeed that have been offered. He throws his whole energies into whatever he undertakes, and success is almost certain to attend his efforts. His motto through life has been — " Whatever is worth doing, should be well done." Mr. January, many years since, attached himself, along with his wife> to the Presbyterian church. His walk and conversation as a Christian have been uniformly consistent and exemplary. His benefactions to the church have been constant and liberal — for the support of his own particular church, for the erection of churches, and the support of the gospel at home and abroad. His purse is ever generously open to every object of real benevolence or charity. In his intercourse with his fellow-citizens of all classes, Mr. January is frank and direct, but kind and courteous. Perfectly simple and unos tentatious in all his habits ; unbounded in his hospitality ; warm, con fiding and firm in his friendship; sagacious and independent in thought; prompt, practical and vigorous in action ; punctual in all his engage ments ; modest and unassuming, yet courageous and dignified, he bears about him every mark of the gentleman and the man of business ; and presents as fair a model as can be found for the encouragement and imitation of the youth of the West who have friends, fame and fortune y-et to win, 29 '^: [^-/y ^ / ^ ^ ( /(./ OF DKTKCI I M „/- Cri;v i„v.Jt:>rlii-'"'-"^-"---'J -^l-'l^'l-" -,r ¦/-,•, „„..r.l /I, H. H. EMMONS, OP MICHIQAS. 451 H. H, EMMONS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN. When Mr. E. submitted to the writer of this the propriety of com plying with the request to furnish a memoir for the present work, he remarked, that " if the intention of the work was, at this day, to present to the profession a portraiture of the great leading lawyers of the nation, who thus far had most materially aided in laying the foundations of her jurisprudence, and constructing the framework of her constitution — those of whom the country was justly proud, and whose lives the American citizen would delight to hear read, criticised, and contrasted with the sages of the law in foreign lands — if such is the high object of the work, then," said he, " my own short, obscure, and wholly common-place history, has no business there. Its insertion would be absurd, and but a distasteful repetition, in another department, of those farcical exposures of littleness and vanity which so many inconsiderable men of modern times are making in the political reviews. Since the days of old jEsop the asses have never worn with success the skin of the lion. I have not yet begun to hope that, if Providence shall spare my life for thirty years to come, and suffer me still to toil on in the laborious path I have so sar tisfactorily thus far followed, that I shall even then have been enabled so to keep up with the enlightening and growing spirit of modern juris prudence, so to aid in improving its principles, in ameliorating the modes of its administration, and in leading the long list of able men which my state opposes to the efforts of any man who would lay claim to the first high station at its bar, as to place my name in a similar volume which shall, at that distant day, record the greatness of the American bar. There is no doubt whatever of the distinction between a ' distinguished American lawyer^ and a young, faithful, rising, successful leader of the bar in the newer states of the northwest. " As yet, we have few — indeed, no old, experienced, and profoundly learned lawyers. Our greatest boast must now be that our young men are as laborious and faithful, present as strong an array of talent and in dustry, and, therefore, as many of the elements oi future greatness, as the more aged and experienced bars of the East. Our time has not come to claim a place in a work which details the successes and glories, the great ness and power, of the American judiciary, and its most learned and able counsellors. " But if the work proposes to furnish to the student and young pro fessional man a guide and stimulus to exertion, by detailing the successes of living men, thus enabling them to see the precise road which others, succeeding at the same period, and in all respects circumstanced like them selves, have followed up to wealth, high respectability in life, and eminent professional standing, then our own state may well furnish her quota of illustrations. Some of these results, in a slight degree, my own short history may illustrate ; and if the policy is to set forth instances of pro fessional prosperity from each state, then I have no objection to have pre pared the simple detail of my hard, unremitted twelve years' toil, its 452 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. professional rewards, and quite moderate triumphs. If those who are starting on behind me can see aught in it worthy of imitation, or tend ing to stimulate a just professional ambition, I shall, indeed, be happy to know that thus early in life a far higher and better use of my labors can be made than 1 had ever dared to hope." The great mass of history writers have treated the acts of the politi cian, the place-holder, and the military leader, as though they alone guided the destiny of their country, and moved on the wheels of civiliza tion, and of social and intellectual progress. They overlook the mighty impulses, the revolutions and great principles, which the quiet and noiseless philosopher and the moral reformer are ever producing in the world. The men who enact into laws the profound principles which the historically unknown lawyer has eloquently demonstrated at the bar. and which the judge has elaborated, matured, and announced from the bench, alone find a place on the records of their time. They who are but in struments, who but float along on the popular tide, and utter the thoughts and mature convictions which studious and unostentatious intellectual greatness has impressed on its country and age, alone figure in the columns of the political journal, and find a place on the historical page, while the real sources of human progress are unrecorded and unknown. The possession of place, of public political places, is not only falsely assumed as high evidence of official fitness, but, still more unfortunately, is it frquently treated by the general historian and the memoir writer as the sole evidence of distinguished talent, and of public power and influ ence. And more especially is it true that the great mass of American authors who have essayed to -write the life or notice the success of an eminent lawyer, have seemed to labor under a sense of the littleness and obscurity of their hero until his purely professiotialWie was abandoned — until he could be spoken of as no longer enthusiastically devoted to one of the most noble and ennobling studies in the whole round of human inquiry, and as having successfully entered that partisan field where thousands and tens of thousands of low, mean, and ignorant men rise to high position and influence. It is only when they have been elected to something, that tangible evidence of eminence, greatness, and power, is supposed to be discovered, and the subject raised up to the dignity of legitimate history. They hardly touch upon the early life of the stu dent, the struggles manfully made with the discouragements of poverty, ill health, obscure locations, meagre libraries, and poor instruction, all overcome by perseverance and energy, in the details of which the young reader may see a picture of difficulties conquered, which, in his own case, he had supposed unconquerable. The early professional obstacles, when, without books, clients, money, or influential friends, a meagerly- furnished office has been opened with faint hopes and dreary prospects — the excitements of early practice — the varied character of success, whe ther brilliant, sudden, and attractive, or gradual, solid, and noiseless— the course of investigation — the manner of constructing arguments and briefs — the mode of preparation for trial, and peculiarities in its con duct — the extent and kind of professional practice — the treatment of clients— the degree of pecuniary success, and the nature and limits of the reputation won by the life whose picture is drawn, are all, in the great majority of instances, wholly overlooked. The law, with all its H. H, EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. . 453 great responsibilities, its solemn duties, its showy, popular, and ambition- gratifying successes, its power and influence upon every state and nation where its principles 'are cultivated and studied as a science, its high and powerful positions, is considered as an instrumentality only in the hands of its professors for merely partisan political achievement. It is not treated as an ultimate object, but rather as a road leading to loftier fields of public activity above and beyond it. These things have so moulded public taste that the details of success, however great and sudden, of merely legal attainments, however pro found and varied, -tt'hen unassociated with any manifestation of popular favor beyond extensive professional employment, appear, to the minds of the great majority, tame and trivial. But very few of the really great lawyers of our country have risen to political eminence. They who have thus shone in both departments have a long list of professional triumphs to grace their history before they have entered that field of party servitude, outside of which, during the last half century, no public man has obtained or preserved a place and political power in our country. And he whose lite offers no extras ordinary attainments, success, or power, at the bar or upon the bench, which presents no incidents indicative of great talent and industry, or adaptation to the profession, and is in no way distinguished from the great mass of lawyers around him, except that he has, in common with ten thousand men, who ai-e not even nominally lawyers, succeeded in procuring a party nomination, can have no peculiar interest for the pro fession, or afford any useful instruction or guide for the young and am bitious student. On the contrary, the incidents in the life of one who has been exclusively devoted to his profession, never held an office, ob tained or sought a nomination, never attended a political caucus, or en deavored to control the selection of a candidate, and who has risen to the first rank in his profession, obtained wealth, high standing and influ ence, a gratifying reputation, and, indeed, everything which legitimately attaches us to the fortunes of a learned, laborious, and eminently suc cessful lawyer, are all well worthy of a student's examination, and will encourage his perseverance, or correct his mistakes. It is with these views that the following memoir is presented to the profession, in full confidence that it will safely stand the test of our cri ticism. There may be some men in Michigan, besides its one great leading statesman, better known beyond the limits of the state than Mr. E. But, as a thorough technical lawyer, he has no equal of his age, and no superior at all at the Michigan bar. No man so thoroughly and exhaustingly argues a legal question, nor more closely and success fully conducts causes before a jury. There are some his superiors in the mere beauties of declamation — some his equals in shrewdness and management at the circuit, and among the older lawyers and on the bench, perhaps, he may be equaled in technical learning ; but I know the common judgment of the state is but echoed, when I say that, for a union of all the qualities which go to make up the strong lawyer, for a combination of natural talent, logical accuracy, extraordinarily laborious habits, universal preparation, instantaneous perception of error, and readiness of answer ; for strong, illustrative and convincing argument, and, when great principles are concerned, impassioned eloquence ; for 454 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. subtlety of distinction, without ever being known to be indistinct or vague ; for fairness, for boldness, for all allowable strategy and manage ment which the detection of falsehood and the support of truth demand; for that general walk in life, that course in court which wins the confi dence and secures influence with the bench ; for a union of all these high qualities, he is beyond all comparison, thus^early in his professional life, the first man in his state. The vast extent of his practice, and the magnitude and variety of his employments, prove that this high praise is in nowise beyond the practical and constantly-manifested judgment of the community in which he lives. The professional success of Mr. E. was rapid beyond parallel. He had no probation, but entered immediately upon the highest and se verest labors of the law. He has been at the bar but little more than twelve years, and at the time when, a few months since, ill health com pelled him to turn over for a time his immense business, while he makes an attempt, by travel, to recruit his strength, his practice was not only larger than any other man in his own state, but, so far as the writer believes, it had no equal in the northwest. He was engaged in nearly all the more important and more severely-contested cases in Michigan, and was frequently en^ployed as counsel in the adjoining states. His immense practice was by no means obtained or aided by the moderation of his charges. Five hundred, and one thousand dollars are familiar items of credits for retainers on his books, and, in many in stances, double the latter sum has been received. Considering the standard charges of the bar at which he practises, these rates evince an employment in the very highest walks of his profession, and in the most important and difficult cases. It is true he has had the benefit of a most popular and talented partner, a man of considerable eloquence and power as a jury advocate, which, in many instances, it is highly probable has induced the retainer of his firm. But it is well known that the legal questions presented in each contest have mainly depended upon the efforts of Mr. E. Had he pursued his profession alone, and years ago confined his attention solely to the argument of legal questions in the court of last resort, and the duties of counsel in the trial of causes at the circuit, as he now does, he would have obtained a still higher fame, as a jurist, than he at present enjoys. In the early history of Mr. E. there is nothing extraordinary. Its particulars are worthy of notice only as they illustrate how unnecessary tor eminent future success are remarkable and precocious natural deve lopments or premature devotion to study. During his boyish years, he was characterized more for boldness and vigor of action, an untiring spirit which usually gave him the leadership of young companions than for studious and intellectual habits. Though seldom tyrannically ex ercised, he was celebrated for an uncommon degree of physical courage, and, when exasperated, of even recklessness. A degree of boldness in the assertion and defence of what he esteemed his rights, far beyond the common measure, when but a mere lad, obtained for him much no toriety. The author of this memoir being present at a meeting between Mr. E. and a geutlemun who knew him intimately in youth, listened with great interest and wonder to an extended list of really extraor dinary feats and contests of which he was the hero. Some really H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 455 amxusing and inherent interest had been selected for insertion, but the Icsugth to which other more illustrative and instructive materials have extended this notice has caused their erasure. They all evince a bold, determined spirit, and if the particulars were not glossed by the lapse of time and the partialities of friendship, they indicated, also, a sense of justice and early devotion to truth and honor which must have wholly assuaged any fears which the violence attending some of them may have elicited for his future life. The same indomitable perseverance and unceasing activity with which he accomplished his early exploits mark, in an eminent degree, his after-life. It has carried him through difficulties and professional contests of a peculiarly trying and afflicting nature, and caused him to pass triumphantly through scenes of conflict and unusual opposition, which would have crushed ninety-nine men in the hundred. It, beyond all doubt, characterizes his public reputation, and produces that rankness of grasp with which he seizes upon every thing of a public nature which succeeds in enlisting his sympathies. He does nothing by halves ; what he touches he leads in. It impels him forward wholly irrespective oi personal consequences. So marked is the latter peculiarity, that when the health of Mr. E., at a public dinner, had been proposed, that portion of the preliminary remarks which ac corded to him the advocacy of what he deemed right, irrespective of its popularity or its personal effect, called from the audience an audible and universal assent. To his political party he owes nothing. No clique, or combination of men, have aided his advancement. And, although extensively known as a public man, without his profession, it is more as a leader and friend of the various movements for intellectual and moral improvement than as a party politician. It is true he is, in his own peculiar mode, an ardent politician, but it is only because he is ardent in everything which he deems essential. He goes out to a political argument as he goes up to the Supreme Court — prepared. Having a definite object, obtaining which, or learning it is unattainable, he returns to his library as if no agitating contest had ever solicited his labors from it. So fixed are his rules and habits, that he returns to his office invariably after a public political effort, and however difficult the duty, forces his mind back, before retiring to rest, to the legal subject he left for his political study. The family of Mr. E., which, though never wealthy, and sometimes, by the accident of business, really poor, was yet eminently respectable, always commanding a high social position, and stimulating in the do mestic circle habits of thoughtfulness, and sound, substantial conversa tion. Though neither himself, nor either of his talented or distinguished brothers, was regularly educated at schools, the activity of the family mind, the constant discussion of current topics, fitted him, at an early day, for those professional contests in which, with a success equal to that of any man in the northwest, he has subsequently engaged. Nor is this reference to the intellectual activity of the family of Mr. E., one of those meaningless things which is so frequently said of the family relatives of a successful man. He has a younger brother at Milwaukie, in Wisconsin, who read his profession in his office, and who, like Mr. E., left a mercantile clerkship for the study of the orofession. 466 SKETCHES OP EMIN'BNT AMERICANS. He has equal talent, is making equal progress, and is, though but just commencing his profession, in the very first rank, doing the most im portant, lucrative^ and extensive business of any lawyer of his state. He has never been in school since a mere lad, and from a very early age was constantly engaged in laborious mercantile pursuits. Eminent success, repeated triumphs over old, educated and experienced men in such circumstances is conclusive evidence of the very highest talent. He has another brother in Michigan, whose brilliant and extraordi nary career has been impeded by that cruel and common misfortune which So often strikes down the warm-hearted and talented young men of our country. But before the great curse of our nation arrested his rapid rise, it was far more sudden and brilliant than that of either of his brothers. His talents are indeed remarkable. At the age of six teen, alone, he came to Michigan as a mercantile clerk, without a friend to aid him, or a letter of introduction, without education save that which the natural intellectual activity of his whole family impelled him to acquire in the midst of his business labors. When scarcely nineteen, two y ears before, according to the laws and constitution of the state, he was entitled to hold the office, he was elected secretary to the legislature in opposition to several old and leading politicians of the state. The first volume of the laws of the State of Michigan were published under the supervision of young J. P. C. Emmons, a lad of nineteen, who was elected to the post which imposed the duty, not by the collateral influ- ence of others, but because, having acted in the same department in a subordinate capacity the former year, his talents and popular manners made nearly every member unwilling to place another above him, how ever old, experienced and influential. He also read law with Mr. H. H. E., and until his habits became unsteady bid fair to outstrip every competitor. He has been once a member of the state legislature. He is again, with reformed habits, applying himself to duty, and if sustain ed by Providence in his present resolutions, but few years will compel the professional lines to open and let him pass on to the front rank. A third brother, beloved by the whole city, whose precocious mind had already attracted much attention, died two years since, at the age of sixteen. He had been but little at school, but like each of his older brothers, had early entered a store as a clerk, and like them, had de voted himself arduously to study. Such works as Alison's Europe, Macauley's England, Thier's Revolution, Bancroft's United States, had not only been read carefully by him, but their historical assertions ex amined, and the political views analyzed and reviewed at great length. He left voluminous manuscripts of a character indicating a mind of the noblest and loftiest cast, and the most precocious and singular acute- ness. Had he been spared none can doubt that he would have over topped the most successful of his talented family. No boy of his age was ever mourned by a greater number of admiring and sincere friends than Frederick A. Emmons. His mother and sisters have no public literary reputation, but those who know them, perceive that the great source of their brother's success may be traced to the leading traits of mind common to every member of the family. His father was admitted to the bar in the State of New-York, but H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 457 being early led into the field of party politics his profession was aban doned for the editorship of a political journal. As a partisan writer, he was celebrated for originality and strength. His paper attracted much attention in the state; and when at a later period in lite he concluded to return to the practice of the law, he received advantageous offers of connections from the learned and talented editors of several of the lead ing journals of the eastern cities. During the few years that he devo ted himself to the study and practice of the law at Detroit, few men ever made more rapid progress in professional learning. Indeed few knew and none would have suspected that the thirty preceding years had been spent in the editorial chair instead of labors at the bar. Until his death, a few years after his arrival at Detroit, he maintained a leading .place in his profession, Mr. Emmons commenced his professional studies without any regu lar course of scientific education. He was not, however, without the ad vantages of great study and mental discipline. He is not held up as one of those mental wonders who are great without effort, know much without any investigation, and astound the world by their instinctive profundity. We do not believe in such prodigies. When they are supposed to be discovered, it is but mistaking the energetic and deter mined man who educates himself, for one who has not been educated at all. The study and acquirements of Mr, Emmons are worthy of notice only as their extent and success may encourage others who de sire the results he has obtained, but erroneously believe that they have no opportunity, no time, no power, to attain them. The business of his father's office, while an editor, engaged nearly the entire time of Mr, Emmons, who was the eldest son. The establish ment of routes, the circulation of the journal, and political circulars and pamphlets, and the collection of dues, kept him from school at that age when ninety-nine boys in the hundred, in the same rank in life, are care fully kept there. But, although absent three days in the week, he was universally up with his classes. His Latin grammar lessons were nearly all learned in the saddle, except three months at a select school. He never had any other instruction besides that which he obtained in the common schools of his town. During his clerkship, although win ning invariably the confidence of, and giving entire satisfaction to his em ployer, he was a close student, never retiring to his bed without giving at least two hours to his books. In winter, he seldom rose later than half-past four or five, and thus secured to himself some two or three hours for study before the business of the day commenced. Yet he was still intending himself for a merchant ; and with no object beyond the love of sttidy, and a determination to take a stand among intelligent and learned gentlemen, he was pursuing this indefatigable course. He had two early friends, each of whose example, he has frequently said, alternately controlled his intention and revolutionized his resolutions. James P. Cronkhite, Esq., now a wealthy and indefatigable merchant of New- York city, but who is at the same time entitled to rank among the leading literary men of his state, was among the most ititimate com panions of his boyhood. He was some years older than E,, and his early habits of study amidst his business avocations he has frequently said influenced his own application. John H. Martindale, Esq., a lead- 458 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. ing and talented young lawyer of Western New- York, now practising at Rochester, in that state, was also an equally intimate associate; and when the latter obtained an appointment at West Point, a constant cor respondence was kept up between them. While E. was "a clerk, Mar tindale was a cadet at the military academy, earning fame and triumph as a laborious and successful student. Before they parted they pur sued their studies together, and with the romance and confidence of in experienced lads, laid many plans for future professional efforts, and drew many a picture of public success. Letter after letter came from Martindale filled with expressions of wonder, regret, and expostulation, that the bright plans they had formed for the future could thus be given up. Though at first all this made- but slight impression, other things combined to aid their effect, and the counting-room was at last aban doned for the bar. He was entirely without means, but religd upon what he might earn as a student in inferior courts, and being relieved from anxiety by a knowl edge that, if necessary, he would receive from home everything to render him entirely comfortable and respectable. Boarding at his father's house, and avoiding thus the little expenses which young men in society away from home are obliged to incur, his personal expenses were very small, and it soon appeared that the result of his justice-court practice would not only give him a handsome support but enable him to lay up something for the future. Mr. Emmons entered the office of Messrs, Stowe and Stetson, at Keeseville, in the northern part of the State of New-York, men of de cided ability and fair practice, but neither of them inclined to devote any time to the examination of a student or the direction of his studies. The universal, and as Mr. Emmons insists, the inappropriate four vol umes of Blackstone were put into his hands. These he found dry and uninteresting, and although short-hand notes of each of the chapters were made, he became but little interested. Against the advice of others and the usual custom, he read before finishing them other more practical treatises, Chitty's Contracts, Cowen's Justice Court Treatise, Colyer's Partnerships, Phelp's Evidences, Kent and other works were better relished. But no work was ever passed rapidly through, A sufficient number of the citations were examined to thoroughly understand the application of principles. This course is always recommended by Mr. Emmons to his students. . He insists that nine law-books in ten actu ally misinform the student. The writer has heard him put the following illustration : Take twenty intelligent, educated men, and read to them some familiar legal maxim, and ask each for his understanding of its meaning and application, and no two will agree, and probably no one be right. But read to them the reported cases in full, from which the rule is deduced, and each, with the additional reading which the cases -would undoubtedly stimulate, would perceive its true meaning and prac tical effect. His habits of notation are carried, to say the least, to the limit of usefulness. They were acquired when a student, and he now declares himself unable to arrive at just conclusions without continu ing the habit. He commenced when a student elaborate preparations of his causes in justice's court. Everything was of course new. The mode of proving title to a promissory note, and the rule of damages, H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 459 were mapped out as methodically, and all the cases, ancient and modern, as critically analysed, as though he were going to ask the court of last resort in the nation, to overturn some long conceded doctrine. The mode of notation was full and minute, bringing out boldly and conclu sively the' point to be established. If the contrary was contended by counsel ; if the statement of facts showed it the only point in the case ; if the judge met and expressly overruled the precise distinction, antici pated in argument on his own cause ; if the case questioned or sanc tioned former ones ; if it had a peculiar history in court, all was men tioned in the memoranda. Short suggestive notes of its general appli cation in his own cause were carefully made. Some leading fad or thing in the case is selected by way of aiding the memory to recall its details. Experience taught him the title of the case would not do so ; but if, in ever so meagre a manner, he stated the most simple outline of its facts, a glance at his memoranda instantaneously brought up the details of the case. For his opponent to announce Doe vs. Smith in replevin, trespass, or ejectment, seldom enabled him to recognize the report. But the moment he reached a single fact in the statement, all was in the memory as fresh as if he had just risen from the book. During his clerkship his course of study was not methodical, or so far as professional reading was concerned, excessively laborious. His pre paration for particular arguments was always masterly ; indeed, he seemed to require the stimulus of anticipated contest to arouse him to great effort. It was in his extraordinarily large justice-court practice, and in the preparation for counsel of briefs for the argument of the va rious certioraris and appeals to which his almost invariable successes gave rise, that his great progress when a student was made. His four years' clerkship passed without anything remarkable beyond the ordinary flattery which a tolerably industrious student, a popular speaker, frequently called to officiate as orator on public occasions, so commonly receives. That he was the leading and most promising young man in that portion of the state no one doubted ; but the feeble ness of his health, and frequent recurrence of severe attacks of sickness, forbade a prophecy of eminent success in a laborious profession on the part of his more intimate friends and family. The last two years were spent in the office of the Hon. Henry H. Ross, of Essex, a gentleman of fine education, great attainments as a law yer, of wealth and local influence, who, in return for service as a clerk merely nominal, received him as a member of his family, and afforded the advantages of an extensive library, and what wa^ then to him of great consequence, and which he feels daily influencing his future pro fessional life, the benefits of many a useful lecture upon the pathway before him. Mr, Emmons says, that " General Ross had quite pardon ably got the idea that I thought much of my oratorical 'powers, and counted on well-turned sentences entirely too much for future success. I heard on this subject very little theory. ~ Not a word was said directly imputing such a taste or such a reliance. But, as though by way of in teresting professional reminiscences, (and such they really were,) the early history of all the great lawyers whose names I saw from day to day in their reports, and who graced the high judicial places in the state, were detailed, and the fact prominently brought out, that as students 460 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. they were privately and unostentatiously studious ; that they had no reputation for mere eloquence, made no public speeches, and grew to greatness so gradually, and so quietly attracted public attention, that no one ever dreamed of calling the best of them a genius. Another class was also passed in review whose precocious and showy talents had early led them aside from the profession, when, without future growth, or any considerable success, they must even rest satisfied with the low praise of possessing bright parts and active talents, and with the power of success, but wanting the application and energy to achieve it. The force of habit, the irresistible power of the early tendencies, were illus trated by hundreds of examples, till I believe I saw in a new light the rbad before me. I discovered dangers to my ardent and headstrong temperament which, but for these timely and kindly cautions, I might not have avoided. "I determined to seek a standing at the bar first, to do my whole duty to my clients, and never seek without the profession the slightest ad vancement. If collateral success or reputation came, I determined it should be accidental, or when I had faithfully tried my utmost efforts at the bar." Mr. Emmons was on two occasions permitted to address juries in the Supreme Court, while yet a student, a thing, the author ventures to say, with but few parallels in the State of New- York. His own statement of the circumstances do not show that it was so much to add strength to the cause, because eminent counsel were engaged, as out of friendship to himself; but the fact shows that he had made much progress, and was quite ready for practice when he came to the bar ; indeed, his future history must amply illustrate this. The first cause which he ever tried, or rather had tried in a court of re cord — for with all his experience he had not the courage to try it without assistance — was that of Bromley vs. Flack in the Essex Common Pleas, an appeal from a judgment given against his client by a local magis trate. The case was trover for five tons of hay, which in evidence turned out to be part of a larger quantity from which it had never been severed. He had intended to try his cause alone. The amount in con troversy was sraall and his client poor, but when the docket of causes before it was nearly exhausted, his confidence failed him, and applying to Mr. Stow, with whom he had studied, then engaged in the defence of a criminal, obtained his promise of assistance. There was no oppor tunity for an interview until the cause was called, and hence Mr. Stow knew nothing of its merits. He gathered all from the opening of the plaintiff's counsel, and immediately moved a nonsuit upon the ground before suggested. Mr. E, immediately put a book into his hand to sustain the objection. In reply, the opposing counsel read several cases fully supporting the action. These had all been carefully noted in the brief of Mr. Emmons, and the judgments overruling them referred to at length. They too were passed to his counsel, and owing to the want of an interview before the trial, all was necessarily done in a manner to attract considerable attention. The cases, as every lawyer knows, are directly in conflict, and before a court of no very extended legal learn ing, just calculated to beget what then happened — a very spirited and altogether the most attractive merely legal argument of the term. The H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 461 plaintiff was nonsuited, and Mr. E.'s client came off victorious. But this is not the point, in so ordinary a transaction, which makes it worthy of notice here. After the judge had announced the opinion, and before the jury left their seats, before an overflowing court-house, Mr. Stow rose and said he felt it his duty to make a few remarks, with which he doubted not every member of the bar would sympathize, and the pro priety of which he deem^ed justified by the presence of a nuraber of stu dents and younger members of the bar. He then unfolded the legal brief of Mr. E., turning it slowly over, page after page, so as to make the greatest display of its extent, reading from time to time the short condensed statement it contained of the principles of the cases analyzed. He then served the brief of testimony in a similar way, calling atten tion particularly to the fact that every question of competency and relevancy which could have arisen, had the trial preceded, had been anti cipated ; and although defeat was not anticipated, that the rule of damages was thoroughly considered, and authorities noted in support of all the positions taken. He concluded by saying that, in the whole course of his professional life, without any reference to its magnitude or interest, he had never known a cause better" prepared than the present. It seemed complete in all its parts, and recommending an examination of the papers as models for his young friends, he returned them to Mr. E. The thing was so unexpected, so uncommon, so bold a deviation from the usages of courts, that it nearly overwhelmed the subject of the ex traordinary compliment. Mr. Emmons has said since, that when he was obliged to ask a senior to go forward in the cause, to give up as he thought the oppor tunity of developing the results of his industry, and fidelity to his client, that he felt sad and disappointed ; , that he had looked ahead to a personal triumph, as well as one for his client, and resigned the oppor tunity of making an argument with feelings of reluctance; that when the extraordinary expose of his counsel thus gave him all, and a thousand told more than he dreamed of achieving, he said he began to realize how private and noiseless study would make its results known to the public without public orations or political speeches ; that few single incidents of his life have so decidedly encouraged laborious preparation as this. He remembers the author of the compliment with great gratitude and warmth. As the only return he has ever been able to make is a con stant practice of great liberality and encouragement towards beginners in the profession, which so striking an example taught them, this he has faithfully followed. His law library, one of the largest in the West, his own greatfundof legal information, without fee or charge, is ever ready for the student or young lawyer. His extensive case of briefs is filled with slips noticing their loan to various professional friends. Arguments the most elaborate, costing months of labor, are readily handed out as containing a leading to doctrines sought by young professional inquirers. Whatever of liberality he has received, and he confesses to much from the learned members of the bar among whom he counts his good for tune to have read, it has been amply repaid in the mode of all others they would most desire in a similar generosity towards others. Soon after his admission to the bar, although located in a distant part of the state, he received from Nicholas Hill, Esq., then of Saratoga 462 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS, Springs, one of the learned authors of " Cowen and Hill's Notes," an offer of copartnership. He was at first pleased with the offer, and daz zled with the prospect of thus immediately approaching the focus of legal learning in the state. But as he looked over the long lists of learned men at the New-York bar, and reflected upon his own feeble health, he feared his ability for the iron labors of that incessant study which could alone distinguish him at Saratoga and at Albany. Influ enced by the common error of the East, that at the West there is. but little legal learning, he thought that with less labor, if his health should fail, he could there succeed. Accordingly he made choice of Cleveland, in Ohio, and formed a professional connection with a gentleman of that city. His father had just before removed to Detroit, in Michigan, and without communicating to him his expectation, had taken it for granted that his son would follow. Though the elder Mr. Emmons had, as be fore stated, in early life been admitted to the bar, and was a man of far more than ordinary talent as a writer, of great knowledge of the world, and unusually industrious habits, still he had been so- long from the practice as to be wholly unfitted to proceed alone. He had commenced in a strange city, with a large family, and when the subject of our memoir reviewed the circurastances, and learned his father's expecta- tations and wishes that he would remain with him, he felt that he had no choice left ; and though far less pleased with Detroit than Cleveland, he followed the suggestions of duty, and immediately entered upon that laborious and successful career which has so undeniably placed him in the front rank of his profession. In order fully to appreciate the circumstances, which follow, it is necessary to bear' in mind that Mr. Emmons procured no letter what ever to a single citizen of Michigan ; he had laid aU his plans, issued his cards, and obtained his introduction, and formed his connections, for a different state. His father too was quite unexpectedly located at Detroit They were both entire strangers, without an acquaintance at the bar or on the bench, and open therefore to all the force with which any unlucky accident or mistake might affect their reputation. In these circumstances was commenced by the Messrs. Emmons the case, much celebrated in the West, of Fitch & Gilbert vs. Newberry & Godell, (reported in 1st Douglas, Mich. Rep. 1.) At this day and in many localities, it may seem strange that the question involved could excite so severe a contest, and that an erroneous opinion of the law should so unusually prevail at a really talented and learned bar. The same question however has been since thought of sufficient doubt to be considered and decided by the Supreme Court of the State of New- York ; and his Honor Judge Metcalf, of Massachusetts, in correspond ence not long since with Mr. Emmons, informed him that the court of last resort in that state had followed the decision in F. & G. vs. N. & G, It was moreover, at the time of its decision, published in all the leading journals in the western states, and became the theme of much newspaper controversy. At least in Michigan, the doctrine that a common carrier had a lien for his freight on all goods which, in the ordinary course of trade he received and carried in good faith, without reference to the letter or authority of the consignor to ship them, had never been questioned. The diction of Chief Justice Holt, in the old case of York vs. Greenough, H. H. EMMONS, OP MICHIGAN. 463 had always been followed. When, without paying the demanded charges, a writ of replevin was issued by the Messrs. Emmons to take from the han^s of a forwarding merchant a large quantity of merchandise, who had innocently paid the freight and charges of the carrier, and succeeded to all his rights, claiming to maintain the suit on the ground that the owner had never consented to the shipment of the goods, and might therefore take them wherever found, it was a doctrine so novel, so at war with what had for years been conceded to the law, that the defendant, under the advice of one of the leading firms of the city, arrested for perjury the plaintiff who made the affidavit and procured the writ of replevin. And seldom has a criminal complaint and arrest, when neither life nor limb has been periled by the imputed crime, been attended with more intense excitement and indignation, or greater offi cial energy and zeal for punishment on the part of the prosecution. Mr. Emmons appeared for his client, and though he presented his legal views in justification of the affidavit at much length, and with his usual clearness and force, there was too much prejudice and feeling for their appreciation by the magistrate, and his client was discharged solely upon the ground, that he was a young and inexperienced man, and had been misadvised by injudicious counsel ! The magistrate was a leading lawyer, the prosecuting attorney for the state was among the oldest pro fessional men of the former territory, and a man of much influence and standing. It was moreover deemed proper by the prosecuting attorney to prove by witnesses what the law actually was, and several members of J;he bar rather ludicrously swore on their oaths that Mr. Emmons had grossly misadvised his client. Everybody, lawyers and laymen, great and small, learned and unlearned, looked upon and proclaimed the new- comers as desperate and ignorant practitioners. All this did not in the least daunt our hero. There never was an emotion of fear in his nature. His young client was sympathized with, calls were made upon him, and goodly advice tendered to abandon his suit, and thus show that although falsely he had innocently sworn. Fortunately he too proved to be a man of mettle, and with unshaken confidence in his counsel, who, he had judgment enough to see, adduced jnost abundant authori ty for the advice he had given, determined still implicitly to follow it, and early the next morning, under Mr. Emmons' direction, arrested Mr. Newberry, who acted as complainant in the prosecution for perjury against himself, for slander and malicious prosecution. This, in the cir cumstances, was indeed a bold measure. And when it is considered how difficult is the support in evidence of the latter count, it will pro bably be thought injudicious and rash. But Mr. Emmons deemed a prosecution for slander too easily sustained. He saw that such an action was maintainable even if his own advice were wrong. For if his client swore falsely, yet innocently, the accusation of Newberry, many times repeated that he was perjured, would subject him to an action, whereas malicious prosecution could not be sustained without showing not only that Mr. Newberry's counsel were mistaken as to the law, but that the advice was so eminently absurd, so at variance with common-sense, that no man of ordinary intelligence and common pru dence would have followed it. This, when the citizen acts upon the advice of counsel, is the strong rule in such cases, and to comply with 464 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. its rigid terms before a jury he fearlessly undertook. To show that the furor against himself and client was not only without law, but against natural reason, he not only argued before the magistrate, but by prompt prosecution assumed to establish judicially in court. The arrest of Mr. Newberry added fuel to the flames of professional indig nation ; some who had rather pitied, as indiscreet and inexperienced, now yielded to the prevailing opinion that he was reckless and unprincipled. Added to his really spirited and bold action was a manner unfortunately uncompromising, and in moments of excitement bitter and retaliatory. He was a ready debater, clear and illustrative ih his arguments, with a natural tendency to tartness of reply, and great facility at rendering a position laughable and absurd. Opposition but increased all these cha racteristics, and that which, coming in the pathway of a less fiery tempera ment, would have been gently and temporarily bent to, till its force was spent, and time and reason had developed its errors and injustice, was increased and perpetuated by the invariable alacrity with which Mr. Emmons, then just past his majority, with but little knowledge of the world, drew his sword for combat with every man who gave provoca tion. Many scenes unusual, and of far more than ordinary interest in detail, attended his immediately succeeding practice. Their revival now would however only keep alive the recollection of that which nothing but passion produced, and whose actors, then angry and hostile, are now his firmest friends. They have, at Mr. E.'s request, been omitted. He says the great fault lay in his own impetuous and unyielding nature ; that, though he was guilty of no professional wrong, and the arrest, in the outset, of his client for perjury was really an outrage, and the abuse of himself cruel and unjust, yet all those who -^ere engaged in it were sincere, and really believed the law had been violated ; that, though fully sustained by the courts, though gratified by the publication of his successes in the journals of the day, all this would have been just as full and pleasing had he omitted to throw into the cup of his triumphs the bitter dregs of continued contest and fierce opposition. The full and complete triumph which he obtained in the replevin suit against Newberry and Goodell, and the suit against Newberry by Gil lett, for malicious prosecution, not only solaCed his feelings, but gave hira at once a standing as a talented and resolute lawyer. His argu ments in these causes were masterly and learned. That they were never exceeded in research and close analysis by a young man of twenty-two, who had been but twenty-eight months at the bar, is fearlessly affirmed. Especially are his triumphant reply and keen, cutting criticism, his dis posal of the argument that the practice had made the law, his humorous illustrations, in which an imaginary code, springing from such a foun tain, figured conspicuously, worthy of attention and of an insertion here, did not too narrow limits prevent it. That a jury under the charge of a court, to say the least, not unfavorably disposed towards Mr. Newberry, should find that, in the circumstances proven, a man of ordinary intelligence and common prudence would not have followed the advice of the eminent counsel whom he employed, capped the climax of Mr, Emmons' triumph. The professional rise of Mr. E. was rapid almost beyond precedent. H. H, EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 466 When he arrived in Michigan he had been but just admitted to the bar had never argued a question of law to a court in banc, in his life, and was wholly unacquainted with the laws and practice of the new state in which he was settled. The reports of the state and the records of the courts both state and federal, will show, that within the very first year of his arrival he stood forward among the largest, and especially the most suc cessful, practitioners in the state. In 1840, '41, '42, and '43, no firm in the state tried more causes than his own ; and when their attractive ness, the large amounts recovered, the questions involved, and the learn ing displayed in their conduct are considered, it may thus early be said ¦ of him that, within three years after his admission, so far as the amount and character of his business and the mode of its conduct were concerned, even then he had no superior. That his reputation had then equaled that of many of the old territorial lawyers, of course cannot be said. This was being earned, and has now been most abundantly accorded. ¦ And this peculiarity attended his early practice : the most important matters were confidently submitted to his sole management and argu ment, without counsel, in opposition to lawyers of twenty-five and thirty years' standing. In no one instance was this confidence regretted. In the second and third years of his practice he received very many consul tation fees, and thus early furnished many a brief frora which others argued in court. That this is unusual, need not be said to lawyers who have plodded for twenty years before they have commanded large coun sel fees. Nor was it owing to the want of opposition, to absence of old, experienced, and learned counselors located and in active practice in the same city. The Hon. William Woodbridge, since governor of the state, and United States senator, was there then, and frequently acted as coun sel ; Hon. Daniel Goodwin, long United States District Attorney, judge of the Supreme Court of the state, and now a judge of the Upper Penin sula, an old, able, and powerful lawyer, was in full practice ; Alexan der D. Frazer, Esq,, a laborious lawyer of forty years' extensive read ing, was then, as now, ever ready for retainers, and he ranks among the ablest professional men in the northwest. His law library is proba bly more extensive than any other private one west of Albany, unless it be equaled by that of Mr. E, ; the Hon. B. F. C. Withereil, H. J. Backus, Esq., Hon, A, S, Porter, since a United States senator, and many others, together with a long list of younger men, well established and in good practice when Mr. E. arrived in the city, gave the Detroit bar a legal force, brilliancy and talent, which equaled that of any city of its numbers. For a young man just past his majority, with no legal experience, an entire stranger, without money or influential friends, in the midst of an extraordinary, and, as was sometimes thought, over cruel opposition, to step at once into the highest rank of such a profes sional circle, without waiting for a moment to learn the discipline, and become familiar with the lower, is the most conclusive evidence of de cided ability, and devotion to the means of success. Rise in such cir cumstances must be substantial and merited. It was secured in this in stance by laboriously-prepared, clearly-reasoned, and well-delivered arguments. It depended on no fortuitous circumstances. By his talent, industry, fidelity, and zeal, he won success in the face of a fierce and violent opposition. 30 466 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. Even in his best cases he seemed never relieved from labor in tbe slightest degree by the oldest or most able counsel. But every point was studied by himself Having submitted his plan of trial to his as sociate he adopted and transferred to his own memoranda any sugges tions he deemed an improvement. But he never sat down before a jury compelled to say, " About this part or that department of the cause I know nothing and leave it to my counsel," He made it all his own and went forward in the case accordingly. The following anecdote will illustrate the early age at which he took responsibility upon himself and went forward in the most important causes. Among his earliest cases of considerable consequence, and very soon after his admission, was that of Hale and Hale vs. the ship Mil waukie, (reported in error in I Douglass, Mich., p. — ,) and which had been instituted by Mr,' Emmons in the face of a decision made at Buf falo, in the State of New- York, against other parties claiming for goods lost by the same casualty. The whole history of the case is novel and interesting, but I feel at liberty here to occupy room by the insertion of those particulars only more immediately connected with the main incident I wish to introduce. On a former trial the evidence of the master and crew had readily relieved from all responsibility the owners of the ship. This evidence could readily be contradicted by abundant proof, and there was there fore reason to expect an entirely different relation of circumstances from the same witnesses now. The substance of the story Mr, Em mons by correspondence had obtained second-hand from others, but the only man who had recorded it, or who could furnish a copy of it, was the counsel of the defendants who tried the cause in which it was given. To withhold it of course was their duty. One man alone could be procured who would assume to swear to the captain's former testi mony, and he, though a respectable witness, was an entu'e stranger to the jury and was a party somewhat interested in the question at issue. The plaintiff rested, after making out the usual prima facie case against the vessel attached, when the master and his sailors, one after the other, took the stand, and swore to courses run, to a state of weather, the con dition and capacity of the ship, and the conduct of the seamen, entirely different from the Buffalo statements. It seemed to all that the defence was clear. The plaintiff's counsel had fully interrogated the defen dant's witnesses as to their former statements and evidence, but, they having been informed that the plaintiff coul'd make no proof whatever of their former oaths, all. with unblushing boldness and flippancy, was denied. The plaintiff's only witness, a plain, intelligent man, who clear ly and positively rehearsed their former testimony, stated that as an in terested party he was present, remembered it distinctly and could not be mistaken. He was, however, boldly sworn down by the captain and seamen. At this point the court adjourned for the evening; the coun sel associated with Mr, Emmons asked the clerk to suffer him to take home certain depositions, which, as he supposed, he received in a court envelop from the hands of the proper officer. On reaching home he found, instead of the court files, the clerk had put up the copies of the depositions furnished to one of the counsel for the defendants. Per ceiving at first nothing private in their nature, and that they were copies H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 467 of what was wanted, he commenced their perusal and soon came to a paper headed, " Copy of Dickson's testimony taken at Buffalo." For tune had thus, at that late stage of the trial, placed in the hands of plain tiff's counsel the long-sought evidence. The paper was immediately taken to Mr. Emmons' office, and in his absence a copy made and laid upon his table, leaving to him the responsibility of using it thus ob tained. The depositions were then re-inserted in the court envelop and returned to the clerk, and again came into the possession of the court with out any knowledge that they had been seen by any one. The matter was discussed in the morning, and Mr. Emmons, learning that no fraud had been used in obtaining it, declared that he would not only willingly assume the responsibility of its use, but should esteem it a flagrant cowardice and breach of duty thus to suffer a corrupt witness to escape and sacrifice his client's interest, when to prevent it nothing need be done but to read, copy and use a paper which belonged to the oppos ing party, but which, upon no principle of morality or enlightened prac tice, could be withheld for the protection of known perjury, if such had been committed. The testimony thus obtained agreed minutely with that given by the plaintiff's witness, and still farther and more essen tially contradicted the defendant's witnesses on the present trial. The whole day was adroitly spent in collateral points, when towards even ing the main witness of defendant was recalled by the plaintiff under permission of the court for further cross-examination. Mr. Emmons produced a chart containing a projection of the courses and distances then sworn to by the witnesses, showing that they led many miles away into the woods of Wisconsin, and after sufficiently confusing them in an unavailable attempt to re-adjust their story and make it consis tent with any plausible hypothesis, he suddenly called for the chart, and walking up toward the witness, said, " Captain Dixon, it is but fair that I should at last inform you that I have a copy full and complete of your Buffalo testimony ; that I know you have read it since it was taken down — have assented to its truth within a very recent period. Listen, while I read the first sentences of your testimony then given, and answer upon your oath whether you so swore." He then read the first portion, and the witness in great trepidation remained silently looking upon his counsel. Mr. Emmons, without insisting upon an answer, proceeded through the whole paper, submitting each sentence and subject in a distinct question, without eliciting any other reply from the -witness than that to some portions of it he thought he did not pre cisely so state. Impliedly all was conceded ; still, the witness had not in terms admitted its truth. The plaintiff had no means of proving it was a copy further than finding it among the papers of the defendant's counsel so labeled, and this proof of doubtful efficacy the associate of Mr. Em mons, in the circumstances of its procuration, was unwilling to submit at all. In this dilemma, the plan was to let it all pass off with a flourish of contempt, to rely upon the witness's silence and confusion, rather than goad him up to a denial of its authenticity, for which they really believed him sufficiently bold. In preparing for this course, and to dis miss the witness from the stand under the most impressive circum stances, and more especially to inform in some way the jury of the fact, Mr. Emmons, -who frequently keeps up a running comment with his 468 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. witness, on cross-examination, with great deliberation and emphasis, re marked, that the paper he held in his hand was an exact copy from that then actually held in the hand of the defendant's own counsel. No sooner had these words fell from his lips than the counsel of defendant, excited beyond all control, and taking it for granted his own clerks had betrayed hira, or that his paper had been stolen, sprung to his feet, and in language somewhat extravagant asserted that he had no such original. The denial was full and distinct, but beyond all doubt what the eminent and unimpeachable counsel who made it did not intend to say, and what he was hardly conscious of his saying at all. Indeed, his succeeding ac cusations and concessions evinced that he did not suppose he had made such denial. Still it was promptly seized on by Mr. Emmons. He arrested the onset of his opponent at this first issue, whether he had such a paper. He would not proceed to the settlement of other mat ters till the decided advantage given him by this unlucky, and as he after the trial said, he had no doubt entirely involuntary denial, was fully employed before the jury with its full effect. The scene which ensued is indescribable. The witness, in confusion on the stand ; the jury all on their feet, staring with wonder at the devel opments of the chart, and amazed at the hardihood which stood so clearly and instantaneously developed, and which had seemingly stood impregnable the test of five days' siege ; the extraordinary spectacle at the bar of high words, and hard accusations, every one seemingly forgetting the cause, the proprieties of the court and the respecfrdue to each other, until when the scene was over it was discovered that the court had actually adjourned de facto, without having gone through the forms of such a proceeding. I said all had seemed to forget the cause. There was one who, though but just admitted to practice, then engaged almost in his first important case, did not for an instant forget the issue or the jury. It is for the exemplification of this so early developed characteristic that we insert this anecdote. In the midst of, I had al most said the tumult, for it nearly approached one, Mr. Emmons, turn ing from his antagonist, and then summoning his clerks and the as sociates of his opponent to declare the fact that the original of what he had read was then existing in the bundle of his adversary, appealed to the jury in the most solemn and energetic manner not to suffer their minds to be for a moment distracted from the guilty cause of all which had happened, as he considered the course of the counsel so complete a confession of everything they desired to show, he deemed it wholly un necessary to keep him longer on the stand as a witness. When it was discovered that the judge was gone, the jury sepa rated, the clerk's desk locked, and the bar filled with the bystanders, it was quite naturally concluded that they were no longer in court; and, though somewhat less excited, a more minute and deliberate inquiry and discussion of the mysterious procuration of the copy commenced. Here Mr, D. necessarily left his counsel, through whose agency it had been obtained, to his own explanations, if any he saw fit to give. This was very imperfectly done, and the result was, its procuration was pro nounced dishonorable, and the most severe epithets were applied to counsel, which the gentleman concerned but feebly parried. The jury were still present, and it seemed to Mr. E. that the current was actually H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 469 being turned and setting in against his cause, and that more odium was about to rest upon the mode of procuring the copy than upon the false hood and corruption which its production developed. He had started to leave the court-room, when this state of things arrested his atten tion. He hastily returned, laid down his books, and, after assum ing fully the responsibility of everything which had been done, with great earnestness and even vehemence, he reviewed the whole testimo ny of the captain, commented upon the fact of withholding the paper, and suffering him to swear when it must have been known he was swearing falsely, the guilt of trying now in the presence of the jury to arrest attention frora this, by magnifying a petty discourtesy into a great offence — one, he said, happening in circumstances which demanded the dashing in pieces of ten thousand such laws — and was at great length, and with a violence which defied all interruption, proceeding to rear a methodical justification for the act, interwoven with an equally convinc ing statement about his former correspondence to procure the copy, and the secretion of this one, until the attorney of record, on the other side, appealed to hira to desist, as the jury were present. To this he said he would yield, and was sorry it had not occurred to hira to address it to his own counsel immediately upon the adjournment of the court. The old and eminent counsel engaged with Mr. E., and for the de fence, met the following morning, and agreed upon a statement to be made in court, which would reconcile, consistently with the honor of each, the procuration of the paper by the one and the denial by the other, and Mr, E. was informed of what was deemed by all parties an eminently happy adjustment of so severe and violent a difficulty. To their mutual surprise the young attorney, wholly blind to personal conse quences, and intent only on securing in the minds of the jury every fact demanded by his long and laborious legal brief, rejected promptly the arrangement. He demanded that the matter should be left where the last evening he had placed it, without one word or comment other than to say, in the most general terms, that each acquitted the other of any dishonorable motive ; or the entire facts, just as they occurred, should be open to the use of each before the jury, with all the license* which the court should deem proper to tolerate ; or a statement imraediately drawn by hiraself, which impliedly conceded ihe main fact he wished lo establish, must be adopted. No argument could move him from this po sition. The counsel yielded, and the cause proceeded with a concession, as it untimately' turned out, of what the plaintiff could not otherwise have proved. Considering the age, experience and eminence of the counsel concerned, the youth and short standing at the bar of Mr. E,, his resolute and persevering course was as extraordinary as it was suc cessful. The following is given as an instance of the bold character of his strategy and his masterly conduct of jury causes. A man of respectability was on trial for perjury, for swearing falsely in relation to the confessions of two of the defendants in one of the far mous Michigan slave cases. The case of Timberlake, the owner of the slaves, against Osborn and others, had been once tried, and the jury had disagreed, differing, it was believed, mainly upon the credence to be given to the testimony of the person whom they had now procured 470 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. to be indicted. A case of great intricacy and interest is seldom tried. The original causes had been the subject of resolves in the Kentucky legislature, and of notice in the halls of Congress. Poli tics had freely mingled in the contest, and every element of excitement and stimulant to energy combined to add vigor and determination to the prosecution. The government was eminently successful, so far as lit^pral testimony went, not only in contradicting the oath of the prison er, pointedly and fully, but also on proving that neither of the parties to whom the admissions were imputed had any opportunity to make them, and hence that they were impossible. To read the bare oaths of the witness for the prosecution it would seem there was no escape for the prisoner. It was perceived that the whole defence rested entirely upon shaking the credulity of the government witnesses by cross-examination, for direct impeachment was impossible. They were all Quakers of the strict est sect, and of gbod standing in the order. We must pass over the mas terly cross-examination of old Mr, Osborn, which so shook its strength as to leave it of little value in the cause. The great reliance of the gov ernment came at last to be upon the testimony of the son. He was called first to prove what the person actually swore to on the former trial, and then to contradict it by denying, under oath, that he ever made the confessions imputed to him by the oath. Owing td certain con cessions of legal principles on a former argument, rather unguardedly made by the learned counsel for the government, Mr. E. submitted several objections to the competency of this witness growing out of the first portions of his evidence. It is unnecessary to particularize them, but such was the extraordinary character of the witness's sudden alterations of his evidence, to avoid the objections of Mr. E., that he not only lost all confidence in his integrity, but perceiving his readiness to accommo date his statements to the supposed necessities of the case, he instantly conceived one of the boldest schemes to overthrow a dishonest man ever witnessed in a court of justice. In order that the almost miracu lous success of the following stratagem may be appreciated, let it be re membered that Mr. Howard, the counsel for the government, drew the indictment ;¦ that the portion upon which the scheme was based had been a dozen times read during the trial. Counsel, judge, witness and jury were all familiar with it, Mr. E, turned to the attorney with whom he was associated, and said, " Don't interrupt me, no matter what extraordinary thing I say ; I have no time to explain ;" and suffer ing the witness to proceed for a few moments, he suddenly rose, took the indictment from the table, and again objected that the witness should not proceed further, as his whole evidence was entirely at war with the oath set forth in the record. He commenced with great vehe mence and apparent excitement, as every one supposed, reading from the indictment, accompanying his seeming quotations with all proper inuendoes and formal statements. Such was the almost mesmeric in fluence of Mr. E.'s violence — at one time talking to the court, then ex postulating with the witness — that no one discovered that the recitation of Mr, E, varied most materially from the oath set out in the indictment. In order to affect the mind of the witness, and impress him with the importance of the testimony, he remarked that the liberty of his client rested upon the success of this one objection. He therefore insisted that H. H. EMMONS, OP MICHIGAN. 471 unless the witness could say that he reraembered clearly and positively that the prisoner swore literally just as he (Mr. E.) had read the oath from the indictment, that he should not be suffered longer to put in be fore the jury a mass of uncertain and irrelevant evidence. Here, as if overcome by his own violence, he paused a moment, and, assuming a more subdued and mild demeanor, said, that excited as he had appeared, he did not, after all, wish anything more than that the witness should, in the first instance, keep his mind on the precise facts to be sworn to, and, without putting the learned counsel to a reply, or the court to a decision, he would temporarily withdraw his objection, to see if the wit ness, after all, could, without being led by the counsel for the govern ment, state that he now remembered the oath of the prisoner as he had read it in his hearing. With eager readiness the meek thee-and-thou man affirmed that he did most positively and clearly remember such was the oath of the prisoner. Of course, such was not the oath set out in the indictment, or sworn to by the other witnesses for the govern ment. The witness was completely and hopelessly trapped by his own dishonest eagerness. By a series of objections, admissions of facts, and concessions of law, in relation to what further they wished to show in relation to the former evidence of the prisoner, he continued to bear off for the time all attention from the record as it really was. On cross- examination, the witness was asked if he had always so remembered the evidence ; if he had so stated to the counsel for the government before the trial ; if, when Mr. H. read him the indictment the night before, he recognized the oath, as there set out, without prompting or leading, and a series of similar questions, which will readily suggest themselves to the mind ; to all of which, with great readiness, the witness answered in the affirmative. He said that he had always so remembered it, using various forms of strong expression to impress the jury with the clear ness of his memory ; until when, in the final summing up, it was shown that the indictment had been misread, and the witness swearing to false hoods by the wholesale. There was no attempt whatever to protect him by the prosecuting attorney. He was abandohed as the victim of his own eagerness, and one of the most bold, masterly conducted, and almost incredible stratagems ever witnessed in court. The only conso lation the attorney for the government had, was to condemn, in severe terms, the practice by which his witness had been tempted and de stroyed. The jury stood nine for acquittal and three for conviction. Though upon those technical rules upon which the weight of evidence depends the prisoner should have been acquitted, yet there was, after all, in the successful indirect impeachment of the witnesses of the governraent, an inherent improbability in the prisoner's oath which stung his defence to the quick, and by which, but for the extraordinary course which stripped of all legal force the testimony against him, he must inevitably have been convicted. The case has never been tried again, and in all proba bility never will be. The peculiar structure of the indictment and the course of the cause — certain accidental occurrences which, by a strange and unusual combina tion, suggested the possibility of such an achievement to Mr. E,, are too complicated, and give too tedious a detail for insertion. That they 472 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. should have been thus suddenly seized, and instantaneously woven with so deceptive and successful a delusion as to lead astray a whole jury, t-wo learned opposing counsel, a really able, old, and experienced judge, and a witness who came fully trained upon the stand, first from a care ful reading of the indictment as it actually was, proves the possession of personal power, and an ability instantaneously to seize upon the ac cidents of a trial, and wield them to a client's advantage, which few men possess in the same degree. In the early part of the trial of a case of much pecuniary importance and general interest, some warm words fell from the plaintiff's counsel. Mr. E, was highly excited, but, as in later years he has eminently suc ceeded in doing, continued to resist its manifestation. He resolved, however, to reward, during the trial, his professional opponent, who, though a man of high standing at the bar, a powerful advocate, of high literary attainments and general powers, was but ill matched with Mr. E. in the trial of a long, technical, and difficult cause. He hit upon a plan, novel indeed, in which to effect the punishment of his opponent — one which never could have occurred to a man not more than ordinarily familiar with all the rules of evidence, the whole law applicable to the case on trial, and the practice of the court. Having discovered from the course thus far of his opponent that he entirely misconceived several important rules of evidence, and in one respect the general law of the case, he deemed it almost certain that he might suffer hira to go through his cause, and so far as Mr. E, pleased he could put in his own defence, and that he could then, upon merely technical grounds, quite aside from the merits, compel him to submit to a nonsuit after he had summed up to the jury. In ordinary cases such a victory would be profitless, as another action might be brought ; but in this case the defence was but half prepared, some of the jury were suspected, and Mr. E. felt fully authorized to obtain the permission of his client to the course he adopted, by which he would hear fully the plaintiff's case, go far enough to call out his argument before the jury, and then nonsuit him. To do this in the manner most mortifying to his opponent was the object. He also resolved to obtain against him as great a number of rulings as possible on questions arising during the trial, and then, in one well-arranged digest of errors, present all in a series to the court and jury. This somewhat laborious and novel plan he most triumphantly executed. The trial lasted some ten days, during which, by frequently making an offer to prove certain facts in a doubtful and hesitating mode, he elicited an objection from his adversary which was promptly overruled by the court. These ran up to twenty-seven in number. Although the plan was to suffer plaintiffs' counsel to sum up fully, and then to follow him with a severe expose of his want of technical learning, the cause had lasted so long, and Mr. Eraraons' engagements positively demanded hira elsewhere, that after suffering a part of the speech of plaintiff's counsel to be delivered, the first distant allusion he made to the amount to be recovered, Mr. Emmoris called hira to order upon the ground that there was no evidence of the amount of damages competent for the con sideration of the jury. The learned judge readily ruled, on having his attention drawn to the law applicable to the case, that out of some H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 473 $6,000 claimed, there was only the inconsiderable sum cf about sixty dollars so proven, that he could suffer in relation to it any comment to the jury. This was the raore mortifying to counsel, as he perceived at once that it was all along designed by Mr. Emmons. He remembered that the subject had been with apparent indifference passed by the defence, subjecf to such objections as they chose before the close of the case to make. He had most injudiciously passed on in his cause, over confident in himself, and regardless of his experienced and adroit adver sary. The court was asked for a few hours' adjournment, in order that the plaintiff's counsel might elect what course to pursue, as the objection was unexpected a,nd therefore unprepared for. Mr, Emmons, with provok ing and most complacent liberality, seconded his opponent's request, assuring the court that this one passed, other impediments still more difficult lay in the plaintiff's pathway to a verdict. The plaintiff at the adjourned hour came into court and submitted to a nonsuit. Another suit for the same cause was never commenced, and the re sult was a defence of his client from a large and really dangerous claim. The rebuke was probably as mortifying and complete as ever an offended lawyer gave another. It was, too, administered in a way of which there could be no complaint without a pre-admission of profes sional inferiority. Such an one was not likely to be put forth. He was once retained as counsel to defend a cause of great local ¦interest, prosecuted by the administrators of one deceased brother against the estate of another. The plaintiff's estate was very wealthy, that of defendant barely sufficient to sustain with comfort the wido^w, and give small portions to a numerous family of children. The suit was upon a note of some $6,000, the payment upon which would sweep the entire property of the defending faraily. The defence which had theretofore been relied upon, was that the consideration of the note was fraudulent, in that the elder and more wealthy brother, who first came from Scotland to this country, had sent word to the intestate of the de fendant, that if he would come to America and settle, he would buy him a farra. This it was contended made the elder brother an agent, and that he was in the law bound to give the other the farra at the same price for which he purchased it, and inasmuch as he had included in this note several thousand dollars of profit it was to this extent void, being a gain made by the agent out of his principal's con tract, Mr, Emmons saw at a glance the fallacy of such a defence. It was an agency, if any, concerning real estate. No money was advanced by his client's intestate, no promise was made to take the farm when bought, or the slightest evidence that the land in question was bought for the purpose of this particular sale. All the great leading elements of a legal agency were wanting. There was beside no certainty that they could make it appear that the price of the farm constituted a part of the consideration of the note, which bore date years after the sale. At best it was to be left to the jury upon circumstantial evidence. The unconscionable price moreover for which the farm sold was perhaps quite as much dependent upon the temporary mania as to the price of real estate, as to any really hard-hearted overreaching on 474 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. the part of the elder and wealthy brother. And although the enforce ment of the claim would have been hard and even cruelly unjust, and the case was one calculated not only to justify but to stimulate to the utmost the energy of a lawyer in saving all he possibly could for his client, still it fell so far short of a legal fraud, either at law or in equity, that Mr. Emmons knew well the learning and experience of his Honor Judge Whipple, before whom the cause was tried, would beyond doubt discover the weakness of the defence, and in leaving the cause to the jury tell them the plaintiff was entitled to recover. In these circurastances he saw the only hope ultiraately for his client consisted in a settlement. To effect this advantageously was the sole object of his exertions. He took to his hotel the eldest son of his widowed client, a young man of integrity and real intelligence, and fully explaining to him the fallacy and hopelessness of the pretended defence, obtained from him such terms as the family would consider just and satisfactory for a compromise. He instructed him to make no commu nication to any one, to be in constant attendance with his witnesses that the cause would proceed with all possible energy and apparent confidence of success, but that the first favorable opportunity would be seized to secure a settlement upon the best terras which could be pro cured. The occasion watched for by Mr, Eramons was one of those temporary flashes of triumph on the one side, and dejection on the other, which so frequently attend the trial of long and spiritedly con tested causes when the respective legal rights are not thoroughly and definitely understood. Fortune threw into the cause the precise inci dent he wanted. To the successful accomplishraent of Mr, Eramons' plan he deemed it of great importance to secure the right to begin and close the case to the jury. This he did by admitting a prima facie cause of action for the plaintiff, assuming the burden of showing the note was fraudulent and void. His application for this privilege was entirely novel at that time at the Oakland bar, and the raotion was therefore received with much mirth and ridicule by the plaintiff's attorney and counsel, and when readily granted by the learned presiding judge, they were corres pondingly disappointed. This, as he anticipated, greatly aided his hope of a compromise, and he proceeded to make the most of the advantage thus obtained. A careful and guarded opening was made, in which the details of the evidence to show agency were wholly omitted, but abun dant citations of books and authorities, to show that it was a fraud for an agent to speculate upon the contract of his principal, were read and commented on at length. That there was an agency was adroitly as sumed, and proceeding at once to the only point at which it was con ceded any difficulty was anticipated, that of proving that the note in question was really given in part payment for the land— the facts and circurastances from which this was to appear were fully explained in ad vance. The effort was so happy on the jury and bystanders, and it was believed, upon the court and opposing party, that "Mr, Emmons at one time believed this eariy stage in the cause sufficiently propitious to warrant his attempt at settlement. An accidental difficulty between the parties however prevented his efforts then, and the defence proceeded in the usual manner. It gave rise to numerous questions of competency H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 475 and relevancy, in which Mr. Emmons was careful in the extreme not to get a ruling against himself; yielding every thing of doubt, and when he possibly could, inviting an objection from his opponents when he was sure it would be overruled. The papers of the estate had never been examined by the defendant's attorneys. Among them Mr. Em mons caused a faithful examination to be made, as the cause progressed, until, in the evening of the fourth day, and after a great number of wit nesses had been sworn, to prove the consideration of the note, a written settlement, signed by the parties, and showing beyond all controversy the very fact they had been laboring by so many witnesses to establish, was discovered. It was found at a fortunate tirae, when a long and spirited argument was going on in relation to the competency of some offered evidence. The next morning this argument was suffered for some time to proceed, that the audience might collect, the excitement of the opposing counsel to come again up to its maximum, when Mr. Emmons, as if he had been unwillingly detained, came hastening into court with a paper in his hand, and begged his associate counsel, who was addressing the court, to yield him the floor for a moment. This, of course, as had been arranged, was readily done. Mr. Emmons then re marked that they owed an apology to the court and jury for the days they had uselessly spent in endeavoring to defend against an unjust claim, by such tedious and indirect modes as their ignorance of their own cause compelled them to adopt. He was now happy to inform them that the cause would soon close on their part ; that they had at length found amongst the papers of the estate the written admission of the plaintiff's intestate of the very fact which had been for so many days denied before the jury ; he therefore withdrew the offered evidence to which his opponents were objecting, and all the other evidence in the case which the plaintiffs did not desire should remain before the jury. The paper which he held in his hand was all the defendants needed to secure a verdict. This announcement was received with sensible manifesta tions of good-will in the crowded auditory. He' suggested, as the case had taken so sudden a turn, as the defendants were so unexpectedly re lieved from several days' farther examination of witnesses upon this con tested point, that the court take a recess for an hour that the defence might conclude what additional proofs it was necessary to put in ; that to proceed then would quite probably but use the time of the court in that which with sorae reflection raight be deemed unnecessary. To this there was no objection, as the other party seemed really annoyed and surprised by the sudden production of the paper. Without sitting down, and before adjournment, Mr. Emmons took the plaintiff by the arm, and walking down the centre aisle to the far end of the court room, in a tone of high confidence and decision, said to him : " You know I am the counsel of the defendants, and I want you to make no reply to what I say, but desire simply that you will report it to your counsel, as you will of course follow their advice. I am instructed by my client to say that she desires this controversy to be settled wholly irre spective of any legal advantage which might be obtained on the trial of this cause. I am authorized now, notwithstanding the certainty of our defence, to offer a compromise, leaving to the estimate of indifferent men the true value of the farm when her husband bought it. What is due 476 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. shall be iramediately paid in land by appraisement." The plaintiff readily replied that he knew his own business, did not want to see his counsel, that he had never been asked to settle until now, and was_ ready at once to close with the offer. Mr. Emmons refused to consider it s'ettled till approbated by the plaintiff's counsel. This was but a mat ter of forra, for before the forras of the adjournraent were concluded the settlement was acceded to by all the counsel, and the court by both par ties asked to adjourn till after dinner. At that time the account had been settled, the deeds executed, and whether substantially or formally only, the writer knows not, but the large families of contending cousins had shaken hands in token of reconciliation. The defendants were saved a handsome fortune, and the plaintiff got all which in justice was due, or which they in mercy could have taken. It is evident that with great legal experience opposed to him, such a plan could not have been executed, but the opponents of Mr. Emmons though never of large practice, were esteemed good lawyers ; indeed, leaders in their county. The judge upon the bench was learned and experienced, and the successful accomplishment of such a plan evinces a high degree of talent and address, as well as legal acuteness and in dustry, on the part of counsel. The skill consisted in adroitly keeping back out of the way of discussion the really weak points in his case, and offering a settlement in the only moment when perhaps it would have been accepted. Fortunate accidents sometimes occur which much resemble this arrangement. But this was all arranged and fully antici pated, and had not this lucky paper turned up, a complicated, and what we venture to say a successful plan had been arranged to produce on the following day similar results. Instances of equal interest and success could be multiplied from the extensive trial lists of Mr. Eramons. These are given only as a sam ple of the energy, the devotion and force -with which he tries a cause. When on the defence, judges are many times annoyed by the clear ness with which an error appears in the bill of exceptions, which they would by no means have coraraitted had the matter been as fully de veloped on trial as it is made to appear in the record. Many times it will appear that a far better defence can be made on another trial, and his success in suffering a verdict subject to fatal exceptions is unparal leled. In such an experiment he never failed. The stamp of authority has no influence on the judgment or the fear less expression of Mr. Eramons' opinions. The following is but one instance out. of hundreds illustrative of his criticisms. In 1842, the Supreme Court of the United States adopted rules for practice in equity for the several circuit courts under an act of Congress. Soon after some questions arose under them in the Michigan circuit. Mr. Emmons took occasion to criticise them with the greatest severity. He analyzed and showed the absurdity of several rules which subse quent experience has compelled the court which so injudiciously adopted thera to repeal. About this tirae the Supreme Court of the state ap pointed a committee to adopt rules for practice in equity, and the com mittee reported and the court adopted several of the innovations from the rules of the United States courts. Mr. Errimons, without consulta tion with any one, or giving any intimation of'his rather novel motion, H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN, 477 moved the court in banc, for an order appointing a new committee which should point out the objects to be obtained and the evils to be remedied by the new rules ; that all was incomprehensible to the bar except their annoyance and inconvenience. Some gentlemen of the bar most promptly and patronizingly replied that they were taken, word for word, from the rules of the Supreme Court of the United States, assuming that the high source of their origin would be a most satisfactory as surance of their propriety. "Yes," said Mr. Emmons, " I was aware they had a similar absurdity in that court, and have long experienced the vexatious inconveniencies of complying with their requirements. That we have fellow-sufferers in other courts by no means inclines me to withdraw my motion. I would still press for the committee, if it pleases your honors." The rules, it seems, had already attracted the at tention of the learned judges at the circuits, and the chief justice good naturedly replied that the court would appoint Mr. Emmons sole com mittee, of which he would of course be chairman, to draft an order re scinding the rules complained of In the early practice of Mr. Emmons, he obtained a very large num ber of criminal defences, and among the number was that of a somewhat celebrated offender who for many years sustained a high reputation in his county and managed large amounts of property with great apparent prosperity and business success. But he was arrested successively for arson, smuggling, forgery , bribing jurors, assault and battery, with intent to commit rape, for stealing and harboring felons and receiving stolen horses, and was almost universally considered as one of the leaders of a desperate band of offenders, who terrified by their depredations the whole community. This man, when his standing was generally good, retained Mr. Eraraons in his defence. He was considered by raost men then, and especially by his counsel, a persecuted man. His defence in many successive trials was successful. But other arrests and indict ments still followed, and though by a series of the most pains-taking and adroit defences, he was cleared upon some six or eight different trials, and actually recovered verdicts against leading citizens who had published him as a dangerous man and a villain, still so clear at last did his guilt in some matters appear to Mr. Eramons, and so repugnant to his better feelings were these efficient and zealous labors for' those whom he more than suspected, and knowing that he could do nothing by halves, he resolved wholly to abandon the defence of criminals. He found the name of his firm upon the defence of every indictment which stood for trial in the criminal court but two, during a long and active term. He had it stricken from every case but one, and from that time to this he has not appeared as attorney in a single criminal case, and but in three or four instances has he acted as counsel. His explanation is that the ardor of his temperament and the habits of his professional life were constantly urging him up to, if not over, what he deemed the line of duty in favor of a criminal. Believing there were enough, who from choice would defend all who deserved it, he did not deem it a duty to continue a practice which was distasteful. This sudden and marked abandonment of a large and lucrative branch of business we deem high evidence of a nice sense of honor and love of principle. In 1843 Mr. E. was left alone in business by the death of his father, 478 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. and he continued thus to practice until his present accomplished partner, Joseph A. Van Dyke, Esq., offered him, in 1844, a connection, which, owing to his growing taste for study, and dislike of the details of busi ness, he accepted. The result of this connection was to remove Mr. E. somewhat from the ordinary litigations in court. The union of his o'wn large, miscellaneous business with that of Mr. V. D., threw into his hands a mass of chancery practice and business in the higher courts, which from that time forward has kept him constantly in his library, and compelled hira to devote his entire time to professional study. His part ner being a successful jury advocate, of great shrewdness, and a good lawyer, all the ordinary trials, when clients did not insist upon the pre sence of Mr. E,, were conducted by the former. The legal investiga tions, however, if difficult and doubtful, were made by Mr. E. It was quite common for him to seat himself at the trial, listen to his partner's opening, the cross-examination of the first witness by the opposing coun sel, or hear the plaintiff's opening, if his firm was on the defensive, and when he had ascertained that it was highly probable the true points in the case had been fully anticipated, and that his partner was in posses sion of thera all, return to the pursuit of those extensive and exhausting investigations in which for the last eight years he has been constantly engaged. At the bar of the circuit and before juries, therefore, he has been seen far less than his showy and active partner, who, as an advo cate, I think stands at the head of the Michigan bar. It seldom happens that two such raen are united in business as Joseph A. Van Dyke and H. H. Eramons. Together, they seem to embody all the requisites of a masterly, perfect prosecution and defence. If I were obliged to part with either in a great cause, of course the technical learning of Mr. E. could with less safety be spared ; and at the period when he volunta rily withdrew from the more showy departments of jury advocacy, he coramanded a much larger practice there than his partner ; but this, I apprehend, was not owing to the fact that he excelled or even equaled him in mere declamatory powers ; but for the union of high legal attain ments, with powers as an advocate of no ordinary kind, and as a clear, simple, illustrative reasoner, an acute examiner, argus watchful ness of every point in the cause, he was ever signally distinguished. The association of such a man as Mr. Van Dyke, and the absence of all ambition on the part of Mr. E. for fame elsewhere than before the chan cellor, the federal judges, and the court of last resort in his o-wn state, has most materially affected the character of his practice and reputation. The frequent and indeed almost constant efforts of a popular kind, made in his earlier practice, won him high reputation as an advocate and a successful manager. A few years since nearly all the original business of the state was turned into a new tribunal (now fortunately abolished) called the county court, and so fully had Mr. E, withdrawn from the miscellaneous business of his firm, that during its three years' existence he tried but three causes in it. One of these was a very celebrated cause, lasting some thirty-one days in the trial, and raising a question of title to the immense estate held by the Catholic Bishop of Michigan. In the United States Court his jury practice has been more extensive. But it is not as a man of eloquence, of great persuasive powers, or as a man of popular influence, that he is deserving of notice, or his course H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 479 deemed worthy of imitation, but as a lawyer strictly; as a successful reasoner, because he studies and prepares his reasons ; as a man eminently ready in reply, because he is deeply versed in the principles which his opponent has mistaken ; who surprises his adversary by a won derful foresight and far-reaching calculation of effects, not by any extra ordinary natural gift or peculiar conforraation of mind, but by a perfect familiarity with every fact he will himself put in evidence, and, far oftener than the contrary, by being more familiar with what his oppo nent's testimony will legally sustain than that opponent himself Mr. E. rejects the idea of genius for the profession, and claims that the great line of distinction is drawn in its ranks by indolence on the one hand, and activity on the other. In the court of last resort of the state, Mr. E. has delivered a long list of masterly arguments. They are never superficial — such an argument he never made. When asked to aid in discussions involving principles with which he is not familiar, his reply is, he does not Jike lecturing be fore an audience knowing just as much of the subject as hiraself In deed, without preparation immediately for the occasion, or previous general familiarity with the question, he never speaks in court, unless forced to do so by the accidents of a trial. He never harangues, re peats, or wanders. Though he is minute, and, beyond doubt, sometimes unnecessarily protractive, one moment's time is never spent in discussing irrelevant doctrines. The bench has never to say, " we do not see the application." It is ever clear, and receives at his hands an actual appli cation. The memoranda frora which he speaks is unusually full, having kept up the habits of his early years, to which we have referred. He sometimes offers the bench the choice of a copy of his own full notations, or simply his propositions and authorities. The judges have never been known to choose the latter. Too much labor is saved by an accurate and learned analysis of a long and complicated case, cited to the support of a principle which it only inferentially supports, for any man to reject its aid, and voluntarily assume the labor of examination anew ; and whether the point is positively decided, whether the case shakes some reason only upon which a hostile decision was grounded, or is of still lower power in argument, being merely one whose facts might have jus tified, but in which eminent counsel did not raise the point relied on by his adversary, or whatever use is sought to be made of a citation, that use is, in plain and unmistakable terms, fully declared. It rarely happens , that a case is cited against Mr. E, in an appellate court, or any other where the point has been anticipated, with -vvhieh he is not entirely fami liar. Nor does he ever, as is too frequently the case, affect to recall it from the great storehouse of his general reading, if it has had in reality a recent examination, but, sitting at the bar with his brief of " cases contra" in his hands, adds to his already labored-written review which it contains, such suggestions as the comments of counsel cause to occur. In this list of cases contra are noted all the strongest grounds against himself which he deems tenable from the citations, with replies and re ferences to his brief for the court. Thus armed, he is ever ready in re ply, as it is termed, because ready when he entered court. Mr. E. is not, in the ordinary sense of the terra, a party politician ; and yet the common judgment of his opponents is that he is among the 480 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. most ardent and uncompromising whigs in his state. He never solicits office for himself or others — seeks no prominence or influence in his party. He never attends caucus nominations, or interferes in the man agement of its general affairs ; and yet, when particular issues excite his interest, no man is raore zealous or efficient. He takes the field of pub lic arguraent with the same indefatigable application with which he tries a cause. If he deems particular measures of action expedient they are proposed, forced through,, and consummated, just as he would execute a plan in court, or in the ordinary affairs of life. There is no halting for forms — no awaiting for other meyCs conclusions, approbation, or assist ance ; but the proposition is made, and its execution entered upon with a directness and promptness which show that the scheme has beea ma tured in his own mind before his proposition, and its success generally demonstrates its justness and propriety. And this peculiarity by no means attends his political action alone. In every field of public labor in which he acts at all, the same definite action and directness of princi ple mark his course. A few illustrations out of many will illustrate this striking peculiarity in his political, moral, and benevolent exertions. Sorae few years since, one of those extraordinary and sudden changes from heat to cold which characterize the Michigan winter, and send misery and suffering to the needy and fireless homes of the unclad, ill- sheltered poor, aroused the attention of Mr, E. to their probable condi tion. On retiring for the night to his own well-warmed and corafortable room, he remarked to his wife, that the sudden appearance of such intense cold succeeding many weeks of uninterrupted warm weather could not' but find the needy wholly unprepared for its severity. At that time, no plank roads led into the country, and so nearly impassable, by continu ous rains, had the roads become, that wood, then the sole fuel used in the city, had arisen from $1 75 to $5 and $6 per cord. It was, indeed, entirely beyond the reach of the poor, and they must be relieved promptly, immediately, or actually freeze. It was -just the emergency demanding the prompt energy of the man who assumed the duty of their relief Early the following morning, immediately after a break fast taken before daylight, Mr. E, was on the move. He did not wait for consultation or advice as to the best mode. He resolved forthwith, and within an hour, to have the citizens together, and, in the next, to see the cars in motion distributing fuel to the suffering. The first man he met in the city he accosted thus: "Are you around notifying?" "Notifying what?" replied the citizen. "The meeting at theUnited States court-room, to take measures immediately to distribute wood to the poor," said Mr. E. " It takes place at nine, and, without instant relief, death will, beyond all doubt, occur." "I had not heard of it," replied the citizen, " but will most gladly do what I can." " Very good," said Mr. E, " Suppose you notify those on your street immediately, and hasten all you see along to the court-house." Thus he served the next, and each succeeding man he met, engaging, in the work of notifica tion and in spreading the excitement, (for such it really became,) every one whom he deemed efficient and earnest. Never, in so short a time, were so great a number of earnest men called together, save by the fire- bell at midnight. The crying necessity of the case touched each man's H, H, EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 481 heart. Mr. E. says, in an hour, he heard twenty times the hearty res ponse, " That's right ; I was just thinking of that myself." The court room was filled to overflowing. Thousands were subscribed in less than an hour, and the immense piles in the wood-yard of the Michigan Central Rail-road were thrown open, at cost price, to the committee of the people. Within less than ninety minutes from the time when the first man was asked if he was " around notifying," proclamation was made, hundreds of poor men, women and children were seen with wood in their arms, issuing from the gates of the company, all eagerly pressing homeward to kindle a fire upon the family hearth. The fund raised was more than double what was needed, and it was invested for future use, and subsequently sent comfort to the homes of many a needy suf ferer. The meeting itself was a mystery. No one knew who called it, and when noticed, as it was most extensively, in the newspapers of the whole country, it was spoken of as the spontaneous gathering of the people of Detroit to relieve the poor. The writer of this knew, about the time of the occurrence, the cause of the gathering, but beyond two or three, none ever knew the origin of the much celebrated "wood donation to the poor." Mr. E. was on no committee. In the published proceedings inserted in the city papers, with all the parade which the great benevolence and extraordinary success of the movement merited, his name in no way appeared. It is but an illustration of his whole life. He has never been known to seek a public place of the most inconsiderable kind. We have said that he was celebrated for the fearless and independ ent stand which, regardless of personal consequences, he so frequently took in relation to public and popular questions. Some years ago, when Irish repeal associations were popular, Mr. E. and a few tempe rance friends started, as an adjunct and aid to their abstinence move ments, a repeal association. It was first small and obscure. It soon, however, attracted the attention of the politicians. It grew to a large popular gathering, when it was useful and common for demagogues to utter sentiments wholly at war with the principles and constitution of the association. Mr. E. appeared there but little after it assumed its more popular form, until, on an occasion of great excitement, the whole Irish population of the city had gathered to pass censure upon the Rev. Dr. Duffield, a learned, widely-known and highly-esteemed Presbyte rian clergyman, who, in one of a series of lectures which he was deliv ering to his congregation against Catholicism, was supposed to have said something derogatory to the character of the Irish nation generally, and the repeal association in particular. The meeting was among the largest and most excited ever convened in the city. The Rev. Catholic bishop of the diocese, and several learned and talented priests, were among the presiding officers of the evening, and numerous inflammatory speeches and denunciatory resolutions had been introduced, when, somewhat late in the evening, Mr. E. came forward, and, in one of the boldest and most masterly arguments to which it has ever been my privilege to listen, defended the right of an American Protestant cler gyman to preach against Catholicism, Irish repeal, temperance, or se cret societies, or whatever he conscientiously believed to be injurious to 31 482 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. the welfare, temporal or eternal, of his fellow-citizens. It would lead to unpardonable prolixity to follow the ingenious argument by which he committed his audience enthusiastically and with repeated plaudits lo certain abstract propositions, beautifully and pathetically illustrated by a simple story which went right to the heart of an Irishman, and which, by an application clear and irresistible, compelled the immense au dience before him, without one dissenting voice, to reject the whole mass of censorious resolutions, and adopt, with acclamation, a mild, courteous resolve, referring to Dr. D., in terms of great respect, accord ing fully the right of discussion and opinion, but simply asserting his mistake of certain facts, and pointing out the pardonable and natural cause of his error. A clergyman present pronounced it the greatest tri umph he ever witnessed over the excitements, the prejudices and pas sions of a public audience. Mr. E. subsequently received the formal thanks of many leading citizens for his fearless and powerful effort. Before it was made, his proposed resolution was read to an Irish friend ; he said to Mr. E,, " You can do much, undoubtedly, with this audience, they will hear from you what they would not from very many ; but I fear you are attempting too much." But the very boldness of the thing controlled those uncultivated but really generous hearts, whose noble impulses might be successfully appealed to a thousand times more frequently than they are, with far greater success and power, than attends the low arts of the demagogue and the flatterer. In the cause of temperance, he has ever been a leading and influential man. His uncompromising stand on this subject has made him some bitter opposers, and given his attitude, in his O'wn city, sometimes a false appearance of unpopularity. No man of his age, however, stands better, raore strongly with the vast majority of the citizens of his city and state. But there are certain noisy classes, the pot-house politicians, and the demagogue leaders, -who have no peculiar attachment to the man who lashes their habits and never courts their good opinion. Mr, E. has for several years frequently spoken in public upon the impolicy of associating the idea of revenue with the sale of ardent spi rits. He was always in favor of a prohibitory law, and claims that the first step towards this was to place the traffic in alcoholic drinks, in the first instance, upon the same basis as all other comraodities. While the state convention, to revise the constitution of Michigan, was in ses sion, nuraerous petitions were presented to the body, praying the adop tion of a clause totally prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits in the state. These were presented to Mr. E, for signature, but deeming the raea sure wholly irapracticable, that so much was asked, that nothing would be obtained, he refused to place his name among the petitioners. To the surprise of the great masses of the people, there was found in the new constitution a prohibition of the entire old-fashioned license sys tem ; the hobby of Mr. E,, as it had been termed, was actually a part of the fundamental law, a constitutional provision of the state. No public meeting had been called, he had not figured as president, or committee man in any public body. The newspapers had not sent his name abroad as a noisy agitator for the doctrine ; and yet it would be idle to impute to any one else, than the only man who ever publicly advocated H. H. EMMONS, OF MICHIGAN. 483 the doctrine before the meeting of the convention, ^fo^yiio corres ponded actively on the subject during its sitting, the 4na«ttaient of the clause. V'\ '-¦•-^-^ - '. The meaning of the provision, the extent of its effect in oit _ _ corporated villages, came before the Supreme Court of the stati^atTh'e January term, 1852, And the court, beside delivering an opinion upon the only really necessary point in the case, at the strong solicitation of counsel, the judges intimated the inclination of their minds on seve ral questions which had been discussed on the argument. The result was a pretty free expression of opinion, both on the bench, and by way of inquiry and explanations also at the bar. Several remarked that the general object of the provision was utterly incomprehensible ; that it opened the sale to all, and so could not have emanated from temperance men; that it prohibited all revenue, and consequently could not have been asked by the tax-payers. It was pronounced the very acme of folly and absurdity. Mr. Emmons, after having patiently listened to all who seemed to have anything to say, rose and said that he would relieve the minds of learned gentlemen from the truly distressing perplexity in which they seemed laboring ; that he could not speak of course for a majority of the convention, but for those who drew the provision and originated its introduction, he could speak with absolute certainty. It was fully anticipated that its first and immediate effect would be an in jurious one, by increasing that which all admitted to be the great lead ing curse of the country, the traffic in alcoholic drinks But it had been found by experience that every application to the legislature for a totally prohibitory law had been defeated by the pot-house politicians, by those little locally great men of the cities and villages, a large portion of whose' petty revenues were derived from the power to regulate inns and groceries. That while the delusion of taxation, the monstrous absurdity of the community being pai^d for the privilege of destroying its members, remained, it was utterly impossible to reach the mayors and aldermen of the cities and the boards of the villages. The loss of the revenue was an unanswerable motive for their action, if not an argument in their mouths ; and after the most careful and solemn deli beration, believing that the very best thing had been done for the ulti» mate good of the state, a few leading and thoughtful friends of temperi. ance concluded it was the best to ask for, and the convention in its liberality and good sense had concluded to insert, a provision which would leave the evils or benefits of selling rum, gin, and brandy naked ly exposed to the judgment of the people. If the public good really required the sale there was no reason under Heaven why a man should pay for the liberty of selling it any more than for that of disposing of bread and of beef. If it were an unmitigated wrong, then it was mon strous to suffer under the sanction of law any mar for money to com mit the crime. It has been thought best to leave the rum traffic to stand or fall by its o^wn merits. The decision of the bench accords exactly with the actual motives of the provision. It was simply to sever the spirit traffic from revenue. "And, gentlemen," said he, turn ing round to the auditory, " the trade and society are before you ; per petuate the former to the injury of the latter just as long as you please, but you can no longer add insult to the infliction by telling us that we 484 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. are paid for our suffering and our shame. My own opinion is, that the insertion of that wise provision is one of the longest strides towards a total prohibition of the spirit traffic which has ever been taken in the State of Michigan. This was the sole motive of those who asked for it. If the provision still appears absurd, at least, gentlemen, its motives will no longer remain mysterious and incomprehensible." But this extended notice must be brought to a close. The great dif ficulty has been to select from the great mass of materials which the active and impulsive life of Mr. Eraraons affords for the writer. Few men are more felt in society. Few have succeeded more extensively in impress ing upon it, and the laws and institutions, judicial, political, moral, and benevolent of his state their own peculiar opinions and theories, and his name nowhere appears. There is but one class of men for the last quarter of a century who figure in American history. The party poli tician, the dominant party politician alone is mentioned. His doings, sayings, and theories are chronicled. He may be but yielding to the mighty influences which bold, energetic reformers have set in action. But enacting into laws the great theories and recommendations which the discussions of the bar and the bench have originated and matured, and his name alone is known beyond the precincts of his state. Gover nor A., Senator B., and Comgressmen C, D. and E,, standing for the time being as the governmental body through which the soul and active impulse of society are manifesting its thoughts and emotions, are heralded abroad as its great men ; while the very life of the state's prosperity, all which gives it intellectual character and sustains its high position as a powerful and prospero'us commonwealth among the nations of the earth; her leading, active, honest and influential professional men, giant commercial managers, find no place in public records or prints. Our newspapers but seldom report a learned, eloquent, and masterly argument at the bar, though it may touch a thousand practical rights which lay close beside the hearthstone, the freehold, and the character. But the most pitiful ebullitions of the political demagogue are hawked about in our party papers as if the salvation of the nation rested upon their perusal. As for fortune, Mr. Emmons has not, and unless he greatly changes his expensive habits, he never will become a very wealthy man. He does not know what economy is when the comfort and enjoyment of his family are concerned. In personal enjoyments aside from his home he expends nothing. But his home is spacious and even elegant. His residence is among the best in the city in which he resides. In the ex tent and elegance of his grounds, the costliness of their decorations, they surpass any in the city and equal any in the state. These things for a young man who twelve years ago started without a dollar, are wholly incompatible with great wealth; still Mr, Emmons is entirely independ ent, has a fortune between thirty and forty thousand dollars. He says he has no desire to leave his wife and little ones with any more than to enable them with economy to live respectably. He does not desire them to be enabled to 'dispense with the one, or in style exceed the modest limits of the other. His style of living is plain and democratic, and his whole family are characterized for sentiments and practices which rebuke the affectations H. H. EMMONS, OP MICHIGAN. 485 of superficial and irrationably fashionable society. They set a whole some example of that practical medium style, that judicious regard for comfort in the midst of abundance, that familiarity with all around them, which so befits a, prosperous American citizen. There are very few to whom the father could point as an example for his son to follow with more safety than to him. When we have said this, the highest praise that can be bestowed upon any man has been given. It would be unjust to close this memoir and the secrets and causes of success but half told, did we withhold one of the chief elements in the happiness and cqnsolations in the progress of Mr, Emmons. The un obtrusive and eminently domestic tastes of his intelligent and beautiful lady would be wounded by more than a general reference to her per fections as a mother and wife. When led to the altar Miss Williams was among the most beautiful women of her state, and a thorough, sound, practical education, high religious principles, and naturally liberal and kind emotions, made her all which the high merits of the man she chose so richly deserved. The happiness of the married life has been wholly without alloy. Even between those bound together by more than ordinary affection there will sometimes creep in little matters of difference to ruffle the temper and show they are mortals. And though no exempfion from the imperfections of the clay is claimed, still it is by no means common for seven years of matrimonial life to pass without one angry word or a single subject of unpleasant difference. Such is the fortunate history thus far of Mr. Emmons and his much respected as well as much loved wife. Nor is this peace around the hearthstone the result of tyranny on the one side and slavish servility on the other. Mrs. Emmons is the uncontrolled and supreme ruler of her house and household. Her checks are answered at the banker's and there is no supervision of accounts. Mr. Emmons insists that nine ladies in ten would be more economical than their husbands if they were made their confidants, trusted with responsibilities, and knew they were looked to and treated as equals and advisers. Should Mr. Emmons regain the health which his too indefatigable labors have now so seriously impaired it cannot be doubted that results will follow his continued activity which, when his whole course is run, will entitle the writer who notices his life to omit all that preliminary justification and apology which was deeraed appropriate for its notice now. HOS-o IREiriBKI^ H o 1<7A]LW0H.TH;, THE LAST OF TBF NEWTDRK C BAH C B LLORD REUBEN H. WALWORTH, OF NEW- YORK. 487 HON. REUBEN H, WALWORTH, THE LAST OF THE NEW-YORK CHANCELLORS. Under a government like ours, where there are no privileged classes, and where no hereditary distinctions exist, it very frequently happens that the most important and responsible offices are held by those of whom it may very properly be said, they have been the pio neers of their own fortunes — ^men who have received little or no assist ance from wealthy or influential relatives, but who are indebted for their success in life to their own industry and perseverance. Indeed, this is generally the case in the United States ; and it is easy to see why it should be so. Native talent is not confined to any class of society ; though, as a general rule, it may reasonably be presumed that the children of intellectual parents will have more natural talent than the children of the ignorant, the stupid, or the imbecile. The sons of the wealthy, however, or of those who occupy situations of great power or influence, are too often found to rely upon the wealth or the influence of their parents, and seldom acquire those habits of industry, perseverance and energy which are essential to succcess. On the other hand, those whose parents are poor, or belong to the middle classes of society, being early taught the necessity of relying upon their own exertions, will be more apt to acquire that information and those business habits which alone can fit them for the discharge of important public trusts, and that industry and perseverance which usually ensure success. The subject of this biographical sketch was the third son of Benja min Walworth ; and as many of the children and descendants of the latter have been members of the legal profession, or otherwise con nected with the administration of justice, it may not be improper here to give a brief account of his family. Benjamin Walworth, who was the youngest of nine brothers and sisters, was the grandson of William Walworth, of Groton, in Con necticut, who came to this country, from the neighborhood of London, near the close of the seventeenth century, with Governor Fitz John Winthrop. He lost his father in 1750, when he was only four years of age. He learned the trade of a hatter, and worked at it for several years after he arrived at manhood. In the early part of the Revolution he was adjutant of Colonel Stevens' New- York regiment, in the service of the United States, and was in the battle of White Plains. After the term of service of the regiraent had expired, he was engaged in mer chandise for a few years, but relinquished it soon after his marriage,, and became a farmer, which business he followed until his death, in- 1812, leaving a small patrimony to each of his ten children. He was for many years an active politician in the county of Rensselaer, where he resided for the last thirty-nine years of his life; and was a supporter of the administrations of Jefferson and of Madison, and usually filled some of the local offices in the town where he resided. He was also 488 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. a personal, as well as a political friend of the first Governor Clinton, afterwards Vice-President of the United States, and of his brother. General James Clinton, with whom he became acquainted in early life, while boarding with a near relative of theirs at Poughkeepsie. He married Apphia Hyde, a daughter of the Rev. Jedediah Hyde, a Separatist, or Baptist clergyman, of Norwich, who, at the time of her marriage, was the widow of Samuel Cardell, of Bozrah. On her father's side she was descended from William Hyde and Matthew Marvin, two of the first settlers of Hartford ; and through her mater nal grandfather, Joseph Tracy, the second son of Mary Winslow, who married the first John Tracy, of Norwich, she was the fourth in descent from Mary Chilton, who came to Plymouth in the Mayflower, in 1620, and married John Win.slow, a brother of the governor. Mrs. Walworth was a very talented and intellectual lady, and had received as good an education as it was usual for any females to re ceive previous to the Revolution ; and she was very careful to infuse into the minds of her children the principles of morality, religion and virtue, and to inculcate those habits of prudence, industry and perse verance, which were afterwards so conducive to their success in life after they left the paternal roof William S. Cardell, her only child by her first husband, but who died many years since, became a distinguished scholar and teacher, and was the author of some valuable school-books and other literary and scientific works. Major John Walworth, her first son by the chancel lor's father, was an officer in the army of the United States during the last war with England, and distinguished himself at the taking of Little York, where he led the advances under. the command of General Pike, and was wounded by the side of that gallant officer at the time that the latter was killed. At the close of the war he left the army and settled at Plattsburgh, and was subsequently elected to the office of clerk of Clinton county, and continued to be elected from time to time until 1829, when he was appointed assistant-register of the Court of Chancery. He held this last office until his death, in 1839, and discharged its duties to the perfect satisfaction of the court and the bar. James Qinton Walworth, the second son, is a successful farmer in the county of Otsego, and was for many years a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of that county. Benjamin, the fourth son, is a distin guished physician and surgeon, residing at Fredonia, and was for seve ral years one of the associate judges of the county of Chautauque. Jedediah H, Walworth, the fifth ^son, was a member of the bar of Washington county, but died in 182'7, a year or two after he was licensed to practice. Hiram, the youngest son, was, during the life of his brother, the assistantregister, his deputy. He had the exclusive management of the financial concerns of the office, and the investment and control of several millions of money which were brought into ¦court in the city of New- York ; which duty he discharged with great prudence and fidelity. Upon the death of his brother, he succeeded him in the office of assistant-register, which he held until he was in duced to resign it on account of the loss of his sight. Oliver L. Bar bour, the present reporter of the Supreme Court, is a son of the oldest REUBEN H. WALWORTH, OF NEW-YORK. 489 daughter ; and Chancellor Walworth has three other nephews who are members of the bar in this state, and another who is a member of the profession in Wisconsin. Reuben Hyde Walworth, the late chancellor, was born on the 26th of October, 1789, at Bozrah, a part of the nine miles square originally embraced within the bounds of the town of Norwich, in Connecticut ; and in February, 1793, he removed with his father's family to the town of Hoosick, in the State of New- York. He was brought up a farmer until the age of seventeen, with no advantages of education but such as could be obtained by attending the ordinary public schools of that day, during that part of the year when his services were not required on the farm, " Yet so anxious was he to get an education that, at the age of twelve, he went frora home and worked through the winter, mornings and evenings, for his board, that he might have the advantage of a better common school than that in the vicinity of his father's residence. At the age of sixteen, he was himself a teacher of a village school during the winter months. He was also engaged in the sarae employment during the following winter." The only classical education which he ever received was for about fourteen weeks, while he was for the first time engaged in the business of school teaching himself During that time, when he was not engaged in his school, he studied the Latin language and mathematics, under the advice and direction of Mr, Cardell, his half brother, who had received a liberal education. To a disability similar to that which the unrivaled success of the great Scotch novelist is attributed, the people of New- York were in debted for the last of their chancellors. In the summer after he at tained his seventeenth year, he met with an accident which incapa citated him for a long time from -working on a farm, and changed the whole course of his life. While engaged with an elder brother in drawing in a load of wheat from the harvest field, the loaded wagon was overturned, and both the wheat and the wagon were thrown down a precipice. Being on the top of the load, he, with his brother, was pitched down the precipice with it, and fell beneath the load of grain and the wagon,'by which one of his ankles was so badly injured that his parents supposed he would be a cripple for life. As soon as he had sufficiently recovered frora the effects of this acci dent, which had unfitted him for farming, as to be able to engage in any other business, he went into a country store for a short tirae as a clerk. While there, he becarae acquainted with an attorney in the neighborhood of the store, and he then determined to endeavor to over come the obstacles of a defective education, and to prepare himself for the bar. He entered his narae with the attorney, and continued to study law under the direction of the latter for a few months, while he continued to discharge the duties of a merchant's clerk. But as the lawyer under whose direction he commenced his legal studies possessed very few books, and not a very extensive practice, he finally induced his father to furnish him the means of pursuing his studies at what was then the village of Troy — the place where the courts of the county were held, and where there were several lawyers of eminence in their profession. 490 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. In the selection of an office in which to pursue his legal studies, he was particularly fortunate in obtaining a first-rate legal instructor, whose office has become somewhat celebrated for the number of judicial officers who have received the whole or some part of their professional education there. The gentleman whose office he entered at Troy, and who had recently removed frora the county of Washington, was Mr. John Russell, formerly state's attorney for the northern district of New- York, who died in the prime of life sorae forty years since. This gentleman, whose narae as counsel frequently appears in the first ten volumes of Johnson's Reports, was one of the eminent lawyers of his day, and was said to be the best common law practitioner in the state. Hence, although Mr. Walwoi-th was the only student in the office at the time when he first entered it, he had six or seven associates before he left there, three years aftei'wards. Among them were two others who have filled high judicial stations — Williara L. Marcy, afterwards one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New- York ; and George Monell, who subsequently was the chief justice of the State of Michigan, were among the number. John Woodworth, who became the attorney-general of the State of New- York, and was subsequently a judge of the Supreme Court, built the office, and occupied it for several years ; and Chief Justice Savage, and Nathan Williams, for many years circuit judge for the fifth circuit, as well as Mr. Russell, who subsequently owned and occupied the same office, were among the students who received their legal education therein. For the purpose of enabling him to pursue his studies to greater ad vantage, Mr. Walworth, when he commenced his studies there, had a sleeping-bunk placed in the office, and lodged there most of the time during the three years he continued to be a student with Mr. Russell. At the end of the first year he had been so successful in acquiring a knowledge of the pi-actice and of legal principles, that his legal instructor entrusted him with the whole charge of the office, and with the draft ing of all the ordinary pleadings and proceedings ; and at the end of the second year he voluntarily offered him a year's board, on account of the services he performed beyond what was usually expected of students preparing themselves for the bar. At the age of twenty he was admitted to the bar of the Court of Common Pleas, and, in con nection with Mr, John Palmer, who was licensed as an attorney of the Supreme Court about the same time, he commenced the practice of the law at Plattsburgh, in the county of Clinton. Mr. Russell, who, in his official capacity of public prosecutor or dis trict attorney for the northern district of New- York, had frequently visited Plattsburgh, and was well acquainted there, gave to his l.ate stu dent letters of introduction to sorae of the most influential gentlemen of Clinton county, strongly recommending him to their patronage and support, as a talented, industrious, and well-informed young lawyer. This enabled him to get sorae legal business at once, without those har assing delays which so often discourage young gentlemen of the bar at the commencement of their professional career. But according to the then practice of the courts, process was only made returnable at the regular terms ; and no trial, or even judgment by default, could b?- REUBEN H, WALWORTH, OF NEW-YORK. 491 entered thereon until the second term after the return of the capias. The firm of Palmer and Walworth, therefore, had no suits of their own to attend to in court, until about nine months after they first located themselves at Plattsburgh. Mr, Walworth, however, was not idle in the meantime. Soon after he removed to Plattsburgh he was attacked by an epi demic that then prevailed there, and was prostrated thereby for three or four weeks, which is the only severe sickness that he has ever expe rienced of more than a day or two's continuance. That epidemic proved fatal to many adults ; and, among others, to one of the members of a legal firm in an extensive practice, who usually attended to the argu ment and trial of the co-partnership causes. Shortly after Mr. Wal worth had recovered from his sickness so far as to be able to attend to business, the surviving meraber of that firm applied to him for profes sional assistance, informed him that his deceased partner had left him with about twenty causes to be argued upon questions of law, or to be tried by jury, at the term which was to be held in the ensuing month. And although he was offered only the stinted fee of fifteen dollars for the service, Mr. Walworth readily accepted the offer, wisely concluding that what he failed to receive as an adequate pecuniary compensation, would be made up to him in professional reputation as a source of future profit. He accordingly prepared himself for the trial and argu ment of all those causes, and at the next term of the court performed the service required of him to the perfect satisfaction of his employer, and also of the clients. The result was, as he had anticipated, that he secured to his own firm the future business of many of those clients. It also brought him to the notice of many business men of the county, who attended court at that term, as an energetic and talented young lawyer, to whom they or their friends might safely entrust the prose cution or defence of their legal rights. The other member of the firm, Mr, Palmer, who was likewise a man of talent, and a good advocate, assisted in the trial and argument of some of the causes, by which he was also brought to the notice pi the public. From that time business began to flow into their office rapidly ; and during the eleven or twelve years that the co-partnership of Palmer and Walworth continued, no legal firm in the county did a more profita ble professional business. Although Mr. Walworth made it a rule to accept no office or employ ment which would interfere with his professional business and his duty to his clients, and frequently declined the offers of his friends to present his name as a candidate for the state legislature, he readily availed him self of the offer of local offices connected with the law, the duties of which could be discharged by him without interfering with his practice in the courts. Two years after he settled at Plattsburgh, he was appointed by Gover nor Tompkins a justice of the peace for the county of Clinton, and a master of the Court of Chancery. Both of these offices he held, with the exception of a single year, until his appointment as circuit judge, in the spring of 1823, In 1817 he received the appointment of notary public. In the ensuing year the legislature passed a law creating the office of commissioner to perform certain duties of a judge of the Supreme Court, 492 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. for the northern part of the state. And shortly afterwards Governor Clinton tendered that office to Mr. Walworth, which he accepted. The writer of a recent biographical sketch of the late chancellor says, that " in confidence of his ability, by his professional talents, to sustain the burthens and expenses of a family, Mr. Walworth, soon after he becarae a lawyer, formed that happy matrimonial connection, the disso lution of which, by the death of his wife, in 1847, may be deemed the greatest misfortune of his life. Though he lost, in 1812, by the acci dental destruction of his house by fire, all the avails of his previous la bors, events soon proved that his reliance on his own powers were not misplaced. He had at once entered on a raost successful practice, which would have conducted not only to professional eminence, but to pecu niary affluence, had he not, at an age at which few young men can be con sidered to have seriously engaged in the business of life, been called by his fellow-citizens to the councils of the nation, his labors in which had scarcely terminated before his talents were demanded in the then new organization of the judiciary of the state." The lady above alluded to, who became the wife of Mr. Walworth, in January, 1812, a few days after she had entered upon her seventeenth year, was Maria Ketchum Averill, the eldest daughter of Mr. Nathan Averill, of Plattsburgh. And as the success in life of every one, par ticularly of a professional man, is intimately connected with the selec tion which he makes of a wife, it may not be inappropriate here to introduce the following extract from a published sermon, upon the oc casion of the death of the late Mrs. Walworth. In reference to her domestic and social character, her pastor says : " In all the relations of the family circle she was most faithful and successful ; as daughter, wife and mother, she will be mourned by those who survive, as few are mourned. " In her native character, there was an uncommon loveliness, most attractive to all around her, making it easy for her to secure the friend ship of her acquaintances ; and an artlessness and ingenuousness which were certain to retain the affection which had been gained. Few persons, it is believed, had so many warm friends. These are all left with bleed ing hearts to seek to comfort each other with the recollection of the virtues of the departed, " Perhaps if any single trait of her character w-ere to be specified as surpassing all others in distinctness and excellence, her philanthropy, her almost unbounded benevolence, should be named. And yet this was the result of a combination of qualities of the highest order, and was merely the exhibition of these in action. Her liberality was of the kind which shrinks not frora sacrifice. She was ready at all times to deny herself personal gratification, that she might thus add to the already large amount which every year she contributed for human happiness. She had a heart open to every demand of charity. She did not over look the heathen because they are far away, — her attachment to the missionary cause, and to missionaries themselves, will be attested by many a herald of the cross in the distant parts of the world. At the same time she did not overlook the wants of those suffering around her, nor did she shrink from labor and toil in their behalf. She went to the houses of the poor and needy, dispensing her charity everywhere, REUBEN H. WALWORTH, OP NEW-YORK, 493 and making it doubly precious by her sympathy and kindness. In this, she was, all her life, a model most worthy of imitation. There was no claim upon her kind feeling or benevolent action which was not at once promptly met. Everything especially which related to the poor and the degraded, awakened her warmest sympathy. In the Sabbath-school cause she was deeply interested, as the tears of the little children crowding around her lifeless body bore witness. For the- poor inebriate she felt great solicitude, — some, reformed by her influence, live to call her their best earthly benefactress, and to lament her death. With her dying hands she made a generous contribution, I believe the last of a public nature, to relieve the wants of the suffering families of the intemperate. There was no impulse in her manner of giving and acting for her Master, — it was the natural, every-day movement of her soul. Her name became a proverb among us for beneficence, and as such, cannot be forgotten until all have followed her to the grave who knew her. She seemed to be acting continually as if she would merit the language of approbation which the Master bestowed upon one of her sisters in olden time: 'She hath done what she could' — and who among us has better deserved it ?" By this lady. Chancellor Walworth had two sons and four daughters, all of whom, except the youngest daughter, who died at the age of five years, are still living. In the spring of 1851, Chancellor Walworth formed a second matri monial connection with Mrs. Sarah Ellen Hardin, of Jacksonville, in the State of Illinois, the talented and accomplished widow of the late Col. John J . Hardin, of the first regiment of Illinois volunteers in the late war with Mexico, who fell at the battle of Buena Vista, and who was one of the most distinguished members of the bar in the western states. By this lady the late chancellor has one son. But to return to his early professional history and pursuits. Residing near the northern frontier of the United States during the late war with England, which commenced in 1812, and lasted three years, and Platts burgh being a military post during most of the tirae, he became ac quainted with many of the officers of our army, and was frequently employed by them as their professional adviser, and often extricated them from difficulties in which they became involved with citizens. In the spring of 1814, while the array, under the command of Maj, Gen. Wilkinson, was stationed at Plattsburgh, a subaltern officer belonging to the British army came to that place in the character of a deserter, and in the disguise of a common soldier, and as such received a permit from the commanding officer to pass into the interior as far as Albany ; but his real object was to ascertain the number and situation of our army on the northern frontier, and to learn the progress which had been made in the construction of the vessels of war which our government was then build ing at Vergennes for the lake service. Having accomplished the ob ject for which he came out, he was returning into Canada., in a citizen's dress, with the information he had obtained, when he was recognized and arrested within a few rods of the British lines, and was brought back as a prisoner to the American camp at Plattsburgh. A general court martial was immediately ordered for his trial. And such was the standing which Mr. Walworth had already acquired at the bar, although 494 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. he was not yet entitled to an admission as a counselor of the Supreme Court, that he was selected and appointed by General Wilkinson as the judge advocate to conduct the proceedings upon that important trial, and on the trial of a colonel in the army, whose case was to be brought before the same military tribunal. Those services were per formed with credit to himself, and to the entire satisfaction of the com manding general ; and the unfortunate Lieut. Baker was condemned and executed as a spy of the enemy. The village in which Mr. Walworth resided was twice visited by the enemy during that war ; and, as might be expected from what has been before stated, he could not remain a mere spectator when his country was not only engaged in what he deemed to be a just war, but was actually invaded by the enemy's troops. He sought for and ob tained the appointment of aid to Major-General Mooers, with the rank of major in the militia of the state. He was in the service of his country in that capacity in 1813, when a brigade of the enemy, under the command of Colonel Murray, landed at Plattsburgh, and destroyed the arsenal, and the barracks at Pike's cantonment. But General Mooers, and the sraall body of militia which was called out at that time, were obliged to retire before a much superior force. When the British again invaded the northern part of New- York with an army of 14,000 regular troops, in September, 1814, and came as far south as Plattsburgh, Brigadier-General Macomb, who had been left by General Izard in command of the forts at that place with a garrison of 1,500 regulars, made a requisition upon Major-General Mooers, under authority from the President, to order into the service of the United States his whole division, with the exception of the brigade in Columbia county. The division was called out accordingly ; and Gen, Mooers, being the superior officer, took the command of the militia called out, and of such volunteers as arrived at Plattsburgh previous to the retreat of the enemy, though he left General Macomb in comraand of the forts. Major Walworth, who was still one of the aids of the major-general, was assigned by the latter to discharge the duties of adjutant-general of the forces under the command of the latter. When we recollect the despondency which the capture of Washing ton, and the destruction of the capitol by the British, during the preced ing month, had universally created, and when we connect the victory of Commodore McDonough on Lake Champlain with the achievements of the militia and volunteers under Major-General Mooers, and of the regulars under Brigadier-General Macomb, the occurrences at Platts burgh must be reckoned among the most glorious events to which the war of 1812 gave rise. The whole Am.erican forces consisted of 700 militia and 1,500 regulars, while the British troops amounted to 14,000 ; a disparity even far surpassing that at New-Orleans. On the evening of the 5th of September, the right wing of the British army was advanced on the Beekraautown road to within seven or eight miles of the village of Plattsburgh. Sometime in the evening Major- General Mooers, whose head-quarters were on the sarae road, some two or three miles nearer the village, expressed his regret that he had no regular troops to support the militia and volunteers in the anticipated conflict with the advancing enemy the next day. The acting adjutant BEUBEN H. WALWORTH, OF NEW-YORK. 495 general immediately volunteered his services to proceed at once to Brigadier-General Macomb's quarters at the village, and near the forts, with an order for him to detach two or three companies of infantry and one of light artillery frora the garrison under his coraraand, and that they should report themselves to General Mooers at Beekraautown the next morning. An order to that effect was accordingly made out, and Major Walworth proceeded at once to General Macomb's quarters and delivered such order. The night being very dark, he did not deem it prudent to attempt to return to Beekraautown that night. He slept upon the floor of his own deserted mansion in the village until daylight, and then rode back to head-quarters. He had just finished a light breakfast, when information was brought that the enemy was upon the advance. He was thereupon ordered by the general to select two companies of the Clinton county regiment of militia, and proceed about a mile to the creek which crossed the road, and take up the bridge, so as to retard the advance of the enemy's artillery. The order was promptly obeyed, so far as to proceed to the place indicated by the order. But just as the detachment under the command of Major Walworth commenced the destruction of the bridge, the enemy approached in force and commenced firing upon them, wounding two of the detachment severely, and one of them mortally. The fire was returned ; and the detachment was then ordered to fall back to where Major Wool, with about 150 regulars, who had been de tached from the garrison under the order of the evening previous, had already arrived and was stationed. The regulars were then formed in the highway, and with the detach ment of militia on their flanks, waited the approach of the enemy, when a heavy fire was opened upon the head of the British column and momentarily arrested its progress. But the brigade of the enemy which was advancing being 3,500 strong, the regulars under the gal lant Wool, as well as Major Walworth's detachment of militia, were soon compelled to give way and fall back to where the commanding general, with the main body of the militia and volunteers, was station ed. At that point the fighting became general, and continued so at intervals until the enemy's forces reached the village, and our troops had placed themselves behind the Saranac, which runs through the vil lage north of the forts. In a published account of this battle of the 6th of September, 1814, commonly called the Battle of Beekraautown, Major Walworth is specially named as one of the officers who, in connection with Major Wool, succeeded in rallying the militia and regulars that awaited the approach of the enemy at Culvus Hill, about four miles from Platts burgh ; which position was maintained with so much firmness as to compel the enemy to fall back for a time. It was then that the gallant Willington, Lieut, -Colonel of the 3d. Buffs was killed, while leading his regiment to the charge against our forces, and where several British officers were wounded. Major Walworth was also in the battle of the 11th of September, when a British brigade, under Major-General the Baron De Rotten- burgh, crossed the Saranac at Pike's cantonment ; and where, in the language of General Macomb, " they were repulsed by the brave vol- 496 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. unteers and militia, and suffered severely in killed, wounded, and prisoners." Shortly before that action, he had been sent by General Mooers to order the Vermont volunteers, then upon the lake shore, to take a position on the Saranac, at the place where the battle after wards commenced. While in the performance of that duty he had the pleasure of witnessing the termination of the naval engagement on the lake; and he brought to his commanding officer, just as the enemy approached the river to cross, the first intelligence of the result of that engagement, which not only secured to us the command of Lake Champlain, but, with the evidences of bravery and prowess already ex hibited on the part of the militia as well as the regular army, left to the enemy no hope of a successful invasion of our country. After the termination of the war. Major Walworth received a commission from Governor Clinton, appointing him division judge advocate, with the rank of colonel. As we have already seen, Mr. Walworth sprang from a democratic stock ; and he has from his boyhood continued to be a consistent mem ber of the democratic party, though many of his most devoted per sonal friends belonged to the party to which he was politically op posed. He has seldom been a candidate for any political office, and never when there was any probability of success at the time of his nomination. But in 1821, in connection with General Pitcher, who was after wards lieutenant-governor, he was elected to the Congress of the United States, from the double district comprising the counties of Washington, Warren, Clinton, Essex, and Franklin. And some idea of his personal popularity at that time may be formed from the fact, that he everywhere was a-head of his ticket, and was elected by about 1,200 majority over the highest of the opposition candidates, in a dis trict where the majority given the year previous for the political party, to which such opposition candidates belonged, was much larger the other way. During the two years, from 1821 to 1823, that Mr. Walworth was in the House of Representatives, it may be safely affirmed that no member of Congress was more indefatigable in the performance of his public duties. It would be difficult to find any occasion, where the yeas and nays are recorded, in which his name is omitted. Scarcely a day passed, in which the journals do not attest his presence by a reference of the petitions presented by him, many of which came from his im mediate constituents, and to which, as arising from the invasion of. our state during the then recent war, he hiraself, an actor in the memorable events at Plattsburgh, could not be insensible ; by the resolutions which he offered on matters interesting to his district, the state, or the Union ; and by the reports which he made on behalf of the military committee — to which he was appointed early in the session, on the resignation of General Solomon Van Rensselaer, and of which he was thenceforward the most prominent member. It was in the discharge of these duties that he had occasion to bring to the notice of Congress the heroic achievements of a gallant band of his fellow-soldiers, at the siege of Plattsburgh, composed — like the garde mobile, during the late struggle in Paris — of youths below the ordinary REUBEN H. WALWORTH, OF NEW-YORK. 497 age for military duty, of volunteers between 15 and 17. He asked for each of them, what Gen. Macomb had promised on the field of battle, a rifle, as a memento for his services. The act obtained the assent of the House, but it was not until a subsequent session that it became a law, through the exertions of the Hon. Aaron A. Ward, of Westches ter, who, as an officer of the regular army, had participated in the de fence of Plattsburgh. In December, 1821, before he became a member of the military com mittee, a resolution of the House had instructed that committee to in quire and report whether the army had been reduced according to the provisions of the act of March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military peace establishment. After Colonel Walworth was substituted in the place of the member of the committee who had resigned his seat in Congress, he was requested by the chairman. Dr. Eustis, who had him self been at the head of the war department a few years previous, to examine the legal objections which were made to the manner in which Mr. Calhoun, the then Secretary of War, had carried into effect the law for the reduction and reorganization of the army. He subsequently prepared a very able report on the subject, fully sustaining the legality of the course which had been pursued in reducing the army ; although one of the decisions of Mr. Calhoun involved the dismissal from the service of a distinguished officer, who had been, and still was, one of Colonel Walworth's personal friends. This report received the appro bation of Dr. Eustis, and most of the other members of the military committee ; and the member who had prepared it was instructed to present it to the House. This report, however, gave offence to a distinguished individual whose feelings had become strongly enlisted upon the other side of the ques tion, and in hostility to Mr. Calhoun; and at whose request, as was supposed by the friends of the Secretary of War, the resolution of in quiry had been brought before the House. To this course alone the late chancellor attributes the unfriendly feelings of that gentleman ; and which induced him a few years since to exert his influence as a senator of the United States, to prevent a confirmation of the nomination of Mr. Walworth as one of the associate justices of the Supreme Court. It was within the scope of Mr. Walworth's congressional duties, not only to defend the conduct of General Jackson, as governor of Florida, in the imprisonment of Colonel Callava, who, at the instigation and in connivance with others, attempted to defraud the orphan daughter of a deceased Spanish officer, by carrying off the papers containing the evi dence of her rights in a suit pending in the military tribunals of the territory, but he also had an opportunity to sustain, against the assaults of political opponents, the Indian Agency of General Cass, in Michigan, and thus early to vindicate the public services and unimpeachable fame of that distinguished individual. In connection with his friend and colleague, the late William B. Rochester, who was subsequently the democratic candidate for governor, he succeeded in defeating the attempt of one of the federal representa tives of the state to deprive of their pay the officers of the court martial, which had tried and condemned the recreant militiamen, who had refused to turn out at the call of their country, when the state was invaded by 32 498 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. the British army. But one of his happiest efforts on the floor of Con gress, was his speech, in January, 1823, in favor of the bereaved sister of Lieutenant Allen, who was killed by the pirates, and whose mother had died before the contemplated provision in her behalf could be pass ed. " I hope and trust," said he, "that the sister whose desolate situ ation gave an additional pang to the heart of the dying hero — she, who has thus been deprived not only of the support of a kind and worthy brother, but also of the guardian care of a pious and affectionate parent, may receive that bounty which Congress intended to bestow upon the mother." Though he voted against the bankrupt law, which was proposed while he was in Congress, he offered to meet the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the insolvent laws, by pro-vi- ding, by an amendment to the Constitution, that, " tUl Congress shall establish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States, it shall be lawful for the several states, or any of them, to enact bankrupt laws, in the same manner, and with the like effect, as they might have done previous to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Mr. Walworth gave his vote in favor of an appropriation to enable the President to recognize the independence of the Spanish American states. He also called the attention of the House of Representatives to the British act of 5th August, 1822, -which imposed upon our trade with Canada the most onerous restrictions, and by his course led the way to the assertion of our right to the navigation of the St. Lawrence — a right of inestimable value to the citizens of northern New-York. By the constitution of 1821, which went into operation on the 1st of January, 1823, the organization of the judiciary was materially affect ed ; and by its provisions, a circuit judge was required to be appointed in each of the eight senatorial districts. The duties of these judges were not only to preside in the Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and to try civil causes at Nisi Prius, but they were made, subordinate to the chancellor, equity judges in their respective circuits. Mr. Walworth was appointed judge of the fourth circuit, and immediately removed to Saratoga Springs, his present residence. It is foreign to our intention to enter upon an analysis of Judge Walworth's judicial services. During the five years that he acted as a circuit judge, opportunities occurred to extend the reputation which he had previously acquired at the bar and in Congress. The charges and sentences of the court were extensively circulated in the cases of the Thayers and of Vedeto, and to which, from the heinousness of the culprits' guilt, general attention was attracted. The sentence of the court in the former case is published in a popular treatise on elocution, as a specimen of judicial eloquence. Though the decisions of the cir cuit judges were not embraced within the purview of the State Reports, yet such was the ability with which Walworth already grappled with the niceties of chancery law — such the extent of his attainments in all the cognate branches of jurisprudence, that with regard to him an ex ception was made, and the reporter, the late Judge Cowen, introduced some of them with the declaration, that no excuse need be made for laying before the profession " such able and luminous discussions." REUBEN H. WALWORTH, OF NEW- YORK. 499 In 1828, on Chancellor Jones' retiring from the office of chancellor. Judge Walworth naturally supposed that the office would be filled by one of the justices of the Supreme Court, and that his friend, and for mer colleague in Congress, General Pitcher, then the acting governor, would offer him the vacant seat upon the bench of the last mentioned court ; which office he would have accepted without hesitation. But on calling at the governor's room, as he was casually passing through Al bany, he was surprised with an offer of the appointment of chancellor. He at once told his friend, the governor, that he ought to give the office to Chief Justice Savage, who was every way competent to discharge the duties thereof; and that if he preferred to retain the situation of chief justice, Mr. Justice Sutherland should be appointed. And itwas not until both of those gentlemen had been consulted, and had absolutely refused to undertake to discharge the arduous and responsible duties of the office of chancellor, that Mr. Walworth, after some hesitation, con sented to accept the highest judicial office in the state. As Mr, Justice Woodworth would in a few months be constitutionally disqualified to hold the office, it was not deemed necessary to consult him on the subject. Chancellor Walworth received his appointment on the 22d of April, 1828, just five years from the time he accepted the office of circuit judge, and on the 28th he held his first court as chancellor, and delivered writ ten opinions in several cases which appear in the reports. In his address to the bar on assuming his seat, he thus modestly referred to his past and present position : " Brought up," says he, " a farmer till the age of seventeen, deprived of all the advantages of a classical education, and with a very limited knowledge of chancery law, I find myself, at the age of thirty-eight, suddenly and unexpectedly placed at the head of the judiciary of the state — a situation which has heretofore been filled by the most able and experienced members of the profession." . As chancellor, not only was he called upon to decide upon the many complicated questions growing out of trusts, frauds, and the various other branches of equity jurisprudence, and also all matters involving the rights of infants and lunatics, as well as appeals from the surrogates of the fifty-nine counties of the state, and who administer what in Eng land is a distinct branch of jurisprudence ; but, as a meraber of the Court of Errors, he was required to review all the intricate legal decisions which had been passed on by the Suprerae Court, and as to which either of the litigating parties might be dissatisfied. Chancellor Walworth's adjudications in his own court are collected in the fourteen volumes of Paige and Barbour, while the opinions which he pronounced in the Court of Errors are to be found in the thirty- eight volumes of Wendell, Hill and Denio. The reported cases, how ever, constitute but a small portion of the decisions made by him during the twenty years he held the office of chancellor. In addition to the oral decisions made in open court upon the close of the argument, or in cases where a mere memorandum of the decision was indorsed upon the papers, his written opinions fill thirty-nine large folio volumes in manuscript. By a report made to the senate, in 1836, it appears that the number of decrees, and decretal orders, and other special orders 600 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. and decisions made by the chancellor in one year only, including de cisions in cases brought before him on appeals from vice-chancellors and surrogates, was eleven hundred and forty ; of these one hundred and thirty-eight were decrees made in calendar causes. But his calen dar causes did not embrace his numerous decisions in cases upon ap peals from interlocutory orders of vice-chancellors ; which appeals were heard at the motion terms of the court, and were not placed on any calendar. No one can examine the volumes which contain Chancellor Wal worth's reported adjudications, without being satisfied, not only that he is a profound lawyer, but that his attainments in all collateral branches of learning are most extensive ; and that in no respect does he yield to any judge by whom the judicial annals of our state have been illustrated. To learn the general sentiments of the profession, it is only necessary to recur to what may be every where found conceded in the contemporary reports of other states. We have the authority of the late Justice Story, given at a time when he expected to have hira as an associate on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, for asserting that "Walworth is the greatest equity jurist now living;" and his own illustrious predecessor. Chancellor Kent, did not hesitate to bear the most ample testimony to the merits of his decisions, declaring that he had referred to them in his Commentaries, wherever he could make them apply, and adding in reference to them, " I am proud of my own native state," Although Chancellor Walworth owed nothing to colleges in early life, the most celebrated universities of the country have vied with one another in according to him their highest distinctions. In 1835 the degree of LL.D., was conferred on hira by the college of New- Jersey, at Princeton ; and the sarae honors have been since bestowed on him by Yale College at New-Haven, and by Harvard University at Cambridge. In all associations for ameliorating the moral condition of mankind, Chancellor Walworth has been a prominent and efficient actor ; but by no trait is he more distinguished than by the extent of his benefactions, and which, considering his limited means, may be deemed truly muni ficent. Though to the religious denomination with which he is con nected, his contributions have been most ample, amounting in one case to $2,000, his charities have been limited by no sectarian standard. After the ravages of the yellow fever in New- York, in 1819, Mr. Wal worth, then a young lawyer at Plattsburgh, sent unsolicited a draft for $100 for the suffering poor, accompanied by a letter to the mayor, the Hon. Cadwallader D. Colden, which was published at the time to induce others to do likewise, and from which we learn the fact of the donation. Chancellor Walworth was among the foremost to stimulate his coun trymen to afford efficient relief to the people of Ireland, when suffering from the famine of 1847. He acted as one of the vice-presidents, and addressed the meeting at Albany on the 12th of February, 1847, at which the governor of the state presided. Before lea-ving that city he sent to the committee a donation of $200, accompanied by a letter in dicating the most advantageous mode of its application, and on his re turn home, he presided at another meeting, convened at Saratoga Springs, for the same object. He shortly afterwards made another REUBEN n. WALWORTH, OF NEW-YORK, 501 remittance, for the suffering people of Scotland, to the president of the St. Andrew's Society of New- York, and which was publicly acknowl edged at the time. He was one of the earliest friends of the temperance cause ; and at the organization of the State Society in 1829, he was its first presiding officpj ; to which situation he was annually elected until his appoint ment as president of the American Temperance Union, in 1843, upon the resignation of General Cocke, of Virginia. For many years he has been one of the corporate members of the American Board of Commis sioners for Foreign Missions ; and is one of the most active and influ ential lay members of that board. Since he left the bench, he has been elected to the situation of one of the vice-presidents of the national Tract Society. He is also a vice-president of the American Bible Society ; and a corresponding meraber of the British and Foreign Tem perance Society. More than thirty years since, he made a profession of religion, and united with the Presbyterian Church, and is now one of its elders. Though Chancellor Walworth did not deem it consistent with the character of his judicial station to enter into the arena of active politics, he was not, during the twenty-five years that he occupied a seat on the bench, insensible to the interests either of his party or of his country. When, in 1832, a collision arose between the Supreme Court of the United States and the State of Georgia, growing out of the Indian titles in that state, and which led to the imprisonment of certain mis sionaries, Chancellor Walworth, who, as a member of Congress, had fully investigated the subject, and come to the conclusion in favor of the claim of Georgia to the prompt extinguishment by the national government of the Indian titles within her limits, successfully inter posed, as a private individual, with Governor Lumpkin, and obtained the liberation of the missionaries ; thus terminating what might other wise have resulted in a most unhappy controversy between the powers of a sovereign state and the highest judicial authority of the Union. In the performance of this patriotic duty, he acted in concert with the Rev. Dr. Nott, of Union College, and Benjamin F. Butler, Esq., who was afterwards the attorney-general of the United States ; to whom their co-ntry is deeply indebted for their exertions on that occasion. When the Canadian outbreak took place, in 1837, some of the most influential men of both provinces were driven from their homes by the tyranny of those who then held rule there. The chancellor, although he advised against a hopeless contest which, he was aware, would only end in the ruin of the oppressed colonists, deeply sympathized with the unfortunate exiles, furnished funds for their relief, and took into his own family the son of the amiable and excellent Papineau, the former speaker of the parliament of Lower Canada, while he gave every aid and encour. agement in his power to the learned and estimable Bidwell, the former speaker of the parlianaent of the Upper Province, who is now a respect ed member of the New- York bar. On the death, in 1844, of Judge Thompson, of the Suprerae Court of the United States, public opinion pointed to Chancellor Walworth as his successor. His name was presented to the President (John Tyler) 602 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. by a majority of the New- York delegation in Congress, and he was also recommended for the office by many of the leading members of the bar of the state of both political parties. Among others. Chief Justice Nelson, who afterwards received the appointment, wrote a strong letter to the President on the subject ; and after the rejection of Mr. Spencer by the Senate, the President sent in the name of Chancellor Walworth. The nomination was referred to the judiciary committee, who delayed making a report, and finally the appointment was laid upon the table or postponed until after the next presidential election, apparently by a mere party vote. Near the close of the next session of Congress, how ever, it was ascertained that there had been a secret agreement between a whig meraber of the judiciary coramittee and one of the democratic senators frora the west, that the nomination of Mr. Walworth should not be acted on during Mr. Tyler's presidential term. And, although every member of the New- York legislature and many of the leading members of the bar of both political parties, sent memorials to the Senate, urging a confirmation, the nomination was never brought before that body by the judiciary committee, either for confirmation or rejection. A few days before the expiration of his term of office, the President, being satisfied that the nomination would not be acted on during iis continuance in office, reluctantly withdrew it, and sent in the name of the friend of Chancellor Walworth, Chief Justice Nelson. The Court of Chancery was abolished by the constitution of 1846 ; but the convention, which forraed that constitution — for the purpose of enabling the chancellor to hear and decide the equity cases then pend ing before him, and which were ready for argument — provided for the continuance of his office and his salary until the 1st of July, 1848. In April, 1847, the legislature, desirous of securing to the state the benefit of the legal learning of Chancellor Walworth for a longer period, placed him at the head of the commission organized under the provi sions of the new constitution, to reduce into a ¦written and systematic code the whole body of the statute and common law of the state ; and they subsequently extended the tirae for his taking the oath of office several raonths, for the purpose of inducing him to accept the appoint ment after the new judiciary system of the state should have gone into operation. After considering the subject two days, the chancellor, in a letter to the legislature, which is full of instruction, respectfully de clined the appointment. He put his declension of this important duty upon the ground, that the commission was not so organized as to give the commissioners sufficient tirae and means to frame such a code as would carry out the principle of the constitution on the subject, and be creditable to the commissioners and to the state, and not because he supposed such a codification of the laws to be impracticable. In his letter to the legislature, he says : " I am not one of those who believe it is wholly irapracticable to carry out the provisions of the constitution on this subject. On the contrary, I think it not only prac ticable but highly expedient to collect the general principles of the unwritten commercial and other civil laws, and of our equity system, as well as the criminal law of the state, now scattered through some thousands of volumes of treatises, commentaries, digests, and reports of judicial decisions, and to arrange them under appropriate heads, divi- REUBEN H. WALWORTH, OF NEW-YORK. 503 sions and titles, in connection with the statute law on the same subjects. Such modifications of the law should also be suggested and incorporated into the code as are necessary to adapt the laws of the state to the present advanced condition of society, and to the principles of our free institutions." The same reasons which induced Chancellor Walworth to decline the appointment of commissioner of the code at that time, prevented him from accepting the same office when it was tendered to him by Governor Fish two years afterwards. And that he was right in supposing the commission was not properly organized for a creditable codification of the laws of the state, is evident frora the fact that it proved an entire failure, and was ultimately abandoned. Chancellor Walworth held his last regular term for the hearing of causes in May, 1848. At a meeting of the members of the bar of the state, attending the general term of the Supreme Court, a few days afterwards, at which meeting the attorney-general presided, the follow ing resolution was unanimously adopted, which shows the estimate placed upon the judicial services of the late chancellor by those vfho had been in the habit of attending his court : " Resolved — That we deem the close of our former judiciary system a fitting occasion for the expression of our respect and regard for the eminent jurist, who, for so many years past, has discharged the labori ous and responsible duties of chancellor of this state, and whose last term for hearing arguments has recently ended ; that the published volumes of his decisions evince a degree of acuteness and discrimina tion, love of truth, sound morality, and thorough legal research, unsur passed by any others, and honorable alike to himself and to the juris prudence of our state." At the close of his judicial labors on the 1st of July thereafter, of the numerous causes and motions which had been argued before him, or submitted by counsel for his decision, he left but eight undecided. Since he left the bench he has not returned to the practice of his pro fession at the bar, but confined himself to the business of chamber counsel, and to the investigation of legal questions submitted to him, or for his examination or decision, by the parties interested in such ques tions. In that branch of professional labor his legal talents and attain ments have been put in requisition by clients from nearly every part of the United States. In reference to the correctness of his adjudications while at the head of the most important equity court in the Union, and the character of Chancellor Walworth as a judge, we may say with the late Dane Professor of Law in Harvard University, that "never, perhaps, were so many decisions made where so few were inaccurate as to facts, or erro neous in law. If it was destined that the Court of Chancery should fall under a reform which apparently designs to obliterate the history as well as the legal systems of the past, it is a consolation to reflect that it fell without imputation on its purity or usefulness, and that no court was ever under the guidance of a judge purer in character or more gifted in talent than the last Chancellor of New- York." B.-l RFirRJV/.LL'^:, BUOOl.L'?: . ,¦¦:¦,>(// ¦'¦-for ni./.j,-if^/ij....:j 'k^ LUTHER BADGER, OF NEW-YORK. 606 HON. LUTHER BADGER, OF BROOME COUNTY, NEW-YORK. Praise is always due to merit, and especially where merit is the product of unassisted toil and perseverance. The "self-made man" commands our highest respect. Those struggles, by means of which he has ri^en from obscurity to honorable distinction, cannot fail to en list our sympathy and call forth our warmest applause. Luther Badger was born April 10th, 1785, in Patridgefield, (now the town of Peru,) Berkshire county, Massachusetts. His father, Lemuel Badger, was a volunteer in the Revolutionary contest which separated us from the mother country, and bore a com mission under Gen. Montgomery in the invasion of Canada. In the fall of 1786, while Luther was yet an infant, the family emigrated to what was at that tirae considered the " far west," and settled on the Susquehanna River, in Broome county, New-York. That whole tract of country, now so densely populated, and justly regarded as one of the finest agricultural sections of the state, was then an unbroken wilderness, where the whoop of the Indian, the scream of the panther, and the howl of the wolf, were sounds much more familiar than the voice of civilized man. There, amid the wild scenes of nature in her primeval dress, subject to the inconveniences, privations and hardships inseparably connected with life in the new settlements, Luther Badger grew up to manhood. Few boys thus reared would have had the courage to face the diffi culties that must of necessity stand in the way of literary pursuits. Very few thus situated, with no means for acquiring an education but such as they were able to procure by their own industry, would ever have attempted to scale the lofty barriers that surround the learned professions, to gain a place at the bar. But with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, noble ambition, and a firm determination to rise in the world, Luther Badger looked out from the deep forests, in the shades of which he had been nurtured, and re solved that nothing short of absolute impossibilities should prevent him from occupying a commanding position in society.* By making the best use of his scanty opportunities, he succeeded in -* Mr. Badger, in speaking of this period of his life says, that he used often, when a boy, to ascend a bold promontory or cliff that was situated in the rear of his father's residence, and seating himself where he had an extensive view of the Sus quehanna valley and the surrounding hills, covered with dense forests, unbroken, as yet, except at a few points, by the axe of the settlers, he used to muse and specu late for hours together as to what would be the ultimate fate of this region, and what was now the condition of other sections of country. "Would these forests ever be cleared away ^ "Would these hills ever be cultivated 'i "What must be the principal differences between this and other and older settlements 1 And, said he, " I determined that I would know something about the world, and if there was a better country I would try to find it." This was while he had never seen any other section than that in which he lived. 506 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. gaining such an acquaintance with the common branches of an English education as at the age of nineteen to enter the Hamilton and Oneida Academy, (now Hamilton College,) where he pursued his studies two years, though some portion of this time he was out of the institution engaged in teaching a common school. In 1807 he commenced the study of law under the tuition of William Eager, Esq., in Manlius, Onondaga county. New- York, and three years afterward entered the law office of Randall and Wattles, in New-Hart ford, Oneida county. At the May terra of the Supreme Court, in 1812, he was admitted to the bar. The examination on this occasion, which was conducted by Judge Van Ness, was uncommonly strict and critical ; but Mr. Badger acquitted himself so well throughout, as to gain the admiration of the class and the respeijt of all present. He now returned to Manlius, the place where he commenced his studies, and opened an office. There he practised twelve years with large and constantly increasing success. But though gifted -with a natu rally strong constitution, his close and intense application to the duties of his profession so impaired his health, that he was compelled to retire from practice, which he did not resume until 1832. In 1824, soon after he had retired from business, he was elected by the people of Onondaga, and represented them in the 19th Congress, though he was not connected with the strongest political party in that district, Mr. Badger is above the middle size, and uniting with dignified man ners a correct taste, he was fitted to adorn any circle in which he was called to move. Add to this his undoubted integrity of character and fidelity to all his business engagements, and it -will not appear at all strange that many trusts, both civil and military, should have been comiMtted to his keeping. He was, in 1809, attached to the staff of Colonel Thaddeus M. Wood as serjeant-major, and three years afterward was appomted quarter master by Governor Tompkins. He was several times called out with his regiraent to Oswego, Smith's Mills, and other points along the lines, in the last war with Great Britain, but was not in any engagement. In 1819, Mr. Wood having been raised to the rank of brigadier- general, made Mr, Badger his aid-de-carap, and the next year Governor Clinton appointed hira judge-advocate for the twenty-seventh brigade of infantry of the State of New- York. This last office he held eight years, and then resigned it, and retired frora military service. During several years Mr. Badger was engaged in the mercantile busi ness, but in that calling he was by no means successful. In 1832 he returned to the county of Broome, and resumed the prac tice of law, which he has since continued. Of his success as a lawyer, neither himself nor his friends have reason to complain or be ashamed. In the course of his business he has had the management of many important suits in the Suprerae Court, in the Court of Chancery, and in the United States Courts, which he has almost invariably managed to the satisfaction of his clients, seldom failing to secure their rights. LUTHER BADGER, OP NEW-YORK. 507 On one occasion, while practising in Onondaga, he was called to de fend a strongly-contested suit in Oswego. The opposing counsel were several of the most distinguished members of' the legal profession in the state, among whom was General Wood. Mr, Badger, in his defence, displayed so much ability, and such ma ture acquaintance with the system of American jurispmdence, that he was strongly solicited by several of the most prominent citizens of Os wego to settle in their village, and to accept of the office of first judge of that county ; but his engagements at the time were such as prevented him from complying with their request. The circumstances of his admission to the Court of Chancery as a solicitor, which took place in 1819, are somewhat amusing. Being in Albany, he concluded to call and ask admission to practise in that court. He did so, and was ushered by a servant into the chancellor's room. Mr. Kent was seated behind a table, at the further end of the rpom, writing, with his face turned towards the door through which Mr. Badger entered. But he did not stop writing, or look up, until Mr. Badger reached the middle of the room, when he arose from his chair, and the following dialogue occurred : Chancellor Kent. — " How do you do, sir ? how do you do, sir ? What is your name ?" Mr. .S.— " Luther Badger." Chan. — " Where do you live ? " Mr. .5,—" In Onondaga." Chan. — " You belong to the learned profession, do you not ?" Mr.B.—"lAo." Chan. — " Well, you have come to be admitted to my court?" Mr. B. — " That is the object for which I have called." Chan. — " Well, what do you know about chancery ?" Mr. B. — " I confess that I know but little about it." Chan. — Well, how then do you expect to be admitted ? What have you to show ? Mr. B. — " I have an attorney's license." Chan. — " Let me see it ? [taking it, and eyeing it a moment.] Yes ; James Kent — James Kent ; I signed that. Have you anything else ?" Mr. B. — " I have a counselor's license." (Producing it.) Chan. — " Smith Thompson — Smith Thompson. Yes ; that is his hand writing — I know his signature. Have you anything else ?" Mr. B.—" Not anything." Chan. — " Were you ever thrown over the bar ?" Mr. B.—" Not that I know of." Chan. — " Well, suppose that I should admit you as a solicitor, and that a man were to come to you and wish to commence a suit in chan cery, what would you do ? — what is the first thing ? How would you commence ?" Mr. B. — " I would sit down and draw a bill, and copy it, and file a copy in the office of the clerk of chancery, and then issue a subpoena, and cite the party against whom the suit was commenced to appear and answer to it." Chan. — " That is right — that is right ; that is exactly the way to commence a suit in chancery. I will admit you. You go down to Gould's book-store, and get you a blank solicitor's license, and then call 608 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. on my brother. Moss, who is register, and request him to come down with you to my office, and I will admit you." All this time the chancellor remained standing behind his table, and Mr. B. in the middle of the roora. The incident brings out some of the peculiar characteristics of both men. Three years later he was admitted as counselor, and in 1840 was ap pointed by the Senate of the State of New- York an examiner in chan cery, on the recommendation of Governor Seward. He was admitted to practice in the United States courts in 1826, while he was member of Congress. In 1840 he was appointed Commissioner of United States Loans, which office he held three years. He afterward practised as proctor, solicitor, counselor, and advocate, in the United States Courts of the Northern District of New-York. The people of Broome county, in 1846, gave an expression of their confidence in Mr. Badger by electing him to the office of district attorney for that county. He resigned the office in the fall of 1849. In politics Mr, Badger is a stanch and decided whig, and on every suit able occasion is ready to defend and advocate the principles and measures of his party. He is a man who keeps up with the times. Familiar not only with the leading papers that are the acknowledged organs of the whig party in this state, but to a considerable extent also with the cur rent literature of the day, Mr. Badger is able to take a comprehensive view of the affairs of our country, and to form conclusions more just and reliable than most men are competent to do. Among those who are best acquainted with hira, his opinions are always received with re spect, and the results generally show that the confidence reposed in them is not misplaced, Mr. Badger was married, in 1811, to a daughter of Mr. John Wells, of East Hartford, Conn. Mrs. Badger died in 1845, and he subsequently married Mrs. Betsey D. Avery, daughter of the Hon. Davis Dimmock, of Montrose, Pa. Judge Dimmock and his family are well known to the public. He has, during many years, both before and since he was raised to the bench, been a very successful and highly-respected minis ter of the gospel belonging to the Baptist denomination, and, though becoming somewhat superannuated, still continues to preach. His daughter, the widow Avery, was, when married to Mr. Badger, a mem ber of the same church with her father, and Mr. Badger has since con nected himself with that denomination. Since his union with the Baptist Church, he has made liberal use of his property for the support of the various benevolent institutions patronized by the denomination, as well as to sustain the ministry in the church and congregation of which he is a member. At his house, those who were laboring to promote the cause of religion as ministers and agents, have often found a welcome and a home. His beneficence has not been confined within denominational limits. Being a man of strong feelings, and easily moved, he has ever been found ready to re spond to the calls of the needy and deserving, and willing to lend a helping hatid to all worthy enterprises, so far as consistent with his /r-^; -l-/y^-yz.- OF a -r I S n eF ^SSJCaTA. J' Y <:-.'aL V/: .'.j/f-L.- 7f 7>i"U'-ii- An. HIRAM J, MINER, OF NBW-YORK. 509 H. J. MINER, OF H. J. miner's BANK, AT FREDONIA, NEW-YORK. Instruction is often most effectually given by example. Not a few men, it is believed, pass their lives in obscurity and want, mainly be cause, from the unfavorable circumstances in which their lives com mence, they pass the period of youth under a vague but general im pression that eminence, in any important respect, is unattainable by them ; and hence they form no fixed purpose to attain it. A better means of dissipating this delusion, and of rousing the minds of young men and lads, in the humbler walks of life, to high and noble aims, and of stimulating them to the achievement of such aims, can hardly be adopted, than holding before them the example and history of others who have pushed their way upward into affluence, honor, and useful ness, from amidst circumstances not less discouraging than their own. Impressed with this thought, the writer of the following sketch here offers to his readers the example of one who, from a condition of abso lute poverty, with all its attendant embarrassments, and having no family distinction or influential friends to help him, has, by his own patient and persevering exertions, passed from his early penury through competence up to opulence, acquiring by the way increasing respect and esteem by men, and living apparently in favor with God, until now, in the meridian of life, from the position of one of the most pros perous bankers in the country, he is able to look back on his path, strewed with achievements, which are alike honorable to himself, satis factory to his friends, and useful to society. Our subject, now the president and sole proprietor of " H. J. Miner's Bank of Utica," located in Fredonia, New- York, is descended frora an obscure but respectable ancestry, who, on his father's side, eraigrated from England, and on his mother's side, from Wales. The former came to America about the year 1700, and settled soon after in Wood bury, Connecticut, and the latter, about fifty years earlier, came and settled in Weymouth, Massachusetts. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Jones, a Baptist clergyman, who, for his third wife, married, in 1779, a widow, by the name of Quithel. In the early part of the Revolution she resided on Long Island, where she lost her former husband, and where, being a whig in principle, and having espoused the cause of her country with marked decision, she, like many others of similar spirit, suffered much privation and sacrifice. At length, to escape the dangers of a battle then raging between the Americans and English, she was compelled to relinquish all, and fly with her little children, and such valuables only as she could bear away in her apron. With these, she betook herself to a little boat, and afterwards landed at Stonington, Connecticut. Here she became acquainted with, and married Rev. Ebenezer Jones. Soon after their marriage they re moved from Stonington to Stephentown, New-York. By this woman Mr. Jones had two children, Matthew and Eunice. Matthew is now a Baptist clergyman, in Stephentown, having succeeded to his father's- 510 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. pastorate ; and Eunice became the wife of John Miner, and mother of hira who is the subject of the present- sketch. She was a woman of active and clear mind, remarkable for patience, perseverance, and hope, combined with mildness and amiability of temper, and withal, a de cided and exemplary Christian. She died in Westmoreland, New- York, October 30, 1836, at the age of fifty-five years. John Miner, the father of Hiram J., was the son of Timothy Miner, a deacon of the Congregational church in Woodbury, Connecticut, who, by his first wife, had four sons, Judson, Gerry, Treat, and John ; and three daughters, Betsy, Mary, and Anna ; and by his second wife, three sons and one daughter. One of these latter sons, Timothy, became an Episcopal clergyman, and recently died in the city of New- York. John, the youngest son, by the first wife, was born in Woodbury, August 29, 1776. Having lost his father in boyhood, he enjoyed very small advantages for education, and was early apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, which occupation he continued to follow through life. His marriage -with Eunice Jones took place in Stephentown, October, 1801. By her he had four sons and four daughters, viz. : Eunice, Hiram, John, Isaac, Eliza, Mary, Caroline, and Heman, all of whom, except Mary, who died in infancy, are now living, married, and members of Christian churches. Although Mr. Miner was a man of good natural abilities, much decision and energy of character, and commanded a large share of public influence for one in his condition, yet he was not without serious faults, owing, however, in a great measure to the faults of his time. Butwhatever were his errors in practice, the precepts which he enjoined on his faraily were always those of integrity, morality, and reverence for religion. Possessed of a generous and social disposition, his earn ings were not always husbanded wisely, and, as a natural consequence, he was unstable in his residence, and always poor. He died of cholera, in Westmoreland, New- York, August 22, 1835, aged fifty-nine years. Hiram J.* Miner, whose biographical sketch we purpose now to give, is the eldest son of John Miner, and was born in Stephentown, Rensse laer county. New- York, 1804. The sun of his existence arose under a cloud of temporal adversity, from which it did not emerge until after he had begun to act for himself under his own direction. The effect of his father's poverty he often sorely felt during the period of his mi nority ; and yet, by throwing him upon his own energies, and denying him the supports of voluptuous indolence or the means of youthful ex travagance which many sons of the rich possess, it led hira to the forma tion of those stricter habits which, in a great degree, have constituted the basis of his eminent success. In order to give the reader a proper view of his early life, and of the disadvantages and embarrassments out of which he has arisen, as well as to elucidate his natural traits of character, it will be necessary briefly to trace the family of his father while he reraained connected with it. In 1806, when Hiram was two years of age, his father removed from Stephentown to Hamilton, Madison county. New- York, and thence in 1808, to Westmoreland, Oneida county. Just before the family removed from Hamilton, when about four years old. Master Hiram met with * The J, is inserted by himself, as the initial of Jones, his mother's name. HIRAM J. MINER, OP NEW- YORK. 511 an accident which nearly cost him his life. In attempting to ascend the rude ladder by which the chamber of their log-house was to be reached, the adventurous boy lost his hold and fell from the top. He alighted on one of the cooking utensils, which laid open his nose longitu dinally to the bone, and was taken up senseless, supposed to be dead. But medical aid was soon procured, and the little sufferer was again restored. Whilst Mr. Miner resided in Westmoreland, which was some seven years, Hiram was accustomed to attend the district school during the summer terms, but in winter he remained at home on account of the distance of the school from his father's residence. He was at first a dull scholar, although abundantly capable of making rapid progress. Full of the amusement afforded by his mischiefs, he had no disposition to fix his mind on the unexciting pages of his book. Fun was his de light and his principal aim. And yet, his experience proved to him even then that " the way of the transgressors is hard." Abundance of chastise ments made him more familiar with the lessons of the rod than with the lessons of his book ; and he was rapidly becoming a most trouble some member of the school fraternity, when an incident occurred which wholly changed his character as a pupil. This was when he was about six years of age. On a certain day, as the school-dame was preparing to administer his accustomed discipline, she remarked with a somewhat impatient gravity, " I expect to have to lick this boy every day, as regu larly as the day comes. " That is true," replied Hiram to himself, mentally — " That is true, and it shall be so no more. I will do better." And from that hour he did " do better," and thereafter became a very respectable inmate of the school, and in some of the departments of study he surpassed others much older and at first more promising than himself It was about two years after this, at the age of eight, when the idea and the purpose of becoming a merchant first took possession of his mind — a purpose which he never relinquished until it was accomplished. In company with his parents he had gone from Westmoreland to Au gusta to see the elephant. While there, his father handed him his snuff box with a penny, and directed him to go to a store and get a penny's worth of snuff. He took the box and the penny, and entering Chan dler's store, purchased the snuff. While standing there in waiting for the article, the thought came into his mind, which he instantly formed into a resolve, and he said to hiraself, '¦'¦ L will be a merchant" From that moment it became, until it was realized, his ruling desire and aim to enter a store as a merchant's clerk. Mr, Miner, at this time, and during the war with England, lived on the "Seneca turnpike," a route much traversed by the troops going west or east ; so that Hiram had frequent opportunities of seeing them and of feeling the inspiration of their military display and their reported exploits, as well as of listening to the tale of British aggression and British barbarity. His father was of the war party, and in these cir cumstances the lad naturally acquired a strong bias in favor of the po litical principles which were then in the ascendant, and has continued a firm democrat ever since. After the ratification of peace, as soon as the fact was known, Mr. Miner with his family set off for "the Holland Purchase," then regarded 512 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. as " the far west." Their destination was the township of Sheldon, Genesee county, (now Wyoming county,) New- York. The journey was long and tedious, occupying nearly a month, and was attended with much expense, not a little peril, and some disaster. The Gene see River at that time overflowed- all its banks, and was crossed at great hazard. On leaving the ferry they were obliged to .pass over meadows buried so deeply in the water that for a considerable distance the loaded wagons were upborne and floated. They however suc ceeded in crossing and passed on to Sheldon, where they arrived March 21, 1815, ' Here Mr. Miner " took up" an entirely new lot of land, covered ¦with a heavy Genesee forest, and on it hastily erected a rude log-house, in which he placed his family, and commenced the labor of " clearing." Hiram was now eleven years of age. But young as he was he entered with his father on the work of removing the forest ¦with zeal, and energy, and hope. He was valiant in felling the trees ; cutting, and piling, and burning the brush; " niggering off" the logs, &c., &c., anticipating the day when, instead of the dark forbidding woods, he should look upon clear and well-fenced fields, dressed in richest green ; and upon waving meadows, golden harvests, and thriving herds. Often, during the three years of their residence in Sheldon, these visions of hope would dance before tbe imagination of the boy, and fire his zeal, and stimulate his courage, and fortify his patience to meet and endure, or surmount, the almost mcredible trials and hardships which befel him there. Those who remember the severities which rested on the new settle ments of Genesee during the years 1816 and 1817, on account of the frosts and consequent scarcity of provision, will be the better pre pared to appreciate the sufferings of this family of pioneers in that part of the state during " the cold seasons." The subject of this sketch has said to the writer that what he was there compelled to witness and to suffer left an impression on his mind never to be forgotten ; and that the honest poor man can never fail to excite his commiseration, or to find in hira a sympathizing friend. During the first summer and autumn, Mr, Miner succeeded in clear ing off a few acres which, in the following spring, were planted mostly in corn. Then came the frosts of June and July, 1816, and destroyed it all, and with it, all visible dependence, or source of hope to the family for subsistence through the approaching winter. The protracted and expensive journey to the west, the maintenance of his family thus long in the woods, and now this cutting off of his crops, effectually stripped Mr. Miner of what little means he possessed, and lefthim, with his family —then a wife and six children— to the buffetings of poverty in its most appalling form- the want of daily bread. The succeeding winter, and the summer of 1817, was a period of dreadful suffering to nearly all the log-cabin settlers in that new country, and particulariy so to the family of Mr, Miner. And when, again, the crops of 1817 were also destroyed by frost, it threw a shade of gloom over their condition and prospects which language fails to express. His little property entirely consumed, and all hope of securing a livelihood by clearing off and cultivating new land being extinguished, by the continued severity of HIRAM J. MINER, OP NEW-YORK. 513 the seasons, and fearing absolute starvation, Mr. Miner and his family were compelled to resort to every honest expedient to maintain sub sistence at all. Sending his children to school was out of the question. He could not meet the expense. The boys who were old enough wrought for the more favored neighbors for whatever wages they could get, and sometimes even for their bread. At one time Hiram and his younger brother, John, were employed by a neighboring landholder in cutting and piling " under-brush," and in picking up potatoes, at twelve and a half cents per day, paid in potatoes, which they would carry home at night to feed the rest of the family. Potatoes were then worth itoraffty to seventy-five cents per bushel. At other times the most profitable expedient was a resort to fishing, Mr. Miner was obliged to leave home and search for employment at his trade where- ever a day's work could be procured. Often, with his tools on his back, he would wander off many miles, and be gone one to two weeks ; then bring home upon his shoulders the avails of his labor to feed his famished family. His entire earnings for a week he could very con veniently carry home upon his back. While labor was extremely low, all kinds of provision were unprecedently high. At some sea sons of the year wheat was worth $3 00 per bushel ; Indian corn, $1 50 to $200; and potatoes, $1 00; while other provisions bore correspond ing prices. Their own backs were the only beasts of burden ; and when a bushel of corn or of wheat was procured, Mr. Miner would swing it upon his shoulder, and, along with young Hiram, tramp away to " Colonel Verry's mills," and get it ground. Then the boy, taking the bran, would set off close upon the footsteps of his father bearing the flour, and thread the unbroken forest four miles, to reach the hungry ones who waited at home. Sometimes pausing to rest upon a log beside the path, the father would cheer up the spirits of the lad by relating some stirring incident in his own life, or rouse his hope to anticipate future good, by telling what he expected his Hiram would yet attain to. Hiram had even then not only a strong sense of the straits they were in, but also a ludicrous conception of the appearance which his father and himself presented in these pedestrian milling excursions. Often would he amuse his father with his boyish suggestions for relief .At one time, on their return from mill, as they sat resting on a log, he pro posed the following improvement in their mode of travel : " Suppose," said he, " that you should let me get astride of your grist and ride until you become tired, and then you do the same by me — and so we alter nate ; and by this means save the time of stopping to rest." Naturally of a proud spirit, and stung to the quick by the sense of bitter poverty and hardship which this playful thought of the boy awakened, yet sup pressing his emotion and affecting merriment, he started to his feet, ex claiming : " King Hiram,* shoulder your grist and keep up if you can !" — then set off upon a run with " King Hiram" close upon his heels. On one occasion, during the summer of 1817, in the absence of Mr. * The boy was named for Hiram, King of Tyre ; and in his merry moods, his father used commonly to call him, " King Hiram." 33 514 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Miner, the family had consumed their last morsel of food ; and Mrs. Miner, accompanied by Hiram, went to a neighbor's house two railes distant through the woods, in hope of procuring something for herself and children to subsist upon for a few days, until her husband should return. But she did not succeed; an^ on returning at night, they found that the children, having been without food through the day, had been vainly trying to allay the, cravings of hunger with bark from the twigs of the birch, A pile of denuded brush met them at the door, and told too plainly the tale of want within. " That scene," remarks the sub ject of this sketch, in narrating the circumstance to the writer — "That scene pierced my young heart, and gave me so strong and vivid a con ception of our situation as it then was, that no distance of time can ever efface the impression. It remains before me now, fresh as of yester day." He adds : " During all this period of want, nothing like des pondency ¦^'as ever discoverable in our parents. My mother, especially, was at all times cheerful. However sad she might feel, (and she doubt less had her painful forebodings,) towards her children she was ever cheerful and hopeful ; saying often : ' I trust in Providence.' ' Hope for the future.' ' All is for the best, and will turn out so at last.' " The scarcity of provisions continued. It became alraost irapossible to procure food, even with raoney. The older settleraents were a little better off in this respfect ; and in these occasionally Mr. Miner could procure a little work at his trade. Commonly he would be gone a week or more — distant twelve to fifteen miles, and return with what he could bring on his back, as mentioned above. The family were, of course, kept on the smallest allowance which nature could endure. On one occasion Mr. Miner, having been at first unsuccessful in seeking employraent, was gone longer than the tirae fixed upon. Mrs. Miner had, for the last few days, tasked herself to the utmost to keep up the drooping spirits of the children ; and had resorted to every expedient to lengthen out the little store of provision. But the appalling time came when the last cake was baked, and the last morsel was eaten. For several days they had been restricted to only a fraction of what nature demanded. Again night was coming on. The anxious mother gazed long and vainly for relief in her returning husband. No father, no bread. The children were gathered about the door of the humble cabin with piteous looks, and hungry. The younger ones were crying for food, and asking, " When will father come?" Mrs. Miner, in her extremity, said : " I don't know but we shall perish if he does not come soon. But we will not give up yet, nor go to bed till we have made another effort to get up one more supper. He may possibly be home in the morning," She then went to a neighbor's and borrowed six pota toes — all she could get — and returned. The potatoes were buried in the hot embers and roasted. A little wheat bran which remained in the house was wet with water, and made into a cake and baked. The cooking being accoraplished late in the evening, and there being no pros pect of other relief that night, the table was set as usual. The roasted potatoes, with salt, were distributed to the places of the several children. The bran cake occupied the centre of the table ; and beside it stood an iron candlestick, bearing a hemlock knot lighted for the occasion. When all was ready, the family took their seats at the table with usual . HIRAM J, MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 615 formality. The knot candle threw up a dingy flame, with a cloud of black curling smoke, which found egress through the open gable, as no chimney was there. The pitchy light shed a sombre hue upon the table, and on all around. It was a melancholy scene, and felt to be such by every member of that suffering group. For a moment, all sat in mute and motionless solemnity, contemplating the sad spectacle. Pre sently the silence was broken by the mother in a subdued and plaintive tone, " Oh, la me ! this is poverty indeed !" At that instant the light went out; and the next, a roar of laughter broke from every child — each at the same time grasping and devouring his potato in the dark. When the light was again restored, nothing appeared on the table but the bran cake. This was served around the board in dubious suspense in regard to its fate. To eat such a thing had not been attempted by them before. The trial was made, but it was impossible. They could not swallow it. A cake of sawdust could have been eaten as well. " It would have required," says Mr. Miner, " a force-pump to get it into our stomachs." So, the remainder of the repast was abandoned, and all went to bed; when the children, at least, forgot in sleep their hunger for that night. Early the next morning the father returned with his usual bag of flour or meal, and relieved .the distress of that occasion. It often happened that Hiram was sent several miles with a few shil lings to purchase articles for the faraily, and in these excursions he was generally accompanied by his brother John, At one time, the boys were dispatched to a distance of some two miles to make a trifling pur chase, and arrived at their destination just as the family were taking their dinner. The lads were kindly asked to sit by and dine with them. But Hiram modestly declined, saying, he thought it was "-ftoi worth while ;" or, as John would have it, " not so file ;"* and was pro ceeding to thank the gentleman for his kindness, while John had doffed his hat and was down at the table long before Hiram had finished his speech. Then, as a matter of course, Hirara had to yield and accept the invitation. We raention this to show that, hungry and faint as he then was, he did not feel at liberty to accept the hospitality of this faraily without, at least, manifesting sorae modesty in its acceptance. After dinner, the boys paid for the articles they had purchased and re turned home. John gave his version of the adventure, and Hirara his ; but to this day, if Hirara makes objection to a proposition from one of his brothers, he is met with " I suppose you think it 'not so file.'' " Soon after this, the condition and prospects of the family, as regarded food, began to brighten, Mr. Miner obtained regular employraent at his trade in Attica, some 12 to 15 miles distant, whence flour and other provisions were sent, or brought by himself as often as he return ed home. Hiram was now 13 years old, and was frequently employed in the transportation of supplies from Attica to his father's house. He would work for a neighbor a week or more, to pay for the use of a horse, then, ride to Attica and return with flour and other provisions. Much of * A blunder of articulation occasioned by his embarrassment. 616 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. the way was only what was called " a woods road" — a narrow pass opened through the forest by clearing away the underwood wide enough for a wagon-path. And he did not always escape disaster, from the narrowness of the road. On one occasion, as he was returning home with 60 pounds of flour, and some other articles, upon his horse's back, the road being rough and the mud deep, the animal was quite disposed to sheer from the main track, in many places, to avoid the difficulties of the way. Hiram felt the danger to which these sidelong plunges exposed him, and for the most part managed his rein with beconaing caution. But it happened, in an unguarded moment, that his fastidious steed, spying an unlovely-looking mud-hole, darted sideways and brought up against a tree. The unfortunate concussion tore a hole in the bag, and cast both rider and grist into the mud. It was a cruel ca tastrophe ; but the young hero was equal to the emergency. He had held fast the rein, and thus prevented the horse's escape, but how to se cure and replace on his back the half buried grist ¦vt'as now the question. He was small, and of a light frame, and to lift the bag by main strength and put it upon the animal was impossible. He was in the centre of a dense forest, five miles from home, and to wait for some passer-by seemed preposterous. He therefore resolved on a desperate effort to help himself Putting forth all his strength, he dragged the bag of flour from the mud, and stopped the breach by crowding in leaves and small twigs. Next he led his horse up beside a high log and made him fast to the limb of a tree ; then, with much labor, he succeeded in getting the bag on the log, and thence upon the back of the horse. He was soon mounted again, and completed the journey without further mishap. But both the bag of flour and his own apparel very distinctly proclaim ed that he had been "in the ditch." During his father's residence in Sheldon, Hiram, though so young, was made practically familiar with all the varieties of labor, as well as all the hardships and privations incident to a new country. He was employed at intervals in the various processes of clearing new lands — chopping, piling and burning logs and brush ; in riding horse to plow out newly-cleared fields of corn — the roots and stumps every few rods jerking him nearly off the animal's back ; in gathering and boiling the sap of the maple in the manufacture of sugar ; in attending upon pits of burning charcoal ; in peeling bark for the roofs of log-houses ; in pound ing out buckwheat in the open fields ; in gathering ashes, and manufac turing black salts and potash. He was always ready and willing to engage in any honest employment which promised remuneration — es teeming no work unworthy of him which needed to be done. In this manner he acquired an interest and a sympathy in the employments of the laboring poor which has characterized him in all his subsequent life, and materially helped to make him what eminently he appears to be — the virtuous poor man's friend. His opportunities for schooling in this place were very limited, being restricted to a part of One winter and one term of summer. The privilege of attending religious meet ings and listening to the gospel was seldom enjoyed. Once in a great while he heard a sermon from some traveling missionary ; but his reli gious instruction was chiefly derived from his mother. She did not fail to urge on her children, above everything else, the duty of reverencing the HIRAM J. MINER, OF NBW-YORK. 617 authority of God, and of looking by faith to the Saviour, who died for sinners, and rose again. She taught them to be honest in word and ac tion, true to each other, and kind to all. And she promised that, if Providence spared their lives, they should yet rise from their present condition, and become respected and esteemed among men. This pledge she gave them, confiding in the words of Christ, " Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." And before her death, she was permitted to see her assurances to them becoming literally fulfilled, especially in the case of her eldest son. • Early in the winter of 1817-18, Mr. Miner, having sold out in Shel don, removed with his family into the township of Attica, four miles south from the village of that narae. Here, in the neighborhood of " Cotton's MiUs," on the Tonawanda Creek, he occupied a log-house, surrounded by forest. He remained in this place through the winter; and in the spring of 1818, having secured the job of building a house for Dr. Disbrow in the village, he removed his family thither. During the winter at " Cotton's Mills," Hiram was variously em ployed as occasion required — sometimes cutting and hauling to the door, on his hand-sled, the necessary fuel ; sometimes making and furnishing to the market birchen splint brooms ; often ranging, for one purpose or another, over the snow-clad hills, or penetrating the deep forests ; some times on snow-shoes, and accompanied by his brother John. In these rambles they had frequent opportunity of trying their speed and prov ing their prowess in pursuit of the deer — a privilege which they never failed to improve when the snow was deep and its crust sharp, as was often the case during the winter and early spring. In such circum stances, though destitute of fire-arms or other effective weapons, if they saw a deer, they were ever ready to give him chase. Hiram was the master spirit, but John was resolute to follow wherever Hiram would lead. As a specimen of their daring and unyielding perseverance, let the following incident be related : Hiram was now in his fourteenth year, and John in his twelfth. One morning about sunrise — the boys having just arisen — as Mrs. Miner was commencing her preparations for breakfast, on opening the door she called out : " Here, boys, are two deer before the door, walking in the road; and they move very slow, as if they were tired." The boys rushed to the door ; and, on seeing them, the deer plunged into the deep snow, and soon disappeared in the thick forest, Hiram stepped back to the table, and seizing a large butcher-knife, said to John : " Come on, my boy, let us give chase." John was ready at the word, and instantly they were off at the top of their speed. The crust of the snow was sufficient to bear up the boys ; while the deer, when kept on the bound, sank through to the bottom at every leap. The underwood being so thick, the boys did not come in sight of the animals but once, until they had run the distance of five miles. But now the deer were so hard pressed by the young pursuers that, leaving the woods, they sought refuge in an adjacent barn-yard among the cattle. But they were not long permitted to pause, before the furious sportsmen were rushing upon them. Again they took to the woods. At this place the, boys were joined in the pursuit by the farmer with his rifle But after 518 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. accompanying thera a few miles, he gave out, and returned home. TVot so the lads. Only one thought filled their minds. They started with the purpose to catch and kill one or both of these deer ; and until that was accoraplished, they could think of nothing else. They kept on the trail, coming every now and then in sight of their objects; when, although they expected soon to have a knock-down fight with the beasts, they would brandish the butcher-knife, and with new vigor press on — resolved to hazard a battle, whatever might be the event. At length one of the deer, in passing under a fallen tree which- lafd soraewhat elevated from the ground, was wounded by a sharp pro jecting knot which penetrated the flesh so as to bring blood. Thi= gave the boys new hope. Very soon after, the animals parted, taking; different directions. The fierce pursuers chose the trail of the wounded beast — distinguished by its bloody track. Onward they rushed, with all their remaining strength. It was now late in the afternoon. Although the race had been most of the time in a dense forest, they had kept their reckoning so as not to get lost, and were encouraged by perceiving that the creature was taking a course towards their home. At length he began to flag from fatigue, and made for a clearing about two miles from their father's house. As he neared the open field, he was seen by a man armed with a rifle, and was shot. The boys were only a few rods be hind, ignorant that any one was near until they heard the crack of tha rifle. They came up and looked on the deer for a few moments, feel mg a little chagrined that they had not been permitted to fight and kill him themselves; but in the m.ain satisfied — the beast was dead. Then, faint and exhausted with fatigue and want of food, they hastened home, much to the relief of their anxious mother, who had feared they were lost and would perish in the snow. But the boys were proud of their feat. They had, indeed, been from seven o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, -without breakfast or dinner, in a furious race through the dark woods ; but they had accomplished their object ; and until that was effected, they would not give up. Illustrative of the same trait of character — stopping at no difficulty and shrinking at no hardship in the pursuit of an object once fixed upon — let another scene of boyhood be presented. Sometime in the autumn following the occurrence related above, while the faraily were living in the village of Attica, there was a cattle show and fair held in Batavia, twelve miles distant. Hiram and John desired to see it. It was, to be sure, a good way off; and they had no horse, or money, or shoes for their feet. But, despite the obstacles, the expedition was re solved on. Accordingly, on the morning of the appointed day, they set off, in pedestrian style, bare-footed, and with not a sixpence in their pockets — their only resource for the expenses of the journey being a " Barloijv knife." On arriving at Batavia, they sold the knife for twelve and a half cents. This fund they spent — a penny at a time — through the course of the day, in obedience to the demands of ap petite; and returned at night with merry hearts, to relate to the younger children the adventures they had had, and the sights they had seen. The next winter, 1818-19, Hiram was at school. An opportunity was offered him to board in the family of Harvey Putnam, Esq., of Attica, HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 519 where, by working mornings and evenings, he could pay for both his board and tuition. This was a privilege which he gladly embraced ; and he made rapid progress in study, under the instruction of Mr, (now Rev,) Asa Mahan, late president of Oberlin Collegiate Institute, Ohio. Here he commenced the study of English grammar ; and particularly distin guished himself in spelling ; — ^having mastered Dabol's arithmetic the previous winter by hiraself at home. During this winter, an accident occurred in which, almost as by miracle, he escaped instant death. While he was at school one day, and out with the boys during a recess, an ox team attached to a sled passed along, and the boys all jumped on. The driver applied his whip to the lads, when Hiram leaped from the sled into the path. Just at that moment, a span of horses and sleigh, filled with men fresh from a neighboring tavern, were rushing by at full speed. Instantly he was struck by the horses and thrown down, the team pass ing directly over him. With perfect presence of mind he hugged the ground as closely as possible, so as to let the beams of the sleigh pass over him. But just as he came under the roller, the team was stopped ; and he crawled out frora the heels of the horses but slightly wounded, to the great joy of his terror-stricken corapanions. As he rose to his feet, the intoxicated driver, with an oath, demanded what he was there for. Hiram bowed with a grateful heart, thanking the wretch for not killing him outright ; then took his seat in the school-room, bathed in tears, and overflowing with gratitude to his Maker that his life was spared. The serious impression produced by this narrow escape from death continued with him during the remainder of the school. The removal of Mr. Miner's family into the village of Attica made an important change in the condition, views, and manners of Hiram. Instead of the retiring bashfulness of a backwood's lad, he here ac quired the more easy and familiar manners of a village boy. He was brought more into contact with raen and things ; found new oppor tunities for gaining information ; and his knowledge of the world about him becarae essentially enlarged. Durjng the four years of his father's residence in that place, he enjoyed his best and last advantages for schooling. The first two winters he was enabled to attend school steadily, and also a part of the third. And here it was that he cora- menced his operations in money-making. He says to the writer, " The first money that I recollect of earning, and laying aside as my own, was gained in the following manner : the teacher of our school offered, that if I would make the morning fires during the winter, I might have the ashes for my pay. I did so ; and in the spring had collected some ten or twelve bushels, which I sold at twelve-and-a-half cents per bushel, and received my cash all at once, which I thought was a pretty large pile." At the age of sixteen he left school altogether, and with many regrets. Yet, for a long time after, he did not entirely abandon the hope that, in some way, he might be permitted to resume his studies. But in this hope he was disappointed. His time and services were re quired by his father in helping to support the family. During his continuance in Attica, when not in school, Hiram was occupied in every variety of labor that could be turned to best account. He assisted his father in house-building, shingling, painting, and other light work ; cultivated land on shares ; hired out to farmers at twenty- 520 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS. five cents a day; wrought in the brick-yard; ground bark in the tannery, &c,, &c. On one occasion, when the mail-carrier was sick, he was employed to transport the mail on horseback between Attica and Buffalo, a distance of forty miles, and much of the way through the woods. His compensation for performing this trip was fifty cents, paid in advance. But, unfortunately, from the jolting of the horse — a hard trotting one — the money in some way, as was supposed, bounded from his vest pocket, and was lost. Consequently he returned minus the fifty cents, and had the pleasure and the pounding of the trip to re ward him for his services. And the pounding part he thought was by no means inconsiderable, for he was so bruised by the ride of eighty miles, on the back oi such a horse, in the heat of summer, that it was a full week before he was able to go out again to his usual labor.* And yet his visit to Buffalo had in it much to interest the mind of such a stripling in his early teens. The village at that time contained about 110 houses, and exhibited in strong features the traces of the British fire of 1813. He left the mail at the post-office, near a corner of the public square, on which the first Presbyterian Church now stands, and put up at a hotel, in what was then the upper part of the town, nearly opposite to where the " American" now is. Having arrived early in the afternoon, he walked out to see the wonders of the place. Passing the ruins on the site of the fire, where still were naked walls and chimneys standing, he went down to the har bor, and there, on the lake and in the creek, had his first view of the great sloops. He also cast a look of indignant scorn over upon His Majesty's dominions, lying in the distance across from Black Rock. After gazing as long as he wished, swelling with haughty contempt, and bidding defiance to the hated enemies of his country, -with a proud step and excited brain he returned to his hotel for the night, and the next morning at six o'clock was off for home. While in Attica he enjoyed access to the village library, at a trifling expense, and read many valuable works, which, in some degree, com pensated his feelings for the deprivation of school instruction. And often there did he urge his father to procure him a situation as clerk in one of the village stores, then kept by Gains B. Rich, Esq., and David Scott. His father as often made application for him, but without suc cess, perhaps because the merchants saw nothing of special interest in the young aspirant, or perhaps, (which was the more probable reason,) because of the want of influential friends. From some cause, other young men always filled the vacancies which not unfrequently occurred in the stores. But with purpose unflinching, he had made up his mind to be a merchant, and he doubted not that sooner or later he should attain to the long-desired situation of merchant's clerk. The affairs of Mr. Miner being in an unpropitious state, he resolved on another change of location. Accordingly, in the winter of 182I-'2 he removed to Hopewell, Ontario county, leaving Hiram and his eldest sister, Eunice, behind. Hiram was engaged to labor for a neighboring ' It ia an interesting fact that, over this same route, between Attica and Buffalo the mail is now transported by steam in about forty minutes. HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 521 farmer, a Mr. Hotve, at $5 per month, for a couple of months, to pay some trifling debts which his father had left. After completing this engagement, he entered into a conditional contract with the sarae man to labor in his employ one year. The conditions were, that he should not be able to secure a clerkship in the time, and that he should not be called away by his father. His compensation was to be $5 per month in winter, and $6 in summer, to be paid in clothing and in live stock — cattle and sheep, as he might choose. His plan was to let out his stock, to be returned double in three years, according to the then existing custom of the country. Upon the carrying out of this plan he set his heart with a good deal of interest, in the expectation of realizing something for himself. But, after laboring about four months, until late in June, his hopes were dashed by a suraraons from his father to come home. He was bitterly chagrined ; but the principle of obedience to parental authority was firmly fixed in his creed and in his heart, and at once he prepared to obey the mandate, much to the disappointment of Mr. Howe and his kind family. After paying the debts, and settling for the clothing he had received, about one dollar was paid him in cash, to bear his expenses on the way. The usual modes of traveling then were, either with one's own horse, or else on foot. The latter was the only means available for Hiram. Out of one of his shirts Mrs. Howe constructed a knapsack, into which were put his clothing, and two days' provision ; and in the gray of morn ing, staff in hand, he bid the family "good by," and commenced the journey. Two miles on his way he called at the place where his sister Eunice was stopping. She was looking for hira, and met hira at " the bars." With a laugh she exclaimed, " Why, Hirara ! what a ridi culous appearance you make 1 I wonder if you intend to go home with that big pack on your back. I am ashamed of your appearance ; and what will our folks say ?" He replied : " I have no other means to go. They have sent for rae, and I can go it." They parted in tears ; she sit ting on the fence, looking after him, until he passed over the hill out of her sight. The morning was lovely, and he trudged on over hill and valley, ruminating sadly on the past, and nerved up with bright anticipa tions of the future. In his reveries he almost forgot the huge pack, which contrasted so strongly with his little body ; and the pedestrian efforts he was making ; as, taking off his hat, he wiped away with the sleeve of his shirt the .perspiration rolling from his brow. The day be came extreraely warra, but he faltered not, nor abated his motion till the sun stood high in the meridian. Then he paused at an humble dwelling, for the purpose of taking his midday meal. As he approached the door, the good woman stopped her spinning wheel, while, as politely as he knew how, he asked her for a cup of water, and permission to eat his dinner in the shade. With an expression of countenance seen only in a woman and a mother, she offered him a chair, and then hasted to get him the water, which she mingled liberally with milk. He laid off his knap sack, took out and ate his dinner, drank the refreshing beverage, and then sat a little time to rest himself He had now traveled nearly twenty miles. After about an hour's pause, he thanked the lady for her kindness, shouldered his pack, and resumed his journey. The heat was exceedingly oppressive, and some of the way was rendered peculiarly 522 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. wearisome by the deep and burning sand. But he pressed forward, and crossed the Genesee River just above Geneseo, at the same place where, seven and a half years before, he had crossed with his parents in moving to the West, Instead of the angry flood, covering all its banks and the adjacent flats, it was now reduced to a comparatively small stream. He descended to the boat, which was in waiting, and the oars man put him across for four cents — ^no charge for baggage! About Sun set he arrived in the village of Geneseo. He had made but one stop during the day, and was now tired, and his feet were sore ; and prudence seemed to demand that he should here rest for the night. But, as he scanned the aspect and dimensions of the hotel, he fancied there was a little too much the appearance of style in it for one in his present plight ; and learning that there was another public house about two miles fur ther on, he resolved to proceed. In Geneseo he inquired for the residenceof Gen. Wardsworth, which was pointed out ; and at the same time he was told that Mr. Wardsworth owned all the adjacent Genesee flats ! As he stood in front of the man sion, he cast a wondering look over the vast flats below, and then again upon the house ; and contrasted the condition of the princely proprietor with his own humble lot. And he was told that this man of imraense wealth comraenced life comparatively poor. The thought arose in his mind, " Is it within the reach of man, by his own exertions, to achieve all this ?" And the example inspired him with new hope, and excited the spirit of emulation within him. After surveying this scene to his satisfaction, he passed on to the tavern two miles ahead. On approaching it, he was gratified to find it bearing an appearance of plainness which, in some measure, relieved the embar rassment he felt on account of his own rustic plight. It bore the inviting signal, " Traveler's Home," He had now walked forty miles, most of the way in a hot sun, and was thoroughly exhausted. He entered the bar-room, which was lighted with candles, and nearly filled with trav elers who had stopped for the night, and were sitting around the room on rude benches and chairs. With much trepidation he advanced to the bar and attempted to speak to the landlord. But his tongue would not obey his will in the office of articulation. After repeated efforts — bashfully stammering — he succeeded in making the man understand that he wanted lodging for the night. The landlord did not instantly answer ; but scanned the youngster frora head to foot with a piercing eye. If he had stood in the presence of a king, Hirara could not have trembled more. After a moment's suspense, he was relieved by the landlord's reply, — "Yes, my brave lad, you shall be accommodated?" He laid off his pack, called for a dish of bread and milk, ate it, and went to bed. The next morning he arose eariy, settled his bill, and at tempted to proceed on his journey. But he found his feet so badly swollen and blistered that he could not walk in his shoes. So he took them off, and bearing thera in one hand, with his staff in the other, and his pack on his back, he started again, accompanied by an old man and his son who had passed the night at the same house. Occasionally these fellow-travelers, with much kindness, would relieve our youno- hero by carrying his pack. When they had come within five miles of Canan- daigua, they were overtaken by the mail wagon, and, for twenty-five HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 523 cents each, were carried to Blossom's Hotel in the village. Here young Miner parted with his obliging companions ; and replacing his shoes on his feet until he had passed out of the village, as he had done in passing through other villages during the day, he walked on over the remaining nine miles to his father's residence in Hopewell. In passing through a piece of woods within the last six miles, an animal somewhat larger than a black squirrel darted across the road just in front of hira. He had never before seen the like, and knew not what it was. Instantly all the boy in hira was roused. Forgetting his fatigue, and the soreness of his feet, and the burden on his back, he rushed, pell-mell, over the logs, and through the brush, in pursuit of- the strange creature. On his coming up, the animal paused to show fight ; and seemed to beckon him on by a peculiar wag of its tail. The young assailant then advanced with sorae caution, until he came within reach of his cane. After making several feint passes, to try the temper of the aniraal, which coolly kept its posi tion, he presently dealt the creature a severe blow on the tip of the nose. At the instant, a rapid discharge from its magazine convinced the aggressor what sort of animal it was ; and he beat a hasty retreat. Fortunately the fire took effect only on his cane ; which, however, afforded decisive proof to his younger brothers, after his arrival home, that he had had an inglorious fight with a . A little short of his parents' residence, he carae where his father was building a new house for a farmer. Mr. Miner saw him coming ; and, mortified with his appearance, met hira at the door to prevent his entrance. After the first greeting the father said : " How like Satan you look ! Come, let us go home," So, taking the sack from the son's shoulders, they walked on together ; the father swinging the uncouth ,burthen in- his hand, and saying : " This will do for mother's rag-bag ; else I would throw it away, with your dinner, clothes, and all," They were soon at the log-house in which the family resided, Hirara was met by his mother at the door, who greeted him with much maternal joy; and was also warmly welcomed by all the household. Though greatly fatigued, and with feet badly blistered and swollen, he was comparatively happy in thus meeting with his friends, all in usual health and spirits. After a few days of rest, he was out at work again ; either on the land occupied by his father, or among the neighboring farmers. In this place he commonly attended the Methodist Church on the Sabbath, at " the Sulphur Springs" — now " Clifton Springs ;" and felt himself not a little dressed up, when clad in his nankeen coat, and nankeen or bleached tow pantaloons. During this summer his father found opportunity to engage him as clerk to Jonathan Mayhew, now of Buffalo, N. Y., then merchant in Manchester, Ontario county, on a salary of $50 for the first year. He comraenced his clerkship, with a glad heart, in September, 1822, in the 19th year of his age, and continued with Mr. Mayhew until April, 1824. Sometime in the winter of 1823^, his father removed his family back to Westmoreland, and, soon after, Hiram was requested by his parents to return also to Westmoreland, and try to get a situation nearer home. The inducements for him to remain longer at Manchester were not great. Mr. Mayhew was engaged in the cast-iron business, and in the manu facture of patent plows, so that his mercantile operations were quite 524 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. limited, and did not afford to young Miner all the advantages which his ambition desired. He felt, however, that he had no cause of complaint or dissatisfaction with his employer. Mr. Mayhew had given hira every facility to acquire a knowledge of trade, which his business afforded, nad taken him from the field, with no recomraendation but his appear ance — a retiring, bashful boy, sraall of stature, and looking much younger than he was — and had given him his first lessons in mercantile life. He regarded this gentleman as a high-minded, honorable, and up right man, and his wife as one of the most amiable, affectionate, and lovely of women. To them and their family he had become strongly attached, and the example and instruction which he there enjoyed have been happily felt in all his after life. Still-he could discover nothing in the prospect which promised ranch advantage in remaining longer with his present employer. He felt a strong desire to be in an active and extended mercantile house, where he could anticipate future ad vancement This, together with the desire to gratify the wish of his parents m being nearer them, determined him to go home and stand his chance of better employment. Immediately he acquainted Mr. Mayhew and family with his design, Mrs. M, replied that " the advice which mothers give should, in general, be obeyed ; but when it related to business, she somewhat doubted whether, in all cases, it could be done with propriety, since their maternal affection, and desire to have their sons near them, were liable to outweigh considerations which would otherwise be seen to have the advantage." The force of this remark he afterwards strongly realized, as it was nearly three years before he again obtained the situation of merchant's clerk ; and he now believes that if it had not been for his unalterable determination to be come a merchant, the scenes of the next three years (considering the bu siness which, as he thought, he was compelled to pursue, or do worse — with its trial of patience and principle, and the examples it held continu ally before hira) would have eventually made him, perhaps, a stage- driver, or a common day-laborer, and have thus prepared him to drag out a miserable and comparatively useless life. But that determination never wavered — that object of his ambition was never lost sight of On all occasions he kept a steady eye to the mercantile business as his future employment. Agreeably to the request of his parents, early in April, 1824, he left Manchester for Westmoreland, and, taking the stage at Canandaigua, he arrived at his father's house the next day. As usual, all were glad to see him home again, and he enjoyed the merriment for a time. But he could not long remain idle. After visiting all his young friends and former acquaintances, he became uneasy, and must have something to do. For want of better employment, he assisted a Mr. Cushman, an innkeeper at Lairdsville, in the post-office and about the house, for a few months. At length, failing in every effort to obtain a clerkship, he engaged in the employment of H, Y. Stewart, proprietor of the stage- house and keeper of the post-office in 'Vernon village. Mr, Stewart's business was large, and, finding in it active employment, Hiram con tinued in this service about two years. While here he was brought into contact and association with the very bane of society, and particularly with the drinking men of the day. Scarcely did a stage-load of gentle- HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW- YORK. 525 men arrive, but each, as a matter bf course, wanted his glass of brandy, gin, or other liquor, at the bar. Besides, it was the custom of the house to take a dram on rising in the morning, and again before every meal. In all this Hiram shared with the others. He was accustomed to be up at all hours of the night whenever the stage arrived, and the cup was the remedy for his broken rest. In such circumstances it was almost mira culous that he escaped the dreadful gulf into which so many noble ones have fallen ; but a sovereign Providence employed the disgusting ex cesses of others as the means of his deliverance. Commonly, at the first peep of day, the sated customers at the bar would be in for their morn ing dram. Among them was one old man in particular, whose appear ance and habits especially affected the mind of Hiram. With trem-bling hand he would fill his glass, and greedily swallow its conten-ts. But sometimes abused nature wbuld rebel. A sudden convulsion of the stomach would hurl back the vile stuff, which the poor old wretch would receive again in the tumbler held close to his lips. Then, with counte nance distorted — almost fiendish — rather than lose the horrid draught, he would again, the second time, force the filthy poison down. " That," says Mr. Miner, " was more than I could bear. Sickened and disgusted, / resolved that thenceforth and forever L would use no more spirituous liquors as a beverage, which resolution I have thus far sacredly kept." While here in Vernon, he made earnest and repeated efforts to ob tain other employment better Suited to his inclination and taste, but, as usual, without success. In whatever business he was engaged it was al ways his ambition to progress, and strive to reach the highest mark ; hence he was always looking out for a more advantageous position. In the summer of 1826, through the influence of Hon. John E. Hijiman, he obtained the situation of bar-keeper in " Bagg's Hotel," Utica, which was then kept by A. Shepherd. This position he continued to occupy until December following, and performed the business of the office to the en- . tire satisfaction of his employer. While in this place, he had opportu nity to see most of the distinguished men oi the tirae. The grand cele bration had on the occasion of opening the Erie Canal, took place while he was there ; and Governor Clinton, with other prominent men who accompanied him on that occasion, put up at this house. The opportu nity thus afforded him of seeing and hearing the great men of the age, was a privilege which he highly prized, although his employment was by no means satisfactory, nor could anything meet his desires which did not appear to lie in the direct path of his ambition, and his fixed resolve to become a merchant. But his experience in hotel-keeping, considering the acquaintance with men and the ways of the world which it afforded, although so eminently beset with peril, was not without advantage to him, especially if we take into the account the important resolution mentioned above, which was formed and confirmed in view of the evils he was thus compelled to witness. In December, 1826, Mr. Miner, now nearly 23 years of age, made an arrangement with Mr, Starr Clark, a merchant at Vernon Centre, now of Mexico, New- York, for a clerkship in his store. Gladly did he quit the precincts of the hotel for the more congenial employraent of mer chant's clerk, even in a country store, and at a much smaller pecuniary compensation. He found the change decidedly grateful to his feelings. 526 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. liu was now permitted to resume that eraployment which was the choice and purpose of his heart, Opportunity for reading and meditation was ailoideU him, and the Sabbath becarae to him a day of rest. He applied himself closely to the business of the store, and made Mr. Clark's inter est his own. He soon gained the confidence and affection of his em ployer and family, and now says, that he looks back to his stay in that tiimily as one of the most agreeable passages in his life. While there, under the ministry of Rev. John Barton, of the Presbyterian Church, during the great revivals of 1826-7, he became interested in the subject of personal religion, and was believed to be spiritually renewed ; and he publicly espoused the Christian cause by uniting himself with the Pres byterian Church of that place in 1827. It was there that he became acquainted with Miss Adeline M. Hungerford, a young lady whom he afterwards married, and who is now his wife. Mr. Clark's was an ordinary country retail business, consisting much in credit and barter trade, and chiefly confined to the little community of Vernon Centre. Consequently it was sraall, and ill-adapted to satisfy, for any considerable time, the aspiring spirit of young Miner. Being a man of fine feelings and benevolent heart — one who can hardly do enough for his friends — Mr. Clark was willing to forego a personal ad vantage for the sake of serving the interest of his clerk. He had ascer tained the business talents of the young man, as adapted to a larger sphere of action, and knowing that he would not long be content to re main in Vernon Centre, proposed to write to a friend of his in the city of New-York, and get a situation for him. He did so ; and in Septem ber, 1827, Mr. Miner visited the commercial metropolis for the first time. He remained a few weeks with Messrs. Keeler & Lynes, whole sale merchants in Pearl-street ; and the knowledge he there acquired was of much service to him afterwards. But he did not find New- York to be quite what he had fancied it. Failing to get a situation to his mind, he returned to Vernon Village, and was employed in the store of Messrs. Hitchcock & Stevens, until February, 1828. He then went ' again to New- York, and entered as clerk in the store of Arthur Tappan & Co., then extensively engaged in the silk trade. Here he had a fine opportunity for improvement, which he did not fail to take advantage of, and turn to the best account, by making hiraself acquainted with the various kinds of goods, their qualities, prices, &c. When he engaged for Mr. Tappan, he did it intending to remain a long time, and ultimately become a New- York merchant. But after carefully calculating the chances between the city and country for a poor clerk, without money, or credit, or influential friends, he changed his mind, and resolved to make the country the theatre of his enter prise. Hence, while in the city, he was actuated by an earnest zeal .to acquire knowledge and experience which should aid him in his future operations, rather than by any particular interest he felt in city life. He remained with Mr. Tappan through the spring trade, and then left again for the country, without knowing, or very much caring, where he went, so that he found a position which suited him. Mr. Tappan had kindly given him a letter recommending him to the favor of mercantile men, which he knew would procure him admittance into any store where he could find a vacancy. He first went up into Westchester HIHAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK, ^27 County, and spent a few weeks visiting an uncle in Tarrytown, Plere he was invited to the house of Lsaac Van 'Wart, one of the captors of the British spy. Major Andre, and enjoyed the satisfaction of hearing the old man rehearse the whole story, which imparted to it fresh and peculiar interest. After visiting the different towns along the Hudson River, he pro ceeded by canal to Syracuse, and thence to Oswego. His passage from Syracuse to Oswego Falls (now Fulton) was made in the best manner which the conveniences of the time afforded, viz, : by a small sail-boat, tracing the length of Onondaga Lake, and then down the Oswego River. Sometimes the boat was rowed, and sometimes was drawn with ropes by men walking on the river-shore, and sometimes was hurried over rapids on a rushing current. But it was, altogether, a delightful pas sage, because so new and wild. From the Falls the stage conveyed him to Oswego. The first morning after his arrival in Oswego came near to being made disagreeably memorable to Mr. Miner, by the loss of his little earthly all. He had stopped over night at a public hotel, and, on retiring to bed, placed his pocket-book, containing every dollar he was worth, un der his pillow, as he was wont. He arose early in the morning, and walk ed out to survey the grounds of the old fort. He had not been long out before he discovered his error — he had left his pocket-book under his pillow. With not a little anxiety he hastened back to his room. The chamber-maid was there, just finishing her work. Instantly he inquired if she had found a pocket-book. " "Which bed did you occupy, sir ?" she asked. (There were two in the room.) On his pointing to the one he had slept in, she drew the pocket-book, yet unopened, from her bosom and presented it to him, saying, " You are a careless fellow." He compensated her for the honest act ; and ever after th^t, when tra veling, it has been his practice, on retiring to bed, if he wished to place anything valuable under his pillow, first to enclose it in one of his stockings, assuming that none but a crazy man would put on his cold boot or shoe, minus the stocking, without knowing it. From that time he has never had occasion to hurry back to his room in a hotel to recover aught from his bed, nor ceased to remember the admonition of the ho nest chambermaid — " A careless fellow." After passing a few days in Oswego, and not feeling altogether satis fied with the appearance of things, he passed on over a fine agricultural region, through New- Haven, Mexico, Richland, Ellisburg, and Adams, to Watertown, the shire town of Jefferson county. In the course of this tour his mind was far from being idle. Being a close observer, he was all the time gathering an intellectual fund for future use, and sought every day to make some profitable advance in knowledge. It was, in deed, a characteristic hahit of his mind to be continually reaching for a higher mark in his qualifications for business,* as well as business achievements. Whether at home or on a journey, at the desk or be- * He assures the writer that in all his changes during the period of his clerk ship, it was .never a question with him what salary he was to receive, but what ad vantages for acquiring a knowledge of business he could enjoy. 528 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS, hind the counter, his thoughts were ever active, calculating results, balancing advantages, estimating probable value, or counting the chances of profit and loss in this or that enterprise, or, -while contem plating the present, trying to picture in imagination the improvements oi the future. As he passed through Richland, the magnificent farm of Judge Meacham, containing several hundred acres, was pointed out to him, with which he was much delighted. It was said to be the largest and best farm in that county, and on which the judge at one time made, from his own dairy, a cheese weighing 1600 pounds. This cheese Mr. Meacham transported to Washington, and presented to General Jack son, then President of the United States. On arriving in Watertown Mr. Miner put up at the stage-house, then kept by D. Hungerford, where he remained incog, for several days. He was much pleased with the appearance of the place. Beebee's large cotton factory, since destroyed by fire, was then in fuU operation — a noble structure, built of stone from the proximate quarries, from which also the material fbr most of the better class of houses was ob tained. This gave them an aspect of strength and durability, espe cially pleasing to such a mind as his. Then there was the almost un limited water-powerf which seemed to promise permanent prosperity to the place, surrounded as it was by a rich farming community. On the whole, it appeared to him that this was the place for him to stop, provided he could get a situation to suit him. He had no acquaint ance in Watertown, but having learned that Silas Clark, a brother of t The Black River passes on one side of the village, with its deep and foaming torrent driven along rapids, between high and rocky banks. Near the village, Mr. Miner was shown a point of rock projecting over the rapid current, called " Mother Whittlesey's Rock," of which the following story was told him by the citizens of the village, and, he thinks, by one of the actors in the scene : " Sometime during the war of 1812, a man by the name of "Whittlesey, then pay master for troops stationed at Sacket's Harbor, received a large sum of money from the government, and on his way to Watertown, professed to have been lobbed. He exhibited wounds, and his saddle-bags cut, while the money was gone. But after a time, strong suspicions began to be entertained that all was not right on his part respecting the alleged robbery. The two gentlemen who were his bail, Messrs. Fairbanks and Keys, of Watertown, at length becoming satisfied of the truth, determined upon a plan to make him acknowledge the fact, and disgorge the money. In a neighboring swamp a pit was dug large enough to submerge a man Then the two gentlemen, having arranged for a physican to be at hand, under pretence of hunting, persuaded "Whittlesey to accompany them into the swamp. Coming near the pit they seized him and bade him confess the truth, and tell where the money was, or they would put him under the mud. He resolutely maintained that he was robbed, and denied all present knowledge of the money. They thrust him in. But on beihg withdrawn, he still refused to admit his guilt. Under the water again he went. After the operation had been repeated two or three tunes — the last proving almost fatal— he yielded, and said they would find most of the money quilted into his wife's under-skirt. Forthwith they repaired to his house and demanded the garment, which was then upon the lady's person. It was surrendered with its inwrought treasure. But Madam Whittlesey, going immediately out, proceeded to the bank of the river, and from this rock threw her self into the furious stream, on which she was seen to float a little distance, and then disappeared for ever. From that day the spot has been pointed out to visitor! as ' Mother Whittlesey's Rock.' " HIRAM J. MINER, OP NEW- YORK. 529 his friend and patron, Starr Clark, was a druggist in that place, he sought hiin out and introduced himself to him, making known his de sire to get a situation in a store. Mr. Clark remembered him with favor able impressions, having seen him in his brother's store at Vernon Centre. This, together with letters which he bore from gentleraen in New- York and elsewhere, at once excited Mr. Clark's interest in his behalf, and he generously invited Mr. Miner to make a horae in his house until he could secure a clerkship to his mind. Mr. Clark also went around with him, and introduced him to various merchants of the village. In the course of a week Mr. Miner made an arrangement with John Safford for a clerkship, at $12 50 per month, with nothing definite as to time, leaving it for either to terminate the engagement at pleasure. Mr. Safford kept a cash store, and sold for ready pay, thus repudiating both barter and credit. It was a novel thing at that time for a country mer chant to hold his goods for cash only ; and especially was it so to our young friend, who had always been taught the old-fashioned practice of giving six months' credit, the custom then everywhere prevalent, and supposed there was no other way for a merchant to get rid of his goods, Mr. Safford was nearly the first, if not the very first merchant in north ern New- York who confined his whole trade to cash pay. He kept an excellent assortment of goods, and did a respectable amount of business. But this selling goods for cash down presented to Mr. Miner a new idea altogether. It opened before him an entirely new path of enterprise. He could now see plainly, as he thought, the only safe course for him self. Prior to this, all had been darkness before him. He felt little confidence in the credit systera, especially for a young merchant without capital or influential friends to back him up. But now all was clear to his mind. The cash plan, carried out with industry and energy, pro mised, to his judgment, all success, while only disaster and probablede- feat could be seen in the credit system. The course was at once marked out, which he firmly resolved to embark in as soon as favoring circum stances would permit, Mr. Safford was a fair business-man, careful and honest, but not of enlarged views. He marked his goods in common figures, so that his customers might see the prices, and from these he would not deviate. He relied more on the low prices to sell his goods than on any tact or skill in trade. Mr. Miner applied himself closely to the business of his employer, and in a few months made himself fully acquainted with it. He thought the system capable of being somewhat modified to advan tage. He felt sure that, if Mr, Safford would permit him, in order to secure a trade, sometimes to drop a little from the marked price, he could guarantee an increased amount of daily cash sales. Mr. Safford did not enter into his views, but insisted on a rigid adherence to the one- price system. Sometimes, however, the temptation to effect a trade was more than the clerk could resist, when, by varying the price a mere trifle, he could thereby make a large bill ; but the unbending merchant would be always displeased, and often express his disapprobation in no pleasant terms, whatever present pecuniary profit might have been gained to him. In these circumstances, feeling himself controlled and guided in all his movements, like a machine, by these fixed prices, Mr. 34 ¦530 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Miner became restless. He wanted raore space to throw off the pent- up steam which was daily gathering force within him, and which only needed opportunity in order to bring out the merchant— -the man of bu siness. There were raany things to attach him to Watertown. Its location, its advantages for trade, its beauty, and its good society, all corabined to invite hira to remain; but personal activity in business — his leading aim — appeared to require a change, and he resolved to leave. During his brief residence in Watertown, he attended on the ministry of Rev. George S. Boardraan, then pastor of the Presbyterian Church in that village, and formed many agreeable acquaintances with whom he was loth to part; but the time came when he thought it best to go, ahd he could not be detained. About this time he had received an offer from John H, Whipple, Esq,, of Adams, in the same county, which he felt inclined to accept. Mr. Whipple was a merchant of high repute. Accordingly, he went to Adams, and there made an engagement to become the clerk of Mr. Whipple, on the sarae salary as he was then receiving. -He closed his connection with Mr. Safford, and coraraenced with Mr, Whipple in No veraber, 1828, This change proved much to his advantage. He found Mr. Whipple all that had been represented, and more — a mer chant of the first capacity. He was doing a heavy cash and credit business, kept a large and well-selected stock of goods, was always on hand and behind the counter, commanded an extensive trade, and, although in some respects unstable in his views, was entitled to the credit of much sagacity in business, and was, in fact, a scientific and practical merchant. In his store Mr. Miner made rapid advances, and now affirms that, during the six months of his being in Mr. Whipple's employ, he gained more valuable information and experience than he ever did before or since in the same length of time. The example of neatness and order, and the perfect arrangement of his goods, and of •other things in and about the store, was especially pleasing to Mr. Miner, and what he ever after imitated, or tried to improve upon, in his own business pursuits. Here he attended on the ministry of Rev. John Sessions, of the Presbyterian Church, and united with the church in that place by certificate fiora the church in Vernon Centre. In the spring of 1829 Mr. Miner made an arrangement with a new firm opening in Adams, Messrs. Doxtater & Burch, for one year, at a salary of $150. In this firm, although the partners were men of capital, neither of them was acquainted with mercantile operations, and they therefore needed an experienced clerk. This was a grand opportunity ¦for Mr, Miner, He could now move comparatively untrararaeled. After due preparation, he went to New-York, in corapany with Mr. Burch, one of the partners, and purchased a stock of goods. The usual spring freshets that season had considerably damaged the canal, and de layed transportation. Large quantities of goods were piled upon the wharves and in the store-houses at Troy, awaiting the opening of the canal ; consequently the goods of many raerohants were delayed several weeks before they could be got out. This firm of Do,'itater& Burch being a new one, and, considering their competition, they felt it to be especially important to get their goods in town first. It was therefore decided that Mr, Miner should repair to Troy, and attend to the re-shipment and forward- HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW- YORK. 531 ing of the goods. Accordingly he went, and, after all necessary inquiry, he could see no prospect of getting them on short of many days, and perhaps weeks. He was advised by the forwarders to go horae, and assured that th"^, goods would go on as soon as if he reraained. But " No," said he, " I ara going to stick to you until I see them in the canal-boat, and going up the canal, too." He then went and engaged his board by the week; and from early morning until late at night he was on the dock for nine days before all the packages were out of the different tow-boats. While the goods of most other merchants as they were taken out went into the store-houses, Mr. Miner had those of Dox tater & Burch piled on the dock, and covered with an awning at night. For a few shillings put into the hands of one or two of the dock men, all his wishes were readily attended to. When at last he saw the goods all safely lodged in a canal-boat, he, too, stepped on board, and accompanied them as far as Schenectady, when he took the stage and hastened on to Adams. The result was, Messrs. Doxtater & Burch re ceived their goods from three to five weeks in advance of every other merchant of that place or its neighborhood, although the others had gone to the city ahead of thera. That fact gave them a start in trade, which the firm continued afterwards, in a great measure, to maintain. This was Mr. Miner's first mercantile exploit where he had the direction of his own efforts. The result exceeded the highest anticipations of his employers, and they gave him due credit for unusual perseverance in the matter. In the course of the season competition became sharp between the merchants. Good customers were watched for as they came into the village, and goods were put down to the smallest profit, and sometimes to about cost. All ¦ this required much activity and no little skill to keep the lead in trade, and was well calculated to bring out the hitherto unseen talents of the young head clerk, whose diminutive stature and juvenile aspect had always stood in the way of his proper appreciation. Mr. Miner's efforts in the employ of Doxtater & Burch placed him several rounds higher up the ladder, and he now began to think serious ly of acting more immediately for himself, by doing business on his own account. Consequently, at the close of this year he began to write to persons in various places, making inquiries in order to fix upon a pro per location. Among others, he corresponded with Rev. Lewis H. Loss, then pastor of the congregational church in Camden, Oneida County. He had formerly been acquainted with Mr. Loss at Vernon Centre, during the great religious revival there in 1826. At that time, while his attention was thoroughly awakened to the subject of religron, Mr. Loss held a long conversation with him ; and, although he was full of cavil, the apparent solemnity of the Rev. gentleman, his frank and pungent remarks, and his obvious kindness of purpose, disarmed the young man, and, under the Divine Spirit, did much towards deepening those convictions for sin which issued in his hopeful conversion to Christ. Mr. Loss readily interested himself in the matter of'Mr. Miner's com munication ; and replied that, in his opinion, Camden was a good point — one where trade could be secured for 20 miles in nearly every direc tion. He believed that a cash store was just what was needed to concen trate the trade ; and that if a merchant of the right stamp were to come 532 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. in and put forth appropriate efforts, a large and profitable business might be secured. And, moreover, he believed Mr. Miner was exactly the right man for such an enterprise. He stated further, that he had conversed with Dea. Upson, a gentleraan. who, in connection with the tin and sheet-iron business, was selling a few dry goods ; and had re ceived a proposition for the rent of his room and the purchase of what goods he had on hand, and concluded by inviting Mr. Miner to come and look at Cainden, and put up at his house. In March, 1830, Mr. Miner left Adams, taking letters of recommen dation to New- York merchants frora Doxtater & Burch ; and on his way, called for a few days in Camden, stopping with his clerical friend, Mr. Loss. While there, he made an arrangement with Dea. Upson for the rent of his shop, and the purchase of his goods, on condition that, after visiting other places, he should finally fix upon and send his goods to Camden. There were many of the citizens who thought the enterprise a visionary one, since the farmers were mostly poor and could not trade, as was sup posed, unless they could pay for goods in rye, Indian corn and lumber, which constituted the staple produce in and around Camden. But Mr. Miner felt sure as to what would be the effect of low prices upon the farm ing community, since goods were sold by the merchants then in business at high rates, and mostly on credit, payable in farming produce and lumber. Having made this arrangement in Caraden, Mr. Miner passed on to Vernon Centre. After paying his addresses to the young lady who, not long afterwards, became that to him witHout which man is of little worth, and consulting with his friends, particularly with Mr. Clark, he visited other places in the southern part of Oneida County and in Ma dison County, without finding any location which offered greater at tractions than Camden. He therefore finally fixed upon that as the place of beginning. After collecting a little raoney which was due him in Vernon, he found himself able to command in all $270. This was nis entire capital with which to commence mercantile business alone, and with no one to whom he could look for help in case of misfortune. Thus was he thrown emphatically upon his own resources ; which, so far as related to money, were meagre indeed. But the time had ar rived. He was now to launch his little barque on an uncertain and often stormy sea, where breakers threatened on every hand ; without pilot or crew, but guided by integrity and impelled by industry. Mr. Clark gave hiha a letter to Charles Underhill, head clerk of " Jagger & Rathbone," merchants in Maiden Lane. Before leaving Vernon, he called on Messrs. Hitchcock & Stevens, who also gave him letters of intro duction to " Suydara, Jackson & Co.," and " John Steward & Co.," dry goods houses in Pearl-street, and to "Smith, Mills & Co.," grocers in Front-street. His letters from Doxtater and Burch were to " Davison & Van Pelt," and to " Tilden & Roberts," dealers in dry goods. Thus equipped, on the 15th of April, 1830, with a small valise in hand containing a few articles of linen, he set out for the city of New-York ; resolved that, in the event of the New-Yorkers refusing him credit, he would lay out the $270 to the best advantage, and commence trade with this small stock rather than relinquish his purpose and again accept a clerkship. On arriving in the city, he called around on the several HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 633 merchants to whom he had fetters of introduction. After making the usual inquiries as to the amount of his capital, means of payment, &c., and being frankly told that his capital was scarcely $300, and that he relied solely on his cash sales to meet the payment on any goods they should see fit to credit him with, most of them showed evident signs ot interest in his behalf, mingled with surprise at the boldness of his under taking ; for, although he was then 26 years of age, his appearance indicated a youth of 20. He was told by all except one house, viz. : that of Da vison & Van Pelt, that, although they must decline to credit him with a. full bill of goods, they were willing to sell him, on six months' credit, to the amount of two to three hundred dollars each. Messrs. Smith & Mills offered to credit him, at four months, with one-half of the bill he might wish to buy of them. When these matters were adjusted, he returned to his room at the hotel, and after figuring up, he found that at all the places together he could obtain a credit of about $1,000. This, with the $270 cash capital, would enable him, by a careful selection, to secure a little of the usual assortment kept in country stores. Before leaving home, he had prepared a memorandum of what he wished to purchase, provided he should get the desired credit, noting the probable cost of each article and extending the same. When footed up, it amounted to about $2,200. But he now saw that to keep with in his limits, and at the same time preserve his assortment, be must buy just one-half the quantity of each article indicated on the memo randum. With this purpose he went to work. After looking over the the market two days, examining styles, prices, &c., and contracting for the price of shipment and freight of goods, he commenced going over the stocks at the three dry -goods houses where he was to make his se lections, viz. : Jagger & Rathbone, Suydam, Jackson & Co., and Tilden & Roberts. But here another difficulty met him. In order that he might get the assortment in so small a quantity as to keep within the limits of his credit, goods would have to be cut and divided, which is not always readily done, nor usually expected to be done, in selling goods at wholesale. Therefore, before he ventured to select and " lay under" an article, he went to the house of Jagger & Rathbone, and said to Charles Underhill that he would commence the purchase with him, provided he would divide or cut each and every article so far as neces sary to make up the assortment which he desired the bill to comprise. Mr. Underhill promptly and characteristically replied, "Yes, sir; and I will even divide a row of pins with you, if you wish, to make the assortment complete." At once Mr. Miner commenced the purchase of him ; and the first article of goods bought and " laid under," or " in the pigeon-hole," for the young merchant, was, " a doz. white cotton hose at f 4 75 per doz." He went on selecting, cutting and dividing, until the bill amounted to $353 75. The goods were then packed in a box, and marked " Cam den." He also made a bill with feuydam, Jackson & Co. of $284 35, and one with Tilden & Roberts of $54. His grocery bill with Smith, Mills & Co. was $397 87, on which he paid $100, and was credited the balance for four months. 534 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. On receiving his bills at the several houses he gave his notes,* except in the case of Jagger and Rathbone, who told him, on handing his bill, that it was charged to his account on book. Mr. Underhill, observing his excited expression of countenance caused by this mark of confidence, placed his hand on Mr. Miner's shoulder and said, "Young man, I will guarantee your success. We will trust you all you will buy of us ; and if at any time you need, order us, and we will promptly forward to you." This token of confidence attached Mr. Miner to that house, and he con tinued to make there his largest bills as long asthey continued.in trade. Its effect on hira at the tirae was to strengthen the principle which he had previously adopted, viz. : to be firm and resolute in purpose and faithful to promise, relying on the application of industry and skill for success. His goods were shipped with much care, he following the carman to the boat and attending personally to their delivery. When he had seen them all safely on board, he settled his bill at the hotel and has tened away to Camden, the theatre of his future action, and where cen tred his earthly hopes. He was not without anxiety about the result. One thing appeared to him certain — that he should either rise above or sink far below the common standard of business men. But the grand resolve never for a moment forsook hira, that if he should fall, he would fall, as he expressed it, " in a forward march, with the armor of integ rity on." With these thoughts crowding his mind he entered Camden, Tuesday, the 4th of May. After perfecting the arrangement with Dea. Upson and invoicing the few goods he had on hand, Mr. Miner next proceeded to prepare the store for the reception of his new goods, which he daily expected. His purchases in New- York had amounted to about $1300, and his debts to about $1100. He now commenced his cash account on the credit side with $15.75 — money which he brought back from the city, and which he iramediately sent to New-London, on the canal, to pay on the freight bills. His goods arrived in Camden on Wednesday, the 5th, and on Thursday morning, May 6, 1830, his store was opened for trade. The first article he sold was a copy of the New Testament at twenty- * These were the first notes to which Mr. Miner had ever aflBxed his name. As he signed the note to Tilden and Roberts, he said to J. B. Hyde, then clerk in this nouse — now of the firm of Hill and Hyde, New- York — that he did not design to give many such notes, but hoped soon to be able to pay down, for his goods. Mr. Hyde replied, " Young man, if you make money, yau will never see the day when you are mt of debt so long as you are a merchant." Mr. Miner did not at the time intend .hat this remark should prove true, nor did he entirely comprehend its philosophical accuracy. But it did prove exactly true, and his own experience taught him the sagacity of Mr. Hyde's remark. During his whole mercantile career he was never for a day out of debt, because his financial prosperity continually demanded such .ncumbrance . Mr. Miner had no more dealing with that house, or further acquaintance or com- ¦nunication with Mr. Hyde. But some twenty-two years afterwards, in a note ap pended to a busine'ss letter addressed to him as a banker, Mr. Hyde writes : " J. B. Hyde's respects to H. J. Miner, afid asks whether that young merchant ever got out of debt." Mr. Miner repUed, " Never while a merchant, and the remark of Mr. Hyde was always remembered, and operated as a stimulus in business." HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW- YORK. 535 five cents, which he called a good beginning. The first day his sales amounted to about $12, The first month they were -$355,75, and the first year $4,140. Thus his average daily sales for the first year were only $13 23. At first he had no clerk, boarded in the faraily of Dea. Upson and slept under the counter. His store was the front end of a tin-shop, about 18 by 22 feet — the deacon, meantime, occupying the rear for his business. But the location was a central one, just suited to his wants. He held his goods for cash down and offered them at Utica prices. It was hard commencing. The country around was new and poor, and to sell for cash, and no trust, was an innovation upon all former practice in that region. There were three other mercantile firms in the place — A. Trobridge & Co., A. Hinkley & Co. and Caverly and Sheldon — all crediting and barter establishments. Men daily said to him, " I will trade with you if you will trust." And as often they assured him, "You can't sell at cash in this place. The people have nothing but lumber or produce to pay for goods." But he held on for cash only under all discouragements. To credit his goods and run the risk of meeting his notes in New- York was out of the question. He resolved to have either the money or the goods when his notes should become due. He kept a daily account of his profits, and ascertained that he gained frora $2 to $2.50 per day, which, he thought, all things considered, was not very bad. The old merchants of Camden at this time had the reputation of selling goods " dear," and the people who had raeans to go and raake a cash bill, would go to Rome or to Utica for their supplies, and it re quired much patience and long and labored effort to turn the tide of trade. Yet, with untiring industry, with energy unflinching, he put forth his efforts to sell for cash ; but to one less persevering and hopeful, it would have been a disheartening work. Frequently his sales fell to one, two, or five dollars per day. As often as he got out of an article a supply was immediately ordered, and soon he began to add to his little assortment articles not kept at the other stores. Alraost every thing wanted by the people could be had of him, although kept in so small quantities that one good customer would sometimes break his assortment ; but then it was immediately replenished by a fresh order. There was no bank where he could deposit his money nearer than Utica — thirty-two miles, and the receipts for his first five months' sales he carried in his pocket by day, and at night placed under his pillow in the stocking. Most of the bread used at that time by the inhabitants of Camden was of the coarser kind — rye and Indian corn. Mr. Miner, after a little time, brought in wheat flour, and offered at retail by the pound or barrel. Salt he had previously introduced soon after commencing trade. He was the first merchant, and probably the first man, to offer flour by the barrel in that town. His first purchase in this article was a lot of three barrels, superfine, from Utica, the cost of which, at his store, was $6 per barrel, and which he sold at $6 25. The first cus tomer who ventured on so large a supply as to take a whole barrel, was Reuben Bettis. His first barrel of salt was sold to a Mr. Flanagan,, of Amboy. Occasionally, during the first few months, when the curtain of night 536 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. was dropped, as he lay alone in his little bunk under the counter, a feeling of sadness and discouragement would come over his spirit. The prospect of success looked gloomy, his sales averaging only about $10 per day. The probability of being able to meet his notes seemed dubious. Thoughts of failure at the end of six months — of goods seized and sold — of being " a broken merchant," with notes dishonored and reputation lost — would haunt his hours of rest, and darken his visions of the brilliant future. But on the return of morning light, he would rise with renewed courage, and new determination, and fresh hope. Let it be borne in mind that, in all his previous mercantile exer tions while a clerk, he had had no training in the arts of managing such business with limited means, for his employers were men of capital ; nor had any care or responsibility rested on him other than simply what belonged to his position as a clerk ; and that now his situation was directly the reverse — he had no means ; no capital in trade, or next to none; was in a new country, among strangers, and without influence; alone, having no clerk, because his small business would not warrant the expense ; maintaining an attitude opposed to all former practice of merchants in that region, in rejecting the credit system; subject to the taunts and jeers of the trade pointed against a " cash store," with such an insignificant stock of goods, cooped up in one end of a tin-shop, in a roora eighteen by twenty-two feet ; let all these things be borne in mind, and his slow progress at the first is certainly not to be wondered at. The marvel rather is, that he did not yield to these adverse cir curastances, and give up altogether. That he did not can only be ascribed to his inflexible decision, to that characteristic firmness of pur pose which nothing less than the extinguishment of life itself seemed capable of breaking up. Perhaps in this connection it ought to be said, that his purposes, so fixed, were never rashly taken. He was cautious of unconsidered acts, carefully estimating and balancing probable results, and especially sensitive to the danger of dishonor from unpaid debts. As an example of his cautiousness and decision, let the following incident be given : Sometime in August of this year, he was expecting a visit from his brothers, John and Isaac, frora Westraoreland, and had sent to John an order for a small bill of cotton goods and groceries, with a request that he would purchase the same in Utica, and bring them up with him. The order specified the exact amount of each article wanted. John went to Utica to make the purchase, but, finding cotton goods cheaper than he expected, ventured to take sorae four or five pieces of sheeting more than was ordered, and, instead of the prescribed " half bale of batting," he took a whole bale. The brothers went to Camden with a one-horse wagon, through the deep sand, in the heat of summer, to make Hiram a visit, taking with them the goods to replenish his stock. The load of goods and tho sand of the road made it necessary for, at least, one of them to walk a large part of the way. It -was an all-day's work for them to get there. Mr. Miner was glad to see his brothers. They were the first of his friends who had ventured to visit him since he became a merchant. But on examining the goods, and finding that John had transcended his HIRAM J. MINER, OP NEW- YORK. 537 order, he was not a little displeased, and said to his brother, that he must return the half bale of batting and the excess of sheeting, in all amounting to about $20. " Very well," says John, " I can do it. But it seems a pity, after dragging them through the sand, besides foot ing it most of the way, that now a part of thera should have to be re turned." Such considerations, however, were unavailing. The laconic reply was, " You should have gone by my order, and all would have been right." And so, after remaining a day or two, John, on his re turn, took with him the excess of goods, and restored them to the merchant in Utica. It seemed that, from the first, he had some appre hension of the result, for at the time of taking thera, he had engaged for the privilege of returning the excess, in case they were refused. With Mr. Miner this has ever been a marked characteristic from early life, exacting strict and literal obedience to rightful authority. When a rule of conduct or plan of action is once marked out, he will suffe;- no deviation from it. The motto which, in all his business, he has ever impressed on his clerks, is, " Obey orders, if you break owners." And to this rigid exactitude he ascribes much of his success. Camden is situated eighteen miles northwest from Rome, and thirteen miles from New-London, the nearest point on the canal. Merchandise, therefore, had to be transported in wagons for a con siderable distance, and over a road of deep sand. It was a hard day's work for a team to go to the canal and return with a load the same day. Hence heavy goods, when sold at Utica prices, afforded little or no profit. He shortly learned that he must make the increased profits on light articles compensate for the want of profit on the heavier and more common goods, keeping the latter especially low. Adopting this system in trade, which, though comraon now, had not then been much if any introduced, he saw at length that he began to make an impression among the people ; and after a few raonths his trade began materially to increase. With the increase of trade his courage and confidence, of course, increased. It was not, therefore, strange that then other thoughts should crowd upon hira, and that, on another topic, hope long deferred should present her claira. He was a man, with the sentiments and affections of huraanity, and he thought that if, to help smooth the rough sea of life, and raake his career a more agree able, if not a more prosperous one, he should establish a firm, by taking in a perpetual partner of the gentler sex, it certainly would be no crirae, and might be attended with many conveniences and delicate comforts, and he resolved to marry. Forthwith he proceeded to make the needful arrangements for house keeping, renting a sraall house of his friend, Dea, Upson. Then, having procured the attendance of his brother John in the store during his ab sence, he set off to New- York for his fall supply of goods, taking Vernon Centre in his way. Here, in his visit to Miss Adaline, the preliraina- ries of the wedding were settled, and he passed on to the city. He had been able to realize, frora the sale of goods, about $1,213, which after the necessary appropriations for other purposes, gave him nearly enough to meet his notes, although they were not yet due. Arriving in New- York, he first took up all his notes, paying as far as his money went, and for the small balances giving short bank-notes. He found all his 588 SKETCHES OF EMINIBNT AMERICANS. creditors quite willing to sell him goods on six months' tirae, and from that day forward he found no difficulty in obtaining all the goods he chose to buy on credit. At this tirae he ventured to purchase to the amount of a little over $2,000. His selections were made with great care, and the goods shipped under his own eye. Having completed his business in the city, he returned to Vernon Centre, where, at eight o'clock on the morning after his arrival, October 19, 1830, he was married, by Rev. ,Mr. Garrison, to Miss Adaline M. Hungerford, second daughter of widow Celinda Hungerford, then and for many years a resident of that place. Mrs. Miner's father was Lot Hungerford, a descendant of a Puritan faraily of that name who eraigrated from England in the seventeenth century, and located in East Haddam, Connecticut, and from whom sprang most of the Hungerfords in this country. He died in Vernon Centre, January 8, 1827.* Immediately after their marriage they set off for Camden, in a one- horse wagon, going by the way of Westmoreland, and calling a short time on Mr. Miner's parents. They had intended to go through the same day, but the evening was stormy and dark, and they were com pelled to pause for the night at a tavern some miles short. Next morn ing they arrived in Caraden. After taking board some two weeks in the family of Mr. Humphrey Brown, they commenced housekeeping " in their own hired house."f Mrs. Miner was well fitted for her new station, and to be the compa nion of such a man. She had been brought up as a farmer's daughter, and was skilled in all her household duties. She was retiring and do mestic in her habits, content in her appropriate sphere, and never con cerning herself with her husband's business, but relying with entire con fidence on his prudence and sagacity. Her disposition in this respect was especially suited to Mr. Miner, who always acted with independ ence and decision, and would never endure interference from any quarter in his business transactions. After the new goods arrived, and had been properly marked and ar ranged for sale, John returned to Westmoreland, and Isaac, then twenty- two years old, came to Camden and entered his brother's store as clerk, October 20, 1830. His salary was at first only $50 a year, but was gradually increased through a period of seve}i years, at the end of which he was taken in as a partner.J Isaac had previously been accustomed from early youth to hard labor, working in the summer with his father at the trade of carpenter and joiner, and often, during the winter, chopping * Sextus H, Hungerford, Esq., the present banker of Westfield, Chautauque county, New- York, is a son of Lot Hungerford, and brother of Mrs. Miner. t Their marriage has been subsequently blessed with five children, two sons and three daughters ; but death has been among them, and only the eldest daughter, now a young woman, remains, together with a little son, adopted in 1844, while an infant, on whom Mr. Miner has bestowed his own name, and who, he intends, if spared, shall share his property. I The partnership continued something more than three years, when it was dis solved, and Hirara again went on in the business separately as before. But Isaac has since, in his own operations, secured a high and- honorable reputation as a merchant. HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW- YORK. 639 fif-ewood at twenty-flve cents a cord. But although he had been totally unused to business, except laboring at the bench or in the field, he soon made himself decidedly useful as a clerk. He was active, quick, and always on hand. His whole attention was directed to selling goods; and in a few years his older and more experienced brother was obliged to yield the palm to him in sales at the counter. Mr. Miner says of him, " I confidently believe his equal as a salesman, while in his prime, could scarcely be met with in country or city, and I feel that I owe much of my prosperity to the efficient aid I received at his hand." He would never practise deception to effect a sale, but accomplished his end by tact and skill. He read at a glance the disposition of a cus tomer, and then, by adopting his conversation to please, and by the offer of cheap articles, he managed to win confidence. That point gained, he had little else to do but to cut off and put up the goods wanted, make out the bill, and receive the cash. He also had the faculty to hold his customers. He made himself a favorite "with them, so that if they traded with him once, they would be qliite sure to come again. After the first year the business of the store rapidly increased. Customers began to come from a greater distance, and the reputation of Mr. Miner for selling goods " cheap" became widely extended, so that his cash sales for the second year amounted to upwards of $10,000. Thus he continued to augment his trade year by year, until it reached a large amount — probably as large as that of any other similar establish ment out of the city. In the autumn of 1832 his business had become so much enlarged that he could no longer be confined in the little room in which he com menced, but needed the whole building. The deacon not caring to rent all his shop, Mr. Miner purchased the entire premises, together with a small dwelling-house adjoining, for $1,000. At once he removed his family into the dwelling-house, and proceeded to lengthen his sales room sorae twenty feet, and occupied the rear for a store-house. But after about two years more, his business demanded a still larger space for the exhibition and sale of goods ; and accordingly another lengthen ing of the room was made, by extending it through the whole building, some sixty feet ; while a store-house was erected in the rear. He had now a very fair space for his trading operations. Sometime in the second year of his business, Mr. Miner had begun to receive most kinds of produce in exchange for goods, but still hold ing on to the ready-pay principle. For nearly five years, his charged accounts were very insignificant. Now and then he would give credit to a farmer of undoubted responsibility, but always at cash prices. Proceeding in this manner, his trade continued steadily to increase for about ten years. He skilfully adapted his business to the wants of the community, keeping almost every article required by the people, and receiving all kinds of produce. Whatever a farmer wanted, or what ever product he had to sell, either for cash or in exchange for goods, here was the merchant. In the spring of 1836, he lost his two little sons — both in the space of about one week. This was a severe blow, and felt to be such. " I regarded it," says Mr. Miner, " as a deserved chastisement of Divine Providence. I had been wholly absorbed in the pursuit of business ; 640 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. but here was a stop — a rest. I no-w; saw how uncertain is our hold on earth. Property, business, all — all receded for a time. I paused and reflected. But soon business called. Engagements were to be fulfill ed. I reluctantly resuraed my position in the store, and was shortly after crowding my work with usual zeal." About this time, or very soon after, Mr. Miner received into his store as clerk his youngest brother, Heman, then sixteen years of age. He was of a different turn altogether from Isaac, being of few words, and not so much a favorite with custoraers. He was, however, a fair sales man ; correct and honorable in all his deal — ever acting openly, and despising meanness ; and withal, possessed of a marked talent for dis patch. He has since succeeded well in business ; and, both as a mer chant and a citizen, occupies a very respectable position. In the spring of 1837, he extended his business by starting a store in Westfield, Chautauque county. New- York, in connection with his brother-in-law, S. H. Hungerford. Mr. Hungerford had always been a farraer, and had accumulated a small property in Vernon, by agricul ture ; but was now determined to seek his fortune in the West. He traveled as far as Westfield, where he stopped for a few days ; and, being in conversation with Mr. Babcock, then a merchant of Westfield, the latter offered to sell his goods, and rent his store for a term of five years. Mr. Hungerford at once made a conditional agreement to take the goods and the premises, if he should wish to do so after seeing his brother-in-law, Mr. Miner, whom he thought might probably be induced to engage in the enterprise with him. Thereupon he left Westfield, and on horseback, over muddy roads, in the month of March, hastened back to Vernon, and thence to Camden, where he arrived late in the evening. After a brief conversation, suited to the occasion, he revealed his errand to Camden. Mr. Miner had only known him as a farmer ; but, in that character, as a man of clear, sound judgment, and nicely discriminating perceptions. After hearing his representation, and receiving his pro- position^each to furnish $3,000 capital, Mr. Miner promptly said to him : " Do you return to Westfield, invoice the goods, make out the memorandum for new goods, and forward it to me at New- York, where I shall be about the 10th of April ; and if it reaches me before I leave for norae, I will purchase and send on the stock." Early the next morning Mr. Hungerford was off; proceeding in the same manner — on horse back, through mud and storms, to "Westfield again. Mr. Miner heard no more of him until he had purchased his goods for Camden, and was about to leave the city for home, when he received through the mail a communication from Mr. Hungerford, containing his memorandum. At once he bought the goods, amounting to about $5,000, of which he had $3,000 charged to himself, and forwarded them to Westfield. Thus commenced, they continued in business together until the end of the five years, when Mr. Miner bought Mr, Hungerford's interest in the establishment, and has since continued it in connection with the for mer clerk, Mr. Thoraas Knight. Mr. Hungerford subsequently com menced the Bank of Westfield, of which he is now the sole proprietor, and is doing a successful banking business. Mr. Miner says : " I visited Westfield only once during the five years in which I was in business with Hr. Hungerford. I knew what he must be as a merchant and HIRAM J. MINER OF NEW-YORK. 541 financier, from my acquaintance with him as a farmer only ; nor had I any anxiety as to the result. His success in mercantile pursuits, and his later operations in banking, indicate whether or not I judged hira correctly. Whatever impetus he may have gathered by his connection with me, he is emphatically a self-made man." It will be remembered that the time when the Westfield enterprise commenced, (1837), was one of great commercial embarrassment all over the country. The banks had stopped specie payments, and mer chants as well as all other business men every where severely crippled. But Mr. Miner moved right on, as if all were easy. He even bought and sold larger quantities of goods than usual. From 1837 to 1839, his stock in the Camden store would invoice from twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars ; and his notes were all promptly met. In 1839, finding his business continually increasing, he determined to build a store suited to the wants of his accumulating trade. The size decided upon was 22 by 90 feet on the ground, and three stories high, except 20 feet of the rear, which was to be two stories high. Having completed his design, the little dwelling-house was removed, and the new store erected on its site. The whole was so constructed as conve niently to meet the wants of business, and at the same time preserve neatness and taste in the arrangements. Its tost was about $4,000 ; and for commodiousness, elegance, and substantial work, there are few if any wood buildings of the kind in country towns which surpass it even at the present time. It was commenced in April, 1829, and completed and filled with goods in September following — five months. Being now in possession of a store of sufficient size, Mr. Miner was able to enlarge his assortment so as to meet the demands of trade. He entered more extensively into the purchase of produce, such as grain, pork, and the various kinds of lumber. He was also more liberal in extending credit to such as desired it. But still he held out the cash and ready-pay principle as the basis pf his trade ; and his credit busin ess was comparatively small. Although, at this time and afterwards, he had the farmers in debt to him to an amount ranging generally from ten to twenty thousand dollars, this was never relied upon in his calcu lations to meet a debt for goods in New- York or elsewhere. For such purposes he relied upon cash sales solely. He scarcely ever dunned a good customer on going to the city. While he was hiraself never sued, in not more than two or three instances did he serve a legal process, and never sold property to collect a debt. And although he continued his trade in that town about twenty years, one thousand dollars would cover the entire losses of his mercantile business in Camden. In his pur chase and transportation of goods from New-York he was equally suc cessful, because equally careful. He never met with accidents, as others do, growing out of ill-advised proceedings, or from trusting to others what should be done by himself; and therefore had no claims to be adjusted with transportation companies in courts of justice. The same watchfulness, and close personal attention to his business with which he began, he continued to maintain, acting ever the maxim of Doctor Franklin, which in early life he adopted as his own, viz. : "If you want a thing done, do it yourself; if not, send some one." During his first ten years in Camden, Mr. Miner enjoyed almost un- 642 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. interrupted good health, and was able to endure much fatigue. When occasion seeraed to require it, he would be out at mid-day or midnight, regardless of weather. If attending to engagements, nothing could de ter him : — they must be fulfilled at any hazard. When abroad, if other conveyance could not readily be had, he would take to his feet rather than be detained an hour after his business was accomplished. The following fact will illustrate his manner of attending to business, and driving it forward in the face of difficulties • " It was usual for him to delay the purchase of flour and salt until the last of boating, late in the fall. On one occasion it was delayed until the latter part of Novem ber. The ice began to make in the canal; and there was danger that if a boat-load were ordered from Syracuse, whence he was accustomed to procure it, it would get froze in before reaching New-London. To prevent such a result, and get it through if possible, he determined to superintend the matter in person. Accordingly he repaired to New- London, hired a boat and crew of J. I. Carley, and proceeded to Syra cuse — about forty-five miles. The weather was freezing cold, and ice was rapidly accumulating in the canal ; but he loaded his boat with flour and salt, and commenced the return trip. The old man, who filled the double office of captain and helmsman of the boat, indulged rather free ly in his cups, ' to keep off the cold ;' and was thus, in a great measure disqualified for his business. At nearly every bend of the canal he would ' bank the boat,' at the imminent risk of sinking the load. After remonstrating with hira to no purpose, Mr. Miner at length, taking ad vantage of a favorable position of the captain, seized and shoved him into the stern cabin, and fastened hira in. Then taking the helm him self, he ordered the driver to go on ; while, with no previous experi ence, he steered the boat safely through ice and snow, and around bends, from near Syracuse to New-London. On his arrival, Mr. Carley remarked that he was very sorry to see him in that position — helmsman for his boat. Mr. Miner assured him that, to prevent smking the load he had headed a mutiny, and put the captain in the hold; and that now he would resign his usurped authority into Mr. Carley's hands." After seeing the boat safely moored at the dock, Mr. Miner returned to Cam den ; and in a few days the canal closed for the season. In February, 1841, he was appointed postmaster for Camden, and resigned the office in February, 1847. This was the only official public trust ever conferred on him, ¦• Confining himself closely to his privatf business, he has never sought office of any kind, nor desired the burden and perplexity attending it. The same year with his receiving the appointment of postmaster he increased the number of his clerks by the addition of his brother John; who, a little before had sold out his own goods at Lairdsville, and moved his family into Caraden. Mr. Miner had now a pretty strong corps for a country raerchant, consisting of his three brothers, and two others, besides himself— six in all. Nor did his business admit of any idleness among them. On the contrary, they were crowded continually. Soon after this Mr. Miner had another narrow escape from instant death by a fall. He was in the habit of taking home at night, in nis hand, a heavy tin trunk, containing books, papers, &c., and going out at the back door. Neariy under this door, on the outside, was 9 HIRAM J. MINER, OF NBW-YORK. 643 hatchway leading to the cellar. On one occasion, some person had care lessly left the hatch-door open; and as Mr. Miner was going out with trunk in hand, the evening being dark, one of the clerks held a light be fore him, the glare of which so blinded his eyes that he did not see the open hatchway ; and stepping from the door-sill he was instantly pre cipitated to the bottom — a distance of ten feet. He held fast the trunk, the weight of which brought him down head foremost, and he struck upon his shoulders. In his descent he just grazed the stone wall, which tore the coat from his back. A slight variation might have dashed his head against the wall. As it was, he was severely stunned, and did not fully recover from its effects for nearly a year. In the fall of 1844, Mr. Miner, in company with his brothers, John and Isaac, made a visit to Sheldon and Attica for the first tirae since their father's removal from Genesee county. It was, of course, an occasion of peculiar interest to them. On reaching the home of theii childhood in Sheldon, they were deeply impressed with what they saw. But twenty-seven years had passed, yet how wonderful the changes. both real and apparent ! Instead of forests and half-cleared lands, clean and well-fenced farms with broad fields of grain appeared. The great hills seemed to have fallen from half their height. The deep gulf was now only a small ravine. The stream in which was once their swimming holes and fishing places had dwindled to a small rill. That little wil low, planted next the fence in front of the log-cabin by the hand of their dear departed mother, was grown to be a large tree. In the shade of its wide-spreading branches Hiram stood, and gazed, and thought. He walked a few steps aside, then turned and gazed again upon the willow. He remembered the hand that planted it. He thought of that mother's cares, her sad trials, and the many affecting scenes enacted upon this very spot. The log-cabin was no more; but before his quickened imagination it rose, and stood in its rustic simplicity. He could see its rude door — the latch — the string — the wooden pin hanging on the inside to fasten the door with at night — the open gable end — his mother just coming around the corner of the house with her pail of water dipped up from the little brook in the rear— the tea-kettle hang ing on the trammel suspended from a horizontal pole above the fire — the humble meal in preparation — and the children in all their glee. Another look was cast upon the willow. Its very leaves seemed sacred, it brought so freshly to mind his mother — all her features, her looks, and her oft-repeated counsel and encouragement, " Do right, and all will be well." He raised his hand and plucked carefully a small branch, and walked sadly away. Then they looked on the grave of their sister. A stone marked the spot where she was laid. They thought and talked of how young she was when taken from thera, and how old she now had been, if living. The elder brother, especially, felt re proached by the reflection that twenty-eight years had rolled by since the remains of that little sister had rested in this lone spot ; and yet, after the first year when the faraily removed, he had not visited it. Then, with sad eraotions and serious thoughts, they bid adieu to the hallowed place. After going over the neighborhood and introducing themselves to some old acquaintances, who had known them among the pioneers of 544 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. the town as poor, destitute, half-starved lads, and talking over -with them the scenes of by -gone days, they directed their course to Attica. Here they spent a day or two in visiting the spots and wandering over the grounds of their youthful sports and toils. From the interesting reminiscences thus awakened they at last turned thoughtfully away, to renew again the conflicts of life. Mr. Miner's mercantile career in Camden seemed, in 1844, to have reached the maximum of enterprise and prosperity which the location admitted of He had begun in 1830 at the very lowest point, and risen rapidly until he had reached the present elevation ; but frOm this stand he was unable to make any perceptible progress. But he was now a merchant of the highest character. The strictest order and regularity was maintained through all his operations. Each clerk knew_ exactly his place and his duties. His customers were always furnished with a bill of the goods purchased, which had been previously examined and called back by a second clerk. By a careful attention to the convenience and interest of his customers he knew he promoted his own. All alike were noticed who entered his store, whether the poor with their pennies, or the rich with their dollars. Children sent to his store by their parents or guardians were attended to with special promptness and care. Regard was had, not merely to what could be made on one bill sold to a person, but to what might be made in the long run, by such treat ment as should secure him for a permanent customer. In this way, from the smallest beginnings he had gathered a large trade. He had erected a store* after his own ideas of convenience, neatness, elegance, and space. He had connected with it every available branch of trade belong ing to, or which could be advantageously managed in, a mercantile establishment. He had combined in his assortment almost every variety of dry goods, groceries, hardware, and di'ugs. He had divised a new plan for keeping accounts without books. He had, in a great measure, overturned the old method of doing business, and introduced another to the saving of much time and treasure. He had repudiated, for the most part, the credit system, and established the principle of selling goods for ready cash. Hfe had broken in upon high prices, and demonstrated that more money could be made by selling at small pro fits than high. He had made Caraden, in no small degree, the mart for its own productions, and given it a wide reputation as the place where goods were to be bought "cheap." In his own store he had laid it down as a principle, to sell goods at least a little cheaper than any other merchant in the place. And when ever a neighboring merchant ventured to challenge this principle by a practical test, the demonstration was given without any flinching. At one time the trial was made on a paper of tobacco, worth one shilling. The run was commenced by a merchant across the street, who offered it to a customer for a penny less. The man reported the offer at Mi- ¦? Besides this, he erected numerous other buildings in Camden, which contribu ted much to improve the place. HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 545 ner's store, when instantly it was put a penny below the opposite offer. Back the customer went, and was offered it a penny lower still ; then returned to Miner's, where another penny was underbid. Thus the sport went on — the countryman trotting back and forth across the street until he grew tired, when he took his stand in the middle of the road, while a clerk stood in each door echoing his principal within. The strife went on, each side alternately offering a penny below the jther, until the 0 was reached, when the reverse order commenced, at a penny a time, to pay the man for taking it. Higher and higher the bids rose, first on one side, then on the other — the countryman standing in ecstasy between — until at length Miner bid a shilling, when the other merchant, beginning to fear the result, held up, and the man took his tobacco of Miner, with a shilling to boot. Insignificant as this incident was in itself, it was widely reported, and had an essential influence in establishing the impression that Miner would sell goods cheaper than any other man. At another time, a run was made on a barrel of salt, the regular price of which was $2. Mr. H W , one of Mr. Miner's customers, came for a barrel, and was told sixpence less by a merchant over the way. Miner replied, " We will sell for sixpence less than you can buy it elsewhere." " Well," said the customer, " I will buy where I can get it the cheapest," and he drove his team back and forth, from one store to the other, each falling sixpence below the other every time, until it was run down to a mere trifle, when the other merchant yielded, and Miner sold the salt. A few incidents of this kind fixed Mr. Miner in the public mind as the merchant who would not be undersold. Whatever the price of an article might be elsewhere, the general con viction was, " At Miner's it is cheaper." He had now accumulated a large capital, and acquired an influence which was strongly felt in all that region, and especially throughout the range of his extensive trade. His yearly profits were satisfactory — he could make money enough out of the business he was now doing. But that did not prevent the feeling of uneasiness which he began to realize because he could see no further progress, or prospect of extension or improvement oi his business in the little town of Camden. He wanted more room — larger business-space to operate in; and he began to think of the city. Camden was then an isolated town, shut away from the great thoroughfares of business and travel, and approached only by heavy sand roads. With these thought sand feelings, he was meditating a change, when, in 1845-6, the project of the "Rome and Watertown Rail-road" began to be gravely agitated. This was a capi tal idea for Mr. Miner. He wanted some new project for improvement — something that would promise enlargement of business. Hence the projected rail-road through Camden awakened new hopes, inspired fresh zeal, and his ambition was enlisted to help it forward. He be lieved it would open new avenues of trade ; develop the hitherto hid den resources of that section, and not only open a market for the farm ing productions of the country farther north, but also bring into market the vast lumber region in and around Camden. He had also confidence that the stock of the road would pay well, and he gave the project his 35 ¦546 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. hearty co-operation. Numerous meetings in regard to it were held, and not a little enthusiasm was enkindled. Camden had heretofore been so excluded from the great iraprovements of the day, that any thing which promised good, like the present enterprise, was seized on with avidity. Mr. Miner at first subscribed to the stock $5,000. At a subsequent meeting he increased his subscription to $10,000, on con dition that other citizens of Caraden and vicinity should raise the sum to $50,000. A committee was appointed to urge on the subscription, which went up to $47,500. Mr. Miner then offered to take one quarter of the balance, but through the remissness of some, and on account of the discouragements occasioned by a stringent money-market, the sub scription was then allowed to linger ; and finally failed altogether, for want of the stipulated amount necessary to make it binding. The uncertainty which seemed to hang over the prospects of this en terprise in 1846 and '47 contributed to Mr. Miner's restlessness, and in June of '47 he removed his family to the city of Utica, as the first step towards an ultimate change of business. Another and perhaps no less ¦efficient cause of his removal at that time was a desire to educate his three daughters, then approaching the age which required all the ad vantages that parental affection could afford to qualify them properly for the duties of subsequent life. After his removal to Utica, some time in 1848, the Rome and Water- town Rail-road was undertaken anew, when Mr. Miner took $3000 of the stock, which he still holds. The road was commenced and com pleted in 1849-1851, and is now reckoned among the best paying rail roads in the country. While his family were residing in Utica, Mr. Miner still continued his business in Camden and prosecuted it with unabated vigor for three years. He usually went to the city on Saturday afternoon, and re turned to Camden on Monday morning. Commonly he went from Camden to Rome in private conveyance, and thence to Utica by rail road, after arriving in the city at midnight, and again leavmg at the same hour in the night following. On many a cold winter's night, be tween 1 o'clock and early dawn, did he perform the trip from Rome to Camden, wrapped up in his cloak, and perched upon boxes or bales of goods, making no stop, however cold or stormy it might be. Nothing could deter him from attending to engagements at the appointed time. Neither his family in Utica nor his business in Camden could be ne glected. All were cared for, and none but himself was permitted to feel the inconvenience of his situation. But it was a draft upon his strong constitution which could not fail of its effect — ^it sensibly impaired his health. Eariy in the autumn of 1847, the "Fort Stanwix Bank" at Rome was commenced with a capital of $100,000. Mr. Miner took $5,000 of its stock, assisted in its organization, and was chosen one of its first directors. This was his introduction to the business of banking. Very soon after this the subject of a Camden bank began to be agitated. Judging from the position and resources of Camden, encompassed by poor farming lands and rather light farmers, having few capitalists and comparatively little commercial business, Mr, Miner did not think fa vorably of the project and at first gave it no encouragement. But HIRAM J. MINER, OP NEW-YORK. 547 others viewed the matter differently — were sanguine in the belief that Camden was a favorable location for such an institution, and set about its establishment by getting subscriptions to its stock. When much effort had been expended in raising the subscription, Mr. Miner, from the urgent solicitation of its friends, at length took stock in the concern, and at its organization in the following winter was unanimously elected president. He had, however, from the first, serious doubts about the policy of connecting himself with the institution, and especially as one of its officers. But moved solely by respect to the feelings of his fel low-townsmen, he accepted the distinguished mark of confidence, and entered on the responsible duties of president of the bank. The next few months were occupied in perfecting its arrangements, and in May, 1848, " the Camden Bank" commenced business. The beginning of this year was made memorable to Mr. Miner and his family, as a period of deep affliction. Death entered again the little circle of children and wrested two more from the arms of the agonized parents. On his accustomed resort to Camden, Mr. Miner had left his family in their usual health. But a hurried messenger came informing nim that Gertrude, his second daughter, was sick. He hastened home with all speed, and arrived about two o'clock in the night. On enter ing the door he was told that the doctor had given her up as past re covery. The words were arrows in his heart. He approached her bed and impressed a kiss upon her lips. " Now," said she, " I am willing to die — I have se&a. father again."* She lingered until about two o'clock the following day, when with calmness and perfect clearness of mind she expired.f This stroke of Providence was severely felt by Mr. and Mrs. Miner, and yet they had hardly recovered from the first shock before it was repeated. In just one month from the death of Gertrude, Adeline, the youngest daughter, was attacked with the same disease (ulcerated sore throat) and died. On receiving the intelligence of her sickness, by messenger, as before, Mr. Miner again hastened home, and the next day she expired.J * Previous to Mr. Miner's arrival, her mother had asked her if she was willing to die, when she replied " Yes, mother, but I would like to see father first," and re quested his likeness to be brought to her. t About an hour before her end a neighbor was conversing with her about death, when she requested him to read from the Sunday-school book — " Memoir of Nathan W. Dickerman," by Rev. G. D. Abbott. He inquired what part she would have him read. She said, " The little verses." After he had read in several places, she said, " That is not it ; let me find it." She took the book and pointed out the fol lowing verse to be read : "Begone, unbelief! My Saviour is near ; And for my relief. Will surely appear." In less than an hour more her spirit had taken its happy flight. Her remains were conveyed to Camden and interred beside those of her little brothers. t She was emphatically her mother's child, and the last words she uttered were to inquire after her mother. When she was past seeing, Mr. Miner said to her, as her mother entered the room, " Adeline, mother is come." Raising her little hand as if to feel, she replied, " Mother ! is she ? Where is she 1" She spoke no more. Her remains were interred by the side of the other three, in Camden cemetery. 548 " SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. The feelings of Mr. and Mrs. Miner on this trying occasion cannot ne described. Their little domestic circle was dreadfully broken. They were prostrate in the dust. This was enough. They saw that they had greviously departed from their duty as Christians, and be lieved they saw why they were chastened. They felt deeply hum bled under the hand of God, and were brought to realize in an unusual degree how uncertain is the tenure by which life is held, and how important it is to be in constant readiness for the last account. They justified the Lord in view of the earthliness of their affections, and endeavored to secure a sanctified improvement of what he had done. Known duties, long neglected, were now resumed, and their thoughts were more of death and heaven, as they saw more clearly the vanity of a life spent in the pursuit of baubles. Mr. Miner then re- iolv'ed, in reliance on divine grace, that he would never go back into the world again as he had done ; and that he would give more and do more for the cause of religion than hitherto. During his residence in Cam den he had never removed his church relation from Adams ; but now, as soon as circurastances would permit, he procured a certificate from the church in Adams, and united with the first Presbyterian church in Utica. And from that time forward, he affirms to the writer, property has had little or no attraction for him other than as the means of ac complishing honorable business purposes and doing good. The summer of 1848 Mr. Miner devoted chiefly to his mercantile business at Camden, appropriating, however, a portion of his time to the affairs of " Camden Bank." He met with the board of directors weekly, when the ordinary business was usually disposed of. But, in presiding over a board of fifteen bank directors, he soon realized the re sponsibility of his position, and thought he had good reason for wishing to retire ; yet, for the time, he was induced to remain in his place by the apparently urgent solicitations of a large majority of the board and other friends of the bank, who assured him of their entire confidence in the policy he proposed to pursue in its affairs. But during the winter of 1848-9, he became thoroughly convinced of the folly of his continuing longer in the board without a radical change, and particularly a change of certain of its officers. Anything aside from the perpendicular in matters of business he was unwilling to counte nance ; and where his confidence in character had been once destroyed it could not again be restored, nor could anything less than entire dis connection in business with a distrusted person afford him a feeling of safety. He felt that both his pecuniary interest and his honor in busi ness demanded one of two things, viz., the change which he sought, and which he believed the welfare of the bank required, or his own resigna tion as president, and total separation from the concern. After a fair and full discussion on the whole subject, there was one vote wanting m the board to sustain Mr. Miner's position. In order, therefore, to be self consistent, maintain self respect, and secure his own safety as a busi ness-man, he sold his stock in the bank — $10,000 — at ninety-five cents on the dollar, and resigned his office. He had now no object to detain him longer in Camden, except to ar range his mercantUe business, so that he could leave it. He therefore received into partnership his two brothers, Isaac and Heman, the former HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 549 of whom had been trading in Rome, but now removed his goods to Camden, and joined the firm. This left Mr. Miner at liberty, and at once he resolved to commence an individual bank, depending, under Provi dence, upon his own resources and skill for success. But his retiring from Camden cost him the sacrifice of much feeling, and the sundering of many ties. He had been long engaged in business there, made all his property there, and formed many strong attachments there. The community had become endeared to him by unnumbered associations ; they had ever treated him and his family with great kindness and con sideration, and he could not leave them but with many regrets ; but his judgment taught him that he had better go, and he bade Camden an af fectionate adieu. Immediately he began his arrangements for a bank on his own re sponsibility. His resources were collected and prepared during the summer and autumn. In the course of the following winter his stock was purchased, and all his arrangements completed, and in March, 1850, he commenced the business of banking in Utica. Utica was an unfavorable point for an individual bank. He had there to compete with nuraerous and well-regulated banks of large capi tal and long standing. He soon saw that, to make it profitable, he must either go into an association and increase the capital, or he must seek a new and unoccupied location. Many strong considerations urged him to the former course. He had spent about thirty years of his life in Oneida county. Here were the birthplace and the graves of his chil dren — here, also, the graves of his parents and other friends, and long had he cherished the hope that here he might spend the residue of his life, and be laid at last by the side of those whom he loved. But to re main in Utica, and form an associated institution, would be to abandon the governing principle of his whole business-life, viz., to act for hiraself untrararaeled, and guided by his own views and judgment, irrespective of, and, if occasion required, in opposition to, the views and opinions of others. He could not entertain the thought of such a change. Every other consideration must yield to his fixed purpose of individual bank ing. Accordingly, after examining other parts of the state, he directed his way to Chautauque county, and visited Fredonia. Here he was in terested. Its central position in the lake border of the county — its proximity to Dunkirk,* the terminus of the New- York and Erie Rail road — its rich farming lands, equal to any in the state — its merchants of the best class — its enterprise and stability apparent at a glance, toge ther with its salubrity and exceeding beauty — all marked Fredonia as a desirable place for an individual bank, and Mr. Miner fixed upon it. Having now chosen his location, he returned to Utica, and informed his family of the place selected for their new home. Immediately the trunks were packed and the baggage made ready, and the next day his house was closed, with the furniture all in its place, when, with his family, he stepped on board the cars, and was off for the West. They arrived in Fredonia, June 25, and took rooms at the " Johnson House" for some three months, until their furniture could be got up from Utica, and pre- * Three miles. 550 SKETCHES or EMINENT AMERICANS. parations be made for keeping house. After a few days of necessary delay, " H. J. Miner's Bank of Utica" was opened for business in Fre donia, July 4, 1850. Mr. Miner commenced his banking operations in Fredonia without an acting cashier ; but, to supply the deficiency, he requested the busi ness-men of the place to make choice of some respectable gentleman to sign his bills as cashier, when an election took place, and the choice fell on Hon. John Crane, who signed the new bills up to January, 1852. At this tirae, Mr. James H. Madison, four years teller in the " Bank of Silver Creek," was employed, and entered on the duties of acting cashier. When he commenced at Fredonia, Mr. Miner knew but little of the internal business of a bank, its correspondence, and especially the modes of keeping books. He was also an entire stranger in the town, and but very little known in the county. But he knew how to wcn-k. He had been accustomed to act long and untiringly in a straightforward mercan tile course, and he believed that all which was necessary was to apply the same common-sense practical talent to the banking business, and success must crown the effort. During the first year and a half in this place he employed very little help, preferring to attend personally to the various duties of the bank, so as to learn exactly its wants, and familiarize himself with its detail processes ; in a word, he determined to understand his business, and therefore compelled himself to perform it in person. But it required a prodigious amount of effort. He was obliged to apply himself closely to labor not less than sixteen hours on a daily average in order to keep up. None but an iron-like constitution could have sustained such a draft upon body and mind for so long a time ; but he went on without giving much, if any, outward manifestation of unusual toil. His commencement of banking in some respects differed from, and in others much resembled, his commencement in merchandise. In respect to preparatory training it differed totally. His mercantile career was introduced by a long clerkship. In his banking he stepped directly from behind the merchant's counter to the cashier's desk, having no other ac quaintance with the duties required than any bank director may acquire, which, for practical purposes, is really nothing at all ; but in other re spects there is a striking analogy. As in merchandise he took his stand among strangers, so in banking. His first mercantile operations were light, and conducted with much caution. The sarae was true in his banking. In the forraer case he commenced without a clerk, so in the latter. His mercantile business steadily advanced until it comprised an extensive trade : the same is true in the commencement, and is likely to be true in the issue, of his banking. His progress was at first gra dual, but he advanced, step by step, with an increase of business almost daily perceptible, until now, after the short period of less than two and a half years, his business extends -across the Atlantic, and equals in discounts and deposits that of most of the associated banks of $100,000 capital. As in his mercantile career he laid aside antiquated and cumbrous forms, and led off in an unbeaten track, so in his banking. Having no previous acquaintance with the modus operandi of the busi ness, but guided by his practical common sense, he arranges his books and accounts in the simplest manner, and aims to arrive at his point in HIRAM J. MINER, OP NEW-YORK. 551 the shortest possible way. Thus he studies the convenience of both himself and his customer, regardless of old forms, which serve only to embarrass action, multiply clerks, mistify outsiders, and hinder pro gress. Mr. Miner has entered on his banking career with an apparent deter mination to strip the business, as far as possible, of all mystery in the eyes of the people, to resist and subdue, at least in himself, its aristo cratic tendencies, and make it as unembarrassing for the most simple and rustic person to approach the cashier's counter for business as the counter of a country merchant. That crabbed taciturnity which is some times met with in other banks, and which is always so disgusting to men of sense, finds no place in the institution of Mr. Miner. He is always kind and complaisant, whether he is able to accommodate you or not, and seems to feel, when called on for business, that he is rather the obliged than the obliging party. His property does not appear to have inflated him at all, but he seems the same modest and accessible person as when, on the 6th of May, 1830, he opened his little store in the end of good Dea. Upson's tin-shop, with a capital of $270, all told ; and when he discounts your note it is with the same affable grace as when he pocketed the net profit of eight cents on the first article purchased from his store — a copy of the New Testament — sold for twenty-five cents, cash in hand. In keeping with this characteristic complaisance, he has especially desired the writer to speak of his sense of obligation to the citizens of Fredonia, and especially to the merchants and other busi ness-men, for their early confidence, manifested by deposits and other wise. And not only in the bank, but everywhere in social life, his bland and gentlemanly bearing has won for him the respect and esteem of this community ; while the writer, as his pastor, takes pleasure in attesting the high regard in which he is held by the religious society and church of which he is here a member. In conclusion, it may be instructive to inquire, "What are the elements in Mr. Miner'' s character to which, under Providence, must be attributed his eminent success as a business man? The writer has held extensive cor respondence with persons who have known him long and intimately ; and from their letters may readily be gathered a satisfactory answer to this inquiry. Starr Clark, Esq., with whom his longest clerkship was served, says of him : " As a clerk in ray store, his moral character, so far as I knew, was good. He was an attentive and good clerk, honest and upright ; and one who attended to his own business." Mr. William Doxtater, of the forjner firm of " Doxtater and Burch," speaks as follows : " I always esteemed hira an honest, faithful young man, and remarkably trustworthy. He was likewise uncommonly active, mild, ambitious, and persevering as a salesman ; and seemed as: anxious to promote the interest of his employer as his own, which I con sider one of the most prominent traits in his character." Mr. Thomas Burch, the other partner, writes in a corresponding strain. Dr. Horatio G. Tarbert, of Camden, says : " Mr. Miner commenced business something more than twenty years ago in this place, and was, I believe, a poor boy. His motto was, ' ready pay ;' and by his un tiring industry and indomitable perseverance, soon established the 552 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. character of a successful merchant, and monopolized the trade. He was always very active, esteemed a useful citizen, and wielded an extensive influence," Mr. H. Brown, of Camden, writes as follows : " When Mr. Miner commenced business here, in the spring of 1830, there were but two or three merchants in the place, which was then quite new; and they were selling goods very high. Mr. Miner put them down to Utica prices, and soon drew the largest part of the trade. I never heard any one say but that he dealt fairly and honestly. I have dealt with him, I think I may say, thousands of dollars, and I never thought he was dishonest with me. He was quite a public spirited man, did much in building up this place, and was very liberal with the religious societies." Mr, E, S, Dunbar, of Camden, says : " Mr. Miner was, we may say, almost the founder of our now flourishing village ; — a man of strict integrity — honest and upright in all his deal ; and for energy and enter prise not often equaled. He was possessed of uncommon business tal ent ; a financier ; and a benevolent and much respected citizen. His departure from Caraden was much regretted at the time, and has been more deeply felt since." Mr. E. Rockwell, one of the directors of " The Camden Bank," writes : " Mr. Miner was a merchant of this village about twenty years, commencing without much capital or the aid of wealthy friends. But, by his own energy, stability, and close application to business, he succeeded in every undertaking ; and at the same time while he was making a fortune, he was gaining a character for strict integrity. Although a rapid advance of fortune sometimes creates envy, his integ rity was adraitted by all. Nor was he destitute of public spirit. To all improvements of the place which he approved, he gave liberally. I have often heard hira referred to, to prove that it is no great misfortune to begin the world poor." Judge T. D. Penfield, of Camden, says : " As far as I am acquaint ed, his habits and moral character were good ; and his charities and con tributions to benevolent institutions and the poor were quite abundant. But he was more particularly noted for his business and financial traits of character. Few men apply themselves with greater diligence and perseverance than did Mr. Miner, and few are rewarded with more abundant success." Hon. Israel Stoddard, of Camden, says: "I have known Hiram J. Miner over twenty years. He is a self-made man. He came to this place about twenty-two years ago poor, and comraenced a cash store. It was looked upon as 'no go ;' since a store of that kind was unheard of in this region. But his energy and decision of character overcame every obstacle. Go-ahead-ativeness seeraed stamped on all his under takings. He was sure to succeed. His business was never neglected. He was prompt in all his engagements ; of quick decision, and great firmness, I have done much business with hira, and his honesty in deal was unquestionable. I consider him a man who feels for the poor. He has done much to build up this place; yes, I may say, as much as all others combined. We feel his loss, and it is a great one ; but what is our loss is Fredonia's gain. Yes, I know him well. His untiring in dustry, kind words, and marked attention to customers, would attract HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW-YORK. 663 your notice at once, and interest you in his favor. He has left in this place many warm friends who regret his departure from his old home and birthplace of business." Mr. James Dutton, at present, and for many years, a very respect able merchant of Utica, writes as follows : " Yours of the SOth ultimo, requesting my views and opinion respecting the character of Hiram J. Miner, I have but just received. Although it is some eighteen or twenty years since I first became acquainted with Mr. Miner, still I must say that I have known him only as a business man. In all my commercial transactions with him, which in former years have been of no inconsider able amount, he has ever seemed to be governed by the rules of strict honor and the most rigid integrity. From what I know of his habits, I should not attribute his success in business to what is usually termed 'luck;' but rather to his great energy, and untiring perseverance. His mental constitution is of a turn essentially utilitarian. Hence his con versation and inquiries, when allowed to take their natural or habitual direction, were uniformly on topics immediately connected with busi ness. Possessing a brain-power apparently nowise superior to that of others less distinguished in business, he seems to have been able, by a concentration of that power, to render his will alraost oranipotent ; and to have been able to bring to bear upon a single point, with effect, only such an araount of power as is often expended by others without effect, when applied to a nuraber of objects. To will with him was synony mous with to do. Convinced, in the management of his store, of the propriety of keeping an unbroken assortment of merchandise, his list was almost always kept full. When goods were wanted, and could be ob tained, they were had, whether they could, at that particular time, be obtained at remunerating prices or not." We will detain the reader with but one more communication, which is from the pen of Mr. A. W. Ransom, a retired merchant, now of Cam den. Mr. Ransom says : "Your favor of the SOth ultimo, asking my views of the character of our old and respected townsman, Hiram J. Miner, has been received. He has been connected closely with the rise and progress of our village, and his energy and thrift constitute one of its prominent landmarks. To one gifted in the analysis of character, his would form a fruitful and interesting theme. His career with us marked from the commencement an original and self reliant mind. He first became known to the inhabitants of Camden as ' the cash trader in the little yellow store.' He started as the enemy of the book-credit system, which was encouraged among the merchants of this then out post of civilization. He found the sraall traders here selling goods on a scale of profits that would astonish the importer ; and readily saw that, by selling at a fair price, people would purchase of him for cash ; and while he was counting his gain in hard coin, his neighbors had only the pleasure of inventorying their notes and accounts. His capital soon grew from a few hundreds to as many thousands ; and customers and cash seemed to roll in upon him to his heart's content. He was able, like all successful business men, to read a customer — his wants, capaci ties, and idiosyncracies — at the first glance. Consequently, he had pre cisely what a customer wanted, and at just the price desired. The word ' cBun't' was not retamed in his vocabulary. Nothing was impossible 564 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS, within the reach of human effort. His plans were to be executed, any body's opinion to the contrary notwithstanding. He was public- spirited and liberal in all schemes for the improvement of the village ; yet he often disregarded others, and set public opinion at defiance. The energy with which he pursued an object commonly resulted in dis couraging all opposition, and he was left master of the field. This remarkable energy and positiveness of character, together with his master policy, was the secret of his success. No one doubted that a man who had shown himself so admirable a financier as a merchant must be successful as a banker. This latter career he has but just entered upon ; and his friends have the fullest confidence that his success in this will be no less marked and decided." The above are but a few of the many communications of a similar character which have been received from Camden and other places. But these are sufficient for our purpose ; and will throw important light upon the minds of young men, respecting the elements of charac ter and principles of action which have formed the basis and support of Mr. Miner's brilliant business career. In view of these testimonials and of the facts presented in the preced ing narrative, the following characteristics are deemed especially worthy of being commended to the consideration of youth. 1. Decided purpose. Mr. Miner has always had an object in view, and a decided purpose to attain it. There are those who seem to have no very definite aim or purpose in regard to any thing. They just give themselves up to the influence of circumstances as they may chance to arise, without any decided attempt to control and order circum stances. Such persons never became truly men. Mr. Miner, when eight years old, said, " I will be a merchant." Here was a decided purpose ; and all his after-life has been regulated by definite design. 2. Steadiness of purpose. He never could have attained his pre sent position with shifting aims. Stability of design — adherence to settled plans — has marked all his career, and constituted an important element in the foundation of his prosperity, 3. Lndustry. From his earliest youth he has always been active; and when he could not obtain the eraployment he desired, he would en gage in the best he could get. He would not be idle. Idleness is fatal to eminence in every thing honorable and good. This is the experience of the whole world. He who hopes to acquire wealth or honorable dis tinction among men, without unabating industry, had better emigrate to the land of dreams. 4. Patience. Mr. Miner would not be discouraged where there was a possible ground for hope. How long was he delayed in obtaining a clerkship ! How slow his progress to the head of a mercantile estab lishment ! In what unpromising circurastances did he commence his independent business operations 1 But in all the tedious path his hope never forsook him. He pressed on, and would not be disheartened. Nor did he allow himself to fret and complain because his ends were not more speedily attained. Calmly, patiently, he applied his industry, until Providence was pleased to grant his desire. 5. Energy and perseverance. One of the main-springs of his prosper ity is found in his unconquerable energy — his determination to succeed HIRAM J. MINER, OP NEW-YORK. 655 in all he undertakes. He says of himself, " The expression ' Can't do it' I never could find use for. To do it is all I know ; and until it is ac complished, I cease not to strive." 6. Carefulness. Multitudes fail of success because they -will not give themselves the trouble to maintain a watchful attention to their own affairs, or to the affairs of others with which they may be charged. They are heedless of consequences liable to result from inattention to little things ; and hence they are continually met by unlooked-for losses, perplexities and disasters. Mr. Miner, though quick in decision, and energetic and persevering in action, is never unmindful of little facts and circumstances — little interests and dangers which, as in the case of every one, continually surround him, and lie strewed along his path. To all these he is wakeful and attentive. Hence he seldom suffers any thing from oversight, or is baffled by mishaps and vexations which worry and defeat the careless. 7. Neatness and order. Both in his clerkship, and in the manage ment of his own store, he would suffer no needless filth or rubbish to defile or encumber the area of his charge. Everything must wear a look of cleanliness, convenience and comfort. He would have " a place for everything," and " everything [must be] in its place," Thus were his premises made attractive to customers, and facile for his own pro ceedings. 8. Faithfulness. In his youth his employers found him reliable, and learned to confide, in him. The remark of Mr. Doxtater is in point, " He seemed as anxious to promote the interest of his employer as his own." In all his course, when an engagement had been made it must be met, and at the appointed time. No regard to his own ease or con venience must be allowed to prevent. Promptness and punctuality — faithfulness to trust, have inspired public confidence, and thus given him advantage. 9. Honesty and integrity. The tricks of trade by which the sim ple are overreached, and the ignorant defrauded, he has religiously abjured from the first. Frankness, openness and honesty have been among the most strongly-marked traits in his character. His word could be relied on; and custoraers soon learned that they could deal with him in any circumstances without danger of being cheated. 10. Zeal for knowledge, and especially practical knowledge. See it in all his course, from the moment -when, at six years of age, standing before his provoked and reproving school-mistress, he said to himself, " I will do better." See it in his eager desire for schooling when a lad in his teens. See it in his clerkship — the chief object sought in nearly or quite every change of employers. See it in the commencement of his banking operations. Useful knowledge — knowledge capable of being turned to practical account — he has been continually reaching after. In this way he becomes master of his business, and is enabled to succeed where other men would fail. 11. Modesty. He never disgusts you with egotism or boasting. He never takes on airs of pomp or magisterial dignity. He never offends by officiously obtruding his counsel or service, nor by thrust ing himself forward where he does not belong. His simplicity and modesty have done much to win for him favor and success. 666 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS. 12. Kindness and generosity. In the language of Mr. Stoddard, " His kind words and marked attention to customers would attract your notice at once, and interest you in his favor." His sympathy for the poor has made him many friends. His considerate regard to their feelings and their welfare has embalmed his memory ia many hearts. Whatever may be his zeal to acquire or retain wealth, he will not be mean for the sake of money. Service rendered him is sure to meet a liberal reward. And public interests do not appeal to him in vain, as the numerous testimonials from Camden show. All this reacts upon his own interests in a thousand favorable forms, and becomes to him an important source of prosperity. 13. Catholicity in religion. He is an honest and decided Presbyte rian, but lays no claim to infallibility in faith or practice. The rights of conscience he freely accords to every man ; and finds no difficulty in discovering much of good in religious communities differing in some important respects from his own. Hence, religious or sectarian preju dices which might otherwise be arrayed against him are happily avoided, or enlisted in his favor. 14. Mildness in politics. His democratic principles are, and have always been, unwavering. But the same spirit of gentleness and tole ration towards those who differ with him which marks his religious ac tion also characterizes his politics. Among his warmest personal friends are not a few of opposite political views from himself 15. Freedom from offiee-seeking . His own words are, ' I could never discover any charm in office-seeking or office-holding. In the station of a private citizen I could see freedom of thought and opinion; but in office-seeking and office-holding only double-dealing, deception, bit terness, anxiety, defeat, and at last poverty, and perhaps dishonor." 16. Lndependence. Mr. Miner has always been accustomed to think for himself; and, since his majority, to act for himself Though he listens respectfully to the opinions, and notes carefully the practices of others, yet he fearlessly thinks, speaks and acts agreeably to his own convictions, whoever may object, or whatever may oppose. In making up his mind on a given subject, he never waits to learn first what others think, or how others will act ; but, from his own stand-point, views the matter in the clearest light he can get, and then decides, without regard to anybody else. 17. Humility, or freedom from an aristocratic spirit. He never solicits e.specially the favor of the rich, nor despises the condition of the poor. The acquisition of wealth does not appear to have changed his sympathies or affinities at all. He seems to meet the poorest laborer as on a level ; while, in the presence of the wealthy and the great, he acknowledges frequent embarrassment. This accessibleness, or dispo sition to fraternize with the mass of the people, procures hira general favor, and makes him a peculiarly popular business-man. Of course it multiplies his business and increases his prosperity. 18. Aspiring after progress. It does not seem to be so much a reaching after some definite point or object which he sees above or be yond him, and which, for the time being, is the ultimatum of his desire, but when attained, is succeeded by another equally attractive — it does not seem to be with him so much this common characteristic of human HIRAM J. MINER, OF NEW TORK, 657 nature, as an insatiable desire to progress for the sake of progression. He strives to advance because he craves advancement. His motto em phatically is " Excelsior." It matters not what eminence he may reach in any respect, he struggles continually to go higher. This undying zeal to improve, ascend, progress, combined with his other characteris tics, as developed above, has raised him from the lowest point of pov erty and obscurity to the honorable and affluent position which he now occupies, and bids fair to advance him onward and upward while his faculties remain. yoc^L-^^'O-^i'z.^ SIEF uUni'ICF, JF OREGON P.n.j ' .'.' 'if ¦ J.-ii^-hu-.i.v.^i:M.:/i.i.! .v' f'^Jm :iu-n THOMAS NELSON, OF OK'EOON. 559 THOMAS NELSON, CHIEF JUSTICE OP OREGON, Was born at Peekskill, in Westchester County, New- York, on the 23d of January, 1819, and is, of course, now in the thirty-fourth year of his age. He is the third son of the Honorable William Nelson, late a re presentative in Congress from the Eighth Congressional District of New- Yoric — a gentleman whose earnest and successful devotion to the labo rious profession of law in early life, and practical wisdom as a politician and statesman, as well as his virtues as a man of principle, have won him the suffrages and respect of a large majority of his fellow-citizens, who have several times testified by popular vote their confidence in his principles, public spirit, and private worth. As a youth, and during the earlier years of boyhood, young Nelson was the subject of those wholesome family influences which give the right direction to moral character ; and to early parental precept and example may, doubtless, be traced, in a large measure, the germs of that honorable and manly ambition which now distinguishes Judge Nelson as a public man. Mr. Nelson graduated at Williams College, in 1836, at the early age of seventeen ; and although it has always been with him a matter of regret since that he entered college so young, yet he distinguished himself as a scholar, and graduated honorably as a boy of great promise, /or he was then but a boy. It was, therefore, thought advisable, before entering on his clerkship as a student at law, that he should continue the scien tific and literary habits he had forraed in college by prosecuting his studies for some time longer in the city of New- York. He there chose his residence in the family of a French gentleman, a professor of the French language and literature, that he might have the opportunity of acquiring not only a thorough theoretic knowledge of that language, but a correct idiomatic use of it, while at the same time he attended, as an amateur, a regular course of lectures at the Medical College in that city, giving his attention chiefly, however, to the study of anatomy and physiology. A love of general knowledge, and a desire for liberal and elegant culture, have always been marked characteristics of Mr. Nelson's mind, and given scope to his general reading and studies ; for though a successful student and practitioner of law, and not undistinguished at the bar, he is still more remarkable as a general scholar, having a full, ready, and well-furnished mind, to which refined culture has added the grace of a polished literary and assthetic taste. Having completed this course of medical lectures, he entered his father's office as a student at law, where he continued until he was of age, when he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of New- York ; and, in due time, he was also admitted as a counselor of the same court, a solicitor and counselor of the Court of Chancery of that state, and an attorney and counselor of the Supreme Court of the United States. 560 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. After Mr. Nelson had finished his professional studies, and before en tering on the practice of the law, he expressed a strong desire to visit the old world. He had in this a twofold purpose: one was to in crease his general health by travel ; and the other, to gain that knowl edge of men and things which books cannot give. In this wish his family and friends very readily acquiesced. And Mr. Nelson accord ingly spent the greater part of the year 1842 in England and Conti nental Europe, making himself familiar with every thing during his travels which he thought would be most useful to him, as a well-read and well-informed man. This tour not only afforded him opportunity for personal observation on the present condition of European society and institutions, but it gratified and strengthened that taste for classic scenes and reminiscences with which his academic and collegiate studies had early inspired him. As a scholar, however, Mr. Nelson's knowledge is by no means limited to the acquirements of a college class-room. He has made himself, in tbe broad sense of the word, a scholar, by a critical study of the English classics, and an extensive acquaintance with the literature of modem Europe. Mr. Nelson's temperament and refined taste, as well as his correct moral judgments, naturally incline him to a quick and instinctive admi ration of beauty, goodness and truth in character, as well as in art and literature. This was early manifested when, at the age of seventeen, he chose for the theme of the oration assigned him when he graduated, " The character of John Jay," — a choice which showed that young Nel son had, from his earliest recollections, not only loved and admired in Gov. Jay the scholar, the patriot, thejurist, and the statesman, but that he also reverenced the Christian as the highest style of the man. The oration was well conceived, and delivered in an easy and graceful man ner. As a whole, it would have been creditable to a graduate of maturer years, for it gave to all unmistakable evidences that he was destined, ultimately, to rank among the distinguished men of the com monwealth and the country as a man of capacity, principle, and untiring industry. On Mr. Nelson's return from his European tour, he entered vigor ously on his profession, (as a partner with his father in Westchester county,) which he pursued with great success until he was appointed Chief Justice of Oregon, in January, 1851, when he entered upon his duties as a judge of that distant territory. Mr. Nelson has, as the lawyers call it, a good legal mind, clear and discriminating — fond of investigation, and whilst he has a dislike to what is called the drudgery of his profession, yet during his practice of the law, he invariably prepared his cases with such care and research, that he was always ready for any emergency in the progress of the trial of his causes. lie was ardent and persevering, and invariably summed up his causes before a jury with ability, and not unfrequently with great force and eloquence. At the bar of the court of his native state he discussed questions of law with a clearness and ability, manifesting a research and a knowledge of the reasons and principles of law greatly beyond his years. During the few years he has been engaged in his profession, he has earned a THOMAS NELSON, OF OREGON. 561 reputation as a skilful advocate, an eloquent speaker, and a lawyer, such as but few of his age have attained. His manners and address, as a public speaker, as well as in his private intercourse with his friends and fellow-citizens, are modest, courteous and agreeable. His social and domestic character is faultless. His truthfulness and integrity are unquestioned and unquestionable. Few men are held in higher esti mation by those who know him, as a gentleman of refined manners, a ripe scholar and a lawyer of no ordinary attainments. As the Chief Justice of Oregon, Mr. Nelson has proved himself to be all that his friends desired or expected of him, faithful to duty, capable, aud of unflinching integrity. Unfortunately for Oregon, in the course of the last year an exciting controversy sprung up among the people of that territory concerning the location of its seat of government, whether it was by law at Oregon city or Salem. This as a legal and constitu tional question came before the Supreme Court of the territory for its adjudication, and a majority of that court (Judges Nelson and Strong) held and so decided thjit by law the seat of government was Oregon city. But a majority of the members of the legislature of that terri tory chose to regard Salem as the seat of government, and acted ac cordingly. This of course produced much excitement and conftision in Oregon. Whatever uie merits of the question as to where the seat of government, as a matter of expediency, ought to be, no sensible and unprejudiced man, certainly no good lawyer, who had examined the ques tion, could doubt, at the time it was presented to the court for its adju dication, that by law the seat of government was Oregon city. And the court being called on to decide, not from considerations of policy or expediency, but by those rules that should always govern in settling a legal and constitutional question, we cannot see how Judges Nelson and Strong, as intelligent and impartial jurists, could have decided other wise than they did. And, indeed, such is the opinion generally ex pressed by the best lawyers who have looked at the subject. 36 > ^^^^^^^^^^ U^Ca^ cyA /^^ 2 ^../t. 6 - ., L-illl^ 0-NK Of 'I'/fJfJ JUl)G.KS OF TJTFi CIRCLIj' ¦jOuMU' ''^for Blograplu/iij: ¦ 1^'v^r^.e.v .ifJCm.:^.^:;:/. .d7n,jr-.c,zus ANDREW J. MARCHBANKS, OF TENNESSEE. 563 ANDREW J. MARCHBANKS, OF TENNESSEE. The subject of this sketch was bom in Jackson county, Tennessee, on the 21st of November, 1804. During his infancy his parents removed with him to, and settled in Overton county. His father, William Marohbanks, was of Scotch descent, was a farmer in moderate circum stances, had a large family, and his sons were compelled to labor in the field for a support. The present judge was, from time to time, sent to school until he acquired a tolerable knowledge of the sciences and an im perfect knowledge of Latin. In 1823, and in his nineteenth year, he commenced the study of the law, under Major H. H. Atkinson, in the town of Monroe, the county seat of Overton county. There he continued to read with but little advantage until the summer of 1824; and having at that time become quite idle, and being satisfied that he was doing no good, he determined upon, and accordingly returned to the residence of his father, taking ¦with him a few law-books, and which he occasionally read until the early part of the winter of 1825, at which time he resolved to renew his stu dies ¦with increased energy ; and to do this, he thought it best to avoid relapsing into his former idle habits, to select a new location at a place where he would have no acquaintances, and where, without the danger of any evil temptations, he might form new acquaintances and new habits. It was with determinations of this kind that young Marchbanks again, in the early part of February, 1825, left his father's roof. 'He located himself in the town of McMinn^ville, and there re-commenced his studies under Major Stokeley D. Romer, a gentleman of considerable celebrity and distinction at the bar. Our student now, in good faith, gave up all of his former idle habits, and with singleness of purpose devoted himself to his studies, and so continued to do until the fall of that year, when he was licensed to practise law. At this period his license to practise law constituted his all — it was his only hope ; and the want of the means to go elsewhere, as much as anything else, induced him to make a permanent settlement at McMinn ville, and there to make an effort, humble as he was, to establish him self in his profession. Under su3h circumstances as these, young Marchbanks, without a dollar in the world, and without family connec tion or patronage of any kind to usher him into business, embarked in his profession ; — his only hope for success was a determination on his part to devote himself to its duties with unwearied industry, and to live an upright and an honorable life. In a short time after he was licensed he got into a small practice, principally in the county courts. For two years his business did not yield a sufficient income to defray his expenses. About the expiration of that time he got into a profitable practice, and which he continued down to the time when he was elevated to the bench. In 1828, Marchbanks was elected elector from his native district to vote for President and Vice-President of the United States, and which 664 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. duty he performed by casting the vote of his district for Jackson and Calhoun. The Electoral College of Tennessee was at that time consti tuted of eleven members. Of the entire number of persons then con stituting it, it is believed the subject of this memoir, together with Dr. Alfred Flournoy, at present of Shreveport, Louisiana, constitute the only survivors. In 1836 he was elected to the Senate in the state legislature, and served in the called session of that year. In 1837, Marchbanks was elected by a whig legislature (he being a democrat) judge of the thirteenth circuit in Tennessee for the term of eight years ; and upon the expiration of that term, in 1845, he was again, by the unanimous vote of the legislature, re-elected for the same term, and which office he now holds. In his addresses to the grand juries he has constantly impressed upon them the fact, that our government is founded upon the morals and intelli gence of our citizens, and that, to perpetuate our free institutions, the religion and intelligence of our people must also be perpetuated ; that only a few brief days ago the government was in the hands of our fe- thers ; that to-day it is in our hands, and that in a very few more days it will be in the hands of our children ; and as it is to devolve upon them to sustain it, it is all-important that they should be well prepared to perform that high and important duty, and that, to so prepare them, the most anxious and unremitting care should be bestowed upon their education. In the earlier part of the judge's professional service, he was, as as sisting counsel, retained in several heavy and complicated actions of ejectment. This caused him at that early period of his life to give to the land law of his state a thorough examination. He has now been upon the bench for more than fourteen years, and during that time he has decided many actions of ejectment, a number of which have gone to the Supreme Court by appeal, and out of that number only two have been reversed. One of them is the case of Miller vs. Miller, (Meig's Reports, 484,) and the other Wait's Lessee vs. Dolly, (Sth Humphrey's Reports, 192 ;) and in deciding the latter case, it was at the time be lieved that he was following the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Lee vs. Crossna, 6th Humphrey's Reports, 281. As a judge, he makes it a rule never to decide a case, where there is any doubt about the law of it, without an examination into the authori ties, when it is at all practicable to do it. He also makes it a rule, in all cases of any magnitude, to give to the juries who try them written in structions in regard to the law of the case, and to make out and keep full notes of the evidence, insomuch that, in many cases of the utmost importance, where appeals have been taken from his judgments, the par ties have adopted his notes as containing a full history of the case. The Judge was first married to a Miss Savage ; she dying, he then married his present wife, Mrs. Martha C. Flournoy, daughter of the late Doctor John H. Camp, of Giles County. He lives upon a farm within about two miles of MoMuinville, where his intelligent lady employs her time in the raising and cultivation of flowers and shrubbery. UJ I'J. JNIi'.hiSKK /ji.,ffur' large that it may almost be called a mountain. All the streets are paved. We encamped two and a half miles beyond the city, on the way to Perote, where we remained several days. We then took up the line of march, intending, as we proceeded, to attack that ill-fated place where every tenth man of the Texans who were cap- NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 609 tured by the inhabitants was shot. I saw in the castle there the skulls and bones of the Texans thus killed, heaped up in a mound, in the centre of which was a cross. Perote is quite a handsome city, situated at the foot of several mountains, and near the great perpetual snow-mountain called Orizabo. " From Perote we marched to this city, Puebla, where we arrived on the 13th May, after passing through many fine villages. At Anco- zoque, twelve miles distant, Santa Anna, lying hid behind some large sand-hills, with fifteen thousand men, suffered General Worth to pass on without interruption. His object was to attack our division, which was enfeebled by disease and forced marches up the mountains, he sup posing that we were a day's march behind Worth ; but in this he was mistaken. By pursuing our course with great expedition, night and day, we had nearly come up with General Worth's division, who, dis covering that Santa Anna was between him and us, turned upon the old fox, and soon put hira and his forces to flight. Our regiment arrived in time to form a line of battle. The sight of us coming up precipitated their flight. Had we been aware that we were so near the enemy, we could have intercepted and captured Santa Anna without failure. At this battle, as he called it in his dispatches, he admitted that he had lost one hundred and fifty men, but stated, at the same time, that he had killed fifty Americans. The truth is, we lost none. "We then took up the line of march, with three thousand effective men and one thousand sick, together with wagoners and teamsters, making in all four thousand. We marched until we got within one mile of this city, and halted. Soon after this was done the citizens hoisted a white flag. This was the day of the election of President. As we passed through the city, they looked voracious enough to eat up our little band alive. I tried to make the best observation I could, and I do believe, although in this I may err, that there were eighty or a hundred thousand Mexicans present on this occasion. We got possession of the second finest city in Mexico, and have been stationed here ever since. " Puebla is the handsomest city I have seen, in or out of our government. It is about two and a half miles long and one and a-half wide. The streets are straight, and run parallel with each other. The side-walks are all elegantly flagged or paved with hewn stone. It is called the "City of Steeples." There are forty -four splendid cathedrals in the city, some of which are said to have cost ten millions of dollars. There are three hundred resident priests, whose personal appearance and dress are sora.ewhat peculiar and worthy of note. They have upon their heads a round place from which the hair is shaved, in circumfer ence about the size of an ordinary tin cup. In some the denuded spot is smaller. Around the head, an inch above the ears, and up to this point and all below, front and rear, the hair is shaven off. At a dis tance, they look as if they had a black belt two inches wide around their heads; and, to complete the picture, they have the body part of their hats made low and round, apparently to fit their heads close ly, with a brim a foot wide, which they bind over the crown in the centre. They wear this hat on all occasions lengthwise, front and rear. In other respects, their dress is not wholly unlike that of the priestly order in Catholic countries. I must defer giving you a description of the 39 ^10 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. cathedrals, convents, and other public edifices, to another opportunity. They are costly, and built on a scale of great magnificence. " When Santa Anna made his escape from our troops, he fled to Mexico, where he caused himself to be proclaimed president ; but in a few days his seat became so uneasy to him, that he called together the powers of the government, gave up the national keys, and announced his intention to retire to private life or leave the empire. " We will march shortly to the city of Mexico, at what time pre cisely I cannot say. Our fates we cannot predict, but our watchword is ' Onward, let come what may !' " I am in a wonderful country, and cannot understand how a popula tion of eighty thousand souls should allow an army of only three thou sand effective men to take such a populous and magnificent city as this. " Your's truly, " N. R. Eaves." The next letter of Mr. Eaves is addressed, like the preceding one, to Messrs. Melton and Alexander. It is as follows : " San Augustin, Mexico, Aug, 30, 1847. " Gentlemen,. — I wrote you both by Captain Kennedy, I hope you got those letters, as they furnished a detail of facts up to our arrival at Puebla. I here send you an account of occurrences from that period to the present. " We left Puebla on the 8th of August, and, after a fatiguing march, arrived at this place on the evening of the 19th inst. The battle of Contreras was commenced by the divisions of Generals Pillow and Twiggs ; and the New- York and South Carolina regiments, which com posed the second brigade of General Quitman's division, under the command of General Shields, were sent to their support. Contreras is a strongly -fortified place, situated on a road leading to the city of Mexi co from the west, and about eight or nine miles distant from it. From this place our regiraent passed through a pathless region of country, almost inaccessible, over precipices of rock that appear to have been thrown up by some volcanic eruptions, and. through a dense shrubbery, with all kinds of cactus, which raade it raore difficult to pass. Our regiraent was on the march that night until one o'clock, when a halt was made at the village of Contreras, about one mile above the battle ground, and between it and Mexico. It rained hard all night, which made it the most disagreeable night I ever experienced. I was not in the battle of Contreras with the regiment, owing to this cause : I had a horse, and not being able to ride or to lead him over the precipitous pathway, I followed on till I quite lost the route of the regiment, and it being very dark, I was injured by a fall on a cluster of cactus. Falling in with Captain Martin's artillery force, I there remained all night. " By daylight in the morning. Colonel Riley, with his regiment of rifles, and I with thera, charged the enemy. They fled before the charge, and were intercepted by the Palmetto regiment, which was situated be tween Fort Contreras and the city of Mexico, about a half mile from the fort. The fort, cannon and munitions of war were soon in our pos- NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, OP SOUTH CAROLINA. 611 session. We captured a hundred and eighty-one Mexicans, and left a hundred and twenty dead on the field. Among the prisoners of war was General Mendoza, who surrendered his sword to Colonel Butler, while the junior officers and soldiers surrendered their swords and guns to Captain Dtinovant. Captain Marshall was left at this battle-ground to guard the cannon and munitions of war, and to take care of the pri soners. During his stay there, he took forty odd prisoners more. Of course, he, and those with him, were not in the subsequent battle that was fought, which they regretted exceedingly. It is said that the Pal metto regiment displayed a degree of skill and bravery in the battle at Contreras unsurpassed by any regiment in the army. I joined my regiment early that morning, before the close of the battle, and before they had prepared to commence their line of march to the subsequent battle, that of Churubusco. In this battle, all the officers and soldiers of the Chester company were engaged, and won for themselves unfading glory." Mr. Eaves, while twining round the brows of his companions in arms deserved laurels, omits, with his characteristic modesty, to refer to the part which he himself enacted on this occasion, but which, from the gallantry and coolness he exhibited, richly deserves notice, and cannot be omitted in this connection. Having to take care of the prisoners and the wounded, the Palmetto and New-York regiments were delayed and prevented from being present in season for the first attacks on Churubusco and Tete-de-Pont. They were ordered, on their arrival, to make a demonstration back of the forts and the city, where they en countered the rear-guard of Santa Anna's army. The New-York regi ment was in advance of the Palmetto, and, upon the first fire, which was very heavy, they recoiled and took shelter behind a hacienda. The South Carolina regiment came forward, formed a line, they being the left regiment, and Mr. Eaves, being a member of company B., the left company of the regiment, was thrown in a position where he could be well noticed by all who were engaged. He stepped to the left, and in advance of his company some five paces, and there, although exposed to a galling fire of seven thousand escapades, by which one-half of the Palmetto regiment fell, either killed or wounded, Mr. Eaves, still maintaining his self-possession, on each time after discharging his gun, would cock it and blow into the muzzle to ascertain if the touch-hole was clear and open, and then deliberately re-load and fire. The gallant Colonel Butler, who was the mess-mate and bosom com panion of Mr. Eaves, fell at Churubusco. It made quite a change in his camp life — a change that he was entirely unprepared for. His servant Edmond, who had followed him through the campaign with the greatest fidelity, was sick. So it became necessary for the hero of this biogra phy, who has been so properly entitled " the little warrior," to mess about with ^ his companions without any definite place for shelter. But his position was a proof of how much he had endeared himself to each member of the regiment and other officers of the army, for all claimed him as their friend, and were anxious to prove the fact by giving him the largest share of their scanty meals. Eventually he became the mess-mate of the officers of the Chester company. They were proud that he had cast his lot among them instead of choosing for his com- 612 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. panions those who were higher in office and who had intreated him to partake of their fare. On the ISth of September, he was at the charge on Chapultepec. The hill and castle are surrounded by low, flat grounds, with deep ditches made there for the double purpose of defence to the castle and irrigation of the tillable lands. They are so deep that the soldiers could only pass through them with the aid of each other. It was his misfortune to be in one of the deepest of these ditches until his com panions, who had passed through by his assistance, were all on the flat lands. Forgetting that they had left him in this position, they advanced at double quick time. He strove to climb the bank, but all his efforts were vain. He then commenced wading through the mud and water, hoping by sorae chance to gain his regiment again. Discovering some soldiers of another regiraent who had deposited themselves there for safe-keeping, he told them that "they were cowards, and unworthy the name of American soldiers," and commanded them to assist him out of his difficulty. But they were so panic-struck that they threw him out on the wrong side, when he had the mortification to see his regi ment approaching the wall at the base of the hill beneath the enemy's batteries. There he stood a target for a thousand escapades, yet re solved to die fighting. It was at this time and place that, as he raised his head to aim his musket at sorae one whom he thought worthy of being shot by him, a ball struck the palmetto on his cap, and passed through, slightly grazing his head and tearing private papers which he had placed in his cap for safe-keeping. When the regiment arrived beneath the wall and were secure from the enemy's fire until a breach could be made in it through which to pass, Mr. Eaves' perilous position was seen by all. He was not able to proceed, and was too brave to occupy that much detested ditch, which seemed to defeat his dearest purpose, to live or die with his regi ment. But he was no sooner seen than sorae of his brave companions volunteered to bring hira to the regiment or perish with him — a pur pose which they triumphantly accomplished, but not until he was twice wounded and his clothes much torn. He reached his regiment just as the breach in the wall was raade sufficiently low to be scaled, and being assisted by his corapanions, he was in their eagerness literally thrown over, being among the first to enter. Regaining his feet, he seized the Palmetto flag, mounted the cliff, rushed up through the castle, where, having first assisted to run up the American flag, he mounted the parapet, and with his gun in one hand and his regimental banner in the other, he stood conspicuous, waving it ¦\vith the oft-repeated excla mation, " Hurra for South Carolina !" The cheering was not confined to his regiment alone, but all who saw it with one impulse joined in a long and loud huzza for the flag and the gallant spirit who bore it ! But the glories of that day were not yet ended. There were other glories to be yet achieved by that gallant army before the sun had set. Scarcely had the array realized the fact that the castle was theirs, when they were ordered to advance along the aqueducts, in order to charge the forts and take possession of the city of Mexico, which lay about one league distant. The gallant Quitman, who commanded the division against the Garita de Belen, to effect his object with the more certainty NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 613 put a rifle and a musket alternately, that whilst the latter was making the charge the forraer might act as sharp-shooters to take the enemy from their cannon. The promptness and decision with which the com mander's orders were executed soon rendered victory complete, and the Palmetto banner floated triumphantly in the city of Mexico two hours in advance of any other American standard. (See General Quitman's Report.) In this engagement Mr. Eaves acted with his accustomed coolness and intrepidity. His conduct was observed by Gen. Quitman, who exclaimed, " See little Eaves, — how cool he is ; as though he were shooting at snipes !" When the division entered the city, it was impossible to get the heavy American cannon of Captain Drum's command over the high and , well ditched fortifications of the Garita de Belen ; but there was a piece of artillery within the breastworks, placed in such a situation that the Mexicans could not get it out. Drum had but few soldiers with him, and he called upon some of the Palmetto regiment to assist him. There were two companies of the Pennsylvania regiment and the rifle regi ment present. Upon the call being made upon the Palmetto regiment, Mr. Eaves and several others obeyed the call, and assisted in adjusting the piece, and turning it upon the enemy, continued to man the piece until the amraunition was exhausted. Drum, putting his hand on the shoulder of Eaves, exclaimed, " We have given it to them !" and after leaving the cannon two or three paces, was shot in two !" After the entrance of the array into the city of Mexico, Mr. Eaves found many occasions for the exercise of his feelings of humanity and generosity. Hundreds of the wounded Mexicans lay in the streets, neglected by their countrymen and exposed to all the anguish of their sufferings without the kindly ministrations of a friend, or even the com fort of a shelter frora the weather. As these instances would fall under his observation he would set about the relieving of their condition, a work in which he would often draw liberally on his own purse. In other instances he would, assuming an air of authority, compel the heartless citizens, who carelessly passed by their suffering fellows, to remove them into houses and provide for their necessities. The same promptings of generosity influenced his conduct towards his companions in arms. The sick found in him an attentive and watchful friend, who would suffer them to want for nothing which money could purchase. His purse was, indeed, at all times open to the drafts of his companions, and no one ever found his necessities disre garded. To various members of his regiment he liberally supplied the means of returning to their friends and their country, and that, too, very often without the prospect of being repaid. It was the intention of Mr. Eaves, when he left South Carolina, to return home in season to perform the duties that devolved on him as senator at the ensuing session of the general assembly. The war was now, in fact, ended. All the fighting that was to be done was over, and there was nothing, so far as the honor of his country was concerned, to detain hini longer in Mexico. He accordingly applied, soon after the entrance into the city, for leave of absence for six months, which, in consideration of the circumstances, was readily granted, and he was honorably discharged. 614 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICAN^. The following are the documents connected with his discharge : " City of Mexico, October 26, 1847. "To Capt. H. L. Scott, A. A. A. General. "Sir: — I have the honor to request a furlough for six months, to enable me to return home to discharge the duties of my civil office, being Senator frora Chester District, South Carolina. The legislature of that state convenes on the 4th Monday in November next, and it is important that I should be there as early as practicable. " N. R. Eaves, Private Co. B. " Palmetto Regiment." " I certify that private N. R. Eaves is the State Senator from Chester District, South Carolina ; that he has been doing duty in my company, and was present, fighting valiantly, in all the battles fought in the valley of Mexico, (except at Molino del Rey, in which the Palmetto Regi ment was not engaged,) and that he behaved with credit and distinction to himself, having been slightly wounded in four places. I therefore respectfully recommend that his request be granted. "R. G. M. DuNovANT, Capt. Co. B. " S. C. Volunteers." " Approved. '" A. H. Gladden, Major Com. Pal. Beg. S. C. V. " City of Mexico, October 26, 1847." "Respectfully referred and recommended. "Saml. E. Watson, Lt. Com. First Brig. V. D." " City qf Mexico, October 26, 1847. " To Capt. H. L. Scott, A. A. A. General. " It is due to N. R. Eaves, private in Corapany B., Palraetto Regi ment, S. C. v., to state that he is the State Senator from Chester Dis trict, and whilst discharging his duties at Columbia, S. C, m that office, a call was made by the Secretary of War upon the state for one regiment of volunteers, to serve during the war with Mexico. He left his seat in the Senate, and promptly repaired to his district and enrolled his name as a private. " Frora the high position he occupied, and the patriotic motives that induced him to volunteer, the field-officers were induced to place in his hands the $20,000 appropriated by the state and placed at their dispo sal. He has therefore acted in the capacity of paymaster to the regi ment. As that fund is now nearly exhausted, and feeling disinclined to see him shoulder his musket, the call for his civil services induces me respectfully to request that his petition be granted. He has been in all the battles fought in the valley of Mexico in which his regiment participated. On these occasions, he shouldered his musket, and behaved with great gallantry and bravery. " Very respectfully, " A. H. Gladden, Major Pal. Beg. S. C. V." " I have known Major Eaves since his arrival at Lobos, and found him always attentive to his duty, and at all times ready for any service. " D. E, Twiggs, Br. Gen. U. S A.'-' NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 616 " I have commanded the Palmetto Regiment at all the battles fought in the valley of Mexico, and can vouch for the bravery and gallantry of Major Eaves in all those battles, as well as for his good conduct on all occasions. " James Shields, Brig. Gen." " Respectfully referred and recommended. "Saml. E. Watson, Lt. Col. Com. \st Brig. Vol. Div." "Recommended by '• J. A. Quitman, Maj. Gen.^ " Honorably discharged, " By command of Major-General Scott." " H. L. Scott, A. A. A. General." " Head-quarters of the Army, October 2Q, 1847." "National Palace, Mexico, October 28, 1847. " Major Eaves, — Sir .•—Allow me to take the liberty, now that you are about to leave for your native land, to present to you my heart felt regret at your departure. " A companion and soldier, one who has shared all the perils and fatigues of this campaign, cheerful under every sky, and foremost in every engagement! I am certain, sir, you have nobly represented your district and state, and I trust a grateful country will respect your patriotic disposition. " With great respect, " Your friend and servant, " N. J. Walker, Capt. Co. K., S. 0. V." Shortly after receiving his discharge, Mr. Eaves embarked for South Carolina, via New-Orleans. Upon his arrival in Columbia, at night, a torchlight procession was formed, and he was conducted through the city in triumph. The legislature being then in session, the Senate, of which he was a member, adopted, on the next day, a report and resolutions highly complimentary to him. The following is the report of the Senate committee to whom were referred the documents and correspondence connected -with his discharge : " The Comraittee on the Military and Pensions, to which was refer red certain documents in relation to the Honorable N. R. Eaves, sub mits the following report : " The committee have given the subject referred due deliberation. The documents show, that in Deceraber last, the Honorable N. R. Eaves was the Senator in the present General Assembly from Chester District ; which fact comes within the knowledge of your committee, and of the whole Senate: that he united himself as a private in the company of the Palmetto Regiment raised in Chester, his native dis trict,* and, although in affluent circumstances, and arrived to an age when military service is not required by law, he cheerfully submitted * In this the committee were in error. As already stated, Mr. Eaves was. a native of Virginia. — En. 616 sketches of eminent Americans, to all the privations and dangers of a perilous and harrassing campaign. He was entrusted with the responsible duty of disbursing the appropri- ation of twenty thousand dollars, made by this state for the use of the Palmetto Regiment, and from this and other considerations, service in the ranks was not exacted. Voluntarily and from his own impulsive and chivalrous nature, he shouldered his musket and fought in the ranks as a private, in every battle in which his regiment was engaged in Mexico. At Vera Cruz, at Contreras, at the bloody fields of Churu busco, Chapultepec, and the Garita, he was found in the front rank, leading on the advance, cool, collected and brave. " Such patriotic devotion in one of its own members deserves the special notice of this Senate. " Your comraittee recommend that the documents referred be entered on the journals of the Senate, as a tribute of regard for patriotism and public virtue. " Respectfully submitted, " John Buchanan, Chairman." When the venerable president of the Senate, Angus Patterson, rose to read the resolutions, the Senate chamber was crowded to the utmost extent of its capacity. The scene was an exceedingly inter esting one. Mr. Eaves, anxious to take his seat in the Senate cham ber, was, as we have seen, one among the first to return from Mexico after the war was over ; and his presence again in the Senate chamber, after an arduous and glorious campaign in a foreign land, in which the chivalry of the state was triumphantly vindicated by the Palmettoes, coupled also with the mournful reflection that the blood of a Butler, a Dickinson, and a host of others equally patriotic, had sealed their devo tion to their beloved state, altogether produced an excitement, and gave rise to emotions of no ordinary character. Mr, Eaves responded in terms very graceful and delicate. "He thanked the Senate," he said, "for the very cordial manner ui which he had been welcomed again to his seat in that body. After the hard carapaign, in which the American troops had been engaged, to be thus met on their return to their native land, was grateful to that sensibility so natural on such an occasion. In entering the service of his country, he had done what he conceived to be his duty. A call had been made by the Federal Governraent upon the State of South Carolina for a regiment to be engaged for the war. He regarded the honor of the state as involved, and that the call should be responded to promptly. The state had been traduced, and we had been jeered as par excellence ' the chivalry,' When the opportunity therefore was presented to her people to vindicate their title to the just renown emblazoned on the pages of their history, it found him ready. Tlie promptitude with which the call was met, was in the remembrance of all. How the Pal metto Regiraent performed its duty, history will tell. Its decimated ranks and orphan condition told a tale more eloquent than anything he could say. He left it to others to fill up that picture which would sparkle amid the lustre of those achievements which adorn our history." He concluded by again thanking the Senate for the kindness they had manifested towards him. NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 6l7 Mr, Eaves had then to encounter a storm of congratulations from his surrounding friends, which was equal in intensity to that which he faced at Churubusco, though of a far different and more agreeable kind. His excellency, Governor Johnson, was among the first of his dis tinguished friends to welcome him on his return. The following note was addressed to him by that high functionary on the occasion : " My Dear Major, — Welcome, thrice welcome back to us ! I want to see you much ; but I learn that you are so surrounded by inquiring friends, that I fear there is no hope of having that quiet communion with you that I wish to-night. How are you 1 How are your gallant com panions ? Where are they ? " Very sincerely, " David Johnson. " United States Hotel, Monday Evening." The warm reception which this brave man met with from his excel lency, the governor, and from the legislature, was not more gratifying to his feelings than that which awaited him from the people at large. His entire career in Mexico was known to all and applauded by all. From the mountains to the searboard there was but one sentiment felt and expressed as to his merit. But nowhere was his welcome more cordial and enthusiastic than in the district he represented, old Chester. He had performed his duty nobly, and the state was not only delighted to see him return, unscathed by the numberless perils through which he had passed, but seemed desirous to evince their gratitude and admira tion by bestowing upon him some signal honor, as a reward for his ser vices. He was accordingly, in various sections of the state, almost simultaneously, on his arrival home, nominated by the press for the office of governor; and there can be but little doubt, if the election had come on when the popular enthusiasm was at its height, that he would have been elected to the office by an overwhelming vote ; and there can be as little doubt, that had he been elected when the contest did come on, his practical good sense and executive abilities would have qualified him to discharge the duties of the gubernatorial function to the entire satisfaction of the people of the state. The relations which the South then sustained to the Federal Government were of a delicate nature, and wore a threatening aspect ; and there were those who feared that the impetuosity of Mr. Eaves' temperament unfitted him for the crisis. Others, again, were influenced by an aversion, common to the people of the state, of bestowing the gubernatorial office as a reward for military services. That his election was anticipated and desired by the whole body of the Palmetto Regiment, then in Mexico, is evident from the tenor of the following letters, with the introduction of which we shall close this rather prolix narrative: "San Angel, Mexico, January 13, 1848, " My Dear Friend : — I had thought you would have written me be fore this, but I suppose you are determined to treat me with the same Indifference that my other friends do. " I am told that you met with a cordial and warm reception at home 618 bketches of eminent Americans, and that every body was glad to see you. You richly deserve to be esteemed and honored by your whole country for the gallant services rendered by you on the battle-fields, and I hope that your name will be handed down to posterity as one of the heroes of Churubusco, and Chapultepec and Garita. The boys frequently talk about you, and re gret that your civil duties called you away from among us. They frequently ask me if I think the state will recompense you for your trials and sufferings, by making you governor, or sending you to Con gress. I tell them that I think she will. ¦* * * * " I remain, very respectfully, " R. G. M. Dunovant." The above letter, it will be seen, was written by Captain Dunovant, frora Mexico, shortly after Mr. Eaves arrived in South Carolina. The following, from Lieutenant Walker, was written about three months later : " San Angel, Mexico, 21st March, 1848. " Dear Major, — I am just contemplating and trying to fathom how many honors you have, how many you have received, and how many more you are entitled to receive. We hear some news in regard to you occasionally, and it is quite good, to be sure, but I think they seem to be rather slow in awarding honors in a manner to be felt as lasting and important to one who has devoted so much of his time to the best interests of his district ; one who, when the call of his country was heard, was ready to throw off honor, wealth, and ease, to engage in the capacity of a soldier, and who, in the short space of twelve months or less, has passed, with distinction, through four of the bloodiest battles on record. If services like these do not entitle a man to the highest gift in the state, what can he do to entitle him to such honors ? To this I can only answer, that it is perhaps requisite that he be a representa tive of the lower part of the state. " When your friends speak of you why do they not do it with more energy, with more zeal, and speak to be understood? Yet there are some omens of good, and one of the strongest of these is, that we do not hear you spoken of for the governorship in one or two districts, Jtti it comes in letters from every district in the state, and all that is wanting is more heat. In all probability there is enough of that at home, though not sufficient to satisfy your friends here. "The boys are all well and in good spirits, but we miss you very much. The days and nights are tolerably long at times, and if we had your company it would be a great assistance in making time glide by. I wish, if there is no hope of our getting home soon, that you would keep the young ladies frora marrying until we do return ; and also in form us, by sorae means, what you are doing with thera for us. But I must inform you of a slander that Major Mat. has put out on you. He says you are trying to marry yourself, and if that is the case I fear you will not do much for your friends. How is it ? And, by the way, I should like to have you write, for you best know just what would please us. * * * * * * ****• NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 619 "Captain Brooks says, 'By Ned, Eaves shall be governor!' He sends his best respects to you. Major Dunovant ditto, and all the boys unite in sending their best wishes to you. " Your obedient servant, "J.T, Walker." We find among the numerous documents connected with Mr. Eaves, campaign in Mexico, a series of letters in relation to a certificate of merit to which he was entitled, but which, having not been filed in the office of the secretary of war, or if placed there, having been lost or mislaid, has unfortunately, up to this tirae, not been recovered. The facts are briefly these : General Scott, after the battles in Mexico, issued an order directing the captains of companies each to report two soldiers of his company who were most worthy of distinction. In accordance with this order Captain Dunovant, of company B., Palmetto regiraent, reported Mr. Eaves to General Quitman, as having especially distin guished hiraself during the carapaign, and General Quitman, as is sup posed, reported him in like manner to General Scott. But Mr. Eaves having left Mexico before the army was disbanded did not receive his certificate of merit. Considering himself, however, as entitled to it, he made application for it through his friends, supposing that a copy of it would be found on file in the office of the secretary of war. Among those friends who interested themselves in this matter was Lieutenant D. D. Baker, of the marines, in service in Mexico, a gallant officer, who was proraoted to a captaincy after the battle of Chapultepec. We have from him the following letter : " Portsmouth, N. H, Feb. 15, 1848. " My Dear Old Soldier, — I was in Washington a few days ago, and made inquiries at the office of the adjutant^general for your certificate of merit, but was informed it had not been received at that office. I have no doubt it will be forthcoming in due tirae. It gave me great satisfaction to hear from you, both on the account of your good health and also the flattering manner in which your fellow-citizens received you on your arrival horae. I am sure that nothing in the way of notice can equal your merits, for a more gallant and devoted soldier on the field I never saw, I send you herewith a note from the office of the adjutant-general, about your certificate of merit. " Believe me to be your friend and fellow-soldier, " D. D. Baker." ITie following is the note from the adjutant-general, referred to in the above letter of Captain Baker : " Adjutant-General's Office, " Washington, July 19, 1848. " Dear Sir, — In returning herewith the letter of Mr. Eaves, I respect fully inform you that not a single recommendation in favor of volunteers for certificates of merit, under the 7th section of the act of March 3, 1847, has been received at this office. The orders of Major-General Scott, alluded to by Mr. Eaves, have been referred to, and are such as g20 sketches of eminent AMERICANS. he represents, but what action, if any, was taken under them, I regret my inability to say. The law referred to, I had supposed, did not em brace the volunteer service. For, if otherwise, it would present the incongruity of one of the subalterns of a company of volunteers receiv ing his commission from the president of the United States, while the others, the captains and field-officers, derive their commissions from the governor of the state. " I am, dear sir, very respectfully, " Your obedient servant, " R. Jones." There are numerous others letters of correspondence on this subject, which are omitted. It is certain that the order of General Scott to the captains of companies, volunteers as well as regulars, to report those who had, in their respective companies, most signally distm- guished themselves, was promptly obeyed by the captain of the com pany to which Mr. Eaves was attached, and that he was singled out and reported as being the most worthy of the certificate of merit. To the soldier nothing is dearer than his honor, and nothing more gratify ing to his feelings than the having his merit duly recognized and ac knowledged, and it is much to be regretted that, so richly deserving the meed of praise awarded him, he has been unable to obtain its formal acknowledgment in a "certificate of merit." We are happy to find that the opinion we expressed, in the earlier part of this sketch, of the legal character and attainments of Mr. Eives is fully sustained by the opinions of a gentleman of great worth, who has long known him intimately. " The success," he says, " which has attended him in the practice of his profession has been far beyond that which ordinarily falls to the lot of those who have made the law their study. Without having a high reputation as a learned lawyer, he nevertheless, by the assiduity and perseverance with which he managed every case entrusted to him, se cured a lucrative practice. Men who entertained no very exalted opi nion of his legal attainments were willing to entrust their interests with hira, knowing that, if anything would be raade in the progress of the cause, his diligence and untiring efforts would be sure to accomplish it. Like a cork on the water, if put down in one place, he would be certain to rise in an another. His success, in a great measure, is to be attributed to the extraordinary industry and untiring devotion he invariably brought to the management of every cause in which he has been en gaged, no matter how unimportant it may be. Slow to announce an opinion at first, he would, when engaged in the cause, apply the whole powers of his mind to its thorough examination, and never rest untU he had completely mastered it. His great knowledge of human nature has enabled him to command success where other men would have failed. The precise adaptation of the means to the end has secured him many triumphs. Oftentimes, in cases of great doubt and difficulty, when the law's delay would have given him time, he seldom failed, at the last moment, to seize upon and present something that would be de cisive of the issue. If he could not carry his point by a coup de main, he was very certain to do so by slow and regular advances." NATHANIEL RIDLEY EAVES, OP SOUTH CAROLINA. 621 Another friend, who knew him equally well, having pursued his legal studies under his direction, and who is every way competent to judge, says of him : "Mr. Eaves is not so much to be judged by his conver sational talents, his forensic powers, or his skill as a writer, as by the happy adaptation of himself to the circumstances under which he has passed his entire career." i Mr. Eaves was never married ; but one of the most pleasing traits in his character is its tenderness, liberality, and gallantry, to the fair and better sex, particularly to the widow and orphan, and to those who are in any kind of distress. No man is more consistent in his friendships. Once a friend he is always one — never abandoning an acquaintance so long as he retains merit, and often adhering to him even after others have forsaken hipi. With all his wealth and success at the bar, he is free from pride and an aristocratic temper, being equally the friend of the poor and the rich, and disposed to treat all with justice and humanity, without regard to their station. If he has his partialities, they lean, and justly, too, rather to the side of the feeble and unfortunate than to that of the strong and prosperous. He is especially kind to those who are indebted to him, and against whom he has claims of a long standing. He prefers aban doning the claim and releasing the debtor, to subjecting him to distress and inconvenience. If he were to meet an old acquaintance in China in destitute circumstances, he would greet him with cordiality, and relieve his necessities. Notwithstanding his remarkable generosity, he has ac cumulated a large fortune by his industry, which he does not hoard up, but devotes to useful ends and public improveraents, particularly to the improvement of the place where he lives, with whose interests and pros perity he is so closely identified, that to destroy him would be to de stroy the very elements of the society around him, of which he forms the soul and centre. But he is not known only at home favorably. There is scarcely an individual in the state to whom his name is not fa miliar ; and he could not go into any village or town in South Carolina where his presence would not be welcomed with cordiality. Upon the whole, Mr. Eaves, if not a great man, is a useful one. What he lacks in genius is better supplied by common sense — want of a knowledge of books, by a knowledge of the world, and by a shrewd insight into the springs of human action. A man that has succeeded as he has done must be judged by results ; and judged by that rule he must, as he does, possess moral and intellectual worth. Rich in wealth, he is far more rich in honor and integrity. He has the simplicity of a child and the boldness of a lion. He is a man of undoubted courage and a keen sense of honor. Nothing would induce him to do a mean action. In fine, we shall sum up all his good qualities by affirming that he is an honest man, and that he is fairly entitled, in the judgment of his cotemporaries, to that patent of nobility to which the poet refers when he says : " An honest man's the noblest work of God." slaved by J.G Buare from q.P*6'" i^u^ Fri-^/MZcy 9//^'- >J-' ISJEM/'UiS TKfSIVI- N-J- or lit imiCN Iiyl7'-JJ< or 'MlNJVj Si^hF. jn'iv POPE, OF TENNESSEE. 623 JOHN POPE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNION BANK OF TENNESSEE AT MEMPHIS. Colonel John Pope, the subject of this memoir, is a native of Georgia, and son of Leroy Pope, a prominent merchant of that state, and received the early part of his education at the distinguished academy of Dr. Moses Waddell, in South Carolina. He was a particular favorite of the old Doctor, and it was under his admirable discipline that he ac quired his studious and moral habits of character. It was a proverbial saying of the Doctor that he had a golden head. He stood at the head of his class, and particularly in composition. On leaving the institution at sixteen years of age, on the occasion of the annual exhibition, the highest honor for composition was awarded him by his class. In his youth he manifested a decided penchant for punning. As an evidence of which the following may be cited. It occurred while a boarder in Dr. Waddell's family at the Willington Academy. It was a practice with the old Doctor to put out Latin phrases to the students at table, to translate impromptu. On one occasion, coming to little Pope's turn, the Doctor challenged him with, " Dura vivimus vivaraus." Good butter was a luxury with which the students were but seldom indulged. Prompted by an irresistible impulse to give the words a free and pointed translation, he quickly replied: " Whilst we have butter, let us have it." Accordingly, at the next meal. Aunt Betsey— the familiar soubriquet by which all the students called the Doctor's wife — pre sented them with a plate of fresh butter by the positive dictum of the old Doctor. It may be well to recall to public recollection the internal administra tion of this celebrated acaderay. That great conservative feature of criminal jurisprudence — the trial of offenders by a jury of their peers — was adopted and successfully practised by President Waddell. Moni tors or inspectors were appointed weekly, and every Monday e vening, in the presence of the students assembled in the Academy Hall, they made a public expose of all the transgressions and delinquencies ob served during the preceding week. Whereupon, a jury of seven stu dents were appointed by the president, and the case of the offenders referred, with instructions to bring in their verdict the next afternoon. And no criminal judge on record was ever more stern and inflexible in the prompt execution of the verdict of the jury. In the performance of this duty an amusing incident is related of the subject of this memoir. The monitor had reported an allegation against one of the students that he was " guilty of lying, and dodging from his recitations." He was foreman of the jury, brought in a true bill, and recommended, as a 624 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. remedy for his almost incurable malady, that the president administer 28 grs. of hickory powder, in broken doses, at intervals of five minutes, by the stimulating application of the sarae to the naked calves of his legs, and that he be deprived of his daily rations at twelve o'clock, for a week, by two hours' close confinement in the dungeon [alias the Academy Hall.) A few days after this, Augustus B. Longstreet, then a student, and the distinguished author of the " Georgia Scenes," -wrote a very humorous parody on the whole transaction. About this tirae his father removed to Huntsville, Alabama, and he was sent to Cumberland College, (now the University of NashviUe,) at that time under the presidency of Dr. Priestly, a celebrated scholar and divine, who devoted many of the best years of his life to teaching. The Hon. E. H. Foster .and John Bell were his classmates, with whom mutual feelings of strong personal regard were formed, which have been warmly cherished to the present day. After remaining about one year he was transferred thence to Yale College, where he completed his edu cation, after a term of three years. His residence in Yale was charac terized by studious habits, and a devoted attention to the cultivation of his literary taste apart from his classical studies : hence the high reputation he acquired in his class in the department of composition. The class was large, and distinguished for its many talented members. Among the number were the Hon. John M. Clayton, and Isaac Holmes, of South Carolina. It was during his residence in college a literary periodical was established, edited by the three best writers from the senior class. When the time arrived for making these selections, the honor was con ferred on hira with two others — the most distinguished writers of the class — the Hon. Thomas A, Marshall, of Kentucky, and John D. Eckles, of North Carolina, who took the first honors of the class. In the distribution of commencement honors he was among the highest participants. On leaving college he promptly commenced the study of law in Georgia. But in this he was suddenly checkmated by the marriage of a Miss Louisa Rerabert, the daughter of a wealthy and a highly respectable planter — a lady no less remarkable for her per sonal beauty than for all the araiable and accoraplished qualities of her sex. Becoming possessed of an independent estate, his vocation was sud denly and permanently changed into that of a cotton-planter. His loca tion was in the vicinity of Huntsville. No man is more fascinating in his manners — entertaining or instructive in his conversation — lively, but never frivolous — ^happily mingling dignity with easy familiarity. His disposition naturally inclined to the facetious ; with a playfulness of manner that made hira a favorite in every circle in whichh e moved, he possessed in a high degree the art of infusing into others the joyous- ness of his own feelings. The frankness of his deportment and the purity of his morality have exercised over his youthful associates a last ing and beneficial influence. On the third year of his residence he was elected to the legislature. During the session several questions of important state policy were discussed. In the debates he took a prominent part. He was conspicu ous for his efforts to change the system of voting by balloting into viva voce, and lost the measure by only two votes. His speeches on this JOHN POPE, OF TENNESSEE. 625 subject were published, and highly lauded at the time. After the close of the session, on his return to his family, he was warmly received by his constituents, and urged to become a candidate for Congress in opposi tion to the Hon. Gabriel Moore, an old and popular politician. But he declined, excusing himself on the ground that he was too young a man to take the field against such an old political stager. The following year he reraoved to an adjoining county, where he zealously devoted himself to his favorite pursuit, in which he was always emulous of that prominent success that has marked his career. After a few years' resi dence in his new abode, the voice of the people urged him to become a candidate for the legislature, for the avowed purpose of reforming the odious practice of treating, according to the fashionable system of electioneering, at that tirae prevalent throughout the southwest. Upon him devolved the duty of denouncing the practice from the stump. This he did in a bold and fearless manner, and was triumph antly elected. The demoralizing tendency of treating was so glaring, and regarded as such a school of intemperance, that good and patriotic men doubted whether the country had not better give up the right of suffrage, provided the exercise of it could not be separated from a practice so fruitful of evil. It was a common declaration, that no man could be elected to office who did not resort to it. Yet Col. Pope not only refused to treat, but during the whole electioneering campaign denounced the custom as iraproper — pernicious to morals — the whole tendency of which was to corrupt and trammel the freedom of the ballot-box. The power and eloquence with which he assailed this pernicious custom were such, that from that time the practice has fallen into disuse. During the session he was a prominent advocate of all works of in ternal improvement. He also prepared an able report on the subject of disposing of the public lands, granted by the Federal Government to the State of Alabama, for removing the obstructions in the Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee River. The wisdom of the suggestions of that report time has proved, though the legislature rejected the most prominent of them. He also made zealous and spirited efforts to change the common law, so as to give to married women a vested interest in property, independent of their husbands — a measure, the wisdom, the equity, and the utility of which has been recognized by the action of the legislatures of most of the states. On this occasion, however, though his efforts were sustained by the best talent of the legislature, yet the " lordly pride of man" was invincible, and its defeat stood as a blot on the legislative escutcheon of the state, until within a year or two past the gallantry and justice of her sons revived the mea sure, and passed it into a law. The claims of a growing family, and his still increasing fondness for agricultural pursuits, caused hira to turn a deaf ear to the urgent solici tations of his numerous personal and political friends to continue longer in public life. The following year he moved to the western district of Tennessee, at a period when the new, undeveloped condition of the country presented a fine field for the enterprising devotee of agriculture Here he resolved to devote his individual attention to his favorite voca tion of cotton planting, in which he was not only emulous to increase his fortune, but to elevate the dignity of the pursuit, by bringing to its aid not 40 i626 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. ¦only practical science, but skill and observation, and all the appliances ¦of personal emulation. With this view he was prominently instru mental in organizing an agricultural association in the vicinity of Mem phis. The beneficial results which this association has effected for the cotton-growing interest of West Tennessee and North Mississippi, are best told by the fact, that before the improvements introduced by it, Memphis cottons were in low repute ; but since that period they have been so much improved in quality, as to comraand the highest prices given for short-staple cotton. Yet Memphis is near the limit of the cotton-growing region. A further evidence of the value of these im provements, and of the superiority of the Memphis cottons, is to be found in the fact that, at the " World's Fair," it stood at the head of the lis4 of short-staple cotton — received three medals,* and the highest com mendations frora the vast raultitudes that inspected them. There is, perhaps, no man in all the southwest to whom more justly belongs the high merit of having shown how two blades of grass might be grown where but one grew before than Colonel Pope. He was not only industrious, enterprising, and successful as a planter himself, but was the exciting cause of the same elements in others. Many of the most valuable hints for the iraproveraent of the quality of cotton (the chief object to which his attention, as an agriculturist, has been directed; are of his suggestion. Mechanics have availed themselves of his valua ble opinions as to the construction of gins and other machinery for cleans ing cotton. Nor have his thoughts on the best mode of tillage been less valuable. He stands this day a living example of the superiority of aK educated mind when directed to agricultural pursuits. When he located his cabin in the beautiful and fertile " Western District" of Tennessee, the whole country, for a hundred miles around Memphis, in every direction, was an unbroken wilderness. What ia now the city of Memphis was then but little more than an Indian trad ing post, the staple commodity of which was deer-skins and venison hams. The country was almost without roads — streams without bridges — churches and schoolhouses few and far between. All these wants were to be sjipplied, not by money, but by the labor of the pio neer. In these labors he was an active and zealous co-operator. But his efforts in the way of improvement did not stop here. As the re sources of the country developed, he early foresaw the necessity and value of a higher and raore extended system of improvement. He was among the very first ever to speak of the practicability, importance, and necessity of connecting the Mississippi "Valley with the Atlantic sea board by a railway. The writer of this sketch remerabers an animated conversation between General E. P. Gaines and Colonel Pope on this ¦subject, nearly twenty years ago. Indeed the scheme of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad was first concocted at an internal improvement convention held at Bolivar, Tennessee, in 1834. General Gaines, John Pope, and Robertson Topp, were appointed by the convention to address memorials to Congress, and to the legislatures of the states directly m- terested, and also to the people of the Mississippi Valley generally. It * John Pope, G. L. Holmes and Samuel Bond, JOHN POPE, OP TENNESSEE, 627 devolved upon Colonel Pope to address the memorials to the states. The memorials were handsomely responded to by the governors of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. With the sagacity of an educated mind, he early foresaw the great geographical advantages possessed by his new location, and set himself to work with vigor to avail himself of them. His spirited example was followed by others, and the result has been a revolution in the appear ance and the productions, as magical as ever the transforming wand of industry performed in any other part or era of the world. In every en terprise, from marking out and opening the most obscure road to the giant scheme of the Memphis and Charleston Railway, Colonel Pope has taken an active, willing, and conspicuous part. Nothing was too high or too low for his active zeal if its tendency was to develop the re sources or add to the conveniences of the country. And one of the chief beauties of all these excellencies of private character and public spirit is, that it has all been done without his seeming to know or think that he had done anything more than every one else, or that he has more than half discharged what his feelings told him was his duty. In 1832 he was invited by a public meeting to become a candidate for the convention to revise the state constitution, and repeatedly after wards to represent the county in the state legislature. He was also named as a candidate for Congress — all of which he respectively de clined. In November, 1845, the great internal improvement conven tion, of which the Hon. John C. Calhoun was president, assembled in Memphis. For general intelligence and acknowledged ability this con vention has certainly never been surpassed by any similar body of men assembled in the Union. Colonel Pope was chairman of a committee on agriculture, and submitted a luminous and elaborate report on the condi tion of the agricultural interests of the country, and particularly pointed out the causes of the depressed condition of the cotton trade. The remedies which were then indicated for the evils so ruinous to southern interests are now acknowledged to be true — to diversify labor by a more extensive growth of provisions, and the introduction of manufacturing establish ments. The city of Memphis conferred on him the honor of addressing Gen. Taylor on his way to Washington to be inaugurated President. In 1837 he experienced a severe misfortune in the death of his first wife. Two years after her decease he married Miss Elizabeth Hem phill Jones, of Wilmington, Delaware, during a visit to her sister, Mrs. Mary P. Go van, in Marshall county. Miss., widow of the late Honorable Andrew R. Govan, and a lady of distinguished personal and intellectual accomplishments. Of all the fortunate incidents of his life he accounted his marriage with this lady one of the most auspicious. With a mind of the first order, and uncoraraonly well cultivated, she united those ad mirable virtues in the character of wife and mother — that tender affec tion and devoted solicitude that shed such a cheerful light upon the path, and upon all the domestic joys of life. But, in the twelfth year of his marriage with this estimable woman, the severe calamity fell upon him in her death on the 23d June, 1852. For the last eight years he has been president of the Branch Union Bank of Memphis, Tennessee — a station which he has filled to the entire 628 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. satisfaction of the public, and the officers and stockholders of that insti tution. He is also president of the Memphis and Somerville Plank- road Company. This enterprise is, perhaps, of more importance to the city and surrounding country than any other work of internal improve ment yet projected, except the great Memphis and Charleston Rail-road. This work owes more to his zeal, personal influence, and diligent atten tion than to any one else. Indeed he is justly called the father of this road. In 1851 the whig party of Shelby county had great difficulty in uni ting on a candidate to represent them in the legislature. Very much against his wishes, for the purpose of reconciling the differences among his political friends, and in answer to one of the most flattering calls ever made upon a citizen for the use of his name, he became a candidate. By one of those shameful tricks but too often resorted to — betting on elections — to the disappointment even of his political opponents, and to the unmitigated chagrin of his fiiends, he was defeated by fifteen votes. Upon a review of his course, though it has been mainly in the capa city of a private citizen, we see sufficient reasons to claim for him the character of a public benefactor. Nor is there any reason for regret that he withdrew so early from public life ; for, although by talent and education he was fully competent for the highest political positions, it may nevertheless be justly questioned whether his services in a public capacity would have been more beneficial to his country. Indeed but few politicians of this day have equal claims upon the gratitude of their country. 1/ r ' ^^ OL-n^ cLc.6 oy LANOISTFFt. FA ^ ¦siDEirr OF r'jE lancastfr cooyrTBiXK JOHN LANDES, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 629 JOHN LANDES, PRESIDENT OF THE LANCASTER COUNTY BANK, PENNSYLVANIA, Was born in 1785. He has filled many of the most important offices in his county, and has been at the head of the institution over which he now presides since its establishment in 1841. In 1848 he was one of the presidential electors. He has now retired from all active business, except that pertaining to the bank. q7 , ^ (^^^A-^^-C^-C^Z^ ^.b±;.h'.i;±:.s.N~. MrjsxssiPFT. r.niM i'--'^ .1 n,7'/n,f/uc-J -. /,:ef.rJtf^ rf ^¦¦¦¦-. THOMAS COOPWOOD, OF MISSISSIPPI. 631 CAPTAIN THOMAS COOPWOOD, OP ABERDEEN, MISSISSIPPI. Benjamin Coopwood, the father of the subject of the ensuing sketch, was an Englishman by birth and education, but having emigrated to the colonies prior to the coraraenceraent of revolutionary hostilities, he espoused the liberty-side of the quarrel between the oppressor and the oppressed ; and when the contest waxed warm, and to the unnatural oppression was added the physical force of the mother against the daughter to enforce the wrong, he entered with heart and hand into the conflict in favor of freedom and independence. He joined the colonial army, and remained in the service of his adopted country throughout the active operations of the war, in which he was severely wounded three different times. After the last great decisive battle had been fought and won at Yorktown, and the revolutionary storm had measur ably subsided, and the thunders of the last great guns in the struggle were dying away in the distance, the war-worn soldier retired from the fields of blood and of victory in company with George Thomason, his future brother-in-law, to join the father of the latter in Goochland county, Virginia, and to supply, as best they might, the parent's loss of his four sons, who, from time to tirae, had, one by one, fallen by the side of their brother while fighting the battles of their country. The kindred sufferings of the two, and the kindly offices of the one to the other while in the army, evoked a sympathy and cemented a friendship between them which terminated not with the closing scenes of the dan- gers they had shared and through which they passed, but were culti vated and increased with the return of peace, until a still closer bond of union bound them together. The former married the sister of the latter, and the daughter of William Thomason, whose four sons the two young men had left dead on the battle-ground. Mr, Coopwood and his wife settled in Albemarle count}', and culti vated a sraall farm, where, in the vicinity of the rich and varied moun tain scenery of the Blue Ridge, and amid the golden pomp of autumn, on the 11th day of September, 1793, Thomas Coopwood, whose narae heads this article, was born. In the year 1801, his parents emigrated from the Old Dominion and [Note. — In the preparation of this biographical sketch, the writer has been solicitous to present only the most prominent points in the character and career oi the distinguished individual, who, from considerations of friendship and a long ac quaintance, flatteringly comrnitted to him the task of preparing some notice of him. for publication. He has omitted much that is interesting that he might have said,, and which he would be fully sustained in saying by a large amount of official and' documentary testimony, of the highest character, that lies before him ; but had he published all, a brief and hasty narrative would have swelled into the proportions o^ a history, and would have been wholly unfitted to the pages of the work in whicb this sketch appears.] 632 sketches of eminent Americans. settled in Granger county, Tennessee, whence they removed to the county of Sraith, in 1806. Here they purchased and paid for a large quantity of land for their moderate means, and thought themselves set tled for life ; and, doubtless, would have been but for the fraud prac ticed upon them by their vendor, who sold them possessions to which he had no title. They were shortly after evicted by those having titles paramount, and with the loss of the entire purchase-money and nearly all of their little property, they again removed, and settled in 1809, in Madison county, Alabaraa, then the Mississippi territory, where, as though to verify the oft-repeated proverbial saying, that troubles never come singly and alone, but always in crowds — the husband and father died in the month of October of that year. And now, in deep distress and poverty, in the midst of the wilderness wilds of a new and almost entirely uninhabited country, save by the savage tribes of lawless In dians that roamed through the deep forests that shaded their hunting- grounds, or swarmed ou the banks of the neighboring creeks and rivu lets, far away from friends and relations, the widowed mother with her nine children was left to struggle against the cold, chilling tide-winds of adverse circumstances, which with so bold a current had thus strongly set in. In this trying emergency there was no time to lose in unneces sary and unavailing lamentations over the dead, while the wants and necessities of the living were pressing around about and within the very family circle of which the deceased had so lately been the head, the front and the protection. To hesitate was to yield to the pressure, and to yield was ruin. As soon as the humble funeral rites of sepulture were performed, a family council was held, and it was finally determined, and definitely agreed, to retrace their traveled steps and return to the county of Smith, in the State of Tennessee. And although the future was shrouded in gloom and beset with difficulties, before which the proudest might have bent and the boldest might have quailed, yet young Thomas, then but a small boy, with his mother, two sisters and six brothers, hesitated or failed not. He pressed on, and on he went to the place destined to witness the opening scenes of his noble self-reliance and youthful exer tions, accorapanied by a determination and energy seldom equaled and perhaps never surpassed by any of his species. But now his energies were all fully aroused and he had confidence in himself, and all had confidence in him ; for his management in the ar rangement, and skill and energy in the execution of his plans had been fairly and fully tested, but a few months before, in being sent by his father, prior to the removal thither, with a drove of cattle to their in tended location in the Mississippi territory, where, with a younger brother, he by accident got out of provisions, and although fresh meats were readily attainable, yet during many weeks they must have suffered in the extreme for bread, but for the ready plans, prompt exertions and active energy of young Thomas. His brother wanted to abandon their flocks and return home. But this was inconsistent, and at war with the inclination and every feeling of the nature of Thomas. And he resolved neither to abandon the enterprise nor to suffer much in maintaining his position. He forthwith opened a trade with the Indians, although he had nothing to trade on. But he went it on reciprocal credit, and THOMAS COOPWOOD, OP MISSISSIPPI. 633 bought and sold on time, and soon, in the speculation, he had an ample supply of dried venison, hams and corn, which, according to the most approved methods of the culinary art amongst the red merchants with whom he traded, he reduced to bread. And thus plenty was restored to the two young and otherwise starving herdsmen. As necessity is the mother of invention, and the infant germ springs from the parent seed in the rising or sinking scale of gradation from cause to effect, so the character of the man is heralded forth by the con duct of the boy under trying circumstances, and based upon it like a statue rested on and fitted to its pedestal by the plastic hand of the master artist. And so it will be seen by subsequent developments, it has emphatically been in the career of him who is the subject of this notice. He has carried with him the disposition here discovered, as a basis of his movements, in every change through which he has passed in a long and eventful career. Himself young, and the prospects of the whole family overshadowed with melancholy forebodings of evils to come, they returned to the county of Smith, where, according to the plan, they were all to be kept together, and the younger children raised, educated and supported in comfort, decency and respectability. And the reader has seen what there was to do it with. Thomas was their chief reliance — their main stay. Nothing daunted, however, on their arrival in the vicinity of their former residence, he rented a farm, and unaided by any assistance, save of course the advice and care of his mother, and the labor of such of his brothers as were able to work, he toiled almost day and night for three years, during which time he had not only plentifully and com fortably supported the family, and punctually paid his rents, but he had purchased and paid for a sufficient quantity of good land, which he converted into a well stocked farm for his mother, on which she moved. and lived and raised her children in comfort, respectability and plenty, and all of them with a good business education. In the mean time, and during the winters, when he could be spared from the crops, he earned the money with which the land was paid for by cutting cord- wood at Harbert's iron works, in the eastern part of the state in which he lived. All the while, every moment that could by possibility be spared, or stolen, from the pressing labors and duties that rested upon him, Tho mas devoted to the perusal of such books as were within his power to procure — such as history, treatises on political economy, government and international law — Montesquieu, Voltaire, Paine, Volney, and the English poets, were the chief works which fell in his way. He read some, however little, if it was only one page every day, at meal-times and nights, which supplied food for reflection and study while engaged at his labors, when his mind had sufficiently contemplated the condition of things around him, and revolved his plans for the future. This, however, was done without any view to, or expectation of ever, either studying a profession or filling any responsible station in political life. By this time, the last war with Great Britain was declared, and the fighting had commenced. When the call for soldiers was made on his state, Thomas, now that he had provided well for his mother and family while he might be absent, entered as a volunteer in the service of his 634 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. country, in the second, as his father had done in the first war with Bri tain's haughty monarch. He accorapanied General Jackson to the Creek nation, and was with hira throughout, until after Weatherford, one of the first and boldest of the chiefs of the nation, but th'e last to come in, voluntarily surrendered himself at the Hickory Grounds to the mercy of the general, and proudly sued for peace. He was in most of the battles fought in this service, in which he acquired considerable reputation as a private, and popularity among the men, so much so, that he, young as he was, on his return home, was elected captain of the corapany in which he had served in the war, over one of its most popular and deserving members ; and it will be remembered that, at the time of which mention is now made, the position was a high station of both honor conferred and trust reposed. The contest was animated, but conducted with propriety ; for to the -victor was to be awarded, by the voice of the company, the glory of being the better soldier ; and on his brow was to be worn the warrior's wreath. And, as it was consi dered that it was necessary sometimes for a commander to be able to speak as well as willing to fight, it was thought expedient that to their military prowess and skill in marshaling men, they should add an ex hibition of their oratory and skill in the arrangement of words ; so the two aspirants took the stump at the precinct on the day of the election. This last feature in the programme of the canvass was supposed to have been introduced at the instance of his opponent, as he was a somewhat experienced public speaker, and Mr. Coopwood, it was known, had never made the first attempt in that direction. Be this supposition, however, as it may, Mr. C. was not the man to permit his opponent to lead where he dared not follow. He mounted the stump on the spur of the occasion, and then and there instantly made his first experiment in speech-making, which so far transcended the expectations of all, as well as the eloquence of his adversary, that, at the close of his remarks, the crowd, by its applause, gave clear indication of his election, by a consi derable increase on what had been supposed to be his previous proba ble majority. And so it turned out. The voters went straight to the polls, and Mr. C. was elected by a handsome majority ; whereas, but for the speech, it would have been a very close election, the result till then being regarded by all as somewhat doubtful. This speech, doubt less, had considerable influence over his course through subsequent life. This event for him marked, perhaps, the proudest day and the brightest spot in a whole life-long, varied and checkered career ; for the designa tion of honor then acquired he has studiously avoided parting with ever since ; never, at any time, or under any circumstance, seeking any office in the military which would rank him nigher in point of title. And, al though but a sraall dot in comparison with the many more important marks his own perseverance, industry and talents have set up along the course he has traveled, why should it not be the proudest day, and the most meraorable event of his lifel It was the first step to dis tinction araong raen in the career of a youth struggling with adverse circurastances through darkness up to the light. It was his taste ; and his good sense, too, as well as his taste, in this respect, is admirable, for even the general, the commander-in-chief, at last, is but the magni fied captain. THOMAS COOPWOOD, OF MISSISSIPPI. 635 This new position gave rise in his mind to new thoughts and new labors. The military became the object of his studies, combined with Roman and Grecian history, and the modern wars and modem tactics of Europe. Shortly after this, Captain Coopwood intermarried with the daughter of a neighboring farmer, settled a sraall plantation, and turned his at tention mainly to the cultivation of the soil ; but not abating in his zeal for the acquisition of knowledge, he pursued his studies, as heretofore, at convenient times and on suitable occasions, when to do so would not interfere with his regular business. An anecdote, not generally known, which has been related to the writer, for the authenticity of which, however, no avouchment is made, is here inserted, as being characteristic of the man who, though poor, was content with his lot, and determined to be corafortable in it, while at the same tirae he was pressing all the surrounding circurastances, and even the laws of nature, into his service to increase his fortune and elevate him above the station he then occupied. In one point of view, it may be regarded as a remarkable development of a rare combination of strongly marked and happily clustering mental endowments. The moral, however, it is believed, is an adrairable one, in many points of view ; but particularly for its striking illustration of the adage, that where " there's a will there's a way," and the laws of nature will assist us in it. The story goes, that about the time of his marriage he purchased his land, first, because the soil was good, and, secondly, because on it there was, as he said, the most convenient and suitable building-spot for the dwelling of a new-married poor man that he had ever seen. On the site thus indicated, he determined to fix his residence, and there he col lected his timbers for the building, and then invited his neighbors to his house-raising. None of them had seen the place selected, not even his brothers. They knew where the land lay ; they carae on that ; but the site for the house they had to hunt for. It was not on that beautiful little circular hill, sloping off so gently in every direction and losing itself in the extended plains around. It was not on the road -side in front ; nor was it on the gentle declivity of the little range of hills, falling off and wasting away into the fertile little valley beyond. It was not in the valley itself. These places had all been examined, and there were no logs, no timbers there. Where could it be ? These were all the places fit for building on, anywhere, upon the whole tract of land. Where could be the place ? asked his neighbors and brothers one of ano ther. It was agreed that the captain was sometimes a little disposed to quiz his friends ; but then it was not April-day ; and what was more, they all knew that he needed a house. They had not quite agreed to give up the hunt, disperse and return home, when the well-known crack of a rifle was heard in the distance from the direction of the hills in the east. The report was a familiar one. They knew it at once. It was the re port of the captain's gun. They instantly made for the woods which led off to the hills in the direction whence the sound had emanated ; and then another — and another shot was heard, and away in the direction the company hastened in double-quick time, fearing that, perhaps, the gunner might be too closely pressed in dangerous conflict with some of the many beasts of prey that, at that time, infested the forest. At last 636 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. they arrived at the place ; and there, to the utter astonishment of every one, away down in the deepest hollow between two of the highest hills, uniting and blending into one above, and forming the most beautiful level plain on the west, and running off, dividing, widening and wasting away into the cane-brake and swamp on the east; below, there lay the logs and there lay all the timbers for the buildings, and there, on a stump in the midst of all sat the captain, with his gun by his side. He had been shooting signal guns for the guidance of his invited and expected corapanions at the house-raising, as they might be gathering in. He looked like a man who had started to market with a load of plunder somewhat too wide for the road he traveled, and had, unfortunately, got wedged in between the side-walls that pressed the narrow moun tain-pass, and was resting over his burthen and reflecting upon the best means to extricate it frora the difficulty. Almost breathless and half- exhausted, they all at once demanded to know, what on earth was the mattei-. That was the site for his building. It was no joke. Some laughed and made fun of his location, others remonstrated, and used all the arguments they could against the impropriety and downright folly of building in such a place as that. His brothers got mad, and scolded, and swore they would go home — they would help to build in no such place. But there lay the logs and other timbers all around, as they had rolled down, on either side, from the top of the hills above to the bottom below, and there was no getting them away in any direction. The hills were too steep on every side but one, and there the cane-brake and the swamp presented their impassable barriers — there they were closed in, and there they had to stay. While his friends remonstrated, the captain demonstrated. He laid down his premises, as follows : It makes but little difference where the rich build ; but that the poor man had a duty to perform in this respect. It is the duty of the latter to build at that point on his own land, where concentrate the greatest number of converging advantages. That he, the captain, was not rich, but poor ; and that the place whereon he stood, in the hollow, was the point on his own land, where concen trated the greatest nuraber of converging advantages, of any building spot on the whole tract. The major premiss -«'as admitted. The minor denied. He was required to prove it. He showed first that he was a poor man. This was easily done. Then he showed that on perfect levels, everything stood stagnant, and still. It neither run to you, nor rolled away. There was a fair set-off: no advantage there. That on hills, nothing run to you, but everything rolled away : there was less than no advantage; there was a positive disadvantage. He then show ed that, at the base of a hill, every thing on that side, from the heights above, would run to you. Here was an advantage — this advantage was more than doubled, where the point selected was at the base of two hills on opposite sides, because the one acted as a check to the force of gravitation, imparted by the rapid descent of the other. But this was not all ; at the point then selected concentrated all the advantages of three hills, it being walled in on every side, save one, which afforded an outlet for the refuse matter, which being once used, was no longer needed, but pushed off into the swamp. This was a plain case — ^the minor was proved. THOMAS COOPWOOD, OP MISSISSIPPI. 637 The case then stood : The major admitted, the minor proved ; and the conclusion — followed — as a matter of course, the place where the timbers lay, was the place to build on. He had gained his point, his friends yielded. The house-raising went on, and the buildings were speedily erected. By means of troughs, properly arranged, he conducted the purest water, fresh, cold and clear, from the beautiful little spring that gushed out of the side of the hill above, as it rolled along within its wooden bed prepared for it, sparkling and gurgling to the very door of their cabin below. There it was to drink, to cook, to wash, to cool the butter and milk, and to put out fire in case of need. He cut his wood on the side or top of the hill, and it rolled right to the place where it was wanted. Here, with half the trouble, and double the cpnvenience, he lived in more comfort than his neighbors, by making the laws of gravitation labor for, and subserve his interests, and minister to his wants. But was this location not sickly 1 asked one of his friends from a distance, who, when on a visit, was admiring the beauty and convenience of the improvements of the homestead. Sickness ! No : There was nothing there to make sickness out of Every thing there was clean, neal, clear and bright, and cool and comfortable. But that swamp ? But that swamp was east of the residence, and made it more healthy. It drained off every thing noxious, while the rays of the rising sun every morning called up all the effluvia and miasmatic vapor from the lagoons and low-grounds in the bottom below, in an opposite direction frora the house. But still, the captain said when he got rich, he would build on the hills. And lest it should hereafter be forgotten, it may be as well here to remark that at the time when this account is being written his plan tation covers over seven hills, and his dwelling stands in the centre, upon the most elevated of them all, with hundreds of acres of the rich est soil, in a high state of cultivation, spread in the distance around. He was born in the vale of obscurity, his youth was beset with diffi culties, and his building his first house in the humble hollow between the hills, was a fit emblematic memento of his then condition in life, as his present residence on the hill is and will be of the heights to which he has climbed. He comraenced at the foot of the ladder, and if he has not reached the top, he has certainly climbed high, and reached an elevated position, which is heightened in comparison, when to remembrance is called the ponderous load he has carried on his journey. But to return. While living in the hollow, he cultivated his farm, and made money on the capital invested, until he engaged in the pro duce trade, as a more speedy method of increasing his fortune, in which he accumulated rapidly, for a time, when all of a sudden there came a derangement in the money market, a crash in the business transactions of the country, and a panic ensued, while heavy purchases were on his hands, and the result was that it took all that he had to pay what he owed. But he paid it to the last cent, and without suit, as he believed it was better to sell his own property without costs, than to permit another to do it for him with costs, and at a sacrifice. Reduced to poverty again, with barely enough to subsist upon, Capt. Coopwood removed with his family to Lawrence county, Alabama, then a territory, where he settled in the woods, built cabins, and im- 638 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. proved lands, and bought and sold as usual; and in the course of a few years he had a good farm, well improved, and hands enough to work it. In the mean time, having pursued his studies as formerly, and at the same time mixing and mingling much among the people, always in the line of business, however, and being desirous to keep the law, and not to break it, he turned his attention to the science which embodied its principles. He read Blackstone's Coraraentaries, Chitty's Pleadings, Coke upon Littleton, Starkie on Evidence, and various other books, merely for information and improvement, without any intention at the time of ever comraencing its practice as a profession. Having accuraulated a competent property, and not being required, from the necessity of the case, longer to perform, in person, any portion of the labor of his farm, and being inspired with a laudable ambition, . as well as patriotic motives to serve his country, he was induced, in the year 1824, to become a candidate to represent the county in which he lived, in the lower branch of the state legislature. He ran against the Hon. John White, a gentleman of fine talents, excellent qualifications, and high reputation, and was beaten by him, by a majority of about seventy votes. This only served to arouse his ambition, and he there fore resolved to present hiraself to the people again. In 1825 he was again a candidate, and was elected by a large majority over all opposition. He served his first session, and made his first ex periment as a legislator at Cahawba, then the seat of government of the state. Having mixed extensively with the people, he was one of them, knowing their wants, and understanding their interests, while, to a com plete identity with them in their inclinations and wishes, he added talents for commanding and controlling the services of those with whom, in his new career, he was called upon to act, rarely equaled, if ever surpassed, by any. He served them, with their highest approba tion of his course, six regular sessions in the House of Representatives, when he was proraoted by the voice of the people, his former constitu ents, to the Senate. As senator, he served them three regular annual sessions, and one called session, when, in 1836, he removed from the state, and took up his residence in the county of Monroe, in the State of Mississippi, where he is now living. It is not intended here to speak in lengthened narrative of the capacity of Capt, Coopwood as a legislator. To do so would be an unnecessary consumption of time and space. It is enough to say that he seldom failed to carry his point, in whatever respect he chose to present his views and preferences, to the body of which he was a member. Study ing to be useful, he always informed himself of the wants and interests of his constituents ; and to subserve these, being the end in view, he always made the attack, or came to the rescue, prepared and fortified with the necessary support from above, below, around, to secure suc cess in the undertaking. In the accomplishment of his purposes, he looked mainly to the adaptation of the means to be employed, to the ends to be attained ; and as he selected thera, so they served him. But the indorsement of his course, by the approbation of the people, who so long retained him in their service, and doubtless would have continued hira still longer, but for his reraoval from their midst, is the best eulogium which can be bestowed upon him as a faithful representative. THOMAS COOPWOOD, OF MISSISSIPPI. 639 In 1830, while a meraber of the legislature, at the earnest persuasion of his friends, added to the frequent calls made upon him for legal ad vice, Captain Coopwood applied for, and obtained a license to practise law, and opened an office in the town of Moulton, the seat of justice for Lawrence, the county which he represented. This, to hira, was rather a change of scene, than the opening of another act in the great drama of life's onward current; for so long had he been a close observer of the apparent movements in the business transactions of the court-house pageantry, that there was but little for him to learn, save in what lay deep-hidden in the background, behind the front view of the scenery, obscured by the webbed intraoacies of the science itself, having little or nothing to do with the modus operandi of the practice of the profession. A peep, however, behind the scenery, into the green-room preparations of the more distinguished actors, disclosed at once to the keen eye and penetrating vision of the captain, much of the valuable material benefi cial to the service in which he had embarked, confusedly mixed, how ever, with much more that was rather deleterious than productive of good : that the pure grains lay so scattered and intermingled with the mere dross and rubbish, that it was scarcely worth the labor to extract what was acquired in the gathering : that while all aspired to the honors and professed to wear them, but few performed the drudgery necessary to the accumulation of the treasure ; and that fewer still waved the magic wand that brought the unalloyed particles together in quantities appre ciable to the popular gaze, or even to the vision of the judge himself, and that even these -were, many times, meanly rewarded and poorly paid ; and therefore he now as before wisely determined to do as the world did in which he lived ; and not to be eccentric, where eccentricity did not pay well. So he bit his lip, held his tongue, exchanged a wink for a nod, seized upon, and appropriated whatever of the practical came within his reach, lightly skipped and passed over the abstruse, and discarded, in tola, all that could be classed in the category of the abstract. In short, he was at once, and almost by intuition, as he has been ever since, the bold, plain, direct, firm-minded, self-willed, practical lawyer. Discarding mere matters of form, he seized with rapidity, and held with a firm grasp, the substance of his client's cause ; and very philoso phically concluding that the world would pass judgment that he was the best lawyer who gained the most cases, he brought all his energies and all his talents to the attainment of that end, without stopping to satisfy himself, whether the principles brought to bear were well estab lished by precedent or not. And in this he has been generally success ful. Few lawyers have ever enjoyed a larger run of business, in a country practice, under like circumstances, than he did, from the very commencement of his professional career to its termination. And fewer still have succeeded so well, with a like amount of other business matter pressing on their hands to claim their attention. In the argument of his cases, preferring the chances before the jury, on the merits of, the facts and circumstances, under what he regards as the great principles of natural justice, to questions of technicality before the court, his habit has generally been to remain quiet until the evi dence has closed, and then to seize the strong points presented by the 640 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. testimony, and to throw them in a solid form, with the boldness of an unbounded confidence in the prevailing justiceof his client's cause, right at the best guarded and most strongly fortified point of his adversary's ground of defence, or point of attack, and by main force, and the short est and most direct route possible, take the field, and gain the victory, or lose the battle. Seeming always thoroughly to understand his case, his boldness has seldom failed to inspire his own side with confidence, while it intimidated the opposition, and has done much in aid of his suc cess, and not unfrequently has it made to the mind of the jury the worse appear the better cause. As he has disregarded mere matters of forra in pleading, so he has eschewed all attempt at ornament in his style of speaking ; and with matters of substance before him, he has always progressed with the argument, from his premises to his conclusion, in the briefest possible time. His speeches at the bar have always been, as elsewhere, remarkable for their pith, point, force and brevity. In the examination of witnesses his manner has been modest, mUd, courteous, and kind ; or bold, bluff, dogmatical, and severe, as the occa sion seemed to require, according to the behavior of the party testify ing ; always shaping his questions according to the emergency, to elicit the answers desired to sustain whichever side of the issue joined he might chance to occupy ; and when the testimony has once been detailed, he has always recollected it with remarkable accuracy. Generous and kind in his disposition, courteous and urbane in his de portment, with much of the " suaviter in modo et fortiter in re," he has ever been pleasant and agreeable in his intercourse with both the bench and the bar, except on occasions when persuaded in his own mind that intended wrong was about to be perpetrated, and then he has been re markable for the facility with which he could change the even-flowing current into boisterous and angry waves, overriding by storm whatever barriers presented themselves in his way. To the younger merabers of the profession he has always been ready to lend countenance, afford encouragement, and give assistance to their efforts, and advance their prospects in their professional career. His wife died in 1832. While a member of the Senate, and engaged in the practice of the law, he embarked to some extent in the land specu lation then opening in North Mississippi, and examined much of the Chickasaw cession, in which he became involved, with nine others, and bound for one hundred and fifteen thousand, three hundred and sixty dollars. All of his co-operators and co-obligors in this transaction, but one, failed, which left the heaviest responsibility upon him ; but every dollar has been paid, besides something upward of fifty thousand raore for various friends, in consequence of his indorsement of paper for their accommodation. And with all these liabilities hanging over him, while almost every one much indebted was breaking and hiding out his pro perty, his " goods and chattels, lands and tenements," were all standing there, fair to view, reachable, and sometiraes reached by execution, but never sold. In these financial difficulties he soraetimes had to take the benefit of such stays and delays as the regular and often, lengthened course of the law allowed hira, but it was always with the boast that, un til every dollar for which he was liable was paid, the last dime's worth THOMAS COOPWOOD, OF MISSISSIPPI. 641 of his property should remain without cloud over his title, subject to the payment thereof. He is now worth, at a fair valuation, clear of all liabilities, about fifty thousand dollars. In 1836, having lived about four years a widower, since the death of his wife, he again determined to marry, and led to the altar Miss Minerva, the daughter of Dr. John Ellis, a native of Virginia, who had, years before, emigrated with his family, and settled in Lawrence county, Alabama. He immediately afterward removed to Aberdeen, in Mon roe county, as above stated, where, the following year, he resumed the practice of his profession, with renewed ardor and his usual success, in which he has been engaged, pretty generally, ever since, until, in 1850, he announced his determination to abandon the practice and retire from the bar ; since which time he has taken little or no new business, and now only appears in such of the old and complicated cases in which he had been retained as still linger upon the docket. Within the last year he has sold his town residence and his plantation in the prairies, and purchased land, and moved his negroes as well as his white family to it in the hills, where he now resides, for the sake of the calm retirenqent it affords frora the noise and bustle of a town life, and the active business pursuits which he has so long been accustomed to. But ere he had done so, and while he was making his preparations for that purpose, he received the nomination from the Union party, in 1851, for a seat in the lower branch of the state legislature, and was prevailed on to accept the appointment and run for the station, as a means to wards securing, amongst other important measures, a charter for the great New-Orleans and Nashville Rail-road running through the town of Aberdeen. He was elected by a large majority, and was warmly solicited and pressingly urged by his friends, both before and after his arrival at Jackson, in consideration of his long and tried experience in matters pertaining to legislation, and his known familiarity with parliamentary rules and usages, to accept the speaker's chair ; but he firmly declined the proffered honors of the station, upon the ground that he could better promote the iramediate interests of his constituents by occupying a place on the floor ; besides that, it would be more congenial to his feelings and wishes to be ready and at liberty at all times to participate in the de bates as they might arise on the various subjects presented. In this, as in most other things, he had his own way, and made one of the most attentive, active, laborious, and useful members of the last session, and succeeded, by good management, in obtaining a charter for the road in question in conformity with the wishes of his constituents, and in doing as much, and even more, in other respects, to meet their approbation, than was expected under all the circumstances. A whig in principle, he was untrammeled by party shackels, support ing whatever his judgment approved, and opposing all that he regarded as objectionable. Bold and independent in the discharge of the duties assigned him as representative from the county of Monroe, as he had ever been when representing a different county in another state, he fear lessly grappled with whoever and whatever assailed him, or in anywise impeded his progress in the just vindication and proper support of the rights of his constituents. It remains to be seen whether they will ap- 41 '642 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. prove his course, and reward his labors with the same high appreciation that had been awarded to his efforts during his previous legislative career. It must not be forgotten that the whig central convention for* that year nominated him, and run his name for governor of the State of Mis sissippi in 1 845. Of course he was not elected, for at that time the de mocratic party was largely in the ascendency throughout the state ; and besides he never left his home on an electioneering expedition, nor took any active part in the matter, one way or the other, during the canvass. He did not even formally accept the nomination, and neither sought nor desired the position. It has never been the absorbing and predomina ting desire of his heart to acquire political distinction, and judicial sta tions he has never sought. Captain Coopwood is about five feet ten inches high, well set, broad shoulders, full chest, and of full, round, fleshy proportions, but by no means corpulent. He has a large, well-proportioned head, measuring well in every direction, and particularly so in the basilar region, with ¦originally dark hair, bordering on black, but now quite bald, and slightiy gray. His eyes are of a dark-blue color, rather small, but full of ani mal vigor; large, full, round face, high, prominent cheek-bones, full and elevated forehead. He is a true believer in all the proprieties and precepts of the Chris tian religion, but not in the remotest degree tinctured with fanaticism. If he does not always tread the narrow path, walking in the command ments, keeping them blameless, it is because to err is human, and he knows that to forgive is divine. He is warm, cordial, and kind to his friends, and severe, harsh, and bitter towards his enemies. He has strong family predilections and attachment to wife and chil dren, with the principle of " self, me and mine" greatly predominating in his organization ; he makes a kind master, good neighbor, with much benevolence to the poor ; and what is remarkable for one organized as he is, whose life has been one continued struggle for property, under adverse circumstances, he spends his money freely and liberally. Now in his fifty-ninth year, the captain is as fiJl of energy, activity, life and vigor, as a boy of twenty; and is one of the most companion able men alive. To hear him talk, and see his movements, on a long, tedious, dull, traveling journey, far away from home, is to be, in spite of his thinned locks and bald head, almost half convinced that his iron frame and elastic spirits will never wear out nor fail him ; but that his primal manhood is traveling round in circles, and he is to live and re live his whole life over and over again. In this brief sketch, if the leading, prominent traits of a well-formed character, through a long, busy, checkered, and most active career, have been sufficiently marked out to bring to the mind of the reader the faint and general resemblance in outline-picture of the genuine arche type, there will be found, doubtless, much to condemn, but much to admire and to imitate — there will be found patterns for the youth in ad versity, who . has the mind to comprehend what is around and above him, and the will to direct his course through the one up to the other, determined on his way to reap the reward of his labor in the transit— THOMAS COOPWOOD, OP MISSISSIPPL 643 there will be found models for the man of the world, who lives not in the studied creations of his own genius, but who seizes upon whatever he finds already created and prepared for the purpose by the heads and the hands of others, and reduces it to practice and appropriates it to his own use, as well as to the benefit of the millions moving along life's great thoroughfare in corapany with him — there will be found much for the study and imitation of him, who, born under the presiding influence of a more propitious star than he, has made, amid the storms that raged, shipwreck of his fortune, but who desires to rise again, and is will ing to exert his energies to do so — there will be found advice for the poor, seeking wealth ; example for the obscure, aiming at distinc tion ; lessons for the ignorant, in the pursuit of wisdom, and counsel for the wise, who desire to be useful. Whether at this point of time he is viewed away in the background lying in the distance, as the mere child, feeding his father's cattle, and trading with the Indians for bread ; toiling on the farm through " summer's heat and winter's cold" for the support of his sisters and younger brothers ; cutting cord- wood at the iron-works to purchase his mother a farm — or, as the youth, fighting in defence of his country ; on the stump, making his first speech to his comrades in support of his own promotion — or, as the man, building his house in the hollow of the hills to suit the convenience of his family ; trading in produce and losing his property ; or, in the woods, taking a new start in a new country ; or, in the more prominent, but not more laudable, position in the councils of his country, making laws for the government of the people, or playing the lawyer before the tribu nals create(J for the administration of the laws, in the dispensation of justice ; or, trading in lands, walking in, or working out of embarrasshig moneyed difficulties — in all — through all, the character of the man pre sents a rich therae — a curious and interesting problem — for the con templation and solution of the mental and moral philosopher. It is not pretended that he has no faults. It would be hard labor — a dry, dull and monotonous task, indeed, to sketch the life of one, whose character was composed, entire, of one straightforward, even, smooth cur rent of uninterrupted good, with no relief, in light or shade, of compara tive or superlative degree, to enliven and animate the picture. The writer would loathe the task, though he might love and attempt to copy the virtues of the original. Faults are magnified and objected to main ly by those having much greater ones, and coramitting, in consequence,. much more heinous enormities — but faults, to the philosophic mind, are not objectionable ; for in man it is true, and the principle runs through all nature, that the capacity for evil must exist in order to the accom plishment of good. Man's conduct does not always square with his sentiments. In conduct, Julian developed the virtues of a Christian, Constantino the vices of a pagan. But the sentiments of Julian led back thousands to paganism, and those of Constantine, under Heaven's rule, helped to bow to Christianity the nations of the earth. In con duct, the humblest votary to the service of Leo, who believed in the miraculous efficacy, in the cure of souls, of the indulgencies sold by Tetzel, may have been a better man than Luther, To the sentiments of Luther, however, the mind of Christendom is indebted for the grand est revolution the world has ever known. The writer is no eulogist, but he would, when called upon to decide, 644 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. sit equipoised in the judgraent-seat, and simply, and independently of friends and foes, the living and the dead, "render unto Caesar the things that are Csesar's." This is believed to be the true object of history; and in this alone can it be properly said that it is "philosophy teach ing by example." The writer is well aware of the difficulties that con front the historian at every step of his progress, in attempting to trans fer to paper by the use of language the exact picture of the character to be drawn. To the mere sketch-writer, perhaps, the difficulties are in nowise diminished. And it has been well said by one, on whose ca pacity to decide the world has long since passed judgment, that " in every human character and transaction there is a mixture of good and evil ; — a little exaggeration, a little suppression, a judicious use of epithets, a watching and searching skepticism with respect to the evidence on one side, a convenient credulity with respect to every report or tradition on the other, may easily raake a saint of Laud, or a tyrant of Henry the Fourth," In the pages before the reader, the writer has endeavored to keep his pen on the exact line in the equi-distance between the two ex tremes. How far he has succeeded, in this respect, must now be left for others to determine. "/rm\ u/-' ff/'^fJTUrjj(r, pRF.SIF)F:Nr Oh' TJ1E BANF '.JJ- lOUlSVJLL':;. JOSHUA B. BOWLES, OF KENTUCKY. 645 JOSHUA B. BOWLES, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, PRESIDENT OF THE BANK OP LOUISVILLE. Joshua B. Bowles was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, 1795. The circumstances of his father preventing a raore liberal education, he obtained such a one as was usually afforded by those country schools at that early period of our history whose highest range of studies would scarcely comprise the initiatory course of the present. Here he was distinguished by the rapid progress which he made in his studies, and his quick apprehension. Such was the love and admiration engendered in the heart of his preceptor toward his pupil, that a few years since he came many miles to see him, though far advanced in years, and gloried in the realization of the prophecy which he had made, while his tutor, that " Joshua would make for himself a name if he lived." At an early age he accompanied his father, who was of a roving disposition, on an excursion " to the west," then, as now, the " cynosure of neighboring eyes." After many wanderings and hair-breadth escapes, they arrived in 1814, in Charlestown, Indiana. His father's habits having becorae unsatisfactory to the son, called forth many filial expostulations from him ; but finding these unavailing, and that a longer stay could not benefit the former, and would be detrimental to his own interests, he determined to leave him, though his heart still glowed with the warm est filial instincts. Nor has he ever failed in all the duties incumbent upon him as son or relative. And now, without a friend to advise him, and with no patrimony but a sound intellect, which was his by birth right, and high moral principles which he had early imbibed, together with a firm dependence on the Supreme Giver of all Good, we behold him at the early age of eighteen fully accoutred for the warfare which the combatant on life's busy field of action must ever wage when in pursuit of an object unattainable, unless he resolve at the onset that no obstacles shall overcome his exertions, no impediments be deemed in surmountable, the word " I can't" be erased from his vocabulary, and his watchword be ever " onward." A company of rangers, who were sent out by the general government, destined for the western frontier of the then territory of Indiana, having at this tirae arrived in Charles town, he accepted the invitation of the captain to accorapany him as trader at the post. These were troublous times indeed, -when the bor der warfare was carried on with the most unrelenting cruelty by the untutored savages on the one hand, and on the other by passions scarce- Iv less malignant by the boasted civilized white man. Life and prop erty had becorae so insecure, that raany of these corapanies were sent out to protect the inhabitants of these thinly populated regions. They were allowed to establish trading houses for the supply of the wants of the soldiery and friendly Indians in the vicinity. On their arrival at the place of rendezvous, our young friend lost no time in getting to business. His little store was soon opened, and the Delawares and other tribes amicably disposed brought their furs and peltries, and in return received such goods as they could procure of him, and the sol- 646 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. diers were credited until their service raoney became due. This was an important office for a youth to perform, as much responsibility de volved upon hira. It required strict attention to duties and a discrimi nating judgment, to know whom to trust, and how far to extend credit to so reckless and prodigal a class as those he was now dealing with. But he happily accomplished what he had undertaken, and at the ex piration of the term, found himself fully prepared to settle up accounts to the satisfaction of all concerned. On his return to Charlestown, he found that his father had joined the array during his absence. For a small salary he became clerk and salesman for Judge Shelby, of that place, who, in addition to his office of judge, added those of tavern- keeper and dry-goods merchant. But he soon found their united exer tions did not prove very profitable ; aud at the end of two years he re solved on seeking a larger sphere of action. In pursuance of this object he came to Louisville, Kentucky, in the month of January, 1816, The beautiful city of that narae which now Stands unequaled by any city in the valley of the Ohio or Mississippi for the salubriousness of its cli- raate, the beauty of its situation and the unparalleled commercial ad vantages which she possesses, as being at the head of navigation for boats of largest class, was at that time retarded in its progress by its unhealthfulness. Situated in the midst of swamps and marshes whose poisonous miasms and pestilental exhalations, under the form of ty phoid and bilious fevers, sent their scores of victims to the grave, it re quired some degree of courage to take up a residence there permanently. But with that penetration for which he has ever been distinguished, he foresaw its future importance, and at once determined to locate himself there, trusting to his habits of temperance and cautiousness in diet to ward off the fell destroyers. Yes, Death had indeed entered the field,- and was reaping a rich harvest among the dying, and binding the cords of sorrow around the hearts of the living ; and one of weaker nerve and purpose might have faltered at the threshold, but his decision had been made ; and then at the outset, as well as at all subsequent periods of his active life, when his judgment has fully confirmed what reason dictated as the course proper to be pursued, he has ever followed it with unswerving steadfastness. Now, we well know that this principle may be much abused, and under the form of decision of character, an obstinate blind adherence to preconceived opinions, founded on a false basis, may be the cause of much evil in the world ; but much the same mode of reasoning may be applied to all the attributes of greatness when they are possessed by those who have not, as tneir results prove, a well-regulated mind. But to resume. Not one familiar face greeted hira. A stranger unknowing aud unknown, he walked the streets of the disraal city from " morn to dewy eve," endeavouring to find em ployraent. But did he falter? No. The bright star of hope was ever in the ascendant, and whispering him words of comfort and cheer, that the industrious and persevering would always find their -efforts crowned with success in the end. Wearied at length of this means of attaining that end, he walked into a hotel, kept by a Major Taylor, and presented hiraself before him. After sorae questions and answers had been passed between them, " My business will not warrant me in taking you, sir," said the host, " as I could not afford to pay you anything." JOSHUA B. BOWLES, CF KENTUCKY. 647 " I want no pay, sir," was the prompt reply of the indomitable suitor, "and I will stay a few days with you anyhow." The old major, gaz ing upon that open, manly brow, which it needed not the skill of a pro fessed physiognomist to determine was the index of an honest heart, smiled his assent to this proposition. Now, we raight suppose, on a superficial view, that these conditions were not very favorable to our young friend, but he soon coraraenced operations on such a scale as to show that he was fully competent to any emergency. " Mine host," a merry, jovial soul, who took no thought for the raorrow, was one of those who, after spending a fortune in pursuit of pleasure while young, are forced in old age to resort to some raeans for obtaining a support. He had hailed from the Old Dominion many years before, with the wreck of his possessions, accompanied by his wife, who was as thriftless as hiraself He had a kindly greeting for all who patronized hira, and provided they could tell a good story and produce raerry peals of laugh ter, their accounts were not very strictly scrutinized. But a change soon becarae apparent in every department, and order was brought out of chaos by the vigilance of our young friend. He soon found hiraself at the head of affairs. No part escaped his ever watchful eye. From the highest to the lowest offices of the establishment, he was ever ready to lend a helping hand or exert a salutary supervision. The books, too, were overhauled. Accounts which had grown mouldy with age were brushed up and presented for payment to the astonished creditors, who had fondly hoped they had taken " that sleep from which there is no waking." Moneys, too, lent in by-goue years, and which had long since ceased to live in the memory department of the good-natured proprietor, or who had, frora his want of courage to enforce his de mands, yielded their claims to his sympathy, were exhumed from their burial-place, and stared once more in living characters before the visions of those who had thus taken advantage of the easy tempera ment of their creditor. Among many others who were witnesses of the revolution effected by him in the affairs of the major, was James McCrum, a highly respectable hardware merchant of the place and boarded at the hotel. He was struck with this admirable conduct of our young friend, and showed the interest with which he regarded him by giving him the hand of friendship, and by many of those little acts of courtesy which too many of those who are immersed in business and enveloped in its mazyjblds, fail to bestow, but which when freely prof fered bind together with blessed links the brotherhood of mankind. And here, might it not be deemed flattery to eulogize the living, we might be tempted to say much in commendation of this gentleman, who, prompted by the generous impulses of a truly noble soul, showed so deep an interest in the welfare of this youth, and recognized, in this indefatigable industry and untiring efforts in the performance of his duties, the germs of a comprehensive mind and that business tact so eminently developed in after years, , With what satisfaction must this gentleman, now declining in the vale of life, look back to that period when he cheered our young friend onward in the course he was pursuing, and tendered him that friendship and confidence which the lapse of many years has but tended to cement more firmly ! We can scarcely appreciate to its full extent the in- 648 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. fluence which it is in the power of those to exert, who, having them selves escaped the shoals and quicksands which beset their path in youth, find that they are safely harbored ill the stream of the wise and good of the community in which they dwell. These are beacons standing aloft on the coast-ways of existence, cheering by their light the inexperienced navigator, who spreads his canvas to the breeze, de termined to secure a like safe anchorage ; or a warning to others to es cape the fatal Scylla and Charybdis which they so happily escaped, but in whose vortex so many " youth of promise fair" have been decoyed to their irretrievable ruin. Four months had scarcely elapsed since our young friend's arrival at the hotel, when Mr, McCrum offered him a situation as salesman in his store. To this with pleasure he consented, notwithstanding the entreaties and expostulations of the major and his wife, who, finding these unavailing, resorted to tears and every induce ment which they could offer to change his determination. But he had decided ; and in a few days we find him " at home" in his new vocation, more than fulfil'ling the expectations of his employer. The same habits which had marked his previous course were still pursued. Early in the morning, while the city appeared buried in slumber, he might have been seen putting everything in the neatest order, placing his wares in the raost favorable position for the attraction of customers, and making arrangements for the business of the day. In after life, he has frequently been heard to say, "My success in business I attribute mainly to this habit of early rising. After I comraenced the wholesale dry-goods bu siness especially, it was of the greatest iraportance to be up and on the look-out for strangers, who generally rise early to view the localities, &c. Often have I, while in their slippers — their boots undergoing the process of blacking — introduced rayself to them while standing in my door, as they walked the pavement in front of the hotel near which my store was situated. Such a one, after the morning's salutation, I would ask to walk in, view my goods, &c. After breakfast, being booted and ready for making purchases, he calls again ; I sell him, per haps, several boxes of goods, the seller's name being marked on one corner. He goes horae ; the name attracts the attention of other mer chants in the vicinity. Through hira they are introduced to the whole sale dealer, and thus I have acquired the trade of whole villages. Mr. McCrum left home a few raonths after Mr. Bowles' engagement with him, and entrusted the latter with the sole direction and guidance of his business concerns during his absence. The responsibility thus devolved upon Mr. B. was great. But his untiring exertions, both mental and physical, kept pace with the occasions that called them forth ; and, on Mr. McCrum's return, after an absence of three or four months, he so well appreciated the manner in which his affairs had been managed, that he proffered hira a stock of hardware to commence busi ness on his own account. Deeply grateful for such disinterested mani festation of friendship, Mr. Bowles accepted the proposition ; but con cluded, before putting it into execution, that he would visit his relatives in Virginia, as he had not seen thera since leaving there in childhood. With a few hundred dollars which he had saved from his salaries, he left Louisville for that purpose, and spent two months in thedelightful endear ments of home, to which he had so long been a stranger. He returned in JOSHUA B. BOWLES, OF KENTUCKY. 649 the fall of 18 — . Mr. McCrum, whose health had been precarious for some time past, and who wished to settle up accounts abroad, collect debts, &c., now offered Mr. Bowles, on his return from Virginia, the entire stock of merchandise, together with the stand which he then occupied. The purchase was made ; credit to extend from three to fifteen months. Success crowned his efforts ; and he was enabled to make a payment of seven thousand dollars, within the first twelve months. At this time the difficulties in the financial world were almost unprecedented. The wars which had so long desolated Europe had tended to banish gold and silver as a medium of exchange. The ordinary channels of com merce had been dried up. Not only those who had sowed the wind now reaped the whirlwind, but its ruinous consequences were felt by the whole civilized world. The inflated paper currency, which had ac cumulated to an enormous extent, was now reduced to its nominal value. With the return of peace commerce revived, and the metallic basis attained its lawful place in the monetary world. Europe, blessed with the genial sunshine of peace, endeavored by the pursuits of active industry to make reparation for the long night of darkness which it had been her melancholy lot to endure. Things were now tending to an equilibrium. Our commodities which had attained a false value sank to their real value. Bankruptcy and ruin were the inevitable result. Relief measures were projected by the legislature of the state. That of Kentucky established forty-two independent banks, without a specie basis or safeguards to protect the community from the disastrous effects of a redundant paper currency ; the object being to enable the debtor to pay his debts, the creditor being obliged to receive this irredeemable paper in payment for those contracted. The legislature followed up their mistaken system of relief by various successive laws. Replevin, valuation and stay laws were enacted, but all to no purpose. In the moral as well as the physical world, where there is a radical error, it must be ex punged ere the disease can be eradicated. The bubble soon exploded, and those who had foreseen how this state of things must terminate, and had taken advantage of their more sapient neighbors, by specula. tion in lands, &c., now urged their claims on their hapless victims. To meet their views the replevin law was extended. Then the Bank of the Commonwealth was chartered. The first issues of its notes were at a discount of 10 per cent., and soon went down to 50 per cent., for se veral years ranging from 45 to 60 per cent. The pressure was over whelming. It seeraed as though the barriers which society has inter posed fo"r the good of all were about to be overleaped. The better feelings of the moral part of the community prevailed, however, and parties became divided under the names of Relief and Anti-relief parties. These were afterwards merged into the New and Old Court parties, and these, for several years, continued to convulse the body corporate to a de gree which we of the present can scarcely realize, living, as we do, at an era when our moneyed institutions are the pride and boast of the sons of Kentucky, their structures being reared on so solid a basis, that not all the sad calamities which have befallen the monetary concerns of the country in later days have been able to prostrate her credit in the com mercial world. In 1825 the moral sentiment had undergone so decided a change for the 660 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. better, that the obnoxious measures were repealed. The eminent judges who had been displaced by the dominant party of former years for their strict adhesion to constitutional restrictions, were now replaced by a large majority in the legislature. We have thus given a hasty sketch of this period in our earlier his tory — " times indeed which tried men's souls, and showed what spirits they were of." Those raen particularly who were engaged in mercan tile pursuits, felt more sensibly than others each throb that agitated the public pulse ; and they who passed this fiery ordeal unscathed certain ly " acted well their part." The temptation to speculate with funds so easily obtained, had been so great, that the ordinary process of accu mulating property by slow and industrial pursuits, were abandoned as too dull and tedious. The fruits of these ruinous proceedings were now to be reaped, and the harvest of misery and woe which resulted we will not pause to contemplate. Mr. Bowles, whose habits of close observation and just appreciation of raen and things well qualified hira to grapple with the times, saw the great upheaving of the storm which he had anticipated undismay ed, and by prompt decision, strict adherence to fixed principles, and a judgraent alraost unerring in these matters, was enabled to maintain his position amid the convulsive throes which agitated the body politic. These qualifications enabled him to analyze the character of the 'elements at work around him, .and to stem the torrent as it approached. His maxim had ever been to " mind his own business," and though we raight suppose this homely phrase alraost obsolete in these days, yet its application is as useful now as it then was. Though he might have amassed a fortune more readily, had he followed the general impulse, and speculated in lands, &c., at this tirae, yet he preferred the more certain path to its acquirement by a strict attention to the daily routine of duties. The man who adopts this as his line of conduct will more assuredly achieve a triuraph than he whose mind is distracted by every fluctuating breeze. But though not swayed frora his pursuits as a merchant by the excitements of the day, yet has Mr. Bowles always considered it his duty as a good citizen to array himself on the side of order, and give whatever influence he might possess to its preservation. He has always been conservative in his views, and consequently was one of the old court party during those struggles between the advocates of order and demagogism. We portrayed the unsettled state of things during the first years of his commercial life, to show under what difficulties he labored, yet he safely steered his course amid the contending elements, and by pru dence averted the storm. Writing to his brother, who had emigrated to Tennessee, and was called by the public voice to become a candidate for the legislature of that state, " Never," said he, " seek public offices which are opposed to your interests as a merchant. Leave them to those who have nothing to interfere, and distract their attentions from such pursuits. Your vocation as a raerchant is incorapatible with that of a politician, and if you wish to pursue it successfully, give it your exclusive attention. Whether you succeed or not in your efforts, the confidence of the comraunity in you as a merchant, which has hitherto JOSHUA B. BOWLES, OF KENTUCKY. 651 SQ well sustained you, will be impaired. I like the maxim, ' Coblers, Stick to your last.' " The brother did not listen to these wise counsels, was elected, and the result predicted was too soon verified. The spring of 1825 found Mr. Bowles in a condition to enlarge his business, and he accordingly opened a wholesale dry-goods house. Prior to this, however, his thoughts had been turned into another chan nel. In his efforts to obtain an independence, he had remained imper vious to the attractions of the gentler sex. But there are moments when perchance the citadel of the heart is not so strongly fortified as at others. At any rate, who that has arrived to years of maturity, can say that he has never been subject to the sway of woman? It is curious how Cupid will wedge himself into the recesses of the human heart. As his arrow penetrates that fortress, the stern warrior becomes as docile as a child, and is disarmed of his prowess. The statesman, on " whose nod hung the destiny of nations," becoraes the humble suppliant. The orator, who holds entranced the raultitude, is struck dumb. The poet, who luxuriates in the ideal ; the practical man, who scorns the theorist, and laughs at the dreams of the poet, all, each in turn, succumb at the summons of this little despot. The lady to whom our hero's heart yielded, was Mary, daughter of Richard, and niece of General Winchester, whose military deeds, during the late war with Great Britain, in defence of his country, has caused his name to be enrolled in its historical annals. Endowed by nature with the rarest beauty, combined with a sound intellect and amiable disposition, this lady was calculated not only to capture but to retain possession, and he now looked forward to days of prolonged happiness with her to whom he was united. On the foreground nought is per ceptible on the glowing canvas — love has woven but scenes of calm domestic enjoyment, varied by the beauteous tints reflected from the lustrous eyes of the cherub infant encircled by its mother's arms. But veiled from sight, the background — could we but penetrate the disraal gloom which hides it from our vision — would present a far different as pect. There stands the stern destroyer of all human hopes contem plating this scene of connubial felicity. Already the fatal aim is taken. Will he not relent ] Ah, no ! that arrow may not raiss its aira. The grim archer, " steady to his purpose," feels not remorse. The groans of the agonized husband, the prayers and tears of dearest relatives, are alike ineffectual. He who gave has seen best in his wisdom to take away the idol, for on his altar alone would he have us sacrifice our affections. Afflictions affect us in various ways. Some sink under the infliction of such chastisements, and suffer unavailing regrets to sap the currents of blessings still left thera. Others, too forgetful of the sacred recollections entwined around the past, suffer the tomb to obliterate all traces of their existence, and hasten to utter fresh vows of love to another. Not thus with Mr. Bowles. Though the axe was laid to the root of his heart's tendrils, yet he struggled for that resignation to the Divine will which can alone soothe the troubled spirit. In after life he has been called upon to endure repeated bereavements by death. Many children successively has it been his hard fate to follow to the grave ; and though nature will e.xact her tribute, and the seared heart recoil from contact with the world at such times, yet has he been enabled, by 652 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. the goodness of God, to fulfil the duties incumbent upon him in active life. The many years of retirement from scenes of gayety attested the sincerity of the grief which the bereavement referred to above laid upon him, though to the careless observer he might, have appeared entirely engrossed in his business. We have referred above to the triumph of the Old Court party in, 1826. After so desperate a struggle it required sorae tirae for the fer mentation to subside, but amid the inextricable confusion of such a crisis, Mr. Bowles' business continued steadily to increase far beyond his anticipations. From 1828 to 18S2, the great contest of state politics becarae merged in one of a more national character. The Old Court party, who had as sumed the more appropriate title of National Republicans, and to which Mr. B. belonged, were now at issue with their old opponents, and the narae of Harry Clay was the rallying signal around which the hopes of the patriot, whether merchant, artisan, or those of professional character, clustered. Harry Clay ! Kentucky's noblest son ! — who can write, who can read that name, without feeling the blood quicken every pulsation as it vibrates through the veins ? Let us pause to contemplate this era, for time itself seems identified with the name of him who was the em bodiment of all excellence. The elections of '31, in which Clay was elected to the Senate of the United States, proved that the foul calum nies with which his eneraies had endeavored to blacken his fair fame, had not impaired the confidence which his fellow-citizens and those of the state at large reposed in him. The almost unparalleled love and ad miration with which those of his own state regarded him, are among the brightest jewels that adorn his character ; and throughout his long public career they never wavered in their attachment, freely confiding the inter ests of the state into his hands. In '32 the great question, whether the talents of the eminent civilian could outweigh the military deeds of the hero of the sword, was to be decided. Fierce was the combat. But the dire slanders which the envenomed shafts of the enemy had sped with ma licious zeal frora one end of the confederacy to the other had done their bidding, and the latter was triuraphant. A train of evil con sequences, " the end of which is not yet," we fear, were the result. But it is not our business to trace these. Local considerations demand our time and attention. In 1829 Mr. Bowles had married Grace, daugh ter of Thomas Shreve, a Quaker gentleman, who, in connection with his two brothers, had long occupied a conspicuous place as raerchant in Alexandria, District of Columbia. The war of 1812 had numbered him among its raany mercantile victims ; and a large cotton factory, in which much of his capital had been invested, becoming unproductive, completed his ruin. He first removed to Trenton, New-Jersey, but, finding matters growing worse, he concluded to emigrate to Cincinnati, where, within two years from their arrival, the nuptials above referred to took place. Thomas H, Shreve, author of " Drayton" and many other publications in the different periodicals which emanated from the press sorae years ago, and of late years one of the principal editors of the Louisville Journal, which is well known throughout the Union for the ability and talent displayed in its editorials, is brother to this lady. We resume our narrative. The replevin laws having been repealed, and JOSHUA B. BOWLES, OF KENTUCKY. 653 the paper of the Bank of the Commonwealth having been burned by legislative authority, the dawning of a brighter day appeared. Thus re assured, business had resumed its wonted activity, and confidence was restored. But the election of '32 had caused another reaction. A bank of the United States at Louisville, and another at Lexington, had taken the places of those formerly in use. The dominant party, whose object it was to ruin the Bank of the United States, that they might, in its stead, form a multiplicity of those institutions, subservient to their own purposes, now carried their plans into execution with remorseless hands. The states had no alternative but to establish local banks. In '32, Mr. Bowles was active, with many other leading men of the city, in obtain ing a charter from the legislature for the establishment of the Bank of Louisville. This was granted, and the bank went into operation with a capital of $3,000,000. Mr. Bowles was chosen one of its directors at its commencement, and continued in that capacity until 1840, when he was elected president, which office he still continues to hold. The legis lature, at the session of 1834, granted charters for the establishment of the Bank of Kentucky, and the Northern Bank, in 1835. No institu tions of the kind in the Union have maintained a more honorable stand ing than these banks throughout the disastrous periods through which it has been their lot to pass. In 1837 the troubles consequent upon the destruction of the National Bank, causing an enormous multiplication of others in its stead, had reached their climax. The salutary check which it had imposed on the local banks was then withdrawn, and the country had becorae inundated with paper currency. This had produced its legitimate fruits. Past ex perience was no obstacle to the speculating spirit which again pervaded all classes. The nominal value which had been attached to commodi ties was now reduced to its proper standard. Heavy debts had accu mulated, and the creditor was unwilling to be reimbursed with the spu rious currency. Atthis crisis the legislature of Kentucky legalized the suspension of the banks, not requiring them to resume specie payments. This act of forbearance was justly appreciated by the managers, who, by their ability and strenuous exertions, resuraed their liabilities after the lapse of little more than a year. But this was only a short interval of peace which preceded the second suspension. A perfect tornado burst in fury on the heads of numberless victims who had hoped they were beyond the reach of the fluctuations of the money market. Cor porations which had weathered all previous storms nowlost anchor, and were shipwrecked in the general ruin. At length the bankrupt bill was introduced into Congress. This, it was thought, would be a panacea for all their woes by those who were overwhelmed in debt ; but it was a law which told cruelly upon the interests of the hapless creditor. Great opposition was manifested, not only by these, but by those also who feared the demoralizing effects of such a measure. Mr. Bowles, ' who was then president of the Chamber of Coraraerce in Louisville, united with his colleagues in a protest against the bankrupt law, which, for cogency of reasoning, and the solid arguments on which it was based, was adraitted to be one of the most masterly documents which were pre sented at that session of Congress. Mr. B. was one of the few mer chants who escaped bankruptcy in these perilous times, though his losses 654 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. in so extensive a business as he was engaged in at that time were neces sarily great. " Misfortunes seldom corae alone." At the height of these monetary embarrassments, when our merchants felt their blood almost to stagnate within them, the great fire occurred, — a distinctive title to which it may well lay claim, as the fury of that devouring element has never raged to the same extent within our city either before or since. Two blocks of the finest and most commodious warehouses on Main- street were consumed, and a vast amount of goods destroyed. It started from a wholesale house adjoining the one which Mr. B. occupied, about the centre of the square to the corner ; then crossed in an oppo site direction, and burned down the principal part of that street, till it reached a house which Mr. B. had shortly before vacated. The congra tulations of his acquaintances the next day were general. " Mr. Bowles, your are always in luck" — " You were certainly born under a lucky star" — were expressions which greeted his ears. " They call me lucky," said he to his wife ; " but I rather attribute ray escape to the raeans I used to ensure the luck. I should have shared the same fate, probably, with ray neighbors, had I not used proper precautions to avert it. On arriving at the scene of conflagration, I found the roof of my house in flames. Instead of throwing my doors open, and having my goods pitched into the street, I hired several men to enter with me, and barred the door, stationing some one to see that no one entered by force. Blankets were plenty. We ascended to the roof, extinguished the flames, and then, by the aid of water and blankets, we were able to ar rest its further piogress, and thus I saved my house and goods." But, though not losing in this way, yet indirectly he suffered loss. The Franklin Fire Insurance Corapany, of which he was president, had had chartered by the legislature with a capital of $100,000, and he and his colleagues were at first apprehensive that their liabilities, which were largely involved in the recent calamity, would prove too heavy for their redemption. But, by strenuous exertions, they paid up, and extricated themselves, with credit unimpaired. In 1837, the charter was obtained from the state legislature by the city council, for the organization of a medical institute in the city of Louisville. Mr. Bowles, with many others, were actively engaged in getting up this noble enterprise, but to Doctor Caldwell it is main ly attributable. This gentleraan, who is well known not only in this country but in Europe, for his superior talents and great literary attain ments, seeing the great advantages which would accrue to the city from such an institution, was unremitting in his exertions in enlightening the public mind on the subject. At length the charter was obtained, and a noble edifice erected, which stands a monument to his genius and per severance. The council appropriated $50,000 for the outiay. Since that time several acres have been set aside on the same tract' for a law university, high-school, &c. Mr, Bowles was chosen one of the board of managers on its organization. The able body of men whom they have enlisted from different parts of the Union to fill the professorships, reflect great creditupon those who selected thera. Under the auspices of such men as Caldwell, Cobb, Flint, Yandell, Miller, Short, Gross, Silliraan, &o., it has risen to its present pre-emi nent station among western schools of medicine, and few at the east JOSHUA B. BOWLES, OF KENTUCKY, 655 have more commanding influence. Commencing in 1838 with a class of eighty students, last winter it numbered four hundred, and four thousand young men have attended the courses of instruction within its walls. Mr. Bowles having suffered raany severe afflictions by deaths in his family, determined to leave the city and retire into the country, thinking it would be conducive to the health of his surviving children. With this view, he purchased a beautiful country residence between two and three miles from the city, and removed there in the fall of 1842 ; and here we bid adieu to his commercial life. We have endeavored to give a short sketch of the life of one of our merchants. We would not be thought exclusive. Many similar records might be given of this class of our enterprising citizens, men who, more than any other portions of a commercial community, give a tone and character to the city in which they dwell. Louisville may well feel proud of her merchants. For strict integrity in their moneyed transactions, for the liberal spirit which they raanifest on all occasions where their aid is sought, they are justly esteeraed no less than for their industry and enterprise. Mr. Bowles, having removed to the country, pursued the same system atic course which he had adopted in early life. The truism, " The boy is father to the man," is exemplified in his case. At dawn of day he may still be seen taking an early view of all around, and seeing that all things are adjusted for the labors of the coming day ; or, not un frequently, with implement in hand, giving a practical illustration of his theories. After an early breakfast he drives to town, attends to busi ness, but so soon as bank hours close, returns home, where the remain der of the day is passed in performing the various duties and pleasures which belong to the life of a farraer. A sincere lover of nature in all her beautiful phases, he never tires of her corapany, and thus, though still engaged somewhat in moneyed concerns, yet most of his time is passed in agricultural pursuits, in which his chief pleasures lie. In view of writing the life of a merchant, the materials for erecting a monument to his memory, which could be of interest to the public eye, appear so scant that a feeling of discouragement comes over the mind of the writer. His character, as it passes in review before him, exhibits none of those traits which serve to intoxicate the mind of the reader, or render so easy the task of the narrator. He must deal with facts. The plain and unvarnished truths of every-day life are the basis on which his arguraents are laid. Our duty is fulfilled. If one young man should chance, on reading our unpretending pages, to resolve to follow in the footsteps of our merchant, we shall feel amply repaid for our trouble in elucidating his career. Let him resolve to do something as a worthy citizen, or as a son of our glorious repub lic ; and having, after mature consideration and advice, resolved, let him pursue his course unflinching, and with the blessing of Divine Provi- ence, his labor shall be crowned with success. Sn_sr-,iv C( L-(u OF S'^ LOUTS .••',/i.j'm cd Ibr Bwiifff^fuc.i.; .'.'i;-.^ -tAS- HUGH A. GARLAND, OF MISSOURI. 657 HUGH A. GARLAND, ESQ., OF MISSOURI. The subject of this memoir was born in what is now Nelson county, Virginia, on the first day of June, 1805. His father was Mr, Spots- wood Garland, the son of General John Garland, who was accidentally killed at Charlottesville, while he was in command of the troops that kept guard over Burguoyne's captured army. His mother was Lucinda Rose, daughter of Colonel Hugh Rose, of Geddis, Amherst county. At the time of Mr. Garland's birth. Nelson was a part of Amherst county. It was formed into a county in 1809, and Mr. Spotswood Garland was elected the clerk of the county. This office he held until the day of his death, the SOth August, 1850. At the age of 16 he entered the freshman class in Hampden Sydney College, at that time the raost flourishing literary institution in Virginia. Its president and professors were raen of profound learning, and had the talent of exciting an enthusiastic zeal in their pupils in the pursuit of knowledge. Hugh A. Garland was a diligent student during the four years he remained at college, and graduated with distinguished honors. The first year after graduating Mr. Garland spent in the office of his father as depnty-clerk. His leisure hours were devoted to the Greek classics and mental philosophy. In September, 1826, when just 21 years of age, he was elected by the trustees of Hampden Sydney College, professor of Greek language and literature. In October he married Miss Anne P. Burwell, daughter of the late Colonel Armistead Bur well, of Mecklenburg. For four years Mr. Garland devoted himself with unremitting ardor to the laborious duties of his office. He also found leisure to prosecute the study of the French, Spanish, and Italian languages, under the instruction of Colonel Gaspari, the professor of modern languages. During this period Mr, Garland frequently wrote essays for the political newspapers, and delivered addresses on public occasions ; one in particular the writer remerabers, on the "Importance of classical studies, as a branch of a liberal education." In 1830, Mr, Garlartd resigned his professorship, and repaired to the University of Virginia to prosecute his studies more thoroughly. In this institution he devoted one year to the study of physiology and anatomy, under the instruction of Dr. Dunglison ; he also attended the lectures of Doctors Paterson and Emmet, on natural philosophy and chemistry. He took German lessons from Dr, Blatterraan, and attended his courses on Italian, French, and Spanish literature. Tlie whole day was given to these scientific and literary pursuits; the ni^'iit was devoted to the study of law. Mr, Garland did not devote him self to the details of practice, his great object was to acquire a thoroiijih knowledge of the sources and principles of the English common law. In December, 1831, Mr. Garland settled in Boydton, the cuunly seat of Mecklenburg, and opened an office for the practice of law. Ho was an entire stranger in the county, and for more than a year being 42 i658 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. without practice, Mr. Garland devoted himself to the study of his pro fession. Tucker's Commentaries and books of practice were his daily ¦companions. The idleness and dissipation of a village life had no temptations for him. Abstemious in his habits, his whole time was devoted to the acquisition of knowledge. When not employed in pro fessional studies he read history, or perused the poetic works of Shaks- peare, Wordsworth, and Burns, and always returned with renewed pleasure to his old favorite author, Coleridge. To eke out their limited resources, Mrs. Garland undertook to teach .a female school, with Mr. Garland's general superintendence and occa sional aid. The school soon became popular and profitable. Many a virtuous and accoraplished lady in that part of the country will readily ¦acknowledge their lasting obligations to the moral and mental train ing to which they were subjected in Mrs. Garland's excellent school. Brought up in luxury and affluence, both husband and wife, they were not ashamed, when the hour of adversity came, to toil for their daily bread, in an occupation which is really the noblest of human pursuits, •aljhough it has been degraded, by a false public sentiment, below the level of other professions. On the 3d Monday of November, 1832, Mr. Garland addressed the people of Mecklenburg for the first time on political subjects. The same day witnessed the assembling of the celebrated nullification con vention in South Carolina. The minds of the people were greatly ex cited on the subject, and it constituted the theme of Mr. Garland's dis course. His speech made a great impression on the public mind, and he was immediately announced by his friends as a candidate for a seat in the state legislature. Although he was a stranger in the county, at the ensuing spring elections he obtained a sraall majority over several very formidable conapetitors. Until the meeting of the legislature in 1833, Mr. Garland devoted himself to the duties of his profession, which had now become to him a source of interest and of profit. The winter of 1833-4 was a time of great excitement on political subjects throughout the Union. The war between the government and the bank was at its height. General Jackson had removed the public deposits frora the bank, and had thereby created a great panic in the comraercial world. The leading object of the whig party, then just or ganizing itself, was to procure a restoration of the deposits, and a pro longation of the life of the bank, whose charter had just been vetoed by the President, The excitement in Congress and the Virginia legislature was very intense. Clay, Webster and Calhoun were never more powerful in their opposition to the measures of the administration than they were at that time. General Jackson seemed to be left almost friendless and alone. The legislature of Virginia, at the tirae of the election in April, 1833, was in favor of the administration, alraost without any show of opposi tion. But when it assembled in December, or at least a few weeks afterwards, under the influence of the panic speeches delivered in Wash ington, and from other causes, scarcely any of its members had sufficient moral courage' to stand up and declare themselves to be friends of the administration. Mr. Garland was one of the few who were bold enough to do so. About the latter part of January, he made his maiden HUGH A. GARLAND, OP MISSOURI. 669 speech in the legislature, denouncing the coalition which had been formed at Washington to destroy General Jackson, and to defeat his efforts to put an end to that corrupting institution, the Bank of the United States. He had been a silent member of the house up to that period. His vehement and earnest manner, his clear and logical style of reasoning, took every body by surprise, and at once established his character as an able and eloquent debater. The writer of this memoir happened to be in the lobby of the house, and well remembers the effect produced by this first effort of Mr. Garland on the floor of the legis lature, and the assurance which it gave to his friends of his future emi nence as a politician and a statesman. Having taken a decided position in the political world, Mr. Garland maintained and defended it with untiring energy and zeal. He called to his aid all the rich stores of knowledge which he had been .diligently laying up for so many years. He wrote an elaborate address to the people of Virginia, giving an historical account of the political parties and of the great controversies which were then agitating the country. The doctrines set forth in that address only met the approbation of the members then composing the minority of the legislature. To them it was acceptable in the highest degree, but none of them had the bold ness to sign it but Mr. Garland and Col. Joseph S. Watkins, of Gooch land. This address was extensively circulated in the state, and called forth elaborate answers from several gentlemen of distinction in the whig party. It is said to have exerted great influence in giving direc tion to public sentiment, which, up to that time, had been much dis tracted and divided by the startling and agitating events which had so recently taken place in such rapid and quick succession. At the close of the session, Mr. Garland met with strong opposition at home, but was re-elected by a very handsome majority. When the legislature assembled again in December, 1834, the friends of the ad ministration were still in a minority, but their numbers had greatly in creased. During this session, Mr. Garland delivered an elaborate speech, in which he expressed his views fully on the constitution, on the relation of the states to the federal government, and on the importance of judging our political institutions by rules purely American, and not by principles of interpretation derived frora governments wholly dissi milar to our own. No copy of this speech is in our possession, or we would gladly make some extracts from it, to illustrate Mr. Garland's political views and to give an idea of his mode ai reasoning and his style of composition. At the close of the session, he put forth another minority address to the people of Virginia. It was signed by all the members of the mi nority, a fact which clearly proved what a great change had taken place in public sentiment in the course of a single year. In the spring of 1835 a strenuous and determined effort was made to defeat Mr. Garland's election. The strongest men were brought out as candidates by the opposite party, and all the wealth and influence of the county were arrayed against him. But he resorted to no unwor thy or extraordinary means to secure his election. He made it a rule to speak to the people at large on public affairs — appealed to their in telligence and sense of justice. Having given an account of his steward- 660 SKETCHES or EMINENT AMERICANS. ship he left the result in the hands of his constituents. He was again re-elected by an increased majority. From this time forth he was elected without opposition, so long as he remained a citizen of the county of Mecklenburg. The next legislature, 1835 and '36, found the administration in the majority, but another subject of agitation threw its t.r-ie friends into a minority. This was a season of great excitement on the abolition question. In the sumraer before, raeetings had been held in all parts of the state, denouncing "abolition societies" and requiring strict legis lation to put them down. The whig party, especially the Calhoun por tion, which did not separate from the whigs till 1837, advocated ultra measures and were warm for a southern convention and a southern or ganization. Mr. Garland opposed their views with great ability. The debate was protracted and animated. Mr. Garland took the lead in the discussion and spoke frequently in reply to those who opposed the con ciliatory course he advocated. His speeches on that occasion are to be found in the Richraond Enquirer of that day. He said "that the battle had to be fought in the northern states, and that the democracy of those states would maintain the cause of the south if the south should be true to them. He had faith in the northern democracy and would take no steps to alienate them from the south." He was chairman of the comraittee to whom was referred the petitions and resolutions of the people on the abolition question. The majority reported resolutions opposed to his views. He wrote a rainority report in which this whole subject of slavery and abolitionisra is reviewed. In December, I8S6, sorae months before the deposit banks suspended specie payments, Mr. Garland offered in the Virginia legislature a series of resolutions advocating an independent treasury system. These reso lutions were followed by a series of essays in the Richmond Enquirer urging the necessity of separating the governraent altogether from banks and of restoring the public treasury to its constitutional character. In the session of 1837 and '38, Mr. Garland wrote the report on the right of instruction, and was mainly instrumental in carrying it through the legislature. It met with ranch opposition, and strenuous efforts were made to amend and modify it ; but it was adopted in the form and language in which it was originally reported. Mr. Garland was for five years a meraber of the Virginia legislature and took an active and leading part in all its proceedings, made many speeches, drew up raany able reports, and wrote many essays, which were published and highly coraplimented in the newspapers of the day. With the view of withdrawing frora politics and devoting his whole time to the practice of the law, he removed from the county of Meck lenburg and settied on a farm in the neighborhood of Petersburg. He opened an office in that town in the spring of 1838. In December following he was unexpectedly invited by some of the leading mem bers of Congress to become a candidate for the clerkship of the House of Representatives. He consented and was elected. At the meeting of the twenty-sixth Congress, which took place in December, 1839, as the clerk of the preceding House of Representatives, he was called to act on the famous New-Jersey question. After the house was finally organized, Mr. Garland was re-elected as its clerk. HUGH A. GARLAND, OF MISSOURI. 661 On the passage of the independent treasury bill, the 4th of July, 1840, Mr. Garland was invited to address a maSs meeting in Castle Garden, in the city of New- York, in commemoration of that great event. His speech is now before me. The commencement of it is very poetic, and the style throughout is very lofty and ambitious. In this speech Mr. Garland attempts to give a short and condensed view of the progress of human opinions on the subject of government and of the gradual de velopment of the principles of civil and religious liberty, ending in the all-absorbing topic with him — the downfall of the United States Bank, and the restoration of the government to its original and primitive foun dation. This speech exhibits Mr. Garland's usual ability, and the straightforward and guileless simplicity of his unsophisticated nature. He cannot help being in earnest when engaged in the pursuit of what he considers essential to the welfare and happiness of the human family, or when contending for the honor and glory of his country. The twenty-seventh Congress, which was called together in an extra session by General Harrison, May, 1841, having a whig majority, elected Matthew St. Clair Clarke, clerk of the house. Mr. Garland retired to his farm near Petersburg, and devoted himself for some years exclusively to literary pursuits. Having a moderate com petence, and no aspirations after wealth, he gave himself up with re newed zeal to his favorite studies. Coleridge, Carlyle, and Kant, the " Critic of Pure Reason," were his daily companions. The composi tions that came from his pen at this time have never been given to the public. Some two or three speeches, delivered on various occasions, were published, and among others was a eulogy on the life and ser vices of General Jackson, delivered in Petersburg in July, 1845. It exhibits the characteristic traits of Mr. Garland's mind, his enthusiastic adrairation of General Jackson's character, and his devoted attachraent to what he considers the peculiar and fundamental principles of the constitution of the United States. About this tirae an important change took place in Mr. Garland's pecuniary affairs, which has given quite a new direction to his efforts and his labors. He had embarked a small sum of money in a mercan tile partnership, in Petersburg, Virginia, and entrusted the entire manageraent of it to the young gentleman who was his partner in business, and in whom he had the most implicit confidence. He sel dom visited the store, but devoted himself at home to pursuits of science and literature. In a short tirae the partnership was involved in bankruptcy and ruin. This was a severe and unexpected misfor tune to Mr. Garland and his young family. No event is better calcu lated to test the strength of a man's character than one like this. Mr. Garland did not hesitate on this trying occasion. He surrendered all his private fortune for the benefit of the creditors of the partnership. He reserved nothing for himself or his helpless family. At the age of forty he began life again without a farthing. He removed to St. Louis, and again commenced the practice of the law. His spirits have not flagged. He devotes himself to labor and intense study with the same ardor that characterized hira when the writer first knew him, as a fellow-student, at Hampden Sydney College. The field of law, as it exhibits itself in Missouri, is peculiarly fitted 662 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. to his mind. Where there are so many conflicting elements, common law, civil, French, and Spanish law, statute law — congressional, terri torial, and state — it requires a mind trained as his has been to grapple with so many different and conflicting codes of law, and to reduce them to a consistent, sound, and just system. Mr. Garland at present de votes himself exclusively to his professional pursuits, and takes a true pleasure in profound legal investigations. He hardly allows hiraself time for keeping up with the politics, science, and literature, of the day, so intense is his zeal in his favorite pursuit. His summer vaca tions, immediately after his reraoval to St. Louis, were devoted to the composition of the life of John Randolph, which work was published in 1850. Mr. Garland still takes an interest in those great political principles of the democratic party to which he devoted so much of his life, but he has taken no active part in politics since he became a citizen of Missouri, and has kept aloof frora the party strifes that have distracted the democracy in this state for the last four or five years. In the important causes entrusted to Mr. Garland, he has made it a rule, to write out in full, and to print the argument by which he sus tains his cause. We have some of them before us at this time ; they evince his capacity for research, his thorough knowledge of the great principles of jurisprudence, his devotion to the interests of his clients, and his invincible determination to go to the bottom of the cause he is investigating. Mr, Garland's ability as a lawyer has not yet become fully known in the state to which he removed only a few years since. His habits are reserved and retiring. He loves the retired seclusion of his office, and the profound study of his favorite authors, too much to be as much conversant with the busy world around him as would be conducive to his fame, and have a greater tendency to promote his pecuniary interests. His talents are not superficial and brilliant, shining forth at once with the most intense splendor, and gradually diminishing their brightness until they seem to fade away from the eye of the beholder. On the contrary, they are solid and substantial, only developing themselves as occasion calls for their exercise, and they are most highly estimated by those who are most intimately acquainted with him. He is esteemed by his associates at the bar as a profound and learned jurist, and his opinion as to intricate, difficult, and abstruse points of law is held by them in the highest reverence. His great learning, his unwearied diligence, and his unblemished integrity, wiU no doubt yet secure for him a brilliant professional career. It is certainly to be regretted, on some accounts, that he so early em barked on the stormy sea of politics, and that so much of his life has been spent amid the strifes and contentions that vex and disturb the political firmament. Successful as he has been in accomplishing so much in the hazardous and dangerous pursuit in which he was so long engaged, it is evident that he was more eminently qualified to distin guish himself in another and a very different sphere. Had he never been tempted to forsake the calm and peaceful performance of his pro- ¦ fessional duties — had he given his whole soul and all his energies, with out interruption, to the study of the great principles of jurisprudence, his fame as a lawyer would have been much greater ; aud yet it admits HUGH A. GARLAND, OF MISSOURI. 663 of a doubt, if his experience in political life, has not in some respects more fully prepared him for the perfect investigation, and just appre hension of raany of the difficult questions, which raust necessarily come before the man, who is engaged in the practice of law in the United States of America. ' Mr. Garland, by the publication of the life of John Randolph, has, beyond all question, acquired for himself no little reputation in the lite rary world. It was a work prepared for the press under great disad vantages. It was commenced about the time that Mr. Garland ex perienced the great reverse in his pecuniary circumstances, which was so peculiarly painful to himself, and which would have completely overwhelmed a man of less firmness and decision of character. It was partly written during the prevalence of the cholera, as an epidemic, in the city of St. Louis. Hundreds were dying around him daily. The more wealthy citizens were flying with consternation from the scene of contagion and of death. But Mr. Garland had a large and helpless family to support. He had a broken down fortune to repair, and neither the heat of summer, nor the presence of a malignant epidemic, which filled the minds of other men with terror, could induce him to suspend his labors, or to seek safety in flight ; calmly putting his trust in an overruling Providence, he toiled on at his task, and accomplished the object he had in view. The favor with which Mr. Garland's life of John Randolph was re ceived by the public, bears a sufficient and satisfactory evidence as to the literary abilities of its author. The work met with a ready sale. It has already passed through several editions, and has been a source of very considerable profit to Mr. Garland. If any fault is to be found with it, it is that the author attempted to extend his work rather beyond the legitimate limits of a biography. Mr. Garland evidently designed to make it a political history of the times, in which Mr. Randolph lived, tracing very clearly to their source the different changes which have taken place among politicians in our country, with reference to the powers of the general government. In this' effort Mr. Garland very happily succeeded. His work furnishes a vast araount of information with respect to the state of public opinion, and the attitude of our different political parties during the long and interesting period that Mr. Randolph held a seat in the Congress of the United States. Mr. Garland's delineation of John Randolph's character was faithful and striking. He gave a just promi nence to his many virtues, and rare and excellent qualities, both of head and heart ; but did not forget, or attempt to conceal his peculiarly morbid nervous excitability, which rendered him so wonderfully eccen tric in his manners, and so completely unlike all other men. Ample justice was done by Mr. Garland to Mr. Randolph's surprising talents and matchless eloquence in debate ; but it was irapossible for him, or any other man, to give the world a correct idea of the quickness of Mr, Randolph's powers at repartee, of the brilliancy of his genius, of his withering sarcasm, or of the delicate strain of wit and humor which ran through his speeches in the Senate, and all his familiar conversations at the fire-side with his intimate friends. There was a combination of op posite and conflicting qualities in Mr, Randolph's character, which it 664 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. was hard to delineate ; but Mr, Garland succeeded in painting and em bellishing a faithful portrait of Mr. Randolph's private character — of his peculiarities and his rare endowments, which has certainly been no small contribution to the literature of our country. Mr, Garland's success as an author, has been a temptation to hira to engage in the composition of some more elaborate and important his torical work ; but he has been prevented from doing so by the urgent nature of his professional duties. He wields a ready pen, and literary labors are to hira a source of pleasure, rather than of irksorae and fatiguing toil. In this brief memoir the peculiar traits of Mr. Garland's mind have perhaps been sufficiently developed, although it has been done incident ally in giving a hasty narrative of his life. Patient thought and a habit of profound investigation, constitute his grand mental peculiarity. His diligence and untiring application to study has raade him the master of a rich store of varied knowledge. His reading has taken a wide range. He has explored the domains of ancient and modem literature. He hasraade hiraself familiar with mostof the ancient and modern languages. The beauties of poetry and the subtilties of metaphysics have not been without their charms for hira; and his ability as a writer, and his readiness as a debater, and eloquence as a speaker, have enabled him at all times to employ efficiently and successfully whatever knowledge he had obtained from books, or by his study of the different characters of men in his intercourse with the world. Mr. G, is as yet only in the prime of life. Possessed naturally of a good constitution, his abstemious habits and his constant activity have preserved his strength unirapaired. Years have only improved his judg ment, without diminishing his capacity for labor ; and should no untimely blight overtake him, or unlooked-for calamity overshadow his prospects, we may anticipate for him a long career of usefulness and of honor. But justice would not be done to the subject of this memoir if some thing more was not said with reference to his private character. He has been long known to the writer of this imperfect sketch, and he can truly say, that he never knew any man more perfectly amiable in all the domestic relations of life. As a friend, as a father, as a husband, and as a Christian, his conduct has ever been most exemplary and blameless. His uprightness and integrity have never been called in question. They have passed unharmed through a series of the most severe trials, and still more dangerous temptations. As a public offi cer, and as a private citizen, his character has been alike free from re proach. No temptation could allure hira from the path of rectitude. No danger, however formidable, could deter him from the performance of his duty. A child-like simplicity characterizes his intercourse with society. There is no appearance of malice or of guile about him. He is mild and unassuming in his manners, and yet stern and unflinching in his adherence to truth and justice. He reminds us of a portrait drawn by the hand of a master in the delineation of human character: Justum ac tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida, neque Auster, ?avod>y 3 C T^ultrcrrom. ^.^-.ot.^o^??'^ 7]>ru M.^tcro . CASniFR OF THE K.-iSTIlRJT ^A'l\'":\ . -±r B-rN'JOR. ^¦r.¦17.Yr. . WILLIAM H. MILLS, OF MAINE. 666 HON. WILLIAM H. MILLS, OF BANGOR, MAINE. Hon. William H. Mills, a gentleman of middle age, was born in the State of Vermont, and migrated to Portland, Me,, when quite young, where he was for several years engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1835 he removed to the city of Bangor for the purpose of entering upon the duties of cashier of the Eastern Bank, then just chartered, which situation he still holds. Colonel Mills belongs with that class of reliable men in whom all have confidence, and who, from a natural kindness of heart and urbanity of manners, never have enemies. He has been repeatedly elected to either branch of the city council, and twice unanimously elected to the office of mayor of the city, which office he declined to hold longer, the public drafts being too heavy upon the duties of his profession. Colonel Mills has long been a great admirer of the illustrious soldier and statesman who is now the candidate of the whig party for the Pre sidency, and labored hard for his nomination in 1848, and subsequently did much to bring about the great unanimity of sentiment in his state in favor of that great and good man. He represented the Fifth Con gressional District in the whig national convention at Baltimore in June last, where he evinced an untiring zeal to effect the nomination of his fa vorite candidate, and no one rejoiced more than he at the glorious con summation of his wishes. The " Maine Delegation" will not soon be forgotten by the members of that convention or the country at large. m-' lljl, !VH mdDW.TmAKC IS BIffi.I[K"]LE"T FO&G. ^z' . v: / .s/ir /£.'.£ /'jjj\L \./':s.s-£:±: . Ji!7/,-/'J. far li7,i"7"'^>fJ:'''-'J ¦^''' /.g^-a^" '>' i:m.u:c&.^rfcr.'r,/v La.w/'f.''s . PR,^NCIS BRINLEY FOGG, OF TENNESSEE, 667 FRANCIS BRINLEY FOGG, / OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, Was born in Brooklyn, Connecticut, on the 21st of September, 1795, His father, the Rev. Daniel Fogg — a native of New-Hamp shire — was a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and ful filled the duties of his sacred office for forty-one years, in the same parish, honored and esteemed for his goodness and piety, by all men of all classes, and every Christian denomination. His mother, whose maiden name was Brinley, came frora one of the most respected and respectable familes in New-England — she ornamented and piously adorned a long life by the practice of all the virtues of her sex, and died a few years ago, in extreme old age, crowned with unclouded hope and faith, and blessed to her last hour in the full enjoyment of all her faculties. The iramediate subject of this brief memoir — the oldest of his father's offspring — continued under the parental roof until he had reached his tenth year, receiving, up to that age, such instruction only as could be obtained at home and in the common schools of the township. He was subsequently removed, for further culture and improvement, to a classical academy in Plainfield, where he was quickly noted by his teacher, and all his youthful associates, for his extraordinary attainments in the ancient languages, and in the different branches of mathematics. So rare and rapid, indeed, were the varied powers of his mind, that a few years of study at Plainfield earned him unrivaled distinction, and satisfied his friends that he possessed, in an eminent degree, an intellect sufficiently strong to master any language and every science, however abstruse or difficult of comprehension. When he left that academy, though only thirteen years old, he was, in fact, an accomplished scholar in the Greek and Latin readings ; and having, ever since, industriously kept up his learning, he happily retains, to this day, a ready and pro found acquaintance with both of these languages. There are few of those who shall read this rapid sketch, especially men of New-England, who will not have heard of the Hon. William Hunter, of Newport, Rhode Island — an able, great and eminent states man and civilian — for some years a senator in Congress from his state. and, in the latter part of his life, American minister at the court of Bra^ zil. Erudite and learned himself, devoted to the beauties of literature and the fine arts, and the generous patron of genius in others, this dis tinguished gentieman, delighted with the early talents, the application and the reraarkable acquirements of a promising kinsman, invited his youthful relative — the subject of these lines — to pursue his studies, in cluding the study of law, in his family at Newport, and under his own immediate care and instruction. Nor could a more sincere friend, or competent teacher, have offered to discipline and direct the mental energies of a virtuous and aspiring lad. The boon, so nobly volunteer- 668 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. ed, was thankfully accepted, and henceforth, between the tutor and his pupil, a congeniality of taste and sentiment, and great natural endow ments, generating a warm mutual attachment, united age and boyhood in a bond of friendship which was never severed ; and which, in its happy consequences, blessed both the giver and receiver of an inesti mable favor — the former, in the subsequent contemplation of the rich fruits of his own beneficent care and culture ; the latter, in the fortune, fame and honor he has since so proudly achieved among raen. Under the guidance of his accomplished master, the youthful student of our text, full of hope and courage, applied himself dilligently ; and being gifted by nature with a powerful and retentive memory, and a mind capable of deep research and the severest mental service, garnered, in a few years, abundant and lasting stores from every department of knowledge. He made especial and successful preparation in that par ticular branch to which he had resolved to devote his life ; and having, at the age of twenty, sufficiently qualified himself, he made formal ap plication for a legal commission, and obtained admittance to the New port bar. Nor was he suffered to take this early and difficult honor without a close and critical examination before a learned and inflexible tribunal : for, in the strict discipline of that day — more rigid by far than this — neither the courts of justice nor the people could be induced to countenance superficial learning in the profession, or to patronize a pre sumptuous and half taught candidate, who, unprepared for the high and responsible warrant, had the vanity to demand the dignity of the gown and a green bag ; and it is to be deplored — deeply deplored, indeed — that the same stringent regulations, in regard to authorized member ship in a great and indispensable department of our civil polity, does not still prevail in every part of our country ; for it must be readily granted by every considerate observer, that if the bar was only accessi ble to men of tried and established worth, with suitable qualifications, much public injury and mischief would be averted ; our courts would be, as they always should be, the venerated sanctuaries of justice, and tbe profession would be relieved of much of the prejudice and obloquy which ignorant, unworthy and discreditable empirics, have too frequently cast upon it. _ At the time, too, of which we now speak, the bar in the principal cities of New-England — always reno-wned for learning and integrity — was everywhere adorned and occupied by raen whose just influence and popularity had raonopolized the practice of the different courts, and left littie or no iraraediate roora for new beginners in the profession. A long, tedious and doubtful struggle awaited every junior aspirant for forensic honor and eraployraent ; so long, indeed, that no young raan of limited raeans, however great his courage or acquirements, could pru- dentiy hazard, on the raost flattering prospective hopes, the probation he would necessarily have to encounter; whilst he tarried atthethresh- hold, like the afflicted Hebrew, for the troubling of the healing waters of the pool, he must eat, and drink, and dress ; and the charge for these, though never so cheap, would drain his scanty purse, and leave hira to want and destitution, orT;o the cold, humbling and reluctant charity of friends and relatives. It was so at that day in New-England in every department of life ; it is more so now under the necessities of FRANCIS BRINLEY FOGG, OP TENNESSEE. 669 a largely increased and increasing population. But then, as now, the spirit of the " pilgrim fathers" stimulated their sons and descendants, and taught them that it was more noble and manly to strive for peace and happiness and fortune in a land of strangers, than to linger, sicken ed and discouraged under "hope deferred," around tbe graves of the unpromising homes of their ancestors. It was this spirit which made and still makes New-England the hive whence issue, to the " Great West," and everywhere over the civilized world, yearly and large sup plies of talent, of indomitable industry and enterprise, and, in a just homage to truth, we must add, of men, most of whom carry with them, whithersoever they go, a characteristic trait of soberness, shrewdness, and accumulative industry. And it was this same spirit which, politely rejecting a generous offer from his great friend and instructor, Mr. Hunter, to join him in the profession at the Philadelphia bar on equal shares in their practice, induced the subject of this short story, in the early dawn of manhood, to become a cheerful exile, and to follow his fortunes, whatever they might be, in a remote society, and among peo ple of whom he had heard but little, and knew still less. Accordingly, at a tender age in life, having only passed his twenty-second year, and with money barely sufficient to defray the necessary expense of travel ing, he bade a painful adieu to his family, his friends, and all the loved scenes of his native land ; and, passing through Washington, where he remained a few days, he continued his journey, until, in the month of February, 1818, he reached and settled hiraself in Colurabia, a beauti ful and thriving village in Tennessee, about forty miles south from the city of Nashville. Many there must be araong his resolute countryraen, who, having enterprised a sirailar fate, could pencil, better than we can, the strong emotions of a young and lonely adventurer, when he finds hiraself seated, for the first time, in a new home, surrounded by an " unknow ing aud unknown" multitude, and withal, an object of attraction to every gazing and inquisitive eye. 'Tis then that the iron-hearted stranger — silently contemplating the past, the present and the future — remerabering all he has left and lost, and all he then beholds, and dreading the days to corae with all their doubtful fortunes — sinks be neath his own profound reflection, and repents, perhaps, the folly or the courage that taught hira, in an evil hour, to exchange every endear ment, and all the ties and tender associations of life, for any hope or hopeful expectation of honor or of profit. Some, it is true, better able to conceal than to resist the feeling, may be too proud to show or ac knowledge the araiable weakness. But the instincts of nature — the sarae in every huraan bosom — cannot be so easily repressed ; and all mankind, of every clime, of every tongue, and of every condition, feeling the force of these instincts, prove this " common law" of huma nity by submitting to its supremacy. Time, we admit, with new in terests and new associations, may heal or harden the wounds of the exile's heart. Time will almost always mellow, sanctify, and finally cure the deepest and keenest cuts of the soul ; Ijut, although it may obscure their brightness, tirae can never obliterate the fond and ineffao- able images which memory has imprinted on the mind. In the spring- day of youth, in vigorous manhood, and alike in the dimness of old 670 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS. age — wherever we go, or how far soever we may remove — we cling for ever to cherished recollections, and pay eternal love and homage to the scenes, and the joys and affectidns of our early, thoughtless, or happy hours. How it fared on this occasion with the subject of this brief his tory, we know not. We are certain, nevertheless, that we should do gross injustice to his benevolent nature, and to the deep attachments he always manifests, if we should suppose him incapable of painful reflec tions, where, under similar circumstances, much sterner hearts have bowed submissively and in sorrow to the uninvited, but grateful visions of the past. But, whatever he may have suffered, we are sure he did not forget his dignity, or give way to useless repinings. Opening an office at once, he returned to his studies with renewed eagerness and arabition; and cultivating in the meantirae a proper acquaintance with the society into which he had so lately entered, it was not long before he engaged the notice, and gained the respect and consideration of all observing people. Patronage, with its emoluments, would have soon followed, but a more broad and elevated platform awaited the labor and the exhibitions of our young adventurer. The late Hon. Felix Grundy, justly celebrated in his day as a dis tinguished statesman, and an able and very eloquent advocate, possess ed in a high degree the ready faculty of discerning genius and merit under the most plain and unpretending attire. He was, at the same time, equally ready to encourage the growth and developments of such happy endowments wherever he found them ; but especially, whenever he saw youth and talent struggling, unaided and unadvised, in a doubt ful conflict against the united ant.igonism of poverty and the cold and repulsive friendship of an unfeeling world. Reraarkable, too, for an easy, kind and affable address, and for the raost agreeable powers of conversation, that gentleman had, with many other attractive qualities, an eminent facility in winning the confidence and good opinion of all who enjoyed his society. Fortunately for the subject of this memoir, Mr. Grundy was, at this particular period in our narrative, a regular attendant on the Columbia bar. There, in that free and cordial intercourse which then signalized the merabers of the profession, an introduction between the parties, leading, as it did, to frequent intercourse, speedily satisfied that gentle raan of the great personal worth and extraordinary attainments of the youthful stranger ; and he lost no tirae in frankly advising him of his faulty location, and earnestly commending his immediate removal to Nashville. The limited means, and that natural diffidence which first induced Mr. Grundy's new acquaintance to seat himself in Columbia, were forgotten, or soon overcome by the plausible arguments of his ex perienced counselor, and thenceforth Nashville, with all its undeniable advantages, social and professional, became his home, and has ever since been the principal theatre of his actions. This important move was executed in the latter part of 1818, and, in its consequences, sealed for good the fortune of the worthy subject of this hasty treatise. At the time of which we now write — as many of the living here will testify — Tennessee, though celebrated for her patriotism and for the heroic achievements which closed our last war with England in a blaze of glory, was little more than a strong frontier province, chiefly , OF TENNESSEE. 671 populated — comparatively speaking — by a rough, but honest, brave and unsophisticated people ; and Nashville, the acknowledged city of the state — was no more than a large and very respectable village. Nevertheless the Nashville bar, which in anterior years had acquired and -always held a goodly fame, was then renowned throughout the state and in many foreign parts, for the learning, the great abilities, and the honorable bearing of its members. There were among them men whose giant powers and cultivated minds could have successfully grappled with the learning and the lore of the oldest and most refined communities, and men, too, whose great names remain, to this day, richly perfumed in the history of the profession. Their manner of practice was liberal, though, in the progress of the day in which they lived, they had not sufficiently learned to question or condemn the ab surd technicalities of the law, those astute and fast departing mumme ries of a distant and darker age of legal science. Their rivalries were, for the most part, peaceful and honorable; and it was their habit to extend to their worthy juniors great condescensions and the kindest en couragement. In their intercourse, which was always easy and informal, manhood and youth mingled freely at the social banquet ; the former was never arrogant, the latter never unmindful of proper observances to their superiors. Such was, the bar into which our adventurer had just entered ; such the character of its principal members. If he could not flatter himself with a prospect of immediate employment, he was sure, at least, of the society and friendship of men of agreeable and highly improved minds. He was, too, under the special regard and protection of a liberal, generous and enlightened relative, residing not far from Nashville, whose good heart had opened an ample purse and placed its whole contents at his command. Pleased with the change of residence, and encouraged by the better prospect before him, he seated himself again to his studies, well content to wait, in becoming patience, the issue of his exertions. Another man, with half the intellect and preparation, but possessed of a larger share of boldness and self confidence, would have successfully hastened that issue, and much sooner crovraied himself with the emolu ments of the profession. We have often, still, in this more enlightened age, ter witness and lament the truth of this criticism ; and we shall be compelled to witness and lament its truth so long as mankind, too often taking sound for sense, suffer themselves to pass by true merit only to be captivated and carried away by the false but winning displays of superficial learning. In these ways of conceit or forward assumptions, our new-comer was poorly gifted ; for in his temper and disposition, vanity and self-confidence have no place whatever. He was not, we dare say, unconscious of his own strength ; but naturally modest, diffi dent and retiring, and altogether devoid of popular art, he could not advance himself by practices which, when adroitly played off, seldom fail to promote the fortune of inferior minds. Under the operation of these virtuous but unpropitious causes, his progress was, of course, re tarded. But the slowness of his professional growth — ^by giving him larger opportunities for study and reflection — added strength and soli dity to his forensic conquests, and in these consequences, assured the 672 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. height and durability of the fame he has subsequently accomplished. By the merabers of the bar, with whom he would be in daily contact he hoped, no doubt, to be somewhat favored in an introduction to pub lic notice and consideration ; for as they must be the first to weigh and estimate his pretensions, it was not vain on his part to suppose that they would, at no very distant day, invite his aid and co-operation in the management and dispatch of business. Nor, in this respect, if such were his reflections, was he at all mistaken or disappointed ; for it so soon afi-erwards happened that, by the countenance and good opinions of the few who knew hira, as well as by his studious habits, and by a quiet and becoming exhibition of his legal knowledge, he attracted the observation and applause of his older brethren. An adept in that most difficult branch of legal science, he was first employed to make up pleadings ; and, blessed with a strong memory and a ready and won derful acquaintance with the books, he was next brought into counsel, and not unfrequently engaged in the preparation of bills and answers in chancery. These tokens of approved personal worth and professional skill led to an unsolicited partnership with a most worthy and long established attorney of the Nashville bar ; and, as a notable fact in the history of this connection, we may remark, that it was the means of gaining hira an advocacy, with a large contingent fee, in a suit for -wild and distant lands, the successful recovery of which, in the subsequent rapid increased value of many " broad acres," gave him a very large reward for his services. Thenceforth the way was open to the man of this short record. His reputation was fairly established by the united judgment of his profes sional compeers, and the foundation of his fortune thereby securely laid. But as patronage, where the leading members of the bar are suf ficiently enlightened and attentive, does not readily run into new chan. nels, the nuraber of his retainers, though steadily advancing, did not yet correspond with his just claims and his acknowledged abilities. A, good practice, 'tis true, gave him ample support, with moderate accu mulations ; but he was left still with many leisure hours. They were not, however, hours of idleness or of fruitless discontent ; for, imbued by nature with a mind which is as happily exempt from despondency as from its opposite weakness, he pursued, under every phase of life, " the even tenor of his way," In his office and by his books — the temple and the earthly idols of his heart — mingling, in his daily exer cises, the study of law with polite and abstruse literature, and never forgetting to keep up and extend his critical learning in the ancient clas sics, he was constantly improving hiraself, and enlarging the rich and abundant stores that have since obtained, for his judgments and opin ions, oracular confidence and authority. In our woridly affairs it sometimes pleases Fortune to lend a capri cious smile, where neither true merit, nor wisdom, nor industry, entitles an unwoithy object to the grateful concession. But, less fickle in her gifts and good-will than the sportive goddess is famed to be, that poetio deity seldom fails to add her grace and blessing wherever virtue, and constancy, and qualification, unite to aid the good man in an heroic strug gle for honest promotion. In the forraer case, her wavering and un stable countenance is, oftentimes, quickly clouded or forever turned FRANCIS BRINLEY FOGG, OP TENNESSEE. 67S from an undeserving favorite; in the latter, patience and perseverance, with the help of time and opportunity, will, under many disadvantages, sustain our efforts, and, in the end, crown our labors and our trembling hopes with a propitious and lasting harvest of honor and profit. Nor do we know of any one whose progress and career illustrate more handsomely than his the truth of this last reflection. Penniless, friendless, young, and a stranger — a voluntary exile for the sake of the hope before him, and armed alone with his learning and integrity — he abandoned his native soil and all its manifold endearments, and resolutely built his youthful horae in a distant land, and in the midst of an un known people! We have followed him through the gloom which, in the early moments of his enterprise, shadowed his path ; we have witnessed the courage and firmness with which he braved all difficulties and every disappointment ; and we behold him now, at the end of his probation, without pride and without vanity, seated at the side of the very foremost of his profession, honored of all men, and daily attended by a crowd of rewarding clients. Great, indeed, is his triumph — ^not greater, we faithfully proclaim, than the raeasure of his high and indis putable claims do justly challenge. It was thus, soon after he had passed his twenty-eighth year, that this virtuous and gifted man so happily succeeded in executing the great ob ject and design of his life. Poor, but full of laudable ambition, and trust ing to his own good valor and resolution, he carae to us in quest of a horae, of honorable eraployraent, and of a narae worthy to be noted among men. By his talents and application, and by his amiable, dig nified, and unpretending deportment, he commanded the applause and enlisted the good feelings of his elder brethren at the bar, and finally attained before the public an enviable and extending farae, together with all the emoluments that follow high professional distinction. The means too — upright and honorable — that enabled him to reach this eminence, proved the strength and the broad basis of his reputation, and gave the most reliable promise of a happy and prosperous future. He could well, then, and with a prudent confidence, contemplate a new and important relation in life ; and he thence resolved to seek, at the domestic altar, those solid and precious enjoyments that can only be hoped for or found in a congenial, affectionate, and enduring union of the sexes. Accordingly, in the fall of 1823, having previously engaged his heart to a lady, young, lovely, and admired for her personal charms and for the brightness of her intellect and her acquirements, he was married to a daughter descended, on both sides, from ancestors pre- erainentiy revered and distinguished in the Revolutionary annals of South Carolina for chivalry and patriotism, and for a pure and self- sacrificing devotion to American liberty. To our well-informed readers we need not elucidate this text by repeating the historic names of Mid dleton and Rutledge — patriots and statesmen of an age that " tried men's souls," and which, for good or for evil, consecrated or doomed their characters with posterity. This alliance — cherished and heartily sanctioned by the parents of the bride — enlarged the happiness of their adopted son, and widened the circle of his associations ; but it did not interrupt his professional labors, or abate the ardor with which he had previously pursued his 43 ¦674 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Studies and engagements. In his habits of industry he found time to cultivate the gladness of his new estate, and, withal, to forward the business of his clients, and still to augment, by close and continued literary research, his large stock of learning. Such, indeed, was his un- relaxed observance of all these voluntary duties, that the honey-moon, which, to most others, is a lengthened carnival of exhatisting or un profitable pleasure, was to him — in the brightness and freshness of his joy — only a season of quiet felicity, softened and refined in the absence of all nuptial parade, by the purity and significance of strong, but silent ¦emotions-. This last important step, on his part, was soon followed by a new- professional association, which, after a peaceful and happy existence for nearly the fourth of a century, was amicably terminated within the last few years, leaving the parties, where that association found them, mu tually allied, and bound together in reciprocal sentiments of profound .and unalterable confidence and attachment. A meraber of the Nashville bar— raised and educated in that city, and fortunately favored with a large practice and a corresponding in come — finding himself unable to keep up the business of his office, in vited the partnership to which we refer, and which, after some honorable scruples, was, at last, politely accepted. By an arrangement between the parties of their respective branches of labor, the subject under our pen was placed in a position which, whilst it best suited his disposition and his particular learning, gave him a fine field for the exercise and display of his surpassing talents and abilities in the higher departments of jurisprudence. To his care was assigned, by a joint and cordial con- -sent, all the service in the Courts of Chancery and in the Supreme Court, and to his partner the business of the common law courts — state and federal — together with the financial duties and adjustments of their office, and the task of their correspondence, at home and abroad, ¦commensurate in its extent with nearly all the commercial litigation of •half the state. We do not intend to report, in further detail, the history of this long partnership, and only stop to add, that the parties harmonized and prospered for many years ; one of them — studiously and exclusively pursuing his profession — continued to gather, all the time, fresh laurels and higher renown ; whilst the other, more flexible in his resolutions — we write by permission and without offence — was too frequently won away by the whisperings of his own political arabition, or by the flat tering and seductive persuasions of the popular tongue. The former, we know, does not repent his prudence — the latter will not say, per haps, that he was overwise. Their destinies — though they are both happily content in their present fortunes — differ widely, and in the con trast, their best friends may judge between them which of the two has most reason to rejoice in the policy or the good sense that caused those diverging movements in their several lives. But naturally and sincere ly averse, as the able and virtuous citizen of our text has ever been to public honor and service, his name, twice in his time, has been sus pended at the hustings — once, without his knowledge or consent, and, again, after a long interval, when, in an important crisis in our state legislation, he yielded reluctant obedience to a call, which, under the FRANCIS BRINLEY FOGG, OF TENNESSEE. 675 circumstances, he could not properly disregard. On both of these oc casions, his popularity — founded solely on his great abilities and his acknowledged integrity — carried him triumphantly through the polls, and, in the first instance, considerably ahead of time-honored and infiu- ential coiripetitors, and that, too, without a serious effort on his part ; for, contrary to our custom here, and the uniform practice of candidates, he never went out of his way to seek favor and support, and only ad dressed the people when he was occasionally, but rarely, called up in the large assemblies that sometimes convened in Nashville during a political canvass. It was thus, that, in 1834, he was a member of the convention that framed the present constitution of Tennessee, and it was thus, too, that within the last twelve months he has served his county and its wealthy and enlightened metropolis in the senatorial branch of our state legisla ture. In both situations he exalted his own high character, and was honored and distinguished by all men of every party for his great learn ing and integrity, and for the profound and practical wisdom he dis played on all questions under consideration and debate in those impor tant assemblies. If he ever set any particular value on his own ser vices or his influence in either of those situations, his native delicacy has not suffered him, we are sure, to whisper the silent compliment to his own bosom. But all who have noticed his acts, and witnessed the diligence, the thought and the judgment he daily manifested in dis charging his official duties, will join us in saying, that by his knowledge, and by the confidence and admiration with which he inspired his com peers, he was chiefly instrumental in engrafting on our jurisprudence many important and beneficial reforms. He has never failed, indeed, everywhere to laugh at, condemn and assault the idle forms, the bar barisms, the fictions, and all the learned ilonsense and jargon of the old law, and, we dare say, he heartily rejoices now in the deadly blows he has successfully dealt upon these insufferable relics of a darker or more designing age. But we must hasten to the close of a memoir already drawn beyond its intended limits. Mr, Fogg, as our readers will have observed, is approaching the conclusion of his 57th period ; but a sound constitution, fortified and strengthened by a habit of strictest temperance in all the pleasures and good things of the wbrld, give him a hopeful guarantee of lengthened years. He inherits this promise, indeed, from a long-lived ancestry, and is not likely, we are sure, to forfeit or endanger his chances on life by an imprudent act, or by an undue indulgence that would be calcu lated to impair his health, or shorten the number of his days. In sta ture he is about five feet seven inches in height, of a vigorous and ro tund frame, with a quiet, pleasing and benign countenance, and a light gray eye, which, though it does not sufficiently herald his extraordinary- intellect, evidences deep and deliberate thought and great reflection. Nevertheless, that eye readily beams an approving smile, or drops a sympathetic tear. It always sparkles brightly under joyous or plea surable emotions, and is altogether unused to bitter, scornful or indig nant looks. The marked lines in his face, and his blanched locks, indi cate more years than he has passed ; but care and great sorrows fre quently leave their indelible impress, and alter or relax, without fatally 676 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. weakening the faculties of the mind, or the muscular powers of the body. Of these cares and sorrows, our good friend has, of late years, tasted deep and felt much. Called, in a sudden and an unexpected hour, to mourn, in an early manhood, the loss of a noble, generous and ac complished son — the senior of three only children — wise and learned, as he was, beyond his tender age — beloved by the old — beloved and honored by the young, and full of all good promises as to the future — his disconsolate father had scarcely ceased to weep over an object too well loved ever to be forgotten, when, in an hour quite as sudden and overwhelming, the " angel of death" stood again at his door. An only daughter, lovely, and of rare endowments and abilities, the fairest and brightest jewel of his heart — praised, and everywhere courted and caressed — a sweet rose of the spring in its early and most delicious bloom — sank to an untimely grave, leaving one only remaining child to comfort his grief or desolation, by holding up a solitary but dear and hopeful light in the house of mourning. That he should, for a tirae, languish and repine under these great afflictions, was to be expected of a father so full of kindness and affection ; but Heaven, we are assured, in all due tirae " tempers the breeze to the shorn lamb ;" and we rejoice to know that the wounds which bowed a strong man to the earth are gradually healing, though the scars thereof can never be effaced. We have said before, that this excellent man is, in his general man ner and bearing, habitually quiet and unobtrusive. But this, we must now add, is only his every-day out-of door dress ; for those who know him best will testify to his warm feelings, his generous and noble dis position, and to the happy and interesting fervor which, in a circle of cherished and confiding friends, oftentimes turns his natural and ac customed gravity into sounds of joyous mirth, or accents of animated and highly excited colloquy. In such scenes he delights in the sportive and well-told anecdote, or unconsciously rising from his seat, he lec tures and enlightens his small audience with vehement learning, on any topic that may be started. Nor does his authoritative manner, on these occasions, prove against him either vanity or presumption. No man condemns these unworthy vices more than he does — no man is more free from their hateful practice. Such, indeed, is the gentleness and simplicity of his heart, that he never manifests a feeling of pride or su periority, but seems, in the eyes of every one, to be the only person who is ignorant of his own acknowledged and commanding powers. And in this respect, we must pause to say, he imitates the finest ex ample of true greatness — for, it may be well repeated, that nothing more conclusively shows a want of true merit and greatness, than a vain assumption of these rare and inestimable endowments. In his speeches at the bar, and everywhere else, he is clear, cogent and methodical, and never injures by dilating an argument. He labors to convince the mind, and seldom attempts the passions or the imagina tions of men — hence he is always forcible, terse and succinct. But hurried away by his feelings, we have seen him, at times, rise to the sublimity of real eloquence ; and, long or short as his speeches maybe, his audience — always charmed with his wisdom and evident sincerity — FRANCIS BRINLEY FOGG, OP, TENNESSEE. 677 adhere in silence to his accents, and never fail to seize with avidity the last words that fall from his lips. Such is the short but faithful history of the subject of this memoir — such his virtues and his learning — such the traits of his amiable and unblemished personal character — and, as such, he is, and we can truly add, without an enemy to mar or interrupt his peace and happi ness. Many may equal — all should emulate — but none can rival, or excel his worth. r^'¦/l^/•nr.y //// / / ^^ i^i- ^ y r S .47'."''H.\ , .". l.'./..'.Y^TS ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS, OF ILLINOIS. 679 HON. ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS, OP QUINCY, ILLINOIS. The subject of the present sketch is one of those men whose talents and acquirements, no less than the integrity and virtue of his character, entitle him to a wider fame than he has hitherto attained. While for many years he has stood without a superior, as a statesman and a jurist, in the estimation of the people of his own state, he is comparatively unknown to the public beyond its limits. His political opinions, placing him in opposition to the dominant party in the state, have always ex cluded him from the field of national politics ; and his remoteness from the great theatres of forensic display has equally deprived him of opportunities for gaining the professional distinction which is so justly his due. Archibald Williams was born in Montgoraery county, Kentucky, on the 10th day of June, 1801, of a family neither rich nor distinguished, but holding a respectable place in the good opinion of their friends and neighbors. The personal worth of his parents is attested by the excel lent moral training which they bestowed upon a large faraily of sons and daughters. Beyond this, and the first rudiments of education which a country school afforded, they had nothing to give their children ; and, with this preparation for the battle of life, Mr. Williams, at a very early age, left the shelter of the paternal roof to take his part in the struggle. For several years, at first by manual labor, and afterwards by teach ing school, he supported himself, devoting all his leisure hours to his own cultivation and improvement. His inclination led him to solid reading, and especially to the study of the law, as the profession of his future life. A capacity for patient and persevering labor, which few possess in the same degree, enabled him to overcome all obstacles, and he was admitted to the bar in Tennessee in 1828. In 1829 he removed to Illinois, and settled at Quincy, on the Mis sissippi." Now it is a flourishing city. Then it was an obscure village, just struggling into life, on the verge of the white settlements in that fertile region, between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. "The Bounty Land Tract," as it is often called, soon became one of the great centres of attraction to emigrants : the El Dorado of the day, as the Scioto and the Wabash valleys had been before it ; and as Iowa, Ore gon, and California have been since. Its population was multiplied, and its resources developed, with a rapidity unexampled elsewhere than in America. Mr. Williams was not long in acquiring the esteem and regard of the eariy settiers ; and, with the growth of the country, his acquaintance became daily more extended, and his reputation constantiy increased. In the course of six or eight years, his services at the bar and in the state senate had already ranked him, by common consent,. among the ablest men in the state. Mr. Williams was three times elected to the legislature, serving one term in the senate, and two terms in the lower house. He was also a meraber of the convention of 1847, which framed the present constitu- 680 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. tion of the state. In the discharge of these public trusts, his ability and zeal for the public good won for him the respect and confidence, no less of his political opponents, than of his associates. By the latter he was twice complimented with their votes for the Senate of the United States. His professional reputation is high, and securely established. Con troversies about land titles, which, perhaps more than all others, task the learning and acuteness of the lawyer, have not been wanting in the Western States, And, although the admirable system adopted for the survey and sale of the public lands has cut off much of the litigation which grew out of conflicting surveys in the older states, yet other sources of difficulty, scarcely less fruitful, have been opened in the early legislation of Illinois. Of these, the most prominent are the laws of the sale of delinquent lands for taxes, and the statutes of limitation, commonly called the occupying claimant laws. The construction and application of these statutes have developed a variety of questions, which demanded research and skill for their solution ; among them, some of the highest importance, springing out of the state and federal constitutions, and the fundamental principles of the common law. It is not too much to say, that Mr. Williams' share in the argument of these questions, and the originality, vigor, and breadth of his views, have commanded the admiration of his cotemporaries, and identified him with the history of the jurisprudence of the state. In the other branches of the law, diversified in their o-wn nature, and constantly adapting themselves to the new interests and wants of soci ety, he has maintained an equal place. His mind is clear, logical, and reraarkable for its power of penetrating through all that is superficial to the very bottom of the subject. While others are assailing battlement and tower, he works his way by sap and mine to the very corner-stone of his adversary's position, and, with one great effort, hurls the whole fabric to the ground. He is thoroughly versed in what may be called the geology of law — the wide, deep, elementary principles of all juris prudence — and especially in those of the common law of England, the basis of our own institutions. He possesses none of the graces of elo cution, no brilliant fancies, no flowers of rhetoric ; but, when roused by the iraportance of his subject, or aniraated by a cause which raoves his his own feelings, his earnestness and force swell into true eloquence, and sway the raost unwilling raind into conviction. Our present business with Mr, Williams is professional. This is not the occasion to speak, except incidentally, of his private character. But we may be pardoned for saying that, in the large circle of his relatives and friends, his distinction as a lawyer and a statesman forms the least ¦of his clairas to their reverence and affection. He fills at present the office of United States attorney for the dis trict of Illinois, to which he was appointed two or three years ago, and the duties of which he discharges with equal usefulness to the public, and honor to himself One of his written opinions, touching certain public lands near Chicago, came officially under the review of the pre sent attorney-general, about a year since, and was approved by that able and accomplished jurist, with a marked acknowledgment of its ability and completeness. '/f-^TT^^L^/yT-^ .iL'jJoh- ,.'/¦' -J-Hr ?y/J.-sr , '//.',/i-v/' rj^f'^rr o/-' .//./-/ AVf.\' A'f!f7:^/pr B, ¦-,>'¦'.¦'>- DAVID M. WOODSON, OP ILLINOIS. 681 HON. DAVID M. WOODSON, OF ILLINOIS. " St quereretur, quUnam jurisco'nsultus vere nomi'naretur, eum dicerem jui legum et eons-uetudinis ejus, qui privati in civitate uleretitur, ft adrespondenditm, et ad agendum, et ad carendum, peritus est." — Cicero, De Or.,i. 48. Perhaps the most difficult of all literary tasks is to write an unex ceptionable memoir of a living man. If the life is worth the record, there is always danger of offending that delicacy which is inseparable from merit ; for even modern praise, which may meet the eyes of its subject, is apt to seem fulsome ; while a nice sense of propriety would not be the less wounded by a dry abstract, which would contain noth ing but names and dates. To sum up a career, too, which is not yet ended, would appear like recording events which have not transpired ; since, justly to estimate the scope and meaning of a history, it is most important that we have the closing chapter. In writing such a bio graphical notice, therefore, the chronicler, from the moment he takes up his pen, should consider his subject as no longer among his contempo raries : for thus he will avoid the fear of offending, by bestowing praise where it is merited, and escape the risk of giving but a fragmentary view of that which must eventually be taken as a unit. These difficulties are more formidable in the case of a civilian than of a military man: for the story of the latter is told by simple refer ence to events which all the world is sure to know — the significance of •half a lifetime is compressed within a day; an hour's intense action lays bare the thoughts and combinations of many weeks ; and the result is embodied in round numbers of lives sacrificed, bodies mangled, and rights trampled. But with the civilian, the case is far different : his victories are the nobler triumphs of peace — calm, healthful, deep and unobtrusive, they must be enlarged upon, in order to be appreciated. And especially is this true of him, whose usefulness flows through the channels of the law, — whose duty it is to hold the scales of justice, and amid the irritations and distractions of forensic battles, to preserve un clouded both his reason and his sense of right. There is supposed to be no heroism in this, because men will seldom praise anything which does not challenge admiration by obtrusive glitter and vain trumpet ing ; but in proportion as moral courage is a higher quality than physical impulse, so is the triuraph of the just judge nobler than the victory which writes itself in blood. floN, David Meade Woodson (judge of the first judicial circuit, in the State of Illinois) was born in the county of Jessaraine, Kentucky, on the eighteenth day of May, 1806; and is, therefore, but forty-six years of age. His father was Samuel H. Woodson, Esq., a lawyer of eminence even among the distinguished men who then illustrated the bar 682 sketches of eminent Americans, of Kentucky. He was a law-student of the celebrated George Nicho las, and was a cotemporary of Henry Clay, William T, Barry, William Logan, Jesse Bledsoe, Robert Wickliffe, John Rowan, and other re markable raen of Kentucky's brightest period. A gentleman of polished address, various acquirements, and great personal popularity, he re peatedly represented the county of Jessamine in the state legislature, and in 1820 was elected from the Ashland district to Congress, He died in 1 827, aged about fifty years. He was a native of Albemarle county, in Virginia, whence he was brought to Kentucky by his mother and step-father, (Col. Joseph Crocket, an officer of distinction in the war of the Revolution,) when he was seven years of age. On the first day of January, 1804, he married Ann R. Meade, the daughter of Col. David Meade, who had settled, at a very early day, at a place about nine miles south of Lexington, in (what is now) the county of Jessamine. His mansion {Chaumier du Prairie) was long celebrated as the seat of elegant and hearty hospitality — while its master was renowned, even among the men of that time, for his polish ed and graceful manners, extensive reading, and refined taste. By this marriage, David Meade, the subject of this sketch, was the second son ; and it was amid such associations as these, that his early youth was passed. Having spent some years at classical schools in the neighborhood of Lexington, and a short time at Transylvania University, he was, at the age of seventeen, placed under the tuition of the celebra ted Jesse Bledsoe, then one of the professors in the law-school of that institution — securing, thus, the advantage of daily intercourse with one of the acutest minds of the country. The remainder of the term, devoted to preparation in the law, was spent in the office of his father, who was coraraendably anxious that his son should be thoroughly armed for the contests to which his vocation destined him. > In 1827, however, his father died ; an event which devolved upon the young lawyer and his brother the arduous and perplexing duty of settling up an extensive and complicated estate — while their widowed mother (who is yet living) and seven minor children looked up to the two brothers as their natural protectors. These circumstances, and the new duties and responsibilities thus suddenly imposed upon him, in a great measure withdrew the future jurist's attention from his profession for several years ; and it was not until his brothers and sisters had been educated and prepared for their various walks in life, that he was enabled to return to a study to which he had always been strongly at tached. The voluntary devotement of so many years of his life, by one who was looking eagerly forward to an honorable distinction — to be gained through a profession thus thrown aside — is a sacrifice which few raen are capable of making, but which, for its self-deniaf, is above all praise. In I83I, when but a few days past the age of eligibility required by the Constitution, he was brought forward, by zealous and partial friends, to represent his native county in the state legislature. It was a peculiarly interesting period — a sort of local political crisis. The county had been largely democratic; but, year after year, the whigs had been gaining ground, until, at the tirae above mentioned, it was supposed that a strong whig candidate might complete the revolution. It was a flatter DAVID M. WOODSON, OP ILLINOIS. 683 Ing index to Mr. Woodson's standing among his fellow-citizens that he WHS chosen, at this juncture, as the standard-bearer of his party. His competitor was one of the most popular and estimable of the many prominent democrats of the county ; selected, like his young opponent, with special reference to the crisis. It was remarkable then — and a like circumstance would be still more so now — that both parties passed through the canvass without display ing any of that virulent and reckless disregard of private character which so often disgraces warm political contests. The candidates themselves were upon the most cordial terms ; and though each felt it to be his duty to defeat the other, if he might, neither was inclined to compass that end by other than the most honorable means. A small majority crowned the efforts of the whigs ; and, I beHeve, that in no election since that year has a democrat been returned frora the county. The value of the victory was enhanced by the youth and inexperience of the leader ; and the enthusiasra which, among the warm hearts of Kentucky is always so ready to overflow, was manifested on this occasion in a manner which, among people less demonstrative, would be deeraed soraewhat extravagant. Araid shouts of exultation, and manifestations of extreme joy, the youthful legislator was borne in triumph through all the streets of the village upon the shoulders of his neighbors — an incident which, outre and irregular as it may appear to colder temperaments, at least attests the warmth and sincerity of men's convictions. Within a few days after taking his seat in the legislature — the youngest man in that body — ^he cast one of the votes which sent Henry Clay to the United States Senate ; an act to which — now that that honored statesman is in the grave, at the close of a career of noble and patriotic usefulness — he may look back with pride and pleasure, not unmingled with melancholy. In the same year of his election, on the sixth of October, he married Miss Lucy McDowell, sister of Dr. McDowell, (a physician and sur geon of considerable eminence, resident in St. Louis,) and daughter of Major John McDowell, of Fayette county, Kentucky. During the autumn of the following year, (1833,) after the close of his term as re presentative, he visited Illinois, for the first time ; and having selected CarroUton, in Greene county, as his future home, returned to Kentucky to complete his arrangements for emigration. The next year found him settled for life, at the capital of one of the richest agricultural counties of a state which has no equal, in fertility, in the Union. Here he resumed the practice of the law, in connection with Charles D. Hodges, Esq., who had, like Mr. Woodson, but recentiy emigrated to CarroUton. And it may be noted, as illustrative of the character which has distinguished the subject of this sketch, as well as Mr. Hodges, that, in the shifting relations of the west, the cases are exceed ingly rare in which a partnership has continued so long and so per fectly free from discord. The peculiar constitution of western society, the endless changes brought about by imraigration, the connection of almost every western lawyer with political interests, and the nature of the profession itself, all tend to shorten the duration of legal partner ships. But, in spite of these things — and I dwell upon the circumstance. 684 sketches of eminent Americans. because it is so honorable to both parties — this association endured, without a single serious difference, for more than fourteen years ; and, even at the end of that time, was only terminated of necessity by the election of Mr, Woodson to a judgeship, in 1848. But few lawyers of this state have been more successful ; none have borne a higher character for probity or refined professional honor. Having the acuteness — which, unfortunately, all lawyers do not pos sess — to discriminate between the promptings of obstinacy and the honest assertion of justice, with a sincere desire to discourage the one and support the other, they safely acted upon the principle of declining all causes whose institution was of doubtful propriety. They never suffered their minds to be tinged with the prejudices or petty resent ments of their clients, and were always manly enough to rebuke, even in their friends, the vexatious spirit of litigation. It was, doubtless, their practice, in this particular, which suggested the compliment so often bestowed upon them, as exceptions to the supposed rule of their profes sion, that they gave honest advice, without reference to the foregone conclusions of those who asked it. In the autumn of 1835, Mr. Woodson returned to Kentucky, and spent another session in the Law School of Transylvania University — then under the management of the Hon. George Robertson, chiefjus- tice of Kentucky. Having graduated with honor, he sought again the field in which his laurels were to be won. But a short time had elapsed, however, before misfortune began to oppress him, in a manner hard to be borne. The health of his wife had been gradually impaired ; and soon after his return to Illinois, it became evident that, if she would again visit the scenes of her childhood, and see the friends of her youth, no tirae was to be lost. In a scale containing such con siderations as this, professional or political aspirations could have no weight. He at once set out for Kentucky, where, in August, 1836, the companion of his earlier years, and the mother of his only child, breathed her last, amid the familiar scenes of her own and her husband's youth. An event like this, always a deep affliction even to the most callous, to one full — as was Mr. Woodson — of all human and tender sympa thies, was a blow at the foundation of happiness. For a considerable period he was wholly disqualified for the business of life. Time, how ever, the great healer of wounds, finally brought him relief; and, having mastered the gloom of his spirits, on the first day of November, 1838, he was again married to Miss Julia Kennett, daughter of Dixon H. Kennett, Esq., formerly of Kentucky. It was not until the following winter that the obstacles and interruptions which had broken and im peded his progress were at last removed ; and a career, which has been eminently honorable, was at last seriously commenced. At the session of the legislature of 1838-9, he was elected to the office of State's Attorney, to fill a vacancy in which he had recentiy been ap pointed by Governor Duncan. He continued to discharge the duties of his station until August, 1840, when he was elected, by the people of Greene county, to a seat in the legislature ; a success which was the more flattering from the fact that it was obtained by a whig, in a county which usually gave from four to five hundred democratic majority. DAVID M. WOODSON, OP ILLINOIS. 685 Though strenuously opposed by the dominant party, headed by their Strongest men, he was elected by a handsome majority ; and though the contest had been a bitter and virulent one, none, even of those who opposed the choice, ever oppugned the integrity and patriotism of the new legislator's course, Buc the ways of politics were not the paths in which his nature best fitted him to walk — the violence of party contests was far frora grate ful to his quiet spirit ; and his tastes were better gratified araong the regulated scenes of his profession than in the bickerings of faction or the petty jealousies of office. In 1843, however, he was nominated by the whigs of the fifth" district (of which Greene county forms a part) to a seat in Congress. But it was his fortune to be opposed by the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, now so prominently before the people for the pre sidency. The great personal and political popularity of the latter carried him triumphantly through the contest ; and Mr. Woodson, to the great joy of his true friends, was reserved for pursuits both more congenial and more useful. In 1847, the people of Greene county, without distinction of party, elected him to a seat in the convention called to amend the state con stitution ; and though men difl'er — and justly may differ — about the propriety of many provisions in the instrument then framed, it is due to Judge W. to say, that he opposed, with zeal and constancy, those features which have since been found most obnoxious. He strove especially, with many of the most enlightened merabers of that body, against the empiricism which made the result of the convention — in stead of a well guarded but sufficiently liberal declaration of funda mental principles, as a constitution should be — a farrago of details, special enactments, doubtful experiments, and " penny-wise" economy. Unfortunately for the interests of the state, there was, in an assembly otherwise respectable enough, a combination of political tinkers — men who emerged frora obscurity onlyito spoil what was good, and to make worse what was already bad — and the consequence has been, that, in the opinion of a majority of the bar, the primary law of our state is, in tone and dignity, scarcely above the municipal regulations of a petty corporate town. Judge Woodson has reason to be thankful that the clearness of his views kept him free from all responsibility in the matter. After his return from the convention, he devoted himself assiduously to his profession, until the autumn of 1848 ; when, upon the approach of the first judicial election under the new constitution, the general sen timent of the first circuit pointed to him as the most proper person to fill the post of circuit judge. It was naturally expected that the ques tion would be made a political one ; and, had it been so, the bench would have been occupied by a democrat — that party possessing a majority in the circuit of from ten to fifteen hundred. In filling judicial offices, however, the people (whatever bitterness of political rancor may actuate them, in circumstances where such con siderations are properly admitted-) are always prepared to defend and protect their own best interests. It is of vital importance to the citi zens of any country, that the laws should be faithfully and intelligentiy administered ; and even the wisest enactments are worse than useless, 680 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. unless executed with impartiality, consistency and ability. Bad la-ws may be rendered less injurious by able and merciful judges ; while ig norant or corrupt officers may, and often do, extract oppression and in justice from wholesome regulations. In every view, then, it is indis pensable that we fill the judicial offices of the country with the most competent men, of whatsoever political party they may be — a truth, in which the people of the first judicial circuit manifested their feith, on the occasion of which we are writing. Though opposed by able men, backed by the sanction of a party con vention, Mr. Woodson was triumphantly elected — a result which he owed to the conviction, since then so well justified, that independently of partisan considerations, he was eminently well qualified for the post to which he was elevated. Since that tirae, having become accustomed to the ermine, he has continued to the present day, discharging the (in the west) onerous and soraewhat irregular duties of presiding judge of a populous district ; and we but express the sentiment of the bar and of the country -«'hen we add, with high honor to himself and advantage to the people, over whose interests he has so much influence. Having at first no experience in his new functions, he adapted himself to them with a gracious vigor which belongs only to minds peculiarly fitted for such effort, and he has gone on winning, year after year, "golden opin ions from all sorts of men" — impressing even the hard critics of the bar with his independence, ability and impartiality. The character which he has thus secured for hiraself, though his life should close now, would be ample reward for years of labor, and a rich heritage to his children. In all the stations which he has been called upon to fUl, no word of reproach or suspicion has ever been cast upon his name. His firmness is equal to his integrity : and of all others, this is the quality most necessary to a judge who has to deal with the turbulent and free-speak ing lawyers of the west. Patience, tempered by a watchful sense of propriety — ^judgment, seasoned by many years of experience at the bar — and frankness, always ready to do justice to honest opinions, are among his most valuable characteristics. When we add to these the most untiring diligence in the examination and decision of questions submitted to hia determination, we complete a character eminently worthy to be placed among the distinguished jurists of our country, and close, for the present, our notice of a life which gives rich promise of a long career of usefulness. \ON.. lli]"IH:,"lTIliY" JJ)iL''',^^JL'O^Ff ''/iu/y-j.-^v.virf o/'' LAtr IN r.'! F.mr' :'or Bui^ijphtr.1.1 .'L-etch,.'i .v Ji':i,;t.i>'..t . HENRY DUTTON, OP CONNECTICUT. 687 HON. HENRY DUTTON. OP NEW-HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, The subject of this memoir was born in Litchfield county, Connec ticut, February 12, 1796. His paternal grandfather. Deacon Thomas Dutton, was engaged in actual service as a captain in the war of the Revolution. His father also, though a minor, was for a short tirae in the army. His mother was a lineal descendant from John Punderson, one of the seven pillars of the church first established in New-Haven. His success furnishes an illustration of the practical equality that exists in this country, and of the reward that uniformly repays industry and perseverance. From childhood until the age of sixteen, he was en gaged, except while attending a district school, in assisting his father in the cultivation of a small farm. This gave him a vigor of constitution, which has never failed in the most severe trials of a laborious profession. It gave him also a familiar acquaintance with the virtues and vices, the passions and prejudices, the acquirements and capabilities, of that por tion of the community which has been aptly called the bone and sinew of the body politic. The knowledge thus acquired has been of essential service to hira, both at the bar and in the halls of legislation. It enabled him also, in after life, to appreciate and enjoy the works of Virgil, Theo critus, and others, who have so beautifully and accurately described the employments and pleasures of rural life. From early youth he has been fond of reading and study, and this inclination was fostered and encouraged by his father, a man of strong natural powers of mind, who felt severely the want of early advantages. He was induced to attempt the arduous task of acquiring, without pecuniary resources, the benefits of a liberal education, by the encour agement and exaraple of the late Rev. Aaron Dutton, at his death one of the Socii of Yale College, and of his brother, the late M. R. Dutton, Professor of Matheraatics and Natural Philosophy in the same institu tion. From the age of sixteen to twenty, by interchangeably keeping school, studying, and laboring on the farm, he qualified himself for ad mission to the junior class in Yale College. In 1818 he graduated with the highest honors that could be awarded on such an advanced admis sion. The only pecuniary aid of any amount which he received was a legacy from a maternal uncle of one hundred dollars. He left college, therefore, considerably in debt ; but he immediately took charge of the acaderay in Fairfield, which enabled him to liquidate this, and qualify himself for admission to the bar. He prosecuted his legal studies un der^ the tuition of Hon. R. M. Sherman, whose friendship he enjoyed until his death, and whose meraory he cherishes as that of one of the brightest ornaments of the profession. By him Mr. Dutton was carried back to the fountains of jurisprudence, and taught to regard Coke upon Littieton as a text-book, and to read Feme on Contingent Remainders by way of amusement. From 1821 to 1823 he was a tutor in Yale College, at the close- of 688 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS. which engagement he estiiblished himself at Newtown, in Fairfield county, Connecticut. In the course of a few months he married Eliza beth E, Joy, daughter of Captain M. Joy, and granddaughter of Rev. Andrew Eliot, of Boston, As the " first fruits" pf the profession were wholly insufficient for the support of a faraily, he made up the deficiency by taking charge of a number of young men, sorae of whom had been under the care of Captain Partridge, at Middletown, and others had " leave of absence" frora Yale College. This, for several years, con tinued his familiarity with classical studies, and relieved the tedium usually experienced in comraencing practice. After remaining fourteen years in Newtown, and becoming well established in business, he re moved to Bridgeport, in the same county. He continued there, in full practice, ten years, when he received the appointment of Professor of Law in Yale College, and, as an associate with the Hon. C. Bissell, suc ceeded the Hon. S, J, Ilitchcock and Hon. J. H. Townsend in the charge of Yale Law School, which position he now occupies — although he is still engaged, to a considerable extent, in professional business. When Mr. D, began to practise law, he enjoyed the opportunity of wit nessing some of the finest exhibitions of legal science and skill that have ever been displayed in the state, not to say in the country. The late Judge Daggett and Hon, Nathan Smith were then in the prime of life, and regularly attended the courts in Fairfield county. Here they met, or were associated with, Hon, R. M, Sherman, Hon. S. B. Sherwood, and Hon, C, Bissell, and subsequently the Hon, T. Betts, whose early death, when U, S, Senator, extinguished a brilliant genius as well as logical intellect. The contests of these intellectual gladiators could not be witnessed without interest and improvement. After those distinguished men, by death or otherwise, ceased from their labors in the profession, and especially since the lamented death of the late I^On, R. Booth, of Danbury, Mr. D, has been employed in almost all the important cases in Fairfield county, and has practised to a considerable extent in other counties in the state. He was for several years attorney for the state for the county of Fair field, and has been judge of the New- Haven County Court. Mr, D, has been repeatedly called upon to lend his aid in modifying and improving the statute laws of the state. He has been five times a meraber of the House of Representatives — twice from Newtown, twice frora Bridgeport, and once frora New-Haven — and has been once a meraber of the State Senate. In 1847, he was appointed, in connection with Hon, L. P. Waldo and F. Fellowes, Esq., a commissioner to make a new revision of the statute? — tbey had not been revised since 1821. This work required of the commissioners a great amount of care and labor in expunging and correcting obsolete and careless phraseology, in incorporating acts passed since the last revision, and separating matters which had been improperly joined, and in reducing the whole to a sys tematic arrangement. The result of their labors was approved of by the legislature of 1848, was published in 1849, and has given general satisfaction. Among the particular laws which he has been instru mental in having passed, is the act allowing, in civil cases, all persons, of sufficient age and capacity, to testify. This has been considered by some a measure of doubtfiil policy, at least so far as parties are con- HENRY DUTTON, OP CONNECTICUT. 689 cemed ; but Mr. D. holds that it promotes the investigation of truth, and relieves the lawfrom the gross inconsistency of the rule allowing witnesses to testify under the strongest bias — from affection, relationship, party spirit, revenge, loss of reputation, and interest in fact, while it excludes a person who has only a nominal interest, and who frequently is preju diced in favor of the adverse party, merely because he is a party to the record. In his opinion, much more danger of perjury is to be appre hended from other influences than from that of mere pecuniary interest. He was also in favor of the law adopted in 1850, of giving to the coun sel for a prisoner the right of a closing argument to the jury. He thought that a person accused of a crime ought to have an oppor tunity of explaining satisfactorily, if he can, not only what is proved, but also what is said to his prejudice ; and that, if the honesty and can dor of the counsel for the prosecution can, in all cases, be safely relied upon to protect the prisoner from misstatements of testimony, and false and unfounded inferences from admitted or established facts, their zeal, at least, needs to be guarded against. He favored a reform in pleading, so far, at least, as to allow in all actions one form of the general issue, and to require that all special matter should be pleaded specially, or that notice should be given of it under the general issue. He was in favor, also, of a law, that in actions ex contractu the plaintiff shall be permitted to obtain judgment against one or more of several defendants, when he cannot sustain his case against all. He introduced a bill, which was adopted, giving to the superior court sole jurisdiction of all cases of divorce, thereby relieving the legis lature of a mass of business that had becorae a nuisance and reproach. He aided also in the passage of a bill, prepared by the Hon, T. B. Butler, of Norwalk, and several other bills, securing more effectually the rights of married women. In 1848, with the assistance of N, A, Cowdrey, Esq., he published a revision of the first volume of Swift's Digest, and is now revising the second volume, in which w'ill be introduced a Treatise on Connecticut Practice, and a large number of new forras. As a politician he has always been a decided whig. His father was a Jeffersonian democrat, while his other relatives, when he was young, chiefly belonged to the old federal party. This gave him an opportunity of listening to discussions of party principles, and witnessing manifes tations of party feeling, which make all modern demonstrations appear to him like mere child's play. Under these influences he grew up with an instinctive abhorrence of aristocratical feelings and distinctions. But he has never been able to discover how the denunciation of the rich tends to ameliorate the condition of the poor, nor how bread is to be provided for the hungry by paralyzing business and enterprise. This has led him, as a legislator, to support bills chartering banks whenever clearly shown to be demanded by the necessities of commerce or manu- factures, believing that they enable integrity and energy to compete successfully with influence and capital. He is impressed with the belief that the worid grows wiser as it grows older ; that every succeeding generation is in a situation to profit 44 b9U SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. by the discoveries of those which have preceded it, and that a measure ought not, of course, to be rejected, merely because it is new. He unwaveringly upholds the doctrine, that all the citizens of the United States are bound to maintain the constitution of the United 'States in its integrity. The following testimonial, addressed to the Hon. C. Bissell and him self, may be regarded as proof of the satisfactory manner in which he ¦discharges his present duties. At a meeting of the students of Yale Law School, held August 28th, 1849, the following resolutions were unanimously passed, viz : " Resolved, That, for careful instruction in that profession which is to be at once our raeans of support and our road to whatever of usefiilness and distinction is our destined share in life — for kind and courteous treatment of us as students, and for private acts of friendship and kind ness to different individuals of our brotherhood, our hearty thanks are due to the professors of Yale Law School. " Resolved, That those of us now leaving the school, and expecting before long to enter on the practice of our profession, will ever look back to this period of our preparatory training with feelings of pleasure and gratitude ; and that we shall regard the time spent here, the ex- ¦araples set before us of legal learning, and the high-toned and correct ideas of a lawyer's duties and responsibilities which we have been taught, as so many living pledges for efforts on our part to do in everything ac cording to the full measure of our abilities and the strict requirements •of rectitude." ^EH?- (G-SIDEOH J" . FHILILOW, OF TBITN-F. sa F.?: J 'or Bu\jrufj!ucal Skatcka.^ of' Flnu/w GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 691 MAJOR GEN, GIDEON J, PILLOW. OP TENNESSEE. The subject of this sketch was born on the 8th day of June, 1806, in Williamson county, in the State of Tennessee. He was the second son of Gideon and Annie Pillow. John Pillow, the grandfather of General Pillow, moved to Tennessee in the year 1783, and settled in the present city of Nashville, in the midst of the most ferocious and hostile tribe of Indians, who at that day held almost undisputed sway over that part of the country. He had five sons — Williara, Gideon, John, Mordecai, and Abner, all of whom grew up amidst the hardships, perils and privations incident to the frontier settlements of that state. For many years they were constantly engaged in the Indian wars, which for so long a time retarded the settlement of that part of the country. These five brothers were all distinguished for their activity, and fearless and daring intrepidity in their conflicts with the Indians. Col. Wm, Pillow was greatly distinguished in the war of 1812, under General Jackson, and, while gallantly charging at the head of his regiment in the battle of Talledega, was shot through the body, from which wound he has been ever since disabled. General Pillow's grandfather and his brothers, and three brothers of his grand mother, were all soldiers of the Revolutionary War ; the youngest of whom, Abner Johnson, (for many years a pensioned soldier,) died, at the advanced age of ninety-three, in June, 1851. Gen. Pillow's mother was a daughter of Josiah Payne, who was an uncle of Mrs. Madison. Gen. Pillow graduated at the Nashville University in 1827. Hav ing selected the law as his profession, he entered immediately upon its study, under the direction of the Hon. W. E. Kennedy, then one of the judges of the Circuit Court of Tennessee. After eighteen months' close study under Judge Kennedy, he went to the office of the Hon. W. L. Brown, then one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the state, where, after eighteen months' additional study, he was licensed by Judges Catron (now Justice Catron of the Supreme Court of the United States) and White, at that time presiding on the Supreme Bench of Tennessee. Having settled in Columbia, Tennessee, he immediately entered upon the practice of his profession. The bar of Columbia was at that tirae one of the ablest in the state. Gen. Pillow, by his thorough knowledge of his profession, obtained during three years' hard study before he was licensed — ^by strict attention to the business of his clieats — by his en ergy, tact, quick perception of the true points at issue, and his almost intuitive knowledge of men, sodn acquired the character of an able and successful lawyer, and in the course of ten years ranked with the first lawyers of his state. While he was greatly distinguished as an advo cate and criminal lawyer, he shared largely in all the important litigated business of the portion of the state in which he resided. Avoiding all the seductive allurements of political life, and devoting himself with 692 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. an energy which overcame every obstacle, an industry which enabled him to master every subject, his professional career was, perhaps, the most successful, if not the most brilliant, of that of any lawyer of his state. In 1844 his warra personal friendship for Mr. Polk induced him to depart from his accustomed pursuits, so far as to go to Baltimore as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. His active partici pation in that convention is known to have greatly contributed to the result which placed Mr. Polk before the nation. He entered warmly into the political canvass which followed. At a great mass-meeting which assembled in the immediate vicinity of Mr. Polk's residence, he, at the request of Mr. Polk, delivered a speech upon the Texas question, in answer to a letter of Mr, Clay's, combatting the annexation of Texas as a violation of international law. This argument of General Pillow evinced a thorough acquaintance with international law, met and refuted triumphantly all the positions assumed by Mr. Clay, and was distin guished by great ability and research. It was published in pamphlet form, in great numbers, by the Democratic Association of Tennessee, and was extensively circulated over the country. It added greatly to the already high reputation of its author. After Mr. Polk's election, Gen, Pillow returned to his accustomed pursuits, neither seeking nor desiring any position in the government, and was found in the full and successful practice of his profession when he received a commission as brigadier-general in the army in the war with Mexico. He received his commission on the evening of the 13th of July, 1846 ; on the morning of the 14th July he tore hiraself loose frora his faraily and professional engageraents, and proceeded directly to Camargo, in Mexico, the then head-quarters of the American army. He was the first general officer of the then recent appointments who re ported for duty to General Taylor. By great effort and extraordinary energy he was enabled to carry forward with him his brigade of Tennes see volunteers. He was most ardent in his desire to go forward with General Taylor in the movement then about to be made upon Monterey. In this de sire, however, he was sadly disappointed. The arrangements of General Taylor for moving on Monterey only contemplated a force of some 6,000 men of all arms. The volunteers of the coluran were selected by lot, and organized into a field division under General Butler, with Quitman and Hamer for his brigadiers. In consequence of the non- employment of the reraaining troops, General Pillow was left in com mand of a brigade in depot at Camargo. His attention was turned to the instruction of his coraraand in the duties of its new profession, and the establishment of an efficient discipline. Such duty as that is most trying on the patience and devotion of an officer, for it is that of rou tine, without the stimulus of an iraraediate and urgent necessity for ex ertion. In respect to the troops at Caraargo, the honors and fatigues of the service were being gathered aiid undergone by other troops, though not all the dangers ; for the fatal diseases of an unhealthy climate broke out, and raade as many, if not more victims than both sword and pestilence in the active portions of the army. Araong those at tacked was General Pillow, who, after lying dangerously ill for many weeks, becarae so far restored as to be able to travel. Under the sup- GIDEON J. PILLOW, OP TENNESSEE. 693 position that a period of inactivity would ensue, he made preparations to leave the country for the benefit of his health, and had proceeded as far as the mouth of the Rio Grande. There he learned of the movement of the army on Victoria. He returned at once, marched from Mata- moras, in command of a brigade, to Victoria ; and when General Scott dismembered Taylor's comraand in order to lay siege to Vera Cruz, Pillow marched for Tampico, there embarked, and was present at the landing of the American army, opposite Sacrificios, on the 9th of March, 1847. On the following day the extension of the lines of investment commenced, and in the execution of this duty Pillow became first posi tively engaged with the enemy. Worth's division of regulars having taken its ground on the right of the proposed line without serious opposition, Patterson was ordered to move his troops to their station on its left, and to the south and west of the city of Vera Craz. The enemy had, however, assembled in force to dispute the further occupation of the line, and the general of division ordered Pillow to dislodge him from an old building (the hacienda Mali- bran) and the chaparral in its vicinity. His force was composed of two regiments of Tennessee, and two of Pennsylvania volunteers, and the report of his division-commander describes his conduct in the fol lowing language : " A few minutes after, General Pillow, having penetrated the chapar ral, encountered the Mexican infantry in the vicinity of the ruined build ing, whence, after sorae sharp firing, he drove them with loss, one offi cer and three men having been left upon the field. He now opened his way through the chaparral, and, pushing on with the First Tennessee Regiment, (Colonel Campbell's,) gained possession of the magazine, (a strong stone building south of the hacienda Malibran,) in which were found a large number of segude rockets, and one hundred and twenty boxes of shrapnel shot. Leaving Colonel Campbell's regiment to hold this point, he moved on with the Second Tennessee regiraent, (Colonel Haskell's,) and the First Pennsylvania Regiment, (Colonel Wynkoop's,) against a body of cavalry and infantry occupying the rail-road at its .intersection with the Madeline road. Here the enemy was again driven, and he was now pursued through a dense chaparral and over a rugged country to the crest of the hills southwest of the city. On these hills the eneray rallied and made a show of resistance ; but he was compel led, as before, to retire as our troops steadily advanced, until, com pletely routed, he sought shelter under the guns of the city. The two regiments last named, although exposed to the fire from the guns of the city, bivouacked on these heights." This, the most considerable action which occurred in the extension of the lines of investment at the siege of Vera Cruz, closed the operations of the 13th of March. The two following days the extension was com pleted to Vergara, and the business of the siege commenced. During its continuance the subject of this memoir was occupied in active reconnoissance and the detail duties of his command. In the course of thera he had a conspicuous share in the operations which re sulted in the fall of that important place ; and upon its commander offer ing to capitulate. Gen. Pillow was appointed one of the coraraissioners for the negotiation of the terms, on the part of General Scott, with 694 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Gen. Worth and Col. Totten, Chief Engineer, and Capt. Aulick, on the part of the naval commander. How he performed the delicate duty appears from the official report of the general-in-chief, for in it he has said that " four more able or judicious officers could not have been de sired." The speedy approach of the sickly season forced upon the American army the necessity of a prompt movement from Vera Cruz into the in terior. The arrival and organization of trains of transportation was only awaited ; and with but little knowledge of the movements or in tentions of the enemy, the advance comraenced on the 9th of April. Twiggs' division moved on that day. and on the following Patterson's, under the temporary comraand of Pillow, followed. On the I4th, Gen. Scott received private dispatches informing hira that the enemy was concentrating in force to oppose him at some point between Puente Nacional and Jalapa. This information was forwarded by special ex press to the advance, but both Twiggs and Pillow had received similar information, and were prepared for opposition. None was made on the road to Plan del Rio by Gen, Santa Anna, who had taken post at Cerro Gordo, and was awaiting the arrival of the Araerican army. The different divisions, as they carae up, were halted at Plan del Rio, and during several days' reconnoissances were pushed to close vicinity of the eneray's works. The general disposition for the attack had been early deterrained upon by the general-in-chief after his arrival at Plan del Rio, and it was intended that Gen. Pillow should lead the colurans against the eneray's right. The pass of Cerro Gordo, properly so called, extends for about a mile along the road, which, in that vicinity, forms an angle with the base of the hill of Cerro Gordo, its salient being given to the west. Within this angle was erected the lines of Mexican entrenchments ; three ridges extended from the salient of the angle towards the east, and the ex tremities of each were fortified by works completely commanding the road, as well as by any route which might be found bet-ween it and the rocky banks of the Rio del Plan. The right wing of the Mexican army garrisoned these entrenchments, while the left was about the western , extremity of the pass, and on the hill of Cerro Gordo, which commanded a view of the whole country, and all entrenchments of the Mexican posi tion. Strong Mexican reserves were to the rear of the pass and Cerro Gordo. The order of battle issued by the general-in-chief on the 17th of April, contemplated the turning of the whole position by the right with Twiggs' division and Shields' brigade, while Pillow's brigade should as sault the strong lines of entrenchments on the Mexican right. Battery No, 1, at the extremity of the ridge nearest the precipitous banks of El Rio del Plan, was divided from No. 2 by a ravine. No. 2 was a strong field-work with two salients, having, besides, two com manding works in the rear. The ravine which intervened between Nos, 2 and 3 was of greater width, but the latter work was so constructed as to deliver a flank fire upon any force assaulting No. 2. The whole ground in front of the lines was of exceeding difficulty, being broken and rocky, and covered with a growth of tropical shrubbery ; — a serious impediment to any advance, and utterly precluding a distant view o GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 695 the works. General Pillow, having been informed of the probable dis position of his command, had labored for several preceding days in en deavoring to complete a reconnoissance, and in the performance of this duty several times barely escaped from the pickets of the en eray. But the reconnoissances could not be pushed so close as to develop all the defences of the Mexican position, or all the impediments to be overcome by an assaulting force. The troops which were to turn the Mexican left, having advanced some distance on their route on the afternoon of the 17th, and batteries against the different Mexican positions having been located during the night, the dispositions were made early on the following morning for the final assault. The troops of Twiggs' command were disposed to assault and turn Cerro Gordo, while Pillow's brigade and Worth's division marched frora Plan del Rio, the forraer to take position for the assault, and the latter to remain in reserve. Near the mouth of the pass. Pillow diverged frora the main road, and moved to the front of the Mexican batteries by a mountain path, which, though the only one leading to the position, was so broken and rocky as to admit only of the passage of troops by the flank. The intention of the brigadier- general was, to assault what in the obscurity of the Mexican positions appeared to be an angle, connecting batteries Nos. 1 and 2 at once upon each flank. The Second Tennessee Regiment, reinforced by a company of Kentucky, and one of Pennsylvania, and supported by the Second Pennsylvanians, was to form the assaulting column of the American right, while the First Pennsylvanians, supported by the First Tennesseeans, was to attack from the left, nearer the banks of the Rio del Plan. For the execution of these operations, the Second Tennessee regiment was placed in the advance, and moved to its position ; the First Pennsylvanians followed it, with instructions to proceed on to its post opposite the Mexican right, and the supporting forces were to have been within distance before the assault commenced. But the nature of the ground, and the obscurity of the Mexican position, obliged the troops to come under fire while in process of formation. The Second Tennessee regiraent being in advance, was the first to receive it ; and although it stood to its ground with heroic bravery, yet the moment was critical and dangerous. Seventeen guns from front and flanks were opened by the enemy, iu full and uninterrupted play ; and as the men were falling rapidly, and the fire having commenced at Cerro Gordo, Pillow ordered the immediate assault by the troops already in position, while in person he hastened to the left of the attacking column. The Second Tennessee regiment dashed rapidly forward at battery No. 2, through the tangled chaparral, and over rocks and line of abatis, which obstructed the approach, But the Mexican fire was heavy, and natural difficulties prevented the approach of the supporting force, as well as the speedy assault of the Pennsylvanians on the right. Under this terrific storm of shot, shell and canister. Pillow, while pushing across the ravine to the front of battery No. 1, fell wounded ; and mean while, notwithstanding the noble gallantry of the Second Tennessee regiment, the advance from the left had been checked, and under the severe fire of the enemy broken in its formation by its movement over such difficult ground, with its lieutenant-cok>uel and major, six other 696 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. commissioned officers, and a fearful number of subordinate rank, upon the field, dead or wounded, and under the orders of its colonel (Haskell) to retreat, the regiment was falling back in sorae disorder. The colonel set the exaraple, unworthy of his gallant regiment. The movements thus delayed, Colonel Campbell, of the First Tennessee Regiment, was ordered by Pillow to bring up the supporting forces, and re-form them for another and decisive assault. But before the troops could be dis posed, in the confusion resulting frora Haskell's retrograde movement, ¦< the fire which had raged on the American right about the position of Cerro Gordo, had ceased ; and the enemy finding his retreat cut off, and that Pillow was about to renew the attack, threw out a white flag in token of surrender, which was soon after accepted ; and under the escort of Pillow's troops, the Mexican opposing forces were marched as pris oners of war to the village of Plan del Rio. In this assault the principal loss fell upon the Second Tennessee Regiment, and its two companies of reinforcements. The First Tennes seeans, who had fought so nobly at Monterey, although coming into action as a supporting force, yet suffered severely ; but their constancy and valor were in keeping with their previous conduct, and with that devotion with which the soldiers of their heroic state have ever upheld her own and their country's honor. The check which the Second Tennessee Regiment met with, was ne cessarily a matter of deep regret ; but though it lost ground as a body, it can never be said that it lost honor ; for the list of killed and wounded shows too plainly how constantly the men and subordinate officers stood their ground ; and had their colonel acted with a like gal lantry, he, too, would have deserved the warrior's wreath of fame. But whether conscious of his own bad conduct or not, he chose some time afterwards to lay the responsibility of his own retreat at the door of his commander ; the same commander who, in his feeling of pride in his state, and in charity for the raan, had wished that nothing should appear against an officer in comraand of a regiment of Tennesseeans, and had included him in the general commendations so well earned by his gallant regiraent. The attack upon General Pillow, in connection with this matter, and the effect which it had of bringing to light the bad conduct of him who made it, is too recent to have passed from the remembrance of his fellow-citizens. The vindication of the general, while it proved that in all times he had acted with judgraent, and in that manner which under all known circurastances was the best calculated to obtain success, showed that the person who chose to take so unjustifiable a raethod of attacking a distinguished officer to whom he was politically opposed, as to appeal in a production totally uncalled for to the public, while the subject of the attack was engaged in service, from which the author of the assault had just retired, was totally unfit for the position to which the partiality of his soldiers had elected him; and that, in the excite ment of the action, he was not a competent witness, either in regard to the conduct of his general, or to any matter which had occurred upon the field. But the military reputation of General Pillow does not require a re ference to his vindication against this unprovoked and unjustifiable as- GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 697 sault ; for the facts of his conduct speak for themselves in his favor, and the official reports of his division-comraander, and of the general-in- chief, alike bear testiraony in his praise, while subsequent events have placed it far above dispute or contradiction, although party malevo lence and party intrigue have caused most strenuous exertions to be put forth to cloud its brilliancy, and to deprive hira of the approbation of his countrymen — the first wish, as it is the greatest reward, of a true patriot and soldier. ¦ The progress of the Mexican war had shown the necessity of employ ing a larger force of regular troops ; for the terra of service of the vol unteers, who had fought so well on every field in whose glories they had participated, had nearly expired. A bill had passed Congress, authorizing the President to raise ten additional regiments for the army, and to appoint the necessary general officers for their command. Of his selections for the grade of Major- General, Pillow was one, and his future active service in the army was in that character. When General Scott discharged the twelve months' volunteers, some month and a-half before the expiration of their term of service, from Jalapa, Pillow was left without command. He had heard of his pro motion, but had not received official notification of it. In the interval of active operations, he returned to the United States, and, after a short visit to his family, returned to New-Orleans, where for a time he was employed in forwarding his command, which had already been raised, and of which portions were then en route for the seat of war. He soon set out in person, and by the middle of June arrived at Vera Cruz, where he found a considerable force encamped, and awaiting the or ganization of transportation to advance. General Cadwallader, one of his brigadiers, had arrived from Brazos Santiago, and had raarched from Vera Cruz a short time previous. In the midst of the sickly season, and in the necessity known to exist of speedy reinforcement to the American army, Genera[Pillow at once set about preparing for the advance, and by his energetic endeavors, in a few days he was enabled to proceed. The sultry climate of the tierra caliente of Mexico made the marches extremely severe upon officers and men, and, notwithstanding every precaution, many suffered under the trial. But moving on as rapidly as possible, with a due regard to safety, the column cleared the sickly tierra caliente, passed Jalapa, which had been abandoned by the order of General Scott, and rising upon the plateau of Mexico, effected a junction on the first of July, with Cadwallader, who, under Pillow's order, was awaiting its arrival at Perote. Thence the whole command, numbering over 2,500 of all arras, marched to Puebla, then the posi tion of the main army, where it arrived on the 8th of July, Through out the movement from Vera Cruz, all the troops had been harrassed and annoyed by attacks from guerrilla. The heaviest of these had been encountered by the advance under Cadwallader, but they had been con tinued against the other portions, and were kept up from time to time, until the column arrived at Puebla. While the American army remained at Puebla, it is known that negotiations were carried on by General Scott and Mr. Trist with the 698 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Mexican president, having in view the coraraenceraent of negotiations for peace. The position held by General Pillow caused hira to be consulted. The full nature of these negotiations has never been made public by the principal participants. General Scott and Mr, Trist. Nay, they have positively refused to give information respecting them, and that which is known has becorae apparent more by the development of facts in subsequent affairs, than by any declaration, either official or private. These facts prove the part which General Pillow took therein, and the course which he considered most advantageous to his country, as the sequel will fully show. He was in favor of pursuing any law ful method by which the evils of war could be ended, so long as the safety and honor of the Araerican army was not placed in jeopardy by a reliance upon the good faith of an enemy known to be treacherous in the extreme. There is palpable evidence to show that before his march frora Puebla to the city of Mexico, the general-in-chief had in contem plation the agreement to an armistice, which was afterwards entered into; and Pillow's opposition to this measure, which he feared would accumulate the difficulties, if it did not cause disaster to the American army, was afterwards the cause of General Scott's displeasure. But the facts in relation to the matter will be seen in the course of the narrative. The American army marched from Puebla in the early part of Au gust, against the Mexican capital. It moved by division on successive days. Pillow's, which was the rearmost, moved on the 10th, and on the ISth entered the valley of Mexico, making up the total strength of the gallant army of 10,500 men, which was about to assault the capital of Mexico, a city of 200,000 inhabitants, defended as it was by stony fortifications, and an army of over thirty-five thousand men. The pre vious days had been employed in reconnoissance and the selection of a point of attack ; and on the 14th a meeting of general officers was held at Ayotla, at which the general-in-chief explained his views, and gave his orders for an attack upon Mexicalcingo, a strong point on the south east of the city; but these orders were modified on account of in formation, the result of a reconnoissance conducted by Lieutenant- Colonel Duncan, by which a route was shown to be practicable, turn ing the system of exterior defences on the east of Mexico, and effecting an approach on the southern point. The army moved around Salse Chalco, and on the 18th of August was in position near St. Augus tine Flapam, on the Acapulco road. Reconnoissances were made on that day for selecting a route for the further advance. Worth's division had been advanced to within observing distance of the fortified hacienda of San Antonio, which obstructed the direct movement by the Acapul co road. The position was found so strong, that the Araerican general- in-chief turned his attention towards a route which he hoped could be made practicable by labor; and on the duty of opening the road by the rancho of Padienna, across the pedrigal. General Pillow proceeded with his division on the morning of the 19th. After advancing a few miles, he learned that a strong division of the Mexican army was in position to oppose him ; and hearing that the eneray was just then locating his heavy guns, he desired to push forward and coramence the battle im mediately, and before the enemy had completed his preparations. GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TBNKESSEE. 699 General Scott's or,^ers were, however, positive that the road should be finished as far as practicable before commencing the action ; and while the, work was progressing, Twiggs' division was sent forward to the advance as the covering force. Upon rising the slope of the hill of Zacatepec, the troops came under long range of the Mexican guns, and the necessity 'of a battle, in order to secure a further advance, was at once apparent. Pillow had been, during the morning, upon the summit of the hill of Zacatepec, observing the entrenched camp, which -was in his path, and had decided upon the plan of operations. The camp lay upon a hill, side in front of, and commanding the only practicable route for making a road across the pedrigal, an immense field of lava, which extended from the mountains on the south of the valley of Mexico to the position of San Antonio, and, being deeraed impassable by the Mexican general, was defended only at the position of the camp. The only direct com munication which the Mexican general, Valencia, had with the capital, was by the road through San Angel, running north from the point where he had taken post. The American approach was from the east, and Gen. Pillow determined that while an attack should take place in front, an endeavor should be made to cross the pedrigal with infantry, and seize the village of San Geronirao, which lay directly upon the Mexican line of communication, with a view to cutting off reinforcements, and of attacking the position in rear. As Twiggs' division had been placed in the advance by General Scott, in obedience to Pillow's direction, Twiggs moved directly against the front with Smith's brigade, and in a few moments. Pillow in person ordered Riley to move on San Geroni- mo. The battle had fairly comraenced on the part of the Mexicans, in an unceasing cannonade, and Sraith's brigade drove back a cloud of Mexican skirmishers, which occupied the pedrigal in front of the en trenched camp. His advance was for a tirae rapid, while Riley's was very slow over the difficult ground, and at one time it was feared that the passage of the pedrigal was irapracticable— but a short time showed that this opinion was erroneous, and as in that direction lay the decisive point of the field. Pillow at once ordered Cadwallader to follow with his brigade, and to support Riley. Soon after Cadwallader had moved, Twiggs sent back for support for Smith's brigade, and Pierce, of Pil low's division, was ordered forward ; but as it passed the hill of Zaca tepec, on which the oomraander had taken position, heavy reinforce ments of Mexican troops were observed in march frora the city towards the position of Valencia, and the vital importance of the village of San Geronirao, which had been unforeseen, was still raore fully demonstiated. Gen. Pillow, therefore, halted one regiment of Pierce's brigade, which he held for some little time, until the intentions of the enemy became certain, and then it was sent to the support of Cadwallader and to warn him of his danger. The two remaining regiments passed on to the front, and all the American troops on the field, except a battery of horse-artillery and sorae squadrons of dragoons, which were unable to operate over the rugged ground, had been placed in position, and en gaged the enemy. Some few minutes afterwards. Gen. Scott arrived on the field, and although he did not positively assume the comraand, ety, as he was there, and of course consulted upon them, the subsequent 700 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. movements of the field are substantially his. He expressed his high commendation of what Gen. Pillow-had ordered, hftwever ; an as all the troops were en route or disposed of, he awaited the course of events. When Shields' brigade arrived from San Augustin, that general was ordered to follow and support the forces which had already passed the pedrigal. But the early movements of the action, which Pillow had ordered, had already secured the victory — for Valencia was cut off from support; Riley had gained a position for attacking his rear; Cadwalla der had taken a strong position in San Geronirao, and offering battle with his small brigade to the Mexican army, had arrested its march and prevented a junction with Valencia. The isolation of the carap necessar rily resulted in the achievement of the victory of the following morning. It was not until near nightfall that General Pillow obtained General Scott's permission to leave the position on the hill of Zacatepec, to cross the pedrigal, and give his attention to the immediate movement in the vicinity of San Geronirao ; and then the broken and rugged nature of the ground rendered a passage impracticable in that direction, as no marked elevation was presented which could serve to guide the way through the darkness. In consequence. Generals Pillow and Twiggs were prevented from crossing; but San Geronimo having been occupied, the proper course of action was then fully apparent, and the battle of Contreras, which was so gallantly and successfully fought on the follow ing morning, was the consequence. General Pillow arrived on the field soon after the achievement of the victory, and pursued the enemy to San Angel. From that point he suggested the idea of threatening the flanks of San Antonio, by a movement in force, whilst Worth ope rated in front with his division. General Scott ordered him to move cautiously forward, and Pillow advanced in command of his own and Twiggs' di^vision, and Shields' brigade, to Cayacan, where he was overtaken by General Scott, who assumed the command. The object thus far had been to force the works of San Antonio, and open the road through them to tlie positions of Tacubaya and Chepultepec. But that object had been gained by the demonstration and Worth's operations against San Antonio. General Bravo had retreated from the position, and Scott, anxious to cut off the retreat, pushed Twiggs, with one brigade, towards the San Antonio road, to take post between the retreating enemy and the city, and ordered Pillow with another to march in the direction of the hacienda, and fall on in flank. These movements were ordered without the knowledge of the ground, and in no expectation of falling in with the main body of the Mexican army, in strong fortified positions. But so it was. An advanced regiment of Worth's division, moving on the San Antonio road, first carae under fire ; and next Twiggs' troops ran full against a strongly fortified convent, corapleteLy sweeping the path by which it had been hoped to cut off the retreat of the enemy. The battle of Churubusco was at once commenced, and with such good will on the part of the Mexican troops, as to demonstrate, Jn the fullest manner, that a severe struggle for victory was io be decided before the conquest of the capital; or before the agreement of an. arraistice to allow time for negotiations which Gen. Scott had previously determined upon, in compliance with the negotiations with the Mexican President GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 701 When the battle commenced, Pillow was in march towards San Antonio iu execution of his orders, but the rear of the conflict about the convent told him that he was not moving upon the true point of battle, and, on coming in sight of the San Antonio causeway, he at once inclined strongly to the left, and proceeded rapidly to the head of the brigade, across the raarshy fields and irrigating ditches which inter vened between him and the road. As he reached it he effected a junc tion with Worth's division, the main body of which was then advancing up frora San Antonio in pursuit. The severity of the battle which was raging on the left, made it ne cessary that decisive action should at once be taken, and the two generals prepared to move their commands upon the Mexican posi tions directly in their front, which were in general the line of the rivu let of Churubusco, the passage of which was defended by a strong and beautifully constructed tete du pont, mounting several guns of different calibres. The main body of the Mexican army was opposed to them ; but the nature of the ground, covered as it was with a dense growth of corn, prevented close reconnoissance, and here, since the action had comraenced, and so severely on the left, prudence took the forra of bold and iramediate assault, without which other portions of the army- would have been coraproraised with the whole Mexican force. Though without orders from the general-in-chief, the dispositions were made at once. Worth stretched his division to the right, and advanced ; Pillow sent two regiments to advance on the left of the causeway, and soon became closely and warmly engaged. To describe so long and so brilliant a military struggle as the battle of Churubusco, would take more space than can be given to the pre sent memoir. But after it once opened, the bravery and determination of the assault was that in which military judgment would alone insure success. The Mexicans resisted stoutly, and for nearly three hours the loud roar of musketry and the peals of artillery resounded over the field, while clouds of smoke hung over the whole Mexican position. The American fire in front of the tete du pont was in comparison sraall, for under the direction of their generals, the Araerican troops were feeling their way, and would not throw away their fire upon an uncer tain object. When the nature of the battle had become developed. General Scott sent Shields' and Pierce's brigades to turn the Mexican position, and assault the rear of the tete du pont. This force fell in with the strong bodies of Mexican reserve, and, although in position of irarainent peril, made good battle. Neither it nor the troops of Twigg's command, however, raade any decided impression upon the eneray for a long time. To advance was impracticable, although men and officers strove gal lantly to breast the storm of shot which was showered upon them. In front of the tete du pont, the struggle was no less terrific ; but the Araerican troops were gradually drawing nearer to that work. Worth's troops had approached near the river Churubusco, and a party from different regiments crossed the rivulet, the Mexicans giving way before their deterrained advance. Pillow, finding it irapossible to operate with effect against the enemy in their front, under the cross fire of the convent, the tete du pont, and the line of the Mexican infantry, moved 702 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. under this fire immediately in front of the tete du pont, crossed the road, and took post upon the right. Soon after their arrival, the storm of the tete du pont took place, and the troops of the united commands, rushing through the wet ditches, over the parapets, and into the work, carried the first and most important strong point of the Mexican posi tion. Amongst the troops m.ost conspicuous in this successful assault, was the 14th regiraent of Pillow's division, which, under the leading of' Colonel Trousdale, a gallant Tennesseean, fell in with and cap tured a portion of the battalion of San Patricio, with its standard. This battalion was composed of deserters from the American army ; and as the traitors fought with the alternative of a shameful death, they were the raost desperate of any troops in the ranks of the enemy. The effect of the fall of the tete du pont was to secure the victory to the American arras. Before the fiery assault of Pillow's and Worth's commands, the Mexican line gave way, and rolled in disorder upon the flank of the reserve which was engaged with Shields', which also fled, and in a short time the whole Mexican army was in full retreat to the city ; for, by a happy combination of circumstances. Shields' and Pierce's troops pressed heavily upon their opponents, as Pillow and Worth drove the enemy from his line, and carae down upon the flank. The convent opposed to Twiggs still held out, but it was isolated, and Col. Duncan having placed his guns in position, to enfilade one face of the field-work by which it was surrounded. General Pillow ordered the regiraent of voltigeurs to move the assault under cover of their fire. The Mexican General, Rincon, however, finding himself perfectly un supported, hung out a white flag in token of surrender, and Twigg's troops took possession of the place which they had for so long a time been contending against. The raoveraents in pursuit ¦were commenced by General Pillow or dering Captain Kearney, with three troops of dragoons, to pursue the eneray ; and Worth and Pillow, collecting their troops ¦with alacrity, moved on, and effecting a junction with Shields' and Pierce's corps, which had moved forward to the causeway, were in full march to the city, in support of the dragoons, when orders were received from the general-in-chief to halt the array, and suspend operations. In a few raoraents, and without material additional loss to the army. General Pillow would have entered the city of Mexico, at the head of the array ; would raost probably have captured Santa Anna, and made hirn and army prisoners, and taken his artillery and munitions of war, and put an end to the campaign. To be halted, at such a moraent, at the head of our victorious array, and to be corapelled to call off the pursuit, after two hard-fought battles, in which we had lost, in killed and wounded, over one thousand brave raen, was a painful duty, and one which General Pillow (though with great reluctance) perforraed, as the order of General Scott was positive. Upon returning to the battle-field of Churubusco — a distance of a mile and half to the rear — General Scott informed General Pillow that he had suspended operations for the purpose of granting an armistice to treat for peace. This, General Pillow iramediately opposed, saying to General Scott, GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 703 that the city was in his power — that he should take it ; put his army under shelter ; provide for its wants, and then grant the enemy an arraistice to treat for peace, if he desired it. He further told General Scott, that he had no confidence in Santa Anna's good faith, in desiring to treat for peace ; and he believed that Santa Anna would avail hira self of the interval allowed for an armistice to recruit his beaten army and strengthen the defences of the city. General Scott replied, that his purpose was settled — that if he enter ed the city, he would disperse the goverment, and with it all hopes of peace. By the terms of the negotiation at Puebla, General Scott was to pay ten thousand dollars in advance. He was to fight a battle before the city ; and if he won it, he was then to grant an armistice. He refused to take the initiative, by sending a flag of truce. But he had paid the money — had now fought the battle — had halted the army at the moment when al^t decisive blow was about to be struck, and had now deterrain ed to grant the armistice. Santa Anna had not sent any flag ; for he had refused to take the initiative — neither had he communicated with Gen eral Scott. Santa Anna, in his proclamation declaring the arraistice, said, that General Scott had asked for it. Hence it is raanifest that General Scott was acting upon and carrying out the terms, literally, of the Puebla negotiation. This conviction having taken possession of General Pillow's mind, explains at once his deterrained and continued opposition to the armistice ; and when the fears and apprehensions of Pillow were all more than verified, and General Scott, after fifteen days' fruitless negotiation, found he had again to resume offensive operas tions with numbers greatly reduced, and against the defences greatly strengthened — and when it turned out in the after operations of the army,in taking the city, that the army had to atone for this error of its coraraanding general, in the blood of over sixteen hundred of its bravest spirits, and the armistice had become as odious to the American public as it had been fatal to the array, it may at once be seen what motive operated upon General Scott, afterwards, in his fierce proscription and persecution of the officer who had opposed, with such determined pur pose, his disreputable Puebla negotiations, and the armistice which fol lowed as one of its features. By the testimony which was given before the subsequent Court of Inquiry, it is proved that both Pillow and Worth opposed the terms of that disastrous convention, although in a different manner. Pillow opposed it in toto. Worth desired the surrender of the Castle of Che pultepec, as a sine qua non, for the security of the enemy's gooi faith ; and their views were presented to the general-in-chief, in an interview which took place soon after the conversation. Pillow did not let his demonstration of disapprobation of the measure stop here ; but, on the same afternoon, wrote a note to the general-in-chief, in which, in the most friendly manner, a change of the terms was most strongly urged. The note was borne to Gen. Scott by Gen. Pierce, one of the commis sioners. But it failed of effect. Nothing was required as a guarantee of Mexican fidelity, though all history told that it was unworthy of trust. The armistice was agreed to. Every military advantage, won at the cost of the blood of a thousand men at Contreras and Churubus- 704 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. CO, was given up, and the eneray allowed time to collect his routed troops, and to erect formidable inferior fortifications. The conse quence was such as Pillow had anticipated ; and after two weeks of negotiation, in which Mr. Trist, the American commissioner, had made many unauthorized concessions, in his attempt to conciliate Mex ican pride, the American general-in-chief found himself obliged to re-fight the battle, with numbers reduced, and in the face of fortifica tions which had been strengthened and constructed by the enemy du ring the arraistice. The first effort raade by General Scott against the Mexican general, after the resumption of hostilities, was the attack on Molino del Rey, which had for its object the destruction of a foundry supposed to exist. With this view it was to be but a partial operation — Worth's division and Cad wallader's brigade only to be engaged, while Pillow, with Pierce's and Riley's brigades was to approach the city on its south, to make a show of demonstration ; for demonstration it could hardly be called", when the point at which they were to be located was more than two miles from the city. During the evening of September 7th, General Pillow obtained information that the foundry had no existence, and communicated it that "night to the general-in-chief. But Scott had - made his arrangements, was still in doubt, and the attack took place. Worth, however, instead of becoming engaged in a partial skirmish, such as had been anticipated, found himself opposed by a large part of the Mexican array, and the position of his gallant command was critical in the extreme. Nothing but hard fighting, and that such as few troops were ever engag ed in, saved the Battle of Molino del Rey. During its continuance, Pil low, who, at the hacienda of San Boissa, was watching the progress of events, becoming fearful that Worth might not be able to sustain him self against such overwhelming odds, and knowing that he commanded the nearest Araerican troops, which even then were three miles from the field, started without order, with Pierce's and Riley's brigades, for the scene of action. His rapid approach, seen from the Castle of Che pultepec, could have had none other than a dispiriting effect upon the enemy, who gave way before the determined valor of Worth's troops, just before the reinforcement reached the ground. Pillow's movement was approved by General Scott, who had sent an order to that effect some time before the battle was decided, which was not received until the command was near the village of Tacubaya, on its route. General Pillow was not seriously engaged on this day, although his troops held the field while Worth's were retiring under General Scott's orders ; and when the dead and wounded had been removed, Pillow, too, was ordered to withdraw, and the battle-field of Molino del Rey, so gallantly and so dearly won by the blood of 780 of the flower of the army, was given up to the enemy, if he chose to occupy it. The infor mation given to General Scott on the previous evening had been veri fied. The foundry had no existence, and the result, in so far as related to advantages gained for the final assault on the Mexican capital, were comparatively nothing. On the raorning of the 9th of September, a strong body of lancers having threatened Colonel Riley's position at Nalvaite, General Pillow GIDEON J. PILLOW, OP TENNESSEE. 705 changed his head-quarters to Piedad in advance of Nalvaite, which village he occupied with Pierce's and Riley's brigades, bringing Cadwal- lader's forward from Mixcoac to Riley's former position. His pickets were thrown forward to the angle of the road of El Nino Perdido, to within close observing distance of the enemy, who was found to be busily engaged in constructing fortifications along the southern front. It was at once perceived that the time for attack at that point was the immediate moment, and information was sent to General Scott of the state of affairs, and the unfinished conditian of the fortifications ; but the general-in-chief did not contemplate arranmediate assault, and gave strict order that no advance should be raade frora Piedad, although General Pillow was ordered to maintain his ground in case he was at tacked ; and, in order to do so, was authorized to call up Twiggs' and Quitman's corps from San Angel and Cayacan. The Mexicans, how ever, rnade no attack; and throughout the 9th, 10th and 11th of Sep tember, continued at work on their fortifications, which, on the morning of the llth, were nearly completed. On that day the general-in-chief came to Piedad, and, at the meeting of general officers, decided upon his plan of action, which was to assault, by the western front, the Castle of Chepultepec, being the first great point to Be seized. Twiggs' divi sion being left to make a demonstration on the lines of the south front, on the night of the llth, Generals Pillow and Quitman marched their divisions silently into Tacubaya, and took position, preparatory to seiz ing covering points of the batteries about to be erected against the castle. Quitman was to take post on the south of Chepultepec, and Pillow on the west, on the plains and in Molino del Rey. General Pillow moved out to the plains while yet dark, and at the first dawn of light sent a picked corps down to Molino del Rey, which the enemy had no time to occupy. Having seized these points, his duty was that of covering the batteries, and throughout the twelfth his troops remained in observation of Chepultepec, and a cloud of Mexican cavalry which had taken post on his left flank. The effect of the batteries not being sufficiently great to cause the fall of the castle, it became evident that it raust be stormed, and on the night of the I2th the orders for the assault were issued. On the morning of the ISth September, the American batteries re opened heavily upon the castle — the Mexicans as promptly replied, and both parties were busily engaged in preparing for the struggle. Quitman's approach lay along the Tacubaya road, and over strong bat teries at the base of the rock over which the castle is situated, over an exterior wall, and up the declivity to the work. Pillow's through Mo lino del Rey, across an open field, over a line of ditches and entrench ments, through the cypress grove to the base of the rock, over a redan half way up the declivity, which being passed, the troops would be in close vicinity to the object of attack, the castle of Chepultepec. The arrangements for this attack, which were made by General Pillow were to attack the lines of entrenchments with one battalion of volti geurs, while another proceeded outside the walls of the inclosure, whicb surrounded the rock and fields of the position, against an adobe bastion covering a cut in the wall, which being gained, the assaulting troops were in the rear of the line of entrenchments. If the line of entrench- 45 706 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. raents was first carried, then the bastion would be taken in reverse by the troops which had been successful in that quarter. The first of these battalions was to be supported by the Ninth and Fifteenth regiments ; the second, by a storming party of veteran troops from Worth's division, by which Pillow had been reinforced. After the troops had entered the woods, it was intended they should be beat through to the base of the rock, the voltigeurs being in advance to that point. There they were to halt and re-form, while the stormers passed to the front, and, with the support of the thre^egiments, to ascend and storm the castle. To prevent the introduction of reinforcements by the road north of Chepultepec, as well as to watch the strong corps of Mexican cavalry on the left. Colonel Trousdale was stationed with the Eleventh and Fourteenth regiments at the angle of the Molino del Rey. Soon after 8 o'clock, the American batteries ceased their fire, and the assault commenced. Having ordered forward the party which was to advance outside the wall, Pillow proceeded through Molino del Rey, and sent the other through the gate into the field and against the en trenchments. The enemy had got the range of the gate from Chepul tepec, and kept up a heavy fire of shot and shell upon it ; but while the voltigeurs were pushing across the open field, the general stood watch ing their progress until they reached the line of entrenchments, when he quickly ordered forward the ninth and fifteenth regiments. As, with a shout of enthusiasm, these corps rushed through the narrow way. Pil low raounted, and, with his staff, passing rapidly to the front, took the advance. The Mexican troops fought well in the woods, and the guns of the castle sent showers of grape and canister upon the assailants. Knowing the vital iraportance of success, and the necessity of the crisis, still in advance, the general of the division pressed on, his gallant troops followed and beat back the enemy to the base of the hill. Just before reaching it, Pillow fell severely and painfully wounded. But seeing the necessity for immediate attack, although the stormers, delayed by the difficulties of the ground, and not having been able in their close formation to keep pace with the light troops, had not yet taken the advance, he ordered the immediate assault ; for the enemy were rally ing in the redan, and commencing a heavy fire. The troops in position promptly and quickly obeyed, and the redan was carried. The volti geurs, ninth and fifteenth crowned the hill, and taking post ui the rocks, coraraenced raakiug a rapid discharge of rifles and muskets against the defenders of the castle. The fall of Chepultepec was secured in this manner, for when the stormers and the ladders were brought forward, the enemy's fire had nearly ceased. Other troops had advanced in sup port, taking post behind Pillow, but when the ladders were planted the troops of his division entered the work in advance, and pushing to the eastern division, secured not only its possession but the fall of the bat teries on the Tacubaya road — for the Mexicans there held out until a party of voltigeurs and of the 15th regiment poured a volley into their rear ; then they broke, and the American troops opposed to them en tered the batteries, and the whole position was carried ; for, with the castle, fell not only the batteries on the south, but the barricades on the north, against which Colonel Trousdale's command had been bravely ' advancing. GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 707 The effect of this important capture was to secure the fall of the capi tal of Mexico, and to raise the spirits of the American troops to the highest state of enthusiasra. All felt that final success was certain, and as the coraraander, whose troops had been foremost in achieving the brilliant victory, was borne wounded into the works shortly after their occupation, the loud acclaiming shouts of the soldiers bore testimony to their appreciation of his conduct. For sorae three months after this achievement. General Pillow was confined to his quarters from the effect of his wound, and, meanwhile, various circumstances brought about a rupture, as annoying to all con cerned as it was unfortunate for the American general-in-chief The battles had been fought ; the great military operations of the army were finished, and the farae which would attach to the achievement, in the way of making political capital, and in promothig the claims of the general-in-chief to be the candidate of the whig party for the presi dency, became at once the object of his serious attention. The worst feature of which, to be seen in the whole course of his operations, is the agreement to the convention of Tacubaya, by which every military ad vantage was sacrificed to an uncertain political end. Generals Worth and Pillow had opposed this convention as it was agreed to, and it is somewhat remarkable that the general-in-chief took the first opportu nity to quarrel with and arrest the two highest in rank in his army next to himself His exhibition of ill-humor against Pillow was demonstrated in rela tion to two sraall guns, of which the latter knew absolutely nothing ; but the remarks of the general-in-chief, made in his absence before a nuraber of general and other officers, were so pointed and offensive, that Pillow felt constrained to call a court of inquiry. The court com mitted an error of fact in its finding, and its opinion based on this error was therefore, in sorae respects, erroneous. Pillow called the attention of Scott to the error, and requested that the case should be referred back to the court for re-consideration, but Scott refiised, and on this re fusal Pillow appealed to his government. His appeal, and the matter con tained. therein, was the ostensible ground of his arrest ; but the na^ ture of the charges subsequently proved that it was but the pretext to cover his real motives. There had been received from the United States two published let ters from the army in Mexico, in which Generals Pillow and Worth were spoken of in terras of high coramendation. The knowledge that those letters had gone forth, so incensed General Scott, that he caused the issue of General Order, No. 349, in which these two officers were accused with puffing themselves, although at the time the general-in- chief had confessedly no proof upon which to base his unheard-of ap peal to the lower ranks of the army to cast their contumely upon two generals whose lead the greater portion of the troops had often followed to victory. The issue of this order, by the manifestation of jealousy which was displayed, went far to show the fear lest these same two officers should receive more credit than he in his arrogant pruriency of fame was disposed to allow, and in it may also be seen the conscious ness that they were entitied to it. If not, why did he thrust forth an 708 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. order so injurious to discipline, and endeavour to falsify facts which were too well known to permit of undue credit being received by any? These facts were brought out in the investigation before the court of inquiry, but as yet a veil of mystery has concealed from the public why it was that General Pillow's opposition to the armistice should have brought about so bitter a controversy with General Scott, and so deeply involving his reputation. It was expected, during the progress of the investigation, that this mystery would have been explained ; but Gen, Pillow, in his defence, confined the proof to the points at issue in the charges against him, leaving unexplained the secret motives of his accu sers. As, however, the necessity of that silence has ceased to exist, and as the disclosure is necessary to the truth of history, and to a proper ap preciation of the self-sacrificing devotion with which he endured the ob loquy heaped upon him, and the firmness with which he stood by the safety of the army (which he, in fact, commanded) and the honor of the country ; while, at the same time, this disclosure will do honor to the memory of a great statesman who then directed the affairs of the na tion, it now becomes proper that the veil of mystery should be with drawn, and the facts become raatter for history. In 1847 President Polk appointed N, P. Trist a commissioner to ac company the array, with authority to treat for peace should an oppor tunity present itself On Mr. Trist's departure for Mexico, the President forwarded to Gen. Pillow a coramission as major-general in the army, and with it a private and confidential letter, informing him of Mr. Trist's appointment, of his instructions, and of his (Mr. Polk's) directions to Mr. Trist to lay his instructions before him, (General Pillow,) — to consult him fully and freely ; and added, that he should feel better satis fied to know that the honor of his administration and the interest of the country were guarded by his judgment and prudence, and that he (Mr. Polk) relied upon his (Pillow's) friendship to see that neither was com promised. This letter placed General Pillow in secret semi-official relations with Mr. Trist. It is also evident from it that Mr. Polk did not have full confidence in Mr. Trist. To have been thus placed in a position, in which he had, in a great degree, the responsibility of the negotiation, without the power to control the result, was a most embarrassing situ ation, while the confidential manner in which the duty was imposed greatly increased the difficulty. This statement of facts is necessary to a proper understanding of what took place afterwards. The letter referred to is still in existence, and in possession of Gen. Pillow. In a few days after Gen. Pillow arrived in Puebla, (in the latter part of July, 1847,) where he first met with Mr. Trist, and received this let ter of President Polk. He was sent for by Mr. Trist, and requested to visit his quarters. Upon his arrival he found Gen. Scott and Mr. Trist, and was told by Mr. Trist, that, in compliance with the instructions of the President, he invited him to a conference with himself and General Scott, who then had under consultation the reply of Santa Anna, through Mr. Mcintosh, the British consul, to a communication of his, (Mr, GIDEON J. PILLOW, OP TENNESSEE, 709 Trist's,) informing Santa Anna that he was with the army, with authority to treat for peace. General Scott, assuming the lead in the conversation, said, that Santa Anna said he could do nothing without money ; that he must have $10,000 paid in advance, and one million more when the treaty should be agreed upon. He further said that Mr. Trist did not have the mo ney, but that he could pay the $10,000 out of the secret service fund in his hands, and that he could raise the balance, and that they both de sired to know what he thought best to be done under all the circum stances. Gen. Pillow asked Mr. Trist if there was any law authorizing such an expenditure, or if he had the authority of the President to make such use of the public raoney ? To which he replied in the negative. General Pillow then said he thought it was wrong in itself to purchase a peace by bribing the coraraanding general of the enemy's forces ; that it would be disgraceful to the army, and the government, and that he was op posed to it. General Scott promptly remarked — " Perhaps, General Pillow, you have not reflected upon the subject ?" He said it was not wrong in it self; because the fact that Santa Anna was found in the market offer ing to receive a bribe, was evidence that he was already corrupted ; that it was not disreputable to the army or to the government, for it was a means resorted to by all governments to effect their purposes, and that it was a usage recognized by our own government, and mentioned several instances in which it had used money to effect its purposes. Araong others, he instanced the Maine boundary question, in which, he said, the government had expended $500,000 to silence the Maine press ; also the practice of our government in making presents to the Barbary powers and the chiefs of Indian tribes (which were nothing but bribes) as the means of procuring treaties with them. He further said the great want of our governraent and people was peace; that if the army- marched to Mexico and took the city, we should disperse the govern ment, and with it all hopes of peace, and that the war might be pro tracted indefinitely, and that it might cost the government one hundred millions of dollars and the lives of many brave men. Gen. Pillow, having great respect for the opinions of Gen. Scott, and not doubting the correctness of the facts stated by Gen. Scott as to the usage of the government, then asked him, how he could settle so large a sum with the accounting offices at Washington? How could he get a legal voucher for such an item as he proposed to pay ? Gen, Scott promptly replied, that he would have the money paid over to Mr. Trist, and take his receipt, and have the amount charged to the contingent expenses of the war. Gen. Pillow supposed a committee of Congress should be ap pointed to investigate the accounts, and asked him how would he then manage it ? Gen. Scott said, the committee would report upon the pro priety of the expenditure, and not the item itself. By these views, which were entirely new to Gen. Pillow, he was led to doubt the cor rectness of the opinions first expressed, and said, that perhaps it was his duty not to stand in the way, and that he should therefore waive his ob jections. The conference here broke up. On the second day afterwards. 710 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. Capt. Williams, an officer of Gen, Scott's staff, visited General Pillow's quarters, and told hira that General Scott desired him to visit his quar ters that night at eight o'clock. At the appointed hour, General Pillow went to General Scott's quar ters, where he found General Scott and a number of his general officers seated around his table in the centre of the roora. When the other general officers invited to the raeeting had arrived, General Scott said, he had summoned thera to consult thera about a matter involving the question of peace or a continuance of the war. Without any reference to the private conference which they had had two days before at Mr, Trist's quarters. General Scott went substan tially over the same ground he had done at the private conference ; made the same arguments, apparently in anticipation of the very objec tions which General Pillow had made, and met them by the same views and statements, as to the usage of nations and of our own government, which he had done at the private conference, and concluded by saying, that he wanted their opinions — wanted the advice of the officers present as to what was best to be done. He then said to General Pillow, be ing the ranking officer present, " Let us have your opinion first." Pillow replied, that he supposed it was choosing the least of evils to agree to Santa Anna's terms. He then called for General Quitman's opinion, who replied that he was opposed to it ; for Gen. Twiggs', who said he thought it was a political question, and that he was no politician ; for Gen. Shields', who expressed himself strongly opposed to it ; and for General Cadwallader's, who laughed, and said he thought the question was decided. Generals Worth, Pierce, and Smith, were not present. Gen. Scott then said, he was satisfied that he was.right in acceding to Santa Anna's terms ; that he had paid the $10,000, and would pay the balance when peace was made, and that he would take the whole responsibility upon himself He further said, that the meeting was a confidential one upon official business and he deemed it unnessessary to say it would be so considered by those present. The meeting was then dismissed. Having been much surprised that the facts of the negotiation (hereto fore deemed strictly confidential between the parties to the private con ference) were thus placed before the meeting of general officers, and would thus go before the public, and never having been satisfied with the correctness of the conclusion to which he had come at the private conference, Gen. Pillow went that night to Mr. Trist's quarters, but found his door closed, so that he could not see him. He went again next morning, and found Mr. Trist in bed; told him everything General Scott had done the night before at the meeting of general officers ; said to Mr, Trist that he knew he (Pillow) had been originally opposed to the whole matter ; that he had never been satisfied with the conclusions to which he had corae in agreeing to waive his objections ; that he had erred in so doing, and that he had corae to him for the purpose of put ting himself right ; that he then protested against the whole matter, and would avail himself of the first opportunity of informing the President of the whole transaction. Mr. Trist thereupon said, he hiraself had never been entirely satis- GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 7II fied, and that he then believed that he (Gen. Pillow) was right, but that General Scott had actually paid the ten thousand dollars, and waacom- mitted. General Pillow then asked Mr. Trist if there -was no point of disagreeraent between Santa Anna and Gen. Scott. After a raoraent's reflection, he said yes ; that Santa Anna required that, after fighting a battle. General Scott should send a flag of truce, and grant an armistice to treat for peace, but that Gen. Scott thought, that if he fought the battle and won it, that Santa Anna should take the initiative, and send the flag ; but that as Gen. Scott had sent the ten thousand dollars, he supposed he had waived that point. Gen, Pillow replied, that that point being open, he would see Gen. Scott, and try to get him to break off the agreement, and put an end to the negotiation. Accordingly, he went directly to General Scott's quarters, saw him, had a long and animated conversation with hira, protesting against the whole matter, and urged General Scott to relieve himself frora his coraraittal. Gen. Scott at length said, that Gen, Pillow was right, thanked him for the manly manner in which he had expressed himself, and told him to return to his quarters that night, and that he would show him the letter he would write to relieve himself Gen. Pillow did return, as di rected — saw the letter — thought it altogether equivocal in its meaning, but was satisfied with it, conceiving it to be well calculated to relieve him from a false position. After the army had marched from Puebla, Mr. Trist and Gen. Scott became remarkably intimate and friendly. They moved, messed and lived together. General Pillow was never afterwards adraitted to any private conference. He was never again consulted by either of them during the negotiations which followed the armistice, and that they both determined upon a rupture with hira, and upon his disgrace and the de struction of his character, in consequence of his opposition to the secret negotiation at Puebla, and to the armistice, and the belief that he had or would communicate this information to the President, and that this was the secret motive which actuated both, is proven beyond all doubt, by th& facts elicited in that investigation, and the secret relation which is shown to have existed between Gen. Pillow and Mr. Trist. In the mean time the President had recalled Mr. Trist, and as he be lieved under Pillow's information of the Puebla negotiation. An ad ditional motive actuating both, is to be seen in the fact, that they both were exasperated against Mr. Polk ; Gen. Scott, for the severe rebuke he had received from the President, for his insubordination, as shown in " the hasty plate of soup" letter — Mr. Trist, for his recall. They both knew the confidential relations which existed between the President and General Pillow — and that the President would keenly feel the disgrace of his confidential and bosom friend ; and they intended that the stab should reach the heart both of the President and their intended victim. It is thus made manifest that what appeared to the public to be a personal difficulty and private quarrel between Generals Scott and Pillow, was in fact, a controversy relating exclusively to public matters of deep and vital interest to the honor of the country and well-being of the army, and that all the obloquy so long borne by Pillow in si lence was in fact for the firm and fearless discharge of public duty imposed u pon him by the President. 712 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. A conspiracy to destroy an innocent man, more powerful in the means used, and more corrupt in the secret malice of those actuated, is without a parallel in this age or country. The charges which were preferred against General Pillow were volu minous, and of the most scandalous character. Not only was he charged with various misdemeanors, but in regard to his military conduct. Gen. Scott endeavored to falsify his own official approbations, which had been given with a full knowledge of the facts, and which, when he raade them, he strove to represent as having been elicited by the gallantry of his lieutenant, under his own observation. Amongst other allegations, Pillow was charged with having been in favor of the armistice, before it was entered into, and the whole tenor of the document against hira was of so argumentative a nature, that, in the words of Mr. Trist, (in rela tion to one of General Scott's letters,) whose bitter malignity against Pillow, since the failure of his mad scheme of negotiations, proved how much he had to do with fomenting the discord, it was more fitted " to adorn the columns of some reckless partisan press," than to have place among the military archives of the country. In a word, it bore ample internal evidence that it was never intended for trial ; but in the hope that it would be thrust aside at Washington, Gen. Scott intended that it should reraain unanswered by his victira, who must sink under the weight of the charges, and of the character of the accuser; a belief fully verified by the attempt which the general-in-chief raade to shrink from the position of prosecutor, until Pillow, conscious of his innocence, called upon the court to compel him to prosecute, and to sustain, if he could, the truth of his calumnious allegations. The proceedings of that famous court are too fresh in the memory of the Araerican people to require much comment. But every charge was met and disproved ; and when the court closed its sittings, the fame of Gen. Pillow was clear of reproach. Even the vile slanders of the party presses were silenced, and the facts of the case brought out by the sworn testiraony of witnesses of all ranks, were high in his favor. The charges at once fell to the ground ; and as the war closed. Gen. Pillow retired frora the service to private life. " Gen. Pillow is now in the -prime of manhood, being less than fifty years of age. He is descended frora as gallant an ancestry as ever con tributed, by their energy and enterprise, to subdue the obstacles incident to pioneer life, and by their valor and patriotisra to chastise the savage tribes for their merciless butcheries of our border settlers. From an ancestry famous in the early history of our state for their bold and daring intrepidity in defending our weak and scattered settlements, and in avenging their wrongs with promptitude and success. Gen. Pillow has inherited some of these characteristics which have marked his whole history. Until he entered upon his duties as a brigadier-general in the late war, he had never sought or filled any public civil station. He was lit erally taken frora the walks of private life, and transferred to a highly honorable military position. But it raust be borne in raind that he received his coramission from a president who knew hira personally, and was intimately acquainted with his peculiar traits of charactei. These peculiar traits pointed him out to the President as possessing high qualifications as 9 military commander. GinBON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 713 " In the prosecution of his private pursuits. General Pillow had dis played a quickness of conception, a promptness of execution, an energy in action, and a success in results, which are observed in the business transactions of few men. His mind operated with uncommon rapidity, and he reached his conclusions almost at a glance, and in the next mo ment he was ready for action. No matter how important or compli cated the transaction or enterprise, he saw it in all its bearings at one view, and, as if by intuition, made up his mind as to his course, and then suffered no obstacle to check his energy, and no doubt ever to cloud his success. He combined, in an unusual manner, the capacity to devise with that to execute. Hence he was eminently successful as a practitioner of law, and not less so in the various important enter prises connected with his private affairs. In all these, his character for promptness, industry, energy, and perseverance, was fully estab lished. " General Pillow had enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, and therefore entered upon his career with a well-trained and cultivated mind. His intellect was naturally of a very high order, and its cul ture had well fitted him for attaining to distinction in any one of the learned professions. From the tirae that he first appeared at the bar with his license, he entered upon a most extensive and laborious business. As a speaker, he soon took a prominent position in his pro fession. He reasoned with clearness and force, whilst his knowledge of human nature taught hira how to appeal to the passions, and his powers of declamation enabled him to combine in his oratory every available species of appeal in the manageraent of his causes. There were others mdre profoundly learned in the law as a science, but there were none who adhered more closely to the interests of their clients, or who would bring more resources into play in the management of their cases. " From this brief view of the peculiar traits in the character of Gen. Pillow, we can readily understand why Mr. Polk conferred upon him a high military command. The President appointed him upon his own knowledge of his qualifications ; and though others were incredulous because they were unacquainted with the real character of General Pil low, Mr. Polk never doubted that the appointment would turn out to be highly satisfactory to the country." It is said in the foregoing sketch that General Pillow had never sought or filled any civil station in public life previous to his ap pointment as brigadier-general by President Polk. This is true ; but it is also true that for many years he had been repeatedly urged by his democratic friends to accept political honors at their hands. These solicitations were uniformly declined by him, and yet no member of the democratic party was more ardent in his devotion to its doctrines and its success, and none was more prompt and enthusiastic in sustaining its candidates. He was an en thusiastic admirer of 'General Jackson, and gave to his administration a zealous and uniform support. Being a neighbor of James K. Polk, and a warm political as well as personal friend, their associations were intimate, and their agreement on political questions cordial. As a 714 SKETCItES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. member of the Baltimore Convention in 1844, he exerted a decided in fluence in bringing its deliberations to a harmonious close. In the canvass which followed. General Pillow took an active and efficient part. He was a confidential adviser of Mr. Polk, as well as an able and eloquent advocate of' his election. Since the close of the Mexican war. General Pillow's name has been earnestly brought forward for Congress, and for Governor of Tennessee ; but he has promptly de clined the honors thus tendered to him, preferring the harmony and success of the democratic party to his own personal promotion. In the all-absorbing question which has divided the North and South for the last few years. General Pillow has taken a deep interest. His feelings and sympathies have been, and still are, strongly with the South ; he has looked upon political abolitionisra and free-soilism as an unjustifi able and dangerous interference with the constitutional rights of southern men. In disposing of the question of slavery as connected with our acquisition of territory from Mexico, he believed that the extension of the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific would contribute the most equitable and satisfactory adjustment. The preservation of the National Union, however, up<5n its original terms, and with its constitutional guarantees, was at all times a paramount object with him, and hence he uniformly condemned every proposition which looked to disunion as a remedy for the evils of the South. The sacred right of revolution he was willing to resort to only in the last extremity, and when the oppres sions of a dominant majority should become intolerable. Whilst he has not regarded the compromise measures as doing justice to the South, he has looked upon them as the result of a compact in which the South as well as the North was bound in honor to acquiesce, and hence he has maintained that both parties to the covenant should be held to the high obligations growing out of the adjustment. In this light, he has cheerfully acquiesced in the comproraise, as a final settlement of the slavery issue, and stands earnestly opposed to its disturbance either at the North or the South. These were the views expressed by General Pillow in the Southern Convention, in which he dissented from the action of a majority of that body. It is impossible'to fully comprehend and appreciate the true character of General Pillow, without examining the peculiar obstacles which he had to encounter and overcome. His appointment as a brigadier- general was seized upon by the whig press throughout the country as the basis of a most violent and unsparing assault upon the Presi dent. This was followed up with faithful severity by the whole brood of little politicians, who caught up and repeated, with untiring industry, the malignant calumnies and aspersions originating with unprincipled partisans for mere party purposes. He was assailed with abuse, de nunciation and ridicule, to such an extent, that, long before he had met the enemy, the public judgment seemed to be made up against him. Few men could have bore up under the crushing weight of this com bined partisan warfare. It was continued with unmitigated ferocity whilst General Pillow was performing deeds of heroic daring on hard- fought battle-fields, which would have done honor to the most distin guished captains of this or any other age. No matter how bravely or GIDEON J. PILLOW, OF TENNESSEE. 715 skilfully he led his command — no matter with how much daring he charged the impregnable breastworks of the enemy — no matter if his plans were skilfully conceived and successfully executed — no matter if he bared his bosom in the thickest of the fight, and poured out his blood again and again — yet the insatiate harpies of party abated noth ing of the violence and malignity of their assaults. As he pushed for ward with unceasing energy towards the capital of Mexico, and aided in winning victory after victory, his enemies at home redoubled their exertions, and sought to overwhelm his name with a cloud of odium and obloquy which could never be dispelled by his achievements, no matter with what splendor they might shine. His reputation seemed at one time to be effectually damned, even beyond the reach of defence by his political friends. This was especially the case when General Scott joined the conspiracy, and undertook to strangle his victira by bringing to bear upon him the full weight of his exalted name and sta tion. Abused, slandered, ridiculed and vilified at home by the united strength of the whig party, General Scott undertook to complete the work of defamation and destruction by a conspiracy in Mexico as foul as that which existed at home. How he was ever to escape irretriev able ruin, under such circumstances, his best friends could not see. Yet, amidst the thickest gloom which hung over him. General Pillow en treated his friends not to doubt, much less to despair, of his final triumph. He announced to them that he was the victim of a most malignant conspiracy, but that when the facts were developed his vindi cation would be complete, and that his countrymen would do him justice. The blow which was aimed by General Scott, and which was intended to be the finishing stroke, was seized upon by General Pillow as the means of securing his triumphant vindication. Most men would have sunk under the power which General Scott brought to bear upon bis victim ; but General Pillow met the assault with fearlessness and confidence, and resolved not only to vindicate himself but to overwhelm his enemies with disgrace. The result of that celebrated trial is fresh in the recollection of every American citizen. It has forever silenced and put to shame his malignant revilers, whilst it has covered his ene mies who had conspired against him with damning disgrace. It has brought prominently before the country the extent and value of his military services ; and, in that way, the public mind has been disabused, and the public judgment has been made up. General Pillow managed and directed his own vindication ; and we fearlessly assert, that none but a man of the most exalted talents, and of the most remarkable traits of character, could have successfully grappled with such overwhelming odds, and made his prosecutors bite the very dust in which they sought to prostrate him. Whoever looks carefully into the details of the military operations which won the splendid victories ofContreras, Churubusco, and Che pultepec, will find unmistakable evidences of military sagacity in the suggestions and plans of Gen. Pillow, which contributed in an eminent degree to the achievement of the brilliant results ; he will also find that these results might have been reached with a much less sacrifice of pre cious blood, if General Scott had followed the counsels and suggestions of General Pillow more closely. This remark is especially applicable 716 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS, to the disastrous blunder committed by General Scott in not follo-mng up his advantages after the victory of Churubusco, and in disregarding the counsels of Pillow and Worth, and agreeing to an armistice. Against the earnest and repeated advice of General Pillow the armistice was agreed upon ; and every advantage won at the cost of the lives of a thousand brave men at Contreras and Churubusco, was given up, and the enemy allowed time to collect his routed forces and to erect formi dable fortifications. After two weeks of fruitless negotiations, the error became palpable when General Scott found himself corapelled to re-fight the battle, with nurabers reduced, and in the face of fortifications which had been strengthened and constructed during the arraistice. The victory of Chepultepec secured the fall of the Mexican capital, and crowned the campaign with a halo of glory which will shine with undiminished brightness in all time to come. General Pillow's chivalrous conduct in that splendid achievement won for hira the title of the Hero of Chepultepec — the justice of which title was fully ac knowledged by the loud acclairaing shouts of the soldiers, as their com mander was borne wounded into the work, soon after its occupation by his brave troops. In this brief sketch it has not been our purpose to do more than barely allude to the various occasions in which General Pillow signalized him self as a military commander. Full justice to the subject is the more iramediate province of the historian. The incidents of the brilliant march of our gallant army from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, and the prominent part borne by him in the several splendid achievements of that march, are too fresh in the minds of an admiring country to re quire any reference to them in detail. We may remark, however, that as a military commander he exhibited the same prominent traits of character which we have referred to as having marked his private career. Fearless of danger, his conduct on some occasions bordered on rashness — but it was rashness in exposing his own person in leading in the situ ation where officers of his grade seldom lead. Notwithstanding the extraordinary efforts which were made to depreciate his services, the judgment of all impartial military men has pronounced his approval, and assigned to him a position alongside of the most skilful and success ful heroes of the nation. ¦'/^/fT ^ /y^ ;/// ' ,^y ¦/¦i, ¦^/ SAMUEL PRENTISS, OF VERMONT. 717 HON. SAMUEL PRENTISS, DISTRICT JUDGE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR VERMONT. Greatness in character rarely strikes one at the first sight. It takes time to perceive it, and it requires time also to unfold and to stamp it. Truth is the residuum of time. It is not always those who stand most prominently in the present, that will appear most eminent to a future generation. It often happens, on the other hand, that the quiet, unos tentatious, and almost unnoticed man among his cotemporaries, will seem, when surveyed from some stand-point in the future, to be of fair and excellent proportions. And the name that is little thought of by us, may be most regarded by those whom present interests, passions, friendships, and animosities, affect not at all. The subject of this notice, though he may not have occupied that share of public attention which has often been given to men of less merit and virtue, may yet live in history^ and be reraembered as one among the few names in the records of a state, which was chiefly honored in having them for her sons. Samuel Prentiss was born in Stonington, Connecticut, March 31, 1782. He was the son of Dr. Samuel and Mrs. Lucretia H. Prentiss. His grandfather was Colonel Samuel Prentiss, of Stonington. In 1783, his father reraoved to Worcester, Massachusetts, and from thence, in 1786, to Northfield, in the same state. There, after having attained considerable eminence as a physician and surgeon, he died in 1818. From an early age, Mr. Prentiss was a pupil in the common schools, and the entire course of his pupilage was one of diligence and success. When he left the schools, he was placed under the private instruction of the Rev. Samuel C. Allen, the minister of Northfield. Under his tuition, he pursued the usual course of classical studies, then taught in our higher literary institutions. After he had finished his youthful and preparatory studies, he entered the office of Solomon Vose, Esq., of Northfield, Massachusetts, as a law student. He completed his course of law reading in the office of John W. Blake, Esq., in Brattleboro', Verraont. In December, 1802, he was admitted to the bar, but in con sequence of not having reached his majority, did not enter into practice until sorae months later. He commenced the business of his profession in Montpelier, Ver mont, in 1803. He was at once recognized as the possessor of intellec tual talents of the first order. Faithful to the interests of his clients, perceiving at once the strong points in their cases, and having the rare faculty of presenting in a natural, logical and harmonious order and arrangement, the facts of a case to the court and the jury, he soon took a high rank as a successful advocate and counselor. His business con sequently increased, and became extensive and lucrative. 718 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Ill the vi'.-ir 1804, he raarried Lucretia Houghton, eldest daughter of Mr. Edward Houghton, of Northfield, Massachusetts, alady of superior domestic aocoraplishraent^, of great energy, of rare kindness of heart and benevolence of life ; and her distinguished husband would not hesi tate to ascribe to her constant, secret and pervading influence, in all the relations of the faraily, in relieving him from doraestic cares, and in as sisting him by her sympathy in all his public duties, much of the suc cess and honor which have attended his career. As an advocate at the bar, Mr. Prentiss was confessedly superior to any other in the state. He was generally retained in the important cases, not only in his own county, but in the principal counties of the state. The more difficult and important the case, the more likely was he to appear in it as counsel for one of the parties. His manner and style of address, while not intended to captivate, was yet very attrac tive and popular. To please was not the end for which he spoke, though he always attained that result. His enunciation was distinct, his language was the natural expression of his idea, and his arguraents were always solid, intellectual, precise and systeraatic. He invariably treated the court with deference, the bar and all others with courtesy, and in popular opinion and speech, was regarded and mentioned as a remarkably "handsome speaker," a sound thinker, and a close logical reasoner. But with all his duties as a legal practitioner, Mr. Prentiss was yet daily a most studious reader of law. He read not merely for particular cases, but to establish himself in the great and universal principles of legal science. He thus furnished his mind for his future career, and fitted hiraself to be a judge, while yet an attorney. In 1822, Mr. Prentiss declined the office of associate judge of the Supreme Court of the state, which was tendered to him by the legis lature. His reasons were, his feeble health and unwillingness to relinquish a lucrative profession for the cares of an office that, beside the honor and responsibility, had little else to commend it to his accept ance. In 1824, the citizens of the town in which he resided, evinced their confidence in hira by electing him their representative in the state legislature. The subsequent year, the honor was again conferred upon him. His course in the legislature was marked by such -wisdom and judgment, that the General Assembly elected him to the office of first associate judge of the state court. As the former objections he had urged were in part removed, and as the judiciary system of the state had been newly and more efficiently organized, he accepted the office and held it four years. As judge of the state court, he secured the confidence and the respect of the bar. His erainent fitness for the office was confessed by all. His previous studies rendered him familiar with legal precedents and princi ples, and he found in this office eraployment for the gathered stores of years. Nor did his great knowledge and quick insight into the merits of a case, render him impatient in hearing evidence or the arguments of counsel. He was always courteous and forbearing, and elevated the dignity of the court by securing the profound regard and affection of the raembers of the bar. His decisions were stateraents of facts and of law, in the raost dear and convincing form, and he had the rare art of so stating the facts, and applying the principles of law to them, that his SAMUEL PRENTISS, OF VERMONT. 719 decisions carried with them the most satisfactory arguments for their correctness. It was this art, so necessary to a judge, that rendered him so successful as an advocate. It was the power of clearly discriminat ing between facts and fictions, between things proved and things not proved, and of accurately and perfectly expressing in language his perceptions, and of arranging and classifying his ideas, in the most natural, simple and logical order, that eminently fitted him for the right and able discharge of the responsibilities of a judicial station. And having this power, added to extensive and profound legal knowledge, and combined with great conscientiousness, and with a lofty courteous- ness and kindness of manner, it is not strange that he should be both a sound and a popular jurist. Nor were his distinguished qualities as a judge without due appreciation. In consequence of his acknowledged ability, he was elected to the office of chief justice in the same court, by the General Assembly, in 1829. In this position he increased his already high reputation, and gave a wide character to the judiciary of the state. In this capacity, his decisions have attracted attention out of the state, and been noticed in other courts as of great legal weight and value. In 1830, Mr. Prentiss was summoned from this office, which he had so ably and gracefully sustained, to represent the state in the senate of the United States. His personal popularity, always known to be great, was made espe cially manifest by the favor and support he received from all parts of the state, particularly from his own county, both in and out of the legis lature, each tirae he was a candidate for the national senate. But his popularity was never acquired by the sacrifice of personal independence, nor by stooping to the low acts of a popular leader or demagogue. The confidence reposed in him, and the attachraent manifested for him, were founded upon qualities of intrinsic value and excellence. He took his seat in the senate in 1831. There may have been in the senate, when he becarae a member of that body, gentlemen of more varied scholarship, and of more bril liant forensic powers than he possessed. But there were few in that chamber, replete as it then was with men of intelligence, and genius, aud eloquence, and of profound judicial and legal attainments, who equaled Mr. Prentiss in the symmetry of his mind, in the union of the most varied excellencies, in the harmonious blending of intellectual and moral powers, in the firmness of his principles, and in the fervor of un questioned and intelligent patriotism. There were, perhaps, many who •shone brighter by reason of a single great quality, but none who sur passed him in the serene combination of those faculties which consti- stitute and render illustrious the character of a true statesman. Neither in the senate, nor elsewhere, was he ever marked for those splendid popular qualities which attract instant adrairation, and with which some of his associates were gifted in the highest degree ; but he possessed those peculiar powers which rendered him equal to any station, and would prove him to be a superior man, even in the highest position. No office would reflect more honor upon him than his character would reflect upon the office. His course in the senate was uniformly self-consistent, wise and con ciliatory. Holding to the views of the more moderate men at the North, 720 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. with regard to our southern institutions, and once under the necessity of defending his own state and its resolutions from tbe aspersions of members frora the South, he yet accomplished his duty in such a way as to win the esteem and confidence of his opponents, sustain the honor of his constituency, and preserve his own simplicity and integrity. Though compelled to enter into discussion upon the exciting topics of the day, and to advocate the power and the constitutional right of Con gress to abolish the slave trade and slavery in the district of Columbia ; and the right of petition, and the corresponding obligation to receive petitions from the people; and to resist, to the utmost of his strength, the projects for the annexation of Texas, he yet conducted himself in so courteous, dignified and lofty a manner, as invariably to conciliate the extremes from both sections of the country ; to command the attention, and respect, and admiration, of all who listened to his speeches ; to vin dicate the propriety and rectitude of his own course, and sustain his reputation for wisdom and sagacity. While a meraber of the senate he was appointed on several of the standing coraraittees ; such as the coramittee on the judiciary, the com mittee on public lands, and the coramittee on patents and the patent office. As a member of the coramittee on public lands, he advocated the bill for the distribution of the proceeds arising from the sale of the public domain araong the several states. He considered that the corapacts of cession under the confederation guarantied to the particular states their proportionate share in the proceeds of the public lands ; and that the substitution of the present constitution and governraent in the place of the confederation, did not impair the right of the states to the fund. He regarded the provisions of the constitution as confirraing all the an tecedent rights springing out of the corapacts of cession ; and argued that the public territory was a binding trust held by the government of the United States for the benefit of the particular states, " according to their respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure." Hence he opposed the project for donating the public lands to the states in which they were located, and urged the distribution of their proceeds as the only raeasure that was just and harmonious with the constitution. His speeches on this subject were marked by great clearness and force of argument, and discovered a power of stating and elucidating difficult propositions, that was not surpassed by any one in the senate. As a meraber of the coramittee on the judiciary, to whom the sub ject was referred, he reported a bill directing a new edition of the laws of the United States to be compiled and printed, and accompanied the bill with a written report, explaining at length its provisions, objects, and advantages. The bill was passed by the senate, but no action was had upon it in the house. The utility of such a compilation of the laws has since becorae so apparent, that the executive, if our recollec tion does not fail us, has recently thought fit to call the attention of Congress to it. In the session of 1834 and '35, as well as in that of 1833 and '34, he was one of the select comraittee, of which Mr. Webster was chairman, to whom was referred. the bill for the satisfaction of claims due Ameri can citizens for spoliations committed on their commerce prior to Sep- SAMUEL PRENTIftS, OF VERMONT. 721 tember 30, 1800. The bill was reported upon favorably by the com mittee, and, after long debate, was passed by the senate. Mr. Pren- tiss advocated the bill in a speech, presenting, in a plain and condensed view, the whole merits of the matter, and demonstrating very fully and clearly the equity and justice of the clairas, and the obligation of the government to pay them. He argued, that the claims of the United States for indemnity from France, for spoliations on our commerce,, were just — were so admitted by France, and were surrendered to that government as an equivalent for the correspondent release of the United States from certain important national obligations ; and that, therefore, the government of the United States, having appropriated an indem nity due on account of spoliations committed on private property, as an offset to claims on the part of France, growing out of national obli gations imposed upon the United States by treaties, was bound, ac^ cording to the fundamental law of the land as well as by the principles of national justice, to make compensation to the injured individuals. Such was the substance of his argument, and on such a basis he advo cated the measure as necessary to preserve inviolate the national honor and rectitude. The nice sense of justice and honor which characterize Mr. Prentiss was exhibited also on another subject, somewhat similar in its nature. Seeing how much of the time of Congress was occupied in legislating upon private claims, the great delays and expense to which the claim ants were subjected, and the injustice often done thera, and in many in stances, the government, by such legislation, Mr. Prentiss, in January, 1837, in order to correct the evil, obtained leave to bring in a bill to establish a board of commissioners, to hear and examine clairas against the United States. This bill he introduced to the senate at every sub sequent session, so long as he reraained in that body. It was passed by the Senate at three different sessions ; but at neither was there any final action had upon it in the House of Representatives. Mr. Prentiss is the author of the existing act of Congress against dueling in the District of Columbia. He drew up, introduced, and car ried the bill through the senate. The time chosen for its introduction, and the manner in which it was urged upon the attention of the senate and of the country, were both equally appropriate and forcible. It was soon after the duel between Hon. William J. Graves, of Kentucky, and Hon. Jonathan Cilley, of New-Hampshire, both members of the House of Representatives. No one who heard Mr. Prentiss on this oc casion, but had their respect raised to admiration for his strength of principle, perfection of argument, and calm but finished and subduing eloquence. On this bill he made three speeches : the first, upon intro ducing it; the second, in reply to objections; and the third, on the general merits of the bill. When we consider the event which was the immediate occasion of the bill, and the emotions which it caused throughout the circles at Washington, and through the entire country, we may estimate to some extent the effect which was produced when Mr. Prentiss, evidently influenced by no mere impulse of overwrought sensibility, but by permanent and enduring principles, that were only called into action by the occasion, rose in his place and proposed a bill designed to suppress dueling, by attaching to it an infamous penalty ; 46 722 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. and concluded his remarks, by calling upon " senators, grave and con siderate senators, heads of families, fathers of the land, to interpose their authority and influence to stay a practice unsuited to an enlight-. ened age, and revolting to the moral and religious feelings of the coun try ; and invoked them, by their regard for those on whom the hopes of the country rest ; by their regard to eternal and immutable princi ples of moral rectitude; by every consideration of justice and humanity: by the duty they owed to God and their country ; to give aid and sup port to a measure, demanded by the moral sense of the nation ; essen tial to personal security, and to the preservation of law, liberty and so cial order." It was, however, in the speech on the general merits of the bill, that he evinced most fully both his intellectual power and the purity and elevation of his principles. His peroration was reraarkably impressive and effective both in its style and idea; nor need we ever despair of the safety and glory of our Republic and its institutions, so long as such men shall stand in our public councils, and affirm that the high principles of justice must never yield to the factious demands, however clamorous or importu nate, of party policy or political expediency. The conclusion of that speech we cannot forbear to give, confident that it needs no other apo logy for its insertion here than its intrinsic truth and beauty — than the high moral lessons it conveys. And we can almost see his tall person aniraated, and his eye kindling under the vigor and almost prophetic nature of his own sentiraents, and hear his voice, ordinarily feeble, be corae clear and sonorous under the influence of the lofty ideas he is ut tering, as he concludes : " Sir, public men and the people everywhere must case to undervalue the worth of moral excellence and virtue, and learn to consider that the want of these cannot be compensated by genius however brilliant, by learning however extensive, nor by any advantages, however fascinating and valuable in themselves, which either the bounty of nature, the power of industry, or the raost accomplished education can bestow. In short, if we wish to maintain the free institu tions of the country — ^if we wish to preserve purity in the governraent — if we wish to continue and perpetuate civil and political liberty — if we wish to uphold the character and honor of the country, and give it a name surpassing every narae araong the nations of the earth, we raust remember and constantly act upon the great truth taught by Infallible Wisdom, that it is righteousness whith exalteth a nation, while sin is a re proach unto any people. We must remember that it is an axiom, 'founded in the soundest philosophy, and verified by all authentic his tory, that as vice and iraraorality in private life invariably destroy indi vidual character and usefulness, whatever intellectual endowraents may accompany them, so, if favored and tolerated in public life, and among public men, they will inevitably infect and corrupt the general mass of ¦the community, induce criminal insubordination to the laws, undermine the conservative and sustaining principles of the social corapact, and ul tiraately lead to national dishonor, degradation, and ruin," Mr, Prentiss was one of the two senators belonging to his party who refused to sustain, and used all his influence against, the passage of tbe celebrated Bankrupt Act of 1840. In a speech, delivered in the Senate, in a general arguraent against the merits of the bill, he showed profound SAMUEL PRENTISS, OF VERMONT. 723 acquaintance with the English system of comraon and statute law, and a comprehensive sagacity with respect to the results of the measure, should it be carried into operation. His speech on this occasion was said by Mr. Calhoun to have been the clearest and most unanswerable argument to which the latter had listened for many years on any de batable question. While confident that the provisions of the bill were unjust and likely to work mischief, " kindness to the few and cruelty to the many," he yet rested his objections to it principally upon its moral tendencies and influences. He considered it as aiming a direct blow at the indefeasible rights of property, which lie at the foundation of the so cial system, and tending to induce fraud and dishonesty in the commu nity. In his view it seemed to legalize the breaking of contracts, and destroy individual and public credit. A short experience of the law disclosed his wisdom and the soundness of his arguments, and its fail ure to produce any beneficial results verified his predictions. It grew out of a false and one-sided philanthropy that overlooked moral dis tinctions and personal rights, and consequently had soon to be repealed. Mr. Prentiss, having honored hiraself in his state for two successive terms of six years in the United States Senate, was nominated by the President to the office of Judge of the District Court of the Unifed States, for Vermont. The nomination was sent to the Senate on the Sth of April, 1842 ; and on the same day, iramediately on its being received, the Senate went into executive session, and, without the usual reference of the subject to a committee, confirmed the nomination by a resolution declaring that they " unanimously" advised and consented to the appointment. This circumstance attending his appointment was gratifying as it w.as unusual, and showed the impression that the charac ter and abilities of Mr. Prentiss had made upon his associates. His resignation was communicated to the Senate three days subsequently to the nomination and appointment. The sentiments which were freely expressed on the floor of that body when his letter of resignation was read, are those with which he has equally inspired all who have known him. It is said that senators of all parties vied with each other in ex pressing their opinions of his eminent fitness for the office^ and their regrets that a man so pure and firm, of so ranch soundness of raind and views, of so much and such rare delicacy of conscientiousness — a man as necessary to the Senate as he would be useful on the bench, was to be removed from among thera. The tone of the public journals on his retiring frora the Senate was equally complimentary and just, and even party animosity never ventured to impugn 'the appointment. Judge Prentiss took his seat upon the bench of the District Court in May, 1842. This position he has occupied for ten years, and has discharged its functions with signal propriety and ability. Several of his decisions in important cases have been published, in connection with the reports of the State Suprerae Court, and some have been re published in the Law Reporter, and also in the New- York Legal Observer. The decisions in the cases referred to display great clear ness, discrimination, and depth of thought. They are learned and valuable, and show great legal knowledge and acumen, and entitle him to a high rank among the jurists of our country, and to a high fame in the history of its jurisprudence. The intellectual and moral qualities, 724 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. and the legal attainments of Judge Prentiss, eminently fit him for tbe highest judicial station. Calm, reflective, discriminating, upright — of quick and delicate sensibilities — of rare knowledge of men and motives ; mild and considerate — profoundly attached to law, and yet never using its forras and technicalities to prevent or pervert justice ; conscious that the letter killeth and the spirit giveth life, and that equity and right are the end of law, he unites, in fine proportion, those seemingly opposite qualities of rectitude and charity, of justice and forbearance, of inflexible principle and huraane emotions, whose perfect combination can alone qualify a man to be a judge among his fellows. And such is his acknowledged fairness and justice, thateven his neighbors, who are most opposed to his general political opinions, would never dare to im pugn his impartiality. Said a neighbor of the judge to the writer, after a somewhat warra discussion on the recent Fugitive Slave Bill, " If I were a fugitive, I should not wish to be tried by Judge Prentiss." " But if you were falsely charged with being a fugitive?" said the writer. " Then," he replied quickly, " I should not fear to trust my case in his hands." The discipline to which Judge Prentiss subjected himself from the commencement of his practice at the bar, the character of his studies, and the manner and object with which he pursued thera, would all in dicate that he would be able to discharge the public duties of his office to universal acceptance. And such has been the case ; and such and so high is the reputation he has attained in the office he at present occupies, that he has been frequently and publicly raentioned as a com petent person for a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. In two instances, when there has been a vacancy ou that bench, many of his friends have strongly urged him to consent that his name might be presented for the nomination ; but in -both in stances he resisted the solicitation of his friends, and exerted his in fluence for another gentleman. He was advanced in years, and already worn with toil in the public service, and desired to pass the rest of his life in repose and quiet. The honors and emoluments of such an office were not deeraed an equivalent for its wearing and exhausting labors. The duties of his present office are not so onerous but that he can dis charge thera with great fidelity, and the performance of them furnishes an agreeable and healthful excitement to his raind. Judge Prentiss has always taken a warm interest in the judicial insti. tutions of his adopted state. While at the bar, he was earnest and active in favor of every useful improvement in the judiciary system, which, as then existing, was essentially defective. And when a mem ber of the legislature, in 1824, he proposed and urged, in concurrence with the other merabers of the Judiciary Committee, the act which was then passed providing for an entire reorganization of the courts. In 1825, in the same position, he succeeded in defeating an attempt-made to repeal it. The new system then went into operation, and has continued in existence, coraraanding alraost universal approbation and support, down to the present day. And he is still watchful of every moveraent calculated to disturb or impair the judicial institutions and character of the state. He has opposed, at every step, the encroachments of those popular influences and measures, which, by submitting the election of SAMUEL PRENTISS, OF 'VERMONT. 725 judicial officers directly to the people, render less certain and uniform the administration of justice, strip the judiciary of its sanctity, and open it to the inroads of political excitement and party animosity. The tendency of the duties and studies of a high judicial station is to purify, and elevate, and strengthen the moral sense, and to inspire re spect and reverence for those immutable moral principles which are essential to the welfare of man and the peace of society. That tendency has been fully developed in Judge Prentiss. Purity of life, in every relation, is of prime importance in the character of a public man. Without it, genius, learning, wit, eloquence, and cultivation, are Worse than in vain. They add only to the length of the lever by which vice dissolves the fabric of individual character and social welfare. And we conceive it to be the highest eulogium we can bestaw upon Mr. Prentiss, to say that he is a pure man and a pure judge. A republican, he dislikes ultra-democracy, and reveres the constitu tion, and loves the union of states, whose permanence it guarantees. A patriot and a statesman, he has no ambitious hopes for the nation — no desires for its territorial extension and aggrandizement — no dreams that it is the heaven-commissioned apostle of liberty and democracy to the other nations of the earth. He knows that " patriotism is a necessary link in the golden chain of human affections and virtues," and turns away with indignant scorn from that false philosophy or mistaken reli gion which would persuade him that cosmopolitism is nobler than na tionality, that philanthropy is greater than patriotism, and the human race a sublimer object of love than his own country and his own people. The history of the past, which he reverences, not so much for what it is in itself as for the lessons that it teaches to the present, leads him to expect, that should our own country ever become the propa gandist of liberty among the nations, or seek to becorae the centre of light and freedom to all mankind, it would soon lose its independence and nationality. Judge Prentiss is still living in Montpelier, Vt. His life is quiet, simple, unostentatious. He has the respect and confidence of the com munity, and is a member, with his wife, of the Congregational Church in that place. To the profession of Christianity he adds a hearty faith in its doctrines, and a cheering hope in its promises. That hope is more satisfying to his mind than any expectation of posthumous fame — than any certainty that his name will be held in fragrant remembrance so long as the people of the state and land shall be taught to revere " whatsoever things are true, and just, and honorable, and lovely, and of good report." -ITJonTl.Z, JiOSS}. JOHN ADAMS KNOWLES, OF MASSACHUSETTS. 727 JOHN ADAMS KNOWLES, OF LOWELL, MASS., PRESIDENT OP THE APPLETON BANK. In an age when it is more difficult to find readers for books than books for readers, the life of one whose course has been devoid of any remarkable incident or striking peculiarity, will present no claim to public attention, except as it furnishes an instance of practical success, attending sagacity, perseverance, and high-minded and honorable principle. To a young man, struggling amid the difficulties which so often beset the beginning of his career, a knowledge of such an exam ple is the best legacy which he can receive. Mr. Knowles was bom in Pembroke, in New-Hampshire, April 25, 1800. He was the youngest of thirteen children born to a farmer of very limited means, and all but one lived to mature years. At the age of fifteen he lefl home, by his father's permission, to seek his for tune in the world, amid the disadvantages of no means of support, of feeble health, and an imperfect education. A five years' experiment at various mechanical employments con vinced him that he had not the physical stamina to enable him to per form the labor requisite in such pursuits, and turned his attention to the hope of earning a living by some other method than the labor of his hands. A native thirst for knowledge was now gratified and strengthened in a private school kept by John O. Ballard, Esq., in Hopkinton, New- Hampshire. His connection with this teacher he remembers as one of the fortunate eircutnstances of his life. Mr. Ballard was a gentleman between fifty and sixty years of age ; and, besides being eminently qualified as an experienced instructor to aid his pupils in acquiring mere book learning, he had been engaged for several years in commercial transactions, which gave him a fund of practical information, and an en larged knowledge of the world. It may encourage other teachers in like circumstances to know, that his generous readiness to impart good counsel was appreciated, perhaps, by more than one young pupil, who m after years remembered and profited by his advice. As soon as Mr. Knowles was competent to teach a common country school, he availed himself of the slender assistance which that employ ment yields. He continued teaching and studying until he was twenty- four years old, by which time he had read through the usual course ot studies preparatory for admission to college. At that advanced age, destitute of means, and still in feeble health, he deemed it neither pru dent nor right to incur the expense of a liberal education, but entered instead upon an itinerant course of teaching, with the double purpose oi, strengthening his constitutidn, and enlaiging his knowledge of the world. In the autumn of 1827 he carae to Lowell, Mass. This manufactur ing village at that time numbered only three thousand inhabitants, and had only the year before been incorporated as a town. It was fortunate for Mr. Knowles that he carae at that time to this fresh and vigorous, 728 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. comraunity, and here fixed hiraself to grow up with its growth, and share its prosperity. Soon relinquishing an evening school in which he had been engaged, he entered his name as a student-at-law in the office of Elisha Giidden, Esq., December 10, 1827. Here he performed the duties of a clerk, and read the usual elementary books, until 1830, when he went to Dedham, Mass., to attend the lectures of the Hon. Theron Metcalf, now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Mr. Metcalf 's lectures on law were held in high repute, and here Mr. Knowles acquired a raore thorough knowledge of the theory of his pro fession, as the business in the office of a good lawyer had before given him instruction in its practical details. In 1832 he was admitted to the bar. He iramediately opened an office in Lowell ; and from that time until 1847, when he retired from the active business of the profession, he never knew the want of clients. In 1833 he was married to a daughter of William Appleton, late of Portsmouth, N. H. In 1835 he was chosen a representative of the town of Lowell in the Massachusetts Legislature, and in 1844, 1845, he represented the city of Lowell in the same body. In 1847 he was a senator from Middlesex county in the Massachusetts Senate, but de clined a nomination in 1848, as he had been chosen treasurer of the Lowell and Lawrence Rail-road, and president of the Appleton Bank, in Lowell, which two offices he still holds. The bare names of these places of honor and trust will indicate, even to the stranger, traits of character, marked by intelligence, probity, con fidence, which have entitled him to public respect, as they -will intimate also a position of ease and independence in regard to worldly wealth ; while the contrast between the last seventeen years of success and the previous seventeen years of struggle, suggests the important inquiry, by what means this success was wrought out ? Of course, we cannot speak of the living as we do of the dead ; yet we should hardly be excused if in this connection we did not refer to an honesty and integrity never sullied by the breath of suspicion — to a sagacious attention to business, which, even araid the constant draw back of ill health, has been most exemplary, and to an urbanity and amenity which have always smoothed even the most perplexing trans actions. As a proof of this it may be naraed, that in the hundreds of real- estate transactions in which he has been engaged, in looking after his own property or raanaging that of others, he never had a lawsuit grow out of any one of thera, or even a serious difficulty ; while, in his pro fession, so little litigious has been his temper, that his rule seeras always to have been to keep his clients away frora a lawsuit, if that were possi ble ; or, if not, to get thera out of it as soon as he could. It is to the high praise of the legal profession that it has furnished so many men who have felt that they owed a duty to the public in the ad vocacy of those causes which tend to proraote good order and good morals. The subject of this brief sketch has not been behind his bre thren in the discharge of this duty. His aid has been ready in the pro motion of any public good. In the cause of teraperance, especially, he has labored with zeal and perseverance. His interest in the religious 'education of the young he has proved by sustaining, for years, the office JOHN ADAMS KNOWLES, OF MASSACHUSETTS. 729 of superintendent of a Sunday-school ; and when we speak of him as a professing Christian, and an officer in a Christian church, it will be un derstood that he himself has been a pupil in a school where we may learn the highest virtues of our humanity. There are some goddesses which are most successfully wooed by in direct approaches to thera. Health is best sought by thinking nothing about it. Happiness flies from the man who is bent upon seeking it, and comes of its own accord to him who is wisely pursuing other ends. And something like this is true of wealth. The man who is deterrained to be rich, and seeks no end but gain, alraost always overdoes the mat ter, as a thousand greedy but penniless speculators all over the land hear witness. Mr. Knowles is an illustration of the success a man will meet with who regulates his affairs by correct moral principles, and trusts to these principles for the result ; and if they bring with them, when followed, first of all, for their own sake alone, a reward " in the life that now is," the consequence will not surprise those who have faith in a certain old word of promise. It would be pleasant to enter the domestic group, and the little circle of friends, where he is greatly beloved, and in which his humor and wit afford a genial mirth ; but we feel that there we hardly have any right to enter ; and here we must close our sketch of one who, starting with nothing but feeble health, has, at the early age of fifty-two, attained a position of useful and honored success. Sic itur ad astra. ^/ie^^L^tyx^ ir L . T I.OrJSIUX.T^ -7.vF:^''l-Tr'JKT HENRY PIRTLE, OP KENTUCKY, 731 HON, HENRY PIRTLE, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, Henry Pirtle was born on the 5th of November, 1798, in Washing ton county, Kentucky. His father was of German and Welsh descent. On his mother's side he was descended from a Swedish family, who had been at the court of Gustavus Adolphus, and coincided with that great prince in his grand scheme of spreading pure Christianity over the western world. They were his missionaries, and were included in the patent issued by Christiana, his daughter, or rather, by Chancellor Oxenstiern, in 1638, in fulfilment of the wish of Gustavus, for the country lying on the west side of the Delaware River, now principally in the State of Delaware. His parents were among the early settlers in Kentucky. In a letter written by him in 1840, in answer to an invitation to be present at the celebration of the anniversary of the first settlement of the state, on the 24th of May, at Boonsborough, on the Kentucky River, he gives a strik ing picture of the daring energy, and spirit of adventure, which so strongly characterized the first immigrants to that country. Speaking of his father and mother, he says : " If my egotism obeyed my affec tion and reverence for their memory, I could say they were something of a specimen (I speak now of adventure only) of the first immigrants. They were Virginians. In those days, it was the habit for the persons who intended to come to this country, to rendezvous for fifty or one hundred miles around, at some place appointed, and travel in company with arms in their hands. My parents, who had been recently married very young, had come to one of these points of meeting, and found they had mistaken the day — that the company had gone two days be fore. But, as they had set out to come to Kentucky, and had received the blessing of their friends at the horae they had wept for at parting, they resolved that they would not turn back — they would come to Kentucky — and accordingly, my father, with his rifle on his shoulder, on one horse, and a pack under him, and my mother on another horse, and a pack under her, traversed the solitary wilderness, and crossed the moun tains alone ; not on the " old wilderness road," but along the old wil derness path, till they reached the Crab Orchard. I fear their son, who writes this, would not readily take such a journey. Then every rustle in the leaves or crack of a stick in the deep woods, might well have been taken for the whereabouts of the prowling savage." John Pirtle, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a man whose character was strongly marked by firmness, integrity, and decision, united with great mental vigor. He possessed a very remarkable talent for mathematical reasoning, and well understood the value of such training to the youthful mind, and very early imbued his son with his own love of learning ; and from his instruction, aided only by such schools as the neighborhood afforded, he received a good English edu- 732 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. cation. He seeras to have inherited sonic of his father's uncommon talent for mathematical science : for while at school, when he was only sixteen years old, he invented a plan, not before known, of ascertaining the rising and setting of the sun in any latitude where the days are only twenty-four hours long. Until he was eighteen he lived entirely in the country, sometimes working on the farm, sometiraes going to school, and at other times spending days together roaming the " pathless woods," either on sur veying expeditions, or with his gun ; and often merely for the pleasure it afforded him. There is much in this communion with nature to ele vate and purify the mind of a thoughtful youth. Born in this beautiful country, while yet much of its primeval sublimity was left as nature made it — splendid, and almost awful, in its tall forests, tangled and dark woods, its wild rivers and romantic tributaries, he imbibed a love of nature which has been a poetic, as well as a patriotic sentiment of his life. " Patriotisra," we have heard him say, " is the love of the great trees, the bright streams, the rivers, the forests, the green fields, our beautiful women, our countrymen, and our laws." He was attracted by the moral science of the law, and determined to make it his profession ; and when very young he commenced its study at Bardstown, under the instruction of the late Hon, John Rowan, one of the most eminent jurists of the west. His talents, assiduity, and uniform correctness of deportment, secured to him the friendship of his preceptor, which continued while he lived, and was reciprocated with the warmest gratitude aiid veneration by his pupil. In his preparatory studies, before he entered the profession, he went through a very full course. In that day there were no Kent's Commentaries, or Story's Coraraentaries, so valuable to the student ; nor had he the help of other American and English publications, which have since contributed so much to facilitate legal study. But he had to find his way through the labyrinth of law and equity with labor not now befalling our young men. He did not rely on such elementary books as the day afforded ; but, in connection with them, he read the reports in law and equity from the time of Edward the Sixth to the middle of the reign of George the Third. While pursuing with ardor the study of his profession, he did not neglect the advantages of the large and well-selected library of his pre ceptor. Scientific works, history, philosophy and poetry, were his relaxation. After reading for about three years, fourteen hours a day, he ap peared at the bar, and had a full share of business the first term. He was young, almost beardless, but he understood his profession much better than most beginners. He had a remarkably manly, sonorous voice, agreeable and impressive elocution, and a power of analysis which commanded success. His office was in Hartford, Ohio county, but he attended all the courts of a large cu-cuit. In the Green River Country, (as it is called,) the principal sources of litigation at that time, which were profitable to the bar, were conflicting land claims ; and, as Mr, Pirtle was very familiar with the land law, he had, while this sort of business lasted, a full practice. But at the end of five years, most of these claims being adjusted, he determined to remove to Louisville. HENRY PIRTLE, OF KENTUCKY. 733 A few months after his settlement in Louisville, the office of judge of the General Court of the fifth district becoming vacant, he was unanimously recommended by the bar to the executive to fill the va cancy, when he was only twenty-seven years of age, although this office was one of great importance: the General Court having jurisdiction throughout the state in suits between residents and non-residents, and in all the revenue cases, (being a court of exchequer,) and the Circuit Court having an unlimited jurisdiction over life and property, of law and equity. And what made the compliment greater, a senior meraber of the bar was appointed a coramittee to go to Frankfort, procure the commission, and bring it to him. This office he held for upwards of five years, when he resigned it, and assumed the practice at the bar, having established himself in pub lic estimation as one of the leading jurists of the state. This was honor ; for Kentucky has always had able men at her bar and on her bench. While holding the Circuit Court for the county of Meade, in the year 1827, on a conviction for murder, he ordered the judgment to be ar rested for a defect in the indictment, and thereupon ordered the com mitment of the prisoner to await a new indictment. This astonished the counsel ; and the Hon. Ben. Hardin, a counselor of as much expe rience as any in the commonwealth, expressed his surprise, and stated to the judge that it was the first time in the state an accused person had not been discharged in such an instance, under that clause in the constitution which provided, that no one should be twice put in jeo pardy for the same offence. But the judge maintained that the party was not ''put in jeopardy" within the meaning of the constitution, on a bad indictment ; and the law has been so held in the state ever since. In 1830, a trial for felony took place before Judge Pirtle, in which the often mooted question concerning the opinion forraed by one called as a juror, came up ; and he decided, that if the person called had formed an opinion one way or the other as to the verdict that should be rendered, he could not sit on the trial, if others who had formed no opinion could be obtained. It seems from the report of the case in seventh Monroe's Reports, that this opinion was not founded on the com mon law only, but was based in part on the provisions of the consti tution of Kentucky, which are substantially included in the constitu tions of the different states of the Union, and in the constitution of the United States, We have not space to insert the whole of this opinion ; but we give the following extracts, which show the result to which the learned judge came: "But, if the doctrine of impartiality were not sustained by the de cisions of the courts at Westminster, it still has been abundantly pro tected by the American statesmen and jurists. In this country, more than any other, has the trial by jury been cherished and improved. The constitution of almost every state has secured its impartiality by special clause. The constitution of the United States has the same provision. And the courts of America, in expounding these provisions, have held forth the lights of modern iraproveraent, and shown that American justice requires a juryman whose opinion is not formed by 734 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. any means that govern the human mind, before he hears the evidence in the case which he is called to try. " We are not under the necessity to recur to the British common law for the exposition of an American charter." ¦* ¦»¦» •* * * * « * « * "The court does not mean to say, that every hypothetical opinion which a juror may have will disqualify hira, (for this might exclude all mankind that come within the reach of the court,) as that, if what his neighbors have said be true, or if what is rumored be true, then he has formed an opinion. But, if his opinion is absolutely formed, and his mind made up, it makes no difference on what grounds, he is an incompetent juryman. But, it may be said, that the more atrocious and notorious an offence is, the more difficulty there will be to obtain a jury ; and in some instances of outbreaking enormity, it may be im possible. Not so. That there will be more difficulty is acknowledged ; but the injunction to preserve impartiality will not compel the court to deny justice to the commonwealth. The constitution directs the trial to be had by a jury of the vicinage. It is the duty of the court to afford it there ; and if a jury, clear of all previous impression, cannot be ob tained, it will be still the duty of the court to provide the most impar tial triers which the constitution and laws have given the means to do." After he left the bench. Judge Pirtle engaged with his usual energy in the practice of the law, in the courts of Louis^ville, and the Court of Appeals and Federal Court, at Frankfort; and with that success which generally attends high moral character, learning, ability, and industry. His eloquence is not splendid ; yet there has always been a clearness in his arguraent and a natural fervor, united with such illustration as reached the feelings and judgraent of plain, sensible men ; so that, when enforced by his uncommon voice and manner, which we cannot express on paper, we may say he is truly an eloquent speaker. Mr. Clay, when oppo site counsel in a great case, said to the jury : "The solemn force of the gentleman's manner is irresistible." But a few years ago he obtained a judgment of six thousand dollars on a breach of marriage promise, by the skilful presentation of the case, and the holding it up throughout the trial of seven days, in his fine address and manner alluded to by Mr. Clay, and by his argument and natural appeal to the jury. In 1846, the commission of judge, which he had resigned in 1832, with the same salary as that of Chief Justice of the State, was, at the sarae unanimous instance of the bar, sent to him. He held it for a few days to save the term of the court, and resigned it. He is now chancellor ; and he is the professor of constitutional law, equity, and commercial law, in the University of Louis^ville. The life of a professional man, who has kept himself in his profes sion, is comparatively void of incidents to excite the mind of the gene ral reader. Chancellor Pirtle has eschewed political office. His at tachraent to the law, and his domestic attachments and habits, have, with one exception, held him away from such station. Yet it is agree able to raen of reflection, to conteraplate the course of one of their fel lows who has, for raore than a quarter of a century, kept an even tenor of duty always in raind; and who has esteemed the fame of the party HENRY PIRTLE, OF KENTUCKY. 735 politician less than the duties of the husband, the father, the jurist, and the judge. In 1840, he was induced by the voice of the district to take a seat in the senate of the state. This he did, with the express declaration that he could not continue in political office. He remained the appointed time in the senate, and returned to his constituents, meeting their ap probation and satisfaction. In the year 1842, when he was chairman of the Committee on Feder al Relations, he made a report on certain resolutions of South Carolina and Virginia, in reference to the conduct of New-York in regard to fu gitive slaves from Virginia, in which he stated substantially the same doctrine, and the same construction of the Constitution of the United States, that is to be found in the opinion of the Supreme Court of the case of Prigg vs. The-State of Pennsylvania, in 16th Peters' Reports, some days before the opinion was promulged. The following extracts will show the conclusion to which the argu- ment came. " These states claim the right to enforce New-York to an observance of the Constitution. South Carolina says : ' Interest, duty and honor, imperiously demand, that South Carolina announce to the authorities of New- York, that as soon as that state shall break its solemn faith to Virginia, so soon shall be canceled our constitutional obligations as to her. When a state shall have been disappointed of those rights and remedies, for which stipulation was made when the compact of union was adopted, then will the painful but imperative duty of protecting her rights in her own way have been imposed upon her. This state, having a common purpose and common interest with Virginia to uphold the Federal Constitution, by exacting compliance with its obligations, is prepared to make common cause with that commonwealth in the maintenance of her rights.' And again, ' the basis of the whole doctrine of state rights is the assumption that the Constitution of the United States is a compact between the states.' "Your comraittee deny that this is any just basis of state rights. The doctrine of the American people is not that the Constitution is a mere compact between the states, a breach of which on the part of one is to be remedied by coercive retaliation on the part of others ; but that it is a form of government of the people of this nation, as sovereign in its sphere as the government of a state is within its sphere ; that no state can interfere with its power or assume its action : that national subjects are under this government referred to national judicature. " Your committee believe that the duty of the respective states to comply with the provisions of the Constitution in regard to fugitives, is one to be enforced by the National Government, or it is left without a remedy ; for coercion on the part of another state implies disunion. Retaliatory exactions of compliance, with the obligations of the Consti tution, are dangerous usurpations, to be deprecated by all the American people. " This act of Virginia and South Carolina is an interference with the power of Congress under the Constitution, ' to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states.' This power is not one that may be concurrently exercised by the states, as the preamble of 736 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. South Carolina supposes ; but it is one to be exercised exclusively by Congress. This American doctrine is so well established, that it would be vain to attempt to give it any support by argument at this day — See Federalist, No. 42; Kent's Commentaries, Lect. 19; 2 Story's Com. 512 ; 9 Wheaton's Reports, Gibbons vs. Ogden. Congress has passed laws regulating commerce araong the states. They have said what papers a vessel shall have to pass from New- York to Charleston, and what papers she shall have at Charleston to be able to sail to New- York, and neither of the states can require any other. " The coramittee would not contend that South Carolina had not the right to inspect a vessel to see whether slaves were concealed on her or not ; this would be but the exercise of a power of police which is not denied to the states. But if the exercise of police has annexed to it restrictions aimed at na'vigation and commerce, then its character is changed, and it is inhibited by the Constitution. In this instance the power attempted to be exercised is for retaliation and compulsion, and burflens on navigation are imposed that come from no motive of po lice. " Your comraittee have witnessed, with much concern, the difference between these states on these subjects. The quiet union of the Ameri can states should strike every lover of mankind as a desideratum un surpassed by any subject of sublunary concern ; and so it is felt by the people of Kentucky." Judge Pirtle unites, to his legal attainments, general information, which belongs only to the most industrious and cultivated in his pro fession. His habits of investigation have led to a very thorough acquaintance with natural science ; and that refined element in his character to which we have before alluded, causes him to take great delight in all that is beautiful in literature and art. He has a lively interest in most of the scientific and philanthropic movements of the day. Indeed, those eloquent lines of Terence might be his o^wn : " Ho mo sum ; et nihil humani a me alienum puto." N „ A m vu 11 IB AV i'..'J. .¦ L '^.i^W..- of F.mJl^'l.^ . ARCHIBALD DIXON, OP KENTUCKY. 737 HON. ARCHIBALD DIXON, OF KENTUCKY. To write the biography of a living man is a task of difficulty and deli cacy. To speak well of him would be deemed adulation by his ene mies ; and to speak ill of him, no better than murder by his friends. In the following we shall endeavor to speak the truth, yet -vVe will not deny that our prepossessions are in favor of our subject ; and must can didly admit that if we had esteemed it our duty to condemn more than to praise, we should have left the work to other hands. As it is brief, it may not be tedious ; and as it is the life of one whose name has not yet been associated with national affairs, it may excite curiosity. Archibald Dixon, of Kentucky, was born on the 2d of April, 1802, in the county of Caswell, North Carolina. His grandfather, Henry Dixon, was a colonel in the Revolutionary array ; and at the battle of Eutaw Springs received a wound from a cannot shot, which carried away a great part of one side of his face, and of which he after wards died, Wynn Dixon, the son of Henry Dixon, and the father of the subject of this memoir, entered the army at the age of sixteen, as an ensign ; and for his gallant conduct and soldier-like bearing in the battles of Camden, Eutaw, and Guilford Court-house, was proraoted to the rank of lieutenant, and served during the war. Mr. Dixon's mother was the daughter of David Hart, of North Caro lina, and the niece of Colonel Thomas Hart, of Lexington, Kentucky, whose daughter is the wife of the Hon. Henry Clay. Wynn Dixon emigrated to Henderson county, Kentucky, with his son, Archibald, in the year 1805, where he continued to reside until his death. He had once been wealthy, but in an unfortunate hour, becoming surety for his friend, he was reduced from affluence to indigence ; and he was un able to do more for his son than to afford hira a plain English educa tion, such as was to be obtained in the neighborhood county schools. But it is not in the power of circurastances to depress the energies of a man who is deterrained to rise. Poverty and misfortune may delay, but cannot prevent his ultimate success. Mr. Dixon made good use of the few opportunities at his coraraand;, and, though without that intellectual cultivation which is rarely to be acquired except within college walls, and which seeras absolutely neces sary with ordinary minds to smooth the pathway to professional eminence, at the early age of twenty entered upon the study of the law. His preceptor was Mr. James Hillyer, a gentleman of good legal attainments, and who possessed many excellent and noble qualities. With the use of a good library, and an occasional hint from Mr, Hill yer, Mr, Dixon raade rapid progress in his studies.' His whole heart was in the work. His days and nights were devoted to the prosecution of a science which, to a beginner, seems to be made up of recondite 47 738 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. principles and dry details. Pleasure was forgotten, amusement was ¦disregarded. He had no time to loiter by the way. He was not only inspired by "arabition, but urged by poverty. He worked not for fame ¦only, but for bread. At the age of twenty-two he had made sufficient progress in his studies to justify his admission to the bar. Imraediately on obtaining bis license, he entered upon the practice of his profession. At this period the "state of his finances" was low indeed. He wanted even the raeans to purchase a suit of clothes to appear in a decent garb among his fellow-merabers at the bar. This, however, was the last mortification of a pecuniary kind to which he was subjected. His ^acknowledged talents, energy, and business habits, soon placed him be yond the reach of want. His business rapidly increased. In a short time his reputation as a sound lawyer and eloquent advocate was estab lished, and he had the satisfaction to find himself employed in all the most important cases on the circuit. In the western states the connection between law and politics is so in timate, that it is next to irapossible for a lawyer who possesses a talent for public speaking, to avoid participating in the exciting discussions of the day. If his own arabition does not irapel hira to take the lead, the irapor- tunities of his personal and political friends will force hira into a prorainent position. Accordingly, we find Mr. Dixon, in the summer ¦of 1 830, called upon by his fellow-citizens of the county of Henderson, to represent thera in the popular branch of the legislature. His course, during the session which he served, was marked by his usual industry and talent. Araong other reforms which he advocated, was a bill for the better protection of the rights of married women, which, though un successful at the time, has since been adopted in its most important features, and becorae one of the most popular laws of the state. From this tirae until 1836 he devoted hiraself exclusively to the practice of his profession, which had now become not only extensive but lucrative. The reward of his early toils and resolute self-denial, when both neces sity and ambition impelled him to " shun delights and live laborious •days" was in his hands. He had obtained what my Lord Bacon calls the "vantage ground of jurisprudence." It was not his place now to wait for clients, but rather for clients to wait for hira. In. 1836, Mr. Dixon was elected to represent the counties of Hender son, Hopkins and Daviess, in the senate. In 1841, he was again elected to the legislature from the county of Henderson, without opposition. In 1843, he was nominated by the whig convention of Kentucky for the office of lieutenant-governor, on the same ticket with Mr. Ousley, and was not only elected over his competitor by a triumphant majority, but far outran the gubernatorial candidate. During the canvass, his advocacy of the principles and measures of the whig party was unusually able, particulariy his defence of our domestic manufactures. The protective ¦policy has never been so popular in the southern states as in the more densely populated districts of the North, where labor is cheap and ¦capital is abundant. The interests of the people are not bound up in its success. Tbeir means are not invested in manufactures but in agriculture, and it is a ARCHIBALD DIXON, OP KENTUCKY. 739 task of some difficulty to convince them that a measure which apparently takes money out of their pockets can be just or expedient. Mr. Dixon, nevertheless, made the features of the American system occupy the most important place in his discussions, and the manner in which he treated the subject was so able, and his arguraents so convincing, that he obtained the greatest applause from all quarters except the ranks of the opposi tion ; and we think ourselves justifiable in saying, that he succeeded in establishing this most important policy upon a much more secure and permanent basis than it had hitherto occupied in Kentucky. During the next four years, he was ex-ojfficio President of the Senate, and in the difficult and often perplexing duties of his position he had the pleasure of giving universal satisfaction to both parties. Ever present at his post, the promptitude of his decisions was only equaled by their in flexible justice. In 1848 he was preferred by a majority of the whig party for the office of governor, and but for the unyielding opposition of the friends of the opposing candidates, would have received the no mination at the hands of the convention. Being satisfied that the ex citement of feeling, which existed in the two sections of the party, would materially impair its efficiency in the approaching gubernatorial and presidential contests, he did not hesitate to sacrifice his per- sonaL ambition to the good of the whig cause; and Mr. Crittenden being placed in nomination, he instructed his friends to withdraw his name. The year 1849 was a period of great political excitement throughout the state. A constitutional convention was about to assemble for the reformation of the organic law, and many new and highly important questions were presented to the consideration of the people. Among these, not the least interesting, was a proposition for the gradual emancipation of the slave population. This measure was advocated by several highly distinguished persons, and though there was scarcely a probability of its immediate success, yet the mere agitation of the question was deemed by Mr. Dixon im politic and dangerous. The shock which it might give to the stability and security of sixty millions of property would, in his opinion, more than counterbalance any remote and doubtful advantage which could possibly accrue from the discussion of so delicate a subject. He ac cordingly opposed and denounced it with all the energy and vehemence of his nature. Being chosen, without opposition, a member of the con vention, he brought forward the following resolution, which he sustain ed with marked ability, and which, in substance, was finally incorpo rated into the constitution. " Whereas, the right of the citizen to be secure in his person and property is not only guaranteed by all free governments, but lies at the very foundation of them ; and, whereas, the powers derived to this convention, immediately and collectively, are distinctly from the people ; and, although not expressed, are im plied, and that among them is the power so to change the existing consti tution of the state as to afford a more ample protection to the civil and religious rights of the citizen, but not to destroy them ; and, where as, the slaves of citizens of this commonwealth are property, both those that are now in esse, and those hereafter born of mothers who may be slaves at the time of such birth, therefore, " Resolved, That this Convention has not the power, or right, by any 740 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. principle it may incorporate into the constitution of the state, to de prive the citizen of his property without his consent, unless it be for the public good, and only then by making to him a just compensation therefor." As a specimen of the style of Mr. Dixon, we insert the following extract, from the speech which he delivered when the above resolution was brought up for discussion : " But ray friend frora Nelson maintains another proposition, and I intend to call attention to it now. Yes, it is a strange proposition, and that is,, that all the right we have to our slave population is derived from the constitution and laws of the stale. If the gentleman would but look back to the history of the acquisition of titles to slave proper ty, he would find there a refutation of his whole position. How did we originally acquire any title to slave property in this country ? If he will look back as far as 1620, he will find that the very first slaves were brought to Virginia, in that year, in a Dutch vessel. If he will look back not quite so far, he will find that charters were granted by Queen Elizabeth to certain companies, empowering them to go to Africa and possess themselves of slaves, and bring them to the then colonies of North America. He will find that they were permitted to go, and that raany went without any perraission at all. Well ; when they went there, what did they do ? They acquired the property ; they captured or purchased the negroes ; they exercised their manual strength and labor in acquiring the possession of that property ; they became owners by occupation, or by purchase — a way of acquir ing property that gentleman will readily understand. I say they be came owners by occupation, as those gentlemen who have gone to California to dig gold. " There being no law to protect it, they became entitled to the gold frora the very fact that they exercise manual labor to separate it from that earth in which it has been long imbedded. Law does not provide the right to the gold, and it does not provide the right to capture and appropriate the slave. They had the gold without any law, and they have now called a convention of gold-diggers, and miners, and for what purpose ? To give them title to the gold ? Not at all ; they have that right now, but it is to give protection to those rights which they have acquired by occupancy. That is the object and design. To give them rights ? Not at all ; but the protection of the rights which now exist. Let us take this matter a little farther. I believe that when Kentucky separated frora Virginia, — or to go farther, that before any constitution was formed in the United States, the people of Virginia had their slaves, and that they had a right to them. And when the act of separation was passed on the part of Virginia allowing Kentucky to become a separate state — when she separated herself and threw herself back on first principles, and declared her sovereignty in the act of establishing organic law, her citizens then had this right of property in slaves. Those rights of property, therefore, were not derived from the laws of Virginia, or frora the constitution of 1792 or 1799 ; they existed prior to, and independent of, those laws. They existed because they were rights clearly acquired from those who first acquired the slaves, and which had come down to their descendants by descent, or which had ARCHIBALD DIXON, OF KENTUCKY. 741 been transferred by purchase. Thus were these rights existing prior to the adoption of any organic law. But at this particular period of time, when all things are thrown back to their original elements, and all per mitted to express their opinions and views on all and every question, a strange proposition is springing up in the midst of our excited country men. What is it ? One says to another, you have no right to all that land of yours ; and another, you have no right to your negroes ; and another, you have no right to your strong box. It is a strange proposi tion springing up right here in this community. What will be the re sult of it? " Mr. C. A. WiCLiFFE, — Does the gentleraan raean to say that I ad vocate such a doctrine on this floor? If so, he is mistaken." " Mr. Dixon. — I mean that such is the effect of the gentleman's pro position. I say that it is the true consequence of the doctrine advanced, that all power belongs to this convention, and that no right exists independent of the organic law it may make, or the statute laws which may be passed under it. I say, then, let us go back to the state of society I have mentioned to the gentleman. Let the proposition be made and proclaimed to the people of Kentucky, that prior to the adoption of their constitution the right to property does not exist, and what would be the condition of every meraber of society ? The very assumption of the principle would be looked upon as a violation of every principle of right which lies at the foundation of every free gov ernment. " Well, our title to our slaves is not derived from Virginia, or from the constitution or statute laws of Kentucky, but it is derived in the manner which I have represented. We come, then, to the formation of our present constitution. What shall we do here ? We intend to unite in framing a constitution that will protect, not destroy ; to build up, and not to pull down ; to throw the segis of our protection around the rights of the citizen, and not to put in the hands of the incendiary a torch to consume or a sword to destroy and murder. This convention has no such power. And if such a power can exist, if it is to be pro claimed here that fifty-one men in this convention have the right to seize on the property, should they see proper to do it, then away with the rights of the people. If this is not radicalism, the rank old agrarianism, starting up here as from the floors of the old Roman senate, shaking its gory locks at us, it is very like it. I will say to it, " thou canst not say I did it ;" but I will say, also, it is you, and you, who proclaim such doctrines, who did it. And where is this thing to stop ? Who can tell what a people may do hereafter, and what a majority may favor here after — where is it to stop ? I said the other day, when it is once admit ted that a mere majority has the right and the power to seize upon the property of the people and to appropriate it to such use as they may think proper, there is no longer any safety in society. You have but to proclaim to all the vagabond population of the world that they have only to become citizens of Kentucky, and a majority, in order to seize upon the property of our citizens and appropriate it as they think proper ; you have but to call upon the wild spirits that inhabit the free states and the great -cities, the skulking vagabond population who only seek an opportunity for plunder aud murder ; you have but to call 742 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. upon those people of other countries who have been expatriated from their own lands by the laws, and who are driven from necessity to violence and outrage on those who are better off; you have but to call upon these classes to corae to Kentucky, and to assert the rights of a citizen, and obtain the privilege of voting, and what would be the re sult ? They would pour in upon us as did the Goth and Vandal barba rians upon the Roman territory ; they would come as did the Huns under the lead of Atilla, sweeping before thera, as with a whirlwind of desolation, all the great institutions of the country, and raonopolizing all is property. They would rally around some great leader, like that "scourge of nations" and destroyer of civil institutions, who looked back on the desolation he had left and forward on the beauty that was spread before him, and like that conquerer exclaim — " I look ahead, and all is beautiful, and all is cheering to ray eyes and hopes. I look be hind, and my track is marked in ashes and in blood. Desolation spreads itself in ray rear, and the beauties of civilization wither and fade at my approach." And your beautiful land of Kentucky — this fair garden of the United States — this spot where the poet delights to dwell, and the statesman and hero delight to linger — this great Kentucky of ours, so glorious inthe meraory of the past, and so bright in the vista of the future — it is to become like the plains of Italy ; it is to be scourged by those who come, like the Goths and Vandals, and Huns under Atilla, scatter ing ruin and waste through our land. I never will subscribe to such a doctrine, or agree that fifty-one men shall be armed with the sovereign power of seizing on my life, liberty, or property, and appropriating it to their own use, in violation of the great principle which lies at the foundation of all free governments." The firm and resolute course pursued by Mr. Dixon on the slave question, as may naturally be supposed, had no tendency to increase his popularity with the emancipationists. Having received the norai- nation for governor in 1851, their influence and suffrages, with but few exceptions, were withheld from hira, and as an immense majority of them were whigs, his election was thereby defeated. His vote, how ever, was larger than that of any other whig candidate who had pre viously aspired to the office. The emancipation candidate, Mr. Cassius M. Clay, run both as a whig and an emancipationist. Some time before the nomination was conferred upon Mr. Dixon, he became satisfied that his election was impossible, and addressed a letter to his fellow-citizens of Kentucky, withdrawing his name from all con nection with the office, assigning his reasons for the course which he pursued, and calling on the convention to select some other standard- bearer, who would be able to unite both the emancipationists and the old whigs. But against his own better judgraent, and in opposition to his remonstrances, his friends in the convention, who constituted a large raajority, determined upon his nomination. With the conscious ness that he was leading a forlorn hope ; nay, that it was alraost abso lutely impossible that he should be elected, his ardor was not damped, "nor his natural force abated." He was still found in the fore front of battle striking bold strokes himself, and urging on his party to the con test. It was a period not only of great interest in the doraestic politics of Kentucky, but of intense political excitement throughout the conn- ARCHIBALD DIXON, OF KENTUCKY. 743 try. Two great parties at the North and the South were set against each other in hostile array. " The imprisoned winds were let loose. The East, the North, and the stormy South, corabined to throw the whole ocean into coinraotion, to toss its billows to the skies, and dis close its profoundest depths." It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Dixon was not found among the number of those who lent their influ ence to add to the fury of the storm. Everywhere throughout the whole state his voice was heard, trumpet-toned, in the defence of the Union, and deprecating, as the most terrible of calamities, its dissolu tion and destruction. While those giants of intellect, Mr. Webster and Mr. Clay, were defending it at the capital, their hands were upheld, and the position which they occupied made secure, by the able and patriotic efforts of such men as Mr. Dixon among the people. From every speaker's stand in Kentucky, his eloquent voice was heard calling upon the people to stand by the institutions of their fathers, and main tain theintegrity of the Union against the insidious attacks of northern abolitionists and the more violent and furious onslaughts of southern seceders. Those spirit-stirring appeals were not lost. They were not thrown away upon listless ears. The people of Kentucky, we assert boldly, have more true loyalty of feeling, and deep, unselfish, patriotic affection and admiration for the Republic than those of any other state. These patriotic sentiments Mr. Dixon, by his bold and manly elo quence, awakened into activity at a time when the expression of such sentiments on the part of the masses was necessary to sustain the course of those great statesmen who stood like faithful pilots at the helm, and finally succeeded in weathering the storm. He spoke not for his own election merely, nor for the success of the whig party, but for the Union. The gubernatorial campaign, as he had anticipated and predicted, resulted in his defeat by a small majority. But the emancipation party, though it possessed a sufficient nuraber of votes to control the election,. before the people, on account of the alraost equal division of the state between the whigs and deraocrats, did not possess the same command ing power in the legislature, and the imraense majority who coincided with Mr. Dixon in his opinions on the subject of slavery, determined to reward his talents and fidelity with a seat in the United States Senate. He was opposed, however, by the whole emancipation influence in the contest which ensued for this high office, and was run against nearly eviry prominent whig in the state, Mr. Crittenden included. A caucus having at last been called for the purpose of deciding the claims of the respective candidates, it was found that Mr. Crittenden and Mr, Dixon were the only competitors. The friends of Mr. Dixon claimed a ma jority of two, but the adherents of Mr. Crittenden remaining firm or obstinate, as the apologists of either side may prefer, Mr. Dixon con sented, for the sake of harmony in the whig party, that his own narae- should be withdrawn in connection with the withdrawal of that- of Mr. Crittenden. It being anticipated, however, that a vacancy in the senate- might soon occur, the friends of Mr. Dixon still adhered to him, re solved upon his ultimate success, and in a short time the resignation of Mr. Clay again called upon the legislature of Kentucky to choose a re presentative to fill the unexpired term of that great man. The name 744 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. of Mr, Dixon was imraediately presented to the two houses of the legis lative body for their suffrages, and in opposition to it those of many other prominent and distinguished whigs, but after a few ballotings his election was carried without difficulty. He will take his seat in that illustrious body which has been so long adorned by the most brilliant talents of the nation, on the first Monday in December, 1852. The person of Mr. Dixon is tall and slender, but erect and com manding. His features are regular, and their combined expression stern but vivacious. The style of his oratory is bold, vigorous and highly irapassioned. In his conduct at the bar he employs his whole raind and soul, every thought, feeling, and sentiment, in his cause. During the progress of the trial, the court, the jury, and the witnesses, constitute the whole world to him. All beyond that little circle, which is hemmed in by the iron rails of the bar, is forgotten ; but not the slightest circumstance which occurs within that circle is disregarded. These qualities, so invaluable in a lawyer, could not have failed to se cure him the raost abundant success in his profession. From the out set of his career he has steadily advanced in fortune and reputation. As a criminal lawyer, his success has been unusual, and almost un precedented. If he is more at horae in any one branch of his profession than another, it is in this. His peculiar style of oratory is perhaps bet ter suited to it. In the soleranity of such an occasion, when the life of a huraan being hangs upon the opinion of a jury of twelve men, when the audience is silent from the intense interest which is always excited by the importance of the proceedings, it is then that his talent, as a forensic speaker, displays itself in its full force and brilliancy. If you were not certain that he is the master of his subject you might suppose that his subject was the master of him, so completely does he appear to be absorbed in the cause of his client. His voice rises to the' highest pitch, or descends to the deepest tones of solemnity. His eye flashes with enthusiasra, the muscles of his face work with the energy of his feelings, and the violence of his gesticulation convinces that the whole soul of the orator is awakened and aroused. Nor does his spirit flag, or the vigor of his declamation abate, until he has thoroughly weighed and investigated every point in his cause, and awakened every senti ment of humanity that may exist in the bosoms of the jury.' His mas terly conduct of this class of cases has become so well known and uni versally acknowledged, that his services are almost invariably secured when it is possible for hira to be present at the trial. In politics, Mr. Dixon is a decided whig, and has ever supported the principles of the whig party with undeviating consistency. An ardent adrairer and devoted friend of Mr. Clay, he has steadily advocated the national policy of that illustrious statesman, and yielded him his warm est support. In heart and soul an advocate for the union of the states, the late brilliant efforts of the " Great Pacificator" were contemplated by him with satisfaction and delight. He is for the comproraise as it stands, without the slightest abateraent or reservation, as a final settle ment of those alarming questions which have so long agitated the country. He has at all tiraes supported by his voice and by his influ ence, a judicious system of public schools ; a subject ou which too littie attention has been hitherto bestowed in Kentucky. Having been poor ARCHIBALD DIXON, OP KENTUCKY. 745 himself, and risen by his own unaided efforts from the ranks, Mr. Dixon knows well how to sympathize with the feelings and wants of this large class of his fellow-citizens, and he has always found them his firmest and most reliable adherents in the various contests through which he has passed. On his part, at every period of his life, he has given his faithful and energetic support to those measures which were calculated to advance their interests and elevate their condition. On the various political questions which have occupied the attention of the country for the last quarter of a century, he has expressed himself with freedom and boldness, but it must be confessed that he has not at all tiraes pro fited by his candor. As a man and citizen, his character is above re proach. Devotedly beloved by his friends, his unsullied honor and unbending integrity have obtained for him the respect of all. He is now fifty years old. His course of life, from the coraraenceraent of his professional career, has been in the main prosperous, and we may be permitted to express the hope and expectation that he will gather fresh laurels in his new field of exertion. [Mr. Dixon is now in the U. S. Senate, having been elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the late Henry Clay.] Q/c>^^^>7^^^^->-^^^. TOJ?MJ:;j/I,2 '"j_j'^ji '.'J-- riJ£ sf.-r77-IL ll'U :¦: rs Ii y CZRCFir OF J^XYiX^'-Zk' !/¦'/?'¦ ^i.^r f^/ii- . / ¦ "- rM, . LOTT WARREN, OF GEORGIA. 747 HON. LOTT WARREN, JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURTS OF THE SOUTHWESTERN DISTRICT, GEORGIA. Examples that impress force of character on all who study thera, are worthy of record. By a few general observations we might convey some idea of the Hon. Lott Warren as a jurist; but, as he unites in his composition so many elements of a solid and practical nature, which raised him from obscurity to his present elevation, we shall indulge somewhat freely in particulars, in order to excite sympathy with his fortunes, and to encourage youth. His ancestors carae from England, and settled in Virginia, from whence his father, Josiah Warren, removed to North Carolina during the Revolutionary war, and married Nancy Doty, in the county of Onslow. After the birth of two children, his parents settled in Burke county, Georgia, where Lott, the eleventh child, was born on the SOth day of October, 1797. From Burke they removed, in 1804, to a place four miles below Dublin, on the Oconee River, in Laurens county. In his eighth year the subject of this memoir went to his first school, with six brothers and sisters, who walked daily upwards of three miles, to obtain what knowledge Mr. Matthew Burns, an Englishman, could impart during his sober intervals. The school lasted nine months ; but, at the end of two quarters, Mr. Warren withdrew his children, owing to the intemperate habits of the teacher. . Being a pious member of the Baptist Church, and a magistrate, Mr. Warren had a peculiar dislike to drunkards; and, from his condemnation of that vice, his son, of whom it is our privilege to speak, no doubt imbibed that antipathy to alcoholic drinks which has since marked his career. Residing in a wilderness frontier, distant from other settlements, Mr. Warren was frequently called upon, as a justice of the peace, to unite persons in wedlock at his own house. On such occasions the visiting party brought their own wine or brandy, as the case might be, and used it among tllemselves ; no member of the household participating. In February, 1809, Mr, Warren and his wife both died. It is due to the memory of this excellent man to say, that he was an humble and zealous Christian, and a faithful magistrate. His very name was a terror to evil doers. He committed the guardianship of his sons Lott and Eli, (the latter now General Warren, of Houston county,) to the Rev. Charles Culpepper, who had married his eldest daughter. Mr. Culpepper was a minister of the Baptist Church, and brother of the Hon. John Culpepper, formerly a representative in Congress from North Carolina. After the season for working the crop was over, Lott passed a few weeks at school, under Mr. -Joseph Culpepper, in 1809. His guardian removed to Wilkinson county in 1812, then a rough frontier settlement, and was sent to school to Mr. Elkanah Powell, (who was afterwards killed in Twiggs county, by a man named Summers.) During the six months under Mr. Powell's tuition, our pupil learned to write, and made some progress in arithmetic. His 748 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. next teacher was Mr. Jaraes Fitzgerald, (now a venerable citizen of Houston county.) and, after the usual labor on the farm, he again went to Mr. Powell's school. While there an incident occurred, which, as it had a controlling influence on the mind of young Warren, is worthy of special notice. A man was charged with forging a note on Gov. Irwin, and his trial came on in Wilkinson Superior Court, before the Hon. Stephen W. Harris, J udge. The prosecution was sustained by Colonel Abednego Franklin, Solicitor-General, assisted by Colonel Moses Fort. The prisoner was defended by Colonel Seaborn Jones, now of Columbus. Gov. Irwin was sworn and examined as a witness. His praise was in all the land. By leave of his teacher, young Warren was present as a spectator, the first privilege he had ever enjoyed of witnessing a trial in court. Standing barefoot, a coarse, ungainly lad of fifteen, clad in homespun, with wool hat in hand, gazing with intense curiosity, from a window, on the scene before him, all silence to hear the Governor deliver his testimony, what was his astonishment to hear Colonel Jones cross-examine the witness with as much boldness and rigor as if he had been only a common man ! Speeches of counsel and the charge of the court followed ; the whole proceeding filled him with an irresistible desire to be a lawyer. On his return horae at night, he raentioned the subject to his sister, who expressed surprise and sorrow, raising two principal objections : first, that he had not the means, (his patrimony being less than $500,) to prepare for the bar, and in the next place she did not consider lawyers sufficiently moral. He replied that he must have an English education in some way, and as to any supposed vices prevalent amongst lawyers, he would endeavor to be an exception. His sister was nothing convinced, and disposed of his request without even consulting his guardian. She lived to see him, in less than twenty years afterwards. Judge of the Southern Circuit. In the spring of 1816, young Warren entered as a clerk in the store of Amos Love, a pious Baptist, to whom Mr. Culpepper ministered in Dublin. Owiiig to bad health, he left Dublin in the fall, and became clerk to S. & R. Worrel, in Irwinton, near his sister, and shortly re turned to Mr. Love. Within a few weeks he was drafted into the militia service for the Seminole war; and in February, 1818, was elected Second Lieutenant of the Laurens Company, commanded by Capt. Elijah Dean. This was his first promotion ; and highly gratified, no doubt, was he with his martial honors on the eve of an expedition. Not for the purpose of showing any military talent or conspicuous deed in arms, to entitle Lieutenant Warren to public adrairation, do we attempt a brief sketch of the carapaign in which he served; but to preserve a few incidents, of which he is, perhaps, the best if not the only living witness, in relation to the burning of the Indian town of Chehaw, near the pre sent site of Starkville, Lee county. It was the burning of this town that led to an animated correspondence* between Gen. Andrew Jackson and Gov. Rabun. *• See 'White's Statistics of Geor-ria, 488-'93. LOTT WARREN, OP GEORGIA. 749 After General Gaines retired from Amelia Island, he took comraand of the state troops which had been ordered out by the Governor, and among them a company of Chatham militia, together with the Laurens and Wilkinson Companies. They were ordered to the Big Bend of the Ocmulgee River, below Hartford, under the coraraand of Major Clinton Wright, of the U. S. Army, to discover the course of the Indians, who had been comraitting murders and robberies on that frontier. After organizing the guard, Major Wright, pointing his s-w^ord towards him, said, " Lieut. Warren, I shall look to you for the discharge of the duties of Adjutant of this detachment. Come to my fire as soon as possible." The young subaltern went accordingly, and in vain alleged his ignor ance of duty as a reason why he should be excused from the task. But the reply was, "You have nothing to do except to obey orders." Thus forced into the position, Lieut. Warren perforraed its labor actively, much to his own iraproveraent, and to the satisfaction of a meritorious officer, who was drowned soon afterwards in attempting to cross Flint River on a raft. From Big Bend, by way of Hartford, the command marched on the Blackshear road to Fort Early, where it crossed Flint River in the night, and proceeded to destroy the Hoponee and Philerai towns, fif. teen or twenty miles west of the river. Evidence had been collect ed implicating these towns in the atrocities on the frontier. Arrived within a few miles of the Chehaw town, which was supposed to be Philerai, a council of war was called, and *it was determined to send forty of the best mounted men to reconnoitre. They discovered large herds of cattle that had been stolen frora the whites on the Oc mulgee, and an Indian minding them. Captain Obed Wright, of the Chatham militia, who had volunteered his services, had positive orders from the Governor to destroy the Hoponee and Philerai towns, which were known to be hostile. Captain Wright then forraed the coraraand into coluran, and gave express orders that the woraen and children should not be hurt, and that a white flag should be respected. Within half a mile of the main town a gate was opened by an aged warrior, and the troops passed in. Every thing was quiet. The children swung in their hamraocks, alid the women were beating meal. The cavalry in front fired several pistols to the left, killing the warrior who opened the gate. Capt. Dean ordered a charge, but Capt, Wright coun termanded the order. Two Indians were seen loading their guns. About this time, Howard, a friendly chief, was killed, while holding up awhite flag. The raen dashed off in pursuit of the Indians, who fled in every direction. Lieut. Warren was ordered, with eighteen men, to burn the cabins. First removing whatever was valuable, two or three cabins only were burnt. The coraraand then returned to Fort Early that night, sold the plunder next day, and divided the spoil. Lieut. Warren refused his portion. It was the opinion of all concerned at the tirae, that it was Philerai town which had been destroyed. The chief Howard, and two other Indians who placed theraselves in the po-ft-er of the troops, were mur dered in cold blood. But the error had been coraraitted rashly, under excitement, and could not be repaired. The companies were soon dis- 750 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS. charged, and returned home. Lieut. Warren resumed his situation in Mr. Love's store. In a few days. Major Davis, of the U. S. Army, called on Lieut. Warren in Dublin, and stated that he had orders from Gen. Jackson to arrest Capt. Wright. Lieut. Warren accompanied him to the hotel, where he introduced him to Capt. Wright, who at once submitted. It may as well be remarked here that Capt. Wright had not been mus tered into the service of the United States, and was, of course, not subject to the orders of Gen. Jackson. His arrest, by the authority of the latter, was therefore regarded by Gov. Rabun and the justices of the Inferior Court of Baldwin county, as a usurpation of power. After the discharge of Capt. Wright, upon Habeas Corpus, at Milledge ville, the Governor had him imraediately arrested for disobeying orders, in not destroying the Hoponee and Philerai towns, as well as Chehaw, but, being at liberty on his parole of honor, Capt. Wright escaped. We close this part of the memoir by a few extracts from the corres pondence between Gen. Jackson and Gov. Rabun, as relevant. Refer ring to the outrage on the Chehaw village. Gen. Jackson in his letter of May 7, 1818, says: " Such base cowardice and murderous conduct as this transaction affords, has no parallel in history, and shall meet with its merited punishment. You, sir, as governor of a State within my military division, have no right to give a military order while I am in the field ; and this being an open and violent infringement of the treaty with the Creek Indians, Capt. Wright must be prosecuted and punished for this outrageous murder, and I have ordered him to be arrested and confined in irons, until the pleasure of the President of the United States is known upon the subject. If he has left Hartford before my orders reach him, I call upon you, as Governor of Georgia, to aid me in car rying into effect my order for his arrest and confinement, which I trust will be afforded, and Captain Wright brought to condign punishment for this unparalleled murder." In his reply of June 1st, after referring to the communication of Gen. Glascock, on which Gen. Jackson based his censure, Gov. Rabun says : " Had you, sir, or General Glascock, been in possession of the facts that produced this affair, it is to be presumed, at least, that you would not have indulged in a strain so indecorous and unbecoming. I had, on the 21st March last, stated the situation of our bleeding frontier to you, and requested you, in respectful terms, to detail a part of your over- whelraing force for our protection, or that you would furnish supplies, and I would order out more troops, to which you have never yet deigned to reply. You state, in a very haughty tone, that I, a Governor of a State under your military division, have no right to give a military order whilst you were in the field. Wretched and contemptible indeed must be our situation if this be the fact. When the liberties of the people of Georgia shall have been prostrated at the feet of a military despotism, then, and not till then, will your imperious doctrine be tamely subraitted to. You may rest assured that if the savages con tinue their depredations on our unprotected frontier, I shall think and act for myself in that respect." LOTT WARREN, OF GEORGIA. 751 We have introduced these pungent passages, not only as a part of history, but to prepare the way to a graceful scene in Congress, twenty- four years afterward, between Ex-President Adams and Judge Warren, which we shall describe at the proper time. Not having relinquished his design of becoming a member of the legal profession, Mr. Warren applied himself six months to a grammar school, in 1819, kept by Doctor Williara A. Hill, at the residence of General David Blackshear. Soon thereafter he was eraployed as su percargo, or agent, on a flatboat, to keep the accounts of the commis sioners of the Oconee River, to buy provisions for the hands at work in cleaning out the river, and to disburse' money set apart for this and other purposes connected with'the inland navigation of Georgia. Hav ing frequent intervals of leisure, he read Blackstone's Coraraentaries through while on the river, and before retiring from his situation, in February, 1820. He then entered the law-office of Daniel M'Neel, Esq., in Dublin, and diligently applied himself to legal studies, not, however, with such entire devotion as to exclude matrimony frora his thoughts. An attachment formed at school was crowned, October 19th, 1820, by his marriage with Miss Jane Desaubleaux, orphan of a French gentleman who came to the United States during the Revolu tionary War, and who constituted General Blackshear the testamentary guardian of his daughters. The patrimony of his bride for a long time was unproductive, but at length became valuable from the charac ter of the property. Her guardian was distinguished for wisdom and integrity. At the mention of his name, the writer, who knew him well, cannot avoid paying a tribute to his memory, which his long and faith ful public seryioes more than justify. General Blackshear was a member of the Legislature of Georgia, in 1796, and co-operated with General James Jackson in the repeal of the infamous Yazoo Act of the previous session. In 1801, he was a Presi dential Elector, and voted for Mr. Jefferson — an honor which was be stowed on him at each Presidential election, until his death, July 4, 1837. For about twenty years he was a Senator from Laurens county ; and, owing to his vigilance in protecting that instrument from abuse, he was called the " Old Constitution." In strong common sense in the practical affairs of life, in the style of his conversation, and even in physiognomy, he resembled Dr. Franklin. At March term, 1821, of Laurens Superior Court, Mr. Warren was admitted to the bar. He immediately opened an office in Dublin, and attended several of the courts in the southern and middle circuits, with a fair prospect of business. In 1823, he was elected a major of battalion in the militia, and in 1824 a representative in the legislature from Laurens county. With a view to improve his situation he removed to the village of Marion, Twiggs county, in February, 1825. A vacancy occurring in the office of Solicitor-General, by the death of Thomas D. Mitchell, Esq., (in a duel,) in March, 1826, Major Warren was appointed by Gov. Troup to execute that office until the meeting of the legislature, when he was elected, and served out the terra, until November, 1828. He declined being a candidate for re-election. While in office, it became his duty to prosecute several Indians in 752 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. Thomas county, for murder. The evidence established their guilt, and they were convicted. On motion of the Solicitor-General, the prisoners were brought up for sentence. Judge F. gave them a talk, which was translated to the Indians, informing them that they must soon die with a rope round their necks, for killing a white person. Then appointing the tirae for their execution, the Judge gravely remarked, that it was unnecessary to invoke the usual blessing on the prisoners, as they did not understand the English ! The same Judge once severely lectured a Justice of the Peace, who had been convicted of assault and battery, telling him how disagreeable it was to the court to inflict the punish ment which his example made necessary ; and after visions of the pen itentiary and of a ruinous fine had caused paleness and trembling in the poor magistrate, the Judge read his sentence as follows : " Whereupon it is ordered by the Court, that the defendant pay a fine of one dollar, and costs of prosecution, and be thence discharged." Mental distress was never more suddenly relieved. About the time he retired from the office of Solicitor-General, the intellect and energy of Major Warren began to attract public observa tion. He was employed in almost every litigated case on the circuit. No one excelled him in zeal, and but few in strength, among his asso ciates at the bar. He frequently came in collision with Shorter, Prince, Rockwell, Torrance, Strong, and other advocates of established reputa tion, and always sustained hiraself in argument. Mr. Warren was never eloquent, if flowery language, a cultivated voice, and classic ges tures be indispensable to eloquence; but he was at all times interest ing, — a close reasoner, with authorities well applied ; and what was better still, he exhibited a degree of self-possession and common-sense which often secured him victory in the jury-box over a competitor far more astute and pretending. The people of Twiggs county elected him to the state senate in 1 830. Mr. Warren had always been a warra supporter of Governor Troup, and was a raeraber of the State Rights' Party when a high Tariff for pro tection created a pregnant issue in the South. In his senatorial career of only one session, he was active in the preparation and advocacy of measures which he deemed for the public good. He exerted consider able influence in debate, and returned to his constituents with praise. The organization of the Cherokee Territory, which led to the impri sonment of the Missionaries, and the fruitless mandate of the Supreme Court to enjoin the execution of the Indian Tassels, was the leading topic of the session, and received the cordial support of the Senator frora Twiggs. In Noveraber, 1831, Mr. Warren was elected by the legislature. Judge of the Superior Courts of the Southern District, for a term of three years. Although his raamier of presiding was not altogether as affable and patient as some members of the bar desired, his decisions were in general satisfactory, from the sound reasoning on which they were based. Occasionally, when a question was raised, he embarrassed counsel by an intimation of his raind, yet seldom declined hearing the argument in full. It was evident, however, from his countenance, which he rarely attempted to control for effect, that his opinion had been formed, and that it was a useless consumption of time to combat it. In LOTT WARREN, OP GEORGIA. 753 such emergencies, if counsel, gathering courage and fresh ideas from the necessity of the case, could succeed in impressing the Judge that his hasty conclusion was adverse to recognized authorities, a very patient hearing was accorded ; and if he was really convinced of error, he always had the frankness to correct it in proper tirae. It has happened, that older members of the bar, entertaining a very liberal estimate of their own qualifications, and no extraordinary respect for those of the Judge, owing, no doubt, to his want of polish and urbanity, — have ven tured to argue a point, contrary to rule, after the court had pronounced its decision. To such experiments, he promptly gave a quietus by re minding counsel that the protection which the Rules of Court afforded the Bench, after a question had been decided, was not altogether nomi nal in his court. On a few occasions, when even this hint was unavail ing, and the atterapt to argue was further persisted in, he has been known to order counsel to their seats. Judge Warren never pretends to forget the obscurity and adversi ties of his youth ; and while he raanifests a due respect for the rights and feelings of others, he has never perraitted any infringement,of his own to escape rebuke. Soon after he settled in Marion, a gentleman, who felt himself aggrieved by the testiraony of Mr. Warren before a committee of the House of Representatives, made a very conspicuous and disrespectful allusion to him, in his absence, at a public dinner. As soon as he was informed of it, Mr. Warren dispatched a note by a gal lant friend, opening the way to explanation, or, that failing, to another resort usual among gentleman who recognized the code of honrr. Mu tual friends interposed, and the affair was honorably adjusted. We mention this circurastance merely to show that Judge Warren has warm passions. His temperament is essentially sanguine. For the last twenty years, however, he has been a pious member of the Baptist Church, and has kept his constitutional ardor more in subjection. At the expirationof his judicial terra, in 1834, without having placed himself in the power of a legislative majority opposed to him in poli tics. Judge Warren resumed the practice of the law. In January, 1836, he removed from Marion to Araericus, and in 1838 was elected a representative in Congress, under the general ticket system. In 1840, the same trust was renewed by the people. On his motion, the one-hour rule was adopted. He had seen such unnecessary waste of time for the sake of notoriety in discussion, and for selfish purposes on the part of merabers of Congress, that he resolved to correct the evil. Guided by a strong will of his own, against the persuasion of many friends, he moved in the matter, and the one-hour rule was incorporated into the forms of the House. Though much complained of by long- winded talkers, the rule continues still unrepealed, and will reraain a proof of the sagacity and nerve of the mover. The writer has before hira no record of the congressional services of Judge Warren. In March, 1840, he delivered a speech in th? House of Representatives, on the " Bill additional to the Act on the subject of Treasury Notes," from which we give an extract. Com menting on the remark in President Van Buren's Message, that, " In a country so comraercial as ours, banks, in some forra, will probably always exist ; but this serves only to render it the raore incumbent op 48 '754 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. US, notwithstanding the discouragements of the past, to strive in our, respective stations to mitigate the evils they produce." Judge Warren said : " This is the talk of this ' State-rights President,' lecturing us on banks. Well, sir, what have we to do with banks ? They are created by the legislatures of the different States. These legislatures have the right to grant or withhold charters without the permission of Mr. Van Buren. And, sir, they afford the only currency to which the peo- ,ple can have access. Why destroy the people's currency ? It is to ¦make the currency of the office-holders worth more. Again, sir, his partisans in the United States Senate have created a man of straw ; and, in their Quixotic warfare against this creation of their own imagination, senators sharply reprove the States for having borrowed money, and built railroads, canals, &c. And now, sir, what is the pretext for this warfare against the States? Resolutions are introduced into the Senate, declaring it unconstitutional for this government to assume the payment of the State debts. These resolutions were met by the ¦ declaration, that no such thing had been asked for by the States, The administration partisans then say, in argument, that the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands and surplus reve nue among the States, is an assumption of the debts of the States. And thus, sir, a censorious lecture is read to the sovereign States of this Union. If I were a member of a State legislature, I should probably •oppose the creation of a large public debt for any purpose; but I should pursue such a course as the interest of the State in my judg ment required, and should not think the State subject to such lectures. We should remember, sir, we are but a part of a government which was created, and now exists, by the will of the States. This govern ment should treat the State governments as venerated parents, and not as disobedient children, or insubordinate servants. The President has set the exaraple, and his friends, his party, have followed in his footsteps." Having previously referred to a scene in the House of Representa tives, between Mr. Adams and Judge Warren, we shall state the par ticulars. At the session of 1841-2, while the debate was progressing on the motion to strike out of the appropriation bill the salary and outfit of -our Minister to Mexico, Mr. Adaras e-xpressed himself to this effect: That Congress had no power over the question of slavery in the states in tirae of peace ; but if a servile war occurred, and the military force of the government had to be called out for its suppression, that mo ment the whole subject came within the grasp of the government ; and the commander-in-chief, by declaring martial law, would suspend the civil authorities, and by an official edict, might give freedom to the slaves of the South. At this stage of his argument, Mr, Adaras referred to the course of General Jackson during the Indian war of 1818, when he notified the Governor of Georgia that martial law was proclaimed in his State, and that the civil should be subordinate to the military ¦power. Mr. Adams eulogized, in very high terms, this act of General Jackson, and said that the Governor of Georgia was right in yielding to the claim. As to the abstraction put forth by Mr. Adams, founded on any prin- LOTT WARREN, OP GEORGIA. 755 ciple of public law, Judge Warren did not feel hiraself called upon to reply ; but when the State of Georgia, through an alleged submission of her executive to a high-handed military behest, was held up to the world as having recognized a doctrine alike wild in theory and destructive in its application, he courteously interrupted Mr. Adams in his speech. Having been personally familiar with the facts. Judge Warren disabused the distinguished member from Massachusetts in the version he had given of the affair between General Jackson and Governor Rabun, by stating, that the claim of authority advanced by the former, was promptly and successfully resisted by the latter. This little episode in discussion was marked with proper civilities on both sides. What scope for reflection, and for eulogy on our political system, is afforded by this solitary incident! At the time Judge Warren was born, Mr. Adams was a Minister Plenipotentiary, ap pointed by President Washington. In 1818, he was Secretary of State, and his fame in letters and diplomacy extended over the civilized world, when the obscure merchant's clerk, — the humble lieutenant of a militia company, was executing orders for the destruction of the iden tical Indian town which caused General Jackson to assert the power sanctioned in debate by this eminent personage. Let the iraagination rest on the floor of Congress in 1842, where, near the venerable figure of the Ex-President, sat this sarae lieutenant! The one was born in high condition ; and after more than half a century of public honors, he met the humble subaltern of the Chehaw expedition on terms of perfect equality as a representative of the people ; that subaltern recti fying the historical error of John Quincy Adams ! The subject is worthy of a painter for its moral sublimity. We must draw this memoir to a close. While absent in Congress, Judge Warren was ably represented at the bar by his partner in the practice, William H. Crawford, Esq., son of the former distinguished Secretary of the Treasury — Georgia's candidate for President in 1824. From Araericus he removed to his farm in Lee county, and from thence to the town of Albany, in Baker county, where he now resides. In 1843 he was elected Judge of the Superior Courts of the South- West ern District, and re-elected in 1847 for a term which will expire in December, 1852. In looking through the Reports, commencing in 1846, we find that ninety-eight cases have been taken from Judge Warren's Circuit to the Supreme Court, of which forty -five have been affirmed, and fifty-three reversed on writs of error. This tribunal has done much to improve the administration of law in Georgia. When Judge Warren first came to the Bench, in 1831, every Circuit was a sort of judicial republic to itself, without any comraon regulator, though there was a convention of Judges which raet annually to forra Rules of Practice, and to which questions in the Qrcuit were often referred. The convention having no power to decide authoritatively, advised the Circuit Judge, who, though at liberty to adhere to his own decisions, generally adopted the voice of the convention. During his terra, frora 1831 to 1834, the associates of Judge Warren in this body were Crawford, Laraar, Strong, W. W. Holt, Thomas Warner, Law, Dougherty, and Hooper. In 1834, Judges 756 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. Crawford and Lamar both died; and in 1851, Judge Strong sank to tbe tomb. When we began this memoir we designed introducing the usual charge of Judge Warren to the Grand Jury, at the opening of each term, as on such occasions he was most faithful and explicit in com plying with the requisitions of the legislature in regard to certain offences ; but, from the space already occupied, we must relinquish the atterapt. Judge Warren has only two children living ; one, a married daughter, residing in Stewart county, and the other a son, who has been adraitted to the bar, and is still a member of his household. For many years the Judge has acted a prominent part in the affairs of his church, frequently officiating in the pulpit, and is ever foremost in the promotion of Sun day-Schools, Bible Societies, and other benevolent institutions. He has tender sympathies and a charitable heart, Avarice forms no part of his nature. His property, though not large, renders him independent. Much of his income has been expended in a generous hospitality. Preachers, religious persons of all denominations, and his friends gene rally, feel quite at horae under his roof In person, the Judge is fully six feet high, and weighs about one hundred and ninety pounds. His forehead is large and round, eyes blue, and coraplexion fresh and sandy. He steps quick, and is a little restless when sitting, unless his attention is much engaged. Owing to his kind feelings, which are manifest in his countenance, he does not always preserve that order in Court which a raore austere visage and deportraent would command. When the noise amounts to an inter ruption of business, he frequently alarms the bailiffs by threats of a fine for a neglect of duty. Perfect silence then reigns for a moment, but soon the uproar is renewed, the Judge himself setting the example by some pleasantry with the bar. As the style of " Lott Warren Division, No. — ," in Sumter county, would indicate, the Judge is a son of Temperance. His lectures on that subject are very interesting. In fact, his whole time is occupied, in sorae way, in trying to benefit his fellow-beings. In politics, he is strictly conservative, and prefers the Union as it is, to any change which raight be proposed as a reraedy for real or imaginary griev ances. We have endeavored to exhibit the character and qualities of Judge Warren with that fidelity which an acquaintance of twenty -five years enables us to exercise. His example ought to stimulate poor and friendless youth to .strike bravely, and bear up with fortitude, in the contest of life. If such shall be the tendency of this memoir, the writer will have accomplished his object. oT^ T&n.n.& 'se-d ONE OF THE JUV6ES OF TRE CIROUIT COUBU' Fiiq ^ for B-Wijr.ip7!i,-:,.jLS!<:^--;ofuis .F Errujien^ .¦• CHARLES F. KEITH, OF TENNESSEE. 7-63 HON. CHARLES F. KEITH, OF TENNESSEE. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this meraolr was a native of Scotland. After the fall of the House of Stuart, to which dynasty he was devotedly attached, his estates were confiscated, and he emigrated to the North American Colonies and settled in Fauquier county, Vir ginia, where he was for raany ^ears an erainent minister of the Episco pal Church. Shortly after his arrival in America he married Miss Mary Isham Randolph, a lady remarkable for strength of character, high lite rary attainments and deep piety. They had a large family of children, from whom have descended some of the raost illustrious men of Vir ginia. Their second daughter married Colonel Marshall, and was the mother of the late lamented Chief Justice of that name. Their third son, Alexander Keith, the father of the present Judge, was for several years an officer in the Revolutionary Array, and took an active part in our struggle for independence. About the close of the war, being then a widower, he married Mrs. Thornton, formerly Miss Galihue, and took up his home in his native county of Fauquier. Here they resided for several years, and raised a large and respectable family. Their second son, Charles Fleming, was born on the 22d day of November, 1784, and in 1799, he reraoved with his father and faraily to Tennessee, which had only a few years previously been adraitted as one of the States of the Union. Amid the wild and romantic scenery of that new and flourishing commonwealth, he acquired a vigor of constitution and a manly reliance on his own energies, which, prepared him for the per formance of the arduous duties his country was to. impose upon him in after life. In 1802, he returned to Virginia and commenced the study of law, at the early age of eighteen years, with his friend and relative Charles Marshall, a brother of the Chief justice, and at that time a prominent member of the bar at Warrenton. He applied himself assiduou.sly to the study of that abstruse science, and under the direction of his able instructor, acquired a profound knowledge of the elementary principles of the law. He resided for two years in the family of Mr. Marshall, and the kindness and attention shown him by that worthy gentleman and his most excellent lady, were highly appreciated by him, and to this day he recurs with the greatest pleasure to the time passed under their hospitable roof. He has, indeed, always considered, that he -«^as extremely fortunate in preparing himself for the active duties of his profession in the office of such an accoraplished gentleman and able jurist, and one who devoted so much time and attention in assisting him to acquire a knowledge of the practice as well as of the theory of the law. It may be -well questioned whether a young man, who has a finished education, can select any place better calculated to prepare himself for a successful entrance upon the duties and responsibilities of the legal 764 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. profession, than the office of a lawyer in full practice, who will make him his companion, hold frequent converse with him on legal subjects, cause him to investigate cases and transcribe pleadings, and who will direct with care all his studies, both literary and professional, and watch with interest over the development of his moral and intellectual char acter. The misfortune is that lawyers will very rarely take it upon theraselves to act in this manner towards their students, and indeed it but seldom happens that it is possible for them to do so. Hence young men of fortune most generally prefer to seek a law-school to prepare theraselves for the practice of this profession ; but while they find there raany advantages which a lawyer's office does not afford, and many motives to arouse their energies and .stimulate their exertions which solitary labor does not excite, yet they have many dangers to encoun ter, and are apt to form inadequate ideas of the responsibilities that await them, and to think, when they get their license, they can enter at once with eclat and without difficulty upon a successful practice. It cot unfrequently happens, therefore, that, when thrown into active life, they become discouraged at the fearful and severe ordeal through which they are required to pass, and consequently resign their profession with all its expected honors and emoluments, and betake themselves to some other occupation. Fortunately, however, for our country and the profes. sion, the system of Moot Courts, which is so well adapted to prepare a young man to become a practical and efficient jurist, is beginning to assume a prominent position in all our law-schools, and, if properly en forced and adhered to, will raake thera what they ought to be, the ves tibule, as it were, through which every one should be required to paste before he can be permitted to enter that grand and magnificent edifice, the temple of the Law, where the rights and liberties of the people are investigated and decided. This is a topic which would afford abundant material for an extended article, but we must return to the subject of our memoir, one of whose fellow-students, during his residence in Warrenton, was Richard A. Buckner, a young man of accomplished manners and brilliant genius, and who has filled with distinction high political and judicial offices in Kentucky, his adopted state. In 1804, Mr. Keith returned to Tennessee, but being too young to be admitted to the bar, he again visited his friends in Virginia, and after devoting several months to the study of his profession, returned home and commenced the practice of law in 1805, in Jefferson and the adjoin ing counties, where he obtained an extensive and lucrative business. The legal profession in East Tennessee at that time corabined as much talent as has ever been possessed by any portion of the state. It ranked among its merabers such naraes as White, Whiteside, Scott, Trirable and others ; men who have filled sorae of the highest offices in the gift of the nation. It was araong such raen as these, able and profound jurists, that Mr. Keith first entered upon the practice of the law, but he applied himself with diligence and energy to the labors of his profession, and notwithstanding this brilliant array of talent that challenged the homage and admiration of the people, he received a full share of the business in all the courts he attended. In 1809, his father removed with his family to the State of Mississippi, CHARLES F. KEITH, OF TENNESSEE. 765 and Charles expected to follow after him during the next year, but meeting with Miss Elizabeth Douglass, daughter of Philip Hale, who emigrated at a very early period frora Virginia and settled on the Nolo- ohuoky River, in what is now Greene county, Tennessee, he becarae enamored of her charms, and was married to her on the 31st day of October, 1811. Were it not for extending this article to an inordinate length it would be interesting to give an account of the ancestors of this amiable lady ; they were originally from Scotland, and their numerous' descendants are now scattered throughout the States of Virginia, Ken tucky and Tennessee. After his marriage, Mr. K. continued to reside in Jefferson county, and acquired great reputation in his profession, to which he applied himself most assiduously until the year 1817, when he became a candi date for a seat in the Senate of his state legislature. It was at a time when federal politics had but little to do with state elections ; parties were not organized as at the present day, and each candidate had to rely for success alone upon his personal address and the manner in which he acted with respect to the local questions of the country. After an animated contest with a gentleman of high respec tability, and great personal popularity, Mr. K. was elected, and took his seat in the Senate in the fall of 1817. The life of a legislator has but very little of interest attached to it, when he is merely pursuing the ordinary routine of business, and his time is occupied in attending to the private and local interests of his constituents, and when no great questions are presented for discus sion and determination which excite the public mind, and call forth the talent and energy of the representatives from different portions of the state. Such was the position of our new senator. We shall consequently pass over the first session of his political life, remarking that the best commentary we can make upon the fidelity with which he represented the interests of his constituents, consists in a siraple stateraent of the fact, that at the next session of the legislature, two years afterwards, he was returned to his seat in the Senate without opposition. That session was one of great interest on many accounts. By the treaties of 1817 and 1819 the Cherokee tribe of Indians had ceded to the United States a large and beautiful tract of country, a portion of which was afterwards laid off and called the Hiwassee District. The benefit of this purchase, to a certain extent, was given by corapact with the General Government to the State of Tennessee, and the question arose at this session of the legislature as to the manner in which the lands should be appropriated. A special comraittee was raised to consider of that important sub ject, and after much deliberation they reported to the Senate a bill providing for the exigencies of the case. But the measure proposed by the committee was not acceptable to the Senate, and Mr. K. was allowed to withdraw the bill for amendment. Taking for his model the plan introduced by Mr. Jefferson in the Continental Congress in 1784, and subsequently modified at the sugges tion of Messrs. Monroe and Grayson, delegates from Virginia in 1785, of laying off the counties into townships of six miles square, and sub 766 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS. dividing those into sections and quarter sections, he prepared a different bill, raore conformable to the wishes of the Senate, as manifested by the debates, and offered it in lieu of the one reported by the committee. This was a new feature in the legislative history of Tennessee ; but, after the most mature reflection, the substitute was adopted by the Se nate without any material alteration. It may be proper here to state, that the Hon. Thomas L. Williams, the present distinguished Chancellor of the Eastern Division of the State of Tennessee, was a meraber of the legislature at that tirae, and performed a conspicuous part in the passage of this law. Upon raany other important occasions his capacious intellect devised measures of policy for the governraent of the state which have redounded greatly to the honor and happiness of his countryraen. He was an early and fast friend of the able jurist whose character forras the subject of this imperfect sketch, and that friendship, in their frequent intercourse in life, has been unbroken through a series of years, and now forras for them a source of comfort and pleasure as they are passing off the stage of action, full of years and full of honors. Experience has shown the wisdom of the plan adopted by the legis lature, in 1819, for appropriating lands and defining their boundaries; and the State of Tennessee again gave her sanction to it by the Act of 1837-8, by disposing of the lands in the Ocoee District which had been purchased by the treaty of 1835 from the same tribe of Indians. It is almost irapossible, where lands have been thus surveyed and sectioned, for litigation to arise in relation to the true boundaries of adjacent tracts. Hence, in the Hiwassee and Ocoee Districts the ab struse learning relative to " ancient boundaries and landmarks" has been very rarely called into requisition, and has given the legal profes sion but few fees and but little trouble. In other portions of the state, however, where lands were differently appropriated, and each person was perraitted to make his location of alraost any size or shape that he desired, and to run the lines in any direction that might suit his fancy, innumerable disputes have arisen, and continue to rise, between the owners of adjacent lands, and endless controversy and litigation have resulted therefrom. This is an evil which cannot now be remedied ; but the country owes it, in a great measure, to the subject of this memoir, that all that beau tiful country reclaimed from the Indians by the treaties of 1819 and 1835, was not subjected to a similar calamity. At the same session of the legislature, the statute of limitations to real estate formed a fruitful topic for debate and controversy. The act of 1715, and that of 1797, explanatory of it, had given much dissatis faction to the country, and the greatest diversity of opinion existed^ both on the bench and amongst the merabers of the bar, in relation to the construction to be given to these acts. Many bitter hostilities ori ginated frora the controversies arising out of these statutes, and much excitement prevailed amongst the people in relation to the adjustment of their land-titles. Mr, K,, fully appreciating the evil under which the country suffered, gave his whole energies and lent his aid and influence to the set lenient of this vexed question, and was instrumental in the CHARLES P. KEITH, OF TENNESSEE. 767 passage of a law, prepared by the combined wisdom of the state, whicli gave peace and repose to the country, and harmony to the courts. Many other questions of interest to the country, in the management and discussion of which Mr. K. acquired much reputation for a correct judgment and discriminating intellect, came beforfe that session of the legislature, but it it would be tedious to attend to them in detail. The best evidence of the high position he occupied amongst his colleagues, and of the confidence and affection they entertained for him, exists in the fact that, about the close of the session, they elected hira judge of the 7th (now the 3d) Circuit, over a distinguished member of the same General Assembly, who has since filled a high public position as a member of Congress, and more recently as a judicial officer in a different section of the State of Tennessee, This circuit consisted in part of the country that had been purchased from the Indians, and was the largest and most laborious one in the state. It embraced a territory one hun dred and fifty miles in length, intersected by mountains and numerous large water-courses, and the courts were required to be held semi annually in each county. The entire southern and eastern boundary was divided only by rivers frora the country belonging to, and occupied by, the Cherokee Indians, and many delicate questions arose in relation to the conflicting claims between them and the whites. Lanje portions of the territory were but sparsely inhabited, and very few accommoda tions could be had throughout the country. But the newly elected judge, undaunted by any of these difficulties, entered at once with zeal and energy upon the discharge of the duties. cf nis office. In 1820 he reraoved with his family to M'Minn county, in the Hi wassee district, and selected for his residence a beautiful place on the waters of the Eastanalla, which now bears the name of Elm wood. He has continued to reside there until the present time, and has seen the country advance from a wilderness to a high state of cultivation. The life of a judge is one continued scene of toil and labor, with very few incidents to vary or materially change the dull monotony of the ordinary routine of business. No one act, therefore, can be selected from the great mass of his performances, and be looked to as an exem- pHfication of the character and value of the services he renders to his country. His history is not like that of the politician, the hero, or the statesman. The nature of his official duties does not require, or indeed permit, the performance of any of those brilliant achievements which dazzle and excite the public mind, aud call forth the burst of enthusi astic applause from admiring nations. His highest praise and greatest honor consist in a pure, faithful, independent and impartial administra tion of the laws of the country, with a demeanor, quiet, unassuming, and dignified, which will command the respect and esteem of all who may he thrown within the circle of his influence. While he entertains de cided, known and fixed views upon all great questions of national and state policy, and the influence of his character and station is exerted in a silent and unostentatious manner in advancing the success of those measures, which, in his estimation, will contribute in the greatest de gree to the happiness of his country, he should keep himself entirely removed from the exciting contests of political strife, and should not 768 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. enter into the feelings, prejudices and animosities of parties and ac tions. Such were the sentiments that shaped the conduct of Judge K. when he first took his seat upon the bench, and the same pure and impartial administration of justice, the same dignified and elevated deraeanor to wards all with whora he associates, the sarae disinterested devotion to conservative principles, now mark his intercourse with the world that characterized the first years of his judicial life. The citizens of his adopted state have rewarded him well for the fidelity with which he discharged the high trusts conferred upon him, but he has always esteemed more highly the gratitude and affection of his countrymen, than all the pecuniary compensation he has received for his services. To secure that gratitude and affection has been one of the highest objects of his life, and the consciousness that he enjoys them in an eminent degree, is to him a source of infinite gratification. As an instance of the confidence the people of Tennessee had in the integrity and discretion of the judge, it may be proper to state, that a few years after he was elected, the legislature of the state appointed hira a special commissioner to ascertain and assess the value of occu pant improvements in the Hiwassee District, which had been lost to the persons by whom they were made. The assessments amounted to a very large sum, but the coraraission was executed so much to the satisfaction of the people, that the legislature directed his certificates of the amount due to each claimant to be received as a lawful tender in payment for the public lands. As an evidence of the delicate and responsible position in which the judge was frequently placed in the performance of his official duties, it may be proper to refer particularly to one or two cases which are il lustrative of the nature of the business that alraost daily carae under his cognizance. Shortly after Georgia extended her jurisdiction over the territory occupied by the Cherokee Indians within her limits, she directed a survey to be made of the lands bordering on the State of Tennessee. This was believed to be a violation of the intercourse laws then in force, and the surveyors were regarded by the Indians as tres passers, and subjected themselves to severe punishment for enter ing on their territory. One of the surveying party having wandered from his companions in pursuit of game, was surprised by the Indians, who had been watching the movements of the party, and forcibly car ried into the State of Tennessee, where he underwent an examination, and, refusing to give bail to answer, was sentenced to be imprisoned, but obtained a writ of habeas corpus from Judge K,, and was discharged by him, on the ground that the Courts of Tennessee could not take ju risdiction of the case, the defendant having been brought by violence, and against his will, within the limits of the state. Considerable ex citement prevailed araong the Indians as soon as they learned that their victim had escaped, and they called upon the judge for a statement of his reasons for releasing him. The judge very promptly and kindly complied with their request, and gave them a copy of his opinion, and it was so satisfactory to them that no further disturbances were made. The State of Tennessee having extended her laws over the Indian CHARLES P. KEITH, OP TENNESSEE. 769 territory ¦within her limits, Judge K. declared that he would not enter tain jurisdiction of cases arising within that territory, and when a case of homicide came to be tried before him, he sustained a plea in abate ment to the jurisdiction of the court ; remarking that the Constitution of the United States and the laws and treaties made in pursuance thereof, were the supreme law of the land, and that his oath of office and self- respect required him to enforce them when they carae in conflict with the legislation of his own state. This occurred about the tirae of the adoption of the new Constitution by the State of Tennessee, which re quired the judges to be elected for a terra of years by the legislature, and after some of the merabers of that body had publicly announced that they would support no one who would not enforce the laws of the state extending the jurisdiction of the courts over the Indian territory, and at a time when the tide of popular feeling was greatly in favor of assuming such jurisdiction. The judge was, however, sustained by the people in his decision, and the firm and independent course pursued by him in relation to that case, is but an illustration of the impartiality and disinterestedness with which he enforces the laws as he understands them to be. It would be labor rather superfluous to allude to other cases which came before the judge, as it would be impossible to gather from them any correct idea of his conduct, capacity and qualifications. The best evidence of the manner in which he discharged the duties of his office consists in the opinion entertained by those who were best acquainted with his judicial course. We therefore extract from a pa per published some years ago in his own county, a portion of a tribute of respect paid to him by his fellow-citizens . " It is now twenty-four years since the organization of the third judi cial circuit of the State of Tennessee. During that period the Hon. Charles F. Keith has presided over its deliberations. His official con duct has hitherto been and is now well known to the great body of this community. A pure, faithful, impartial administration of justice has eminently distinguished Judge Keith in the discharge of the duties connected with his station. In that portion of his judicial course pe culiarly belonging to the Grand Inquest of the county — the suppression of vice and the promotion of virtue have alike distinguished the labors and solicitude of this erainent jurist. * * * * We intend by this no unraeaning flattery. It is the horaage paid by the agricultural laborer to judicial integrity and untarnished private honor." A very remarkable instance of permanent and devoted attachment of a people to their public servants occurred in the person of Judge K. In 1819 he was elected for life, or during good beha-yior. In 1834 the tenure of his office was changed to a term of eight years. In 1836 he was re-elected, and with the exception of an interval of four years, has held the office to the present time, being about thirty-three years since he first went upon the bench. Lord Mansfield and Chief Justice Mar shall are the only persons, now in our recollection, who held the office of judge for a greater period of time. In 1824 the father of Judge K. died in Mississippi, at a very ad vanced age ; and many years after his death his heirs received the 49 770 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. bounty lands to which he was entitled as an officer of the Continental army, amounting in value at the tirae to a very large sum. The judge has always maintained a character for firmness and inde pendence, candor and punctuality. He has never had any altercations with the merabers of the bar, but on the contrary has always been treated by thera with the utraost kindness and respect. In all impor tant contested causes which have been tried before him, he has preserved extensive notes sufficiently luminous to enable one to make a report of the cases. His decisions are prompt, clear and forcible. His labors have been immense — such, indeed, as but few constitutions could have undergone ; and yet it is a remarkable fact that during his long and arduous official duties, he has only lost a portion of one term of his courts on account of ill health. He has five sons and four daughters, of whom one of the former and two of the latter are married. He has never had a death or other serious calamity to occur in his family, and in other respects the favors of Providence have been showered upon him with a bounteous hand. In politics he is a whig. Devotedly attached to the Union of the States and the preservation of the Federal Constitution, under which the nation has grown to be so great and powerful, he deprecates alike that agitation which threatens to array one portion of the confederacy against another, and that disposition manifested by sorae of our coun tryraen which prorapts thera to disregard the tirae-honored maxims of Washington, and the other founders of our government, and entangle theraselves in all the petty quarrels, dissensions and alliances of foreign powers. The judge is not at all avaricious, but is prudent, discreet, and libe ral in the expenditure of his means. He possesses a handsome estate, upon which he will soon retire from public life to enjoy otium cum dignitate. Judge K. is still on the bench, pursuing his duties with firmness and integrity. Surrounded by a large family, in whose society his chief happiness consists, he takes much pleasure in turning their attention tc literary pursuits and every occupation that is calculated to improve the mind and elevate the character. tLAJ '.U HILL ••,t/-hi>yi/ Sh'Trl-r.T.il' Eniuwi't b>//-?7, •WILLIAM H. BATTLE, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 771 HON. WILLIAM H. BATTLE, OF CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA. ' William Horn Battle, at present one of the judges of the Supe rior Courts in North Carolina, was born in the county of Edgecombe in that state, on the 17th day of October, 1802. He was the eldest son of Joel Battle, a wealthy and enterprising citizen, and a great- grandson of Elisha Battle, who moved from Virginia to the banks of "Tar River, about a century ago, and afterwards became one of the pioneers of liberty in North Carolina. After pursuing a preparatory course at a variety of academies, the subject of this sketch was trans ferred to the university of the state, at Chapel Hill, in January, 1818, and became a member of the Sophomore class. Here he was distin guished as a diligent and successful student, and upon graduating, in June, 1820, although at an unusually early age, received the valedictory oration, then a prize of the second scholar in the class. Among his classmates were Bishop Otey, of Tennessee, and B. F. Moore, Esq., the late able attorney-general of North Carolina. In September of the same year, Mr. Battle entered the office of the late Chief Justice Henderson, and remained as a student with him until January, 1824, when he obtained license to practise law. It is usual in North Carolina for candidates for the bar to undergo two examinations before the Su preme Court, separated by an interval of a year. The first license extends to the county courts, whilst the second includes all other tri bunals. Mr. Battle, during his stay with Judge Henderson, having on different occasions attended his preceptor as amanuensis, upon his judi cial duties in Raleigh, his proficiency in his studies was so well under stood, that not only did the court decline causing him to undergo a regular examination, but insisted upon giving him both licenses at the same time. On the first of June, 1825, Mr. Battle married Lucy M., daughter of Kemp Plummer, Esq,, a distinguished lawyer of Warren ton, North Carolina ; and in January, 182^7, settled for the practice of his profession in the county of Franklin. The early career of our young lawyer gave little promise of future success and eminence. Although introduced to the bar with the advan tage of his reputation, both at Chapel Hill and before the Supreme Court, and though of exemplary morals and business habits, he went the circuit for several years with but little practice. And now, that he has reaped the honors of his profession, he is fond of encouraging his younger brethren by referring to the time when years of unsuccessful competition had so dispirited him, that even the influence of his wife could scarcely induce him any longer to face the cheerless prospect apparently before him. Instances of early disappointment, followed by marked success in later life, are sufficiently frequent in the profession of law to deserve attention, and afford the proper comment upon the "prcspropera praxis" of its old master. The name of Judge Battle may be added to the already illustrious list of men who employed the 772 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS, slow years of constrained leisure which fell to their lot in their early professional career, in pondering those weighty sentences with which Lord Coke comraences that admirable introduction to his Book oj Entries : — " He that duely considereth (learned Reader) the theoricke and practique parts of the laws of England, that is, the Knowledge in jhiversalities and the Practise in particulars, shall find that most aptly to be applied to this profession that long since was spoken of another Ars longa, vita brevis, studium difficile, occasio prceceps, experimentum vericulnsum. A learned raan in the laws of this realm is long in mak ing, the student thereof, having sedentariam vitam, is not commonly long-lived, the study abstruse and difficult, the occasion sodaine, the practice dangerous." Those who are so happy as to live under the ad ministration of the law by one whom the highest authorities at the bar, and upon the bench, in North Carolina, unite in characterizing as in every various quality of ability, accomplishraent, firmness, purity, patience and courtesy, entirely fitted for the highest judicial station, will find small cause to regret that William H. Battle spent so little of his time, twenty-five years ago, upon the assault and battery, and vetiiion ^lockets of his circuit; nor will they be slow to acknowledge the claira upon North Carolina, of that gentle and patriotic influence which preserved one of its chief ornaments to the magistracy of the state. The county of Franklin, in those days, supported the administration of General Jackson, by a vote of at least seven to one ; and Mr. Battle found himself with small prospect in the line of political promotion. However, having been twice defeated in previous years, he was elected to the lower house of the legislature, in 1833, by a very large, and in that county, alraost unprecedented raajority. He was chosen a second time, in spite of violent political opposition, in 1834; and under writ ten instructions, prepared after his election and signed by a large ma jority of the voters in the county, voted for the Hon. Bedford Brown for United States Senator. Although thus ready to acknowledge the right of the people, under proper circumstances, to control the action of a representative, yet during the same session he strenuously opposed, and in a minority of twenty-eight out of some two hundred members, voted against the abstract proposition that the legislature has a right to instruct senators in Congress. Mr. Battle never was a partisan. Although decided in his views of public policy, his natural temper was adverse to the heats and bitterness of public life. Excepting an at tendance upon the convention which nominated General Harrison for the presidency, in 1839, his career as a politician closed with his second session in the legislature. Since that time he has given himself entirely to his profession, and although he may retain ancient preferences for principles, no man is more conscientiously alive to the necessity for excluding from his present sphere of duty the fatal attraction and bias of partisanship. In 1832, Mr, Battle had occupied hiraself in preparing for the press a second edition of the first volume of Haywood's Reports. Merabers of the bar in North Carolina take great pride in the ability displayed in this early record of the decisions of the state tribunals. A learned gentleraan remarked some twenty years since, that, although a constant WILLIAM. H BATTLE, OP NORTH CAROLINA. 773 reader of the English Reports, the only case frora the American books ' which he had seen cited in them, was that of Ingram vs. Hall, contained in 1st Haywood, in which the court considers and exhausts the com mon law learning upon the question — what are the essentials of a deed ? A second edition of this book being called for, Mr. Battle undertook the task, and greatly improved it by the addition of notes, directing the reader's attention to such changes as, in the course of forty years, legislation or new decisions had introduced into the state law. The manner in which he acquitted himself of this employment, made so favorable an impression upon the governor of the state, that in the course of the next year he was appointed, in connection with two emi nent gentlemen of much longer standing at the bar, upon a commis sion raised by order of the legislature to revise the statutes. Pre- -viously to this time, questions connected with the lex scripta were the most perplexing of any that engaged the attention of the practitioner in North Carolina. Various acts, it is true, extending frora the year 1715 to 1820, had been passed by the legislature, which affected to define the portion of English enactment in force here; but the style of definition that was adopted — embraced for instance in such expressions as all statute laws of England — '¦^providing for the privileges of the people" or, ^'¦preventing immorality and fraud" or, " not otherwise provided for in the whole or in part," or, lastly, " not become obsolete," shall be recognized as laws of this state, left the matter as much in doubt as before. In order to simplify the subject, coraraissioners were appointed in 1817 to enumerate and specify the British statutes still to be regarded as law. This was done ; but as the specification did not have the effect of repealing such acts as were omitted in the report, and was in no part entitled to more weight than that due to the legal reputation of the gentlemen who made it, it is manifest that there was still room for hesitation. So true is this, that in North Carolina, as late as 1835, a counselor could not give advice upon raany raatters of every-day iraportance without consulting Ruff head's Statutes at Large ; and then, having found the statute applicable to his case, perplexing himself infinitely, not only upon questions of obsolete phraseology, but also much more about nice points connected with the privileges of the people, technical immorality and fraud, repugnancy to freedom, and so forth — points of embarrassment created, we may add, by the benevo lent wish upon the part of our state legislators to free the subject from its manifold difficulties. To rid the profession of this incubus, and to render private citizens more certain of the law under which they were living. Governor Swain prevailed upon the General Assembly to order the new coraraission, upon which he appointed Mr. Battle, in connection with Ex-Governor Iredell and Gavin Hogg, Esq., the place of the last-named gentleman, in consequence of his declining health, having been subsequently filled by the Hon. Frederick Nash, now of the Su preme Court. After three years, the commissioners submitted the revised statutes to the inspection of the legislature. The publication of this volume was an era in the history of law in North Carolina. The lex scripta became settled, citizens were less in danger of innocently involving theraselves in litigation, professional gentlemen were no onger necessarily in doubt as to their opinions, and the legislature, by 774 SKETCHES OF BMlSZtNT AMERICANS. a knowledge of what was the existing condition of the statutes, was better enabled to apply the hand of amendment and reform. In 1834, Mr. Battle had been associated with Mr, Devereux in re porting the decisions of the Supreme Court. Upon the resignation of the latter gentleman in 1839, he became sole reporter. The duties of this office requiring an alraost constant residence in Raleigh, he removed his family to that place in the same year. In August, 1840, upon the resignation of Judge Toomer, Mr. Battle was appointed by Governor Dudley, and in the following winter elected by the legislature, one of the judges of the Superior Courts. His ties to Raleigh being thus severed, and being desirous of superintending in person the collegiate education of his sons, he reraoved in 1843 to Chapel HUl, where he still continues to reside. In 1845, he was elected by the Trustees of the University to the Professorship of Law, without any regular salary, however, and with no part in the governraent of the institution. In May, 1848, he was appointed by Governor Graham one of the judges of the Supreme Court, in the place of the Hon. Joseph I. Daniel, deceased, but failed to have that appointment confirmed by the legislature ; although by the same body, upon the resignation of the Hon, Augustus Moore, he was, without opposition, chosen to fill again the seat which he had vacated in the spring preceding. The cause of his failure before the legislature is best explained by the following correspondence, which appeared in the newspapers of the day : — " House of Commons, ) " January 9, 1849. J " Dear Sir : — We have to-day, by a vote highly honorable to the General Assembly, determined, by electing you to the office of judge of the Superior Court, to do justice to the wishes of a large majority of the good people of North Carolina, without distinction of party. " The preference of another to you for a still higher judicial station, was owing principally to your residing in a county where there are already three judges, a governor, and a senator in Congress. " In the narae of our constituents, and as your friends, we most re spectfully ask that you will accept the honor now tendered you by a vote of so large a portion of both parties in the General Assembly. " We ask leave to offer our congratulations to you, that in the midst of great excitement, no man has attributed to you the slightest impro priety, either in your official or personal conduct — and that you have not sought office, but office has sought you. " With high respect, your ob't serv'ts, " Edward Stanly, " Newton Coleman, Wm, L, Long, W. B, Wadsworth, Richard H. Smith, J. S. Erwin, F. B. Sattbrthwaitb, a. G. Logan, W. J. Blow, Thomas J. Person, R. G. A. Love, Robert Gilliam. " Hon. William H. Battle, ) Chapel Hill." j WILLIAM H. BATTLE, OF NORTH CAROLINA 775 " Raleigh, January Qth, 1849.* " Gentlemen : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of to-day, informing me that the General Assembly have, by a large vote, given without distinction of party, elected me a judge of the Superior Courts. For this proof of the confidence of the representatives of the people, exhibited without any solicitation on my part, in the midst of much party excitement, I feel profoundly grateful. "If a proper sense of the duty which every man owes to his country, were not alone sufficient to induce me to accept the important and responsible office which has been tendered to ra^, the very kind raan- ner in which you, whom I take pride in numbering among my warmest friends, press my acceptance of it, would scarce leave me at liberty to decline it, " The complimentary terms in which you have been pleased to allude to the propriety of my official and personal conduct, have excited in me no ordinary emotions of satisfaction, and will serve, I trust, as an ad ditional incentive to urge me to endeavor to secure the approbation of my friends and my country. " With high consideration, " I am, sincerelv yours, " Wil. H. Battle. " To Hon. Edward Stanly, and others." To those who are aware of the amount of prejudice which springs up in other parts of a state against localities that, by temporal good fortune or by accident, have secured a larger portion of official pa tronage than properly falls to their share — a prejudice neither unnatural nor generally unwholesome — Judge Battle's want of success will bring but little surprise. On the contrary, they will consider it no small com pliment that a resident of Orange county should be regarded as possess ing qualities such as to overcome, in any degree, the natural aversion to heap distinction upon a portion of the state already honored beyond its comparative deserts. Since his re-election. Judge Battle has been sedulously engaged in discharging the high duties of his office. No one better adorns judicial station. Although rivaled, or even excelled, in particular endowments, yet in the sum of qualities desirable in a judge, it were not easy to approach nearer to the model of a magistrate, or to afford a finer exemplar to all who are ambitious of the highest honors of their profession. It is cause of regret that we have upon record so few specimens of Judge Battle's judicial powers. In North Carolina, no report is made of the proceedings of the Superior Courts ; and during the short time in which the judge sat upon the Supreme Court bench, no case of any very great importance or novelty came up for decision. However, there is in the Reports a dissenting opinion filed by Judge Battle, in a case of murder, which attracted considerable attention at the time. The point upon which the appeal turned was the competency of evidence of the * It appears from the paper which we quote, that unexpectedly to the gentlemen, whose names appear to the above letter, Judge Battle had arrived in Raleigh pend-- ng the election, for the purpose of appearing as counsel before the Supreme Court 776 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. general character of the person killed, with a view to mitigate the slay ing to manslaughter. As the dissenting opinion deals rather in argu ments derived from the obvious principles of human nature, than in those based upon precedent or mere technicality, we present an extract as a specimen of Judge Battle's manner : " I cannot concur with the raajority of the court upon the question of the admissibility of testimony offered by the prisoner, to show the character of the deceased for violence. * * * All the facts and cir cumstances which surround the raain fact of the horaioide, in a judicial investigation, become' matters of vital importance, and ought to be ad mitted in evidence whenever they promise to throw the least light upon it. It seems to me, that the character of the deceased for violence is one of those attending circumstances which will always have some, and often an important bearing upon that which raust necessarily be the subject of inquiry — that is : What were the raotives which impelled the slayer to act ? Take first the case where the prisoner excuses hiraself upon the ground that he jiilled the deceased in self defence. To sustain this allegation, he raust show, to the satisfaction of the jury, that he was assailed, and that, before he gave the fatal blow, he retreated as far as he could with safety to his own life, or that the violence of the assault was such that retreat was irapracticable. Is it not manifest that his apparent danger would depend much upon the general character of the assailant for mild and amiable, or for violent and ungovernable disposi tion ? Frora an assailant of the forraer character he would have little to fear under circumstances in which, from one of the latter, his life would be in irarainent peril. Let it be recollected, also, that he has to judge and to act at the instant upon the most tremendous responsibility. If he strike too soon, he is condemn ed to a felon's death upon the gallows ; if too late, he falls by the hand of his adversary. Surely the jury that tries hira ought not to require proof of the sarae forbearance when attacked by a man of blood as when by one generally of peaceable deportment. Undoubtedly his danger would be greater in the one case than in the other. Why, then, it may be asked, shall he not be allowed to prove it ? Evidence of the superior physical strength of the deceas^.d is always adraitted. Why, then, not admit evidence of that which gives to physical strength much of its force and all of its dangerousness ? It appears to me, likewise, that the privilege which the prisoner has of showing his own reputation for peaceable demeanor is of an analogous nature. Testimony for the prisoner of this latter kind is not only ad missible, but it has been said by authority very high in North Carolina, that it is frequently of much weight. * * But it is said, that the right to kill does not depend upon the character of the slain ; that the la-w throws the mantle of its protection alike over the violent and the gen tie, as the rain falls from heaven equally upon the just and the unjust. It is true, that the killing of a violent and bloodthirsty man, without provocation or excuse, is as much raurder as the killing of any other man ; but I contend that, in ascertaining whether there was any such provocation or excuse, the character of the man for violence affords im portant presumptive testimony in behalf of the accused. It is urged, again, that where the proof that there was no legal provocation is posi- (tive and clear, the evidence of character can have no effect, and therefore WILLIAM H. BATTLE, OP NORTH CAROLINA. 777 ought to be rejected. To this I may answer, that plenary proof upon one side can never justify the rejection of testimony otherwise compe tent upon the other. The argument so advanced appears to me to con^ found the competency of testimony with its effect." — State vs. Barfield, 8 Iredell, 344, et seq. Judge Battle is yet in the prime of judicial life. A constitution naturally gocjd, and well fortified by regularity of life and even tem per, has preserved his outer raan from the raarks incident to vita sedentaria and close study. As an officer and as a man he is remarka bly popular, and enjoys the entire confidence of the comraunity. In truth, it seems to be one great aira of his life to render the administra tion of j ustice acceptable, — not wholly unacceptable even to the punished. In no case has he sought or indeed placed himself in the way of official advancement. Unless in some exalted sense, we may say, that in a free country and uncorrupted age, he who most clearly manifests his fitness for high office most seeks promotion, and most places himself in its way. So has it been in North Carolina in the past, consecrate"d by the eleva^ tion of Haywood, Taylor, Henderson, and Gaston ; so all admit it to be now whilst Ruffin presides in the last resort ; and that it may continue the enviable distinction of the state to a late posterity, must ever be the fervent prayer of her true citizens. We have confidence that this reputation -will never suffer by any act upon the part of Judge Battle. Except in the way of earning, through long years, a name for modest excellence, unstained and unobtrusive morality, unwavering courtesy, extensive learning, and a judgment firm and impartial, it cannot be said that he ever solicited any man's influence or vote. With hearty acknow ledgment of the past usefulness of this her worthy son, his native state looks forward to many other years of service and renown. In stature. Judge Battle is under the average size. He walks with an active step, is uniformly neat in his person, has an engaging address, and his features commonly wear a pleasant smile. He is a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. Since 1833 he has occupied a seat on the board of trustees of his Alma Mater. In this capacity he is a zealous and useful co-worker with his friend President Swain in carry- irig forward raany improveraents which distinguish the later years of the university. We have before us two printed addresses by Judge Battle, one delivered at Wake Forept College in 1840, the other in 1843, upon the death of Judge Gaston, btibre the students of the university. AI- inough he has thus occasionally ventured into the walks of literature, we cannot find that he has at any time been a regular votary of the Muses. Indeed, as since the time of Blackstone it has been quite the rage with lawyers, upon arriving at a certain time of life, or in entering upon the duties of some engrossing office, to labor out and publish a score of creaking elegiacs in farewell of such Muse as up to that time they may have fancied themselves faithful to, and as we have never stumbled upon anything of this sort from Judge Battle, it is fair to con clude that he has never entered into such bonds. Nor would it be diffi cult to hit upon the direction in which his vows have gone up. He is very happy in his domestic relations, and whenever off his circuit, if not engaged with his law classes, or in advancing his acquaintance -with 778 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. his profession, may be found in the bosom of his family. That he may fail in no index of the good citizen. Judge Battle has been blessed with a goodly number of promising children. We trust that the future has in store for hira every happiness that can fall to the lot of the Christian, the good husband, father, and friend. ^^^X'^^^r:^;^^^ E'ia'^f"-~Bi.i.-ir. ¦hi:^.SkeJ;ohAs- -• - ii.^iui--nc A-rmru-.i,... JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, OF GEORGIA. 779 JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA. The life of Judge Lumpkin cannot be considered as an eventful one. That is, it affords but few incidents which, by reason of the publicity, attract the eye of the world. Although he has been connected in vari ous ways with every valuable, social, and moral interest of his native state, and has, in fact, contributed as much to their advancement as any living citizen, yet he was a public man only for a brief, although bril liant period. How distinctly he would have stamped his strong and ardent character upon the nation, had he pursued the career of the poli tician, those who know him can well imagine. His life, however, as it has been, and still is, is a theme rich in material for comment — a healthful, vigorous product of our free institutions, not the less instruc tive because not national. To speak of him with just commendation — to exhibit the strong points of his character with anything like fairness, without doing violence to that modest sensibility which is one of his most marked peculiarities — we feel to be a task of some delicacy. To portray the inner life, to delineate the heart and illustrate the genius of such a man, wUl be the work of some other hand and of some future day. Long may this be deferred, since it cannot be appropriately done until, in the cold obstruction of the tomb, his ear shall be deaf to the voice of merited praise. This sketch pretends to no more than to exhibit the outlines of his character, and some of the more prominent events of his life. That he has failings, no one would be more prompt to admit than himself Who of woman born, save the Saviour of the World, has been found without them? We dismiss them with the single remark, that they are iew, and lean to virtue's side. Judge Joseph Henry Lumpkin was born of highly respectable parentage, on the 23d day of December, 1799, in the county of Ogle thorpe. At an early age he entered the University of Georgia, then under the presidency of the late Dr. Finley — a man of liberal endow ments and distinguished philanthropy. Dr. Finley having died, and the University being without a head, he left it for Princeton, where he joined the junior class half advanced. There he was graduated in one of the best classes which that fine institution has ever turned out, with the second honor. The fact that the salutatory addresses were awarded to him at Nassau-Hall, having entered so far advanced as he did, and with such intense competition as his class afforded, is quite sufficient evidence of his assiduity and scholarship. His proficiency in the ancient classics particularly, was remarkable. Nor has he lost his relish for this kind of lore. He is not only now a good classical scholar, but his mind is full of the truth, and sentiment, and imagery", of the ancient orators and poets. His familiarity with them has, no doubt, contributed to mould his character somewhat upon the model of the good and great men of antiquity; for although, with any one of them all, his character affords points of striking contrast, yet, with some of them, it also affords points of resemblance. He has Aristides' sense of justice and 780 sketches op eminent Americans. Cicero's patriotism for exaraple. His use of the Latin language in his public addresses, and in the graver literature of his judicial opinions, is very felicitous. That forceful power of language which so emi nently characterizes his oratory, is to be attributed, in a high degree, to his acquaintance with the roots of our own tongue. In 1845 he was invited to deliver the annual commencement oration before the literary societies of his Alma Mater. Circumstances constrained hira to decline this invitation. When it is reraembered that this is one of the highest literary distinctions which that venerable institution can bestow, how wide is the field for selection, and how few of the really great men of the country have been invited to its acceptance, it is not too much to claim it as a tribute to elevated character and literary eminence. Had he appeared before the learned and polite audience which graced the occasion, he would have justified the wisdom of the selection, and vindi cated his claim to the honor. Early after his return from college he organized the Phi Kappa Society at the University- of Georgia, and gave it a constitution and by laws. Already had the Demosthenian Society been many years in existence. The two, in generous and profitable rivalry as schools of rhetoric, attest his youthful patronage of letters. In 1846 he was elected Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory in .Franklin College. This chair he felt it his duty to decline. Immediately afterwards he was chosen Professor of Law in the same institution. The department of law not having as yet been organized and endowed, this office, which he still holds, is merely honorary. Doubtless, the object of the Board of Trustees, in tendering it to him, was to secure his services when cir cumstances would enable them fully to endow a professorship, so neces sary to this flourishing institution. ' In 1845, with hiswife and daughter, in pursuit of health — which had becorae impaired by long and intense devotion to his profession — to gratify his eager thirst for knowledge, and to behold the beauties and wondrous relics of classic lands, he made the tour of the continent, visiting England, Scotland, and the principal states of Southern Europe. He saw, for himself, Italy — the land of venerable renown — her melancholy and magnificent monuments, her mouldering ruins, the abjectness of her people, and her moral desolations. He felt the inspiration of her clirae, and returned, no doubt, a wiser and better, certainly a more healthful man. He was asked what places in Italy interested him most. He replied, the Three Taverns, where St. Paul met the Roman Christians, and the tomb of Virgil. The answer was characteristic, illustrating his devotion as a Christian, and his enthu siasm as a classic. Judge Lumpkin is not a mere lawyer. He lays no claira to accurate and profound science ; yet he has useful general scientific knowledge. He may be, however, said to be well versed in moral science. He understands well the science of the Bible; he abounds in useful, practical information, and keeps pace with the im provements and events of the day. His taste is good : he loves the pure English undefiled, and delights in " books which are books." It may not be said of him that, like Murray, he drinks wine with the wits, for he drinks wine with nobody ; but it may be said of him that, like Murray, he is both a learned jurist and polite scholar. He, too, is like Hale, an able judge and Christian philosopher. With such satisfactory JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, OF GEORGIA. 781 outlines, we leave, as we need must, his literary character, and pass to other matters. In February, 1821, he was married to Miss Callender Grieve, the daughter of Mr. John Grieve, a very respectable merchant in Lexington, between whom and himself a mutual affection had existed and been confessed from early childhood. This union has been productive of as much happiness as ever falls to the lot of humanity, and proves that wedded bliss is in proportion to the purity of motive with which the connection is formed. He is primitive, and I will add, pure enough, to denounce the politic unions now so common, and to believe that affec tion is the only reliable guarantee of domestic happiness. Eminently domestic in his habits, he has sought and found peace in the bosom of his family. What the honors of intellect and station, the applause of the world, and the esteem of good men even, do not always yield — contentment — he has found in a happy home. There, he is priest and ruler, counselor and friend. He governs his household, but it is by the law of kindness, illustrating one of his favorite ideas — that love is the greatest agency of influence. In the midst of a numerous family, sur rounded with children who look up to him with affectionate reverence, with servants who yield him a willing obedience, and with friends who respect and appreciate him, he is a just and beautiful exponent of the charities of private life. He is pleased with little children, and de lights to caress them, and they, with natural perception of adult sin cerity, hang about him as a true friend. He is peculiarly fond of female society, apparently preferring those kind, gentle and unselfish qualities in woman, which in him are blended with the sterner attributes of his own sex. His female friends will testify that he does not lower them to the condition of agreeable pets — the solace of a leisure hour- hut respects them as associates, with social rights and intellectual claims equal to his own, and with great moral obligations and severe practical duties resting upon them. His character shines with its clearest and most graceful light in his intercourse with those around him. His manners seem to combine the simplicity of nature with refinement of good breeding. He loves truth and justice ; and such a person, in his intercourse with the world, will abide the great Scripture rule of polite ness — " As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." As proof of his generous nature and warm heart, few men have raore numerous or more attached friends. Particularly are the young attracted to, and constrained to love him. This is owing, in part, to the admiration, natural to them, of his genius, learning, and fine character ; but chiefly because he is kind to them — imparting to them of the stores of his rich experience, counseling them with candor, sympathizing with their hope and ardor, and inspiring them with his o-wn lofty estimate of truth and duty. With his equals in position he is polite and plain, perhaps a little sparing in deference, and certainly careless of display. Towards all who on any account might be con sidered his inferiors, his manner is kind and affable, even gentle, yet very fkr from a patronizing condescension. We have been much with him for a number of years, and we have never known him to address a servant harshly. He is a mirthful companion, loves a good thing, and 782 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. knows how to appreciate a good-tempered jest, even when at his own expense. The crowning excellence of his character is his piety. It is that which gives to it its highest dignity and its most beautiful ornament. Without piety, indeed, no man can attain to that perfection of which human nature is capable. In August, 1828, he united with the Presbyterian Church, in Lexing ton, thus early consecrating hiraself to the service of Heaven. At one tirae he took an active part in the affairs of the Church, very frequently attending its judicatories. Of late years he has declined this kind ot service, except so far as his immediate church is concerned. Believing in, and upholding the forms of Christian worship, according to the gov ernment and discipline of his own denomination — he is still not de pendent upon them alone for his religious enjoyments. If one might venture to judge of such a matter, it would seem that, as he grows older, he seeks thera more in that communion which the regenerated spirit holds by direct communication with the spirit of God. The enlightened and matured Christian realizes more fully than others, that it is not alone at Jerusalem, or on the mountain of Samaria, that God is to be worshiped ; for while his Temple is the Universe, his dwelling- place is the heart of the humble. It may be more than ordinarily dif ficult for a lawyer to maintain a consistent religious character ; yet it is not impossible. True, his vocation is not favorable to contemplative piety, and his temptations to err are great ; but it gives the most pro pitious field for the practice of Christian virtues. When legal science, reputation, eloquence and piety unite at the bar, we know of no condi tion of life more favorable to usefulness. The position of such a person gives hira coramand over a larger mass of his fellow-men, than that of any other. His moral teachings, when sustained by consistent conduct, commend theraselves in this — that they are not ex cathedra. The reli gious lawyer is watched with stricter vigilance, and his conduct sub jected to greater severity of judgraent, than other professors. This is owing to a false estiraate of the legal profession. The common idea that the practice of the law is a system of tricks and chicane, and that lawyers are Swiss, who fight for pay, recognizing a system of moral obligation in the court-room which they repudiate in private life, is an unfounded and cruel slander. It is not their vocation, however often asserted, to make the worse appear the better cause. This was not the view taken of thera at pagan Rome, as is raanifest in the admonition of the Roman law on the duties of an advocate : " Ante omnia autem universi Advocati ita prsebeant patrocinia jurgantibus, ut non ultra quam litiura poscit utilitas in licentiara conviciandi et male dicendi temeritam prorurapant. Agant quod causa desiderat ; tempereret se ab injuria. Nemo ex industria protrabat jurgium." This idea has reached us from that age which followed the destruction of the Roman empire, and which preceded the Christian reformation. It is strength ened by an occasional mal-exponent and by caricatures, which vrriters of fiction are constrained to make, to feed the vicious tastes of their readers. The law is the science of truth and justice, and its practitioners, under the restraints and guidance of the rules and forms of courts of justice, with the environment of professional honor, and under the JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, OF GEORGIA. 783 sanctions of Christianity, fill one of the highest vocations of humanity. The heart of the enlightened lawyer desireth liberal things. In Eng land for some centuries, in this country at and since the revolution, the lawyers, as a class, have done more to foster liberty, to refine so ciety, and to sustain the institutions of our holy religion, than any other class. Religion has never suffered in the person of Judge Lumpkin. He has always been free from reproach. The principles of the New Testament, carried with him into his consultations, the court-room, his private walks, and public duties, have, like an anchor, held him steady amidst the buffetings of life's wildest storms. Often a peacemaker to many, a spiritual adviser, a Sabbath-school teacher, giving freely to the support of the Church, given to hospitality, preferring the doctrines and discipline of his own denomination, yet catholic to others, and in all things adorning his profession by a consistent walk and conversation, he is a fair impersonation of a Christian lawyer. Prompted by sym pathy with the sufferings of men, women and children, and instigated by a sense of obligation to do good, when he had opportunity, he became, soon after he entered upon life, a Temperance advocate. He saw, as who does not see, that from intemperance springs, at the lowest estimate, one-half the crime and suffering which afflict society. He saw it to be a national vice. Here, then, was an enterprise of charity, which might ennoble genius, and which was worthy a life-time effort. This sweeping ruin, this expanding and all-enveloping evil, so degrading, so destructive of all the valuable ends and aims of civilized man, poisoning the fountains of social peace, and undermining the founda tions of monetary prosperity, has elicited for years the whole strength of his resistance, and evoked the most striking displays of his oratory. His has not been a fitful antagonism. Steadily and zealously, by ex ample, by argument, the most fruitful illustration, by appeals the most persuasive, and by a judicious patronage of every feasible expedient, he has given himself to the Teraperance reform. Even amidst all its fluctuations, he has stood forth its leader and champion, unremitting in effort, unrivaled in ability. In Georgia, and in the adjoining states, he is the universally accredited Apostle of Temperance ; a laborer, meriting fraternity with his judicial contemporary, Mr. Justice O'Neal, of South Carolina, in whom are most delightfully blended the elements of charity and learning. Whatever may be due to Judge Lumpkin's ability as a Temperance advocate, much, very much of his influence must be attributed to his long, earnest, self-sacrificing devotion to the cause. His connection with politics was an episode in the drama of life; He was returned to the legislature from Oglethorpe, for the years eighteen hundred and twenty -four and five, succeeding, we believe, the lamented Upson. At no time did party politics rage with more violence. A fearful contest was being waged between the State of Georgia and the General Government, relative to the Creek lands — involving ques tions of state and federal jurisdiction, which threatened the peace of the Union. The old Crawford and Clark parties in the state divided upon these questions, and the domestic strife raged with exceeding great violence and acrimony. George M. Troup was then the head of the State Rights party, and a gallant leader he was — a man of self-reli- 784 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. ance, decision and firmness. Elected to the government, he appointed Judge Lumpkin one of his aids, and there it was, and still is, his good fortune, in the language of that day, " to stand high in the confidence of the Governor." Into this state and national contest he entered with the ardor of youth, hope, and ambition. For the two years that he re presented the county of Oglethorpe, the storm was at its maximum point of violence. He at once took position in the legislature by the side of the ablest men of those memorable sessions. His eloquence, youth, and chivalric bearing, made him a favorite with his party, and he became the observed of all observers. The road to any honor the state could award lay open before hira. But, at its culminating point, this blazing star disappeared frora the heavens ; it did not explode — or go down, or grow dira — but retired from its sphere. There is nothing in his brief political career so admirable as his quitting it. The claims of his family — his love of domestic life — and perhaps some doubts or fears about the moral expediency of political life, with its exacting and unsatisfiable excitement— constrained hira to yield his position, and forego its fascinating promises. He resolved to abandon politics un conditionally, and he has kept his purpose to this day. Rarely do we find a sterner exhibition of moral courage. His political opinions were forraed in the school of the State Rights party ; and with that party, through its mutations, he has acted, without, however, uncharitable or very exclusive adhesiveness ; although out of active politics, he has ever been an observant statesman, well versed in national affairs, and profoundly sensible to all that concerns the honor or interest of his na tive state. Having studied the law in the office of the late Judge Cobb, a man of distinguished professional character, and eminent for his services in both branches of the national legislature, he was admitted to the bar in October, eighteen hundred and twenty, and immediately thereafter opened an office in Lexington, in the county of his nativity. His success was immediate; for, the first year of his practice, he realized an income of two thousand dollars, reversing the old saying, that a prophet hath honor but in his own country. Araong other tests of his worth, he has been, frora his youth upward, a favorite with the intelligent community in whose midst he was bom. The incorae of his first professional year, considering the competition with which he was surrounded, and the araount of business in a country circuit, exhibits him as a successful debutant. He lingered not, as many great men have done for many years, a briefless lawyer, but sprang, almost ^er saltern, to the head ot his profession. About him, in the maturity of years and professional farae, were not a few of the first men of the day. These it was his necessity, perhaps his pride, to encounter. The contestation was with athletm trained to the course. His antagonists were worthy of his steel. They had experience and reputation ; he had neither — but those qualities which sometimes supply the want of both, integrity, talent, in dustry, and the irrepressible, inspiring consciousness of power. I will not say that he vanquished them, but he stood very soon upon their level, and they were constrained to acknowledge him a peer. That he reached this elevation at once, is not true, for his was the experience of all, from Coke down, who have attained to eminence in our noble JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, OF GEORGIA. 785 science, to wit : that time, profound study, and close application, can alone command its masters. His rise, however, was rapid, and, with a large income, he pursued a brilliant upward course for twenty- four years, until, in fact, with health broken by professional efforts so long continued, and so exhausting, he was compelled, in eighteen hun dred and forty-four, to retire. What he may have considered a calami ty was a fortunate thing for his country — for his inability to pursue the practice was, no doubt, the occasion of his being called to the Supreme Court Bench. If the limits of this article would allow, it would be both pleasant and proper to sketch, in brief, the men, most of them now dead, who led the van of the northern, western, and Ocmulgee circuits, when Judge Lumpkin carae to it — such men as Upson, Clayton, Cobb, D. G. Carapbell, Payne, Shorter, Gordon, Willis, Harris, and others. These are all with the dead. Alas ! that such men should die, and take hence so much of public spirit, learning, wit, and wisdom. The elements of his success at the bar were integrity, industry, learning, and eloquence. His integrity never has been for a moment questioned. He has been all his life a working man ; and he permitted no other business pursuits to divert him from the profession. Politics, which hinders the rise of so many men at the bar, he repudiated. During his professional course, the labors of the lawyer were greater in G^rgia than in many of the states, because of the fact that the state had been from the beginning without a supreme corrective tribunal. In other states, such a court had authoritatively settled a vast number of questions — mooted in the English books — of practice and of statutory construction, so that a great deal of the labor of investigation was then limited to their own books. Not so in Georgia. Important cases were to be treated very much as cases of first impression ; and the whole field of the comraon law, her own statutes, and the books of the states, lay open for exploration. It was true in Georgia, as indeed it is true before all enlightened courts, that success depended very rauch upon the industry of counsel. He who has the industry and talent to instruct the mind of the court as to what the law is, is most likely, as he ought to be, to prevaU with an honest and able judge. Judge Lumpkin's cotemporaries concede that he was an able lawyer — a fact which his elevation to the bench has made manifest. Yet it is true that he was considered by the world at large as being chiefly distinguished for his qualities as an advo cate. There seems to be an uncharitable unwillingness in that same world to accord to one man great excellence in more than one intellectual department, and also a contrary disposition to magnify- but small ability in a single department ; because, forsooth, the medi ocre man pretends to no claira to anything else. We do not know but that the latter is the more common error. A dull dolt who, by years of plodding industry, attains (and creditably to himself) to some respectability as a lawyer, is incontinently hailed by a discriminating popular judgraent as wonderfully profound — although, as to all other things in the vast range of human thought, he is as ignorant as a block of granite. Thus Lord Kenyon attained to the repute of being great, (and not without sorae clairas to the distinction,) because he was the mere, not to say mechanical, champion and exponent of the dryest ti 60 786 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS, ties of the coramon law. But the judgment of the wise and the good reverses the decision of the world, and holds not only that a raan may be a good lawyer, and at the same time a scholar, a statesman and an orator, but that all these must unite to make him really great ; as in the case of Cicero, Mansfield, Webster, and Legare. Whether it be owing to this uncharitableness of the world, or, which is more likely, because the light of his eloquence eclipsed his legal acquirements — his reputation as an advocate was for a long tirae greater than his fame as a jurist. The grand array of planets and constellations is hid from the view when the sun is in the heavens, but they are none the less set in the firmament. If he was great as an orator, in the just sense of great ness, he was variously great ; for it is as true now as when Cicero an nounced it, that to be a great orator, one must be versed in the whole circle of science. With other knowledge, he must know man in the springs of his raotives — in bis social relations — in his dignity and his meanness — in his resemblance to a worm — in his similitude to a God; he raust so know things — past and present — with such insight into the future, as to draw argument and illustration from every point in the circle of huraan history. We know few men who better answers to the Latin description of an orator — Vir bonus dicineri peritus — Probity lies at the foundation. This is the inspiring power, as well as the source of confidence. fWe yield to the arguments or the persuasions of a good man, because, from his virtuous character, we infer sincerity and protection against imposition. We know that all truth so commu nicated as to reach the understanding, is eloquent — as a mathematical ¦demonstration, a moral postulate, a sigh, a tear, or a single act. An instance of the last occurs to us in Lafayette's kissing the hand of the queen, before the Parisian mob. But goodness and love are the foun dations of that strange power — that wonderful trust, which we call popular oratory. When these co-exist with knowledge and physical aptitude, the thing is perfect. Thus Carlyle : " Who ever saw, or will see, any true talent, not to speak of genius, the foundation of which is not goodness — love ?" It is not a momentary determination in favor of right, as simulated indignation at wrong, or an affection of the imagina tion, but an abiding, ingrained rectitude of nature, and a real love — love of truth, beauty, nature, raan and God. Rectitude of purpose and affectionate syrapathy with the rights and wrongs, the wants and woes of huraanity, cannot choose but show theraselves. A true and loving nature embodies itself in words — in appropriate action — the fire of the eye — the warm, sweet melody of the voice — the speaking atti tudes of the raan. Pithily and truly has it been said — " The word a man speaks, that is the man." Christ was the word oi God. The sources whence flow the streams of Judge Lumpkin's eloquence are, goodness, a fervent love of truth and justice, a clear perception of the beautiful in morals and in nature, and quick and gushing sensibility. To these are to be added what may be designated as the physical pro perties — a strong constitution, a pleasing presence, expressive action, and a clear, deep, various-toned voice. His action is free and natural, very often emphatic, and rarely otherwise than graceful. Prompted by the sentiment, it seems by a resistless sympathy to express that. In the heat of his discourse he does not hesitate for words ; they — the simple JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, OP GEORGIA. 787 and strong Anglo-Saxon words, appear to come without invocation, as part of a self moving moral machinery. He deals more in illustrations than iu figures. His distinguishing physical property is the voice. That is very fine; its variety is great, and its bass notes, when breathed upon by the spirit within, possesses indescribable charms. It awakens sympathy, and strikes the heart as well as the ear. It comes forth baptized in sensibility. Mr. Clay's voice, in his prime, aptly likened to a band of instruments, was more remarkable for variety of tone, but not clearer or deeper, or otherwise expressive. We know not how more truthfully to characterize the style of his eloquence than by designating it as vehement, argumentative, combining the highest order of declama tion with perspicuous and sound reasoning — that style which never fails to stimulate the mind to conviction, and to arouse the soul of sympathy. The late General McDuffie, of South Carolina, in the meridian of his day, was such a speaker, without his advantages of manner, person and voice. Had he lived in 1776, amid the sublime events and inspiring themes of the Revolution, he would have resembled Patrick Henry, both in his oratory and his love of liberty. It is, for example, the an tagonist style of Mr. Everett's — so remarkable for its calm repose and elegant variety. Both are living streams bound to the deep sea. The one rushes onward like the arrowy Rhone, while the other meanders through vale and meadow, distributing verdure in its course. We close what we have space to say of Judge Lumpkin while at the bar, by adding, that in 1833, in conjunction with Governor Schley, and John A, Cuthbert, Esq,, he was appointed to digest the penal code of Georgia, which commission was executed to the satisfaction of the legislature. The present code is the result of the labors of that com mission. In 1845, the legislature organized the Supreme Court of Georgia. Twelve years previous, the constitution had been amended so as to au thorize it. Previous to 1845, owing to some diversity of sentiment among able men as to the utility of such a court, and to great diversity of opinion as to the plan of its organization, but more especially because it had become complicated with the party issues of the day, it was found impossible to unite a majority of the legislature in its favor. In 1845, the whig party being in power, the present court was organ ized, with a party understanding that two of the judges should be chosen from the whig party ; and the other and the reporter, from the democratic party. This understanding was in good faith carried out, and Judge Lumpkin, Judge Warner and Judge Nisbet were elect ed; Judge Lumpkin for the' longest initiatory term: the tenure of office being, under the first election, six, four, and two years, and the permanent tenure of all for the term of six years. When the bill passed to organize the court, Judge Lumpkin was on his return from Europe. Without soli citation on his part, indeed without a knowledge of the fact, his friends offered his name as a candidate for this bench, and he was without op position chosen to the long term. The Supreme Court is now in its sixth year, having been from the beginning under the administration of the first incumbents. The labor and responsibility of putting into ope ration and sustaining the Supreme Court of Georgia, under the circum stances which attended its organization, cannot well be appreciated but 788 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS, by those upon whom like labor and responsibility have fallen elsewhere Without stopping to dilate upon the court, it may be proper to say, that in the estimation of both its original friends and opponents, it has outlived opposition, and is firmly seated in the affections of the people. To what meed of praise these gentleraen are entitled, together and in dividually, for this fortunate result, is for the enlightened community of Georgia, and more especially for the able bar of that state, to deter mine. Judicial reputation is of slow growth. They may rest satisfied that time will make a just award, if the award be not, in fact, already made. Without being at liberty to speak now of his distinguished colleagues, this paper would be imperfect without referring, very briefly, to Judge Lumpkin's character as a judge. The object of all courts is the administration oi justice, and those who minister at her altar should love her. To arrive at the right of a cause is Judge Lumpkin's earnest purpose, and his plan of arriving at it is to administer the law — the law as it is settled, and not as he would have it to be. He has expressed himself freely as to legal reform, frequently at large, in his report to the legislature of 1849. He believes that the common law ought to be changed so as to be adapted to the institutions of this country, the habits of the people, the expansion of commerce, the multiplication of corporations, and to the general progress of the age. As a citizen, doubtless, he would be a bold reformer ; but as a judge, he strictly abides the law. He has frequently from the bench denounced judicial legislation as the evil most to be deprecated ; and, while a stanch de fender of the rights of the judiciary, particularly in its control over un constitutional legislation, yet he has always declared his respect for, and his concession to, the law-making power. One will perceive, by recalling the nuraerous decisions of the Supreme Court upon the con stitutionality of laws and the rights and obligations of corporations, that they are strictly conservative, adhering to the law as settled, ven turing upon no experiraents, but adhering to authority. He has, what every judge has not, a profound sense of the solemnity of judicial functions. He seems to feel what the common mind does not recognize, that no department of the government has so much to do with the rights of the people and their personal happiness as the judiciary. It is, in truth, the balance-wheel of the political machine. With such views, he brings to the discharge of his duties, labor, conscientiousness, and in dependence. To illustrate his learning, not inferior to his most favored cotemporaries, the length of this sketch, already too protracted, con strains us to refer only to his opinions, to be found in the nine volumes of the Reports of the Supreme Court of Georgia, It is believed that they will compare well with those of .any of the judges of the states. His mind is of the impulsive cast : it is, however, the impulsiveness of genius, not of passion, and he doubtless finds it necessary to restrain its rapidity of action, and subdue it to a habit of patient hearing and in quiry. His quickness of perception is alrajst intuitive. He is now upon the theatre of distinguished usefulness. The bench will prove the foundation of his most excellent and raost endearing reputation ; and we have no doubt but in the future of his life the retrospect of his judi cial labors will be the source of his purest joys. JmsUtee ©f tlue S-iipireme (D)fthe U.S. JOHN MCLEAN, OF OHIO. 789 HON. JOHN McLEAN, JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, A LOW, vaulted chamber, in the eastern basement of the capitol, hav ing no pretensions to architectural splendor and ornament, is the place where the suprerae judicial departraent of the federal governraent has its local habitation. There is exercised an authority, bounded in its territorial extent only by the liraits of the republic. It embraces among its subjects individuals, tribes, and sovereign states, the opera tions of the state and federal governments in various departments and relations, and determines rights incident to peace and war. Its judges are called upon sometimes to administer the laws of nations, the laws of the federal republic, the laws of the several states, to expound na tional treaties, and enforce private contracts. In the variety, import ance, and majesty of its jurisdiction, and the wisdom and simplicity of its exercise, the Suprerae Court of the United States has no parallel upon earth, and is without exaraple in the history of the world. The stranger in Washington who coraes into the presence of this tribunal, and witnesses the grave simplicity and wisdom that distinguishes its proceedings, feels a degree of respect and veneration inspired by no other departraent of the government. As with deep interest he looks upon the magistrates clothed with such high authority, his eye will rest upon the calm and dignified countenance of Mr. Justice McLean^ who now sits in that chamber, the survivor of Marshall and Story, at the right hand of the Chief Justice, the senior judge in commission. A Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, Postmaster- General, Coraraissioner of the General Land-Office, Meraber of Con gress, a Judge of the Supreme Court of his own state — these important stations in the three departments of government, executive, legislative, and judicial, comprise the sphere of Judge McLean's public life. The manner in which they have been filled is distinguished by an ability equaled only by the integrity of his private life ; presenting a character useful and worthy of respect in its day and generation, extending by ex ample its influence to all time. The history of such a life is the history of the country. In the brief space allotted for this sketch can only be traced in outline the path by which, from obscure youth and humble station, Judge McLean has at tained the honors of his mature age. And it will thus be seen that, while such distinction is reached by few, the path to it in this repub lican government is open to all ; that to his principles may be ascribed the usefulness and success of his life. " Lives of great men all remind us, 'We can make our lives sublime. And departing, leave behind us Foot-prints on the sands of time," In Morris county. New- Jersey, on the llth of March, 1785, John McLean was born. Four years afterwards his father, in humble cir 790 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. cumstances, with a large family, removed to the western - country ; settling for a short time, first at Morganstown, Virginia, afterwards on Jessaraine, near the town of Nicholasville, Kentucky, from whence he removed, in 1793, to the neighborhood of Mayslick, and finally, in 1799, to that part of the territory northwest of the Ohio River, which now constitutes Warren county, Ohio. He settled upon and cleared a farm in this new country, where, for forty years, and until his death, he re sided. His son afterwards owned, and for a long time resided upon, the homestead. The means of education in that country in those days were very limited, and, in the father's condition, the son could not be sent abroad to be educated ; but, being sent to school at an early age, he made great proficiency in the elementary branches of education. Laboring on the farm until sixteen years of age, he then received in struction from the Reverend Matthew Wallace and Mr. Stubbs in the languages, with which, by their aid and diligent study, he became well acquainted ; — in the mean time, with generous independence, refusing to tax his father's liraited means, he by his own labor maintained himself, and defrayed the expenses of his tuition. Ardent and aspiring, at an early age he resolved to pursue the legal profession. Aniraated with genuine ambition, dismayed by no difficul ties, with firm and determined purpose confiding in his own -virtue and industry to overcome all obstacles, he engaged, at the age of eighteen years, to write in the clerk's office of Hamilton county, in Cincinnati, in order to maintain himself by devoting a portion of his time each day to that labor, while pursuing the study of law under the direction of Arthur St. Clair, an erainent counselor, son of the distinguished general of that name, and who had been governor and judge of the Northwest Territory. While supporting himself, he thus acquired, in connection -with the principles of legal science, a knowledge of the practical forms of his profession, the details of public business, and formed those me thodical and diligent habits that proved of infinite service in his subse quent career. In addition to his other employments he became a member, and took an active part in the discussions, of a debating so ciety in Cincinnati, many of whose members have since attained distinc tion in the public service. And it may well be doubted whether any mode of instruction more efficient could have been devised for the future la-wyer, statesman and judge, than was diligently resorted to for three years by the young aspirant for his own improvement, and to overcome his straitened circurastances and secure his independence. In the spring of 1807, being then twenty-two years of age, Mr. McLean was married to a lady of amiable manners and great benevo lence of character. Miss Rebecca Edwards, daughter of Dr. Edwards, formerly of South Carolina. She was for many years his devoted com panion, sharing the struggles of his early life and the honors of his man hood, in her own sphere presiding with judgment and discretion over the cares of a large family. In the fall of 1807, he was admitted to the bar ; and entering upon the practice of law at Lebanon, in Warren county, he soon found him self in the enjoyment of public confidence, and in the receipt of ample professional emoluments. At the October election in 1812, becoming a candidate to represent JOHN MCLEAN, OP OHIO. 791 in Congress his district, which then included the city of Cincinnati, after an animated contest with two competitors, he was elected by a large majority over both of the opposing candidates. The political princi ples with which he entered public life, and the manner they were acted upon, in the high and responsible station to which he was now called, have been thus stated : " From his first entrance upon public life, John McLean was identified with the democratic party. He was an ardent supporter of the war, and of the administration of Mr. Madison, yet not a blind advocate of every measure proposed by the party, as the journals, of that period will show. His notes were all given in refer ence to principle. The idea of supporting a dominant party, merely because it was dominant, did not influence his judgment, or withdraw him frora the high path of duty which he had marked out for himself. He was well aware, that the association of individuals into parties, was sometimes absolutely necessary to the prosecution and accomplishment of any great public measure. This he supposed was sufficient to in duce the members composing thera, on any little difference with the majority, to sacrifice their own judgraent to that of the greater nura ber, and to distrust their own opinions when they were in contradiction to the general views of the party. But as party was thus to be re garded as itself, only an instrument for the attainment of some great public good, the instrument should not be raised into greater importance than the end, nor any clear and undoubted principle of morality be violated for the sake of adherence to party. Mr. McLean often voted against political friends : yet so highly were both his integrity and judg ment estimated, that no one of the democratic party separated himself from hira on that account. Nor did his independent course in the smallest degree dirainish the weight he had acquired among his own constituents." Among the measures supported by him, were the tax bills of the extra session at which he first entered Congress. He originated the law to indemnify individuals for property lost in the public service. A resolution instructing the proper committee to inquire into the expedi ency of giving pensions to the widows of the officers and soldiers who had fallen in their country's service, was introduced by him ; and the measure was afterwards sanctioned by Congressional enactment. By an able speech he defended the war measures of the administration ; and by the diligent discharge of his duties in respect to the general welfare of the country, and the interests of his people and district, he continued to rise in public estimation. In 1814, he was re-elected to Congress by the unanimous vote of his district, receiving not only every vote cast in the district for representative, but every voter that attended the polls voted for him — a circurastance that has rarely occurred in the political history of any man. His position as a meraber of the cora mittee of foreign relations and of the public lands, indicates the estima tion in which he was held, and his familiarity with the important ques tions of foreign and domestic policy which were in agitation during the eventful period of his merabership. The wide field for public usefulness. presented by the representative branch of the national legislature, in duced hira to decline earnest solicitations to become a candidate for the United States Senate in 1815, at a time when his election was regarded 792 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. as certain, although he had only attained his thirtieth year, and was therefore barely eligible. He remained in Congress until 1816, when the legislature of Ohio having unanimously elected him a judge of the Suprerae Court of that state, he resigned his seat in Congress at the close of the session, and was succeeded as representative of that district by General Harrison. After his acceptance of the judgeship, and before his resignation, the faraous corapensation bill was reported, giving to each meraber of Congress a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a-year, in lieu of the per diem allowance then paid, which was supported by the judge and by the principal raembers of Congress of both political parties. He was on the comraittee that reported the bill ; and being convinced that it was a measure eminently calculated to advance the public service, he voted for it, believing that it would shorten the sessions of Con gress, give it a more business character, and greatly lessen the public expenditure. Under this law, no useless discussions would have been tolerated, and the business before Congress would have been promptly dispatched. But the law was perverted, and its effects misrepresented by selfish aspirants, so that at the next session it was repealed, and the present law, giving eight dollars per day, and eight dollars for every twenty miles travel, was passed. Under the salary system, few merabers would have consented to remain in session longer than was necessary to act on the business before them. The contingent ex penses of Congress would have been one-third less than they now are, and the annual pay of the members would have been proportionably reduced : at the same time, they would have been better paid for the time spent in legislation. But the most desirable feature in the reform would have been found in the increasing dignity and business character of the body. Judge McLean reraained six years upon the Supreme Bench of Ohio, serving the state with great advantage to its jurisprudence, and evincing those professional attainments and judicial qualities that have since distinguished his present station. In the summer of 1822, he was ap pointed Coraraissioner of the General Land Office by President Monroe ; and in July, 1823, he becarae Postraaster-General. The administration of the General Post-Office, in the condition it then was, presented so little for an ambitious man of reputation to hope for, and so rauch to dread, that his friends earnestly endeavored to dissuade hira frora accepting the appointment. Disordered arrangements, de pressed finances, arduous duties, public complaints and distrust, not unmingled with groundless abuse and calumny, presented a field where it was generally thought no reputation could be won. But confiding in his own industry and ability, and relying with confidence upon the virtue and intelligence of the people properly to estimate devotion to their service. Judge McLean resolved to undertake the hazard of the office. Order and economy enforced, finances improved and credit restored, regularity and dispatch of the mail, intercourse extended, and commercial correspondence carried on with ease, celerity, and security before unknown, soon manifested the application of his vigorous mind and methodical habits lo the complicated affairs of the Post-office de partraent. Devoting his personal attention to all the details of busi- JOHN m'lEAN, of OHIO. 793 ness, guarding against fraud and corruption in the raaking and execution of contracts, proraptly dismissing unfaithful and inefficient contractors, agents, and postmasters, superintending all the correspondence, and acting upon all appointments and complaints, his administration of this department was rewarded with unexampled success and public confi dence. By a nearly unanimous vote of the Senate and House, the Post master-General's salary was increased from four to six thousand dol lars. Those who from motives of policy opposed the measure, did so with reluctance ; and John Randolph said the salary was for the officer and not for the office, and that he would vote for the bill if the law should be made to expire when Judge McLean left the office. The distribution of the public patronage of his department exhibited in another respect his qualities as an executive officer, and manifested the rule of action that has always marked his character. The principle upon which executive patronage should be distributed, has been one of the most important questions in this government, and has presented the widest variation between the profession and practice of individuals and parties. In the administration of the Post-office department by Judge McLean, an example was presented in strict consistence with sound principles of republican government, and just party organization. " During the whole time that the affairs of the department were ad ministered by the judge, he had necessarily a difficult part to act. The country was divided into two great parties, animated by the most de termined spirit of rivalry, and each bent on advancing itself to the lead of public affairs. A question was now started, whether it was proper to make political opinions the test of qualification for office. Such a principle had been occasionally acted upon during preceding periods of our history ; but so rarely, as to constitute the exception, rather than the rule. It had never become the settled and systematic course of conduct of any public officer. Doubtless every one is bound to concede something to the temper and opinions of the party to which he belongs, otherwise party would be an association without any connecting bond of alliance. But no man is permitted to infringe any one of the great rules of morality and justice, for the sake of subserving the interests of his party. It cannot be too often repeated, nor too strongly im pressed upon the public men of America, that nothing is easier than to reconcile these two apparently conflicting views. The meaning of party, is an association of men for the purpose of advancing the public interests. Men thrown together indiscriminately, without any coramon bond of alliance, would be able to achieve nothing great and valuable; while united together, to lend each other mutual support and assistance, they are able to surmount the greatest obstacles, and to accomplish the most important ends. This is the true notion of party. It imports combined action ; but does not imply any departure from the great principles of truth and honesty. So long as the structure of the human mind is so varied in different individuals, there will always be a wide scope for diversity of opinion as to public measures ; but no foundation is yet laid in the human mind for any material difference of opinion, as to what constitutes the great rule of justice. " The course which was pursued by Judge McLean, was marked by the greatest wisdom and moderation. Believing that every public 794 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. officer holds his office in trust for the people, he determined to be in fluenced by no other principle in the discharge of his public duties, than a faithful performance of the trust committed to him. No indi vidual was reraoved from office by him, on account of his political opinions. In making appointments where the claims and qualifications of persons were equal, and at the same time one was known to be friendly to the administration, he felt hiraself bound to appoint the one who was his friend. But when persons were recoramended to office, it was not the practice to narae, as a recommendation, that they had been or were warm supporters of the dominant power. In all such cases, the man who was believed to be the best qualified was selected by the department." Having illustrated his principles and character in private and pro fessional life, in legislative, judicial and executive functions. Judge McLean was now called to exercise his capacity and attainments in the full maturity of their strength, in the highest judicial station. By the appointment of General Jackson in 1829, he was placed upon the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, having declined the War and Navy departments, which were tendered to him. The circurastances that accorapanied this appointment evincing the confidential relations that existed between General Jackson and Judge McLean, notwithstand ing their different sentiraents upon some principles of public policy, are interesting and highly creditable to both parties. They have been thus related : " On the arrival of General Jackson, after his election to the presi dency, and when he was about selecting the merabers of his cabinet. Judge McLean was sent for to ascertain whether he was willing to re main at Washington. General Jackson having stated the object of the interview, the judge remarked, that he was desirous to explain the line of conduct he had hitherto pursued : observing, that the general might have received the impression from some of the public prints, that the Postmaster-General had used the patronage of his office for the purpose of advancing the general's election ; but he wished him to understand, that no such thing had been done — and that had he pursued such a course, he would deem hiraself unworthy of the President's confidence, or that of any other honorable man. But that he was bound in candor to say, should he remain in office, he would not deviate in any respect from the course he had pursued under Mr. Adaras ; that in all he had done he had looked with a single eye to the public interest, and that the sarae motives would govern his fiiture action ; that no power, which could be brought to bear upon him, would change his purpose. The general replied with warm expressions of regard and confidence, and wished him to remain in the post-office department. He at the same time expressed regret, that circupstances did not enable him to offer the judge the treasury departraent. The judge replied, that hav ing held office under the late adrainistration, he was delicately situated, and required no distinction in his organization ; that he would reraain in the post-office department on the terms stated, or retire, as might be deemed proper." It was well here to remark, that the postmaster- general was not a member of the cabinet, until he was raade so by General Jackson. Some of the personal friends of the judge, who had JOHN m'lean, of OHIO. 795 been designated for the cabinet, fearing that his course in the post-office department might not harmonize with the one which the merabers of the cabinet felt theraselves bound to take, had conversations with him on the subject : and finding his purpose not to be changed, a seat on the Supreme Bench was offered to him, which he accepted, and to which he was immediately nominated. Judge McLean had received so large a share of public confidence in political life, and believing the people would sustain a public servant who honestly devoted his time and abilities to their service, that he left the department with great reluctance. He desired, above all things earthly, to see this great and glorious experiment of free government carried out in its true spirit. And this, he doubted not, would secure through all tirae to come, unbounded prosperity and happiness to those who were under its jurisdiction ; and that its moral power would so operate upon the civQized world, sooner or later, as to overturn the thrones of despotism, and introduce in every nation a national liberty. At the January term, 1830, Judge McLean entered upon his duties as a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. There is, per haps, no station which calls into exercise, to a greater degree, the high est faculties of the human intellect. In that tribunal must be discussed not only points of judicial learning, but theoretic and practical ques tions of art, science and government frequently arise, their decision involving the present and future rights and interests of citizens and of states, the prosperity of comraerce, the extent of legislative and execu tive powers, the stability of republican principles, and the progress of mankind towards peace and happiness. Judge McLean's eminent fit ness for that station has been manifested by twenty-two years' service upon the Supreme Bench, in which period the jurisprudence of the country has been enriched by the diligent labors of his energetic and cultivated raind. By his early habits of labor and industry, his intel lect was trained and his body inured to undergo exhaustion and fatigue greater than is imposed upon any other departraent of the governraent. Upon questions of commerce and constitutional law, his opinions have been distinguished ; evincing great powers of reasoning and investiga tion, they manifest a clear perception of the principles upon which the federal government was established, a profound veneration of their wis dom, and an inflexible firmness in their support. The duties of the judges of the Supreme Court requiring the exercise of their functions not only in term at the capitol, but in their respective circuits, they may exercise an important influence upon the bar and upon the character of state jurisprudence. In this respect the influence of Judge McLean has been sensibly felt. His courtesy and patient at tention to counsel, the dignity of his demeanor, and the uprightness of his conduct upon the bench and in private life, observed by the law yers assembled at the state capitals, and by intelligent jurors and wit nesses, have afforded an example which, throughout his circuit, is held in high estimation. Some of his charges to grand juries in the crises of important events, are regarded as the most able and eloquent exposi tions of the rights and duties of American citizens amongst themselves towards foreign nations and other states. The reports of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the reports of his decisions upon the 796 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. circuit, form a monument of judicial fame, for which the honora awarded to the chief magistrate of the republic would be a free ex change. The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws has been conferred upon Judge McLean by Cambridge University, the Wesleyan University, and by several other colleges and institutions of learning in the western and southwestern states. In Deceraber, 1840, the judge suffered the severest affliction to which any raan can be subjected, in the loss of the corapanion of his youth and the mother of his children. She died as she had lived, an example of virtue and the triumphs of religion. In 1843, he married Mrs. Sarah Bella Garrard, daughter of Israel Ludlow, Esq., one of the founders of Cincinnati, a lady extensively known and admired for the graces of her person, the charm of her manners, and the accomplishments of her refined and cultivated intellect. Judge McLean is tall and well-proportioned in person, his appear ance indicating great vigor of body and intellectual energy. His habits of life have always been siraple and unostentatious. Cheerful in tem per, frank in manners, instructive and eloquent in conversation, he possesses, in rare degree, the faculty of inspiring confidence and warm attachment towards him in those who come within his influence, es pecially in young members of the bar, towards whom his kindness and courtesy has always been extended. A professor of the Christian reli gion, he has sought to regulate his public and private life in strict con sistence with his faith ; by diligence, justice, and charity, showing forth the consistence of religious principles and profession with the duties of a citizen, a lawyer, a statesman and a judge. J^;?^:^ ^^?«^^€:^ 3- r - Rtojr.'''hi':J-^ SkebchAX -^f ¦¦f F'TnmsnT. ^m^ri.^ns , JOHN W.TEDMONDS, OP NEW-YORK. 797 JOHN W. EDMONDS, JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OP THE STATE OF NBW-YORK, The father of this distinguished jurist was born in the city of New- York, at what is now the corner of William and Liberty streets, on the 27th of August, 1760, When the war of the Revolution broke out, he was a student at college, in Rhode Island. He, however, im mediately left his studies, and enlisted in the army as a private soldier. In various capacities he served during the whole war, having risen from the ranks to an ensigncy, and, finally, to an assistant comraissary. He was at the battles of Monmouth, Yorktown, etc. On the establishment of peace, at the age of twenty- three, he started to seek his fortune, hav ing nothing but a horse, saddle, bridle, two blankets, and a little conti nental money. In 1784, during his wanderings, he arrived at the site of what is now the city of Hudson, then called Claverack Landing. There, as one of the few settlers, he opened a small store, in which busi ness he was found by the emigrants from Nantucket and Martha's Vine yard, who purchased the land, and laid the foundation of the city. He was at one time a meraber of the assembly, and high sheriff of the county ; and he continued in trade until the war of 1812, when he again entered the service of his country. He was soon appointed paymaster- general of the militia, in which office he continued for several years after the termination of the war. He died at Hudson, in 1826, and within a few years a beautiful monument has arisen in its graveyard, erected to his meraory by his sons. His wife, the mother of the judge, was Lydia Worth, daughter of Thomas Worth, one of the first settlers of Hudson. She was a de scendant of William Worth, who emigrated from Devonshire, England, in 1640, and settled in Nantucket. From this comraon stock have de scended Major-General Worth, of the United States Army ; G. A. Worth, Esq., president of the New- York City Bank ; and the' Olcott and Edmonds families. After the death of Gen. Edmonds, his widow resided chiefly with her son, the judge, until she died, on the 20th of November, 1841. She was a member of the Society of Friends, and instilled into her children many of the tenets of that respected sect, which have evidently in fluenced their conduct through life. Judge Edmonds was born in the city of Hudson, on the 13th of March, 1799. His early education was at private schools, and at the academy at Hudson, where he prepared for college. In October, 1814, he entered the sophomore class of Williams College, Massachusetts, in company with John Birdsall, afterwards circuit judge of the eighth cir cuit, and attorney-general of Texas. In 1815, he solicited his dismis sal from the college, and entered Union College, at Schenectady, where he graduated in July, 1816. His share in the exercises of the cora mencement was the Fall of Poland. On leaving college, he began the study of the law, at Cooperstown, with George Monell, Esq., afterwards 798 SKETCHES OP EMINENT a!SSeRICANS. chief justice of Michigan. After remaining at that place about six months, he returned to Hudson, where he studied two years, in the office of Monell & Van Buren. In the fall of 1819, he entered the office of Martin Van Buren, in Albany. He continued with the ex-president, residing in his family, until May, 1820, when he returned to Hudson, and entered upon the practice of the law. He continued at Hudson until his removal to New-York, in November, 1837. Inheriting the military disposition of his father, we find the judge, at the age of nineteen, a lieutenant in the militia, which commission he held for about fifteen years, when he obtained the comraand of hisregi- ment. This office he resigned in 1828, on being appointed, by De Witt Clinton, recorder of Hudson. To this day, throughout the old county of Colurabia, the judge is addressed as colonel, railitary honors appearing invariably to take precedence of all others. At an early age, he took an active part in politics, ranking himself as a democrat ; and the first vote he ever gave was for Daniel D. Tompkins, when he ran for governor against De Witt Clinton. In 1830, the judge was elected by the democrats of Colurabia to the Asserably, in which body he soon becarae a leading and influential member. In the fall of 1831, he was elected to the State Senate, receiving, in his district, an unprecedented majority of over 7,500 votes. In the legislature, he was remarked for the industry and energy which have been displayed since — insomuch that, in a "portrait," drawn of him by a political opponent, during the first year of his ser vice in that body, it was said of hira : " His legal acquireraents are good, and, from the industry which he exhibits in the business of legis lation, it may be safely judged, that when more advanced in years, he will be eminent in his profession. He speaks with fluency and cor rectness, and there is a clearness in his language and a candor in his statements, which cause him to be listened to with attention." " He was formerly the editor of a newspaper in Hudson, and a violmt and deterrained politician. But, from his present course, it would^se sup posed' he had tempered his strong feelings, and as the hey-dey of his youth passes away, his judgment will, no doubt, prevail entirely over his feelings. If this should be the case, and he do not lose his praise worthy industry, he must hereafter stand high among our distinguished men." The newspaper in which this sketch appeared has long since ceased to exist — its editor has been dead sorae tirae ; twenty years have elapsed since it was written, and the prophecy has been fulfilled. So great was this industry during that session, it has been com puted that the reports written by him would fill a printed volume of 600 octavo pages. The principal portion of this labor was bestowed in the appropriate duties of his position as chairman of the committee on canals. Yet he found time to devote to other topics. He was one of the select comraittee who reported in favor of abolishing imprison ment for debt. He voted against the bill on that subject which finally passed the legislature, which he condemned as too complicated and arti ficial, and as calculated to preserve imprisonment, in cases of debt, too JOHN W. EDMONDS, OP NEW-YORK. 799 much ; and he advocated a system substantially the same as that which now prevails in this state under the Code of Procedure. In the mean time, and after twenty years' experience, the law which he op posed, though not repealed in terms, has fallen into disuse, and given place to a more simple and more just system. There was, however, no part of his career in the assembly which attracted so much the attention of the public as his course in regard to the Bank of the United States. General Jackson had not then com menced his war on that institution, which resulted, finally, in its over throw, and agitated the nation in all its parts. Colonel Benton had, in deed, in the United States Senate, made an assault upon the bank ; but there were very many in the then dominant party who considered that assault as very great heresy. It was under these circumstances, with a very decided democratic majority in the assembly of at least five to one, and when a motion to postpone the whole subject indefinitely had been defeated by barely a tie vote, that Judge E. threw himself into the front rank of the battle, and with characteristic energy carried it to a successful issue," The ensuing year he was elected to the Senate of the state, and in that body, though a new member, was placed at the head of the canal committee, and on the judiciary committee. In the former po.sition he remained only one year, being then transferred to the head of the bank committee, where he remained until the end of his term, and served on the judiciary committee the whole of his senatorial term, which was then four years. In the Senate the same industry and deter mination of character was displayed. It was shortly prior to the monetary revolution of 1837, and the whole population seemed to be mad in its race for banks and canals. Projects for building canals, involving a public debt of raany millions of dollars, and applications for one or two hundred new banks at a time, and a consequent ruinous inflation of the paper currency of the state, were some of the measures on which he took a decided stand ; and it was often remarked that he was never defeated in any position he took oil those subjects. The number of new banks that were cre ated was very limited — not more than five or six at each of the three first years of his term, and none whatever in the last year. And in that year he introduced, matured, and successfully carried, a measure for infusing a greater amount of coin into coramon circulation. This was effected by the law prohibiting the issuing of bank-notes under the denomination of five dollars. The measure was violently resisted by the banks throughout the state ; and when the suspension of specie payments occurred in 1837, they had influence enough with the legis lature, aided by the distresses of the people, arising from other causes, to procure its repeal. Yet, even here the judge's sagacity was dis played. His plan was to have the measure go into operation very slowly, and not fully, short of a period of six years. But, against his wishes, the legislature altered the time to eighteen months, and thus the law was made to operate with its greatest severity in the very midst of all the distress and embarrassment caused by the suspension of specie payments. There were not wanting raen who were ready to take advantage of this state of things ; and thus a measure, which has 800 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. prevailed in England with great benefits for fifty years, has been denied to our people. Another measure connected with the monetary affairs of the state occurred about the same tirae. The war between Gen. Jackson and his party on the one side, and the United States Bank and the oppo nents of the adrainistration on the other, was raging at this time with great vehemence. It was believed by many of the leading politicians, and among thera Judge E., that the bank was assaulting the business and prosperity of the state, in order to drive it from its position of hostility to it — a position which had gone a great way in sustaining Gen. Jackson in his policy on this subject. To arrest it, he introduced into the legislature a project for interposing the credit of the state, to sustain its interest in the contest. Sorae of the most eminent capitalists of the city of New- York visited the legislature, and proposed the creation of a mamraoth local bank as an antagonist to the United States Bank. This was opposed and de feated by Judge E. and his associates, and instead of it he proposed to borrow $6,000,000 on the credit of the state, and loan $2,000,000 to the state banks, and the residue to the farming interests, through local loan officers. A report, recoraraending that measure, and a bill to carry it into effect, drawn by him, were introduced into the assembly, and such a law was passed. It was always said by Mr. E., among the friends of the measure, that it would never be necessary to execute the law, and that its mere pas sage would have the effect to put an end to the war on the monetary affairs of the state. This anticipation was fully and very speedily re alized, and the law never went into effect. Itwas the subject, however, of very violent attacks frora political opponents, and was defended by him, in the course of the ensuing summer, in a speech, characterized by great simplicity, directness, and research, and which was very widely circulated and read. There was another topic of general interest which arose during the judge's legislative career, and on which, characteristically, he took a decided stand. That was nullification and secession, growing out of South Carolina's opposition to the tariff laws. This state was very resolute in standing by Gen. Jackson on that occasion, and a report, said to have been frora the pen of Mr. Van Buren, then vice-president elect, was introduced into the Senate, sustaining the policy of the ad ministration, and denouncing the doctrines of nullification and secession as destructive of the Union. This report, when it came up for consideration, was very vehemently assailed by five or six of the strongest men in the senate, and was defended by Mr, E. alone. The contest lasted nearly a week, resulted in the triumphant adoption of the report, and placed New- York on high gronnd, on the side of the Union and its integrity. In the last year of his term Mr. E. was unanimously elected president of the senate ; and then, at the close of his term, his health being very much impaired, he retired from the senate, declining a re-election, which was tendered him, in a district where his party were greatly predominant. The raost of the ensuing two years he spent in traveling, to recruit his health. He accepted a coraraission, from General Jackson, to visit the JOHN W. EDMONDS, OP NBW-YORK. 801 Indian tribes on the borders of Lakes Huron and Superior, and was at one time in the interesting position of being encamped with over six thousand of the natives of the forest. His letters to his faraily, written during this sojourn, and which we have read, are very graphic and in teresting, and give a very vivid picture of that Indian life which is so rapidly passing away from araong us. In the fall of 1837, he resigned his station, and removed from Hudson to New-York, where he resumed the practice of law. He almost imrae diately found himself in an extensive and profitable business, among the merchant princes of the commercial emporium. In April, 1843, without any solicitation on his part, the judge was ap pointed, by Gov. Bouck, an inspector of the state prison at Sing Sing. It was with much hesitation that he accepted this unthankful task. The labor was indeed herculean. Scarcely any discipline was maintained in the prison, and the female prisoners had the entire control of the officers, hundreds of the males were entirely idle, and the earnings fell short of the expenses by over $40,000. But within eighteen months a great change was effected, and the female portion of the prison was brought into complete subjection ; strict discipline was introduced and maintain ed among the males, and the annual deficiency in the revenue was re duced to less than a tenth part of the former sum. This task, however, was easy in comparison with a reform of a differ ent character, which he sought to introduce. He found that, for more than fifteen years, the system of governraent which had prevailed in our state prisons, was one purely of force ; and where no sentiment was sought to be awakened in the breast of the prisoner but that of fear, and no duty exacted from him but that of implicit obedience. No instru ment of punishment was used but the whip, which had the effect of arousing only the worst passions of both convicts and officers — a practice of abominable cruelty, long engrafted upon our penitentiary system — re volting to humanity, and destructive to all hope of reforming the pri soner. So thoroughly had it become engrafted, that the most experienced officers insisted that there was no other mode by which order could be kept. Besides, they found itwas then so very easy to govern in that way.. Passion, prejudice and selfishness, all corabined to place obstacles in the way of this proposed reforra, and its progress was very slow. Yet it steadily advanced, and when, in 1845, the judge resigned the office of inspector, his system was in the full tide of experiment. It has been continued by his successors to the present time. It has also been introduced into the state prisons of Auburn and Clinton, and is now the governing principle in all our state penitentiaries. With a view of carrying out this plan, in December, 1844, he instituted a " Prison Discipline Society," the object of which is the reform of prison govern ment, and the aiding of prisoners, on their discharge, to lead honest lives. This society is in very successful operation, and enjoys a large share of public confidence. How great an araount of good can be ac complished by a single philanthropic individual ! and for this one move ment of the judge, how many poor wretches will rise up and call him blessed ! For this the tear of gratitude shall fall upon his grave, while angels proclaim, that " he who turneth one sinner from the error of his way, shall shine as the stars forever." " Man dies but not one of his 61 •802 SKETCHES or eminent AMERICANS. acts ever dies. Each, perpetuated and prolonged by interminable re sults, affects some beings in every age to come." On the 18th of February, 1845, Mr. Edmonds received the appoint ment of circuit judge of the first circuit, in the place of Judge Kent, who had resigned. That office he held until June, 1847, when he was elect ed a judge of the Supreme Court. In the discharge of his duties as circuit judge, he was always fearless and independent, reminding us of the famous Matthew Hale. A most extraordinary instance of this was exhibited at the anti-rent trials in 'Columbia county, in September, 1845. The counsel employed in those trials, had been engaged in the sarae cases at the circuit in March pre ceding, and had then manifested no little combativeness. They dis played the same warmth before Judge Edmonds, and carried it so far ¦as to come to blows in open court. The offenders were gentleraen of high standing, and personal friends of the judge, and both at once apologized for their contempt of court. But the judge, with great promptness, committed them both to prison, and adjourned his court, -with the remark, that it was not his fault that the course of public justice was thus interrupted. Perhaps none regretted this momentary outbreak more than the parties themselves, whose manners in private life are courteous in the extreme. This event attracted a great deal of attention throughout the Union, and was noticed by European papers as " evidence of advancing civili- .zation in America." The most gratifying feature of the case was, that it did not disturb the personal good feeling which had previously exist ed between the parties engaged in it. Upon the organization of the judiciary, under the new state constitu tion. Judge Edmonds was nominated for justice of the Supreme Court by the bar of New- York, and by the Tammany party, and was elected by an overwhelming majority. This result cannot but be gratifying, not only to him, but to the public, inasmuch as during his judgeship he had raade several decisions that warred upon popular prejudice ; and immediately before his election he had, with others of the democratic party, protested against the admission of Texas into the Union, as emi nently calculated to lead to a war with Mexico, and to perpetuate the extension of slavery. Subsequent events have justified the sagacity which marked that act, while the act itself has subjected the gentlemen ¦engaged in it to much obloquy and censure from their political asso ciates. This proceeding was, however, rebuked in his triumphant elec tion by the public, who honored him for his independence of character. The complaint which was made of the celebrated author of the His tory of the Common Law, that he did not decide with sufficient quick ness, cannot be uttered against Judge E. With him there is no delay, no hesitation ; indeed, it is remarked by all, that he transacts a greater amount of business, in a given time, than any jurist who has ever been upon the bench in the city of New-York. But though his decisions are delivered with the greatest promptness, they are masterly specimens, exhibiting all the elegance and perspicuity of the most elaborated legal judgments. With the younger members of the bar. Judge E. is an espfecial favor ite. He always receives them with words of kindness and encourage- JOHN W. EDMONDS, OF NBW-YORK. 803 ment, and hears them with patience. By the rising generation of law yers — those who must, in a score of years hence, be the masters of the field now occupied by their seniors — he will be long and affectionately remembered, and by some of their number, who will wield abler pens than ours, proper tributes will be paid to his superior virtues and abili ties. What was said of Sir Matthew Hale is no less true of the jubge : " His conversation is affable and entertaining ; his eloquence easy and persuasive ; his temper warm, open, and generous ; he is affectionate to his family and sincere to his friends." The judge has one brother, Francis W., cashier of the Mechanics' Bank in New-York, and distinguished as an artist. He has also three sisters, two of whom reside in the State of New- York, and the third, the wife of Col. Webb, of the United States Army, is living in Illinois, The family of the judge consists of three daughters, two of whom are married. J^. C^tiXh^-^T^ . oliuisii.iicip «r iilie STuipn-eirnie r-nmril ©f iihe IJ.So at. ./r:i^liu}jl SIcBtoh^j J f En\.viafic Americans . LETTER PROM JUSTICE CATRON. 805 BIOGRAPHICAL LETTER FROM JUSTICE CATRON, OP THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. Dear Sir, — Some days since I received your letter of the 15th in stant, in which you express a desire to publish in your magazine a sketch of my life, with a portrait, &c. For your kindness and good opinion, be pleased to accept my thanks. I do not believe there is a man living who could give you any tolerable account of my early life, except myself; and when the incidents were narrated, they would only prove, what Campbell says of Lord Mans field — that when he came up from Scotland to Westminister School on a Highland pony, the chances were a billion to one against his ever being Chief Justice : and I can safely say, that quite as many chances stood in the way of my being a Supreme Judge, when of the sarae age, as was his Lordship at the tirae he wended his solitary way south, with his pony as his sole corapanion. , Your readers would only learn that I had been reared on a farm, and been flogged through the common schools in Western Virginia and Kentucky, and then had had the advantages of such academies as the western country afforded ;* humble enough in all conscience, and where little else than Latin, and the lower mathematics, was added to the common school training ; that with this amount of ac- * As I am one of the few who have any recollection left of these schools, it may not be out of place to give some account of them. They usually consisted of a single teacher, and he a clergyman, having occasionally an assistant. Six days in tho week were devoted to teaching ; nor were the schools crowded with pupils. At the head of this description of teachers stood James Priestley, an Englishman, and nephew to Doctor Joseph Priestley, He first taught at Bairdstown, Kentucky : then at Danville, and concluded his labors at Nashville, Tennessee, wheie his academy was denominated Cumberland College, I believe he was an Eaton man. His scholars commenced and ended with the dead languages, in which this teacher greatly excelled. Other branches were taught of course ; but Latin was the great foundation laid in by his pupils ; in this they were trained as if in spans and yokes, for four years at the least. How it happened that he turned out so many good writers and speakers, I never could tell ; but certainly, for the number taught, both in Kentucky and Tennessee, tke proportion of successful men was remarkably great. Others followed the same plan, I was taught by the Rev, James 'Witherspoon, a Presbyterian clergyman, who had been a professor of languages. He also relied on the dead languages as the main basis of education ; was well qualified to teach them, and could have preached in Latin as well as English, A distinguished law yer and friend advised me to study English well, and not waste so much time on that which he said all lawyers forgot very soon. It struck me as sound advice, and I named to my teacher that I wished to study the English grammar. He replied that the thing was unheard of ; that to be a good Latin scholar was tobeagood English one ; furthermore, that he had never opened an English grammar. But I insisted, and we commenced together with Murray's grammar and key. It took me some three weeks to memorize the necessary parts, and when the time came for an effort at parsing, I took it for granted that I was ahead of my teacher ; but in this I found myself greatly mistaken, "We had the edition of Murray from which he had re jected the objective case. This, Mr, "W. declared, was a mistake— saying Murray 806 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. quired knowledge, I read history, novels, and poetry ; grounded myself well, as L thought, in Virginia politics ; that I read everything that came to hand as it came — Fielding, SraoUet, Steme, Goldsmith, and up through Tom Paine, Hume and Gibbon. Everything, or nearly so, then to be had in the country, of history, ancient and modern, was read, and much of it, with a devouring appetite. Prester John, Peter the Hermit, Richard and Saladin, Falstaff and Frederick, were all jumbled up together. It is due, however, to say, that preparatory to taking up Blackstone, I carefully re-read Hume's History of England, with Smol- let's and Bisset's continuations ; Robertson's Charles the Fifth, and also Gibbon's Decline and Fall ; and made extensive notes on each, which I thought exceedingly valuable at the time. They were on large fools cap, bound in pasteboard, and all told were, when packed on each other, two-thirds as high as a table : nor did I doubt that my condensed Gib bon would go forth one day to the world in print ; nor do I now re member at what time it was used to kindle the office fire ; but this was its fate.* With ray old friends, Pope, Shakspeare and Sterne, I had to act, as I have often done since -with my snuff-box — hide them from myself. But just then the veritable History of New- York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker, made its appearance amongst us young men of the West, which I did not attempt to resist then, nor at any time after wards. And it is well I did not, for the matchless humor of that pro duction has stood rae in hand many times before juries, who got into the dangerous mood of an inclination to cry. when the clear interest of my client was that they should laugh. Most lawyers know the immi- might as well have stricken out the corresponding accusative from the Latin gram mar ; and he inserted the rejected case with his pen. 'When we set ahout parsing he had no difficulty whatever ; and showed the difference between the English and Latin structures of the respective languages with an ease wholly incomprehensible to me, then or since. And I am compelled to admit, that good Enghsh scholars may be made without reading English grammar ; but why it is so, I do not know. Certain it is, that Priestley's scholars were equal to any ever educated in the western country ; and he would as soon have thought of making "Paine's Age of Reason" a class-book as Murray's Grammar. Several of these schools were denominated colleges, but they were conducted alike, high and low. Some of our young mem were sent to Princeton, Yale and Harvard, and returned with great prospects, as they and their friends supposed, but success did not attend them ; they were no match for those educated at home ; and parents were taught the important truth, that where a boy is expected to spend his after life, and to succeed as a man, there he should be educated — if it can be done ; so that a knowledge of men, and.the habits of the people among whom he is to live and act, may be acquired as his scholastic learning progresses. One educated abroad, may return with stringent ideasofawise economy, and a well-stored mind from books ; his theories may be very good ; but in nine instances among ten, he is a dissatisfied man, that complains of everything at home, and who finds a carping temper to be a sorry handmaid in the war of life, -* All men of experience must be aware, that the style of banter indulged in here, means more than merely to amuse ; that its object is to present an attractive pic ture of the means employed by a vigorous and ambitious youth to become an intel ligent man under circumstances where he had to rely, for his course of reading and study, almost exclusively on his own judgment, unguided by a single man of general reading and matured scholarship. Placed in his circumstances, few would have done better, or judged more wisely, and thousands would have done worse. He had to read much, to the end, of learning where to begin and how to study : nor LETTER FROM JUSTICE CATRON. 807 nent peril a felon is in, when a jury begins to be sorrowful over his case, and when burglary, arson, robbery, forging bank-notes, or passing them, and several other crimes, not now amounting to much, were capital adroit shifts to evade the pithy sentence of " Sus. per Col.," were deemed allowable. The Bible, being the common reader of my early schools, of course I knew almost by memory. Of geography I learned more than most men, and know more now. With this confused mass of self taught knowledge, I commenced to read law in April, 1812, in the State of Tennessee. Up to this date, I had never been sick a day, or hour, and had a frame rarely excelled ; one that could bear ardent and rigorous application for sixteen hours in the day, and which was well tried for about four years at something like this rate. Late in 1815, 1 tried my chances at the bar, and succeeded ; certainly in the main chance of get ting fees ; but then I had a good deal of worldly experience, and availed myself of the cases in court, throughout a heavy circuit, of a retiring brother lawyer and friend who was elected to Congress. To his busi ness I attended, taking the unpaid fees ; and as he had a side in almost every important cause, " I run from the score" at the start, and which my elder brethren liberally applied for a year or two. Having served a campaign under General Jackson, and brought home some army popu larity, the legislature of Tennessee elected me attorney for the govern ment in my circuit, when my law license had the sand on it. The courts were full of indictments for crimes, from murder down. Here I had to fight the battle, single and alone, and to work day and night. No man ever worked much harder, I think ; my circuit judge was an were his labors greatly wasted on this first confused effort. As his mind enlarged, and the prospect lighted up and widened, he discovered, day by day, that his knowl edge was in confusion ; a compound of facts and fictions that needed systematic adjustment; that his books must be read over again in classes and each class by itself ; beginning with the more solid, and concluding the regular and steady course with the lighter works : and in doing this, great advantage was derived from the first reading. A hundred pages as an ordinary task could be gone through in the day, with a review in the evening of leading portions on which the narrative was founded ; and then, too, the day's work was abridged on paper, when the mind was heated up to a high state of vigor, and the composition aided by an employment of the author's language and style, which naturally on that occasion excluded all others. Every reader of sound experience knows that so much cannot be accom- pUshed by any young man on first reading a book. Much has been said to the prejudice of Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, because of its supposed tendency to imbue the young mind with ideas of infidelity to the Christian religion. "When I read this author twice,, and after a fashion abridged his matter, my mind was as impressible as the wide do main of new snow that now lies before me ; (*) I believed him to be the greatest his torian of his nation, if not the first the world had produced. He had my unlimited confidence ; and yet, no one impression was made on me that he questioned the truths of Christianity ; and when, long after, I heard him charged with infidelity,, and chapters of his history reteriei to, for evidence of the fact, these chapters were re-examined and studied, subject to the criticisms of clergymen who aided me ; and. still I feel confident that Gibbon is only misunderstood — that his narrative of facts, detailing violent contests among the ancient Fathers, and in councils of the church,. have been attributed to him as opinions of his own, which amounted to an infidel creed. (*) 'Written at the Capitol, 24th Dec, 1861. 808 SKETCHES OP EMINBNT AMERICANS. excellent criminal lawyer, and being partly Scotch, always stood firinly by the state, and leaned strongly against the culprit : so that I got on very well ; but often with an arrogance that would have done credit to Castlereagh, for blundering in my law, certainly, if not bad grammar. Like his lordship, I was given to white waistcoats and sraall clothes, and drew pretty largely on the adventitious aids furnished by the tailor. The lawyers then traveled the circuit from county to county, usually of a Sunday. Each man that was well appointed, carried pistols and holsters, and a negro waiter with a large portmanteau behind him. All went on horseback. The pistols were carried, not to shoot thieves and robbers, but to fight each other, if by any chance a quarrel was hatched up, furnishing occasion for a duel, then a very favorite arauseraent and liberally indulged in — and the attorney-general for the circuit was ex pected to be, and always was, prepared for such a contingency. He managed to keep frora fighting, however. His equipments were of the best, with a led third horse now and then for the sake of parade. Many are the anecdotes I could furnish of nights on the roadside, at country taverns, where the corps of lawyers halted short of the county town, and raade as free with whisky punch and empty bottles as did our Irish brethren at a Galway assize about the same time : nor were games at cards overlooked. But the law of the circuit was, that no duel should come of a brawl on these occasions ; if any one happened to suffer from a smashed bottle, he took it and made up on the spot. One station I filled when at the bar, amounting to alpiost a mono poly ; it was that of drawing bills of exception. As a writ of error lay in all cases, civil and criminal, on a refusal to grant a new trial, often the entire facts had to appear with the judge's charge on them. We then took few notes of evidence, having to do raore in a day than could be done in a week, if all that witnesses said was tediously written out as the trial progressed. The trial being ended, then the exceptions were required at once ; perhaps on the last day of the term. The writing was always done at the bar, and in the confusion of business. So adroit did I becorae by constant practice, that I could for hours write down and detail what every witness had deposed, as little annoy ed by bustle and noise as if entirely alone, being so utterly absorbed as not to know what was going on. But usually on ending the work, found a leg asleep, and soraetiraes carae down, exceptions in hand, just when " please your honor" had come out on the sound leg, and a shift was made to the numb one. I defended in many criminal cases after I reraoved to Nashville ; was in the defence very generally in the commercial causes ; had much to do with chancery practice, and actions of ejectment, and was decid edly famous for enforcing the seven years' act of limitations in real actions ; and, after divers defeats and rugged contests, had my revenge by entire success ; not so much because of any merit of mine, but for the controlling fact, that John Haywood was the leading judge in the Court of Errors, and who had been a champion on my side of the ques tion for many years before he went on the bench; and presently Williara L. Brown reraoved to Nashville, and he, too, was enthusiastic on the same side. This gentleman was of my own age, and by far the LETTER PROM JUSTICE CATRON. 809 ablest legal debater then at the bar ; but his frame was too weak for his great volume of brain ; he fell into spasms by over-exertion, and died. These are rough details, that will do little credit to one in so grave a place as I now fill, and especially not in the cities at this day. In the days of Spencer, Kent and Thorapson, they would have been under stood ; they set out under similar auspices, and believed that vigor and practical sense came of circuit practice and experience. That the fortunes of such men as Jackson, Clay, Polk and Benton, and five hundred others in the West, depended on knowledge of men and things thus acquired, I personally know ; nor could John Mar shall, William Pinkney, or Daniel Webster, have succeeded much without it. I went to Nashville, (where I have resided since) at the end of the year 1818. In March, 1819, the town and country were overwhelmed with misfortunes in trade, and a general bankiruptcy, not known before or since in that country. By the end of that year, the courts had two thousand calises in thera at the least, and I had more business than I could do in the town itself, and rarely left it. My success, profession ally, was all that could be desired, and I had far more character than I deserved, owing mainly to uncomraon capacity for labor, and much ambition to excel competitors. The Nashville bar was at that time inferior to none in the United States in contests involving conflict ing titles to lands ; and possessed uncommon abUity in most depart ments of their profession. The action of ejectment had drawn them there. In December, 1824, I was elected by the legislature one of the Su preme Judges of the State, which office I held until 1836, having been then beaten and turned out on a new election, under the amended con stitution adopted by Tennessee in that year. I had acted as Chief Justice for some six years before I was superseded. Of the Tennessee decisions, whilst I was on the bench, nothing need be said, as they are all reported in the volumes of Mr. Yerger. The old pastime of dueling was overthrown by striking a lawyer from the rolls, in the case of Sraith vs. The State, (1 Terg. 228,) in which I delivered the opinion, and set forth my circuit experience ; and for which homUy to my brethren, I was scorched with many a racy sarcasm ; such as, that a sinner who had carried blank challenges in the crown of his hat, and slept with his pistols under his head, was a very proper man to turn saint and lecturer, to put down a vice he so well understood in all its bearings. But as we have not had a duel since, nor a challenge, so far as I know, I still wear the laurels coming of the good advice so unscrupulously set forth to my brethren. On the 4th of March, 1837, I was nominated to the Senate by Pre sident Jackson as a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, where I have had some character as being famUiar with the laws ap plicable to cases involving conflicting titles to western and southern lands. ' As to my mode of speaking at the bar, I have no very exact recol lection. It was not methodical, tolerably fluent, sometimes stormy, 810 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. and often sarcastic, which habit cost me rather dear on one or two oc casions. One thing I recollect very well, that, after being on the bench twelve years, and then attempting to speak in court, I was as rauch erabarrassed as at the outset; and under an obvious necessity of learning the art over again, if I intended to employ it, which I never did. After I was a lawyer, and a successful one, I cast about me for a per manent place of residence, taking a range from New-Orleans to Balti more, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ; and, in the end, sat down where I felt certain of success, where good fortune attended me, as it has throughout, from early manhood up. 1 never was a candidate for any political place, nor held any office, except those above referred to, of solicitor and judge. For many years past, I could not have been elected to anything by the people. With the floating masses I had nothing in coramon : I punished raany of them for crimes, and always severely. They feared and disliked me. Among the great mass of propei iy-owners, thousands have been alienated by decisions adverse to their interests. The losing party naturally dislikes the judge who decides against him, and his family and friends take sides ; whereas, the party that wins, and all connected with him, pro- mulge aloud, that no judge, not corrupt, or a dunce, could have decided otherwise ; and so it falls out that half of a neighborhood, for a single decision, turn enemies, and the other half do not stand by the judge as friends. This process will pervade a whole country in a dozen or twenty years, when, during the time, the same judge has made thousands of decisions affecting almost every interest and every influential family in the community. A judge may have great cogency and influence with very raany of the most intelligent class ; but if he be a stern and un- quailing official, it is not in huraan nature that he should be a popular man ; so at least, has been my experience. I have entertained some ideas on legal training for the bar and bench that are perhaps peculiar, which I will state. The difficulty of under standing the laws of England, as expounded by courts and stated by comraentators, is not very great. Thus they presented theraselves to my mind ; but in their application to the various transactions of life lies the trouble. He who best knows how most things are usually done, is best qualified to deal with the right and wrong about which men go to law, and to apply old principles to new circurastances ; and so he is the best judge of what a new statute means. To judge accurately of these, deep practical knowledge is by far more valuable than deep law learn ing, necessary as both are to the lawyer. He who knows mere law, but is without common sense to comprehend the facts to which his law may be applied, is a sheer pedant in his profession ; and therefore it is, that we so often find a walking index of .a lawyer not equal, as a judge, to a vigorous county court magistrate who never read a law book. But force a young lawyer to battle his way up on the circuit ; to go and see the land surveyed, and the corner trees blocked before he tries his ejectment; to go into the workshop, or steamboat, or counting- house, and see how the thing is done his client is lawing about, and he will beat a dozen of his-equals in capacity, crammed with law to the LETTER FROM JUSTICE CATRON. 811 throat. Many- instances of the kind have I 'witnessed. On one occa sion, when just beginning, I said to a really great advocate: "Why, Mr. G., how in the world do you intend to get along in this dreadful case of murder ; you have not even a law brief prepared?" "Well," said he, " what book is Mr. Attorney-General going to rely on to prove it murder ?" " Mainly on Espinasse, Bacon, and Hawkins, I think," said I. " Ah, yes," was the reply, " I'll find enough, just above or just be low, for my purpose, I warrant you." And so he did ; and acquitted his client, who ought, undoubtedly, to have been hanged. This was one of the very best drilled circuit lawyers I ever knew. He first studied and comprehended all the facts and motives involved in his case, and then thought over how society appreciated them ; and lastly, searched for law to sustain the case his facts made. And pretty much like him were Pendleton, Marshall, Spencer and Parsons ; and we have many such among us now, (a little spoiled by love of parade,) who com bine that coramon sense rough training has taught, with a deep knowl edge of law. I insist on thorough legal training and constant study ; but object, whether it comes from the bar or bench, to piles of references and figures, formidable as a treasury report, gathered from the index, and having no value in the particular case ; and which parade of authorities is notoriously an address of vanity to ignorance and pedantry, that ever reminds one of two grains of wheat smothered under two bushels of chaff; such being the plain condition of the, little law that is applicable. How slow we all are, in such cases, to find out how merry our brothers make themselves at our expense, is marvellous. No doubt, I have been a common sufferer, as I often deserved to be when at the bar, and especially, since I have acted as judge. The practice deserves ridicule, and gets its full share. I could quite readily have had these few and trifling materials changed into the form of an ordinary memoir, and put in the third per son, presenting an appearance (but nothing more) that some other hand than my own had done the work. This manner, however, is so stale, as to deceive nobody ; certainly not my own profession ; and therefore, I thought it fairer to write you a letter and risk the charge of egotism, for which I care not much ; whereas, I should badly wince at a charge of having resorted to the shabby contrivance, and of an attempt to skulk behind it, if mendacity or boasting was alleged. If such thing should happen here, the critic would allow that the author stands confessed in the singular pronoun, abundantly often for all purposes of recognition and responsibility. In conclusion, sir, permit me to say, that for several days after I re ceived your letter, no intention existed of complying with your request; but on consulting with my brother-judge of your circuit, he insisted that the object of your magazine required a different course. To procure another to write for me, was not possible within the period limited by your letter, as no one knew much about me, short of my residence in Tennessee ; and then the idea that a lawyer practising be fore me, and an intimate friend, should sit down and coolly and truly discuss my conduct for thirty years, and my character and capacity, could not be entertained for a moment. Such a memoir could hardly 812 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. be more reliable than an epitaph, or an eulogy, over the recent dead. I therefore threw off the foregoing slight sketches, which, with my vigor ous memory of past incidents, cost me not much trouble, and little time. The matter may be readable, if not instructive ; nor will it indicate. anything that is not true. Most respectfully. Your obedient servant, J. Catron. Washington, Dec. 24, 1851. . .'ft*-' ifj. !.', 1 ¦• • Cffh '"¦S-'VHS Saitl- Z-^ :^v-. v^.. C- -7 „ ^ •il'iii-' I'M'i'^ (')J' illuc ,Sj,i|pi;r,(j|,i,ii' (',(9(iirj ut: ,||li,,. iH.g, '• /iu?yf ROBERT C. GRIER, OF PENNSYLVANIA, 813 HON, ROBERT C, GRIER, JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, The life of a professional or literary man seldom exhibits any of those striking incidents that seize upon public feeling, and fix attention upon hiraself. His character is generally made up of the aggregate of the qualities and qualifications he may possess, as these may be elicited by the exercise of the duties of his vocation, or the particular profes sion to which he may belong. The subject of this brief notice may not form an exception to this general rule. His life has been one of hard study from his youth, and, since maturity, of laborious profes sional duty in the several relations in which he has been placed ; and the high place to which he has attained is evidence that these qualities afford the means of distinction under a system of government in which the places of honor are open to all who may be found worthy of them. Robert Cooper Grier was born March 5th, 1794, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where his father, the Rev. Isaac Grier, at that time resided : his mother was the daughter of the Rev. Robert Cooper, of the same county, both of the Presbyterian Church. His father re moved from Cumberland to Lycoming county, in the same state, in the fall of 1794, where he bought a farm, and built a house on it, a lit tle below the mouth of Pine Creek, on the west bank of the Susque hanna River, While resident there, he preached to three congregations for a very small compensation, deriving the means of his support mainly from a grammar-school which he taught, and the proceeds of his farm. He was a very superior Greek and Latin scholar, and every way corapetent as an instructor in those languages. And his amiable and excellent character, his benevolence and faithfulness as a pastor, gained for him the affections of all who knew hira. Few men in a like sphere have been more beloved ; and the many excellencies of the father's character were not lost upon the son. The latter, at the age of six years, began to learn Latin under the instructions of his father, and, by the time he had reached his twelfth year, had mastered the usual course of Latin and Greek as they were then taught in ordinary schools. He continued his studies, under his father's direction, till 1811, when he went to Dickenson College, and entered the junior class half advanced. In the mean time, in 1806 his father had removed to Northumberland, Pa., having been invited to take charge of the acad emy at that place ; and there also he served three congregations in his capacity of clergyman, but supporting his family mainly, as formerly, by the revenue derived from his labors as a teacher. His method of conducting the academy did honor to his talents. It grew under his care into a highly respectable establishment, and obtained a high char acter in that district of country. This reputation, and the thorough ness of the course of instruction pursued, was the means of elevating the academy into a college, under an ample charter, with power to confer degrees in the usual form in like institutions. This enlargement called 814 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS, for more of the machinery of education than the institution had before possessed ; and the library of a celebrated professor, who had lived the latter part of his life in Northumberland, and not long before had died there, together with his philosophical apparatus, were procured for the college. In the meantime, the subject of this notice continued at Dickenson College. His aptitude for the languages and early instruction had placed him far ahead of all competitors in that branch. He was so thoroughly master of the Latin that he could write it with facility, per haps as well as his mother tongue ; and, though indifferent to, and never troubling hiraself about, college honors, his superior ability and acquire ments were not questioned. His instructor in chemistry was Doctor Cooper, formerly a judge in the interior of Pennsylvania, then Professor of Chemistry in Dickenson College, and afterwards President of Co lumbia CoUege, South Carolina, whither he had been invited by the state, and known throughout the country for his extensive literary and scientific attainments, and with whom our student was always a favorite. He graduated at Dickenson in 1812, but taught grammar-school in the college till 1813, when he returned to Northumberland to aid his father in his college duties, now becorae onerous by the addition of numerous students, and the increasing duties of the enlarged institution. Shortly after this, his father's health began to fail. He became dys peptic, and this disease continued to enfeeble and distress him up to the period of his death, which occurred in 1815, And few men have lived more beloved, or died more lamented. His virtues and many excellencies of character did not perish ; they left their impress long on the community in which he had lived, and have descended upon his son — a goodly inheritance, and one that passeth not away. The well-known acquirements of the son pointed to him, young as he then was, (not twenty years of age,) as the successor of the father, and he was accordingly, soon after the death of the former, appointed principal of the college ; and in this new situation the extent and variety of his duties go to show how much may be accomplished where resolution and will are combined with abUity, He graduated the classes, delivered lectures on chemistry, taught astronomy and mathe matics, Greek and Latin, and studied law, all at the same time. His law instructor was Charles Hall, Esq., late of Sunbury, Northum berland county, a gentleman eminent in the profession, under whom he was admitted to the bar in 1817, and commenced practice the same year. His professional career, which has since proved so successfiil, com menced in Bloomsburg, Columbia county, Pennsylvania. There he continued, however, but a short time, for we find him settled in Dan ville, in the same county, in 1818. Here his practice rapidly increased, and was soon extended to four or five of the surrounding counties, and there he continued till he was appointed, by Governor Wolf, President Judge of the District Court of Alleghany county. And here it may not be improper to state certain events, very well known and justly appreciated in the place and neighborhood where they took place, and which evince the excellent qualities of heart of the sub- ROBERT C. GRIER, OP PENNSYLVANIA. 815 ject of our note. At his father's death, he found himself the oldest of many brothers and sisters, including hiraself, eleven in nuraber, most of them young and helpless ; and they, together with his widowed mother, were entirely dependent upon him for their support. Well and faith fully did he perform the duties that this condition of things called for. He possessed but little of this world's goods, but he had health, energy, talent, and a profession ; but he bent himself to the task, and with these materials, fairly brought into requisition under the guidance of a sound and affectionate heart and a willing mind, he overcame all difficulty. His brothers were well and liberally educated, and settled in business or professions. His sisters lived with hira till they were raarried ; and his mother, till she died. As a son and brother, as well as in all sub sequently formed domestic relations, he has been distinguished by the kmdest and tenderest affections ; and no man is more beloved by his famUy and friends. If it be true that the recollection of kind and benevo lent actions warms the heart into peace with itself, then may our friend well rejoice in the past, and look to the future in the thankfulness of hope. But to our narrative. His brothers and sisters being all married and settled in life, he had leisure to look out for hiraself; and in the year 1829, he raarried Miss Isabella Rose, the daughter of John Rose, Esq., a native of Scotland, who eraigrated to this country in 1798. Mr. Rose had been admitted to the bar in Europe, but never practised, or sought practice here. He was a gentleman of education and accomplishraents, and possessed of considerable estate. He bought a beautifully-situated form on the banks of the Lycoming Creek, about two miles above WUliamsport, in Lycoming county, upon which he resided till his death, and which now belongs to Judge Grier. This stream is celebrated for the fine trout with which it abounds, some distance frora its mouth. And this we mention more particularly, as the judge makes an annual- excursion to his farm and fishing-ground, to enjoy his favorite vocation of trout-fishing. He early became a disciple of Isaac Walton, and is faithful to his preceptor to this day. Nothing is suffered to interfere with this excursion : and when the month of June arrives, he is sure to find his way to the creek, with a few select companions, and all the necessary apparatus for catching and cooking his favorite fish, together with all manner of generous accompaniments to give zest to the luxury. This fishing-ground is in the midst of the eastern ridges of the Alle ghany Mountains, into which the stream penetrates, and is surrounded with dense forests in their primitive state. The invigorating air of the woods, the beauty and wildness of the scenery, contrasted with that to which he is accustomed, the continued exercise and pleasure of the sport, sometimes not without adventure, all have their charm. And the judge returns to his professional duties, somewhat sunburned and weatherbeaten, to be sure, but with recovered powers, renovated frame, and clear head, ready for another year of labor. His appointment to the District Court of Alleghany county was made May 4th, 1838. He removed to Pittsburgh in October of the same year, and resided in Alleghany City till September, 1848, when he re moved to Philadelphia, where he continues to reside. On the 4th of August, 1846, he was nominated, by President Polk, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the 816 SKETCHES OF EMINBNT AMERICANS. place of Judge Baldwin, deceased, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate the next day. The professional career of Judge Grier, while" at the bar, was marked by high integrity of purpose, and fidelity to his client, qualities not un usual in the profession ; but with him there was a benevolence not so universal, and generosity towards those who sought his services with but liraited means of remuneration, that procured him many clients of this description ; and for many has he gone through with repeated and ardu ous conflicts, without money and without price. In the conducting of his case, he was not apt to trouble himself much about its mere technicalities, and despised all the tricks and catches of the law ; he regarded mainly the principles involved in it, and arguing it upon this basis, his views were clear and logical, and always deliver ed with great distinctness and force. While presiding in the District Court at Pittsbjirgh, he had the con fidence of all the bar, which was one of the ablest in the state. There ¦was a deference paid to his decisions highly honorable, and an attach ment to hiraself personally, not often found to exist in the sarae degree between the bar and the bench. If the cause before him had merits, its advocate had nothing to fear; if doubtfal, he was sure of a fair and candid hearing ; but if without merits, or if tinctured with fraud, it be hooved him to take care of his case, for he was sure of neither aid nor quarter from the court. With the jury, his charge was everything : they had entire confidence in his integrity and learning, and knew that he only aimed to arrive at justice. Their verdict was responsive to his instructions. And when exception was taken to his charge or opinion, nothing was withheld by selfish regard to pride of opinion, or petty doubt as to the unnecessary action of a higher tribunal. His view of the law was fairly stated, and sent up as delivered, without addition or diminution, upon its own merits to stand or fall. All men are liable to err, but he who feels the consciousness of power within himself, fears not, but rather desires the examination of his opinions by those who may have the power, together with the responsibility, of sustaining or reversing thera. Every judicial opinion affects the property, the reputation, or the person of some one, to a greater or less extent ; and a faithful judge would rather rejoice in the detection of his error, than that it should be suffered to exist to the injury of another. Since the elevation of Judge Grier to the Supreme Court, his judicial reputation has becorae the comraon property of the country, and is well established. His discussions bear testimony to this, and these are in the hands of every professional raan. They disclose extensive learning and research, and a persevering seeking of the principle lying at the basis of the particular point under discussion — and this discovered, it is never lost sight of; and the conclusion arrived at is pronounced with the boldness of a fearless spirit, regardless of all consequences, save the one aira of bringing the truth to light, and giving effect to the law. His arguraent will stand the test of strict scrutiny ; is clear in its stateraents and details, marked, perhaps, more by the qualities of coraraon-sense, clearness and strength, than by any effort after ornaraent, though by no means deficient in illustration, which is readily supplied by hs well- ROBERT 0. GRIER, OP PENNSYLVANIA. 8l7 stored mind. The works which contain the evidence of Judge Grier's judicial reputation are accessible to every one — an examination of these would swell this notice far beyond the limits assigned to it, and would require more time and ability than the writer has to bestow. He leaves it, therefore, to abler hands. His elevation to the distinguished place he now holds, has worked no alteration in the man. The same modest worth that marked his youth and maturity, continues to adorn his riper years. The same kindness of disposition to all, the same attachraent to friends, and affection for those dependent upon him : a lover of his country, and, of the very ne cessity of his nature, a religious man, and therefore a Christian — long a member of the church in the principles of which he was educated, and some time participating in its governraent — but liberal in his views, re garding the spirit rather than the letter of his creed. Happy in his domestic relations, in the affections of an amiable and excellent wife, in the love of his children, in the attachment of his many friends, and highly honored, as he is, by his country. — his life affords an example of the triuraph of right principles, unshrinking integrity, persevering indus try, and fidelity to truth and to himself, over difficulties of formidable character, and from which a mind of less energy would have shrunk. " Heaven does with us as we with torches do. Not light them for ourselves : for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 'twere all the same As if we had them not." 62 ,7r.u ' ', Z-h,j/, ,p/,^^a., SAra.h^s '/ ,\m,iu',7l/lv,.,.^,:^.an.S' SIMEON NEVrrON DEXTER, OF NEW- YORK. 819 SIMEON NEWTON DEXTER, OP WHITESTCWN, NBW-YORK. The men most influential in promoting the advancement of society, and in giving character to the times in which they live, are of two classes : they are the men of study, and the men of action. Whether we are more indebted for the iraprovements of the age to the one class or the other, is a question that allows honest difference of opinion. Neither class could be spared, and both should be encouraged to occupy their several spheres of labor and influence, zealously and without mu tual distrust. The man of study is sometimes stigmatized as an idler. The very intenseness of his devotion to books and scientiflc pursuits may bring upon him reproach from those who would measure a man's usefulness by his noisefulness. The invention of the cotton-gin is due to the closet meditations and experiraents of a graduate from Yale College, who had gone South for the purpose of teaching a faraily school. " If it should be asserted," said an eminent judge, " that the benefits of this invention exceed one hundred millions of dollars, the assertion could be proved by accurate calculation." Yet, Whitney was laughed at, before his ma chine was completed, as a visionary experimenter, and after its comple tion it was stolen from him by a mob. It was not until they were compelled to it by expensive lawsuits that the southern planters recog nized their indebtedness to the man of study. Science and research are seldom reluctant to acknowledge their obli gations to enterprise and capital. Men of study well understand that their chosen pursuits are so abstract and engrossing as to partially unfit them for great successes in what is commonly styled practical life. They are apt to shrink from those rugged encounters with the world which are essential to the carrying on of large business enterprises. They are happy to analyze a soil or an ore, but prefer that the analysis should be practically applied by the farmer and the miner. They also want funds for the purchase of books and other instruments of study. They feel justified in saying to the men of wealth, " Give us of your abundance. We have helped you to become rich. Now help us in the pursuit of our studies, and we will tell you how your fortunes may be doubled. We 'will find new beds of ore for you, and better methods for extracting the raetal. We will invent new machinery for quickening and cheap ening the processes of manufacture. We will discover ways of travers ing land and water with greater safety and expedition. We will em balm the brilliant triumphs of warriors, and the more honorable achieve ments of peaceful enterprise, in befitting history. We will spend our studious days in the service of humanity. We only ask, in return, a comfortable snpport and a suitable remembrance." The number of business-men now living who practically recognize the claims of science and study, is large and fast increasing. The list is headed by such munificent patrons of learning as Amos Lawrence, Ab- 820 sketches of eminent Americans. bott Lawrence, and Samuel Williston, of Massachusetts. It is a pleasant thought that the worldly prosperity of these men seeras to be only in creased by their liberality to men of study and to scientific institutions. To the raen of this class belongs the subject of this sketch. Simeon Newton Dexter, the third son of Andrew and Mary Newton Dexter, was born in Providence, R. I,, May II, 1785, The Dexter family were early settlers in the vicinity of Boston, near the Mystic River. Their descendants still reside on the old farm, the title to which was purchased from the Indians. They were of the Puritan stock, and have never brought reproach upon their cognomen. With this, the ideas of talent, enterprise, integrity, and social worth, have been long associated both in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Among those who have added lustre to the name may be mentioned the Rev. Samuel Dexter, who was graduated from Harvard College in 1720 ; was pastor of the Congregational Church in Maiden, Mass., and died in 1775. His son, Sarauel Dexter, was an eminent importing merchant in Boston before the Revolutionary War. He acquired a handsome estate, and at his death, in 1 8 1 1 , bequeathed $5000 to Harvard College for endowing a lectureship of biblical literature, of which the Rev. George R, Noyes, D. D,, is the present incumbent. The sons of Samuel Dexter, the importer, were Andrew, the fathei of S. Newton Dexter, and Sarauel, Andrew engaged in the dry-goods business with his cousin, Andrew Briraraer, in Boston, where his two elder sons were born. Afterwards he removed to Providence, and commenced the manufacture of cotton goods in partnership with Lewis Peck. This was probably the first atterapt, in this country, to manu facture cotton goods by machinery. It was considered a wild experi ment. So strongly was Mr. Dexter opposed by his father and friends in the prosecution of this enterprise, that he finally sold out to Almy & Brown and Samuel Slater. The latter had recently arrived in this country. The general impression that these latter gentlemen were the first to manufacture cotton goods in the United States is erroneous. In the published life of Slater, there is a copy of the original bill of sale, by which Andrew Dexter and Lewis Peck disposed of their machinery to Samuel Slater. A fac-simile of the receipt is given, with signatures appended. Sarauel Dexter, the brother of Andrew and uncle of S. Newton, was graduated frora Harvard College in 1781, with its highest honors. Soon after his admission to the bar, he was elected to the Legislature of Massachusetts. Afterwards, he was transferred to Congress as a re presentative, and finally to the national Senate. By the force of his talents, his probity and enlightened statesmanship, he gained much influ ence ahd honor in Congress, He was twice invited by President Adams to a seat in his cabinet ; first, as secretary of the war depart ment, and afterwards as secretary of the treasury. The duties of both these offices were discharged in a masterly manner. Daniel Webster opened his law-office in Boston about the tirae Mr. Dexter died. With the exception of Theophilus Parsons, afterwards Chief-Justice of the Suprerae Court of Massachusetts, he was without a rival at the bar of that city, or before the Suprerae Court at Washington. While visit ing his relatives at Athens, New- York, he fell sick, and died May SIMEON NEWTON DEXTER, OF NEW-YORK. 821 4, 1816. The sketch of his life and character, by Judge Story, belongs to the permanent literature of our country. At the age of thirteen, S. Newton Dexter reraoved, with his father's family, from Providence, to a large and beautiful farra in Mendon, Mas sachusetts. Here he lived about three years, and fitted for college un der the instruction of the Rev. Caleb Alexander, who had charge of the congregational church in that place, and eked out his salary of about $200 per annum by keeping a classical school. It is an interesting fact that Mr. Alexander afterwards removed to Oneida county, New- York, and distinguished himself by his efficient industry in soliciting funds and procuring a charter for Harailton College. Little, probably, did the good pastor think that among his boys in the Mendon School was one who would afterwards becorae a liberal benefactor and trustee to an important literary institution of which he was himself to assist in laying the foundations. It was the earnest wish of his parents that young Dexter should en ter college, and after graduation study a profession. His own tastes and feelings were averse from this course. His preference was strong for an active life. Already he so far understood his own tem perament and talent as to judge hiraself more likely to be successful and contented in the thronged avenues of business than in the quiet walks of study. His wishes were yielded to ; and, at the age of seventeen, Mr. Dex ter entered the store of William Clapp, a wholesale silk-merchant in Boston. In three years he had mastered the details of this business, and was ready for an honorable competition with his employer. He opened a store for himself, and soon becarae an important merchant. He continued in this business until the difficulties with England led to the general embargo in December, 1807. This act was carried by re presentations in Congress from the interior and agricultural states. It proved most disastrous to the national coraraerce. By its operation, Mr. Dexter, along with many others, was thrown out of employraent. Mr. Dexter next reraoved to Berkshire county, and took charge of the marble quarries which were then owned and worked by his brother. The marble was taken to Hudson, on the North River, and there ship ped for New-York, where it was used for building and other purposes. The marble used in erecting the City-Hall of New- York was taken from these Berkshire quarries. Mr. Dexter's engagement with his brother was not intended to be permanent. The prostration of the coraraerce of the nation had turned the public attention to the subject of domestic manufactures. In the year 1810, General Humphreys, American Minister in Portugal, im ported three hundred of the finest Merino sheep. These contributed to improve the American breed. The raising of the finer grades of wool for manufactures promised to become a lucrative business. Mr. Dex ter purchased a farm at Athens, opposite Hudson, and stocked it with Merino sheep, which were then very valuable. He had several which were thought to be worth $500 each. This agricultural experiment served to strengthen his attachment to rural industry. It also gave him a ready, unerring insight into the quality of wools, which has since 822 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. been highly serviceable in the purchase of stock for manufacturing cloths. In the spring of the year 1815, Mr. Dexter removed from Athens to Whitestown, then and still one of the leading towns in Oneida county. Here he engaged in mercantile business, and purchased an interest in a cotton factory. At that tirae, the machinery for making cotton goods was compara tively rude and incomplete. The cotton yarn was distributed, in small parcels, among the families of the neighborhood, and woven into cloth by hand-looms. Six cents per yard was paid for the weaving of cloth that sold for twenty-five cents. Cloth of the sarae quality would now bring but five cents. It is by referring to such facts as these, so easily forgotten yet so highly significant, that one is brought to realize the rapid progress of the age in the industrial arts. Mr. Dexter was now thirty-two. Thus far his career had been one of various adventure and various success. Yet his future was destined to be still raore eventful. With full health and high hopes, he awaited its dis closures. In the month of April, 1817, an act was passed by the Legis lature of New- York, which authorized the construction of the Erie and Champlain Canals. Mr. Dexter received contracts for making several portions of the Erie Canal. The result was probably more advantage ous to the state than to himself. His contracts were faithfully fulfilled, and he may have derived sorae profit from them. It is certain that he never applied to the Canal Board, or the Legislature, for extra compen sation. But the most important return came in the shape of experience and skill, which fitted him for engaging in other like enterprises with greater chances of pecuniary advantage. In the year 1824, Mr. Dexter undertook a very heavy contract on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. This enterprise proved most dis heartening and vexatious, yet ultimately profitable. The country was quite unhealthy, and there were many obstacles to be surmounted. One of these grew out of the prejudice felt by the good people of De laware and Maryland against all Yankee adventurers and laborers. Mr. Dexter commenced, unfortunately, by underletting a large part of the work to men, by whom it was re-let at such low rates that the sub-contractors were unable to pay their workmen, or the farmers from whom supplies were purchased. This brought the whole business into such bad odor, that Mr. Dexter was obliged to take back the sub-con tracts and carry on the work himself So constant and laborious was his devotion to the work, and such was his exposure to excessive heat, that he was seized with a bilious fever, and for a whole year could do nothing. On his recovery, he was released from his contract, and em ployed by the directors, as their agent to carry on the work. This arrangement continued for a year, when the work was re-let to him at an advanced price, which yielded a satisfactory profit. Afterwards, Mr. Dexter buUt two ship-locks at the Chesapeake end of the canal. These contracts, amounted to nearly one million and a half of dollars. The work was completed in five years. A series of resolutions was adopted by the directors of the canal, in which the energy, perseverance and tact exhibited by Mr. Dexter were alluded to in terms of high commendation. SIMEON NEWTON DEXTER, OF NEW-YORK. 823 In January, 1829, Mr. Dexter returned to his home in Whitesboro' with a handsome property. While in health, his temperament never allowed him to be idle, even for a day. By the success of his last adventure, he had fairly secured to himself the privilege of now retiring frora ac tive life, and spending the remainder of his years in the enjoyments which wealth, well expended, can procure. If such a fancy entered his thoughts it was soon dismissed. He chose so to invest his property, that it should bring no temptation to idleness ; so that it should benefit others as well as himself; so that it should furnish steady employraent to his less fortunate neighbors, and increase the prosperity of the place of his residence. He had been many years a stockholder in the Oris kany Manufacturing Company, whose mills are three miles west of Whitesboro', at the confluence of the Oriskany and Mohawk. This company was incorporated in 1811, with a capital of $200,000, subse quently reduced to $110,000, all of which has been paid in. It is be lieved to be the oldest establishment for manufacturing woolen goods in the United States. The idea of comraencing this business originated with Doctor Seth Capron, an officer of the Revolutionary array, two of whose sons are now among the most successful of American manufac turers. On the list of original stockholders are found the names of Ambrose Spencer, Jonas Piatt, Thomas R. Gold, De Witt Clinton, Theodore Sill, Newton Mann, WUliam G, Tracy, Stephen Van Rens selaer and G. G. Lansing. The enterprise was embarked in by these patriotic men, less with the expectation of pecuniary profit than with the hope of doing something to render their country independent of England. The satinets first made by this company sold readily for |1 per yard, and their broadcloths from $10 to $13 per yard; but to counterbalance these prices an average of $1 12 per lb. was paid for wool for several years. The first agent of the Oriskany Company was Colonel Garret G. Lansing, an officer in the Continental array ; the second was Dr. Seth Capron ; the third, George Hutton ; the fourth, Horace Hunt ; the fifth, S. Newton Dexter. At the time of Mr. Dexter's return from Delaware, the Oriskany Company was so embarrassed in its affairs, and so deeply involved in debt, as to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Its friends believed that Mr. Dexter was the man to restore its credit and prosperity. He was ap pointed agent for the company. His first act in its service was the loaning of $25,000, from his own resources, for the payment of debts, and the purchase of new and improved machinery. The confidence of the public was soon regained. A new and hopeful spirit was infused into the operations of the company. Its fabrics won for themselves a good name and a quick demand in the market. Old debts were extin guished, new buildings were erected ; and the village of Oriskany, with the woolen mills for its heart, became a busy and thriving place. The company now employ 120 hands, consume 220,000 pounds of wool an nually, and manufacture 110,000 yards of broadcloths and tweeds. The " Dexter Manufacturing Corapany" was organized in 1832, with an actual capital of about $50,000, most of which was furnished by the subject of this notice. Its buUdings are located a mile frora Oriskany, in the village of Pleasant Valley. It now employs 110 hands, and con sumes 175,000 pounds of wool annually in the manufacture of first-class 824 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. broadcloths, tweeds, and shawls. The manageraent of the affairs of this corapany was recently transferred frora the original agent to his son, Andrew Dexter, Esq., by whom the business is conducted with great prudence and foresight. At the annual fair of the American Institute for 1852, a sample of beaver cloths was exhibited by the Dexter Manufacturing Company, for which a gold medal was awarded. These goods were not made for show, but were taken at random from a case sent to the company's agent in New- York. In some respects. Pleasant Valley deserves to be mentioned as a model' village of its kind. Most of the dwellings are owned by the company, and there is not a bar or a dram-shop within its bounds. It is fast increasing and improving. The residence of Mr. West, the su perintendent, and of Mr. Bowes, are tastefully built. The well-kept grounds about them furnish pleasant evidence that their owners know how to appreciate the beautiful in nature. In addition to these establishments, which have fallen under his more immediate supervision, Mr. Dexter is largely interested in various other manufacturing companies located in Oneida and Jefferson counties. His last enterprise of this kind was the erection of a woolen factory at Elgin, 111., which has already created a desirable market for the farmers in its vicinity. Its business is now under the oversight of Mr. Reuben L. Yarwood. Truth requires it to be confessed that Mr. Dexter was once engaged in the making of whisky. It is to his credit, that he hurried out of the business, at a heavy sacrifice, as soon as he becarae conscious of its evil tendency. About the year 1821, a temperance society*was organized in Whitesboro', of which he became the first president. He not only gave up manufacturing whisky, but refused to sell or lease his distillery. The copper stUls were taken out, and applied to a useful purpose in the Oriskany factory. The building itself was suffered to go to decay ; and no part of its machinery, with the consent or knowledge of its owner, was afterwards used for manufacturing alcohol. When temperance societies were first organized, the members simply pledged themselves to abstain from ardent spirits. It was not long be fore Mr. Dexter discovered the defect and inconsistency of this pledge. His feelings became deeply enlisted in an effort to rescue a fellow- townsman from going down to the drunkard's grave. It was said to Mr. Dexter, in reply to his warnings, " You are in the same boat with myself. You are a rich man, and drink your wine : I am a poor man, and can afford nothing costlier than whisky. Both will intoxicate ; and if I am in peril, so are you." Mr. Dexter then drew up a pledge of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks, which both parties signed. The man thus saved from ruin has continued sober to this day, and has accumulated considerable property. This incident would be less worthy of notice, had it not occurred before the pledge of total abstinence was adopted liy temperance societies. In 1835, Mr. Dexter accepted an invitation to occupy a seat in the board of trustees of Hamilton College. This institution was chartered in 1812, and is located at Clinton, seven miles from Whitesboro'. At the time of Mr. Dexter's appointment as a trustee, it was emerging SIMEON NEWTON DEXTER, OF NBW-YORK. 825 from a series of embarrassments, which had greatly lessened its revenue and crippled its usefulness. An appeal in its behalf had been recently made, by which was secured a permanent fund of $40,000 for the sup port of instructors. The wants of the college had been remembered in the will of Hon. William H. Maynard, who died in 1832, and be queathed to it an endowment for a profession of law and history. Mr. Maynard's example was improved upon by Mr. Dexter. What the former did by testament, the latter chose to do by an immediate dona tion. The sum of $15,000 was presented for endowing the professor ship of classical literature. This department is supposed to have been chosen as the object of his munificence, not more on account of its ac knowledged importance in a collegiate institution, than on account of his esteem for the learning and piety of its then incumbent, the Rev. Dr. North, who has since been promoted to the presidency. In devoting a portion of his property to the advancement of learning, while yet in the prime of his years, Mr. Dexter exhibited a liberality worthy of the highest praise from all, and of imitation from those of sufficient means. Giving to a literary or a benevolent institution is one of the surest ways of perpetuating the blessing that there is in wealth without its evil. If the good that men do is ever " interred with their bones," it must be good of a different kind from the endow ment of professorships and charities. In 1838, what is known as the "general banking law," was passed by the legislature of New- York. The Bank of Whitestown was among the first to deposit with the controller the required securities, and to issue notes under the provisions of this law. Mr. Dexter was elected its first president, and has been retained in the office ever since. The affairs of the association have been so carefully managed as to secure a high degree of confidence and prosperity. Although the mercantile business of the village is quite limited, the annual dividends of the bank have never fallen below eight per cent., and for two years past they have risen to ten per cent. The first cashier was James S. Thomas, now of Brockport ; the present is Israel J. Gray. It would be impossible that a man of Mr. Dexter's temperament and experience should not feel a deep interest in the management of our public affairs. After having suffered so much in the past from disas trous legislation, and having staked so much in his present investments, a feeling of indifference to the national policy would be infatuation. Yet it cannot be said that the shape of his political sentiments has been determined wholly or even chiefly by interested motives. His early associations brought him into frequent contact with those good and great statesmen whose talents and virtues moulded public opinion dur ing the purer days of our republic. His sympathies have always been on the side of a broad, national and conservative policy. Like Hard- castle in " She Stoops to Conquer," he " loves everything that's old ; old friends, old times, old manners, old books." He is cautious about deserting those landmarks which the experience of the past has fixed. At the same time, he is no enemy to what is new, if it be only recom mended by soraething less deceptive than its npvelty. He believes that the legislation of the country has been obstinately hostile to the manufacturing interest, and indirectly to the agricultural. Yet he 826 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. loves his country, with all the faults of its government. It might be said of him, as was said of his uncle, Samuel Dexter, by Judge Story, that " he considers the union of the states as the security of their liberties : whatever might be his opinion of any measures, he never breathed a doubt to shake public or private confidence in the excel lence of the constitution." It is quite likely that Mr, Dexter may have been strengthened in his attachment to the constitution by his friendship and admiration for Henry Wheaton and Daniel Webster. The former was one of the playmates and schoolmates of his boyhood. Almost the earliest of his recollections is that of making " mud-pies" with him in the streets of Providence. His acquaintance with the latter commenced, when both were young men, in the following way : His eldest brother, Andrew Dexter, was an extensive operator in Boston. In transacting his busi ness he had occasion to use large banking facilities. It was partly through his own, and partly through Mr. Webster's influence, that a charter was obtained frora the legislature of New-Hampshire for a new bank at Concord. Mr. Webster was appointed attorney for the bank ; and when its operations were about to commence, he came to Boston to obtain the amount of specie required by the act of incorporation. The specie was obtained, and, for greater security, Mr. Dexter accom panied Mr. Webster on his return to Concord. They left Boston with a good span of horses and a trusty driver. A shower came up soon after they started, and at nightfall they found themselves in the most dreary part of Chester woods. To crown their trouble, the carriage broke down, and they were compelled to leave their money in charge of the driver, and finish their journey on foot. After a long and tedi ous walk in the rain and darkness, they reached a tavern, kept by a Mr. Head, at the east end of the bridge over the Merrimack River. The evening was now well advanced, and a lively dance was going forward in Head's ball-room. A party was sent back to relieve the driver and secure the specie. Mr. Webster and his friend forgot their weariness at the voice of the violin. They were urged to accept the loan of slip pers, and entered heartily into the spirit of the occasion. Mr, Web ster was well known. Nothing could be more agreeable to the girls than the addition to their corapany of a talented lawyer and a Boston merchant. They danced all night, and the next day deposited their specie in the new bank of Concord. Mr. Webster afterwards collected notes for Mr. Dexter in New-Hampshire, and their friendship continued, without interruption, until the death of the former. In the county of Oneida, the party with which Mr. Dexter sympa thizes has never been really and unquestionably dominant. It has some times won a temporary or partial success when the opposing party was divided, or when influences of an unusual sort were brought into play. Under these circumstances, the leading of forlorn hopes is one of the duties to which a prominent and patriotic citizen is occasionally sum moned. Mr. Dexter has submitted to his share of this barren honor along with other leaders of his party — along with such men as Charles P. Kirkland, Fortune C, White, and Joshua A, Spencer. As a candi date for the office of sheriff, and afterwards for that of representative in Congress, he has been assured, by handsome, complimentary votes, that SIMEON NEWTON DEXTER, OF NEW-YORK. 827 he was fully confided in by those within the pale of his party. Mr, Dexter had served his town as a member of the Board of Supervisors for Oneida county. By the constitution of New- York, this body is intrusted with powers which render the office of supervisor one of honor and respon sibility. In Jan., 1850, the control of the state government of New- York fell into the hands of the whigs. This control embraced the executive depart ment and both branches of the legislature. Never before had the whigs held a majority in the Senate since the year 1818, On the 13th Feb ruary, 1840, Asa Whitney, S. Newton Dexter, David Hudson, George N. Boughton, and Henry Harailton, were appointed canal commis sioners, by a concurrent resolution, in the place of Samuel Young, John Bowman, William C. Bouck, Jonas Earll, and William Baker. Samuel B, Ruggles, a whig, had been previously appointed to fill a vacancy. It has been reported that, at the legislative caucus by which the new commissioners were nominated, many of the members were in favor of retainuig Mr. Bouck, under the impression that his experience and practical knowledge would be absolutely indispensable. This appre hension was removed when the character of the gentlemen who were to compose the whig board came to be fully understood. They were men of active habits, of ready business tact ; and one of them, at least, could bring to the discharge of his official duties a practical familiarity with the building and management of canals. Mr. Dexter was chosen one of the acting commissioners, and was charged with the especial oversight of the Chenango and Black River Canals, and the Middle Division of the Erie. This was before the Stop-Law was passed, and immense suras were expended by the com missioners on the Erie enlargement, and on the construction of the Black River Canal. Contracts were then made by a single commis sioner, and for very large amounts. Yet these officers were never ac cused of favoritism or misraanagement. It was never complained that they consulted for the promotion of any interest beneath that of the state and the people, in discharging the onerous duties of their trust. Mr. Dexter found that his private business was suffering from his de votion to that of the state, and at the end of two years was quite thank ful to be released from the burdens of office. In 1849, a peculiar malady, known as the " Plank-road Fever," seized upon the people of Central New- York. It was brought on by a set of captivating estimates prepared and published by Hon. George Geddes, of Onondaga county. A general plank-road law was hurried through the forms of legislation, and, under its provisions, a good many associations sprang into action. Immense quantities of timber were swept from the forests, and old-established turnpikes were broken up. Mr. Dexter cannot boast that he was much behind his fellow-citizens in zeal to try the plank-road experiment. He was one of an association formed for planking the road from Utica to Rome, and was elected its first president. The eastern half of the route is much traveled, and the investment is probably as good as the best of its kind. In 1830, Mr. Dexter was appointed one of the managers of the State Lunatic Asylum, at Utica, and still holds the office. Dr. N. D. Bene- 828 SKETCHES OP EMINENT AMERICANS. diet is well known as the able and faithful superintendent of this insti tution. It is sometimes the case with those who are engaged in heavy busi ness operations, that they lose their relish for the pure pleasures to be drawn from intimacy with literature, and art, and nature. When the accumulation of money is pursued exclusively and devotedly, there is danger that the excitement of the chase will become the main motive for its continuance. If the money-maker is in too great haste to be rich, there is danger that he will become blunted as to his sensibilities, so that property will be sought for its own sake, and for the pleasure of its seeking, rather than from the ennobling means of enjoyment which it can comraand. No such misfortune has fallen upon the subject of this sketch. . He not only knows how to make money, but how to use it. To one who was familiar with the extent and variety of his pecuniary transactions, but unacquainted with his habits of reading and his ready appreciation of literary merit, his library is so large that it might seem ' to have been collected more for ornaraent than for use. Such a con clusion would be entirely wrong. While watching the ebb and flow of tides in the market, the rising and setting of stars in the political sky, he keeps himself well read in the master-pieces of English litera ture. With a keen zest he follows out the development of a political crisis in Hume, or Alison, Macauley, or Michelet ; or the unraveling of a doraestic intrigue in Shakspeare, or Scott, or Thackeray. His walls, htmg with canvas raade life-like and eloquent by the genius of Stuart and Fisher, and Morse, witness the presence of a genuine love of art, as well as an eye skilled to detect and prefer its finest exhibitions. His large, well-kept garden, in which the sun so often greets him at its rising and setting, witnesses a fondness for rural industry. Mr, Dexter is a comraunicant and senior warden of the Episcopalian Church in Whitesboro'. Yet his religious syrapathies are bounded by- no sectarian liraits. He enjoys a good sermon equally well, whether the preacher wears a coat or a gown. He admires the man whose life is Christ-like, without stopping to ask whether he receives the sacra ment frora a deacon sitting, or from a priest kneeling. He attends frequently the services of the Presbyterian Church, and gives liberally for the support of its pastor. Mr. Dexter has been twice married. His first wife was Laura Nor thrup, eldest daughter of Hon. Isaac Northrup, of Athens, N. Y,, a man of property and stainless integrity. She died, December 10, 1846. By his first wife his children were four. Two of thera, a son and a daughter survive, and are married. His second and present wife was Mrs. Martha Raymond Gold. 'V'-S « ^'». >> /^ /^. yc^_^%^ APfORNEl- aEirF.IAL OF THF STATE OF TFmESSEE .'I'oJ. Ft B:<>,jrnphic -''vi i- - . f