BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrij *B« Sage 1891 A-BUVfr'b i..^..LQ.\iq-&5 3081 PS 551 179"" Univers "y Llb «"y So ^.te.M,ffitese!ectipns in prose and 3 1924 022 110 336 „„„ The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022110336 SOUTHERN WRITERS SELECTIONS IN PROSE AND VERSE *M& SOUTHERN WRITERS SELECTIONS IN PROSE AND VERSE EDITED BY W.' P. TRENT t 5a AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE," "JOHN MILTON," ETC., ETC. "Nzia gorfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1 90S AH rights reserved Copyright, 1905, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1905- PREFACE This volume of selections from Southern writers, designed primarily for use in school and college classes in the South, will not, I trust, be regarded as a sectional product in the unpleasant sense of that term. The history of the South and its literature cannot profitably be divorced from the history and literature of the entire country ; but just as it appears de- sirable that the children of each state should be given special instruction in the history of that commonwealth, so it seems reasonable and appropriate that the young people of a well- differentiated section like the South should be afforded an opportunity to study the writers of their region in more detail than is possible when only general text-books on American literature are employed. This volume, in other words, is intended to furnish supplementary reading and information which the teacher can use in connection with work in American literature, or in a special subordinate class if there be an oppor- tunity to form one. Many of the extracts given have also been chosen with special reference to their availability for use in connection with classes in history, which always stand in need of illustrative material, and the volume may serve the purposes of a reading book, as well as of a supplementary collection of specimens for use in classes in composition and rhetoric. I believe that I do not exaggerate when I say that a study of these selections ought to increase a pupil's interest in American literature and history as a whole, and also to open his eyes to the fact that, while the South has never been prolific of books and writers, its people have contributed a larger and a better share to the literature of the Republic than is generally admitted. The task of forming such a collection as is here presented is VI PREFACE not inconsiderable. Even when the lists of Southern writers that have been compiled by students anxious to claim for their section every available name have been rigidly winnowed, both on the score of correct attribution and of quality of production, there still remains a much larger number of worthy and repre- sentative authors than can be successfully included in a single volume. The statesmen and orators alone would furnish mate- rials for a large book, and a larger one could be readily made from writings produced since the Civil War. Minor questions, too, such as the ease with which an author's works may be se- cured, and the consequent danger of furnishing material most of which is fairly accessible in other forms, as well as the fre- quently mooted point whether short, more or less fragmentary selections are of much value, have been constantly present to my mind. I can scarcely hope to escape censure for having admitted this author and specimen while excluding that ; but I can at least say that my recent studies in preparation for my " History of American Literature, 1607-1865," have enabled me to take a rather wide survey of the field to be covered, and that I have made my selections with care, and, as far as I could, with regard to the importance of the writers both to the South and to the Union at large. In preparing the brief biographical and critical notices I have relied, whenever my library facilities would allow me, upon memoirs and sketches of recognized authority. In some cases, however, it has been possible to secure only the most meagre sort of data, and I have had to fall back upon general works of reference. It will give me great pleasure to have my attention called to sources of information that have escaped me, and also to feel that the deficiencies of this book may stimulate Southern students to supply articles and monographs on minor writers of the section whose lives and works have been allowed to sink into oblivion. Corrections, too, of bibliographical errors — for with such a large number of items errors are inevitable.' — will be gratefully received. PREFACE Vll In view of the many needs which the book is designed to meet, the mass of selections has been made comparatively large. I have also aimed to supply material for intensive study by giving considerable space to such writers as seem more and more to stand out as the chief authors of their section and of their respective epochs ; for example, Poe and Henry Timrod. I have appended notes here and there, but not so many, I trust, as to keep the student away from the two books that should be constantly in his hands, — his dictionary and his manual of classical mythology. In view of the facts that the Old South is often reproached, perhaps overzealously, with literary sterility, and that the writers of the New South are too near us for impar- tial criticism, and are also somewhat accessible and familiar, I have emphasized the earlier periods and exercised considerable liberty of omission in the third division of the volume. For example, it has seemed best to give the writers of fiction who made themselves prominent in the eighties precedence over those who have distinguished themselves within the last fifteen years. So, again, out of the far from thin ranks of the latter-day Southern poets some had to be chosen as representative and the rest passed over. This is only to say that the fate of the anthologist is ever the same, — he wishes he could stretch his volume to twice the size a prudent publisher would be justified in allowing. I -will put aside so vain a wish and substitute for it the more modest one that some of the boys and girls now growing up in that South, to the fortunes of which no Southern- born man, wherever his lot may be cast, can ever be indifferent, may through this book become much more familiar with the writers of their section. W. P. TRENT. New York, January I, 1905. CONTENTS 1 PAGE Preface v FIRST PERIOD, 1607-1789 Introduction 3 Captain John Smith 5 Powhatan's Treatment of Smith 7 The Pocahontas Incident 9 Narratives dealing with Bacon's Rebellion . . . .11 Bacon's Death 12 Robert Beverley 14 How he came to Write 15 The Pastimes of Colonial Virginia . . . . . . .16 Colonel William Byrd 18 North Carolina Husbandry 19 Running the Boundary Line through the Dismal Swamp . . 20 Primitive Dentistry 22 The Spotswood Home 23 Henry Laurens 24 A Bold Toast 25 An Incorruptible Patriot 26 No Running Away 28 George Washington 28 To the Governors of All the States 30 The Spirit of Party 33 America's True Foreign Policy 35 1 The reader may find useful the following indications of the contents of special notes : For " The Belles of Williamsburg," see p. 62 ; for Mme. Le Vert, see p. 69, note 2; for a list of miscellaneous writers of the Old South, see p. 71, note 2; for early Southern scientists, see p. 173, note 2 ; for early Southern humorists, see p. 70, p. 253, note 1, p. 271, notes 2 and 3, and p. 456, note 1 ; for Southern journalists, see p. 71 ; for miscellaneous writers of the Civil War period, see p. 336, note ; for literary activity immediately after the Civil War, see p. 375, note ; for Creole writers, see p. 377, note ; for the negro in ante-bellum humor, see p. 456, note 1. X CONTENTS PAGE Patrick Henry 37 The Alternative 38 Thomas Jefferson 41 Jefferson on France 4 2 First Inaugural Address 43 David Ramsay 47 Some Results of the Revolution 48 James Madison 50 A Standing Army and the Constitution 5 2 Mrs. Eliza Wilkinson 56 A Sprightly and Patriotic Carolina Dame ..... 5^ St. George Tucker 60 Resignation 60 SECOND PERIOD, 1790-1865 Introduction 65 John Marshall 73 The Character of Washington 74 Mason Locke Weems 75 Washington and the Cherry Tree 76 Marion's Escape 77 William Wirt 78 The Blind Preacher 79 Burr and Blennerhassett 81 To Catharine Wirt 84 John Randolph of Roanoke .... ... 86 Vaulting Ambition 88 Internal Improvements and Loose Constructions .... 90 The Qualities of a Chief 91 Dr. John Shaw 93 Song 94 Francis Scott Key 94 The Star-spangled Banner -95 Washington Allston 96 America to Great Britain 97 John Caldwell Calhoun 99 " Ours is a Federal and not a National Government "... 100 The Conclusion of Calhoun's Last Speech ..... 102 David Crockett 104 Concerning his Book 105 CONTENTS xi PAGE A Backwoods Magistrate 106 Killing a Bear . IO y Crockett defeated for Congress 108 Beverley Tucker riI Partisans on the Alert . • 112 An Unflattering Description of Van Buren 114 William John Grayson n6 A Famous Carolina School u6 A Unique Jail j I - Richard Henry Wilde i,g Stanzas no To the Mocking-bird 120 Augustus Baldwin Longstreet 121 The Horse-swap I22 Robert Young Hayne 130 Webster vs. Benton t^x The Friends and the Enemies of the Union 132 The South Carolina Doctrine ..... . . 133 Sam Houston j^r The Victor's Description of the Battle of San Jacinto . . .136 John Pendleton Kennedy " . . . 140 "*• An Old Virginia Estate and its Master 141 A Combination of Vulcan and Mars .... . 147 Hugh Swinton Legare I4 8 Byron and Scott .... 150 A Court Dinner i^ Expensive Living 1C3 Francis Lister Hawks •. . . . .... 154 Colonial Piracy 155 Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar 158 The Daughter of Mendoza 139 Edward Coate Pinkney 160 Italy 161 A Picture-song 162 Song 163 A Serenade 164 A Health > 165 Song ^ 166 Charles Etienne Arthur Gayarr£ 167 Characteristics of the Natchez and Other Southern Indians . .168 The Tree of the Dead 170 XU CONTENTS PAGE Matthew Fontaine Maury 172 Free Navigation of the Amazon 174 William Gilmore Simms 176 The Lost Pleiad 178 A Sea-king's State . . . .180 Fascinated by a Rattlesnake . . . . . . . . 181 A Southern Storm 186 The Burden of the Desert 190 General Robert E. Lee 191 Speech of April 23, 1861, before the Virginia Convention . . 193 To Mrs. Lee after the First Battle of Manassas .... 194 Traveller, as described by his Master 194 To Mrs. Lee, Christmas Day, 1862 196 Order for a Day of Fasting 196 To the President of the City Council of Richmond, etc. . . 197 Lees wanted in Battles, not at Balls 198 Order announcing the Death of General J. E. B. Stuart . . .198 Lee's Final Address to his Soldiers 199 General Lee's Letter accepting the Presidency of Washington College 200 Jefferson Davis 201 A Transcontinental Railway necessary to the Union . . . 203 From Senator Davis's Farewell Speech to the Senate . . . 206 Edgar Allan Poe 208 A Burst of Melody 213 Sonnet — To Science ......... 213 To Helen „ 214 Israfel 215 To One in Paradise 217 At School in England ......... 218 The Conqueror Worm , 223 The City in the Sea .......... 224 The Raven 226 The Cask of Amontillado ........ 230 The Poetic Principle 237 Annabel Lee ........... 239 Albert Pike 241 To Apollo ........... 242 Dixie 242 To the Mocking Bird 244 From a Tribute to Shelley, written in 1835 246 CONTENTS XI11 PAGE Alexander Hamilton Stephens 247 A Plea for Union . 249 William Tappan Thompson . .252 A Novel Courtship , 253 Alexander Beaufort Meek 258 The Mocking Bird 259 Balaklava 260 Land of the South 264 Joseph Glover Baldwin ......... 266 The Virginian in the Southwest 267 A Tribute to Henry Clay . 269 Johnson Jones Hooper 270 The Hero Described 272 Militia Costumes in the " Flush Times " 273 An Intractable Old Woman 274 Philip Pendleton Cooke 276 The Mountaineer .......... 277 Florence Vane 278 The Art of the Poet 279 "•* Theodore O'Hara 280 The Bivouac of the Dead ........ 281 Henry Rootes Jackson 283 The Red Old Hills of Georgia . . s 284 My Wife and Child 286 William Henry Trescot 288 The Patriotic Diplomats of the Revolution ..... 289 Washington and Jay's Treaty 290 James Matthews Legare 291 To a Lily 292 Haw-blossoms 293 James Barron Hope ' . . 295 The Charge at Balaklava 296 Washington and Lee 3°° Henry TimrOd 3° 2 Spring 3°4 The Cotton Boll 3° 6 Katie 3" Carolina 3 12 Charleston 3>5 Ode 317 Paul Hamilton Hayne 318 XIV CONTENTS PAGE A Dream of the South Winds 320 A Passage from " Fire Pictures " 321 The Solitary Lake 322 Aspects of the Pines 324 The Woodland Phases 325 Over the Waters . . 326 To Henry W. Longfellow 326 The Mocking-birds 327 John Esten Cooke 329 An Interior with Portraits 330 The Band in the Pines - 333 POETS OF THE CIVIL WAR Mrs. Margaret Junkin Preston 337 Gone Forward 339 The Shade of the Trees 340 The Hero of the Commune 341 Dr. Francis Orrery Ticknor 343 Little Giffen 343 The Virginians of the Valley 345 Virginia 346 Lee 347 Unknown 347 Loyal 348 Page Brook 350 John Reuben Thompson 351 Ashby 352 Music in Camp 353 James Ryder Randall > 356 My Maryland 356 John Pelham ; 359 •"""Why the Robin's Breast is Red 361 Abram Joseph Ryan 361 The Conquered Banner 362 r- The Sword of Robert Lee 363 William Gordon McCabe 365 Dreaming in the Trenches 365 Christmas Night of '62 366 John Pegram 368 Only a Memory 369 CONTENTS XV PAGE Anonymous 370 The Soldier Boy 370 " The Brigade must not know, Sir ! " 371 THIRD PERIOD, 1866-1904 Introduction 375 Richard Malcolm Johnston 381 On the Morrow of Secession 382 The " Dukesborough " Country 383 „«■_- A Town Darky in the Country 385 L. Q. C. Lamar 388 The Eulogy of Sumner . . 389 Charles Colcock Jones, Jr 396 >,^s5» The Negro and the Alligator 396 Mrs. Susan Dabney Smedes „ 400 A Hero of the Old South 401 Sidney Lanier 404 Opposition 407 Evening Song 408 The Marshes of Glynn 409 Extracts from Lanier's Correspondence ...... 413 George Washington Cable 417 Some Creole Characters 418 Joel Chandler Harris 423 ' Mr. Benjamin Ram and his Wonderful Fiddle .... 423 ■iK. Brother Billy Goat eats his Dinner 428 James Lane Allen 432 The Woods are Hushed 432 Miss Mary Noailles Murfree 438 A Group of Pioneers 439 Spring and Summer in East Tennessee 442 Henry Woodfin Grady 444 The New South 446 Miss Grace Elizabeth King 453 The Burial of Gayarre 453 De Soto and Atahualpa 455 Cabeza de Vaca . . . . . ' 456 Irwin Russell 457 < The Banjo 458 ^^a—- Nebuchadnezzar 460 xvi CONTENTS PAGE Norvern People 461 The Cemetery 4 6 3 Thomas Nelson Page 4 6 3 The South and the Historian it Needs 4^4 The Old Colonel 4°7 Walter Hines Page 469 The Tyranny of Caste 469 The New Educational Progress 47° The Value of the' Child 47 2 The School that made the Town . . ... . . • 47 2 LATTER-DAY POETS John Banister Tabb 475 ""• My Star 475 The Half-ring Moon 476 -^Childhood 476 Keats — Sappho 476 To the Babe Niva 477 —To Sidney Lanier 477 Carlyle McKinley 477 Sapelo 478 George Herbert Sass 480 The Confederate Dead 481 In a King-Cambyses Vein ........ 481 A Face • 483 Samuel Minturn Peck .... .... 484 Alabama ............ 485 Paul Hamilton Hayne ......... 485 The Grapevine Swing . 486 A Southern Girl 488 « -w _ Aunt Jemima's Quilt 489 Phyllis . 490 From " A Winter Day " . 492 William Hamilton Hayne 492 A Cyclone at Sea . . . 492 " Sleep and his Brother fieath " , . . 493 The Yule Log 403 Yates Snowden 494 A Carolina Bourbon 404 CONTENTS xvii PAGE Henry Jerome Stockard 496 At Fordham 497 To an Old Oak 497 Homer 498 Mrs. Danske Dandridge ......... 498 Silence ............ 499 Glamour-land ........... 499 The Prelude 500 The Spirit of the Fall 501 As You went down the Road 502 Robert Loveman 502 The Races Rise and Fall 502 What of the Men of Mars ? 503 Song 503 A Flake at a Time 503 I Pined in a Palace Grand . . 504 In Ancient Greece 504 The Lily Whispered . \ . 505 Benjamin Sledd 505 United 505 Dawn and the Peak 506 To Sappho ........... 506 The Children 507 Madison Julius Cawein 507 Wood-words 508 Rain and Wind 509 Rest 510 Heart's Encouragement . . 511 Love and a Day 512 Requiescat . . . .^ 512 Beauty and Art 514 Walter Malone 515 October in Tennessee 515 A Portrait of Henry Timrod 516 Napoleon and Byron 517 Lucien V. Rule 518 Absence 5'^ Constancy 5'9 Appendix . 521 The Bivouac of the Dead 521 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The editor wishes to make grateful acknowledgments to the many persons that have assisted him in the preparation of this book. First to Mr. Frederic W. Erb of the Columbia University Library, whose untiring services to all students cannot be over- praised. Three friends have read the proof-sheets and made valuable suggestions throughout, thus putting the editor under the deepest obligations : Mr. Yates Snowden of Charleston, Professor John B. Henneman of the University of the South, and Professor Edwin Mims of Trinity College, Durham, North Carolina. Professor John S. Bassett of Trinity College, Pro- fessor W. L. Weber of Emory College, Georgia, and Mr. Ludwig Lewisohn of New York have also rendered kind assistance. Mr. Stedman's help has been acknowledged in a note, but it is a pleasure to mention his friendly offices here, as well as those of Professor John Bassett Moore and Professor Alcee Fortier. Other friends have responded generously to letters of inquiry. The following publishers have graciously allowed the use of copyrighted materials, due acknowledgment for which is made at the proper places in the text : Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. (espe- cially for permission to draw on Trent and Wells's " Colonial Prose and Poetry "), G. P. Putnam's Sons, Harper and Brothers, Doubleday, Page & Co., the J. B. Lippincott Company, the B. F. Johnson Company, the Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Com- pany, D. Appleton & Co., Houghton, Mifflin &Co., the John Murphy Company, P. J. Kenedy, the Neale Company, James Pott & Co., Charles Scribner's Sons, The Macmillan Company, The Century Company, Small, Maynard & Co., the Frederick A. Stokes Company, the publishers of The Independent, the XX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS publishers of Collier's Weekly, the publishers of The Cosmo- politan, Richard G. Badger & Co., John P. Morton & Co., the Paul and Douglass Company, and Herbert S. Stone & Co. The following authors or representatives of authors have also kindly given the requisite permission to make selections from copyrighted works : Captain Robert E. Lee, Yvon Pike, Esq., Professor William Hand Browne, Mrs. George W. Ranck, Mrs. Janey Hope Marr, William Hamilton Hayne, Esq., Mrs. Elizabeth Preston Allan, Mrs. Leonore M. Ticknor, James Ryder Randall, Esq., Captain William Gordon McCabe, Miss Effie E. Johnston, Ex-Chancellor Edward Mayes, Charles Edgeworth Jones, Esq., Mrs. Susan Dabney Smedes, Mrs. Sidney Lanier, George W. Cable, Esq., Joel Chandler Harris, Esq., James Lane Allen, Esq., Thomas Nelson Page, Esq., Walter H. Page, Esq., Rev. John B. Tabb, George Herbert Sass, Esq. ("Barton Grey"), Dr. Samuel Minturn Peck, Yates Snowden, Esq., Professor Henry Jerome Stockard, Mrs. Danske Dandridge, Robert Love- man, Esq., Professor Benjamin Sledd, Madison J. Cawein, Esq., Judge Walter Malone, and Lucien V. Rule, Esq. FIRST PERIOD THE LITERATURE OF THE COLONIES AND THE REVOLUTION 1607-1789 INTRODUCTION Throughout this entire period of nearly two hundred years of American history, literature in the strictly aesthetic sense of the term is almost non-existent. Apart, for example, from the work of Philip Freneau, it would be hard to name ten poems written in early America that give genuine pleasure to the modern reader. Not a single good novel or drama was published in the country before Washington became President. There was no real man of letters, the two most important authors of the period, Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin, being famous, the one as theo- logian and metaphysician, the other as scientist, statesman, philan- thropist, and man of affairs. Of the few prose works which one can still read with true pleasure, Franklin's " Autobiography," John Woolman's "Journal," Colonel William Byrd's "History of the Dividing Line," and Crevecceur's "Letters from an American Farmer," not one belongs, strictly speaking, to imaginative lit- erature. There were good annalists, but no great historians; there were learned and earnest divines, but none gifted with marked literary ability; there were fervid orators like James Otis, Patrick Henry, and Christopher Gadsden, and able publicists like Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Dickinson ; but not one of them has obtained a place in literature comparable with that held by the orator-publicist, Edmund Burke. It could hardly have been other- wise in a group of struggling colonies. But there was a good deal of writing, especially in New England, and the books, sermons, speeches, pamphlets, and correspondence of the period are of great value to the historian, as well as to the reader interested to know what manner of men his ancestors were. The Southern reader has a scantier stock of material from which to secure such knowledge than the New Englander possesses, for the art of writ- 3 4 INTRODUCTION ing has never been extensively practised by a people chiefly en- gaged in agriculture. But even in the Colonial South interesting books were written by interesting men; and in the Revolution South- erners came to the front as soldiers, orators, and statesmen in a way which proves that Anglo-Saxon love of liberty and genius for af- fairs were strengthened rather than weakened by their transfer to the New World. Only a few of these early Southern writers can be represented in such a volume as the present, but in those few some very great names are found — among them that of the greatest of all Ameri- cans, the truly styled Father of his Country, whose character as shown in his writings was never more needed as an example than at this moment. Next to Washington stands Jefferson, the great- est of American political idealists, and next to Jefferson stands Madison, the most learned, patiently thoughtful, and conservative of our statesmen. These three, with Patrick Henry, would alone suffice to show how great was the part played in the Revolution, not merely by the South but by one state, Virginia. There were other Virginian patriots, however, like Richard Henry Lee and George Mason, and there were Carolinians and Georgians who did noble service in achieving American independence. There was no more incorruptible and sturdy patriot than Henry Laurens. There was no more authoritative voice lifted in favor of national independence than that of another South Carolinian, Chief Justice William Henry Drayton (1742-17 79), learned jurist and bold pamphleteer. 1 The student of early Southern literature is not obliged, however, to confine his attention to statesmen and publicists. He finds not a few descriptive and historical tracts that are interesting as well as instructive, and in William Stith (1689-1755), the Reverend President of William and Mary College, he discovers a scholarly historian worthy to rank with the New Englander, Thomas Prince. In Colonel William Byrd he is justified in seeing the most sprightly, 1 See Tyler's "Literary History of the American Revolution," 1, 491-493. Dray- ton left two manuscript volumes describing the Revolution in the South which were used by his son, John Drayton, in preparing his " Memoirs of the American Revolu- tion" (1821). INTRODUCTION 5 cultured, and interesting writer born in the colonies before Frank- lin. In reading Robert Beverley he perceives that country gentle- men could manage affairs and a ready pen as well as they could a large plantation. In the letters of Mrs. Eliza Wilkinson he recog- nizes the charm and the vivacity that have ever been regarded as the dower of Southern women. If he goes farther afield than this volume, he will derive profit and some pleasure from reading the narrative and descriptive tracts of George Percy, William Strachey, Alexander Whitaker, John Hammond, George Alsop, and Colonel Henry Norwood. The Rev. Hugh Jones, John Lawson, and Patrick Tailfer need not be entirely unfamiliar names to him if he is a sufficiently patriotic Virginian, North Carolinian, or Georgian to make him look up their writings. He may find less to attract him in such theologians as James Blair, Samuel Davies, and Alex- ander Garden (1685-1756), but he cannot fail to find them inter- esting men. At the very least he ought to read about these early Southerners in connection with the other colonists who laid the foundations of American literature. To do this should not prove to be an unpleasant task, for the four volumes of the late Pro- fessor Moses Coit Tyler deal in a very attractive way 1 with the entire range of American literature from the planting of the colo- nies to the Treaty of Paris. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH [The famous Captain Smith cannot with any fairness be claimed as an American writer, and, if he could, it would be difficult to prove that he is the peculiar property of the South. Nevertheless, as he wrote the first book composed by an Englishman upon the soil of what is now the United States, and as this " True Relation " dealt with " Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia," it would seem proper to make his the 1 The first two volumes of Tyler's " History of American Literature " appeared in 1878 and carried the narrative to 1765. Thi two volumes devoted to the Revolu- tion appeared in 1897. For briefer accounts of the beginnings of American litera- ture see the histories by Richardson, Wendell, and Trent. For a large variety of specimens of early writings see Stedman and Hutchinson's " Library of- American Literature," Vols. I— III ; also Duyckinck's " Cyclopaedia of American Literature," and Trent and Wells's " Colonial Prose and Poetry " (3 vols.) . 6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH first name in a volume of selections from Southern writers. And if Smith be admitted, there can be little question that he should be brought before us along with the Indian Princess who is said to have saved his life. But some have held that this romantic event never took place and have based their belief chiefly upon the discrepancies revealed through a comparison of the passages here given from the "True Relation" and the "General History," in only the latter of which is Pocahontas mentioned. This is no place to defend the gallant Captain, who was certainly gifted in drawing the long- bow ; yet it should be said in his behalf that well-qualified historians have not hesitated to accept what other historians have regarded as the Pocahontas legend. Nor is there room to recount even briefly his other strange adven- tures, or to give more than the barest outlines of his life. He was born at Willoughby in Lincolnshire, in January, 1579, and died at London on the 21st of June, 1632. The son of a tenant farmer, apprenticed to trade, he ran away to serve in the Netherlands and afterwards fought in Hun- gary and Transylvania, against the Turks. He was captured, and enslaved, escaped to Russia, returned to England in 1605, and the next year accom- panied Newport's expedition to Virginia. The opposition shown him by the authorities was overcome through his skill in reconnoitring and his success in obtaining supplies. While exploring the James River in 1607, he was cap- tured by Indians, brought before their chief, Powhatan, saved as he claimed from death by the intervention of Pocahontas, and sent back to Jamestown after six weeks' captivity. Later he explored the Chesapeake, was for a time Colonial President, returned to England in 1609, and five years later explored the coast of New England. A third expedition in 1 61 6 resulted in his capture by the French. He escaped, but was unable to secure means to continue his explorations. Typical of his many writings is the first, "A True Relation " (1608); clumsy, formless, inartistic, yet interesting because full of life. He wrote also "A Description of New England" (1616), "New Eng- land's Trials" (1620), "The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles" (1624), and a few less significant books. The best edition of Smith's works is that of Edward Arber (1884). There is a biography by the late Charles Dudley Warner (1881), and a number of scholars have discussed the Captain's accuracy. Charles Deane and John Fiske of Massachusetts (see "Old Virginia and her Neighbors") were respec- tively against and for him. Virginian scholars also divided. His chief Virginian critic is Mr. Alexander Brown, whose " Genesis of the United States" (1890) and other books furnish clear evidence of the zeal with which Southern scholars are devoting themselves to history. See Deane's edition of the "True Relation" (1866) and, in Smith's behalf, the late William Wirt - Henry's paper in the Proceedings of the Virginia Historical Society for 1882.] POWHATAN'S TREATMENT OF SMITH POWHATAN'S TREATMENT OF SMITH 1 [From "A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as hath happened in Virginia," etc. London, 1608.] Arriving at Weramocomoco their Emperor proudly lying upon a bedstead a foot high, upon ten or twelve mats richly hung with many chains of great pearls about his neck, and covered with a great covering of Rahaughcums. 2 At [his] head sat a woman, at his feet another ; on each side sitting upon a mat upon the ground, were ranged his chief men on each side the fire, ten in a rank and behind them as many young women, each a great chain of white beads over their shoulders, their heads painted in red ; and with such a grave and majestical countenance, as drave me into admi- ration to see such state in a naked savage. He kindly welcomed me with good words, and great platters of sundry victuals, assuring me his friendship, and my liberty within four days. He much delighted in Opechan Comough's relation of what I had described to him, and oft examined me upon the same. He asked me the cause of our coming. I told him being in fight with the Spaniards, our enemy, being overpowered, near put to retreat, and by extreme weather put to this shore, where landing at Chesipiack, the people shot us, but at Kequoughtan they kindly used us ; we by signs demanded fresh water, they described us up the river was all fresh water : at Pas- pahegh also they kindly used us : our pinnace being leaky, we were enforced to stay to mend her, till Captain Newport, my father, came to conduct us away. He demanded why we went further with our boat. I told him, in that I would have occasion to talk of the back sea, that on the other side the main, where was salt water, my father had a child slain which we supposed Monocan, his enemy [had done] ; whose death we intended to revenge. After good deliberation, he began to describe me the countries 1 The spelling and punctuation of- all the extracts from the earlier writers has been in the main modernized except for some proper names. 2 Explained in the second extract. 8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH beyond the falls, with many of the rest ; confirming what not only Opechancanoyes, and an Indian which had been prisoner to Pew- hatan had before told me : but some called it five days, some six, some eight, where the said water dashed amongst many stones and rocks, each storm ; which caused oft times the head of the river to be brackish. Anchanachuck he described to be the people that had slain my brother : whose death he would revenge. He described also upon the same sea, a mighty nation called Pocoughtronack, a fierce nation that did eat men, and warred with the people of Moya- oncer and Pataromerke, nations upon the top of the head of the Bay, under his territories : where the year before they had slain an hundred. He signified their crowns were shaven, long hair in the neck, tied on a knot, swords like pollaxes. Beyond them, he described people with short coats, and sleeves to the elbows, that passed that way in ships like ours. Many king- doms he described me, to the head of the bay, which seemed to be a mighty river issuing from mighty mountains betwixt the two seas. The people clothed at Ocamahowan, he also confirmed. And the southerly countries also, as the rest that reported us to be within a day and a half of Mangoge, two days of Chawwonock, six from Roonock, to the south part of the back sea. He de- scribed a country called Anone, where they have abundance of brass, and houses walled as ours. I requited his discourse (seeing what pride he had in his great and spacious dominions, seeing that all he knew were under his territories) in describing to him the territories of Europe, which was subject to our great king whose subject I was, the innumerable multitude of his ships, [and] I gave him to understand the noise of trumpets, and terrible manner of fighting [which] were under Captain Newport my father : whom I intituled the Meworames, which they call the king of all the waters. At his greatness he admired : and not a little feared. He desired me to forsake Pas- pahegh, and to live with him upon his river, a country called Capa Howasicke. He promised to give me corn, venison, or what I wanted to feed us : hatchets and copper we should make him, and none should disturb us. THE POCAHONTAS INCIDENT THE POCAHONTAS INCIDENT — THE LATER VERSION OF POWHATAN'S TREATMENT OF SMITH [From the "General History of Virginia," etc. (1624), Lib. III.] Opitchapam the King's brother invited him to his house, where, with as many platters of bread, fowl, and wild beasts, as did envi- ron him, he bid him welcome ; but not any of them would eat a bit with him, but put up all the remainder in baskets. At his return to Opechancanough's all the King's women and their children, flocked about him for their parts, as a due by cus- tom, to be merry with such fragments. But his waking mind iii hideous dreams did oft see wondrous shapes Of bodies strange and huge in growth, and of stupendous makes. At last they brought him to Werowocomoco, where was Powhatan their Emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim cour- tiers stood wondering at him, as he had been a monster ; till Pow- hatan and his train had put themselves in their greatest braveries. Before a fire upon a seat like a bedstead, he sat covered with a great robe, made of raccoon skins and all the tails hanging by. On either hand did sit a young wench of 16 or 18 years, and along on each side the house, two rows of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red ; many of their heads bedecked with the white down of birds ; but every one with something : and a great chain of white beads about their necks. At his entrance before the King, all the people gave a great shout. The Queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel to dry them. Having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan : then as many as could laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beat out his brains, Pocahontas the King's dearest daugh- ter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and 10 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH laid her own upon his to save his from death : whereat the Em- peror was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper ; for they thought him as well of all occu- pations as themselves. For the King himself will make his own robes, shoes, bows, arrows, pots ; plant, hunt, or do any thing so well as the rest. They say he bore a pleasant show, Buf sure his heart was sad. For who can pleasant be, and rest, That lives in fear and dread : And having life suspected, doth It still suspected lead. Two days after, Powhatan having disguised himself in the most fearfulest manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth to a great house in the woods, and there upon a mat by the fire to be left alone. Not long after from behind a mat that di- vided the house, was made the most dolefulest noise he ever heard : then Powhatan more like a devil than a man, with some two hun- dred more as black as himself, came unto him and told him now they were friends, and presently he should go to Jamestown, to send him two great guns, and a grindstone, for which he would give him the Country of Capahowosick, and for ever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud. So to Jamestown with 12 guides Powhatan sent him. That night they quartered in the woods, he still expecting (as he had done all this long time of his imprisonment) every hour to be put to one death or other for all their feasting. But almighty God by his divine providence, had mollified the hearts of those stern barbarians with compassion. The next morning betimes they came to the fort, where Smith having used the savages with what kind- ness he could, he showed Rawhunt, Powhatan's trusty servant, two demi-culverins and a millstone to carry Powhatan : they found them somewhat too heavy ; but when they did see him discharge them, being loaded with stones, among the boughs of a great tree loaded with icicles, the ice and branches came so tumbling down, that the poor savages ran away half dead with fear. But at last we regained some confidence with them, and gave them such toys, NARRATIVES DEALING WITH BACON'S REBELLION 1 1 and sent to Powhatan his women, and children such presents, as gave them in general full content. NARRATIVES DEALING WITH BACON'S REBELLION [No event in the Southern colonies before the Revolution caused greater literary activity, or was more characteristic of the independent temper bred in Englishmen by their new surroundings than the popular uprising in 1676 known as " Bacon's Rebellion." During the English Protectorate, Governor Berkeley, who had taken the Royal side, had been forced to resign his authority. He was reinstated at the Restoration, in 1660, and surpassed his royal master in taxation and in persecution, especially of the Baptists and the Quakers. He abolished also the biennial election of Burgesses. This led to popular discon- tent, which was intensified by the conduct of King Charles II, who treated Virginia as his personal property, making large grants to court favorites, and countenancing laws that produced great uncertainty and distress among the planters. The assembly, assuming to be a perpetual body, sought to make itself independent by a permanent impost on exported tobacco. All this, added to the corruption, tyranny, and inefficiency of Governor Berkeley, who seemed unwilling to give the colonists adequate protection from raids by the Indians whose trade he sought, produced a growing discontent that needed only the pres- ence of a sturdy leader to burst into overt rebellion. Such a leader was found in Nathaniel Bacon, a young man of wealth and the best English training, who, in defiance of the Governor, took the field against the Indians and was enthu- siastically supported by the mass of the people and the smaller planters. This was in April, 1676. In May, Berkeley proclaimed Bacon a traitor. In June, however, the assembly enacted the so-called " Bacon Laws," a series of reform measures, and that leader was appointed commander-in-chief against the Indians. In July the reform party seem to have achieved a legislative triumph, and in August a popular convention which met at Williamsburg voted to sustain Bacon against the Indians and to prevent, if possible, a civil war; but the sudden sick- ness and death of Bacon in October deprived the popular party of its only effi- cient leader, and Berkeley reestablished his tyranny by such general, hurried, and indecent executions that the king, who speedily recalled him to England, is said to have exclaimed, " The old fool has taken more lives in his naked country than I for my father's murder." The character of Berkeley's administration may be gathered from his often quoted reply to the Commissioners of Plantations (1670) : "But, I thank God, there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels 12 NARRATIVES' DEALING WITH BACON'S REBELLION against the best government. God keep us from both." The rebellion which this intolerance caused had a romantic character that appealed to contemporary chroniclers as it has to later romancers. There is an anonymous " History of Bacon's and Ingram's Rebellion," known as " The Burwell Papers," printed by the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1814 and again more correctly in 1866. Though incomplete it is a thoroughly readable narrative, a little pedantic and affected and pronounced in its sympathy with the aristocratic party. The writer has been conjecturally identified with a planter, Cotton of Acquia Creek, possibly the author of a concise account entitled " Strange News from Virginia " (1677). Another short account written in 1705 by a certain T. M., probably Thomas Matthews, a Burgess of Stafford County and a man of genial credulity, furnishes interesting material. But neither of these writers ap- proaches, in literary power, that unknown Bacon's " man '' who wrote upon his master the really noble epitaph that follows. This poem, the historian of colonial literature, the late Professor Moses Coit Tyler, pronounced to be a " noble dirge," and it would surely be difficult to produce better verses written in America before the days of Freneau. 1 ] BACON'S DEATH [From "The Burwell Papers." Text of 1866.] Bacon having for some time been besieged by sickness, and now not able to hold out any longer, all his strength and provisions being spent, surrendered up that fort he was no longer able to keep, into the hands of that grim and all-conquering captain, Death, after that he had implored the assistance of the above- mentioned minister, for the well making his articles of rendition. The only religious duty (as they say) he was observed to perform during these intrigues of affairs, in which he was so considerable an actor, and so much concerned, that rather than he would de- cline the cause, he became so deeply engaged in the first rise thereof, though much urged by arguments of dehortations by his nearest relations and best friends, that he subjected himself to all those inconveniences that, singly, might bring a man of a more robust frame to his last home. After he was dead he was be- moaned in these following lines, drawn by the man that waited upon his person (as it is said), and who attended his corpse to their burial place ; but where deposited till the general day, not 1 All the above documents can be found in Vol. I of Force's " Tracts." BACON'S EPITAPH, MADE BY HIS MAN 13 known, only to those who are resolutely silent in that particular. There was many copies of verses made after his departure,- calcu- lated to the latitude of their affections who composed them ; as a relish taken from both appetites I have here sent you a couple : * BACON'S EPITAPH, MADE BY HIS MAN Death, why so cruel ? What ! no other way To manifest thy spleen, but thus to slay Our hopes of safety, liberty, our all, Which, through thy tyranny, with him must fall To its late chaos ? Had thy rigid force Been dealt by retail, and not thus in gross, Grief had been silent. Now we must complain, Since thou, in him, hast more than thousand slain, Whose lives and safeties did so much depend On him their life, with him their lives must end. If 't be a sin to think Death brib'd can be We must be guilty ; say 'twas bribery Guided the fatal shaft. Virginia's foes, To whom for secret crimes just vengeance owes Deserved plagues, dreading their just desert, Corrupted Death by Paracelsian 2 art Him to destroy ; whose well tried courage such, Their heartless hearts, nor arms, nor strength could touch. Who now must heal those wounds, or stop that blood The heathen made, and drew into a flood ? Who is 't must plead our cause ? nor trump, nor drum Nor deputations ; these, alas ! are dumb And cannot speak. Our Arms (though ne'er so strong) Will want the aid of his commanding tongue, Which conquer'd more than Caesar. He o'erthrew Only the outward frame : this could subdue 1 The satiric reply to the " Epitaph " is not reprinted here. 2 1.e. the art of the physician or of the quack — derived from Paracelsus (1493-1541), the Swiss alchemist and physician. See Browning's poem that bears his name. 14 ROBERT BEVERLEY The rugged works of nature. Souls replete With dull chill'd cold, he'd animate with heat Drawn forth of reason's limbec. In a word, Mars and Minerva both in him concurred For arts, for arms, whose pen and sword alike As Cato's did, may admiration strike Into his foes ; while they confess withal It was their guilt styl'd him a criminal. Only this difference doth from truth proceed : They in the guilt, he in the name must bleed, While none shall dare his obsequies to sing In deserv'd measures ; until time shall bring Truth crown'd with freedom, and from danger free To sound his praises to posterity. Here let him rest; while we this truth report He's gone from hence unto a higher Court To plead his cause, where he by this doth know Whether to Caesar he was friend, or foe. ROBERT BEVERLEY [About Robert Beverley, the most interesting and one of the most impor- tant of the early historians of Virginia, not much that is definite is known. Some accounts have it that he was born in that colony about 1675 and died there in 1716. Others place his birth about 1670 and his death about 1735. He was educated in England and in 1697 he succeeded his father, Major Robert Beverley, as Clerk of the Council of Virginia, under Governor Andros. This office gave him access to documentary records, and in 1705, for reasons given in the first selection, he published in London a " History and Present State of Virginia," in four books. This was not merely an account of contemporary conditions, social and economic, though it furnishes us with intimate details of the daily life in Virginia during the first century of its settlement ; it gave also an account of the settlement of the colony and of its history. The work attracted so much attention that two years after its first appearance a French translation of it with fourteen woodcuts appeared in Amsterdam, and these illustrations were used in a second English edition in 1722. The book was not again printed until 1855, but whether much read or not, Beverley deserves the distinction of being remembered as a farsighted, patriotic citizen, and a sensible, sprightly writer.] HOW HE CAME TO WRITE 15 HOW HE CAME TO WRITE [From the Preface to the "History and Present State of Vir- ginia." Edition of 1722.] My first business in the world being among the public records of my country, the active thoughts of my youth put me upon tak- ing notes of the general administration of the government ; but with no other design than the gratification of my own inquisitive mind ; these lay by me for many years afterwards, obscure and secret, and would forever have done so, had not the following accident produced them. In the year 1 703, my affairs calling me to England, I was soon after my arrival, complimented by my bookseller with an intima- tion, that there was prepared for printing a general account of all her Majesty's Plantations in America, and his desire that I would overlook it before it was put to the press ; I agreed to overlook that part of it which related to Virginia. Soon after this he brings me about six sheets of paper written, which contained the account of Virginia and Carolina. This it seems was to have answered a part of Mr. Oldmixon's British Empire in America. J I very innocently (when I began to read) placed pen and paper by me, and made my observations upon the first page, but found it in the sequel so very faulty, and an abridge- ment only of some accounts that had been printed 60 or 70 years ago ; in which also he had chosen the most strange and untrue parts, and left out the most sincere and faithful, so that I laid aside all thoughts of farther observations, and gave it only a reading ; and my bookseller for answer, that the account was too faulty and too imperfect to be mended. Withal telling him, that seeing I had in my junior days taken some notes of the government, which I then had with me in England, I would make him an account of my own country, if I could find time, while I staid in London. And this I should the rather undertake in justice to so fine a 1 John Oldmixon (1674-1742), a miscellaneous and notoriously partisan writer. The book referred to appeared in 1708. 16 ROBERT BEVERLEY country ; because it has been so misrepresented to the common people of England, as to make them believe that the servants in Virginia are made to draw in cart and plow, as horses and oxen do in England, and that the country turns all people black, who go to live there, with other such prodigious phantasms. Accordingly before I left London, I gave him a. short history of the country, from the first settlement, with an account of its then state ; but I would not let him mingle it with Oldmixon's other account of the plantations, because I took them to be all of a piece with those I had seen of Virginia and Carolina, but desired mine to be printed by itself. And this I take to be the only reason of that gentleman's so severely reflecting upon me in his book, for I never saw him in my life that I know of. THE PASTIMES OF COLONIAL VIRGINIA [From the Same, Book IV, Part II.] For their recreation, the plantations, orchards, and gardens constantly afford them fragrant and delightful walks. In their woods and fields, they have an unknown variety of vegetables, and other rarities of nature to discover and observe. They have hunt- ing, fishing, and fowling, with which they entertain themselves an hundred ways. There is the most good-nature and hospitality practised in the world, both toward friends and strangers; but the worst of it is, this generosity is attended now and then with a little too much intemperance. The neighborhood is at much the same distance as in the country in England ; but the goodness of the roads and the fairness of the weather bring people often together. The Indians, as I have already observed, had in their hunting a way of concealing themselves, and coming up to the deer, under the blind of a stalking-head, in imitation of which many people have taught their horses to stalk it, that is, to walk gently by the huntsman's side, to cover him from the sight of the deer. Others cut down trees for the deer to browse upon, and lie in wait behind THE PASTIMES OF COLONIAL VIRGINIA I J them. Others again set stakes at a certain distance within their fences, where the deer had been used to leap over into a field of peas, which they love extremely ; these stakes they so place, as to run into the body of the deer, when he pitches, by which means they impale him ; and, for a temptation to the leap, take down the top part of the fence. They hunt their hares (which are very numerous) a-foot, with mongrels or swift dogs, which either catch them quickly, or force them to hole in a hollow tree, whither all their hares generally tend, when they are closely pursued. As soon as they are thus holed, and have crawled up into the body of the tree, the business is to kindle a fire and smother them with smoke till they let go their hold and fall to the bottom stifled ; from whence they take them. If they have a mind to spare their lives, upon turning them loose they will be as fit as ever to hunt at another time : for the mischief done them by the smoke immediately wears off again. They have another sort of hunting, which is very diverting, and that they call vermin-hunting ; it is performed a-foot, with small dogs in the night, by the light of the moon or stars. Thus in summer time they find abundance of raccoons, opossums, and foxes in the corn-fields, and about their plantations ; but at other times they must go into the woods for them. The method is to go out with three or four dogs, and, as soon as they come to the place, they bid the dogs seek out, and all the company follow immediately. Wherever a dog barks, you may depend upon finding the game ; and this alarm draws both men and dogs that way. If this sport be in the woods, the game by that time you come near it is perhaps mounted to the top of an high tree, and then they detach a nimble fellow up after it, who must have a scuffle with the beast, before he can throw it down to the dogs ; and then the sport increases, to see the vermin encounter those little curs. In this sort of hunting they also carry their great dogs out with them, because wolves, bears, panthers, wild-cats, and all other beasts of prey are abroad in the night. For wolves they make traps, and set guns baited in the woods, so that, when he offers to seize the bait, he pulls the trigger, and 1 8 COLONEL WILLIAM BYRD the gun discharges upon him. What ^Elian 1 and Pliny 2 write of the horses being benumbed in their legs, if they tread in the track of a wolf, does not hold good here ; for I myself, and many others, have rid full speed after wolves in the woods, and have seen live ones taken out of a trap, and dragged at a horse's tail ; and yet those that followed on horse-back have not perceived any of their horses to falter in their pace. . . . The inhabitants are very courteous to travellers, who need no other recommendation, but the being human creatures. A stranger has no more to do, but to inquire upon the road where any gentleman or good housekeeper lives, and there he may depend upon being received with hospitality. This good nature is so general among their people, that the gentry, when they go abroad, order their principal servant to entertain all visitors with everything the plantation affords. And the poor planters, who have but one bed, will very often sit up, or lie upon a form or couch all night, to make room for a weary traveller to repose himself after his journey. If there happen to be a churl, that either out of covetousness, or ill-nature, won't comply with this generous custom, he has a mark of infamy set upon him, and is abhorred by all. COLONEL WILLIAM BYRD [William Byrd, one of the most prominent members of the Virginia aristoc- racy, was born in that colony March 28, 1674, and died there August 26, 1744. The son of a noted colonial official of the same name, he was educated in England, travelled in Europe, and later spent some years in Great Britain as agent of his colony. He was a member of the King's Council in Virginia for more than a generation, and finally its president. He added to his inherited wealth, lived in lordly state, and gathered the most valuable library in the col- onies. 8 He did much to encourage immigration and was in other ways a public- spirited citizen. "The Westover Manuscripts" first printed at Petersburg, 1 A Roman of the third century A.D., who wrote, in Greek, on the nature of animals. 2 The elder Pliny (23-79 A.D.) was a naturalist. s It numbered nearly four thousand volumes, the titles of which may be read in an appendix to Bassett's edition of Byrd's writings. NORTH CAROLINA HUSBANDRY 19 Virginia, in 1841, contain an account of his experiences as commissioner of his colony in determining the border line between Virginia and North Caro- lina in 1728, also of a journey undertaken with a friend to survey a grant of land on which he expected to exploit iron mines, and of another frontier journey to mines already in operation. All these tracts, the titles of which are given in connection with the citations made from them, are remarkable for their vigorous style, their shrewd humor, and their valuable observations of an economic nature. Byrd was one of the most cultivated Americans of the. eighteenth century, and he would have been an ornament to any society. He was at his best perhaps as a student of economics and affairs, but he had also in him the makings of a great writer. As an easy and charming author, he is unsurpassed by any other early American, save Benjamin Franklin. Although far from the centres of culture, he was a patron of art and science and a Fel- low of the Royal Society of Great Britain. A new edition of his writings, superintended by Professor J. S. Bassett, and provided with the best account of his life, was published in 1901, and many of his letters appeared shortly after in the " Virginia Magazine of History and Biography."] NORTH CAROLINA HUSBANDRY [From "The History of the Dividing Line." 1 ] [March] 10th [1728]. The Sabbath happened very oppor- tunely to give some ease to our jaded people, who rested religiously from every work, but that of cooking the kettle. We observed very few cornfields in our walks, and those very small, which seemed the stranger to us, because we could see no other tokens of husbandry or improvement. But, upon further inquiry, we were given to understand people only made corn for themselves and not for their stocks, which know very well how to get their own living. Both cattle and hogs ramble in the neighboring marshes and swamps, where they maintain themselves the whole winter long, and are not fetched home till the spring. Thus these indo- lent wretches, during one half of the year, lose the advantage of the milk of their cattle as well as their dung, and many of the poor creatures perish in the mire, into the bargain, by this ill-manage- ment. Some who pique themselves more upon industry than their neighbors, will, now and then, in" compliment to their cattle, cut 1 The text follows in the main the edition of 1841 ; the variations of the new edition are not important to our purposes. 20 COLONEL WILLIAM BYRD down a tree whose limbs are loaded with the moss afore-mentioned. The trouble would be too great to climb the tree in order to gather this provender, but the' shortest way (which in this country is al- ways counted the best) is to fell it, just like the lazy Indians, who do the same by such trees as bear fruit, and so make one harvest for all. RUNNING THE BOUNDARY LINE THROUGH THE DISMAL SWAMP [From the Same.] [March] 14th [1728]. Before nine of the clock this morning, the provisions, bedding and other necessaries, were made up into packs for the men to carry on their shoulders into the Dismal. They were victualled for eight days at full allowance, nobody doubting but that would be abundantly sufficient to carry them through that inhospitable place; nor indeed was it possible for the poor fellows to stagger under more. As it was, their loads weighed from 60 to 70 pounds, in just proportion to the strength of those who were to bear them. It would have been unconscion- able to have saddled them with burdens heavier than that, when they were to lug them through a filthy bog which was hardly prac- ticable with no burdens at all. Besides this luggage at their backs, they were obliged to measure the distance, mark the trees, and clear the way for the surveyors every step they went. It was really a pleasure to see with how much cheerfulness they undertook, and with how much spirit they went through all this drudgery. . . . Although there was no need of example to inflame persons already so cheerful, yet to enter the people with better grace, the author and two more of the commissioners accompanied them half a mile into the Dismal. The skirts of it were thinly planted with dwarf reeds and gall bushes, but when we got into the Dismal itself, we found the reeds grew there much taller and closer, and to mend the matter were so interlaced with bamboo-briers, that there was no scuffling through them without the help of pioneers. At the same time, we found the ground moist and trembling under our feet like a quagmire, insomuch that it was an easy matter to BOUNDARY LINE THROUGH DISMAL SWAMP 21 run a ten foot pole up to the head in it, without, exerting any un- common strength to do it. Two of the men, whose burdens were the least cumbersome, had orders to march before, with their tomahawks, and clear the way, in order to make an opening for the surveyors. By their assistance we made a shift to push the line half a mile in three hours, and then reached a small piece of firm land, about ioo yards wide, standing up above the rest like an island. . . . 17th. . . . Since the surveyors had entered the Dismal they had laid eyes on no living creature ; neither bird nor beast, insect nor reptile came in view. Doubtless the eternal shade that broods over this mighty bog, and hinders the sunbeams from blessing the ground, makes it an uncomfortable habitation for anything that has life. Not so much as a Zealand frog could endure so aguish a situation. It had one beauty, however, that delighted the eye, though at the expense of all the other senses : the moisture of the soil preserves a continual verdure, and makes every plant an ever- green, but at the same time the foul damps ascend without ceas- ing, corrupt the air, and render it unfit for respiration. Not even a turkey buzzard will venture to fly over it, no more than the Italian vultures will over the filthy lake Avernus 1 or the birds in the Holy Land over the salt sea where Sodom and Gomorrah formerly stood. In these sad circumstances the kindest thing we could do for our suffering friends was to give them a place in the Litany. Our chaplain for his part did his office, and rubbed us up with a sea- sonable sermon. This was quite a new thing to our brethren of North Carolina, who live in a climate where no clergyman can breathe, any more than spiders in Ireland. . . . 19th. . . . We ordered several men to patrol on the edge of the Dismal, both towards the North and towards the South, and to fire guns at proper distances. This they performed very punctually, but could hear nothing in return, nor gain any sort of intelligence. In the meantime whole flocks of women and children flew hither to stare at us, with as much curiosity as if we had lately landed from Bantam 2 or Morocco. Some borderers, too, had a great mind to 1 A lake of Campania near Baise, fabled to be the entrance to hell. 2 A seaport and district at the west end of Java. 22 COLONEL WILLIAM BYRD know where the line would come out, being for the most part apprehensive lest their lands should be taken into Virginia. In that case they must have submitted to some sort of order and government; whereas, in North Carolina, every one does what seems best in his own eyes. There were some good women that brought their children to be baptized, but brought no capons along with them to make the solemnity cheerful. In the meantime it was strange that none came to be married in such a multitude, if it had only been for the novelty of having their hands joined by one in holy orders. Yet so it was, that though our chaplain christened above an hundred, he did not marry so much as one couple during the whole expedition. But marriage is reckoned a lay contract in Carolina, as I said before, and a country justice can tie the fatal knot there, as fast as an archbishop. PRIMITIVE DENTISTRY [From "A Journey to the Land of Eden."] [Oct.] 9th [1733]. Major Mayo's survey being no more than half done, we were obliged to amuse ourselves another day in this place. And that the time might not be quite lost, 'we put our garments and baggage into good repair. I for my part never spent a day so well during the whole voyage. I had an imper- tinent tooth in my upper jaw, that had been loose for some time, and made me chew with great caution. Particularly I could not grind a biscuit but with much deliberation and presence of mind. Tooth-drawers we had none amongst us, nor any of the instru- ments they make use of. However, invention supplied this want very happily, and I contrived to get rid of this troublesome com- panion by cutting a caper. I caused a twine to be fastened round the root of my tooth, about a fathom in length, and then tied the other end to the snag of a log that lay upon the ground, in such a manner that I could just stand upright. Having adjusted my string in this manner, I bent my knees enough to enable me to spring vigorously off the ground, as perpendicularly as I could. The force of the leap drew out the tooth with so much ease that THE SPOTSWOOD HOME 23 I felt nothing of it, nor should have believed it was come away, unless I had seen it dangling at the end of the string. An under tooth may be fetched out by standing off the ground and fastening your string at due distance above you. And having so fixed your gear, jump off your standing, and the weight of your body, added to the force of the spring, will prize out your tooth with less pain than any operator upon earth could draw it. This new way of tooth-drawing, being so silently and deliber- ately performed, both surprised and delighted all that were present, who could not guess what I was going about. I immediately found the benefit of getting rid of this troublesome companion, by eating my supper with more comfort than I had done during the whole expedition. THE SPOTSWOOD HOME [From "A Progress to the Mines in the Year 1732."] [Sept.] 27th [1732]. ... I rode eight miles together over a stony road and had on either side continual poisoned fields, with nothing but saplings growing on them. Then I came into the main county road that leads from Fredericksburg to Germanna, which last place I reached in ten miles more. This famous town consists of Colonel Spotswood's 1 enchanted castle on one side of the street, and a baker's dozen of ruinous tenements on the other, where so many German families had dwelt some years ago ; but are now removed ten miles higher, in the Fork of Rappahannock, to land of their own. There had also been a chapel about a bow- shot from the colonel's house, at the end of an avenue of cherry trees, but some pious people had lately burnt it down, with intent to get another built nearer to their own homes. Here I arrived about three o'clock, and found only Mrs. Spotswood at home, who received her old acquaintance with many a gracious smile. I was carried into a room elegantly set off with pier glasses, the 1 Alexander Spotswood (1676-1740) , a veteran of Blenheim, who from 1710 to 1722 was an energetic if often unpopular governor of Virginia. In 1716 he or- ganized the expedition which crossed the Blue Ridge into the Valley of Virginia and gave rise to the so-called order of the " Knights of the Golden Horseshoe." 24 HENRY LAURENS largest of which came soon after to an odd misfortune. Amongst other favorite animals that cheered this lady's solitude, a brace of tame deer ran familiarly about the house, and one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But unluckily spying his own figure in the glass, he made a spring over the tea-table that stood under it, and shattered the glass to pieces, and falling back upon the tea-table made a terrible fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden, and accompanied with such a noise, that it surprised me, and perfectly frightened Mrs. Spotswood. But 'twas worth all the damage to show the moderation and good humor with which she bore this disaster. In the evening the noble colonel came home from his mines, who saluted me very civilly, and Mrs. Spotswood's sister, Miss Theky, who had been to meet him en cavalier} was so kind too as to bid me welcome. We talked over a legend of old stories, supped about 9, and then prattled with the ladies, till it was time for a traveller to retire. In the mean time I observed my old friend to be very uxorious, and exceedingly fond of his children. This was so opposite to the maxims he used to preach up before he was married, that I could not forbear rubbing up the memory of them. But he gave a very good-natured turn to his change of sentiments, by alleging that whoever brings a poor gentlewoman into so solitary a place, from all her friends and acquaintance, would be ungrateful not to use her and all that belongs to her with all possible tenderness. HENRY LAURENS [Henry Laurens, a patriotic South Carolinian of Huguenot stock, was born in Charleston in 1 724, and died there December 8, 1 792. His training in busi- ness was partly obtained in London, but this did not make him any less stead- fast in opposing British aggressions later in life when he had made a fortune as a Charleston merchant. In 1771 he retired and travelled in England and Europe. Returning in 1774, he was given offices in his native state, and was sent to the Continental Congress, of which he became president, in succession to John Hancock. He was made minister to Holland in 1779, but on his voyage over was captured by the British. He threw his papers overboard, but 1 I.e. had ridden on horseback to meet him. A BOLD TOAST 2$ they were recovered and used as evidence against him. He was imprisoned in the Tower as a suspected traitor and was kept there for over a year, to the detriment of his health. He refused to try to impede the negotiations of his son John, who was seeking to raise a loan for America in Paris, and in other ways he proved to the British ministers that he was incorruptible and worthy of the consideration shown him by Edmund Burke. Finally he was exchanged for Lord Cornwallis, was one of the commissioners who negotiated the prelimi- naries of peace with Great Britain, and returned to his Carolina plantation. After his death his body was cremated, according to a request in his will — apparently the first instance of the practice in America. Some of his writings have been published by the South Carolina Historical Society, and he deserves to rank with John Rutledge and William Henry Drayton as a patriot who sheds lustre upon his native state. A page or two from Laurens must suffice for our purposes, but it would be pleasant and profitable to quote more extensively from him, as well as to give extracts from the political and historical writings of Drayton. It may be mentioned that Laurens's daughter, Martha, was the second wife of the learned physician and historian of South Carolina and the Revolution, Dr. David Ramsay (?.».), who became her biographer.] A BOLD TOAST [From "A Narrative of the Capture of Henrv Laurens, of his Con- finement in the Tower of London, etc., 1780, 1781, 1782." Col- lections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Vol. I, 1857.] The 14th or 15th September, [1780] the Vestal and Fairy, which had joined her, entered the Basin of St. Johns, Newfound- land. Soon after we had anchored, Admiral Edwards sent his compliments, desiring I would dine with him that and every day while I should remain in the land. The Admiral received me politely at dinner ; seated me at his right hand ; after dinner he toasted the king ; I joined. Immedi- ately after he asked a toast from me. I gave " General Washing- ton," which was repeated by the whole company, and created a little mirth at the lower end of the table. The Admiral, in course of conversation, observed I had been pretty active among my countrymen. I replied that I had once been a good British sub- ject, but after Great Britain had refused to hear our petitions, and had thrown us out of her protection, I had endeavored to do my duty. 26 HENRY LAURENS AN INCORRUPTIBLE PATRIO [From the Same.] The 7th March, [1781] Mr. Oswald x visited, and was left alone with me. It immediately occurred he had some extraordinary sub- ject from White Hall 2 for conversation, and so it appeared. Mr. Oswald began by saying, " I converse with you this morning not particularly as your friend, but as a friend to Great Britain." I thanked him for his candor; he proceeded : " I have certain propositions to make for obtaining your liberty, which I advise you should take time to consider. I showed the note you lately sent me to Lord Germain, 3 who was at first very angry. He ex- claimed, ' Rascals ! rascals ! — we want no rascals ! Honey ! honey ! ! vinegar ! They have had too much honey, and too little vinegar ! They shall have less honey and more vinegar for the future ! ' " I said to Mr. Oswald, I should be glad to taste a little of his lordship's vinegar ; his lordship's honey had been very unpleasant ; but Mr. Oswald said, " That note was written without a moment's deliberation, intended only for myself, 4 and not for the eye of a minister." Mr. Oswald smiled, and said, " It has done you no harm." I then replied, " I am as ready to give an answer to any proposition which you have to make to me at this moment as I shall be in any given time. An honest man requires no time to give an answer where his honor is concerned. If the Secreta- 1 Richard Oswald (1705-1781), a diplomatist who represented Great Britain in the negotiations for peace. He furnished £50,000 bail for Laurens. 2 Formerly the favorite palace of the English kings, Whitehall was burned dur- ing the reign of William III (see Macaulay's " History of England,'! Vol. V, Chap, xxiii), and was afterwards used for official purposes. Laurens meant to say that Oswald had come to him straight from the ministers. s Lord George Germain, Viscount Sackville (1716-1785), cashiered for coward- ice at the battle of Minden, but made Colonial Secretary by George III, and thus charged with the conduct of the war against the colonies. See Trevelyan's " The American Revolution," Part II, Vol. I," p. 28. * The text has " yourself," which seems plainly wrong. Many corrections of punctuation have been needed, but the original quotation marks have been left in places where we should not now use them. AN INCORRUPTIBLE PATRIOT 2J ries of State will enlarge me upon parole, as it seems they can enlarge me if they please, I will strictly conform to my engage- ment to do nothing, directly or indirectly, to the hurt of this king- dom. I will return to America, or remain in any part of England which may be assigned, and render myself, when demanded." Mr. Oswald answered, " No, you must stay in London, among your friends. The ministers will often have occasion to send for, and consult you ; but observe, I say all this as from myself, not by particular direction or authority ; but I know it will be so. You can write two or three lines to the ministers, and barely say, you are sorry for what is past. A pardon will be granted. Every man has been wrong, at some time or other of his life, and should not be ashamed to acknowledge it." I now understood Mr. Oswald, and could easily perceive my worthy friend was more than half ashamed of his mission. Without hesitation, I replied, " Sir, I will never subscribe to my own infamy, and to the dis- honor of my children." Mr. Oswald then talked of long and painful confinement, which I should suffer, and repeated " possi- ble consequences." " Permit me to repeat, Sir," said I, " I am afraid of no consequences but such as would flow from dishonor- able acts." Mr. Oswald desired, " I would take time, weigh the matter properly in my mind, and let him hear from me." I con- cluded by assuring him, " he never would hear from me in terms of compliance ; if I could be so base, I was sure I should incur his contempt." Mr. Oswald took leave with such expressions of regard and such a squeeze of the hand, as induced me to believe he was not displeased with my determination. In the course of this conversation, I asked, "Why ministers were so desirous of having me about their persons." Mr. Oswald said, "They thought I had great influence in America." I an- swered, " I once had some influence in my own country ; but it would be in me the highest degree of arrogance to pretend to have a general influence in America. I know but one man, of whom this can be said ; I mean General Washington. I will sup- pose, for a moment, the General should come over to your min- isters. What would be the effect ? He would instantly lose all his influence, and be called a rascal." 28 GEORGE WASHINGTON NO RUNNING AWAY [From the Same.] September 23d. [1781] — For some time past I have been fre- quently and strongly tempted to make my escape from the Tower, assured, "It was the advice and desire of all my friends, the thing might be easily effected, the face of American affairs was extremely gloomy: That I might have 18 hours start before I was missed ; time enough to reach Margate and Ostend ; that it was believed there would be no pursuit," etc., etc. I had always said : " I hate the name of a runaway." At length I put a stop to farther applications by saying, "I will not attempt an escape. The gates were opened for me to enter ; they shall be opened for me to go out of the Tower. God Almighty sent me here for some purpose. I am determined to see the end of it." Where the project of an escape originated is uncertain ; but I am fully con- vinced it was not the scheme of the person who spoke to me upon the subject. The ruin of that person and family would have been the consequence of my escape, unless there had been some previous assurance of indemnification. GEORGE WASHINGTON [Even the barest outlines of a life so familiar to all as that of Washington seem superfluous. For the sake of uniformity, however, the student may be reminded that the Father of his Country was born, of good old English stock, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732, and died at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799. He was brought up chiefly by his mother, re- ceived a very limited education, and was early thrown upon his own resources as a surveyor. His profession brought him into contact with frontier life, and in consequence he was led finally to take an active part in the campaigns against the French and Indians for the possession of the Ohio region. After his marriage with Mrs. Custis in 1 759, he settled at Mount Vernon as a planter. He sympathized from the first with the colonies in their contentions with the mother country, was made a member of the first Continental Congress, and in 1775 became commander-in-chief of the American forces. It is, now gen- GEORGE WASHINGTON 2Q erally acknowledged that his prudence, determination, and military skill were the greatest single factor in bringing the Revolution to a successful issue. After the close of the war he retired to Mount Vernon, where he took an active interest in the efforts made to strengthen the union of states. He presided over the Convention of 1787, and was subsequently elected first President under the new Constitution. He served with great wisdom for two terms (1789-1797), declining reelection in his famous "Farewell Address." After his retirement he was appointed lieutenant-general of the American forces, in view of the war that seemed impending with France. He lived only a year longer, dying of laryngitis and bad medical attention. Washington was diffident of his own powers as a writer, and very few of his admirers have ventured to claim for him the honors of authorship. His " Farewell Address " was due in considerable part to Hamilton, so far as con- cerns the expansion and phrasing of its topics, and at least one editor of his letters felt obliged to correct his orthography and to elevate his diction. His style, when at its best, possesses little grace or variety; and his voluminous writ- ings are read by few who are not historical students. But he is amply worthy of being included in every volume devoted either to Southern or to American writers, because his character was so great and noble that much that he wrote became great and noble also. No defects of early training, no lack of the elements of style, no shrinking from authorship, could prevent such a man from producing, whenever he wrote down what was uppermost in his mind and heart, literature marked by the most important of all qualities, — "high seriousness." It is impossible to read his more important letters, or his proc- lamations to his soldiers, or such documents as his address to the governors of all the states on the occasion of his laying down his command, or the rough draft of his " Farewell Address," withfout feeling emotions of the most elevated kind. It is true that these emotions are moral and intellectual rather than aesthetic in character, yet at times they are aesthetic too, for the sonorous and stately dignity of some of his pages gives a pleasure that is not unconnected with pure charm. Criticism of so great a man, certainly the technical criticism of the student of rhetoric, is almost an impertinence; yet it would be equally an impertinence for the student of history to claim Washington for his own be- hoof, since he not merely did noble deeds, but uttered and recorded noble words, which will stir mankind as long as sublime characters inspire reverent admiration. There are two editions of the writings of Washington, one by Jared Sparks in twelve volumes (1834-1837), and one by Worthington C. Ford in fourteen (1889-1893). The text of the latter is the more accurate and is here followed by permission of the publishers, Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons. There are, of course, numerous biographies of Washington, of which those by Chief Justice Marshall, Washington Irving, and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge in the " Ameri- can Statesmen " series may be mentioned.] 30 GEORGE WASHINGTON TO THE GOVERNORS OF ALL THE STATES [From Washington's " Circular Letter addressed to the Governors of All the States on Disbanding the Army."] Head-quarters, Newburg, 8 June, 1783. Sir : — The great object, for which I had the honor to hold an appointment in the service of my country, being accomplished, I am now preparing to resign it into the hands of Congress, and to return to that domestic retirement, which, it is well known, I left with the greatest reluctance ; a retirement for which I have never ceased to sigh, through a long and painful absence, and in which (remote from the noise and trouble of the world) I meditate to pass the remainder of life, in a state of undisturbed repose. But before I carry this resolution into effect, I think it a duty incumbent on me to make this my last official communication ; to congratu- late you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favor ; to offer my sentiments respecting some im- portant subjects, which appear to me to be intimately connected with the tranquillity of the United States ; to take my leave of your Excellency as a public character ; and to give my final bless- ing to that country, in whose service I have spent the prime of my life, for whose sake I have consumed so many anxious days and watchful nights, and whose happiness, being extremely dear to me, will always constitute no inconsiderable part of my own. Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on this pleasing occasion, I will claim the indulgence of dilating the more copiously on the subjects of our mutual felicitations. When we consider the mag- nitude of the prize we contended for, the" doubtful nature of the contest, and the favorable manner in which it has terminated, we shall find the greatest possible reason for gratitude and rejoicing. This is a theme that will afford infinite delight to every benevolent and liberal mind, whether the event in contemplation be considered as the source of present enjoyment, or the parent of future happi- ness ; and we shall have equal occasion to felicitate ourselves on TO THE GOVERNORS OF ALL THE STATES 31 the lot which Providence has assigned us, whether we view it in a natural, a political, or a moral point of light. The citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, com- prehending all the various soils and climates of the world, and abounding with all the necessaries and conveniences of life, are now, by the late satisfactory pacification, acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independency. They are, from, this period, to be considered as the actors on a most conspicuous theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designated by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. Here they are not only surrounded with every thing, which can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment ; but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other nation has ever been favored with. Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly, than a recollection of the happy conjuncture of times and circumstances, under which our republic assumed its rank among the nations. The foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of ignorance and superstition ; but at an epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period. The researches of the human mind after social happiness have been carried to a great extent ; the treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labors of philosophers, sages, and legislators, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the establishment of our forms of government. The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and, above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a nation ; and, if their citizens should not be com- pletely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own. Such is our situation, and such are our prospects ; but notwith- standing the cup of blessing is thus reached out to us ; notwith- standing happiness is ours, if we have a disposition to seize the 32 GEORGE WASHINGTON occasion and make it our own ; yet it appears to me there is an option still left to the United States of America, that it is in their choice, and depends upon their conduct, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation. This is the time of their political probation ; this is the moment when the eyes of the whole world are turned upon them ; this is the moment to establish or ruin their national character for ever; this is the favorable moment to give such a tone to our federal government, as will enable it to answer the ends of its in- stitution, or this may be the ill-fated moment for relaxing the powers of the Union, annihilating the cement of the confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play one State against another, to prevent their growing im- portance, and to serve their own interested purposes. For, accord- ing to the system of policy the States shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall ; and by their confirmation or lapse it is yet to be decided, whether the revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse ; a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved. With this conviction of the importance of the present crisis, silence in me would be a crime. I will therefore speak to your Excellency the language of freedom and of sincerity without dis- guise. I am aware, however, that those who differ from me in political sentiment, may perhaps remark, I am stepping out of the proper line of my duty, and may possibly ascribe to arrogance or ostentation, what I know is alone the result of the purest intention. But the rectitude of my own heart, which disdains such unworthy motives ; the part I have hitherto acted in life ; the determination I have formed, of not taking any share in public business here- after ; the ardent desire I feel, and shall continue to manifest, of quietly enjoying, in private life, after all the toils of war,- the benefits of a wise and liberal government, will, I flatter myself, sooner or later convince my countrymen, that I could have no sinister views in delivering, with so little reserve, the opinions contained in this address. There are four things, which, I humbly conceive, are essential THE SPIRIT OF PARTY 33 to the well-being, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States, as an independent power. First. An indissoluble union of the States under one federal head. Secondly. A sacred regard to public justice. Thirdly. The adoption of a proper peace establishment ; and, Fourthly. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposi- tion among the people of the United States, which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and policies ; to make those mutual concessions, which are requisite to the general prosperity ; and, in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the community. These are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our inde- pendency and national character must be supported. Liberty is the basis ; and whoever would dare to sap the foundation, or over- turn the structure, under whatever specious pretext he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execration, and the severest punishment, which can be inflicted by his injured country. . . } THE SPIRIT OF PARTY [From the " Farewell Address."] I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geo- graphical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehen- sive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, con- trolled, or repressed ; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. 1 The student may be reminded that even this noble document did not escape harsh criticism in its day. One of Washington's fellow-Virginians, a man of great eminence, referring to it, wrote scornfully about " the unsolicited obtrusion of his advice." D 34 GEORGE WASHINGTON The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in dif- ferent ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormi- ties, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual ; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more for- tunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty. Withput looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill- founded jealousies and false alarms ; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty. This within certain limits is prob- ably true ; and in Governments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And r there being constant dan- ger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. AMERICA'S TRUE FOREIGN POLICY 35 AMERICA'S TRUE FOREIGN POLICY [From the Same.] It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world ; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engage- ments be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to tem- porary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences ; consulting the natural course of things ; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing ; establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the govern- ment to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate ; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another ; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character ; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 36 GEORGE WASHINGTON In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish ; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course, which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated. How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them. . . . Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend, I shall also carry with me the hope, that my Country will never cease to view them with indulgence ; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as my- self must soon be to the mansions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man, who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations ; I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoy- ment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow- citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. George Washington. United States, September igth, 1796. PATRICK HENRY 37 PATRICK HENRY [Patrick Henry, the most impassioned of American orators and an impor- tant statesman of the Revolution, was born of mixed English and Scotch parentage at Studley, Hanover County, Virginia, on May 29, 1736, and died at Red Hill, Charlotte County, on June 6, 1799. His early attempts to succeed as a farmer and a storekeeper were unsuccessful, and he turned to the law in 1760. He was already married and needed the fees that soon came to him. Late in 1763 he showed himself to be a great orator and a tribune of the people in what was known as the " Parson's Cause " — a case which involved not merely the power of the legislature to determine the money price of the tobacco in which a clergyman's salary was paid, but also a protest against the conduct of the king in not approving an important act of the Burgesses. Then came the Stamp Act agitation during which Henry was elected a Burgess. He introduced bold resolutions against the act, and carried them by his astonishing eloquence, although opposed by many of the best men in the as- sembly. Eight years later he was prominent in the opening events of the Revolution. He served in the first Continental Congress and extended his fame as an orator. In the Virginia Convention of 1775 he delivered the famous speech from Wirt's version of which an extract is here given. Then he saw a little military service, and became the first governor of the state of Virginia. He was reelected in 1777 and in 1778, and some years later served two additional terms. Perhaps his most important executive act was his en- couragement of the plans of George Rogers Clark to conquer the Northwest Territory. After the Revolution he practised law with much success and maintained a hold upon the affections of his fellow- Virginians which almost equalled that of Washington. The latter would have made him Secretary of State and Chief Justice, but he refused. Like many other men of his time, he thought more of state than of national honors, and he was one of the most strenuous of the critics of the new Constitution, in which, with great foresight, he divined an instrument which would be used to subordinate the states to the federal government. On the whole, he was a loyal, conservative states- man and a lawyer of ability, his deficiencies, especially of education, having been exaggerated. But it is as an orator that he is chiefly remembered. He belongs to the inspired, improvisational class of which Chatham is a good example, rather than to the weighty, more deliberate, and prepared class of which Webster is the ehief American representative. A few reported speeches and the tributes of qualified judges who heard him, such as Thomas Jefferson, along with the praise of contemporaries and the voice of tradition, form the basis of his reputation to-day, and scarcely afford means for a comparison of 38 PATRICK HENRY his powers as an orator with those of Webster or Clay. Yet there can be but little doubt that in sheer fire of genius, Patrick Henry has never been sur- passed as an orator by any American. John Randolph of Roanoke, himself a great orator, declared that he was Shakespeare and Garrick combined — an exaggeration in which there is a kernel of truth. The best biography of Henry is that by his grandson, the late William Wirt Henry of Richmond, in three volumes (1891) — one of the best examples of latter-day Southern scholarship. There is also a good memoir in the "American Statesmen" series by the late Professor Moses Coit Tyler (1887). The most famous biography is that by William Wirt (?.*/.), the first edition of which appeared in 1817. Wirt, misled by the recollections of the aging Jefferson and by his own desire to write a striking book, did much to create the impression that Patrick Henry was a prodigy rather than a great and solid man.] THE ALTERNATIVE [From a Speech in the Virginia Convention, March, 1775, given in Wirt's "Life of Henry," 25TH edition.] Mr. President : x it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth — and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty ? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation ? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth ; to know the worst, and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the fu- ture but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the house. " Is it that in- sidious smile with which our petition has been lately received ? Trust it not, sir ; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not 1 The text has been slightly changed in tenses and persons to give more vivid- ness, since Wirt gave portions of the speech in the third person. Phrases such as " said he " have been omitted. The passages in quotation marks are, however, unchanged. THE ALTERNATIVE 39 yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation ? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love ? Let us not deceive our- selves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation — the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies ? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us : they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the sub- ject up in every light of which it is capable ; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned — we have remonstrated — we have supplicated — we Jiave prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult ; our supplications have been disregarded ; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inesti- mable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be ob- 40 PATRICK HENRY tained — we must fight ! — I repeat it, sir, we must fight ! ! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left us ! " They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with so for- midable an adversary. " But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the con- test. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery ! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is inevitable — and let it come ! ! I repeat it, sir, let it come ! ! ! "It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun ! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms ! Our brethren are already in the field ! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentle- men wish ? What would they have ? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God ! — I know not what course others may take ; but as for me, 1 give me liberty or give me death ! " 1 Here Wirt inserted, " cried he, with both his arms extended aloft, his brows knit, every feature marked with the resolute purpose of his soul, and his voice swelled to its boldest note of exclamation. " THOMAS JEFFERSON 4 1 THOMAS JEFFERSON [Thomas Jefferson was born of a good family at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, April 13, 1743, and died at Monticello near by, in the same county, July 4, 1826. He received an excellent education at William and Mary College, and saw much of the best society. He studied law under Chancellor Wythe, began to practise at the bar, and achieved at once a considerable success. At the age of twenty -six he entered the House of Burgesses, and served off and on with much distinction until the breaking out of the Revolution. He then entered Congress, where he succeeded John Dickinson as the chief drafter of state papers, the most important of these being the " Declaration of Inde- pendence." After this he returned to Virginia politics, labored successfully to modify the state laws in a democratic direction, and served as governor for two years, during which period his administration was much harassed by the invasions of the British. In 1783 he reentered Congress and took part in important legislation. The next year he went to France as minister plenipo- tentiary, succeeding Franklin in 1785. His career as a diplomat was suc- cessful, but wascut short by his acceptance of the post of Secretary of State in Washington's first cabinet. He was subsequently elected Vice-President in 1797 and President from 1801 to 1809. His two presidential administra- tions were marked rather by profound influence than by overtly exerted executive force, but the first secured to the country the vast territory of Louisiana. He was succeeded by his disciple Madison, and during his re- tirement at Monticello he maintained his grip upon politics through his large correspondence. From 181 7 to his death he was mainly interested in founding the University of Virginia. Throughout his old age he was looked up to as the chief political theorist and most typical republican of the country, but this public homage entailed a hospitality that left him poor. If Jefferson be judged by any single piece of work, except perhaps the " Declaration of Independence," or by the general qualities of his style, he can- not in any fairness be termed a great writer. This is true despite the many excellences of the "Notes on Virginia," his only book, of his state papers, and of his countless letters, which, while fascinating to the student of his character, are rather barren of charm when read without some ulterior purpose. Yet he was surely in one important respect a greater writer than any of his American forerunners and contemporaries, not even Franklin excepted. His was the most influential pen of his times, and it is to his writings that posterity turns with most interest whenever the purposes, the hopes, the fears of the great Revolutionary epoch become matters of study. They reveal also the per- sonality of Jefferson himself, but so subtle was that great man that we can 42 THOMAS JEFFERSON never feel that we understand him fully. We may learn to understand, how- ever, with fair thoroughness the theory of government that he had worked out for himself from French and English sources; we may see how every letter he wrote carried his democratic doctrines farther afield ; we may feel him getting a firm grasp not merely upon his contemporaries, but upon generations yet to be ; finally, we can observe yawning across his later writings the politi- cal chasm into which the young republic was one day to fall. But writings that enable us to do all this are certainly great in their way, and so is the hand that penned them, and in a way Jefferson has given us a masterpiece. The " Declaration of Independence," whatever may be the justice of the criti- cisms directed against this and that clause or statement, is a true piece of literature, because ever since it was written it has been alive with emotion. Though we were to read it a thousand times, it would stir every one of us that loves liberty and his native land and has a sense for the rhetoric of denunciation and aspiration. It is true that our national taste has changed, and that the fervent eloquence of the Declaration would be distinctly out of place to-day. This is only to say that the art of writing prose has made great strides since Jefferson's time ; but we must not forget that, if his pen was not that of a chastened writer, it was nevertheless that of a ready and a wonder- fully effective one. ' There are two elaborate editions of Jefferson's writings, the so-called " Con- gressional" in nine volumes and that of Paul Leicester Ford in ten (1892- 1899). The text of the latter is followed here with the kind permission of the publishers, G. P. Putnam's Sons. There are numerous biographies, includ- ing George Tucker's (1837), H. S. Randall's in three volumes (1858), James Parton's (1874), and John T. Morse's in the "American Statesmen" (1883).] JEFFERSON ON FRANCE [From his "Autobiography."] And here, I cannot leave this great and good country without expressing my sense of its preeminence of character among the nations of the earth. A more benevolent people I have never known, nor greater warmth and devotedness in their select friend- ships. Their kindness and accommodation to strangers is unpar- alleled, and the hospitality of Paris is beyond anything I had conceived to be practicable in a large city. Their eminence, too, in science, the communicative dispositions of their scientific men, the politeness of the general manners, the ease and vivacity of their conversation, give a charm to their society, to be found nowhere FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 43 else. In a comparison of this, with other countries, we have the proof of primacy, which was given to Themistocles, after the bat- tle of Salamis. Every general voted to himself the first reward of valor, and the second to Themistocles. So, ask the travelled inhabitant of any nation, in what country on earth would you rather live ? Certainly, in my own, where are all my friends, my relations, and the earliest and sweetest affections and recollections of my life. Which would be your second choice ? France. FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 1 [Delivered March 4, 1801.] Friends and fellow-citizens : Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look towards me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land ; traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry; engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right; advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye, — when I contemplate these tran- scendent objects, and see the honor,' the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink, from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair, did not the presence of many whom I heresee remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance 1 This address may fairly be regarded as one of our great political classics. 44 THOMAS JEFFERSON and support which may 'enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked, amid the conflicting elements of a troubled sea. During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussion and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers, unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think. But, this being now decided by the voice of the nation, enounced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that, though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable ; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate [which] would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow- citizens, unite with one heart and one mind ; let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life it- self are but dreary things. And let us reflect that having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convul- sions of the ancient world, during the agonized spasms of infuri- ated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans ; we are all federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand, undisturbed, as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men have feared that a republican government cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of success- FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 45 ful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this govern- ment, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself ? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth. I believe it is the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of public order as his own per- sonal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others ? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him ? Let history answer this question. Let us, then, pursue with courage and confidence, our own federal and republican principles, our attachment to Union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe ; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others ; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for all descend- ants to the hundredth and thousandth generation ; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our industry, to honor and confidence from our fel- low-citizens, resulting not from birth but from our actions, and their sense of them ; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcat- ing honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man ; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which, by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness hereafter ; with all these bless- ings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people ? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens, — a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good govern- ment, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principle [s] of 46 THOMAS JEFFERSON this government, and, consequently, those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them in the narrowest com- pass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none ; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies ; the preserva- tion of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad ; a jealous care of the right of election by the people, — a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolu- tion, where peaceable remedies are unprovided ; absolute acqui- escence in the decisions of the majority, — the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism ; a well-disciplined militia, — our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them ; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority ; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened ; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith ; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid ; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason ; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus ; and trial by juries impartially se- lected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety. " I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post which you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate stations to DAVID RAMSAY 47 know the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learned to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love, and had destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful his- tory, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong, through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional ; and \ your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not, if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past ; and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in ad- vance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all. Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. DAVID RAMSAY [David Ramsay was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1749, and died in Charleston, South Carolina, May 8, 1815, He graduated at Princeton, taught for some years, studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and settled at Charleston. Here he not only practised his profession, but served the Revolutionary cause with such zeal that in 1 780 he was put into close confine- ment at St. Augustine by the British. After the Revolution he was a member of the Continental Congress, and of the Senate of South Carolina, over which he pre- 48 DAVID RAMSAY sided for some years. It was chiefly, however, for his attainments, in medical science and in American history that he was distinguished among his contem- poraries, and it is his writings in the latter category that have preserved his name. A popular tract was his " Sermon on Tea " from the text " Touch not, taste not, handle not." In 1785 he published a " History of the Revolution in South Carolina," and four years later a more extended account of the move- ment in which he had participated and about which he had gathered much information. This was his " History of the American Revolution " in two volumes (1789) from which a selection is here given. In 1807 he published a biography of Washington, and in 1809 a " History of South Carolina from its Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808," a work in two volumes which has long ranked with the best of the earlier local histories. Among his other writings were a. memorial volume devoted to his second wife Martha, a daughter of Henry Laurens (g-v.), — his first wife was a daughter of another Revolutionary leader, John Witherspoon, — and a " History of the United States," which was continued by other hands and incorporated in a universal history. Dr. Ramsay, who died from wounds inflicted by a maniac whom he had examined professionally, was a good, clear writer and deserves to rank with Jeremy Bel- knap, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and other distinguished historians and publicists of the early republic. It may be mentioned that his brother, Colonel Nathaniel Ramsay, was a brave soldier of the Revolution and a successful lawyer in Maryland. It may also be recalled as a curious coincidence that Hugh Williamson (1735-1819), the historian of the neighboring state of North Carolina, was also a native of Pennsylvania, a learned physician, a surgeon in the Revolution, and an important participator in the politics of the times. Unlike Dr. Ramsay, however, he did not make his permanent home in the South, but after 1793 lived in New York City. His "History of North Carolina" appeared in 1812.] SOME RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTION [From "The History of the American Revolution" (1789), Appendix IV.] The American revolution, on the one hand, brought forth great vices ; but on the other hand, it called forth many virtues, and gave occasion for the display of abilities which, but for that event, would have been lost to the world. When the war began, the Americans were a mass of husbandmen, merchants, mechanics, and fisher- men ; but the necessities of the country gave a spring to the active powers of the inhabitants, and set them on thinking, speaking, and acting in a line far beyond that to which they had been accustomed. SOME RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTION 49 The difference between nations is not so much owing to nature, as to education and circumstances. While the Americans were guided by the leading-strings of the mother country, thay had no scope nor encouragement for exertion. All the departments of government were established aftd executed for them, but not by them. In the years 1775 and 1776, the country being suddenly thrown into a situation that needed the abilities of all its sons, these generally took their places, each according to the bent of his inclination. As they severally pursued their objects with ardor, a vast expan- I sion of the human mind speedily followed. This displayed itself in a variety of ways. It was found that the talents for great stations did not differ in kind, but only in degree, from those which were necessary for file proper discharge of the ordinary business of civil society. In the bustle that was occasioned by the war, few instances could be produced of any persons who made a figure, or who ren- dered essential services, but from among those who had given specimens of similar talents in their respective professions. Those who from indolence or dissipation, had been of little service to the community in time of peace, were found equally unserviceable in war. A few young men were exceptions to this general rule. Some of these, who had indulged in youthful follies, broke off from their vicious courses, and on the pressing call of their country became useful servants of the public ; but the great bulk of those, who were the active instruments of carrying on the revolution, were self-made, industrious men. These who by their own exer- tions, had established, or laid a foundation for establishing personal independence, were most generally trusted, and most successfully employed in establishing that of their country. In these times of action, classical education was found of less service than good natural parts, guided by common-sense and sound judgment. Several names could be mentioned of individuals who, without the knowledge of any other language than their mother tongue, wrote not only accurately, but elegantly, on public business. It seemed as if the war not only required, but created talents. Men whose minds were warmed with the love of liberty, and whose abilities were improved by daily exercise, and sharpened with a laudable ambition to serve their distressed country, spoke, wrote, 50 JAMES MADISON and acted, with an energy far surpassing all expectations which could be reasonably founded on their previous acquirements. The Americans knew but little of one another previous to the revolution. Trade and business had brought the inhabitants of their seaports acquainted with each other, but the bulk of the people in the interior country were unacquainted with their fellow-citizens. A continental army, and Congress composed of men from all the States, by freely mixing together, were assimi- lated into one mass. Individuals of both, mingling with the citizens, disseminated principles of union among them. Local prejudices abated. By frequent collision asperities were worn off, and a foundation was laid for the establishment of a nation, out of discordant materials. Intermarriages between men and women of different States were much more common than before the war, and became an additional cement to the union. Unrea- sonable jealousies had existed between the inhabitants of the Eastern and of the Southern States ; but on becoming better acquainted with each other, these in a great measure subsided. A wiser policy prevailed. Men of liberal minds led the way in discouraging local distinctions, and the great body of the people, as soon as reason got the better of prejudice, found that their best interests would be most effectually promoted by such practices and sentiments as were favorable to union. JAMES MADISON [James Madison was born in Port Conway, Virginia, March 16, 1751, and died at Montpellier, Orange County, Virginia, June 28, 1836. The son of parents able to give him a good education, he graduated at Princeton in 1772, where he had the poet Freneau for a room-mate, studied law and history at home while teaching his brothers and sisters, took part early in the Revolu- tionary movement, was a member of the state convention of 1776, where he helped to draft the new constitution for Virginia, and was elected to the legis- lature, serving only one term because he would not condescend to solicit votes in an improper manner. In 1780 he was sent to the Continental Congress, where his legal and historical learning, in which he had scarcely a rival, and the prudence and balance of temperament which characterized him through life, caused him to take a high stand as a legislator. In 1784 he was again JAMES MADISON 5 1 elected to the Virginia legislature, and there he took the lead in the successful fight for religious liberty which did much completely to separate church and state in America. His next great service was in connection with the Annapolis Convention of 1786, which led to the calling of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 that furnished a. constitution to the country then verging on anarchy. In the Constitutional Convention, for the convening of which he was perhaps more responsible than any other man, Madison both by suggesting plans to others and by defending propositions looking to the establishment of an ade- quately strong government, as well as by offering compromises, so affected the final action of the body and the shape of the instrument it adopted that he may fairly be called the Father of the Constitution. Then he took a leading part in securing the adoption of the Constitution, not only by his labors in the Virginia Convention, but also by joining with Hamilton and Jay in the production of "The Federalist," the famous series of letters defending and ex- pounding the provisions of the new document. These letters were greatly ap- plauded and still rank as one of the most valuable contributions to political literature made by America. They were planned by Hamilton, but Madison's claim to credit for his share in them — especially if we assign to him, as seems proper, those letters the authorship of which is disputed — is not much inferior to that of the more brilliant originator. After the adoption of the Constitution, Madison was elected to the first House of Representatives, where he was easily the leading member. When the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties were formed, he threw in his lot with the latter and thus became a colleague of Jefferson and an opponent of his former colleague, Hamilton. Jefferson was better qualified for party leadership and in a sense took prece- dence of Madison in the years that followed; but the latter, in spite of a short retirement from public life, was too valuable a statesman to be in any way eclipsed. In 1798 he drew up the famous Virginia Resolutions against the Alien and Sedition laws. In 1801 he became Secretary of State under Jeffer- son and held the office until his own election to the presidency. Both as Sec- retary and as President (1809-1817) he, displayed many fine qualities of mind and character, but it is not generally thought that he was nearly so well qualified for executive as for legislative functions. It was a period of very tangled foreign relations ; Madison was unable to cope with Napoleon and was finally forced, much against his will, into war with Great Britain. In 1817, at the end of his second term, he retired to Montpellier, where he passed the rest of his life in study, looked up to by all as a true patriot and a wise states- man. His writings are of great value to students, especially in all matters relating to the framing of the Constitution. His rank as a statesman depends upon the emphasis we lay upon knowledge and prudence and the power to present proper lines of action as compared with the ability to dominate men and parties, to work the machinery of government, to carry out a definite policy. No more conservative and deeply learned statesman has been produced in America, but Madison cannot be numbered among our great executives. 52 JAMES MADISON See "James Madison, the Constructive Statesman," in John Fiske's "Essays Historical and Literary " (1902). There is an elaborate "Life and Times of James Madison," by William C. Rives, Jr. (3 vols., 1859), a biography in the "American Statesmen" series by S. H. Gay (1884), and a recent life by Gail- lard Hunt (1902). An edition of his "Letters and Other Writings," in four volumes, was published in 1865. His complete works are being edited by Gaillard Hunt, and five volumes have already appeared (1900— 1904). The fifth volume covers the years 1 787-1 790. There is also a "Memoirs and Letters" of his beautiful and sprightly wife, familiarly known as "Dolly Madison" (1887).] A STANDING ARMY AND THE CONSTITUTION [From " The Federalist," No. XLI, January 22, 1788. Edition of 1818.] How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely pro- hibited, unless we could prohibit in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation? The means of security can only be regulated by the means and the danger of attack. They will in fact be ever determined by these rules, and by no others. It is in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the im- pulse of self-preservation. It is worse than in vain : because it plants in the constitution itself necessary usurpations of power, every precedent of which is a germ of unnecessary and multiplied repetitions. If one nation maintains constantly a disciplined army, ready for the service of ambition or revenge, it obliges the most pacific nations, who may be within the reach of its enterprises, to take corresponding precautions. The fifteenth century was the unhappy epoch of military establishments in time of peace. They were introduced by Charles VII. of France. All Europe has followed, or been forced into, the example. Had the example not been followed by other nations, all Europe must long ago have worn the chains of a universal monarch. Were every nation, except France, now to disband its peace establishment, the same event might follow. The veteran legions of Rome were an over- match for the undisciplined valor of all other nations, and rendered her mistress of the world. Not less true is it that the liberties of Rome proved the final victim to her military triumphs, and that the liberties of Europe, A STANDING ARMY AND THE CONSTITUTION 53 as far as they ever existed, have, with few exceptions, been the price of her military establishments. A standing force, therefore, is a dangerous, at the same time that it may be a necessary, provi- sion. On the smaller scale, it has its inconveniences. On an ex- tensive scale, its consequences may be fatal. On any scale, it is an object of laudable circumspection and precaution. A wise nation will combine all these considerations ; and whilst it does not rashly preclude itself from any resource which may become essential to its safety, will exert all its prudence in diminishing both the necessity and the danger of resorting to one which may be in- auspicious to its liberties. The clearest marks of this prudence are stamped -on the pro- posed constitution. The union itself, which it cements and secures, destroys every pretext for a military establishment which could be dangerous. America united, with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition, than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat. It was remarked, on a former occa- sion, that the want of this pretext had saved the liberties of one nation in Europe. Being rendered, by her insular situation and her maritime resources, impregnable to the armies of her neigh- bors, the rulers of Great Britain have never been able, by real or artificial dangers, to cheat the public into an extensive peace es- tablishment. The distance'of the United States from the powerful nations of the world, gives them the same happy security. A dangerous establishment can never be necessary or plausible, so long as they continue a united people. But let it never for a moment be forgotten that they are indebted for this advantage to their union alone. The moment of its dissolution will be the date of a new order of things. The fears of the weaker, or the ambition of the stronger, States or confederacies, will set the same example in the new as Charles VII. did in the old world. The example will be followed here, from the same motives which produced uni- versal imitation there. Instead of deriving from our situation the precious advantage which Great Britain has derived from hers, the face of America will be but a copy of that of the continent of Europe. It will present liberty everywhere crushed between stand- 54 JAMES MADISON ing armies and perpetual taxes. The fortunes of disunited America will be even more disastrous than those of Europe. The sources of evil in the latter are confined to her own limits. No superior powers of another quarter of the globe intrigue among her rival nations, inflame their mutual animosities, and render them the instruments of foreign ambition, jealousy, and revenge. In Amer- ica, the miseries springing from her internal jealousies, contentions, and wars, would form a part only of her lot. A plentiful addition of evils would have their source in that relation in which Europe stands to this quarter of the earth, and which no other quarter of the earth bears to Europe. This picture of the consequences of disunion cannot be too highly colored, or too often exhibited. Every man who loves peace ; every man who loves his country ; every man who loves liberty, ought to have it ever before his eyes, that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the union of America, and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it. Next to the effectual establishment of the union, the best pos- sible precaution against danger from standing armies is a limita- tion of the term for which revenue may be appropriated to their support. This precaution the constitution has prudently added. I will not repeat here the observations, which I flatter myself have placed this subject in a just and satisfactory light. But it may not be improper to take notice of an argument against this part of the constitution, which has been drawn from the policy and practice of Great Britain. It is said that the continuance of an army in that kingdom requires an annual vote of the legislature : whereas the American constitution has lengthened this critical period to two years. This is the form in which the comparison is usually stated to the public : but is it a just form ? is it a fair compari- son ? Does the British constitution restrain the parliamentary discretion to one year ? Does the American impose on the con- gress appropriations for two years ? On the contrary, it cannot be unknown to the authors of the fallacy themselves, that the British constitution fixes no limit whatever to the discretion of the legisla- ture, and that the American ties down the legislature to two years, as the longest admissible term. A STANDING ARMY AND THE CONSTITUTION 55 Had the argument from the British example been truly stated, it would have stood thus : the term for which supplies may be appropriated to the army establishment, though unlimited by the British constitution, has nevertheless in practice been limited by parliamentary discretion to a single year. Now if in Great Britain, — where the House of Commons is elected for seven years, where so great a proportion of the members are elected by so small a proportion of the people, where the electors are so corrupted by the representatives, and the representatives so corrupted by the crown, 1 — the representative body can possess a power to make appropriations to the army for an indefinite term, without desiring, or without daring, to extend the term beyond a single year ; ought not suspicion herself to blush in pretending that the representatives of the United States, elected freely by the whole body of the peo- ple, every second year, cannot be safely intrusted with a discretion over such appropriations, expressly limited to the short period of two years ? A bad cause seldom fails to betray itself. Of this truth, the management of the opposition to the federal government is an unvaried exemplification. But among all the blunders which have been committed, none is more striking than the attempt to enlist on that side, the prudent jealousy entertained by the people, of standing armies. The attempt has awakened fully the public attention to that important subject ; and has led to investigations which must terminate in a thorough and universal conviction, not only that the constitution has provided the most effectual guards against danger from that quarter, but that nothing short of a con- stitution fully adequate to the national defence, and the preserva- tion of the union, can save America from as many standing armies as it may be split into states or confederacies ; and from such a progressive augmentation of these establishments in each, as will render them as burthensome to the properties, and ominous to the liberties of the people, as any establishment that can become necessary, under a united and efficient government, must be tolerable to the former and safe to the latter. 1 It may be worth while to call attention to the fact that this was written long before the Reform Bill. 56 MJSS. ELIZA WILKINSON MRS. ELIZA WILKINSON [Practically no information about Mrs. Wilkinson is given us by the lady who edited her letters in 1839. We are told that she was a young and beauti- ful widow, and that the letters were copied by her in a clear, feminine hand into a " blank quarto book." The twelve letters written toward the close of the Revolution give us a vivid picture of the experiences and feelings of a patriotic woman during the British occupation of Charleston. We would willingly know more of the writer; but her day was not that of publicity, and it has proved impossible to supplement the meagre statements of Mrs. Caroline Gilman (1794-1888), who first rescued Mrs. Wilkinson from oblivion. The editor herself, who was Boston born, but with her husband, the Rev. Samuel Gilman, a Unitarian clergyman, resided long in Charleston, was a very well- known writer in her day. She published a magazine for children, wrote poems and stories, and was the author of the once popular " Recollections of a Southern Matron" (1836).] A SPRIGHTLY AND PATRIOTIC CAROLINA DAME 1 [From "Letters of Eliza Wilkinson, during the Invasion and Possession of Charlestown, South Carolina, by the British in the Revolutionary War. Arranged from the Original Manu- scripts by Caroline Gilman," New York, 1839.] Yonge's Island, July 14th [1781]. Well, I have been to town, and seen all my friends and quarrelled with my enemies. I went on board the prison ship, too, and drank coffee with the prisoners ; the dear fellows were in high spirits, and expecting to be speedily exchanged; indeed, they were so before I left town. I saw the last vessel sail, and a number of ladies with them of our acquaintance, who have sailed from their native land. The day that the last vessel sailed, some British officers came to the house where I staid. I was sitting very melancholy, and did not alter my position on their entrance. 1 The letter here given is the eleventh. There are said to be other letters extant that have never been published. A SPRIGHTLY AND PATRIOTIC CAROLINA DAME 57 They sat for some time ; at length they broke silence with — • " You seem melancholy, Madam ! " "I am so, Sir ; I am think- ing how suddenly I am deprived of my friends, and left almost alone in the midst of — " " Do not say enemies, Madam," (interrupting me,) — " there is not one in this garrison but would protect and serve you to the utmost of his power, as well as those whose absence you lament." " I have no further business in this garrison, Sir ; those on whose account I came down are now gone, and .1 shall very shortly return to the country ; or you may send me off, too — will you?" " No, no, Madam ; I will enter a caveat against that — I am determined to convert you." " That you never shall, for I am determined not to be converted by you." "Why, then, you shall convert me." "I shall not attempt it, Sir" — and I turned about, and spoke to a lady by me. Some time after I was asked to play the guitar, ■ — "I cannot play, I am very dull." "How long do you intend to continue so, Mrs. Wilkinson?" " Until my countrymen return, Sir ! " " Return as what, Madam ? — prisoners or subjects ? " " As conquerors ! Sir." He affected a laugh. " You will never see that, Madam." " I live in hopes, Sir, of seeing the thirteen stripes hoisted, once more hoisted, on the bastions of this garrison." " Do not hope so ; but come, give us a tune on the guitar." " I can play nothing but rebel songs." " Well, let us have one of them." "Not to-day — I cannot play — I will not play; besides, I sup- pose I should be put into the Provost^ for such a heinous crime." " Not for the world, Madam ; you never should be put there." " Aye, aye, so you say ; but I see no respect shown ; " and, saying this, I went into the chamber, and he down stairs. I have often wondered, since, I was not packed off too, for I was very saucy, and never disguised my sentiments. 1 A temporary military prison. 58 MRS. ELIZA WILKINSON One day Kitty and I were going to take a walk on the Bay to get something we wanted. Just as we had got our hats on, up ran one of the Billets 1 into the dining-room, where we were, — " Your servant, ladies," — " Your servant, Sir." " Going out, ladies ? " " Only to take a little walk." He immediately turned about, and ran down stairs, I guessed for what. " Kitty, Kitty, let us hurry off, child ; he is gone for his hat and sword as sure as you are alive, and means to accompany us." We immediately caught up our silk gowns to keep them from rustling, and flew down stairs as light as we could, to avoid being heard. Out of the street door we went, and I believe ran near two hun- dred yards, and then walked very fast. Looking behind, we saw him at some distance, walking at a great rate. We hurried down another street, and went in a half-run until we came to Bedon's Alley, and, turning that, we walked on leisurely to rest ourselves. It was near an hour after, being in a store in Broad-Street, that we saw him pass, in company with five or six other officers, with one of whom he was hooking-arms. — Kitty spied him out, and, pointing to him and looking at me, we ran behind the door to hide ourselves ; but he got a glimpse of us before we could do so, and quitting his companions, came immediately into the store, and seemed quite transported to find us. Foolish fellow ! I could not help pitying him for his good-nature, and behaving mighty civil to him. Had he been one of your impudent, bluster- ing red-coats, who think nothing bad enough they can say of the rebels, I should have discarded him that moment, and driven him from my presence ; but he accosted us so smilingly, and with such an air of diffidence 2 that I could not find in my heart one spark of ill-nature towards him ; so I smiled too, and away we walked. He offered me his hand, or arm rather, to lean on. " Excuse me, Sir," said I ; " I will support myself, if you please." 1 I.e. one of the officers stationed in the house. 2 The proof-reading was bad here in the original edition. A SPRIGHTLY AND PATRIOTIC CAROLINA DAME 59 " No, Madam, the pavements are very uneven — you may get a fall ; do accept my arm." " Pardon me, I cannot." " Come, you do not know what your condescension may do — I will turn rebel ! " " Will you ? " said I, laughing, — " turn rebel first, and then offer your arm." We stopped in another store, where were several British officers ; after asking for articles which I wanted, I saw a broad roll of ribbon, which appeared to be of black and white stripes. " Go," said I to the officer that was with us, " and reckon the stripes of that ribbon ; see if they are thirteen ! " (with an emphasis I spoke the word — and he went too!) " Yes, they are thirteen, upon my word, Madam." " Do hand it me." He did so ; I took it, and found that it was narrow black ribbon, carefully wound round a broad white. I re- turned it to its place on the shelf. " Madam," said the merchant, " you can buy the black and white, too, and tack them in stripes." " By no means, Sir ; I would not have them slightly tacked, but firmly united." The above-mentioned officers sat on the counter kicking their heels*; — how they gaped at me when I said this ! but the merchant laughed heartily. Well, I have composed a long letter out of nothing ; pardon the subject. I am on this lonely island, and have nothing to inspire my pen. Let me hear from you, but I would rather see you, if you would think it worth while to favor me with a visit. Come, my dear, I have a thousand little things to whisper in your ear, of who, and what, and how. If you have but the tenth part of that curiosity ascribed to your sex, you will fly to Yonge's Island, to enjoy these promised tete-a-tetes. 1 — Not one word more. Eliza W. 1 This letter has been printed as Mrs. Gilman gave it, with no attempt at moderni- zation. An equally excessive use of italics may be found in Southern letters written after the Civil War. 6o ST. GEORGE TUCKER ST. GEORGE TUCKER [The Tuckers of Virginia and South Carolina came to those colonies from Bermuda. St. George Tucker was born on the island, July 10, 1752, and died in Nelson County, Virginia, November 10, 1828. At the age of nineteen he went to Williamsburg to complete his education at the college of William and Mary, where he remained a year. He studied law and practised awhile in Vir- ginia, then went back to Bermuda, but in 1776 returned to Virginia to fight for the Revolutionary cause. In 1778 he married the widow Frances Bland Randolph, thus becoming the stepfather of the famous John Randolph of Roanoke (q.v.). After Yorktown he practised law once more, was a delegate to the Annapolis Convention of 1786, was made a judge of the general court ( 1 787-1 804), and, in 1790, professor of law in his alma mater. This posi- tion he filled with great distinction, as his long-appreciated edition of Black- stone's "Commentaries" (1803) abundantly proves. In 1796 he published "A Dissertation on Slavery: with a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia." This was reprinted in New York in 1861. He also published a volume of political satires, now forgotten, composed some dramas, which seem never to have been printed, and wrote fugitive poems, one of which " Resignation," or " Days of my Youth," here given, was a favorite with John Adams and, on account of its emotional appeal rather than of its poetic style, has found a place in most American anthologies. In 1804 he was put at the head of the state court of appeals. Some years later he resigned through ill health, but in 1813 he accepted a federal district judgeship. His legal abilities were inherited by two sons, Henry St. George Tucker ( 1 780- 1848), congressman, judge, professor of law, and legal writer, and Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (g.v.), the well-known author of "The Partisan Leader." Several sons of Henry St. George distinguished themselves, especially the late. John Randolph Tucker, statesman and expounder of the Constitution, and St. George Tucker, author of " Hansford, A Tale of Bacon's Rebellion " (1853). The well-known historian, philosopher, and miscellaneous writer, Professor George Tucker of the University of Virginia (1775-1861), was a connection of this family, which maintains its distinction in Virginia at the present day.] RESIGNATION Days of my youth, Ye have glided away ; Hairs of my youth, Ye are frosted and gray ; RESIGNATION 6 1 Eyes of my youth, Your keen sight is no more ; Cheeks of my youth, Ye are furrowed all o'er ; Strength of my youth, All your vigor is gone ; Thoughts of my youth, Your gay visions are flowa Days of my youth, I wish not your recall ; Hairs of my youth, I'm content ye should fall ; Eyes of my youth, You much evil have seen ; Cheeks of my youth, Bathed in tears have you been ; Thoughts of my youth, You have led me astray ; Strength of my youth, Why lament your decay? Days of my age, Ye will shortly be past ; Pains of my age, Yet awhile ye can last ; Joys of my age, In true wisdom delight; Eyes of my age, Be religion your light ; Thoughts of my age, Dread ye not the cold sod ; Hopes of my age, Be ye fixed on your God. 1 1 That St. George Tucker was a good letter writer is proved by one or two letters from him to be found in the " Bland Papers " — a selection made from the manu- scripts of a relative of his wife, Colonel Theodorick Bland, Jr., of Prince George County, Virginia. This correspondence, which begins as early as 1744-1745 but is 62 ST. GEORGE TUCKER chiefly concerned with the Revolution in Virginia and contains letters from such distinguished men as Washington, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, and Edmund Randolph, was edited in two volumes (1840 and 1844) by Charles Campbell, the historian of Virginia. It is worth while to mention also that Judge Tucker is said to have contributed a few stanzas to one of the most famous pieces of social verse ever written in the South. This is " The Belles of Williamsburg," apoem of sixteen stanzas celebrating the looks and accomplishments of several young ladies of the old capital of Virginia, written by Dr. James McClurg ( 1747-1825) . This gentleman was a college mate of Jefferson, studied abroad, and became a distinguished physician in Williamsburg and Richmond. He was & noted writer on medical topics and, as his best-known poem and its sequel prove, an accomplished writer of society verse in the manner of Suckling and Cowley. His poem is quoted in John Esten Cooke's (g.v.) " Virginia Comedians," and he figures in the same writer's " Youth of Jefferson." The poem and its sequel may also be found in Duyckinck's " Cyclopaedia of American Literature." For a sketch of Tucker and extracts from his letters to his wife, see the two articles contributed by C. W. Coleman, Jr., to The Magazine of American History, Vol. VII (1881). Sketches of Tucker and other old-time Virginia lawyers will also be found in The Green Bag, Vol. X. It should be noted that the various accounts of Tucker show many small discrepancies in the dates they furnish. SECOND PERIOD THE LITERATURE OF THE OLD SOUTH 1790^-1865 INTRODUCTION During the upwards of seventy-five years that elapsed between the inauguration of Washington and the assassination of Lincoln, American literature as a whole emerged from what it is too much of a compliment to call its dawn and passed into what is regarded as its period of meridian splendor. Such splendor as it had, how- ever, was mainly due to the writings of gifted New Englanders during what is known as the Transcendentalist Period (1830-1850) and the years immediately following. Take from American litera- ture the writings of Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Thoreau, Lowell, and the great historians, Prescott, Motley, and Parkman, to say nothing of Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Mrs. Stowe, and a large number of minor writers, and what is left of our ante bellum literature seems at first thought comparatively negligible. It is not negligible, of course, for the work of Irving, Cooper, Bryant (though he was really a New Englander), Poe, and Whitman, to say nothing of that of Willis (another New Englander by birth), Kennedy, Simms, and many others, was important in its day and fairly holds its own in ours. Indeed, Poe and Whit- man are to many persons the most significant writers in the entire range of our literature. Of all the names given above only three, those of Poe, Kennedy, and Simms, belong to the South, and of these, only that of Poe is. of great consequence to the reader of to-day. The South which had done so much to establish American independence, which had given Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison, and Monroe, and Marshall to the Union, — a list which does not exhaust the dis- tinguished statesmen furnished by a single state, — scarcely gave to the world before the close of the Civil War half a dozen writers whose names really mean anything to the present generation. The race of statesmen did not cease, — as the names of Calhoun, f 65 66 INTRODUCTION Hayne, Macon, Jackson, Clay, Toombs, Stephens, Yancey, and Jefferson Davis suffice to show, — although it will be observed that the claim Virginia can make to pride in this list is a very slight one. When the Civil War came, the race of great soldiers — in which Virginia can once more find occasion for just pride, — Lee, " Stonewall " Jackson, the two Johnstons, Stuart, Forrest, Longstreet, and many another — showed that the essential vitality of the Southern people had not only not decayed since the Revo- lution, but in some respects had been strengthened. Rich and poor alike joined in maintaining for four years what is perhaps the most heroic struggle in history. Yet the people who produced these statesmen and soldiers, who were unexcelled in those private virtues and manners which in the old adage " maketh man," made in seventy-five years so small a contribution to the literature and art and science and industrial improvement of the world, that they are often represented, erroneously, as exponents of a lower order of civilization than was to be found elsewhere in America. It is needless to say that it was the presence of domestic slavery that gave a semblance of truth to this view of the Southern people. This inherited institution did indeed retard the South industrially and affect its mental development detrimentally in many ways. It sharpened the minds of Southern statesmen, but it kept them and the people they represented harping upon one topic, or, to put it more accurately, the defence they naturally felt called upon to make of what they regarded as property took precedence, after 1820, of every other public interest, and the inevitable result was a narrowing and hardening of the public mind and an inflaming of the public heart. Such an epoch of strife could not be propitious to the development of creative literature, but that life in the Old South was propitious to the development of character among the favored classes is equally obvious. No nobler man than Robert E. Lee can be named in American history, and the characteristic virtues seen at their height in Lee were abundantly illustrated by the men and women of his social class. In other words, the Old South was dominated by an aristocracy marked by many fine qualities, but resting upon slavery and the ownership of land as a basis and thus out of touch, not merely with the democracy of INTRODUCTION 6? the rest of America, but with the mixed civilization of Europe. There was, it is true, a democracy in the South, — especially in the mountain regions, and more particularly in the states of North Carolina and Georgia, — but it was the aristocracy that conducted the general political policy of the section and that represented it before the world. We need not dwell on the condition of the non-slaveholding whites and of the negroes, for it is now seen at a glance that the social structure of the South was an anachronism and that it would probably have been ended through war even if there had been no written constitution to afford points of con- tended interpretation. It is equally plain that the failure of the South to contribute greatly to literature, art, and science was due to no mental or spiritual defects on the part of the Southern people, but to conditions inseparable from a rural, aristocratic social system. Country gentlemen have in no age or land done much to aid the artistic and scientific development of the world, and the Southern planters were no exception to the rule. They had no great cities to attract and develop youths of promise ; they were far removed from printers and publishers, and led a life not conducive to mental exertion ; they had inherited in many cases a prejudice against writing for money as a profession for gentlemen. Hence it is no wonder that while Richmond and Charleston and New Orleans contained not a few citizens of culture, some of whom endeavored to write books and to publish magazines, no such literary development was possible in any of them as was seen in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Even the New South, with its greater activity and success in literature, has as yet no literary centre, and much the same condition of affairs prevails in the West. But despite all obstacles not a few men and women in the ante bellum South devoted themselves to literature, and when one makes a close study of the work they did, one is on the whole rather sur- prised to find how much success was achieved by them. At the opening of the period there is little to chronicle save the writings of public men, which, though excellent in their way, did not often display the literary quality visible in the speeches of John Randolph of Roanoke. With Wirt and the cultured group of lawyers who 68 INTRODUCTION were his friends in Richmond, such as John Wickham and Francis Gilmer, we have the first literary coterie of any importance. But to-day " The Letters of the British Spy " and " The Old Bachelor " seem very old-fashioned, and the " Life of Patrick Henry," though still read, is almost worthless as biography. Wirt was a genial, cultivated, and able man, but as a writer he was little more than an amateur. Amateurish also were the early Southern poets, Shaw and Pinkney and Key in Maryland, Dabney and Maxwell and Munford in Virginia, Crafts and Holland and their compeers in South Carolina. If some of them, especially Pinkney, had- been granted longer lives and a more propitious environment, they might have left us more than an occasional poem of promise or excellence ; but this could not be, and it was not long before able Southerners like Hugh S. Legard were pointing out the limitations of their predecessors like Crafts. Late in the twenties and early in the thirties genuine men of letters were produced. Poe practi- cally began his career in Baltimore, where Kennedy, 1 who con- tinued the Wirt tradition of the literary lawyer, gave him assistance. Through Kennedy, Poe formed his famous connection with The Southern Literary Messenger, which Thomas W. White had estab- lished in Richmond under the editorship of Mr. James E. Heath, afterward the author of a novel, " Edgehill." Poe took the jour- nal from an amateur, and most of the contributors on whom he relied were amateurs also, but he managed it as a professional, and gave it an impetus that enabled it to survive into the Civil War. 2 Under the poet John R. Thompson, it had, during the fifties, a sort of Indian summer of success, numbering among its contribu- tors not only young Southerners like John Esten Cooke and Tim- rod and Paul Hayne, but Northern writers like Donald G. Mitchell. Meanwhile Charleston had produced in William Gilmore Simms the first important Southern novelist and the most indefatigable of Southern editors. Before Simms made himself famous, The South- ern Review (1828-1832) had shown what a creditable quarterly 1 Among Baltimore writers the poet and critic George Henry Calvert and Brantz Mayer and S. Teakle Wallis deserve special mention. 2 The dates of the Messenger are 1834-1864. A history of the periodical by Dr. Benjamin Blake Minor, who was editor between 1843 and 1847, has just been published. INTRODUCTION 69 could be conducted in the South. In its pages Hugh S. Legare, Stephen Elliott, Thomas Smith Grimke, and others of their cultured group found an organ for their thought. After Legare aban- doned literature, Simms labored zealously in the cause, and by his series of Revolutionary and Border romances and by his editor- ship of The Southern Quarterly Review? and above all by his hearty sympathy with all Southern aspirants for literary fame, he performed a work which it would be ungrateful for Southerners, if not for Americans, ever to forget. Just before the Civil War, young men who formed part of his coterie in Charleston, and had had advantages of education denied to him, collaborated in Rus- sell's Magazine (185 7-1860) and made it a credit, if a short-lived one, to its city and section. Two of these young men were the poets Timrod and Hayne, whose memories are cherished by the Southern people, and whose worth as poets is being slowly recog- nized by the country at large. Meanwhile the other Southern states had produced writers who could not be wholly discouraged, even by the most depressing con- ditions. They were in many cases historians zealous for the fame of their respective commonwealths. Charles Campbell in Virginia (1807-1876) and Albert James Pickett (1810-1858) in Alabama may serve as examples. Professor George Tucker in Virginia and Judge Gayarre\in Louisiana were historians of broader sweep and accomplished writers in other fields. 2 Publicists and orators were, of course, produced in abundance, Calhoun easily taking the lead as a subtle expounder of the rights of minorities. The fame of these 1 The dates of the Review are 1842-1856. Simms took charge in 1849. 2 Writers of travels ought not to be overlooked. Probably the best-known Southern writer of this type was the celebrated Mme. Octavia Walton Le Vert (1810- 1877) , who was born in Georgia, but spent much of her life in Mobile. She was highly educated and brilliant, saw something of Washington society, and of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun ; married Dr. Henry S. Le Vert, of Mobile, and became a noted figure in that city; travelled in Europe in the fifties and met many distin- guished people ; and, although opposed to secession, was active in her good services to soldiers during the Civil War. Her ebullient " Souvenirs of Travel," which she is said to have written at the suggestion of Lamartine, were issued in two volumes in 1857. They still retain some interest, though not nearly so much as the famous book which the talented Englishwoman, Fanny Kemble (Mrs. Butler) , wrote about the South, — "journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation" (1863). •JO INTRODUCTION old-time speakers — Hayne, Toombs, Stephens, Yancey, Sergeant S. Prentiss ' (of Northern birth) — is still fresh, but rather through tradition than through much reading of such of their speeches as are in print. There was also a small group of sociologists who wrote some very queer books, 2 a larger group of defenders of slav- ery, among whom were to be found very able advocates like Pro- fessor Albert Taylor Bledsoe (1809-18 7 7), and a commercial and industrial organ, the well-known De Bow's Review of New Orleans. 3 More important to the literary student are minor poets like Philip Cooke of Virginia and James Barron Hope of the same state, Richard Henry Wilde, who is best credited to Georgia, A. B. Meek of Alabama, Albert Pike, born in Massachusetts but long resident in Arkansas, and quite a list of others, whose names will suggest themselves to persons familiar with Southern literature. And more important than these are the Southwestern and the Georgia humorists, who not only influenced the development of our national humor, but also pointed out the way to those writers of local real- istic fiction who have contributed so much to the literary reputa- tion of the New South. They begin with Judge Longstreet and William Tappan Thompson in Georgia and with Davy Crockett in Tennessee, culminate in Judge Baldwin the genial author of the " Flush Times," and end for our period at least with the amusing yarns of "Sut Lovengood " (George Washington Harris, 18 14- 1868, an adopted citizen of Tennessee), and the funny lucubrations of "Mozis Addums " (George W. Bagby of Virginia, 1828-1883), and "Bill Arp" (Charles Henry Smith of Georgia, 1823-1903). Coarse and crude though some of this humor may appear to-day, it is one of the most characteristic and interesting products of the Old South, and, if space had permitted, it would have been more completely represented in this volume by the inclusion of selections from the three genuine humorists last named. Many of the writers named above were journalists at one time or another in their careers, a fact which reminds us that the Old South 1 For a brief account of Prentiss as a speaker, see Reuben Davis's " Recollections of Mississippi and Mississippians " (1891), pp. 81-83. 2 See, for example, the large collaborated volume of essays entitled " Cotton is King." 8 The dates seem to be 1846-1864 and 1866- 1870. INTRODUCTION 7 1 numbered among its editors some of the most famous in the whole country. Thomas Ritchie (1778-1854), editor of the Richmond Enquirer; the rival he killed in a duel, John Hampden Pleasants (1 797-1846), of the Richmond Whig; George D. Prentice of the Louisville Journal, who will be mentioned again ; the elder Joseph Gales (1 760-1 841) of the Raleigh Register, and his sons Joseph 1 (1786-1860) and Seaton (1828-1878) ; the brilliant William R. Taber of the Charleston Mercury, who was killed in a duel in 1856 — these are among the most eminent of the jour- nalists who discussed burning questions and were ever ready to fight for their opinions. Perhaps the most remarkable of them all was the erratic John Moncure Daniel (1825-1865), editor of the Richmond Examiner, and for seven years minister to the court of Victor Emmanuel at Turin. His criticism of President Davis in the Civil War was caustic in the extreme, and the fame of his editorials and the impression made by his striking personality, which reminds one of that of John Randolph of Roanoke, have not yet been effaced by the lapse of years. 2 It is almost needless to append to this brief sketch the names of the numerous writers of the Old South whom for one reason or another it did not seem proper to include in the present anthology. Many are mentioned in the special introductions and in footnotes ; others may be found in such repositories as the useful Stedman- Hutchinson " Library of American Literature " ; others of still less consequence but of interest to the student of the literature of the state to which they belong may be searched for in special biblio- graphical lists. 8 It is more important to warn the student not to 1 Of The National Intelligencer, of Washington, D.C. 2 Daniel figures in the interesting " Autobiography " (1904) of his talented and widely accomplished kinsman, Mr. Moncure Daniel Conway, who was born in Virginia (1831) , but has long been a citizen of the world. Daniel's war editorials were gathered by his brother Frederick S. Daniel, in a privately printed volume (1868). An excellent sketch of the famous editor entitled "John M. Daniel's Latch- Key " was written by the editor and humorist already mentioned, Dr. George W. Bagby (Lynchburg, 1868). See also an article, " John M. Daniel and his Con- temporaries," by O. P. Fitzgerald, in The South Atlantic Quarterly for January, I905, — a sketch of several old-time editors by one who knew many of them. 8 Merely to illustrate the kinds of books and some of the writers that might yield materials for short essays the following brief list of names may be given : Rev. Deve- 72 INTRODUCTION allow his patriotic feelings to cause him to set too high a value on even the best work that has been brought together in this division of our volume, and to counsel him to do his work on Southern literature always with an eye to the history of the literature of the entire country as he will find it outlined in such works as those by Professor Richardson, Professor Wendell, and the present editor. reuxjarratt (1733-1801) , whose posthumous " Autobiography " (1806) is very read- able; Rev. Robert B.Semple (1769-1831), author of the "History of Virginia Baptists" (1810) ; Bishop William Meade (1789-1862), author of " Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia" (1857) — these three writers suffice to show how much interesting material there is relative to the ecclesiastical history of the South; Robert Greenhow (1800-1854) , historian of Tripoli and Oregon ; and George Fitz- hugh (1807-1881), the sociologist, author of the curious " Cannibals All, or Slaves without Masters " (1856) ; Professor Thomas R. Dew of William and Mary College (1802-1846), another sociologist, must suffice for Virginia. Hinton Rowan Helper (1829), author of the sensational " Impending Crisis of the South " (1857) ; The- ophilus Hunter Hill (1836-1901), poet and editor; and the historian John Hill Wheeler (1806-1882)- may represent North Carolina, a state which has given inter- esting men to other commonwealths ; for example, the jurist and historian Francois Xavier Martin (1764-1846) to Louisiana, and the statesman and historian Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858)10 Missouri. South Carolina furnishes many subjects; for example, Francis Kinloch (1755-1826) , the traveller and patriot ; Mrs. Louisa S. McCord (1810-1880) and her husband Colonel David J. McCord (1797-1855) ; the essayist Henry J. Nott (1797-1837) ; Charles Fraser (1782-1860), painter and poet; the able Presbyterian clergyman and writer, Dr. James H. Thornwell (1812-1862) ; the once popular poetess, Miss Mary E. Lee (1813-1849) ; and the less-known relig- ious poetess, Miss Catherine Gendron Poyas (1813-1882) . Georgia suggests among other names those of the Rev. Francis Robert Goulding (1810-1881), author of that old-time favorite of boys and girls, " The Young Marooners " (1852 ; enlarged, 1866) ; and of the accomplished lawyer, Robert M. Charlton (1807-1854) . To go through the other states would be tedious, but attention may be called to the once popular novelist, Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz (1800-1856) , who lived in several parts of the South ; to Dr. William A. Caruthers (1800-1850) , who was born in Virginia but became a physician in Georgia, his romances, such as the readable " Knights of the Horse-Shoe " (1845 and 1881) , dealing with colonial times in the state of his nativ- ity; to the poet Augustus J. Requier (1825-1887) of South Carolina and Alabama, author of the Confederate lyric " Ashes of Glory " ; to Mrs. Catharine Warfield (1816- 1877) of Mississippi and Kentucky, author of " The Household of Bouverie " (i860) and other novels ; and to such distinguished foreigners as Dr. Thomas Cooper and Professor Francis Lieber, who spent a portion of their lives at the South Carolina College of Columbia. A topic of special interest is the magazines of the ante helium South, particularly those that were born — and died — in Charleston. JOHN MARSHALL Jl JOHN MARSHALL [John Marshall, the eldest son of Colonel Thomas Marshall, a friend of Washington and a distinguished Revolutionary soldier, was born in German- town, Fauquier County, Virginia, September 24, 1755, and died in Phila- delphia, July 6, 1835. He received a good education, began to study law, joined his father in resisting the British by taking arms, served with distinc- tion, and was made captain in 1779. Toward the end of the war he resumed his legal studies, and he was admitted to the bar in 1780. Then he served again in the army, and later began a practice which was soon extensive. About 1783 he made Richmond, where his house still stands, his permanent residence. He was elected to the legislature and defended the new Constitu- tion in the Virginia Convention of 1 788, answering Patrick Henry with great acumen. He became a strong Federalist in politics, and in 1795 Washington offered him the attorney-generalship, which he declined. In 1797 he was one of the three American commissioners to France who were involved in the famous X. Y. Z. affair. In 1799 he was elected to Congress and later was made Secretary of State, filling the position until the close of John Adams's administration, when he was appointed Chief Justice (January, 1801). In his decisions he had an opportunity to influence profoundly the development of the country in the direction of centralization, and in a very true sense he may be regarded as the chief supporter of the federal government between Washing- ton and Lincoln. In consequence he was brought into strong opposition with statesmen like Jefferson, who believed in limiting the powers of the central government. But his force as a legal reasoner and his personal integrity were such that he commanded the respect of all, and laid the basis of a fame that seems destined to increase rather than to diminish. He is regarded by com- mon consent as the greatest of American jurists, although it is freely admitted that there have been much more learned lawyers. As a writer, apart from his great opinions, his reputation rests upon an elaborate life of Washington, undertaken at the request of that statesman's relatives. This was published in five volumes between 1804 and 1807. In many respects it is more of a history than a biography, indeed, the first volume was afterward issued sepa- rately as a contribution to the history of the colonies. Shortly before his death the work, which is still used as an authority but scarcely read for pleas- ure, was revised and condensed. There is a short life of Marshall by Allan B. Magruder in the " American Statesmen " series.] 74 JOHN MARSHALL THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 1 [From "The Life of George Washington." Second Edition. Reprint of 1850.] No man has ever appeared upon the theatre of public action, whose integrity was more incorruptible, or whose principles were more perfectly free from the contamination of those selfish and unworthy passions, which find their nourishment in the conflicts of party. Having no views which required concealment, his real and avowed motives were the same ; and his whole correspondence does not furnish a single case, from which even an enemy would infer that he was capable, under any circumstances, of stooping to the employment of duplicity. No truth can be uttered with more confidence than that his ends were always upright, and his means always pure. He exhibits the rare example of a politician to whom wiles were absolutely unknown, and whose professions to foreign governments, and to his own countrymen, were always sincere. In him was fully exemplified the real distinction, which forever exists, between wisdom and cunning, and the importance as well as truth of the maxim that "honesty is the best policy.'' If Washington possessed ambition, that passion was, in his bosom, so regulated by principles, or controlled by circumstances, that it was neither vicious nor turbulent. Intrigue was never em- ployed as the means of its gratification, nor was personal aggran- dizement its object. The various high and important stations to which he was called by the public voice, were unsought by himself; and, in consenting to fill them, he seems rather to have yielded to 1 The passage is taken from the concluding pages of the last chapter. The student will be interested in comparing it with the Funeral Oration delivered in 1800 by Henry (" Light Horse Harry ") Lee ^756-1818) , father of General Robert E. Lee, and author of " Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States" (1812), which his distinguished son afterward revised (1869). In this oration occur the famous phrases, " First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the endearing scenes of private life." In the resolutions passed by the House of Representatives on Washington's death, General Lee had written, " the Man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens." See Marshall's " Washington," II, 441. MASON LOCKE WEEMS 75 a general conviction that the interests of his country would be thereby promoted, than to an avidity for power. Neither the extraordinary partiality of the American people, the extravagant praises which were bestowed upon him, nor the inveterate opposition and malignant calumnies which he encoun- tered, had any visible influence upon his conduct. The cause is to be looked for in the texture of his mind. In him, that innate and unassuming modesty which adulation would have offended, which the voluntary plaudits of millions could not betray into indiscretion, and which never obtruded upon others his claims to superior consideration, was happily blended with a high and correct sense of personal dignity, and with a just consciousness of that respect which is due to station. Without exertion, he could maintain the happy medium between that arrogance which wounds, and that facility which allows the office to be degraded in the person who fills it. MASON LOCKE WEEMS [One of the most curious and interesting figures in American literature is the celebrated " Parson Weems." He was born at Dumfries, Virginia, about I 760, and died at Beaufort, South Carolina, May 23, 1825. At the end of the Revo- lution he sought ordination in England, there being then no American bishop, and he solicited the aid of Franklin in the matter. Later he was rector of Pohick Church near Mount Vernon and had Washington for a parishioner. His salary did not suffice to support his numerous family, and about 1790 he became a book agent for the well-known Philadelphia publisher and writer, Mathew Carey. He adopted methods similar to those now employed by itinerant venders of patent medicines, and was very successful. He rode through the South, and wherever he could find a fair or other gathering, he would collect people around him, talk about his books, tell anecdotes, and amuse his audi- ence by his eccentricities. He was a noted performer on the fiddle and would play for young people to dance — on one occasion a falling screen actually revealed him playing in his clerical clothes, to the great scandal of the beholders. In 1800 he turned author, publishing his "Life of Washington," which has been one of the most popular books ever written by an American. Lives of Marion (1805), Franklin (1817), and Penn (1819) followed. All are marked by fluency of narrative and the gift of making a good point, but j6 MASON LOCKE WEEMS they have no pretensions to accuracy. The story of the cherry tree rests solely on Weems's authority and is of very slight credibility; the account of Marion, which purported to be by Weems and General Peter Horry, was so embel- lished that the latter was outraged and disclaimed responsibility for the way Weems presented the facts. There is no reason to suppose that the " Parson " intended to be unveracious ; he simply thought, with many of his contempo- raries, and actually stated, that a story with a good moral would benefit his readers, whether it were true or not. He also wrote curious stories dealing very crudely with drunkards and murderers, his object in writing them being to strike terror into the souls of evil doers. These are quite rare, but copies of his chief biographies are easily obtained — the "Life of George Washington" vtent through about seventy editions — and are worth a glance, since they well illustrate the sort of book that appeals to the simpler elements of our popu- lation. A good account of Weems was contributed to the Sunday News of Charleston for August 30, 1903, by Ludwig Lewisohn.] WASHINGTON AND THE CHERRY TREE 1 [From "The Life of George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes, equally Honourable to himself and exemplary to his Young Countrymen." Seventeenth Edition, 1816.] The following anecdote is a case in point. It is too valuable to be lost, and too true to be doubted ; for it was communicated to me by the same excellent lady to whom I am indebted for the last. "When George," said she, "was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet .' of which, like most little boys, he was immoderately fond ; and was constantly going about chopping everything that came in his way. One day, in the gar- den, where he often amused himself hacking his mother's pea- sticks, he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly, that I don't believe the tree ever got the better of it. The next morning the old gentleman, finding out what had befallen his tree, which, by the by, was a great favourite, came into the house ; and 1 From Chapter II. It is said that the first version of the cherry-tree story ap- pears in the fifth edition of the " Life," printed in Augusta, Georgia, in 1806, the earlier editions having contained no stories of Washington's boyhood. See William W. Ellsworth's letter to The Evening Post, February 2, 1905. MARION'S ESCAPE J J with much warmth asked for the mischievous author, declaring at the same time, that he would not have taken five guineas for his tree. Nobody could tell him anything about it. Presently George and his hatchet made their appearance. ' George,' said his father, ' do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry-tree yonder in the garden ? ' This was a tough question ; and George staggered under it for a moment ; but quickly recovered himself : and looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth brightened with the inexpressible charm of all- conquering truth, he bravely cried out, ' I can't tell a lie, Pa ; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.' ' Run to my arms, you dearest boy,' cried his father in transports, ' run to my arms ; glad am I, George, that you killed my tree ; for you have paid me for it a thousand- fold. Such an act of heroism in my son is more worth than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold.' " MARION'S ESCAPE [From " The Life of General Francis Marion, a Celebrated Partisan Officer in the Revolutionary War, against the British and Tories in South Carolina and Georgia. By Brig. -Gen. P. Horry, of Mari- on's Brigade : and M. L. Weems." Eleventh Edition. Frankford (near Phil.). Published by Joseph Allen, 1826.] How happy it "is for man, that the author of his being loves him so much better than he loves himself; and has established so close a connexion between his duty and his advantage. This delightful truth was remarkably exemplified in an event that befell Marion about this time, March, 1780. Dining with a squad of choice Whigs, in Charleston, in the house of Mr. Alex- ander M'Queen, Tradd street, he was so frequently pressed to bumpers of old wine, that he found himself in a fair way to get drunk. 'Twas in vain he attempted to beat a retreat. The com- pany swore, that that would never do for General Marion. Find- ing,' at last, that there was no other way of escaping a debauch, but by leaping out of one of the windows of the dining-room, which was on the second story, he bravely undertook it. It cost 78 WILLIAM WIST him, however, a broken ankle. When the story got about in Charleston, most people said he was a great fool for his pains ; but the event soon proved that Marion was in the right, and that there is no policy like sticking to a man's duty. For, behold, presently Charleston was invested by a large British army, and the American general (Lincoln) 1 finding Marion was utterly unfit for duty, advised him to push off in a litter to his seat in St. John's parish. Thus providentially was Marion preserved to his country when Charleston fell, 2 as it soon did, with all our troops. WILLIAM WIRT [William Wirt, who was not merely a distinguished lawyer, orator, and statesman, but for many years was regarded as the chief Southern man of letters, was born in Bladensburg, Maryland, November 8, 1772, and died in Washington, D.C., February 18, 1834. He was of Swiss and German stock and was early left an orphan. He received a good education for those days, read widely, secured an excellent position as a family tutor, and studied law. He practised in Virginia, and through his marriage with a Miss Gilmer was thrown with many distinguished men, including Jefferson. At the close of the century his wife died and Wirt removed to Richmond, thence to Norfolk, and back again to Richmond, securing a judicial office and also extending his reputation by his " Letters of the British Spy," Addisonian essays first published in a Richmond newspaper (1803). In 1807 he delivered in the prosecution of Aaron Burr at Richmond the celebrated speech from which schoolboys have taken a favorite declamation. After this Wirt continued to practise, formed a literary circle which joined in the production of essays such as " The Old Bachelor " (1812), and took a minor part in state politics. In 181 7 he published his most famous book, " Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry." In this, as we have already seen, he created a legend rather than portrayed a man, but the vitality of the book is a proof of its literary power. In the same year he was made Attorney-General of the United States and held the office through the administrations of Monroe and John Quincy Adams, and although he made no marked impression as a statesman, he maintained his position as one of the most eminent lawyers of the country. He then retired to Baltimore, his closing years being uneventful, save for the fact that in 1832 he made the mistake of allowing himself to be voted for as the candidate of the Anti- Masonic party for the presidency. He was an admirable example of the 1 General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810) of Massachusetts. • 2 May, 1780. THE BLIND PREACHER 79 cultured gentleman of the old school, well read in the classics, carrying his handsome person with great dignity, kindly and courteous, devoted to his profession, his country, and his church. As an orator and writer he was somewhat too ornate and florid to suit modern taste, nor was he in any sense profound or original; but he was clear and felicitous both in his speaking and in his writing, and in his private correspondence he was often charming. Among his Virginia associates should be specially mentioned the Richmond lawyer, John Wickham and a brilliant relation by marriage, Francis Walker Gilmer, to the latter of whom many of Wirt's best letters were addressed. Although we cannot now regard these men as more than brilliant amateurs in their literary capacity, we should make a mistake if we did not recognize their great ability as advo- cates and learned lawyers, and their position as leaders in a society eminent for its virtues and graces. 1 ] THE BLIND PREACHER [From "The Letters of the British Spy." Tenth Edition (1832). Reprint of 1856.] It was one Sunday, as I travelled through the county of Orange, that my eye was caught by a cluster of horses tied near a ruinous, old, wooden house, in the forest, not far from the road-side. . Hav- ing frequently seen such objects before, in travelling through these states, I had no difficulty in understanding that this was a place of religious worship. Devotion alone should have stopped me, to join in the duties of the congregation ; but I must confess that curiosity to hear the preacher of such a wilderness was not the least of my motives. On entering, I was struck with his preternatural appearance ; he was a tall and very spare old man ; his head, which was covered with a white linen cap, his shrivelled hands, and his voice, were all 1 An interesting and valuable " Memoir " of Wirt in two volumes (1849) was written by John Pendleton Kennedy (q.v.). Unfortunately one can never be sure that the letters contained in it are precisely what Wirt wrote. The present editor, in preparing a monograph on the mission of Francis Walker Gilmer to secure English professors for the University of Virginia, had an opportunity of examining some of Wirt's letters in the original and found that they had lost in raciness through Kennedy's attempts to amend them. See " English Culture in Virginia " (1889), published in the Johns Hopkins "Studies in Historical and Political Science." 80 WILLIAM WIRT shaking under the influence of a palsy ; and a few moments ascer- tained to me that he was perfectly blind. The first emotions which touched my breast, were those of mingled pity and veneration. But ah ! sacred God ! how soon were all my feelings changed ! The lips of Plato were never more worthy of a prognostic swarm of bees, than were the lips of this holy man ! It was a day of the administration of the sacra- ment ; and his subject, of course, was the passion of our Saviour. I had heard the subject handled a thousand times : I had thought it exhausted long ago. Little did I suppose, that in the wild woods of America, I was to meet with a man whose eloquence would give to this topic a new and more sublime pathos, than I had ever before witnessed. As he descended from the pulpit, to distribute the mystic symbols, there was a peculiar, a ,more than human solemnity in his air and manner which made my blood run cold, and my whole frame shiver. He then drew a picture of the sufferings of our Saviour; his trial before Pilate ; his ascent up Calvary ; his crucifixion, and his death. I knew the whole history; but never, until then, had I heard the circumstances so selected, so arranged, so colored ! It was all new : and I seemed to have heard it for the first time in my life. His enunciation was so deliberate, that his voice trembled on every syllable ; and every heart in the assembly trembled in unison. His peculiar phrases had that force of description that the original scene appeared to be, at that moment, acting before our eyes. We saw the very faces of the Jews : the staring, fright- ful distortions of malice and rage. We saw the buffet ; my soul kindled with a flame of indignation ; and my hands were involun- tarily and convulsively clinched. But when he came to touch on the patience, the forgiving meekness of our Saviour ; when he drew, to the life, his blessed eyes streaming in tears to heaven ; his voice breathing to God a soft and gentle prayer of pardon on his enemies, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do " — the voice of the preacher; which had all along faltered, grew fainter and fainter, until his utter- ance being entirely obstructed by the force of his feelings, he raised" BURR AND BLENNERHASSETT 8 1 his handkerchief to his eyes, and burst into a loud and irrepressible flood of grief. The effect is inconceivable. The whole house resounded with the mingled groans, and sobs, and. shrieks of the congregation. . . . Guess my surprise, when, on my arrival at Richmond, and men- tioning the name of this man, I found not one person who had ever before heard of James Waddell ! Y Is it not strange, that such a genius as this, so accomplished a scholar, so divine an ora- tor, should be permitted to languish and die in obscurity, within eighty miles of the metropolis of Virginia? BURR AND BLENNERHASSETT [From the Argument in the Trial of Aaron Burr. United- States Circuit Court, Richmond, Virginia, 1807. The Text is that of Kennedy's "Life of William Wirt." Revised Edition, 1850.] Who is Blennerhassett? A native of Ireland • a man of letters, who fled from the storms of his own country to find quiet in ours. His history shows that war is not the natural element of his mind. If it had been, he never would have exchanged Ireland for Amer- ica. So far is an army from furnishing the society natural and proper to Mr. Blennerhassett's character, that on his arrival in America, he retired even from the population of the Atlantic States, and sought quiet and solitude in the bosom of our western forests. But he carried with him taste and science and wealth ; and lo, the desert smiled ! Possessing himself of a beautiful island in the Ohio, he rears upon it a palace, and decorates it with every romantic embellishment of fancy. . A shrubbery, that Shenstone 2 might have 1 James Waddel or Waddell must have deserved much of Wirt's praise ; indeed, the latter once declared that he had fallen short of the truth in his description, and Madison and Patrick Henry praised Waddell highly. He was born in Ireland in 1739 and died in Louisa County, Virginia, in 1805, He came as an infant to Penn- sylvania, became a teacher, then emigrated to Virginia, and under the guidance of the famous Samuel Davies entered the Presbyterian ministry. He filled various charges until about 1785 when he partly took up teaching again. He became blind in 1787. Before his death he ordered that all his manuscripts be burned. Thus his reputation depends upon the above sketch and upon tradition. 2 William Shenstone (1714-1763) , an English poet noted for the taste he displayed in laying out his country-seat. • 82 WILLIAM WIRT envied, blooms around him. Music, that might have charmed Calypso and her nymphs, is his. An extensive library spreads its treasures before him. A philosophical apparatus offers to him all the secrets and mysteries of nature. Peace, tranquillity and inno- cence shed their mingled delights around him. And to crown the enchantment of the scene, a wife, who is said to be lovely even beyond her sex, and graced with every accomplishment that can render it irresistible, had blessed him with her love and made him the father of several children. The evidence would convince you that this is but a faint picture of the real life. In the midst of all this peace, this innocent simplicity and this tranquillity, this feast of the mind, this pure banquet of the heart, the destroyer comes ; he comes to change this paradise into a hell. Yet the flowers do not wither at his approach. No monitory shuddering through the bosom of their unfortunate possessor warns him of the ruin that is coming upon him. A stranger presents himself. Introduced to their civilities by the high rank which he had lately held in his country, he soon finds his way to their hearts by the dignity and elegance of his demeanor, the light and beauty of his conversation, and the seductive and fascinating power of his address. The con- quest was not difficult. Innocence is ever simple and credulous. Conscious of no design itself, it suspects none in others. It wears no guard before its breast. Every door, and portal, and avenue of the heart is thrown open, and all who choose it enter. Such was the state of Eden when the serpent entered its bowers. The prisoner, in a more engaging form, winding himself into the open and unpractised heart of the unfortunate Blennerhassett, found but little difficulty in changing the native character of that heart and the objects of its affection. By degrees he infuses into it the poison of his own ambition. He breathes into it the fire of his own cour- age ; a daring and desperate thirst for glory ; an ardor panting for great enterprises, for all the storm and bustle and hurricane of life. In a short time the whole man is changed, and every object of his former delight is relinquished. No more he enjoys the tranquil scene ; it has become flat and insipid to his taste. His books are abandoned. His retort and crucible are thrown aside. His shrubbery blooms and breathes its fragrance upon the air in BURR AND BLENNERHASSETT 83 vain ; he likes it not. His ear no longer drinks the rich melody of music ; it longs for the trumpet's clangor and the cannon's roar. Even the prattle of his babes, once so sweet, no longer affects him ; and the angel smile of his wife, which hitherto touched his bosom with ecstasy so unspeakable, is now unseen and unfelt. Greater objects have taken possession of his soul. His imagina- tion has been dazzled by visions of diadems, of stars and garters and titles of nobility. He has been taught to burn with restless emulation at the names of great heroes and conquerors. His en- chanted island is destined soon to relapse into a wilderness ; and in a few months we find the beautiful and tender partner of his bosom, whom he lately "permitted not the winds of" summer "to visit too roughly," 1 we find her shivering at midnight, on the wintry banks of the Ohio, and mingling her tears with the torrents, that froze as they fell. Yet this unfortunate man, thus deluded from his interest and his happiness, thus seduced from the paths of innocence and peace, thus confounded in the toils that were de- liberately spread for him, and overwhelmed by the mastering spirit and genius of another — this man, thus ruined and undone, and made to play a subordinate part in this grand drama of guilt and treason, this man is to be called the principal offender, while he, by whom he was thus plunged in misery, is comparatively innocent, a mere accessary ! Is this reason? Is it law? Is it humanity? Sir, neither the human heart nor the human understanding will bear a perversion so monstrous and absurd ! so shocking to the soul ! so revolting to reason ! Let Aaron Burr then not shrink from the high destination which he has courted; and having already ruined Blennerhassett-in fortune, character and happiness for ever, let him not attempt to finish the tragedy by thrusting that ill-fated man between himself and punishment. 2 1 Wirt was probably thinking of the following lines : — " That he might not beteem the winds of heaven , Visit her face too roughly." — Hamlet, I, ii, 141-142. 2 It is scarcely necessary to remind the student that, greatly to the disgust of Jefferson, Burr's trial miscarried, and that it is believed by not a few persons to-day that his character was painted in too sombre colors by the earlier writers of our' history. 84 WILLIAM WIRT TO CATHARINE WIRT [From Kennedy's "Life of William Wirt," 1850.] Baltimore, November 24, 1822. My dear Catharine : Yesterday morning I arose before day, — shaved and dressed by candlelight, — took my cane and walked to market. There are two market-houses, each of them about three or four times as long as ours in Washington. The first one I came to was the meat market ; the next, which was nearest the basin, was the fish and vegetable market. O ! what a quantity of superb beef, mutton, lamb, veal, and all . sorts of fowls ! — Hogsheads full of wild ducks, geese, pheasants, partridges ; and then, on one side of the market-house, leaving only a narrow lane between them, a line of wagons and carts groaning under the loads of country productions ; these wagons and carts on one side and the market-houses on the other forming a lane as long as from our house to St. John's Church. I must not forget to mention the loads of sweet cakes of all sorts and fashions, that covered the outside tables of the market-houses, and the break- fasts that were cooking everywhere all around for the country people who come many miles to market. You may conceive the vast quantity of provisions that must be brought to this market, when you are told that sixty thousand people draw their daily supplies from it, — which is more than twice as many people as there are in Washington, Georgetown, Alexandria and Richmond, all put together. Well, and so, after I had walked all round and round and through the market-house, I left it and bent my steps toward the country, and walked two miles and a half out to Mr. Thompson's to breakfast. It had been cloudy and rainy for several days ; but the night before had been clear, and although the road was still wet, the morning above head was bright and beautiful. After walking about a mile I came to the summit of a hill that over-looks the city, and there I stopped a moment to take breath and look back upon it. The TO CATHARINE WIRT 8 J ground had begun to smoke from the warmth of the rising sun, and the city seemed to spread itself out below me to a vast extent — a huge dusky mass, to which there seemed no limit. But towering from above the fog was the Washington Monument (a single beautiful column 160 feet in height, which stands in Howard's Park, and is rendered indescribably striking and interest- ing from the touching solitude of the scene from which it lifts its head), and several noble steeples of churches, interspersed through- out the west of the city, whose gilded summits were now glittering in the sun. Casting the eye over Baltimore, it lights upon the Chesapeake Bay, and, after wandering over that flood of waters, it rests on Fort McHenry and it's star-spangled banner. This is the fort where our soldiers gained so much glory last war, and the very' banner with regard to which Mr. Key's beautiful song of the " Star-spangled Banner " was written \_q.v. J. After feasting my eye for some time on the rich, diversified and, boundless landscape that lay before me, meditating on the future grandeur of this city and the rising glories of the nation, I turned around my face to resume my walk into the country, when all its soft beauties burst, by sur- prise, upon me. For while I had been looking back at the town, bay and fort, the sun had risen and was now so high that its light was pouring full upon hill and valley/field and forest, blazing in bright reflection from all the eastern windows of the hundreds of country-houses that crowned the heights around me, and dancing on all the leaves that waved and wantoned in the morning breeze. No city in the world has a more beautiful country around it than Baltimore, in the direction of the west, north and east. In the direction of Washington it is unimproved; but in the, other points all that could have been expected from wealth and fine taste has been accomplished. The grounds which were originally poor have been made rich ; they lie very finely, not flat and tame, nor yet abrupt and rugged, but rising and falling in forms of endless diver- sity, sometimes soft and gentle, at others bold and commanding. This beautiful undulating surface has been improved with great taste, the fields richly covered with grass, the Clumps of trees, groves and forests pruned of all dead limbs and all deformities, and flourishing in strong and healthy luxuriance. The sites for 86 JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE the houses are well selected, — always upon some eminence, em- bosomed amid beautiful trees, from which their white fronts peep out enchantingly ; for the houses are all white, which adds much to the cheerfulness and grace of this unrivalled scenery. I hope one of these days to show it to you in person, and then you will be able to imagine what a delightful ramble I had to Mr. Thomp- son's yesterday morning. I took them quite by surprise ; but it was a most agreeable one, and they were rejoiced to see me. Mr. Thompson inquired most kindly after all in Washington, — and giving me a good country breakfast, (most delightful butter,) brought me back to town in his gig, where we arrived by nine o'clock, an hour before Court. Was not this an industrious morning ? Your affectionate father, Wm. Wirt. JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE [John Randolph was born at Cawsons, Virginia, June 2, 1773, and died in Philadelphia, June 24, 1833. He was seventh in descent from Pocahontas, the Indian princess who married John Rolfe. His father died when he was two years old ; shortly after his mother married St. George Tucker, who made a good stepfather. He did not get much schooling and has himself described, in a letter to his nephew, the deficiencies of his early reading, although probably with some exaggeration. In 1787 he was sent to Princeton; the next year, after the death of the mother he dearly loved, he became a student of Columbia College. Then he studied law in Philadelphia under his cousin, Edmund Randolph, Washington's Attorney-General. Some dissipation, an unfortunate love affair, emotional experiences in politics and in religion, seem to have combined with constitutional infirmities of mind to give his character a twist that affected his whole life, making him eccentric always, and at times, scarcely, if at all, sane. About 1795 he returned to Virginia and led the life of a planter, family troubles adding to his misanthropy. In 1799 he first' ap- peared as an orator in answer to Patrick Henry on the subject of the Virginia Resolutions against the Alien and Sedition laws. At this time he was elected to Congress, where he made an indiscreet speech which got him into trouble with some military officers, and, as a result, with President Adams. But he soon showed his genius as a leader in the House, becoming a brilliant de- bater and for a time the Democratic manager. He broke with his relative JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE 87 Jefferson, however, especially as the latter was growing more and more national in his political views, while Randolph looked upon himself as the spokesman of an old and important state. He could never be trusted to carry legislation through in the way Jefferson desired, and although success- ful for some time in his own way, he failed signally in his attempt to secure a verdict against Justice Chase in the impeachment trial of that Federalist judge. Then, too, he lost the support of the administration and of the Northern Democrats by his violence in debating the famous case of the Yazoo claims, and finally he became a congressional free-lance, attacking or defend- ing at his pleasure, but always making himself feared for his unrivalled powers of invective. His fellow- Virginians were proud of him, and returned him almost continuously to Congress, where he upheld the doctrine of states rights with an acumen and vigor that were afterward serviceable to Calhoun. He was opposed to slavery, but still more opposed to any interference with the affairs of a sovereign state. He also opposed all forms of war, and thus found himself at odds with Madison during the contest of 1812. His most famous quarrel was with Henry Clay in consequence of some thoroughly unjustified but brilliantly caustic remarks made by Randolph with regard to the falsely charged bargain between Clay and John Quincy Adams. From 1825 to 1827 he represented Virginia in the Senate, where he would deliver long, rambling speeches to which no one save perhaps Calhoun would listen. In 1829 he was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention and spoke with great eloquence. In 1830 he accepted the mission to Russia, but the climate soon drove him home. There was considerable scandal caused by his spending a year in England, and yet drawing over $20,000 in salary which he applied to his debts; but he was not the person to mind criticism. By the will which was sustained by the courts, his slaves were emancipated. Some of his speeches were published during his life, and after his death a volume of his " Letters to a Young Relative " appeared (1834). These give a good idea of his varied culture and of his style, which is singularly racy and effective. Probably no other man of modSrn times has been such a master of extemporized invective, and Randolph's unique powers in this respect were enhanced by his striking appearance and his peculiarities. He was six feet in height, very slim, odd in dress, and most effective in his habit of shaking and pointing his long fingers at the person he was making his target. The selections given will illustrate his general powers of sarcasm ; how he silenced an individual will appear from the following : A gentleman " ventured in the House to amend one of Randolph's motions on military matters. The rash man had formerly been a watchmaker. Randolph looked at him a moment ; then, pulling out his watch, turned its face toward his opponent, and asked him what time it was. The victim told him. ' Sir,' said Randolph, ' you can mend my watch, but not my motions. You understand tic-tics, sir, but not tac-tics.' " * The 1 From the paper on "John Randolph of Roanoke "iri the present editor's "Southern Statesmen of the Old Regime" (1897). 88 JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE speeches of Randolph have never been collected. See the able but one-sided biography of him by Henry Adams in the " American Statesmen " series (1882), and the life by H. A. Garland (2 vols. 1850); also The Century Magazine, March, 1896.] VAULTING AMBITION 1 [From "Speeches of Mr. Randolph on the Greek Question," etc. Washington, 1824. J But, sir, we have not done. Not satisfied with attempting to support the Greeks, one world, like that of Pyrrhus or Alexander, is not sufficient for us. We have yet another world for exploits : we are to operate in a country distant from us 80 degrees of latitude, and only accessible by a circumnavigation of the glpbe, and to sustain which, we must cover the Pacific with our ships, and the tops of the Andes with our soldiers. Do gentlemen seri- ously reflect on the work they have cut out for us ? Why, sir, these projects of ambition surpass those of Bonaparte himself. It has once been said, of the dominions of the King of Spain — thank God ! it can no longer be said — that the sun never set upon them. Sir, the sun never sets on ambition like this ; they who have once felt its scorpion sting, are never satisfied with a limit less than the circle of our planet. I have heard, sir, the late corruscation in the Heavens attempted to be accounted for, by the return of the Lunar Cycle, the moon having got back into the same relative position in which she was nineteen years ago. However this may be, I am afraid, sir, that she exerts too potent an influence over our legislation, or will have done so, if we agree to adopt the resolution on your table. I think, about once in seven or eight years, for that seems to be the term of political cycle, we may calculate upon beholding some redoubted champion — like him who prances into Westminster Hall, armed cap-a-pie, like Sir Somebody Dimock, at the coronation of the British King, challenging all who dispute the title to the crown — coming into this House, mounted on some magnificent project, such as this. 1 The speech from which this extract is taken was delivered in the House of Representatives on January 24, 1824. VAULTING AMBITION 89 But, sir, I never expected, that, of all places in the world, (except Salem) a proposition like this should have come from Boston. 1 Sir, I am afraid, that, along with some most excellent attributes and qualities — the love of liberty, jury trial, the writ of habeas •corpus, and all the blessings of free government, we have derived from our Anglo Saxon ancestors, we have got not a little of their John Bull, or rather John Bull Dog spirit — their readiness to fight for anybody, and on any occasion. Sir, England has been for centuries the game cock of Europe. It is impossible to specify the wars in which she has been engaged for contrary purposes ; and she will with great pleasure, see us take off her shoulders the labor of preserving the balance of power. We find her fighting, now, for the Queen of Hungary — then for her inveterate foe, the King of Prussia — now at war for the restoration of the Bour- bons — and now on the eve of war with them for the liberties of Spain. These lines on the subject, were never more applicable than they have now become : — " Now Europe's balanced — neither side prevails -r- For nothing's left in either of the scales." If we pursue the same policy, we must travel the same road, and endure the same burthens, under which England now groans. But, Mr. R. said, glorious as such a design might be, a President of the United States would, in his appreciation, occupy a prouder place in history, who, when he retires from office, can say to the people who elected him, I leave you without a debt, than if he had fought as many pitched battles as Caesar, or achieved as many naval victories as Nelson. And what, said Mr. R., is debt? In an individual, it is slavery. It is slavery of the worst sort, surpassing that of the West India Islands, for it enslaves the mind, as well as it enslaves the body ; and the creature who can be abject enough to incur and to submit to it, receives in that condition of his being perhaps an adequate punishment. Of course, Mr. R. said, he spoke of debt with the exception of unavoidable misfortune. He spoke of debt caused by mismanagement, by unwarrantable gener- osity, by being generous before being just. Mr. R. knew that his 1 Daniel Webster had offered a resolution for sending an agent to Greece. 90 JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE sentiment was ridiculed by Sheridan, whose lamentable end was the best commentary upon its truth. No, sir. Let us abandon these projects. Let us say to those seven millions of Greeks, " We de- fended ourselves, when we were but three millions, against a power, in comparison with which the Turk is but as a lamb. Go and do thou likewise." INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS AND LOOSE CONSTRUCTIONS 1 [From the Same.] But, sir, it is said we have a right to establish post offices and post roads, and we have a right to regulate commerce between the several states : and it is argued that " to regulate " commerce, is to prescribe the way in which it shall be carried on — which gives, by a liberal construction, the power to construct the way, that is, the roads and canals on which it is to be carried ! Sir, since the days of that unfortunate man, of the German coast, whose name was originally Fyerstein, Anglicised to Firestone, but got, by translation, from that to Flint, from Flint to Pierre-a- Fusil, and from Pierre-a-Fusil to Peter Gun — never was greater violence done the English language, than by the construction, that, under the power to prescribe the way in which commerce shall be carried on, we have the right to construct the way on which it is to be carried. Are gentlemen aware of the colossal power they are giving to the General Government? Sir, I am afraid,- that that ingenious gentleman, Mr. McAdam, 2 will have to give up his title to the distinction of the Colossus of Roads, and surrender it to some of the gentlemen of this committee, if they succeed in their efforts on this occasion. If, indeed, we have the power which is contended for by gentlemen under that clause of the con- stitution which relates to the regulation of commerce among the several states, we may, under the same power, prohibit altogether, i The speech on Internal Improvements from which this characteristically clever extract is taken was delivered in the House on January 31, 1824. 2 John Loudon Macadam (1756- 1836), Scottish road-maker. THE QUALITIES OF A CHIEF 91 the commerce between the states, or any portion of the states — or we may declare that it shall be carried on only in a particular way, by a particular road, or through a particular canal ; or we may say to the people of a particular district, you shall only carry your produce to market through our canals, or over our roads, and then, by tolls, imposed upon them, we may acquire power to extend the same blessings, and privileges, to other districts of the country. Nay, we may go further. We may take it into our heads. Have we not the power to provide and maintain a navy? What more necessary to a navy than seamen to man it? And the great nursery of our seamen is (besides fisheries) the coasting trade — we may take it into our heads, that those monstrous lum- bering wagons that now traverse the country between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, stand in the way of the raising of seamen, and may declare that no communication shall be held between these points but coastwise : we may specify some particular article in which alone trade shall be carried on. THE QUALITIES OF A CHIEF [From "Substance of a Speech of Mr. Randolph on Retrenchment and' Reform, delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States on the First of February, 1828." Washington, 1828.] . . . The talent for government lies in these two things — sa- gacity to perceive, and decision to act. Genuine statesmen were never made such by mere training ; nascuntur non fiunt x — edu- cation will form good business men. The maxim (nascitur non fit) is as true of statesmen as it is of poets. Let a house be on fire, you will soon see in that confusion who has the talent to com- mand. Let a ship be in danger at sea, and ordinary subordination destroyed, and you will immediately make the same discovery. The ascendency of mind and of character exists and rises as naturally and as inevitably, where there is free play for it, as material bodies find their level by gravitation. Thus a great 1 They are born, not made. 92 JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE logician, like a certain animal, oscillating between the hay on different sides of him, wants some power from without, before he can decide from which bundle to make trial. Who believes that Washington could write as good a book or report as Jefferson, or make as able a speech as Hamilton? Who is there that believes that Cromwell would have made as good a Judge as Lord Hale ? x No, sir; these learned and accomplished men find their proper place under those who are fitted to command, and to command them among the rest. Such a man as Washington will say to a Jefferson, do you become my Secretary of State ; to Hamilton, do you take charge of my purse, or that of the nation which is the same thing ; and to Knox, 2 do you be my master of the horse. All history shows this : but great logicians and great scholars are, for that very reason, unfit to be rulers. Would Hannibal have crossed the Alps when there were no roads — with elephants — in the face of the warlike and hardy mountaineers — and have carried terror to the very gates of Rome, if his youth had been spent in poring over books? Would he have been able to maintain him- self on the resources of his own genius for sixteen years in Italy, in spite of faction and treachery in the Senate of Carthage, if he had been deep in conic sections and fluxions, and the differential calculus — to say nothing of botany, and mineralogy, and chemis- try? "Are you not ashamed," said a philosopher to one who was born to rule, "are you not ashamed to play so well upon the flute? " Sir, it was well put. There is much which it becomes a secondary man to know — much that it is necessary for him to know, that a first rate man ought to be ashamed to know. No head was ever clear and sound that was stuffed with book learning. You might as well attempt to fatten and strengthen a man by stuffing him with every variety and the greatest quantity of food. After all, the Chief must draw upon his subalterns for much that he does not know, and cannot perform himself. My friend Wm. R. Johnson has many a groom that can clean and dress a race horse, and ride him too, better than he can. But what of that? Sir, we are, in the European sense of the term, not a military i Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676), the great English jurist. a General Henry Knox (1750-1806), Washington's Secretary of War. DR. JOHN SHAW 93 people. We have no business for an army — it hangs as a dead weight upon the nation — officers and all. Sir, all that we hear of it is through pamphlets ; indicating a spirit that, if I was at the head of affairs, I should very speedily put down. A state of things that never could have grown up under a man of decision of character at the head of the State, or the Department ; a man possessing the spirit of command; that truest of all tests of a Chief, whether military or civil. Who rescued Braddock, when he was fighting, secundum artem} and his men were dropping around him on every side? It was a Virginia Militia Major. He asserted in that crisis the place which properly belonged to him, and which he afterwards filled in the manner we all know. DR. JOHN SHAW [John Shaw was born at Annapolis, Maryland, May 4, 1778, and died at sea, January io, 1809. He became a physician, served as a surgeon of the navy during the troubles with Algiers (1798), studied later at Edinburgh, lived in Canada and Baltimore, and finally died on a voyage to the Bahamas under- taken for his health. He was noted, when at St. John's College and through- out the rest of his short life, for his versatility, especially in the languages, and for his devotion to poetry. The long biographical sketch prefixed to the edi- tion of his poems published in Philadelphia in 1810 shows him to have been full of the spirit of romantic adventure and a charming companion. His poems show him to have possessed much more than the talents we expect to find in young men whose posthumous verses are published by admiring friends. While there are only a few pieces of striking merit, and while the poems as a whole prove that their author belonged to a transition period, being neither wholly of the eighteenth-century school nor wholly of the new order, they nevertheless give one the impression that, if Shaw had lived, he would have surpassed many of his contemporaries who made names for themselves in the American literature of their day. As it is, he belongs with Richard Dabney, William Maxwell, and William Munford of Virginia (the translator of Homer), and other Southern poets of the early nineteenth century whose names are known chiefly to special students. He should be remembered in connection with another Maryland poet who died young, Edward Coate Pinkney (y.».), and as a poetical translator from various modern languages he deserves to be noted as a predecessor of Bryant and Longfellow. Of few other Americans 1 I.e. according to the technical rules of warfare. 94 DR. JOHN SHAW of that day could it have been said with even the slightest approach to truth that " he learned all the European polished languages, which he spoke with fluency ; he taught the Arabian poets to sing in English numbers, and could hold long talks with the Mohawks of Upper Canada."] SONG [From "Poems by the Late Dr. John Shaw." 1810.] Who has robb'd the ocean cave, To tinge thy lips with coral hue ? Who from India's distant wave, For thee those pearly treasures drew ? Who, from yonder orient sky, Stole the morning of thine eye ? Thousand charms, thy form to deck, From sea, and earth, and air are torn ; Roses bloom upon thy cheek, On thy breath their fragrance borne. Guard thy bosom from the day, Lest thy snows should melt away. But one charm remains behind, Which mute earth can ne'er impart ; Nor in ocean wilt thou find, Nor in the circling air, a heart. Fairest ! wouldst thou perfect be, Take, oh take that heart from me. FRANCIS SCOTT KEY [Francis Scott Key, of a distinguished Maryland family, was born in Frederick County, August 9, 1780, and died in Baltimore, January II, 1843. He was educated at St. John's College, and studied and practised law, obtain- ing a position as district attorney in Washington. During the British invasion of Maryland in 1814 a friend of Key was captured, and in the negotiations- which Key undertook for his release he was compelled to witness from a ves- THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 95 sel the attack on Fort McHenry. When at dawn he saw that the stars and stripes still floated, he composed his famous poem, jotting down portions of it on the back of a letter. It was speedily printed and sung, and became familiar throughout the country. Lapse of time has not caused its fame to diminish, though doubtless fewer people now regard it as worthy of high praise on account of its strictly poetic merits. A collection of Key's poems was pub- lished in 1857, with an introductory letter by Chief- Justice Roger B. Taney, but only his song to the flag has commanded special attention. See Tyler's "Memoir of Roger B. Taney," pp. 109-119, and, for the different texts of the song, based on separate versions in Key's handwriting, the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXVIII, 32-41. Thirty years after the appearance of Key's volume of poems a large monument, executed by the poet-sculptor, William Wetmore Story, was erected to him in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.] y THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 1 O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the clouds of the fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ; O ! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave ? On that shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that, which the breeze, o'er the towering steep As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream ; Tis the star-spangled banner ; O ! long may it wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave ! And where are the foes that so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 1 The text is a somewhat eclectic one in regard to punctuation, but mainly follows that printed in theAVa; England Historical and Genealogical Register , Vol. XXVIII, pp. 40-41. See also The Century Magazine for July, 1894. g6 WASHINGTON ALLSTON A home and a country should leave us no more ? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave ; And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave. O, thus be it ever ! when freemen shall stand Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation ! Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto — " In God is our trust : " And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave. WASHINGTON ALLSTON [This well-known author and painter might be legitimately omitted from a volume of Southern writers on the ground that he was educated and for the most part lived in New England. By this method of reasoning the South can claim Dr. Ramsay (g.v.) and Albert Pike (q.v.), as well as other writers born in New England, such as George Denison Prentice (1802-1870), the witty Louisville editor and the author of many popular poems, and orators such as the brilliant Sergeant Smith Prentiss (1808-1850), who won great fame, especially in Mississippi and the Southwest. To open up this question, however, might lead to a discussion of the South's claims to Poe, which are essentially legitimate, and there can be little objection to the adoption in a book like the present of fairly flexible canons of choice. Washington Allston, then, is included here because he was born in Waccamaw, South Carolina, November 5, 1779. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he had long resided, on July 9, 1843. When six years of age he was sent to school in Newport, Rhode Island, and then he studied at Harvard, where he gradu- ated in 1800. He soon went abroad, remaining until 1809, and studying the art of painting in England and Italy. On his return to America he married a sister of the famous Dr. William E. Channing, and after her death he took as his second wife a sister of the poet Richard Henry Dana, thus becoming connected with two of the most distinguished New England families. From 181 1 to 1818 he lived in England, where he practised his art and also wrote AMERICA TO GREAT BRITAIN 97 poetry, a volume of which, "The Sylphs of the Seasons," was published in London in 1813. After his return to New England he painted numerous pictures specially distinguished for their coloring, but he can scarcely be said to have achieved a high and lasting fame, either by his paintings or by his writings, such as his later poems, which were published in 1850 along with his "Lectures on Art," or his Italian romance, " Monaldi," which appeared in 1 841. As a poet, Allston was somewhat more careful in his workmanship than contemporary Americans usually were, and such poems as " The Sylphs of the Seasons," "The Paint-King," and the patriotic ode that follows are worthy of being remembered ; but it can scarcely be held with justice that he is an important writer. It is pleasant to remember, however, that Allston was charmingly associated with a very great writer. He was a friend of Coleridge, whose portrait he painted, and " America to Great Britain " was printed in the first edition of Coleridge's " Sibylline Leaves." See both for Allston and for glimpses of Coleridge, Wordsworth, and other interesting men, "The Life and Letters of Washington Allston," by J. B. Flagg (1892). This book has a chapter on Allston's poems and reprints several of them.] AMERICA TO GREAT BRITAIN 1 [From "Lectures on Art and Poems, by Washington Allston." Edited by R. H. Dana, Jr., 1850.] All hail ! thou noble land, Our Fathers' native soil ! Oh, stretch thy mighty hand, Gigantic grown by toil, * O'er the vast Atlantic wave to our shore ! For thou with magic might Canst reach to where the light Of Phoebus travels bright The world o'er ! The Genius of our clime, From his pine-embattled steep, Shall hail the guest sublime ; While the Tritons of the deep With their conchs the kindred league shall proclaim. 1 Written in 1810, probably under the influence of Campbell's lyrics. H 98 WASHINGTON ALLS TON Then let the world combine, — O'er the main our naval line Like the milky- way shall shine < Bright in fame ! Though ages long have past Since our Fathers left their home, Their pilot in the blast, 1 O'er untravelled seas to roam, Yet lives the blood of England in our veins ! And shall we not proclaim That blood of honest fame Which no tyranny can tame By its chains? While the language free and bold Which the bard of Avon sung, In which our Milton told How the vault of heaven rung When Satan, blasted, fell with his host ; — While this, with reverence meet, Ten thousand echoes greet, From rock to rock repeat Round our coast ; — While the manners, while the arts, That mould a nation's soul, ■ Still cling around our hearts, — Between let Ocean roll, Our joint communion breaking with the Sun : Yet still from either beach The voice of blood shall reach, More audible than speech, " We are One." 1 The poet probably meant that the " Fathers " were much at the mercy of the winds during their voyage. JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 99 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN [The greatest Southern expounder of the Constitution and the most impor- tant Southern statesman after the generation -that carried through the Revo- lution was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, March 18, 1782, and died at Washington, March 31, 1850. He came of excellent Scotch-Irish stock, was prepared for college by his brother-in-law, the noted Dr. Wad- dell (see p. 116), graduated at Yale, studied law and began its practice. He was soon sent to the legislature of South Carolina, and his fine mind and character having impressed his neighbors, he was in 181 1 elected to Congress, where he joined with Clay and other leaders of the new generation in forcing President Madison into the War of 1812. After the war he took great interest in tariff and other legislation that tended to strengthen the general govern- ment, thus occupying a position from which he afterward retreated. From 1817 till 1825 he was a very efficient Secretary of War under Monroe. In 1824, in the scramble for the Presidency, he obtained the Vice-Presidency, to which he was again elected in 1828. A breach with Jackson, owing to social intrigues and to Calhoun's attitude toward "Old Hickory" during the Seminole' campaign, ruined the Carolinian's chance of becoming President. As Vice- President, Calhoun gave great thought to constitutional questions and became the exponent of the strict constructionist or states' -rights school. He drew up the South Carolina " Exposition " and other documents connected with the Nullification movement, and, resigning his Vice-Presidency in December, 1832, took an important part as Senator in the debates of 1833, his chief antagonist being Daniel Webster. Calhoun's position with regard to the right of a state to nullify a law believed by it to be unconstitutional was not acceptable even to many Southerners ; but few persons have ever denied that he defended his views with profound powers of reasoning and subtle grasp of political theory. For the next ten years Calhoun held with Clay and Webster the leadership of the Senate during its most brilliant period, deliver- ing weighty speeches upon the chief topics of discussion, but scarcely ranking strictly as a party leader, since he was rather the head of a states'-rights group. His general policy may, however, be denominated Democratic, since he favored economy and unrestricted trade. In March, 1843, he retired from the Senate, but about a year later he was called by President Tyler to be Secretary of State. In this position he was able to help forward the annexa- tion of Texas ; afterward in the Senate he labored to effect a peaceful solu- tion of the Oregon question and to avert war with Mexico. His latter years were chiefly occupied in resisting the endeavors of the North and West to close to slavery the newly acquired territory. On March 4, 1850, a fellow- IOO JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN Senator read a great speech by Calhoun on the momentous Compromise of 1 850. In less than a month he was dead, and by dying he was spared the painful spectacle of the next decade of civil strife. For Calhoun, though often accused of being a disunionist, dearly loved the Union, and advocated his strict constructionist views, not merely to secure the South what he believed to be her rights, but also to preserve the Union intact. He undertook to do more than was humanly possible ; but his efforts were so herculean that they demand admiration. As a man he was above reproach ; as a statesman full of courage and resources ; as an orator dignified, impressive, and not lacking in deep passion ; as a writer clear and cogent ; as a political theorist weighty and acute. In his last years he wrote two political treatises, " A Disquisition on Government " and " A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States," which, with some of his speeches, give him rank among the most subtle of political writers. No one has surpassed him as an exposi- tor of the rights of minorities. His works were edited in six volumes by Richard K. Cralle (1853-1854). In 1900 Professor J. F. Jameson edited a large volume of his letters and of selected letters written to him. The inter- est of the correspondence is chiefly political ; but some of the letters, especially those to his daughter Anna, throw light on the statesman's fine private char- acter. See on this point " The Private Life of John C. Calhoun " by Miss Mary Bates (1852)'. There are biographies by J. S. Jenkins, H. von Hoist (" American Statesmen " series), and, latest of all, by Gustavus M. Pinckney.] "OURS IS A FEDERAL AND NOT A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT " [From "A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States." "The Works of John C Calhoun," 1854. Vol. I.] If we turn from the preamble and the ratifications, to the body of the constitution, we shall find that if furnishes most conclusive proof that the government is federal, and not national. I can discover nothing, in any portion of it, which gives the least countenance to the opposite conclusion. On the contrary, the instrument, in all its parts, repels it. It is, throughout, federal. It everywhere recognizes the existence of the States, and invokes their aid to carry its power into execution. In one of the two houses of Congress, the members are elected by the legislatures of their respective States ; and in the other, by the people of the several States, not as composing mere districts of one great com- munity, but as distinct and independent communities. General " OURS A FEDERAL, NOT NATIONAL, GOVERNMENT" IOI Washington vetoed the first act apportioning the members of the House of Representatives among the several States, under the first census, expressly on the ground, that the act assumed as its basis, the former, and not the latter construction. The President and Vice-President are chosen by^electors, appointed by their respective States ; and, finally, the Judges are appointed by the President and the Senate ; and, of course, as these are elected by the States, they are appointed through their agency. But, however strong be the proofs of its federal character derived from this source, that portion which provides for the amendment of the constitution, furnishes, if possible, still stronger. It shows, conclusively, that the people of the several States still retain that supreme ultimate power, called sovereignty; — the power by which they ordained and established the constitution ; and which can rightfully create, modify, amend, or abolish it, at its pleasure. Wherever this power resides, there the sovereignty is to be, found. That it still continues to exist in the several States, in a modified form, is clearly shown by the fifth article of the constitution, which provides for its amendment. By its pro- visions, Congress may propose amendments, on its own authority, by the vote of two-thirds of both houses ; or it may be compelled to call a convention to propose them, by two-thirds of the legis- latures of the several States : but, in either case, they remain, when thus made, mere proposals of no validity, until adopted by three-fourths of the States, through their respective legislatures ; or by conventions, called by them, for the purpose. Thus far, the several States, in ordaining and establishing the constitution, agreed, for their mutual convenience and advantage, to modify, by compact, their high sovereign power of creating and establish- ing constitutions, as far as it related to the constitution and gov- ernment of the United States. I say, for their mutual convenience and advantage ; for without the modification, it would have required the separate consent of all the States of the Union to alter or amend their constitutional compact ; in like manner as it required the consent of all to establish it between them ; and to obviate the most insuperable difficulty of making such amendments as time and experience might prove to be necessary, by the unani- 102 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN mous consent of all, they agreed to make the modification. But that they did not intend, by this, to divest themselves of the high sovereign right, (a right which they still retain, notwithstanding the modification,) to change or abolish the present constitution and government at their pleasure, cannot be doubted. THE CONCLUSION OF CALHOUN'S LAST SPEECH 1 [From the Same. Vol. IV.] Having now shown what cannot save the Union, I return to the question with which I commenced, How can the Union be saved? There is but one way by which it can with any certainty ; and that is, by a full and final settlement, on the principle of justice, of all the questions at issue between the two sections. The South asks for justice, simple justice, and less she ought not to take. She has no compromise to offer, but the constitution ; and no concession or surrender to make. She has already surrendered so much that she has little left to surrender. Such a settlement would go to the root of the evil, and remove all cause of discontent, by satisfying the South, she could remain honorably and safely in the Union, and thereby restore the harmony and fraternal feelings between the sections, which existed anterior to the Missouri agitation. Nothing else can, with any certainty, finally and forever settle the questions at issue, terminate agitation, and save the Union. But can this be done? Yes, easily; not by the weaker party, for it can of itself do nothing — not even protect itself — but by the stronger. The North has only to will it to accomplish it — to do justice by conceding to the South an equal right in the acquired territory, and to do her duty by causing the stipulations relative to fugitive slaves to be faithfully fulfilled — to cease the agitation of the slave question, and to provide for the insertion of a provision in the constitution, by an amendment, which will restore to the South, in substance, the power she possessed of protecting l This speech on the slavery question in the debates on the Compromise of 1850 was read from proof-sheets by Senator James M. Mason of Virginia, Calhoun being too feeble to deliver it. The next day he made a few remarks in answer to Senator Foote, but not a set speech. THE CONCLUSION OF CALHOUN'S LAST SPEECH 103 herself, before the equilibrium between the sections was destroyed by the action of this Government. There will be no difficulty in devising such a provision — one that will protect the South, and which, at the same time, will improve and strengthen the Govern- ment, instead of impairing and weakening it. But will the North agree to' this ? It is for her to answer the question. But, I will say, she cannot refuse, if she has half the love of the Union which she professes to have, or without justly exposing herself to the charge that her love of power and aggran- dizement is far greater than her love of the Union. At all events, the responsibility of saving the Union rests on the North, and not on the South. The South cannot save it by any act of hers, and the North may save it without any sacrifice whatever, unless to do justice, and to perform her duty under the constitution, should be regarded by her as a sacrifice. It is time, Senators, that there should be an open and manly avowal on all sides, as to what is intended to be done. If the question is not now settled, it is uncertain whether it ever can hereafter be ; and we, as the representatives of the States of this Union, regarded as governments, should come to a distinct under- standing as to our respective views, in order to ascertain whether the great questions at issue can be settled or not. If you, who represent the stronger portion, cannot agree to settle them on the broad principle of justice and duty, say so ; and let the States we both represent agree to separate and part in peace. If you are unwilling we should part in peace, tell us so, and we shall know what to do, when you reduce the question to submission or resist- ance. If you remain silent, you will compel us to . infer by your acts what you intend. In that case, California will become the test question. If you admit her, under all the difficulties that oppose her admission, you compel us to infer that you intend to exclude us from the whole of the acquired territories, with the intention of destroying, irretrievably, the equilibrium between the two sections. We would be blind not to perceive in that case, that your real objects are power and aggrandizement, and infatu- ated not to act accordingly. I have now, Senators, done my duty in expressing my opinions 104 DAVID CROCKETT fully, freely, and candidly, on this solemn occasion. In doing so, I have been governed by the motives which have governed me in all the stages of the agitation of the slavery question since its com- mencement. I have exerted myself, during the whole period, to arrest it, with the intention of saving the Union, if it could be done; and if it could not, to save the section where it has pleased Providence to cast my lot, and which I sincerely believe has justice and the constitution on its side. Having faithfully done my duty to the best of my ability, both to the Union and my sec- tion, throughout this agitation, I shall have the consolation, let what will come, that I am free from all responsibility. DAVID CROCKETT [David Crockett, the son of a Revolutionary soldier and a pioneer, was born in Limestone, Greene County, Tennessee, August 17, 1786, and died in the massacre of the survivors of the Alamo, March 6, 1836. He got but little schooling, early ran away from home, and served in several trades in Ten- nessee, Maryland, and Virginia. Then he settled down at home, working and learning his letters, and marrying young. He removed to a wild region in the mountains of Tennessee, became a noted hunter, fought in the Creek War of 1 81 3, and later, on account of his character and rough, ready talents, was made a magistrate. In 1821 he won his way into the legislature, and, after one defeat, into Congress in 1826. He lost a congressional term by his un- willingness to submit to Jacksonian autocracy, but soon regained his seat. Then, seeing that politics afforded little chance for an independent, he went to Texas to fight against Mexico. After much display of bravery at the Alamo he surrendered with five companions, but all were massacred by the orders of Santa Anna. He was so celebrated for his exploits and his eccentricities that a book describing them was issued in 1833 ; the next year, in order to defend himself, he published an authentic autobiography, which is one of the most racy and amusing books of its time and kind. He also wrote a political diatribe pur- porting to be a sketch of Van Buren — or had it fathered on him 1 — and an account of a tour in the North and New England (1835) . Crockett's motto — " Be sure you are right, then go ahead " — is a good summary of his'own char- acter. There are biographies of Crockett by J. S. C. Abbott (1874) and by Edward S. Ellis (1884).] 1 Judge Augustine Smith Clayton (1783-1839) of Georgia is said to have been the real author. CONCERNING HIS BOOK I OS CONCERNING HIS BOOK [From "Narrative of the Life of David Crockett," etc. Philadelphia, 1834.] But I don't know of any thing in my book to be criticised on by honourable men. Is it on my spelling ? — that's not my trade. Is it on my grammar ? — I hadn't time to learn it, and make no pretensions to it. Is it on the order and arrangement of my book ? — I never wrote one before, and never read very many ; and, of course, know mighty little about that. Will it be on the authorship of the book ? — this I claim, and I'll hang on to it, like a wax plaster. The whole book is my own, and every sentiment and sentence in it. I would not be such a fool, or knave either, as to deny that I have had it hastily run over by a friend or so, and that some little alterations have been made in the spelling and grammar ; and I am not so sure that it is not the worse of even that, for I despise this way of spelling contrary to nature. And as for grammar, it's pretty much a thing of noth- ing at last, after all the fuss that's made about it. In some places, I wouldn't suffer either the spelling, or grammar, or any thing else to be touch'd ; and therefore it will be found in my own way. But if any body complains that I have had it looked over, I can only say to him, her, or them — as the case may be — that while critics were learning grammar, and learning to spell, I, and " Doctor Jackson, L. L. D." 1 were fighting in the wars; and if our books, and messages, and proclamations, and cabinet writ- ings, and so forth, and so on, should need a little looking over, and a little correcting of the spelling and the grammar to make them fit for use, it's just nobody's business. Big men have more important matters to attend to than crossing their *'s — , and dotting their /'s — , and such like small things. But the " Gov- ernment's " name is to the proclamation, and my name's to the book; and if I didn't write the book, the " Government " didn't write the proclamation, which no man dares to deny ! 1 Harvard's giving this degree to " Old Hickory " caused much comment. 106 DAVID CROCKETT But just read for yourself, and my ears for a heel-tap, if before you get through you don't say, with many a good-natured smile and hearty laugh, " This is truly the very thing itself — the exact image of its author, David Crockett." A BACKWOODS MAGISTRATE [From the Same.] I was appointed one of the magistrates ; and when a man owed a debt, and wouldn't pay it, I and my constable ordered our war- rant, and then he would take the man, and bring him before me for trial. I would give judgment against him, and then an order for an execution would easily scare the debt out of him. If any one was charged with marking his neighbor's hogs, or with steal- ing any thing, which happened pretty often in those days, — I would have him taken, and if there was tolerable grounds for the charge, I would have him well whip'd and cleared. We kept this up till our Legislature added us to the white settlements in Giles county ; and appointed magistrates by law, to organize matters in the parts where I lived. They appointed nearly every man a magistrate who had belonged to our corporation. I was then, of course, made a squire, according to law ; though now the honor rested more heavily on me than before. For, at first, whenever I told my constable, says I — " Catch that fellow, and bring him up for trial " — away he went, and the fellow must come, dead or alive ; for we considered this a good warrant, though it was only in verbal writing. But after I was appointed by the assembly, they told me, my warrants must be in real writing, and signed ; and that I must keep a book, and write my proceed- ings in it. This was a hard business on me, for I could just barely write my own name ; but to do this, and write the war- rants too, was at least a huckleberry over my persimmon. I had a pretty well informed constable, however ; and he aided me very much in this business. Indeed I had so much confidence in him, that I told him, when we should happen to be out any- where, and see that a warrant was necessary, and would have a KILLING A BEAR \CJ good effect, he needn't take the trouble to come all the way to me to get one, but he could just fill out one ; and then on the trial I could correct the whole business if he had committed any error. In this way I got on pretty well, till by care and attention I improved my handwriting in such manner as to be able to prepare my warrants, and keep my record book, without much difficulty. My judgments were never appealed from, and if they had been, they would have stuck like wax, as I gave my decisions on the principles of common justice and honesty between man and man, and relied on natural born sense, and not on law learn- ing to guide me ; for I had never read a page in a law book in all my life. KILLING A BEAR 1 [From the Same.] I could see the lump, but not plain enough to shoot with any certainty, as there was no moonlight ; and so I set in to hunting for some dry brush to make me a light ; but I could find none, though I could find that the ground was torn mightily to pieces by the cracks. 2 At last I thought I could shoot by guess, and kill him ; so I pointed as near the lump as I could, and fired away. But the. bear didn't come ; he only clomb up higher, and got out on a limb, which helped me to see him better. I now loaded up again and fired, but this time he didn't move at all. I com- menced loading for a .third fire, but the first thing I knowed, the bear was down among my dogs, and they were fighting all around me. I had my big butcher in my belt, and I had a pair of dressed buckskin breeches on. So I took out my knife, and stood, determined, if he should get hold of me, to defend myself in the best way I could. I stood there for some time, and could now and then see a white dog I had, but the rest of them, and the bear, which were dark coloured, I couldn't see 1 His dogs had treed a bear " in a large forked poplar, and it was sitting in the fork." 2 Made by earthquakes. 108 DAVID CROCKETT at all, it was so miserable dark. They still fought around me, and sometimes within three feet of me ; but, at last, the bear got down into one of the cracks, that the earthquakes had made in the ground, about four feet deep, and I could tell the biting end of him by the hollering of my dogs. So I took my gun and pushed the muzzle of it about, till I thought I had it against the main part of his body, and fired ; but it happened to be only the fleshy part of his foreleg. With this, he jumped out of the crack, and he and the dogs had another hard fight around me, as before. At last, however, they forced him back into the crack again, as he was when I had shot. I had laid down my gun in the dark, and I now began to hunt for it ; and, while hunting, I got hold of a pole, and I concluded I would punch him awhile with that. I did so, and when I would punch him, the dogs would jump in on him, when he would bite them badly, and they would jump out again. I concluded, as he would take punching so patiently, it might be that he would lie still enough for me to get down in the crack, and feel slowly along till I could find the right place to give him a dig with my butcher. So I got down, and my dogs got in before him and kept his head towards them, till I got along easily up to him ; and placing my hand on his rump, felt for his shoulder, just behind which I intended to stick him. I made a lunge with my long knife, and fortunately stuck him right through the heart ; at which he just sank down, and I crawled out in a hurry. In a little time my dogs all come out too, and seemed satisfied, which was the way they always had of telling me that they had finished him. CROCKETT DEFEATED FOR CONGRESS [From the Same.] ... I was re-elected to Congress, in 1829, by an overwhelm- ing majority ; and soon after the commencement of this second term, I saw, or thought I did, that it was expected of me that I would bow to the name of Andrew Jackson, and follow him in CROCKETT DEFEATED FOR CONGRESS 109 all his motions, and mindings, 1 and turnings, even at the expense of my conscience and judgment. Such a thing was new to me, and a total stranger to my principles. I know'd well enough, though, that if I didn't " hurra " for his name, the hue and cry was to be raised against me, and I was to be sacrificed, if pos- sible. His famous, or rather I should say his in-famous, Indian bill was brought forward, 3 and I opposed it from the purest motives in the world. Several of my colleagues got around me, and told me how well they loved me, and that I was ruining myself. They said this was a favorite measure of the president, and I ought to go for it. I told them I believed it was a wicked, unjust measure, and that I should go against it, let the cost to myself be what it might; that I 'was. willing to go with General Jackson in every thing that I believed was honest and right ; but, further than this, I wouldn't go for him, or any other man in the whole creation ; that I would sooner be honestly and politically d — nd, than hypocritically immortalized. I had been elected by a majority of three thousand five hundred and eighty- five votes, and I believed they were honest men, and wouldn't want me to vote for any unjust motion, to please Jackson or any one else ; at any rate, I was of age, and was determined to trust them. -I voted against this Indian bill, and my conscience yet tells me that I gave a good honest vote, and one that I believe will not make me ashamed in the day of judgment. I served out my term, and though many amusing things happened, I am not disposed to swell my narrative by inserting them. When it closed, and I returned home, I found the storm had raised against me sure enough ; and it was echoed from side to side, and from end to end of my -district, that I had turned against Jackson. This was considered the unpardonable sin. I was hunted down like a wild varment, and in this hunt every little newspaper in the district, and every little pin-hook lawyer was engaged. Indeed, they were ready to print any thing and 1 This is. the reading of the first edition, which has been followed except for the correction of two plain errors. 2 Jackson's policy was to get the Indians out of Georgia and the Southwest and to remove them beyond the Mississippi to Indian Territory. 110 , DAVID CROCKETT every thing that the ingenuity of man could invent against me. Each editor was furnished with the journals of Congress from headquarters ; and hunted out every vote I had missed in four sessions, whether from sickness or not, no matter ; and eac"h one was charged against me at eight dollars. In all I had missed about seventy votes, which they made amount to five hun- dred and sixty dollars ; and they contended I had swindled the government out of this sum, as I received my pay^as other members do. I was now again a candidate in 1830, while all the attempts were making against me ; and every one of these little papers kept up a constant war on me, fighting with every scurrilous report they could catch. Over all I should have been elected, if it hadn't been, that but a few weeks before the election, the little four-pence-ha'penny limbs of the law fell on a plan to defeat me, which had the desired effect. They agreed to spread out over the district, and make appointments for me to speak, almost everywhere, to clear up the Jackson question. They would give me no notice of these appointments, and the people would meet in great crowds to hear what excuse Crockett had to make for quitting Jackson. But instead of Crockett's being there, this small-fry of lawyers would be there, with their saddle-bags full of the little news- papers and their journals of Congress ; and would get up and speak, and read their scurrilous attacks on me, and would then tell the people that I was afraid to attend ; and in this way would turn many against me. All this intrigue was kept a pro- found secret from me, till it was too late to counteract it ; and when the election came, I had a majority in seventeen counties, putting all their votes together, but the eighteenth beat me ; and so I was left out of Congress during those two years. The people of my district were induced, by these tricks, to take a stay on me for that time ; but they have since found out that they were imposed on, and on re-considering my case, have reversed that decision ; which, as the Dutchman said, " is as fair a ding as eber was." ... BEVERLEY TUCKER III BEVERLEY TUCKER [Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, second son of St. George Tucker (?.».)> was born at Williamsburg, Virginia, September 6, 1 784, and died at Winchester, Virginia, August 26, 1851. He graduated at William and Mary, and, following his father's footsteps, became a judge and, from 1834, professor of law in his alma mater. His judgeship was held in Missouri, where he resided from 1815 to 1830. He was a man of great ability and an intense upholder of Virginian and South- ern political and social ideals. He was, however, more than a learned lawyer, political theorist, and sociologist; he was a writer of readable fiction, a man of wide culture, and an accomplished correspondent. His best -known work is "The Partisan Leader," a story purporting to deal with the events of a revolution which in 1849 took Virginia out of the United States and added her to the Southern Confederacy. This book was published in 1836, but it was dated 1856, so that it should seem to be a historical romance dealing with events that took place a few years before. It is said to have been printed secretly and suppressed. In the first year of the Civil War it was reissued in New York, in facsimile, with the added title " A Key to the Disunion Con- spiracy," and was again suppressed. The following year, 1862, it was reprinted in Richmond under the editorship of the Rev. T. A. Ware. It has generally been considered a remarkable prophecy of the course the South actually took be- tween 1836 and 1 861, and, in the large, this view of the book is true enough. It is equally true, however, that in important particulars, such as the tyranny established by Van Buren over the North, Judge Tucker's prejudices misled him, and that in one important feature his book looked back to the past rather than on to the future. In all the military details of his story, as indeed its title implies, his imagination moves rather in the times of Marion and Sumter than in those of Lee and Jackson. The magnitude of the actual war in his beloved state seems not to have been foreseen by him. Still the romance is certainly a striking one in conception and worthy of fair praise for its exe- cution, in spite of the fact that a large portion of its two volumes is occupied with explaining the events that led up to the situation described in the open- ing chapter. Judge Tucker's other novel, " George Balcombe," based on his experiences in Missouri (1836), was praised by Poe, with whom, when the young poet was editor of The Southern Literary Messenger, the older writer corresponded. Another Southern man of letters who received many letters from Judge Tucker was William Gilmore Simms, to whose Southern Quarterly Review the Virginian contributed. Some of this correspondence will be found in the present editor's biography of Simms in the " American Men of Letters." Judge Tucker's legal and other writings need not be enumer- 112 BEVERLEY TUCKER ated; but it should be mentioned that he began a biography of his famous half-brother, John Randolph of Roanoke, which unfortunately was never finished, and that he wrote for Simms's review (Vol. XX) a scathing article on H. A. Garland's biography of the eccentric statesman.] PARTISANS ON THE ALERT [From "The Partisan Leader: A Tale of the Future, by Edward William Sidney. ' Sic Semper Tyrannis,' the Motto of Virginia ; ' Pars Fui,' . . . Virgil. In Two Volumes. Printed for the Pub- lishers, by James Caxton, 1856." New York, 1861.] Toward the latter end of the month of October, 1849, about the hour of noon, a horseman was seen ascending a narrow valley at the eastern foot of the Blue Ridge. His road nearly followed the course of a small stream, which, issuing from a deep gorge of the mountain, winds its way between lofty hills, and terminates its brief and brawling course in one of the larger tributaries of the Dan. A glance of the eye took in the whole of the little settle- ment that lined its banks, and measured the resources of its in- habitants- The different tenements were so near to each other as to allow but a small patch of arable land to each. Of manufactures there was no appearance, save only a rude shed at the entrance of the valley, on the door of which the oft repeated brand of the horse-shoe gave token of a smithy. There too the rivulet, increased by the innumerable springs which afforded to every habitation the unappreciated, but inappreciable luxury of water, cold, clear, and sparkling, had gathered strength enough to turn a tiny milL Of trade there could be none. The bleak and rugged barrier, which closed the scene on the west, and the narrow road, fading to a foot-path, gave assurance to the traveller that he had here reached the ne plus ultra of social life in that direction. Indeed, the appearance of discomfort and poverty in every dwelling well accorded with the scanty territory belonging to each. The walls and chimneys of unhewn logs, the roofs of loose boards laid on long rib-poles, that projected from the gables, and held down by similar poles placed above them, together with the PARTISANS ON THE ALERT 113 smoked and sooty appearance of the whole, betokened an abun- dance of timber, but a dearth of everything else. Contiguous to each was a sort of rude garden, denominated, in the ruder lan- guage of the country a " truck-patch." Beyond this lay a small field, a part of which had produced a crop of oats, while on the remainder the Indian corn still hung on the stalk, waiting to be gathered. Add to this a small meadow, and the reader will have an outline equally descriptive of each of the little farms which, for the distance of three miles, bordered the stream. But, though the valley thus bore the marks of a crowded popu- lation, a deep stillness pervaded it. The visible signs of life were few. Of sounds there were none. A solitary youngster, male or female, alone was seen loitering about every door. These, as the traveller passed along, would skulk from observation, and then steal out, and, mounting a fence, indulge their curiosity, at safe distances, by looking after him. At length he heard a sound of voices, and then a shrill whistle, and all was still. Immediately, some half a dozen men, leaping a fence, ranged themselves across the road and faced him. He observed that each, as he touched the ground, laid hold of a rifle that leaned against the enclosure, and this circumstance drew his attention to twenty or more of these formidable weapons, ranged along in the same position. The first impulse of the traveller was to draw a pistol ; but seeing that the men, as they posted them- selves, rested their guns upon the ground and leaned upon them, he quietly withdrew his hand from his holster. It was plain that no violence was intended, and that this movement was nothing but a measure of precaution, such as the unsettled condition of the country required. He therefore advanced steadily but slowly, and, on reaching the party, reined in his horse, and silently in- vited the intended parley. The men, though somewhat variously attired, were all chiefly clad in half-dressed buck-skin. They seemed to have been en- gaged in gathering corn in the adjoining field. Their companions, who still continued the same occupation, seemed numerous enough (including women and boys, of both of which there was a full proportion,) to have secured the little crop in a few hours. Indeed, 114 BEVERLEY TUCKER it would seem that the whole working population of the neighbor- hood, both male and female, was assembled there. As the traveller drew up his horse, one of the men, speaking in a low and quiet tone, said, " We want a word with you, stranger, before you go any farther." 1 AN UNFLATTERING DESCRIPTION OF VAN BUREN [From the Same.] On the evening of the third day from that of which I have just been speaking, the President of the United States was sitting alone in a small room in his palace, which, in conformity to the nomen- clature of foreign courts, it had become the fashion to call his closet. The furniture of this little apartment was characterized at once by neatness, taste, and convenience. Without being splen- did, it was rich and costly ; and, in its structure and arrangement, adapted to the use of a man, who, devoted to business, yet loved his ease. 2 The weariness of sedentary application was relieved by the most tasteful and commodious variety of chairs, couches, and sofas, while the utmost ingenuity was displayed in the construc- tion of desks, tables, and other conveniences for reading and writing. In the appearance of the distinguished personage, to whose privacy I have introduced the reader, there was a mixture of thought and carelessness very much in character with the imple- ments of business and the appliances for ease and comfort which surrounded him. He occasionally looked at his watch, and at the door, with the countenance of one who expects a visitor ; and then throwing himself against the arm of his sofa, resumed his disen- gaged air. That something was on his mind was apparent. But, interesting as the subject might be, it did not seem to touch him nearly. His whole manner was that of a man who is somewhat at a loss to know what may be best for others, but finds full consola- tion in knowing precisely wljat is best for himself. As the events of the last ten years make it probable that none 1 This selection gives the opening pages of the story. 2 Van Buren was represented by his opponents as a man greatly given to luxury. AN UNFLATTERING DESCRIPTION OF VAN BUREN 1 15 of my younger readers have ever seen the august dignitary of whom I speak, and as few of us are like to have occasion to see him in future, a particular description of his person may not be unacceptable. Though far advanced in life, he was tastily and even daintily dressed, his whole costume being exactly adapted to a diminutive and dapper person, a fair complexion, a light and brilliant blue eye, and a head which might have formed a study for the phrenologist, whether we consider its ample developments or its egg-like baldness. The place of hair was supplied by powder, which his illustrious example had again made fashionable. The revolution in public sentiment which, commencing sixty years ago, had abolished all the privileges of rank and age ; which trained up the young to mock at the infirmities of their fathers, and encouraged the unwashed artificer to elbow the duke from his place of precedence ; this revolution had now completed its cycle. While the sovereignty of numbers was acknowledged, the convenience of the multitude -had set the fashions. But the reign of an individual had been restored, and the taste of that individual gave law to the general taste. Had he worn a wig, wigs would have been the rage. But a"s phrenology had taught him to be justly proud of his high and polished forehead, and the intellect- ual developments of the whole cranium, he eschewed hair in all its forms, and barely screened his naked crown from the air with a light covering of powder. He seemed, too, not wholly uncon- scious of something worthy of admiration in a foot, the beauty of which was displayed to the best advantage by the tight fit and high finish of his delicate slipper. As he lay back on the sofa, his eye rested complacently on this member, which was stretched out before him, its position shifting, as if unconsciously, into every variety of grace. Returning from thence, his glance rested on his hand, fair, delicate, small, and richly jewelled. It hung carelessly on the arm of the sofa, and the fingers of this, too, as if rather from instinct than volition, performed sundry evolutions on which the eye of majesty dwelt with gentle complacency. 1 1 6 WILLIAM JOHN GRAYSON WILLIAM JOHN GRAYSON [William John Grayson was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, November 10, 1 788, and died in Newberry, South Carolina, October 4, 1 863. After receiv- ing a good classical education he devoted himself to the law. He practised in Beaufort, was a member of the state legislature, and from 1833 to 1837 served in Congress. He was also from 1841 to 1853 collector of the port of Charleston. In politics he was conservative and on the whole opposed to disunion, although he was far from adopting a position antagonistic to slavery. He was a man of culture and of some turn for verse, as is proved by " The Hireling and the Slave " (1854), a poem defending slavery in the style of the school of Pope, and by " Chicora," an Indian legend in the manner of Scott's narrative poetry, but showing a study of later models. He was also the author of another old-fash- ioned poem, " The Country " (1858), and a contributor to local magazines and newspapers. Although some of his verse has merit, his most significant work is a biographical sketch of James Louis Petigru, published posthumously (1866). Mr. Petigru (1789-1863) was one of the ablest members of the Charleston bar, a friend of Hugh S. Legare, and a leading opponent of Calhoun and Hayne in the Nullification crisis. He was unpopular on account of his devo- tion to the Union, but was respected both for his ability and for his honesty and courage. In his old age he bitterly opposed the secession of South Caro- lina. His greatest achievement as a lawyer was his codification of the laws of his state. It is believed that Grayson's sketch was somewhat modified before it saw the light. A biography which Grayson wrote of William Lowndes and another manuscript seem to have disappeared.] A FAMOUS CAROLINA SCHOOL [From "James Louis Petigru: A Biographical Sketch." 1866. 1 ] The Willington school was a sort of Eton or Rugby of American manufacture, and the doctor 2 at its head the Carolina Dr. Arnold. He had talents for organization and government. His method 1 Reprinted through the courtesy of Harper & Bros., who hold the copyright. 2 Dr. Moses Waddell (1770-1840), a Presbyterian clergyman, born in North Caro- lina. He established his school in Edgefield District in 1804 and taught, among others, Hugh S. Legare, George McDuffie, and Judge Longstreet. (See p. 122 note.) From 1819 to 1829 he was president of the University of Georgia. A UNIQUE JAIL 11 J appealed largely to the honor and moral sense of his pupils. They were not confined with their books unnecessarily in a nar- row school-room. The forest was their place of study. They resorted to the old oaks and hickories, and at their feet or among their branches prepared their various lessons. The. horn called them at intervals to change of occupation. The sound was repeated from point to point, and the woods echoed with these sonorous signals for recitation or retirement. When cold or wet weather drove the students from their sylvan resorts, log cabins in various quarters afforded the requisite accommodations. At night, with the same sound of the horn, they retired to their lodgings for sleep or farther study. Their food was Spartan in plainness — corn-bread and bacon ; and for lights, torches of pine were more in fashion than candles. Monitors regulated the classes and sub- divisions of classes, and preserved the order and discipline of the institution with the smallest possible reference to its head. It was a kind of rural republic, with a perpetual dictator. The scholars were enthusiastically attached to their school. After they had become grandfathers they talked of it in raptures. A UNIQUE JAIL [From the Same. 1 ] Coosawhatchie, at that time the judicial capital of Beaufort District, lies on the road that leads from Charleston to Savannah, and was always so well situated for catching bilious fever as never to miss it. It was hardly habitable during the summer. The evil increased as the woods were cut down, and the moist, fertile soil was exposed to the action of the sun. To live in the village two consecutive summers became almost impossible for white men. Few ever attempted it. There was one exception — just enough to prove the rule. The exception was Mr. Bassilue, who kept a shop, and furnished board and lodging for lawyers and clients in term-time. He was able to live with country fever in all its varie- ties, as conjurers in Bengal handle venomous serpents without harm l Reprinted through the courtesy of Harper & Bros. Il8 RICHARD HENRY WILDE or danger. He must have been anointed in infancy with some patent drug of mysterious efficacy. The aligator in the neighbor- ing creek was not safer than he. To every white man but himself a summer in Coosawhatchie was death. It was unnecessary to try a criminal there charged with a capital offense. All that was re- quired was to put him in jail in May to wait his trial at the Novem- ber court. The state paid for a coffin, and saved the expenses of trial and execution. At night the jailer thought it unnecessary to remain in the jail. He locked his doors and went away to some healthier place until morning, confident that his prisoners had neither strength nor spirit to escape. At last the lawyers became dissatisfied. They loved fair play as well as fees, and desired to see the rogues brought to justice in the regular way, with a chance for their lives such as the assistance of a lawyer always affords them. The general jail delivery brought about by fever prevented the thief from being duly hanged and the counsel from receiving his retainer. The culprit escaped the halter through the climate, not through the bar. RICHARD HENRY WILDE [Richard Henry Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, September 24, 1789, and died in New Orleans, September 10, 1847. His father and mother came to this country in 1 797. The former soon died, and the mother and son settled in Augusta, Georgia. Wilde was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty, rose rapidly, was a member of Congress for several terms, and finally left poli- tics, as the very different Davy Crockett had done, on account of his opposi- tion to Andrew Jackson. From 1835 to 1840 he studied abroad, chiefly in Italian literature, devoting himself in especial to Dante and Tasso. He was instrumental in the discovery of the famous portrait of Dante by Giotto on the wall of the chapel of the Bargello. In 1843 ne removed to New Orleans, where he became professor of constitutional law in the law department of the state university. Meanwhile he had made himself a reputation as a poet by fugitive poems, which were widely copied in the newspapers. Chief among these was " My Life is like the Summer Rose," which was at first intended to appear in a narrative poem dealing with events in Florida. The lines appeared about 1815, and having later been translated into Greek were palmed off on many persons as a translation from Alcseus. It is interesting to recall STANZAS' 119 that another famous lyric by an Irish-born poet, Wolfe's " Burial of Sir John Moore," has been often asserted to be a mere translation from the French or the German because " Father Prout " amused himself by translating it into those languages and declaring his versions to be originals. Other verses were contributed by Wilde to the magazines of the day, particularly translations from the Romance literatures. His only book was " Conjectures concerning the Love, Madness, and Imprisonment of Torquato Tasso " (1842). He left many manuscripts, and in 1867 his son edited a narrative poem, " Hesperia," which has attracted but little notice. For an account of his unpublished " Life and Times of Dante " and his " Italian Lyric Poets,'' see Theodore W. Koch's "Dante in America" (1896). See also Charles C. Jones's "Life, Labors, and Neglected Grave of Richard Henry Wilde" 1 (1885).] STANZAS My life is like the summer rose, That opens to the morning sky, But, ere the shades of evening close, Is scattered on the ground — to die ! v Yet on the rose's humble bed The sweetest dews of night are shed, 1 From this pamphlet the following additional facts have been gleaned. Young Wilde went to Augusta alone and worked in a dry-goods store. His mother and her other children followed him, and for seven years they kept a small store, Wilde studying hard at every opportunity. A kind lawyer loaned him books and gave him instruction in the law. After he was admitted to the bar, in March, 1809, his arguments against legislation impairing the obligation of contracts gave him a repu- tation throughout the state and led to his being elected attorney-general at a sur- prisingly early age. He was chosen to Congress when he was but two weeks over the constitutional age of twenty-five. He suffered two defeats, the last in 1834, on account of the reason given in the text. With regard to Wilde's most famous lyric, which won the praise of Byron, Mr. Jones wrote that the narrative poem in which it was embodied as "The Return of the Captive " was undertaken on the return of Wilde's brother from the Seminole war in Florida, and was suggested by the stories he told of his experiences. When this brother was shortly after killed in a duel, the long poem was broken off. The famous stanzas were obtained from Wilde sur- reptitiously and were widely printed in the newspapers in 1815 and 1816, their author, however, refraining from acknowledging them. It was not until Mr. Alexander Barclay, British consul at Savannah, translated them into Greek prose that Wilde made good his claims against those of pretenders (1835). Mr. Barclay published an account of the affair in 1.871. According to Professor Weber (" Southern Poets," p. 208) Wilde's body lies in an unmarked grave near Augusta, Georgia, but a monu- ment to his memory has been erected on one of the principal streets of the city." 120 RICHARD HENRY WILDE As if she wept the waste to see — But none shall weep a tear for me ! My life is like the autumn leaf That trembles in the moon's pale ray : Its hold is frail — its date is brief, Restless — and soon to pass away ! Yet, ere that leaf shall fall and fade, The parent tree will mourn its shade, The winds bewail the leafless tree — But none shall breathe a sigh for me ! My life is like the prints, which feet Have left on Tampa's 1 desert strand ; Soon as the rising tide shall beat, All trace will vanish from the sand ; Yet, as if grieving to efface All vestige of the human race, On that lone shore loud moans the sea — But none, alas ! shall mourn for me ! TO THE MOCKING-BIRD Winged mimic of the woods ! thou motley fool ! Who shall thy gay buffoonery describe? Thine ever ready notes of ridicule Pursue thy fellows still with jest and gibe.' Wit, sophist, songster, Yorick 2 of thy tribe, Thou sportive satirist of Nature's school, To thee the palm of scoffing we ascribe, Arch-mocker and mad Abbot of Misrule ! 3 For such thou art by day — but all night long 1 " Tampa " in some versions was changed to " Tempe," probably on account of the ascription of the poem to Alcasus. 2 Cf. " Hamlet," V, i. 8 A term applied of old to the leader of the Christmas revels. AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET 121 Thou pourest a soft, sweet, pensive, solemn strain, As if thou didst, in this thy moonlight song Like to the melancholy Jacques 1 complain, Musing on falsehood, folly, vice, and wrong, And sighing for thy motley coat again. AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET [Augustus Baldwin Longstreet was born in Augusta, Georgia, Septem- ber 22, 1790, and died in Oxford, Mississippi, September 9, 1870. He was the son of William Longstreet, an inventor who announced his invention of a steamboat before Fulton did, and made a successful trial with his boat cm the Savannah River a few days after Fulton had succeeded on the Hudson. Other inventions showed the elder Longstreet's genius, but fortune did not allow him to- profit from them. His son was graduated from Yale, studied law, became a legislator and a judge in his native state, established the Au- gusta Sentinel, and then in 1 838 became a minister in the Methodist church. Four years previously he had published in his newspaper various sketches, signed " Hall " and " Baldwin," dealing with phases of life among the simpler classes of the population. These were so popular that he was induced to gather them into a book — the famous " Georgia Scenes " — published in a cheap form at the Sentinel Press. The copy which reached Poe, then conduct- ing The Southern Literary Messenger at Richmond, caused that sombre young editor, as he confessed, to laugh more heartily than he had done at any other recent book. Others enjoyed it as much as Poe; but when, in 1840, the Harpers issued a second edition, 2 they stated that they could not prevail upon the author to revise it. It is also said that he refused'to have anything to do with an edition of 1867, and it seems certain that after he entered the minis- try he felt that he would willingly disown stories dealing with fighting and dancing and horse-racing and other worldly employments. One respects his scruples, but must feel that his racy humor can do no harm now, and that, if we were without his book, we should be deprived of most entertaining and valuable descriptions of certain phases of life in the olden times. Besides, we should be much less able to account for such recent manifestations of Georgia humor as are found in the writings of Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston and Mr. Joel Chandler Harris. Be this as it may, Judge Longstreet could not keep from writing, for he contributed to many magazines and delivered many 1 Cf. " As You Like It," IV, i. 2 There were several reprints during the fifties, an indication of the popularity of the book. 122 AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET speeches and sermons. 1 As a clergyman he showed great devotion to duty when Augusta was visited by the yellow fever. Then he took up the cause of education, and became successively president of Emory College, Georgia, Centenary College, Louisiana, the University of Mississippi, South Carolina College, and finally of the University of Mississippi again. His was a strik- ingly full and useful life, and he would deserve to be remembered even if he had not bequeathed to us one of the most original books ever written by a Southerner. A careful account of his career and a selected edition of his writings are much to be desired. It may be remarked that one of the most humorous papers in " Georgia Scenes " is said to have been written by a friend of Judge Baldwin, Oliver Hillhouse Prince (1787-1837), who repre- sented Georgia for a short period in the Senate of the United States. This is "The Militia Drill," much read abroad, which the distinguished English novelist, Mr. Thomas Hardy, has either directly imitated or else strikingly paralleled in an unconscious fashion in his charming novel, " The Trumpet Major." For a sketch of Longstreet, see Bishop Fitzgerald's " Eminent Meth- odists" (1898). The distinguished Confederate general, James Longstreet, was a nephew of Judge Longstreet, and in his memoirs he gives a slight account of his grandfather, the inventor.] THE HORSE-SWAP [From " Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents, etc., in the First Half Century of the Republic," Second Edition, 1840.] During the session of the Supreme Court, in the village of -, about three weeks ago, when a number of people were collected in the principal street of the village, I observed a young man riding up and down the street, as I supposed, in a violent passion. He galloped this way, then that, and then the other ; spurred his horse to one group of citizens, then to another ; then dashed off at half speed, as if fleeing from danger ; and, suddenly checking his horse, returned first in a pace, then in a trot, and then in a canter. While he was performing these various evolu- tions, he cursed, swore, whooped, screamed, and tossed himself in every attitude which man could assume on horseback. In short, 1 He actually tried fiction again, but fiction of a clearly moral kind, in " Master William Mitten," a wooden story of a brilliant youth ruined by bad luck. This was begun in 1849, resumed during the war, and published at Macon, Georgia, in 1864. It has a. good; account of Waddell's school, in the Edgefield District, where Longstreet studied from 1806 to 1809. THE HORSE-SWAP 1 23 , he cavorted most magnanimously (a term which, in our tongue, expresses all that I have described, and a little more), and seemed to be setting all creation at defiance. As I like to see all that is passing, I determined to take a position a little nearer to him, and to ascertain, if possible, what it was that affected him so sensibly. Accordingly, I approached a crowd before which he had stopped for a moment, and examined it with the strictest scrutiny. But I could see nothing in it that seemed to have anything to do with the cavorter. Every man appeared to be in good humor, and all minding their own business. Not one so much as noticed the principal figure. Still he went on. After a semicolon pause, which my appearance seemed to produce (for he eyed me closely as I approached), he fetched a whoop, and swore that he could out- swap any live man, woman, or child that ever walked these hills, or that ever straddled horseflesh since the days of old daddy Adam. " Stranger," said he to me, " did you ever see the Yallow Blossom from Jasper? " " No," said I, " but I have often heard of him." " I'm the boy," continued he; " perhaps a leetle, jist a leetle, of the best man at a horse-swap that ever trod shoe-leather." I began to feel my situation a little awkward, when I was re- lieved by a man somewhat advanced in years, who stepped up and began to survey the " Yallow Blossom's " horse with much apparent interest. This drew the rider's attention, and he turned the con- versation from me to the stranger. "Well, my old coon," said he, "do you want to swap hosses ? " " Why, I don't know," replied the stranger ; " I believe I've got a beast I'd trade with you for that one, if you like him." " Well, fetch up your riag, my old cock ; you're jist the lark I wanted to get hold of. I am perhaps a leetle, jist a leetle, of the best man at a horse-swap that ever stole cracklins out of his mammy's fat gourd. Where's your hoss?" " I'll bring him presently ; but I want to examine your horse a little." " Oh ! look at him," said the Blossom, alighting and hitting him a cut ; " look at him. He's the best piece of Aoss&esh in the thirteen 124 AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET united univarsal worlds. There's no sort o' mistake in little Bullet. He can pick up miles on his feet, and fling 'em behind him as fast as the next man's hoss, I don't care- where he comes from. And he can keep at it as long as the sun can shine without resting." During this harangue, little Bullet looked as if he understood it all, believed it, and was ready at any moment to verify it. He was a horse of goodly countenance, rather expressive of vigilance than fire ; though an unnatural appearance of fierceness was thrown into it by the loss of his ears, which had been cropped pretty close to his head. Nature had done but little for Bullet's head and neck; but he managed, in a great measure, to hide their defects by bowing perpetually. He had obviously suffered severely for corn ; but if his ribs and hip bones had not disclosed the fact, he never would have done it ; for he was in all respects as cheerful and happy as if he commanded all the corn-cribs and fodder- stacks in Georgia. His height was about twelve hands ; but as his shape partook somewhat of that of the giraffe, his haunches stood much lower. They were short, strait, peaked, and concave. Bullet's tail, however, made amends for all his defects. All that the artist could do to beautify it had been done ; and all that horse could do to compliment the artist, Bullet did. His tail was nicked in superior style, and exhibited the line of beauty in so many directions, that it could not fail to hit the most fastidious taste in some of them. From the root it drooped into a graceful festoon ; then rose in a handsome curve ; then resumed its first direction; and then mounted suddenly upward like a cypress knee to a perpendicular of about two and a half inches. The whole had a careless and bewitching inclination to the right. Bullet obviously knew where his beauty lay, and took all occasions to display it to the best advantage. If a stick cracked, or if any one moved suddenly about him, or coughed, or hawked, or spoke a little louder than common, up went Bullet's tail like lightning ; and if the going up did not please, the coming down must of ne- cessity, for it was as different from the. other movement as was its direction. The first was a bold and" rapid flight upward, usually to an angle of forty-five degrees. In this position he kept his THE HORSE-SWAP 12$ interesting appendage until he satisfied himself that nothing in particular was to be done ; when he commenced dropping it by half inches, in second beats, then in triple time, then faster and shorter, and faster and shorter still, until it finally died away im- perceptibly into its natural position. If I might compare sights to sounds I should say its settling was more like the note of a locust than anything else in nature. Either from native sprightliness of disposition, from uncon- trollable activity, or from an unconquerable habit of removing flies by the stamping of the feet, Bullet never stood still; but always kept up a gentle fly-scaring movement of his limbs, which was peculiarly interesting. " I tell you, man," proceeded the Yellow Blossom, " he's the » best live hoss that ever trod the grit of Georgia. Bob Smart knows the hoss. Come here, Bob, and mount this hoss, and show Bullet's motions." Here Bullet bristled up, and looked as if he had been hunting for Bob all day long, and had just found him. Bob sprang on his back. " Boo-oo-oo ! " said Bob, with a fluttering noise of the lips ; and away went Bullet, as if in a quarter race, with all his beauties spread in handsome style. " Now fetch him back," said Blossom. Bullet turned and came in pretty much as he went out. " Now trot him by." Bullet reduced his tail to " customary " ; sidled to the right and left airily, and exhibited at least three varieties of trot in the short space of fifty yards. " Make him pace ! " Bob commenced twitching the bridle and kicking at the same time. These inconsistent movements obvi- ously (and most naturally) disconcerted Bullet ; for it was im- possible for him to learn, from them, whether he was to proceed or stand still. He started to trot, and was told that wouldn't do. He attempted a canter, and was checked again. He stopped, and was urged to go on. Bullet now rushed into the wild field of experiment, and struck out a gait of his own, that completely turned the tables upon his rider, and certainly deserved a patent. It seemed to have derived its elements from the jig, the minuet, and the cotillon. If it was not a pace, it certainly had pace in it, and no man could venture to 126 AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET call it anything else; so it passed off to the satisfaction of the owner. " Walk him ! " Bullet was now at home again ; and he walked as if money was staked on him. The stranger, whose name, I afterwards learned, was Peter Ketch, having examined Bullet to his heart's content, ordered his son Neddy to go and bring up Kit. Neddy soon appeared upon Kit, a well-formed sorrel of the middle size, and in good order. His tout ensemble threw Bullet entirely in the shade, though a glance was sufficient to satisfy any one that Bullet had decided advantage of him in point of intellect. " Why, man," said Blossom, " do you bring such a hoss as that to trade for Bullet? Oh, I see you're no notion of trading." " Ride him off, Neddy ! " said Peter. Kit put off at a handsome lope. "Trot him back ! " Kit came in at a long sweeping trot, and stopped suddenly at the crowd. "Well," said Blossom, " let me look at him ; maybe he'll do to plough." " Examine him ! " said Peter, taking hold of the bridle close to the mouth, " he's nothing but a tacky. He ain't as pretty a horse as Bullet, I know, but he'll do. Start 'em together for a hundred and fifty mile; and if Kit an't twenty mile ahead of him at the com- ing out, any man may take Kit for nothing. But he's a monstrous mean horse, gentlemen, any man may see that. He's the scariest horse, too, you ever saw. He won't do to hunt on, no how. Stranger, will you let Neddy have your rifle to shoot off him? Lay the rifle between his ears, Neddy, and shoot at the blaze in that stump. Tell me when his head is high enough." Ned fired, and hit the blaze ; and Kit did not move a hair's breadth. " Neddy, take a couple of sticks, and beat on that hogshead at Kit's tail." Ned made a tremendous rattling, at which Bullet took fright, broke his bridle, and dashed off in grand style ; and would have stopped all farther negotiations by going home in disgust, had not a traveller arrested him and brought him back; but Kit did not move. THE HORSE-SWAP 127 "I tell you, gentlemen," continued Peter, "he's the scariest horse you ever saw. He an't as gentle as Bullet, but he won't do any harm if you watch him. Shall I put him in a cart, gig, or wagon for you, stranger? He'll cut the same capers there he does here. He's a monstrous mean horse." During all this time Blossom was examining him with the nicest scrutiny. Having examined his frame and limbs, he now looked at his eyes. " He's got a curious look out of his eyes," said Blossom. " Oh yes, sir," said Peter, " just as blind as a bat. Blind horses always have clear eyes. Make a motion at his eyes, if you please, sir." Blossom did so, and Kit threw up his head rather as if some- thing pricked him under the chin than as if fearing a blow. Blossom repeated the experiment, and Kit jerked back in considerable astonishment. "Stone blind, you see, gentlemen," proceeded Peter; "but he's just as good to travel of a dark night as if he had eyes." " Blame my buttons," said Blossom, " if I like them eyes." " No," said Peter, " nor I neither. I'd rather have 'em made of diamonds ; but they'll do, if they don't show as much white as Bullet's." " Well," said Blossom, " make a pass at me." "No," said Peter; "you made the banter, now make your pass." " Well, I'm never afraid to price my hosses. You must give me twenty-five dollars boot." " Oh, certainly ; say fifty, and my saddle and bridle in. Here, Neddy, my son, take away daddy's horse." "Well," said Blossom, "I've made my pass, now you make yours." " I'm for short talk in a horse-swap, and therefore always tell a gentleman at once what I mean to do. You must give me ten dollars." Blossom swore absolutely, roundly, and profanely, that he never would give boot. "Well," said Peter, "I didn't care about trading; but you cut 128 AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET such high shines, that I thought I'd like to back you out, and I've done it. Gentlemen, you see I've brought him to a hack." " Come, old man," said Blossom, " I've been joking with you. I begin to think you do want to trade ; therefore, give me five dol- 'lars and take Bullet. I'd rather lose ten dollars any time than not make a trade, though I hate to fling away a good hoss." " Well," said Peter, " I'll be as clever as you are, just put the five dollars on Bullet's back, and hand him over, it's a trade." Blossom swore again, as roundly as before, that he would not give boot ; and, said he, " Bullet wouldn't hold five dollars on his back, no how. But as I bantered you, if you say an even swap, here's at you." " I told you," said Peter, " I'd be as clever as you, therefore, here goes two dollars more, just for trade sake. Give me three dollars, and it's a bargain." Blossom repeated his former assertion; and here the parties stood for a long time, and the by-standers (for many were now collected) began to taunt both parties. After some time, how- ever, it was pretty unanimously decided that the old man had backed Blossom out. At length Blossom swore he " never would be backed out for three dollars after bantering a man ; " and, accordingly, they closed the trade. " Now," said Blossom, as he handed Peter the three dollars, " I'm a man that when he makes a bad trade, makes the most of it until he can make a better. I'm for no rues and after-claps.'' "That's just my way," said Peter; "I never goes to law to mend my bargains." " Ah, you're 4he kind of boy I love to trade with. Here's your hoss, old man. Take the saddle and bridle off him, and I'll strip yours ; but lift up the blanket easy from Bullet's back, for he's a mighty tender-backed hoss." The old man removed the saddle, but the blanket stuck fast. He attempted to raise it, and Bullet bowed himself, switched his tail, danced a little, and gave signs of biting. " Don't hurt him, old man," said Blossom, archly ; " take it off THE HORSE-SWAP 129 easy. I am, perhaps, a leetle of the best man at a horse-swap that ever catched a coon." Peter continued to pull at the blanket more and more roughly, and Bullet became more and more cavortish : insomuch that, when the blanket came off, he had reached the kicking point in good earnest. The removal of the blanket disclosed a sore on Bullet's back- bone that seemed to have defied all medical skill. It measured six full inches in length and four in breadth, and had as many fea- turesas Bullet had motions. My heart sickened at the sight ; and I felt that the brute who had been riding him in that situation deserved the halter. The prevailing feeling, however, was that of mirth. The laugh became loud and general at the old man's expense, and rustic witticisms were liberally bestowed upon him and his late purchase. These Blossom continued to provoke by various remarks. He asked the old man " if he thought Bullet would let five dollars lie on his back." He declared most seriously that he had owned that horse three months, and had never discovered before that he had a sore back, " or he never should have thought of trading him," etc. The old man bore it all with the most philosophic composure. He evinced no astonishment at his late discovery, and made no replies. But his son Neddy had not disciplined his feelings quite so well. His eyes opened wider and wider from the first to the last pull of the blanket ; and, when the whole sore burst upon his view, astonishment and fright seemed to contend for the mastery of his countenance. As the blanket disappeared, he stuck his hands in his breeches pockets, heaved a deep sigh, and lapsed into a pro- found revery, from which' he was only roused by the cuts at his ' father. He bore them as long as he could ; and, when he could con- tain himself no longer, he began, with a certain wildness of expres- sion which gave a peculiar interest to what he uttered : " His back's mighty bad off; but . . . old Kit's both blind and dee/. 1 . . . " You walk him, and see if he tint. His eyes don't look like it ; but Tie'd jist as leve go agin the house with you, or in a ditch, as 1 Only a few phrases have been omitted, harmless enough, but possibly unpleas- ant to some modern readers. K 130 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE any how. Now you go try him." The laugh^was now turned on Blossom ; and many rushed to test the fidelity of the little boy's report. A few experiments established its truth beyond controversy. " Neddy," said the old man, " you oughtn't to try and make people discontented with their things. Stranger, don't mind what the little boy says. If you can only get Kit rid of them little failings, you'll find him all sorts of a horse. You are a leetle the best man at a horse-swap that ever I got hold of; but don't fool away Kit. Come, Neddy, my son, let's be moving ; the stranger seems to be getting snappish." Hall. ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE [Robert Young Hayne came of distinguished stock, being a great-nephew of Isaac Hayne, the Revolutionary patriot executed by the British. He was born in St. Paul's Parish, Colleton District, South Carolina, November 10, 1791, and died at Asheville, North Carolina, September 24, 1839. He was educated in Charleston and practised law there. He served in the War of 1812, was a member of the legislature and attorney-general of the state, and in 1823 was elected to the Senate of the United States. There he became noted for his eloquent opposition to the policy of protection and for his brilliant exposition of the theory of nullification. His most famous speech was that of January 21, 1830, which gave Webster the opportunity to deliver his celebrated " Reply to Hayne." Subsequent events showed that Webster's was the more effective speech, and for this and for other reasons more strictly literary in their nature, it has outranked Hayne's contribution to the debate as a piece of oratory. But the South Carolinian's performance was surely remarkable from the point of view of logical exposition, and it had and still possesses much merit of style. The debaters were worthy foemen. Hayne took a prominent part in the movement for Nullification, and in December, 1832, was chosen governor of South Carolina, giving up his seat in the Senate to Calhoun. Then Hayne became mayor of Charleston and president of the Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad. Into the management of the company, which seemed at first to have a great future, he threw himself with much energy ; and his death, which occurred while he was attending a convention connected with the enterprise, was a loss to the industrial interests of the state which throughout his life he had served as a devoted and able son. His " Life and Speeches " appeared in 1845, and his speech against Webster has been several times separately edited for school use. See his nephew the poet Paul H. Hayne's " Lives of Robert Young Hayne and Hugh Swinton Legar6" (1878).] WEBSTER vs. BENTON 131 WEBSTER vs. BENTON [From the Speech in the Debate with Webster, on Foot's Resolu- tion, DELIVERED IN THE U. S. SENATE, JANUARY 21, 183O. 1 ] Little did I expect to be called upon to meet such an argu- ment as was yesterday urged by the gentleman from Massachu- setts. Sir, I question no man's opinions; I impeach no man's motives ; I charged no party, or State, or section of country with hostility to any other, but ventured, as I thought, in a becoming spirit, to put forth my own sentiments in relation to a great national question of public policy. Such was my course. The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Benton), it is true, had charged upon the Eastern States an early and continued hostility towards the West, and referred to a number of historical facts and docu- ments in support of that charge. Now, sir, how have' these dif- ferent arguments been met? The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, after deliberating a whole night upon his course, comes into this chamber to vindicate New England ; and instead of making up his issue with the gentleman from Missouri, on the charges which he had preferred, chooses to consider me as the author of those charges, and losing sight entirely of that gentle- man, selects me as his adversary, and pours -out all the phials of his mighty wrath upon my devoted head. Nor is he willing to stop there. He goes on to assail the institutions and policy of the South, and calls in question the principles and conduct of the State which I have the honor to represent. When I find a gentle- man of mature age and experience, of acknowledged talents and profound sagacity, pursuing a course like this, declining the con- test offered from the West, and making war upon the unoffending South, I must believe, I am bound to believe, he has some object in view which he has not ventured to disclose. Mr. President, why is this ? Has the gentleman discovered in former controver- sies with the gentleman from Missouri, that he is overmatched by 1 The text follows in the main a pamphlet entitled " Speeches of Messrs. Hayne and Webster, etc.," Hartford, 1850. 132 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE that senator? And does he hope for an easy victory over a more feeble adversary? Has the gentleman's distempered fancy been disturbed by gloomy forebodings of " new alliances to be formed," at which he hinted? Has the ghost of the murdered Coalition come back, like the ghost of Banquo, to "sear the eyeballs" of the gentleman, and will it not down at his bidding? Are dark vis- ions of broken hopes, and honors lost forever, still floating before his heated imagination? Sir, if it be his object to thrust me be- tween the gentleman from Missouri and himself, in order to rescue the East from the contest it has provoked with the West, he shall not be gratified. Sir, I will not be dragged into the defence of my friend from Missouri. The South shall not be forced into a conflict not its own. The gentleman from Missouri is able to fight his own battles. The gallant West needs no aid from the South to repel any attack which may be made on them from any quarter. ' Let the gentleman from Massachusetts controvert the facts and arguments of the gentleman from Missouri, if he can — and if he win the victory, let him wear the honors ; I shall not deprive him of his laurels. . . . THE FRIENDS AND THE ENEMIES OF THE UNION [From the Same.] Who, then, Mr. President, are the true friends of the Union? Those who would confine the Federal Government strictly within the limits prescribed by the Constitution ; who would preserve to the States and the People all powers not expressly delegated; who would make this a Federal and not a National Union, and who, administering the government in a spirit of equal justice, would make it a blessing, and not a curse. And who are its enemies? Those who are in favor of consolidation; who are constantly stealing power from the States, and adding strength to the Federal Government ; who, assuming an unwarrantable juris- diction over the States and the People, undertake to regulate the whole industry and capital of the country. But, sir, of all descrip- tions of men, I consider those as the worst enemies of the Union, THE SOUTH CAROLINA DOCTRINE .133 who sacrifice the equal rights which belong to every member of the Confederacy to combinations of interested majorities for per- sonal or political objects. But the gentleman apprehends no evil from the dependence of the States on the Federal Government ; he can see no danger of corruption from the influence of money or of patronage. Sir, I know that it is supposed to be a wise saying that " patronage is a source of weakness ; " and in support of that maxim it has been said that " every ten appointments makes a hun- dred enemies." But I am rather inclined to think, with the elo- quent and sagacious orator now reposing on his laurels on the banks of the Roanoke, 1 that "the power of conferring favors creates a crowd of dependents ; '' he gave a forcible illustration of the truth of the remark, when he told us of the effect of holding up the savory morsel to the eager eyes of the hungry hounds gathered around his door. It mattered not whether the gift was bestowed on "Towzer" or "Sweetlips," "Tray," "Blanche," or "Sweetheart"; 2 while held in suspense, they were all governed by a nod, and when the morsel was bestowed, the expectation of the favors of to-morrow kept up the subjection of to-day. . . . THE SOUTH CAROLINA DOCTRINE [From the Same.] Thus it will be seen, Mr. President, that the South Carolina doctrine is the Republican doctrine of '98, — that it was promul- • gated by the fathers of the faith, — that it was maintained by Vir- ginia and Kentucky in the worst of times, — that it constituted the very pivot on which the political revolution of that day turned, — that it embraces the very principles, the triumph of which, at that time, saved the Constitution at its last gasp, and which New Eng- land statesmen were not unwilling to adopt when they bejieved themselves to be the victims of unconstitutional legislation. Sir, as to the doctrine that the Federal Government is the exclusive judge of the extent as well as the limitations of its powers, it seems 1 John Randolph. 2 See " King Lear," III, vi, 66. 134 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE to me to be utterly subversive of the sovereignty and independence of the States. It makes but little difference, in my estimation, whether Congress or the Supreme Court are invested with this power. If the Federal Government, in all, or any, of its depart- ments, is to prescribe the limits of its own authority, and the States are bound to submit to the decision, and are not to be allowed to examine and decide for themselves when the barriers of the Con- stitution shall be overleaped, this is practically "a Government without limitation of powers." The States are at once reduced to mere petty corporations, and the people are entirely at your mercy. I have but one word more to add. In all the efforts that have been made by South Carolina to resist the unconstitu- tional laws which Congress has extended over them, she has kept steadily in view the preservation of the Union, by the only means by which she believes it can be long preserved — a firm, manly, and steady resistance against usurpation. The measures of the Federal Government have, it is true, prostrated her interests, and will soon involve the whole South in irretrievable ruin. But even this evil, great as it is, is not the chief ground for our complaints. It is the principle involved in the contest — a principle which, substituting the discretion of Congress for the limitations of the Constitution, brings the States and the people to the feet of the Federal Government, and leaves them nothing they can call their own. Sir, if the measures of the Federal Government were less oppressive, we should still strive against this usurpation. The South is acting on a principle she has always held sacred — resist- ance to unauthorized taxation. These, sir, are the principles which induced the immortal Hampden to resist the payment of a tax of twenty shillings. Would twenty shillings have ruined his fortune ? No ! but the payment of half twenty shillings, on the principle on which it was demanded, would have made him a slave. Sir, if acting on these high motives — if animated by that ardent love of liberty which has always been the most prominent trait in the Southern character, we should be hurried beyond the bounds of a cold and calculating prudence; who is there, with one noble and generous sentiment in his bosom, that would not be disposed, in the language of Burke, to exclaim, " You must pardon something to the spirit of liberty"? SAM HO US TON 1 35 SAM HOUSTON. 1 [Sam Houston was born of Scotch-Irish stock in Rockbridge County, Vir- ginia, March 2, 1793, and died in Huntsville, Walker County, Texas, July 26, 1863. His people early moved to Tennessee, and there the boy mainly associated with the Cherokee Indians, by one of whom he was adopted. At twenty he enlisted in the army and served against the Creek Indians, winning by his bravery the commendations of Andrew Jackson. His connection with the army was honorably terminated after some trouble with the War Depart- ment about the smuggling of slaves into Florida. Then in 1818 he began to study law at Nashville, rose rapidly in his profession, and served two terms in Congress, during the latter of which he fought a duel. In 1827 he was elected governor of Tennessee and seemed a great favorite with the people. In 1829 he married, but soon separated from his wife for some mysterious reason. The public criticised him severely and he left the state, going to his Cherokee father and living with the Indians about three years. While he was on a visit to Washington connected with Indian affairs his integrity was assailed by a member of Congress whom Houston chastised severely. For this he was reprimanded and fined by the House of Representatives, but President Jackson remitted the fine. Then like other adventurous spirits he went to Texas, where in 1833 he was elected a member of the constitutional convention, as well as a general. Two years later he was made commander-in-chief of the Texan forces, and after the full declaration of independence by Texas, he met Santa Anna and the Mexicans — who were fresh from the capture of the Alamo and from the massacre at Goliad — on the banks of the San Jacinto, and inflicted on them the. remarkable defeat described in the extract (April 21, 1836). Some troubles with the Texan authorities followed, and Houston went to New Orleans ; but in October, 1 836, after only twelve days' candidacy, he was elected President of Texas by a large majority. His term of two years was a successful one, as was also a second marriage made soon after. From December, 1841, to December, 1844, he was again President of Texas, having meanwhile served in the Texan Congress. He was fortunately strong enough to carry the new republic through many dangers, and finally, after some intrigues, annexation with the United States was secured at the end of 1845. From 1846 to 1859 he represented Texas in the Senate, being distinguished for his interest in Indian legislation, for his opposition to extreme Southern views, and for his general picturesqueness. He was even talked of for the Presi- dency. In 1859, after an unsuccessful candidacy, he was elected governor of 1 Hpuston insisted upon being known as Sam, not Samuel. 136 SAM HOUSTON Texas as an independent. As governor he opposed secession, and, when the state seceded, he refused to take a new oath of allegiance, with the result that he was deposed. But he would not accept the offer of troops to make war on Texas and, while regretting the action of the South, he stood by his section for the few years that were left him. As time has gone by, the importance of his career and the fine elements of his character have been more and more recog- nized, and he has been made the subject of several biographies. One, by the Rev. William C. Crane, late president of Baylor University (2 vols., 1884), gives, besides a fairly full account of Houston's life, his " Literary Remains," consisting of State Papers, Talks to Indian Chiefs, Letters and Documents, and Speeches, chiefly those delivered in the Senate. A careful biography by A. M. Williams (1893) should also be used by the student, as well as such books as the lawyer and soldier Colonel Henderson K. Yoakum's (1810- 1856) "History of Texas" (1855-1856), and the recent "Texas," by Pro- fessor George P. Garrison in the "American Commonwealths" series (1903). Briefer biographies of Houston are those by Henry Bruce in the " Makers of America" series (1891), and by the novelist Miss Sarah Barnwell Elliott in the "Beacon Biographies" (1900).] THE VICTOR'S DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO 1 "[From Houston's Report to David G. Burnet, (Provisional) Presi- dent of the Republic of Texas, made from San Jacinto (April 25, 1836).] At daylight we resumed the line of march, and in a short dis- tance our scouts encountered those of the enemy, and we received information that General Santa Anna was at New Washington, and would that day take up the line of march for Anahuac, crossing at Lynch's Ferry. The Texan army halted within half a mile of the ferry, in some timber, and were engaged in slaughtering beeves, when the army of Santa Anna was discovered to be approaching in battle array, having been encamped at Clopper's Point, eight miles below. Disposition was immediately made of our forces, and preparation for his reception. He took a position with his infantry, and artillery in the centre, occupying an island of timber, his cavalry covering the left flank. The artillery, consisting of one double fortified medium brass twelve-pounder, then opened on l The text is taken from the appendix to Yoakum's " History of Texas," Vol. II. THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO 137 our encampment. The infantry, in column, advanced with the design of charging our lines, but were repulsed by a discharge of grape and canister from our artillery, consisting of two six-pound- ers. The enemy had occupied a piece of timber within rifle-shot of the left wing of our army, from which an occasional interchange of small arms took place between the troops, until the enemy withdrew to~a position on the bank of the San Jacinto, about three-quarters of a mile from our encampment, and commenced fortification. A short time before sunset, our mounted men, about eighty-five in number, under the special command of Colonel Sherman, marched out for the purpose of reconnoitring the enemy. While advanc- ing, they received a volley from the left of the enemy's infantry, and, after a sharp rencounter with the cavalry, in which ours acted extremely well, and performed some feats of daring chivalry, they retired in good order, having had two men severely wounded, and several horses killed. In the meantime, the infantry under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Millard, and Colonel Burleson's regiment, with the artillery, had marched out for the purpose of covering the retreat of the cavalry, if necessary. All then fell back in good order to our encampment about sunset, and remained without ostensible action until the 2 1st, at half-past three o'clock, taking the first refreshment which they had enjoyed for two days. The enemy in the meantime extended the right flank of their in- fantry, so as to occupy the extreme point of a skirt of timber on the bank of the San Jacinto, and secured their left by a fortifica- tion about five feet high, constructed of packs and baggage, leav- ing an opening in the centre of the breastwork, in which their artillery was placed, their cavalry upon their left wing. About nine o'clock on .the morning of the 21st, the enemy were reinforced by five hundred choice troops, under the command of General Cos, increasing their effective force to upwards of fifteen hundred men, while our aggregate force for the field numbered seven hundred and eighty-three. At half-past three o'clock in the evening, I ordered the officers of' the Texan army to parade their respective commands, having in the meantime ordered the bridge on the only road communicating with the Brazos, distant eight 138 SAM HOUSTON miles from our encampment, to be destroyed — thus cutting off all possibility of escape. Our troops paraded with alacrity and spirit, and were anxious for the contest. Their conscious disparity in num- bers seemed only to increase their enthusiasm and confidence, and heightened their anxiety for the conflict. Our situation afforded me an opportunity of making the arrangements preparatory to the attack without exposing our designs to the enemy. The first regi- ment, commanded by Colonel Burleson, was assigned to the centre. The second regiment, under the command of Colonel Sherman, formed the left wing of the army. The artillery, under the special command of Colonel George W. Hockley, inspector-general, was placed on the right of the first regiment ; and four companies of infantry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Millard, sustained the artillery upon the right. Our cavalry, sixty-one in number, commanded by Colonel Mirabeau B. Lamar 1 (whose gal- lant and daring conduct on the previous day had attracted the admiration of his comrades, and called him to that station), placed on our extreme right, completed our line. Our cavalry was first dispatched to the front of the enemy's left, for the purpose of at- tracting their notice, while an extensive island of timber afforded us an opportunity of concentrating our forces, and deploying from that point, agreeably to the previous design of the troops. Every evolution was performed with alacrity, the whole advancing rapidly in line, through an open prairie, without any protection whatever for our men. The artillery advanced and took station within two hundred yards of the enemy's breastwork, and commenced an effective fire with grape and canister. Col. Sherman, with his regiment, having commenced the action upon our left wing, the whole line, at the centre and on the right, advancing in double-quick time, liaised the war-cry, "Re- member the Alamo ! " received the enemy's fire, and advanced within point-blank shot, before a piece was discharged from our lines. Our line advanced without a halt, until they were in pos- session of the woodland and the enemy's breastwork — the right wing of Burleson's and the left wing of Millard's taking possession 1 See p. 158. THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO 139 of the breastwork ; our artillery having gallantly charged up within seventy yards of the enemy's cannon, when it was taken by our troops. The conflict lasted about eighteen minutes from the time of close action until we were in possession of the enemy's encamp- ment, taking one piece of cannon (loaded), four stand of colors, all their camp equipage, stores, and baggage. Our cavalry had charged and routed that of the enemy upon the right, and given pursuit to the fugitives, which did not cease until they arrived at the bridge which I have mentioned before — Captain Karnes, always among the foremost in danger, commanding the pursuers. The conflict in the breastwork lasted but a few moments ; many of the troops encountered hand to hand, and, not having the ad- vantage of bayonets on our side, our riflemen used their pieces as war-clubs, breaking many of them off at the breech. The rout commenced at half-past four, and the pursuit by the main army" continued until twilight. A guard was then left in charge of the enemy's encampment, and our army returned with their killed and wounded. In the battle, our loss was two killed and twenty-three wounded, six of them mortally. The enemy's loss was six hundred and thirty killed, among whom was one general officer, four colo- nels, two lieutenant-colonels, five cap'tains, twelve lieutenants; wounded 'two hundred and eight, of which were five colonels, three lieutenant-colonels, two second lieutenant-colonels, seven captains, one cadet ; prisoners seven hundred and thirty — President-Gen- ' eral Santa Anna, General Cos, four colonels, aides to General Santa Anna, and the colonel of the Guerrero battalion, are in- cluded in the number. General Santa Anna was not taken until the 2 2d, and General Cos yesterday, very few having escaped. About six hundred muskets, three hundred sabres, and two hun- dred pistols, have been collected since the action. Several hun- dred mules and horses were taken, and nearly twelve thousand dollars in specie. For several days previous to the action, our troops were engaged in forced marches, exposed to excessive rains, and the additional inconvenience of extremely bad roads, badly supplied with rations and clothing ; yet, amid every difficulty, they bore up with cheer- 140 JOHN PENDLETON KENNEDY fulness and fortitude, and performed their marches with spirit and alacrity — there was no murmuring. I have the honor of transmitting herewith a list of all the officers and men who were engaged in the action, which I respectfully request may be published, as an act of justice to the individuals. For the commanding general to attempt discrimination as to the conduct of those who commanded in the action, or those who were commanded, would be impossible. Our success in the action is conclusive proof of their daring intrepidity and courage ; every officer and man proved himself worthy of the cause in which he battled, while the triumph received a lustre from the humanity which characterized their conduct after victory, and richly entitles them to the admiration and gratitude of their general. Nor should we withhold the tribute of our grateful thanks from that Being who rules the destinies of nations, and has, in the time of greatest need, enabled us to arrest a powerful invader while devastating our country. I have the honor, &c, Sam Houston, Commander-in-Chief. JOHN PENDLETON KENNEDY [The author of " Horse-Shoe Robinson " was born in Baltimore, October 25, 1795, and died in Newport, Rhode Island, August 18, 1870. Shortly after graduating at a local college, he fought against the British invaders of 1814 and then studied law. He was soon sent to the legislature and continued for the rest of his life to take interest in politics as well as 'in law and in literature, attaining greater success in the first and the last than is usual when energies are not concentrated on a single object. He was an earnest Whig, an advocate of protection, and in 1838, and for two terms thereafter, was elected to Congress. In 1852 he was made Secretary of the Navy under Fillmore, distinguishing himself by his encouragement of the expeditions of Commodore Perry and Dr. Kane. Meanwhile he had done his best work in literature with his story of Virginia life, " Swallow Barn" (1832), and his popular romance of the Revolution in the South, " Horse-Shoe Robinson " (1835). " R°b °' AN OLD VIRGINIA ESTATE AND ITS MASTER 141 the Bowl," a romance of colonial Maryland, appeared in 1838, and a not very effective political satire, " Annals of Quodlibet " in 1840. Much better than these was his " Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt," in two volumes, 1849, revised in 1850 — one of the best of the older biographies. Later writings such as "Mr. Ambrose's Letters on the Rebellion " — Kennedy was a stanch upholder of the Union during the Civil War — and an account of his .travels in Europe did not add to his reputation. He was a public-spirited citizen, and was specially interested in the Peabody Institute of Baltimore. His " Swallow Barn" and " Horse-Shoe Robinson," though owing not a little to the work of Irving and Cooper, deserve to be remembered as good in themselves, especially as giving faithful pictures of the scenes they describe. " Horse-Shoe Robin- son," the hero of which was known by Kennedy in the flesh, is, indeed, one of the best romances of the Revolution, and is fully equal to any single, one of Simms's series in the same field. It is likely, however, that the kindness Ken- nedy showed Poe, when the latter was a struggling author in Baltimore, will preserve his name better than many of the nine volumes into which his works were collected in 1870. His name is also associated with that of a great British writer on account of the story that Thackeray is said to have asked him to furnish a chapter for " The Virginians," and that Kennedy, in compliance, wrote the fourth chapter of the second volume, which describes scenery with which the Marylander was familiar. That Thackeray made some such pro- posal is clear, but that we actually read Kennedy's handiwork in " The Vir- ginians " is at least very doubtful. A biography of Kennedy was added to the collected works of that writer by the critic Henry T. Tuckerman in 1871.] AN OLD VIRGINIA ESTATE AND ITS MASTER [From " Swallow Barn, or a Sojourn in the Old Dominion." Revised Edition, 1852.] Swallow Barn is an aristocratical old edifice which sits, like a brooding hen, on the southern bank of the James River. It looks down upon a shady pocket or nook, formed by an indentation of the shore, from a gentle acclivity thinly sprinkled with oaks whose magnificent branches afford habitation to sundry friendly colonies of squirrels and woodpeckers. This time-honored mansion was the residence of the family of Hazards. But in the present generation, the spells of love and mortgage have translated the possession to Frank Meriwether, who having married Lucretia, the eldest daughter of my late Uncle 142 JOHN PENDLETON KENNEDY Walter Hazard, and lifted some gentlemen-like incumbrances which had been sleeping for years upon the domain, was thus inducted into the proprietary rights. The adjacency of his own estate gave a territorial feature to this alliance, of which the fruits were no less discernible in the multiplication of negroes, cattle, and poultry, than in a flourishing clan of Meriwethers. The main building is more than a century old. It is built with thick brick walls, but one story in height, and surmounted by a double-faced or hipped roof, which gives the idea of a ship bottom upwards. Later buildings have been added to this, as the wants or ambition of the family have expanded. These are all con- structed of wood, and seem to have been built in defiance of all laws of congruity, just as convenience required. But they form altogether an agreeable picture of habitation, suggesting the idea of comfort in the ample space they fill, and in their conspicuous adaptation to domestic uses.. The hall door is an ancient piece of walnut, which has grown too heavy for its hinges, and by its daily travel has furrowed the floor in a quadrant, over which it has an uneasy journey. It is shaded by a narrow porch, with a carved pediment upheld by massive columns of wood, somewhat split by the sun. An ample court-yard, inclosed by a semi-circular paling, extends in front of the whole pile, and is traversed by a gravel road leading from a rather ostentatious iron gate, which is swung between two pillars of brick surmounted by globes of cut stone. Between the gate and the house a large willow spreads its arched and pendent drapery over the grass. A bridal rack stands within the inclosure, and near it a ragged horse-nibbled plum-tree — the current belief being that a plum-tree thrives on ill usage — casts its skeleton shadow on the dust. Some Lombardy poplars, springing above a mass of shrubbery, partially screen various supernumerary buildings at a short distance in the rear of the mansion. Amongst these is to be seen the gable end of a stable, with the date of its erection stiffly emblazoned in black bricks near the upper angle, in figures set in after the fash- ion of the work on a girl's sampler. In the same quarter a pigeon- box, reared on a post and resembling a huge tee-totum, is visible, AN OLD VIRGINIA ESTATE AND ITS MASTER 143 and about its several doors and windows a family of pragmatical pigeons are generally strutting, bridling, and bragging at each other from sunrise until dark. Appendant to this homestead is an extensive tract of land which stretches some three or four miles along the river, presenting alter- nately abrupt promontories mantled with pine and dwarf oak, and small inlets terminating in swamps. Some sparse portions of forest vary the landscape, which, for the most part, exhibits a suc- cession of fields clothed with Indian corn, some small patches ef cotton or tobacco plants, with the usual varieties of stubble and fallow grounds. These are inclosed by worm fences of shrunken chestnut, where lizards and ground-squirrels are perpetually running races along the rails. A few hundred steps from the mansion, a brook glides at a snail's pace towards the river, holding its course through a wilder- ness of laurel and alder, and creeping around islets covered with green mosses. Across this stream is thrown a rough bridge, which it would delight a painter to see ; and not far below it an aged sycamore twists its roots into a grotesque framework to the pure mirror of a spring, which wells up its cool waters from a bed of gravel and runs gurgling to the brook. There it aids in furnish- ing a cruising ground to a squadron of ducks who, in defiance of all nautical propriety, are incessantly turning up their sterns to the skies. On the grass which skirts the margin of the spring, I observe the family linen is usually spread out by some three or four negro women, who chant shrill music over their wash-tubs, and seem to live in ceaseless warfare with sundry little besmirched and bow-legged blacks, who are never tired of making somer- sets, and mischievously pushing each other on the clothes laid down to dry. Beyond the bridge, at some distance, stands a prominent object in the perspective of this picture, — the most venerable appendage to the establishment — a huge barn with an immense roof hanging almost to the ground, and thatched a foot thick with sun-burnt straw, which reaches below the eaves in ragged flakes. It has a singularly drowsy and decrepit aspect. The yard around it is strewed knee-deep with litter, from the midst of which arises a 144 JOHN PENDLETON KENNEDY long rack resembling a chevaux defrise, 1 which is ordinarily filled with fodder. This is the customary lounge of half a score of oxen and as many cows, who sustain an imperturbable companionship with a sickly wagon, whose parched tongue and drooping swingle- trees, as it stands in the oun, give it a most forlorn and invalid character ; whilst some sociable carts under the sheds, with their shafts perched against the walls, suggest the idea of a set of gossip- ing cronies taking theirease in a tavern porch. Now and then a clownish hobble-de-hoy colt, with long fetlocks and disordered mane, and a thousand burs in his tail, stalks through this com- pany. But as it is forbidden ground to all his tribe, he is likely very soon to encounter a shower of corn-cobs from some of the negro men ; upon which contingency he makes a rapid retreat across the bars which imperfectly guard the entrance to the yard, and with an uncouth display of his heels bounds away towards the brook, where he stops and looks back with a saucy defiance ; and after affecting to drink for a moment, gallops away with a braggart whinny to the fields. The master of this lordly domain is Frank Meriwether. He is now in the meridian of life — somewhere about forty-five. Good cheer and an easy temper tell well upon him. The first has given him a comfortable, portly figure, and the latter a contemplative turn of mind, which inclines him to be lazy and philosophical. He has some right to pride himself on his personal appearance, for he has a handsome face, with a dark blue eye and a fine intel- lectual brow. His head is growing scant of hair on the crown, which induces him to be somewhat particular in the management of his locks in that locality, and these are assuming a decided silvery hue. It is pleasant to see him when he is going to ride to the Court House on business occasions. He is then apt to make his appear- ance in a coat of blue broadcloth, astonishingly glossy, and with an 1 " Pieces of timber traversed with spikes of iron, or of wood pointed with iron five or six feet long, used to defend a passage, stop a breach, form an obstacle to the advance of cavalry, etc. A similar contrivance is placed on the top of a wall to pre- vent persons from climbing over it." — Century Dictionary. AN OLD VIRGINIA ESTATE AND ITS MASTER 145 unusual amount of plaited ruffle strutting through the folds of a Marseilles waistcoat. A worshipful finish is given to this costume by a large straw hat, lined with green silk. There is a magisterial ful- ness in his garments which betokens condition in the world, and a heavy bunch of seals, suspended by a chain of gold, jingles as he moves, pronouncing him a man of superfluities. [He is too lazy to try to go into politics, but did once make a pretence of studying law in Richmond, and is a somewhat auto- cratic justice of the peace.] . . . Having in this way qualified himself to assert and main- tain his rights, he came to his estate, upon his arrival at age, a very model of landed gentlemen. Since that time his avocations have had a certain literary tincture ; for having settled himself down as a married man, and got rid of his super- fluous foppery, he rambled with wonderful assiduity through a wil- derness of romances, poems, and dissertations, which are now collected in his library, and, with their battered blue covers, pre- sent a lively type of an army of continentals at the close of the war, or a hospital of invalids. These have all, at last, given way to the newspapers — a miscellaneous study very attractive and engrossing to country gentlemen. This line of study has rendered Meriwether a most perilous antagonist in the matter of legislative proceedings. A landed proprietor, with a good house and a host of servants, is naturally a hospitable man. A guest is one of his daily wants. A friendly face is a necessary of life, without which the heart is apt to starve, or a luxury without which it grows parsimonious. Men who are isolated from society by distance, feel these wants by an instinct, and are grateful for the opportunity to relieve them. In ' Meriwether the sentiment goes beyond this. It has, besides, some- thing dialectic in it. His house is open to everybody, as freely almost as an inn. But to see him when he has had the good fortune to pick up an intelligent, educated gentleman, — and particularly one who listens well! — a respectable, assentatious stranger ! — All the better if he has been in the Legislature, and better still* if in Congress. Such a person caught within the purlieus of Swallow Barn, may set down one week's entertainment as certain — inevitable, and as many more as he likes — the more . L 1 46 JOHN PENDLE TON KENNED Y the merrier. He will know something of the quality of Meriwether's rhetoric before he is gone. Then again, it is very pleasant to see Frank's kind and con-, siderate bearing towards his servants and dependents. His slaves appreciate this, and hold him in most affectionate reverence, and, therefore,, are not only contented, but happy under his dominion. He is somewhat distinguished as a breeder of blooded horses ; and, ever since the celebrated race between Eclipse and Henry, has taken to this occupation with a renewed zeal, as a matter af- fecting the reputation of the state. It is delightful to hear him expatiate upon the value, importance, and patriotic bearing of this employment, and to listen to all his technical lore touching the mystery of horse-craft. He-has some fine colts in training, which are committed to the care of a pragmatical old negro, named Carey, who, in his reverence for the occupation, is the perfect shadow of his master. He and Frank hold grave and momentous consultations upon the affairs of the stable, in such a sagacious strain of equal debate, that it would puzzle a spectator to tell which was the leading member of the council. Carey thinks he knows a great deal more upon the subject than his master, and their frequent intercourse has begot a familiarity in the old negro which is almost fatal to Meriwether's supremacy. The old man feels himself authorized to maintain his positions according to the freest parliamentary form, and sometimes with a violence of as- severation that compels his master to abandon his ground, purely out of faint-heartedness. Meriwether gets a little nettled by Carey's doggedness, but generally turns it off in a laugh. I was in the stable with him, a few mornings after my arrival, when he ven- tured to expostulate with the venerable groom upon a professional point, but the controversy terminated in its customary way. " Who sot you up, Master Frank, to tell me how to fodder that 'ere cretur, when I as good as nursed you on my knee ? " " Well, tie up your tongue, you old mastiff," replied Frank, as he walked out of the stable, " and cease growling, since you will have it your own way," — and then, as we left the old man's A COMBINATION OF VULCAN AND MARS 1 47 presence, he added, with an affectionate chuckle — "a faithful old cur, too, that snaps at me out of pure honesty ; he has not many years left, and it does no harm to humor him ! " *********** A COMBINATION OF VULCAN AND MARS [From " Horse-Shoe Robinson : A Tale of the Tory Ascendency." Revised Edition, 1852.] Galbraith Robinson was a man of altogether rougher mould. Nature had carved out, in his person, an athlete whom the sculp- tors might have studied to improve the Hercules. Every linea- ment of his body indicated strength. His stature was rather above six feet ; his chest broad ; his limbs sinewy, and remarkable for their symmetry. There seemed to be no useless flesh upon his frame to soften the prominent surface of his muscles ; and his ample thigh, as he sat upon horseback, showed the working of its texture at each step, as if part of the animal on which he rode. His was one of those iron forms that might be imagined almost bullet proof. With all these advantages of person, there was a radiant, broad, good nature upon his face ; and the glance of a large, clear, blue eye told of arch thoughts, and of shrewd, homely wisdom. A ruddy complexion accorded well with his sprightly, but massive features, of which the prevailing expression was such as silently invited friendship and trust. If- to these traits be added an abundant shock of yellow, curly hair, terminating in a luxuriant queue, confined by a narrow strand of leather cord, my reader will have a tolerably correct idea of the person I wish to describe. Robinson had been a blacksmith at the breaking out of the Revolution, and, in truth, could hardly be said to have yet aban- doned the craft; although of late, he had been engaged in a course of life which had but little to do with the anvils except in that metaphorical sense of hammering out and shaping the rough, iron independence of his country. He was the owner of a little farm in the Waxhaw settlement, on the Catawba, and having pitched his habitation upon a promontory, around whose base the 148 HUGH SWINTON LEGAR& Waxhaw creek swept with a regular but narrow circuit, this local- ity, taken in connection with his calling, gave rise to a common prefix to his name throughout the neighborhood, and he was therefore almost exclusively distinguished by the sobriquet of Horse-Shoe Robinson. This familiar appellative had followed him into the army. The age of Horse-Shoe was some seven or eight years in advance of that of Butler 1 — a circumstance which the worthy senior did not fail to use with some authority in their personal intercourse, holding himself, on that account, to be like Cassius, an elder, if not a better soldier. On the present occasion, his dress was of the plainest and most rustic description : a spherical crowned hat with a broad brim, a coarse grey coatee of mixed cotton and wool, dark linsey-woolsey trowsers adhering closely to his legs, hob-nailed shoes, and a red cotton handkerchief tied carelessly round his neck with a knot upon his bosom. This costume, and a long rifle thrown into the angle of the right arm, with the breech resting on his pommel, and a pouch of deer-skin, with a powder horn attached^ to it, suspended on his right side, might have warranted a spectator in taking Robinson for a woodsman, or hunter from the neighboring mountains. HUGH SWINTON LEGARE [Hugh Swinton Legare (pronounced Leh-gree) was born of mingled French Huguenot and Scotch stock at Charleston, South Carolina, January 2, 1797, and died at Boston, June 20, 1843. When he was a small boy he was inocu- lated with the small-pox, and as a result became desperately ill. His limbs were affected and, after he attained his growth, he presented the spectacle of a man with a fine, large head and chest and very short legs. He was unable to take physical exercise, and from his .youth became a lover of books. He also nursed the ambition of making himself an orator. He studied hard both in Charleston and at Dr. Waddell's school at Willington in the Abbe- ville District (see p. 116). He entered South Carolina College at fourteen, 1 Captain Arthur Butler, who holds a brevet of major in the Continental army, is the technical hero of the romance, that is, he is the lover of the attractive heroine, Mildred Lindsay. HUGH SWINTON LEGAR& 1 49 and showed himself to be a remarkable student, especially of the classics, of French and Italian, and of the masters of English prose and verse. It is easy to perceive from his writings that his knowledge of literature and history was so broad and deep as fairly to be called astonishing, and that few if any other American public men of his day or since can be said to have had such a foundation of culture on which to build. He graduated in 1814 and returned to Charleston, where he studied law. Then he spent two years in Europe, studying for some time both in Paris and in Edinburgh, gradually specializing upon the civil law in which he later became very learned. At Edinburgh he formed a friendship with George Ticknor of Massachusetts, who, with Legare and a Virginian friend of both, Francis Walker Gilmer (see pp. 68, 79), may be taken to represent at their best the aspirations and attainments of the schol- arly Americans who came to manhood about the time of the second war with England. It was the fortune of Ticknor to accomplish in his great " History of Spanish Literature " a scholarly task' of permanent value. His Southern friends were cut off early and did not concentrate their efforts ; hence they do not live by their works, but they deserve remembrance for their abilities and their ideals. In 1820 Legare returned to Charleston with his friend, William C. Preston (1794-1860), afterward the distinguished orator and senator and the president of South Carolina College. For the next ten years he was in the legislature with but a slight intermission, and then in 1830 he was made attorney-general of the state. His advance was perhaps checked by the fact that he was overeducated for the work he had to do and for the field of his labors. At the beginning of 1 1828, however, he established The Southern Review in collaboration with the botanist, Stephen Elliott, and in that able quarterly he found an outlet for his scholarly activities. Legare contributed long and solid reviews, such as that on Moore's " Byron," from which an extract is given, and that on the Charleston litterateur, William Crafts. He served as editor for a period and secured good contributors, but the times were not propitious, and four years saw the end of a brilliant enter- prise. In 1832 he was given by Edward Livingston, then Secretary of State, an opportunity to continue his studies in the civil law. Legare accepted the offer of the position of charge d'affaires at Brussels, both because study was a passion with him, and because his opposition to the Nullification movement had interfered with his political advancement in South Carolina. He re- mained abroad four years, and his Diary, his Journal, and his Letters show that he not only added greatly to his stores of knowledge, especially in Ger- man, but mingled freely with interesting people and utilized his opportunities for travel. He returned to America at the end of 1836 and was persuaded to run for Congress. After securing his seat with little effort, he made a reputa- tion for himself as a debater ; but on account of his opposition to the sub- treasury scheme he was defeated at the next election, the influence of Calhoun being against him. Then he distinguished himself in several important law cases in Charleston, made a series of speeches throughout the country in favor ISO HUGH SWINTON LEGAR& of the election of Harrison (1840), and did his most mature writing in three articles contributed to The New York Review on Demosthenes, the Athenian Democracy, and the Roman .Law. In 1841 President Tyler made him Attorney-General, and, after the withdrawal of Webster from the Cabinet, Legare discharged for some months the duties of Secretary of State, winning additional reputation at a juncture of our politics in which it was very difficult to avoid censure. Domestic bereavements and his own ill health clouded his life, however, and it was not his fortune to be able to throw the weight of his matured character and learning on the side of conservatism in the South and in the nation. While attending with the President the Bunker Hill celebra- tion in Boston he was taken ill and died in the house of his friend Ticknor. In 1846 two volumes of his "Writings," edited by his sister, were published in Charleston. This work contained a memoir which doubtless exaggerated in a pardonable fashion his learning and his oratorical gifts, but it also gave, along with his writings, proof of his fine character and remarkable attainments. The poet Hayne, in 1878, published a sketch of him together with one of Robert Y. Hayne, and two articles dealing with his career were contributed by Dr. Burr J. Ramage to The Sewanee Review for January and April, 1902 ; but on the whole surprisingly little has been written about him, in view of the fact that he represents a combination of scholar and public man exceedingly rare in the annals of America.] BYRON AND SCOTT [From "Writings of Hugh Swinton Legare," etc., 1846, Vol. II. "Lord Byron's Character and Writings."] On the other hand, there was, amidst all its irregularities, some- thing strangely interesting, something, occasionally, even grand and imposing in Lord Byron's character and mode of life. His whole being was, indeed, to a remarkable degree, extraordinary, fanciful and fascinating. All that drew upon him the eyes of men, whether for good or evil — his passions and his genius, his enthu- siasm and his woe, his triumphs and his downfall — sprang from the same source, a feverish temperament, a burning, distempered, insatiable imagination ; and these, in their turn, acted most power- fully upon the imagination and the sensibility of others. We well remember a time — it is not more than two lustres 1 ago — when we could never think of him ourselves but as an ideal being — a creature, to use his own words, " of loneliness and mystery " 1 Ten years. A COURT DINNER 151 — moving about the earth like a troubled spirit, and even when in the midst of men, not of them. The enchanter's robe which he wore seemed to disguise his person, and, like another famous sorcerer and sensualist — ... he hurled His dazzling spells into the spungy air, Of pow'r to cheat the eye with blear illusion And give it false presentments. 1 It has often occurred to us, as we have seen Sir Walter Scott diligently hobbling up to his daily task in the Parliament House at Edinburgh, and still more when we have gazed upon him for hours seated down at his clerk's desk, with a countenance of most demure and business-like formality, to contrast him, in that situa- tion, with the only man, who had not been, at the time, totally overshadowed and eclipsed by his genius. It was, indeed, a won- derful contrast ! Never did two such men — competitors in the highest walks of creative imagination and deep pathos — present such a strange antithesis of moral character, and domestic habits and pursuits, as Walter Scott at home, and Lord Byron abroad. A COURT DINNER [From the Same. Vol. I. From a Letter to Legar^'s Sisters, dated Brussels, March 24, 1833.] At table, the fashion in Europe is not like yours, for the master of the house to sit at one