t;i:RiJ>! 
 
(SortipU ICam Bt^acl IGibtary 
 
Cornell University Library 
 KF 354.G4M65 
 v1 
 The bench and bar of Georgia :memoirs an 
 
 3 1924 018 776 199 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 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/cu31 92401 87761 99 
 
THE 
 
 BENCH AND BAR 
 
 OF 
 
 GEORGIA: 
 
 MEMOIRS ATO SKETCHES. 
 
 CONTAINING A COURT ROLL FROM 1790 TO 1857, ETC. 
 
 BY 
 
 STEPHEN P. MILLER. 
 
 VOLUME L 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1858 
 
.Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1S58, by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 in the Clerk's 0£fice of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of 
 FennsylTania. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Geoeqe D. Anderson — Born in South Carolinai — Removal of Parents to 
 Georgia — Labors as a Mechanic in the Manufacture of Cotton-Gina — 
 Studies Law — Admitted to the Bar — Partnership with J. M. Calhoun, Esq., 
 at Decatur — Elected Colonel of the Regiment — Appointed Brigade-In- 
 spector — Appointed by President Van Buren Commissioner to iuTestigate 
 alleged Frauds on the Indians in Alabama — Representative in the Legis- 
 lature from De Kalb — Removes to Marietta — Senator from Cobb County 
 — Elected Solicitor-General of the Coweta Circuit — ^Elected Judge of the 
 Cherokee Circuit — Sudden Death at Spring Place in 1843 — Proeeedings of 
 the Bar — His Character, &c 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RoBEET Augustus Beau — Native of Maryland — Removal of Parents to 
 Georgia in 1808 — Completes Education at Raleigh, North Carolina — 
 Studies Law in Augusta under Judges Reid and Montgomery — Admission 
 to the Bar — Locates in Marion — Partnership with Col. T. G. Holt — ^Ap- 
 pointed Solicitor-General by Gov. Troup — Duel with Thomas D. Mitchell 
 — Elected to the Legislature in 1825 and 1826 — Supports the Administra- 
 tion of Gov. Troup — Appointed Aide-de-Camp to Maj. Gen. Wimberly — 
 Counsel for Judge Fort in 1827 — Marriage in 1828 — Partnership with 
 S. F. Miller — Elected again to the Legislature in 1830 — His course in that 
 body — Resolutions on the Tariff, and in favor of President Jackson — 
 Appointed Aide-de-Camp to Gov. Gilmer — Removes to Macon in 1832 — 
 Partnership vrith Col. Seymour — Delegate to the Anti-Tariff Convention — 
 Elected Brigadier-General — .Serves on the Committee at the State-Eights 
 Meeting in November, 1833 — Edits the Georgia Messenger — Defeated for 
 Congress by Gen. Glascock — Character as an Advocate and Debater — Re- 
 nounces Skepticism and joins the Church — Health declines — Lingering 
 Illness — His Death in 1836 — Funeral Honors— Testimonials of the Bar, 
 Literary Societies, &c 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 John Macpherson Berrien, LL.D. — Huguenot Ancestry— Born in New 
 Jersey in 1781 — Removal of Parents to Georgia — Graduates at Princeton 
 at the age of fifteen years — Classmate of Judge Gaston — Reads Law with 
 
 o 
 
[ CONTENTS. 
 
 PA6Z 
 
 the Hon. Joseph C!lay — Admitted to the Bar in 1799 — Elected Solicitor- 
 General in 1809 — Jndge of the Eastern Circuit in 1810 — Declares the Alle- 
 viating Law unconstitutional — Commands a Volunteer Regiment of Cavalry 
 in the War of 1812 — Conduct touching the Sentence of Hopkins vindicated 
 by the Legislature in 1818 — Twelve years Judge of the Superior Court — 
 Elected a State Senator from Chatham County in 1822 and 1823 — ^Proposes 
 Digest of the Laws of England in force in Georgia — Elected to the Senate 
 of the United States in 1824— Takes his Seat March 4, 1825 — ^Delivers his 
 Discourse on Eloquence at Athens in 1828 — In January, 1829, submits 
 Georgia Protest against the TariflF — ^Besigns his Seat in Senate — Appointed 
 Attorney-General of the United States, March, 1829 — Address before the 
 Societies of Princeton College in 1830 — ^Degree of Doctor of Laws con- 
 ferred by that Institution — ^Besigns Office in the Cabinet in 1831 — Corre- 
 spondence with President Jackson — ^Returns to Georgia — Serves in the 
 Free-Trade Convention at Philadelphia in 1831 — ^Authgr of the Address to 
 the People of the United States — ^Reception at MiUedgeville in November, 
 1831 — Practises Law in the Supreme Court at Washington — Appears at 
 the Anti-Tariff Convention in MilledgevUle, 1832 — ^Prepares the Report of 
 the Committee of Twenty-One — Appointed by the Governor in 1838 on a 
 Special Commission — Extracts from the Report — ^Again elected to the 
 United States Senate in 1840 — Support of Whig Measures — ^Report on 
 the BUI to repeal the Bankrupt Law — The Legislature of Georgia censures 
 his course in 1841 — Same body expresses its full approbation in 1843 and 
 assures him of the public confidence — ^Attends the National Whig Conven- 
 tion at Baltimore in 1844 — Chairman of the Committee to notify Mr. Clay 
 of his Nomination — Speech in Boston on the Tariff in 1844 — Resigns his 
 Seat in the Senate in 1845 — Is immediately re-elected, and prevailed on to 
 accept — ^Address to his political friends on the occasion — ^Declines being a 
 Candidate for the Bench of the Supreme Court of Georgia — ^Re-elected to 
 tiie Senate in 1847 — Position in 1848 relative to Mr. Clay and General 
 Taylor — Letter to CoL Owen — Opposes the Public Reception of Kossuth 
 in 1851 — Other Measures discussed — Death of Mrs. Berrien in February, 
 1852 — Resigns his Seat in the Senate, May, 1852 — ^Appears as Counsel in 
 the Supreme Court of Georgia in the Bank Cases — ^Issues an Address in 
 Defence of the American Party, September, 185-5 — ^Presides at the State 
 Convention of the Party in December, 1855 — ^His Illness at MiUedgeville 
 — ^Return to Savannah — His Death, January 1, 1856 — Testimoniala of 
 Respect to his Memory — ^Proceedings of the Bar in the Supreme Court — 
 Resolutions of Condolence and Respect in the Legislature — A New County 
 named " Berrien" — Tribute from the American Bible Society — His Cha- 
 racter 44 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Edwabd J. Bi,ACE — ^Bom in South Carolina — Goes to School in Augusta — 
 Studies Law, and admitted to the Bar in 1827 — Practises with Judge 
 Reid — ^Writes Hnmorons Articles for the Press — Sharpness in Debate — 
 Marriage with Jliss Eirkman, of BamweU District— Elected to the Legis- 
 lature in 1829 and 1830— Proposes to remove State University from 
 Athens to MiUedgeville — "Bucket Letters" — Defeated for Attorney- 
 General in 1831 — Elected to Congress by the Whigs in 1838 — Supports 
 Mr. Van Bnren for President in 1840 — ^Bemiuns six years in Congress, 
 
CONTKHTS. 5 
 
 from 1839 to 1845 — Bepntation in Debate — ^Bold and independent as a 
 Politician — Social Qnalities — ^Kne Perception of the Lndicrons — Objects to 
 all Parade and Mannerism in Society — ^Uniform Patron of Merit — Min i! 
 depressed by Symptoms of Consumption — Taste for Mnsic — Power of 
 
 Mimicry — ^Fond of Anecdotes — Kindness to the Poor — ^Last Ulness 
 
 Besignation to his Fate — Death in 1849 „.. no 
 
 CHAPTEK T. 
 
 DoxcAS G. Campbeix — ^Natire of North Carolina — Gradnates at Chapel Hill 
 University in 1806 — BemoTes to Georgia — Takes charge of a Female Aca- 
 demy in Wilkes Coimty — ^Beads Law with Jndge Griffin and succeeds to 
 his Practice — ^Elected Solicitor-General in 1816 — ^BepresentatiTe in the 
 Legislature three years — ^Partnership with (ramett Andrews — ^In 1824 
 appointed by President Monroe a Commissioner to negotiate Treaty with 
 Creek Indians — ^FaUnre of Treaty at Broken Arrow, December, 1824 — 
 Conclnsion of Treaty at the Indian Springs, Febroary, 1825 — Corre- 
 spondence with Gov. Tronp and the Secretary of War — Indian Disturb- 
 ances — Death of Mcintosh — Mission of Gen. Gaines — Conduct of the 
 Agent for Indian Affairs — ^Investigation by Georgia Commissioners — Con- 
 troversy between Gov. Tronp and the President — ^Abstract of the Corre- 
 spondence — Good Faith of the Treaty established — Successful Issue — ^Acts 
 as Trustee of the Univerraty — ^Advocate of Female Education — ^Prospects 
 for Governor — His Death in 1828 — Domestic Matters — Sketch of his Son, 
 Mr. Justice Campbell, of the Supreme Court of the United States 115 
 
 CHAPTEB VI. 
 
 AvcusTiN S. CiATTOH — ^Bom in Virginia — Parents remove to Georgia^ 
 Angnstin becomes a Student in the Kichmond Academy — ^Ecceives a Book 
 from Gen. Washington as the Beward of Merit — Gradoates at Franklin 
 College in 1804 — Beads Law with Judge Cames — la licensed to practise, 
 and locates in Franklin County — ^Marriage wifli Miss JnUa Cames — Ee- 
 moves to Athens — Compiles the Laws of Georgia from 1800 to 1810 — 
 Elected Judge of the Superior Court in 1819 and in 1822 — ^Defeated by 
 the Clark Party in 1825 — ^Writ^ the Mysterious Picture — Literary Ad- 
 dress at Athens in 1828 — ^Again elected Jndge in 1828 — Case of the Mis- 
 sionaries — Troubles in the Gold-Be^on — ^Beaten for Be-election in 1831 — 
 Immediately elected to Congress — Opposition to the Tariff — ^Letter to the 
 Globe — Moves for a Conmiittee to investigate United States Bank — Speech 
 on the Subject — List of British Stockholders — ^Approves the Bemoval of 
 the Deposits — ^Letter reviewing the action of former Secretaries of the 
 Treasury — ^Beport on the Public Lands — Serves in the Anti-Tariff State 
 Convention in 1832 — Chairman of the Committee of Thirteen at the great 
 State-Bights Meeting in 1833 — ^Beports the Platform — Be-elected to Con- 
 gress — ^Voluntarily retires in 1835 — Devotes himself to Factory Operations 
 — ^Literary Employments — Trustee and warm supporter of the Universify 
 of Georgia — Is attacked with Paralysis in 1838 — ^Partial Bestoration — 
 Investigates the Evidences of Christianity — Unites with the Chnrch — Tes- 
 timony in favor of Beligion — ^His Death in 1839 — Exti^cts from the 
 Funeral Discourse of Bev. Whiteford Smith — Tributes of the Press and of 
 Literary Societies — Character for Wit, Benevolence, and the Domestic 
 Affeetions — ^Letter of Chancellor Kent 139 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PiSI 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 Paui. Coalsoh— Birth in 1799— Goes to the School of Dr. Church, at Eaton- 
 ton ^Enters Franklin College — Graduates in 1824^-Beads Law with 
 
 Judge Clayton — Admitted to the Bar — Marries Miss Blackshear in 1825 
 
 ^Removes to Thomas County — Influential Family Connection — Obtains a 
 
 good Practice — His Social Qualities — ^Extent of the Southern Circuit — 
 Members of the Florida Bar— John Taylor— The Sulky-Eace— Professional 
 Zeal— Hospitality of Mr. Coalson— His Death in 1830— Proceedings of Bar 193 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 Walter T. Colvuitc — Bom in Tirginia — ^Parents remove to Hancock 
 County, Georgia — ^Walter sent to School at Mount Zion— Progress in 
 Learning — Actiyity in Sports — Goes to Princeton, New Jersey, and wears 
 a Hat of Babbit-Skins — ^Betnms home, owing to Hlness of his Father — 
 Beads Law with CoL Eockwell— Admitted to the Bar in 182ft— First 
 locates at Sparta and then in Walton County — ^Elected Brigadier-General 
 — Buns for Congress and is nearly elected in 1826 — ^Elected by the Le^s- 
 latnre first Judge of the Chattahoochee Circuit in 1826 — Eeference to his 
 Decision by Gov. Forsyth — ^Be-elected Judge in 1829 — Senator from Mus- 
 cogee County in 1834 and 1837 — ^Elected a BepresentatiTe to Congress in 
 1838 by the Whig Party — ^Befnses to support Gen. Harrison for President 
 — Is re-elected to Congress in 1840 and 1842 — At the session of 1842 
 elected by the Legislature a Senator in Congress — Supports the Mexican 
 War — ^Exertions in the Presidential Canvass — ^Influence over Public 
 Assemblies — Style of Oratory original — Success before Juries — Southern 
 Bights in 1850 and 1851 — Delegate to the Nashville Convention — Besolu- 
 tions of that Body — EflForts to establish the Compromise Line — ^Honest 
 and fearless in his aims — ^Religious Character — The Pulpit and Serial 
 Freedom contrasted — Motives often misconceived — General Benevolence — 
 Family Relations — Inroads of Disease — Starts for Montvale Springs — 
 Dies at Macon in 1855 — Public Grief — Proceedings of the Bar of the 
 Supreme Court 202 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 William H. Cbawfoed — ^Bom in Virginia in 1772 — Parents came to South 
 Carolina in 1779, and thence to Geoi^^ in 1783 — After diligent prepara- 
 tion, William teaches School — Studies the Classics under Dr. Waddel — 
 Becomes his Assistant— Unites with Mr. Tait in the Richmond Academy 
 — Comes to the Bar in 1799 — Settles in Lenngton — Marries Miss Gardine 
 — Compiles the Georgia Statutes — Duel with Van Allen — Represents O^e- 
 thorpe in the Legislature — Conduct of Judge Tait vindicated — Duel with 
 Gen. Clark — Commission to ascertain 35th degree of North Latitude — 
 Offers Besolntions in 1806 requesting President Jefferson to serve a 
 third term, which are unanimously adopted by the Georgia Le^slatore — '■ 
 Elected to the United States Senate in 1807 — Appointed Minister to 
 France — Interview with the Emperor Napoleon — Letters to Mr. Clay, at 
 Ghent — Appointed Secretary of War in 1815 — Appointed Secretary of 
 the Treasury in 1816 — Administration of the Finances until March 8, 
 1825 — Is a Candidate for President in 1824 — Attack of Paralysis — 
 Mr. Adams elected President — ^Letter of Mr. Jefferson — Return to Georgia 
 — Public Dinner at MiUedgeviUe in November, 1825 — Appointed Judge of 
 
CONTENTS. / 
 
 PACK 
 
 the Northern Circuit in 1827 — ^Elected to the same Office by the Lcgisla- 
 tore in 1827, 1828, and 1831 — His tenacious Memory — Chairman of the 
 Convention of Judges — Social Correspondence with Henry Clay — ^Letter 
 to C. J. Ingersoll on United States Bank — ^Death on the Circuit in 1834 — 
 His Character— Votes of Electoral College in Georgia from 1788 to 1856.. 218 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 William Cboceer — ^North Carolina his native State — Comes to (xeorgia in 
 Early Manhood — ^Marriage with Miss Long — ^Teaches School — Studies Law 
 under Judge Early — ^Licensed to practise by Judge Cames in 1810 — En- 
 gages in Merchandise— Unsuccessful — ^Resumes his School — Settles in 
 Twiggs County — Obtains large Business — Members of the Bar from 1811 
 to 1825 — Several times elected to the Legislature — Appointed Judge- 
 Advocate — ^Exploits of Sword in the hands of Sergeant M. — Visit of 
 Gen. La Fayette to Milledgeville — La Fayette Volunteers, from T?riggs — 
 Rivals at the Bar in Marion — Judge Fort and others — Character of R. A. 
 Evans — Major Crocker acquires a large Property — ^Retires from the Bar 
 — ^Names of Children — His Death in 1836 — ^Reputation and Personal 
 Appearance 347 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WiLLLAX C. Dawson — Bom in Greene County — ^Educated at the Academy 
 of Rev. Dr. Cumming — Graduates at Franklin College in 1816 — ^Reads 
 Law with Judge Cobb — ^Attends the Law-School of Judges Reeve and 
 Gould at Litchfield, Connecticut — Admitted to the Bar in 1818 — Opens an 
 Office at Greensboro — Marries Miss Wingfield — ^Rapidly advances in his 
 Profession — Elected Clerk of the Honse of Representatives In 1821 — Sup- 
 ports Gov. Troup and the Old Trea^ — Compiles Laws of Georgia in 1830 — 
 Elected to the Legislature — Efforts in behalf of State-Rights — Mandate of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States disregarded — Raises a Volunteer 
 Company and serves under General Scott in 1836 — Elected a Representa- 
 tive to Congress in 1836, 1838, and 1840 — Nominated for Governor in 
 1841 — Defeated by Gov. McDonald — ^Resigns his Seat in Congress — ^Table 
 of Votes for Governor from 1825 to 1855 — Appointed Judge of the Supe- 
 rior Court by Gov. Crawford in 1845 — ^Elected to the Senate of the United 
 States in 1847 — TT'b Course in that Body — Opposes the Formal Reception 
 of Kossuth — Speeches on varions subjects — On the Bill granting Lands to 
 Iowa for Railroads — On the Homestead Bill-^Urges Claim of Dr. Long to 
 the Discovery of Practical Ansesthesia to be used for Surgical Operations 
 in the Army — Presents Resolutions of the Le^slature on Nebraska to the 
 Senate — ^Explanation as to " ^Thig Caucus" — Speech on " Log-RoUing" in 
 the Legishitionof Congress — Social Letters — Great Humor and Urbanity — 
 Retires from the Senate March 4, 1855 — ^Domestic Relations — His Death, 
 May 5, 1856 — Funeral Ceremonies — 'Manifestation of Sorrow and Respect 
 by the Masonic Lodges — Proceedings in the Supreme Court — Additional 
 Sketch by Judge Sisbet .'. 2t50 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 Seabobs Dels — ^Early Life unknown — Son of David Delk, Esq., the first 
 Clerk of Wilkinson Superior Court — Sprightly Talents — ^Neat and ready 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Penmanship — Skill in Legal Forms — ^Beads Law with Judge Warren — 
 Admitted to the Bar by Judge Kenan in 1828 — Opens an Office at Irwin- 
 ton — ^Elected Colonel of the Wilkinson Regiment — Legal Associates — 
 Marriage with Mies Coats, of Lanrens, in 1831 — Bemoyes to Marion in 
 1832 — Bides the Southern Circuit — Bold and Successful — ^Pushes himself 
 into Cases — Ambitious of Gain— Personal Difficulty — Correspondence — 
 Mediation of Major Howard — Publicity to the Affair — Letter of Judge 
 Gaston — Col. Selk assaults his Adversary with intent to murder — 
 Criminal Prosecution — Friends interpose — Amicable relations restored 
 — Nolle prosequi entered — Change of Politics — His Death in 1884 — 
 Character 318' 
 
 CHAPTEB XIIL 
 
 JoHH M. DooLT — ^Ancestors from North Carolina — J. M. Dooly bom in 
 Lincoln County, Georgia — His Father killed by the Tories in the BeTO-< 
 Intion — ^Early Life not ascertained — Solicitor-General in 1802 by Execu- 
 tive Appointment — Elected to the same Office by the Legislature in 1804 
 — A Eepresentative from Lincoln County — Irregular Habits — Defence 
 of Medical Students — ^Wit and Sarcasm — Variety of Anecdotes — Breaks 
 a Faro-Bank — Challenged by Judge Tait — Equality in the Duel — ^Elected 
 Judge of the Western Circuit in 1816 — Judge of the Northern Circuit 
 in 1822 and 1825— His Death in 1827 — Description of his Person — 
 Letters of Gov. Gilmer, A. Pope, Esq., Judge Andrews, Judge Thomas, 
 and Dr. Slappey, giving incidents — Bemarkable Gifts — Character 831 
 
 CHAPTEB XIV. 
 
 Petek Eaklt — Bom in Virginia, 1773 — Father removes to Georgia in 1795 
 — Peter graduates at Princeton College — Studies Law under Mr. Inger- 
 soU in Philadelphia — After thorough Preparation, comes to the Bar — 
 Strong Competition — ^Bapid Advancement — Elected to Congress in 1802 
 — Serves on the Committee with Mr. Bandolph to impeach Judge Chase 
 — Retires from Congress in 1807 — ^Elected Judge of the Superior Court 
 
 vrithout opposition — Dignity and Force of his Judicial Administration 
 
 In 1813 is elected Governor — Firmness in the War — Sagacity of his 
 Measures — Alleviation Law — Veto-Message — ^Defeated for Governor in 
 1815 — Betires to his Farm in Greene County — Serves in the State Senate 
 — Domestic Eelations — His Death in 1822 — Letters to Gen. Blackshear 
 referred to, &c a 345 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Gen. David Blacksheae — ^Ancestors from Germany — Came to America 
 in 1732 — Settle on Trept Eiver in North Carolina — Hardships of Forest 
 Life— Toil rewarded by Success — ^David Blackshear bora in 1764^Goes to 
 School three Months— Follows his Brothers in the War of the Eevolution 
 — Present at the Battle of Moore's Creek in 1776 — Also at Bnford's Bridge 
 —His Eldest Brother, James Blackshear, killed by the Tories— Sudden 
 Revenge — Goes three Months more to School — Education completed in 
 six Months— Learns Surveying— Winter Expeditions to Georgia as a 
 Surveyor— Works on the Farm — Eemoves to Georgia in 1790— Names of 
 Brothers and Sisters — Appointed Justice of the Peace in 1796— Major of 
 
CONTBNTS. 
 
 . Battalion — Orders in 1797 with prospect of war with France — ^Indian 
 Troubles — Letter of Govemor Jackson in 1799 — Exercises Military and 
 Civil Power — ^Appointed Major of Brigade — ^Marriage with Fanny Hamil- 
 ton in 1802 — Family Connection — District Surveyors in 1806 between 
 Oconee and Ocmnlgee — Yazoo Fraud denounced by the Legislature in 
 1807— Appointed Brigadier-General in 1812— Ordered to protect the Fron- 
 tier — Erection of Forta near the Ocmnlgee — Detail of MUilda — Active 
 Operations — Command of the Army tendered by Gov. Early — Orders to 
 Subordinates — Expedition to Flint Kvot — ^Letters from Major-General 
 Mcintosh — ^Rumor of large British Force at Forbes's Store — CoL Haw- 
 kins's Indian Ke^ment — Movements of Gen. Jackson near New Orleans 
 — Geor^ Detachment ordered to Mobile— Marching and Counter- 
 marching — ^Landing of the British near Darien — Ordered to the Sea- 
 coast — Letters to Gen. Floyd — Scarcity of Supplies — March down the 
 Ocmnlgee — Panic south of the Altamahii — High Waters on Route — 
 Arrives at Fort Barrington — Becmits the Army — ^Takes possession of 
 Darien — Orders to prevent Pillage by the Enemy — ^British Fleet near 
 St. Mary's — Fort and Magazine at Point Petre destroyed — ^Negroes 
 enticed by the British — ^Admiral Cockbnm — News of the Victory at New 
 Orleans — ^Intelligence of Peace from the Secretary of War — Cessation of 
 Hostilities — ^Demonstration of Joy in Savannah — ^Troops disbanded, 
 February 27, 1815 — Militain Correspondence — Gen. Blackshear returns 
 to his Farm — Thanks voted by the Legislature — Oconee Navigation — 
 Public Spirit — Service in the Legislature — Chairman of Committee on the 
 State of the Republic — ^Influence — Withdraws from Public Life in 1825 — 
 Besignation as Brigadier-General — Letter from Govemor Troup — Conduct 
 of Jndge Fort investigated by the Legislature — Social Correspondence — 
 Letters from Members of Congress, Dr. Moses Waddel, &c. &c.— Presi- 
 dential Elector — Family Record — His Death, July 4, 1837 — Charac- 
 ter, &c 
 
 INDEX 
 
 To the Documents and Correspondence attached to the Memoir of General Black- 
 SHEAB. [Where several Despatches or Letters appear between the same parties, 
 only one of tiiem is referred to in the Index.] 
 
 OTFICIAI PAPBBS. 
 
 PA0E 
 
 Adams, Major-General — Orders for Frontier Service 414 
 
 Barnard, Timothy — ^Transmission of Despatches **° 
 
 Blackshear, Lt. Col.— Wsorders in Militia. 413 
 
 Calhoun, Secretary of War— Claims for Military Service 467 
 
 Carter, Army-Contractor — Escort for Supplies 423 
 
 Early, Govemor — Tendering Command of the Army 415 
 
 Fannin, Quartermaster — Deposit of Rations 4o2 
 
 Fauche, Adjutant-General— Prospect of War, 1797 403 
 
 Floyd, Brigadier-General— Defence of the Islands 460 
 
 Freeman, Secretary of Executive Department— Army Intelligence 408 
 
 Groce, Captain— Organizing First-Class Militia 430 
 
 Hawkins, Colonel— Message to Indian Chiefe 444 
 
 Hopkins, Major— Disposing of Command after Peace 463 
 
 Irwin, Governor- Indian Troubles on the Oconee 414 
 
 355 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Jackson, Governor — Indian Trespasses and Remedy 405 
 
 Lamar, Secretary of Executive Department — Eeoeiving Gen. La Fayette 480 
 
 Lane, Captain — Ordnance Stores to be supplied. 450 
 
 Massias, Captain— News of Victory at New Orleans 458 
 
 McDonald, Forage-Master— Loss of Public Stores at Ferry 434 
 
 Mcintosh, Major-General — Ordering Detachment to Mobile 440 
 
 Mitchell, Governor — Examination of the Frontier 412 
 
 Monroe, Secretary of War — Announcing Peace with Great Britain 463 
 
 Navey, Forage-Master— Supplies for the Army 434 
 
 Newnan, Adjutant-General — Regiments for Gen. Jackson 422 
 
 Patten, Major— Organizing Militia in Twiggs 433 
 
 Pinckney, Major-General— Muster of Troops in U. S. Service 461 
 
 Porter, Secretary of Executive Department — Ammunition for the Army 454 
 
 Rabun, Governor — Court-Martial in Laurens 467 
 
 Rutherford, Colonel — Regimental Reviews in 1799 405 
 
 Thomas, Captain — Swords and Pistols for Cavalry. 433 
 
 Tooke, Lt. Colonel — Indian Attack on Hartford 420 
 
 Wimberly, Lt. Colonel — ^Arming the Forts in Twiggs 412 
 
 Winchester, Brigadier-General — Reinforcements for New Orleans 439 
 
 PEIVATE lETTEBS. 
 
 Blackshear, James H. — Student at Franklin CoUeg#. 468 
 
 Blount, Richard A. — Oconee Navigation 481 
 
 Chandler, Daniel — Soliciting Influence in Legislature 483 
 
 Crawford, Joel — ^Public Offioersat Washington 467 
 
 Crawford, Peter — ^Depraved Party Movements 482 
 
 Elliott, John — ^Presidential Campaign in 1824 472 
 
 Floyd, John — ^Public Rejoicing at News of Peace 463 
 
 Franklin, Bedney — Introducing Dr. Abner Franklin 426 
 
 Hammond, Samuel — Militia Claims in Congress 411 
 
 Hardin, Mark — ^Army Gossip, European Affairs, &c 424 
 
 Harris, Charles — Candidate for City Court of Savannah 480 
 
 Jones, James — ^Western Territory in 1800 409 
 
 Jones, Seaborn — Lawsuit of Ridley vt. Blackshear. 476 
 
 King, Henry — Relief before Legislature 480 
 
 Mcintosh, John Houstoun — British Outrages on the Coast 465 
 
 Parke, Ezekiel — Introducing Dr. William W. Strain 421 
 
 Perry, James — Introducing Member of the Legislature 481 
 
 Sawyer, John — British plundering Private Property 455 
 
 Strong, Christopher B.— Troup Victory in 1825 480 
 
 Tattnall, Edward F. — Introducing Col. Daniell. 469 
 
 Waddel, Moses (Rev.)— Affairs of Franklin College 475 
 
 Wilde, Richard H.— Cabinet Officers and Prospects in 1825 479 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This work in its present arrangement differs from the plan 
 first intended. When the author made np his mind to pub- 
 lish sketches of the Bench and Bar of Georgia, he persuaded 
 himself that his inquiries would draw forth many things — 
 enough to constitute a volume — ^which he would have only 
 to place under suitable heads, with such remarks of his own 
 as might be necessary to preserve the connection. It was 
 designed more as a compilation of facts than a treatise on 
 character. The idea was to separate the incidents into a 
 class, with distinct chapters, leaving the matter which was 
 purely biographical to appear under the names introduced. 
 The author aimed to devolve the composition chiefly on 
 others who were adequate, — to place them as laborers in the 
 field, whilst he would follow and gather up the sheaves with 
 humble acknowledgment. But those whom he invited to the 
 harvest had many excuses. Some were silent ; others feigned 
 inability to write; some had no leisure from other engage- 
 ments ; a portion had forgotten all the good things they ever 
 knew, but were kind enough to refer to certain other gentle- 
 men, who would gladly relieve their overburdened memories 
 for the accommodation of the author. A few sat down at 
 once and gave him a crumb to stop his importunity. And 
 here the author takes occasion to thank his correspondents, 
 to whom he is indebted for his best materials. References 
 in the margin will guide the reader to the sources of his 
 information. 
 
 The author begs to say that his search has been liberally 
 
 rewarded, as the work itself will show. Old family chests 
 
 11 
 
12 PREFACE. 
 
 and drawers have been opened to Hm, with the privilege to 
 examine and select papers. The aid from this quarter has 
 been most gratifying. Many letters and documents, too valu- 
 able to perish, have been thus given to the public. They will 
 be found in their proper connection in the work. To claim 
 for them the privacy in which many of the letters were written 
 only adds to their interest. Of course, names have been with- 
 held in certain passages where the freedom would give pain 
 to the living. A picture drawn in confidence is more to be 
 relied upon for its truth, its fidelity to nature, than the 
 coloring of the artist who paints for the public eye. A leading 
 feature in this work is the frankness and simplicity of its 
 statements, both by contributors and the individual who 
 writes himself the author. On no occasion, however, has 
 any unkindness been intended, either to the dead or the 
 living, in the course of these memoirs, — as there may be 
 candor without malice. 
 
 It may seem out of place for the author to qualify his 
 sketches of individual character, after the labor he has be- 
 stowed on them. Knowing that many persons who were 
 personally acquainted with the gentlemen of whom he has 
 written will be apt to accuse the author of exaggeration on 
 the one hand and perhaps injustice on the other, as his 
 remarks may happen in each case, he here takes occasion to 
 disclose a secret in book-making by way of explanation. Most 
 writers, in all periods of the world, in all countries, — ^from the 
 huge metropolis to the veriest hamlet, — ^have been influenced 
 by a common ambition to appear well on paper, as that is the 
 only arena on which they are to figure with any hope of suc- 
 cess. To give their labors a sort of attraction, they are com- 
 pelled to invest every thing they touch with more than ordinary 
 importance, — to give warmth and force, so as to render signifi- 
 cant that which seems devoid of interest because it is familiar 
 in every-day life. The author, however, insists that he has 
 not exceeded, if indeed he has fulfilled, the usual license in 
 this respect. Of the thirty-two characters noticed biographi- 
 cally in his work, he has seen twenty-three of them, heard 
 
PREFACE. 13 
 
 tbem converse or make speeches, or in some other mode had 
 an opportunity of judging each individual on his own merits. 
 With several of them he was personally intimate, as the facts 
 in the memoirs will show. At the time, no very striking idea 
 or occurrence was presented worthy of historical note. But 
 on review, after the grave has improved the vision and the 
 heart of survivors, generosity supplants even a fault-finding 
 disposition. 
 
 The author has made these remarks, not that he prides 
 himself on their boldness or originality, but from a much better 
 motive. While he charges this habit of writers without fear 
 of successful contradiction in the mind of any experienced 
 reader of history, he asserts, in behalf of the statesmen, jurists, 
 and advocates whom he has chronicled, a perfect claim to the 
 distinction and credit severally awarded to them. In the mean 
 time, the author has too humble an opinion of himself to 
 appear in any other light than as a mere pioneer in the soli- 
 tudes of forensic biography in Georgia. He has pointed to 
 the buried treasures, the correspondence, the briefs, the career 
 of many who acted well their part and whose memoirs would 
 be a gain to the public. In this connection the author may 
 be permitted to express his gratification that he has accom- 
 plished enough, under singular disadvantages, to stimulate 
 others better qualified to rescue from decay the materials of 
 which the legal profession furnishes an ample store to interest 
 the whole community. 
 
 In the variety of matter incorporated in these volumes the 
 author has thought proper to admit several letters written in 
 the confidence of friendship, some of them entirely too kind 
 for publication by himself. While this may be so, he is even 
 willing to bear the reproach for the sake of other days and 
 other associations now pleasant to recall. A number of origi- 
 nal letters will be found, however, wholly free from this objec- 
 tion, addressed to other persons, all germain to the subject. 
 And here let the fact be proclaimed that general history is 
 made up of transactions not less sudden and casual than those 
 of individuals which constitute their chapter in the world. 
 
14 PREFACE. 
 
 This current of life, more or less feeble in the experience of 
 every man, gathers up particles from a thousand rills, and, 
 after cleansing the gold from the rubbish, leaves the deposit 
 for distribution among his fellows, — the dividend often being 
 so minute in value as to require a microscope to perceive it. 
 
 Not so with the characters in' this work. Perhaps not one 
 of them lived for history, — not one of them felt convinced that 
 he deserved commemoration. Some of the gentlemen, it is 
 true, ranked among the foremost in the Union for public ser- 
 vices and personal merit: nevertheless they had to enjoy their 
 honors with trembling, and to take only an equal chance in 
 the struggles of humanity. They are the more entitled to 
 respect than if they had with premeditation acted a part for 
 the historian. It is a grateful labor to follow the career of 
 a decided, earnest man, — one who accomplished great and 
 worthy deeds, or who failed only because his power was not 
 equal to.his ambition or his modesty. The author has endea^ 
 vored to do justice to all, and has not omitted to dwell on 
 defects or to discriminate between opposite qualities in the 
 same individual. He has written in a spirit of kindness at all 
 times in the preparation of this work, and for this he takes 
 no credit to himself, just as, if he had acted otherwise toward 
 the defenceless, he would deserve the scorn of his fellow-men, 
 as he would certainly incur his own. 
 
 The political matter introduced, referring to several noted 
 issues in Georgia, will no doubt prove acceptable, not only to 
 the young men who have grown up since, but even to those 
 who shared in the contests as they arose. The Old and New 
 Treaties are noticed in sufficient detail to give a just under- 
 standing of the controversy. The case of the missionaries 
 and other parties who sought to arraign Georgia before the 
 Supreme Court of the United States is touched upon, with a 
 statement of the facts and the legal questions. In regard to 
 Nullification, and the proceedings in Georgia and South Caro- 
 lina to carry the doctrine into efi'ect, a very copious outline 
 has been given. These topics form a legitimate portion of 
 the memoirs. The Georgia platform of 1850, and the Resolu- 
 
PBBFACB. 15 
 
 tions of the Nashville Convention, are also included. In addi- 
 tion to these, several measures in Congress have been brought 
 into view. The recharter of the Bank of the United States, 
 the removal of the public deposits, the tariff uniform system 
 of bankruptcy, annexation of Texas, &c. are interwoven in 
 the biographical sketches. 
 
 From the papers of the late Gen. Blackshear much inte- 
 resting matter has been obtained, throwing light upon the 
 negotiations for the western territory ceded by Georgia to the 
 General Government in 1802, and also in relation to the War 
 of 1812-15. Many of the letters having been written by 
 Governor Early, whose memoir appears, they were considered 
 necessary to shoijy his official conduct at a critical period. 
 The other documents and correspondence, it is believed, will 
 prove not less acceptable to the public. They all establish 
 the value of old family papers; and their publication, it is 
 hoped, will induce more carefulness generally in preserving 
 such memorials of the past. Many rich treasures have been 
 lost to history for the want of due reflection in this respect. 
 Humble as they seem in garrets usually allotted to them, these 
 scraps of writing are the best interpreters of the times to 
 which they relate, and more worthy of confidence than the 
 interested and formal statements made for the public eye to 
 serve a party or a cause. For this reason, the privilege granted 
 the author by the family of Gen. Blackshear has led to a 
 memoir which accompanies the papera in the appendix to the 
 first volume, and which will be found of interest to the profes- 
 sion for the legislative and judicial matter it contains. 
 
 In submitting the result of his labors to the public, the 
 author asks permission to say a word or two calling for the 
 sympathy of his professional brethren. Many original pafiers 
 in the handwriting of deceased members of the bar have 
 passed under his inspection for the purposes of biography. 
 They have always impressed him with sadness and delicacy in 
 the work he had undertaken, because, while they furnished 
 evidence of character, they left him to throw around that cha- 
 racter such drapery as might render it attractive or disagree- 
 
16 PKEFACE. 
 
 able. It has afforded him satisfaction to exhibit qualities for 
 approval, without the least pleasure in alluding to defects 
 when they existed. In performing his task he has only to 
 regret that his abilities have been less than his patience in the 
 composition of these memoirs. 
 
 In the appendix to the second volume a court-roll has been 
 given, containing the names of all the judges of the Superior 
 Courts, and the Attorney and Solicitor Generals in Georgia 
 from 1790 to 1857. Nothing of the kind has ever before been 
 published. It is a record of honors bestowed, and cannot fail 
 to interest readers generally. Also in the same appendix will 
 be found "fragments" froni the pen of the author, most of 
 which have appeared in print at various times. They are 
 intended to show certain matters as they transpired. The 
 pieces entitled "Labor Essential to Happiness," and "Letters 
 to a Young Friend," are particularly intended to foster energy 
 of character, and may, it is hoped, have a salutary effect. 
 
 In addition to what the author has already said about 
 varying the plan of this work from that originally announced, 
 he thinks proper to observe that the EoU of Practising Attor- 
 neys in Georgia, which he designed to include, has been 
 omitted for the reason that such information has since become 
 fomiliar to the public. 
 
 All the materials furnished the author for the purpose have 
 been worked up in the biographies which appear in the two 
 volumes now submitted to the public. Should the favor with 
 which they are received authorize a third volume, the field is 
 ample enough and abundantly fruitful to render a compliance 
 with such a demand not less a duty than a pleasure. 
 
 S. F. M. 
 
 OoLEiHOEFE, Geoboia, January, 1858. 
 
THE 
 
 BENCH MD BAE OF GEORGIA. 
 
 GEORGE D. ANDERSON. 
 
 There is no doubt, had he lived to the usual limit of man's 
 Bojourn upon earth, the Hon. George David Anderson would 
 have occupied a high rank among the distinguished men of 
 Georgia. 
 
 His parents were John and Nancy Anderson, who resided in 
 Anderson district, South Carolina, where their son (the third of 
 eleven children) was born on the 28th day of May, 1806. His 
 opportunities for an education were quite limited ; yet, by great 
 diligence in the pursuit of knowledge as chance permitted, he 
 became well informed and capable of mastering the intricacies of 
 the law. 
 
 Removing in early life with his parents to De Kalb county, 
 Georgia, he continued to exercise his habits of manual labor for 
 a number of years. He then turned his attention to legal studies, 
 and read in the office of David Kiddoo and James M. Calhoun, Esqs., 
 then partners in the practice of law at Decatur, until he was 
 admitted to the bar in 1833. In the next four or five years he 
 was connected with Mr. Calhoun in the usual labors and profits of 
 the profession until his removal to Marietta, about the year 1838. 
 
 At different periods Mr. Anderson served the public in the 
 following situations : — 
 
 1. Receiver of tax-returns and collector of taxes. 
 
 2. Captain of a militiarcompany. 
 
 3. Colonel of a regiment of militia. 
 
 4. Brigade-inspector. 
 
 5. Commissioner appointed by President Van Buren, in 1836, 
 
 to investigate alleged frauds on the Indians, with respect to their 
 
 lands in Alabama. 
 
 Vol. L— 2 ir 
 
18 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 6. Representative five years from De Kalb county in the Legis- 
 lature of Georgia. 
 
 7. Senator from the county of Cobb. 
 
 8. Solicitor-General of the Coweta circuit. 
 
 9. Judge of the Superior Court. 
 
 This is indeed a flattering record, such as can rarely be exhibited 
 
 in favor of a man who died at the age of thirty-seven years. A 
 
 gentleman* to whom the author applied politely furnished a copy 
 
 of the remarks of the press and the proceedings of the bar on the 
 
 occasion of the death of Judge Anderson, which are adopted as a 
 
 part of this memoir. The same gentleman adds : — 
 
 Judge Anderson was a man of a lively disposition, and possessed a 
 warm and feeling heart. He was quite distinguished for his kindness and 
 attention to the sick and unfortunate. In point of honesty and fidelity 
 not a blemish was on his character. You may form some idea of the 
 estimation the people had of him, who knew him, from the great respect 
 shown at his death. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The Federal Union thus referred to Judge Andekson's death : — 
 
 Georgia has lost few sons whose untimely end would have produced 
 more regret than him for whom we perform the painful duty of offering 
 this passing notice. We extract the remarks of the Rome Sentinel, and 
 the proceedings of the bar at Spring Place, where his death occurred. 
 But the case is so full of interest that we add the following, taken princi- 
 pally from a letter from one of his friends : — 
 
 " On the morning of his decease, Judge Anderson arose as usual and 
 opened his door that a servant might light a fire. He was for half an 
 hour left alone, but at that time he was found expiring on the floor. His 
 attentive friend, who describes the scene, was present : ' His pulse had 
 ceased to beat and he was perfectly insensible. It was an awful and 
 sudden visitation of Providence, cutting him off in the midst of his use- 
 fulness and at the post of duty. His ways are ofttimes dark and myste- 
 rious, but always right. Judge Anderson seemed to have died without 
 the slightest struggle. His features were as placid and composed as if he 
 had gently fallen asleep.' From Spring Place the body was transported to 
 Jttarietta, to receive the last duties of his bereaved wife and little ones, 
 and his numerous friends. 'I never have,' said his friend, 'seen a 
 more deeply solemn scene. The Court, the Bar, the Grand Jury, and the 
 largest procession of citizens I ever witnessed on such an occasion, attended 
 his funeral services.' This well-merited tribute of respect was rendered 
 practicable by the accidental sitting of the Cobb Court at that time. 
 
 " Thus has fallen one of our purest, most acceptable, and upright 
 citizens. His rise to office was not through detraction and malice, but 
 his claims rested on his merit alone. Few have arrived at such honors 
 with as few blemishes." 
 
 A communication written by a gentlemanf well known in 
 Georgia appeared in the Rome Sentinel as follows : — 
 
 * James M. Calhoun, Esq., a State Senator. 
 
 f Hon. John H. Lumpkin, a Representative in Congress. 
 
GEORGE D. ANDERSON. 19 
 
 It becomes our melancholy duty as a pnblic journalist to record the 
 death of the Hon. George D. Anderson, Judge of the Superior Courts 
 of the Cherokee circuit. Below will be found the proceedings of a meet- 
 ing held by the bar of this circuit at Spring Place, in Murray county, on 
 the day of his death. The public generally throughout this whole country 
 will participate in the sentiments of regret expressed by the bar at this 
 mysterious visitation of Providence. 
 
 Judge Anderson was a native of Anderson district. South Carolina. 
 He removed to this State at an early age, where he commenced life under 
 many disadvantages. Without wealth, without influential family connec- 
 tions to aid and assist in bringing him forward into life, he commenced 
 earning his support by laboring as a mechanic in manufacturing cotton- 
 gins. But, his native intellect being active and strong, he could not long 
 be confined to mechanical employments. He thirsted for knowledge and 
 that enviable distinction which it only can give, aided and assisted by a 
 manly, virtuous life. Without any education, and while compelled to 
 attend to the duties and labors of a mechanical trade, he commenced the 
 study of law. We think we see him now, as then, after being worn out 
 by toil and labor during the day, at night seizing his candle and book, 
 where the flickering light might be seen through his window, the sole 
 sentinel at that dread hour of all that was once life and animation. By his 
 application and industry, continued under such disadvantages, he became 
 qualified from his knowledge to commence the practice of that profession. 
 He established himself in the practice at Decatur, De Kalb county, 
 Georgia, and not only sustained himself as a lawyer, but received from 
 the community in which he lived repeated testimonials of their confi- 
 dence and esteem by being selected as their representative in the State 
 Legislature. 
 
 In the councils of his adopted State he was always the eloquent, the 
 fearless, and independent advocate of her rights, her honor, and the best 
 interests of his own constituents. But his march to distinction was 
 onward and upward. He was next elected by the Legislature the 
 Solicitor-General of the Coweta circuit; and all who have witnessed his 
 able, manly, and eloquent appeals in behalf of the State of Georgia and 
 her violated laws, in criminal prosecutions, have awarded him the praise 
 of an able, honest, and faithful public officer. After the expiration of 
 his office as solicitor-general, shortly after the Cherokee counties were 
 organized by the Legislature and settled by its present enterprising popu- 
 lation, the subject of this brief notice made a permanent location in the 
 county of Cobb; and here he was honored with the confidence of the 
 people, and loved for his social, intellectual, and moral worth. Without 
 effort, intrigue, or management, he was to the day of his death an almost 
 universal favorite, and, in the year 1841, was chosen by his constituency 
 in Cobb to represent them in the senatorial branch of the Legislature. 
 He was next elected, at the last session of the Legislature of this State, 
 Judge of the Superior Court of the Cherokee district, and was ably, 
 honestly, and faithftilly discharging its responsible duties at the time of 
 his death, with entire satisfaction to the whole coimtry. 
 
 Judge Anderson was just entering his thirty-seventh year at the time 
 of his death; and he had, without wealth, without influential family 
 friends, and without the advantages of an early education, established for 
 himself a fame and a reputation that any among us might be proud of. 
 Indeed, it is an example that may be adduced through all time to the 
 
20 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 youth of the countrj as well worthy their imitation. It also strikingly 
 illustrates the character of our free and happy system of government. 
 
 The proceedings of the bar were as follows : — 
 
 At a meeting of the members of the bar of the Cherokee circuit, con- 
 vened in the court-house at Spring Place on Tuesday morning, the 
 28th of March, 1843, Judge John W. Hooper was called to the chair, 
 and Thomas C. Hackett, Esq., requested to act as secretary. 
 
 The chairman announced in a brief and feeling manner the sudden and 
 unexpected death of the Hon. GrEORaE D. Anderson, Judge of the 
 Superior Courts of the Cherokee circuit, who, by a sudden dispensation 
 of Providence, departed this life at an early hour this morning, at his 
 lodgings in this place. 
 
 Judge Turner H. Trippe, after a few brief remarks, offered the follow- 
 ing preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted by the 
 meeting : — 
 
 It has pleased an all-wise and overruling Providence to remove from 
 among us the Judge of the Superior Courts of the Cherokee circuit of 
 this State. The Hon. Greorge D. Anderson is no more ! Without warn- 
 ing, the fell Destroyer came and cut him down in the midst of his useful- 
 ness and at the post of duty. 
 
 To those who knew him as we have known him, eulogy of his character 
 is unnecessary and vain. Mild and courteous as a gentleman, able and 
 talented as a lawyer, upright, fearless, and independent as a judge, he 
 bade fair to become — indeed, he had become — an ornament to the profes- 
 sion, a credit to the bench, and one of Georgia's best and brightest sons. 
 Society, and especially his circuit, has sustained a heavy loss by his 
 untimely death. To his family the deplorable loss is irretrievable. In 
 all the relations of husband, father, and friend, he was as faultless as mor- 
 tality could be. Entertaining these opinions of the worth of the departed 
 Judge Anderson, we, the members of the bar of the Cherokee circuit, as 
 a tribute of respect to his memory and in admiration of his character, 
 give the public expression of our feelings on this mournful occasion. 
 Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we deeply deplore the loss we have sustained by the 
 sudden and untimely death of Judge Anderson. 
 
 Resolved, That we sincerely sympathize with his afflicted family in their 
 bereavement. 
 
 Resolved, That as a slight tribute to his memory, and indeed a small 
 token of the grief we feel on this melancholy occasion, we will wear crape 
 on our left arm for thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to offer to his wife and family 
 our sincere condolence in their deep affliction, and a copy of the proceed- 
 ings of this meeting. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be published in the public 
 gazette of this circuit and the principal newspapers in the State. 
 
 Milton H. Gathright moved that at the next term of the Superior 
 Court of this county, a motion be niade that the proceedings of this meet- 
 ing be entered on the minutes of the court. 
 
 The chair appointed Turner H. Trippe, James A. Hanks, Kichard M. 
 Aycock, Andrew J. Hansell, and Milton H. Gathright, Esqs., the com- 
 mittee contemplated by the resolution. 
 
 The meeting then, on motion of Warren Akin, Esq., adjourned. 
 
II. 
 
 ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 
 
 The genius of Robert Augustus Bball has been admitted by 
 all who ever heard him speak. He has been aptly called the 
 Prentiss of Georgia. His career at the bar was distinguished by 
 a glowing eloquence which defied all competition. A native grace 
 of manner captivated every eye ; his pure diction delighted the 
 scholar; and the melody of his voice charmed every listener. We 
 shall give such particulars of his history as we have been able to 
 gather. 
 
 He was born in Prince George county, State of Maryland, on 
 the 16th day of November, in the year 1800. His father removed 
 to Georgia in 1808 with his family; and the subject of this 
 memoir, after the usual elementary training in neighborhood 
 schools, was sent to Raleigh, Noith Carolina, where he completed 
 his education. He subsequently studied law in Augusta under the 
 direction of Judges ]Montgomery and Reid, was admitted to the bar 
 Boon after he was twenty-one years of age, and located in Marion, 
 Twiggs county, where he formed a professional partnership with 
 Col. T. G. Holt. On the promotion of the latter gentleman to 
 the Judgeship of the Superior Court by Gov. Troup, in December, 
 1824, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the Hon. 
 Thomas W. Harris, Maj. Beall succeeded Col. Holt as Solicitor- 
 General of the Southern circuit by executive appointment. 
 
 About this time, owing to some remarks at the dinner-table of a 
 friend, (the late Martin Hardin, Esq., of Decatur county,) a quar- 
 rel ensued between Thomas D. Jlitchell, Esq., and Maj. Beall, 
 which led to the field of honor on the Carolina side, near Augusta, 
 in March, 1825. Two shots were exchanged by the parties, when, 
 on the mediation of Maj. Pace, who was recognised as authority in 
 such affairs, the combatants retired from the field without further 
 hostilities. Capt. Joseph Morgan was the officiating friend, and 
 Dr. Ambrose Baber the surgeon, of Maj. Beall. The author, then 
 quite a youth, well remembers the warm rejoicing of Maj. Beall's 
 friends on his return in safety from the duel. While many regretted 
 
 tliat he had taken a step of such doubtful propriety, all regarded 
 
 21 
 
22 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 him with increased admiration. He was put forth as a candidate 
 for the House of Representatives by the Troup party, but was 
 defeated by a small majority at the regular election. On ascer- 
 taining that the Clai-k party had full dominion in the Legislature, 
 Col. Moses Fort resigned his seat in the House in order to compete 
 for the bench. Maj. Beall was a candidate to fill the vacancy, 
 and was elected over Robert Glenn, Esq., the ablest member of 
 'the Clark party in Twiggs county. 
 
 Thus we find Maj. Beall, at the age of twenty-five years, a 
 prominent member of the Legislature of Georgia, commanding the 
 attention of the House by strains of eloquence which drew crowded 
 galleries. His modesty and self-respect prevented him from 
 appearing often upon the floor. When a question Avorthy of his 
 talents arose, and he believed that he could shed light upon it, he 
 exerted himself with that preparation and energy which always 
 secured triumph, if not in the votes of the House, at least in his 
 own rapidly-advancing character. He was courteous in debate, 
 and extremely affable in his bearing at all times. 
 
 His course during the session proved so acceptable to his con- 
 stituents that he was re-elected the next fall by a large majority. 
 His devoted friend, Major-General Ezekiel Wimberly, to whose 
 staff he belonged, was returned to the Senate at the same election, 
 over Gen. L. L. Griffin, who, in the heated party-canvass between 
 Troup and Clark, had caused their defeat the previous year. 
 Maj. Beall again sustained himself with increasing reputation in 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 At the session of 1827, Maj. Beall appeared at the bar of the 
 House of Representatives as counsel for Judge Fort, on charges 
 preferred by Col. Joseph Blackshear, of Laurens county, for irre- 
 gularities in office, and especially for decisions which he had made 
 in the case of A. B. Ridley and wife against the executor of Elijah 
 Blackshear, deceased. After hearing testimony, the select com- 
 mittee reported an address to the governor, which, after passing 
 the House of Representatives, failed for the want of a two-thirds 
 vote in the Senate. 
 
 Pleased with the opening before him in political life, Maj. Beall 
 gave more attention to the voters of his county than he did to the 
 practice of the law. On questions purely legal, his briefs, though 
 more than respectable, did not do justice to his abilities. Labor 
 was irksome as a habit, and he trusted too much to off-hand inspi- 
 ration to cope with such veterans as Shorter, Torrance, Lamar, 
 S. Rockwell, Prince, Strong, and others of the like class, who often 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 23 
 
 measured strength with him. Before the jury Maj. Beall was in 
 his proper element. He was well acquainted with the human heart, 
 and could touch every passion with the skill of a master. He was 
 self-possessed and dignified in manner, with a vein of satire that 
 scorched, and the faculty of condensation which gave order and 
 force to his arguments. As his mind glowed with the intensity of 
 its own action, some of the most brilliant gems dropped from his 
 lips. His temperament was poetic. The dark, flashing eye, the 
 clear, cultivated voice, rolling its rich cadences upon the ear, the 
 excited passion and daring flight, constituted Maj. Beall, at times, 
 one of the happiest forensic orators. His moods were not always 
 equal. Genius is ever erratic, — sometimes in gloomy abstraction 
 and then elated with its own divinity. The fortunate medium is 
 difficult to attain. The two extremes were signally illustrated in 
 the character of JIaj. Beall. His mental and social organization 
 required constant aliment. Hence he was fond of society where he 
 could draw out congenial sentiments and impart his own lofty 
 nature in the contact. The result was that he formed irregular 
 habits from which he suffered both in fortune and in health. He 
 became addicted to games of hazard, just as Sheridan and Fox 
 applied themselves to keep their ardent sensibilities from languish- 
 ing in the intervals between labor and repose. 
 
 To show the kindness of heart which Maj. Beall possessed, the 
 author makes free to introduce a letter from him, called forth by 
 an application for advice in a course of legal studies : — 
 
 Makton, Sept. 21, 1826. 
 
 Mt dear Sir : — ^I neglected to call at the post-office until yesterday, 
 consequently did not receive your acceptable favor of the 18th inst. before 
 that time, to which circumstance I beg yon to attribute my delay in 
 answering it. 
 
 I am gratified to nnderstand that you intend to devote your leisure 
 hours, assiduously, to the study of law.— not more for the benefit it will be 
 to yourself than the credit, I readily hope and believe, you may be to the 
 profession. I heartily wish you prosperity and cheerfully tender you my 
 assistance to facilitat* your progress in the undertaking. 
 
 The acquisition of a " practical knowledge of jurisprudence" in this 
 State is not a very laborious undertaking. It may be acquired by assidu- 
 ous application iu twelve months, and some have qualified themselves for 
 the practice in a shorter period. 
 
 The course of study to be pursued previous to admission, however, is 
 now laid down by our uniform Rules of Couit. Accordingly, all appli- 
 cants for admission are examined on the principles of the Common and 
 Statute Laws of England in force in this State; the general principles of 
 Equity; the Constitution of the United States and the State of Georgia; 
 the Statute Laws of this State and the Rules of Court. 
 
 To acquire a competent knowledge of the Common Law of England, 1 
 
24 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 1-ocommend you to read tbe Commentaries of Justice Blackstone. There 
 is now a work in press, compiled in conformity with a resolution of our 
 'Legislature, embracing all the statutes of England in force in this State. 
 
 author most used is "Maddock's Chancery." tearful, however, it may 
 not he found in any library here, I would next prefer " Harrison" on the 
 
 same title. . , ■, e 
 
 You will make use of "Prince's Digest" in acquiring a knowledge ot 
 the statutes of our own State. . . 
 
 This course of study, however, will only qualify you for admission to 
 the bar, without giving you the title of a profound lawyer. As I have 
 told you how you may get the name of a lawyer, I now refer you to the 
 little volume* I loaned you a few days since, which teaches you how you 
 may become one in truth, and a great one. Cordially reciprocating your 
 sentiments of esteem and friendship, I am, &c., 
 
 RoBT. Augustus Beall. 
 
 Mr. Stephen F. Miller. 
 
 N.B.— Do not hesitate to call for any book in our office, and believe 
 every thing I have at your service. Beall. 
 
 The author asks the privilege of recording his own grateful 
 recollections of this timely response to his timid request. With 
 more presumption than judgment, the author, dropping his humbler 
 though safer employments, cast an anxious look at the bar and 
 solaced himself with hopes which his poor abilities never per- 
 mitted him to realize. Still, the retrospect has a mournful plea- 
 sure, even to this very letter. Then, Maj. Beall was a rising star 
 of the first magnitude, popular with the masses and peculiarly fas- 
 cinating in conversation, winning all hearts and extorting universal 
 praise. It was gratifying to the author, then in his twenty-first 
 year, to receive the friendly notice of such a man. Now, after the 
 lapse of thirty years since the letter was written, it is the lot of the 
 humble youth to whom it was addressed to rescue the memory of 
 his warm-hearted friend from the mold of time and to pass it to a 
 new generation. 
 
 Previous to his marriage, Maj. Beall was much from home on 
 visits to his parents in Warren county and in attending courts at a 
 distance to which he was called, especially for the defence of per- 
 sons accused of high criminal oifences. This was his forte. His 
 pictures of distress, his withering anathemas of oppression, his per- 
 suasive manner and melting eloquence, seldom left the jury at, a 
 loss. Their sympathies and reason generally united in acquitting 
 his client. 
 
 Besides the courts of his own county, he attended some half- 
 
 * Rathby's Letters to a Law Student, dedicated to Lord Loughborough. 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 25 
 
 dozen, not, ho^rever, with that punctuality and relish for business 
 so essential to the building up of a successful practice. In fact, he 
 could never submit long at a time to the drudgery of his profes- 
 sion. His clients often called at his office without an interview, 
 and when they even had the good fortune to see him he would put 
 them off until the last hour and then wholly neglect their business 
 or despatch it hastily, perhaps imperfectly. In this way his p;ipers 
 became confused. He had no regular place for any thing,- — kept 
 no private dockets showing the condition of his business. Interro- 
 gatories, notice to produce papers, the ordering of witnesses, and 
 all that sort of preparation necessary in a cause, was too frequently 
 omitted. In term, when the call of the docket roused his atten- 
 tion, he usually had some excuse to offer, Avhich was urged with so 
 much innocence and plausibility that the court indulged him from 
 day tb day and often granted him continuances. But, when forced 
 to trial, whether all his testimony was at hand or not, the spirit of 
 the case took full possession of him. From his zeal and readiness • 
 a casual observer would be apt to conclude that the dexterous 
 advocate had applied himself with signal industry to office investi- 
 gation. 
 
 At this point of his career, Maj. Beall offered an equal partner- 
 ship to the author, which he gladly accepted. This was in No- 
 vember, 1828. Maj. Beall was then recently married, and had 
 just returned from Milledgeville, where he had been defeated for 
 the office of brigadier-general in an election to fill the vacancy 
 Caused by the resignation of Gen; Thaddeus G. Holt, who at that 
 session had been restored to the bench from which he had been 
 swept by the political tornado of 1825, so fatal to Troup office- 
 holders, by legislative action. His successful competitor was Gen. 
 Eli Warren, then a Representative from Laurens county, but now a 
 citizen of Houston. He was of opinion that injustice had been 
 done to his claims by the Legislature ; for he had a military taste, 
 was well versed in the discipline, and made an admirable figure on 
 horseback at reviews. Indeed, he was as graceful in the saddle as 
 he was elegant in the drawing-room. A clumsy motion or an 
 undignified attitude was never perceived by the author during his 
 ten years' close intimacy with Maj. Beall. He was a splendid 
 reader. Passages from Shakspeare and other dramatic authors 
 were given with all the conception and spirit of the finest trage- 
 dians. Ho was a great admirer of Cooper ; and imitating no one, 
 but following his own genius, he was the equal of Forrest and 
 Macready in strong delineation of character, combining the 
 
26 BENCH AND BAR OP GEOKGIA. 
 
 inspired energy of Kean, without the stage auxiliaries of either of 
 them. 
 
 Well does the author recollect Maj. Beall's reading to a group 
 of friends the celebrated debate between Hayne and Webster, on 
 Foote's resolution in the Senate of the United States, as it came 
 fresh from the reporters in 1830. He belonged to the Carolina 
 school of politics ; and as the champion Hayne flashed his trusty 
 sword under the State-Rights banner, Maj. B. dwelt with special 
 unction on passages which amounted, as he thought, to demonstra- 
 tion of the doctrine. Then came the majestic roll of Webster's 
 drum. After days of dark weather at sea, a glimpse of the sun 
 was taken and the latitude of the question ascertained. Webster 
 uttered thoughts which electrified the world. Ancient or modern 
 times never furnished the parallel of his speech on that occasion. 
 His dying gaze on the flag of the Union was indeed sublime. The 
 voice, the eye, the excited feelings of Maj. Beall, as he progressed 
 in the reading, and the delight of the listeners, are fresh in the 
 author's memory. The gifted statesmen whose words he repeated 
 in a style of surpassing beauty are now in the grave, and so is the 
 brilliant reader. Let no person start at the association of names, 
 Beall, Hayne, Webster ; for in this order they left the world, 
 at the ages of thirty-six, forty-eight, and seventy years, re- 
 spectively. 
 
 In depth of sensibility and exalted passion, constituting the soul 
 of genius, Robert Augustus Beall never, perhaps, had a superior, 
 except in Lord Byron. This opinion may, by some, be termed 
 extravagant ; still, the author is candid in its avowal. He had full 
 opportunities of analyzing his character in all the phases of fortune 
 and temperament. A high order of genius, other qualities not 
 being equal, is apt to render the possessor unhappy. Sheridan and 
 Byron are noted examples : both singularly imprudent in the com- 
 mon affairs of life, and both died under a cloud, — one in adversity 
 and the other in self-imposed exile, to escape from the horrors of 
 his own mind. To this class of mortals, more to be pitied than 
 condemned, we assign the subject of this memoir. If we exceed 
 justice to the dead, the error at least has no sting. 
 
 But to resume our narrative. — In 1830, Gov. Gilmer appointed 
 Maj. Beall one of his aides-de-camp, with the rank of lieutenant- 
 colonel. He continued to appear with Maj. Gen. Wimberly at regi- 
 mental reviews in the division, but in his new capacity as represen- 
 tative of the commander-in-chief. In January, 1832, Col. Beall 
 removed with his family to the city of Macon, and opened a law- 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 27 
 
 office in connection with Col. Seymour, now of New Orleans. To 
 discuss more prominently the political questions of the day, in 
 which he felt a warm interest, Col. Beall purchased a share in the 
 Georgia Messenger, — Mr. S. Rose then, as now, and for the last 
 thirty years, still retaining his position as publisher. Acting as 
 principal editor, he espoused nullification with earnestness and 
 ability, sounding the alarm and pointing to the authorized redress 
 of the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798, — that inexhaust- 
 ible fountain of vague construction which has perplexed so many 
 honest inquirers after political truth. In the mean time the mili- 
 tary aspirations of Col. Beall were gratified by the Legislature 
 in electing him a brigadier-general. The extent of his practice at 
 the bar was perhaps equal to his desire ; for he delighted mainly 
 in politics, and his ample fortune exempted him from the necessity 
 of labor. 
 
 A vacancy in Congress having to be filled, the State-Rights 
 party nominated Gen. Beall, and the Union party brought forward 
 Gen. Glascock as his competitor. The vot« was then by general 
 ticket and the canvass was warmly conducted, the Union candi- 
 date prevailing by a small majority. Gen. Beall received frequent 
 proofs of confidence from the people of Bibb county. Of the 
 Anti-Tariff Convention in 1832, and the great State-Rights meet- 
 ing, in 1833, at MUledgeville, (the night of the meteoric shower, 
 13th November,) he was an influential member and acted on the 
 most important committees. As this was a noted meeting at the 
 time, composed of many of the ablest men in Georgia, the author 
 thinks proper to give some of the particulars. The Hon. Chris- 
 topher B. Strong was appointed chairman, and the Hon. N. C. 
 Satre and A. B. Loxgstreet acted as secretaries. 
 
 On motion of Judge Clayton, it w^ 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of thirteen be appointed by the chairman 
 to propose resolutions expressing the sentiments of the State-Rights party 
 in this State, and report to this meeting at its sitting. 
 
 The committee consisted of the following gentlemen, in the order 
 named by the chair : — Hon. A. S. Clayton, Hon. William H. Craw- 
 ford, Dr. William C. Daniell, Col. Seaborn Jones, Hon. Richard 
 W. Habersham, D. P. Hilhouse, Esq., Col. Samuel Rockwell, 
 A. H. Chappell, Esq., Geo. H. Young, Esq., Gen. Robt. A. Beall, 
 Col. Newton, Gen. Eli Warren, and Hon. Charles Dougherty. 
 
 As a source of information to the younger politicians of the 
 State, as well as to preserve the original Platform itself, the 
 author copies from the official proceedings of the meeting : — 
 
28 BEXCn AKD BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The committre retired; and, havinp; returned, reported through their 
 chainnaii the folluwin;: preamble and resolufions : — 
 
 The relations between the Federal and State Governments have assumed 
 a peculiiir i:nd intense interest by reason of the events which terminated 
 the ile'.lberatlons of the la.>t Congress. The long and angry contests 
 which a-itated the whole South, and had produced just complaints against 
 the General Government, were brought to a close with its la>t session; 
 but they were succeeded (and doubtless for the special purpose of subserv- 
 ing at some future period the very principle.^ they were compelled to 
 abandon) by the enactment of a law equally objectionable and certainly 
 more rlangerous to the liberties of the people than their former oppressions, 
 and which, if permitted to endure, will ultimately perpetuate the u.sarpa- 
 tions which it was professed to be renounced. It is not difficult to per- 
 ceive that allusion is here made to the Proclamation of the President of 
 the Uuited States, and the Force IJill, which was its legitimate conse- 
 quence. The first document instantly revived the doctrines of the Fede- 
 ralists of '98, which had been put down by Mr. Jefferson, at the head of 
 the Republicans; and now, parties are forming everywhere, and particu- 
 larly in our own State, for the avowe 1 pnrp ise of supporting the principles 
 of the Proclamation ai;d Force Bill, thereby insidiously restoring to the 
 Federal party the power which they lost under the elder Adams. To this 
 end they have changed their name to one which is designed to play upon 
 popular feeling; and, by the force of prejudice alone, they are aiming to 
 re-establidh principles which the good sense of the people ab.solutely 
 rejected in 1801, as tending to the destruction of the Union and rearing 
 upon its ruins a consolidated government. These facts have justly alarmed 
 the friends of liberty in every quarter: and those Republicans who still 
 adhere to the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, the great moral instru- 
 ments by which 'Mr. Jefferson effected the overthrow of the Federalists, 
 are rallying to the defence of the Constitution of the United States from 
 North to South by counter-associations, designed to reorganize the old 
 Republican party and to check immediately the growth of the doctrines 
 of the Proclamation, which must inevitably lead to consolidation if not 
 successfully resisted. The object of the present meeting is. First, to con- 
 stitute and form one of those associations for the express purpose of coun- 
 teracting the designs of the Federal party lately reorganized in this State, 
 who, under false colors, are inculcating the doctrine of John Adams in 
 '98, and those of Daniel Webster at the present time; and. Secondly, for 
 the further object of enforcing a systematic opposition to the Proclamation 
 and Force Bill. These last measures have aimed a deadly blow at State 
 Rights, and seem now to require the united and concentrated energies of 
 the friends and advocates of those rights to be directed to this point of 
 attack, deemed so important by our enemies to be carried, and in which, 
 if success should crown their exertions, all that is dear and valuable to 
 freedom will be wrested from the States. 
 
 That it may be distinctly understood what are the principles of this 
 association, it will be necessary to show what are the doctrines of the 
 Proclamation, and these are asserted in language which admits of no 
 dispute. 
 
 1. It maintains that the States of which this Confederacy is composed 
 never had a separate existence; for from the moment they ceased to be 
 dependent on Great Britain, they formed one nation, and have so con- 
 tinued. 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 29 
 
 2. That a State in the exercise of its legitimate powers has not the 
 right to decide upon the constitutionality of an act of Congress, nnd to 
 protect Ss citizens from the operation of an unconstitutional act, and to 
 maintain within her limits the authority, rights, and liberties appertaining 
 to a sovereign State. 
 
 3. That the States have no right to secede from the Union under any 
 circumstances whatever, inasmuch as secession would destroy the unitt 
 
 OF THE NATION. 
 
 4. That the people of the twenty-four States constitute one people. 
 
 5. That the members of Congress "are all representatives of the United 
 States, not representatives of the particular States from which thcj/ come, 
 and that they are not accountable to it for ant/ act done in the perform- 
 ance of their legislative functions." 
 
 6. That "the States have not retained their entire sovereignty." 
 
 7. That the allegiance of our citizens is due to the United States " in 
 the first instance," and not to their respective States. 
 
 These are the doctrines of the Proclamation, and they have, at the 
 special instance of the President, produced the Force Bill for their com- 
 plete execution. This meeting doth solemnly protest against them, and 
 as solemnly deny their legitimate deduction from the compact which 
 established the Federal Government, and that the association now formed 
 will resist them in every proper manner. To this end they 
 
 Resolved, That the present meeting be organized into an association to 
 be denominated " The State-Eights Party of Georgia," and recom- 
 mend meetings in all the counties for the pui-pose of constituting similar 
 associations, to be connected with that which will be formed at Milledge- 
 ville, as the central association. 
 
 Res'jlced, That the doctrines of the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, 
 as construed and understood by Mr. Jeflerson, and triumphantly acted 
 upon in 1825, 6, and 7, in this State, constitute the creed of the State- 
 Bights party of Georgia ; and that, as all such unconstitutional laws are 
 null and void, we will, whenever the proper exigency arises, resist them 
 in any manner the sovereign power of the State may order and direct. 
 
 Resolved, That we consider the Force Bill as a glaring infraction of 
 State rights and a gross outrage upon the liberties of the peopl:-, and that 
 its continuance upon the statute-book is such an act of usurpation as 
 ought not to be submitted to by free and independent States, and that we 
 will use our exertions to counteract the principles of the Proclamation and 
 to obtain a repeal of said bill. 
 
 Resolved, That our Senators and Representatives in Congress be, and 
 they are hereby, earnestly requested to demand an immediate repeal of 
 the act of the last Congress, denominated the Force Bill, as being a pal- 
 pable violation of the rights of the States, and the Federal Constitution. 
 
 AVhich having been read, a motion was made to postpone further 
 action that they might be printed and taken up at a subsequent meeting; 
 which motion was, by a vote of the meeting, negatived ; and, on motion 
 of Judge Clayton, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the report be taken up and read by paragraphs. 
 
 The report having been read, on motion of Judge Clayton, it was 
 unanimously resolved that said preamble and resolutions be adopted and 
 agreed to. 
 
 On motion of Judge Dougherty, 
 
 Resolved, That the editors of the States-£.ight papers in this State be 
 
30 BEXCH AKD BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 requested to publisli the foregoing preamble and resolutions, accompanied 
 by the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, and that a copy of the same be 
 transmitted to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Torrance, 
 
 Resolveil, That the chairman of this meeting appoint a committee of 
 thirteen, to be styled The Central Committee of the State-Eights Associa- 
 tion of Georgia, to correspond with such associations in support of State 
 Eights as have been, or may be, organized in the several counties of 
 Georgia. 
 
 The chairman appointed the following gentlemen : — Wm. H. Torrance, 
 David B. Mitchell, Joel Crawford, John H. Howard, Randall Jones, 
 Samuel Boykin, L. Q. C. Lamar, Seaton Grantland, Irby Hudson, Samuel 
 Eockwell, N. C. Sayre, Dr. Wm. Greene, and John Williams, Esqs. 
 
 On motion of Judge Clayton, 
 
 Rexolved, That as a means of extending among the people an accurate 
 knowledge of our principles, this meeting will patronize the paper called 
 The Examiner, published by Condy Raguet, in the city of Philadelphia, 
 and recommend to all the associations that may be formed in the several 
 counties to do the same, and that those who may be disposed to subscribe 
 for said paper apply to either of the secretaries of this meeting now or at 
 a future period for that purpose. 
 
 With the revolution of parties in Georgia since 1833 the author 
 has nothing to do and expresses no opinion. He has introduced 
 this fragment as a part of the history of the times and for no other 
 object. 
 
 By proclamation of Gov. Gilmer, the Legislature convened on 
 the 18th day of October, 1830, to dispose of the Cherokee lands. 
 Gen. Beall was a representative from the county of Twiggs, with 
 Robert Hodges and Larkin Griffin his colleagues. The business 
 of the session was urgent and complicated. Many questions arose 
 and were discussed with marked ability. To glance at them in 
 detail, and at the speakers who participated, would require more 
 space than could be properly allowed in this work. Among the 
 gentlemen prominent on the floor of the House were John H. 
 Howard, C. J. McDonald, A. Hull, C. Dougherty, Thos. Haynes, 
 Thos. W. Murray, Wiley Williams, Geo. H. Young, Irby Hudson, 
 Wm. Turner, Wm. Schley, C. J. Jenkins, E. J. Black, Geo.W.Towns, 
 and Dennis L. Ryan, — presenting an array of talent which would 
 do credit to any legislative body. 
 
 Party strife rose high. The old distinctions of Troup and Clark 
 were gradually wearing down in the grave issue as to the power of 
 the Federal Government. The Senate adopted a set of resolutions 
 on this subject, and also laudatory of President Jackson, which 
 were sent to the House for concurrence. Gen. Beall offered a 
 substitute in the following words, after reciting the Protest of the 
 Legislature in 1828 against the Tariff: — 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 31 
 
 Be it there/ore revived, &c., That the State of Georgia, influenced by 
 a sense of forbearance and respect for the opinions of the other States, 
 and by community of attachment to the Union, so far as the same may 
 be consistent with self-pjeservation and a determined purpose to preserve 
 the purity of our republican institutions, having, in her sovereign charac- 
 ter, protest-ed against the Tariff, and, by inference, against its dependent 
 meiisure, "internal improvement," as. being an infraction of the sacred 
 bond of our Union, demanded its repeal, and in perpetual testimony 
 thereof deposited that protest and demand in the archives of the Senate 
 of the United States, cannot now, adhering firmly and unalterably as she 
 does to the declaration contained in that instrument, descend, without 
 compromitting her honor and dignity as a sovereign and independent 
 State, to the measures of memorial and remonstrance, which having been 
 patiently resorted to for years were utterly disregarded ; — thus compelling 
 her, in justification of her character to the present generation and to pos- 
 terity, reluctantly to adopt the measure hereinbefore recited. 
 
 Resolved nevertlieless, by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, 
 acting for and in behalf of the people thereof, That this State looks with 
 the deepast solicitude to the re-election of General Jackson to the Presi- 
 dency of the United States, because, in that event, we will have the certain 
 guarantee that he will fearlessly go, as far as his official powers will war- 
 rant, " in arresting the profligate expenditure of the public money, extin- 
 guishing the public debt as speedily as possible, and restraining the 
 government to its primitive simplicity in the exercise of aU its functions." 
 
 The House Journal (p. 361) thus continues : — 
 
 Mr. Burnes moved the following resolution in lieu of the preamble and 
 resolutions from Senate, and the foregoing preamble and resolutions ofiered 
 by Mr.Beall, of Twiggs: — 
 
 Resolved, by the people of Georgia, through their Eepresentatives, That 
 they highly approbate the opinions of President Jackson in behalf of the 
 Union and rights of the States, and his administration generally, and that 
 we earnestly recommend his re-election. 
 
 On the motion to receive said resolution as a substitute in lieu of the 
 preamble and resolutions from the Senate, and the foregoing preamble 
 and resolutions ofiered by Mr. Beall, of Twiggs, the yeas and nays were 
 required to be recorded, and were, — Yeas, 57 ; Nays, 65. 
 
 So the House refused to receive Mr. Bumes's resolution as a substitute. 
 
 The question was then put on receiving the preamble and resolutions 
 offered by Mr. Beall, of Twiggs, as a substitute for the preamble and 
 resolutions from the Senate. On which motion the yeas and nays were 
 required to be recorded, and are, — Yeas, 76 ; Nays, 45. So the House 
 agreed to receive the preamble and resolutions offered by Mr. Beall, of 
 Twiggs, as a substitute for the preamble and resolutions of Senate, and 
 the said substitute agreed to by the House. 
 
 Without aiming to revive party creeds or associations to affect 
 any gentleman, the author merely remarks that Messrs. Black, 
 J. S. Calhotm, Dougherty, Haynes, P. S. Holt, Howard, Hudson, 
 Jenkins, Rvan, Turner, and Young, voted for the substitute of 
 Gen. Beall, and Messrs. Bates, Day, McDonald, Schley, Towns, 
 and Wofford, voted against it. 
 
32 BENCH AND BAH OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 It was at this session (1830) that the governor transmitted to 
 the Legislature, on the day previous to adjournment, (the same 
 day on which he received the original,) the copy of a mandate 
 from the Chief-Justice of the Supreme Courf of the United States, 
 enjoining the execution of George Tassels, an Indian who had 
 been convicted in Hall Superior Court of the crime of murder, and 
 citing tlie State of Georgia to appear under the writ of error. 
 
 The following is an extract from Gov. Gilmer's communication: — 
 
 The object of this mandate is to control the State in the exercise of its 
 ordinary jurisdiction, which in criminal cases has been vested by the Con- 
 Btitution exclusively in its Superior Courts. 
 
 So far as concerns the exercise of the power which belongs to the 
 Executive Department, orders received from the Supreme Court for the 
 purpose of staying or in any manner interfering with the decisions of the 
 courts of this State, in the exercise of their constitutional jurisdiction, 
 will be resisted with whatever force the laws shall have placed at my 
 command. 
 
 If the judicial power thus attempted to be exercised by the courts of 
 the United States is submitted to or sustained, it must eventuate in the 
 utter annihilation of the State Governments, or in other consequences 
 not less fatal to the peace and prosperity of our present highly-favored 
 country. 
 
 After being read, the message was referred with the accompany- 
 ing document to a select committee, consisting of Messrs. Haynes, 
 Beall, of Twiggs, Schley, McDonald, and Howard, of Baldwin, on 
 the part of the House, to join such committee as the Senate might 
 appoint. 
 
 On the same day, (22d December,) Mr. Haynes, from the com- 
 mittee, made the following report : — 
 
 Whereas, it appears by a communication made by his Excellency the 
 Governor to this General Assembly that the Chief-Justice of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States has sanctioned a writ of error, and cited the 
 State of Georgia, through her Chief Magistrate, to appear before the 
 Supreme Court of the United States to defend this State against said 
 writ of error, at the instance of one George Tassels, recently convicted in 
 Hall county Superior Court of the crime of murder. 
 
 And whereas, the right to punish crimes against the peace and good 
 order of this State, in accordance with existing laws, is an original and 
 necessary part of sovereignty which the State of Georgia has never parted 
 with. 
 
 Be it therefore resolved, &c.. That they view with feelings of the deepest 
 regret the interference by the Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States in the administration of the criminal laws of this State, and 
 that such an interference is a flagrant violation of her right. 
 
 Ecsoloed further, That his Excellency the Governor be, and he and 
 every other officer of tliis State is hereby, requested and enjoined to dis- 
 regard any and every mandate and process that has been or shall be served 
 upon him or them, purporting to proceed from the Chief-Justice, or any 
 
EOBEPlT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 33 
 
 Associate-Jastice, or tbe Supreme Court of tbe United States, for the 
 purpose of arresting any of the criminal laws of this State. 
 
 And be it further resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be, and 
 he is hereby, authorized and required with all the force and means placed 
 at his command by the Constitution and laws of this State, to resist and 
 repel any and every invasion from whatever quarter, upon the administra- 
 tion of the criminaJ laws of this State. 
 
 Resolved, That the State of Georgia wUl never so far compromit the 
 sovereignty as an independent State as to become a party to the cause 
 sought to be made before the Supreme Court of the United States by the 
 writ in question. 
 
 Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be, and he is hererrith, 
 authorized to communicate to the Sheriff of Hall county, by express, so 
 much of the foregoing resolutions and such orders as are necessary to 
 insure the full execution of the laws in the case of George Tassels, con- 
 victed of murder in Hall county. 
 
 The House Joiimal (p. 448) states that Mr. Turner offered the 
 following as a substitute to said report, to wit : — 
 
 Whereas, the circumstances under which the citation to the State from 
 the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Tassels, an Indian, 
 convicted of murder in the Superior Court of Hall county, are unfavorable 
 to calm deliberation; and whereas, the General Assembly have confidence 
 in the intelligence of the Executive and Judicial Departments of the 
 Government of this State, into whose cognizance the case of Tassels will 
 more immediately come. 
 
 Resolved, That the action of the General Assembly is deemed unneces- 
 sary at the present time in the case of George Tassels aforesaid. 
 
 On the qnestion to accept this substitute the yeas were 11; 
 nays, 62. Among the former were Messrs. Day, McDonald, Schley, 
 Turner, and C. Wellborn. 
 
 On the question to agree to the original report the yeas were 
 73 ; nays, 10. Among the latter were Messrs. Day, McDonald, 
 Schley, Turner, and C. Wellborn. 
 
 The next day the Senate concurred in the report, and at the 
 appointed time the prisoner was executed under the sentence which 
 his counsel attempted to reverse by writ of error. The case was 
 not further prosecated, as no relief could reach the plaintiff, thus 
 avoiding the conflict of jurisdiction between the Federal and State 
 Governments in the last resort, practically. 
 
 As another scrap of political history deserves preservation, the 
 author makes no apology for a somewhat-extended notice of the 
 Anti-Tariff Convention held at Milledgeville, and especially as 
 Gen. Beall was a delegate from Bibb, and prominent in its delibe- 
 rations. The official record of its proceedings is now before the 
 author, and he copies the names of all the delegates, with such 
 
 other matters as seem most relevant. 
 Vol. L— 3 
 
34 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The Convention met in the Representative Chamber at three 
 o'clock in the afternoon of Monday, 12th November, 1832, when 
 the following delegates appeared from their respective counties : — 
 
 1. Appling — Malcolm Morrison. 
 
 2. Baker — Young Allen. 
 
 3. Baldwin — William H. Torrance and Saml. Rockwell. 
 
 4. Bibb — Robert A. Beall and Robert Collins. 
 
 5. Bullock — Samuel L. Lockhart. 
 
 6. Burke — J. Lewis, E. Hughes, and David Taylor, Jr. 
 1. Camden — H. R. Ward and J. Hull. 
 
 8. Cherokee — Z. B. Hargrove and W. W. Williamson. 
 
 9. Clark — A. S. Clayton, Thos. Moore, and J. Ligon. 
 
 10. Columbia — Isaac Ramsey, W. A. L. Collins, and J. Cartledge. 
 
 11. Coweta — Thos. Watson a,ndi Owen H. Kenan. 
 
 12. Crawford — Henry Orowell and Hiram Warner. 
 
 13. Decatur — Brury Fort and Jehu W. Keith. 
 
 14. De Kalb — Lewis J. Bupree, B. Kiddoo,' and 0. Clark. 
 
 15. Dooly — Thomas H. Key. 
 
 16. Early — Josiah S. Patterson. 
 
 17. Effingham — Clem. Powers. 
 
 18. Elbert — Beverly Allen, I. N. Davis, and J. M. Tate. 
 
 19. Emanuel — John R. Baniel. 
 
 20. Glynn — Thomas Butler King. 
 
 21. Greene — W. C. Dawson, J. G. Matthews, and W. Greer. 
 
 22. Gwinnett— j; Cr. Park, W. Maltbie, Hines Holt, and S. 
 McMullin. 
 
 23. Hall— W. H. Underwood, J. McAfee, R. Sanford, and 
 N. Grarrison. 
 
 24. Hancock — Thos. Haynes, Tully Vinson, and James Lewis. 
 
 25. Harris — ^Jacob M. Guerry and Barkly Martin. 
 
 26. Heard — Rene Fitzpatrick. 
 
 27. Henry— J.. R. Moore, G-ihson Clark, J.Johnson and J. Coker. 
 
 28. Houston — Walter L. Campbell, HughLawson, and C. Well- 
 born. 
 
 29. Irwin — William Slone. 
 
 30. Jackson — David Witt, J. Park, and J. G-. Pittman. 
 
 31. Jasper— Alfred Cuthbert, B. A. Reese, and M. Phillips. 
 
 32. Jefferson — Roger L. Gamble and Philip S. Lemlie. 
 
 33. Jones— W. S. C. Reid, J. L. Lewis, and T. G. Barron. 
 
 34. Laurens— David Blackshear and Eason Allen. 
 
 35. Lee — John Cr. Oliver. "' 
 
 36. Lincoln — Rem Remson and Peter Lamar. 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 35 
 
 37. Madison — Thog. Long and W. M. Morton. 
 
 38. Marion — ^Wiley Williams. 
 
 39. Mcintosh — Thomas Spalding and James Troup. 
 
 40. Meriwether — ^W. D. Alexander and Htigh W. Ector. 
 
 41. Monroe — John Macpherson Berrien, Thos. N. Seall, Geo. 
 W. Gordon, and Elbridge G. Cabiness. 
 
 42. Montgomery — Joseph Ryals. 
 
 43. Morgan — ^W. S. Stokes, Van Leonard, and C. Campbell. 
 •44. Muscogee — Allen Lawhon and A. S. Clifton. 
 
 45. Newton — Charles Kennon, Richard L. Sims, and Seth P. 
 Storrs. 
 
 46. Oglethorpe — George R. Gilmer and John Moore. 
 
 47. Pulaski — Burwell W.Bracewell. 
 
 48. Putnam — L. W. Hudson, C. P. Gordon, and W. W. Mason. ' 
 
 49. Rabun — Samuel Farris and Henry T. Mosely. 
 
 50. Randolph — Benjamin Holland. 
 
 51. Richmond — John Forsyth, William Gamming, and John 
 P. King. 
 
 52. Scriven — A. S. Jones and P. L. Wade. 
 
 53. Talbot— Samuel W. Flournay and N. B. Powell. 
 
 54. Taliaferro — Absalom Janes and S. C. Jeffries. 
 
 55. Tatnall — Joseph Tillman. 
 
 56. Thomas — William H. Reynolds and A. J. Dozier. 
 
 57. Troup — Samuel A. Bailey and Julius C. Alford. 
 
 58. Upson — Reuben J. Crews and John Robinson. 
 
 59. Walton— TAos. W. Harris, T. J. Hill, and Orion Stroud. 
 
 60. Warren — Henry Lockhart and Thos. G-ibson, Jr. 
 
 61. Washington — S. Robinson, J. Peabody, and Morgan Brown. 
 
 From the above roll, it appears that one hundred and thirty 
 delegates presented credentials from sixty-one counties. The 
 Hon. George R. Gilmer was elected president, and William Y. 
 Hansell, Benjamin T. Mosely, and Mansfield Torrance, Esqs., 
 were appointed secretaries. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Torrance, 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of twenty-one be appointed, whose duty it 
 shall be to report resolutions expressive of the sense of this Convention in 
 relation to the Protective System, and the best and most efficient mode 
 of obtaining relief from the evils of that system ; and that the said com- 
 mittee be further instructed to report what objects ought to engage the 
 attention of this Convention, and what will be the most efficient means of 
 accomplishing the same. 
 
 After the appointment of a Committee on Rules to govern the 
 
36 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Convention, nothing more was done the first afternoon. On the 
 second day, Mr. Forsyth submitted the following : — 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the president to 
 examine and report to this bod}' at its next meeting, the authority of 
 the persons assembled as Delegates from the different counties of the 
 State to represent the people of their respective counties; the resolutions, 
 if any, under which the election in each county was held; the notice given 
 of the time of the election; the manner of holding it, the number of votes 
 given at the election, and the number of voters in the county. 
 
 Resolved, That the individuals who have been elected as a committee 
 of what is known as the Athens meeting, be, and they are hereby, 
 requested to present to this body the correspondence they have held con- 
 nected with the object of their appointment. 
 
 Mr. Torrance offered, in lieu of the first resolution, the following 
 
 as a substitute : — 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee of Elections and Appointments be now 
 appointed to inquire into the right of any member to hold his seat, when- 
 ever the same shall be contested, and report the facts to the Convention. 
 
 After a little skirmishing the resolutions and substitute were 
 laid on the table for the present. The president then announced 
 the appointment of the Committee of Twenty-one, to wit : — Messrs. 
 Blackshear, Berrien, Forsyth, Gumming, Clayton, Cuthbert, 
 Gamble, Reese, Spalding, Tait, Rockwell, Beall, of Bibb, Taylor, 
 of Biu-ke, Bailey, Warner, Dawson, Haynes, Gordon, of Putnam, 
 Clark, of Henry, Janes, and Harris. 
 
 On the third day, on motion of Mr. Rockwell, 
 
 Resolved, That the Governor, President of the Senate, Speaker of the 
 House of Kepresentatives, Judges of the Superior Courts, and the Hon. 
 David Johnson and Chancellor Harper, of South Carolina, and editors and 
 reporters of newspapers, be provided with seats within the bar. 
 
 The Convention then resumed the unfinished business of the 
 previous day and took up the first resolution of Mr. Forsyth, 
 which, being read, Mr. Berrien proposed to amend it by striking 
 out the following: — "The resolutions, if any, under which the 
 election in each county was held ; the notice given of the time of 
 the election ; the manner of holding it, the number of votes given 
 in the county" — and insert in lieu thereof the following words, to 
 wit : — " and that the report of the said committee, when approved 
 by this Convention, shall be attached to the proceedings of this 
 body, to be submitted to the people of Georgia for their approba- 
 tion or rejection." 
 
 Perhaps on no other occasion in Georgia was there such an 
 imposing display of eloquence. Mr. Forsyth stood forth in the 
 
KOBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 37 
 
 majesty of his intetiect and the graces of his unrivalled elocution. 
 For three days the Convention and the crowded galleries listened 
 to the debate with rapt attention. All conceded the victory to 
 Mr. Forsyth in the preliminary discussion. He seemed as a 
 giant, bearing down all obstacles in his way. Mr. Berrien took 
 the floor amid plaudits from the gallery. He waved his hand 
 and shook his head gravely, his beaming face upward, to repress 
 the demonstration in his favor. What delight he afforded all 
 present by his polished style and sweet delivery, may he imagined 
 by those who ever had the good fortune to hear this American 
 Cicero. Other speakers participated in the discussion; but the 
 author does not remember all of them, although a spectator. 
 Col. William Cujimixg, in point of dignity and force, called to 
 mind a proud Roman Senator. ^Messrs. Clayton, Torrance, 
 Rockwell, Cuthbert, Spalding, Beall, G.W. Gordon, Haynes, 
 and Alford, were among the principal debaters. Gov. Gilmer 
 made an argument with his usual zeal and ability on the main 
 question, at another stage of the Convention. 
 
 In the mean time the president submitted to the Convention 
 communications from the Hon. David Johnson and Chancellor 
 Harper, touching political events in South Carolina, which were 
 severally referred to the Committee of Twenty-one. 
 
 On Friday, Gen. Blackshear, Chairman of the Committee of 
 Twenty-one, made a report, which was read to the Convention by 
 Mr. Berrien, the author of the report. It is too long for inser- 
 tion here, though its ability would interest the political reader. 
 After a brief preamble, it affirms, — 
 
 1. That the Federal Government is a confederacy formed by the States 
 composing the same, for the specific purposes expressed in the Constitu- 
 tion, and for those alone. 
 
 2. That every exercise by the Federal Government, or by any depart- 
 ment thereof, of powers not granted by the Constitution, notwithstanding 
 it may he under the forms of law, is, in relation to the constituent States, 
 a. mere usurpation. 
 
 3. That a government of limited powers can have no constitutional 
 right to judge in the last resort of its own use or abuse of the powers con- 
 ferred upon it, since that would be to substitute for the limitations of the 
 constitutional charter the judgment of the agents who were employed to 
 carry it into effect, — to annihilate those limitations by a power derived 
 from the same instrument which created them. 
 
 4. That the Federal Government is a government the powers of which 
 are expressly limited by the Constitution which created it, and can there- 
 fore have no constitutional right to judge in the last resort of the use or 
 abuse of those powers. 
 
 5. That it is essential to a confederated government, the powers of 
 
38 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 which are expressly limited by the constitution which creates it, that 
 there should exist somewhere a power authoritatively to interpret that 
 instrument, — to decide in the last resort on the use or abuse of the 
 authority which it confers upon the common agent of the confederating 
 States : that such a power cannot belong to the agent, since that would 
 be to substitute his judgment for the constitutional limitation; and that, 
 in the absence of a common arbiter expressly designated by the Constitu- 
 tion for this purpose, each State as such for itself, and in virtue of its 
 sovereignty, is necessarily remitted to the exercise of that right. 
 
 6. That the several States composing this Union were, at the adoption 
 of the Federal Constitution, free, sovereign, and independent States; that 
 they have not divested themselves of this character by the relinquishment 
 of certain powers to the Federal Government, — having associated with 
 their sister states for purposes entirely compatible with the continued 
 existence of their own original freedom, sovereignty, and independence. 
 
 The seventh resolution declares the several Tariff acts of Con- 
 gress, designed for the protection of domestic manufactures, 
 unconstitutional and void. The eighth avers attachment to the 
 Union, and perseverance in the means of redress. The ninth 
 refuses to submit, and asks for consultation and concert with sister 
 States to resist usurped authority ; and the tenth recommends the 
 aggrieved States to hold a Southern Convention. The eleventh 
 authorizes the president to appoint five superintendents in each 
 county to take the sense of the people on the proceedings of the 
 Convention, by voting at polls to be kept open from the 15th De- 
 cember until the second Monday in February then next. The 
 twelfth requires public notice of the result to be given, and the 
 citizens to elect, by general ticket on the fourth Monday in March, 
 delegates to represent Georgia in the proposed Convention of 
 States. The tljirteenth is for the Convention to meet again on 
 the first Monday in July. The fourteenth is the following : — 
 
 Resolved, That the President of this Convention do communicate the 
 aforegoing resolutions, from one to ten inclusive, to the Governors of the 
 several Southern States having common interests with us in the removal 
 of the grievances of which we complain ; to the Governors of the other 
 States at his discretion, and asking them to give publicity to the same 
 within their respective States, and earnestly inviting them to unite with 
 us in Convention as the sure, perhaps the only, means of preserving the 
 peace of the Union. 
 
 The three other resolutions provide for the appointment of a 
 Central Committee in Baldwin, to whom all the county superin- 
 tendents shall certify the action before them ; for the publication 
 of twenty thousand copies of the proceedings of the Conven- 
 tion, &c. 
 
 In the appendix to the Journal of the Convention, it is stated 
 
KOBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 39 
 
 that the following substitute to the Report of the Committee of 
 " Twenty-one" was offered by Mr. Forsyth, in committee, and 
 rejected : — 
 
 Resolved, That it is not necessary to reiterate in a new form the 
 opinions of the people on the subject of the Tariff, or the necessity for the 
 abandonment of the protective system, to preserve the Union and to 
 maintain harmony among the States. 
 
 Resolved, That a Southern Convention should be called to consult on 
 the best measures to procure a final and speedy abandonment of it by the 
 General Government. 
 
 Resolved, That the Legislature should provide for the appointment of 
 Delegates to meet a Southern Convention whenever all the States 
 south of the Potomac and north of the Mississippi agree to appoint their 
 delegates for that purpose. 
 
 Before a vote was taken in the Convention on the Report of the 
 Committee of " Twenty-one," and after the rejection of his resolu- 
 tion touching the " authority of gentlemen to speak in the name 
 of the people," Mr. Forsyth laid on the secretary's table a pro- 
 test signed by himself and about fifty other delegates, all of whom 
 then retired together from the Convention. The scene was very 
 exciting, but it passed off quietly, and the remaining majority pro- 
 ceeded with their business as though nothing material had occurred 
 to weaken their deliberations. 
 
 After sundry propositions and a few slight amendments, the 
 report was agreed to by a vote of, — ^Yeas, 64; Nays, 6. Com- 
 paring the roll as given with those voting on the adoption of the 
 report, the names of the seceding delegates are pretty well ascer- 
 tained ; and on this basis the author has marked them in italics, 
 merely for reference as to old party divisions. 
 
 Two important committees were appointed, — one to address the 
 people of Georgia, consisting of Messrs. Berrien, Clayton, Gordon, 
 of Putnam, Beall, of Bibb, and Torrance ; and the other, styled 
 the " Central Committee," consisting of Messrs. W. H. Torrance, 
 S. Rockwell, John H. Howard, Samuel Boykin, and James S. Cal- 
 houn, whose duty it should be " to take all necessary steps to 
 giving effect to the measures of this Convention," — both of which 
 committees soon afterwards published able addresses to the people 
 of Georgia on the matters with which they were respectively 
 charged. 
 
 The author has dwelt freely on these topics for the principal 
 reason that the young men of the State may understand the 
 condition of parties more than twenty years ago, at a season of 
 great peril to the Union ; and also because the Convention referred 
 
40 BEUCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA, 
 
 to was anterior to the "Ordinance of Nullification" in a sister 
 State, — all the proceedings in Carolina in opposition to the Tariff 
 having the hearty sanction of Gen. Beall, whose opinions are to be 
 illustrated by facts. Of the ten gentlemen on the two committees 
 who thus appealed to the people of Georgia against the oppressions 
 of the General Government, Maj. Howard is the only survivor ! 
 No formal action was ever had at the ballot-box to carry out the 
 objects of the Convention. 
 
 One incident, or rather legislative expression, though omitted at 
 the proper place, connected" with the public life of Gen. Beall, the 
 author begs to introduce here. At the session of 1830, the late 
 Gov. Towns, then a Representative, offered in the House a set of 
 resolutions, the character of which may be inferred from the 
 closing sentence of one of them : — " That disunion, it is firmly 
 believed, will bring in its train discord, misery, and civil war ; and 
 finally, that the people of this State deem those as their worst 
 and bitterest enemies who seek to sow the seeds of disunion, and 
 introduce the wretched doctrines of Consolidation and Nullification 
 amongst them." On the motion of Mr. Dougherty they were laid 
 on the table for the present, — ^Yeas, 86 ; Nays, 42. Mr. Bailey 
 then moved to lay on the table, for the balance of the session, the 
 resolutions of Gen. Beall, (to be seen elsewhere in this memoir,) 
 and those offered by Mr. Murray, which was refused, — Yeas, 49 ; 
 Nays, 74. On the question to adopt the preamble and resolutions 
 of Gen. Beall, Mr. Brewster, of Gwinnett, moved to amend by 
 adding, 
 
 And he it further resolved, That the people of Georgia disapprove of 
 the political opinions of the Hon. George M. Troup, as expressed in his 
 toast at the Jefferson celebration dinner at Washington City, and in his 
 letter replying to an invitation to the Columbia dinner. 
 
 The amendment was, on motion of Mr. Turner, laid on the table 
 for the remainder of the session, — Yeas, 93 ; Nays, 31. Among 
 those voting against laying the amendment on the table, were 
 Messrs. McDonald, Schley, and Towns. 
 
 To understand what Mr. Brewster sought to condemn, the toast 
 is here introduced : — 
 
 By Gov. Troup, of Georgia. The Government of the United States : 
 With more limited powers than the Republic of San Marino, it rules an 
 empire more extended than the Roman, with the absoluteness of Tiberius, 
 with ^ess wisdom than Augustus, and less justice than Trajan and the 
 Antonines. 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 41 
 
 The following is an extract from Gov. Troup's letter of Septem- 
 ber 21, 1830, referred to in the amendment : — 
 
 Whatever the people of South Carolina in Convention shall resolve for 
 their safety, interest, and happiness, will be right, and none will have the 
 right to question it. You can change your own government at pleasure, 
 and therefore you can throw oflF the government of the Union whenever 
 the same safety, interest, and happiness require it. 
 
 The author has thus followed Gen. Beall through his public 
 career; and he concludes by a brief notice of his family, his 
 declining health, and his religious opinions. 
 
 Gen. Beall inherited the full name of his venerable father, who 
 for many years resided in the county of Warren. Major Robert 
 Augustus Beall, Sr., was universally beloved for his intelligence 
 and virtues. He was a gentleman of easy address, and retained 
 the etiquette of the olden time. He had a large family of chil- 
 dren, mostly daughters, whom he educated in the best manner. 
 His liberal hospitality, and the expense of sustaining a fashionable 
 position in society, impaired his fortune and caused him to experi- 
 ence reverses in his old age. He bore all, however, with compo- 
 sure. At the election for commissioners to distribute the Cherokee 
 lands by lottery, in 1831—2, he was chosen by the Legislature as 
 one of the Board ; and, though infirm from age, he discharged his 
 duties to the entire satisfaction of the public. He died some 
 twenty years ago. Dr. Henry Lockhart of Apalachicola, Edward 
 B. Young, of Eufaula, William H. Young and Robert M. Gunby, of 
 Columbus, Robert Billups, of Texas, and John Billups, of Alabama, 
 married his daughters. He had other children, two sons, William 
 and Josias, with whom the author was slightly acquainted. The 
 latter, Josias B. Beall, was killed in Texas at the massacre of 
 Fannin's and Ward's command at Goliad, in 1886. 
 
 In October, 1828, Gen. Beall intermarried with Caroline, the 
 heiress of Richard Smith, Esq., a wealthy citizen of Twiggs county. 
 The portion of his wife was large, consisting of lands, slaves, and 
 other valuables. Considerably in debt at the time, and having no 
 skill or talent for accumulation. Gen. Beall permitted his affairs to 
 become entangled in spite of the proceeds of his estates. The 
 income reported by his managers was not equal to the lawful inte- 
 rest on the capital employed in this form. He took up the idea 
 that, by converting his property into bank-stock, it would be more 
 productive in the shape of dividends, on which he might check at 
 pleasure. He sold his estates, retaining servants for the house- 
 hold, but the money was never converted into bank securities. An 
 
42 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 expensive style of living, and constant drains upon his purse, of 
 which he did not see the drift at the time, led to a wreck of hia 
 fortune in eight years. His hospitality was that of a prince. No 
 man could dispense the honors of such a life more gracefully, or 
 with happier effect on his guests. 
 
 The health of Gen. Beall was never robust. His complexion 
 was always bilious, and he had frequent attacks of colic from 
 which he suffered severely. The following letter to the author 
 shows his condition at such times : — 
 
 Macon, February lOtb, 1882. 
 
 Dear Major : — Will you be at Houston Court ? If yea, carry over 
 our papers; and if not, send them so as to reach there early Monday 
 morning. 
 
 From the present state of my health, I consider it very doubtful 
 whether I shall be able to attend. I last night took an emetic which 
 threatened for some time serious consequences. It produced, in the first 
 instance, cramp in my stomach, which finally extended to all my limbs. 
 I was finally reUeved by the professional skill of Dr. Baber. 
 
 I made out a set of interrogatories in the case of , in which we 
 
 are counsel for the defendant, to take the te.stimony of , and left 
 
 them with a friend for Judge Holt to carry down. They were neglected 
 to be given to him and mislaid. 
 
 Will you make out another set, and forward them to M. Myers, Esq., 
 for execution ? I do not know what questions to ask, but our client 
 requests it, and he is entitled to have his wishes gratified. Ask her if 
 
 did not give the negro to his wife upon their separation, &c., and 
 
 any other questions which may occur to you. Ask her what she stated 
 
 to in Marion, on the subject of 's title to the negro. 
 
 Tours truly, Kobt. A. Beall. 
 
 He was compelled to be abstemious in diet ; and amidst the dis- 
 sipated company into which his late hours threw him. he never 
 drank to intoxication. He was generally cheerful, and always 
 ready to converse with his friends, even after his heaviest losses, 
 without betraying his inward struggles. With the people he was 
 a decided favorite, ever accessible and friendly. His countenance 
 had a firm, yet benignant expression; it was lit up by dark, 
 sparkling eyes, that charmed all who gazed upon them. He was 
 an adept in human nature; and his success in controlling the 
 minds of men by his suavity was an obstacle to his advancement 
 in the law by enabling him to achieve by words easily uttered what 
 others had failed to accomplish by hard labor, — the satisfaction of 
 clients. As before stated, he put off drudgery to the last. When 
 forced, however, to apply himself, he would toil with his pen, or at 
 his books, the whole night, and come into court next morning 
 fresh and courteous, with triumph on his brow. 
 
ROBERT AUGUSTUS BEALL. 43 
 
 Previous to 1835, Gen. Beall had been a skeptic in religion. 
 During a revival in Macon that year, under the ministry of the 
 Rev. John Howard, his infidelity was crushed and he became a 
 new man, rejoicing in the pardon of his sins. He connected him- 
 self with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was frequently 
 called on to pray in public. He engaged with zeal in the services 
 of the sanctuary, and with happy effect on the minds of others. 
 His mortal career was now drawing to a close. In the spring of 
 1886, his constitution gave way, and, after a lingering illness of 
 several months, he died in peace, July 16, 1836. His death pro- 
 duced a deep sensation in the community. Extensive funeral 
 honors were paid him. The bar, and literary societies of which he 
 was a member, manifested peculiar respect for his memory. The 
 press teemed with eulogies ; and men of all parties united in con- 
 fessing his extraordinary gifts, and the lofty qualities which 
 marked his character ; — all mourned his exit as a public loss. 
 
 Such was Robert Augustus Beall, — a man of worth and 
 infirmity. 
 
III. 
 
 JOHN MACPHERSON EERRIEN, LL.D. 
 
 The annals of America furnish many distinguished names in 
 the Cabinet and in the field, in the Judiciary and in .the halls of 
 legislation. John Macpherson Berkien has been too recent an 
 actor in public affairs for his character as yet to possess that influ- 
 ence over the minds of men which it is destined to exert. While 
 living, he had to encounter an active political rivalry which was 
 not always scrupulous in the means employed to gain its point. 
 He lived to establish a reputation of which any orator, jurist, 
 statesman, or scholar, might justly be proud. It will be the object 
 of the author to gather up a few broken fragments in the history 
 of this remarkable man, and to render that justice to his memory 
 which an admiring public will readily sanction. 
 
 Of his ancestry much might be said to gratify his descendants. 
 On the revocation of the Edict of Nantz by Louis XIV., in 1685, 
 withdrawing from the Protestants the security afforded them in the 
 exercise of their religion by Henry IV., in 1598, the best blood 
 of France was dispersed in foreign countries. America became 
 the asylum of many of the persecuted religionists, called Hugue- 
 nots originally in contempt, but now a term which has a universal 
 significancy, conveying the ideas of fortitude and the loftiest vir- 
 tues. His paternal ancestors descended from the Huguenots who 
 fled from France into Holland when the Edict of Nantz was 
 revoked. John Berrien, his grandfather, was one of the judges 
 of the Supreme Court of New Jersey ; and his father, Major John 
 Berrien, at a very early age removed to Georgia. He was with 
 "Washington's army at Valley Forge, participated gallantly in the 
 battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, and in several other engage- 
 ments. He continued in the service until the close of the war. 
 In the mean time he married, at Philadelphia, Margaret Macpher- 
 son, whose brother, John Macpherson, was aid-de-camp to General 
 Montgomery, and fell with him at Quebec. Another brother was 
 General William Macpherson, who gave up his commission in the 
 British army and escaped to the American lines, in which he ren- 
 dered efficient service. 
 44 
 
JOHN MACPHEKSON BERRIEN. 45 
 
 In the house occupied by General Washington as head-quarters 
 whence he issued his farewell address to the army, John Mac- 
 PHERSON Berrien was bom on the 23d day of August, 1781, in 
 the State of New Jersey. His father brought him to Georgia 
 when he was only a few months old. When of a suitable age, he 
 was sent to various schools in New York and New Jersey. He 
 graduated at Princeton at the age of fifteen. The late Judge 
 Gaston, of North Carolina, was a classmate. 
 
 On his return to Georgia, he read law in the office of the 
 Hon. Joseph Clay, and was admitted to the bar in 1799, before he 
 completed his eighteenth year. In 1809, he was elected Solicitor- 
 General, and the next year Judge of the Eastern circuit. The 
 latter office he held four terms. While on the bench, the question 
 of the constitutionality of the alleviating law came before him ; 
 and, in a convention of all the judges at Augusta, he delivered the 
 opinion declaring the act to be unconstitutional. This was a 
 triumph of law over popular excitement. The people were dis- 
 tressed in financial matters, and had elected a majority to the 
 Legislature to grant relief, even to the suspension of debts, or at 
 least of the process enforcing them. The public judgment has 
 long since exploded all such measures as the veriest trifling with 
 difficulties, to say nothing of the principle. 
 
 While war existed with Great Britain from 1812 to 1815, 
 Judge Berrien was elected to the command of a regiment of 
 volunteer cavalry, which rendezvoused at Darien, watching the 
 British forces on St. Simon's Island and elsewhere in that quarter. 
 No opportunity, however, of conflict with the enemy occurred. 
 He thus united the civil and military character in as perfect 
 a model as the forum and the camp ever presented ; for he was 
 not the man to hold any office without making it honorable by the 
 dignity and qualifications which he brought to the discharge of its 
 duties. 
 
 The only time when complaint or dissatisfaction was even whis- 
 pered on account of any of his judicial acts was when he gave 
 sentence on the trial of Hopkins for the murder of Mcintosh. It 
 seems that the overseer of Hopkins assisted his escape in a boat, 
 and had no further connection with the offence. On conviction for 
 manslaughter, the principal was sent to the penitentiary without 
 labor, and the overseer was subjected to hard labor for a term of 
 years. The public, not acquainted with the facts, became indig- 
 nant at the discrimination, — the rich culprit to lounge at his ease 
 in the State prison, while his poor, innocent friend was doomed to 
 
46 BESCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 the anvil or the workbench in constant toil, in sight of each other. 
 An investigation was demanded by Judge Berrien, and, at the 
 session of the Legislature in 1818, both Houses decided unani- 
 mously that there was no just ground for the charge. The 
 fact was, the presiding judge saw that to compel Mr. Hopkins, in 
 his feeble condition, to perform the ordinary labor of a convict 
 would be to take his life by judicial execution when a less punish- 
 ment was all that the law authorized. Such an act of humanity, 
 so far from deserving censure, merits approbation. It required 
 moral courage of a high order to confront the possibilities of mis- 
 construction, and to vindicate the act when assailed. 
 
 After closing his judicial career with the highest credit to him- 
 self and with the hearty approval of the people of Georgia, Judge 
 Berrien consented to serve his fellow-citizens of Chatham county, 
 in the years 1822 and 1823. During the latter session,* as 
 Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he introduced the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 ReBolved, hy the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, That it is 
 expedient that some fit and proper person should be appointed by the 
 Legislature at its present session to compile and digest the statute-laws of 
 Enpiland that are now in force in the' State of Georgia, and whose duty it 
 shall be within two years to report the same to his Excellency the 
 Governor, who, after the same has been examined of three learned in the 
 law, to be appointed by him for that purpose, shall approve or disapprove 
 of the same, and for their said services shall be paid by the Governor put 
 of the contingent fund ; and when the said work shall be performed and 
 approved, that his Excellency the Governor be, and he is hereby, author- 
 ized to subscribe for two thousand copies in convenient bound volumes : 
 Provided, the same does not exceed the price of four dollars per volume, 
 to be disposed of and distributed as the Legislature may direct. 
 
 This resolution passed both Houses, and was approved by the 
 Governor, who appointed the Hon. Thomas U. P. Charlton, William 
 Davies, and Charles Harris, of Savannah, to examine the work 
 prepared by the Hon. William Schley, — well known to the profes- 
 sion as Schley's Digest. 
 
 His abilities were so conspicuous in the State Senate that Mr. 
 Berrien was elected in 1824 to the Senate of the United States, 
 and took his seat in that body March 4, 1825, at a time when it 
 was an honor indeed to represent a sovereign State in the Councils 
 of the Union. Unfortunately, the Senatorial robes do not confer 
 as much reputation in these latter days, owing to causes easily 
 understood. While something is lost on the score of dignity by 
 
 * See Senate Journal, p. 178. 
 
JOHN MACPHERSOX BERRIEN. 47 
 
 the contrast, much is perhaps gained to popular rights, among 
 which may he included the right of very moderate men to exercise 
 high puhlic trusts. Judge Berrien at once took a commanding 
 position in the Senate. He shared in the dehates only on import- 
 ant questions, and then, maturely prepared as he never failed to 
 he, his arguments -were sustained by a logic and eloquence which 
 gave universal delight. When Judge Berrien entered the Senate 
 of the United States, in 1825, he was in the forty-fourth year of 
 his age, — bordering on that golden period when enthusiasm usually 
 abates and the purer offices of the intellect are brought into full 
 action. He had quite a youthful appearance, and gained from 
 Chief-Justice Marshall the appellation of the " honey-tongued 
 Georgia youth." 
 
 At the session of the Legislature of Georgia in 1828, a " Pro- 
 test" against the Tariff was adopted, which was committed to our 
 Senators, Judge Berrien, and his colleague, Hon. 0. H. Prince, to 
 be laid before Congress. In January, 1829, Judge Berrien sub- 
 mitted this document in a style so beautiful and impressive that 
 his speech on the occasion was justly termed by the press a model 
 of its kind. The title of American Cicero was accorded to him, 
 and never did he forfeit the proud distinction. 
 
 On the election of General Jackson to the Presidency, in 1828, 
 that distinguished personage tendered the office of Attorney-Gene- 
 ral to Judge Berrien, thus making him one of his constitutional 
 advisers. It was accepted, and in March, 1829, he resigned his 
 seat in the Senate and passed into the Cabinet. No man had 
 brighter prospects or a smoother way, to all appearances. The 
 first annoyance to which he was subjected was a complaint by 
 Gen. Call that the office of Attorney-General brought him in con- 
 flict with a large number of important land-claims in Florida, in 
 which he had been previously of counsel adverse to the United 
 States, and that the President was not apprized of this relation 
 when he made the appointment. Judge Berrien promptly met the 
 charge, and asserted that he distinctly informed Gen. Jackson of 
 his professional connection with these claims, and reserved the 
 right to fulfil his existing engagements with his clients. With this 
 understanding he accepted the office of Attorney-General, and 
 nothing more was heard on the subject. 
 
 When he removed to Washington City as a member of the 
 Cabinet, his family consisted mostly of daughters, Mrs. Berrien 
 having died a short time previously. This fact is mentioned here 
 as applicable to the cause which led to the dissolution of the 
 
48 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Cabinet in 1831. No attempt to give the history of this affair 
 will be made further than is necessary to place the conduct of 
 Mr. Berrien in its true light. The sympathies of the President 
 had been invoked by his Secretary of War (Maj. Eaton) in his 
 domestic affairs, because certain members of the Cabinet (all, 
 indeed, except Mr. Van Buren, who was a widower) had omitted 
 those courtesies which society had established respecting formal 
 visits or calls, either in person or by card, as the case might hap- 
 pen,— that Mrs. Eaton was not honored by the presence of those 
 gentlemen or their families at her regular levees, nor were her 
 "calls" returned. The cry of persecution was raised, which 
 touched the sensibilities of Gen. Jackson, who rashly undertook to 
 "regulate" these family matters. The consequence was that his 
 authority in this sphere was not admitted, each gentleman leaving 
 his own family to decide npon their company. Dissensions con- 
 tinued to increase. Gen. Jackson was not in the habit of yielding 
 his point; nor were the Attorney-General, Secretary of the Trea- 
 sury, and Secretary of the Navy, (Berrien, Ingham, and Branch,) 
 disposed to surrender their domestic government to his dictation. 
 They at once resigned. Much was said on the subject at the time. 
 The United States Telegraph, edited by Gen. Duff Green, was the 
 official organ of the administration ; but adhering to Mr. Calhoun 
 in his quarrel with the President, simultaneously with the rupture 
 of the Cabinet, it was superseded by the Globe, with F. P. Blair as 
 editor, who denied the retiring members of the Cabinet the privi- 
 lege of vindicating their course through its columns. Mr. Berrien, 
 as also Messrs. Ingham and Branch, severally published addresses 
 to the people of the United States, setting forth the whole matter 
 in quite a spirited array. Wiles' Register, and all the leading 
 papers of the day, copied the appeals, and the counter-state- 
 ments of all the high functionaries concerned. Mr. Berrien never 
 wrote with more animation and eloquence than in this controversy. 
 The followiiig correspondence between Mr. Berrien and the 
 
 President is submitted : — 
 
 Washington, June 15, 1831. 
 Sir : — I herewith tender to you my resignation of the office of Attorney- 
 G-eneral of the United States. Two considerations restrained me from 
 taking this step at the moment when your communication to the Secretary 
 of the Treasury, announcing your determination to reorganize your Cabi- 
 net, first met my eye. There was nothing in the retirement of the Secre- 
 taries of State or of War, or in the distinct and personal considerations 
 which they had assigned for this measure, which made it obligatory upon, 
 or even proper for, me to adopt a similar course. Such a step, with any 
 reference to that occurrence, could only become so on my part as an act 
 
JOBS MACPHBKSON BEBBIEH. 49 
 
 of conformity to your will. Tou had felt tUs, and lad announced your 
 wishes to the Secretaries of the Treasury and Navy respectively. I had 
 a right to expect a similar communication of them, and conformed to the 
 wishes and opinions of my fellow-citizens of Georgia when I determined 
 to await it. An additional consideration was pr&sented by the fact that I 
 had been charged, at the moment of my departure from this place, with 
 the performance of certain public duties which were yet unfinished, and 
 my report concerning which yon did not expect to receive until my 
 return. I was gratified to learn frum yourself that you had taken the 
 same view of the subject, having postponed the communication of your 
 wishes to me until my arrival at this place, without expecting in the 
 mean time any communication from me. It is due to myself further to 
 state that, from the moment when I saw the communication referred to, I 
 have considered my official relation to you as terminated, or as subsisting 
 only until my return to the city should enable me to conform to your 
 wishes by the final surrender of my office, which it is the purpose of this 
 note to make. 
 
 I retire, then, sir, with cheerfolness from the station to which youi- 
 confidence had called me, because I have the consciousness of having 
 endeavored to discharge its duties with fidelity to myself and to the coun- 
 try. Uninfluenced by those considerations which have been avowed by 
 that portion of my colleagues who have voluntarily separated themselves 
 from you, totally ignorant of any want of harmony in your Cabinet, which 
 either has or ought to have impeded the operations of your administra- 
 tion, I performed this act simply in obedience to your will. I have not 
 the slightest disposition to discuss the question of its propriety. It is 
 true that, in a government like ours, power is bat a trust to be used for 
 the benefit of those who have delegated it, and that circumstances might 
 exist in which the necessity of self-vindication would justify such an 
 inquiry. The first consideration belongs to those to whom we are both 
 and equally accountable. From the influence of the second you have 
 relieved me by your explicit declaration that no complaint affecting either 
 my official or individual conduct has at any time reached you. You have 
 assured me that the confidence which induced you origin^y to confer the 
 appointment upon me remains unshaken and undiminished, and have 
 been pleased to express the regret which you feel at the separation which 
 circumstances have, in your view of the subject, rendered unavoidable. 
 You have kindly added the assurance of your continued good wishes for 
 my wel£are. You will not, therefore, refuse me the gratification of 
 expressing my earnest hope that, under the influence of better counsels, 
 your own and the interests of our common country may receive all the 
 benefits which you may have anticipated from the change of your confi- 
 dential advisers. A very few days will enable me to put my office in a 
 condition for the reception of my successor, and I will advise you of the 
 fact as soon as its arrangement is completed. 
 
 I am respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Jn. Macpherson Bereien. 
 
 To THE President of the United States. 
 
 Wasbhigtoii, June 15, 1831. 
 Sir: — I have received your letter resigning the office of Attorney- 
 General. 
 
 In the conversation which I held with you the day before yesterday 
 Vol. I.— 4 
 
50 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 upon tliis subject, it was my desire to present to you the considerations 
 upon which I acted in accepting the resignation of the other members of 
 the Cabinet, and to assure you, in regard to yourself as well as to them, 
 that they imply no dissatisfaction with the manner in which the duties of 
 the respective departments have been performed. It affords me great 
 pleasure to find that you have not misconceived the character of those 
 considerations, and that you do justice to the personal feelings with which 
 they are connected. 
 
 I will only add that the determination to change my Cabinet was dic- 
 tated by an imperious sense of public duty, and a thorough, though pain- 
 ful, conviction that the stewardship of power with which I am clothed 
 called for it as a measure of justice to those who had been alike invited to 
 maintain near me the relation of confidential advisers. Perceiving that 
 the harmony in feeling, so necessary to an efficient administration, had 
 failed in a considerable degree to mark the course of this, and having 
 assented on this account to the voluntary retirement of the Secretaries of 
 State and War, no alternative was left me but to give this assent a lati- 
 tude coextensive with the embarrassments whiqh it recognised, and the 
 duty which I owed to each member of the Cabinet. 
 
 In accepting your resignation as Attorney-General, I take pleasure in 
 expressing my approbation of the zeal and efficiency with which its duties 
 have been performed, and in assuring you that you carry with you my 
 best wishes for your prosperity and happiness. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 John M. Berrien, Esq. 
 
 P.S. — You will please continue to discharge the duties of the office of 
 Attorney-General until you make all those arrangements which you may 
 deem necessary, which, when completed, and I am notified thereof by 
 you, a successor will be appointed. A. J. 
 
 Washingtos, June 22, 1831. 
 Sir : — In conformity to the suggestion contained in your note of the 
 15th inst., I have to notify you that the arrangements necessary to put 
 the office of the Attorney-General in a condition for the reception of my 
 successor are now complete. 
 
 The misinterpretations which are contained in the newspapers on the 
 subject of my retirement from office make it proper that this correspond- 
 ence should be submitted to the public^ as an act of justice both to you 
 and to myself 
 
 I am, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Jn. Macpherson Berrien. 
 To THE President op the United States. 
 
 Washington, June 22, 1831. 
 
 Sir : — Your note of this day is received, advising me " In conformity 
 to the suggestions contained in my (your) note of the 15th inst., I (you) 
 have to inform you (me) that the arrangements necessary to put the office 
 of the Attorney-General in a condition for the reception of my successor 
 are now complete." 
 
 For reasons assigned in your note, you further observe, " make it 
 proper that this correspondence should be submitted to the public, as an 
 
JOHN MACPHEESOX BEKRIEN. 51 
 
 act of justice both to you and myself." — I am sure I can have no objec- 
 tion to your submitting them as you propose, as you believe this to be 
 necessary. 
 
 I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 John M. Berrien, Esq. 
 
 Here the author will go back a few years to notice two literary 
 disconrses delivered by Mr. Berrien, — one at Athens, in 1828, and 
 the other at Princeton, in 1830. On the first occasion, he and 
 Judge Clayton were the orators, each representing one of the rival 
 societies of Franklin College. Both selected Eloquence as the 
 theme, — one contending that it could be acquired by art, and 
 ought to be methodical and persuasive ; the other that oratory was 
 a natural gift, and moved the passions of men by storm, without 
 any particular rules. These two were highly-finished productions, 
 and still rank among the classics of the day. 
 
 The discourse at Princeton was delivered while Mr. Berrien was 
 Attorney- General, in the zenith of his fame, with a cloudless 
 future before him. He was said to be so much a favorite of 
 President Jackson that the mantle of Chief-Justice Marshall would 
 probably be cast on his shoulders if the opportunity occurred. 
 The author well remembers the warm compliments and predictions 
 of honor that flowed upon Mr. Berrien from all quarters. And he 
 will further add, that it was in the Princeton address he learned 
 for the first time, from a man so gifted and successful, so com- 
 manding in genius and reputation, as Mr. Berrien, that glory was 
 a delusion. The passage to which he refers the author committed 
 to memory at the time, and he will venture to repeat it for its sound 
 philosophy. Addressing himself to the graduating class, Mr. Ber- 
 rien said : — 
 
 My young brothers ! The world on which you are entering in all the 
 ardor of hope, in all the purity of nncormpted feeling, is arrayed in 
 charms which it borrows from fancy, and which wiU vanish at your 
 approach. The pleasure with which it allures the unwary is brief and 
 evanescent as the dream of the morning. Its floats gaily on the advan- 
 cing tide, but vanishes with the flood. Tou wUI be too surely called to 
 exert the courage which can encounter danger with calmness, and the 
 fortitude which endures and triumphs over calamity; but, on this side the 
 grave, the beautiful vision which now dazzles your inexperienced eye 
 will forever elude your grasp. Human life is but a step in the infinite 
 series of existence, — a point at which a man pauses to look around him 
 before he launches on eternity's ocean. 
 
 In 1830, a volume of " Sketches of Public Characters" appeared 
 from the New York press, in which (p. 68) Mr. Berrien is thus 
 introduced : — 
 
52 BENCH AKD BAR OF GEOBGIA. 
 
 The present Attorney-General, John Macpherson Berrien, is from 
 Georgia, but I understand that he is a native of Philadelphia. He is a 
 most eloquent speaker. In the Senate he was a model for cha.ste, free, 
 beautiful elocution. He seemed to be the only man that Webster softened 
 his voice to, when he turned from his seat to address him. There is not 
 the slightest dash in his manner : it is as grave as it is pleasant. His 
 views are clear, and he meets the subject manfully. In his arguments 
 there is no demagogical praises of his constituents, no tirade of abuse 
 against his opponents or of the section of country from whence they came. 
 He is said to have been a good judge on the bench and an exceUent 
 lawyer at the bar, and surely he was a host for his party in the Senate. 
 He is now an Attorney-General, and a Cabinet councillor as well as 
 counsel for the Cabinet. The public of all parties have great confidence 
 in him, and he stands fair for higher promotion. It is so seldom that we 
 hear in Congress a classical style of speaking that a man who has any 
 regard for the advancement of taste admires such a speaker. He is said 
 to be a lover of literature, and it is to be hoped that in his high office he 
 will advise the President to recommend its protection and encouragement. 
 The President and heads of departments can do much for literature and 
 science if they feel disposed to do it. 
 
 A few months after his return from Washington City, on leaving 
 the Cabinet, Mr. Berrien was an invited guest at a public dinner 
 given at Milledgeville, in November, 1831, as a testimony of 
 respect to Gov. Gilmer, who had failed in his re-election to the 
 Executive. Among the sentiments offered was the following : — 
 
 John Macpherson Berrien: — ^We hail with pleasure his return to 
 Georgia. His services in Congress, in the Cabinet of the United States, 
 and in the Free Trade Convention, are viewed with grateful feelings by 
 his fellow-citizens of this State. 
 
 In responding, he entertained the large company in a speech 
 nearly half an hour, in his best style, both as to composition and 
 delivery. He did ample justice to the policy of President Jackson, 
 saying that of foreign powers he demanded nothing more than 
 justice, and would accept nothing less. He eulogized the Presi- 
 dent as the friend of Georgia, firm in his course for the removal 
 of the Indians ; but when the Chief-Magistrate of the Republic 
 sought to prescribe rules and to select associates for the families 
 of his Cabinet, he scorned the dictation. The author never heard 
 Mr. Berrien speak until that dinner. There was a magic in the 
 tones of his voice which never before captivated his ear. He 
 heard him on several occasions afterwards with equal delight, — 
 once in the Circuit Court of the United States, before Judges 
 Johnson and Cuyler, in 1833, in a large ejectment cause.* 
 
 * Winn 17. Patterson, 9 Peters's Reports, 663. 
 
JOror MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 53 
 
 The fame of Mr. Berrien as a profound jurist and brilliant 
 advocate (two characters rarely united) secured him about as 
 much professional employment as he desired, at home, as trell as 
 in the adjoining States, and in the Supreme Court at Washington. 
 He was very laborious, and never appeared in a cause without full 
 preparation. He has been known to pass the whole night in 
 searching up authorities and arranging for the trial of the next 
 day. In criminal cases he seldom failed of an acquittal, however 
 complicated the facts. His arguments were conclusive. He stood 
 by unanimous consent at the head of his profession in Georgia, if 
 not in the entire South. 
 
 Finding it necessary to move on the subject, the Legislature of 
 Georgia, in 1838, passed the following resolution : — 
 
 Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be, and he is hereby, 
 requested to appoint forthwith three commissioners, whose duty it shall 
 be to take the whole subject of State Finance in hand, arrange, digest, 
 and report, at the earliest possible day of the next session of the Legisla- 
 ture, a system of finance for the State, which, calling into action all her 
 resoarces, shall afford ample and sofficient means to sustain, as in the 
 present age they should be sustained, the great interests of Public Educa- 
 tion and Internal Improvement. 
 
 Gov. Gilmer accordingly appointed Judge Berrien, Hon. W. W. 
 Holt, and Hon. A. H. Chappell, to execute the resolution. The 
 report of sixty-four printed pages, made at the next session, is 
 very elaborate and comprehensive. It is a document evincing 
 great sagacity in the details, from which a few passages are 
 selected. The introductory part is known to be from the pen of 
 Mr. Berrien : it bears the evidence. He of course assisted in 
 other portions. In unfolding the duty and resources of the State, 
 the report says : — 
 
 A State possessing an extent of territory which stretches from the 
 seaboard to the mountains, wide-spreading on eveiy side ; whose easy and 
 gentle ascent is free from those irregularities of surface which elsewhere 
 obstruct the progress of interior communications ; watered by noble rivers 
 which are never sealed by the frosts of winter, and whose estuaries form 
 safe and commodions harbors; possessing, too, a variety of soil and 
 climate which admirably fit it for the production of all that is useful to 
 man ; — such a State, the cherished abode of a free, enlightened, and 
 enterprising people, is called to the consideration of the high duties 
 which, in the providence of God, are devolved upon her. 
 
 She is called to this consideration, moreover, at an epoch in the world's 
 history which has no parallel in the annals of time ; when science, direct- 
 ing all its energies to purposes of practical utility, has advanced with 
 unexampled rapidity in all those arte which minister to the substantial 
 enjoyment of man ; when the other nations of the world, and the other 
 
54 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 States of this Confederacy, are eagerly pressing forward to grasp the bril- 
 liant prize which is presented to their view ; when, amid the_ universal 
 and cheering cry of "Onwards ! Onwards!" among nations urging on the 
 cause of internal improvement, to the laggard in the race, momentarily 
 excited by the prospect, but too inert to engage in the struggle, is denied 
 the full enjoyment even of that which has hitherto sufficed to satisfy his 
 desires, — thus illustrating the emphatic denunciation of Holy Writ : — 
 " From him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away 
 from him." 
 
 And why should Georgia hesitate to nerve herself for the struggle ? 
 Why should she linger in the race ? The voice which issued from the 
 legislative halls, at the close of its last sittings, has been cheered by the 
 responsive acclamations of her people. Kising in the strength of their 
 intellect and in the fervor of their patriotism, contemplating with grate- 
 ful enthusiasm the multiplied resources which the bounty of Providence 
 has bestowed upon them, and animated by the still more growing pros- 
 pects which a near futurity opens to their view, they, too, have joined in 
 the universal acclaim of the nations, and bid you "Grod-speed" in the 
 discharge of your high duties. 
 
 Why, then, should Georgia hesitate to nerve herself for the struggle ? 
 Why should she linger in the race ? It is not because her chosen Repre- 
 sentatives are careless of the high interests which a free and confiding 
 people have intrusted to their patriotism, to their wisdom, to their 
 ceaseless vigilance. Is it because the prize is valueless ? To sustain, 
 as in the present age they ought to be sustained, the great interests 
 of Public Education and Internal Improvement, is the object of your 
 labors. 
 
 Of Public Education ' The improvement of the mind ; the cultivation 
 of science and the arts; the diffusion of knowledge; the universal 
 instruction of a whole people. 
 
 Of Internal Improvement ! Improving our navigable rivers ; connect- 
 ing them by canals ; traversing the State with railroads ; uniting them to 
 the termini of similar communications in the adjacent States of Tennessee 
 and Alabama ; furnishing means for the cheap and rapid transportation 
 of our produce to market ; carrying home to every man's door the supplies 
 of the great Southwest, and those of foreign nations from our Atlantic 
 border ; bringing the mountains and the seaboard in such close proximity 
 that the waves of the ocean may, almost without a figure, be said to wash 
 their base; and, finally, scaling those mountain-heights, and along the 
 line of similar improvements in other States, establishing our communica- 
 tions with the great river of the West ; thus making friends of those who 
 were strangers to each other, and brethren of those who had looked upon 
 each other with distrust. 
 
 No ! with such objects in view, it cannot be that the prize is deemed 
 valueless. It is, indeed, of inestimable value. Is it attainable ? 
 
 Does Georgia possess the means to accomplish so great an enterprise ? 
 Are her resources adequate to the expenditure which it will necessarily 
 involve ? This is, in truth, the only inquiry. The duty of answering it, 
 according to the best information they can command, has devolved upon 
 the undersigned. Fully sensible of the magnitude of the subject, and of 
 their inability to meet the expectations of your honorable body, they, 
 nevertheless, invite your attention to this interesting inquiry. 
 
 Our attention is first to be directed to an examination of the actual 
 
JOHN MACPHEESON BERKIEN. 55 
 
 resources of the State. These may be said to consist, or rather (in part) 
 to have consisted, — 
 
 1. Of the Public Lands. 2. Of Taxes. 3. Of the Funds of the State 
 in the Central Bank. 
 
 Thus far the language of the report is copied, as showing the 
 earnest and hopeful visions of Judge Berrien twenty years ago, 
 which he lived to see realized in a considerable measure. Further 
 items in the report will be condensed. 
 
 The quantity of land in Georgia was shown by two methods, — 
 from surveys of record, and from the tax-digests in the Comptrol- 
 ler's oflSee. The comparatively small diflference between the two 
 shows the accuracy with which tax-returns are made by the 
 receivers in the several counties : — 
 
 Reported by Surveyor-General acres 35,515,526 
 
 Reported by Comptroller taxed " 35,866,336 
 
 Excess of taxation 350,810 
 
 But it appears from another return of the Surveyor-General 
 that the State has granted more than either of these amounts of 
 land ; consequently the income from grants has entirely ceased. 
 
 The tax system is next examined, and sundry objections to it 
 urged. Estimating the land at $3 per acre, and slaves at §400 
 each, the value of §200,000,000 of property is connected with 
 agriculture in Georgia, which paid a tax of only §53,450 ; while 
 the capital employed in commerce at the same time was but 
 §18,304,148, upon which was assessed §28,600. The classification 
 of certain lands is noticed as onerous. The same tax paid on all 
 slaves under sixty years, — mechanics worth from §2000 to §3000 
 paying no more than a common field-hand, and no more than the 
 merchant paid on each §100 of his stock in trade. This inequality 
 is condemned in the report. After the Central Bank was esta- 
 blished, and its profits supposed to be sufficient to support the State 
 Government, the general tax was relinquished in 1835. For 1834 
 the tax-account stood thus : — 
 
 Amount of tax returned as due §56,024 36 
 
 Amount of tax paid into the Treasury 39,192 18 
 
 Lost in commissions, insolvents, and defaulters §16,832 18 
 The statistics of the Central Bank are given at considerable 
 length in the report, showing that when the bank was first organ- 
 ized, January 29, 1829, it had specie and cash funds to the amount 
 of §513,101 77 ; and on the 2d of November, 1829, out of 
 
56 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 $355,597 90 due the State in bonds and notes at the time the 
 bank went into operation, the sum of $117,340 92 had been con- 
 verted into accommodation-paper running in the bank, — making 
 in all a fund for discounting equal to $630,340 69. For the ten 
 years from 1829 to 1838 inclusive, a table is submitted in the 
 report, exhibiting the discounts and profits for each year, all 
 summed up as follows : — 
 
 The aforegoing statement shows that for the ten years which it em- 
 braces, the sum total of the discounts of the bank was $11,975,985 73, 
 and that the sum total of the profits for that time was $565,134 21. To 
 determine the rate of profit which these results show to have been made 
 on the capital employed by the bank, it must be borne in mind that the 
 discounts are based on capital only, and represent nothing but capital ; 
 and that consequently, whatever amount of discounted paper appears at 
 any time to have been held by the bank, it is certain that an equal 
 amount of capital had come to the hands of the bank and was used in 
 those discounts. Then, inasmuch as all the discounts for ten years 
 amounted to $11,9.75,985 73, which makes an average for each year of 
 $1,197,598 57, it follows that the average amount of the State's moneyed 
 capital which the bank each year employed in discounts was also the sum 
 of $1,197,598 57. And the average profit thereon for each year was 
 $56,513 42, which is equal to an interest of 4 7-10th8 per cent, per 
 annum. 
 
 Whether this be a good or a bad business for the State, in a mere finan- 
 cial view of the matter, depends on the question whether the State might 
 not, with as much ease and as little peril, have realized a better profit in 
 some other known mode of employing the public money. And here the 
 aforesaid results of her investments in the stocks of certain of our joint- 
 stock banking companies are at hand, and furnish a decisive answer. For 
 it has already been shown that on her capital of $1,005,000 vested in 
 those banks she has realized, in the ten years just above mentioned, a 
 clear profit of $745,860 92, which gives an average for each year of 
 $74,586 09, and is equal to an interest of 7 4-lOths per cent, per annum 
 on the whole capital thus invested. 
 
 If the capital employed by the Central Bank during these same ten years 
 had yielded an equal rate of profit, to wit, an interest of 7 4— lOths per cent, 
 instead of an interest of 4 7-lOths per cent., then the sum total of its 
 profits for that time would have been $886,222 50, instead of $565,134 
 21, whereby the State would have been gainer to the amount of $82 1,088 
 29 ; which sum must consequently be set down as so much loss in ten 
 years, chargeable to the policy of having discarded the old and well-tried 
 system of investing in ordinary bank-stocks for the new and questionable 
 experiment of the Central Bank. 
 
 The report discusses the policy of loans for other than commer- 
 cial purposes, the bearing of certain fiscal measures, the credit 
 system, exchanges, the abuse of accommodation-paper, and the 
 various channels through which the public prosperity is afiiected 
 by the circulation of money on proper equivalents. The views set 
 forth in the report are worthy to rank high in the best system of 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BEEEIEN. 57 
 
 political economy. The analysis of the financial resources and 
 obligations of Georgia is a masterly labor. The want of space 
 alone forbids more copious extracts. Those introduced will show 
 the character of the whole, — deep, sifting, and logical. Perhaps 
 no commission of the kind ever acquitted itself with more credit. 
 The subject of Education — the aid of the State in time past, and 
 what ought to be done to secure intelligence among the masses — 
 is pressed with a truly bold and discriminating statesmanship. 
 
 The estimates of every kind on which to base a judicious system 
 of taxation to support internal improvement, to establish public 
 schools, and to work out a proud destiny for Georgia through her 
 legislation, are furnished in the report. In many strong passages 
 the pen of Col. Chappell is distinctly recognised. The same may 
 be said in reference to Judge Holt, who prepared many tables and 
 calculations, with the necessary comments, all showing the vigor 
 and grasp of his mind. The report is indeed a valuable document, 
 which the author presumes is out of print, except a few copies 
 accidentally preserved. 
 
 Merely for reference, a further extract is given : — 
 
 The ordinary expenses of the Grovemment for the last year, and the 
 average of those expenses since the year 1828, as these appear in the 
 report of the Treasurer, have been taken as the data from whence to cal- 
 culate their probable annual amonnt in future. 
 
 They have been considered as embraced under the following heads : — 
 Civil Establishment, Printing, Contingent Fund, Military Disbursements, 
 Redemption of Public Debt, Penitentiary, and Presidents' and Speakers' 
 warrants. 
 
 These expenses for the year 1838 were as follows : — 
 
 For Civil Establishment ?38,928 61 
 
 Printing 19,824 85 
 
 Contingent Fund 15,867 16 
 
 Military Disbursements 4,895 30 
 
 Redemption of Pubhc Debt 3,372 81 
 
 Penitentiary 15,000 00 
 
 Presidents' and Speakers' Warrants 88,906 80 
 
 Ordinary expenses for 1838 8186,795 58 
 
 The average of the same expenses since 1828 is as follows : — 
 
 For Civil EstabUshment ?38,869 47 
 
 Printing 14,355 79 
 
 Contingent Fund 18,058 31 
 
 Military Disbursements 3,077 63 
 
 Redemption of Public Debt 787 55 
 
 Penitentiary 7,386 00 
 
 Presidents' and Speakers' Warrants 67,751 58 
 
 Average for ten years $148,286 33 
 
68 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 On the basis furnished by these two exhibits, and assuming that the 
 Legislature will make such reductions as are in its power, we have con- 
 sidered that the ordinary annual expenses of the Government may be esti- 
 mated at $150,000. 
 
 In about sixteen years from the date of the Commissioners' 
 report, the expenses of the Government were thus estimated by 
 John B. Trippe, Esq., State Treasurer, in his report to the Legis- 
 lature of October 20, 1855 :— 
 
 Estimated Expenses for 1856. 
 
 Payment of Legislature and officers $150,000 00 
 
 Civil Establishment 52,000 00 
 
 Contingent Fund 15,000 00 
 
 Deaf and Dumb 8,000 00 
 
 Academy for Blind 2,500 00 
 
 Provisions for Penitentiary 2,500 00 
 
 Military Fund 1,000 00 
 
 Military Storekeeper 450 00 
 
 Military Institute 2,000 00 
 
 Lunatic Asylum 20,000 00 
 
 Penitentiary Inspector 500 00 
 
 Chaplain Penitentiary 150 00 
 
 Printing Fund 18,000 00 
 
 Interest on Public Debt 160,000 00 
 
 Reduction Public Debt 30,000 00 
 
 Miscellaneous Appropriations 10,000 00 
 
 Total expenses for 1856 $472,100 00 
 
 The expenses for 1857 are estimated by the Treasurer at 
 $284,100 00, there being no session of the Legislature to provide 
 for this year, and the Printing Fund being about $10,000 less on 
 that account. Since 1838, several items have been added to the 
 ordinary expenses of the Government, among which may be men- 
 tioned provision for the Deaf and Dumb, Lunatic Asylum, the 
 Blind, Military Institute, &c. The estimated expenses for 1856 
 and 1857 amount to $756,200 00, in which the following objects 
 are included, not to be found on the list in 1838 : — 
 
 ESTIMATES. 1856. 1857. 
 
 Deaf and Dumb $8,000 00 $8,000 00 
 
 Academy for Blind 2,500 00 2,500 00 
 
 Military Institute 2,000 00 2,000 00 
 
 Lunatic Asylum 20,000 00 20,000 00 
 
 Interest on Public Debt.... 160,000 00 160,000 00 
 
 Reduction Public Debt 30,000 00 16,000 00 
 
 New charges on Treasury $222,500 00 $208,500 00 
 
JOHN MACPHBRSON BERKIEN. 59 
 
 Deduct these two sums, §431,000 from $756,200, and there will 
 remain $325,200 as the expenses of the Government for two years, 
 equal to §162,600 per annum, very little more than the commis- 
 sioners stated in 1839 to be necessary. This excess of §12,600 
 may be accounted for by the Supreme Court and several judicial 
 circuits which have been formed since, increasing the ordinary 
 expenses of the Government. It is at least a remarkable coinci- 
 dence that the average is so nearly the same. 
 
 The estimated receipts into the Treasury for 1856 are thus 
 stated by Mr. Trippe : — 
 
 General Tax for 1856 §400,000 00 
 
 Special Tax on Bank Stock 23,000 00 
 
 « « Kailroads 6,500 00 
 
 « " Agencies of Foreign Banks 300 00 
 
 Miscellaneous Resources 1,500 00 
 
 Total estimate for 1856 §431,300 00 
 
 These tables have been drawn into the memoir of Judge Berrien 
 merely to bear out the calculations of the Financial Committee of 
 which he was chairman in 1839. 
 
 And here the author takes occasion to go back a few years in 
 the narrative, so as to li&tice the part which Judge Berrien acted 
 in the Anti-Tariff Convention at Milledgeville, in November, 1832. 
 A list of the delegates and a sketch of the proceedings of that 
 body are given elsewhere in this volume.* It may be truly said 
 that it was a collection of talented men, — such as Forsyth, Gilmer, 
 W. Gumming, J. P. King, Torrance, S. Rockwell, Clayton, Dawson, 
 T. Haynes, T. Spalding, W. H. Underwood, H. Warner, H. Holt, 
 S.W.Flournoy, J.C.Alford, A.Cuthbert, R.L. Gamble, J.G.Park, 
 D. A. Reese, T. "W. Harris, R. A. Beall, Wiley Williams, and the 
 "Old Constitution," Gen. David Blackshear, and others more or 
 less known to the public. 
 
 Mr. Berrien appeared as a delegate from Monroe county. His 
 was the second name on the Committee of Twenty-one, General 
 Blackshear being the chairman. On the second day, Mr. Forsyth 
 offered a preliminary resolution on which sprung up unexpectedly 
 a long and brilliant discussion. Mr. Berrien came prepared to 
 examine the Tariff, and the power of the Federal Government to 
 discriminate for protection, and on that question he was a match 
 for any man. But Mr. Forsyth led off in another direction, 
 
 * Memoir of B. A. Beall. 
 
60 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 requiring the delegates to show their authority, in rigid form, to 
 speak in the name of the people, and, if they refused, he would not 
 participate in their deliberations. On the fourth day a vote was 
 taken on the amendment proposed by Mr. Berrien, which was 
 in efifect the rejection of Mr. Forsyth's resolution, — ^Yeas, 63 ; 
 Nays, 56. 
 
 When the result was announced by the presiding officer, Mr. 
 Forsyth arose and made a few remarks explanatory of his course ; 
 then placed on the clerk's table a paper signed by himself and 
 about fifty other delegates who retired with him from the hall, 
 protesting against the action of the majority. To give the particu- 
 lars of this scene and of the debates of the Convention would be 
 only to repeat what may be seen under another head. 
 
 The remaining delegates proceeded with their business as though 
 nothing had happened. But the star of the Convention, on which 
 all eyes turned with rapture, had disappeared in Mr. Forsyth. 
 The greater part of those who heard him on that occasion, inclu- 
 ding delegates and the large throng of spectators, declared that 
 they had never listened to genuine eloquence before. He soared 
 above all competition. Fresh from the Senate of the United 
 States, he wore his laurels, gathered in that arena by contests with 
 Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, with the air of a victor. He was, 
 indeed, perfection as an orator. In skirmishing, he was admitted 
 to have no rival in the Union, if in the world. Afterwards, his 
 ability was tested and his fame greatly increased by his leadership 
 in the defence of President Jackson when he was assailed in the 
 Senate for the removal of the public deposits from the United 
 States Bank in 1833. Yet the void in the Convention soon closed 
 up, and the measures for which it assembled were discussed freely, 
 the speakers often differing in their views, though in the main 
 harmonious. 
 
 At the request of the chairman, the Report of the Committee of 
 Twenty-one was prepared by Mr. Berrien, who read it to the Con- 
 vention. The author was in the gallery at the time, and well 
 remembers the delight it afforded to all present, as much by the 
 manner of the reading as the merits of the paper itself. 
 
 For the purposes of history, and as containing the constitu- 
 tional argument, several of the resolutions are here inserted from 
 the report : — 
 
 7. That the act laying duties on imports, passed in July, 1832, as well 
 as the several acts of which that act is emendatwry, in so far as it tran- 
 scends the purposes of revenue, and is intended to operate, and does 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 61 
 
 operate, substantively for the protection of manufactures, is an exercise 
 of powers not granted by the Constitution, but a plain and palpable viola- 
 tion of the true intent, meaning, and spirit thereof; that the said acts 
 cannot be justified under the power of regulating commerce with foreign 
 nations, since to regulate is not to destroy; and the principle of a 
 substantive protection to domestic manufactures assumes, and in some 
 instances exerts, the power of imposing a duty which efiiectually prohibits 
 the importation of foreign fabrics of like kind with those which are thus 
 protected, and to this extent destroys foreign commerce instead of regu- 
 lating it. That they cannot be supported under the power to levy and 
 collect duties, since this power was given solely for the purpose of en- 
 abling the Government to raise a revenue which should be adequate to its 
 wants ; and the amount of revenue which is raised by these protective 
 duties very far exceeds the legitimate wants of the Government; and that 
 the attempt to vindicate the exercise of a power to impose a burden on the 
 labor and industry of one portion of the people of the United States for 
 the benefit of another portion of the same people, under the power to pro- 
 vide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States, is 
 even more alarming than the direct results of the system itself, because 
 that is to ascribe to Congress the power to do whatever in their judgment 
 may conduce to the common defence and general welfare, and thus to 
 invest the National Legislature with unlimited (because merely discretion- 
 ary) power over the rights and liberties of the people of Georgia. 
 
 8. That the people of Georgia are sincerely attached to the Federal 
 Constitution, and to the Union of the States which it creates and guaran- 
 tees ; that they consider it as a precious inheritance received from their 
 fathers which it is the duty of patriotism to maintain and defend, and esti- 
 mate it above all price, save that of liberty ; that they are ready to peril 
 their fortunes and their lives in its defence, and would deeply deplore 
 its dissolution, as an event alike inauspicious to themselves and to the cause 
 of civil liberty throughout the world. That, actuated by these feelings, and 
 even amid the difficulties which beset them, not despairing of the Repub- 
 lic, they will still persevere in the use of every proper and efficient means 
 for the peaceful adjustment of this unhappy controversy which may be 
 within their power as one of the sovereign members of this Confederacy, or 
 which may result from consultation and conference with their sister States 
 having a common interest with them in this matter. That, taking the 
 payment of the national debt as the period after which the present tariflF 
 of duties, so far as it transcends the purposes of revenue and is designed 
 for the protection of domestic manufactures, can find no plausible pretext 
 in our constitutional charter, they are willing to wait until Congress shall 
 have full time deliberately to determine whether they will reduce and 
 equalize the duties on foreign imports, so as to bring the income of the 
 Government within the limits of revenue, and to collect the contributions 
 of our citizens on the principles of just taxation. That, having regard to 
 the interests of those whose capita has been invested in manufactures 
 during the progress of that course of legislation of which they complain, 
 they are willing that the reduction and equalization of duties which they 
 ask should be prospective and gradual, and, fearfully admonished as they 
 have been by experience of the fallacy of their past hopes for relief from 
 the evils under which they suffer, they will still look to the justice and 
 patriotism of their brethren of the manufacturing States. 
 
 9. That the people of Georgia cannot submit to the permanent prot«c- 
 
62 BENCH AND BAE OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 tion of domestic manufactures by duties imposed for that purpose on tlie 
 importation of foreign manufactures, and especially on such as are among 
 the necessaries of life; that they cannot submit to the adoption of the 
 principle on which such duties are imposed, as a permanent principle of 
 Federal policy, but will feci bound to resist the same by the exercise of 
 all their rights as one of the sovereign members of this Confederacy, and 
 by consultation and concert with their sister States having like interest 
 with themselves, and disposed to unite with them in resistance to this 
 principle. 
 
 10. That it be respectfully recommended to the several Southern 
 States having a common interest with us in the removal of the grievances 
 ■under which we labor from the protective system, to assemble in Conven- 
 tion by delegates from the respective States, corresponding to the number 
 of their Senators and Kepresentatives in Congress, to confer together on 
 the subject of their grievances, and to recommend to the people of their 
 respective States such measures as may best conduce to the removal of 
 the same ; and that the time and place of such meeting be determined by 
 correspondence between the delegates elected to said Convention. 
 
 This report was adopted by a vote of 64 yeas, 6 nays. The 
 latter were Messrs. Clifton, Flournoy, Guerry, Holt, Lewis, of 
 Burke, and Peabody. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Berrien, it was 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed, to consist of five persons, 
 whose duty it shall be to prepare an address to the people of Georgia, 
 illustrating the objects and proceedings of this Convention, which shall be 
 attached to the journal of the said proceedings. Whereupon the presi- 
 dent appointed Messrs. Berrien, Clayton, Gordon, of Putnam, Beall, of 
 Bibb, and Torrance, that committee. 
 
 The address came forth under the signatures of the Committee, 
 dated November 21, 1832, from which an extract is given, pointing 
 out the inequality of the protective system : — 
 
 By the provisions of the Tariff Act of 1832, a principle of taxation is 
 affirmed which imposes burdens on articles of necessary consumption, 
 while those of luxury, and those materials used in manufacturing, such as 
 dye-stuffs, &c., are, with a few unimportant exceptions, declared to be free 
 of duty. The effect of this unwarrantable discrimination is to exempt 
 CNPEOTECTED articles entirely from taxation, and to throw all the burden 
 upon the PROTECTED articles, such as iron, salt, sugar, woollen and cotton 
 fabrics, &c. These are articles of necessary consumption at the South, 
 the duties upon which in many instances amount to an entire prohibition. 
 
 The spirit which characterized the majority in Congress in the adoption 
 of this odious act cannot, perhaps, be better illustrated than in the rejection 
 by the majority in the Senate of all propositions tending to the reduction 
 of the duties to the wants of the Government, or limiting those imposed 
 to a certain definite amount. A distinguished Senator from the South, 
 during the discussion of the act of 1832 in the Senate, submitted to that 
 body four distinct propositions. The first was an amendment to Mr. Clay's 
 resolution, by which amendment it was proposed "to bring down the 
 duties gradually to the revenue standard, adjusting them on the protected 
 
JOHN JIACPHERSON BERRIEN. 63 
 
 and unprotected articles, on principles of perfect equality." This propo- 
 gition, fair and honorable in its terms, in every respect reasonable in its 
 operation, was treated by the majority "as a scheme to destroy the manu- 
 facturers, and as pledging; Congress to an ultimate abandonment of the 
 protecting system, which it was declared had become the settled policy of 
 the country." Immediate reduction was termed "sudden destruction to 
 the manufacturers;" gradual reduction was called "slow poison." The 
 proposition was rejected. 
 
 To the clause in the bill imposing a duty of 16 cents a yard upon 
 flannels, the same distinguished Senator proposed to add a proviso " that 
 the duty should in no case exceed fifty pee cent." The duty of 16 
 cents a yard on coarse flannels used by the poor would be equal to 160 
 per cent., while on the finest of that article it would amount to only 32 
 per cent. Yet this proviso was rejected. The reason alleged for this 
 rejection was that 50 per cent, would not be an adequate protection to the 
 domestic manufacturer of flannels. Another proposition was made : — " to 
 strike out the minimums on cottons." This also was rejected ; and this 
 "fraudulent device" was retained in the acts by which an article costing 
 .5 cents is to be deemed to have cost 30 cents, and to pay a duty as having 
 actually cost 30 cents. This was done, too, in the face of a distinct admis- 
 sion of the friends of the manufacturers of coarse cottons that they did not 
 at present require protection. But the majority, in the plenitude of their 
 power, thought it would be wise to "keep the fences up by which foreign 
 competition would be excluded." The fourth and last proposition made 
 by the Southern Senator was that a clause should be added to the end of 
 the act, declaring " that the duties imposed by it should in no 
 CASE exceed one HUNDRED PER CENT.;" yet this proposition shared the 
 same fate of all the previous ones : it was rejected. Yes, a majority 
 in the Senate, secure of their power, calculating on the deceptive features 
 of the act, and relying upon a want of unanimity among the Southern 
 people, for the final triumph of the protective system, rejected a proviso 
 which would have limited the maximum of duties to 100 per cent. 
 People of Georgia ! the rejection of these propositions speaks a language 
 not to be mistaken, the direct tendency of which is to enslave you, — ^to 
 render you tributary to the North. This conduct of the majority evinces 
 but too clearly a determination to maintain the protective principle invio- 
 late, regardless of the cost and reckless of the consequences. 
 
 It will be seen from the spirit of the Convention that the 
 very scale of reduction established by the compromise in a few 
 months afterwards was suggested by the Committee, if not in 
 express terms, at least in principle. The South Carolina Ordi- 
 nance of Nullification was passed on the 24th day of November, 
 1832, among the signers of which was Chancellor Harper, who, 
 with his Union colleague, Hon. David Johnson, but a few days 
 before occupied a seat by special invitation in the Convention at 
 Milledgeville. These scraps of the day are collected here as part 
 of an exciting movement in which were enlisted the great minds of 
 the age. 
 
 The Legislature of Georgia, in 1840, elected Judge Berrien a 
 
64 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Senator in Congress for a term of six years from 4th March, 1841, 
 at which time he took his seat, to advise on the nominations by 
 President Harrison of his Cabinet and other officers of the Govern- 
 ment. He took an active part in the leading measures of the 
 extra session of Congress of that year, supporting the policy of 
 the Whigs with that high order of abilities which had been so long 
 accorded to him by the public voice. It is not intended here to 
 follow up his votes, or even to refer to all the discussions in which he 
 participated. He was uniformly heard with pleasure, and his opinions 
 commanded the respect of all parties. After the passage of the 
 bankrupt law, there was a very strong feeling of dissatisfaction evinced 
 by the public, and a bill was introduced for its repeal. On the 
 26th of January, 1842, Mr. Berrien made a speech of great power, 
 maintaining the constitutionality and expediency of the law. He 
 analyzed the relations of debtor and creditor, and the bankrupt 
 systems of other countries, showing them to be necessary to the 
 interests of commerce, as well as just to individuals. In com- 
 paring the bankrupt feature with State insolvent regulations, he 
 thus expressed himself: — 
 
 Look now at the condition of the bankrupt and insolvent, when the 
 respective processes against them are closed, and say which is likely to 
 prove the better and more upright citizen. The bankrupt has surrendered 
 his all : he is poor, — nay, destitute, penniless ; but Tie is free. Ay, there 
 is the charm. He is really, truly free. It is not merely the poor privi- 
 lege of locomotion which is accorded to him. His hands are unshackled. 
 The energies of his mind are unfettered. He is free to exert them for 
 the benefit of those whom nature and affection have endeared to him. 
 His recovered freedom is his stimulus. The lesson of experience, which 
 adversity has taught him, is his safeguard. The almost utter impractica- 
 bility of receiving a second time the boon which has been once accorded 
 to him is his voice of warning. Thus stimulated, thus guarded, thus 
 warned, he enters upon his new career. If in this world of trial, which 
 we have divested of its original beauty and loveliness, any man may be 
 delivered from temptation, or enabled to resist it, by merely human means, 
 this man is secure. The path of duty, of uprightness, of honesty, which 
 it is the best interest of all to pursue, is that from which he is withont 
 any conceivable motive to wander. 
 
 And the insolvent, Mr. President, — ^what is his condition ? He too has 
 surrendered his all, — at least, all which he dare openly claim : and for what ? 
 To purchase exemption from imprisonment, or the privilege of departing 
 beyond prison-bounds. He breathes the free air of heaven, but not as a 
 free man. He is still the " doomed slave" of his creditor. The fruits of 
 his labor belong to that creditor, and can only be withheld from him by 
 fraud. The necessities of a helpless family appeal to him. The eagle 
 eye of his creditor is upon him. He looks upon that creditor as his 
 enemy. If he be merciless, he is indeed his enemy, — the enemy of those 
 who are dearer to him than life, whom he is bound to protect even at the 
 sacrifice of life itself What then ? As an enemy, he fences himself 
 
JOHN MACPHEKSON BERRIEN. 65 
 
 against that creditor. He resorts to fraudulent conveyances, to secret 
 trusts, to a regular ' system of habitual deception, and his children, into 
 whose young minds it would have been, under more propitious circum- 
 stances, his grateful task to have instilled the lessons of virtue, are trained 
 up under the blighting influence of that system of concealment to which 
 they are indebted for the comforts and conveniences of life. Such is the 
 actual condition of multitudes, under the operation of the State insolvent 
 law. 
 
 As ctainnan of the Judiciary Committee, to whom were referred 
 the Senate and House bills to repeal the bankrupt law, and nume- 
 rous petitions, and sundry legislative resolutions, and other papers, 
 relating to the subject Mr. Berrien made a report to the Senate, 
 February 3, 1843, embodying the opinions and statements of 
 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, Judges of the District 
 Courts of the United States, and other officers of those courts, 
 touching the practical operation of the bankrupt law, its benefits 
 and evils. The report* consists of about thirty pages, from which 
 the following is an extract : — 
 
 The bankrupt law has now presented its worst aspect. It has passed 
 the fiery ordeal of public opinion, exhibiting all its faults in the emptiness 
 of the inventions which have been returned to the scrutinizing gaze of 
 the public. Hitherto its operation has been chiefly at the expense of the 
 creditor, if indeed the securities which he held were not already valueless 
 at the date of the act. Let us not forget that this is owing to our own 
 long-continued neglect to fulfil onr constitutional duty by the establish- 
 ment of a uniform system of bankruptcy. If sufi'ered to remain on the 
 statute-book, a new era will commence. The mass of insolvencies which 
 had been accumulating for years, afibrding, under the operation of the 
 bankrupt law, little or no return of assets for distribution, has now been 
 disposed of, either by the direct operations of the law or by compromises 
 which it has induced. Hereafter it will afibrd to the creditor the means 
 of preventing the recurrence of this state of things, will enable him to 
 stay the downward progress of his failing debtor before the desperate 
 plunges to which a man in such circumstances is too strongly tempted 
 shall have involved him in hopeless ruin, and will insure to the creditor 
 a fund for distribution far greater than can be obtained under the opera- 
 tion of State insolvent laws. The fact will be manifested by considering 
 the different results which are produced by the bankrupt law in England, 
 and by the insolvent systems of the different States which have prevailed 
 among us. 
 
 With these facts in view, the committee believe it to be their duty to 
 recommend to the Senate the adoption of a bankrupt law, adapted to the 
 commercial exigencies of the community, and calculated to form a part 
 of the permanent jurisprudence of the country. 
 
 The salutary influence of such a law will be manifested, — 
 
 1st. By the prevention of undue credit, since, under its operation, 
 the debtor may be forced into bankruptcy, by which he must surrender 
 
 * See Senate Doc. No. 121, 27th Congress, 3d Session. 
 Vol. I.— 5 
 
66 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 all tiat lie possesses, and even then be dependent on the assent of a 
 luajority of his creditors for the allowance of his discharge, with the pre- 
 monition that such discharge will ever after preclude him from receiving 
 similar relief, unless, in the event of his insolvency, his estate is able to 
 pay seventy-five per cent. 
 
 2d. By preventing partial assignments, by which a few preferred 
 creditors^ often selected from among those who mainly contributed to 
 enable the failing debtor to hold out a false credit to the community, 
 are allowed to appropriate his estate exclusively to themselves. 
 
 3d. By substituting one uniform rule — the great and equitable rule 
 that equality is equity — to the conflict bankrupt and insolvent laws of 
 the several States, and thus insuring a fair and equal dividend of the 
 estate of a failing debtor among all his creditors. 
 
 4th. By arming the creditor with a power to force a failing debtor to 
 go into liquidation before his assets are wasted by the desperate specula- 
 tions to which men in such circumstances are generally tempted. 
 
 The report shows the number and classification of petitioners to 
 Congress relative to the bankrupt law. At the session in 1842 
 the number is thus stated : — 
 
 Asking /or a repeal of the bankrupt act 2,133 
 
 Against repeal 42,169 
 
 Asking for a modification 1,206 
 
 For a modification or repeal 4,343 
 
 For & postponement 447 
 
 Resolutions passed the Legislatures of the States of Connecti- 
 cut, Maine, and Mississippi, for a repeal. 
 
 During the session in 1843 i?he account stood thus : — 
 
 For immediate repeal 3,107 
 
 Opposed toihe repeal 6,495 
 
 The States of Vermont and Ohio passed resolutions in favor of 
 the repeal. 
 
 It is only an act of justice to both the distinguished orators to 
 remark here that, immediately after Mr. Berrien had finished his 
 speech in support of the bankrupt law, Mr. Clay advanced to him 
 in the Senate and shook him cordially by the hand, thanking him 
 for his eloquent and touching appeal in behalf of a large class of 
 unfortunate yet worthy fellow-citizens, who had fallen by the 
 casualties of trade. It was a noble tribute from a noble source, 
 and should endear the memories of Clay and Berrien to all who 
 revere public benefactors. 
 
 For his course on the bankrupt bill, and for his support of the 
 nomination of Mr. Everett as Minister to England, of a national 
 bank, the Land Distribution bill, and other Whig measures of the 
 extra session of Congress in 1841, Mr. Berrien incurred the dis- 
 approbation of the Legislature of Georgia, which body, at the 
 
JOHN MACPHBRSON BERRIEN. 67 
 
 session of 1841, passed resolutions of censure. The majority 
 happened to be Democrats, who took that occasion to embarrass 
 him and to promulgate their policy. He was at the same time 
 instructed to reverse his votes on all those questions. The year 
 following, the same majority again resolved that Mr. Berrien was 
 not representing the sentiments of the people of Georgia, and 
 accordingly withdrew their confidence, refusing to have any com- 
 munication with him. He was not officially notified of this latter 
 action until after the adjournment of the Legislature, and was 
 therefore deprived of the opportunity of vindicating his conduct. 
 He published an address to the people of Georgia, in which he 
 reviewed the measures of Congress, the state of parties, and the 
 doctrine of legislative instructions, the latter of which, as applied 
 to him, he pronounced a usurpation. 
 
 At the State election in 1843 (the first of biennial sessions) 
 the Whigs obtained an ascendency in the Legislature, and de- 
 clared by resolutions, in the warmest terms, that Mr. Berrien was 
 a faithful Senator, alike distinguished for ability and patriotism, 
 and that the people of Georgia felt a just pride in his character 
 and public services. This is the substance, and it was alike gratify- 
 ing and proper to Mr. Berrien, who continued to discharge his 
 public duties in the Senate. 
 
 The address of Mr. Berrien to the people of Georgia called 
 forth a letter from Judge Story, in which he said, "Your argu- 
 ment upon what is called ' the right of instruction' is exceedingly 
 cogent, and, I think, unanswerable. If ever my work on the Con- 
 stitution shall reach another edition, I intend to extract the pas- 
 sage and use it in that work. I have laid aside the newspaper for 
 this purpose among my choice collections." 
 
 In 1844 Mr. Berrien was a delegate from Georgia in the Con- 
 vention at Baltimore which nominated Mr. Clay for the Presi- 
 dency. He was appointed chairman of the committee to commu- 
 nicate the action of that body to Mr. Clay, which he did as 
 
 follows : — 
 
 Baitimoke, May 1, 1844. 
 
 SiE : — The grateful office of announcing to you the result of the de- 
 liberations of the National AVhig Convention, this day assembled at this 
 place for the selection of a candidate for the office of President of the 
 United States at the approaching election, has been by that Convention 
 assigned to us. 
 
 We perform it by communicating to you the accompanying copy of a 
 resolution adopted unanimously and by acclamation by that body, and beg 
 to add to it the expression of our earnest hope that the wish of your as- 
 sembled fellow-citizens, in which " all with one voice" have united, and 
 
68 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 in which their personal feelings, and, as they believe, the best interests 
 of this great people, are involved, may meet your prompt and cheerful 
 acquiescence. 
 
 We have the honor to be, very respectfully, your fellow-oitizens, 
 
 John Macpheeson Berrien, 
 J. Burnet, 
 Erastus Root, 
 Abbott Lawrence, 
 Hon. Henry Clay. William 8. Archer. 
 
 Washington, May 2, 1844. 
 
 Gentlemen : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter, dated yesterday at Baltimore, communicating my nomination, by 
 the National Whig Convention there assembled, to the people of the 
 United States as a candidate for the office of President of the United 
 States. Confidently believing that this nomination is in conformity with 
 the desire of a majority of the people of the United States, I accept it 
 from a high sense of duty, and with feelings of profound gratitude. I re- 
 quest you, gentlemen, in announcing to the Convention my acceptance of 
 the nomination, to express the very great satisfaction I derive from the 
 unanimity with which it has been made. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, faithfully your friend 
 and fellow-citizen, H. Clay. 
 
 Messrs. John Maopherson Berrien, Erastus Root, J. Burnet, Abbott 
 Lawrence, and William S. Archer. 
 
 After his re-election to the Senate in 1840, and becoming more 
 fully identified with the policy of the Whigs, Mr. Berrien so far 
 modified his opinions on the Tariff as to give incidental protection 
 to home manufactures. He was present at a mass meeting of the 
 Whigs of Massachusetts, on Boston Common, in September, 1844, 
 and, by special invitation, addressed the people at Marlborough 
 Chapel, Boston, on the night of 19th September, being introduced 
 to the crowded assemblage by the Hon. Daniel Webster. A por- 
 tion of his speech is here given. After disposing of other topics, 
 Mr. Berrien said : — 
 
 I repeat it, fellow-citizens, the great question between us and our oppo- 
 nents on this subject is, — 
 
 Shall we cherish the industry of our own people, or of those who are 
 alien from our country, our institutions, our interests, and our affections ? 
 
 Shall we stimulate the productive 'energies of our countrymen, or suffer 
 them to languish in hopeless inactivity ? 
 
 Shall we secure to the laboring classes among us a fair reward for their 
 honest industry, — the means of obtaining a comfortable subsistence for 
 themselves and their families, wherewith to rear and educate their chil- 
 dren and to fit them for the discharge of their duties as American citi- 
 zens ? Shall we thus impart to that valuable portion of our people the 
 high sense of personal independence which will add to our national 
 strength, or, blindly neglecting their interests and our own, shall we suffer 
 them to sink down to the condition of the pauper-laborers of Europe '! 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 69 
 
 Shall this government be administered for the benefit of our own people, 
 or the subjects of a foreign land ? 
 
 Are we willing to come back to the system of colonial vassalage, with 
 the broken fetters of which our fathers battled for freedom, or are we 
 honestly proud of our independence and resolutely determined to main- 
 tain and transmit it to our children ? 
 
 Disguise it as we may, to these issues it must come at last. We may 
 be lulled into security. Yielding to party feelings, we may blindly fol- 
 low in the steps of party leaders, and sacrifice our own best interests at 
 their dictation. But I overrate the intelligence of my countrymen if 
 they can be thus deluded. I mistake their character if they will not 
 spurn the demagogue who would seek thus to mislead them. No, fellow- 
 citizens ! Realizing the magnitude of the interests which are involved 
 in this controversy, remembering that "the price of liberty is eternal 
 vigilance," you will bring to its decision the intelligence and manly firm- 
 ness which should characterize American freemen. Forgive the momen- 
 tary egotism : I am a Southern man, wholly unconnected with manufac- 
 tures or with stocks of any description, — a Southern planter, depending 
 on the cultivation of the soil and the use of such faculties as God has 
 given me for my own and the support of a numerous family. If it be 
 true (as our opponents contend) that, in protecting our domestic industry, 
 the agricultural and other classes of the community are taxed for the ex- 
 clusive benefit of the manufacturer, mine is the harder lot. When the 
 pocket-nerve of the agriculturist is touched, mine is as liable to vibra- 
 tion as that of another. On such a subject I could not deceive you if I 
 would : that I would not if I could, let the simple statement prove to you. 
 
 No, fellow-citizens ! I advocate the protection of domestic industry 
 from no merely selfi.sh considerations. Looking to this great question in 
 the large and comprehensive view in which, as it seems to me, it becomes 
 an American statesman to contemplate it, I advocate this system of legis- 
 lation to furnish a home market, to give stability to the currency, to ele- 
 vate the national character, to preserve the public morals, and to draw 
 closer the bond of union which connects us together as one people. Let 
 us pause for a moment to consider these suggestions. 
 
 The protection of domestic industry tends largely to increase the sum 
 of national wealth. 
 
 1. It does this by a division of labor. All experience teaches us that 
 the aggregate product of the labor of any country is increased by such 
 subdivisions. A nation of agriculturists, each of whom should minister 
 to his own wants, should feed and clothe himself and make his own 
 implements of labor, would advance slowly, however genial the climate and 
 fruitful the soil which Providence has assigned to them. It is by diver- 
 sifying the objects of individual pursuit by the skill which is requisite to 
 furnish the necessary exchanges that the a^;regate production is increased. 
 
 2. It stimulates industry. The necessity of providing for one's own 
 wants by promptly supplying the wants of others, the increased skill which 
 is acquired, and the consequent ability to add to individual comfort by its 
 industrious exercise, furnish a stimulus to exertion which cannot be found 
 in the infancy of society, when each man endeavors to supply his own 
 wants by the clumsy operations of his own inexperienced hand. 
 
 It adds largely to the national wealth by the additional value which it 
 imparts to the raw material. We shall look in vain through the pages 
 of history for an example of great national productive labor, which was 
 
70 BENCH AMD BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 employed in producing raw materials, depending upon other nations for 
 the exercise of the skill and industry which were necessary to befit them 
 for the use and enjoyment of man. We may form some idea of the im- 
 portance of this consideration from the following facts : — 
 
 A bale of cotton of ordinary quality, weighing 450 lbs., is worth, at 7J 
 cents per lb., the sum of 834. If sold in a foreign market, it would add 
 this sum, less the expenses of transportation and charges of sale, to the 
 sum of national wealth. 
 
 The same bale of cotton manufactured here will produce 400 lbs. of 
 cloth of No. 14 yarn, of which the present market-value would be 24 
 cents per lb., — 896. In this case the value of the manufactured article 
 is nearly threefold. The sum of 862 would thus be added to the national 
 wealth. 480 lbs. of cotton of fine quality, worth, at 8J cents per lb., the 
 sum of 848, would produce 400 lbs. of cloth of No. 30 yarn, worth 36 
 cents per lb., or $156. 450 lbs. of sea-island cotton, worth, at 16 cents 
 cents per lb., 872, will make 400 lbs. of No. 80 yarn, worth $1 32 per lb., 
 or 8518. The aggregate value of these three bales of cotton in their raw 
 state is 8142, — in their manufactured state 8759. The increased value 
 imparted to them by the skill and industry of the manufacturer is there- 
 fore 8626. 
 
 Extend this calculation to the aggregate value of the 400,000 bales of 
 cotton and other raw materials manufactured in this country; compute 
 that value in their raw and in their manufactured state, and some idea 
 may be formed of the sum which is added to the national wealth by the 
 skill, enterprise, and industry of the American manufacturer. 
 
 The protection of domestic industry results in the establishment of a 
 home market. 
 
 To the extent to which such a demand can be created, it furnishes a 
 better market even for those articles of produce which are chiefly sold 
 abroad, as any man may satisfy himself who wiU calculate the product of 
 100 bales of cotton sold here and in the English market at current prices, 
 and invested in English and American manufactures of equal quality. 
 The details are too tedious for an occasion like the present ; and they are 
 already before the reading public in the very able argument of Hon. Mr. 
 Simmons, of Rhode Island, pronounced a few months since in the Senate 
 of the United States. 
 
 But the importance of a home market is more distinctly felt by the 
 agriculturist, whose products will not bear the expense or delay of trans- 
 portation abroad. It stimulates production by the demand which it 
 creates, and which could not exist without it. Those who reside in the 
 neighborhood of the villages, towns, and cities, which are scattered 
 through our country, find there a demand for various agricultural produce 
 which would otherwise be comparatively valueless, and would not there- 
 fore be produced. Extend your view to the manufacturing establish- 
 ments in the different States. Their operations require various products 
 of the soil. The operatives who labor in them must be fed; and the 
 demand thus occasioned gives an impulse to the agriculture of contiguous 
 districts, necessarily increases production, and thus adds to the wealth of 
 the agricultmist. 
 
 The protection of domestic industry gives stability to the currency. 
 
 The specie which is in circulation among us is not adequate to our 
 commercial wants. We require a currency based upon specie, and easily 
 convertible into it, extended in amount as it can be, retaining that quality. 
 
JOHN MACPHEESON BERRIEN. 71 
 
 So long as we continue to depend on foreign supply for a large proportion 
 of articles of comfort or necessity, the fluctuations of commerce will sub- 
 ject us in a greater degree to the drain of our specie, and the consequent 
 contraction of our circulation, — thus afiecting injuriously various classes 
 of the community. It is only by enlarging our home supply of the chief 
 articles of consumption which we are capable of producing, and keeping 
 our imports within our exports, or our expenditures within our income, 
 that we can prevent the frequent recurrence of these embarrassments. 
 
 With regard to the Government, the public credit, and other 
 beneficial consequences of the Tariff of 1842, Mr. Berrien thus 
 spoke : — 
 
 Fellow-citizens ! We have looked at this question in various aspects. 
 There is yet another which is full of ioterest. It is the practical result of 
 the Tariff of 1842 in its operation both upon the Government and the 
 people during the short period of its existence. For a moment consider 
 what was the condition of the Grovernment before this law was passed. 
 Mr. Van Buren, during his brief Presidential career, had exhausted both 
 the ordinary and extraordinary resources of the Government, and, looking 
 to the election which was to determine his right to a second term, feared 
 to recommend the imposition of dutifes, or any other mode of taxation 
 which would replenish the national treasury. Treasury notes constituted 
 its only resource. A Government representing seventeen millions of free- 
 men, and possessed of abundant means, nevertheless paid its debts and 
 met its current expenditures, so far as they were paid and met, hy pro- 
 mises to pay ! He retired from the Executive office and his Cabinet was 
 disbanded, leaving to their successors a large amount of those treasury 
 promises to redeem, and at much larger amount of unliquidated liabilities 
 to provide for. They found the Government not only without resources, 
 but also without credit. Shortly after the accession of the Whig party to 
 power, a bill drawn upon the Treasury, and protested for non-payment, 
 was exhibited in the Senate-Chamber. We sought to provide for the 
 immediate wants of Government by a loan. It was partially accomplished 
 on terms which were not creditable to us as a nation possessed of ample 
 resources, but the acceptance of which was demanded by a regard to the 
 public faith. For the rest, we failed entirely. An agent sent to Europe 
 to procure the residue of the sum required returned without a dollar. 
 We could not go into the money-market and borrow money on terms as 
 advantageous as would be accorded to a responsible private individual. Our 
 treasury notes were below par, and progressively depreciating. Now, why 
 was this ? No one doubted the ability of the Government to meet their 
 engagements. It was their willingness to do so which the conduct of the 
 late administration had drawn into question. See the proof. The Tariff 
 Act of 1842 was passed, and instantly, even before its practical influence 
 could be felt, in the extent in which it is now felt, the whole aspect of 
 affairs was changed. The credit of the Government was restored. Trea- 
 sury notes rose to par, and the stock of the United States has progres- 
 sively advanced until it is now fifteen or sixteen per cent, above par. The 
 Treasury has been replenished, so that at the close of the late financial 
 year, on the 30th of June last, there were about seven millions of dollars 
 subject to the order of the Government, to be applied to the redemption 
 of the public debt, and to meet its current expenses. 
 
72 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Such has been the operation of the Tariff on the financial condition of 
 the Government, What has been its influence on the condition of indi- 
 viduals let each one who hears me determine for himself by a comparison 
 of his circumstances in 1841 and at the present day. Meantime, it is 
 obvious to all that a new stimulus has been imparted to industry ; that 
 confidence between man and man has been restored ; that all enjoy more 
 largely the comforts and conveniences of life, and that we can look for- 
 ward hopefully to the future unless we are faithless to ourselves and utterly 
 unmindful of the lessons of experience. 
 
 Fellow-citizens ! We cannot part with a system thus beneficent in its 
 influence upon the Government and upon every class of the people, in all 
 their varied interests, — pecuniary, social, and moral, — unless, as our oppo- 
 nents tell us, we have not the constitutional power to enforce it. I do 
 not propose to detain you by an elaborate discussion of this question. 
 The power was affirmed in the Senate-Chamber by one of your own dis- 
 tinguished Senators, (Mr. Choate,) in an argument which challenges refu- 
 tation ; while the historical view of the question has been recently pre- 
 sented by another distinguished son of Massachusetts, who has so happily 
 presided over our deliberations to-day, (Mr. Webster,) in a manner so 
 clear and comprehensive as can scarcely fail to bring conviction to every 
 unprejudiced mind, — to every man who can absolve himself from a slavish 
 subjection to party. Those noble efforts of intellect and patriotism are in 
 possession of the reading public, and to them I refer you. 
 
 This somewhat copious extract is given in justice to the public 
 life of Mr. Berrien. No allusion has heretofore been made in this 
 memoir to the leading part he acted in the Convention held at 
 Philadelphia, in September, 1831, adverse to a protective tari£F, 
 The address to the people of the United States on that occasion 
 was from his classic pen. The constitutionality of a tariff for pro- 
 tection was denied, and its other objectionable features pointed out 
 by the hand of a master. That address is not now in the posses- 
 sion of the author, to speak for itself. But it is no disparagement 
 to change opinions when convinced of error ; on the contrary, a 
 man is entitled to praise for his candor. Mr. Calhoun publicly 
 avowed that he did not consider his judgment on public measures 
 so fixed, so grounded on investigation, as to bind him, until the 
 leisure afforded by his Vice-Presidential career from 1825 to 1832 
 enabled him to review his opinions and work out the true character 
 of the Government. The like privilege may be accorded to Mr. 
 Berrien, who, in his ten years of retirement from the time he 
 resigned his seat in the Cabinet in 1831 until his return to the 
 Senate of the United States in 1841, bad the opportunity of look- 
 ing into the questions of the day with a mind free from sectional 
 bias. The pith of the argument is contained in his Boston speech 
 on the expediency of the Tariff. 
 
 From some cause, Mr. Berrien felt dissatisfied with the treat- 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEJf. _ ''^ 
 
 ment he had received from the Whig party of Georgia ; and early 
 in the session of the Legislature in 1845 he resigned his seat in 
 the Senate. The Whig members consulted together and instantly 
 re-elected him. A committee notified him of the fact. He met 
 his political friends, and made a speech of considerable length, in 
 which he touched upon various topics in vindication of himself and 
 of the party with which he was identified. He answered all the 
 objections, or pretences of objection, which had been made to his 
 public course. That portion of his speech which related to the 
 annexation of Texas is here copied to serve the ends of history : — 
 
 I voted against the resolution by which it was proposed to incorporate 
 the State of Texas in this Union. In doing so, I expressed the almost 
 unanimous conviction of those who had confided to me the trust which I 
 was called upon to execute. In my own deliberate judgment, that resolu- 
 tion was an open, palpable violation of the Constitution which Ihad sworn 
 to support. I placed my vote on the ground of fealty to that sacred 
 charter, and I said to the American Senate, " On such a question, the 
 duties and responsibilities of each individual must give the rule of his 
 conduct. It is to be found in communion with God and his own con- 
 science." I abandoned the question of expediency to those who felt 
 themselves at liberty to discuss it. I did not consider that this was my 
 privUege. I said, "It is not expedient for me to do what, in my judg- 
 ment, the Constitution forbids." I referred to the expression, at a pre- 
 ceding session, of my views in relation to the expediency of this measure; 
 but I added that I would cheerfully yield them to the wishes of my con- 
 stituents, which I would have taken care to ascertain if the resolution on 
 which we were acting had ^een compatible with the Constitution. And 
 I added, " Greorgia, sir, is my home, as it was that of him from whom I 
 derived my being, — as it is, and will be, the home of my children. 
 Humanly speaking, it is the boundary of my hopes and of my wishes ; 
 and, whether for weal or for woe, I am content to share the lot of her 
 people. As a Senator of the State of Georgia, therefore, on a question of 
 expediency, the wishes of her people are my wishes j when made known 
 to me they are the rule of my conduct." 
 
 Here is the pubHshed declaration of my views and opinions, — -the 
 recorded evidence of my conduct on this momentous and agitating ques- 
 tion. I know that they met the approbation of my political associates at 
 home from the many and cheering evidences of approval which were 
 transmitted to me; while even among my opponents there were those 
 who looked with dismay on the inroad which had thus been made on the 
 Constitution of the Union. 
 
 Whence, then, this denunciation, which an act of treason to the Con- 
 stitution could aione have averted ? Let me tell you, gentlemen, it is not 
 the condemnation of the past, but the apprehension of the future, which 
 prompts it. Honest men, though they may be political opponents, would 
 not require from me the commission of peijurv, even for the acquisition 
 of Texas. That act is not, therefore, the motive to this denunciation : it 
 was the fear of the future which prompted it. The consummation of the 
 union of Texas with this Confederate Republic remains with the American 
 Congress ; and the apprehension is that fliis consummation may be resisted 
 
74 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 under a continued sense of constitutional obligation. On this point, so 
 far as I am concerned, our opponents may dismiss their fears. Theyhave 
 a security which, under a change of circumstances, they could not give to 
 us, alike resulting from my sense of the constitutional power and duty of 
 an American Senator. The opinion which I am now about to state hag 
 been heretofore expressed on the floor of the Senate on another occasion 
 in combating the doctrine then advanced by a member of that body. It 
 is still my opinion, and must therefore guide my conduct if called to act 
 upon this question. 
 
 In all open questions, where no previous legislation embarrasses his 
 action, a member of Congress is not only permitted, but bound, to decide 
 for himself how far the proposed measure conforms to or violates the 
 Constitution of the United States. When, however, an act has received 
 the concurring sanction of both branches of the National Legislature, and 
 has been approved by the President, it acquires the authority of law, and 
 it depends upon another department of the Government to decide the 
 question of its constitutionality. So long as it remains on the statute- 
 book, sustained by those sanctions and not annulled by such decision, it 
 is obligatory upon legislators as well as citizens. I will exemplify this 
 opinion. If I believed, as some of our opponents, that Congress had no 
 constitutional power to establish a bank, and, acting on this belief, had 
 voted against its charter, I should not consider myself authorized to refuse 
 by a subsequent act of legislation to provide for the punishment of oflfences 
 against the corporation on the ground that its charter was, in my individual 
 judgment, unconstitutional. I presume that this must have been Mr. Jef- 
 ferson's view when he approved an act establishing a branch of that cor- 
 poration the constitutional validity of whose charter he had denied. 
 
 In the consummation of their wishes for the annexation of Texas, I 
 have said that its advocates have a security which, under a change of cir« 
 cumstances, they could not give us. With them the maxim is that each 
 public agent is to obey the Constitution as he understands it, — a maxim 
 signally illustrated in the House of Kepresentatives of the United States, 
 when, in defiance of the act for the apportionment of Representatives, 
 they admitted to seats on that floor persons who had been elected in utter 
 disregard of its provisions. I admit the truth of the aphorism that it is 
 lawful to be taught by an enemy ; but that lesson I am not willing to 
 learn. 
 
 On the question of expediency, my opinion stated in the Senate remains 
 unchanged. I did not doubt that some of our people, abandoning the 
 worn-out fields of Georgia, might derive an immediate profit from the 
 cultivation of the rich and virgin soil of Texas. But I love Georgia better 
 than Texas, and I felt that I was bound to consult the welfare of her col- 
 lective people rather than that of those who, influenced by the thirst of 
 gain, would abandon their native land and the homes of their fathers, 
 leaving it in comparative desolation with the resources which it had given 
 them to build up and enrich another State. I did not realize the truth 
 of the proposition that the annexation of Texas was necessary to the con- 
 servation of our peculiar domestic institutions. My personal observation 
 had assured me that the danger with which these were said to be me- 
 naced had been magnified by demagogues ; and my own view was, and is 
 unchangeably, whenever that danger shall really exist, that the safer as 
 well as loftier course for Southern men to pursue, is to cut at once the 
 cord which binds us to fanatics, and to meet as open enemies rather than 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 75 
 
 as confederate States those who would seek thus insolently to interfere 
 with a subject which belonged to us, and to us alone, exclusively to 
 regulate. 
 
 I could not doubt — since a portion of Texas, from its soil and climate, 
 was adapted to slave-labor — that the South by its admission would ac- 
 quire an accession of strength in the councils of the Union ; but, when 
 I looked throughout the Confederacy, and saw how many of our eon- 
 federates were in the process of change from the condition of slave to 
 free States, and the utter impossibility that a converse change would 
 occur in any single solitary instance, I felt that this struggle for 
 Southern preponderance in those councils by superiority of numbers was 
 vain and idle, — a war against the fate to which our union with the other 
 States of the Confederacy had destined us, only to be compensated by the 
 essential advantages which that union secured to us ; that it might tem- 
 porarily subserve the views of those whose lives had been spent in one 
 long dream of elevation to the Presidency of these States, but that it 
 could not permanently promote the interests of the South. I feared, too, 
 the influence of this precedent and the overwhelming retribution which 
 might be brought upon us when circumstances should permit and a ma- 
 jority of Congress should resolve upon the annexation of States resting 
 on another border of our Confederacy. 
 
 The address from which, the above extract relative to Texas is 
 taken was published on a request which was made known to Mr. 
 Berrien by a committee, to whom he replied as follows : — 
 
 Savassah, November 22, 1845. 
 
 Gentlemen : — T have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter of the 14th inst., transmitting to me a copy of certain resolutions 
 adopted by the Whig members of the Legislature on the 13th inst., and 
 asking from me for publication a copy of the address delivered by me at 
 that meeting. 
 
 Availing myself of the earliest moment which, among many and press- 
 ing engagements, I have been able to command, I have hastily committed 
 to paper, and now forward you, the substance of that address. 
 
 I avail myself of the occasion, through you, to oflfer to the Whig mem- 
 bers of the Legislature of Georgia my respectful acknowledgments for 
 this renewed expression of their confidence, and to you, gentlemen, the 
 assurance of respect and esteem with which 
 
 I am, faithfully, yours, 
 
 John Macphekson Berrien. 
 
 To the Hon. A. J. Miller, C. H. Shocklet, and A. F. Owen. 
 
 At the same session of the Legislature (1845) the act was passed 
 organizing the Supreme Court of Georgia; and it was the general 
 desire and expectation of the public, without regard to party lines, 
 that Mr. Berrien should be elected one of the judges. At the re- 
 quest of the author, an original letter has been placed in his hands by 
 the gentleman* to whom it was addressed, with permission to use it 
 
 * Hon. Allen F. Owen. 
 
76 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 in this memoir. It shows the caution of a great mind in adminis- 
 tering law, which ought to rehuke that haste, not to say rashness, 
 with which some judges decide questions of intrinsic difiBculty. 
 Still, it is not pretended to assert that error is the common result 
 of the instantaneous action of our courts. Some are better pre- 
 pared by sudden illumination than they would be by prosy argu- 
 ments, long continued, even to the exhaustion of mind and body. 
 The happy medium has not yet been established, nor can it be 
 until the faculties and tastes of men conform to a standard, — of 
 which there is not the remotest possibility. In the case of Mr. 
 Berrien, his modesty will, no doubt, surprise some who have never 
 been recognised by the public as jurists, but who would, never- 
 theless, consider it a very great omission of duty on their part to 
 decline an office equal in dignity to that of Chief-Magistrate. 
 
 Washington, January 26, 1846. 
 
 My dear Sir: — I was gratified by the receipt of your letter, and 
 would gladly have availed myself of an earlier opportunity to say so; 
 but, in doing so now, I beg to add that I shall always be glad to hear 
 from you. 
 
 I would willingly have contributed my mite to the successful introduc- 
 tion to the people of our Court for the Correction of Errors, if its or- 
 ganization had been such as to have given me hope that I could do so. 
 That I thought impossible. Independently of the sacrifice of individual 
 comfort in attendance upon an itinerant court for eleven months in the 
 year, the fact that it was required, in many instances, to be held in re- 
 mote places, where the judges could not have access to a tolerable law- 
 library and would probably be aided only by the local bar, was decisive 
 against my acceptance of the office. I pretend not to say what others 
 can do. I am quite satisfied that I could not have discharged its duties 
 to my own satisfaction. A life spent in the study of my profession — 
 which I have pursued with some degree of ardor, though, perhaps, not 
 always with sufficient industry — has not qualified me to decide important 
 legal questions without resort to books and time to weigh their maxims ; 
 and I was not willing, for the temptations which this office afforded, to 
 sacrifice what little of legal reputation I may have among my country- 
 men. I was anxious to convince our friends of my desire to meet their 
 wishes if the office could be placed on such a footing as would justify my 
 acceptance of it, and therefore suggested some alterations to be efiiected 
 by a supplemental bill ; but I was not anxious, so far as I was personally 
 concerned, that these should be adopted. 
 
 ******** 
 
 There is no occasion for war with England. I am satisfied the Execu- 
 tive does not expect it ; but there are some in Congress and the country 
 who wish it, and more who hope to make political capital by professions 
 of their patriotism and blustering denunciations of England, which may 
 lead to it. Withal, I fear that a propensity for President-making in the 
 Whig ranks may diminish our capacity to resist the effijrts of dema- 
 gogues. 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 77 
 
 I was sorry you had not more time to give us in Savannah, and would 
 have been glad to see you before your departure, as I will be whenever 
 you visit us again. Meantime, I will be gratified to hear from you, and 
 will in reply advise you of the state of things here. 
 I am, dear sir, 
 
 Respectfully and truly, yours, 
 
 Jno. Macpherson Berrien. 
 
 Another letter from Mr. Berrien to the same friend* is here 
 submitted, showing the relative strength of Mr. Clay and Gen. 
 Taylor with the Whig party for a nomination for the Presidency 
 in 1848. It will be seen by the closing paragraph that the letter 
 was not intended for publication; but as the motive of privacy, 
 then proper enough, can no longer apply to aspirants of the same 
 party, and as the silence of the tomb now mantles all that is 
 mortal of the distinguished Taylor, Clay, and Berrien, there can 
 be no impropriety in giving that letter to public inspection, as a 
 record of the calculations which decide great political movements. 
 Besides, it may be truly claimed for Mr. Berrien that it was not 
 his character to write any thing which he would be ashamed to see 
 in print, if all the circumstances were known to the public. 
 
 Washikgton, March 28, 1848. 
 
 My dear Sir : — I duly received your very kind and welcome lettei", 
 and have desired to reply to it ; but a constant pressure of engagements 
 such as, for a shorter term, you have experienced at Milledgeville, has 
 prevented me from doing it sooner. I have been compelled to tax my 
 eyes, too, somewhat beyond their capacity, and they have been a little 
 rebellious. I hope this delay will not induce you to abstain from writing. 
 Volumes of correspondence reach me from other States; but the only really 
 welcome letters, speaking generally, are those which come from my own. 
 
 I read with great pleasure-the account which you give me of B 's 
 
 success, as satisfactorily confirming the representations which had reached 
 me from others. He has fine talents and a popular eloquence, happily 
 combined with stern integrity, warm affections, and a manly independence 
 of character. If his life is spared, I shall expect to see him prominent 
 in the councils of the nation. 
 
 The division of opinion among Whigs in relation to Mr. Clay and 
 Gen. Taylor, of which you speak, certainly exists to an unfortunate 
 extent, — not as to the comparative qualifications of the two gentlemen, nor 
 yet as to the individual whom the disputants would prefer to see elected, 
 but as to (what they have coined a new word to designate) their availed 
 biliti/. All admit Mr. Clay's superior qualifications. Nine-tenths of the 
 party would prefer to see him elected if they could believe it practicable ; 
 but he is a defeated candidate. Public and private considerations require 
 that the party should be successful in the approaching contest ; and, while 
 these apprehensions are oppressing us, the name of a Whig general, 
 rendered illustrious by his triumphs, is proclaimed by acclamation, and, 
 aj^arenUy, by all parties. The result was natural. Many leading 
 
 * Col. Owen. 
 
78 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Whigs, sincere friends of Mr. Clay, adopted Gen. Taylor as their can- 
 didate, and justified their abandonment of the former by declaring their 
 belief that he could not under any circumstances be elected. 
 
 It has been thus with us in Georgia, with a superadded motive, spring- 
 ing from the belief that Gen. Taylor's nomination would have aided us in 
 the late election for Governor, — in which we were sadly mistaken. My 
 firm belief is, and was, that if we had relied less on the military prestigi', 
 of our candidate and the effect of the nomination of Gen. Taylor, and hail 
 conducted that canvass zealously on the ordinary issues, with the super- 
 added one of the Mexican War, we would have succeeded. 
 
 But I am omitting to answer your inquiry, whether Mr. Clay or Gen. 
 Taylor will be the Whig candidate ; and, in truth, it is difficult to do so. 
 I can only state facts and opinions as they appear to me here. Mr. Clay's 
 name is not yet at the disposal of the party. He came here with a 
 determination to forbid its use, but was prevailed upon to postpone the 
 announcement of it until after the Connecticut elections, concerning the 
 result of which there are fears. This was at the instance of Eastern 
 gentlemen. It is now understood that when at home, whither he has 
 gone, he will survey the whole ground and make and publish his final 
 determination. The truth I believe to be, that, naturally desirous as he 
 is to attain a prize for which he has been so long striving, he is yet 
 extremely reluctant to hazard defeat, and will endeavor to ascertain the 
 probable result before his determination is announced. Yet I presume 
 his name will be before the Convention, because I think the recent mani- 
 festations of public feeling are calculated to bias the judgment of a man 
 of far less sanguine temperament than Mr. Clay. Before the Convention 
 Mr. Clay will not, as compared with Gen. Taylor, be as strong as he would 
 be before the people. Gen. T. will get in Convention the votes of dele- 
 gates from Democratic States, from which he will get no support at the 
 polls. The nomination is, therefore, I think, somewhat uncertain, though 
 the friends of each party claim it as undoubted. 
 
 My fear has been that we could not elect any Whig. My belief is that 
 Mr. Clay stands a better chance, if nominated, than any other. My 
 reasons are, that he would get every State he got before, except perhaps 
 Tennessee, in lieu of which he would, it seems to be conceded, get New 
 York. Indiana, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Georgia would be to be contended 
 for. If we had not unfortunately committed ourselves, I would not fear 
 a contest in Georgia. I could name a dozen men whose cordial co- 
 operation, if they were unembarrassed by previously-expressed opinions, 
 would insure it. So much for Mr. Clay. 
 
 Now, as to Gen. Taylor, I think he will lose more Whig than he will 
 gain Democratic votes. I have no idea that he can get any Democratic 
 State but Mississippi. While in his present position, which he declares 
 to be immutable, gentlemen from the Northem and Eastern States say 
 they will not vote for him. They require a man who will avow himself 
 their candidate and the exponent of their principles. I do not hesitate 
 to avow my preference for Mr. Clay, and my readiness to support Gen. 
 Taylor if he is nominated. 
 
 I have answered your inquiries frankly ; but I do not write for the 
 public. You are entitled to such information as I can give, and you 
 have it. Let me hear from you, and believe me, always, 
 
 Very truly, yours, 
 
 Jno. Macpherson Berkien. 
 
JOHN MAOPHERSON BERRIEN. 79 
 
 In 1847, Mr. Berrien had been re-elected by the Legislature 
 of Georgia for a new term in the Senate, to expire March 4, 1853. 
 During this service the Compromise measures were discussed and 
 adopted by Congress. It will not be necessary to follow the 
 learned Senator through the debates on the Oregon question, 
 Wilmot Proviso, Mexican War, Clayton Amendment, Slave Rescue 
 in Boston, support of President Fillmore in executing the Fugitive 
 Slave Law, and other agitating questions, in which he bore a con- 
 spicuous part, always to the instruction of the Senate, and to the 
 delight of the crowded gallery of spectators when it was known 
 that he would occupy the floor. Much space has already been 
 devoted to extracts from his speeches which appeared necessai-y to 
 his vindication ; for it was his fortune, good or bad, to be ever 
 severely scrutinized, and to have less than justice meted to him 
 by his political opponents, as a general thing. It is no discredit 
 to them that his eminent abilities, commanding reputation, the 
 splendor of his eloquence in debate, the graces of his pen, and the 
 influence of his unsullied name, constituted him an adversary whom 
 they might well dread. But why he was traduced in so persevering 
 a manner by a portion of the press and certain party leaders in 
 Georgia can be explained only by the plea of human infirmity 
 when interest and justice are in opposite scales. 
 
 Much has been said of late of the petition signed by three thou- 
 sand clergymen of New England, praying the repeal of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law. On the 17th of February, 1851, Mr. Hamlin, of 
 Maine, presented to the Senate a petition for this object, which is 
 believed to be the same in substance, if not in the precise form, of 
 that signed by the clergy, as follows : — 
 
 To the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United States. 
 
 Whereas, CoDgress, at its late session, did pass a bill entitled An act to 
 amend and supplementary to an act entitled An act respecting fugitives 
 from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters, 
 approved February 12, 1793, which said enactment was approved by the 
 President, September 18, 1850; 
 
 We, the undersigned, residents of the town of Burnham, in the county 
 of Waldo and State of Maine, regarding that said act is in conflict with 
 the Constitution of the United States, and also as infringing upon the 
 duties which we owe to benevolence, to humanity, and to God, and being 
 unwilling to comply with its requisitions or submit to its penalties, 
 earnestly ask its speedy repeal or modification. 
 
 On the motion of Mr. Hamlin, the petition was referred to the 
 Judiciary Committee, which fact coming to the knowledge of Mr, 
 
80 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Berrien, he on the same day urged his objections, which may be 
 seen in the official reports* of the Senate, thus : — 
 
 When the Senator from New Hampshire advises his coadjutors to 
 transfer these speeches — calculated, if not intended, to produce excitement 
 among the people of this Union — from the Senate-Chamber to the stump, 
 it would have been gratifying if he had enforced his precept by his 
 example. But I rise for the pui-pose of calling the attention of the 
 Senate to the nature of the memorial which has produced this discussion. 
 Unquestionably it was by an oversight that the vote of the Senate to refer 
 it to the Judiciary Committee was talcen. Sir, what is it ? We are told 
 that the signers of the paper are respectable persons. What evidence is 
 there in the paper presented to the Senate that this memorial was ever 
 signed by those individuals ? Here are several sheets of paper on which 
 names are inscribed, and on the top of these papers is pasted a memorial. 
 There is not the slightest evidence upon the face of the paper that the 
 memorial was ever subscribed by the individuals whose names are attached 
 to it. And, sir, if they are of the respectable character which is given 
 to them by the Senator from Maine, of which I will not permit myself to 
 express, because I do not entertain, a moment's doubt, the inference is a 
 plain one that such men of respectable character have never signed such 
 a petition. What is it ? It states that you passed a law at the last 
 session of Congress which violates the Constitution of the country, which 
 is in conflict with the duties which we owe to benevolence, to humanity, 
 and to God, — a law with the requisitions of which they are not willing to 
 comply, and to the penalties of which they are not disposed to submit. 
 It is this memorial, calling for a modification or repeal of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law, which, by a vote of the Senate, is to be referred to the 
 Judiciary Committee. And now, I pray you, what is the inquiry, or 
 what are the inquiries, which that Committee is to make ? We are to 
 inquire if the Congress of the United States at the last session have passed 
 a law in violation of the Constitution, — have passed a law violating the 
 duties of benevolence and humanity, and the duty which we owe to God. 
 We are to inquire whether these memorialists are bound by the requi- 
 .<!itions of that law to submit to its requirements or bear the infliction of 
 its penalties. I ask whether this is such a memorial as ought to be 
 referred by this Senate to one of its committees. I think, apart from all 
 that has been said on this subject, the character of this memorial is one 
 that forbids such a reference. I trust that the motion of the Senator 
 from Missouri will prevail, that the subject will be reconsidered, and, 
 since the memorial has been received, we shall do, from respect to our- 
 selves, what that respect would have indicated if this suggestion had been 
 made anterior to its reference, that we shall dispose of this memorial in 
 the most summary manner possible. Such a memorial, if its substance 
 had been known to the Senate, I trust would not have been received ; 
 and, the motion to reconsider having been made, I trust it will prevail. 
 
 The motion to reconsider was agreed to, and, on motion of Mr. 
 Badger, the whole subject was laid on the table. 
 
 The visit of Kossuth to the United States, and his formal recep- 
 
 * Globe and Appendix, vol. xxiii. p. 577. 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 81 
 
 tion by Congress, formed sometliing of an epocli difficult to charac- 
 terize. It may be, and was, in fact, claimed, by a certain impul- 
 sive class of our statesmen, as not only the expression of sympathy 
 by the American people for the oppressed of all nations, but an 
 obligation to assist those who prove worthy of freedom by an effort 
 to cast off the yoke of despotism. While on the other hand equal 
 sympathy is felt, the uniform established policy of the Government, 
 from the lessons and examples of the first President down to our 
 day, to abstain from all interference with foreign powers, must be 
 maintained with inflexible impartiality. Such was the opinion of 
 Mr. Berrien, as will be shown hereafter. 
 
 On the 26th of February, 1851, the substitute offered by Mr. 
 Shields to the resolution originally proposed by Mr. Foote was 
 adopted by the Senate in the following words : — 
 
 Whereas the people of the United States sincerely sjonpathize with 
 the Hungarian exiles, Kossuth and his associates, and fully appreciate 
 the magnanimous conduct of the Turkish Government in receiving and 
 treating those noble exiles with kindness and hospitality; and whereas it 
 is the wish of those exiles to emigrate to the United States, and the will 
 of the Saltan to permit them to leave his dominions : Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, by the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the 
 United States he, and he hereby is, requested to authorize the employ- 
 ment of some one of the public vessels which may be now cruising in the 
 Mediterranean to receive and convey to the United States Louis Kossuth 
 and his associates in captivity. 
 
 This resolution also passed the House of Representatives, and, in 
 compliance with it, Kossuth and his followers were brought to the 
 United States. After their arrival, Mr. Seward, on the 8th Decem- 
 ber, 1851, submitted this joint resolution in the Senate : — 
 
 Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States in Congress assembled, That the Congress of the United States, in 
 the name and behalf of the people of the United States, give to Louis Kos- 
 suth a cordial welcome to the Capital and to the country; and that a copy 
 of this resolution be transmitted to him by the President of the United States. 
 
 The next day it was taken up, and the question was on order- 
 ing the resolution to a second reading. Mr. Berrien addressed the 
 Senate, opposing its adoption. As the " Kossuth mania" has sub- 
 sided, it is well enough to circulate the arguments of a statesman 
 so judicious as Mr. Berrien proved himself to be on that occasion. 
 A part of his speech* is here given, as containing the pith of the 
 whole matter : — 
 
 The consideration which I am disposed to give to this subject, the 
 
 * See Cong. Globe, vol. xxiv. part 1, p. 43. 
 Vol. I.— 6 
 
82 BENCH AXD BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 gravity of the question presented to us, arises, therefore, from the fact, 
 patent on the face of the proceedings exhibited to us, that Mr. Kossuth 
 expects from us, from the American Government, voluntarily, — of their 
 own accord, if they will, and, if not, from the American people, acting upon 
 the American Government, under the excitement produced by his narra- 
 tive of Hungarian wrongs, a similar result, — a pledge that they will so far 
 interfere in the contest about, as he says, to be renewed in Huogaiy, as 
 to say to every foreign power, " You must abstain from all interposition. 
 The people of Hungaiy have the right to establish the principles of their 
 own government. They are engaged in a contest with the power of Aus- 
 tria. You must not interfere. We hold this to be the principle which 
 our position in the civilized world requires us to maintain." We are 
 to become the champion of this principle, and, in union with Great Britain, 
 we are to say to the Emperor of Kussia, " Stand off ! If you attempt 
 to interpose in this contest between Hungary and Austria, we shall be 
 bound to render such interposition fruitless." Is this a fair interpreta- 
 tion of the facts which are before the public ? I ask, without quoting 
 them, a reference to the speeches of Mr. Kossuth delivered in various 
 places in Europe, to the speech of a distinguished citizen of our own 
 country in England, to the sentiments avowed by an American official 
 there, and to various declarations made by Mr. Kossuth since his arrival 
 on our shores. 
 
 Now, what is the position in which he places this matter ? He says to 
 you, " The expression of your sympathies — of that feeling which is natural 
 to every freeman — is grateful to the Hungarian : but the expression of your 
 sympathy is valueless ; it can do us no good. Our necessities require that 
 the expression of your sympathy should be followed by some efficient act 
 on your part. I am a plain man," he says; "I am now here, where I am 
 free to speak ; and I tell you that I come to ask the aid of your Govern- 
 ment to secure to my countrymen the enforcement of the principle that 
 no foreign power shall be permitted to interfere in the contest which we 
 shall wage with Austria for the establishment of our independence." Sir, 
 if gentlemen have read the speech of the distinguished American citizen 
 in Europe to whom I have referred, they have seen distinctly avowed 
 this proposition. 
 
 There is about to be a convulsion in Europe. A league of despots 
 have combined for the purpose of destroying all republican governments, 
 and the question proposed is. Shall we wait until, isolated and alone, we 
 are compelled to arrest their aggression ? or shall we unite ourselves with 
 the only really free Government on the other side of the Atlantic, and 
 announce, in advance, our determination to maintain the principles for 
 which Mr. Kossuth contends ? In express language, it is said, in the speech 
 to which I have referred, that England and the United States, looking to 
 their mercantile and naval marine, command the ocean ; that they have 
 it in their power to blockade the ports of those despotic powers, if it be 
 necessary, or, if not necessary, to place their vessels at the mouths of the 
 harbors of their different ports, and to repeat the operation which was 
 practised by our own Government upon Mexico during our war with that 
 power, — to levy duties on vessels entering those ports, and in that way to 
 destroy their commerce. 
 
 I refer to these details not for the pui-pose of commenting upon them, 
 not of expressing an opinion as to their efficiency, still less to intimate 
 any opiniafa of the correctness of their avowal, but simply to show that 
 it is not your sympathy which Mr. Kossuth asks. It is not public honors 
 
JOHN MACPHEESON BERRIEN. 83 
 
 to himself which he seeks. No, sir : he comes here to obtain from you a 
 pledge to enforce the principle that no foreign power shall be permitted 
 to interfere between the Hungarian people and the Austrian Government 
 in the event of a renewal of the contest. Are we prepared to give that 
 pledge ? Whence do we derive our authority ? We have in these two 
 Chambers the right to exercise all legislative power which is conferred 
 by the Constitution ; and among these powers is that of declaring war. 
 Have we the power, under circumstances like the present, to pledge this 
 Government irredeemably to a course of action which may lead to war, 
 and which must, in all human probability, have that result ? 
 
 I do not know what estimate is formed of the character of the Emperor 
 of Kussia: it has not been a subject of my study. But I can imagine 
 that if any thing could arouse the feelings of an individual to resistance 
 against such interference as is proposed, it would be the annunciation of 
 the principles that we, to them a trans-Atlantic power, a free people who 
 have hitherto declared that, while maintaining the principles of freedom 
 within our own limits, we abstain absolutely and entirely from all inter- 
 ference with any other Government, — nay, more, that we will allow (as 
 some are disposed to assert) no interference of any European power in 
 the affairs of this Continent, — if any circumstance, I say, could arouse 
 the feelings of the individual who is now at the head of the Russian 
 Empire to a degree which must inevitably result in war, it would be the 
 course which it is now proposed to pursue. That this course is contrary 
 to the settled policy of the Government from its foundation, I think no 
 one will be disposed to deny. Our Presidents and our Congresses have 
 not hesitated to express, in times past, their devotion to the principles of 
 civil liberty. They will not hesitate now. But, from the time of General 
 Washington's Farewell Address to the American people, down to the 
 present moment, the principle of avoiding entangling alliances with other 
 nations, — such as, I think, must be the inevitable result of the progress of 
 these proceedings, if they should be adopted, — the principle of avoiding 
 all interference with the disturbances or convulsions of Europe, has been 
 uniformly and emphatically avowed. 
 
 I desire to ascertain from the American Senate — according to the indi- 
 vidual whom it is intended to honor on this occasion all the merit which 
 his most enthusiastic admirers may be disposed to claim for him — ^whether 
 they are disposed to depart from that principle of policy by adopting a 
 measure which, in my judgment, necessarily involves that departure. 
 
 We are told of the interpretation which the civilized world has given 
 to the mere act of invitation which has been extended to this individual 
 and his associates, by sending for them a national vessel ; and if, after the 
 avowals he has made in England, — if, after the declarations of the distin- 
 guished American citizen to whom I have referred, and which Mr. Kos- 
 suth says expresses all his feelings and all his desires, — if, after the declara- 
 tions which Kossuth has made after landing on our shores, the distinc- 
 tion which he has drawn between the Government and the people, his 
 avowal of a determination to appeal to the people for the active sympathy 
 which he invokes in behalf of his country, — if after this, which is per- 
 fectly known to us, the Congress of the United States, representing the 
 thirty-one sovereign States of this Union and the twenty-five millions of 
 people which compose it, shall welcome him to the shores of the United 
 States in this formal manner, do they not thereby impliedly acquiesce in 
 the object which he thus publicly and in advance announces that he came 
 here to accomplish ? Is not that the very interpretation the civilized 
 
8-4 EEXCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 world will give it ? He says to the American people, — and the declara- 
 tion is before us while we are agitating the question : — 
 
 I do not come here to ask your sympathy. That is gratifying, but valueless. 
 I come here to invoke the aid of the great American Republic to protect my people, 
 peaceably if they may, by the moral influence of their declarations, but forcibly 
 if they must, by the physical power of their arm, — to prevent any foreign inter- 
 ference in the struggle about to be renewed for the liberties of my country. I am 
 a plain man. I am in a land of freedom. I am permitted to speak freely my senti- 
 ments. This is what I ask. If this is accorded to me, I go home, and the liberties 
 not merely of Hungary, but of Europe, are secured. If not, I go with my coun- 
 trymen alone to renew that struggle for the achievement of our liberties. 
 
 This language is too distinct to be mistaken. If this resolution passes, 
 extending to him alone (departing from your invitation, for that in- 
 cluded his associates) the welcome which it proposes, after these declara- 
 tions of the object for which he comes here, the civilized world will be 
 much more authorized than they were by the invitation which has been 
 referred to by the Senator from New York [Mr. Seward] to conclude that 
 the welcome to Governor Kossuth implies a pledge that we will interpose, 
 if necessary, and in the manner he desires, for the protection of the Hun- 
 garian nation. In my judgment, this inference i^ inevitable; and if it be 
 not, yet if it occasion doubt, if it result in producing opposition to this 
 resolution in its present form, if gentlemen do believe (and I doubt not 
 they are sincere in the declaration) that this is a mere testimonial of the 
 respect and good-will of the people of the United States toward a distin- 
 guished advocate of the cause of civil liberty, they will not hesitate to 
 accept the amendment which I shall submit, and which is simply cal- 
 culated to exclude this conclusion. I desire, in the first place, by the 
 amendment which I shall propose, to fulfil the expectations which were 
 reasonably created by the invitation, by extending this resolution to 
 *he associates of Governor Kossuth. The interposition of the American 
 Government in behalf of these captives was not confined to that individual 
 alone : it extended to all his associates in captivity. The invitation to 
 our shores equally embraced them all. If, therefore, we are acting in ful- 
 filment of the obligations created by the invitation, we must not confine 
 the resolution to Governor Kossuth, but must extend it to his associates. 
 To him and to them, to the full extent of my constitutional powers, I am 
 willing to afford an asylum within the limits of the United States, and to 
 provide all the means of making that asylum comfortable. But I should 
 be unfaithful to my duty as an American Senator, according to the con- 
 victions of my judgment, if I suffered any zeal for the advancement of the 
 principle of civil liberty on the other side of the Atlantic to induce me 
 to jeopard the safety and the vital interests of the country which is my 
 own, to which I owe my first, entire, and absolute allegiance. I am 
 unwilling, therefore, to leave it to implication, that by this reception, 
 under these circumstances, we have entered into a pledge that by the 
 exertion of moral, and, if necessary, of physical, force, we will protect the 
 people of Hungary from all foreign interference upon the renewal of their 
 struggle. Such a pledge would be irrevocable. It could not be violated 
 without dishonor. It could not be redeemed without putting in jeopardy 
 the best and most vital interests of our country. 
 
 These are the views which I entertain on this subject, and, in accord- 
 ance with them, I propose to amend the resolution by adding to it the 
 following : — 
 
 And be it furiher Resolved, That the welcome thus afforded to Louis Kossuth be 
 
JOHN MACPHEKSON BERRIEN. 85 
 
 extended to his associates who have landed on onr shores ; but, while welcoming 
 these Hungarian patriots to an asylum in our country, and to the protection which 
 our laws do and always will afford to them, it is due to candor to declare that it 
 is not the purpose of Congress to depart from the settled policy of this Govern- 
 ment which forbids all intei-ference with the domestic concerns of other nations. 
 
 Finally, on the 12tli of December, 1851, the vote was taken on 
 Mr. Berrien's amendment in two branches : first, that the welcome 
 be extended to Kossuth and his associates, which was rejected, — 
 yeas 13, nays 27; second, that the ancient policy of the Government 
 be not disturbed, which was also rejected, — yeas 15, nays 26. The 
 vote was then taken on the original resolution, which passed in the 
 affirmative, — ^yeas 33, nays 6. The resolution was subsequently 
 passed by the House of Representatives, and its adoption notified 
 to the Senate on 15th December. 
 
 The formal reception of Kossuth is thus described in the official 
 report* of the Senate, January 5, 1852 : — 
 
 At one o'clock the doors of the Senate-Chamber were thrown open, 
 and Governor Kossuth, supported by the Committee appointed by the 
 Senate to introduce him, the Hon. James Shields, the Hon. William H. 
 Seward, and the Hon. Lewis Cass, entered and advanced within the bar, 
 the Senate rising to receive them. 
 
 The suite of Governor Kossuth, in military uniform, were grouped 
 below the bar. 
 
 3Ir. Shields addressed the President as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Pre^dent, we hare the honor to introduce Louis Kossuth to the Senate of 
 the United States. 
 
 The President pro tempore then addressed him as follows : — 
 
 Louis Kossuth, I welcome you to the Senate of the United States. The Com- 
 mittee win conduct you to the seat which I have caused to be prepared for you. 
 
 He was then conducted to a chair in front of the President's desk, and 
 seated with the Committee of the Senate. 
 
 Mr. Mangum arose some time afterward and said : — 
 
 Mr. President, with the view of affording Senators an opportunity of paying 
 their respects to our illustrious guest, I move that the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The motion was agreed to. 
 
 The President then descended to the floor of the Senate, and was in- 
 troduced to Governor Kossuth by the Committee. The other Senators 
 were also severally introduced j after which gentlemen and ladies present 
 in great numbers sought the same gratification. Among the incidents of 
 the levee, it may be mentioned that when the martial figure of General 
 Houston approached Kossuth there appeared to be a special attraction in 
 the person of the hero of San Jacinto. The introduction having been 
 made, the following brief but expressive dialogue ensued : — 
 
 Mt. Sbiuton. Sir, you are welcome to the Senate of the United States. 
 Jlr. Kossuth. I can only wish that I had been as successful as you, aj:. 
 Mr. Houston. God grant that you may yet be so ! 
 
 Subsequently the distinguished stranger was conducted to the Viee- 
 * Cong. Globe, voL xxiv. part 1. p. 199. 
 
86 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOKfilA. 
 
 President's room to which the Tiesident pro tempore a.nd Senators retired 
 with him. 
 
 The visit of Kossuth and suite to the Capital, for a period of ten 
 days, and his public reception as the guest of the American people, 
 gave rise to another Utile proceeding, couched in the words of Mr. 
 Seward, in behalf of Mr. Shields, who was absent from the Senate, 
 February 12, 1852 :— 
 
 Resolved, That the expenses incurred in the reception of Louis Kos- 
 suth and suite, duriqg their late visit to the Capital by invitation of Con- 
 gress, be paid out of the contingent fund of the Senate, when approved 
 by the Committee of reception, to an amount not exceeding five thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 After considerable debate, the resolution was adopted on the 
 11th of March, 1852, by yeas 31, nays 6. 
 
 The selections from the speeches of Mr. Berrien have been made 
 to illustrate the questions on which they were delivered, more than 
 as specimens of his eloquence. There is no doubt that many 
 speeches and paragraphs more beautiful than any here quoted 
 have been omitted by the author. The perfect charm was in the 
 elocution of Mr. Berrien, a just idea of which cannot be conveyed 
 on paper. 
 
 The period has now arrived when he voluntarily retires from 
 public Ufe. The resignation of his seat in the Senate is thus 
 noticed in the published record* of May 28, 1852 : — 
 
 EESIGNATION OP MR. BEREIEN. 
 
 The President. The chair has received from an honorable Senator 
 from Georgia, John Macpherson Berrien, a statement that he has 
 resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States. The chair will take 
 occasion to say, that, having long served with that honorable Senator, it 
 is with deep regret that he finds himself under the necessity of presenting 
 this communication. That Senator had always shown himself upon this 
 floor to be a gentleman of uniform courtesy. His ability all can appre- 
 ciate for his services here. His usefulness to the country the country 
 will appreciate ; and his resignation will be deeply regretted. 
 
 The letter of resignation was read, as follows : — 
 
 Washinotox, May 28, 1852. 
 Sir : — Be pleased to accept this as the resignation of my seat in the 
 Senate of the United States. Having already notified the Governor of 
 Georgia of my intention to retire from the Senate, it only remains, in 
 closing my connection with a body with which I have beea so long asso- 
 ciated, to express to its members my respectful good wishes for their 
 
 * Cong. Globe, vol. xxjv. part 2, p. 1493. 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 87 
 
 individual prosperity and happiness, and to subscribe myself, very re- 
 spectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 John Macpheeson Berrien. 
 To the Hon. William R. King, 
 
 President pro tern. Senate of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Butler.* As the subject is up, perhaps I should announce 
 that a vacancy on the Judiciary Committee is caused by the resignation 
 of the Senator from Georgia. I desire to ask that a member may be 
 appointed to fill the place of that gentleman. In doing so, I take occa- 
 sion to say that he has been a most valuable member upon that com- 
 mittee. He was my counsellor; and upon all important questions, par- 
 ticularly those of a Constitutional character, I resorted to Judge Berrien 
 with more confidence, perhaps, than to any other member associated with 
 me on that committee, — meaning no disparagement to the others, but 
 because he had been longer on the committee, and was more familiar with 
 the subjects before it. And I can only announce, while asking that his 
 place may be filled with another, that I much regret his departure. I 
 move that the vacancy be filled by the President of the Senate. 
 
 Soon after his return to Georgia, Judge Berrien attended the 
 Supreme Court at Americus, where he appeared in several im- 
 portant bank cases,t taken up on writs of error from Columbus, 
 involving the personal liability of the stockholders for the out- 
 standing bills issued by the bank as circulation. His argument 
 occupied some two or three days, and is said to have been a master- 
 piece of judicial learning and logic. It was on this occasion, 
 returning from the court, that he passed a night in Oglethorpe, 
 then quite a populous and thrifty town at the terminus of the 
 Southwestern Railroad. Such was the respect entertained for 
 him by all parties, that, after hearing a discussion on Presidential 
 topics, the citizens formed a procession and marched in perfect 
 order to the hotel, where a pleasant scene took place, which was 
 thus described in the Southern Democrat of July 24, 1852 : — 
 
 Hon. John M. Berrien. — This distinguished citizen and faithful 
 public servant of Georgia received the public greeting of a large con- 
 course of the citizens of Oglethorpe, on Thursday night, at the Empire 
 Hotel. On his way home from Americus, whither he had been attending 
 the Supreme Court, Judge Berrien was casually in our midst, reposing 
 himself after severe professional labor and a slight att-ack of indisposi- 
 tion. His name was dear to the people of Georgia. As an orator, states- 
 man, and jurist, his fame was in every clime. No wonder, then, that his 
 presence should call forth such a demonstration of respect from the warm- 
 hearted and patriotic of all parties in our city. 
 
 About ten o'clock at night, the concourse assembled at the hotel, and, 
 
 * Senator Butler died May 24, 1857. 
 
 •}■ See Thornton vs. Lane, 2 Georgia Reports, 459. The argument on both sides 
 occupied eight days. 
 
88 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 upon being informed that the judge had retired, sent him a respectful 
 message to appear at the window, that they might receive even a few 
 words from him. The judge consented that his friends outside might 
 give one cheer and then leave him to his rest, for he was too feeble in 
 body to make them a speech. They began to shout his name, and then 
 cheer after cheer succeeded, until the veteran Senator, the beloved asso- 
 ciate of Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, appeared at the window. Perfect 
 silence reigned, to catch every tone of his rich voice. He returned 
 thanks, and excused himself in a manner so graceful and eloquent that 
 it was deeply regretted the remarks could not be extended. But the 
 voice of Judge Berrien had been heard, — that voice on which Chief- 
 Justice Marshall used to hang with delight, and which has charmed vast 
 assemblages of his countrymen in the court-room, in literary halls, at 
 mass meetings, and in the Senate-Chamber. Pe took the cars yesterday 
 for Savannah. May happiness and long life crown his eminent career ! 
 
 The Senate of the United States is still a very respectable body. 
 It used to be more : it was illustrious. Never did it possess such 
 an array of talent, of dignified and practical statesmanship of the 
 very highest order, as when Calhoun, Clay, Webster, and Ber- 
 rien were members together. Mr. Forsyte was entitled to rank 
 in this galaxy. It may indeed be said that there were giants in 
 those days. The Senate has suffered an eclipse. Broad, pure 
 sunlight may again irradiate it. The men are on hand, to be 
 brought out, like the statue in the block of marble, by removing 
 the concealment. The views* of the author on this subject were 
 lately given to the public, which he here ventures to transcribe. 
 He had been glancing through Revolutionary statistics and bene- 
 factors, paying at the close a deserved tribute to the Hon. Lewis 
 Cass, (from whose speech on the mission of the Papal States to 
 this country he quoted,) and then the author continued : — 
 
 The fathers of the republic are gone ; the second generation since has 
 almost passed away ; and now, in the midst of a sanguine and progressive 
 age, we are pushing the conquests of civilization throughout the Western 
 world. General Cass is, perhaps, the only civilian now in service whose 
 youth mingled with the sages of the Revolution. His career has been one 
 of honorable success, and long may he live to promote the good of his 
 country. 
 
 On a proud eminence, and as belonging to a class of men nearly extinct, 
 three other names occur to us deserving a grateful tribute. Other than 
 the three, we mention no more living in the balance of this paper. We 
 have no fear of exciting jealousy by the record. Berrien, Everett, 
 and Preston, each in himself unites the Ciceronian elements of cha- 
 racter, in a degree never excelled in our country, — ripe scholarship, fault- 
 less oratory, and the highest moral cultivation. As stars of fixed magni- 
 
 * See September No., 1855, of De Bow's KeTJew, toI. six. p. 286 — ^Art. 
 ' Chronicles of the Government and People of the United States." 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERKIEN. 89 
 
 tnde, long may tbey adorn the horizon of freedom and literature, to win 
 oar youth to greatness in the same paths ! 
 
 With such names as we have introduced in the course of this article, 
 and others familiar to the public, always present to our thoughts, we are 
 apt to pronounce the race of great men as forever gone, and that the actors 
 now on the political stage can never achieve equal celebrity. True, the 
 material is <£fferent : the same influences that marked out Washington, 
 Franklin, and Henry, and made them the wonder of mankind, may 
 never be brought to bear again, to develop character. In their day, 
 intelligence was less difiiised among the people than at present ; it was 
 locked up in few minds, and its exhibition was the more striking on that 
 account. A man who could write in good style was a prodigy ; respect- 
 able gifts of speech secured distinction to the possessor at once. We 
 honor the men of the Revolution, heroes, jurists, and statesmen, authors, 
 artists, and bards, and we hope ever to venerat* them : still, we do not 
 yield to them superiority over the men now in action, and those pre- 
 paring for the public arena. We briefly give some of our reasons. 
 
 Let any man take up the four volumes of the Congressional Globe and 
 Appendix — in all, thirty-five hundred quarto pages — ^for the first session 
 of the thirty-third Congress, and let him read the conversational debates, 
 and those of a more formal character, as given by the reporters, and he 
 will find talent, wit, humor, searching argument, keen invective, bold 
 eloquence, and stores of historical and diplomatic information, with a 
 facility of applying it, that will astonish him. We know that the mind 
 is there, — mind that is improving; every stroke of the hammer eliminates 
 a spark and strengthens the metal. And, lest we might be suspected of 
 a very high degree of Junior ship in such matters, we frankly state that 
 the handsome dress in which most of the debates appear, the ha^ony 
 of periods, the connection of ideas, and the order of argument, are often 
 supplied by the reporters, who have a professional pride to allow no cru- 
 dities to meet the public eye. We have heard speeches from plain, 
 sluggish, and uncouth men, full of bad English, as delivered ; but when 
 printed from the reporter's copy they were wholly different, though in 
 substance the same, — ^had a face of beauty and learning, and seemed 
 worthy of a practised orator. A few suggestions, and a natural method 
 of stating facts, regardless of the tone of voice, the trembling knees, and 
 the halting phrase, will enable a reporter to write out an excellent speech. 
 Admitting all this to be true, we maintain that there is an amount of 
 talent in the country that will prove sufficient in any emergency that 
 may arise in our political fortunes, foreign or domestic ; and especially if 
 men shall be encouraged to effort by the present liberal system of Con- 
 gressional reporting, and the privilege of publishing speeches superior to 
 those frightened out in debate, with entirely new matter, and most ele- 
 gant fmishing, there will be no lack of greatness, as shown hy the record, 
 to excite the wonder of constituents and succeeding generations. 
 
 As printed, all speeches read well, and most of them appear to possess 
 the same order of ability, even when we know the great disparity between 
 their authors in mental and scholastic advantages. The press is the 
 grand fulcrum on which the lever does its work, builds up men and sys- 
 tems, pulls down and alters at pleasure, gives notoriety on small pretence, 
 and keeps the world wide awake. Nowhere, probably, do such enter- 
 prises prosper more than at Washington ; for nowhere else can be found 
 such accomplished letter-writers, such competition in management, and 
 
90 BENCH AND BAR 01' SEORGIA. 
 
 such Startling conjectures. The talent of Congress would be compara- 
 tively obscure in public estimation but for the greater talent outside 
 the bar. 
 
 The people ought not to complain of any of these seeming abuses, 
 which are the very life of society. Without this reckless, constant vigor 
 of mind and interest in the lobbies of Congress, — often proclaiming truth 
 to the benefit or injury of some person or party, — we should have no 
 richly-flavored political dishes at home, no thunder-claps to purify the 
 atmosphere, no shadows to make the sun more beautiful. Look at the 
 tables we have submitted ; call to mind the dead and living who have 
 legislated for us, — equal in the aggregate to the service of one man in 
 Congress for six thousand four hundred and fifty years, at a cost of 
 twenty-five millions of dollars per diem apd mileage ; and then reflect 
 upon the incidentals since 1789, the expenditure of labor, the anxious 
 minds, the success and defeat, hopes and disappointments, the wielding 
 of executive patronage, &c. &c. These are all chronicled in newspaper 
 files, from the day the first President communicated with Congress down 
 to the present. We presume that a regular succession of such papers 
 may be found in the Congressional Library, as Mr. Jefferson was in the 
 habit of preserving all the gazettes of his day, and they are, no doubt, in 
 his collection attached to the library. It is fair to presume that Niles's 
 Register, The Globe, The Union, National Intelligencer, and other papers 
 subsequent to the period of Mr. Jefierson's husbandry, have also been 
 secured to the library for reference. If not all sustained by the patronage, 
 they are at least t^B journals, (or diary,) of the Government, and as such 
 may be consulted as to current transactions. 
 
 Judge Berrien had fame enough to satisfy even the proudest 
 ambition. He had been a long time a servant of the people. In 
 all offices, in all trusts, in all emergencies, bis fidelity was acknow- 
 ledged. Besides, he had a reputation beyond the borders of his 
 own country for scholarship, eloquence, and refinement. His 
 classic mind, his perfect urbanity, his elevated nature, embellished 
 with all the graces which constitute the true gentleman, were known 
 in the principal courts of Europe, where his name was familiar in 
 diplomatic circles, although he had never served his country 
 abroad. Age had softly impressed more than threescore and ten 
 upon his temples ; and, with fresh complexion, buoyant step, and 
 cheerful spirits, he still bade fair to live many years, to comfort his 
 children and to counsel with his felloAV-citizens in seasons of 
 difficulty. 
 
 Within the last few years a new political organization had been 
 formed, styled the "American party," whose object was to counter- 
 act foreign infiuence, which was rapidly increasing by immigration 
 from Europe, at the rate, it was alleged, of half a million annually, 
 and that, for the most part, of an ignorant population, including a 
 large number of paupers and criminals cast upon our shores to be 
 fed by charity and to corrupt society by the presence of such a 
 
JOHN JIACPHBRSOX BERRIEN. 91 
 
 moral ulcer in the body politic. This was the leading idea around 
 which the party rallied, first as a secret order, and then openly as 
 a party contending for supremacy in public affairs. The issue was 
 met by the Democratic party of Georgia with signal triumph, at the 
 polls, in October, 1855. Pending the canvass, the sentiments of 
 Judge Berrien were given to the public in an Address to the 
 People of Georgia, which, as being the last he ever wrote, is incor- 
 porated in this memoir, to be referred to for the constitutional 
 principle discussed and for the lights shed by his powerful mind. 
 It is dated from his summer residence in the mountains of 
 Georgia : — 
 
 Rockingham, 4th September, 1855. 
 
 To the People of Georgia. 
 
 Feixow-Citizens : — I have received sundry communications from 
 individuals and from committees of citizens, inviting me to attend public 
 assemblies of the people in difiFerent parts of the State, for the purpose of 
 discussing the questions which have been and which continue to be agi- 
 tated during the present canvass, — or, if that could not be done, requesting 
 me to express my opinions on the subjects which excite the popular mind, 
 in a form which might be given to the public. In complying with this 
 alternative request, since the first is impracticable, I hope I shall not be 
 considered presumptuous. While I am desirous of avoiding intrusion, I 
 am unwilling to shrink from the performance of a duty; and, having 
 passed a great portion of my life in the service of this State, I do not feel 
 at liberty to withhold my opinion on any question of public interest con- 
 cerning which my fellow-citizens may desire the expression of it. 
 
 This is my real feeling, — that which induces this address. I do not 
 assume to guide public opinion, but simply to express my own at the call 
 of those who have a right to ask it. Yet, in doing so, I must speak 
 plainly, and must necessarily come in conflict with some of the opposing 
 opinions which have been urged with so much vehemence during the 
 present canvass. If this shall subject me to the vituperation which has 
 been so lavishly indulged, I will rely on the intelligence and honorable 
 feeling of my countrymen to spare me the humiliation of replying to such 
 assaults. 
 
 As an appropriate introduction to the remarks which I propose to 
 submit to your consideration, it becomes necessary to advert for a moment 
 to the condition of parties in our State. The ancient issues which divided 
 the Whig and Democratic parties have either ceased to exist or have been 
 for the time laid aside. A party has arisen, which, drawing its support 
 from the ranks of both of its predecessors, presents new and important 
 questions to public consideration. The Whig party, although not dead, 
 as has been vainly supposed, abstains as a party from entering into this 
 contest. As a conservative body, it nevertheless exists, and must continue 
 to do so as long as a genuine spirit of conservatism is cherished by the 
 people of Georgia. From the Union party, — ^which was the offepring of 
 an occasion, — ^as well as from the Democratic party, large draughts have 
 been made by this new adventurer in the political field. The majority 
 of the Democratic party, however, remains intact, and is strengthened by 
 some (in point of numbers) inconsiderable accessions from the ranks of ite 
 
92 BENCH AND BAE OF 6E0EGIA. 
 
 ancient opponents, and, perhaps, yet more by tlie fact that the great 
 majority of them have hitherto stood aloof from the contending parties. 
 
 The Democratic party, even thus mutilated, advances boldly to the 
 conflict, waging uncompromising hostility against this new aspirant to 
 political power. The present contest is therefore waged between this un- 
 broken remnant of the ancient Democracy, strengthened as I have before 
 intimated, and an association of individuals, or orders, who have assumed 
 to themselves the name of the American party. In the manoeuvring 
 preparatory to the actual conflict, the Democratic party, with its usual 
 tact, has secured a position to windward, by which it has the privilege of 
 becoming the assailant, and of selecting its point of attack, while its oppo- 
 nents, organized for the purpose of correcting abuses, have found them- 
 selves unexpectedly put on the defensive. 
 
 In this state of the controversy, the questions we are to consider 
 relate, — 
 
 1. To the object contemplated by the American party. 
 
 2. To the means proposed for its accomplishment. 
 
 We are first, then, to examine the object of this party, — to ascertain 
 its character, and to determine its tendency to promote or conflict with 
 the public welfare. Its first great object — that which is elemental and 
 primary, and to which all others are considered as auxiliary or antici- 
 pated as results, as it is expressed in their own language — is that Ameri- 
 cans shall govern America; that is, that the people of the country — those 
 to whom it belongs — shall govern the country. This would seem to be a 
 simple, undeniable, and acceptable proposition, recognised by every civilized 
 community, and maintained even among the tribes of the forest; and so 
 it would be received here and now among us, if it could be viewed simply 
 and on its own merits, apart from those extraneous considerations vrith 
 which it has been connected and complicated and by which it is influ- 
 enced. It is inconceivable that any considerable number of American 
 citizens, whether natives or those who have been heretofore naturalized, 
 could be willing to surrender the government of their country to foreigners, 
 and to that description of foreigners who are annually, and in such im- 
 mense numbers, migrating to our shores. The naked proposition, simply 
 presented at the domestic firesides of our citizens, would hardly find an 
 advocate. But it is not considered simply and on its own merits. The 
 aspirations of individuals and the interests of party combine to forbid it. 
 A great party wielding the power of the Government has attained and 
 maintains its power by the aid of a vote which is substantially foreign, 
 although the voters may have passed through the forms of a hurried natu- 
 ralization. It is natural that they should be unwilling to concur in any 
 measure which might divest them of this power or have a tendency to 
 diminish their present or prospective means of securing and increasing it. 
 They are therefore, under the promptings of interest, the advocates of the 
 foreigner, zealous to maintain and willing to extend his privilege of partici- 
 pating in the government of the country. And then, again, the aspirants 
 to political eminence — those in search of official position in the State 
 or in the Union, who would win the support of this great party — ^must 
 worship at the altars which they have consecrated, and be eloquent in the 
 assertion of the rights of the foreigner, — as if he had any rights here 
 until we had conferred them. Call to your recollection the thrilling 
 speeches to which you have listened at the various gatherings which you 
 have attended, — the pious horror which has been expressed at the alleged 
 
JOHN MACPHERSOX BERRIEN. 93 
 
 violation of liberty of conscience, the touching pictures which have been 
 drawn of our country as the asylum of the oppressed, the bold assertion 
 of the fitness of the foreign immigrant to share your most cherished privi- 
 l^es in the same extent in which you yourselves enjoy them, — and then 
 consider from whom this declamation comes; say if it proceeds from the 
 disinterested advocates of the common interest, or the bold and selfish 
 assertors of their own. 
 
 To accomplish the object expressed in their primary, elementary maxim, 
 that ATnericans shall govern America, the American party proposes, — 
 
 1. Substantial modifications of the acts regulating naturalization. 
 
 Under the existing laws, five years' residence in the country and a 
 compliance with the forms prescribed by them entitle a foreigner to 
 citizenship, and to all the privileges which you enjoy, — ^with two or three 
 exceptions, to which it is not necessary to refer. The American party 
 desire to enlarge thb term, — to provide for a more accurate scrutiny of 
 the claims of persons applying for naturalization, and against the immi- 
 gration of paupers and felons into the United States. 
 
 In my judgment, these measures would be eminently conducive to the 
 public welfare. This is with me no new opinion, and it is not now for 
 the first time expressed. Several years ago the subject engaged the at- 
 tention of Congress. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I made a 
 report to the Senate, contemplating a full and final report, at the then 
 next session, on the return of certain commissioners, to ascertain the 
 various frauds which were alleged to exist in {he grant, and subsequent 
 use, of naturalization-papers. Before that time, changes in the Senate 
 resulted in placing a Democratic Senator at the head of the Committee, 
 and the matter was abandoned. 
 
 I do not think it necessary to enter into an elaborate argument to prove 
 that the indiscriminate admission of foreigners after a residence of five 
 years to the privilege of citizenship is an evil. We are making — ^we have 
 thus far successfully made — an experiment of self-government. Our free 
 institutions, which have hitherto been found efficient for national advance- 
 ment and for individual security, have been indebted for their support 
 to the loyalty of our people rather than to their own compulsive powers. 
 The founders of the Republic were men qualified for their office, — ^united 
 in reverence for the laws, in resistance to oppression, in devotion to the 
 principles of civil liberty; and the spirit which animated them was in- 
 fused into the institutions which they established. It was only svch men 
 who could have founded such a government. Men animated hy a sim,i- 
 lar spirit can alone preserve it. Let the abortive attempts in revolu- 
 tionary France to establish and maintain free institutions attest the truth 
 of this assertion. 
 
 Now, I propound this inquiry : — Are the foreigners who are being, and 
 especially at the approach of our election, so rapidly incorporated among 
 us, likely to be animated by this salutary spirit, fitted to be the guardians 
 of our free institution ? I would be very sorry to deny that among these 
 emigrants there are^ome worthy men, who, when familiarized to our in- 
 stitutions by long residence among us, may become good citizens and 
 capable of participating in our privileges; but no candid man will deny 
 that a large proportion are of a very different character, consisting for the 
 most part of Red Republicans or anarchists, criminals, and paupers, — or 
 will venture, when dismounted from the stump, calmly to assert that five 
 years' residence here will qualify an ignorant foreigner thoroughly to un- 
 
94 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 derstand our institutions and loyally to conform to them. Then let it be 
 remembered that each one of these who is admitted to the exercise of the 
 elective franchise without being thus qualified, and who is consequently 
 liable to be led astray by the artifice of the demagogue or coerced by the 
 threatened anathema of his priest, annuls the vote of one citizen, — may, 
 in fact, expunge your vote or mine. Then consider the number and 
 character of the people who are annually cast upon our shores. I do not 
 mean to trouble you with statistics. I dare say the records have been 
 ransacked by opposing candidates for your favor, and that the results are 
 familiar to you. I take from the papers of the day those to which I refer, — 
 incontrovertible statements. 
 
 Bear in mind, then, the fact that a foreign immigration, which up to 
 the year 1800 did not exceed five thousand persons, has risen since 
 18.50 to half a million, and which, looking to the state of Europe, 
 will probably in a very short time amount up to a million a year. Now, 
 give a free scope to your benevolent feelings ; exercise the most extended 
 charity in estimating the probable number of those who are worthy men, 
 capable by a proper probationary term of being rendered good citizens, 
 and what a fearful residue will remain, what a mass of poisonous ingre- 
 dients to be infused into the body politic! The census of 1850 shows 
 that the number of foreign paupers and criminals exceeded that of native 
 paupers and criminals, although the native population was seven times 
 greater than the foreign. , What would be your feelings if poverty and 
 crime existed in this proportion and to this extent among yourselves? 
 If the quantum of pauperism and vice which existed among you was the 
 proportion of a population seven times greater in number than your own, 
 what security would you have for your free institutions ? what guarantee 
 for your individual rights ? 
 
 Consider, also, that these emigrants, shunning the South from their un- 
 willingness to compete with slave-labor, and flocking to the North, 
 from their abolition tendencies, in search of kindred spirits, are thus 
 rapidly increasing the majority against you in Congress at every appor- 
 tionment, and will, unless checked, in no very great length of time place 
 the Constitution and the institutions of the South at the mercy of fanati- 
 cism. 
 
 And how are these calamities to be averted, if this horde of foreigners 
 rapidly increasing is to be annually added to your society? The plagues 
 of Egypt were mercies, — since they were guided by divine benevolence, 
 and stayed by his omnipotence when the deliverance of his chosen people 
 was efiected. But who shall stay this moral pestilence if you are insen- 
 sible to your danger? If persevered in, in what can it eventuate but in 
 the ruin of the Hepublic ? Can the noble system of government esta- 
 blished by our fathers be administered by men like these ? 
 
 You are told that your number so largely exceeds that of the foreign 
 population that all apprehension of danger is idle. I do not mean to give 
 offence to any man, but to speak in the sincerity of ^y heart, when I say 
 that such an argument seems to me to estimate ve^ humbly the under- 
 standings of those to whom it is addressed. In the open, manly defence 
 of your rights and liberties, of that glorious Constitution bequeathed to 
 you by your fathers, of your homesteads and your households, — in the de- 
 fence of these against an open and manly assault, you are competent to 
 resist not only the foreigners among us, but a world in arms. God forbid 
 that one American bosom should palpitate with craven fear in view of 
 
JOHX MACPDERSOX BERRIEJf. 95 
 
 suet a conflict I But this is not the danger which menaces. Every man 
 unworthy of citizenship, who is admitted to its privileges, is an enemy in 
 your camp, — a moral leper, spreading contagion far and wide. The 
 morals of the community are corrupted, its heart is tainted, by such asso- 
 ciation : for, however stained with crime, the stamp of citizens makes 
 them politically a part of yourselves. Can you bear the amalgamation ? 
 
 And why should you bear it ? Foreigners aided us in the Ilevolutionary 
 struggle. Ay, and they have received their rewards. They became in- 
 corporated among us, or have voluntarily gone elsewhere in quest of new 
 adventure. But we invited immigration. Ay, at the close of our Revo- 
 lutionary War, when amid its toils and privations we had achieved our in- 
 dependence, we had a sparse and exhausted population and an extensive 
 and uncultivated domain. We required an increase of population for the 
 purpose of internal improvement and external defence; and, conforming 
 to this policy, our system of naturalization was established. Europe was 
 then calm, — at least free from the menace of intestine commotion. Party 
 spirit among ourselves was comparatively quiescent. We invited foreign- 
 ers, and we received them. They came to us in small numbers, mingleil 
 with our people, and peacefully pursued the avocations of industry. AH 
 this is changed. AVe have population sufficiently numerous for every 
 present purpose, and without the aid of immigration we are increasing in 
 number as rapidly as we could desire. Notwithstanding this, there is an 
 annual outpouring upon us of the restless and unquiet spirits of Europe, 
 its paupers and criminals. Not mingling with us as when their numbers 
 were small, they are now sufficiently numerous to herd together, to Uve 
 apart from us, to constitute distinct foreign societies in the midst of the 
 native population. In the bitterness of our party contests, this foreign 
 vote has been eagerly, and often by unworthy means, sought after and 
 obtained, alternately, by both parties; and, acting as a unit, the boast of 
 Kossuth has been realized : it holds the balance, and may decide our 
 elections. 
 
 This is a state of things not to be borne by American freemen. This 
 foreign incursion must be regulated or checked; and the American party 
 has its origin in the conviction of this necessity. The very general exist- 
 ence of this conviction has secured to them a support beyond the limits 
 of their association. I concur with them in the belief that the laws regu- 
 lating immigration and the naturalization of foreigners ought to be sub- 
 jected to a thorough and searching revision; that the term of probation 
 should be largely extended ; that, to protect us from the intrusion of pau- 
 pers and criminals, provision ought to be made for the ascertainment, bv 
 our consuls abroad, of the character and condition of persons proposing to 
 emigrate to the United States, and that every safeguard which the wisdom 
 of Congress can devise should be thrown around the emendatory statute, 
 to prevent and punish its evasion. 
 
 2. As a further means of attaining their object, the individuals com- 
 posing the American party have bound themselves by mutual pledges, 
 each to the other, to unit« their exertions for its accomplishment. 1 
 suppose such a pledge, either expressed or implied, is the tie which con- 
 nects the members of every party. As to their organization, their ritual, 
 their particular modes of proceeding and recognition, and the secrecy 
 which has hitherto been observed in their proceeding, all of which have 
 given occasion for so much eloquent and ingenious declamation and de- 
 nunciation, I am not required to express an opinion, for these, it is un- 
 
96 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 derstood, have been abandoned by their National Council, and all that is 
 now required for admission into their order is the approval of their prin- 
 ciples. One of these — that which announces their determination not to 
 vote for or appoint Eomanists to office — has been the subject of much re- 
 prehension, and has been assailed as a violation of -the liberty of con- 
 science which is secured by the Constitution. The provisions of that in- 
 strument, which are supposed to be violated, are contained in the con- 
 cluding clause of the third section of the sixth article, and in the first 
 clause of the first article of the amendments. The first, after providing 
 for administering an oath to difi'erent public functionaries, contains the 
 following provision : — 
 
 But no religious teat shall ever be required as a qualification for any office or 
 public trust under the United States. 
 
 The second declares 
 
 That Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or 
 prohibiting the free exercise thereof. 
 
 By what process of reasoning these provisions of the Constitution can 
 be made to conflict with the right of the citizen to the unlimited exercise 
 of his own free and uncontrolled will in the enjoyment of his elective 
 franchise, I am utterly at a loss to discover ; and I have sought it in vain 
 in such arguments of the objectors as I have had an opportunity of 
 perusing. The first clause relates to persons elected to office, and requires 
 that they shall have the oath of office administered to them without 
 being subjected to any religious test. And this is the whole scope and 
 effect of the act. It does not even remotely interfere with the right of 
 an individual to exercise his own judgment in determining whether the 
 religion of the candidate, or the want of it, ought or ought not to influ- 
 ence him in casting his vote for or against him. This seems alpiost too 
 plain for argument. If a voter believes the religion of a candidate to be 
 unsound or dangerous to an extent which would induce distrust in the 
 ordinary transactions of life, it is not only his right but his duty to with- 
 hold his confidence and his vote. No provision of the Constitution 
 forbids it, and duty to the country requires it. It would be wrong in the 
 Grovernment to make this test, because it is an exercise of discretion 
 which the people have not intrusted to them, but have reserved to them- 
 selves. Thus, that which would be wrong in the Government is the right 
 and duty of the citizen. How far this may apply to Eomanists is a 
 matter for the exercise of individual judgment, and for that alone. I 
 would not feel that native American Eomanists, trained in the principles 
 of civil liberty, of reverence to the Constitution and laws, and devoted to 
 the Union, would come within its scope. For the rest, to show that the 
 view of the American party is sustained by a man of large intelligence 
 and of undoubted piety, I subjoin the letter of Mr. Wesley, — remarking 
 only that the attempt to restrict his opinions to the particular state of 
 affairs existing at the time when his letter was written is simply futile, 
 since it is perfectly obvious that they are of enduring applicability, — at 
 least until Eomanists shall abandon those precepts of their religion to 
 which Mr. Wesley refers : — 
 
 LETTEE OP JOHN WESLEY. 
 
 SiB : — Some time ago a pamphlet was sent me, entitled " An Appeal from the 
 Protestant Association to the People of Great Britain." A day or two since, a kind 
 of answer to this was put into my hand, which pronounces its style contemptible, 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 97 
 
 its reasoning futile, and its object malicious. On the contrary, I think the style 
 of it is clear, easy, and natural ; the reasoning, in general, strong and conclusive : 
 the object or design kind and benevolent. And, in pursuance of the same kind and 
 benevolent design, — namely, to preserve our happy Constitution, — I shall endeavor 
 to confirm the substance of that tract by a few plain arguments. 
 
 With persecution I have nothing to do: I persecute no man for his religious 
 principles. Let there be as boundless freedom in religion as any man can conceive. 
 But l£is does not touch the point. I -will set religion, true or false, utterly out of 
 the question. Suppose the Bible, if you please, to be a fable, and the Koran to be 
 the word of God. I consider not whether the Bomish religion is true or false, — 
 build nothing on the one or the other supposition. Therefore away with all your 
 commonplace declamation about intolerance and persecution for religion ! Suppose 
 every word of Pope Pius's creed to be true : suppose the Council of Trent to have 
 been infallible : yet I insist upon it that no Government not Roman Catholic ought 
 to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion. 
 
 I prove this by a plain argument, (let him answer it that can :) that no Roman 
 Catholic does or can give security for his alleg^nce or peaceable behavior. I prove 
 it thus : — It is a Roman Catholic maxim, established not by private men, but by 
 public council, that " no faith is to be kept with heretics." That has been openly 
 avowed by the Council of Constance, but it has never been openly disclaimed. 
 Whether private persons avow or disavow it, it is a fixed maxim of the Church of 
 Rome. But, as long as it is so, nothing can be more plain than that the members 
 of that Church can give no reasonable security to any Government for their alle- 
 giance and peaceable behavior. Therefore they ought not to be tolerated by any 
 Government, Protestant, Mohammedan, or Pagan. You say, " Nay, but they take 
 the oath of allegiance." True, — ^five hundred oaths : but the maxim " no faith is to 
 be kept with heretics" sweeps them all away as a spider's web. So that still no 
 Governments that are not Roman Catholic can have any security of their allegiance. 
 
 Agiun: those who acknowledge the spiritual power of the Pope can give no 
 security of their allegiance to siny Government : but all Roman Catholics acknow- 
 ledge this ; therefore they can give no security for their allegiance. The power of 
 granting pardons for all sins past, present, and to come, is and has been for many 
 centuries one branch of his spiritual power. But those who acknowledge him to 
 have their spiritual power can give no security for their allegiance, since they 
 believe the Pope can pardon rebellion, high-treason, and all other sins whatso- 
 ever. The power of dispensing with any promise, oath, or vow, is another brancli 
 of the spiritual power of the Pope : all who acknowledge his spiritual power must 
 acknowledge this. But whoever acknowledges the dispensing power of the Pope 
 can give no security for his allegiance to any Government. Oaths and promises are 
 none ; they are as light as air : a, dispensation makes them null and void. Nay, 
 not only the Pope, but even a priest, has power to pardon sins ! This is an essential 
 doctrine of the Church of Rome. But they that acknowledge this cannot possibly 
 g^ve any security for their allegiance to any Government. Oaths are no security 
 at all, for the priest can pardon both perjury and high-treason. Setting their 
 religion aside, it is plain that upon principles of reason no Government ought to 
 tolerate men who cannot give any security to that Government for their alle^nce 
 and peaceable behavior. But this no Romanist can do, not only while he holds 
 that " no faith is to be kept with heretics," but so long as he acknowledges either 
 priestly absolution or the spiritual power of the Pope. 
 
 If any one pleases to answer this, and set his name, I shall probably reply. But 
 the productions of anonymous writers I do not promise to take any notice of. 
 
 I am, sir, your humble servant, 
 
 • JoHH Wesley. 
 
 City Boas, January 12, 1780. 
 
 The wiole force of the second provision is spent in the prohibition to 
 Congress. It forbids Congress to " make any law respecting an establish- 
 ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It does not 
 forbid individuals to make such establishments. On the contrary, we 
 have many of them. It relates to the legislation of Congress, not to the 
 vote of the citizen j and the foreign zeal which would distort these pro- 
 visions of the Constitution so as to divest the citizen of the uncontrolled 
 
 Vol. I.— 7 
 
98 BENCH AND BAE OP GEORGIA. 
 
 exercise of his elective franchise is, as it seems to me, alite alien from 
 the Constitution and the plainest dictates of reason. 
 
 The twelfth article of the Philadelphia Platform has been the subject 
 of much commentary. I state, without discussing them, my own opinions 
 on the subject of which it treats. 
 
 I recognise the impracticability, from whatever cause, of reconciling 
 the conflicting opinions which exist on the subject of slavery, and the 
 danger of agitating that question in the National Legislature. I am 
 content that the American party shall in good faith hold themselves 
 bound to abide by and maintain the existing laws on the subject, and 
 with their declaration that Congress has no power to interfere with slavery 
 in the States where it exists, or to refuse the admission of any State 
 because its Constitution does or does not recognise slavery as a part of its 
 social system. I hold that the Territories of the United States are the 
 property, not of Congress, but of the whole people of the United States, 
 until such Territories become States. I do not believe that Congress has 
 the power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, apart from the 
 contract with Maryland, or considerations of public faith ; but, as Congress 
 has no Constitutional power to violate a solemn contract or to commit a 
 breach of national faith, I think they are equally precluded by these con- 
 siderations. 
 
 These are my opinions on the questions presented to me. I desire to 
 add a brief remark on another subject. 
 
 The several parties in this State have all planted themselves on the 
 fourth resolution of the Greorgia Convention of 1850, and the interpretation 
 given to it by some persons is that, upon the happening of either of the 
 contingencies specified in it, Georgia is to prepare for an immediate " dis- 
 ruption of the Union." I do not so understand it. I think it could not 
 have been so understood by its framers. I am sure that this is not the 
 fair import of its terms, and still more confident that such is not the 
 feeling of the people of Georgia. 
 
 In the specified contingencies, Georgia pledges herself to resist, " even, 
 as a last resort," to the disruption of the Union. The term last is a relative 
 term. It necessarily implies some preceding action, — some honest, well- 
 meant patriotic efforts to secure your rights, without the necessity of 
 having recourse to this last fearful resort, the disruption of the Union. 
 I implore my countrymen to give to this subject their earnest, anxious 
 consideration, — not to be diverted from it by the declamation of political 
 aspirants, the agitations of the canvass, or the excitement of the hustings, 
 but calmly, quietly, in the retirement of their own homes, to consider 
 what it is to which this controversy is tending, and, humbly supplicating 
 that Almighty Being, under whose protecting providence our fathers laid 
 the foundation of this great Republic, to imbue us with the same con- 
 ciliatory spirit by which they were animated, to seek under his benefi- 
 cent guidance the solution of the problem which shall reconcile Southern 
 rights with the perpetuity of the Union. 
 
 Respectfully, your fellow-citizen, 
 
 Jno. Macpheeson Berrien. 
 
 In December, 1855, the American party held a Convention at 
 Milledgeville, of which Judge Berkien was unanimously chosen 
 President. His remarks on taking the chair were brief, admitting 
 that a sense of duty and a desire to aid in the good work for which 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 99 
 
 the Convention had assembled alone induced him, in infirm health, 
 to take part in its deliberations, or to accept the chair -which had 
 been so kindly tendered him. This was his last public appearance. 
 On his return to Savannah his illness continued to increase, to the 
 great alarm of his family. The best medical skill which the city 
 afforded (equal to any in the South) was invoked to relieve the 
 sufferer. His disease (inflammation of the kidneys) yielded to no 
 treatment ; and, on the morning of January 1, 1856, Judge Berrien 
 breathed his last, at the age of seventy-five years. His dying hours 
 were those of peace with God and with all mankind. 
 
 The intelligence of the death of Judge Berrien spread gloom 
 in every quarter. The citizens of Savannah mourned as if each 
 had lost a friend. Testimonials of respect were adopted by the 
 City Councils, the City Bar, the Bar of the Supreme Court, and 
 by the Georgia Historical Society, — of which he was President. 
 The press, also, without regard to party distinctions, did justice 
 to his exalted character and faithful public services. 
 
 The domestic relations of Judge Berrien have not been hitherto 
 mentioned in this memoir. On the 1st of December, 1803, he 
 intermarried with Miss Eliza Anciaux, daughter of Major Nicholas 
 Anciaux, an oflScer in the American army of the Revolution, who 
 after the termination of the war had settled in Georgia. Nine 
 children were the fruit of this marriage, of whom five survived 
 him. In 1828, Mrs. Berrien died. He lived a widower five years, 
 until July, 1833, when he married Miss Eliza C. Hunter, daughter 
 of Col. James Hunter, of Savannah. Six children were the issue 
 of this second marriage, all of whom lived to mourn the loss of 
 the best of fathers. The second Mrs. Berrien died in February, 
 1852. 
 
 The fame of Judge Berrien has been handsomely acknowledged 
 by the Legislature, — a majority of whose members in each branch 
 was opposed to him politically. The fact is no less honorable to 
 the living than it is to the memory of the dead. 
 
 In the Fortieth Annual Report of the American Bible Society, 
 in the city of New York, presented May 8, 1856, the following 
 reference is made to Judge Berrien: — 
 
 Hon. John Macpherson Berrien was elected a Vice-President of this 
 Society in 1844, and always manifested strong attachment to the Bible 
 and great interest in its circulation. At different times, and while occu- 
 pying very high posts in the government of his country, he was often 
 heard eloquently advocating the claims of the Bible, in behalf of which 
 he was ever ready to raise his voice. By the death of Judge Berrien 
 
100 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 the Society has been deprived of the services and support of a warm 
 and devoted friend. 
 
 It only remains to notice the personal qualities of the departed 
 statesman as they appeared in his character. To -what has al- 
 ready been said of him as a jurist profound in constitutional lore 
 may be added that, in 1826, he opposed the recommendation of 
 President Adams to send a minister to the Congress of Nations 
 at Panama, — Mr. Berrien contending that the power to appoint 
 judges, ambassadors, &c. did not give the President power to 
 create the ofiBce, as would be the case in the proposed mission. 
 Such was the various knowledge he brought to bear on the subject 
 from the law of nations and from the peculiar structure of our 
 government, that his argument has been incorporated in a work* 
 intended to expound the Federal Constitution. While referring 
 to the greatest men in the Senate of the United States, whose 
 opinions had most weight, the author was, several years ago, 
 informed by a very gifted ex-Senatorf from Alabama that, on 
 questions involving constitutional principles. Judge Berrien was 
 decidedly the ablest debater in the Senate. 
 
 One incident in the life of Judge Berrien deserves observation, 
 though it pertained neither to law nor politics. In October, 1844, 
 a Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United 
 States was held at Philadelphia, to which the Rev. Francis L. 
 Hawks had been returned for consecration as Bishop-elect of 
 the diocese of Mississippi. He had formerly been rector of St. 
 Thomas's Church, Broadway, New York, and, in building up a 
 large female seminary at Flushing, under the auspices of the 
 Church, had entered into contracts which left him largely in 
 arrear, — ^the school not succeeding to his calculations. The mas- 
 ter-builder to whom he was indebted preferred charges against 
 him before the Convention, alleging bad faith, &c. Dr. Hawks 
 gave a plain history of the case, and threw himself upon the 
 judgment of the Convention. Mr. Berrien was a lay delegate to 
 that body from the Church in Georgia, and took up the charges, 
 article by article, and showed that nothing had been done by the 
 bishop-elect that could impeach his integrity in a court of law, and 
 that in the forum of conscience there was no stain of fraud or unfair- 
 ness resting upon him. It was truly a scene which admitted pathos 
 in the orator. The bishops, the clergy, the lay members, and the 
 
 * See Elliott's Debates, vol. iv. p. 501. 
 
 \ Hon. A. P. Bagby, U.S. Minister to RusMa under the administration of Presi- 
 dent Polk. 
 
JOHN MACPHERSOBT BERRIEN. 101 
 
 throng of spectators who listened to the soul-touching eloquence 
 of the Georgia delegate, were dissolved in tears. He had a fit 
 audience to respond to his noble impulses and Christian appeals. 
 The gentleman whose conduct he was vindicating had been a dis- 
 tinguished member* of the North Carolina bar, and a pupil of the 
 great Judge Gaston. He was a man of extraordinary abilities, 
 eloquence, and learning, which were as manifest in the pulpit for 
 the good of souls as they had been in the temporal courts for the 
 interest of his clients. Under the circumstances, however, the 
 Convention postponed his consecration as bishop, and referred the 
 matter back to the diocese of Mississippi. Dr. Hawks soon after- 
 ward received a very advantageous offer in New Orleans, which 
 he accepted, officiating for several years as rector of St. Paul's 
 Church, Canal Street, and as President of the University of Loui- 
 siana. He has since returned to the city of New York, with a 
 prestige which cannot be shaken, and is now at the head of the 
 American clergy for sustained eloquence and accurate learning. 
 Such is the character of the divine to whose support Mr. Berrien 
 came at a period of sorest trial. Dr. Hawks has had the degree 
 of Doctor of Laws conferred upon him, and Mr. Berrien was also 
 honored with the same degree at Princeton, in 1830. 
 
 As an act of justice to Dr. Hawks, as well as to the author him- 
 self, it is deemed proper to quote from the Monitor of October 30, 
 1844, (a paper then edited by the author,) so much of an article 
 as refers to Dr. Hawks and the action of the Convention on the 
 charges against him : — 
 
 Oct. 14. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this House, the integrity 
 of the Rev. Dr. Hawks has been sufficiently proved by his reply to the 
 charges brought against him in the memorials presented to this House. 
 
 The first [above] resolution acquits the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D.D., 
 Bishop-elect of Mississippi, of the charge preferred against him by some 
 creditor in New York, of a want of good faith in his pecuniary transac- 
 tions in building expensive edifices at Flushing for a high seminary of 
 learning. Dr. Hawks became involved in hopeless bankruptcy through 
 his exertions to establish the school, which proved a failure. It is said 
 that never since the days of Sheridan was such an overwhelming effect 
 produced on an audience as that of Dr. Hawks's speech before the Con- 
 vention. His vindication was touching and triumphant. We rejoice at 
 it. He is a native of Newborn, North Carolina. 
 
 Of the religious character of Judge Berrien nothing more need 
 be said than that he was for many years, and at the time of his 
 death, a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 
 
 * Author of Hawks's Reports. 
 
102 BENCH AND BAK OP GEORGIA. 
 
 was the intimate friend of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Elliott, who was 
 his spiritual adviser whenever pastoral functions were necessary in 
 Savannah. His faith was calm, but fixed: there was nothing 
 spasmodic in his religious enjoyments, nor did he ever faU to 
 manifest by his example his reverence for thse sanctuary. He 
 trained up his children piously, and instructed them in the rudi- 
 ments of the service, its forms and principles, as taught by the 
 Church. When death approached, he met the summons like a 
 philosopher and a Christian, full of courage and hope, leaning on 
 the merits of that gracious Redeemer whose mission to earth and 
 atonement for sin he had long testified before men. 
 
 There is one view remaining, and candor must prevail over par- 
 tiality. As to the social habits, the exterior of kindness, and the 
 uniform decorum of his life, no objection can be alleged. These 
 were such as a gentleman of his sensibility and pride of character 
 would never cease to cultivate. To this extent. Judge Berrien 
 was faultless. But in the field of ambition, where preferment was 
 to be won, he demanded the service of his friends, and would 
 admit no competition from that quarter. He was frank, even 
 peremptory, in the assertion of his claims, and the least faltering 
 was succeeded by coldness. From the time he first obtained office 
 as Solicitor-General, in 1809, to his acceptance of the Attorney- 
 Generalship of the United States, twenty years afterward, his 
 career had been one of triumph. Judge of the Superior Courts 
 for a number of terms, State Senator, then Senator of the United 
 States, and then a member of the Cabinet, — in all of which places 
 he sustained himself with ^clat, — he was fully persuaded of his 
 influence, and of the overshadowing foundation on which it rested, 
 — his own merits. Yet he was not vain in the usual sense of the 
 term. There was nothing in his manner that refused recognition 
 to an equal. A rigid use of his opportunities for advancement 
 was rarely omitted, and never, perhaps, on a single occasion, were 
 they relaxed in behalf of a friend. There is sometimes a gene- 
 rous sympathy for his fellow which draws a man back, that 
 another may go forward on his own worth to the post of honor. 
 Such a principle, however, is too abstract to be introduced among 
 the verities of life, and no one ought to be bound by it. Whoever 
 adheres to such & fallacyvr'Al seldom figure in public employments. 
 The moral to be conveyed by this allusion may be entangled here- 
 about, — hard to find ; but the author is unable to assist the reader 
 in the search. It is in substance that Judge Berrien insisted upon 
 
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIBN. 103 
 
 his rights •when he might have acted otherwise. This is the most 
 that can be said against him. 
 
 In his deportment generally he was affahle, yet somewhat re- 
 served. He seems to have moulded his address after the Chester- 
 field model, — elegant at all times, and never descending to a free 
 and careless mood, — at least in mixed society, in which, only, it 
 was the privilege of the author to see him. 
 
 Judge Berrien was not a man of the people. He had none of 
 the heartiness of Mr. Clay. He was too highly refined by his 
 studies, and by the discipline of his genius to the ideal of perfec- 
 tion, — as men ought to be, not as they are, — to feel a very earnest 
 concern in the rough-and-tumble relations and contests of men, 
 from which he stood as much aloof as possible, to seek happiness 
 in a purer region, — his own thoughts. Not that he was destitute 
 of sympathy or benevolence: his whole life negatived such an 
 idea. But it was only when distress was made dramatic by in- 
 tensity, or by the train of sufferings associated with it, — loss of 
 reputation, the griefs of old age, the tears of childhood, the agony 
 of bereavement, or the perils of life, — that the fountains of his 
 heart became unsealed, and the sacred tide rushed in subduing 
 torrents, giving to his voice on such occasions more than human 
 potency in the court-room, or in whatever forum he appeared. 
 Judge Berrien was the most finished orator of his day, so far as 
 the rules of art contributed to form an orator. His organs of 
 speech were perfect. Every word and every syllable had its 
 proper stress and intonation. There was no slurring or haste in 
 his delivery. Smooth, grave, and musical, his voice satisfied the 
 ear. Occasionally, it was like the church-organ in the depth and 
 richness of its tones; then, with softest beauty, it would glide 
 into the soul and take captive its emotions. Yet in all this opu- 
 lence of effect there was evidently a preparation of the severest 
 kind. It is said that the great tragedian Cooper gave lessons to 
 Mr. Berrien in early life. If so, there was no impropriety. The 
 orators of Great Britain in the days of Garrick and Kemble were 
 glad to have private interviews with these autocrats of the stage 
 for improvement in elocution. And Napoleon the Great was in- 
 structed by Talma, the French tragedian, in the graces of attitude 
 becoming the imperial dignity. 
 
 But the task is done, — however imperfectly : this memoir must 
 be closed. Georgia has furnished many distinguished sons, who 
 have a proud national fame ; but in letters, in eloquence, in states- 
 manship, in the high perfections of individual life, the name of 
 
104 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Berrien will ever shine among the brightest on her escutcheon. 
 He was, indeed, a man whose equal, in many respects, the world 
 has not produced since the days of Cicero. America has had her 
 Henry, one of nature's thunderbolts, her Clay, of grand and 
 surpassing gifts, to electrify the public by their soul-stirring elo- 
 quence ; but neither of them had the polish of the Roman school, 
 with its rich stores of learning and classic beauties gathered from 
 every epoch and every clime. It was reserved for John Mac- 
 PHERSON Berrien to stand alone as an example in the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 SnPEEME COUET OP Geoegia, Savannah, 
 January 14, 1856. 
 
 At the opening of the court, Hon. William Law addressed the court 
 as follows : — 
 
 May it 'please your Honors : — 
 
 The melancholy duty has been assigned to me by my brethren of the 
 bar of announcing to this court the death of the Hon. John Macpherson 
 Berrien, late the most distinguished nCieraber of that bar and its brightest 
 ornament, and of presenting to the court the proceedings and resolutions 
 of the bar of this city upon the occurrence of that lamented event, expres- 
 sive of their appreciation of the character and high respect for the memory 
 of their departed friend and brother, and also their sense of the great loss 
 the profession has sustained by his death. 
 
 Honored for more than forty years with the friendship of the deceased, 
 commencing with my call to the bar over which he then presided with an 
 honor to himself so distinguished and a benefit to the public so universally 
 acknowledged, that even at that early period of his life he commanded, as 
 a judge, the fulness of public confidence, and laid the foundation of that 
 enviable fame which survives his descent to the grave. 
 
 A friendship, sirs, thus early commenced, ripened into intimacy in the 
 progress of life, was in no way and at no time more sensibly felt or gratefully 
 appreciated than in the uniform and almost paternal kindness which he 
 extended to my early professional efforts and struggles. Few knew him 
 better than I did ; none honored and esteemed him more. I cannot re- 
 frain on this occasion from an expression of my sincere gratification at the 
 testimonial furnished by my brethren of the bar of their admiration for 
 the character and distinguished merits of the deceased and of the high 
 respect they entertain for his memory, nor from saying how much I appre- 
 ciate their kindness in making me the honored instrument of bringing 
 their proceedings to the notice of this court. 
 
 But it is not limited to private friendship to sympathize with these pro- 
 ceedings. The death of such a man is a public calamity. His talents 
 and usefulness had not been confined to his own State. The fame of his 
 wisdom and rare eloquence, issuing from the Senatorial hall of the nation, 
 had spread over the country, and placed him, in the estimation of his 
 countrymen, among the great statesmen and legislators of the age. His 
 death adds another name to that melancholy list of gigantic intellects and 
 devoted patriots upon whom the icy hand of death has been laid in the 
 past few years, and calls afresh for the homage of a nation's respect and 
 sorrow. 
 
JOHN MACPHEBSON BERKLEY. 105 
 
 It is trae that Judge Berrien was spared by a beneficent Providence to 
 an advanced period of life far beyond that allotted to most men ; but he 
 still retained, in a remarkable degree, the energy of physical strength and 
 the vigor of undiminished intellect, combined with a spirited enjoyment 
 of social intercourse. Nor yet had the fervor of his patriotism abated ; 
 for he still felt a lively interest in his country's welfare upon all important 
 political questions, and was to the last ready to lend the counsel of his 
 experienced wisdom to what he conceived to be his country's good. Full 
 of the learning of the law, he was still the eloquent advocate and the pro- 
 found lawyer, and both the bench and the bar listened with pleasure and 
 advantage to his instructive argument. 
 
 But your Honors, who have so often heard him, and who knew hini so 
 well, I am sure, will appreciate the testimonials of his exalted worth and 
 distinguished character furnished by the proceedings of the bar, which I 
 have the honor now to present : — 
 
 At a meeting of the bar, in the court-room In the city of Savannah, on the 2d day 
 of January inst., the Hon. William B. Fleming was appointed chairman, and Julian 
 Hartridge, Esq., Solicitor-General of the Eastern Circnit, secretary. 
 
 The Hon. William Law, the Hon. Charles S. Henry, the Hon. Edward J. Harden, 
 the Hon. John E. Ward, and £. H. Bacon, Esq., were appointed a committee to pre- 
 pare resolutions expressive of the feelings of the meeting on the melancholy occa- 
 sion of the recent death of the Hon. John Macpherson Berrien, a member of 
 the bar. 
 
 Whereupon William Law, in behalf of the committee, presented the following 
 preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted by the meeting : — 
 
 The members of the bar, desirous of giving public expression to their feelings and 
 of the sense they entertain of the loss which the bar has sustained by the death of 
 its oldest and most distinguished member, who for more than half a century has 
 illustrated the virtues of the profession, adorned it by the exhibition of rare and 
 eminent talents, and left an example of spotless purity and integrity of life, and 
 also to manifest the affectionate esteem in which they hold the memory of their 
 venerated departed brother, as a citizen eminent for his patriotism and public ser- 
 vices, as a statesman distinguished for talents and integrity, and as a man endeared 
 to their affections as well by his private as public virtues, by the social qualities 
 of the heart as well as by the vigor of his intellect, do adopt the following reso- 
 lutions : — 
 
 1. Resolved, That the members of the bar here assembled have heard with deep 
 regret of the death of the Hon. John M. Berrien, and that we sincerely condole with 
 the members of his family on the occasion of the loss which they, in common with 
 the coitiTnnnity, have sustained. 
 
 2. Raolved, As a testimony of respect for the memory of the deceased, the bar 
 wiU, in a body, attend his funeral. 
 
 3. Reiolved, As a fnrther testimony of snch respect, that his Honor, the Judge 
 of the Superior Court of this county, be requested to have the staves of the court 
 draped in mourning, and that the bar wear the nsnal badge of mourning for 
 thirty days. 
 
 4. Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be laid before the Supreme 
 Court of Georgia at its next meeting in this place, with a request that that body 
 enter these proceedings on their minutes and adjourn for one day, as a token of 
 respect for the memory of the deceased, and that the same proceedings be laid 
 before the Superior Court of this county at its next session, with a similar request 
 of entry on its minutes and of adjournment for one week. 
 
 5. Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the chairman of the meet- 
 ing to carry the foregoing resolutions into effect, and also to select some suitable 
 person to pronounce, at some proper time and place, a eulogy on the life and cha- 
 racter of the deceased before the bar of Georgia. 
 
 6. Resolved, That these proceedings be published In the several papers of this 
 city, and that a copy of the same be furnished by the secretary to the family of the 
 deceased. 
 
 The chair appointed as a committee, under the fifth resolution, Hon. WilUam Law, 
 
106 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Hon. C. S. Henry, Hon. John E. Ward, Hon. Edward J. Harden, and E. H. Bacon, 
 Esq 
 
 In accordance with these resolutions, I now move your Honors that this 
 court adjourn for one day. 
 
 Judge Lumpkin, in behalf of the court, responded as follows : — 
 
 This court receives the proceedings of the bar in regard to the late 
 Hon. John Macpherson Berrien with profound emotion. We cordially 
 unite with the bar and the people of the whole State in the expression of 
 deep regret for his death, in admiration of his talents, his patriotism and 
 private virtues. 
 
 This is not the occasion, nor is it fit for me, to consider and discuss at 
 length the character and merits of the deceased. The performance of 
 that duty, with which the bar of this place has appropriately charged 
 itself, must be deferred to another opportunity, and has been or will be 
 committed to abler hands. And this is right. This community, who 
 knew his manner of life from his youth up, saw him face to face for fifty 
 years and more in the ahle and faithful performance of his various duties ; 
 and it is for them to appreciate fully all his worth, and to dwell with 
 melancholy affection upon his transcendent excellencies. 
 
 But the whole State has sustained an irreparable loss. Who in Georgia 
 had attained to his full stature ? As a lawyer and a citizen, who will dispute 
 with him the premiership ? What completeness and harmony of organiza- 
 tion of the mental, moral, and physical nature ! He aimed at noble ends, 
 and pursued them by none other than honorable means. Whatever he 
 attempted he did well. Nothing half done ever came from his hands ; 
 for, uncommon as were his great abilities, his industry was still more 
 extraordinary. 
 
 Who can estimate the impulse and advance which he gave to the cause 
 of legal learning in this city and circuit and throughout the land? 
 Eeference has been made to his service in the Councils of the nation. 
 Permit me to say, upon competent authority, that his Constitutional argu- 
 ments in the Senate of the United States were exhaustive of the subjects 
 which he discussed, and that, on such occasions, no member was deferred 
 to more in that body. His logic was the clearness of the perfect day, 
 approaching the certainty of mathematical demonstration. 
 
 Judge Berrien was a striking example of the love of the law, — supposed 
 by many not to be altogether lovely; and his attachment, instead of 
 waning, seemed to wax warmer and warmer under the pressure of super- 
 added years. Hence his brilliant and triumphant success. He had many 
 cotemporaries at the Supreme Court bar of the Union,— Johnson, of 
 Maryland, Badger, of North Carolina, Crittenden, of Kentucky, and such 
 like ; but yet we may say that, while thinking of these gifted men, we 
 feel new and increased pride in the consummate lawyer whom we have 
 lost. Had he been placed on the bench of that court, for the headship 
 of which he was so pre-eminently qualified, his judicial fame would have 
 been measured by that of Mansfield, and Eldon, and Stowell, of England, 
 and Marshall, and Kent, and Story, in this country. 
 
 But our father and friend has gone. He has taken his place higher in 
 the same firmament whence beam the milder glories of the beloved and 
 lamented Charlton. His race is run. His course is finished. For him 
 earth has no longer any future. He is beyond change, — ^beyond chance. 
 His home is heaven. 
 
 Is it not well with him ? He died happy, in the bosom of his family, 
 
JOKN' MACPHERSOX BERRIEN. lOT 
 
 full of years and fall of honors. His bright sun has set. Far above ns 
 he dwells, in a world where there is no night ! 
 
 The last time I saw Judge Berrien was under my own roof, — the sun- 
 shine of the festive circle, and seeming " to breathe a second spring." 
 But we shall see him no more in the flesh. How difficult to realize this 
 sad truth ! Seek him at the domestic hearth, the office, the court-room, 
 the Cabinet-council, the Senate-Chamber, the sanctuary, and the solemn 
 response &om each is, " He is not here : he is risen." 
 
 We shall never again witness the iUnmination of that countenance, 
 which, when lighted in the glow of his mind, was almost supernatural. 
 We shall no more listen to the silvery eloquence of those lips, " upon 
 which the bees of Hybla might have rested." 
 
 But we forbear. The theme is exhaustless. That a deep feeling of 
 sorrow should be entertained, when one thus virtuous and accomplished 
 is stricken down by death, is natural ; and that an expression of these 
 feelings and a just tribute of regard for the deceased should be preserved 
 on the records of this court, of which he was so distinguished an orna- 
 ment, is most meet and proper. We therefore order the resolutions to 
 be entered of record, and that the court do adjourn for the day.' 
 
 Mesolutions of the Georgia Legidature concerning the decUh of ike 
 Hon. John Macpherson Berrien. 
 
 Whereas, In the death of the Hon. John Macpherson Berrien, Grcorgia 
 has sustained a loss of no ordinary magnitude, — the loss of one of her 
 most gifted sons, — one eminent alike for all the graces that adorn private 
 worth and the excellencies that exalt public station, and of whose dis- 
 tinguished services during half a century every Georgian may justly feel 
 proud, — it is meet that we should make some record of the deep sense 
 we entertain of this touching bereavement : Be it therefore 
 
 Resolved, That we have heard with the deepest regret of the death of 
 the Hon. John Macpherson Berrien, whose talents while livijig reflected 
 honor on his State and country, and the memory of whose services, now 
 dead, will be traced in one of the brightest pages of their history. 
 
 Resolved, That while the pre-eminent public services of the deceased — 
 his career at the bar, on the bench, in the Cabinet and the Senate — have 
 given a lustre to his name too well earned and wide-spread to be confined 
 within the limits of this State, Georgia mourns the loss of her illustrious 
 sou with a sadness which is peculiarly her own. 
 
 Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to forward a 
 copy of these proceedings to the family of the deceased. 
 
 William H. Stiles, 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 Dath) J. Ballet, 
 
 President of the Senate. 
 Approved Feb. 18, 18.56. 
 Hebschel V. Johnson, 
 
 Governor. 
 
 As an enduring memoriaJ, — one that will exist while Georgia 
 retains her organization as a sovereign State, — the Legislature, by 
 Act of February 25, 1856, created a new county from portions of 
 Lowndes, Irwin, and Coffee, and gave it the name of "BERRiEif," 
 
108 BENCH AND BAE OF GEORGIA. 
 
 in honor of the great man to whose memory the poor contribution 
 in this volume has been made by the author, with profound respect. 
 
 NOTE TO THE MEMOIR OF JUBGE BERRIEN. 
 
 Not only the citizens of Savannah, but the public at large, no 
 doubt, feel an interest in the matter touched upon by the Savannah 
 Journal, as follows : — 
 
 WHO SUNK THE WRECKS IN SAVANNAH RIVER? 
 
 In the course of the debate in the Senate on the 13th February, 1856, 
 a warm discussion arose touching the historical truth of the fact recited 
 in the original Appropriation Bill for Savannah River, members of the 
 Finance Committee contending that the wrecks were placed in the river, 
 not by the American forces for the " common defence," but by the 
 British to prevent the French from coming up the river, — a point upon 
 which Senator Butler, of South Carolina, spoke as follows : — 
 
 Me. Pkesident: — I have had my attention drawn to this subject more than once. 
 I recollect that on one occasion Mr. Berrien, of Georgia, on this floor certainly gave 
 me to understand, and I think gave the Senate to understand, a yery different 
 statement of things from that which has been to-day presented to the Senate. He 
 stated what I always understood to be the historical fact in relation to the obstructions 
 in the Savannah River. My State, I confess, is deeply interested in their remoTal ; 
 but that fact would not change my opinion with regard to the Constitutional power 
 of Congress to appropriate money to clean out rivers. 
 
 I recollect distinctly the ground on which this appropriation has been heretofore 
 placed, or at least the ground on which I was reconciled perhaps to make some 
 appropriation. In 1778, Robert Howe, the American general, a North Carolinian 
 or a Virginian, was in possession of Savannah. Campbell was the commander of 
 the British forces who attacked Howe and drove him from Savannah, under a 
 capitulation, I think, on Christmas day in 1778. I have always understood that 
 the British garrison kept possession of Savannah from that period until the time 
 when it was threatened by D'Estaing, and then ships were sunk at the month of the 
 Savannah River by the British garrison, to prevent the French fleet from coming 
 up. It was a war-measure adopted by the British and American Governments 
 when they were alternately in possession of Savannah ; and I think, when the true 
 facts are ascertained, it will be found that both the officer representing the Ameri- 
 can Government and the officer representing the British Government sunk ships at 
 the mouth of that river for the same purpose, — to protect the city of Savannah. 
 
 However that point may be, I can see a great difference between an appropriation 
 for removing these hulks and the incidental obstructions occasioned by them, and 
 one for regulating commerce by cutting ditches and canals or opening rivers. I 
 recollect that on former occasions the bill making appropriations to remove these 
 hulks underwent discussion, and the ground was distinctly taken that when the 
 Government of the United States nsed the property of a State or individual for 
 general purposes, for the common defence, it was bound, under the obligations of 
 honor and good faith, to make compensation for the use of the property. At the 
 period of the Revolution the Savannah River was, as it is now, a great highway 
 of commerce. If our own Government, as one of the means of defending the city 
 of Savannah, sunk ships there, and thus appropriated that highway for its own 
 purposes, as one of the means of carrying on war with Great Britain, I could vote 
 for appropriations to remove them, on the ground that when property has been 
 taken for the public use we have made appropriations for it. When, as in the 
 Revolution, private property was used for public purposes, — as the occupation of a 
 house as a place of defence, — compensation has been allowed. The principle has 
 been recognised in a general act; and so, also, when American property was 
 destroyed or injured while in the occupation of the enemy, and destroyed by Wash- 
 
JOHX MACPHERSON BERRIEN. 109 
 
 ington's cannon, as in the same case in Germantown, compensation had been made 
 on the broad ground that, when flagrante beUo during a state of actual war, property 
 had been nsed for public purposes, and was destroyed in consequence of such use, 
 the GoTemment was bound to allow compensation. In regard to the ships sunk 
 in the Savannah River, I have always understood that they were placed there both 
 by the British and American Governments, as a means of defending Savannah when 
 they were alternately in possession of that city. 
 
 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY OS WAR. 
 
 Our thanks are due the Hon. Alfred Iverson for the Keport of the 
 Secretary of War, 1855—56, with accompanying documents. The follow- 
 ing extracts will prove interesting to our readers : — 
 
 Removikg Obstbpctigks ix the Savannah Biver, at a place called The 
 Wbkcks. — Since September 30, 1844, the pile-work closing the upper end of Fig 
 Island channel has been completed, and an embankment of moderate extent placed 
 along the foot of the piles as a protection against the washing of a rapid ebb-current. 
 This work now serves to turn the volume of water which formerly passed through 
 the Fig Island channel to the Front River. The increased volume and velocity thus 
 given to the water flowing down the latter channel tends to ^ve permanence to 
 the greater depth which has been obtaiued by dredging over the Wreck bank and 
 along the southern edges of Garden bank. The greater part of the funds expended 
 in the prosecution of this work of improvement, during the past year, has been 
 supplied by the city of Savannah, as the appropriation of §40,000, approved 
 August 30, 1852, had been previously expended, with the exception of a small 
 balance, in working the dredging-machines. The total number of cubic yards 
 dredged from the shoals in the channel of Front River, since the commencement 
 of this work of improvement, is 102,500 cubic yards, giving a channel full ten feet 
 deep at mean low-water, or sixteen and a half feet at mean high-water. To make 
 this channel permanent, however, it is essential that the deflecting works proposed 
 by the commission at the upper end of Hutchinson's Island, and at the lower end 
 of Fig Island, should be constructed at an early day. But as the appropriation of 
 §161,000 for the Savannah River, approved March 3, 1854, is specific, it can, in 
 its present form, be applied only to the removal of the obstructions placed in the 
 river dnring the Revolutionary War for the common defence, and the accumulations 
 of sand and mud immediately over and around these obstructions or wrecks. In 
 order that these flats and shoals, which have been caused by these sunken wrecks 
 at other points of the Front River, may be removed, and in a permanent manner, I 
 would most earnestly advise the Department to urge upon Congress such a modi- 
 fication of the phraseology of the act of 3d of March last as will make the amount 
 applicable to the completion of the plan reported by the Commissioners and 
 approved by the War Department in 1853. 
 
 The 6th of August last, the work of dredging was resumed on the Wreck bank, 
 and has been prosecuted with as mnch regularity since as the weather would 
 permit. The dredge-boat, tug-boat, and scows employed at this work were char- 
 tered from the former contractor to execute work by the cubic yard for the period 
 of six months ; but experience has now demonstrated that the chartered machinery 
 is too weak to dredge on the wrecks to the same advantage as a machine of greater 
 power. It is therefore advised that steps be taken to procure a dredge or elevating- 
 machine of greater power, to be employed on the wrecks after the expiration of the 
 charter now existing, provided the restrictive character of the act of appropriation 
 be removed by further legislative action. 
 
 Survey of the efver Ock.mulobb, Ga. — The survey is completed. The map is 
 finished, but is still in the hands of the draughtsman, whose work has been much 
 hindered by sickness. As soon as the map is received the report wiU be prepared 
 and forwarded. 
 
IT. 
 
 EDWARD J. BLACK 
 
 This gentleman is entitled to a high place in public estimation, 
 as his brief history will prove. He had qualities which made him 
 felt and appreciated wherever he was known. His record is 
 without blemish, and may be summed up on good authority. 
 
 In reply to a letter from the author, a gentleman* of Augusta 
 courteously furnished some interesting passages : — 
 
 Mr. Black was a schoolmate of mine, and received almost his entire 
 education at the Richmond Academy in this place. He never was much 
 of a student ; but his ambition, which was great, would doubtless have 
 led him to steady application had it not been for his frail health. When 
 about twenty-one years of age, he was attacked with hemorrhage of the 
 lungs, to which he was ever after occasionally subject. As his mother 
 had died of consumption, he expected the same fate as the issue of his 
 disease ; and this tended much to weaken his energy and cast a gloom 
 over his future prospects. 
 
 The principal lawyers in the circuit where Mr. Black practised were 
 Messrs. Flournoy, Eeid, (his uncle,) Crawford, Jenkins, Cummings, Wil- 
 liam and John Schley. 
 
 His taste was for letters rather than science. From his want of re- 
 gular study, he was not profound, but on occasions was very brilliant. 
 He was fond of poetry, and wrote verses of very decided poetic merit. 
 He excelled in the humorous ; and some of his early effusions, published 
 in the Constitutionalist over the signature of " Quip, Crank & Co.," are 
 quite creditable productions, and were well received here. In his speeches 
 he often indulged in witty sarcasm, and was quite a formidable antagonist. 
 If his opponent gave any opening for ridicule, he generally seized upon 
 it and showed him up without much mercy. 
 
 The same gentleman procured from a sister of Mr. Black a 
 statement which answers the questions propounded by the author. 
 It is here given without abridgment, though perhaps it was intended 
 rather as suggestive than otherwise : — 
 
 1. Edwaed J. Black was born in Beaufort district. South Carolina, 
 in the year 1806. His father's name was William Black, a native also 
 of the same district, and a gentleman of fortune, but lost a portion of it 
 by an unfortunate security-debt, and in consequence, for economy's sake, 
 moved his family and planting-interest to Barnwell district, where Ed- 
 ward J. Black remained until about eight years old. Being a boy of 
 
 * Dr. Ignatius P. Garvin. 
 110 
 
EDWARD J. BLACK. Ill 
 
 nnnsnal talents, the late Got. Keid, his mother's hrother, took him home 
 with him to Augusta, placed him at the Rev. Mr. Brantley's school, directed 
 his studies, and, no doubt, daily strengthened his natural taste for litera- 
 ture. He never went to college, and laughed at the idea of a naminal 
 college education, but read and searched out every thing for himself, 
 feehng that more depended on his own research than the august reputa- 
 tion of college professors. It may be said he was educated in Augusta ; 
 for, though not a very strict attendant at school, it was there his appre- 
 hension of letters, men and measures, strong intellect, great power of 
 thinking quickly, perceiving the right and wrong of any question, were 
 developed. I have often heard him say he was indebted to his fond 
 mother for his early ideas of oratory,- botany, habits of reading, &c. He 
 esteemed her the unparalleled of her sex in natural talent, education, 
 accomplishments, and personal appearance. She was indeed a noble 
 woman ; and hex piety sustained her in her many trials of life, which was 
 only extended to thirty-two years. 
 
 2. He read law under Judge Reid, was admitted to the bar at the age 
 of twenty-one years, (in 1827,) and practised a short time in Augusta in 
 company with Judge Reid. A few years after, he married Miss Kirk- 
 land, a lady of fine sense, beauty, and wealth, of Barnwell, and then 
 settled in Scriven county, lived on his plantation, devoting himself to his 
 family, studies, planting, politics, and the practice of law. He was a 
 very domestic man, and, although so fitted for society and the world, he 
 never loved its glare and bustle, and always shrank from the multitude. 
 A tea or dinner party, where each one was to measure his words, study 
 attitude, or dress as a narrow-minded tailor might dictate, was his aversion. 
 But place him in his own drawing-room, or anywhere else where he 
 dared be natural or sensible, and then you would see what he was. No 
 one, on those occasions, failed to be charmed by his good-humor, wit, and 
 gaiety. 
 
 3. He obtained a great deal of practice, and was a hard student at 
 times, — not always : his health would not admit of constant study ; but 
 he could see through a case, seize the best points of it, and know how to 
 manage it, while other men would be wondering what was best to be done. 
 
 4. His style was any thing the occasion called for, — diflFase or compact, 
 as the case required. His language was easy and eloquent, always to the 
 point. On the spur of the moment he made as good a speech as if he 
 had had a week to consider. His anecdotes and stories were always told 
 in his peculiarly original and laughable manner. When well, his spirits 
 were light and buoyant, full of hope. He was entertaining to the young 
 and the old, to the ignorant and the learned. He avoided all display or 
 manner that would make an ignorant man feel his own inferiority; and to 
 the honest poor he was ever a warm friend. On the other hand, he could 
 be grave, and sombre, and thoughtful, with a heart always open to the 
 distress of others and never neglecting the unfortunate. 
 
 5. He died in 1849, at the residence of 3Ir. G-. Robinson, (Mis. Black's 
 grandfather,) in Barnwell district, whither he had gone for a change of 
 scene. He lived but three weeks after his arrival there ; and, notwith- 
 standing the tender care of his family, his sufferings were intense, — and he 
 endured them weU, though at times so desponding the mental darkness 
 was scarcely endurable. But when reaction would come he would be as 
 bright and patient as ever. His love and tenderness for his family was 
 absorbing. He would follow them with loving eyes ; and the thought of 
 
112 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 kaving them so soon to contend alone with the trials of life filled his 
 heart with regret. But from the first he knew he must die. He there- 
 fore arranged his temporal matters, and committed his soul and body to 
 his heavenly Father, feeling that he had made his peace with God and 
 man, patiently awaited his final hour, which was passed without one 
 struggle ; and so easily did he pass from time into eternity that his family, 
 who surrounded him, knew not the moment of the spirit's flight. 
 
 With regard to his intellect, disposition, and manner, I could say much ; 
 but the public know as much about that as I do. His intellect was clear. 
 He perceived quickly and understood thoroughly. He had a genius for 
 every thing, — mvsic as well as politics, — and, with his power of mimicry, 
 would have made as good an actor as orator. His disposition was kind. 
 He never took advantage of the weak; but he never spared an enemy of 
 power. At home, in his family, he was all love and good-humor, taking 
 every thing just as it happened. But in the court-house, in the House 
 of Representatives, or elsewhere in public, he always maintained his 
 opinions with spirit, and, if requisite, a little touch of sarcasm was at his 
 command. He was independent in his feelings and actions, and, once 
 right, he defied the world. Policy was not his ruling principle. His 
 manner was easy, and a natural polish marked his manly bearing. He 
 was not a slave to habits or customs, but, with his native politeness, acted 
 on every occasion as his own good judgment dictated. 
 
 The public life of Mr. Black commenced in 1829, when he was 
 elected a Representative in the Legislature from Richmond county, 
 and was re-elected in 1830. He at once became prominent as a 
 debater, and was heard with great satisfaction on the floor and in 
 the galleries. His praise as a witty, animated, graceful speaker 
 was sounded in every quarter. The author saw him for the first 
 time at the session of 1830, when Mr. Black signalized himself by 
 a course of bitter opposition to Franklin College. The Journal of 
 the House (p. 108) contains this entry, under date of November 2, 
 1830 :— 
 
 Mr. Black, agreeably to notice, moved for the appointment of a com- 
 mittee to prepare and report a bill to remove the site of Franklin College 
 from Athens to Milledgeville, and to appropriate money for the erection of 
 suitable buildings for that purpose, and to appoint fit and proper persons 
 for designating the spot upon which said buildings shall be erected, and 
 for superintending the erection of the same. 
 
 Ordered, That Messrs. Black, Dougherty, and Howard of Baldwin, be 
 that committee. 
 
 For what particular reason he agitated this measure, or what 
 good he expected to accomplish by it, the author is not prepared to 
 say. He remembers to have heard Mr. Black, while discussing 
 some question in the House, make very light of the scholarship of 
 the university, stating that he had received " Bucket letters" from 
 the students, with such poor spelling as to render it a sufficient cause 
 for him to turn off his overseer had he perpetrated such inaccuracy 
 
BDWAED J. BLACK. 113 
 
 in a note relative to his plantation. He was quite merry and se- 
 vere on the subject, causing much laughter, — mostly, however, at 
 his own expense in appearing to think that the students had ex- 
 pended all their ability and intelligence in framing those letters, 
 when in truth their only object was to annoy him for some indig- 
 nity he had offered them as a class, and to disguise their style so 
 as to prevent detection. Possibly he supposed that, by having the 
 college under the immediate inspection of the Legislature, a higher 
 tone in letters and in morals might be infused by social contact with 
 the members of that body. Mr. Black was then only twenty-four 
 years old, and may have indulged this theory, — -"which further ex- 
 perience, no doubt, led him to abandon. From a hasty examina- 
 tion of the journal, no evidence is seen that the bill was ever re- 
 ported by the committee proposing to discontinue the college at 
 Athens and rear it up again at the seat of government. Mr. 
 Speaker Hull, who was always vigilant and fair, so arranged the 
 committee as to represent both localities. Judge Dougherty was 
 of Athens, and Major Howard of Milledgeville, whilst Mr. Black 
 was between, .fighting as earnestly as a certain Spanish cavalier 
 who drove his lance into a machine described by Cervantes, which 
 threw rider and horse both prostrate without material damage to 
 the machine. It is probable that when the committee met for con- 
 sultation the majority voted down the project, and thus left the 
 originator powerless, as he could not introduce his bill except 
 through a committee. With all due respect for Mr. Black and 
 his motives, it is a matter of gratulation that he failed to disturb 
 the college, which continues to hold up its head on the beautiful 
 elevation at Athens, whilst some of its jolly inmates still write 
 " bucket letters" to such persons as they believe will profit by that 
 kind of correspondence. 
 
 Mr. Black was a candidate for Attorney-General in 1831, and 
 was defeated by one vote. The ballot stood — C. J. Jenkins, 108 ; 
 E. J. Black, 105 ; scattering, 2. 
 
 It is not necessary to follow up the interval from 1830, showing 
 what courts Mr. Black attended, in what important cases he ap- 
 peared as counsel, or what articles he wrote for the newspapers, or 
 what speeches he made in support of the Whig party, until his 
 election to Congress in 1838. It sufiSces to say that, in 1840, he, 
 with two of his colleagues (Messrs. Colquitt and Cooper) of the 
 House of Representatives, divided from the remaining delegation 
 from Georgia by refusing to support Gen. Harrison for the Presi- 
 
 Vot. I.— 8 
 
114 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 dency. His course was ratified by his constituents, as the follow- 
 ing document will show : — 
 
 Georgia. — By Charles J. McDonald, Governor of said State. 
 To the Honorable Edward J. Black, Esq., greeting : — 
 
 Whereas, by the second section of the first article of the Constitution 
 of the United States, it is ordained and established that the House of 
 Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year 
 by the people of the several States : and whereas, by the returns made 
 agreeably to law, of the election held on the first Monday in October last 
 for eight members to represent this State in the House of Eepresentatives 
 of the Congress of the United States for two years from and after the 
 third day of March jiext, you, the said Edward J. Black, were duly elected 
 one of the said Representatives : These are therefore to commission you, the 
 said Edward J. Black, to take session in the House of Representatives of 
 the United States for two years from and after the third day of March 
 next as aforesaid, and to use and exercise all and every the privileges and 
 powers which of right you may or can do by virtue of the said Constitu- 
 tion, in behalf of this State. 
 
 Given under my hand and the great seal of the State, at the Capitol in 
 Milledgeville, this twelfth day of November, in the year eighteen hundred 
 and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the sixty- 
 seventh. 
 
 By the Governor : Charles J. McDonald. 
 
 J. W. A. Sanford, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Such a testimonial, granted three times in succession, is no small 
 honor to any man ; for Mr. Black was six years a member of Con- 
 gress, — from 1839 to 1845. He made several speeches there, whiA 
 gave him a high reputation in debate and for elegant scholarship. 
 His diction partook of the purity of Wilde, with a good deal of his 
 elevation of sentiment, and of the causticity of Randolph when im- 
 paling an adversary. The comparison is not intended as perfect, 
 but merely to denote qualities more or less developed. Mr. Black 
 was unquestionably a man of genius, and as such deserves to have 
 credit with posterity. 
 
 His nature was impulsive, his organization acute. He felt, a pas- 
 sion for excellence, and took proper models in history for his guide. 
 He lived to see much of the world, — much that wealth and posi- 
 tion could alone command. His imagination was too prolific and his 
 taste too severely disciplined to be content with the attainable. He 
 looked for the sublime in the intellect and the afiections which is not 
 permitted to man. What generous heart does not sympathize with 
 the longings of his soul, and who that lias experience cannot bear 
 witness to the illusion ? Such pictures of glory had blessed the 
 visions of his boyhood, and in his mature life he grasped the crown 
 only to find it a shadow, the mockery of happiness. 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 115 
 
 Like other men of genius who have a vulture within, goading them 
 to action and devouring the current of life, Mr. Black had a con- 
 stitutional malady which preyed upon his spirits. He was often 
 sad, perhaps murmured, unwisely demanding why he was so smitten. 
 But it is said of him, in the beautiful tribute to be found in the early 
 part of this memoir, that he looked up in the dying hour and saw 
 that all was right : his gloom vanished, and the darkness of this 
 world gave way to the light of another, where the children of the 
 Most High are exempt from suffering. 
 
 The author was acquainted with Mr. Black. They spent an 
 evening together, more than twenty years ago, at the hospitable 
 mansion of a well-known citizen.* He was all that has been 
 claimed for him in the vivacity of his wit and the art of making 
 others happy by his conversation. He was then in the zenith of 
 his manhood, apparently free from disease, and bade fair to survive 
 the humble invalid who now dictates this grateful offering to his 
 memory. Mr. Black died in the forty-third year of his age, 
 mourned by his relatives and lamented by his country. 
 
 DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 
 
 This gentleman was bom on the 17th day of February, 1787, 
 in the State of North Carolina, and graduated at Chapel Hill 
 University in 1806. The next year he came to Georgia, and read 
 law in the office of Judge Griffin, of Wilkes county, having, at the 
 same time, charge of a female academy. Compelled by iU health 
 to resign his practice, Judge Griffin transferred it to Mr. Camp- 
 bell, who in due time became prominent and successful at the bar. 
 
 Mr. Campbell was elected Solicitor-General of the Western Cir- 
 cuit on the 10th of November, 1816. At the expiration of his 
 term of office he was elected a Representative in the Legislature 
 from Wilkes county. His course proving satisfactory to his con- 
 stituents, they re-elected him the three succeeding years. During 
 this time he formed a professional connection with Garnett An- 
 
 * The late Geneial Blackshear of Lanrens coan^. 
 
116 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 drews, Esq., who attended to all the court-business in his absence, 
 thereby enabling him to devote his time to the public service. Mr. 
 Campbell has the honor of being the first man in Georgia to intro- 
 duce a bill for the education of females. Though he defended the 
 measure with zeal and ability, a majority of the Legislature did 
 not concur with him in opinion, and it was defeated. He was in- 
 dustrious in his habits, liberal in his views, and ever watchful of the 
 public interests, — especially for the diffusion of knowledge among 
 the masses as an element of public happiness and prosperity. His 
 character as an intelligent, trustworthy man secured him a com- 
 mission from the General Government which has rendered his 
 name conspicuous before the country. 
 
 On the 16th of July, 1824, Col. Duncan G. Campbell and Maj. 
 James Meriwether were appointed, by President Monroe, Commis- 
 sioners to form a treaty with the Creek Indians for the sale of their 
 lands in Georgia and Alabama. It is unnecessary to notice here 
 the difficulties in the way, the preparation for the treaty, the 
 postponement at the instance of the Agent, the correspondence 
 with -the War Department, and the instructions given to the Com- 
 missioners, and by the latter to the employees of the Government, 
 in arranging for the council at Broken Arrow, in Alabama. On 
 the 7th of December, 1824, the Commissioners met the chiefs, and, 
 through an interpreter, delivered an address, offering an equal 
 quantity of land west of the Mississippi in exchange, and to pay 
 money besides. The reply was not conclusive ; and a long talk was 
 made to them, full of kindness, and eloquent in its simplicity. 
 The following is a passage : — 
 
 Brothers, we plainly see, and we know it to be true, from the talks of 
 the President, the Secretary of War, the Governor of Georgia, the Georgia 
 delegation in Congress, and the Legislature of Georgia, for years past, 
 that one of two things must be done : — ^you must come under the laws of 
 the whites, or you must remove. Brothers, these are not hard proposi- 
 tions. If you intend to be industrious and go to work in earnest, our 
 laws will not be burdensome. But the difference would be so quick and 
 so great that it might at first make you restlSss and uneasy. But, let 
 you go where you will, a change in your condition will be the study of 
 Christians and the work of the Government. Brothers, we now tell you 
 what we, in the name of your father the President, want you to do. We 
 want the country you now occupy. It is within the limits of Georgia 
 and Alabama. These States insist upon having their lines cleared. The 
 President will do this by giving you a better country, and will aid you in 
 removing, protect you, where you may go, against whites and all others, 
 and give you a solemn guarantee in the title and occupancy of the new 
 country which you may select. We now leave you. to pause, to examine 
 and decide. 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 117 
 
 The following closes the reply of the chiefs : — 
 
 Brothers, we have already parted with various tracts of our land, until 
 our limits are quite circumscribed : we have barely a sufficiency left us. 
 The proposal to remove beyoni the Mississippi we cannot for a moment 
 listen to. Brothers, we have among us aged and infirm men and women, 
 and helpless children, who cannot bear the fatigues of even a day's jour- 
 ney. Shall we, can we, leave them behind us ? The answer is in your 
 own hearts. No ! Again : we feel an affection for the land in which we 
 were bom ; we wish our bones to rest by the side of our fathers. Con- 
 sidering, then, our now circumscribed limits, the attachments we have 
 to our native soil, and the assurances which we have that our homes will 
 never be forced from us so long as the Government of the United States 
 shall exist, we iiow positively decline the proposal of a removal beyond the 
 Missisiiippi, or the sale of any more of our territory. Brothers, we feel 
 gratified by the friendly disposition manifested toward us by you, and, as 
 we meet friendly, so we hope to part. 
 
 On the 16th December, the Commissioners met the Indian coun- 
 cil again, and explained several treaties, some before the Revolu- 
 tion, showing that "the lands which the nation occupied were not 
 held by title, but reserved to them simply for hunting-grounds." 
 The exchange of lands was then renewed, acre for acre, — that the 
 United States would pay the sum of $500,000 for all the lands in 
 Alabama and Georgia, or would pay $300,000 as the difference in 
 Georgia alone, besides paying the nation for their improvements 
 and all the expenses of removal. To all this, the Little Prince 
 said, " We should listen to no old treaties ; that at New York the 
 nation gave up land, and that General Washington gave them the 
 balance and told them it was theirs ; and that they never intended 
 to spare another foot." On the 18th, when the Commissioners 
 asked the council if they still hesitated in their determination 
 of ceding lands on no terms, the Big Warrior's deputy answered 
 " that he would not take a houseful of money for his interest in 
 the land," and that this might be taken for a final answer. 
 
 Thus the treaty at Broken Arrow failed, as the Commissioners 
 reported, from the insidious means which had been Msorted to 
 in exciting the prejudices of the Indians. After adjournment, the 
 Commissioners represented to the Secretary of War that a treaty 
 could be effected with Mcintosh and a proper number of chiefs 
 for the lands in Georgia. Accordingly, on the 18th January, 
 1825, Mr. Calhoun transmitted another commission, under which 
 the treaty of the Indian Springs was held, on the 12th February, 
 1825. 
 
 Transactions attended with more or less difficulty, — menaces on 
 the one hand and defiance on the other, — and a variety of events, 
 — much severe writing, toil, opposition, — all crowned with victory 
 
118 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 at last ia behalf of Georgia and her gallant defenders, are worthy 
 of note in this memoir, as they were connected with the treaty 
 which Col. Campbell had negotiated. , A bare reference to some 
 of them is all that our limits will permit, beginning with the letter 
 of the commissioners to Gov. Troup, announcing the treaty : — 
 
 Indian Springs, February 13, 1825. 
 
 Sir : — Tour express has this moment reached us, and delivered your 
 communication covering the proceedings of Congress upon the Indian 
 question. We are happy to inform you that the " long agony is over," 
 and that we concluded a treaty yesterday, with what we consider the na- 
 tion, for nearly the whole country. We enclose you a copy, — also despatches 
 for the Government. These last are addressed to your care, to secure 
 their certain transmission by to-morrow's mail. The original treaty will 
 be conveyed by our secretary (Dr. Meriwether) to Washington City, by 
 the stage leaving Wilkes on Thursday next. We are still in time for 
 ratification by the present Senate, and beg leave to offer you our sincere 
 congratulations upon the more than successful issue of a negotiation in 
 which you have been an ardent co-worker. 
 
 With great consideration and respect, Duncan G. Campbell, 
 
 James Meriwether. 
 
 1. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Senators and Eepresentatives 
 in Congress from Georgia, in relation to the conduct of the Agent, 
 the threats to injure Mcintosh and his chiefs, early removal of 
 the Indians, organization of the territory, &c. February 17, 1826. 
 
 2. Proclamation of Gov. Troup, that the treaty had been rati- 
 fied by the United States Senate, forbidding trespasses on the 
 lands embraced in the treaty, and calling upon all citizens, officers, 
 and magistrates, to observe the provisions of the treaty and to 
 punish all violators thereof. March 21, 1825. 
 
 3. Letter from Gen. William Mcintosh to Gov. Troup, alluding 
 to the information given by the Agent to the War Department, 
 that chiefs of the lowest grade had signed the treaty, and that 
 there would be hostilities in consequence. March 29, 1825. 
 
 4. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Mcintosh, asking his assent 
 to the survey of the lands before removal, and promising protection. 
 March 29, 1825. 
 
 5. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Commissioners, stating that 
 the Indians would hold a council for the purpose of taking measures 
 to remove, that an advance-party would explore the country west 
 of the Mississippi, and wanted two thousand dollars to bear expenses. 
 April 4, 1825. 
 
 6. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Mcintosh, expressing the 
 opinion that there would be no danger of any hostility in conse- 
 quence of the ratification of the treaty, and that the Commissioners 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 119 
 
 had been requested to advance the funds necessary for the ex- 
 ploring-party. April 4, 1825. 
 
 7. Letter from Col. Campbell to Gov. Troup, accepting the offer 
 of an advance of two thousand dollars to the Indians, to be reim- 
 bursed out of the treaty-appropriation. April 7, 1825. 
 
 8. Letter from Gen. Mcintosh to Gov. Troup, assenting to the 
 survey of the lands, and suggesting difficulties instigated by the 
 Agent. April 12, 1825. 
 
 9. Memorial of Gen. Mcintosh and his chiefs to the Legislature 
 of Georgia, reviewing the history of the tribe, their friendly re- 
 lations with the whites, their intended removal West, and asking 
 donations as the wants and distresses of the Indians and the dig- 
 nity of the State may justify, — concluding thus : — "Friends and 
 Brothers : — ^We finally assure you that our attachment toward our 
 old friends and neighbors shall never cease, and that we wiU carry 
 with us the feelings of true and devoted friendship toward the 
 State of Georgia, to the United States, and the Legislature of 
 Georgia. If we should be so happy as to experience any token of 
 their regard, we will teach om- children to remember it with grati- 
 tude, and cause it to be handed down to the succeeding generations 
 of our nation, that they may forever know that Georgia was their 
 friend in the hour of distress." April 12, 1825. 
 
 10. Letter frpm Gov. Troup to Gen. Mcintosh, expressing the 
 hope that he would meet the Little Prince ' and council in good 
 friendship, and a desire that they would all be united in brotherly 
 affection before their removal. April 16, 1825. 
 
 11. Letter from Gen. Mcintosh to Gov. Troup, stating that "we 
 do hereby absolutely, freely, and fully give our consent to the State 
 of Georgia to have the boundary belonging to said State surveyed 
 at any time the Legislature of Georgia may think proper, which 
 was ceded at the late treaty at the Indian Springs." Signed in 
 behalf of the nation, and by the consent of the chiefs of the same. 
 April 25, 1825. 
 
 12. Letter from Brig.-Gen. Alexander Ware, informing Gov. 
 Troup of the murder of Mcintosh on the morning of the 30th of 
 April, by the Indians hostile to the treaty, who fired from two to 
 four himdred guns at the house of Mcintosh, killing him, burning 
 his houses, carrying off his negroes and other property. The hos- 
 tile party in the nation exceeds {bur thousand warriors, and the 
 friendly party now reduced to only five hundred. " They implore 
 protection ; they need it ; they are constantly coming in, — say the 
 road is covered with others." May 1, 1825. 
 
120 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 13. Letter from Gov. Troup to the President of the United States, 
 relating the death of Mcintosh, — " a chieftain whose virtues would 
 have honored any country." The preparations for this tragedy 
 were long notified to the Government in the conduct of the Agent. 
 Atonement shall be made for the death of Mcintosh and his friend 
 Tustunnuggee, the old chief of Coweta, who perished with him. 
 May 3, 1825. 
 
 14. Letter from Gov. Troup to Joseph Marshall, advising quiet 
 until measures are taken to avenge the death of Mcintosh by the 
 whites. May 3, 1825. 
 
 15. Letter — ^from Peggy (wife) and Susannah (daughter) of Gen. 
 Mcintosh — to the Commissioners, informing them of the dreadful 
 butcheries of the hostile Indians, the killing of Col. Samuel 
 Hawkins, distressed situation of the friendly Indians, destitute 
 women and children flying to the white settlements. May 3, 1825. 
 
 16. Orders of Gov. Troup to Major-Generals Wimberly, Shorter, 
 and Miller to hold their divisions in readiness to march at a 
 moment's warning, either by detachments or otherwise, as may be 
 commanded by authority of the Legislature or the Executive. 
 May 5, 1825. 
 
 17. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Ware, to provide for the 
 comfortable maintenance of the friendly Indians who had taken 
 refuge in the white settlements, the expense to be borne by Georgia 
 in the first instance and reimbursed by the United States. May 
 5, 1825. 
 
 18. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Secretary of War, enclosing 
 a copy of Gen. Ware's letter, and notifying him that measures had 
 been adopted for the protection of the frontiers, and for the safety 
 of the friendly Indians, until the authority of the United States 
 can be efiectually interposed for these objects; and that the 
 expenses incurred will be chargeable to the United States. May 
 5, 1825. 
 
 19. Letter from Brig.-Gen. McDonald to Gov. Troup, giving 
 information, on the authority of Mr. Freeman, that the Indians 
 had determined to take the life of the Agent, — both parties being 
 hostile to him, — and advising that military supplies be furnished 
 the Agent, to enable him, with three or four hundred Indians who 
 would stand up to him, to defend themselves. May 6, 1825. 
 
 20. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Secretary of War, enclosing 
 copy of letter from Gen. McDonald, and stating that up to date 
 not a word had been heard from the Agent. May 9, 1825. 
 
 21. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. McDonald, referring to a 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 121 
 
 letter from the Agent to Mr. Bozeman, published that morning, 
 the contents of which being inconsistent with the representations 
 made by Mr. Freeman, the measures taken for the safety of the 
 Agent will be arrested, there being no prospect of danger to him, 
 from his own admissions. May 10, 1825. 
 
 22. Affidavit of Francis Flournoy, who was in Gen. Mcintosh's 
 house at the murder and burning : from two to four hundred 
 Indians surrounded the house about daylight, set a guard round it, 
 fired the buildings, and shot fifty bullets into the genera,l and as 
 many into Tustunnuggee. The females and children were stripped 
 of their clothing, the premises plundered of every thing valuable, 
 carried off all they could, and destroyed the balance. May 16, 
 1825. 
 
 23. Presentments of the Grand Jury of the United States Cir- 
 cuit Court for the District of Georgia, recommending a strict 
 investigation of the Indian atrocities and the conduct of persons 
 concerned, and the punishment of the authors, perpetrators, aiders, 
 and abettors of the crimes committed, and that adequate protection 
 and succor be afibrded to the fugitive Indians while daoger con- 
 tinues, and that copies of the presentments be certified to the 
 President of the United States, and to the Governor of Georgia. 
 May Term, 1825. 
 
 24. Statement of facts by twenty-four chiefs, friends of Mcin- 
 tosh, in which it is denied that Mcintosh or his party, or any 
 council of the nation, ever made a law " that, if any Indian chief 
 should sign a treaty of any lands to the whites, that he should 
 certainly sufier death;" so that this pretext for the murder of 
 Mcintosh is false. May 17, 1825. 
 
 25. Letter from Gov. Troup to the chiefs, stating, — 
 
 I hope that the worst is over. 'Tis true that Mcintosh and his friends 
 who have been so cruelly murdered cannot be restored to life; hut the 
 Great Spirit, who is also good and merciful, will look down upon your 
 sufferings with pity and compassion. He will wipe the tears from your 
 eyes, and soften the hearts of even your enemies among the whites ; so 
 that if your Great Father [the President] should turn his ear from your 
 complaints, or shall fail to punish the white men who, in his name, have 
 disturbed your peace and. brought the heaviest afflictions upon you, he 
 will have to answer for it both to his white children and the Great Spirit. 
 It cannot be doubted, therefore, that all will yet be right. In the mean 
 time, continue to do as I have advised you, and until you hear from me. 
 My officers everywhere are ordered to taie care of you and make you com- 
 fortable. May 21, 1825. 
 
 26. Message of Gov. Troup to the Legislature (special session) 
 
122 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 on the subject of the treaty and the disposition of the lands. 
 Referring to the Indians, he said : — 
 
 Having their own pledge that the peace should be kept among them- 
 selves, I wished to see no interruption of it by the Qeorgians; and, honor- 
 ably for them, there has been none. I verily believe that, but for the 
 insidious practices of evil-minded white men, the entire nation would 
 have moved harmoniously across the Mississippi. The massacre of Mcin- 
 tosh and his friends is to be attributed to them alone. That chieftain, 
 whose whole life has been devoted to Georgia as faithfully as to his own 
 tribe, fell beneath the blows of the assassins when reposing in the bosom of 
 his family upon the soil of Greorgia,— the soil which he had defended against 
 a common enemy and against his own blood, which he had relinquished 
 forever to our just demands, and which he had abandoned to our present 
 use only because we asked it. So foul a murder, perpetrated by a foreign 
 force upon our territory and within our jurisdiction, called aloud for ven- 
 geance. It was my settled purpose, having first consulted the Government 
 at Washington, to have dealt out the full measure of that vengeance, — so 
 that honor, humanity, justice, being satisfied, whatever stain may have 
 been left upon our soil, none should upon the pages of our history. May 
 23, 1825. 
 
 With this message the documents from which the foregoing 
 abstract is made were transmitted to the Legislature, besides other 
 papers relating to the negotiations with the Creeks and the mat- 
 ters growing out of them. 
 
 27. In the annual message of Gov. Troup, the Indian difficulties, 
 
 the course of the General Government and of its functionaries 
 
 from the major-general down, are specially reviewed, and are thus 
 
 summed up : — 
 
 The result of all which is, that, judging the motives and objects of 
 human action by the results, the agents of the United States, whether 
 commissioned for that purpose or not, must have been intent on vindi- 
 cating the conduct of the Agent for Indian Affairs and opening the way 
 for the rupture of the treaty ; for that conduct has been vindicated and 
 approved by them, and all the materials, as it is understood, collected for 
 that rupture, whilst the Indians remain unreconciled either to one another 
 or to the treaty, and a large portion of them more embittered and exas- 
 perated against the authors of it than ever. 
 
 28. Letter from Major-General Edmund Pendleton Gaines to 
 Gov. Troup, acknowledging the receipt of certain correspondence 
 and the instructions to Captain Harrison. June 13, 1825. 
 
 29. Orders of Gov. Troup to Captain James Harrison, com- 
 manding Twiggs county cavalry, to repair to the frontier for the 
 protection of our citizens and others, with their property, against 
 the assaults of the enemy, and to chastise all who shall be mad 
 enough to commit aggression. June 10, 1825. 
 
 30. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Gaines, notifying him, 
 before he communicated with his Government or met the Indians 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 123 
 
 in convention, that the laws of Georgia were already extended 
 over the ceded territory, and that it was the duty of the Governor 
 to execute them there, — the act of the Legislature on the suhject 
 appearing in the morning papers. June 14, 1825. 
 
 31. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Gaines, apprizing him that 
 the Governor of Alabama would be requested to join in marking 
 the line between that State and Georgia; and, "if that concert and 
 co-operation be refused, we will proceed to run the line without 
 them, as we will also proceed in due time to make the survey of 
 the lands within our limits, disregarding any obstacles which may 
 be opposed from any quarter." June 13, 1825. 
 
 32. Letter from Gen. Gaines to Gov. Troup, stating that, in his 
 conference with the Indians relative to the treaty and the matters 
 springing from its execution, he is "distinctly authorized to state 
 to the Indians that the President of the United States has sug- 
 gested to Gov. Troup the necessity of his abstaining from his 
 entering into and surveying the ceded land until the time pre- 
 scribed by the treaty for their removal." June 14, 1825. 
 
 83. Letter from Gov. Troup to- Gen. Gaines, in which he 
 says : — 
 
 On the part of the Government of Georgia, the will of its highest con- 
 stituted authority has been declared, upon the most solemn deliberation, 
 that the line shall be run and the survey executed. It is for you, there- 
 fore, to bring it to the issue ; it is for me only to repeat that, cost what it 
 will, the line will be run and the survey effected. The Government of 
 Georgia will not retire from the position it occupies to gratify the Agent 
 or the hostile Indians; nor will it do so, I trust, because it knows that, in 
 consequence of disobedience to an unlawful mandate, it may be very soon 
 recorded that "Georgia was." June 15, 1825. 
 
 34. Letter from Gen. Gaines to Gov. Troup, in which he regrets 
 the difference of opinion, and the expression of any feeling or con- 
 troversy. To prevent disturbances in the nation, he calls on the 
 Governor for two complete regiments, one of cavalry and one of 
 infantry. June 16, 1825. 
 
 35. Letter from Gov. Troup, informing Gen. Gaines that orders 
 had been issued to hold in readiness two regiments for his service, 
 and to furnish as large a proportion of volunteers, infantry, and 
 cavalry as can be conveniently assembled. Captain Harrison's 
 troop of cavalry was placed under his orders. June 16, 1825. 
 
 36. Letter from Gov. Troup, apprizing Gen. Gaines of the 
 Commission appointed under an act of the Legislature 'to investi- 
 gate the conduct of the Agent, but not to interfere with any nego- 
 tiations between the United States and the Indians, unless invited 
 
124: BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 by the officers of the former, or that the questions before the 
 council shall be of such a nature as to require their presence to do 
 justice to all parties. June 18, 1825. 
 
 37. Letter from Gen. Gaines to Gov. Troup, declining the 
 presence of the Georgia Commissioners at any council with the 
 Indians. June 22, 1,825. 
 
 38. Letter from Gen. Gaines to Gov. Troup, stating that a con- 
 ference had been held with the Indian council, who promised to 
 be peaceable, though they protest against the treaty and refuse 
 any part of the consideration-money. They would not raise an 
 arm against the United States, nor make any resistance to an 
 army sent to take their whole country, but would sit down quietly 
 and be put to death where the bones of their ancestors were 
 deposited, — " that the world should know the Muscogee nation so 
 loved their country that they were willing to die in it rather than 
 sell it or leave it." July 1, 1825. 
 
 39. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Gaines, showing that the 
 obstinate refusal of the Indians to remove was the work of new 
 prejudices : — 
 
 I much fear that this ardent love of country is of recent origin. We 
 can scarcely believe that the amor patriae is all upon one side, and that 
 side the hostile one. Will you not be able to discover, in the course of 
 your investigations, that any thing had been said and done by white men 
 to prejudice them against their new home ? It is indeed a pity that 
 these unfortunate men should be the dupes of the most depraved of our 
 own color, and so far the dupes as to be made to act in direct repugnance 
 to their own best interests. It is more to be lamented that the impostors 
 and knaves cannot be dragged from their hiding-places and punished. 
 July 4, 1825. 
 
 40. Gen. Gaines to Gov. Troup, stating that the Indians had 
 agreed to be peaceable with each other, and to restore all property 
 wrongfully taken, and pay all destroyed contrary to law. They 
 still declare the treaty was the offspring of fraud, entered into 
 contrary to the known law and determined will of the nation, and 
 by persons not authorized to act. They still refuse to share any 
 part of the money under the treaty, or to give any other evidence 
 of acquiescence. In view of the pacification, there will be no 
 necessity for calling into service any part of the militia or volun- 
 teers of the State. He enclosed a certificate signed by William 
 Edwards and Joseph Marshall, that they were present when the 
 express from Gov. Troup delivered the request to Gen. Mcintosh 
 for leave to survey the lands, when the latter replied that he could 
 not grant the request, but that he would call the chiefs together 
 and lay it before them, — which was never done. July 10, 1825. 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 125 
 
 41. Gov. Troup to Gen. Gaines, denouncing the certificate of 
 Marshall, who had repeatedly declared that there was not a dis- 
 sentient voice from the survey among the friendly chiefs. Gov. 
 Troup says : — 
 
 I very well know from late events which have transpired under the 
 eyes of the Commissioners, that the oath even of a Governor of Georgia 
 may he permitted to pass for nothing, and that any vagabond of the 
 Indian country may be put in requisition to discredit him. But I assure 
 you, sir, if that oath should not weigh one feather with your Government, 
 it will weigh with the people of this State, who have never refused 
 credence to the word of their chief-magistrate, and, I believe, will not to 
 the present one, unworthy as he may be. Permit me to say in frankness 
 that I do not like the complexion of things at all as disclosed by the Com- 
 missioners on the part of the State, and sincerely hope that you may never 
 have cause to regret the part you have taken in them. July 16, 1825. 
 
 42. Letter from Gen. Gaines to Gov. Troup, defending the 
 character of Edwards and Marshall, as men worthy of the highest 
 credit ; severe and caustic in its figures, such as, " The enlight- 
 ened citizens of the republic, having long since found it to be fruit- 
 less to look for angels in the form of men to govern them, know 
 full well how to discriminate between the high office and the man 
 who fills it;" "the adamantine pillars of the Union, against which 
 the angry, vaporing, paper squibs of the little and the great dema- 
 gogues of all countries may be continued to be hurled for hundreds 
 of centuries without endangering the noble edifice." Further he 
 says : — 
 
 It is not to be denied that there is in Georgia, as well as every other 
 State, a small class of men who, like the " Holy Alliance," profess to 
 employ themselves in the laudable work of enlightening and governing 
 all other classes of the community, but whose labors consist of the vain 
 and " daring efforts" to prove the light of truth is to he found only with 
 the party to which they themselves respectively belong, and that all others 
 go wrong. If you will take the trouble to read the newspaper essays with 
 which the presses have been teeming for some years past, you will find 
 that many of the essayists have had the hardihood to " refuse credence 
 to the word of their chief-magistrate;" and yet we have no reason to 
 despair of the Republic. July 28, 1825. 
 
 43. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen,. Gaines on ascertaining 
 that the letter of 28th ult., published in the Creorgia Journal, was 
 in his handwriting, saying, " I have lost no time to direct you to 
 forbear further intei^course with this Government. Having thought 
 proper to make representations of your conduct to the President, 
 I have ordered you to be furnished with a copy of every letter 
 written on your subject, and which will reach you in due time. 
 Any communication proceeding from the oflicer next in command 
 
126 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 in this military department will be received and attended to." 
 August 6, 1825. 
 
 44. Gov. Troup to T. P. Andrews, Special Agent, appealing to 
 his sound sense to know what good or what changes will be effected 
 by further convocations with the Indians while the Agent retains 
 his place, to exercise influence over them as he has always done : — 
 
 The documents of incontestable authority prove to you that they will 
 not. No, sir ; the way to the accomplishment of the ends of your mission 
 is open. Suspend the Agent, make atonement to the friends of Mcintosh 
 for the blood shed by the guilty instruments of white men, restore the 
 friendly chiefs to their political rank and power, and, my word for it, you 
 will find truth, — and enough of it for every purpose, — peace, reconciliation, 
 and union. June 14, 1825. 
 
 45. Gov. Troup to T. P. Andrews, placing in his possession the 
 report of a committee and resolutions of the Legislature, supported 
 by evidence in the case of the Agent for Indian Affairs, whose 
 conduct in connection with the late disturbances in the Creek 
 nation had been a subject of investigation before the Legislature. 
 June 13, 1825. 
 
 46. T. P. Andrews to Gov. Troup. lias seen nothing in the 
 evidence to authorize the suspension of the Agent ; yet, in courtesy 
 to the Governor, the suspension is ordered. In the mean time, he 
 trusts the evidence which has been collected altogether ex parte will 
 not be laid before the public until the Agent has an opportunity 
 of defending himself, or the General Government an opportunity 
 of examining the evidence adduced by either party. June 18, 1825. 
 
 47. Gov. Troup to T. P. Andrews. Corrects the mistake that the 
 Agent was denied the opportunity of defending himself. The 
 Commissioners were directed to afford him that privilege ; but the 
 Agent declined availing himself of the cross-examination of wit- 
 nesses, or being present at any examination, professing to deny 
 the right of Georgia altogether to interfere in this matter. June 
 20, 1825. 
 
 48. T. P. Andrews to Gov. Troup. Evinces some knowledge of 
 special pleading, charges, specifications, testimony, confrontation 
 of witnesses, and all that process, applied to the Agent, and denies 
 the existence of all prejudice by the General Government in favor 
 of the Agent, &c. June 23, 1825. 
 
 49. Gov. Troup to T. P. Andrews. Is at a loss how to frame 
 specifications to cover the case of the Agent, date, place, crime, 
 and the precise part acted by him in instigating the Indians to 
 murder Mcintosh, oppose the treaty, &c. The charge has been 
 
DUNCAN 6. CAMPBELL. 127 
 
 sufficiently explicit for all rational purposes, and, if more is 
 required, it is not his duty to furnish it. June 27, 1825. 
 
 50. Gov. Troup to T. P. Andrews :— 
 
 Sir : — I call your attention to a letter purporting to be yours, and 
 addressed to the Agent in extenuation of your conduct for the act of 
 suspension, and published in a paper here, of this morning, called the 
 Patriot. If this letter be authentic, you will consider all intercourse 
 between yourself and this Government suspended from the moment of 
 the receipt of this. June 28, 1825. 
 
 51. T. P. Andrews to Gov. Troup, -[treated as unofficial after sus- 
 pension,] admitting the letter in the Patriot, and still declaring the 
 innocence of the Agent: — 
 
 Being an officer of the General Government, I can go on to discharge 
 my duties fearlessly, according to the dictates of my conscience and to 
 the best of my judgment ; and, if I am to be added to the list of the 
 proscribed for interposing the shield of my Government to prevent the 
 destruction of a man doomed to be condemned without a hearing or trial, 
 I wish that suspension not only continued, but made absolute and perma- 
 nent. July 4, 1825. 
 
 52. Gov. Troup to the Secretary of War, informing him of the 
 cause and the fact of suspension of further intercourse with T. P. 
 Andrews, Special Agent. June 28, 1825. 
 
 53. Gov. Troup to the President of the United States, forward- 
 ing a report and sundry resolutions adopted by the Legislature, 
 with the evidence relating to the conduct of the Agent for Indian 
 Affairs. June 13, 1825. 
 
 54. C. Vandeventer, Chief Clerk of the War Department, (the 
 Secretary being absent,) informs Gov. Troup that the President 
 has decided that, if the land is surveyed before the time fixed by 
 the treaty, the responsibility will be upon the Government of 
 Georgia. June 15, 1825. 
 
 55. The Secretary of War, to Gov. Troup, says : — 
 
 The Indians, to the number of 1890, including a large majority of 
 their chiefs and head-men of the tribe, have denounced the treaty as 
 tainted alike with intrigue and treachery, and as the act of a very small 
 portion of the tribe against the express determination of a very large 
 majority, — a determination known to the Commissioners. 
 
 He repeats that the survey of the lands before Ist September, 
 1826, would be an infraction of the 8th article of the treaty, 
 which the President was bound to execute, and that, for the 
 present, a previous survey will not be permitted. A copy of the 
 instructions to Gen. Gaines is enclosed. July 21, 1825. 
 
 56. The Secretary of War, to Gen, Gaines, among other things, 
 said : — 
 
128 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Yet should he [Gov. Troup] persevere in sending-persons to survey the 
 lands embraced within the treaty, you are hereby authorized to employ 
 the military to prevent their entrance on the Indian territory, or, if they 
 should succeed in entering the country, to cause them to be arrested, and 
 turn them over to the judicial authority, to be dealt with as the law 
 directs. July 21, 1825. 
 
 57. Gov. Troup to the Secretary of War : — 
 
 You make known at the same time the resolution of the President to 
 refer the treaty to Congress, on the allegation that intrigue and treachery 
 have been employed to procure it. This at once puts a stop to the sur- 
 vey ; and you will inform the President that, until the will of the Legis- 
 lature of Georgia is expressed, no measures will be taken to execute the 
 survey. 
 
 The Executive of Georgia has no authority, in the civil war with which 
 the State is menaced, to strike the first blow, nor has it the inclination 
 to provoke it. This is left for those who have both the inclination and 
 authority, and who profess to love the Union best. The Legislature will 
 on their first meeting decide what, in this respect, the rights and interests 
 of the State demand. In the mean time, the right to make the survey 
 is asserted, and the reference of the treaty to Congress for revision pro- 
 tested against, without any qualification. It is true, sir, that, according 
 to my own opinion, if there be fraud and corruption in the procurement 
 of the treaty, it ought to be set aside by the indignant expression of the 
 nation's will : the taint of such corruption, according to that opinion, 
 would suffice to render void an instrument of any kind purporting to pass 
 a right of any kind. 
 
 But of what avail is this opinion against your own established maxims 
 and precedents ? You would decry it as the visionary speculation of a 
 wild enthusiastic, because you would refer me to all your Indian treaties. 
 You would present to me, in full relief, the decision of your Supreme 
 Court in the ease of Fletcher and Peck, where, a feigned issue being 
 made to settle the principle, the principle was settled that the Legislature 
 of Georgia having, by bribery and corruption, sold the inheritance of the 
 people for a mess of pottage, the grant passed a vested right which 
 could by no possibility be divested ; and, therefore, that the Congress had 
 ' no alternative but to surrender the territory of Alabama and Mississippi, 
 or compromise the claims. They chose the latter, and gave five millions 
 of dollars to the claimants, — of which we paid our full proportion. 
 
 Whilst, therefore, I present my own opinion on the one hand, yon 
 have, on the other, my public and official protestation, in strict accordance 
 and unison with your and all your constituted authorities' decisions, and 
 which place the treaty upon such high ground that, no matter by what 
 execrable baseness it may have been elevated there, the Congress of the 
 United States cannot reach it. 
 
 It may be otherwise, but I do sincerely believe that no Indian treaty 
 has ever been negotiated and concluded in better faith than the one 
 which is the subject of this letter. If it be otherwise, having been 
 concluded by your own officers against your instructions, without any 
 participation of the authorities of Georgia, I sincerely hope that those 
 officers may, so far as you have power, be brought to trial and punish- 
 ment. But yet, according to your own doctrines, this does not impair 
 the validity of the treaty. The Legislature of Georgia will, therefore, at 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 129 
 
 its first meeting, be advised to resist any effort whicli may be made to 
 ■wrest from the State the territory acquired by that treaty, and no matter 
 by what authority that effort be made. August 15, 1825. 
 
 58. Gov. Troup to the President of the United States, commu- 
 nicating the report of the Georgia Commissioners in the case of 
 the Agent, and pointing out the sufficiency of the evidence for his 
 removal and the injustice on the part of the agents of the Federal 
 Government toward Georgia, their bias and obstinacy, their readi- 
 ness to believe any person and any circumstance in favor of the 
 Agent for Indian Affairs, and their incredulity to proof of the 
 highest grade when against him : — 
 
 A gentleman of clear intellect, pure morals, honorable character, and 
 great prudence [Col. Henry G. Lamar] is selected by the Grovernor to 
 hold a talk with the Indians. He performs that duty, makes his report, 
 and the report is at once discredited on the naked word of the Indians. 
 General Mcintosh writes three several letters to the Governor, subscribed 
 by his own proper hand, giving his assent to the survey of the country ; 
 the friendly chiefs, Marshall included, repeatedly assure the Governor 
 that they, one and all, consent to the survey; a certificate is obtained 
 from this same Marshall and a white man, to prove that General Mcintosh 
 refused his assent ; General Graines immediately comes to the conclusion 
 that this assent was never given. 
 
 The admission of free communication with the Indians to every other 
 description of persons, and the denial of it to the Georgia Commissioners, 
 was a further wrong done to Georgia. 
 
 Indeed, sir, it would appear from the reports of the Commissioners that 
 aU or any description of testimony would be willingly received on the one 
 side, and particularly that description which would exculpate the Agent, 
 excuse the hostile Indians, prevent the survey of the lands, or effect the 
 abrogation of the treaty; and, on the other side, every thing was to be 
 discredited, or received, at best, with many grains of allowance, and every 
 act or proceeding of the Commissioners of the United States or of the 
 constituted authorities of the State resolved into corruption and de- 
 pravity. July 26, 1825. 
 
 69. Gov. Troup to the President on the course of Gen. Gaines, 
 his partisan interference, his dictatorial bearing, his admission of 
 unworthy persons to outweigh the statements of the Government. 
 August 7, 1825. 
 
 60. The Secretary of War to Gov. Troup, regretting the pos- 
 ture of affairs, and expressing the desire of the President to avoid 
 all differences, so far as his duty will permit ; that he has heard 
 with satisfaction the determination of the Governor not to proceed 
 with the survey until the whole matter can be submitted to Con- 
 gress and to the Legislature of Georgia. August 30, 1825. 
 
 61. Gov. Troup to the President of the United States : — 
 
 In the enclosed gazette you will find another insolent letter, dated the 
 Vol. I.— 9 
 
130 BENCE AND BAK OF GEORGIA, 
 
 16tli instant, addressed by your agent, Brevet Major-General Gaines, to 
 the Chief-Magistrate of this State. Having been betrayed by his passions 
 into the most violent excesses, he is presented before you at this moment 
 as your commissioned officer and authorized agent, with a corps of regu- 
 lars at his heels, attempting to dragoon and overawe the constituted 
 authorities of an independent State, and on the eve of a great election, 
 amid the distractions of party, taking side with the one political party 
 against the other, and addressing electioneering papers almost weekly to 
 the Chief-Magistrate through the public prints, couched in language of 
 contumely and insult and defiance, and for which were I to send him to 
 you in chains I would transgress nothing of the public law. The same 
 moderation and forbearance with which I have endeavored heretofore to 
 deport myself in my intercourse with you, and from which I trust there 
 has in no instance been a departure, but on the highest necessity, have 
 restrained me from resorting to harsh and offensive measures against him. 
 You will see, however, if this officer has been thus acting by your author- 
 ity or countenance, you have an awful atonement to make to your con- 
 temporaries and to posterity. 
 
 But if, contrary to either, he has assumed the responsibility, it is ex- 
 pected that your indignant reprobation of his conduct will be marked by 
 the most exemplary punishment which the laws will enable you to inflict. 
 I demand, therefore, as Chief-Magistrate of Georgia, his immediate recall, 
 and his arrest, trial, and punishment under the rules and articles of war. 
 August 31, 1825. 
 
 62. The Secretary of War to Gov. Troup, adhering to the course 
 of submitting the conduct of the officers of the United States to 
 Congress, and enclosing a copy of his letter to Gen. Gaines, though 
 " The President has decided that he cannot, consistently with his 
 view of the subject, accede to your demand to have Gen. Gaines 
 arrested." September 19, 1825. 
 
 63. The Secretary of War to Gen. Gaines, referring to the 
 decorum which ought to mark his official intercourse with the 
 State authorities ; and the letters from Gov. Troup, showing that a 
 contrary course had been pursued : — 
 
 He [the President] has therefore seen with regret that, in the letters 
 published, (which, though not transmitted to the Department, he presumes, 
 are authentic,) purporting to be from you to Gov. Troup, you have per- 
 mitted yourself to indulge a tone whose effect will be to destroy that har- 
 mony which the President is so much disposed to cherish, and the publi- 
 cation of which is calculated to inflame those differences which moderation 
 and forbearance could not fail to allay. In communicating to you the 
 disapprobation of the President, as well for writing as publishing those 
 letters, and his injunction that, in your official intercourse with Gov. Troup 
 in future, you abstain from every thing that may be deemed offensive, 
 I am directed to add, as an act of justice to you, that the President sees, 
 in the serious charges made against you by Gov. Troup, and the publicity 
 given to them, and which the letters complained of were intended to repel, 
 circumstances which go far in his opinion to palliate your conduct, and 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 131 
 
 without which palliation the President would have found it his duty ta 
 have yielded to the demand of Gov. Troup. Septemher 19, 1825. 
 
 64. Gov. Troup to the Secretary of War, rectifying the pretext 
 on which the President declined to arrest Gen. Gaines : — 
 
 Nothing offensive or exeeptionahle was ever written to that officer 
 hefore he had sanctioned by his approbation an offensive letter written by 
 your Special Agent on the 21st of June, and addressed to the Agent for 
 Indian Affairs, in which the authorities of Georgia are wantonly abused 
 for injustice, oppression, and tyranny practised against the Agent, or before 
 he had obtained a false certificate from two base and unworthy men to 
 traduce and vilify the character of the Chief-Magistrate of Georgia, 
 which he ordered to be published of his mere volition, on pretence that 
 false rumors were in circulation, — of what, or about whom, he did not 
 say, — and this, too, done, as was afterwards made manifest, for the pur- 
 pose of influencing the general election in this State in behalf of his 
 favorite candidate. That you may entertain no doubt of the correctness 
 of this statement, and the incorrectness of the statement of the Presi- 
 dent, you have only to compare the dates of the various letters and of 
 their publication. It will be seen that before Gen. Gaines could have 
 received my letter of the 16th July, of which he complained, he had 
 already ordered the publication of his of the 10th of July, to which it 
 was an answer. 
 
 Ton wUl be furnished with additional testimony to show the very repre- 
 hensible conduct of the same officer in his deportment toward the authori- 
 ties of Georgia, — ^not with any the least expectation that justice will be 
 rendered by the President to those authorities, but in discharge of duties 
 which they owe themselves. October 15, 1825. 
 
 65. Gov. Troup to Messrs. Warren Jourdan, Seaborn Jones, 
 William H. Torrance, and William W. Williamson, Commissioners 
 under a resolution of the Georgia Legislature to investigate the 
 conduct of the Agent for Indian Affairs and the disturbances in 
 the Creek nation : — 
 
 Tou are requested to proceed to the Indian Springs, to attend a council 
 of the friendly Indians to be holden there on the 20th inst. As it is 
 presumed that every concert tendered on the part of this Government to 
 assure a full development of the facts connected with the late disturb- 
 ances in the Creek nation, and also such as may more particularly affect 
 the guilt or innocence of the Agent under the charges exhibited against him 
 by the Governor of this State, will be gratifying to 3Iajor-General Graines, 
 you are hereby authorized and empowered, under the authority vested in 
 you by the Legislature, to employ all lawfal means for the furthering of 
 the objects aforesaid, avoiding, at the same time, any interference whatever 
 with that council in matters disconnected with the objects of your mission, 
 and which appertain exclusively to interests and relations purely political, 
 subsisting between the General Government and Indians. 
 
 After further directions as to other places, and the aid of 
 friendly chiefs to be kept with the Commissioners, the Governor 
 
132 BENCH AND BAE OF GEORGIA. 
 
 says, " Should such participation be denied you, you will enter 
 your formal protest against that denial, and proceed to avail your- 
 selves, within the jurisdiction of Georgia, of all the testimony yon 
 can obtain." June 18, 1825. 
 
 66. The Georgia Commissioners to Gen. Graines : — 
 
 EDclosed yon will receive a copy of a letter of instructions from his 
 Excellency the Governor of Georgia to us as Commissioners in behalf 
 of the State, for the purposes therein mentioned. It is important to the 
 Commissioners that your answer to the application of his Excellency the 
 Governor to admit the Commissioners to a full and free participation of 
 the council of the Indians should be received as early as practicable. 
 June 20, 1825. 
 
 67. Gen. Gaines to Messrs. Jourdan, Williamson, and Torrance, 
 Commissioners : — 
 
 In reply, I have to observe that, however much I might be aided by 
 the light of your experience, I do not feel myself authorized, without new 
 instructions from the Department of War, to comply with your demand to 
 be admitted ' to a full and free participation of the council of the Indians.' 
 The council is assembled for the purpose of enabling me to discharge 
 duties of a very delicate and important nature confided to me by the 
 General Government. I deem it proper, therefore, that I should exercise 
 the entire control of every subject to be acted on, and of every expression 
 uttered to the councU by any officer or citizen permitted to address it, 
 whether of the United States or of any individual State or Territory. 
 Without such control our councils would be involved in confusion, 
 and they would be wholly useless, — if not worse than useless. June 21, 
 1825. 
 
 68. The Georgia Commissioners to Gen. Gaines : — 
 
 We are instructed to say that our Government disclaims in the strongest 
 terms any wish or intention in any wise to embarrass your movements as 
 connected with any matter growing out of the present unfortunate and 
 peculiar situation of the Creek nation of Indians. The Government of 
 Georgia has created the commission, under which we have the honor to 
 act, for no other purpose than to inquire into the facts as connected with 
 the conduct of an officer of your Government, — ^the conduct of which 
 officer has been arraigned by the Government of Georgia at the instance 
 of the President of the United States. In the investigation of the conduct 
 of that officer the State of Georgia has great interest. It is of the highest 
 importance to her that there should be a full and clear development of 
 all the fects, which, if had, it is beUeved, will fully establish the several 
 charges as preferred. 
 
 To arrive at the certainty of all these facts in the most imposing and 
 official manner, it was considered by our Government necessary to consti- 
 tute the present mission. It was further determined by the same Govern- 
 ment to be of the first consequence that the members of that mission 
 should present themselves, clothed in their official character, in the council 
 of the Indians to be convened by you, — ^believing that in the councils 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 133 
 
 information might be elicited material to the points in issue between the. 
 State of Georgia and the Agent for Indian Affairs. For this purpose, and 
 no other, we have been directed by our Government to repair to this place, 
 and to inform you of the same, and to respectfully ask for admittance 
 therein. We have done so by request only ; we have not demanded it. 
 That permission has been denied to us. 
 
 We therefore, in pursuance to our instructions, as also a proper sense 
 of duty toward our Government, do hereby enter our formal protest 
 against such denial, — believing that in consequence of being debarred a 
 participation in those councils the State of Georgia will unquestionably be 
 deprived of that which is to her of vital interest and great magnitude. 
 June 21, 1825. 
 
 It would extend this memoir beyond reasonable limits to give 
 an abstract of the correspondence between the Georgia Commis- 
 sioners and the agents of the General Government, some of which 
 was racy enough. Col. Samuel Rockwell, as counsel for Col. 
 Crowell, was present at some, if not all, of the examinations of 
 witnesses for the State. The interrogatories were generally in 
 writing, and the answers were specific. A great deal of testimony 
 "was collected in this way, — much to inculpate the Agent, and some 
 to sustain or discredit certain witnesses, as the interest of the 
 party, or the occasion, might require. The report of the Com- 
 missioners, embodying all this matter, letters, affidavits, and exami- 
 nations, formed about one hundred pages in print, — all of which was 
 laid before the Legislature by Gov. Troup and a copy forwarded to 
 the President. In what degree the character of the Agent was 
 affected by the evidence, or whether the President erred in retain- 
 ing him in office, the author expresses no opinion, as President 
 Adams, Gov. Troup, Gen. Gaines, and Col. Crowell are all dead, 
 and charity forbids that reproach should be cast on the memory 
 of those who cannot repel what may be unjust. 
 
 As a specimen, however, of the indiscretions into which men of 
 high position were betrayed, three affidavits are here copied from 
 the documents in question, — two relating to the conduct of Gen. 
 Gaines, and the other proving conclusively that, if the Alien and 
 Sedition Laws passed under the administration of the first President 
 Adams had been in force on the 4th day of July, 1825, or there- 
 about. Col. Williamson, one of the Georgia Commissioners, would have 
 been liable to a criminal prosecution for defamatory words con- 
 cerning the second President Adams : — 
 
 Peinceton, Indian nation : 
 
 Personally appeared John Winslett, before me, Thomas Triplett, Acting 
 Agent for Indian Affairs, who, being duly sworn, says that on Saturday 
 last, the 2d inst., at a house occupied by a negro of Chilly Mcintosh, who 
 
134 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 had whiskey for sale, William W. Williamson, one of the Commissioners 
 from G-eorgia, in a conversation with this deponent and others, consisting 
 of Benjamin Hawkins, Josiah Gray, Indians, who understood English, 
 Samuel B. Nichols, Isaac Burns, Nelson Kent, and others, among other 
 things asserted that he had been threatened since he had been here, but 
 not by the red people ; and, after some other remarks, he observed that 
 the President of the United States had acted like a damned insignificant 
 rascal, for taking notice of reports which had the eifect of stopping the 
 survey. John Winslett. 
 
 Sworn to before me, this 4th day of July, 1825. 
 
 Thomas Triplett, Acting Agent Indian Affairs. 
 
 Witness, T. P. Andrews, Special Agent. 
 
 The above affidavit appears among the papers attached to the 
 address of Major T. P. Andrews, which was published in the 
 National Intelligencer of September 22, 1825, in reply, as he 
 states, to the reports of the Georgia Commissioners. 
 
 The following affidavits were part of the evidence transmitted 
 with the special message of Gov. Troup to the Legislature, Novem- 
 ber 21, 1825 :— 
 
 Affidavit of the Rev. Iverson L. Brookes. 
 
 Georgia, Baldwin county : 
 
 Personally appeared before me the Rev. Iverson L. Brookes, who, being 
 duly sworn, saith that while at the Indian Springs, in the State of Georgia, 
 in the month of July past, on Tuesday, the 19th day of the month, he 
 was introduced to Gen. E. P. Gaines by Maj. Joel Bailey, who keeps the 
 public tavern at that place. After the introduction, this deponent and 
 Gen. Gaines entered into conversation about the Indians, the treaty, and 
 other matters connected with them, in the public room, near the outer 
 door. Several persons were present, — principally white men, and a few 
 Indians of the friendly or Mcintosh party. In that conversation General 
 Gaines stated, in speaking of the possessions of the United States beyond 
 the Mississippi, that the General Government possessed no lands in that 
 quarter free from the encumbrance of Indian titles or the occupancy of 
 white settlers, who could not be removed without entering into formal 
 treaties. He further said it was the most heels-over-head piece of busi- 
 ness in the General Government that, perhaps, ever occurred in the con- 
 duct of wise men, to engage by treaty with the Indians to exchange with 
 them territory when they had none to exchange. 
 
 In speaking about the treaty, he stated that in regard to the treaty he 
 thought he had sufficient evidence in his possession to convince him that 
 the commencement and whole process of it was founded in the deepest 
 fraud and treachery, and that every individual concerned in it was damned : 
 he paused a while, and then said, politically damned. In conversing 
 further about the treaty and the land, after making some remarks not par- 
 ticularly recollected, he turned to the Indians who were present, and said, 
 I tell these Indians the white people will cheat them out of their lands, 
 get all their money, and then kick them to hell! 
 
 In speaking about Crowell, he stated he believed him a pure and up- 
 
DUKCAN S. CAMPBELL. 135 
 
 right man ; that he had done more than his duty, and the only thing he 
 hlamed him for was signing the treaty as a witness, and that he (General 
 Gaines) would rather have lost his right arm than to have done it. 
 Talking of the Indians, he said they were disposed to he reconciled and 
 return to the nation, except Chilly Mcintosh and the small party attached 
 to him ; that he did not care whether he did or not, — that he was no chief, 
 and had plenty of property to live either among the Indians or whites. 
 He further said that the people of Georgia were a reflecting- people ; that 
 they were under the influence of intriguing politicians, and that he had no 
 douht they would ultimately approve his conduct. This deponent further 
 saith that the conversation was a long one, and during its continuance 
 General Gaines was occasionally highly excited, and spoke with much 
 warmth, — so much so toward the conclusion as to induce this deponent to 
 break off rather unceremoniously aud turn to Major Bailey to settle his 
 bUl. 
 
 I have endeavored to recollect as well as I can the expressions of 
 Genera] Gaines : though in some cases I may have used different words, I 
 am confident that I have retained the sense of them. 
 
 IvERSON L. Brookes. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 17th of October, 1825. 
 
 I. T. Gushing, J. P. 
 
 Affidavit of Col. Michael Watson.* 
 Georgia, Baldwin county : 
 
 Personally appeared Michael Watson, a citizen of the county of Houston, 
 who, being duly sworn, saith that in the month of August last, and, he 
 believes, on or about the tenth or eleventh day of that month, that he was 
 at the Indian Springs, in Monroe county, in said State ; that, in a conver- 
 sation that was held between and among several persons then at the 
 Springs, Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, of the United States Army, being present, 
 the subject of conversation turned upon the late Indian treaty and the 
 proposed survey then about to be made by the order of his Excellency 
 George M. Troup, Governor of the State of Georgia. He (Gen. Gaines) 
 stated, in public company, that if Gov. Troup made the survey or attempted 
 it, that he would be tried for treason and hung ; that General Gaines also 
 stated that Governor Troup and his friends were intriguing demagogues ; 
 that in the same conversation General Gaines manifested and expressed 
 much warmth of hostile feeling toward Governor Troup and his friends. 
 
 The conversation was boisterous in some respects ; and it excited much 
 warmth of feeling in the spectators and those concerned, that the whole 
 of General Gaines's conversation and observations were directed against 
 the constituted authority of Georgia and the supporters of her adminis- 
 tration. Michael Watson. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 10th day of November, 1825. 
 
 Eli S. Shorter, J. S. C. 
 
 In his annual message of November 8, 1825, Gov. Troup 
 
 * The affidavit of the Hon. C. B. Strong, laid before the Legislature by Gov. 
 Tronp in the same message, will be found in the memoir of Judge Strong, vol. ii. 
 of this work. 
 
136 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The President having ultimately resolved to refer the treaty to Con- 
 gress for reconsideration because of alleged intrigue and treachery in 
 obtaining it, the resolution adopted by the Executive to prosecute the 
 survey under the act of the Legislature of the 9th day of June last was 
 changed, and the change immediately communicated to the President. 
 It would be uncandid, fellow-citizens, to disguise that, but for the pro- 
 posed reference to Congress, the survey would have been commenced and 
 prosecuted. 
 
 The treaty was not set aside by Congress or in other respects 
 annulled, although a new treaty had been formed by the Secretary 
 of War, to which the authorities of Georgia paid no attention, but 
 proceeded to survey and distribute the land under the old treaty, 
 with which Col. Campbell's name is honorably identified. The 
 Legislature voted him the confidence and gratitude of the people 
 of Georgia ; and surely that was a proud compensation for the tem- 
 porary injustice which had been done him by the agents of the 
 General Government, who seemed to have acted more like retained 
 counsel for the hostile Indi3,ns than as seekers of truth on which 
 to render an unbiased judgment. 
 
 As the author never saw Col. Campbell, he can give no descrip- 
 tion of his efforts at the bar from his own knowledge ; and, no cor- 
 respondent having performed this task, very little can be added to 
 the memoir. He was a man of talents, upright and agreeable in 
 his social relations, long a trustee of the University of Georgia, 
 the warm friend of popular education ; and, had he lived, there is 
 no doubt he would have been called to the State Executive. He 
 was the political friend, as he was the brother-in-law, of Gen. John 
 Clark, both having married sisters of Col. William W. Williamson, 
 one of the Georgia Commissioners. Col. Campbell died on the 
 31st of July, 1828, in the forty-second year of his age. A quota- 
 tion from Gpv. Gilmer* will conclude the memoir : — 
 
 Col. Campbell had none of the rowdy habits of the North Carolina 
 Wilkes settlers. He avoided violence, and was courteous and kind to 
 everybody. Though his talents were not of the highest order, nor his 
 public speaking what might be called eloquent, he was among the most 
 successful lawyers at the bar and useful members of the Legislature. He 
 was very industrious, and ever ready to do the part of a good citizen. The 
 amenity of his temper was constantly shown in the delight which he 
 derived from pleasing the young. His house continued, as long as he lived, 
 to be one of their favorite resorts. 
 
 Col. Campbell's son John gave early proofs of the extraordinary 
 acumen which has since made him the great lawyer of the South. Whilst 
 he was a student of Franklin College, his father visited Athens, and was 
 invited to attend a meeting of the Cemosthenian Society, of which both 
 
 * Georgians, p. 208. 
 
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 137 
 
 father and son were members. Col. Campbell held forth by request upon 
 the topic of debate. When he was done speaking, John asked leave to 
 answer the gentleman, and so knocked all his father's conclusions into 
 non sequiturs, that it was difficult to tell which had the uppermost in the 
 father's feelings, — mortified vanity or gratified pride. John Campbell has 
 lately been appointed an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, — the highest honor, except that of Chief-Justice, which can 
 be conferred by the Government upon a lawyer. All who know.him con- 
 cur in the opinion that the office will be well filled. 
 
 Col. Campbell's daughter Sarah* was remarkable in early childhood 
 for intellectual precocity, and in womanhood for superior attainments. 
 She married Daniel Chandler, one of the handsomest and very cleverest 
 young men of Georgia. He removed to Alabama, where he has long 
 practised law with distinguished success. 
 
 NOTE TO THE MEMOIR. 
 
 As Mr. Justice Campbell, of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, has been aptly introduced in the work of Gov. Gilmer, the 
 author begs leave to subjoin a sketch of that distinguished jurist, 
 which was first published in the Monitor of March 8, 1843, among 
 "Heads of the Alabama Legislature," which the author prepared 
 for the press. This is the more appropriate, because Judge Camp- 
 bell obtained license to practise law in Georgia under a special act 
 of the Legislature, in 1829, of which the following is the caption : — 
 
 An act to admit David J. Bailey, of Butts county, Hiram Hemphill, 
 of Lincoln county, John A. Campbell, of Wilkes county, Gray A. 
 Chandler, of Warren county, Eobert McCarthy, of Monroe county, William 
 A. Black, of Chatham county, and Robert Toombs, of Wilkes county, to 
 plead and practise law in the several courts of law and equity in this 
 State. 
 
 HEADS OF THE ALABAMA LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, of Mobile, is generally considered a man of the clearest 
 and most vigorous intellect in the House of Representatives. He was a 
 member six years ago, and had great influence in maturing the relief law at 
 the called session of 1837. Indeed, the adoption of that measure is said 
 to have been owing almost entirely to his arguments for its necessity. 
 As he rarely deals in generalities when he has a point to accomplish, he 
 on that occasion took up the productions of the State compared with the 
 indebtedness of the people, and proved, beyond any reasonable doubt, that 
 an extension of bank-debts and a fresh loan of five millions for circulation 
 would enable the industry of the people to cancel all their embarrassments 
 by the time the loans became due. This was a mode of stating the ques- 
 tion which no experience at that time could gainsay; and the proposition 
 of relief, in its broadest form, ripened into a statute. Whatever miscal- 
 
 * The late David B. Butler, Esq., of Macon, also married a. daughter of Col. 
 Campbell. — M. 
 
138 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 dilation or error may have existed as to the prihciple, no one has ever 
 suspected the perfect sincerity of Mr. Campbell in the part he acted. He 
 was governed by a spirit desiring only the public good, and perhaps he is 
 as ready now to admit that the plan was unsuited to the emergency as its 
 strongest opponent at the called session. In those days there prevailed a 
 public delirium on monetary affairs. All heads had run wild with adven- 
 ture, and all minds were intent upon the remedy of expansion. What 
 the result bas been, every man's experience is the most conclusive tes- 
 timony. 
 
 We have adverted to this chapter in the public life of Mr. Campbell, 
 not for the purpose of judgment, but merely in illustration of that peculiar 
 and convincing power of argument with which he is eminently gifted. 
 At the late session, Mr. Campbell, as chairman of the Bank Committee, was 
 looked to for that platform in relation to the currency and the engage- 
 ments of the State which his superior information on that subject and 
 his known habits of labor so well qualified him to present. A mass of 
 documents unprecedented for variety and extent in the Legislature, which 
 required close investigation and much time to reduce into system, was re- 
 ferred to the committee. On all these Mr. Campbell bestowed the most 
 searching examination, and made a report not less able than it was com- 
 prehensive and satisfactory. The entire action of the House was directed 
 in the main, though not in exact detail, by the suggestions of that paper 
 and the bills which accompanied it. The foundation having been thus 
 laid, a superstructure was afterward raised, not in every respect suitable 
 to Mr. Campbell's taste, — though he submitted, after a hard and valiant 
 contest, with manly deference, to overpowering numbers. 
 
 Our position as reporter in the House enabled us to record much of the 
 transactions of that body, and also to make our readers acquainted with 
 its business-men. Among these Mr. Campbell stood foremost. On some 
 occasions his masterly powers were exhibited with a cogency of argument 
 which, if it did not command assent, was at least unanswered. His strong 
 efforts (and he seldom makes any other) were listened to with a depth of 
 attention which was accorded to very few speakers in the House. To the 
 character of a statesman and political financier Mr. Campbell unites the 
 highest honors of the law. In the Supreme Court, if he is not without a 
 rival, he at least is without a superior. 
 
 For a man of his talents, reputation, and general advantages, Mr. 
 Campbell is singularly inattentive to his personal appearance and to those 
 common social blandishments which are valued not the less in public than 
 in private lif^. He is cold, taciturn, reserved, — not the least symptom in 
 his manners that he courts society, — absorbed in thought, with heavy brow, 
 yet unassuming expression of countenance. At times he is pleasant, and 
 always respectful when it becomes necessary for him to converse. He 
 is said by some of his political opponents to be an artful man in his own 
 way, — that he can drill his party and arrange the order of action with 
 much skill. We have no authority to deny this charge, other than to 
 state, if it be true, the usual mode of judging men fails in relation to Mr. 
 Campbell. There is a total absence of all art in his looks and movements; 
 though some writer has said that it is the consummate of&ce of art to con- 
 ceal art and thereby make it the more successful. 
 
 He seems to hold all elegance and imagination in utter contempt, as un- 
 worthy a practical man. As a member of the Democratic party, he stands 
 alone in Alabama for greatness of conception in all that relates to our 
 
AXJGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 139 
 
 political system. We do not say that he has never fallen into error of 
 opinion ; we cannot ascribe to him infallibility ; but, as an honest man in 
 the most extensive signification of the term, Mr. Campbell- enjoys uni- 
 versal respect and confidence. He is a native of Georgia, and son of 
 the late Col. Duncan G. Campbell, a distinguished citizen of that State. 
 Mr. J. A. Campbell is probably thirty-eight years of age. 
 
 VI. 
 
 AUGUSTESr S. CLAYTON. 
 
 This distinguished man has written his own history at the bar 
 and in the many situations which he has filled worthily to himself 
 and usefully to the public. With regard to his ancestors, his 
 nativity, education, and early life, something will be said in 
 another part of this memoir. The usual course will be somewhat 
 varied, by proceeding at once to the manhood of Augustin Smith 
 Clayton and following him in his career of activity. 
 
 In 1810 he was twenty-seven years of age when selected by the 
 Legislature to compile the statutes of Georgia from 1800. This 
 work he completed, and soon afterward prepared a volume of 
 Forms for Justices of the Peace and other public officers, with the 
 common and statute law applied to the duties of each. It had a 
 large circulation, being the first of the kind in Georgia. With 
 careful revision by L. Q. C. Lamar, Esq., another edition went 
 through the press, a few copies of which may still be found in the 
 offices of some of the older members of the bar and magistrates. 
 
 His rank in the profession caused him to be elected a judge of 
 the Superior Court in 1819, when there was a little more aristo- 
 cracy of merit in fashion than the popular taste now chooses to 
 patronize for judicial dignities or other high employments, and 
 was re-elected in 1822. Besides performing the labors of his 
 circuit faithfully and with much reputation, Judge Clayton con- 
 tributed to the press many profound articles on the sources of 
 Federal power, the sovereignty of the States, our Indian relations, 
 and all that class of topics which divided the people of Georgia 
 into two great political parties, designated as Troup and Clark, 
 after the competitors for the Executive. The communications 
 signed "Atticus," sustaining Gov. Troup and his measures, push- 
 
140 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 ing the doctrine of State sovereignty far ahead of any previous 
 avowals by politicians, were masterly performances, and exerted 
 great influence over public opinion. Troup was elected Governor 
 by the people in 1825 ; but the Legislature contained a majority 
 of Clark men. The consequence was that Judge Clayton was not 
 re-elected, though a candidate. He was succeeded by the Hon. 
 William H. Underwood, as Judge of the Western Circuit. In 
 1828, he was restored to office ; and during his term the great dis- 
 turbances took place in the Cherokee nation, which taxed his 
 energy of character and judicial firmness to an extent of which 
 some details will be given. 
 
 In 1829, the Legislature extended the laws of Georgia over the 
 territory occupied by the Cherokee Indians within the limits of 
 the State, annexing it to the jurisdiction of certain bordering 
 counties, by which the Western Circuit embraced a share. 
 
 Passing over the mania which drew hundreds of adventurers 
 from all quarters — ^home and abroad — to trespass on the public 
 lands in search of gold, so that Gov. Gilmer was induced to convene 
 the Legislature in 1830 several weeks in advance of the usual time, 
 only two or three principal cases with which Judge Clayton became 
 officially identified are here noticed. One of these was the Indian 
 Tassels for killing another Indian ; a second was the case of Butler 
 and Worcester, two missionaries who continued to reside in the 
 nation contrary to law, which made it a penitentiary oflFence for 
 any white person to reside among the Indians without first taking 
 an oath of allegiance to the State of Georgia, except public agents. 
 The third difficulty arose by an attempt on the part of the Chero- 
 kees, through their counsel, Mr. Wirt, to assert their independent 
 national character before the Supreme Court of the United States 
 against the alleged usurpation of Georgia. Mr. Wirt wrote a 
 letter to Gov. Gilmer, suggesting the propriety of making a case 
 by consent, the purport of which was communicated by Gov. Gilmer 
 to Judge Clayton, under date of July 6, 1830. The following is 
 the closing paragraph of Gov. Gilmer's letter* to Judge Clayton : — 
 
 There is, too, no probability that the State of Georgia would submit to 
 the orders of the court if it should determine that the laws of the State 
 in relation to the Indians were void. It is therefore important that no 
 case should be transferred from the courts of the State to the Federal 
 courts. I have been induced to write thus freely and fully, because it is 
 understood at Washington City that you are desirous that the Federal 
 court should assume the jurisdiction of determiniug the extent of the 
 
 * Georgians, p. 357. 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 141 
 
 right of the State to govern its Indian people. I have no douht but that 
 the opposition are very desirous of bringing that question before the 
 Federal court, in order to keep up the resistance of the whites and the 
 half-breeds to the removal of the Cherokees. Our lawyers ought to know 
 the object of the opposition, and refuse to be concerned in such a case. 
 
 At August Term, 1830, of Clark Superior Court, in his charge 
 to the Grand Jury, Judge Clayton said : — * 
 
 Besides the fact officially announced in the council of the Indians lately 
 assembled, I have received information from the Executive branch of this 
 Government that counsel have been employed, by the Cherokee nation to 
 raise, for the adjudication of the Supreme Court of the United States, the 
 question "whether the State has a right to pass laws for the government 
 of the Indians residing within its limits." Now, without intending the 
 least disrespect to that court, to whose Constitutional authority this and 
 all other State courts wUl, I hope, cheerfully submit, this question can 
 never go up from a court in which I preside until the people of the State 
 yield it, either from a conviction of error, ascertained by their own 
 tribunals, or the more awful sense of their weakness to retain it. 
 
 Again, in another part of the same charge, he says : — " So long, 
 however, as the law remains unrepealed, the country has a very 
 solemn pledge that it shall be faithfully and impartially adminis- 
 tered so far as I am concerned. I only require the aid of public 
 opinion and the arm of the Executive authority, and no court on 
 earth besides our own shall ever be troubled with this question." 
 
 Though Georgia declined obeying the mandate of the Supreme 
 Court citing her to appear before that tribunal, the case of the 
 Cherokee nation was submitted and determined, after solemn 
 argument for the plaintiffs.f The Indian Tassels, who was convicted 
 of murder, sought the protection of the Federal courts in vain. 
 Sentence was executed in defiance of an informal service of pro- 
 cess, and no collision between the two sovereignties was produced 
 thereby.| The missionaries! also tried their fortunes in the 
 Supreme Court, and failed to obtain their liberation ; whereupon 
 the subject was brought before Congress, in June, 1832, on a 
 memorial from Dutchess county, New York, by Mr. Pendleton, to 
 authorize their discharge by habeas corpus, — which was laid on the 
 table in the House of Representatives by a vote of 105 to 57. 
 Judge Clayton was a member of the House at the time, but from 
 a proper sense of delicacy did not speak on the question. The 
 rights of Georgia were ably vindicated by her other sons on the 
 floor, and among them the Hon. Henry G. Lamar and the late 
 
 * P. Clayton's pamphlet, p. 9. f 5 Peters's Rep. p. 1. 
 
 J Georgians, p. 373. j 6 Peters's Kep. p. 515. 
 
142 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Hon. Thomas F. Foster, both of whom replied to the assaults on 
 Georgia. 
 
 It is only an act of justice to the liberality of the Executive to 
 say that, when the twelve men who had been convicted in Gwinnett 
 Superior Court, at September Term, 1831, for illegal residence in 
 the Cherokee territory, arrived at the penitentiary, and before they 
 were imprisoned. Gov. Gilmer* offered them all a full pardon if 
 they would give assurance not to violate the law again. They all 
 accepted the terms and were discharged, except Worcester and 
 Butler, who preferred suffering as martyrs to their principles, — as 
 they assumed by their obstinate course. 
 
 A little anecdote went the rounds of the newspapers at the time, 
 in substance that Judge Clayton attended church in Philadelphia 
 on the Sabbath, when a very earnest prayer was offered by the 
 minister in behalf of the poor missionaries imprisoned in Georgia, 
 and for the cruel judge who passed sentence of condemnation 
 upon them ! Little did the minister and audience suspect that the 
 " cruel judge" was present and heard the prayer, and who, no 
 doubt, heartily joined in the supplication. 
 
 As the case of the missionaries excited much attention, a more 
 particular notice is here given of the proceedings. The defend- 
 ants, Elizur Butler and Samuel A. Worcester, were indicted at 
 September Term, 1831, of Gwinnett Superior Court, for the offence 
 of residing in that part of the Cherokee nation attached by the 
 laws of Georgia to said county, without a license or permit, 
 and without having taken the oath to support and defend the 
 Constitution and laws of the State of Georgia, as required by the 
 act of the Legislature passed December 22, 1830. They severally 
 pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court. The following extract 
 shows the nature of the pleas : — 
 
 And the said Samuel A. Worcester, in his own proper person, comes 
 and says that this court ought not to take further cognizance of the action 
 and prosecution aforesaid, because, he says, that on the 15th day of July, 
 in the year 1831, he was and still is a resident in the Cherokee nation ; 
 and that the said supposed crime or crimes, and each of them, were com- 
 mitted, if committed at all, at the town of New Echota, in the said Chero- 
 kee nation, out of the jurisdiction of this court, and not in the county of 
 Gwinnett, or elsewhere within the jurisdiction of this court. And this 
 defendant saith that he is a citizen of the State of Vermont, one of the 
 United States of America, and that he entered the aforesaid Cherokee 
 nation in the capacity of a duly-authorized missionary of the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, under the authority of the 
 
 * Georgians, p. 421. 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTOy. 143 
 
 President of the United States, and has not since been required by him 
 to leave it ; that he was, at the time of his arrest, engaged in preaching 
 the gospel to the Cherokee Indians, and in translating the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures into their language, with the permission and approval of the said 
 Cherokee nation, and in accordance with the humane policy of the Govern- 
 ment of the United States for the civilization and improvement of the 
 Indians; and that his residence therefor this purpose is the residence 
 charged in the aforesaid indictment ; and this defendant further saith that 
 this prosecution the State of Georgia ought not to have or maintain, be- 
 cause, he saith, that several treaties have from time to time been entered 
 into between the United States and the Cherokee nation of Indians, to 
 wit : — 
 
 At Hopewell November 28, 1785, 
 
 Holston July 2, 1791, 
 
 Philadelphia June 26, 1794, 
 
 Tellico October 2, 1798, 
 
 Tellico October 25, 1804, 
 
 Tellico October 27, 1805, 
 
 Washington City January 7, 1805, 
 
 Washington City March 22, 1816, 
 
 the Chickasaw Council-House September 14, 1816, 
 
 the Cherokee Agency July 8, 1817, 
 
 Washington City February 27, 1819, 
 
 All which said treaties have been duly ratified by the Senate of the United 
 States of America ; and by which treaties the United States of America 
 acknowledge the said Cherokee nation to be a sovereign nation, authorized 
 to govern themselves and all persons who have settled within their terri- 
 tory, free from any right of legislative interference by the several States 
 composing the United States of America in reference to acts done within 
 their own territory ; and by which treaties the whole of the territory now 
 occupied by the Cherokee nation, on the east side of the Mississippi, has 
 been solemnly guaranteed to them ; all of which treaties are existing trea- 
 ties at this day, and in full force. 
 
 The plea alleges other matter to render void the action of the 
 Georgia Legislature over the Cherokee Territory, and thus con- 
 cludes : — 
 
 Therefore this court has no jurisdiction to cause this defendant to make 
 further or other answer to the said bill of indictment, or further to try 
 and punish this defendant for the said supposed offence or offences alleged 
 in the bill of indictment, or any of them ; and therefore this defendant 
 prays judgment whether he shall be held bound to answer further to said 
 indictment. 
 
 Judge Clayton, who presided at the trial, overruled the plea, 
 and, upon hearing the evidence, the defendant was convicted by 
 the jury. The following order or sentence was then passed by 
 the court : — 
 
 The State vs. B. F. Thompson and others. Indictment for residing in 
 the Cherokee nation without license. Verdict, Guilty. 
 
144 EEKCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The State vs. Elizur Butler, Samuel A.Worcester, and others. Indict- 
 ment for residing in the Cherokee nation without license. Verdict, 
 Guilty. 
 
 The defendants in both of the above cases shall be kept in close cus- 
 tody by the sheriff of this county until they can be transported to the 
 penitentiary of this State ; and the keeper thereof is hereby directed to 
 receive them and each of them into his custody, and keep them and each 
 of them at hard labor in said penitentiary for and during the term of four 
 years. 
 
 A writ of error was allowed by Associate-Justice Baldwin, and 
 a mandate issued to the State of Georgia to show cause wliy the 
 judgment of the Superior Court should not be reversed by the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, which mandate was served 
 on Gov. Lumpkin and on Charles J. Jenkins, Esq., Attorney- 
 General, returnable on the second Monday* in January, 1832. The 
 exemplification of the proceedings in Gwinnett Superior Court was 
 certified on the 28th day of November, 1831, by John G. Park, 
 Esq., the Clerk. The State authorities paid no attention to the 
 mandate, and declined appearing in the appellate court. 
 
 The case was argued for the plaintiff in error by Messrs. Sar- 
 geant, Wirt, and E. W. Chester. The last point taken was, — 
 
 4. That the indictment, conviction, and sentence, being founded upon 
 a statute of Georgia which was unconstitutional and void, were themselves 
 also void and of no effect, and ought to be reversed. 
 
 The opinion of the court, delivered by Chief-Justice Marshall, 
 was very elaborate, reviewing all the authorities, with conclusion : — 
 
 It is the opinion of this court that the judgment of the Superior Court 
 for the county of Gwinnett, in the State of Georgia, condemning Samuel 
 A. Worcester to hard labor in the penitentiary of Georgia, for four years, 
 was pronounced by that court under color of a law which is void, as being 
 repugnant to the Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States, and 
 ought, therefore, to be reversed and annulled. 
 
 The same judgment was given in the case of Elizur Butler, 
 plaintiff in error, vs. The State of Georgia, and a special mandate 
 was ordered to the Superior Court of Gwinnett county to carry 
 the judgment of the Supreme Court into execution. 
 
 Again the State authorities heeded not the judicial thunder from 
 Washington City, and the missionaries were kept in prison, work- 
 ing out their term, until at length they notified the Governor that 
 they had abandoned their cases in the Supreme Court, and all 
 expectation of relief from that quarter, and threw themselves on 
 the clemency of the Executive. Georgia having vindicated her 
 sovereignty, and no sign of opposition to the exercise of her rights 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 145 
 
 appearing from any quarter, Gov. Lumpkin but reflected the wishes 
 of his constituents when he granted a pardon to these misguided 
 men and set them at full liberty. 
 
 Butler and Worcester returned to the Cherokee nation, resuming 
 their missionary labors, and when the Indians removed they accom- 
 panied them to the West, where, in all probability, they still reside. 
 To show the work they were engaged in some ten years ago in the 
 Cherokee nation west of the Mississippi, a report from Mr. Wor- 
 cester to the United States Agent is here introduced, from Docu- 
 ment No. 4 (p. 360) of the House of Representatives, which 
 accompanied the President's Message to Congress in 1846 : — 
 
 Pabk Hill, August 18, 1846. 
 
 Sir : — In reply to your'communication of July 3, received August 12, 
 permit me to say, first, in regard to the number of preachers in the Chero- 
 kee nation, under the care of the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions, there are at present, — 
 
 Missionaries. — Rev. Elizur Butler, M.D.,* at Fairfield, 
 Rev. Worcester Willey, at Dwight, 
 Rev. S. A. Worcester, at Park Hill— 3. 
 
 Native Preachers. — Rev. John Huss, at Honey Creek, 
 
 Rev. Stephen Foreman, at Park Hill — 2. Total, 5. 
 
 Rev. D. S. Buttrick still resides at Dwight, but has asked and received 
 a dismission from the service, being in very feeble health. 
 
 'The numbers of churches under the care of the missionaries of the 
 same board, as nearly as known, are, — 
 
 Church at Dwight 45 
 
 Fairfield 88 
 
 Park Hill 35 
 
 Mount Zion 30 
 
 Honey Creek 51 
 
 Total 249 
 
 The only schools at present under the care of the board, in the nation, 
 are a female boarding-school at Dwight, and neighborhood schools at Fair- 
 field and Park Hill. The last-named has. for some time past, been partly 
 supported by tuition-fees from the scholars. Respecting the schools at 
 Dwight and Fairfield, you will, I suppose, receive information from the 
 missionaries at those stations. The school at this place the past year has 
 had only about 33 scholars in all, attending more or less. Average 
 about 16. Five were whites, (four of them my own children,) the rest 
 Cherokees. 
 
 You are aware, I suppose, of the existence of the printing-press under 
 
 * Dr. Butler died at Van Buren, Arkansas, February 4, 1857, aged sixty-two 
 years. 
 
 Vol. I.— 10 
 
146 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Bjy, care at this station. Since my last report to your predecessor in office, 
 which was dated July 18, 1845, we have printed, — 
 
 In the Clierokee Language, 
 
 The Cherokee Almanac for 1846, pages in ail. 
 
 half English 12mo 36 pp 1000 copies... 36,000 
 
 Cherokee Primer, fifth edition 24mo 24 pp 5000 " ...120,000 
 
 Sermon and Tract 24mo 24 pp 5000 " ...120,000 
 
 276,000 
 
 In ike Choctaw Language, 
 
 Kegeneration,Repentance,and Judgment 12mo, 28 pp., 2000 copies... 56,000 
 Salvationby Faith, and other pieces.... " 12 pp., 2000 " ...24,000 
 
 Fraud Detected and Exposed " 9 pp., 2000 " ...18,000 
 
 Choctaw Arithmetic " 72 pp., 2000 " ...144,000 
 
 Choctaw Spelling-Book ISmo, 36 pp., 1000 " ... 36,000 
 
 Choctaw Spelling-Book " 108 pp., 1000 " ...108,000 
 
 386,000 
 
 In the Greek Language, 
 
 Muscogee Catechism 24mo, 31 pp., 600 copies... 18,600 
 
 Total pages 680,600 
 
 We have prepared at this station, and had printed in Boston, a Singing- 
 Book in the Cherokee language, consisting of 88 pages, 8vo, 600 copies. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, 
 
 S. A. WOECESTKR. 
 
 Colonel James McKissick, 
 
 United States Agent for the. Oherolcees. 
 
 In November, 1831, the Troup party, to which Judge Clayton 
 belonged, had a majority in the Legislature, and of course the 
 power of electing judges for all the circuits, except one or t^to 
 which had to be chosen at another session. Owing to some de- 
 cision which he had made, sustaining the right of the Indians to 
 dig gold on the lands to which their possessory title had not been 
 extinguished, he rendered himself unpopular, and he was superseded 
 in office by the Hon. Charles Dougherty. There is no doubt that 
 Judge Clayton was intensely mortified at his defeat. He felt con- 
 scious of having acted right, according to his honest convictions 
 of duty, without regard to' the caprice or interest of lottery-specu- 
 lators or other classes, who fionsidered it almost a crime to allow 
 that the Indians had any rights at all in competition with the de- 
 sires of the white man. It was not in the nature of Judge Clayton 
 to hesitate between principle and expediency. The latter had to 
 yield at any cost, as became a virtuous man and upright judge. 
 
 The confidence and respect of his political friends did not in the 
 least abate, though he was not continued on the bench. There 
 being a vacancy in Congress caused by the resignation of GFov. 
 Lumpkin, they nominated him to fill it, and he was elected. A new 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 147 
 
 career was thus opened to him, in which he acquitted himself with 
 distinguished ability. The two leading measures which engaged 
 most of his attention in the House of Representatives were the 
 Tariff and Bank of the United States. His course on both will 
 briefly appear in these pages. 
 
 While the bill proposing a reduction of duties on imports was 
 under consideration in the House of Representatives, June 10, 
 1832, Judge Clayton offered an amendment to the effect, — 
 
 1. That, after the first day of January, 1835, all duties should be ad 
 valorem, and for no other object but revenue. 
 
 2. That, for the first year, all duties above should be reduced to 35 per 
 cent.; for the second, 25; and after that they should be regularly 15 per 
 cent., until altered by law. 
 
 3. That, for the purpose of constitutionally and equally protecting 
 manufacturers, Congress should freely give its consent to any State that 
 chose to manufacture to lay such duties as it might deem necessary to 
 encourage that business within its own limits upon any imports or exports 
 to or from any foreign nation : Provided, such duties were paid into the 
 Federal treasury. 
 
 He at the same time delivered a carefully-prepared speech, filling 
 a pamphlet of more than forty pages of large size. In the first 
 paragraph he remarked : — 
 
 Mr. Chairman : — The question before us is an important one; and if 
 appreciated in the degree of its profound interest, and the still more 
 absorbing character of its probable results, it involves a responsibility too 
 big for utterance. To my mind, admonished by facts, and warned by the 
 feelings of the country, I am almost tempted to predict that, unless an 
 auspicious issue attends the present deliberations, they are the last that 
 will ever engage the attention of this body within these walls. It is not 
 • now a question of dollars and cents, but of liberty and equality". 
 Every thing done on this occasion will soon be delivered over to history, 
 and he who now stands by the cause of freedom, posterity will stand by 
 him. A fame of enduring honor awaits the firm, and a name of lasting 
 infamy shall follow the faithless. 
 
 Judge Clayton then proceeded to examine the powers of the 
 Federal Government, resorting copiously to the fathers of the 
 Constitution and other statesmen of that day. He denied that 
 burdens could he imposed on one section of the country for the 
 benefit of another section. His arguments were searching, and 
 well supported by authority. To abridge them would be unjust, 
 and to insert them entire would occupy too much space in this 
 memoir. After showing the unconstitutionality and injustice of a 
 tariff for protection, and enumerating the grievances of the South, 
 Judge Clayton said: — 
 
148 BEKCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 These are the oppressions of which I promised to speak, and which rise 
 superior to all law, and would of themselves, thongh they violated no 
 written principle of the Constitution, justify a people "in the pursuit of 
 life, liberty, and happiness" to provide themselves with new forms of 
 government. I stated in a previous part of this argument that an admis- 
 sion on the part of our adversaries that the consumer pays the tax would 
 be sufficient for my purpose in establishing the great inequality of the 
 burdens, and that it rested upon the Southern people. I think I have 
 made out the case. I will now attempt to show what is very much dis- 
 puted, — that the producer pays the tax, or that the coincidence between the 
 producer and consumer is so little variant as to make no sensible difference 
 in the two characters. 
 
 I shall show it in three relations : first, in that of an individual, 
 secondly, as a family, and, lastly, as a whole country; and I shall select 
 the article of cotton for the illustration. If all the cotton of the South, 
 which is said to be one million of bales, was made by one individual, and 
 he were to carry it to Liverpool, sell it for cash, (say §30,000,000,) lay it 
 out in goods, and bring them to this country, he would have to pay one- 
 half in duties. This, however, it is said, returns to him when he sells 
 out the goods to the various consumers. But as money, which is the only 
 free-trade article in the world, is as much property as goods, and as liable 
 to taxation, suppose, instead of bringing back goods, the individual should 
 bring back the proceeds of his cotton in cash, and should find a duty upon 
 that as well as goods : does not every one perceive that his fifteen millions 
 of taxes would go into the public treasury without the hope of any fature 
 recovery, and consequently, as producer, he will have paid the tax on the 
 whole of that article ? Xow, that same result would run through the sales 
 of all the planters if they sold the cotton themselves, and paid the tax on 
 their money instead of paying it on the articles they consume. 
 
 2. I contend that the consumption of a family whose head is a pro- 
 ducer extends to all persons that draw upon his produce for any services 
 rendered him. That is to say, his blacksmith, tailor, carpenter, school- 
 master, shoemaker, physician, and indeed all whose labor he has employed, 
 are as much his family as if they lived in the same house with him, and, 
 to the extent of their several demands against him, are, with him, not only 
 consumers, but producers ; for his production constitutes a part of their 
 production, and with it they purchase their articles of consumption. By 
 reason of this connection, unless the producer has a balance left after 
 defraying the expenses of his family, he is the payer of all the taxes to 
 which his crop has been applied. And who, I would ask, in any part 
 of the South, is able, under such a burden of duties, to meet all his engage- 
 ments ? I know I am as economical and saving a planter as any of my 
 neighbors, and I declare to this House, if it were not for other resources 
 which it has been my good fortune to enjoy, my planting-interest would 
 not have supported my family : and this, I can safely say, is the condition 
 of thousands upon thousands. 
 
 3. The tariff-system proceeds upon the principle that the Northei'n 
 manufacturer cannot labor as cheap as the English manufacturer. And 
 what is thought to be the difference ? Surely, this is indicated by the 
 average per cent, of duties laid upon the articles which the last fabricates; 
 and that, we have seen, is fifty per cent. Everybody perceives the Ameri- 
 can manufacturer cannot compete with the European. What is to be 
 done ? The former looks away to the South, and there finds a people 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 149 
 
 wLo make the raw material that supplies the latter, and for which they 
 receive his manufactures. The Northern manufacturer immediately sets 
 about a contrivance to cut off the trade between these two parties. What 
 is it ? By the artful device of legislation he imposes a duty of fifty per 
 cent, on the foreign manufactures : this at once raises them to the price 
 of his own. Now, what is the effect — nay, what is the real motive — of this 
 measure ? Is it not, first, to divert the trade from the European, and, 
 second, to divert the raw material to the American, manufacturer? Sup- 
 pose, then, it should succeed to the extent of the wishes of the friends of 
 the tariff, that the trade with Europe should cease altogether, and every 
 pound of cotton should go to the North : is there any man so blind as not 
 to see that the producers of this article have not only lost their former 
 market, where they were in the habit of getting what they wanted at half- 
 price, but have been compelled to exchange it in another market at a loss, 
 by way of bounty, of half its exchangeable value ? By this process the 
 English manufacturing-labor is raised to the price of the American, and 
 actually done at the expense of the Southern planter. Then, as producers 
 of the article of cotton, they do most unequivocally throw into the lap of 
 the Northerner the fifty per cent, which raises the labor of the English 
 manufiicturer. Thus I have shown, as an individual, as a family, and as 
 a country, the producer pays the taxes of imports. But, I will repeat, 
 it is enough for us, and more than we can bear, to pay it as consumers. 
 
 It is needless for me to say that this is the effect produced upon all our 
 valuable staples in the South ; and we have now a new article of produc- 
 tion which will be subjected to its ravenous appetite. I allude to the 
 immensely valuable gold-mines stretching from Virginia to Alabama. 
 Every dollar that is raised by the gold-digger — and surely no one works 
 harder for his money — will be immediately divided with the rapacious 
 manufacturer. Because it is gold, and almost money itself, it will not 
 escape the fate of cotton, rice, and tobacco ; for they are taken from the 
 earth by the same hard labor, and quite as convertible into money. Little 
 does the hard-working miner dream that, while standing in water to his 
 knees, with a scorching sun blistering his back, every stroke which is 
 applied to the unyielding rock presents a case in which one is for himself 
 and the other for a Northern master. 
 
 Amplifying these views still further, Judge Clayton referred to 
 the examination of Dr. Franklin before a committee of Parliament 
 previous to the Revolution, in which he stated that "an external 
 tax is a duty laid on commodities imported ; that duty is added to 
 the first cost, and other charges on the commodity, and when it is 
 oflFered for sale makes a part of the price," and then proceeded: — 
 
 The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stewart) has said such has been 
 the improvement of machinery in England that one million of. hands can 
 perform the labor of two hundred and fifty millions. Then, sir, just mark 
 the consequence : if labor is multiplied two hundred and fifty fold, an 
 article must be cheapened almost in the same ratio. 
 
 But, sir, if high duties cheapen articles, there must be a point to which, 
 if the duties are raised, the goods will come at nothing. If the gentleman 
 will sit down, and, with his immense powers of calculation, just demon- 
 strate that exact point to my satisfaction, from that moment I am a tariff- 
 
150 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 man : I will give up my opposition and fall into the ranks. I greatly fear, 
 however, that it will turn out like the case of the stoves. You have all 
 heard of the Yankee who, in describing the great advantages of his stoves 
 to an Irishman, said, among other things, not that high taxes cheapened 
 the article, but that they saved half the firewood. "Then," said the 
 Irishman, "I will take two of them and save the whole." 
 
 Why is it, Mr. Chairman, if high duties cheapen articles, that so many 
 letters from manufacturers have been read upon this floor, stating that 
 their business will be utterly ruined if the duties are reduced ? That 
 must be a bad rule that don't work both ways. One would suppose that 
 if you raised a duty from a given point, and the price of the article fell in 
 consequence of it, it would surely rise up to the same price if you took 
 the same duty off. This is a very curious matter, Mr. Chairman. Would 
 you believe it ? the country presents this singular aspect : — one portion is 
 crying to be relieved of taxes, without which they must be ruined ; while 
 the other part bitterly complains that, if you take off their taxes, they will 
 be prostrated ! I would rather guess, meaning no offensive allusion, that 
 this fact points to the quarter where live the tax-paying consumers. 
 
 This same gentleman made another remark, at which I should have felt, 
 if not contempt, at least indignant, if I had not believed that just at that 
 moment he became greatly shortened of ideas, and that he did not know 
 exactly what to say, for everybody saw that he was evidently stumped. 
 I mean his saying that the Southern people wanted to make the Northern 
 free laborers slaves to their free negroes. For the reason just mentioned, 
 I will pass over this came-by-chance piece of wit, and examine his doc- 
 trine as to the great difference between free and slave labor. Mr. Chair- 
 man, this distinction has been mentioned frequently on this floor, and I 
 confess it has excited my supreme disgust every time. What do they 
 mean 1 Does the offspring of that very ancestry who made not only their 
 livelihood, but the very fortunes which now constitute the capital of the 
 American system, by trading in human flesh, — who robbed fathers of their 
 children, children of their fathers, husbands of their wives, and wives of 
 their husbands, and carried them to be sold to the Southern States, — now 
 dare to reproach me with the sin of slavery ? Oh, no, sir ! it cannot be I 
 They greatly mistake the matter if they think we feel the slightest emo- 
 tion at such a censure. The only wonder is how it can be made vrithout 
 a blush. 
 
 But, sir, I have lately been as far as Philadelphia, (for the first time in 
 my life,) that city of brotherly love, and wish gentlemen to explain some 
 things which I saw there, first asking them if they make any difference 
 there between /ree negro labor and free lohite labor, — for these two classes 
 seemed to perform promiscuously all the menial services. If they do, 
 then I would beg leave to have these difiBculties solved. In the hotel 
 where I stayed a free negro waited on my table and a white man cleaned 
 my boots : which of these was the free labor ? They were both equally 
 polite, and. they both made the saxae foot-scraping bow when I gave them 
 a quarter of a dollar. I saw in the same city a free negro mounted on the 
 box of a coach, and a white man behind it: the latter let out the grandee 
 which it contained at the door, while the former sat like a lord on his 
 seat. Which was the free labor in this case ? This is only one class of 
 service. 
 
 _ Now, sir, I happen to know something of the free labor in cotton-facto- 
 ries. When the factory in which I am concerned first started, we had a 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 151 
 
 good old Lonest gentleman from the North connected with us, and we 
 commenced chiefly with white hands. He happened to bring with him a 
 printed copy of rules and regulations, such as are used in Northern facto- 
 ries, and which he wished adopted in ours. They had a striking analogy 
 to penitentiary regulations. They required that the poor little hands 
 should be at their work by light, should have three-quarters of an hour to 
 eat their breakfast, an hour at dinner, should labor in winter until seven 
 o'clock at night, should have a part of their wages remitted for any part 
 of the machinery which they broke or injured, every skein they tangled, 
 every five minutes they were absent, — indeed, just enough of pains and 
 penalties to take all their wages. Besides, the strap was to be used if 
 necessary. It is scarcely necessary to say, Mr. Chairman, such rules were 
 scouted from our establishment. We soon told our friend the free people 
 of the South would not bear that kind of regimen; indeed, it would hardly 
 do for our slaves. Now, sir, where is the difference between this kind of 
 labor and slave labor ? I can tell you, sir, it is only in the color of the 
 skin and the duration of the service. The same capital that buys a slave 
 for life can hire one for a day ; and, during these respective periods, the 
 quality of the service is exactly the same. 
 
 But, sir, this very distinction serves to show what power will finally do 
 in this matter. If, under the present tariff-system, it is boldly claimed 
 for free labor, as it is called, a legislative privilege over slave labor, what 
 will they not do when we begin to manufacture with our slaves ? If we 
 should be driven to this business, which I verily believe we can more 
 profitably conduct at the South than it is at the North, will not the same 
 power which sets up the right of preference now exact it hereafter by 
 some discriminating tax upon slave-labor productions over those of free 
 labor ? No doubt of it. So that, if this distinction is to last, I boldly 
 affirm we cannot live together, and the sooner we part the better. 
 
 In the speech just quoted, Judge Clayton made a statement 
 similar to the following, respecting the profits of the factory near 
 Athens : — 
 
 Letter from Judge Clayton to the Editor of the Globe. 
 
 Mr. Blaie : — I notice in the Boston Courier an extract of a letter from 
 me in answer to one asking information on the subject of a cotton-factory 
 in which I am concerned, for the use of the New York Convention. I 
 regret the whole letter was not published, and ask now the favor to have 
 it done, and especially to give its true date, for I know it was written in 
 time for the Convention, which met in October. The letter purports to 
 have been written on the 7th December, 1831, and the garbled extract is 
 intended to convict me of inconsistency. There is not, however, the 
 slightest difficulty in this thing, and I am glad the matter is so much 
 questioned as not only to give great uneasiness to the manufacturing gen- 
 tlemen, but to afford me an opportunity of exposing their long-concealed 
 impositions. In the month of January last our company purchased out 
 the Northern partner, which made it necessary to go into a full investiga- 
 tion of our concerns, and to take an accurate account of every thino' we 
 had done, which had never before been even attempted ; for most of our 
 yams and cloths had been placed in the hands of distant agents and scat- 
 tered throughout the State, from whom we had not received regular 
 
152 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA, 
 
 returns. Since my arrival here I have been advised of the settlement, and 
 the following are some of the extracts of letters on the subject. 
 
 One of the partners writes, under date of Feb. 9, 1832 : — " The old 
 gentleman hates to give up. He says we are making at the least calcula- 
 tion 200 per cent, clear." My son, on the 15th of April, informs me that, 
 after much difficulty with our Northern partner, he claimed nearly twice 
 as much as the rest conceived to be due. The affair was referred to arbi- 
 trators of his own choosing, and their award gave the following uncommon 
 result : — 
 
 " Capital, 84004 98— His nett profits, $4182 78." 
 
 This included the business from about the 1st of January, 1830, up to 
 the 1st of January, 1832. 
 
 One of the arbitrators writes, 2d of May : — " You have no doubt been 
 informed of the settlement of the factory-business. Thereby I had a peep 
 into your affairs, and, without publishing it abroad, I will say that beyond 
 all doubt it is the best investment of money in Georgia, so far as I know 
 or believe. It is a great business indeed, and increasing in profit." 
 
 By this time, I apprehend, all the inconsistency has vanished. When 
 I wrote in September (as I believe) we had made no dividend, nor had 
 we down to that time done any thing but spend money, for we kept 
 increasing our machinery from the proceeds of the factory ; but, as well 
 as I can now recollect, that letter gives a flattering account of our future 
 prospects, which seem to have been even "brighter" than I had anticipated. 
 But for the purchase above mentioned we should not have known our true 
 situation perhaps for a year to come. As soon, however, as I did know 
 it, I was determined the world should know the truth about it; and I only 
 wish, instead of trying to smother its effect, the example could be followed 
 by those gentry who do not like to give up their cent, per cent. 
 
 I will take this occasion to correct the report of my speech, as far as it 
 is given. I am made to say that I had "operated as a sponge upon my 
 neighbors, and had sucked up this from their hard earnings." This is 
 not what I said. My remarks were these : " If the capital invested by the 
 company to which I belong, say somewhere about 30,000 dollars, has 
 doubled itself in two years, what is the consequence ? — The gentleman 
 from Tennessee, (Mr. Bell,) who so eloquently painted the exactions and 
 influence of wealth, and the miseries which the sudden and rapid accumu- 
 lation of money must create in any community, spoke truly when he said 
 some one must lose when another gains. Now, sir, apply this truth to 
 the fact I have related. Thirty thousand dollars, in two years, have been 
 soaked up as with a sponge within a certain circumference. While we 
 have gained it, our neighbors have lost it ; and though they are too gene- 
 rous to complain of us, knowing that neither our motives or feelings so 
 enter into the system as to desire its continuance at the expense of princi- 
 ple, yet this is its true effect throughout this whole country. And yet it 
 must be helped by the hard-handed labor of our honest planters, to whose 
 fruits all other trades and professions must look for support." 
 
 A. S. Clayton. 
 July, 1832. 
 
 As a zealous opponent of the protective policy, Judge Clayton 
 actively assisted other gentlemen who had assembled at the college 
 commencement in Athens, August, 1832, to get up a State Con- 
 vention against the Tariff, For this purpose a circular, signed by 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 153 
 
 the Hon. J. M. Berrien, A. S. Clayton, and others of the com- 
 mittee, was issued, inviting the people of Georgia to send delegates 
 to an Anti-Tariff State Convention, to he held at Milledgeville in 
 November then next ensuing ; in compliance with which, primary- 
 meetings were held in most of the counties and delegates chosen. 
 The result was the assemblage of delegates from sixty counties 
 .(four-fifths of the whole number in the State) in a deliberative body 
 distinguished for intellect and high moral position, over which Gov. 
 Gilmer presided. A list of delegates and a more particular account 
 of its proceedings, may be seen in another part* of this work. The 
 Committee of Twenty-One, to report matter for action, consisted 
 of Messrs. Blackshear, Berrien, Forsyth, Gumming, Clayton, Cuth- 
 bert. Gamble, Reese, Spalding, Tait, Rockwell, Beall, of Bibb, 
 Taylor, of Burke, Bailey, Warner, Dawson, Haynes, Gordon, of 
 Putnam, Clark, of Henry, Janes, and Harris. 
 
 ^lost of these names are well known to the public ; several 
 belong to fame. 
 
 Judge Clayton had another opportunity of assailing the TariflF, 
 at the great State-Rights meeting in Milledgeville, November 13, 
 1833, over which the Hon. C. B. Strong presided. Hon. N. C. 
 Sayre and Hon. A. B. Longstreet were the Secretaries. On mo- 
 tion of Judge Clayton, it was 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of thirteen be appointed by the chairman, 
 to prepare resolutioDs expressing the sentiments of the State-Rights party 
 in this State, and report to this meeting at its sitting. 
 
 The following gentlemen were appointed the committee : — Judge A. S. 
 Clayton, Judge William H. Crawford, Dr. W. C. Daniell, Col. Seaborn 
 Jones, K. W. Habersham, D. P. Hillhouse, Col. S. Kockwell, Col. A. H. 
 Chappell, Col. Geo. H. Young, Gen. R. A. Beall, Col. Newton, Gen. Eli 
 Warren, and Judge Chai-les Dougherty. 
 
 The report of the committee was made by Judge Clayton, as 
 chairman, condemning the Tarifi", Proclamation and Force Bill, and, 
 among other things, — 
 
 Resolved, That the present meeting he organized into an association to 
 be- denominated the STATE-RIGHTS PARTY OP GEORGIA, and 
 recommend meetings in all the counties for the purpose of constituting 
 similar associations to be connected with that which will be formed at 
 Milledgeville as the central association. 
 
 Resolved, That the doctrines of the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, as 
 construed and understood by Mr. Jefferson, and triumphantly acted upon 
 in 1825, '26 and '27, in this State, constitute the creed of the State-Rights 
 party of Georgia, and that, as all unconstitutional laws are null and void, 
 we will, whenever the proper exigency arises, resist them in any manner 
 the sovereign power of the State may order and direct. 
 
 * Memoir of E. A. Beall. 
 
154 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The report -was taken up by sections and agreed to. This was 
 the first " platform" ever laid down in Georgia by a political party 
 with a view to organization. 
 
 It is not deemed necessary to follow Judge Clayton any further 
 in his consistent and persevering efforts to abolish a protective 
 tariff. His sentiments have been fully announced. 
 
 His course on the Bank question will next be considered. How 
 much earlier than 1830 Judge Clayton waged open hostility to the 
 Bank of the United States, the author is not prepared to state ; but 
 in that year he published a very caustic review of Mr. McDuffie's 
 celebrated report in Congress vindicating the institution. He 
 charged that the main and most forcible arguments of the report 
 were plagiarized from certain proceedings in Philadelphia adopted 
 by the leading supporters of the bank, among whom were the best 
 legal and commercial minds of the North. Judge Clayton knew 
 the power of his adversary, and employed his utmost ability to 
 overwhelm him. The review was artistically pungent, and replete 
 with scornful declamation, as if he expected to conclude all reply. 
 Mr. McDufBe issued his manifesto in strong but courteous language, 
 declaring that the report was entirely his own work, and that the 
 imputation of plagiarism was technically a libel, for which a court 
 of law would grant him redress, if he chose to invoke that tribunal; 
 and that he required no other expounder of the doctrine of libel 
 than the learned jurist who had perpetrated it upon him to serve a 
 cause. The controversy did not become personal ; nor was it 
 intended as such. The two gentlemen respected each other's cha- 
 racter, while they warred as giants, with sword and shield, for honor- 
 able victory. They afterward served in Congress together, and 
 the matter was no doubt forgotten. A public dinner was given to 
 Mr. McDufi5e at Athens, in 1833, at which Judge Clayton per- 
 formed the civilities with his usual elegance and humor. 
 
 On the 2d of March, 1832, the House of Representatives had 
 under consideration a resolution offered by Mr. Clayton in the fol- 
 lowing words : — 
 
 Resolved, That a select committee be appointed to examine into the 
 affairs of the Bank of the United States, with power to send for persons 
 and papers, and to report the result of their inquiries to this House. 
 
 The speech delivered by Mr. Clayton in support of his motion 
 for a committee covers some forty pages in pamphlet. In the 
 beginning, he stated that his opposition to the bank was no recent 
 thing, — that he had been writing against it for seven years, — and he 
 referred to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. McDufSe) to 
 
AUGOSTIN S. CLAYTON. 155 
 
 bear him out in the assertion, for he had " not even spared his ovra 
 far-famed report." 
 
 Upon all subjects which he discussed, Judge Clayton evinced 
 much warmth, and at times used expressions which his friends and 
 admirers had cause to regret. For instance, the word italicized by 
 the author (a liberty which he takes with reluctance) in the fol- 
 lowing sentence is not in the very best taste ; and certainly a better 
 word could have been selected to make as strong an impression : — 
 
 When I perceive gentlemen affirming, with so much earnestness, that 
 it is all-important to recharter the bank at this time, that it is unfair and 
 ungenerous to assail it upon political considerations, and that the present 
 measure is intended not so much for the purpose of faithful inquiry as to 
 avoid the exercise of honest responsibility, I stand ready to declare, by 
 every sanction imposed under the highest solemnity, — nay, by all jny 
 hopes of peace here or hereafter, — that my opposition to the bank is founded 
 upon its sole, separate, naked, and individual unworthiness, unconnected 
 with any consideration save the damning influence it has already exerted, 
 and will continue to spread, over every interest in this young and growing 
 country. 
 
 After many allegations to prejudice the public, founded no doubt 
 in sound policy respecting the bank, Judge Clayton said : — 
 
 I do not intend to go fully into the merits of the bank question at 
 this time : I hope on another occasion to probe that matter to the bottom. 
 I merely wish to explain the nature of the charges which I have brought 
 against the bank, occasionally throwing out such reflections as are ob- 
 viously connected with the facts, and well calculated to stamp those facts 
 upon the mind with a steadfast and abiding impression. A few of those 
 general ideas at this part of our discussion will not be unprofitable, espe- 
 cially as I design what I am now about to say more for the public ear than 
 for the benefit of this House. I will candidly confess that 1 am extremely 
 anxious to use my present station to speak to the people on the subject of 
 this destroying bank, and to urge them, by every consideration which can 
 forcibly appeal to the love of country, to a regard for their government, to 
 a respect for liberty and equal rights, to their hatred of monopolies, to 
 their disgust for extortion, to their horror of oppression, and their detes- 
 tation of privileged orders in this happy country, to pause before they 
 permit the continuance of an institution involving within its influence and 
 control all the foregoing relations. 
 
 The Bank of the United States, so called to give it the advantage of 
 a great name, is located at Philadelphia, and has twenty-seven branches 
 scattered throughout the Union. The whole of this immense money- 
 making machine belongs to a few privileged individuals, who have an 
 express assurance that no similar establishment shall be erected by the 
 General Government in the United States. These are some of the lead- 
 ing general principles of the institution : — 
 
 1 . The mother-bank will not receive the bUls of her branches without 
 a premium. 
 
 2. The branches will not receive those of the mother-bank without the 
 same. 
 
156 BENCH AND BAR OF SEOEGIA. 
 
 3. The branches will not receive the bills of one another without the 
 same. 
 
 Now, what is the consequence of this ? These favored few have a 
 monopoly of all the moneyed transactions of the Union. Their capital 
 is thirty-five millions of dollars, and this they lend out at a certain 
 interest, and then send out agents to shave their own paper. They first 
 make a profit by lending their notes, and then a profit by paying them off 
 at a discount. Can any practice be more dishonest ? If an individual, 
 by reason of his wealth, were to do this, — were to impose upon the neces- 
 sities of his poor neighbor to whom he had given his note, by shaving it 
 afterward, — he would be justly esteemed a dishonest man. The fact is, 
 there are principles allowed to this bank which the consent of all honest 
 men have branded with infamy whenever practised by individuals. And 
 it is permitted to do that with impunity which a sound morality has 
 universally condemned in the ordinary transactions of men. 
 
 But the most intolerable privilege is yet to be told. Not satisfied with 
 being allowed to lend and shave their own notes, the Grovernment actually 
 puts into their possession the whole of its revenues, amounting to twenty- 
 five millions of dollars, to speculate upon as they may think proper. 
 There is scarcely any man who does not know that under our system of 
 taxation the most of it is paid by the consumers of the country; and they 
 are generally the farmers. Commerce forms the subject of revenue, which 
 the merchant in the first place pays, but which he afterward compels the 
 consumer to reimburse with an increase of profit. All this flows silently 
 and imperceptibly into the custom-house ; and the Government, not satis- 
 fied with having exacted it from the hard-earned labor of the consumer by 
 reason of a most ruinous duty upon the articles of his consumption, but 
 they must sufier it to pass into the hands of a few highly-favored stock- 
 holders to undergo an additional processs of extortion. If the collector of 
 the revenues, the officer of the (xovernment, were to lend out the taxes, 
 speculate upon them after they were collected, for his own private benefit, 
 everybody would cry out shame upon such an officer, and he would be 
 hurled from his post with just indignation. And yet the Government 
 directs him to pay the taxes into the Bank of the United States; and, the 
 moment it gets there, it is set afioat in all directions upon lending and 
 speculating contracts, and these bank gentry realize not less than six and 
 often as high as twelve per cent, upon the burdens of the country thus 
 drawn into their coffers. 
 
 Let us illustrate, by a familiar but striking example, this process of ex- 
 tortion. The collector of Charleston receives from the merchants, and 
 they from the consumers, of South Carolina, one million of dollars in reve- 
 nue he dare not use himself in any mode of speculation, but is obliged to 
 deposit it in the Branch Bank of the United States at that place. That 
 bank then writes a short letter in true mercantile style to a sister-branch, 
 say in New York, something like this : — " Have to advise you of one mil- 
 lion to credit of government, [the hard earnings of the poor Carolinians,] 
 value at sight, and expect due honor." This is enough : a draft is drawn 
 in favor of some cotton-buyer who wants funds in Charleston, at from one 
 to two per cent., and the branch at New York makes right off from ten 
 to twenty thousand dollars from the American gi/stem screwed hard 
 down upon the honest Carolinians. At the same time, the same 
 branch in New York informs her sister bank at Charleston that she too 
 has ten millions taken in like manner, which can be drawn for in favor 
 
AUGDSTIJf S. CLAYTON. 157 
 
 of merchants of Charleston who want to purchase goods in New York. 
 Accordingly, it is done, and the Charleston branch "pockets" from one 
 to two hundred thousand dollars more by what would be called, on the 
 tnrf, " cross-jockeying." And this operation is continually going on be- 
 tween the mother-bank and her branches, all over the United States, 
 upon twenty-five millions of Government money. It is so mean and ridi- 
 culous a species of legalized swindling, that while it resembles, it is even 
 worse than the knavery the two Dutch lawyers practised upon their un- 
 suspecting clients when one of them wrote to the other, in true Dutch 
 style, — 
 
 " I haf TOn fat goose, I saund you anoder : ' 
 
 You pluck de one and I'll pluck de oder." 
 
 Most people know nothing of the oppression and grinding exactions 
 that are secretly but constantly operating upon the community by means 
 of the monopoly granted to the Bank of the United States. Should not 
 Congress, then, hesitate and examine, and examine and hesitate, long, very 
 long, before they perpetuate such a blight upon the rising prosperity of 
 this vast and growing country ? 
 
 Denouncing the bank and the Tariff conjointly, and scanning 
 with rigor the operation of both, Judge Clayton thus proceeded : — 
 
 When the old Bank of the United States wound up its business and 
 made a final division, each stockholder had returned to him not only the 
 amount of his shares, with eight per cent, interest per annum for the 
 whole period of its incorporation, but he had paid to him one hundred 
 dollars to the share besides; that is, his money was doubled, exclusive 
 of the interest. There is no manner of doubt that such would be the 
 result at the expiration of the present charter. This double amount would 
 soon be vested in other stock, and their means of support, consequently 
 increased one hundred per cent. And, 3Ir. Speaker, this would be no 
 common support, either; for I find, upon examining the list of stock- 
 holders, there are upward of forty widows who own ten thousand dollars 
 each, and several as high as fifty thousand. Concerning these last I hope 
 the gentleman [Mr. ilcDuffie] will give himself no uneasiness ; for they 
 can assure him, in any event of the Bank question, they will remain pretty 
 good game for the pursuit of any widower whatever. But, sir, while 
 he is manifesting such sensibility for those destitute persons, let me shade 
 his portrait a little by a sombre color which I can employ from another 
 class of stockholders in this same bank. The real stockholders are not 
 American widows and orphans, but British lords and ladies, British 
 naval and military officers, British clergymen and country squires; 
 and, sir, for your exquisite delight, permit me to read a few of their 
 names : — 
 
 Baring, Brothers & Co., London $791,500 
 
 The Most Honorable the Marquis of Hertford 100,300 
 
 The Eight Honorable Sarah, Countess-Dowager of Castle 
 
 Stuart 10,000 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell and Sir Richard Hunter 37,100 
 
 Eight Honorable Lord Henry Viscount G-age 12,000 
 
 Honorable Hudson Gumey, Member of Parliament 50,000 
 
 Sir Egbert Hanrey .' 19,500 
 
158 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 Sir "William Keppel, General in his British Majesty's forces, 
 
 Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath $72,200 
 
 Major-Gcneral Maister 9,000 
 
 Sir George Nugent, Baronet 20,000 
 
 J. Paokwood, of the Koyal Navy 8,000 
 
 Sir Marmaduke Warren Peacock, Lieutenant-General, &c 50,000 
 
 The Earl of Beauchamp 15,000 
 
 Sir Gilbert Sterling 10,000 
 
 Lady Sarah Stuart 31,300 
 
 Sir Grenville Temple 20,000 
 
 Augusta, Countess-Dowager Von Pollant 4,200 
 
 The Earl of Levin 50,000 
 
 Major-General MacDonald 64,900 
 
 Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Bradford 4,000 
 
 Sir William Keith Ball, Baronet 30,000 
 
 Lord Eric Keery 60,000 
 
 Mrs. Ann Kedfern 70,160 
 
 Abel Smith, Esq 100,000 
 
 Sir Edward Tucker 50,200 
 
 Jonathan Austin, Esq 120,000 
 
 Major William Davis 20,000 
 
 Reverend Arthur Dean 7,000 
 
 Reverend Philip Fletcher 20,000 
 
 Reverend George Gordon 30,100 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Heywood 178,400 
 
 John Marshall, (London) 123,600 
 
 James Drake 100,000 
 
 John Marshall 264,200 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel John Maxwell 64,900 
 
 Sir Robert Wilson 15,000 
 
 Lady Rosabella Wilson 15,000 
 
 And last, though not least, Mrs. Candelaria Bell, 863,700, whose fanci- 
 ful and beautiful name I hope will be remembered by some gentleman of 
 the turf when he comes to christen his next female racer. In all, 
 upward of four hundred in number, and holding stock to the amount of 
 eight and a half millions, besides what is in the hands of trustees. 
 
 After alleging great corruptions against the bank, and charging 
 it with interference in elections, Judge Clayton closed his speech 
 as follows : — 
 
 In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I offer one more reflection. It is aptly 
 said, by some writer, that the financial system of this country represents 
 an inverted pyramid. Six thousand millions of property, and all the 
 enterprises and interchanges of the country, resting upon sixty millions 
 paper dollars, which are themselves depending upon about fifteen millions 
 of specie. And all this under the exclusive control of one grand, regu- 
 lating, central machine, whose whole operations, and all its immense 
 profits, belong to a highly-favored few. I have done for the present; but 
 the half has not been told which belongs to this important subject. 
 
 The resolution offered by Judge Clayton prevailed, to raise a 
 select committee to examine the affairs of the bank ; and he was 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLATTOS. 159 
 
 appointed chairman. Jn this capacity he performed a great deal 
 of labor, and, after an inspection of the books and papers of the 
 bank, he reported a mass of facts to Congress, with the evidence 
 he had taken in the support of his charges against that institution. 
 In the mean time, Congress had passed the bill to recharter the 
 bank, which incurred the Presidential veto on the 10th of July, 
 1832. 
 
 In September, 1833, President Jackson issued his famous Cabi- 
 net order for the removal of the public deposits to the State banks 
 which had been selected for that purpose. This measure met the 
 warm approbation of Judge Clayton, who had been re-elected to 
 the House of Representatives after his special term had expired. 
 As it is generally known that, in his anonymous communications to 
 the press, he was in the habit of using the signature of "Atticus," 
 and as no other writer would likely usurp a name so exclusively 
 the right of one who had given it celebrity by his genius, it is fair 
 to presume that the following, which appeared in the Georgia 
 Journal of May 14, 1834, was from the pen of Judge Clayton : — 
 
 '"Tis strange, I tow, what difference be 
 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee." 
 
 It is an old but true saying, that " give a dog a bad name and you 
 might as well hang him." In December, 1832, President Jackson issued 
 a proclamation, containing certain political principles highly obnoxious to 
 the Republican party of the South. Since that time, he has been unable 
 to do any thing which can meet the approbation of certain politicians who 
 have dubbed themselves with the proud distinction and honorable appellation 
 of State-Rights men. He has been denounced as a tyrant, cursed as a 
 traitor, stigmatized as a usurper, and, ia turn, borne every epithet which 
 the vocabulary of Billingsgate could furnish. Recently the torrent of in- 
 vective has been let loose with tenfold impetuosity. For the performance 
 of an act which he conceived was imperative upon him by his oath of 
 office, he has been held up to public odium, by men infinitely his infe- 
 riors in moral or political honesty, as the reckless invader of the people's 
 rights, the vile murderer of their interests, and the petty, factious tyrant 
 who would overwhelm his country in ruin to gratify private hatred or 
 promote unhallowed,ambition. And who are the chief men that have 
 thus poured forth such a torrent of abuse? Henry Clay, John C. Cal- 
 houn, George McDuffie. And what is the act for which he has thus been 
 abused ? The removal of the public money from the vaults of the Bank 
 of the United States to those of the State hanks, — such an act as has 
 oftentimes before been done without a word of complaint from any quar- 
 ter; such an act as was absolutely necessary for the well-being of the 
 Government and the people; such an act as every patriot approves; such 
 an act as would have been commended by all and objected to by only the 
 bank and a few of its bought-up presses, if the ambition of Clay and 
 Calhoun had not made it a stepping-stone for their ascension to the Presi- 
 dency. Upon their heads, and their heads alone, falls all the injury the 
 country has sustained, or will sustain, from the act. 
 
160 BENCH AXD BAE OF GEORGIA. 
 
 We have heard it proclaimed from the Senate and from the House of 
 Representatives in Congress, and reiterated hy fhe press throughout the 
 country, that the President had seized upon the public money, appro- 
 priated it without law and against law, and that it was now under his 
 control, to be disposed of as his ambition or avarice might dictate. Never 
 was there a charge more utterly false. Not one cent has been appro- 
 priated against the laws of Congress, nor has the President any further 
 or greater control over it now than he has always had : his only act has 
 been to say to the collectors of the public revenue. When yon shall receive 
 any money of the Government, deposit it in some certain State bank for 
 safe-keeping until the Government shall call for it, instead of placing it 
 in some branch of the United States Bank. A brief statement of the 
 facts is alone wanting to put down effectually the malicious charges which 
 have been heaped upon the character of the President for this act. By 
 law, the public money is required to be deposited in the United States 
 Bank, or its branches, until the Secretary of the Treasury shall otherwise 
 direct ; and, when he shall so direct, it is made his duty to communicate 
 his reasons for the act to Congress. 
 
 At the last session of that body, so apparent was the necessity of removing 
 these deposits from the United States Bank and placing them in the 
 State banks, that a very large minority of the House of Representatives 
 voted instructions to the Secretary to do so, — though they had no right to 
 say a word to him on the subject; and all the delegation from Georgia, 
 (we speak from memory,) save Mr. Wilde, voted for those instructions. 
 
 The reasons which induced them to give this vote were : — 
 
 1. The bank had interfered in the Presidential election by in- 
 creasing its loans from January, 1831, to May, 1832, from §42,000,000 
 to $70,000,000, and that immediately before the election, — thus making a 
 large number of people dependent upon and indebted to it, threatening 
 them with ruin if the bank was not rechartered, petitioning Congress at 
 that time for a renewal of the charter, compelling the President to veto 
 the bill and thereby make as enemies those who were indebted to the 
 bank. For such an interference in elections, Mr. McDuffie advised, in 
 his celebrated bank report in 1830, that the " public deposits should be 
 removed." He now acts differently. 
 
 2. The termination of the bank charter at a short day rendered it 
 necessary that the Government should begin another system of finance, 
 for the purpose of carrying on its transactions so as not to embarrass the 
 people to any extent. This was the plan adopted in 1811, when the old 
 bank charter expired; and so happily did it succeed, that not the slightest 
 embarrassment was felt. The President was not then denounced as a 
 usurper. • 
 
 3. The bank had become so much embarrassed, on account of its 
 heavy expenditure of money in the Presidential election, that it could 
 not pay to the Government the money which had been deposited in its 
 vaults for safe-keeeping. The Government was owing — and the money would 
 be due at a certain time — $5,000,000. In order to meet the debt, the 
 money was collected and deposited in the bank. The bank converted it 
 to its own use : when the time arrived, it was unable to pay it, but peti- 
 tioned for the use for six months, it paying the interest thereon. The in- 
 dulgence was granted : when the time arrived, the money still could not 
 be paid. The Government would wait no longer; but the bank, to get 
 further indulgence, induced the creditors of the Government not to pre- 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 161 
 
 Bent their demands, and paid the interest upon them for the indulgence. 
 If one individual had treated another in this way, would the one ihns 
 treated have put his money in the hands of the other a second time? 
 
 4. It hought up printing-presses, and loaned large sums of money to 
 editors who were insolvent, without any kind of security, for the purpose 
 of getting their support. 
 
 5. The bank authorized its President to expend whatever amount of 
 money he thought proper in having printed and circulated such news- 
 papers and pamphlets as would help to obtain a renewal of its charter; 
 and, in 1831 and 1832, he expended for that purpose the enormous sum 
 of 880,000. 
 
 6. The charter forbid the bank from doing business with less than 
 seven directors : in violation of the law, it did business continually with 
 only five directors. 
 
 7. The Government is a large stockholder; and, for the purpose of 
 knowing what is going on, and protecting its interests, it was entitled to 
 five directors. In order, however, to defeat the intention of the law, and 
 to conceal its illegal acts, the hank excluded them from any knowledge 
 whatever of its transactions. 
 
 After the adjournment of Congress, another act, more perfidious than 
 any which had taken place before, was committed by the bank. Accord- 
 ing to its charter, in consideration of the monopoly which it enjoyed, the 
 bank was bound to transfer the fands of the Government wherever they 
 might be required to be placed. The Government of France, according 
 to a treaty with our own, was called upon to pay 8900,000. The Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury drew a bill of exchange upon the French Government 
 for that amount : the bank discounted it ; but every cent of the money 
 was left with the bank and used by it. The bank sold the bill, for a 
 profit, in London ; the purchaser presented the bill for payment to the 
 Government of France, which was refused, from the want of funds to 
 meet it ; the agent of the bank in Paris paid the money and took up the 
 bill, and the President of the bank at Philadelphia then demanded from 
 the Government of the United States $158,000 as damages which it had 
 sustained by the failure of France to meet the engagement punctually. 
 The bank bought the bill without advancing one cent for it, made its 
 profits on it, and then took up the bill with the same money it had sold 
 it for. This stupendous fraud upon the people determined the President, 
 among other reasons, to remove the deposits. But it may be said that 
 the Secretary alone could remove them. This the Secretary has done, 
 and communicated his reasons to Congress. But it may be regarded as 
 the act of the President : he wishes it to be so regarded. He is sworn to 
 see the laws faithfully executed : the Secretary refused to execute them 
 faithfully; the President removed him from ofSce, and placed another 
 there who would do so. 
 
 It is contended that the President had not the power to remove Mr. 
 Duane from office. He certainly had the power to - appoint him ; and it 
 follows, as a matter of course, if he could appoint, and was responsible for 
 his acts while in office, he could remove him. Such has been the prac- 
 tice since the establishment of the Government : every administration 
 has removed such from office as even differed in opinion with them, and 
 it has never before been complained of. Mr. Duane deserves less pity 
 for his eviction from office than any other man. He accepted the appoint- 
 ment of Secretary under a full knowledge of the intention of the adminis- 
 
 Voi. I.— 11 
 
162 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 tration in reference to the deposits, and stated to the President, should 
 his own opinion not agree with the administration, he would either resign 
 or remove them as an executive order or act. But when called upon, 
 notwithstanding the bank had most insultingly outraged the laws, and he 
 pledged to the President to do so, he both refused to remove the deposits 
 or to resign. The President owed it to the country to have no such dis- 
 honorable man in his Cabinet, He was therefore removed. The only 
 thing which remained to be complained of is that the act was unprece- 
 dented. Is this so ? No less than five Secretaries have done similar acts. 
 During the administration of Gen. Washington, Mr. Hamilton, Secretary 
 of the Treasury, made his deposits not only in State banks, but even made 
 the breeches-pocket of Mr. Habersham, of Georgia, the depository of the 
 public money collected in this State. 
 
 In February, 1811, Mr. Gallatin, Secretary, removed the deposits from 
 the old United States Bank to the State banks ; and the only reason he 
 assigned was, that, the charter being about to expire, such a course was 
 necessary for the well-being of the Government. Congress sustained his 
 reasons. 
 
 In December, 1815, Mr. Dallas, Secretary, makes his deposits in the 
 State banks. 
 
 In December, 1819, Mr. Crawford withdrew the deposits, in part, from 
 the United States Bank and placed them in the State banks. 
 
 In May, 1817, he refused to deposit in the United States Bank, because 
 it would not receive the bills of certain local banks in Virginia. In the 
 same year he made large deposits in the Bank of Vincennes, and in other 
 Western banks. In 1819, he selected three State banks situated in places 
 where there were branches of the United States Bank, and deposited in 
 them. From March, 1817, to October, 1821, he transferred funds from 
 the United States Bank and deposited them in forty-eight State and local 
 banks. 
 
 In August, 1825, Mr. Rush, Secretary, under Mr. Adams, made his 
 deposits in the Bank of Mobile, directly under the eye of the United 
 States Bank. 
 
 In August, 1827, he drew money from the United States Branch Bank 
 at Washington City, and deposited it in the Bank of Tennessee. 
 
 In November, 1828, he selected and deposited in sixteen different 
 
 In February, 1830, Mr. Ingham, Secretary, made deposits in the Bank 
 of New Haven. 
 
 In June, 1830, he drew $10,000 from the bank at New Orleans, and 
 deposited it in the Bank of Mississippi, at Natchez. 
 
 In October, 1832, Mr. McLane, Secretary, deposited both in the Bank 
 of Alexandria and the Mechanics' Bank of Alexandria. 
 
 Now, if the Secretaries had the power to remove one dollar of the de- 
 posits, they had the right to remove all. The removals to which we have 
 referred were never objected to, but always regarded as perfectly legal. 
 Mr. Crawford, it is true, was assailed and basely slandered for the acts to 
 which we have referred. Ninian Edwards was the instrument in the 
 hands of Mr. Calhoun to attack him. The reason for that attack was 
 obvious when Mr. Calhoun wished to put him out of his way to the 
 Presidency. Congress and the people passed upon the act, and both 
 acquitted him. It is a singular coincidence, that the only two persons 
 who have ever been assailed for removing the deposits were Messrs. Craw- 
 
AU6USTIN S. CLAYTON. 163 
 
 ford and Jackson, their chief accuser Mr. Calhoun, and both these 
 gentlemen formidable rivals and powerful opponents to his ascension to 
 the Presidency. Just look on the history of this question, and tell me if 
 
 " 'Tis not strange what difference be 
 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee "? 
 
 Atticus. 
 
 It has been considered necessary to place these extracts before 
 the public, to show the position maintained by Judge Clayton, 
 on the two exciting measures in which he acted a prominent part 
 in Congress, — the Tariff and Bank. In order that his opinions 
 may also be understood relative to the Public Lands, another topic 
 of profound national interest, the following document is sub- 
 joined : — 
 
 House of Repkesektatives, April 17, 1834. 
 
 Mr. Clayton, from the Committee on the Public Lands, made the 
 following report : — 
 
 The Committee on the Public Lands, to which was referred the peti- 
 tion of the Trustees of Transylvania College, of Kentucky, and that of the 
 Trustees of Pendleton Academy, of the State of Alabama, praying for a 
 donation of lands for the encouragement of their respective institutions, 
 report : — 
 
 That the disposition of the public lands for such an object, however 
 laudable, cannot be justified either by the Constitution or the manner in 
 which they are held by the Grovernment. The only method by which 
 Congress can " promote the progress of science and useful arts" is " by 
 securing, for a limited time, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right 
 to their respective writings and discoveries." It cannot be denied that 
 the donation of the public lands to seminaries of learning would be to 
 promote the progress of science, and consequently in a way very different 
 from that prescribed in the above clause of the Constitution. By the 
 express specification of the manner and cases in which science and the 
 useful arts shall be encouraged, it is entirely obvious that every other 
 mode is excluded. And this would be very apparent, if, instead of an 
 application for a donation of lands from a college, it should come from an 
 inventpr of some useful instrument calculated to advance the use&l arts. 
 It will be seen, by the clause of the Constitution referred to, that science 
 and the useful arts are placed upon the same footing j and, if it is allowed 
 to depart from the prescribed method of promoting the progress of the 
 former, the latter may with equal right claim a similar indulgence, and 
 the committee believe no one is prepared to admit that the public lands 
 could be given away to inventors, however useful their discoveries might 
 be. It may be said that the Constitution had reference to the authors 
 of writings. This idea is refuted not only by the generality of the ex- 
 pression " the progress of science," which comprehends the subject in its 
 most unlimited sense, but by the well-known history of this particular 
 clause of the Constitution as found in the journal of the convention. 
 The proposition to clothe Congress with the power to charter a university 
 was thrice presented and rejected by the convention ; and, after referring 
 
164 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 that subject, as well as the one relating to the encouragement of the 
 useful arts, to a committee, all that could be obtained was the power as it 
 now stands in the Constitution, and which the committee have before 
 quoted ; and this, in their opinion, is too plain to admit of a doubt that 
 the Federal Government has any jurisdiction over the subject of science. 
 Besides this view of the subject, the committee are of opinion the Govern- 
 ment is further restrained from a disposition of the public lands in the 
 manner required by the petitioners, from its solemn engagements made with 
 the States from which it obtained its cessions of the public lands. In the 
 conveyance made by the State of Virginia of her territory northwestward 
 of the river Ohio, (and substantially in the cessions of lands made by 
 North Carolina and Georgia,) there is to be found the following stipula- 
 tion : — " That all the lands within the territory so ceded to the United 
 States, and not reserved for or appropriated to any of the before-men- 
 tioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of 
 the American army, shall be considered a common fund for the use and 
 benefit of such of the United States as have become, or shall become, 
 members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said States, Virginia 
 inclusive, according to their usual respective proportions in the general 
 charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of 
 for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatever." In this 
 stipulation the object and intention are so plainly expressed that it is 
 scarcely necessary to call the attention of Congress to them. If the public 
 lands form " a common fund" for the use and benefit of the States accord- 
 ing to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expen- 
 diture, and shall be disposed of for that and no other purpose, how can 
 Congress make partial donations of a common fund for the benefit of 
 seminaries of learning, intended, and so expressly stated, to be disposed 
 of for the sole and exclusive purpose of benefiting the several States in 
 the general charge and expenditure of the Government, and that, too, in 
 unequal amounts to some States, and not to others ? It appears to the 
 committee that such a proposition cannot seriously be contended for. If 
 the public lands were all sold and reduced to a common fund, in money, 
 lying in the Treasury for the objects expressed in the above-quoted agree- 
 ment, every one would see at once that Congress would not draw the money 
 from that place for the purposes sought by the petitioners ; and, if they 
 would not in money, it is not perceived how it can be done while this 
 common fund remains in lands. If a single acre can be used for that 
 purpose, the whole can, and thus the fund would be diverted altogether 
 from its palpably-expressed object. And this is not all : if any part of it 
 can be given to one or two seminaries of learning, the whole can to the 
 same, to the exclusion of all the other States. It is no good answer to 
 this objection to say that Congress must take care to dbtribute the public 
 lands equally among all the literary institutions throughout the United 
 States : this would be most notoriously a departure from the contract of 
 the ceding State ; and, when once Congress shall substitute its discretion 
 for the express terms of the agreement, it must be plain to every mind 
 that there can be no limits to that discretion, save a sense of its own 
 notions of propriety, most evidently forming no part of the inducements 
 to the cessions of land made by the States to the Federal Government. It 
 must be obvious, too, that, if they had the right to change the terms of 
 the contract, it is wholly impracticable to make an equal and impartial 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 165 
 
 distribution of the lands among all the various institutions, high and low, 
 intended to diffuse the benefits of education. 
 
 The committee are aware that something is claimed for these applica- 
 tions from the force of precedent, but they cannot for a moment believe, 
 if they have presented a correct view of the subject, that it will be seriously 
 contended that the plain and positive stipulations of a contract, and the 
 stiU higher and more solemn obligations of the Constitution, shall be made 
 to yield to a practice certainly founded in error, and perhaps without due 
 consideration. Nor can any sanction be drawn from the example of a 
 certain disposition of lands within the new States, where the public domain 
 is situated, for the benefit of schools, inasmuch as such disposition was 
 evidently predicated upon the provision in the Constitution which vested 
 Congress with the "power to dispose of and make all needful rules and 
 regulations respecting the territory belonging to the United States." 
 Nothing could so much contribute to the population of the new States as 
 the institution of schools. The means of education certainly furnished 
 the strongest motive to the purchase of the public lands, and a donation 
 for that object in different parts of the territory came properly within 
 those needfiil "rules and regulations," well calculated to enhance the 
 value of the residue, and was alike due to the condition of the new 
 States that were entirely without the means of offering such an indispen- 
 sable inducement to their early settlement. This is a regular system in 
 reference to the new States organized from the Territories ; and, though 
 one of the applications is from a new State, it does not fall within that 
 system, — a departure from which would entitle not only the other new 
 States, but the old ones also, to similar donations. Under these opinions, 
 the committee ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the 
 said petitions, and all of a like nature since referred to them. 
 
 The author has no record to show on what different committees 
 Judge Clayton served during the four sessions he was in Congress, 
 nor what reports he made. It is not material, however, to parade 
 these facts : his reputation is sufficiently established without them. 
 He was ever diligent, ever animated, ever watchful of the public 
 good; and he let no occasion pass unimproved to benefit his 
 country to the best of his power. 
 
 Dismissing his judicial and legislative career, in both of which 
 he displayed eminent ability, the author proceeds to the literary 
 character of Judge Clayton, which is not less enviable. The 
 author regrets that he is so inadequately supplied in this field ; 
 for, although it is known that Judge Clayton vn*ote a great deal 
 for the public eye, in all of which he infused his pure diction and 
 flowing spirit, yet, for the twenty-four years after he graduated 
 at Franklin College, in 1804, imtil his address before the societies 
 of the same institution in 1828, no production except the "Myste- 
 rious Picture" has come to the notice of the author which might 
 be regarded as a proper test of his literary merits. His speeches 
 at the bar, in the Legislature, and on other public occasions, — his 
 
166 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOEGIA. 
 
 charges to the grand jury, — ^his communications to the press, — 
 though all evincing ripe acquirements, did not, however, take on a 
 form of literary preparation which might decide his claims to the 
 favor of competent judges of style. It was reserved for the col- 
 lege commencement in August, 1828, at Athens, — ^when he and 
 the Hon. John M. Berrien met in friendly, yet in high-toned, ear- 
 nest competition, — for his happiest effort to be made. Both se- 
 lected a similar theme. One exemplified "Eloquence," as did the 
 chaste and melodious Berrien, and the other asserted the power of 
 "Oratory," which he illustrated in his own person. Such a lite- 
 rary feast had never been spread before an audience in Georgia; 
 and it may well be feared that its like will never be repeated. 
 The brief extract from Judge Clayton's address here given will 
 afford some idea of the whole, which was equally brilliant and 
 elaborate : — 
 
 Oratory is the great moral agent that gnides and controls all human 
 passions. Eloquence is the universal instrument by which all the wants 
 of animated nature are supplied. It is to the moral what electricity is to 
 the natural world. It is the great pervading, connecting, and upholding 
 principle of all sensual inclination and of all intellectual influence. 
 
 It is the subtle, active, quickening impulse, restless as air and rapid as 
 lightning, that runs through all sense, gives edge to its desires and efi'art 
 to its designs. It assumes all shapes, tries all forms, and shines in all 
 varieties. It sues in the cry of infancy, woos in the sigh of love, wails 
 in the groan of pain, implores in the suffering of despair, supplicates in 
 the wretchedness of sorrow, beseeches ia the misery of want, persuades 
 in truth, demands in justice, melts in pity, thunders in vengeance, and 
 rages in distraction. 
 
 At one moment it fans like the zephyr, at another blasts like the 
 simoom; now plays and refreshes like the breeze, then storms and de- 
 stroys like the blast. The mind is never steady under its operation : 
 reason dreads it, judgment shrinks from under its crushing energy, and 
 neither in their dominion has the security of an hour under its ravaging 
 march. 
 
 He who witnesses the calm serenity of a summer's mom, or the mellow 
 stillness of an autumnal eve, forgets that they can be disturbed by any 
 cause. Let but the angry lightnings of heaven gather in the west, growl 
 for a time as they thicken in the cloud, rise in swelling murmurs as thej 
 come over the fearful silence of nature, then quicken in flashes, streak 
 through the vaulted skies, peal from pole to pole, from heaven to earth, 
 and rend the lofty forest, in vain may he look for those tranquil seasons 
 that so regaled his senses before this " war of elements." 
 
 So with oratory. Keason and judgment sit secure amid its playful 
 gambols ; but let it once swell into a tempest, drive upon the feelings, 
 strike at the sympathies, beat upon the affections, storm on the passions, 
 dash on the sensibilities of the heart, and reason and judgment are gone, 
 — fled from the sober helm of conscience : the mind surrenders at dis- 
 cretion; decisions are made and sent forth which no future composure can 
 repair, and often become fate to an individual and destiny to a nation. 
 
AUaUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 167 
 
 In 1825 there appeared in the book-stores a pamphlet of two 
 hundred pages, bound in the style of the Quarterly Review, en- 
 titled " The Mysterious Picture, by Wrangham Fitz-ramble, Esq.," 
 with the following lines on the title-page : — 
 
 Hence Satire's power : 'tis her corrective part 
 To calm the wild disorders of the heart. 
 She points the arduous height where glory lies, 
 And teaches mad Ambition to be wise. 
 In the dark bosom wakes the fair desire, 
 Draws good from ill, a brighter flame from fire. 
 Strips black Oppression of her gay disguise, 
 And bids the hag in native horror rise ; 
 Strikes towering Pride and lawless Rapine dead, 
 And plants the wreath on Virtue's awful head. 
 
 As noted by the author of the pamphlet, its contents were — 
 The Mysterious Picture ; Human Depravity ; Vanity ; The Illusions 
 of Pleasure ; Pride and Love ; The Disappointed Author ; The 
 Politician; The Widow and Widower; Education; The Negro's 
 Dream. 
 
 The conception was singular, tinged with the supernatural. 
 While restless on his pillow, Mr. Fitz-ramble was addressed as in 
 a vision : — 
 
 "You have nothing to fear," said the genius, for so he called him- 
 self. " I have beheld your difficulties, and am ordered to furnish the 
 relief. Arise ; follow me, and, strange as it may appear, I will discover 
 to you an unknown world of thought, where mortal i-esearch has never 
 penetrated and which human ingenuity can never fathom." 
 
 I instantly arose, and seemed to possess a surprising activity of body 
 and a subtle elasticity of mind, — in the first to move without exertion, and 
 in the last to think without an effort. 
 
 The genius then conducted him into a church where the con- 
 gregation were arrested by a spell, yet each individual retaining 
 the images passing in his or her mind at the moment. Thrilling 
 reflections are thus indulged : — 
 
 When I surveyed this immense crowd in a state of apparent torpor, 
 possessing the same complexion, cast of countenance, and expression of 
 eye as if alive, in the deathlike stillness and inflexibility of statues, the 
 inward employment of whose minds was shortly to be in my power, I felt 
 an impressive distrust of my own firmness and a repulsive dread of the 
 scene. I seemed to think that I was meddling with what did not belong 
 to me; that I was lurking around the privacy and prying into the secrets 
 of heart which ought to be held sacred by reason of their undivulged 
 nature and in virtue of their deep concealment in the very foldsof life; 
 that I was taking an ungenerous advantage of a sudden and unavoidable 
 misfortune, which foreclosed the mind from all preparation for such a 
 distressing examination. Indeed, I would have given any thing to have 
 
168 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 silently withdrawn, and to have refused an insight into this serious and 
 delicate development; and for this purpose I fondly asked myself, "Is 
 it not all a dream ? Exert yourself, and try to shake off the delusion, 
 and by that means escape from this unsought dilemma and Sy from what 
 you so much dislike." But at this moment the genius approached me 
 sternly saying, " You are not asleep ; it is no phantom. You are com- 
 pelled not only to witness, but to reveal, the whole; and why should yon 
 be afraid or ashamed to do so? There is One infinitely greater than you 
 — the Source of all virtue and the Fountain of all purity, before whom 
 you are a loathsome worm — obliged daily to behold these vain imagina- 
 tions : there is not a secret spring or the lightest conceivable motion of 
 the mind that is not instantly open to his view. And if these people 
 are not ashamed to indulge before Him what you will soon discover, why 
 should they be before you, even if they were sensible of it ? Do you 
 imagine they care more for you than Him? Besides, suppose that sud- 
 den death had seized them : would it not have taken them in those very 
 thoughts ? and will they not, as well as all others, in a coming day be 
 exposed to the gaze of an assembled world ? They wrong themselves ; 
 you do them no injury. Come, then, and I will show you how to get at 
 the contents of each story, drama, novel, romance, or whatever else you 
 may choose to call it, in this singular sleeping library." 
 
 The idea then proceeds : heads are unlocked by a touch, flying 
 open to inspection, and all secret thoughts are revealed. Here is 
 a cotton-planter fixing up his crop for market, — the best of his 
 staple where it can be seen. By his side is a Yankee cotton- 
 buyer, with gimlet and samples in his pocket, contriving how to 
 mix up the qualities so as to obtain an advantage in the classifi- 
 cation and sale. The details are quite minute in both characters, — 
 both resorting to unworthy devices for profit. 
 
 "Merciful Heaven !" thought I; " are these the pranks that are played 
 in the disposition of that great and valuable staple of the Southern State.s, 
 that constitutes their wealth and strength ? Is it possible," continued I, 
 turning around toward the females and casting my eye upon one who was 
 richly attired, " that the beautiful drapery that covers that more beautiful 
 form has been made to pass through such a demoralizing process ? Can 
 it be that the gay apparel, which flows with so much grace and shines 
 with such splendor on the glittering nymphs who so often adorn the 
 mirthful hall, is stained with fraud, has been familiar with falsehood, and 
 almost associated with felony?" I trembled at the idea, lest it might be 
 imbued with a contagion that would impart treachery to the bosom it so 
 modestly concealed, or faithlessness to the heart by which it was so 
 unconsciously caressed. 
 
 On the subject of petty frauds, artful projects, cunning stratagems, 
 cheating schemes, overreaching devices, and swindling contrivances, I 
 shall never be able to disclose the half I saw on that occasion. In the 
 mechanic arts there was a great inclination of the mind to imposition, to 
 slight work, and to charge high, particularly in all the handicraft-work ; 
 and, if the nature of the labor was out of the common observation and 
 ordinary experience of the customers, they were certainly exposed to a 
 fraud. For instance, I noticed one watchmaker had determined that 
 
AU6USTIN S. CLAYTON. 169 
 
 every watch in his shop should have either a mainspring or a pivot-wheel 
 broken; and the repair of these would, of course, just command the highest 
 price. 
 
 In commercial business the tricks were innumerable. Vintners were 
 adulterating wines ; druggists were corrupting medicines, particularly the 
 article of Peruvian bark ; and merchants were altering invoices and fur- 
 nishing themselves with the materials, to give it no worse name, for 
 making round assertions about the '•' cosi' of their goods. One old fellow 
 had just concluded that his last supply of rum would bear "fully a 
 fourth ;" and, as to his molasses, it must take a " third," or he should 
 absolutely lo.se " on the article," it was so villanously wasting. 
 
 Then a variety of characters are peeped into : the horse-jockey 
 patching up eyes, smoothing over defects, and concealing bad 
 qualities ; debtors were framing excuses for a want of punctuality ; 
 tailors were cabbaging remnants ; millers heaping up toll ; bank- 
 directors contriving to serve themselves and friends liberally; 
 clerks resorting to various stratagems — some had been knocked 
 down and robbed — to account for the money intrusted to them ; 
 other officers of the bank were using false keys, some making false 
 entries on the books, and other individuals were digging under 
 ground to rob the vaults ; some were counterfeiting bills, and others 
 making a chemical preparation to change their amount. Mr. 
 Fitz-ramble then lets off bis animosity to banks in the following 
 words : — 
 
 All kinds of plans and inventions were in train either to make, alter, 
 forge, counterfeit, or steal bank-money; to break open merchants' shops, 
 to rob desks and counter-drawers, pick pockets, and especially to filch 
 pocket-books ; so that I could not but believe — and such is my honest 
 conviction — if the whole institution could be swallowed up as by an 
 earthquake, leaving not a vestige behind, that with it would disappear 
 one-half the crime and its demoralizing effects which at present so deeply 
 corrupt the frame of society; and, as to the increase of private happiness 
 and the diminution of individual suffering and anxiety, the consequences 
 would be incalculable. 
 
 The genius next escorted his companion to a great elevation, and 
 then showed him the entire world below, with all its transactions. 
 The view is powerfully summed up : — 
 
 Such deeds the most lawless fancy cannot portray, heart cannot con- 
 ceive, and to which, of course, utterance is denied. Imagination in the 
 fullest sweep of voluptuous contemplation, whetted by the most luxuriant 
 passion, and urged by the sharpest penetration, can never reach the thou- 
 sandth part of the deep-dyed and ingrained hue of this hidden licentious- 
 ness. "And yet," thought I, "this is forever passing before the all- 
 seeing eye of a pure and spotless Deity." 
 
 Under the head of "Vanity," the writer sketches to the life a 
 flippant young man bent upon pleasing the ladies, dashing through 
 
170 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 the streets with a fine switch-tailed horse and an elegant new 
 
 silver-tipped gig, (no huggies then,) and managing to pass " all the 
 
 houses that were inhabited by fair damsels." At length a tender 
 
 heart is broken by this "inflated Adonis," and he is much exalted 
 
 thereby in his own estimation. A group in the church is thus 
 
 described : — 
 
 I came across several young gentlemen dressed in the highest ton, their 
 bodies drawn to the shape of an inverted cone, well swaddled in a fresh 
 and increased supply of cravats, standing upon brass-heeled stilts, behind 
 a goodly bale of ruffles, just ready to leave the house ; and they would 
 have been off in a second but for their untimely arrest. 
 
 No apology will be made for the introduction here of the follow- 
 ing admirable picture : — 
 
 I found one collegian — who had taken an honor upon graduating, had 
 been much flattered in the progress of his education, created great hopes 
 in his friends, and possessed greater notions of himself— absorbed in a 
 most delightful trance of self-homage. He had just entered upon the 
 profession of law, and delivered a Fourth-of-July oration, and was then 
 enjoying the fruits of his resplendent dibut. All eyes, he conceived, 
 were upon him : the men coveting his talents and genius, and the ladies 
 courting an alliance with him through their fair daughters. He had gone 
 to the head of his profession at a stride, made a fortune right off, and was 
 somewhat perplexed in his mind whether he should go upon the bench 
 or go into Congress. This last field opened to wider fame and higher 
 glory; but he did not like to leave any distinction unworn if he could 
 take them all in his march, and at that time he did not discover much 
 difficulty in his way, only he noticed that most other great men had to 
 leave one or the other. "Alas, poor fellow!" thought I, "what an ignii 
 fatuus you are dancing after ! Professional success, as well as political 
 fame, depends upon a thousand things you cannot now foresee, but 
 especially upon the caprice of a huge and unthinking multitude, who are 
 slow to discover merit and slow to reward it. The forum is not like a 
 college-stage, nor Congress like a polemic society. From these great 
 theatres, as many mournful adventures will reveal, the laurel of renown 
 is not easily snatched. How often will day after day and court after 
 court pass away and leave you rooted to the spot at which you com- 
 menced ! Mountains of no description have ever been readily climbed ; 
 and your ascension up the long slopes of wealth or steeps of fame will be 
 equally toilsome." 
 
 There was no subject, whether great or small, that did not employ this 
 engrossing passion. One was sweeping every thing before him and out- 
 stripping all his associates in a perilous fox-hunt. Another was actually ex- 
 periencing a flesh-crawling, hair-raising elevation of soul in the loud and 
 repeated huzzas of the rabble, vented on no other occasion than that of 
 a triumphant horse-race. In both these cases, as well as others that I 
 noticed, the smiles and approbation of the fair constituted by far the 
 greater part of the fancied glory of these bewitching day-dreams. A 
 third, being the lady of a member of Congress, took great pleasure in 
 looking down upon the plebeian rank that surrounded her, and a greater 
 pride in their looking up, as she conceived, to her official dignity. 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 171 
 
 There was no end to the military men whom I found there. Such march- 
 ing and countermarching; such martial music; such fine war-horses, so 
 richly and gaily caparisoned ; such splendid apparel; such glittering swords, 
 sashes, sword-knots, and waving plumes; such rapid movements and mighty 
 battles, in which the roar of cannon and the clash of arms, mingled with 
 clouds of dust, volumes of smoke, and seas of blood, presented an awful 
 picture; and then, when returned from "wild war's alarms," such ravish- 
 ing applause from the people ; such balls and dinners ; such city-parading ; 
 such corporation-addresses and modest answers, manufactured for the occa- 
 sion and by preconcerted arrangement; such transporting and soul-devour- 
 ing gazes froDi the ladies on the public promenades, at the theatres and all 
 kinds of public assemblies. Oh, it was delightful to see how well these 
 great generals stood with themselves : every one of them had fought one 
 duel, and some as many as three, merely for the purpose of lamenting the 
 circumstance before some fine lady. 
 
 I found, too, a great many statesmen and orators who seemed to take a 
 cruel pleasure in torturing their auditory, — first, by gently leading them, as 
 by a hair, from one place to another, altogether charmed by the witchery of 
 their persuasive elocution, and then all at once rending them to atoms by 
 the lightning of eloquence and a sudden burst of its overwhelming thun- 
 der. The poor hearers were represented on the canvas of their fancy with 
 distorted countenances, frightfully gazing at each other, their eyes " rolling 
 in frenzy," their hands clenched, and their breathing almost suspended. 
 I seemed to catch the terror-smitten feeling of these unfortunate victims 
 of oratory, and I was glad to flee from their fate by dropping the curtain 
 upon the subject. 
 
 After describing the thoughts of a widow lady whose sons and 
 daughters had in her imagination experienced fortune in a variety 
 of shapes, with sorrow greatly overbalancing the joys of life, the 
 writer thus impressively moralizes :— 
 
 Our mortal existence is a fixed and positive state of suffering. We 
 enter upon life with a pang and leave it in agony ; our birth is in shrieks 
 and our death amid sighs. Collectively taken, there is not a pulse of the 
 heart that does not begin or end a life ; there is not a human respiration 
 which is not to some unfortunate being either his first or last. The 
 world, to its successive generations, is nothing but a fading gewgaw ; and 
 we ourselves are only empty bubbles, sparkling as we glide down the tide 
 of time, and bursting at every breatb. 
 
 " Long o'er the wrecks of lovely life we weep ; 
 Then, pleased, reflect, ' to die is but to sleep. 
 Organic forms with chymic changes strive, 
 Live but to die, and die but to revive. 
 Immortal matter braves the transient storm. 
 Mounts from the wreck, unchanging but in form." 
 
 The "Disappointed Author" is a rich exhibition. He had 
 written articles which he fondly concluded would at once establish 
 his fame, and he was ever looking out for praise. But the poor 
 fellow never had the satisfaction of hearing a word of eulogy 
 bestowed on his "Letters" which he so highly prized. Once he 
 
172 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 heard them alluded to in a public reading-room as containing the 
 "most incorrigible nonsense and sleep-producing stupidity that 
 had certainly ever found its way into print ; that writers of such 
 trash and printers of such trumpery ought to be sewed up in a bag 
 and thrown into a ditch," — whereupon he fell into a very earnest 
 soliloquy, in which he discoursed himself into the opinion that 
 
 Literary intelligence is 'not collected and embodied as it should be. If 
 any important ideas are suggested, they are not extended or improved; 
 and hence they pass off unnoticed by ourselves, and, of course, by foreigners. 
 But if it were some low wit or light humor, the account of a sea-serpent, 
 a boat or a horse race, the arrival of distinguished foreigners, curious mur- 
 ders, extraordinary births, wonderful inventions that were never made, 
 and amazing appearances that never occurred, all the prints from one end 
 of the continent to the other, in compliment to the taste of their witch- 
 believing readers, would be filled with those very dignified and important 
 subjects, giving so much consequence to their papers and character to the 
 nation. 
 
 Let but a petty ensign in the army happen to knock down an Indian 
 chief with the butt of his musket, or a midshipman choke a pirate to 
 death, in their official capacities, and, in the pedantry of the black gown, 
 they become eo instanti and ipso facto entitled to attend the President's 
 levees, liable to be suffocated in the fumes and steam of a smoking dinner, 
 drowned in a pipe of old Madeira, and shot to pieces by cannon in eveiy 
 city through which they may pass having good, fat aldermen. Not so by 
 literary achievements ; not so by the essayist. 
 
 The "Mysterious Picture" should be read as a whole, to appre- 
 ciate the satire wjiich lurks in every paragraph. The quotations 
 will close with a fashionable lady whose charms had so wrought on 
 two rival admirers that the code of honor had to decide between 
 them : — 
 
 This duel seemed to season all her other thoughts with such a smack 
 of importance, which, besides giving her a great deal of self-complacency, 
 served to regale her with a foretaste of her future consequence. She 
 appeared to have, though not a sorrowful, yet not a very unreasonable, 
 view of the affair. If people were such fools as to try to shoot out what 
 little brains they had, (which, by-the-by, she thought would require some 
 skill,) why should she grieve about it ? Everybody likes to be talked of, 
 and she did not pretend to suppress the satisfaction it would give her to 
 learn that one was killed dead on the spot and the other mortally wounded, 
 for the bloodier the battle the more noise it would make : it would even 
 get into the papers, those kind propagators of all sorts of good news ; and 
 surely, she thought, it will be asked. What is the melancholy came of such 
 a pathetic catastrophe ? This would at once float her name upon the 
 waves of conversation, and she would be tossed mountains high on the 
 surges of public admiration. 
 
 SuflScient has been said to show the vivid mind of Judge Clayton 
 as a statesman, jurist, and miscellaneous writer. After his return 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 173 
 
 from Congress in 1835, he devoted himself to such matters as were 
 most agreeable at his period of life, being easy in his fortune, and 
 under no necessity to make those exertions which in the accom- 
 plishment of his manly ambition he had found requisite. Honored 
 for his talents and virtues even beyond the limits of his own State, 
 he was especially a favorite in the community where he resided. 
 All classes found in him a wise counsellor and ready friend. But 
 his active career was near its termination. He was stricken with 
 paralysis, which for several months confined him to his house; 
 and, on the 2l8t day of June, 1839, what was mortal of AuGtrs- 
 TiN Smith Clayton ceased to exist, in the fifty-sixth year of 
 his age. 
 
 This memoir will be closed by the testimony of others. Several 
 years ago, (1851,) the author applied to Philip Clayton, Esq., 
 Second Auditor of the Treasury at Washington, for information 
 respecting his father. An extract from the reply is here given to 
 questions propounded : — 
 
 He married in Franklin county Miss Julia Games, the niece of Judge 
 Games, — when, I have not the date, — and left when he died eight chil- 
 dren, all still living, to wit : — George K. Clayton, William Wirt Glayton, 
 Philip Clayton, Almira D. Cobb, Ed. P. Clayton, Julia Baldwin, Claudia 
 C. Howze, and Augusta C. Clayton. I have placed them according 
 to age. 
 
 Gen. Jephtha V. Harris, Ashury Hull, Judge Charles Dougherty, all 
 of Athens, are the living men who were most familiar with him. Gen. 
 Harris was his classmate at college. Judge Longstreet, Oliver H. Prince, 
 and Judge Dooly were his intimate associates, and with him constituted a 
 galaxy of wit that has never had its equal in any generation of lawyers 
 that have graced the Georgia bar. I feel some delicacy in speaking of my 
 revered father's character and position as I think it deserves, and I trust 
 your good sense will appreciate any extravagance into which my partiality 
 may lead me. 
 
 As a writer I conceive he had not his superior in Georgia. His politi- 
 cal essays were numerous and have never all been collected. His " Atticus," 
 during the contest between Troup and Clark, was considered as an efficient 
 means in the decision to which the people came on that occasion. I have 
 heard from men of that day that, as each number would appear, (having 
 been originally published in a paper at Athens,) it would be sought with 
 avidity. 
 
 His reports in the Legislature of Georgia were also important in fixing 
 the legislation of the country. His career in Congress was distinguished 
 by ability, -and no one rose higher in so short a time. He was the author 
 of the "Mysterious Picture," — ^a literary work that received the com- 
 mendation of the best reviewers of that day. His legal decisions were 
 generally considered sound; and the one declaring the law of Georgia 
 unconstitutional which prevented an Indian from digging gold on his 
 own land (the case of Kanatoo) was approved by Marshall, Story, and 
 Kent, whose written opinions he received after he was defeated by the 
 
174 BENCH AND BAK OF GEOEGIA. 
 
 Georgia Legislature for making the decision. But the most finished 
 production of his pen, in my opinion, was an oration delivered hy him 
 at Athens, Georgia, before the Demosthenian and Phi-Kappa Societies, 
 in 1828. 
 
 He was a man of spotless character, devoted to truth and justice, gentle 
 in his manners, and kind to all, unsurpassed in wit, and the admired of 
 every circle. Even at this late day, I am often reminded by men who 
 were his associates in Congress of the pleasant hours they have spent in 
 his society in this city. As a father, he was untiring in his attention to 
 his children, and especially in impressing upon them all those sentiments 
 that ennoble the man ; and to his early training they are indebted for 
 their respectability and character. But the crowning virtue of his life 
 was his devotion to his wife. As a husband he never had a superior, and 
 seldom, if ever, an equal. 
 
 My time at present will not permit me to say more. Should you wish 
 information upon any particular point of his character that I have omitted, 
 I will cheerfully give it. He was the friend of education and the asso- 
 ciate of Dr. Waddell, and rendered more' service to Franklin College than 
 any man that has ever lived, — of which Dr. Church could no doubt give 
 you much information. 
 
 The legal profession has been long reproached ■with indifference, 
 if not with direct hostility, to the Christian religion, and it is the 
 desire of the author to remove the complaint whenever he has the 
 opportunity. To this end he extracts freely from the discourse 
 delivered by the Rev. Whiteford Smith on the occasion of Judge 
 Clayton's funeral, June 23, 1839 : — 
 
 Our departed brother was permitted to attain to the age which com- 
 monly falls to the lot of man, and, like other men, he had experienced 
 that this world was one of perpetual vicissitude. He was one of the ear- 
 liest graduates of this institution, and one of its oldest trustees. Having 
 realized the benefits of a liberal education himself, he was desirous of 
 extending the same advantages to others. He was gifted with a high 
 order of talent, which prepared him for the responsible duties which his 
 position in society involved. The confidence of his fellow-citizens raised 
 • him to public office, and he received at their hands one of the highest dis- 
 tinctions which it was in their power to bestow. It rarely falls to the lot 
 of the statesman to escape unjust censure from his political opponents, 
 and frequently this is the meed awarded by his friends. The busy, rest- 
 less, political world knows not how to appreciate the character of him 
 who, with a consciousness of rectitude which is sufficient to sustain him, 
 pursues that course which he honestly believes is right. Our brother 
 found it so. In his last hours he appeared to have bestowed a few 
 thoughts upon the review of his political life. Addressing one who was 
 his old associate and bosom friend, he said, " His motives had often been 
 misunderstood. He felt that he might have erred, but had faithfully 
 devoted a portion of his life to the service of his country: though he 
 claimed no reward, they had already rewarded him abundantly." Had he 
 an enemy, — as what political man has not ? — had the strife of party ever 
 brought upon him the hatred or enmity of any? I come commissioned 
 from his dying bed to say to such, if such there be, that he forgave them 
 
AU6TJSTIN S. CLAYTON, 175 
 
 freely, and sent up to heaven for them his ardent prayers. That mercy 
 which he sought he generously shared. 
 
 In his domestic relations, as a hushand, father, and master, none could 
 have been more kind, afiFectionate, and gentle. Few families have been 
 blessed with such a head, and very few have felt and manifested the same 
 assiduous desire to minister to the happiness of one who was endeared to 
 them by every tie. Peculiarly tender was the exhibition of paternal love 
 which he made before he left them. Oh, could you have seen him, as he 
 gathered his children around him, and, one by one, encircled them in his 
 wasted arms, giving them a father's dying benediction, and commending 
 them especially to the grace of God, and entreating and exhorting them 
 to seek after the kingdom of heaven, that they might be united there, 
 you would have been convinced that the flame of parental love that burned 
 within that bosom was one which the cold waters of death could not extin- 
 guish, — that the affection which animated that heart sunk not with the 
 decay of nature's strength. 
 
 Happy that the providence of God had enabled him to leave a compe- 
 tency for the maintenance of his family, he adverted with gratitude to 
 that; but, while he rejoiced that they were thus provided for in this life, 
 his chief concern and desire on their behalf related to the life to come. 
 He pressed upon them with unusual strength and energy an exhortation 
 upon this subject which overwhelmed us all. He adverted with regret to 
 the lateness of the period at which he had embraced Christianity. "7 
 have lost oceans of happiness hy not beginning earlier," was his own em- 
 phatic language. And then, alluding to the support which it afforded him 
 in his afflictions, and the value which he then felt it to be, he told them, 
 " If I could leave you all such legacies as I wish, and Christianity were 
 set down at the price of a million, I would rather bequeath you Chris- 
 tianity than a million of dollars." He further urged upon them its excel- 
 lence, by virtue of its power to fit them for the duties of life. " God 
 first, and man afterward," said he, and then illustrated his conviction 
 that a true Christian must be a philanthropist. 
 
 But there was one dearer to him than all others. She had been his 
 guardian angel, his ministering spirit. She had been the wife of his 
 youth : she had been the companion of his journey through all its scenes 
 of change. When the world wronged him, he knew where to go for solace 
 and comfort, — to one whose bosom was his ever-happy home. When 
 affliction came, she was still by his side ; and when his long-protracted . 
 sufferings required vigiJ upon vigil, she had an eye that asked no slumber, 
 and a hand that owned no fatigue. And she it was who had sought for 
 many a year to lead him, by her gentle and her winning way, from the turbid 
 streams of earthly pleasure to the pure and the better spring at which she 
 drank. Hard was the struggle of his soul to leave her. But he gave 
 another and a brighter cast even to this heaviest ill. "'Tis only a jour- 
 ney," said he, "and I am going a little ahead of you, and you will all 
 soon follow." 
 
 "Our dying friends are pioneers to smooth 
 Oar rugged pass to death, — to break those hars 
 Of terror and abhorrence Nature throws 
 'Cross our obstructed way, and thus to make 
 Welcome, as safe, our port from every storm." 
 
 Nor were his servants forgotten. Fixing his eye on one who stood by 
 his bedside, and who had been constant in his services throughout his 
 
176 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 master's illness, he commended him for his fidelity, and warned him of 
 the dangers to which he was exposed, and particularly of the evil of in- 
 temperance; and, unable to address them all, he closed his admonition 
 by saying, "What I say to you applies to all the rest." 
 
 We have hitherto viewed the character of the deceased only in those 
 .points of light which are calculated to increase our sorrow for his loss, 
 without affording us any consolation. And if the history of his life were 
 here to be wound up, then should we sorrow " even as others which have 
 no hope." But let us now consider the 'religious character of our 
 brother. 
 
 For the greatest part of his life Judge Clayton had been skeptical 
 of the truth of Christianity. Though alway» respectful to those who 
 made a profession of religion, yet he had never submitted himself to the 
 cross of Christ until within the last twelve months. Duqng the month 
 of August, 1838, he was attacked with paralysis, and, for a short time, 
 lost the use of one hand, and his articulation became very indistinct. 
 Upon the day of his attack I visited him. Knowing that the fears of his 
 family and friends were awakened for his safety, and probably judging 
 from my presence that we were particularly anxious about his spiritual 
 state, he addressed me as well as he was able. " I think I may safely 
 say I am prepared for the event." I replied that I had perceived in his 
 conversation from time to time some familiarity with the Bible, and 
 hoped he had made it a matter of study. His answer was, — " No : but 
 in all my dealings with the world, and in all my acts, I have always had 
 regard to the existence of a just G-od; and, if there is a man I have 
 wronged, I do not know him." Having endeavored to direct his mind 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for sin, and to the necessity of 
 the merit of his atonement, I inquired if it was his wish that we should 
 pray, and, he desiring it, the family assembled, and we prayed. No op- 
 portunity offered (from the nature of his affliction) for some days after for 
 religious conversation. Some short time subsequently, however, when 
 he had so far recovered as to be able to go about, understanding that he 
 desired to see me, I called, accompanied by one of the ministers who was 
 in attendance at a protracted meeting then in progress. The subject of 
 religion was now introduced, and never had I witnessed so great a change. 
 He who, but a short time before, had been dwelling complacently upon 
 his own virtuous deeds, and even meditating an entrance into eternity 
 with no other preparation, now sat before me overwhelmed with grief and 
 tears at the recollection of his ingratitude to God for all his mercies. He 
 had been employed in reviewing the past ; and, though he found that his 
 conduct toward the world had been quite equitable and just, he had also 
 been convinced that his duties toward his Maker had been neglected. 
 Now he inquired what had kept him from being a Christian ; and, having 
 learned the true state of his own heart, this was his candid confession, 
 and, at the same time, the avowal of his purposes : — " Sir, I am deter- 
 mined that pride of opinion, which has so long kept me from embracing 
 Christianity, shall keep me away no longer." Nor was he insensible to 
 the difficulties which he met in turning to God with repentance and 
 faith. "In pursuing this course," said he, "at every step I am met by 
 a committal. For all the acts of a man's life are so many committals, 
 and every act contrary to religion is a committal to vice. But shall I 
 permit these things to deter me when I see the extended arms of my 
 God ready to receive me 1" 
 
AUaUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 177 
 
 Having abandoned that pride of opinion which he felt had so long 
 prevented his becoming a Christian, he manifested the greatest meekness 
 and docility in the reception of truth. Sensible that in trusting to the 
 merit of his own good works he had rested upon a frail and weak founda- 
 tion, he now desired to place himself upon another and a surer basis. 
 And upon the eternal foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus 
 Christ himself being the chief corner-stone, there was but one way of 
 successfully building, and that was by the exercise of an humble and 
 confiding faith. How simple and how sincere was his reception of the 
 gospel may be best learned from his own words. "Sir," said he, "I view 
 myself as though I had been a heathen, shut up in darkness and supersti- 
 tion, and you, as a missionary of the cross, (for all ministers are, or ought 
 to be, missionaries,) were presenting me for the first time with the Bible; 
 and, although I do not comprehend all that may be in it, yet I receive it 
 all by faith. I throw away, as a heathen would his idols, all my old 
 systems and views, and adopt this for my creed. I take it all." 
 
 The interviews which it was my privilege to enjoy with Judge Clayton 
 subsequent to this were all of the most delightful character. He dwelt 
 with much anxiety on the subject of his former opinions, and was espe- 
 cially fearful lest his influence over others might have led them into 
 error, and most earnestly solicitous to erase any such impressions wher- 
 ever they had been made. When, therefore, he communicated his desire 
 of attaching himself to the Church and making a public profession of 
 Christianity, knowing from his weakness that it would be with difficulty, 
 if at all, that he could attend at the place of worship, I suggested that 
 his wish might be made known without his personal attendance. To 
 this, however, he immediately objected, desiring, feeble as he was, to 
 perform this act in person, both as a public recantation of his former 
 views, and in the hope that the influence of his example upon others 
 might be salutary. And accordingly, on the 26th August, 1838, he 
 presented himself in the presence of a large congregation, making an 
 open profession of faith in his divine Redeemer, and united himself with 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. At this time he had not experienced 
 that sense of joy and spiritual communion with God which he desired, 
 but was earnestly seeking after the Lord if haply he might be found. 
 Nor did he seek in vain. For but a short time had elapsed after he had 
 taken this decisive step when he felt the springing up of inward comfort 
 and rejoiced in the clear assurance of his sins forgiven. From this time, 
 his whole soul seemed absorbed in the great subject of religion. The- 
 language of his heart appeared to be, " Oh, how I love thy law ! it is 
 my meditation all the day." It was his darling theme of conversation. 
 His very weak state of bodily health allowed him to attend at church but 
 very seldom ; and now he sorrowed that, just as he had begun to appre- 
 ciate those religious privileges, he was cut off from their enjoyment. 
 Still, he patiently submitted to the will of his heavenly Father. 
 
 There was one point upon which our departed brother seemed particu- 
 larly sensitive and anxious from the time of his conversion until his 
 death. He knew full well that there would not be wanting those who 
 would say that his mind had been enfeebled by his disease ; that the 
 apprehension of death had alarmed him, and occasioned his pursuing 
 this course. To the last this thought seemed constantly before hiin. He 
 adverted to it calmly, but firmly, expressing his conviction that, amid the 
 decay of his physical energies, his powers of composition and reflection 
 
 Vol. I.— 12 
 
178 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 were as strong as ever. And many who visited him during his illness, 
 and even in his dying hours, were witnesses of this. Never had I be- 
 held one less agitated in prospect of death. He spoke of it, not as of 
 an event which must happen, and for which he had been preparing him- 
 self by the principles of a stoical philosophy, — not as of an unending 
 sleep, where no consciousness of existence should be felt, and where the 
 waters of oblivion should wash out all remembrance of the past, — but he 
 viewed it rationally, as a winding up of the affairs of this life, which was 
 to be followed by a rigid scrutiny into all his acts and principles and mo- 
 tives. Sensible, as every honest dying man must be, that, in the judg- 
 ment of an all-wise and holy God, there would be found many delinquen- 
 cies and errors which needed a satisfactory atonement, with faith in the 
 record which Grod had given of his Son, he reposed in the merits of the 
 sacrifice which he had offered for the sins of the whole world. Expe- 
 riencing the peace and joy which attend upon a sense of sins forgiven, 
 he spoke of death as though he were ^'prepared" and not only prepared, 
 but cheerfully wUling and ready to go. He spoke of it as a "pleasure;" 
 and, when asked upon one occasion what he wished, he answered, "To 
 die." 
 
 The warm and generous emotions of his heart were not checked by his 
 physical weakness. He had a word of affectionate tenderness for all who 
 visited him. Sitting upon his bed one afternoon, very shortly before his 
 death, he prayed with great earnestness for his enemies, and then ob- 
 .served : — " I wish that the world could all be brought into one embrace, 
 and that embrace were mine : I would throw my arms around them and 
 bring them all to Christ." 
 
 I called his attention to his expreasion of " having been prepared for 
 the event" when attacked with paralysis last summer. "Ah, yes !" said 
 he : "I was then trusting in my morality. But it would not do." 
 
 Are there any here who look upon all this as the result of fear? Hear 
 what he bade me tell you : — "Say to those stout-hearted stoics — those men 
 of learning — who say this is all fear, that they may call it so : but who 
 would not fear, a God?" 
 
 Surely it can be called no want of reason or moral courage that man 
 should stand in awe of his great Creator. In the pride of his ungrateful 
 heart, surrounded by friends and all the pomp of power, he is often ready 
 to suppose that the acknowledgment of his dependence upon and obli- 
 gations to his Maker involves a weakness which he would not own. 
 But there must come a time when the proudest and most stubborn feel 
 their utter impotency in his hand. He who can paralyze in a moment 
 the strongest arm and still the tongue of the bold blasphemer must be 
 confessed to be the Almighty. Too long have men trampled with impious 
 foot the sacred canon, and endeavored, by dethroning God, to exalt and 
 deify what they have termed their reason. Vain and arrogant pre- 
 sumption ! If to condemn unread the book of revelation, — ^if to impugn 
 and vilify the whole system of Christianity because there are some of its 
 truths so sublime and pure that we cannot fully comprehend and appre- 
 ciate them, — ^if this be reason, then folly would be bliss. 
 
 "'Tis reason our great Master holds so dear; 
 'Tis reason's injured rights his wrath resents ; 
 'Tis reason's voice obey'd his glorious crown : 
 To give lost reason life he pour'd his own." 
 That 
 
AUGUSTIX S. CLAYTON. 179 
 
 The chamber where the good man meets his fate 
 
 Is privileged beyond the common walk 
 
 Of Tirtuoas life, quite in the verge of heaven — 
 
 was fully realized by those who were permitted to attend upon our lamented 
 brother in his dying hours. On the Wednesday morning before he died, 
 being attacked with violent spasms, his family supposed that he was about 
 to be taken away from them. While, overwhelmed with grief at the 
 anticipation of his loss, they wept around him, he ministered consolation 
 to them all. Throughout the day these paroxysms continued, and in the 
 afternoon were still more violent. It was in the close of one of those 
 agonies that he distinctly, though slowly, uttered these words : — " Oh, 
 what darkness! what dismal darkness! how profound! — -physically 
 speaking. But all is bright heyoTid." He lingered until Friday night, 
 slowly sinking ; and, throughout all this time, never did he seem to lose 
 sight of the great object of his faith and hope. Frequently and emphati- 
 csJly would he say, " Blessed be God I — blessed be God forever !" 
 
 And when at last his hour had come, it pleased God to give him a calm 
 and easy passage. As we hung near him to catch his last accents, faintly 
 and softly we could hear him murmur, " The way is bright" — " Here's 
 room" — "Over Jordan" — "Enter in" — "Door is open" — "This is 
 heaven" — "I'm so happy" — " It is ended" — "lam through" — "Bless 
 God." These short sentences he would frequently repeat in soft and 
 gentle whispers. But they were sufficient to indicate what were the 
 exercises of his mind as he passed away. Doubtless, could we have seen 
 as he beheld, we should have witnessed the ministering spirits, as they 
 gathered around, beckoning him onward to the throne of God. Without 
 a groan or a struggle, our brother sweetly breathed his spirit into the bosom 
 of his Father and his God, — illustrating what one has so beautifully said 
 of the Christian's death : — 
 
 " He sets as sets the morning star, ivhich goes 
 Not down behind the darken'd west, nor hides 
 Obscured amidst the tempests of the sky. 
 But melts away into the Ught of heaven." 
 
 From what has been said, and from the brief review which we have 
 taken of our brother's history, we learn, first, the goodness and long- 
 sufiFering of God. Had our friend been taken from us one year earlier, 
 how difierent would have been our feelings ! But it pleased God to spare 
 him, and this long-suffering and forbearance led him to repentance. Is there 
 one here to-day who has long lived in the neglect of these sacred and import- 
 ant things, and whose heart, now seriously impressed, is bordering on despair, 
 thinking that it has been put off until it is too late ? In the instance of 
 mercy we have just been considering, let him learn that Gk)d is gracioas 
 and ready to forgive ; yea, our God b merciful. And, if he will repent 
 and believe, he may yet obtain that blessed hope which can support his 
 spirit in the hour of heaviest trial. But let no one presume to defer this 
 interest because our brother found pardon at so late a day. Let his own 
 words proclaim to yon the folly of such a course, and remember that, while 
 he rejoiced in the pardoning mercy of God sought and obtained at so late 
 a period, he felt that lie had lost oceans of happiness hy not beginning 
 earlier. These oceans of happiness you may enjoy by devoting your- 
 selves to God in early life. 
 
 But, as examples of this kind are comparatively rare, we learn, secondly, 
 that such manUestations of divine grace are intended for the benefit of 
 
180 BENCH AKD BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 all within the range of whose ohservation they come. So St. Paul con- 
 templated his conversion : — " For this cause I ohtained mercy, that in me 
 first Christ Jesus might show forth all long-suflFering, for a •pattern to 
 them, which should hereafter believe in Mm to life everlasting." Hero 
 was a miracle of the grace of God, — a brand plucked from the burning, — 
 chosen as a vessel to bear this grace for the encouragement of all who may 
 seek the Lord. This testimony comes not from one who was previously 
 prejudiced in favor of Christianity, and from whom you might have 
 expected it; not from one whose sincerity you might doubt; not from one 
 terrified into a confession of sin ; but from one whose early prepossessions 
 were hostile to Christianity, but who, from being skeptical of its truth, 
 became the subject of its power and cheerfully testified of its excellence; 
 from one who had been accustomed frankly and fearlessly to avow his 
 opinions; from one whose intellectual vigor we all respected, and whc- 
 retained that mental power to the last. He now addresses you in those 
 words which we have brought you from bis dying bed, and calls upon you 
 to turn unto the Lord and live. 
 
 Lastly, we learn how complete is the victory which Christianity enables 
 us to achieve over the powers of death and the grave. For while we 
 contemplate the closing scene of our brother's life, and mark the good 
 man as he dies, we cannot but feel that the saying has been brought to 
 pass, " Death is swallowed up in victory. Death ! where is tby sting ? 
 Grave ! where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the 
 strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the 
 victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 " Oh, may we triumph so 
 
 When all our warfare's past ; 
 And, dying, find our latest foe 
 Under our feet at last!" 
 
 The following announcement appeared in the newspapers soon 
 after the death of Judge Clayton : — 
 
 Died, — At his residence in Athens, on Friday night, the 21st June, 
 (1839,) the Hon. Atjgustin S. Clayton. 
 
 Judge Clayton was born in the State of Virginia, on the 27th Novem- 
 ber, 1783. He completed his education at the University of Georgia in 
 1804. 
 
 Having pursued the study of the law under the late Judge Carnes, he 
 entered in early life upon its practice, and was successful, and rose to 
 distinction at the bar. 
 
 He was chosen a Representative of his fellow-citizens, first in the 
 lower and subsequently in the higher branch of the State Legislature, 
 where he imparted the impress of his mind to many of the laws under 
 which we now live. 
 
 He was thence elected Judge of the Superior Court of the Western 
 Circuit, which post he filled with honor and dignity. 
 
 In 1832 he was elected a Representative in Congress for the State of 
 Georgia, of which body he became a distinguished member. At the close 
 of the last term for which he was elected, in consequence of declining 
 health, he retired from public life, except the trusteeship of the Uni- 
 versity of Georgia, which station he had filled from a very early period. 
 
 He was highly distinguished for his correct literary taste and chaste, 
 
ADGDSTIN S. CLAYTON. 181 
 
 flowing wit, which his numerous political and other essays abundantly 
 prove. 
 
 In private life and in his social relations the subject of this notice was 
 characterized by the greatest affection and the most ardent desire to minis- 
 ter to the happiness of tliose who were dependent upon him. For many 
 years Judge Clayton had been exceedingly skeptical upon the subject of 
 the Christian religion. His mind was, however, turned to its more calm 
 and deliberate investigation during his long and protracted illness. Then 
 it was that he regarded his previous neglect as the greatest ingratitude, 
 and, under a deep conviction of its truth and of his former errors, he 
 made a public profession of faith in Christ, by uniting with the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, in August, 1838, which he steadfastly and consistently 
 maintained till his death. 
 
 Sensible that his former opposition to Christianity might have infected 
 the minds of many with whom he had associated, his most ardent desire 
 appeared to be to undo the evils of his former life in this regard. 
 
 The closing scene of his life was one of extraordinary Christian triumph. 
 He retained the exercise of his intelk'Ctual powers with surprising vigor 
 to the last ; and many of his dying expressions will long be remembered 
 by his family and friends as precious memorials of the power of divine 
 grace in cheering the spirit in its passage to the tomb. 
 
 Thus lived and died one among the most talented and distinguished 
 citizens of the State of Greoigia, whose foibles will be forgotten, but whose 
 many virtues will be remembered and cherished long after this brief 
 obituary shall have been laid away among the things that were. 
 
 Dkmosthexias Society, June 22, 1839. 
 
 Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to take from us another, and one 
 of the most venerable and highly-esteemed, of our members, the Hon. 
 Algustin S. Clayton, one of the earliest graduates, and for many years 
 a trustee, of this institution ; and whereas, we are duly sensible of the 
 loss which we have sustained as a body in the death of one whose reputation 
 as a philanthropist, a statesman, and a most valuable and worthy citizen, 
 has alwaj-s reflected honor and dignity on our Society : 
 
 Be it unanimously Resolved, That we entertain the highest esteem 
 and veneration for the deceased, and adopt the following resolutions : — 
 
 Resolvd, That the members of this Society wear crape on the left arm 
 for the space of thirty days, and that the members of the Phi-Kappa 
 Society be requested to unite with us in this testimony of regard. 
 
 Resolved, 'rhat the members of this Society attend at the residence of 
 the deceased on to-morrow, to walk in procession to his place of burial, and 
 that the members of the Phi- Kappa Society be likewise requested to join 
 us. 
 
 Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the gazettes of the 
 town, and that a copy of the same be transmitted by the committee to the 
 bereaved and deeply-afflicted family of the deceased. 
 
 Resolved, That this Society transact no business on to-day, and adjourn 
 until Saturday, as an additional mark of respect to the deceased. 
 
 E. W. Harris, 
 A. S. Atkinson, 
 J. Felder, 
 
 ComTnittee. 
 
182 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 NOTE TO THE MEMOIR OF JUDGE CLAYTON. 
 
 Since writing the memoir of the Hon. A. S. Clayton, a commu- 
 nication has been received from one of his sons,* giving an addi- 
 tional account of the early life and subsequent career of his father, 
 — which is subjoined, and also the letter to which it refers. They 
 were intended as a guide to the author in preparing the memoir in 
 his own language ; but he prefers to give them as they were writ- 
 ten, though a few particulars may be repeated which appear else- 
 where. He could not substitute his own words with any hope of 
 improvement. 
 
 The letter answers certain questions propounded by the author. 
 
 1. My father, Augustin Smith Clayton, was the son of Philip and 
 Mildred Clayton. His mother's maiden-name was Dixon. He was bom 
 at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on the 27th of November, 1783. His 
 parents removed to Georgia when he was about a year old, and settled in 
 Richmond county, where they both died, I think, soon after the collegiate 
 education of my father was completed. My grandmother died some time 
 before. I have not the dates ; nor do I suppose them at all necessary. 
 Both were dead at the time of my father's marriage, if I recollect aright. 
 
 2. My mother has no certain information as to his early education, but 
 thinks he was at one time under the tuition of the late William H. Craw- 
 ford. We do know, however, that he was a student at the Richmond 
 Academy when Gen. George Washington visited Georgia in the year 
 1791. In my father's library is a copy of Sallust, presented to him by 
 Gen. Washington, in which the followiog appears : — 
 
 " Premium of the President of the U. S. to Smith Clayton, a student 
 of Richmond Academy, as a memorial of his esteem, and a premium due 
 to merit. Presented by his request 
 
 "(Signed,) Robeet Forsyth, 
 
 A. Baldwin." 
 
 And immediately, in my father's own handwriting, is this : — 
 
 " The speech which produced the above was .spoken at the age of seven 
 years and four mos." 
 
 He was a graduate in the first class of the University of Georgia. I have 
 no means by me to ascertain the year. You are perhaps correct in naming 
 1804. 
 
 3. He read law with .Judge Thomas P. Carnes, and was admitted to the 
 bar at Washington, Wilkes county. 
 
 4. He first located in Franklin county; but, after remaining one year, 
 he removed to Athens, where he resided during the remainder of his life. 
 He was married on the 20th December, 1807, at Augusta, to Julia 
 Carnes. 
 
 5. He died at Athens on the 21st June, 1839. Eight children sur- 
 vived him, four sons and four daughters, — ^viz. : George R. Clayton, a promi- 
 nent lawyer of Columbus, Mississippi; William W. Clayton; Philip Clay- 
 ton, who was appointed Second Auditor of the Treasury Department of the 
 
 * William W. Clayton, Esq., of Kingston. 
 
AU6USTIN S. CLAYTON'. 183 
 
 United States in the year 1849, and has held the position through both 
 Gen. Taylor's and Gen. Pierce's admiaistrations ; and Edward P. Clayton, 
 a commission-merchant of Augusta. My sisters are — Almira Dallas, who 
 married Joseph B. Cobb, youngest son of the late Hon. Thoma.s W. Cobb ; 
 Julia Smith, who married Francis G. Baldwin ; Claudia Caroline, who 
 married John Howze ; and Augusta, who married William King, Jr. Mr. 
 Cobb lives very near, and Mr. Baldwin in Columbus, Mississippi, Mr. 
 Howze at Marion, Perry county, Alabama, and Mr. King at Savannah. 
 All the above-mentioned were alive at last accounts, (January, 1857.) 
 My father never lost but one child, — ^his second son, named for himself, 
 who gave the highest promise. He was an untiring student, was admitted 
 to the bar before he was of age, and died the next week. 
 
 I have now replied to all your direct questions, and, I trust, with suffi- 
 cient distinctness. 
 
 From the long letter of my eldest brother, George R. Clayton, who was 
 in the practice of the law with my father some five or six years before he 
 removed to the West, I at one time thought to cull such facts as were 
 essential in the accomplishment of your design ; but, upon more mature 
 reflection, I have concluded to enclose it to you as it was received. It 
 is full and explicit, though written, as must be observed, in great haste. 
 Very nearly all the particulars enumerated by him have come under my 
 own observation, and I fully corroborate them. 
 
 The letter referred to by my brother in relation to the bank transac- 
 tion I withhold only because of the severe reflections upon the betrayer 
 of his confidence. One expression from the letter will disclose to you 
 the state of my father's feelings at the time. He says, " With the ex- 
 ception of the loss of your brother Augustin, it has inflicted the most un- 
 mitigated torture of mind that a life of now nearly fifty years has ever 
 afforded." I can, however, give you an extract pertinent to the question. 
 Let me premise by saying that the money taken oir with him to Wash- 
 ington City was to pay the balance of his portion (one-fourth part) of the 
 machinery for the Athens factory, to Messrs. Bflgers, Ketchum & 
 Grosvenor, of New York. " I have also informed Rogers & Co. of my 
 misfortune. Besides, as soon as my mess here learned how I had been 
 treated, they spontaneously, and perfectly unsolicited, offered their names 
 to go into the bank for the amount I wanted, and suggested the step, 
 stating that under my peculiar circumstances I ought not to let a matter 
 of pride prevent me from removing my embarrassment, so far as it related 
 to the payment which was expected by Rogers & Co. in New York. I 
 yielded to their suggestions; and Gen. Robinson, Judge Mangum, Judge 
 Bouldin, Col. King, and Capt. Mclntyre, all endorsed a note immediately 
 for three thousand dollars. Col. King went with me this afternoon to 
 the President of the bank, and, after stating my situation, received for 
 answer that he thought there would be no difficulty in getting the amount 
 for at least four months. We had desired till the meeting of the next 
 Congress. He said he would lay the matter before the board in the morn- 
 ing and give me an answer at 12 o'clock." 
 
 This letter was written on the 4th of March, 1833, and the day before 
 his note was discounted. The transaction was one of a purely business 
 character, and would never have been made but for the urgent solicita- 
 tions of friends (some of whom at least were opponents of the United 
 States Bank) and the peculiar circumstances under which he was placed. 
 
 The charge of being bought up by the bank was as base as it was false. 
 
184 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 1 know that with regard to the -unconstitutionality of the United States 
 Bank my father's opinion was never changed; for, in a conversation with 
 him upon the subject about a year before his death, he stated distinctly 
 that Congress had no power to charter a hank under the Constitution, 
 but that it seemed, from the situation of affairs at that time, the great de- 
 rangement of the currency, the exorbitant rates of exchange, (being as high 
 in many instances as fifteen per cent.,) and the suspension of specie-pay- 
 ments by the State banks, — and all this happening so soon after the down- 
 fall of the United States Bank, — he was inclined to think it necessary to 
 have a regulator of the currency, and that he would not object to see the 
 Constitution so amended as to confer upon Congress the power to charter an 
 institution of the kind, with all proper restrictions and safeguards. 
 
 It may not be amiss to relate an incident which occurred at the time 
 my father connected himself with the Methodist Church in Athens, as it 
 gave unquestionable evidence of the thorough work of the grace of God 
 upon his heart. 
 
 For a long time he had the most supreme contempt for the editor of 
 
 the , and would not deign to speak to him. This was occasioned 
 
 by an iinfair, unjust, and violent opposition to him, which was continued 
 even after he retired to private life. It was carried to such an extent that 
 one of his sons, feeling that " forbearance had ceased to be a virtue," 
 called upon the editor. . . . 
 
 This circumstance is mentioned merely to show the bitterness of feeling 
 which existed. Now for the incident. 
 
 On the Sabbath morning in question, the meeting having been quite 
 crowded, upon the call of the minister for any who might desire to attach 
 themselves to the Church, there appeared at the altar my father, accom- 
 panied by my mother, and soon after the editor before mentioned. They 
 were received by the minister; and, immediately on seeing him, my father, 
 still affected with paralysis, tottered up to the editor and extended his 
 hand, thereby indicating to the world that as "his trespasses had been 
 forgiven," so he forgave those of others. It was received in like spirit; 
 and upon the Christian's altar all animosities were forever buried. The 
 scene was touching, and produced such a thrill throughout the whole 
 audience as to cause many an eye to glisten with the sympathetic tear. 
 
 My brother, as you will see, suggests the propriety of a visit to Athens, 
 to see if I could not collect something from among my father's papers 
 that might be valuable to you. Having overlooked most of them before 
 removing to this [Cass] county, I feel pretty well satisfied that nothing 
 additional could be procured. I regret that my father did not keep a copy 
 of his correspondence. He retained no copies, except of letters on special 
 business. I am therefore denied the pleasure of offering you any thing of 
 this style of his writings. Judge A. B. Longstreet and my father were 
 intimate friends, and he may have some of his letters that might be 
 interesting. I cannot think of any one else at this time to whom to 
 refer you. 
 
 If you could obtain a copy of a work entitled " The Mysterious Pic- 
 ture, by Wrangham Fitz-ramble," of which my father was the author, you 
 there have a style differing from his political writings. I have no copy 
 of my own, nor can I inform you where you would be likely to procure 
 one. The edition is exhausted ; all copies, therefore, are in second hands.* 
 
 * The author obtained a copy more than twenty years ago, and has it now, bound 
 with other choice literary pamphlets, in his library. 
 
AUGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 185 
 
 He also wrote for Col. David Crockett, in his lifetime, a work entitled 
 "The Life of David Crockett, written by Himself." This was, for the 
 most part, of a political character. I had a copy, but it has been lost. 
 
 From the letter of George R. Clayton, Esq. referred to in the 
 preceding, extracts are here given, further to illustrate the charac- 
 ter of Judge Clayton : — 
 
 As a man, lie possessed an unbounded benevolence and was sensitive 
 to the sufferings of the poor. Frequently have I known him when, from 
 the scarcity of corn and provisions, much distress among the poor pre- 
 vailed, and when he had it for sale and the price very high on account 
 of the scarcity, open his cribs to the poor and let them have it without 
 charge. And I can safely say that no man was ever denied provisions, 
 when he could possibly spare any, because they had not the means of 
 payment. This was a trait in his character I have often thought of with 
 pride and admiration. There were a good many poor families residing 
 near his plantation; and during years of scarcity, (which was frequent 
 in that section of the country, as the soil was very poor and unproduc- 
 tive,) provisions were supplied to these families without charge, or on the 
 most liberal terms, instead of high prices fi'om those who were able to pay 
 the caiih. 
 
 He was a man of nice, delicate feelings, and very strong attachment to 
 those with whom he was familiar. But such was his fondness for wit and 
 cutting satire, that he rarely let an opportunity escape him in exercising 
 it upon his best friends ; and, no doubt, he has often wounded feelings 
 where no unkindness was intended. His wit was without malice, and 
 was more the result of a lively humor than a desire to injure feelings. 
 From his mind it wholly passsed away with the moment and the occa- 
 sion; yet I have no doubt it left behind many a secret enemy. He was 
 always generous with his wit. It afforded him as much pleasure and 
 amusement to be himself the subject of a good repartee as to exercise his 
 wit on others. 
 
 In his domestic relations he was very free with his children, often 
 making them the subjects of his wit, and allowing them full latitude in 
 their replies and witticisms on him. He therefore became a common 
 centre for the witticisms of his family; and, whenever one of his children 
 made a successful hit, the child, instead of being reproved, was considered 
 as having won a laurel. I recollect an instance which delighted him. 
 He had told an anecdote which ran thus : — A gentleman, travelling 
 through the Indian nation, stopped at a spring to take some refresh- 
 ments; and, whilst there, an Indian came to the spring, with whom the 
 gentleman entered into conversation. He asked the Indian what was his 
 employment, who replied that he was a preacher. He was asked where 
 he preached. The reply was, at the upper town and the lower town. He 
 was farther asked if they paid him any thing for preaching. " Yes," was 
 his answer. "How much?" said the gentleman. "Upper town pay two 
 
 dollar and lower town pay one dollar." "That is d n poor pay," said 
 
 the gentleman. "Yes, but d n poor preach, too," replied the Indian. 
 
 Soon after this anecdote was related in the family, my father was elected to 
 some office, and I asked him what salary he was to receive. He informed 
 me; and I replied that I thought it a poor salary. "Yes," said one of my 
 little sisters, "but it is d n poor preach, too." This so delighted him 
 
186 BENCH AND BAE OF GEORGIA. 
 
 that she was the toast of the family for a week afterward. She had 
 bearded the lion in his den and come off victorious. 
 
 He always encouraged his children to exercise their wit upon him, and 
 was pleased when any of us were successful. My wife, never having been 
 accustomed to that kind of freedom in children toward parents, when first 
 introduced into the family thought us the most disrespectful children to 
 parents she had ever seen, and so expressed herself to me. But she soon 
 found it snaa freedom, without disrespect, SluA pleasantry without rudeness, 
 and had resulted from the vivacity, wit, and humor on the part of my 
 father whilst in social intercourse with his family. He was an impulsive 
 man, erring and repenting almost at the same moment. He was quick- 
 tempered, — would sometimes act under a state of passion, and repent of it 
 afterward, although the act itself might have been correct. He rarely 
 ever chastised a child or servant, and, if he ever did, it was in a passion; 
 and, whenever his passion subsided, he would weep like an infant for 
 having done it. 
 
 As a judge, he was peculiarly sensitive to a rigid maintenance of the 
 independence of the bench as against popular clamor and opinion. He 
 derived his ideas of the independence of the bench and the course for a 
 judge to pursue in a great degree from the example of Lord Mansfield 
 in the celebrated case of Mr. Wilkes. He was greatly impressed with the 
 remarks of Lord Mansfield in that case. I have often heard him repeat 
 them, particularly that portion commencing, " But here let me pause." 
 
 It is fit to take some notice of the various terrors being out, the numerous crowds 
 which have attended and now attend in and about the hall, out of reach of bearing 
 what passes in court, and the tumults which, in other places, have shamefully in- 
 sulted all order and government. Audacious addresses in print dictate to us, from 
 those they call the people, the judgment to be given now and afterward upon the 
 conviction. Reasons of policy are urged, from danger to the kingdom by commotions 
 and general confusion. Give me leave to take the opportunity of this great and 
 respectable audience to let the whole world know all such attempts arc vain. Unless 
 we have been able to find an error which bears us out to reverse the outlawry, it 
 must be afilrmed. The Constitution does not allow reasons of state to influence 
 our judgments. God forbid it should ! We must not regard political conse- 
 quences, how formidable soever they might be. If rebellion was the certain conse- 
 quence, wo are bound to say, "Fiat justitia mat caelum." I wish popularity, but it 
 is that popularity which follows, not that which is run after : it is that popularity 
 which, sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends by noble 
 means. I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong upon this occasion 
 to gain the huzzas of thousands or the daily praises of all the papers which come 
 from the press. I will not avoid doing what / think is right, though it should draw 
 upon me the whole artillery of libels, — all that falsehood and malice can invent, or 
 the credulity of a deluded populace can swallow. 
 
 See the remarks at large in the 4th volume of Burrows's Report?, p. 
 2561, Rex vs. John Wilkes, Esq. I have often heard my father repeat 
 the above remarks of Lord Mansfield and speak of them as the true test 
 of an upright judge. They had made a very deep impression on his 
 mind; and, when he came upon the bench, he has often said to me that 
 he took those sentiments as his guide of action. And, in examining his 
 history as a judge, I think it will be found that he never looked to con- 
 sequences to himself or faltered in the course pointed out by those senti- 
 ments. Upon several occasions he was compelled, in the discharge of 
 official duties, to resist popular clamor and prejudice. In one case (I 
 think it was in Habersham county: it was the case known as the Indian 
 Reserve Case) I understood he was threatened with personal violence by 
 
Z.UGUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 187 
 
 the mob for his decision in favor of the Indians, and his friends were on 
 their guard to prevent it. Col. Samuel A. Wales may remember the 
 circumstances. 
 
 The last judicial act of his life deprived him of his office, and which I 
 have always looked upon as the proudest of his public career. I allude 
 to the decision in favor of the Cherokee Indians, and which was noticed 
 in Gov. Gilmer's Annual Message to the Legislature in rather a rude 
 manner, asserting that the policy of the State in acquiring possession of 
 the Indian territory had been frustrated by the decision of a judge, &c. 
 This decision was made a short time before the meeting of the Legis- 
 lature at which a judge in his circuit was to be elected for the constitu- 
 tional term. He was a candidate for re-election without opposition from 
 any person of his party, and they in power at the time. His re-election 
 was considered certain; when some of his intimate friends ascertained 
 what would be his decision in the case, and, knowing that it would raise 
 a great clamor against him, as it was in direct opposition to the policy of 
 the State and the prejudices and desires of the people in acquiring the 
 possession of the Indian territory, and also in some degree affecting the 
 stability of the party in power, as the acquisition of Indian lands was 
 one of the party hobbies of the day, and not absolutely necessary that the 
 decision should be made public before the election, the suggestio'n was 
 made to him by friends who greatly desired his election that the decision 
 should be postponed until after the election. This he declined, preferring 
 the character of an upright and independent judge to the office. Some of 
 his best friends — among them the lamented Judge Dougherty — differed 
 from him in opinion. As to the correctness of the opinion I have no- 
 thing to say. That is a matter to be judged by the public. I only men- 
 tion it to show a trait of character he possessed in an eminent degree as a 
 judge, — to wit, independence; for every motive of a personal kind and 
 every inducement of a selfish nature would have prompted to a different 
 decision. 
 
 The decision was made just before the election, and, as expected by his 
 friends, it created great opposition to the renewal of bis term of office. 
 Judge Dougherty had been elected a member of the Legislature from 
 Clark county. He resigned his seat within a certain time, became a 
 candidate for the judgeship, and was elected. Up to this time Judge 
 Dougherty had been the warm personal and intimate friend of my father, 
 and I have not the least doubt continued to be so to the day of his death, 
 though my father was much hurt with him at the time. Judge 
 Dougherty's position was simply this : I have no idea that he would ever 
 have come in competition with him so long as my father desired the office 
 and there was any probability of his election ; but Judge Dougherty's 
 friends looked to him as the successor of my father to the judgeship of 
 the Western Circuit, and no doubt he desired it himself. After the 
 decision had been made, Judge Dougherty and his friends (and who were 
 also the friends of my father) became satisfied that his re-election was 
 impossible; and, as they were unwilling that any other person should 
 occupy the position which had been designed for him, Juc^e Dougherty 
 was prevailed upon to become the candidate, — not so much to defeat my 
 father as to prevent any other person from stepping in ahead of him. 
 
 I am satisfied, from the state of feeling at that time, that almost any 
 one would have been elected over my father. Many of his friends, know- 
 ing the cordial relations that existed between them, as well as the con- 
 
188 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 nection by marriage, were disposed to censure Judge Dougherty for the 
 opposition ; but I have ever been able to do justice to his purity of mo- 
 tive, and my father also became satisfied of his sincere friendship, as theit 
 continued intimacy proved. Notwithstanding his defeat for the judgeship 
 by his own party, they still entertained for him the highest regard, and 
 sought to make amends immediately by placing him in another position. 
 The objection was not so much to the man as to the decision. It became 
 necessary to sacrifice the judge in order to carry out the policy. This 
 was a sore trial to his party, among whom he had many friends who were 
 satisfied that he acted from the purest motives in the discharge of duty. 
 
 At the time of this election a vacancy had occurred in Congi-ess by the 
 resignation of one of the Representatives* from Georgia, and the vacancy 
 was soon to be filled. His political and personal friends, who had just 
 aided in his defeat, insisted upon placing the name of my father before 
 the people for the office. Members of Congress were then elected by 
 general ticket, the district system having been since adopted. At first 
 he unhesitatingly declined. I never saw him more mortified in my life 
 than at his defeat for the bench, — not that he regarded the office as of 
 any consequence to him, but his mortification arose from the defeat, hy 
 his own parti/, for (what he conceived) an act of diity, and the peculiar 
 circumstances under which he was defeated. He stated to me that he 
 would go home and retire from public life, and never again be a candidate 
 for office. And such was his determination up to the night before he left 
 Milledgeville. His friends were very much opposed to his leaving Mil- 
 ledgeville under such a feeling of mortification. On the night before he 
 left. Dr. Henry Branham, an old personal and political friend, called to 
 see him after he had retired to rest, and, seating himself by his bedside, 
 remained with him until midnight, — in fact, never left him until he had 
 in some degree reconciled him to his defeat and procured from him a 
 promise to suffer his name to be announced as a candidate for Congress. 
 I was not present at the interview, but know that it was long and earnest 
 on the part of Dr. Branham, who, I believe, was a sincere friend of my 
 father, though I am impressed he voted against him for the judgeship : 
 yet of this 1 am not certain. 
 
 On next morning his name was announced as a candidate for Congress, 
 which resulted in his election by the people. This trust was afterward 
 renewed by his constituents until he voluntarily retired from the position. 
 The documents and papers of the day afford something of his political 
 history, which I have not within my reach to consult. 
 
 He was very poor when he commenced life. His father left two sons 
 and an unmarried daughter, with small property. To his sons he gave 
 a liberal education, and to his daughter all his property. I have often 
 heard him say that when he commenced his profession he had but one 
 object in view, and that was a support. But after he obtained a support 
 his ambition for distinction was aroused. At first, fame never entered 
 into his calculations. Poverty so stared him in the face that he looked 
 upon it as the only foe with which he was called upon to contend. He 
 amassed a good fortune, leaving his widow and eight children in inde- 
 pendent circumstances. 
 
 With regard to his religious sentiments, he was, as stated in the funeral 
 discourse of the Rev. Whiteford Smith, skeptical. My mother first 
 
 * Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, who was elected Governor in 1831. 
 
AUaUSTIN S. CLAYTON. 189 
 
 united herself with the Methodist Episcopal Church before any church- 
 building had been erected in Athens. I can just recollect it. There 
 were but two or three Methodists in Athens at the time. The father of 
 Methodism ia Greorgia — the Rev. Hope Hull, the ancestor of Mr. Asbury 
 and Dr. Henry Hull — had a country church a few miles from Athens, in 
 which he preached to a small congregation. Not a vestige of this building 
 is left. My mother united herself to this church with the full and free 
 consent and approbation of my father; and, in fact, he was pleased at the 
 course she adopted, though skeptical himself at the time. She is now 
 the oldest member of the Athens Church, and has through a long life 
 exhibited the power and truth of Christianity. 
 
 My father was always delighted with the morality of the Bible, and 
 has often said that it could only have originated from Divinity. The 
 human mind could not have conceived it, as it was far above human 
 thought. He practised the morality of the Bible in his intercourse with 
 his fellow-men ; but the doctrine of salvation by faith in and through 
 Christ seemed to be his stumbling-block. This doctrine was a mystery to 
 him. He believed that man would be judged by his works, and he was 
 working to that end. 
 
 As I before stated, he was remarkably charitable, always paying annu- 
 ally his full proportion, to the extent of his means, for the support of the 
 gospel, endeavoring at all times to " render unto Caesar the things that 
 were Caesar's j" but he failed to "render unto God the things that were 
 God's." His error consisted in too great reliance on himself, — a fatal 
 error, which many commit. I have often known him to quiet himself by 
 comparing his own life and conduct with unfaithful members of the 
 church, and would frequently ask my mother, who was very solicitous for 
 his conversion to Christianity, whether she would have him exchange his 
 prospects of salvation with these unfaithful members. He has often 
 entered into conversation with my mother on his skeptical views of the 
 doctrine of salvation through Christ; and, although she was not able to 
 compete with him in argument, her pious life was a sufficient refutation. 
 His confidence in her religion was never shaken. He was devotedly 
 attached to her, and she had an unbounded influence over him; and I 
 believe she never lost faith in his renouncing his error before his death. 
 In this her faith was fully realized, for before his death he made a public 
 recantation of all his errors on the subject of religion. Many years before 
 his profession of religion I had removed to Columbus, Mississippi, and 
 have a letter from him in which he first announced to me his change of 
 opinion on that subject, an extract from which is here given : — 
 
 Athens, August 21, 1838. 
 
 Mt deae Geokge : — Under the late, and doubtless distressing, intelligence you 
 have received of my health, (an attack of paralysis,) I have supposed that a few 
 lines nnder my own hand would be peculiarly gratifying to you; and hence the 
 present feeble attempt. I am very far from being restored even to my former con- 
 dition; but I am certainly in a progress toward it, which I never at one time 
 expected. I have nearly recovered the strength of my afflicted arm and hand, and, 
 in a good degree, regained my speech. Indeed, as to the latter, I feel sensible 
 that its greatest defect arises more from a weakness of the lungs than a muscular 
 inability of the organs of speech. 
 
 I am flattered by medical men, and I flatter myself, that I may ultimately recover; 
 that the ligid regimen under which I am now placed to remove the severity of my 
 last attack will, if it succeed in that object, carry with it the old disease. I confess 
 I am not sanguine, for my old complaint is almost too deep-seated to hope for an 
 entire care. And although I may be measurably relieved from my paralysis, at 
 
190 
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 least so as to linger out some few years, yet I dare not hope for a hearty restoration 
 to health ; and taking all my afflictions together, and the periodical and progressive 
 character of their warnings, 1 have determined to appreciate them, as perhaps they 
 may have been meant, as chastisements intended for my future peace. And it 
 gives me great satisfaction to inform you that, though late, yet I trust not the less 
 comforting, I have thrown myself unfalteringly upon that reliance which has so 
 long been the hope and comfort of yourself and your dear mother. 
 
 I have most sincerely repented of my past follies, and do now embrace, with 
 unfeigned sincerity, the truth of the Christian religion ; not that I feel or have felt 
 any secret communication of divine influence upon my heart, any further than as I 
 am impressed with a sense of duty, and as a reasonable service which is due from 
 the creature to his Creator, and that infinite obligation imposed by the ten thou- 
 sand blessings we have enjoyed and do daily enjoy. There is fealty due somewhere 
 for our existence and its numerous favors ; and where does it so properly belong as 
 to their great Author? This I feel, and this sentiment I cherish and cultivate. 
 And, as there is no better code of duty than that famished in the Bible, I do most 
 cheerfully, from this time out, receive it as my guide and director, throwing myself 
 upon its promises in and through the strong assurance of faith. I receive it 
 without further cavil or dispute, and hope finally to realize, by a constant observ- 
 ance of its commands, that I have not made myself the dupe of a blind faith. I 
 hold that a blameless life and conversation, and a perfect conformity to the will of 
 God as known and understood, is the best evidence of a changed heart, and shall 
 try to square my future life by this most reasonable test. 
 
 His religious views and feelings from the date of this letter to the time 
 of his death may in a great degree be found in the funeral discourse of 
 Dr. Smith. 
 
 In relation to the loan made by the United States Bank, I think my 
 father made a public expose of the whole matter in some of the Georgia 
 papers. The facts were simply these : — 
 
 He had borrowed a large sum of money to pay for his shares of stock 
 in the Georgia factory, and carried it with him to Washington City, 
 when he went on to Congress, to settle for the machinery, or his portion 
 of it. When he arrived there, he found the Georgia money which he 
 took with him at considerable discount, and was advised by a friend to 
 send the money to Augusta and procure a check on New York, which 
 could be purchased at a small premium. He sent the money to A. 
 McKenzie, his commission-merchant in Augusta, with the request that 
 he would purchase a check and forward the same immediately. McKenzie 
 used the money and he lost it, or the greater portion, which placed him 
 in a very peculiar and distressing situation. His mess (and among them 
 the late Vice-President, Col. King, of Alabama) insisted upon his obtain- 
 ing the money from one of the banks in Washington City, and endorsed 
 his note for him, and thereby enabled him to perform his contract with 
 the party from whom the machinery had been purchased. The note was 
 discounted by the branch of the United States Bank in Washington City, 
 in the due course of business, on short time, and was paid at maturity. 
 Out of this transaction arose the charge, made in a heated political contest, 
 that he had been bought up by the bank, &o. If he ever changed his 
 views and opinions relative to the unconstitutionality of the United States 
 Bank, I am not aware of it; and, even if he did, this purely business- 
 transaction could have furnished no inducement for such a change. 
 
 I omitted to mention in the proper place that my father was emphati- 
 cally a peace-ma/cer, and did much good in quieting difficulties between 
 his neighbors. When any difficulty arose between the students and the 
 faculty of Franklin College, (which was frequent,) the delinquent student 
 always came to him for advice and his influence in adjusting the affair; 
 and he rarely ever failed in restoring the students to their place in col- 
 
AU6USTIN S. CLAYTON. 191 
 
 lege and in the respect and regards of the faculty, as many a graduate of 
 the Georgia University can fully attest. 
 
 Since the foregoing was arranged for the press, the author has 
 obtained from a file of the G-eorgia Journal of November 14, 1831, 
 a copy of Chancellor Kent's letter to Judge Clayton, which is sub- 
 joined, together with the note of Judge C. introducing it : — 
 
 MiLLEDGEViLLE, November 12, 1831. 
 Messes. Editors : — You will confer a favor by publishing the following 
 letter of Chancellor Kent. In making this request, I have only to remark 
 that the sole consideration for making it is to submit the testimony 
 of one, in favor of my legal reputation, whose character as a jurist will 
 entitle his evidence to great weight. He is justly considered the Black- 
 stone of America, and his character as a lawyer stands as high in Europe 
 as it does in his own country. He has never been engaged in either 
 party or political strifes, and his whole life has been devoted to legal 
 research. This publication is asked under not the slightest temper of 
 complaint for my late removal from office ; for I hope I shall have it in my 
 power, at a more convenient season, to lay before my fellow-citizens such 
 a statement of the whole matter as wUl show there is no necessity, on my 
 part, for either ill-will or reproach. 
 
 Respectfully, yours, 
 
 A. S. Clayton. 
 
 New Tokk, Oct. 13, 1831. 
 
 Dear Sir : — ^I was favored yesterday with your letter of the 3d inst., 
 together with the Southern Recorder of September 29, containing your 
 opinion in the case of the State of Georgia vs. Canatoo. 
 
 That opinion has been read by me with great care and attention; and, 
 agreeably to your request, I subjoin the conclusions to which my own 
 mind has arrived in regard to the two material points in the case : — 
 
 1. It appears to me that upon the whole the statute applies to the case. 
 I can only judge from the extracts from it contained in your opinion. 
 The statute asserts that the mines alluded to are of right the property of 
 Georgia, and it authorizes the Governor to take possession of those mines, 
 and to employ force to protect them, from, all further trespass. I presume 
 such forcible possession has been taken, and that the offence alleged 
 against the Cherokee Indian arose subsequently. But the statute is so 
 exceptionable in reference to the rights of the Cherokees to their lands 
 (and which include the mines therein, as well as the trees and herbage 
 and stones thereon) under the existing treaties with them, and in reference 
 to the Constitution and constitutional authority of the United States, that 
 I agree with you that such a statute should receive an interpretation, if 
 possible, favorable to constitutional and treaty rights. If such a statute 
 does not apply in very terms to the very case of a Cherokee Indian digging 
 in the mines, the benign intendment would be that the Legislature did 
 not intend it, because such an intention would contravene the clear rights 
 of the Cherokees to the undisturbed use and enjoyment of the lands 
 within their territory, secured to them by treaty. 
 
 2. But the better way is not to rest upon any such construction, but to 
 go at once, as you have done, to the great and grave question which 
 assumes the statute to have intended to deprive the Cherokees, without 
 
192 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 their consent and without purchase, of the use and enjoyment, in part at 
 least, of their lands secured to them by national treaties, and which calls 
 into discussion the constitutional validity of the statute. 
 
 On this point I am entirely with you, and in my opinion your argument 
 is sound and conclusive, and you have examined the subject with candor 
 and accuracy, and with the freedom of judgment which your station 
 and character dictate. 
 
 I am almost entirely persuaded that the Cherokee title to the sole use 
 and undisturbed enjoyment of their mines is as entire and perfect as to 
 any part of their lands, or as to any use of them whatever. The occu- 
 pancy in perpetuity to them and their posterity belongs to them of right, 
 and the State of Georgia has no other right in respect to the Indian 
 property in their lands than the ri(]ht of pre-emption by fair purchase.: 
 no other interest in the lands, as property, belongs to the State; and to 
 take possession of the mines by force is substituting violence for law and 
 the obligations of treaty-contract. It appears to be altogether without any 
 foundation to apply the common-law doctrine of waste to the case ; and I 
 cannot but think that the Legislature of Georgia would not have passed 
 the statute if they had duly considered that the Indian lands have never 
 been claimed, or the occupancy of them, in the most free and absolute 
 manner by the Indians, questioned, either by the Royal Governments 
 before the American Revolution, or by the Union, or by any State since, 
 except in open wars, or except the claim was founded upon fair purchase 
 from the Indians themselves. 
 
 The proceeding of Georgia in this case is an anomaly, and I think it 
 hurts the credit of free and popular governments and the moral character 
 of our country, and is in direct violation of the constitutional authority 
 of the United States as manifested by treaties and by statutes. I cannot 
 think that the high-spirited, free, and noble race of men who compose the 
 citizens of Georgia would be willing, on reconsideration, to do any such 
 thing. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, 
 
 James Kent. 
 
 Hon. A. S. Clayton. 
 
VII. 
 
 PAUL COALSON. 
 
 It is the prevailing custom to speak of the early dead with more 
 than ordinary regret, because, had they lived, there was evidence 
 to justify the hope that they would have reached high places and 
 acted a useful part in the community. If this indulgent view be a 
 weakness, it is at least an amiable» one. It can be accounted for 
 by the fact, within every man's experience, that the presence of an 
 object does not afford that interest to the beholder for the time- 
 being which the imagination supplies after the object is withdrawn, 
 and especially when distance or death renders it impossible to be- 
 hold it again. On this principle we invest the memory of a rising 
 young man with a charm which cannot be exerted over us by any 
 amount of living excellence. 
 
 The author confesses this relation to the gentleman whose charac- 
 ter is under review. Their acquaintance did not exceed a year on 
 the circuit ; yet in this brief period a warm personal friendship was 
 matured, and greatly increased by the cordial hospitality which the 
 author experienced from Mr. Coalson and his family connections. 
 He was obtaining a good practice in Thomas and the adjoining 
 counties which he attended. In all his cases, whatever the amount 
 or principle involved, great or small, he was equally industrious, 
 sanguine, and persevering. His was a temperament that could 
 submit to labor and at the same time indulge its lively propensi- 
 ties. Truly can it be said of him, that if he had lived twenty or 
 thirty years longer his reputation at the bar would have been 
 enviable. His short history can soon be unfolded. 
 
 Paul Coalson was born in Burke county, Georgia, on the 19th 
 day of August, 1799. After passing through the primary schools 
 of his neighborhood, he was sent to Eatonton, where he was placed 
 under the tuition of Rev. Alonzo Church until he was prepared to 
 enter college. From the school at Eatonton he went to Athens, 
 became a student of Franklin College, and graduated in August, 
 1824. For the last year or two of his collegiate course he devoted 
 his leisure moments to the study of the law under the direction of 
 Judge Clayton, and, shortly after graduating, was admitted to the 
 bar at Athens. 
 
 Vol. I.— 13 193 
 
194 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 In the spring of 1825, Mr. Coalson married Miss Elizabeth G. 
 Blackshear, daughter of Edward Blackshear, Esq., of Thomas 
 county. He continued to reside at Athens the balance of that year, 
 and then removed to Thomas county, where he opened a law-office. 
 That portion of Georgia was then on the Indian frontier, and the 
 abode of a miserable population, such as the adjoining wilds of 
 Florida had invited. Robberies and murders were frequent, some- 
 times perpetrated by white men and most generally shifted off on 
 the Indians. The Hon. Moses Fort, Judge of the Southern Circuit, 
 held the first court in Thomas county in 1826. Two Indians were 
 convicted before him for the offence of murder. They had killed a 
 man by the name of White as the latter and his friends were 
 trying to recapture certain property which the Indians had stolen. 
 The late William H. Torrance, Esq. was appointed by the court 
 to see that the prisoners had a fair trial. His plea to the jurisdic- 
 tion of the court, on the ground that the offence was committed in 
 Florida, (within certain disputed lines,) having been overruled, very 
 little could be said to the merits. The solicitor-general (since 
 Judge Warren) had the assistance of Mr. Coalson, — if not in the 
 argument, at least in the evidence. It is presumed, however, that 
 the prosecution needed no very special aid, as there was no adverse 
 public opinion to combat. 
 
 When the prisoners were brought before the court to receive 
 sentence of death, they were told through an interpreter what was 
 to be done with them, — hung by the neck until they were dead. 
 The judge omitted to invoke the usual blessing, — "May God have 
 mercy on their souls !" — for the reason that the prisoners did not 
 understand English. 
 
 The successor of Judge Fort on the bench was the Honorable 
 Thaddeus G. Holt, who was elected in 1828. In the spring of 
 1829, the author attended him on the circuit, which then consisted 
 of thirteen counties, — Twiggs, Laurens, Pulaski, Telfair, Irwin, Ap- 
 pling, Ware, Lowndes, Thomas, Decatur, Early, Baker, and Dooly, 
 occupying about nine weeks, and the judge and bar travelling up- 
 ward of six hundred miles to complete the riding. At Lowndes 
 the bar was joined by Mr. Coalson, whose society was ever agree- 
 able, and his peculiar earnestness in his causes quite refreshing. 
 
 By his marriage, Mr. Coalson secured a large family influence, 
 which was of great advantage to him in the profession. Thomas 
 county is well known for the wealth and upright character of many 
 of its citizens, among whom may be mentioned General Thomas E. 
 Blackshear, Thomas Jones, Mitchell Jones, B. R. Young, William 
 
PAUL COALSON. 195 
 
 H. Reynolds, Thomas Wyche, Duncan Kay, Lucien H. Raines, 
 Thomas Mitchell, the late James J. Blackshear, Captain Thomas 
 Johnson, Daniel Mclntyre, Col. Richard Mitchell, Nathaniel Mit- 
 chell, Michael Young, and others, all of whom were men of sterling 
 worth and of high position, more or less connected with Mr. Coal- 
 son, and all his especial friends and patrons. The brothers 
 Mitchell were the uncles of Mrs. Coalson, whose mother was Emily 
 G. Mitchell previous to her marriage with Edward Blackshear, in 
 Montgomery county, who died on his large estate in Thomas county 
 in 1829 ; and on the 23d day of March, 1830, his son-in-law, the 
 warm-hearted Paul Coalson, breathed his last, in the thirty-first 
 year of his age. His eldest son, Edward B. Coalson, is now a 
 wealthy planter in Thomas county, having married a niece of the 
 late Major John Young, of Macon county. 
 
 In those days (1829 to 1834) several members of the Florida 
 bar practised in the Superior Courts of Georgia, particularly in 
 Thomas and Decatur coimties, and by their legal ability and social 
 qualities contributed much to the enjoyment of the profession. 
 Among them were Gen. R. K. Call, since delegate in Congress 
 and Governor of the Territory ; Hon. James D. Westcott, 
 United States Senator ; Hon. Leslie A. Thompson and Hon. Charles 
 H. Dupont, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Florida; 
 Hon. Thomas Baltzell, Circuit Judge; John K. Campbell, Esq., 
 United States Attorney for the Jliddle District ; James A. Ber- 
 thelot, James A. Dunlap, Francis A. Cash, Philip S. White, (brother 
 of the Hon. Joseph M. White,) Oscar White, his cousin, and Col. 
 Richard H. Long, formerly of Wilkes county, one of the Broad 
 River Colony mentioned in Gov. Gilmer's work, " Georgians." 
 
 Of the gentlemen named above as mingling with their Georgia 
 brethren in the contests of the forum, several are known to be dead. 
 Mr. Campbell was killed in a duel in Thomas county, August, 1833, 
 by Mr. George Hamlin, a merchant of Florida, who died in a few 
 months afterward from distress of mind. Messrs. Dunlap, Cash, 
 Berthelot, and Oscar White are also in the grave. 
 
 Before taking leave of the Florida bar, the author will be par- 
 doned for dwelling on the peculiarities of two of its members, — 
 both fine story-tellers and teeming with fun. Mr. Westcott had 
 been a clerk in the State Department while Mr. Van Buren was 
 Secretary, and could imitate the manner and official bearing of the 
 different heads of Department, with Gen. Jackson as the master- 
 spirit. He could repeat with diplomatic gravity or with the easy, con- 
 versational flow of words, as the case might require. The scenes 
 
196 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 were often amusing in the extreme. He had imbibed the spirit of 
 each character, and drew only life-pictures,— nothing like caricature. 
 It was indeed a treat of the highest order to see him in one of his 
 best moods. Ten or fifteen years afterward, in the Senate, he 
 was noted for his independence and wit and racy humor in debate. 
 He had fought a duel with Judge Baltzell. 
 
 Phil. White, as he was familiarly called, was also a duellist, but 
 a man of great suavity of deportment and of mirth-provoking 
 qualifications. His stories were inimitable, and there was no 
 scantiness of supply. Those who once heard him can never forget 
 the voice, the looks, the whole reality which made his entertain- 
 ments so amusing. No stage representation was so true to nature. 
 In high life, in all classes, — among the learned and the illiterate, 
 the sprig of fashion or the country clown, the man of common 
 sense or the stupid dolt, men wise or humble in their own esti- 
 mation, — nothing came amiss with him. He set before you the 
 originals in comedy as Booth did in tragedy. Mr. White was not 
 then a rigid temperance-man. It is said that he has since acquired 
 considerable celebrity and been extensively useful as a travelling 
 lecturer.* 
 
 And here the author makes no apology for introducing in this 
 memoir John Taylor, Esq., whose acquaintance he formed in 1829, 
 at Thomas Superior Court, through the politeness of Mr. Coalson. 
 Mr. Taylor was a Virginian, — a highly-educated man, his genius 
 sparkling before a jury, his action graceful, and his style ornate, — 
 between the melting compactness of Erskine and the rich drapery 
 of Phillips. Let not this comparison raise a smile. There are 
 witnesses now living in the southern counties of Georgia who wiU 
 
 * Mr.White has resided in Philadelphia since 1841. He first held the office of Grand 
 Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of Temperance of the State of Pennsylvania, and then 
 Most Worthy Patriarch of the Order for North America. He visited every State and all 
 the principal cities and towns in the Union, delivering temperance addresses amid 
 the greatest public enthusiasm, — from the Park in New York, before forty thousand 
 people, down to country villages, — inducing over two hundred thousand persona to 
 take the pledge of total abstinence. He also extended his triumphal visits to Nova 
 Scotia, New Branswiok, and other sections of the British Provinces. During his 
 Temperance campaign from 1843 to 1855 he was everywhere received with the 
 highest honors, and has been met by processions of four or five hundred Sons of 
 Temperance in full regalia, on horseback, with bands of music, and escorteii in a 
 carriage drawn by tix horses. His likeness has appeared in several costly annuals, 
 and memoirs of him have been published establishing his reputation as one of the 
 most efl^ective orators that ever advocated the temperance reform. By special 
 invitation he has addressed several State Legislatures on the subject of prohibitory 
 laws. 
 
PAUL COALSON. 197 
 
 sustain any amount of eulogy or any extravagance of description 
 as to his gifts, his stirring eloquence, his deep pathos, his scorn of 
 mankind, and his marked severity. He was a compound of flaming 
 passion, pure rhetoric, haughty bearing, sarcastic words, and, when 
 he chose to he so, was gentle and persuasive in argument. He 
 treated the members of the bar generally with civil coldness, and 
 kept to himself. He sought no companionship ; but, if by accident 
 he was drawn into conversation, he was decorous and agreeable, 
 yet evidently reserved. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was mostly employed in cases sounding in damages, — 
 slander, malicious prosecution, and the like. In these he put forth 
 his extraordinary powers of declamation. He was attentive in 
 preparing his cases, in securing the necessary proofs, and was 
 always master of the business in hand. He had some pretty good 
 recoveries. If he could find a rich man — such as the late Lewis 
 Bondj Esq., worth half a million — prosecuting some poor individual 
 for supposed trespasses on his large stocks of cattle in the wire- 
 grass region, Mr. Taylor was then in the only paradise earth 
 afforded him. On such occasions he rose to the sublime of ma- 
 lignity and abuse. Mr. Bond was in the habit of visiting his stock- 
 range every spring and calling on his herdsmen for an account of 
 their flocks. Where depredations or ugly mistakes had been com- 
 mitted, he generally preferred bills of indictment and turned the 
 matter over to the court and jury. Mr. Taylor was frequently 
 of counsel for the accused. On such occasions ilr. Bond quietly 
 took his seat by the solicitor-general, gave the names of witnesses, 
 suggested questions, and — listened to Mr. Taylor. What Burke 
 said about Warren Hastings's administration in India was tame and 
 complimentary alongside the comments Mr. Taylor made on the 
 character and conduct of Mr. Bond. The author remembers one 
 case where Mr. Taylor's client not only had a verdict of acquittal, 
 hut a malicious prosecution taxed. He also remembers that Mr. 
 Taylor brought an action for damages against Mr. Bond in Wilkin- 
 son Superior Court; but he believes it was never tried. The 
 counsel, perhaps, found it inconvenient to attend, or, if he 
 attended, was discouraged by public opinion, and the action died 
 for want of nursing. This was about the close of Mr. Taylor's 
 professional career in Georgia. He thence departed westward. 
 
 Some years ago a very romantic story was circulated in the 
 newspapers, in which Mr. Taylor was the leading hero. The 
 scene was laid in Arkansas or Texas. It appears that a rich 
 planter had insulted the wif* of his overseer. She made it known 
 
198 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 to lier husband, who took the liberty of caning his employer on 
 sight. The planter some days afterward shot the overseer, killing 
 him instantly. He was prosecuted, but his money saved him from 
 conviction. In the mean time he had spoken slanderous words 
 concerning the widow, who brought her action for damages. The 
 day of trial arrived. Sargeant S. Prentiss and Albert Pike 
 appeared of counsel for the defendant. The case was called in its 
 order ; and such was the array of influence, the great wealth of 
 the defendant, the ability of his lawyers, and the humble condition 
 of the plaintiff, that even the young attorney who brought the 
 action shrank from it and abandoned his client to her fate. The 
 judge sounded the case again : no one responding, he appealed to 
 the gallantry of the bar. There was walking in the lobby of the 
 court-1-oom a slender, woe-begone-looking personage, with a high 
 forehead, pensive features, thin, compressed lips, and wandering 
 blue eyes, — his visage of sandy complexion. He heard the appeal, 
 and, advancing within the bar, modestly informed the court that 
 he would represent the plaintiff. All eyes were turned on the 
 stranger. No one knew him. 
 
 This was a perplexing moment. The judge remarked that no 
 gentleman could be permitted to act as counsel without a com- 
 mission to that effect. The stranger drew from his pocket 
 divers pieces of parchment bearing signatures and court-seals from 
 Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, and 
 probably from other States, conferring on John Tatloe the 
 privileges of counsellor and attorney-at-law, and solicitor in 
 chancery. His name was then entered on the docket, and, asking 
 a short indulgence, he found some one who kindly gave him the 
 names of the witnesses, who answered to the call. He opened the 
 case by reading the declaration and proving the words. He said 
 but very little more, and gave way to the defence. Prentiss made 
 one of his fine speeches, expended his wit freely, and also aimed a 
 sneer at the plaintiff's counsel, whom he described as a reckless 
 adventurer, unable to live by his profession in any one of the States 
 in which he had been incautiously licensed. It was hardly worth 
 the labor to trample upon such a pitiful case, supported by counsel 
 who was himself an object of pity. 
 
 The learned Pike, with the garlands of poetry on his brow, rose 
 to continue the argument of his friend Prentiss. The character 
 of the plaintiff was denounced and that of the defendant extolled. 
 The obscure attorney who had volunteered came in for a share of 
 
PAUL COALSON. 199 
 
 his piercing wit and miscliievous humor. Here the speaking for 
 the defence closed with a flourish of exultation. 
 
 John Taylor stood before the jury. With his clear, piping voice, 
 distinct in every syllable, and full of feeling and intellect, he took 
 up the evidence, applied the law, and then made himself known. 
 He ridiculed the false wit and vulgar impudence of the opposing 
 counsel, until even the gallant Prentiss and the manly Pike felt 
 themselves as children in the hands of a giant. Court, jury, spec- 
 tators, bar, all gazed with wonder. Taylor rose higher and higher 
 in his flights, until he had the audience spell-bound. He saw his 
 advantage, knew his powers, and felt assured that the jury would 
 give all the damages claimed in the declaration. He then turned 
 to the spectators, who were much excited, and implored them not 
 to lay violent hands on the defendant, ^no^ to ride him on a rail. 
 They must forbear doing what justice prompted on the occasion. 
 Fifty thousand dollars would be some punishment to a creature so 
 sordid, and let him live to endure the scorn of all honest men. 
 The jury retired, and soon gave in a verdict for fifty thousand 
 dollars ! Taylor was immortal. 
 
 The author does not vouch for the correctness of this story ; but, 
 from his own knowledge of Mr. Taylor and the inspiration under 
 which he often spoke, he is inclined to believe it. This remark- 
 able man practised law several years in Southern Georgia. He 
 would have electrified even the Senate of the United States ; and 
 yet all his gifts were marred by a spirit of misanthropy which 
 rendered him miserable, an exile in the midst of society. 
 
 While sketching with a free hand, the author will venture to 
 relate a very laughable scene which occurred on the road from 
 Franklin (the old county site of Lowndes) to Thomasville, — the like 
 of which is not on record. Travel on the circuit, in the days 
 referred to, was altogether in sulkies or on horseback. There 
 were no buggies in use then. On a bright Sunday morning, as 
 half a dozen sulkies and two or three outriders, forming the main 
 column of the Southern bar, were proceeding on the march, all the 
 wayfarers fresh and cheerful, a large fox-squirrel was seen to 
 cross the road and ascend an old pine stump ten or fifteen feet 
 high. Here was an opportunity for sport ; and with a simultaneous 
 leap from their sulkies came the men of law to chunk the squirrel 
 from his retreat, — the horses being left alone, without any fasten- 
 ing, in the road. From the discharge of pine-knots at the squir- 
 rel, and the hollering to boot, one of the horses got alarmed and 
 set off briskly without his driver. All the other horses followed 
 
200 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 the example ; and sucli a race of sulkies had never been, and 
 never will be again. Away they sped in the open pine-woods. 
 Occasionally a wheel would strike a stump or a large root, and 
 then there would be a rattling, as if to stimulate the horses to their 
 utmost diligence. The race drew gradually to a close, — or, at least, 
 the sulkies were smashed and scattered about, some against sap- 
 lings, some against large trees, and one was shivered into fragments 
 on a log. Here the vehicles retired from the contest. Not so the 
 horses. They kept on, seriously terrified, with harness flying in 
 all directions. 
 
 While this movement was in full blast, the gentlemen of the 
 law stood their ground. They saw it was a grand ruin, and that 
 their only consolation was to be revenged on the squirrel, the 
 innocent cause of their misfortune. The attack was renewed more 
 fiercely than ever. Pine-knots and a prodigious expenditure of 
 lungs on the part of his assailants brought down his squirrelship, 
 bleeding and lifeless, at their feet. One of the party gathered up 
 the trophy, and they all proceeded to view the race-track. Here one 
 would pick up an overcoat, another an umbrella, one a whip ; several 
 identified their cushions ; and at decent intervals spokes and segments 
 of a wheel, portions of the seat, a loose dashboard, pieces of shaft, 
 and other relics, were strewed along to show the battle-ground. 
 Then sulky after sulky — some capsized, others resting with one 
 wheel in the air, others so badly crushed that the owners could 
 scarcely recognise them — would appear, until the whole number was 
 answered. The trunks generally retained their strapping without 
 material injury. 
 
 The law-travellers walked to a farm house, where they reported 
 their difficulty, and asked for a wagon and team to take them and 
 their baggage to Thomasville, some twenty miles. The request 
 was readily granted, and in this conveyance the judge and his 
 bar drove up to the hotel after nightfall. Their detention was 
 explained amidst roars of laughter, in which our Florida brethren 
 joined heartily. In the course of two or three days the horses 
 were all brought in, and the remains of the sulkies taken to the 
 carriage-shop, where there was a general fixing up, — the harness- 
 maker also receiving his full share of patronage. Such was the 
 squirrel-frolie of the Southern bar. Nothing of the kind has 
 occurred since. At each subsequent riding, the ground has con- 
 tinued to be pointed out, with divers localities well remembered by 
 the participants in the sport, though more than twenty years have 
 
PAUL COALSON. 201 
 
 intervened. The adventure will pass as a tradition sacred to more 
 primitive times. 
 
 This digression will be forgiven ; nor will it he considered in- 
 applicable in a memoir of this kind. The members of the bar are 
 well known for their cordiality with each other on the circuit, 
 especially when, in other periods, such as are now touched upon, 
 they were together six or eight weeks continuously on a single 
 riding. 
 
 From what has already been said of Mr. Coalson, it must appear 
 that he was entitled to that warm love of his friends, that respect 
 of his fellow-citizens, which it was his good fortune to possess. A 
 gentleman* very competent to judge states, in a letter to the 
 author respecting Mr. Coalson : — 
 
 He possessed in an eminent degree all the attributes of a good man. 
 He was modest and unassuming, honest and honorable, candid and con- 
 scientious. When an application was made to him to engage his pro- 
 fessional services, he never failed to make a close and scrutinizing inquiry 
 into the facts and circumstances of the ease he was expected to advocate. 
 If he found it to be wrong in principle or oppressive to the weak and 
 defenceless, he never hesitated at once to refuse his services. If he found 
 it to be even of doubtful policy, or uncertain of its successful prosecution, 
 he always made a plain and candid exposition before he would undertake 
 it. In his intercourse with men, his conscience was his guide, and up to 
 the time of his death he enjoyed the full confidence of all his friends and 
 acquaintances. He was emphatically an honest man. I might relate 
 some anecdotes which would more fully exemplify the traits of his cha- 
 racter; but your intimate acquaintance with him will enable you to do 
 so better than I can. 
 
 Mr. Coalson was a man of princely heart, and, however zealous 
 In the court-house, he never carried outside of it the least unkind 
 feeling toward any of his brethren ; nor could they be so unmindful 
 as to act coldly toward him for any sparring at the bar. He was 
 indeed a delightful companion, and died too soon for his family, 
 his friends, and his country. 
 
 The proceedings of the bar on the occasion of his death are 
 here subjoined : — 
 Geokgia, Thomas county. — Superior Court, May Term, 1830. 
 
 Wednesday evening. May 5, 1830. — The members of the Southern bar 
 convened in Thomasville on the 5th inst., for the purpose of paying a 
 suitable tribute of respect to the memory of Paul Coalson, Esq., a 
 highly-respected brother of the profession, whose death has been an- 
 nounced during the present sitting, when his Honor Thaddeus Gr. Holt was 
 called to the chair, and Thomas Porter, Esq., Solicitor-General, appointed 
 secretary. The object of the meeting being stated, it was 
 
 * Gen. Thomas E. Blaekshear. 
 
202 BENCH AND BAE OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to draft a suitable 
 preamble and resolutions expressive of the feelings of the Southern bar 
 in relation to the death of Paul Ooalson, Esq. ; whereupon the chairman 
 appointed Stephen F. Miller, Lott Warren, and Daniel D. Sturges, Esqs., 
 as that committee. 
 
 The meeting then adjourned until to-morrow, three o'clock p.m. 
 
 Thursday, 6th May, 1830. The committee attended in open court, 
 when Stephen F. Miller, Esq., reported the following preamble and reso- 
 lutions, which were unanimously adopted : — 
 
 In the private ranks of society, when a useful and respected member is 
 cut oiF by providential visitation, the regret throughout the circle in which 
 he moved is generally proportioned to the good or indifferent qualities 
 which marked his life. The occasion of our assembling as a brotherhood 
 is to offer respect to the memory of Paul Coalson, Esq., our departed bro- 
 ther and fellow-citizen. The eulogy of the dead can be of no other avail 
 than to manifest to the living the estimation in which virtue and talents 
 are held, to soothe the anguish of surviving friends, and to stimulate the 
 youth of our country to the practice of those duties which lead to reputa- 
 tion and happiness. 
 
 Trained with early advantages, Mr. Coalson entered the university of 
 our State, and, with an ardent thirst for knowledge and by habits of 
 severe application, he acquired the elements of a collegiate education to 
 an extent which placed him high on the list of finished graduates. Thus 
 ending his literary pupilage with credit, he engaged in the legal profes- 
 sion and became an industrious and respectable member. But it is not to 
 his professional character alone that we confine our tribute. 
 
 His youth and rural avocation prevented him from pursuing that range 
 at the bar which would have brought him more directly before the public 
 eye. In the active and social relations of private life he shone with a 
 pleasing lustre; and long will be remembered the genuine hospitality and 
 unaffected friendship with which he treated his brethren of the bar. The 
 ties thus produced by a variety of causes rendered the eternal separation 
 painful in the extreme. Yet to the behests of Him who directs all things 
 we must submit without a murmur. Therefore, in order to evince our 
 regard for the deceased. 
 
 Resolved, That we have learnt with deep regret the death of Paul Coal- 
 son, Esq., our respected friend and brother, and that we truly sympathize 
 with his bereaved family and relatives in the great loss they have 
 sustained. 
 
 Resolved, That the bar of the Southern circuit wear crape on the left 
 arm during the present riding, as a testimony of regard for the deceased. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings, signed by the chairman 
 and secretary, be forwarded to the family of the deceased, and that the 
 secretary forward the same; and that copies be published in theMilledge- 
 ville papers, and also a copy, signed by the chairman and secretary, (by 
 order of the court,) be entered on the minutes. 
 
 Thomas Poeter, Thad. Goode Holt, 
 
 Secretary. Chairman. 
 
 Ordered by the court, that the proceedings be entered on the minutes 
 of the court, agreeably to the request of the committee. 
 
 The aforegoing is a true extract from the minutes of said court, this 
 November 14, 1851. Jabed Everitt, 
 
 Clerk. 
 
VIII. 
 
 WALTER T. COLQUITT. 
 
 EvEKY age and every State usually affords one man more 
 remarkably endowed than all others. The American Revolution 
 had but one Patrick Henry, and Georgia has never contained, 
 and probably never will possess, more than one Walter T. Col- 
 quitt. To render justice to such a character is beyond the abUity 
 of the author. He has not the particulars ; and, even if he had, he 
 questions his own skill in so putting them together as to make a 
 good likeness of the original. Written description often fails of 
 its object, and perhaps in nothing more signally than in tracing 
 the volcanic eruptions (for so they may be styled) of the orator 
 now to be considered. 
 
 Walter T. Colquitt was born in Halifax county, Virginia, on 
 the 27th day of December, 1799. A few years afterward, his 
 father, Henry Colquitt, removed to Hancock county, Georgia, and 
 settled near Mount Zion, where Walter was sent to the school of 
 Mr. Beman. His progress was rapid, and his standing in class 
 was about the first grade, as it was in all athletic exercises. He 
 was running over with vitality, and his sports were as wild as his 
 nature was fearless. Not that there was any serious mischief in 
 him, — not that he defied his teacher or neglecled his studies, — but 
 there was an impulse, a restless spirit within him which must have 
 vent in some outward manifestation, or the consequences would be 
 apparently as fatal to the nervous system as too great a head of 
 steam would be to the engine. Action was the safety-valve. This 
 was the cast of his mind ; and it was always his rule to follow 
 nature, honest nature, in aU her moods, however singular and at 
 whatever sacrifice, within the bounds of a manly, rational freedom. 
 It may be readily supposed that Walter was a captain among his 
 schoolfellows, directing their games and their quarrels, always the 
 friend of the weak in both. 
 
 On reachmg the proper age, he was sent to Princeton, New 
 Jersey, to complete his education. Up to this time he had never 
 worn a suit of s^ore-clothes, but was attired, like other country lads, 
 in the products of the domestic loom. When he left for Princeton 
 
 203 
 
204 BENCH AND BAK 01" GEOKQIA. 
 
 he wore a hat made of rabbit-sTcins, no doubt a very durable, if not 
 elegant, head-cover, manufactured by some good hatter of the 
 neighborhood. How long he remained at college the author is 
 unable to say. Before graduating he returned home, owing to the 
 illness of his father. Whatever may have been his conduct, rash 
 or disorderly, it was not such as to class him with the highest 
 offenders, nor could it have been prejudicial to his honor, as the 
 institution has enrolled him among its alumni. 
 
 He read law in the office of Col. Samuel Rockwell, of Milledge- 
 ville, and was admitted to the bar at Wilkinson Superior Court, in 
 1820. He first located in Sparta, where he opened an office, and 
 then removed to a village called Cowpens, in Walton county. In 
 the mean time he had been elected brigadier-general by the Legis- 
 lature when twenty-one years of age. He belonged to the Troup 
 party, and was a candidate for Congress in 1826 in a district which 
 contained a majority of two thousand Clark voters, as shown by 
 the election between Troup and Clark for Governor in 1825. The 
 Hon. Wilson Lumpkin was his successful competitor, who was 
 elected by a majority of thirty-two votes ! 
 
 The contest gave Gen. Colquitt quite a reputation, and rendered 
 him at once prominent. What he lost in political was amply made 
 up by judicial advancement ; for, on the 15th December, 1826, at 
 the age of twenty-seven years, he was elected Judge of the Chatta- 
 hoochee circuit, and presided at the first Superior Court ever held 
 in the city of Columbus. His administration was highly approved. 
 Whenever he had doubts, or there was excessive hardship or 
 cruelty in the punishments prescribed by law, he always inclined 
 to the side of humanity. A case of the kind is referred to by 
 Gov. Forsyth in his message to the Legislature, November 4, 
 1828 :— 
 
 Every day's experience adds to our knowledge of the defects of the 
 Penal Code. I recall to your attention the communications heretofore 
 made by my predecessors, particularly to the Executive message of 1827, 
 communicating a report from one of the judges (Schley) of the effects of 
 the amendatory act of 1820, To the information contained in that report 
 I will add that it is ascertained that the punishment of a free person of 
 color, convicted of inveigling a slave, is now one year's imprisonment in 
 the Penitentiary, while a white person is subjected to severer penalties, — 
 a distinction not justifiable in itself, and dangerous in its consequences to 
 the security of property and the peace of the State. Another of our 
 judges (Colquitt) during the past year found himself compelled to sen- 
 tence a person convicted of the offence of mayhem to the pillory, and the 
 payment of a fine of £100, or to suffer, if unable to pay the fine, the bar- 
 barous punishment of one hundred lashes laid on his naked back. The 
 poverty of the person convicted was so notorious that the payment of the 
 
•WALTER T. COLQUITT. 205 
 
 fine was not to be expected, and the Executive, under a recommendation 
 of the judge, was obliged to interfere to prevent the infliction of a brutal 
 punishment, — a disgrace to our criminal jurisprudence, and which, in the 
 opinion of the community, has been long since expelled from our code. 
 A careful and matured examination of the act of 1820 will enable you to 
 correct these and other errors that have unavoidably arisen from the use 
 of general terms, and their application to all the previous legislation of the 
 State on crimes and punishments. 
 
 In 1829, Judge Colquitt was re-elected for another term of 
 three years, at the expiration of which he retired from the bench, 
 fully satisfied with its dignities and cares. In 1834 and 1837, he 
 represented Muscogee county in the State Senate. His course in 
 this body proving him to be a statesman and debater of a high 
 order, he was nominated for Congress in 1838, was elected, and 
 took his seat in the House of Representatives on the firat Monday 
 in December, 1839. In the Presidential election of the next year, 
 he and two of his colleagues, Messrs. Black and Cooper, refused 
 to support Gen. Harrison, and went over to Mr. Van Buren, 
 thereby severing the political ties which connected them with their 
 colleagues in the House and with the Whig party of Georgia. 
 But, however unpleasant the dissension between the parties, the 
 people sustained Mr. Colquitt and re-elected him in 1840, and 
 again in 1842. His victory was complete, though his new associa- 
 tions with men against whom he had warred so long — the Clarkites, 
 Union men, Democratic party, and Mr. Van Buren as the head of 
 the phalanx — must have embarrassed him at times in the company 
 of certain leaders. But he knew well how to conquer difficulties, 
 and he went forward, turning neither to the right nor left, follow- 
 ing his principles as soon into the camp of the enemy as anywhere 
 else. He dreaded no conflict and quailed at no danger. 
 
 He was now called to a still prouder elevation, — one equal, if not 
 superior, in dignity to the Executive of a sovereign State of this 
 Union. At the session of the Legislature in 1842, Judge Colquitt 
 was elected a Senator in the Congress of the United States for a 
 term of six years, commencing on the 4th March, 1843. Here he 
 formed the acquaintance of Mr. Calhoun, the great champion of 
 the South, whose principles and character he so much admired. 
 Mr. Webster was also in the Senate part of the term, and it was 
 the privilege of Judge Colquitt to confer with these master-minds 
 of the world on the policy best calculated to advance the public 
 good, and to sustain or oppose, as a brother Senator, on a footing 
 of perfect equality, any measure they might advocate. The talents 
 of Judge Colquitt were such as to command respect anywhere ; 
 
206 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 but candor urges the author to say that the manner of the judge 
 in debate was an innovation upon the usages of the Senate, and 
 ■was at times deficient in tone and self-respect which had generally 
 distinguished that august body. Special reference is here made 
 to the notice taken by Judge Colquitt of an attack made upon him 
 in the columns of the Madisonian, the editor of which paper 
 accused him and other Senators of dining with the British minister, 
 and then receding from the claim of 54° 40', for which he had pre- 
 viously stood by President Polk as being " clear and indisputable." 
 
 When criticisms have been made, by editors or correspondents 
 of newspapers, unjust to members of Congress, or placing them in 
 a false position, they often bring the subject before the House to 
 which they belong, read the exceptionable matter, and then com- 
 ment upon it as the case may require, usually in a calm, explana- 
 tory style, with no passion or bitterness, certainly with no epithets. 
 But Judge Colquitt departed from this rule. He became excited, 
 and denounced the editor of the Madisonian in terms so gross, so 
 novel in the Senate, that he let himself down while he hroke up the 
 Madisonian. It changed hands immediately, and, after struggling 
 a short time from its death-wound, it ceased altogether to be pub- 
 lished. The revenge was terrible; but, like an overcharged gun, 
 it injured in both directions. 
 
 While Judge Colquitt was in the Senate of the United States, 
 our controversy with Great Britain relative to Oregon elicited 
 very earnest discussion, and at one time seemed likely to produce 
 war between the two countries. Within the same period of ser- 
 vice, from 1843 to 1849, the whole Mexican War had transpired, 
 from the murder of Col. Thornton and his comrades on the Rio 
 Grande to the Treaty of Guadaloupe. Those who knew the tem- 
 perament of Judge Colquitt, his burning patriotism and restless 
 courage, impatient of delay, can well imagine his feelings when 
 battle after battle, victory after victory, was borne by the electric 
 messenger to the capital of the Union. The opening cannonade 
 at Palo Alto, the rout of the enemy at Resaca de la Palma, the 
 glories of Monterey and Buena Vista, with Taylor leading the 
 embattled host, — the splendid siege and entire capture of Vera 
 Cruz, the bloody heights of Cerro Gordo, the onward march of 
 our conquering army to Chapultepec, Churubusco, and Molino 
 del Rey, and the triumphant entry of Scott into the city of 
 Mexico, into the very "Halls of the Montezumas" of fabled 
 grandeur, — all quickened the pulse and sent joy to every bosom 
 within our extended borders. He was a warm supporter of 
 
WALTER T. COLQUITT. 207 
 
 the administration throughout the conflict, gave the President all 
 the aid in his power, and advocated the measm-es necessary to 
 prosecute the war vigorously. To such men as Judge Colquitt, 
 sagacious and daring, are the people indebted for that proud rank 
 which our Government occupies among the nations of the earth, — 
 grand in peace and mighty in war. 
 
 The author regrets that he has none of the speeches delivered in 
 Congress by the bold Georgia Senator from which to give extracts. 
 Fortunately, it is not essential to his fame. He possessed a kind 
 of oratory — an eloquence of the blood — not to be written. It would 
 be useless to attempt a description. In the Presidential campaigns 
 of 1840, 1844, 1848, and 1852, he took the field and mounted his 
 war-horse for the Democratic nominees, often at a great distance 
 from home, on special invitation. It made no difference how many 
 speakers of note were assembled on the platform at a mass conven- 
 tion, whether from other States or from Georgia, whether ex- 
 governors or ex-members of the Cabinet, he towered above them 
 all in energy of declamation and ia power to sway the multitude. 
 He had an eye that could look any man or any peril in the face, 
 as the eagle is said to gaze upon the sun, without blanching. 
 
 Judge Colquitt imitated no model. He possessed strong sympa- 
 thies, was a close observer of men and things, knew the prejudices, 
 habits, and prevailing opinions of the people in all conditions of 
 life. These were the arrangements of Heaven, and it was not his 
 office to substitute an artificial system which might perhaps secure 
 him the reputation of being a very precise, elegant gentleman, but 
 which would unquestionably place him beyond the companionship 
 which he desired with his feUow-men, — with all, — those in broad- 
 cloth and those in homespun, — all upon an equality in his affec- 
 tions, all children of a common Father, travelling the same road to 
 eternity ! The accidents of fortune, a white house, a showy equi- 
 page, rich apparel, or any other allurements of wealth, had no 
 influence upon him. He grasped the hand of a poor man as cor- 
 dially, and treated him with as much respect, as he would the 
 richest in the land. If his attentions to either varied, it was only 
 to show more kindness to the humble, to ward off any appearance 
 of neglect. With such principles and feelings he squared his con- 
 duct through life. 
 
 As an advocate, he stood alone in Georgia, perhaps in the whole 
 South. No man could equal him in vigor and brilliancy where the 
 passions of the jury had to be led. In criminal cases, where life 
 or liberty was at stake, he swept every thing before him. No 
 
208 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 heart could resist his appeals, no eye could withhold its tears, on 
 such occasions. He has been known to get upon his knees and 
 implore jurors by name to save the husband, the father, the son, — 
 not to break anxious hearts at home, nor stamp disgrace upon 
 innocent kindred. At other times he would go up to certain mem- 
 bers of the jury and address them, "My Baptist brother," "My 
 Methodist brother," "My young brother," "My venerable bro- 
 ther," — applying suitable expressions to each one as the facts 
 might authorize, — and, with a look and prayer to Heaven which 
 impressed the greatest awe, would stir the soul to its very depths. 
 Many examples of the kind might be given, as the author has been 
 informed by eye-witnesses : he never heard Judge Colquitt make a 
 speech in court, but has heard him in other places. It is said that 
 he rarely failed to obtain verdicts in favor of his clients when the 
 occasion called forth his energies. His delivery, gesticulation, 
 pathos, ridicule, scorn, mimicry, the tones of his voice, his anec- 
 dotes, the motion of his features, every thing about him, — all acted 
 a part, all assisted in the incantation. A wizard could not have 
 been more potent in exercising his charms. In all this exhibition 
 there was much to offend particular schools of acting ; but it was 
 nothing more than "holding the mirror up to nature," — nature in 
 a tempest. 
 
 Nor was Judge Colquitt at a loss for other methods. He could 
 be gentle as a zephyr when it suited his purpose, when he had pic- 
 tures of bereavement and sorrow to press home to the jury. Then 
 the sweet, plaintive tones of his voice, the melting sadness of the 
 heart, and the glistening pearl-drops from the eye would dissolve 
 all opposition. He would take a poor, fainting mortal in his arms, 
 and softly as an angel he would lay him down to repose amid the 
 flowers of Eden. 
 
 The career of Judge Colquitt would be most inadequately 
 sketched were the part he took on the Southern Rights question in 
 1850 and 1851 entirely omitted. It is known that with the 
 acquisition of territory from Mexico there arose in Congress a 
 very delicate issue between the North and South as to free 
 soil, or the application of the Wilmot Proviso to all the country 
 thus obtained. The South contended for equal rights, — ^for the 
 privilege of carrying and holding there such property as the Con- 
 stitution recognised in the State from which the owners might 
 remove. This was the simple proposition. Most of the Represen- 
 tatives in Congress from the non-slaveholding States objected to 
 it, and the contest became sectional, — the very existence of South- 
 
WALTER T. COLQUITT. 
 
 209 
 
 em institutions depending on the result. Judge Colquitt came 
 out promptly and denounced the injustice of covering a foot of the 
 territory by the "Wilmot Proviso, but, for the purpose of concilia- 
 tion, expressed his willingness to extend the Missouri-Compromise 
 line 36° 30' to the Pacific, and there let the matter rest. He 
 addressed his fellow-citizens publicly by speech and pen, using all 
 his influence, every argument of which he was capable, to stimulate 
 them to action proper for the emergency. He was for marching 
 up to 36° 30' with fixed bayonets, prepared to hold it and prepared 
 to he hurled. 
 
 His speeches in the Nashville Convention, where he was sus- 
 tained by Judge Cheves,* of South Carolina, and other eminent 
 men in that body, were of the most resolute character. Accounts 
 were published by letter-writers for the Northern press, and Judge 
 Colquitt was spoken of in about equal terms of censure and praise. 
 His manner was described as being most furious in that assem- 
 blage of Southern patriots. He and Gov. McDonald were chosen 
 by the Legislature as delegates to represent the State at large. 
 The Congressional districts each had two delegates, one from the 
 State-Rights and the other of the Union party, elected by the 
 people. Nothing need be said of the Nashville Convention other 
 than that its proceedings, like the Virginia and Kentucky Resolu- 
 tions of 1798, have given rise to various conflicting interpretations. 
 The following are three of the resolutions, embodying the most 
 material part of those passed in November, 1850, at the second 
 session of the Nashville Convention, after the Compromise mea- 
 sures had been adopted by Congress : — 
 
 Resolved, That all the evils anticipated by the South, and which occa- 
 sioned this Convention to assemble, have been realized by the failure to 
 extend the Missouri line of compromise to the Pacific Ocean, by the admis- 
 sion of California as a State, by the organization of Territorial Governments 
 for Utah and New Mexico without giving adequate protection to the 
 property of the South, by the dismemberment of Texas, by the aboli- 
 tion of the slave-trade and the emancipation of slaves carried into the 
 District of Columbia for sale. 
 
 Resolved, That we earnestly recommend to all parties in the slave- 
 holding States to refuse to go into, or countenance, any National Conven- 
 tion whose objects may be to nominate candidates for the Presidency and 
 Vice-Presidency of the United States, under any party denomination 
 whatever, until our Constitutional rights are secured. 
 
 Resolved, That in view of these aggressions, and of those threatened 
 and impending, we earnestly recommend to the slave-holding States to 
 meet in congress or convention, to be held at such time or place as the 
 
 * Hon. Langdon Cheves died June 25, 1857, aged eighty-one years. 
 Vol. I.— 14 
 
210 BENCH AND BAR OP GEORGIA. 
 
 States desiring to be represented may designate, to be composed of double 
 the number of their Senators and Kepresentatives in Congress of the 
 United States, intrusted with full power and authority to deliberate and 
 act with the view and intention of arresting further aggression, and, if 
 possible, of restoring the Constitutional rights of the South, and, if not, 
 to provide for their future safety and independence. 
 
 As a politician and advocate, enough has been said to give some 
 idea of Judge Colquitt. It now remains to follow him into another 
 sphere, — as a man and a Christian. How early in life he connected 
 himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church the author is not 
 informed ; but he remembers to have heard him deliver an exhorta- 
 tion thirty years ago (1827) at Milledgeville, in a church where sat 
 with him in the pulpit the late Rev. Stephen Olin and Rev. Samuel 
 K. Hodges, — the latter then the presiding elder. Judge Colquitt 
 had a very youthful appearance. His cheeks were rosy, and his 
 countenance was lighted up by the sacred fires within. After Mr. 
 Hodges had closed a very solemn discourse, while the congregation 
 was silent and serious, he rose, and sung, in beautiful style and 
 with much feeling, — 
 
 "Young people all, attention give, 
 
 While I address you in God's name : 
 You who in sin and folly live. 
 
 Come, hear the counsels of a friend." ' 
 
 Nothing could have produced a happier efiect. Many persons 
 wept as the song proceeded; and when it was over he made an 
 appeal to the young to forsake their evil ways, — to give up the 
 phantoms of pleasure and yield their hearts to God. It was a 
 time long to be remembered. Hodges, Olin, Colquitt, and more 
 than half that large congregation, are in the grave ! He who was 
 then a youth weeping under the exhortation is now quite an old 
 man, shedding a tear as he records the incident in the biography 
 of the exhorter. 
 
 The author never attended any of the courts at which Judge 
 Colquitt presided, and can only state the fact on reliable informa- 
 tion, that he was in the habit of opening his courts with prayer, 
 himself ofliciating. Whether he continued the practice through 
 both his terms cannot be here affirmed or denied. That he was 
 truly pious, and aimed to do good, there is no question. But 
 many of his religious friends were sorely grieved to witness the 
 levity and relish for fun and anecdote which the judge indulged 
 at the hotel and other places when not engaged at prayer or in his 
 official administration. Indeed, his hilarity was sO boisterous, his 
 stories so broad and related with such enjoyment, that a stranger 
 would never have suspected that he belonged to the church. On 
 
WALTER T. COLQUITT. 211 
 
 these jovial occasions he has been known to look at his watch and 
 start up suddenly, apologizing to his companions, as he had to 
 preach, and the people were waiting for him ! While in the State 
 Senate, he has been known to make a strong speech on some bill, 
 then go to the church and deliver an animated sermon, then 
 attend a political caucus and make the principal speech there, rally- 
 ing his forces, and then conclude the night by inviting a number 
 of his friends to an oyster-saloon for refreshments. In all this, 
 while nothing positively wicked can be perceived, there was seem- 
 ing impropriety in the opinion of many of his brethren. It was 
 a sort of stumbling-block which gave room for unfriendly remarks. 
 Yet, if an error, it lacked the intention to make it criminal. 
 
 Soon after announcing the plan of his work, the author applied 
 to the Rev. Lovick Pierce, a minister of close observation as well 
 as of established ability and influence, for names belonging to the 
 church and the bar that might assist in removing the reproach so 
 generally cast on the legal profession that from its very nature it 
 was hostile to Christianity. In the reply, the name of Judge Col- 
 quitt, then living, occurs in a manner which will be suflScient to 
 introduce the letter here, even if other names in it did not show 
 the justice and propriety of doing so : — 
 
 COLTJHBUS, January 28, 1851. 
 
 Dear Sib: — Tour letter and circular are received. I cannot call to 
 mind any deceased lawyers whose connection with the church, and piety, 
 would add any thing to your praiseworthy work, but the lamented Few, 
 with Cicero Holt and Clayton of Athens. Clayton I did not know as a 
 Christian, only f^^m others. His conversion, life, and death added as 
 much lustre to his Christian character as his tongue and pen did to his 
 professional. 
 
 Cicero Holt was a Christian of the highest and purest character, suf- 
 ficient of himself to disprove the idea that irreligion is a sort of consti- 
 tutional quality of the legal calling. At this time there are many lawyers 
 open and avowed Christians. Even here are half a dozen, members of 
 our church, — none of them, except Colquitt, known afar off. 
 
 Judge Longstreet can give you more reliable information than any one 
 who would feel a lively interest in your enterprise. He is President of 
 the Mississippi University. It is located at Oxford : the county I don't 
 know. I think the following direction would find him : A. B. Longstreet, 
 President of the Mississippi University, Oxford.* 
 
 * On this hint, the author paid his respects more than once to Judge Longstreet, 
 desiring contributions to interest the public in these pages. It will be seen, by 
 other letters published, that Judge Longstreet is looked to for much that is curious, 
 — as the only writer who can dress up things to perfection. The author shared 
 this belief, and only regrets that Judge L. has been so occupied by his official 
 duties, or so disinclined to put people in a good humor, as used to be his yocation 
 when writing "Georgia Scenes" twenty years ago, that the author has to go to 
 press without a solitary line from his graphic pen. 
 
212 BENCH AND BAE OF GEORGIA. 
 
 I am not able to render you the aid you need : if I could, I would 
 gladly do it. KespectfuUy, yours, 
 
 L. Pierce. 
 
 But it is not necessary to dwell on the virtues or defects of 
 Judge Colquitt. He was not always understood by the world. A 
 natural buoyancy of feeling sometimes led him into extremes 
 
 He had to be cheerful : bis organization would not permit him to 
 be otherwise. There was no stagnation in the currents of his soul. 
 They flowed on through all temperatures. Happen what might to 
 depress others, no frost ever locked up the tide of his upward, 
 joyous nature. His spirit could scale the loftiest mountains, sport 
 with the clouds, and then descend in a thunderbolt to terrify the 
 evil-doer, or in the form of mercy to soothe the unfortunate and 
 the miserable. 
 
 Such a man, however, has no guarantee of life more than the 
 veriest trifler. The lion-hearted is often the mark of Death's 
 arrow, while the hare in society seems to escape for a longer pro- 
 bation. The decree is thus written ; and it is right, however mys- 
 terious to finite conceptions. 
 
 Judge Colquitt endured sharp bodily afflictions in the latter 
 years of his life. His friends were long in painful suspense, at 
 times believing that his recovery was possible, and then giving 
 up in despair. All the time he submitted like a child to his 
 heavenly Father, and patiently awaited the issue. Having 
 obtained partial relief from the waters at Montvale, East Ten- 
 nessee, on a former visit, he sought their efficacy once more. 
 Emaciated as he was, he had himself borne to th# cars at Colum- 
 bus, to reach Knoxville by railroad, within twenty miles of the 
 springs. At Macon he grew worse ; and tidings forthwith came, on 
 the telegraph-wires and in the public prints, that he was in a dying 
 condition. Friends — pious friends — gathered at his bedside. His 
 talk was of heaven. Those dark, beaming eyes, which had so 
 often irradiated the sanctuary and the forum, are now turned with 
 seraphic mildness upon wife and children in the last hour. With 
 words of consolation to all, and with the light of eternity playing 
 upon his features, Walter T. Colquitt calmly returned his soul 
 to God who gave it. He died at the house of his brother-in-law, 
 William A. Ross, in the city of Macon, May 7, 1855, in the fifty- 
 sixth year of his age. 
 
 The mournful intelligence, though looked for, filled all hearts 
 with sorrow. A great man had fallen. The newspapers did justice 
 to his character : many of them contained a brief memoir of his 
 
WALTER T. COLQUITT. 213 
 
 life. A void was felt wMcli can never be supplied. He was a 
 gallant and favorite son of Georgia, — a second Calhoun to the 
 South. If he had blemishes, they were scarcely visible in the 
 noonday brightness of his active and useful career. 
 
 Of his domestic relations the following has been gathered. His 
 first marriage was on the 23d day of February, 1823, to Miss 
 Nancy H. Lane, daughter of Joseph Lane, Esq., who was many 
 years a Representative in the Legislature from Newton county. 
 From this union were six children, of whom four are living. The 
 Hon. Alfred H. Colquitt, of Baker county, late Representative in 
 Congress, and Peyton H. Colquitt, Esq., attorney-at-law, of 
 Columbus, are two of them. One of his daughters married the 
 Hon. 0. B. Ficklin, of Hlinois, at the time a Representative in 
 Congress from that State, and the other daughter, Emily, married 
 Samuel Carter, son of Col. Farish Carter. Gen. Joseph Lane, the 
 delegate in Congress from Oregon, is a near relative of the first 
 Mrs. Colquitt. 
 
 The second marriage of Judge Colquitt was in 1841, with Mrs. 
 Alphia B. Fauntleroy, formerly Miss Todd, sister of H. W. 
 Todd, Esq., of West Point, Georgia. She lived only a few 
 months. 
 
 He was married the last time, in 1842, to Miss Harriet W. Ross, 
 daughter of the late Luke Ross, Esq., of Macon, and sister to 
 •J. B. and W. A. Ross, merchants of that city. Six children were 
 born of this marriage, — four now living. 
 
 The mother- of Judge Colquitt, Mrs. Nancy S. Tarver, resides 
 at La Grange, in her seventy-seventh year. After the death of 
 her first husband, she married the father of the late Gen. Hartwell 
 H. Tarver, of Twiggs county. 
 
 Before closing this memou-, the author makes free to extract 
 from a letter written by a gentleman* to a son of Judge Colquitt, 
 under date of January 19, 1857 : — 
 
 I know nothing specially in regard to your father but what everybody 
 else well knows, for he had no coDcealments in him. No man, either 
 friend or foe, can say aught against him. I was his associate almost from 
 in&ncy. He was " a head and shoulder" above all boys, as he was above 
 all men ; for I have seen him tried in all capacities and situations, in none 
 of which did he ever falter. I could cite many incidents and character- 
 istics of him known only to myself, all of which would redound to his 
 credit and fame. His faults were few : if he had any, I never knew 
 them. He was admitted to the bar at Irwinton, Wilkinson county, I think, 
 
 * Alfred B. Holt, Esq. to P. H. Colquitt, to assist in the particulaTS of this 
 memoir. 
 
214 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 in 1820 or '21. He commenced the practice of law in Sparta, but 
 shortly after removed to the Cowpens, in Walton county, and in the 
 Western circuit soon took a prominent stand among such men as Cicero 
 Holt, Charles Dougherty, and others with whom he was associated. 
 
 This decided testimony from one who knew him well is indeed 
 honorable to the character of Judge Colquitt, It goes far to 
 justify the compliment from Gen. Cass, the present Secretary of 
 State, who once remarked that " Georgia had cause to be proud 
 of her Representatives, as two of the readiest debaters he ever 
 heard were from that State, — Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Colquitt." 
 Mr. Calhoun frequently said of him that he was a very " sagaetous 
 man." 
 
 Though intended as private, there is nothing to forbid giving a 
 passage from another letter* relative to Judge Colquitt : — 
 
 My father during his life seemed to shun every thing like posthumous 
 fame. He was often applied to, and as frequently denied having his life 
 published. He seemed to feel that if his services to his State and his 
 country were worth any thing they would be remembered. He cared 
 little for praise, so he knew he was right and advocated the truth. He 
 marked out for himself a course of policy, and did not pander to popular 
 feeling. He had no care whether he was in the minority or majority, so 
 he felt that he was right. If I knew any thing of his character, the most 
 prominent traits were unselfishness, kindness, and stroo^ friendship, — im- 
 petuous, quick, fiery. His attachment to a friend would lead him to face 
 any danger. 
 
 To show that the views taken of the character of Judge Colquitt 
 and the praise bestowed in the progress of this memoir are fully 
 supported in the highest quarter, the very head of the Judiciary in 
 our State, the proceedings of the Supreme Court on the occasion 
 of his death are subjoined : — 
 
 ScPKEME CotTBT Or GrEOKQiA, Ameeicus, July 10, 1855. 
 
 The Honorable the Supreme Court met pursuant to adjournment. 
 Present their Honors Joseph H. Lumpkin, Ebenezer. Starnes, and 
 Henry L. Benning, Judges. 
 
 The death of the Honorable Walter T. Colquitt, a member of this 
 bar, was announced this morning by the Hon. G. E. Thomas, who moved 
 the appointment of a committee to prepare and report resolutions in rela- 
 tion thereto, which was seconded by Col. Seaborn Jones. 
 
 Whereupon the court moved as a committee the following gentlemen, — 
 viz. : Hon. G. E. Thomas, Col. Seaborn Jones, William Dougherty, B. 
 Hill, B. H. Hill, G. M. Dudley, and T. R. R. Cobb, Esquires. 
 
 The committee to whom was referred the duty of reporting to the 
 court a suitable preamble and resolutions in commemoration of the life 
 
 * From P. H. Colquitt to the author, dated March 28, 1857. 
 
WALTER T. COLQUITT. 215 
 
 and character of the Honorable Waltek T. Colquitt, whom death has 
 not long since removed from our midst, respectfully report : — 
 
 That our much-beloved and sincerely-lamented brother, the Honorable 
 Walter T. Colquitt, was one of the peculiar men of the age. He was 
 strongly and distinctly marked in character, and eminently qualified to 
 leave his impress on the theatre of life. His indomitable will and great 
 moral courage placed him on high ground in all great emergencies. 
 
 But, alas ! "Deatli enters, and there is no defence." Neither genius, 
 nor talent, nor moral worth, nor beauty, can escape the inevitable doom. 
 " Buit thou art, and to duit shalt thou return." Death is said to love a 
 shining mark. A mighty man has fallen ! After a severe and protracted 
 conflict, which he bore with Christian fortitude and meekness, he yielded 
 up his life to Him who gave, and whose sovereign right it was to take it 
 away. 
 
 The event, though not unexpected, was nevertheless painful. Who 
 that knew him did not love him ? Who that loved does not lament his 
 departure ? His seat here is become vacant ; his voice is hushed, and that 
 forever, — called away in the noon of his manhood, in the midst of his 
 usefulness. What a chasm is made, — not only in the court, but also in 
 the family circle and in the public councils ! 
 
 Of his social qualities how shall we speak ? Of a warm and generous 
 disposition, his heart leaped at once into eveiy enterprise of benevolence, 
 his charity embraced all conditions of want and wretchedness. 
 
 Of his intellectual endowments we do not exaggerate when we say that 
 he possessed a strong, vigorous, discriminating mind, — an intellect which 
 had lightning speed and power. In the court-room or in the Senate- 
 Chamber he was alike the fearless and able advocate, the firm and un- 
 yielding patriot. Always the same great original, he was, as occasion 
 required, peculiar, striking, overwhelming. His eloquence sometimes 
 resembled " the music," sometimes " the thunder, of the spheres." 
 
 As Sijury advocate, in the defence of life and liberty he had few equals 
 and no superior. More than all, he was a Christian, — a sinner saved by 
 grace. And if he ever wandered from the straight and narrow path, (and 
 who has not ?) none repented more sincerely, none made restitution sooner, 
 than he. Religion bore his fainting spirits up when all earthly props 
 gave way. This sustained, this never failed him. 
 
 " Our life's a dream, a morning flower, 
 Cut down and wither'd in an hour." 
 
 But this amaranthine flower blooms the brighter as the hand of death 
 approaches, and sheds a sweet perfume around the cold precincts of the 
 "noisome tomb." — "The chamber where the good man meets his fate 
 is privileged beyond the common walks of life, quite on the verge of 
 heaven." He died, " being full of the Holy Ghost," and left the world 
 in triumph. 
 
 " There is a life above. 
 And all that life is love." 
 
 This mournful Providence speaks to us, his surviving brethren, in a 
 language not to be misunderstood: — "Be ye also ready." Let not the 
 lesson be lost ; but, giving heed, let us love and adore, knowing that our 
 heavenly Father does all things for the best. 
 
 1. Resolved, That, while we sincerely sympathize with the bereaved, we 
 
216 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 will cherish in our hearts the memory and the virtues of our deceased 
 brother. 
 
 2. Resolved, That, as a perpetual record of our love and admiration of 
 him, we respectfully ask of this honorable court the privilege of having 
 this preamble and these resolutions spread on the minutes of this court. 
 
 3. Resolved, That a copy of the same be made out and signed by the 
 clerk of this court, and be by him forwarded to the family of the deceased. 
 Also, a copy for publication, to the papers in Columbus and Macon. 
 
 remarks of the hon. judge lumpkin. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Committee and Bar : — 
 The court cordially responds to the very feeling and eloquent tribute 
 which you have paid to the memory of our deceased brother and friend. 
 
 No man that has lived within this State for the last thirty years has 
 left or will leave a stronger impress upon the public mind than Walter 
 T. Colquitt. Who has touched the community at so many points? 
 Who has exhibited the same versatility of talents ? Who is a more striking 
 type and exponent of the practical working of republican institutions? 
 Emerging from comparative poverty and obscurity, he stepped at once 
 from the bar to the bench, and, by the energy of his mind and character, 
 filled in rapid succession a seat both in the House of Representatives and 
 Senate of the United States. 
 
 As a popular orator and advocate, especially in criminal cases, the 
 deceased was unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries ; and, whatever 
 may have been the extravagance, if you please, of his style and manner, 
 it rarely failed of success and to elicit the enthusiastic applause of his 
 auditory ; and this is the highest compliment that can be paid to a public 
 speaker, albeit he may violate every rule of rhetoric taught in the schools. 
 His imitators on the hustings, at the bar, and even in the pulpit, are 
 legion. 
 
 But I will not dwell at this time on the peculiarities of the deceased. 
 No man had more friends, or friends more devotedly attached to him. 
 And this was natural as well as right; for a more unselfish man, in all the 
 private relations of life and intercourse with society, never lived. We 
 love them who love us, is the law that binds man to man, as well as man 
 to his Maker. It was but a short time before his death that I was con- 
 versing with a female member of his family, — a lovely woman that pre- 
 ceded him to the grave ; and she related how, in a recent travel with her 
 father-in-law, when he could scarcely sit up, he seemed to forget himself 
 entirely and think only of her comfort. Is it strange that such a man 
 should be endeared to his friends ? 
 
 You have spoken, Mr. Chairman, of the moral courage of the deceased. 
 But an equal tower of strength was his physical firmness. He never 
 feared the face of man. We have many among us who are brave from 
 pride, or principle, or education. His was innate. It was the courage of 
 Nelson and Ney and Zachary Taylor, — that was wholly unconscious of the 
 presence of danger. I speak what I know. Such a man could not fail to 
 be a magnanimous foe. 
 
 But our friend and brother so instinct with life has passed away in the 
 meridian of his manhood. That pulse that beat so active has ceased to 
 throb ; that brain that teemed with ten thousand plans and purposes will 
 think no more. 
 
•WALTEE T. COLQUITT. 217 
 
 If ever man was endowed with antediluvian constitution — born to live 
 a thousand years — Judge Colquitt was. But lie was as prodigal of his 
 health as he was of his purse. He knew no rest. No sooner did the 
 bugle sound for political or professional warfare than every nerve was 
 strained to the utmost tension for the fight. He rushed into battle with 
 every power of soul, mind, and body, and would take no repose until the 
 conflict was ended. 
 
 We saw him at this place — after one of the most exhausting efforts ever 
 made, and when his mortal malady, which had fixed its iron grasp upon 
 him several years previously, was preying upon him — ^borne to the stage- 
 coach by his friends, — dhurry away to a neighboring State to renew the 
 stru^les upon another theatre. We cannot but reproach one so munifi- 
 cently endowed by nature, and whose life was so important to his family 
 and his country, for thus throwing it away as a useless thing. 
 
 Let us take warning by his example and be not overworked. We press 
 toward the mark for the prize, and perish on Pisgah in view of Canaan 
 and its clusters. He seemed to live but to die. We trust he died but to 
 live for evermore. 
 
 But I am done. Should my life be spared and I can steal the time 
 from the severe exactions of my official duties, I will endeavor to erect a 
 more abiding monument and one more worthy of the deceased. With me 
 it will be a labor of love. We were college-mates in a distant State, at a 
 period of life when friendships the most pure and lasting are formed. 
 When I reached Princeton I found my young countryman in difficulty, 
 and was able, fortunately, to assist him. I found myself in a greater 
 trouble afterward, when he repaid the obligation with usury. 
 
 I can readily forgive and forget an injury, — a favor, never. The 
 memory of Walter T. Colquitt will be pleasant to me until my own 
 heart, like his, shall cease to beat. 
 
IX. 
 
 WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 
 
 The proudest name that Georgia has ever presented to the 
 world, one beyond all competition in renown, strength, and influ- 
 ence, is that of William H. Crawford, of whom much has been 
 published. Something additional will be given in this sketch 
 toward showing his true character. 
 
 He was born in Amherst county, Virginia, February 24, 1772, 
 of Scottish ancestry. His father removed from the Old Dominion 
 in 1779, and settled in Edgefield district, South Carolina, whence 
 he came to Columbia county in 1783, and died a few years after- 
 ward. William H. Crawford was then of an age to assist his 
 mother by school-teaching, a business which he followed several 
 years. Desiring a knowledge of the classics, he became a student 
 in the academy of Dr. Moses Waddel, who soon offered him the 
 post of assistant. Remaining two years with Dr. Waddel, he then 
 joined Mr. Charles Tait (whose name will figure conspicuously in 
 this memoir) in the management of the Richmond Acidemy, of 
 which Mr. Crawford became rector. 
 
 Here the author quotes the language of a gentleman* whose 
 recollections have been given to the public : — 
 
 William H. Crawford came to the bar in 1799. It was soon obvious 
 that his talents and energy would make him the leading lawyer of the up- 
 country. The land-speculators applied to him to be associated with them 
 in their land-suits. His frankness and high integrity prompted an indig- 
 nant refusal. The lawyer-speculators determined to get rid of him by 
 shooting him or disgracing him. Van Allen, then lately from New 
 York, was the instrument chosen to eflFect their object. He was a cousin 
 of Martin Van Buren, the great political magician, and, like him, regarded 
 means only for their ends. Van Allen, upon some frivolous pretence, 
 challenged Mr. Crawford. Ho had to fight or fly. He chose the first. 
 Van Allen was killed. 
 
 Mr. Crawford settled in Lexington in 1799, and opened 
 a law-office. He soon stood at the head of his profession. 
 He represented Oglethorpe county four years in the Legisla- 
 ture. The author has seen the House Journal for the extra 
 
 * Got. Gilmer, in hia Address before the Society of Alumni, at Athens, 1851, p. 20. 
 218 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 219 
 
 session, June, 1806, and thinks proper to extract from its pro- 
 ceedings : — 
 
 P. 7. On motion of Mr. Crawford, — 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare and report a bill to 
 be entitled an act to organize the counties of Baldwin and Wilkinson. 
 Ordered, That Messrs. Crawford, Walker, and Howell be that committee. 
 
 OLIVER H. PRINCE. 
 
 p. 6. Mr. Bates presented a petition from Oliver H. Prince, praying 
 to be admitted to plead and practise in the several courts of law and 
 equity in this State, if upon examination he should be found duly 
 qualified. 
 
 Which was referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Poythress, 
 Welscher and Drane. 
 
 P. 13. Resolved, That Oliver Hillhouse Prince be admitted to plead 
 and practise as an attorney in the several courts of this State : Provided, 
 the said Oliver H. Prince shall first submit to an examination, and be 
 found on such examination duly qualified. 
 
 P. 21. The Senate concurred in said resolution. 
 
 DEATH OF GOVERNOR JACKSON. 
 
 P. 22. On motion of Mr. Welscher,— 
 
 Resolved, That this Legislature view with deep concern and regret the 
 loss sustained by the State in the death of that truly great and virtuous 
 patriot, Gen. James Jackson, their late Senator in Congress, whose emi- 
 nent services will be ever held in grateful remembrance by the people of 
 Georgia ; and that, as a public testimony of their sorrow on the occasion, 
 and of their high respect for his memory, the Legislature will wear crape 
 on the left arm for the space of thirty days. 
 
 P. 28. Ordered, That the clerk inform the Senate that the House is 
 now ready to receive them in the Kepresentative-Chamher for the purpose 
 of electing a major-general for the first division of the militia in this State, 
 and a Senator to the Congress of the United States, to fill the vacancy 
 occasioned by the death of the Hon. Maj. Gen. James Jackson. 
 
 Whereupon the president and members of the Senate attended, and, 
 being seated in the Representative-Chamber, both branches proceeded by 
 joint ballot to fill the said vacancies ; and, on the ballots being received 
 and examined, it appeared that Brigadier-General David B. Mitchell was 
 duly elected major-general j and that his Excellency, John Milledge, was 
 duly elected Senator. 
 
 CHARGES AGAINST JUDGE TAIT. 
 
 P. 8. Mr. Simons presented a memorial from General John Clark, con- 
 taining certain charges against the Honorable Charles Tait, Judge of the 
 Superior Courts in the Western district of this State, which was read and 
 referred to a select committee, consisting of Messrs. Simms, Simons, F. 
 Walker, Hall, Harris, Welscher, and Thomas. 
 
 P. 11. On motion of Mr. F. Walker,— 
 
 Resolved, That the committee to whom was referred the memorial of 
 Gen. John Clark, relative to the conduct of the Honorable Charles Tait, 
 
220 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 be, and they are hereby, authorized to send for such persons and papers 
 as they may deem necessary to facilitate their deliberations on that im- 
 portant subject. 
 
 P. 14. Mr. Simms, from the committee to whom was referred the me- 
 morial of Gen. John Clark, reported as follows : — 
 
 The committee to whom was referred the memorial of Gen. John Clark 
 report, that they have made some progress in their inquiries into the 
 official conduct of the Honorable Charles Tait; that they view the subject 
 as one of great importance to the community as well as the party accusing 
 and accused; that, to establish the charges contained in the memorial, it 
 is stated to the committee that it will be necessary to subpoena twenty 
 witnesses who reside in diflFerent parts of this State, and some of them in 
 the extreme parts thereof; and to have the benefit of their testimony will 
 require considerable time, and perhaps protract this session to a length 
 not contemplated by the Legislature. They therefore beg leave to suggest 
 the propriety of postponing the further consideration of this important 
 business until the next session of the Legislature. 
 
 Whereupon Mr. P. Walker moved the following resolution : — 
 
 Resolved, That the further inquiry into the conduct of the Honorable 
 Charles Tait be postponed accordingly. 
 
 On the question put, it was negatived, — Teas, 26 ; Nays, 26. 
 
 The speaker (Abraham Jackson) gave the casting vote. 
 
 Mr. Crawford voted in the negative. 
 
 P. 25. On motion of Mr. F. Walker,— 
 
 Resolved, That the Speaker of this House be, and he is hereby, required 
 to issue subpoenas for William Melton, Daniel Jett, Young Gresham, 
 Frederick Colham, and Josiah Glass, of Greene county ; Felix H. Gilbert, 
 Gilbert Hay, Wylie Pope, and Benjamin Taliaferro, of Wilkes county; 
 Edward Bryan, John Stokes, George McKigney, David Glenn, Mrs. James 
 Martin, Sampson Culpepper, and John Howard, of Washington county; 
 Buckner Harris, of Jackson county ; Samuel Stewart and John Stewart, 
 of Oglethorpe county ; Leroy Pope, of Elbert county; Oliver Skinner, of 
 Hancock county; Elijah Payne, of Tatnall county; and John M. Dooly, 
 of Lincoln county; together with such other witnesses as General John 
 Clark, the prosecutor, may deem necessary for the prosecution of the 
 inquiry into the official conduct of the Hon. Charles Tait ; as also sub- 
 poenas for such witnesses as the judge may deem necessary for his excul- 
 pation ; and that said subpoenas be made returnable on the first Monday 
 in November next. 
 
 From the House Journal, November, 1806, p. 21. — Mr. Simons pre- 
 sented a letter directed to the Speaker (Benjamin Whitaker) from Major- 
 General John Clark, requesting to be admitted to interrogate the wit- 
 nesses before the committee appointed to investigate the official conduct 
 of the Hon. Charles Tait ; which being read, and debate had thereon, Mr. 
 Morell moved that Gen. John Clark have leave to withdraw his letter 
 addressed to the Speaker; and, on the question put thereon, it was 
 resolved in the affirmative, — Yeas, 57 ; Nays, 3, — Mr. Crawford voting in 
 the affirmative. 
 
 P. 23. On motion of Mr. Welscher,— 
 
 Resolved, That the committee on the memorial of Gen. Clark b& 
 authorized to cause subpoenas to be served on such witnesses as may be 
 
WILLIAM H. CKAWFOKD. 221 
 
 required by the memorialist, and that an express or expresses be employed 
 and immediately sent off for that purpose, and that the expense attending 
 the same be paid out of the contingent fund. 
 
 P. 61. The House took up the report of the select committee to whom 
 was referred the memorial of Gen. John Clark ; and the same, being read, 
 b as follows : — 
 
 The committee appointed on the memorial of General John Clark, to 
 inquire into the official conduct of the Honorable Charles Tait, Judge of 
 the Superior Court of the Western circuit of this State, report, that they 
 have, in the prosecution of the inquiry, examined twenty-eight witnesses, 
 whose names were furnished them by Gen. Clark to substantiate the 
 several charges contained in his memorial. 
 
 Your committee, in discharging the duty assigned them, have, from 
 the peculiarity of their situation and from a desire that a full and fair 
 investigation might be had, given a latitude in the admission of testimony 
 not warranted by the rules of evidence or sound reason. From a thorough 
 consideration of the testimony so received, it appears to your committee 
 that a warrant for negro-stealing was issued in the town of Salisbury, in 
 the State of North Carolina, bearing date the seventh day of November, 
 1805, against one Robert Clary, which warrant was placed in the hands 
 of one Josiah Glass, to whom it was in the body thereof specially directed, 
 and which warrant was presented by the said Glass to Judge Tait, in the 
 town of Sparta, on the 24th of February last, with a request that he would 
 back the same, which the judge without hesitation did. That the said 
 warrant was afterward presented by G]a,ss to Edward Bryan, Esq., a 
 justice of the peace of the county of Washington, who also backed the 
 same. That ilobert Clary was taken upon the said warrant and carried 
 to Greene Superior Court by Glass, to which court he was himself recog- 
 nised to appear, to answer to an indictment for an assault. That on the 
 first day of the said court, Glass by letter requested the judge to attend 
 and take the examination of a man then in his custody, who would make 
 confessions highly interesting to the State and the United States. That 
 on the night of the same day, the judge, accompanied by Oliver Skinner, 
 Esq., attended to take the examination, which was, however, not com- 
 pleted that night; but the judge, accompanied by the said Oliver Skinner, 
 completed the same the next evening, and gave Glass a certified copy 
 thereof to take to North Carolina, whither Glass was going to take Clary 
 as a witness against the notorious Collins. That, from the whole of the 
 evidence taken, it doth not appear to your committee that Judge Tait had 
 any connection with either Glass or Clary, or knew what confession Clary 
 would make. That the conduct of the judge through the whole trans- 
 action appears to be fair and upright, and to have been done from a sense 
 of duty. 
 
 Your committee are decidedly of opinion that no improper or corrupt 
 motives can with justice or truth be imputed to the judge on that 
 occasion, and that, if the reputation of the memcnrialist has been injured 
 by the confession, such injury cannot with propriety or truth be attributed 
 to the judge. Your committee, therefore, forbearing further comment, 
 beg leave to recommend the adoption of the following resolutions : — 
 
 1. Resolved, That the several charges exhibited against the Honorable 
 Charles Tait, in the memorial of General John Clark, are unfounded in 
 fact and unsupported by evidence. 
 
222 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the official conduct of the Honorable Charles Tait 
 entitles him to the confidence of this House and of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 After debate had thereon, the question was taken on the first resolution 
 and decided in the affirmative, — Yeas, 53 ; Nays, 3, — Mr. Crawford voting 
 in the affirmative. 
 
 The question was then taken on the second resolution and decided in 
 the affirmative, — Yeas, 52 ; Nays, 4, — Mr. Crawford voting in the affirma- 
 tive. 
 
 GEOBGE B. CLAYTON. 
 
 Extract from the message of Gov. John Milledge, dated Louisville, Sep- 
 tember 23, 1806. House Journal, p. 7. 
 
 I gave the appointment of Treasurer to my Secretary, Greorge Rootes 
 Clayton, Esq. His long course of public duty which he discharged while 
 in the Executive Office, under a slender salary, with talents and great 
 integrity, seemed to me to claim from the Government, as a reward due 
 to his public merit, a higher appointment than the one he held.* Indeed, 
 I should be wanting in justice to my own feelings and to the several 
 officers whose duties have been performed immediately under my own 
 eye, were I to retire from the G-overnment without expressing my fullest 
 approbation of their public conduct. 
 
 BOUNDARY COMMISSIONERS, ETC. 
 
 November Session, 1806. House Journal, p. 83. — On motion of Mr. 
 Crawford, — 
 
 Ordered, That the Clerk inform the Senate that this House is now 
 ready to receive them in the Representative-Chamber, for the purpose of 
 electing three commissioners to ascertain the 35th degree of north latitude 
 and to run and mark the dividing-line between this State and the State of 
 North Carolina, three commissioners for the sale of the fractional surveys, 
 one commissioner of the land-lottery in the room of Edwin Mounger, Esq., 
 resigned, and an adjutant-general. 
 
 Whereupon the president and members of the Senate attended, and, 
 being seated in the Representative-Chamber, both branches proceeded by 
 joint-ballot to the said elections; and, on the ballots being received and 
 examined, it appeared that Thomas P. Carnes, Thomas Plournoy, and 
 William Barnett, Esqs. were duly elected to ascertain the 35th degree of 
 north latitude and to run and mark the dividing-line between this State 
 and the State of North Carolina ; Reddick Simms, Obadiah Echols, and 
 Francis Flournoy, Esqs., Commissioners for the sale of the fractional 
 surveys; James Bozeman, Esq., Commissioner of the land-lottery; and 
 Daniel Newnan, Esq., Adjutant-General. 
 
 THIRD TERM FOR PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 
 
 December 6, 1806. House Journal, p. 87. On motion of Mr. Craw- 
 ford, — 
 
 TInanimously Resolved, That this Legislature, composed of the imme- 
 diate Representatives of the people, by them elected to declare their will, 
 viewing the blessings and distinguished political benefits derived in a State 
 and national capacity from the impartial, wise, and judicious administration 
 
 *Mr. Clayton afterward held the ofl5ce of State Treasurer for about twenty- 
 years, — exact and faithful to the last. 
 
TVILLIAM H. CKAWFOKD. 223 
 
 of Thomas Jeffehsos, President of the United States, embrace this 
 opportnnil^ of expressing their full and entire confidence and approbation 
 of his official conduct. At the present momentous crisis, when the civil- 
 ized nations of the Old World, to whom we are bound by the ties of interest 
 or political friendship, are convulsed, and either engaged in the prose- 
 cution of destructive wars or forming coalitions which threaten the 
 destruction of nations and dynasties, it is of the ntmost importance that 
 our political bark should be directed by the hand of a master in whose 
 integrity, discretion, and wisdom the people of these United States can 
 with safety rely. We therefore, in the name of the people of Georgia, 
 request that Thomas Jefexbson will devote four years more of his life 
 to the service of his country, in order more permanently to establish those 
 principles of political liberty which are the boast and gloiy of Republican 
 America. 
 
 Resolved, unanimously. That his Excellency the Governor do, without 
 delay, transmit a copy of these resolutions to our members in Congress, 
 by them to be presented to our fellow-citizen Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 The resolutions were immediately communicated to the Senate, 
 and there unanimously concurred in. 
 
 It is believed that these fragments of legislative history will prove 
 interesting to the public, especially as the trial of Judge Tait is 
 said to have provoked the enmity of Gen. John Clark on Mr. 
 Crawford, thereby causing that inexorable party strife which for 
 twenty years existed between those gentlemen and their respective 
 adherents. Mr. Crawford's votes stand recorded for the acquittal 
 of Judge Tait ; and that is the only reason, afforded hy the record, 
 of Gen. Clark's persevering vindictiveness. 
 
 After referring to the duel with Van AUen, Gov. Gilmer* says : — 
 
 Gen. Clark, who having fought with fame at the battle of Jack's Creek, 
 and distinguished himself by the active part which he took in the brawls 
 common in those days, thought his efforts might be attended with better 
 success. A challenge was sent to Mr. Crawford and accepted. On the 
 day of the meeting, Clark and his second harassed him with quibbles and 
 controversies until he was out of temper and off his guard. When he 
 took his position, his disengaged arm was forgotten and suffered to hang 
 outside his body, so that Gen. Clark's ball struck his wrist, which would 
 otherwise have passed harmlessly by. Clark's hatred was increased 
 instead of being appeased by his accidental success. He renewed his 
 challenge without any renewed offence, and continued as long as he lived 
 in Georgia to obstruct, by all the means which he could command, the 
 way of Mr. Crawford's political advancement. 
 
 Mr. Crawford was elected a member of the Legislature by the people 
 of Oglethorpe for several successive years. His vigorous intellect and 
 active industry entitled him to the first place among the members, — a 
 position which he was not slow in assuming. 
 
 He was elected to the United States Senate in 1807, and was soon 
 
 * Geor^ans, p. 12-5. 
 
224 BENCH AND EAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 considered one of the great men of the most select of the legislative bodies 
 of the world. He had the confidence of Mr. Jefferson, and was one of Mr. 
 Madison's most influential advisers. He showed his fearlessness in the 
 discharge of public duty by attacking Mr. Madison's Delphic-like recom- 
 mendations when decisive measures were required by the state of the 
 country. He was rewarded for his independence by being sent minister 
 to France. His tall, commanding person figured conspicuously among 
 the diminutive Frenchmen, whilst his noble features and gallant temper 
 rendered him a great favorite in Parisian society. When he returned 
 home, polished by intimate association with the highest class of the 
 politest nation, his appearance and manners made him the most imposing 
 gentleman who had ever been seen in Greorgia. He indeed surpassed 
 in personal appearance Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Lowndes, and General 
 Jackson, his rivals for the Presidency, — though each one of them would 
 have attracted attention among a million. 
 
 Our country has been represented abroad by very able ministers, 
 from the time of Dr. Franklin to President Buchanan ; but of them 
 all, if there had to be one selected as the Colossus of intellect, 
 there would be no difference of opinion in awarding the honor to 
 Mr. Crawford. From such a mind much may be expected. While 
 discharging his embassy at Paris, Mr. Crawford wrote several 
 letters to Mr. Clay, one of the United States Commissioners to 
 negotiate peace with Great Britain at Ghent. The first letter 
 describes the capture of Paris by the allies : — 
 
 Paeis, AprU 8, 1814. 
 
 Dear Sir : — The events which have within a few days passed in this 
 city and in its neighborhood have changed every thing in France but the 
 character of the Parisians, and perhaps of Frenchmen in general. 
 
 On the 30th ult., a battle was fought in the vicinity of Paris, by the 
 French troops under the Duke of Ragusa, amounting to between fifteen 
 and twenty thousand men, and the grand allied army. The loss was con- 
 siderable on both sides ; but that of the allies was more than double. It is 
 estimated from eight to ten thousand men. The disparity in the loss was 
 the result of the strong positions of the French troops, and the desire of 
 the allies to get possession of the capital before the arrival of the Emperor 
 Napoleon, who was advancing by .rapid marches upon their rear. This 
 desire was so predominant that they made no attempt to turn those posi- 
 tions, but marched directly up to the intrenchments, where they were re- 
 pulsed four or five times. The battle commenced about four o'clock A.M., 
 and finished about the same time in the evening. The Duke of Ragusa 
 entered into a convention, by which he agreed to evacuate the city, taking 
 with him all his baggage, ammunition, and artillery. 
 
 The next day the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia entered Paris 
 at the head of about fifty thousand of the finest troops in the world. The 
 remainder of their immense army either defiled on the north or south side 
 of the city, or remained in their positions on the east, which was the field 
 of battle. The Emperor of Russia, with his Minister of Foreign Relations, 
 went directly to the house of the Prince of Benevenfo,* who convened 
 
 * Talleyrand. 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, 225 
 
 the Senate the same evening, and had himself and three of his friends, 
 with one devoted Bourbonite, named to the provisional government. 
 The Senate had deposed Napoleon Bonaparte, and directed the pro- 
 visional government to form a Constitution, — which has been accom- 
 plished, and accepted by the Senate and the small portion of the legisla- 
 tive corps who are now in Paris. The Moniteur of this day contains this 
 Constitution, which you will probably see before you receive this let- 
 ter. The monarchy is declared to be hereditary in the house of Bourbon 
 in the male line. The present Senators remain Senators of the realm by 
 the same tenure, — the Senate to consist of one hundred and fifty at least, 
 and not more than two hundred. The ancient and new nobility to remain. 
 All Frenchmen to be capable of filling all the offices of the Government. 
 The members of the legislative corps to hold their offices for five years, 
 and to be elected directly by the people. 
 
 The proceedings of the Senate and of the provisional government have 
 overturned the authority of the Emperor with his army, and especially 
 with his ablest generals. He seems to have sunk without an effort, — at least, 
 without an effort corresponding in any degree with his former fame. Such, 
 at least, is th e conclusion which I draw from the facts which are communicated 
 to the public. It is possible that these facts may be misrepresented. I 
 believe, however, that it is certain that he has agreed to retire with his 
 family to the isle of Elba upon a pension of six millions of livres. From 
 the moment he saw that it was impossible for him to reign, he ought to 
 have died. The manner was in his election. A strange infatuation seems 
 to have influenced his conduct during the last six months. Still relying 
 upon his talents and his power, he refused, at Prague, to secure at least 
 the" neutrality of Austria, by giving her every thing she required. After 
 having retreated across the Rhine, he reluctantly accepted the basis which 
 the allies proposed, and which there is some reason to believe they were 
 sincerely disposed to adopt. Lord Castlereagh's mission, however, accord- 
 ing to the best view of the subject which I have been able to take, was 
 intended solely to prevent this accommodation. Time will prove the ac- 
 curacy or inaccuracy of this opinion. There must have been great address 
 employed in managing the Emperor of Austria, who had rejected all idea 
 of overthrowing the reigning dynasty. The infatuation of the Emperor, 
 and his arrogance to his father-in-law, (if we are to credit reports appa- 
 rently well founded,) greatly contributed to the success of the British 
 Secretary.* That the Emperor of Austria had been duped is clearly esta- 
 blished by the declaration of the allies after the breaking up of the congress 
 at Chatillon, and by the conduct of Lord Wellington. This declaration 
 states that up to the 15th of March they were ready to make peace with 
 the Emperor Napoleon ; whereas the address of Lord Wellington, on the 
 2d of February, declares Louis XVIII. and raises the Bourbon standard. 
 The introduction of the ancient dynasty is not acceptable to the great body 
 of the people of Paris. Even now, after the Senate and provisional go- 
 vernment have declared for that dynasty, there is not one man in a hun- 
 dred who puts on the white cockade. On the day of the entry of 
 the allied sovereigns, all the persons devoted to their ancient kings 
 
 * Robert Stewart, Marquis of Londonderry, (known as Lord Castlereagh, who 
 fought a duel with Mr. Canning,) was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 
 1812. As leader of the House of Commons, his mind became impaired by exces- 
 sive Idbor in 1822, and in August of that year he committed suicide by applying a 
 penknife to his neck. 
 
 Vol. L— 15 
 
226 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOEGIA. 
 
 endeavored to make themselves as conspicuous as possible, and to conceal 
 the smallness of their numbers by continual change of place. Exertions 
 were made to excite popular feeling and tumult, but without effort. But 
 for the National Guard, popular tumult would have been excited, perhaps, 
 but not in favor of the Bourbons. If the mob of Paris had been put in 
 motion, it would have been in favor of a free government. 
 
 The men now in power, as far as I have been able to judge, have preferred 
 the succession of the King of Eome, with a regency provided by the Em- 
 press ; but the Emperor Alexander, who, under the modest exterior of 
 submitting every thing to the will of the French people, dictates to the 
 Senate and provisional government at least this article of their Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 I did not anticipate precisely the manner in which this European peace 
 was to be consummated. I most sincerely wish you complete success in 
 your negotiations, although I apprehend that great difficulties will be pre- 
 sented. Under existing circumstances, if peace is made, I presume that 
 the treaty will be very short, concluding nothing but peace and the resto- 
 ration of what territory may be in the hands of either party by conquest, 
 if there is any such. 
 
 P.S. — ^I send this by the Secretary of the Danish Legation, who sets out 
 immediately for Copenhagen, which gives me no opportunity for reflection 
 or revision of this hasty scrawl, as I have just been informed of the fact 
 of his setting out. 
 
 MB. CRAWFORD TO MR. CLAY. 
 
 Paris, June 10, 1814. 
 Mt dear Sir : — Mr. Carroll arrived a few days ago, and brought me 
 your letters of the 10th and 14th ult. The change in the place* of 
 the negotiation for peace will enable me to write you frequently, and 
 will afford me the pleasure of receiving from you the most interesting 
 details upon the advances which you shall make from day to day in the 
 work of peace. My expectations of a happy result are not strong. The 
 arrogance of the enemy was never greater than at the present moment. 
 The infatuation of that nation excludes almost the possibility of peace. 
 The ministry is represented as being very temperate and moderate. In 
 my former communications I have stated the reasons which I have for 
 doubting the sincerity of their professions of moderation. I may have 
 been wrong in my inferences. I wish that the result may correct me of 
 this error. Admitting the possibility that the British ministers will con- 
 sent to make peace, without deciding any thing upon the question of im- 
 pressment, will your instructions justify you in accepting it ? So far as 
 I am acquainted with the nature of those instructions, their letter will not. 
 But those instructions were given at a time when the great changes which 
 have intervened in Europe were not only unknown, but wholly unexpected. 
 What will be the effect which these changes will produce upon the de- 
 termination of the Government? Will the Government, after they are 
 informed of these changes, give directions to conclude peace, leaving the 
 question of impressment open to further* negotiation ? Will it consent 
 to a peace which shall make no mention of this question ? I presume 
 it will. If the negotiators shall be of this opinion, ought they to hesitate 
 
 * From Gottenburg, in Sweden, to Ghent, in Bel^um. 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 227 
 
 to accept, in the most prompt manner, of a peace which they are convinced 
 the Government will instruct them to make so soon as it is informed of 
 the actual state of things? I should answer, promptly, No. A peace 
 which omits the question of impressment entirely wUl leave the American 
 Government at perfect liberty to apply the proper remedy whenever the 
 evil shall be felt. I do not believe that yon will be placed in a situation 
 to determine this question. I believe they will insist upon the unquali- 
 fied admission of their right to impress on board American vessels at sea. 
 This, I trust, will never be conceded. It would be better to return to 
 our colonial relations with our mother-country than submit to this condi- 
 tion. 
 
 As there is but a faint glimmering of hope that the negotiation will 
 terminate in peace, the next important point to be obtained is that it shall 
 break off upon principles which will convince the American people, of 
 all parties, that peace can be obtained only by the most vigorous prosecu- 
 tion of the war. I have the most unlimited confidence in the skill and 
 address of our negotiators. I am perfectly satisfied that the negotiation 
 will be conducted with a view to affect this important point. I have seen 
 and conversed with several Englishmen in Paris upon the question of im- 
 pressment, and find the most of them very ignorant and arrogant. Sir 
 Thomas Baring is an exception to this remark. But his mode of ad- 
 justing the question is wholly inadmissible. He proposes that no im- 
 pressment shall be made in vessels engaged in the coasting-trade, — ^that 
 no impressment shall take place in v^sels engaged in the foreign trade in 
 sight of the American coast. He thinks the ministry will hardly go so far. 
 A merchant of the name of Wilson says that an arrangement of a different 
 nature would be satisfactory to the nation. It is this : — that when a Bri- 
 tish officer shall visit an American vessel and designate any one of the 
 crew as a British subject, and he should admit the fact, that the master 
 or captain of the American vessel should deliver him up; if the man 
 should deny that he is an EngUshman, and the captain should refuse to 
 deliver him up, that the visiting officer should endorse the ship's papers 
 with the name of the sailor and with his allegation. The question of na- 
 tionality shall be inquired into at the first port at which the vessel shall 
 touch where there is a British consul : if found against the sailor, the 
 captain shall pay a fine, or the expenses of the investigation, and the sailor 
 shall be delivered up; if for him, the British consul — or, if in Eng- 
 land, the British Government — should be subject to the same payment. 
 He says that in the case of an admitted British subject, if the American 
 captain should declare that the loss of the man would endanger the ves- 
 sel, that he should be kept on board until the vessel entered the port of 
 destination, when the captain should be bound to deliver him over to 
 the British consul, or officer authorized to receive him. 
 
 I see no objection to this plan, except that the captain should not be 
 permitted to deliver any man who denies the charge until it is established 
 against him. This arrangement wUl give the enemy the absolute control 
 over their own seamen, as far as the fact of nationality can be established. 
 It at the same time screens American sailors &om arbitrary impressment. 
 If the vessel should be bound to the ports of a nation at war with England, 
 it might be made the duty of the American consul at such port to ship him 
 on board an American vessel bound to England, to the United States, or 
 to a neutral port, where the fact should be promptly settled. I do not 
 believi that this arrangement will be acceptable to the Government of 
 
228 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 England, because I do not believe they will be satisfied with any arrange- 
 ment .which will prevent their seizing upon the sailors of other nations. 
 If I am correct in my conjecture, the proposition will embarrass them; and 
 the rejection will prove to the most prejudiced mind that they are 
 determined to make the American sailors fight the battles which are to 
 rivet the chains of slavery which they have been forging for all maritime 
 states, and especially for the seafaring men of those states, for a century 
 past. I have thought that this arrangement ought to be suggested to you, 
 because it may not have occurred to any one of our ministers. I think 
 it highly improbable that the English negotiators will make any proposi- 
 tion of this nature. If their pretensions shall be so moderate as to afford 
 rational ground for discussion, this arrangement may be proposed with 
 advantage. 
 
 If their views are so unreasonable as to exclude discussion, that of 
 itself will have the happy effect of convincing all parties that the peace 
 must be obtained by the sword alone. But even in this case, when the 
 rejection of the arrangement will be certain, I am inclined to believe that 
 the proposition, coming from the American ministers, will have a ten- 
 dency to elucidate the extent of the concessions which they demand upon 
 this point, more satisfactorily than any other mode which has been pre- 
 sented to my mind. Mr. Wilson is a true John Bull, — but, I believe, a 
 very honest man, and, I am sure, sincerely desirous of peace. The rejec- 
 tion of the arrangement will probably have, some effect upon the English 
 nation itself. If this principle will be satisfactory to Mr. Wilson, it is 
 probable that it will be acceptable to many others, — in fact, to all reason- 
 able men, — to all men who have not formed the foolish and extravagant 
 idea of recolonizing the United States. 
 
 I have felt that it was my duty to present this subject to you in its 
 fullest extent. I have verbally communicated it to Mr. Bayard. It is 
 probable that Mr. Wilson may have communicated this idea to Mr. Gal- 
 latin, as he made his acquaintance, and that of Mr. Bayard's also, in Lon- 
 don. He had not suggested it to the latter. 
 
 I will obtain the necessary passports for you and send them on to 
 Ghent, as the Moniteur of yesterday has notified that it is necessary to 
 have them to leave the kingdom. I suppose it is equally necessary to 
 enter it. 
 
 From the letters which I have written to you, you will perceive that 
 some of my inferences have been proved, by subsequent events, to be in- 
 correct. I reasoned from the facts as they were presented to my mind ; 
 and I feel no mortification at the result. If it was my duty to commu- 
 nicate every thing to you which I knew or believed at the moment of 
 writing, I do not feel any mortification that some of my conjectures, some 
 of my inferences, have proved to be incorrect. 
 
 I have authority to draw on the bankers of the United States for 
 diplomatic intercourse and for disbursements for distressed seamen. 
 Under the first head I can satisfy Mr. Carroll's expenses, and should do 
 it with great pleasure on his own account, as well as upon your request. I 
 am well acquainted with his father, and entertain the highest esteem for 
 him. 
 
 This letter will be delivered to you by Mr. Bayard, who, I am happy 
 to inform you, coincides with me in every question relative to the peace. 
 He believes, with me, if the nation can be united in the prosecution of the 
 war, that the interest of the United States will be promoted by the failure 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 229 
 
 of the negotiation. He will heartily uqite with you in bringing the dis- 
 cussions to a close that will secure this great object. I think, from the 
 English papers, that no armistice has been agreed upon. I rejoice that it 
 has failed. It might have done us much injury, but could not possibly do 
 us any good. 
 
 God bless you, my dear sir, and bless your labors, and make them useful 
 to your country. Mine, I believe, are like water spilled on the ground, 
 that can never be gathered. Adieu. 
 
 MR. CRAWFORD TO MR. CLAY. 
 
 Pakis, July 4, 1814. 
 
 My dear Sir : — I have but little to add to the contents of my pre- 
 ceding letters. Mr. Gallatin, and the young gentlemen who accompany 
 or follow immediately after him, will give you the ephemeral news of this 
 capital. There is little doing here which can interest an American 
 citizen. 
 
 I am not sanguine in my expectations of peace. If the failure of your 
 exertions to put an end to the war shall succeed in producing unanimity 
 at home, we shall have no cause to lament that failure. I am thoroughly 
 convinced that the United States can never be called upon to treat under 
 circumstances less auspicious than those which exist at the present moment, 
 unless our internal bickerings shall continue to weaken the efforts of the 
 Government. I sincerely trust that this will not be the case. In your 
 letter to Messrs. Gallatin and Bayard, you state that the elections in the 
 East had terminated against the Government, but by smaller majorities 
 than on the preceding elections. I have not yet received any further in- 
 formation upon the subject than what is contained in that letter. There 
 is a chasm in my newspapers, delivered by Mr. Carroll, from the 19th 
 March to 5th April. If you can supply this chasm, you will greatly 
 oblige me. 
 
 Prom what I have lately discovered of the councils of this nation, and 
 of the temper of the principal maritime states of Europe, I am inclined 
 to believe that the time at which they may be disposed to oppose the mari- 
 time usurpations of our enemy will be more distant than I had previously 
 imagined. At all events, I am fearful that it will be more distant than 
 we shall be disposed to prosecute the war, to avoid concessions which they 
 will feel as severely as we shall. 
 
 In the prosecution of the war, the great difficulty we shall have to 
 encounter will be the raising of money. The war will give us soldiers 
 and point out the officers qualified to command, but it will neither coin 
 money or increase our credit. If we can get through this campaign 
 without any signal defeat and without the loss of any of our principal 
 commercial cities, and can raise for the ensuing year the sums necessary 
 for the prosecution of the war, we shall find ourselves in much more eli- 
 gible circumstances at the close of the next campaign than we are at 
 present. 
 
 I do not look forward with dismay: I believe we shall rise superior to 
 all the difficulties with which we are surrounded. I trust we shall live to 
 enjoy many happy celebrations of this anniversary of our national exist- 
 ence. 
 
 Give my best respects to your colleagues, and accept for yourself the 
 assurance of my warmest frieadship. 
 
 P.S. — I will send by Mr. Todd the passport necessary to enable you to 
 
230 BENCH AND BAR OF GE0K6IA. 
 
 come to Paris after you close your diplomatic functions. I repeat my request 
 that you will make my house your home during your residence here. If 
 you wish to take a disciple of Pestalozzi with you to the United States, 
 one can be obtained. Upon him you can impose the condition of teaching 
 the Greek and Latin. You will have, however, to maintain him until he 
 learns English enough to teach. The economy of Switzerland makes this 
 expense very inconsiderable. I have learned with great pleasure, from 
 the enemies of the system, that it has overcome the prejudices even of 
 the priesthood. 
 
 MR. CRAWFORD TO MR. ChAY. 
 
 Pakis, July 9, 1814, 
 
 Mt dear Sir : — I acknowledge with much pleasure your very inte- 
 resting letter of the 2d instant, by the hands of Mr. Carroll. 
 
 It appears that we differ in opinion upon two points. Tou believe that 
 the British Government will not hesitate to make peace, leaving the ques- 
 tion of impressment wholly out of view. Tou appear also to believe that 
 the events of the present campaign will have a favorable effect upon your 
 negotiations. I sincerely wish you may be right ; but I am strongly in- 
 clined to believe that the result will prove your opinions to be incorrect. 
 
 When I foresaw that peace would probably take place in Europe in the 
 early part of the year, I did not expect that the manner in which the war 
 has terminated would so inflate the arrogance of the enemy as it manifestly 
 has done. I thought, as you now think, that England would not hesi- 
 tate to make peace by waiving the question of impressment. I am even 
 now convinced that her interest requires that this course should be adopted. 
 There are, however, occasions in which nations, like individuals, blinded 
 by some momentary but predominant passion, turn a deaf ear to the 
 voice of interest. This I presume to be the case with our enemy at the 
 present moment. Various facts which have come to my knowledge have 
 led me to believe that she will now decidedly reject any proposition which 
 you can make which does not admit the legality of her practice of im- 
 pressment on board American vessels at sea. 
 
 At the moment, however, when I presented to the joint embassy the idea 
 of making peace by omitting this question, even if your instructions did 
 not literally warrant it, I still believed that England would consent to this 
 course. At that time I expected the negotiation to open at Gottenburg, 
 about the 1st of May. I did not expect that instructions would be re- 
 ceived from the Government, founded on the recent changes of Europe, 
 before the month of August. At the date of my letter to you of the 10th 
 ultimo, my opinion of the views of the British Government had in some 
 degree changed; but even then I expected the negotiation to open a 
 month sooner than it probably will. I also expected that the change of 
 the seat of negotiations would probably postpone the receipt of the 
 instructions expected from the United States. These reasons, too-etber 
 with those which arise from the expectation of a different result from 
 our military operations from that which you entertain, aided by the 
 express wish of Mr. Bayard that I should present the question anew to 
 you individually, must plead my apology for its intrusion upon your 
 attention. 
 
 If there was any rational ground to expect that by a longer prosecution 
 of the war we should ultimately succeed in compelling the enemy to re- 
 linquish, by treaty, the practice of impressment, I would not hesitate to 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFOKD. 231 
 
 continue the war. I believe there is no such reasonable ground of expec- 
 tation, unless we are disposed to bequeath this war to our sons. 
 
 ******** 
 
 The Russian officers now in Paris who have been in England are highly 
 disgusted with that nation. Thej speak of a war with Austria as certain. 
 In this I think they are mistaken. If war breaks out on the Continent, I 
 presume England, in her present temper, must have a finger in it. In 
 this question, however, as she has no resentments to gratify, she will be 
 governed by her interest. She will, therefore, be against that power 
 which is most commercial and the destruction of whose commerce will 
 teud most directly to her interest. 
 
 I must really apolo^ze to you for the length of my letters. 
 
 Present me most respectfully to your colleagues, and accept yourself 
 the assurance of my most sincere friendship. 
 
 P.S. — Mr. Carroll leaves Paris sooner than I expected. I will send 
 your passport by Mr. Todd. 
 
 Remember me to the young gentlemen of the mission. 
 
 MR. CRAWFORD TO ME. CLAT. 
 
 Paeis, Jnly 19, 1814. 
 
 Mt dear Sir : — The departure of Messrs. Blanchard and Elliot for 
 Ghent enables me to send you the passport which I have obtained for 
 you. They will be able to give you the ephemeral news of this capital. 
 
 I dined a few days ago in company with the Marquis of Buckingham- 
 shire. We conversed long and freely upon the subject of the approaching 
 negotiation. The result of our conversation was that there can be no 
 peace. He insists absolutely that the question shall be settled in this 
 treaty, and, of course, that it shall be settled entirely in their favor. He 
 attempted to derive their right to take (for he insisted upon dropping the 
 word impressment, to which I assented) their seamen from our vessels, 
 from the law of nations. 
 
 It is certainly a pleasant reflection that two such men as Mr. 
 Crawford and Mr. Clay, men of gigantic intellect, of expanding 
 greatness at home, should both be engaged abroad in the diplo- 
 matic service of their country — one as Minister Plenipotentiary 
 and the other as Commissioner Extraordinary — in the midst of the 
 convulsions of Europe. How they both acquitted themselves of 
 the high trusts committed to them, history has long since declared. 
 Honor and gratitude awaited their return. The picture of social 
 communion between these eminent citizens while on another conti- 
 nent is rendered still more attractive by the rivalry which it was 
 their fortune to maintain, ten years afterward, for the first office 
 in the Government. But they had too much nobility of spirit to 
 suffer this conflict of parties to change the personal relations of 
 the two great leaders. The narrative will bring them together 
 again in friendly correspondence after both have filled places in 
 the Cabinet. 
 
232 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 From the time of accepting the mission to France in 1814, 
 Mr. Crawford continued in high Executive employments until 
 March 4, 1825, when he retired to private life, after declining a 
 reappointment as Secretary of the Treasury, tendered him by 
 President Adams. Some of the events of that period will be here 
 noticed. 
 
 On the 3d of March, 1815, Mr. Crawford's appointment as 
 Secretary of War, on the nomination by President Madison, was 
 confirmed by the Senate of the United States. During the recess, 
 October 22, 1816, he was transferred to the Treasury Department. 
 On the coming in of President Monroe's administration, March 4, 
 1817, Mr. Crawford was again nominated to the same office, and 
 confirmed the next day. He continued in the office of Secretary 
 of the Treasury through both terms of President Monroe. His 
 official reports have been justly ranked with the ablest that ever 
 emanated from that Department. Indeed, he was a worthy suc- 
 cessor of such financiers as Hamilton, Gallatin, and Dallas, and 
 the equal of any one of them in the ability to investigate and the 
 logic to unfold the intricacies of political science. It is not deemed 
 necessary to refer to any documents for the truth of this assertion. 
 Congress, the heads of Department, the verdict of the country, 
 have affirmed it for the last thirty years. No higher authority 
 can be a4duced for any movement affecting the public revenue than 
 the opinion of Mr. Crawford. Extracts from his reports and other 
 official papers are often submitted by his successors in office to 
 justify particular acts. The precedent has the authority of a 
 judicial determination. 
 
 From the time he entered the Cabinet, Mr. Crawford was looked 
 to by the public as a suitable man for President of the United 
 States. At the session of 1822-23 he was nominated in a caucus 
 of the Republican members of Congress. During the campaign 
 his claims were examined by the partisan press, and he was sub- 
 jected to the most bitter and unjust persecution. Those who 
 desire to see the machinery used in preparing for a Presidential 
 canvass are referred to the letter of the Hon. John Elliott, a 
 Senator in Congress from Georgia, to be found in the Appendix* 
 to this volume ; and those who are curious to see the result officially 
 stated will be informed by the letter of the Hon. R. H. Wilde, 
 (No. 131,) also in the Appendix. 
 
 Perhaps at no stage of this memoir could a letter from Mr. 
 
 * Memoir of Gen. Blaokshear, — ^No. 125 of the papers attached. 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 233 
 
 Jefferson to Mr. Crawford, relative to the defeat of the latter for 
 President, be more appropriately introduced. It has never before 
 been made public ; and it is permitted to appear only at the special 
 desire of the author of this work, expressed in a communication to 
 the gentleman* who furnished it. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON TO WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 
 
 MosTiCELLO, February 15, 1825. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Your two letters, of January 31 and February 4, were 
 received in due time. With the former came safely the seeds from Mr. 
 Appleton, which I commit to the Agricultural Society of our county, of 
 which Mr. Madisou is president. 
 
 Of the talents and qualifications of Dr. Jackson as a professor in the 
 branches of science specified in your last letter, your recommendation 
 would have had great weight in our estimation ; but our professors are all 
 designated, so that we have no vacancy in which we can avail ourselves 
 of his services. 
 
 I had kept back my acknowledgment of these letters, in the hope I 
 might have added in it congratulations which would have been very 
 cordially offered. I learned yesterday, however, that events had not been 
 what we had wished. The disappointment will he deeply felt by our 
 State generally, and by no one in it more seriously than myself. I con- 
 fess that what we have seen in the course of this election has very much 
 damped the confidence I had hitherto reposed in the discretion of my 
 fellow-citizens. The ignorance of character, the personal partialities, and 
 the inattention to the qualifications which ought to have guided their 
 choice, augur ill of the wisdom of our future course. Looking, too, to 
 Congress, my hopes are not strengthened. A decided majority there 
 seem to measure their powers only by what they may think, or pretend to 
 think, for the general welfare of the States. All limitations, therefore, 
 are prostrated, and the general welfare in name, but consolidation in 
 effect, is now the principle of every department of the Government. 
 
 I have not long to witness this ; but it adds another to the motives by 
 which the decays of nature so finely prepare us for welcoming the hour 
 of exit from this state of being. Be assured that in your retirement you 
 will carry with you my confidence, and sincere prayers for your health, 
 happiness, and prosperity. Th. Jefferson. 
 
 Testimony from so distinguished a quarter — from the founder of 
 the Republican party in the United States, no less a man than 
 the author of the Declaration of American Independence himself, 
 and one of the most learned and sagacious politicians the world has 
 ever produced — must have been gratifying to Mr. Crawford at the 
 time, as it will remain an enduring memorial, honorable to his 
 memory. 
 
 * George M. Dudley, Esq., son-in-law of Mr. Crawford, — haying married his eldest 
 daughter, Caroline, who was the amanuensis of her father during his affliction 
 while Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
234 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 After his return to Georgia, Mr. Crawford visited Milledgeville 
 in the early part of the session of 1826, — when the Clark party 
 had a majority in both branches of the Legislature, though Troup 
 had been elected Governor at the same election. The civilities of 
 a public dinner were tendered and accepted, as the following cor- 
 respondence will show : — 
 
 Milledgeville, November 11, 1825. 
 
 SiE : — The citizens of the town of Milledgeville, not less disposed to 
 hoDor and respect virtue and integrity than those of any other town. 
 State, or country, have (influenced by a degree of proper respect for the 
 well-earned merits of a distinguished citizen of Georgia) determined to 
 pay you that attention which, in their opinion, is appropriately due you. 
 They have therefore resolved to manifest to you and their country their 
 esteem for your public and private worth, by giving to you a public enter- 
 tainment during your stay among them, and have, in pursuance thereof, 
 directed the undersigned to notify you of the same, and give you the 
 invitation so determined on by our citizens, and further to know of you 
 when it will be convenient for you to attend. 
 
 With considerations of high regard, we have the honor to be, sir, your 
 obedient servants, Hines Holt, 
 
 J. S. Calhoun, 
 Wm. H. Torrance, 
 Lucius Q. C. Lamae, 
 Wm. Y. Hansell. 
 Hon. Wm. H. Crawford. 
 
 MR. Crawford's reply. 
 
 MiLLEDGEViHE, November 11, 1825. 
 Gentlemen : — Tour friendly letter of this date, inviting me to a public 
 dinner, has been just received. I accept the invitation with great plea- 
 sure, under a conviction that testimonials of this nature may operate as a 
 stimulus to virtuous exertion and therefore may be useful to the Republic. 
 For your kind expression in relation to myself, be pleased, gentlemen, to 
 accept my most grateful thanks, both individually and collectively. 
 
 _ I am, gentlemen, with sentiments of high consideration, your most obe- 
 dient servant and fellow-citizen, Wm. H. Crawford. 
 
 To Hines Holt, J. S. Calhoun, Wm. H. Torrance, Lucias Q. C. Lamar, 
 and Wm. Y. Hansell, Esquires. 
 
 Among the toasts offered on the occasion were the following : 
 
 6. Our distinguished guest.— Rezxedi in the school of Eepublicans, 
 
 public employments at home and abroad have not impaired the simplicity 
 
 of his character. 
 
 By the Hon. Wm. H. Cratc/orc?.— Education, the frequency and free- 
 dom of elections, the main pillars of Constitutional government. 
 
 Before tracing Mr. Crawford any farther, the author begs leave 
 to incorporate in this memoir portions of a letter from Col. Dudley, 
 in reply to one requesting information relative to Mr. Crawford, 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 235 
 
 which had not heen published, and especially in regard to the 
 manner of preparing his Treasury reports while he was confined 
 to his room by the long and painful illness which alone, in the 
 opinion of many, prevented his election to the Presidency. Though 
 perhaps intended as a private letter, the author relies upon the 
 kindness of Col. Dudley to excuse the liberty here taken : — 
 
 The notice taken of him [Mr. Crawford] by Col. Benton, in his book, 
 is quite as impartial as his friends had a right to expect ; and his testi- 
 mony is the more valuable because given by one whose political position 
 inclined him to accord no more to Mr. Crawford than exact justice seemed 
 to demand. 
 
 The facts in respect to Mr. Crawford's last report as Secretary of 
 the Treasury are about these. He could not see to write at all, nor had 
 he the physical ability to encounter the labor of preparing his report. Mr. 
 Forsyth, among others, kindly offered to write it out for him. This offer 
 was accepted, and Mr. F. was furnished with the outlines needed to frame 
 the report. The report was drawn up by Mr. Forsyth and submitted to 
 Mr. Crawford for approval before signature. In consequence, no doubt, 
 of the pressure of Mr. Forsyth's official engagements, and not from any 
 want of ability or lack of kindness to 3Ir. Crawford, the report was not 
 satisfactory, and it was considered necessary to write it over again. Mr. 
 Crawford sent for Asbury Dickens to come to his bedside and learn the 
 facts in detail necessary to be embodied, and from them to prepare a full 
 and perfect report. Mr. Dickens made several attempts to write out the 
 report before it was satisfactory, but at last succeeded to Mr. Crawford's 
 entire satisfaction. 
 
 It is true that his daughter did much of his writing, but generally at 
 his own dictation. Nothing official escaped his severest scrutiny before 
 it was given to the public. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Crawford seems 
 to have retained fewer copies of his letters and papers than any 
 man who ever occupied the position he did before the public view. 
 Having always a contempt for intrigue, he never seems to have suspected 
 anybody, and was the last to believe that anybody was plotting against 
 him. His daughter frequently signed his name to official papers, at his 
 request, during his illness ; and those signatures were generally taken to 
 be his own, even by those best acquainted with his autograph. In this 
 way some of his friends never, in truth, understood the force and violence 
 of his disease, but constantly affirmed that he could not be so sick as 
 he was represented to be ; because, they said, it was impossible for a man 
 even partially paralyzed to write his name as he wrote it, — so firm, so bold, 
 so manly, was the signature. There was also a very stiiking resemblance 
 between his own and his daughter's handwriting in general, as well as in 
 respect to the signature. 
 
 In consequence of the strong personal attachment shown Mr. Crawford 
 by Mr. Bayard, Mr. Louis McLane, and other distinguished and magna- 
 nimous disciples of the Federal school of politics, as well as in consequence 
 of his advocating the national bank, he was at one time called a Federal- 
 ist. Perhaps the dauntless intrepidity with which Mr. McLane sus- 
 tained his claims to the Presidency in the darkest hour of his political 
 fortunes gave strength and vigor to the imputation. But, while we feel 
 assured that to account for Mr. McLane's vote on the ground of party or 
 
236 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 personal attachment alone would be doing great injustice to his character, 
 we are equally well assured that Mr. Crawford's high respect and cordial 
 friendship for Mr. McLane, and other members of the Federal party, 
 never impaired in the slightest degree his devotion to the doctrines which 
 distinguished the Republican party from the days of Jefferson to the pre- 
 sent hour. 
 
 There was an incident connected with Mr. Crawford s appointment 
 as minister to the court of St. Cloud, by President Madison, which adds 
 another to the many.proofs of the magnanimity of the latter, and shows 
 how far above selfish considerations he placed what he believed to be the 
 public weal. At the opening of the session of Congress preceding this 
 appointment, I&r. Crawford had indulged in some severe strictures upon 
 the President's message. Among other things, he compared it to the 
 axioms of the Delphic oracle, which meant any thing or nothing as best 
 comported with the taste of the inquirer. The North and East were 
 opposed to the war, — though it was on their account principally that war 
 was declared, — while the South and West were for it. " This message," 
 said Mr. Crawford, " is sufficiently Delphic for either point of the com- 
 pass." A less philosophical temperament, a less magnanimous and patriotic 
 President, might have been so vexed with the speaker as to have declined 
 all further intercourse with him. But not so Mr. Madison. Times and 
 circumstances pointed to Mr. Crawford as a suitable minister to France ; 
 and he was appointed without hesitation, notwithstanding his severe 
 criticisms upon the message. 
 
 Though Mr. Crawford has told us of the bow he made on his pre- 
 sentation to the Emperor Napoleon, his modesty prevented him from 
 saying what special honors he received in return. We are indebted to 
 his secretary* of legation and others for the following incident. By these 
 it is stated that Napoleon was so much struck with his firm step, his lofty 
 bearing, his tall, manly, and imposing figure, decorated for the first time 
 in whatever additional grandeur the splendors of the court-dress of the 
 Empire can throw around one of nature's noblest mould, the mild radiance 
 of his clear-blue eyes, and the undisturbed serenity of his eloquent counte- 
 nance, he avowed that Mr. Crawford was the only man to whom he had 
 ever felt constrained to bow, and that on that occasion he had invo- 
 luntarily bowed twice as he received the minister from the United States. 
 The homage thus paid him by the Emperor was said to be a rare if 
 not unprecedented occurrence at this court. The Emperor was one of 
 those who observed, upon looking at Mr. Crawford, that he was among 
 the few distinguished men whose actual appearance more than realized 
 what one anticipated before seeing him. 
 
 I herewith send you a copy of a letter received by Mr. Crawford 
 from Mr. Jefferson immediately after Mr. Adams' election by the House 
 of Kepresentatives, in 1825, and which mainly refers to that event, and 
 is an expression of sentiment by Mr. Jefferson upon the result of that 
 election, 
 
 Mr. Crawford's health was very much shattered by his attack 
 at Washington City described in the foregoing letter. His speech 
 was so injured that it cost him much effort at times to articulate 
 
 * The late Dr. Henry Jackson. 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 237 
 
 distinctly. In this respect, however, he continued to improve, and 
 was once more a very interesting talker, though always laboring 
 under some difficulty in the vocal organs. 
 
 A vacancy having occurred on the bench of the Northern cir- 
 cuit by the death of Judge Dooly, in May, 1827, Gov. Troup ap- 
 pointed Mr. Crawford to fill it until the meeting of the Legislature. 
 His commission as judge bore date June 1, 1827. In November 
 of that year, he was elected by the Legislature to serve out the 
 term of Judge Dooly, which was until the session of 1828, at 
 which time Judge Crawford was re-elected for a full term. He 
 was also re-elected in 1831, being two complete terms, besides 
 filling the vacancy. 
 
 During his time there was no court for the correction of errors 
 in Georgia. There was a convention of the circuit judges author- 
 ized by law, annually, to consult on questions submitted by each 
 other ; but no judgment could be rendered by the convention, and 
 its action was altogether advisory, — which often answered a good 
 purpose, better than if no such arrangement had existed. During 
 the seven years that he presided as Judge of the Superior Court, 
 Judge Crawford acted as chairman of the convention. For the 
 sake of securing uniformity, he issued the following notification, 
 which appeared in the Southern Recorder of November 20, 1830 : — 
 
 DECISIONS OF THE JUDGES. 
 
 Whereas, it is provided, among other things, in the 1st section of the 
 3d article of the Constitution, that the Superior Court " shall have power 
 to correct errors in inferior jurisdictions by writ of certiorari, as well as 
 errors in the Superior Courts, and to order new trials on proper and legal 
 grounds : provided, that such new trials shall be determined, and such 
 errors committed, in the Superior Court of the county in which such action 
 originated." And, by the 55th section of the Judiciary Act of 1799, it 
 is also declared that the Superior Courts " shall have power to correct errors 
 and grant new trials in any cause depending in any of the said Superior 
 Courts, in such manner and under such rules and regulations as they 
 may establish according to law and the usages and customs of courts." 
 
 Now, for the more eifectual execution of tha foregoing powers conferred 
 upon the Superior Court, and for producing uniformity of decision and con- 
 structions of law throughout the circuits of the State, it is resolved by the 
 judges of said courts that they will convene semi-annually at Milledgeville, 
 in the fall, according to the law requiring a convention of judges, and in the 
 spring, at such time as the chairman may appoint, after the close of the 
 present session of the Legislature ; and that each judge will bring to the 
 meeting a docket of such causes in which legal questions have arisen, where, 
 in his opinion, error may have been committed in the decision thereof, or 
 where the same may be of so doubtful a nature as to require the advice and 
 aid of the other judges ; and the said dockets shall he severally taken up by 
 the meeting, and the cases duly considered by the judges, upon such written 
 
238 BKNCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 argument as each party may choose to furnish, and, after ascertaining the 
 opinion of a majority of the judges in each case, the judge to whose circuit 
 the same may belong shall determine the same, in the county where said 
 action originated, according to the advice and opinion received in the said 
 meeting of the judges. Wm. H. Crawford, 
 
 Chairman. 
 MiLLEDGEViLLE, November 3, ] 830. 
 
 This reference to the Judiciary Act of 1799 must have revived 
 his early professional labors when, with Horatio Marbury, thirty 
 years before, Judge Crawford compiled the first digest of the laws 
 of Georgia, — a work executed with considerable skill in the arrange- 
 ments and references. The Colonial Acts and Orders in Council 
 were sifted and classified with the laws passed since, which made 
 the compilation of the utmost value. It is even now occasionally 
 resorted to, and some very unexpected statute or clause giving a 
 proper interpretation is evoked, to the dismay of counsel and the 
 failure of suitors. 
 
 While indulging in these reflections, the mind of the ex-Secretary 
 of the Treasury, and now presiding chairman of the Convention of 
 Judges, (the only substitute Georgia then had for a court of errors,) 
 must have recalled his associate tutor in the Eichmond Academy, 
 the Hon. Chas. Tait, whose fortunes also became conspicuous. He 
 held the office of Judge of the Western circuit from 1803 to 1809, 
 and served as a Senator in Congress from 1809 to 1819, when 
 President Monroe appointed him Judge of the United States Dis- 
 trict Court for Alabama, which caused him to remove to that State. 
 He exercised the office six years, and resigned in 1825. Judge 
 Tait was a native of Louisa county, Virginia, and removed to 
 Georgia in early life. He died at his residence in Wilcox county, 
 Alabama, on the 7th day of October, 1835, at the age of sixty- 
 eight years, an upright citizen and a Christian. This brief allusion 
 to him is deemed appropriate in the memoir of Judge Crawford, to 
 connect their memories on the same page, testifying the mutual 
 friendship which existed between them to the last. 
 
 Haying been actively engaged in high trusts under the Federal 
 Government for a series of years, and, of course, altogether with- 
 drawn from the practice of the courts. Judge Crawford no doubt 
 felt himself a little embarrassed by the judicial commission issued 
 to him by Gov. Troup in 1827. But, as in every thing where duty 
 called, he went boldly forward and gave the people of his circuit 
 a wise and just administration. In the mean time he did not for- 
 get his old friend and rival Henry Clay, (then Secretary of State,) 
 to whom he addressed the following letter :— 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 239 
 
 WooDLAWN, February 4, 1828. 
 
 My dear Sir : — Enclosed is a letter for Mr. Poinsett, our minister 
 in Mexico, which I will thank you to forward to Mr. Poinsett with as 
 little delay as is consistent with your convenience. The object of the 
 letter is to obtain from him some of the productions of Mexico which 
 will probably succeed in the Southern and Western States. Perhaps an 
 intimation from the Secretary of State on this subject may be productive 
 of good effects. 
 
 I hope you know me too well to suppose that I have countenanced the 
 charge of corruption which has been reiterated against you. The truth 
 is, I approved of your vote for Mr. Adams when it was given, and should 
 have voted as you did between Jackson and Adams. But candor compels 
 me to say that I disapproved of your accepting an office from him. You 
 ought, I think, to have foreseen that his administration could hardly fail 
 to be unpopular. Those who knew his temper, disposition, and political 
 opinions, entertained no doubt upon the subject. By accepting the office 
 of Secretary of State from him you have indisputably connected your for- 
 tunes with his. And it appears to me that he is destined to fall as his 
 father did, and you must fall with him. This State could not have been 
 driven under the banners of Jackson by any other course of measures 
 than that pursued by the administration toward it. Mr. Adams's general 
 measures would not have ranged the State under Jackson's standard. Mr. 
 Adams has professed to consider the Federal Government limited by the 
 enumerated powers; yet he has recommended to Congress to erect light- 
 houses to the skies, — a recommendation utterly inconsistent with the idea 
 of the Government being limited by the enumerated powers. This re- 
 commendation, it appears to me, can be supported by no other construc- 
 tion than that Congress can do any thing which is not expressly forbidden 
 by the Constitution. The whole of his first message to Congress is replete 
 with doctrines which I hold to be unconstitutional. 
 
 Present my respects to Mrs. Clay, and accept the same yourself. 
 
 Wm. H. Crawford. 
 
 mr. clay to mr. crawford.* 
 
 Washington, February 18, 1828. 
 
 My dear Sir : — I received your letter of the 4th instant, and I will 
 take pleasure in having forwarded the letter which it enclosed to Mr. 
 Poinsett, with the first public despatches. I should not hesitate to inti- 
 mate to him my wish that he would comply with your request for the 
 Mexican seeds, etc., if I were not persuaded that it would be altogether 
 unnecessary for me to second any expression of your desire to him. Our 
 country needs much the multiplication of the products of the earth, as 
 well as of industry otherwise applied; and he deserves well of it who will 
 introduce a new, or more successfully cultivate an old, article of agri- 
 culture. 
 
 I do, my dear sir, know you too well to suppose that you ever counte- 
 nanced the charge of corruption against me. No man of sense and 
 candor — at least, none that know me — ever could or did countenance it. 
 Your frank admission that you would have voted as I did between Mr. 
 
 * The letters in this memoir that passed between Mr. Crawford and Mr. Clay are 
 copied from the Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, edited by the late Dr. 
 Colton. 
 
240 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Adams and General Jackson accords with the estimate I have always 
 made of your intelligence, your independence, and your patnotism. Nor 
 am I at all surprised or dissatisfied with the expression of your opinion 
 that I erred in accepting the place which I now hold. When two courses 
 present themselves in human affairs, and one only is pursued, experience 
 develops the errors of the selection which has been made. Those which 
 would have attended the adoption of the opposite course can only be a 
 matter of speculation. Thus it is in the case referred to. We see, or 
 think we see, distinctly the errors of the alternative which I embraced. 
 But are we sure that, if I had chosen the other, I should not have been 
 liable to greater hazard or more animadversion ? The truth is (as I have 
 often said) my condition was full of embarrassments, whatever way I 
 might act. 
 
 My own judgment was rather opposed to my acceptance of the Depart- 
 ment of State ; but my friends and (let me add) two of your best friends 
 (Mr. McLane, of Delaware, and Mr. Forsyth) urged me strongly not to 
 decline it. It was represented by my friends that I would get no credit for 
 the forbearance, but that, on the contrary, it would be said that that very 
 forbearance was evidence of my having made a bargain, though unwilling 
 to execute it. The office, they thought, was an office of the nation, not 
 of the actual Presidential incumbent ; and I was bound to look to the 
 good of the country, and not to regard any personal objections which I 
 had to him. "Can yau, who have contributed," said they, "to the elec- 
 tion of Mr. Adams, decline the Department of State? Will you not be 
 charged, if you do, with having co-operated in the election of a man of 
 whom you think so ill that you will not serve in one of the highest places 
 in the public councils with him ? Even if he should be wanting in any 
 of the requisite qualifications for the station to which he has been 
 elevated, you are the more bound for that very reason to accept, in order 
 to endeavor to guard the country against any danger from his mal- 
 administration. Your enemies have sought by previous denunciation to 
 frighten you. They do not believe that you have acted otherwise than 
 from motives of the purest patriotism; but they wish to alarm you and 
 prevent you from entering the Department of State." 
 
 These and other similar arguments were pressed on me ; and, after a 
 week's deliberation, I yielded to their force. It is quite possible that I 
 may have erred; and you may be right in predicting, as a consequence 
 of my decision, that, being identified with Sir. Adams's administration, 
 if he falls I shall fall. Should such be my fate, I shall submit to it, I 
 hope, with the fortitude of a philosopher, if not with the resignation of 
 a Christian. I shall at least have no cause of self-reproach ; for I will 
 undertake to affirm (and I appeal with confidence to Him who knows best 
 the human heart for the truth of the affirmation) that, throughout my 
 public life, in the many trying situations in which I have been placed, I 
 have been guided exclusively by the consideration of the good of my 
 country. You say that I ought to have foreseen that Mr. Adams's ad- 
 ministration could hardly fail to be unpopular. I certainly did not fore- 
 see that the tree would be judged of otherwise than by its fruits. But 
 the popularity of a particular course or proceeding (although I will not 
 pretend that I have been altogether regardless of it) has not been the 
 deciding motive with me of my public conduct. Is the measure right ? 
 Will it conduce to the general happiness and the elevation of the national 
 character ? These have been always my first and most anxious inquiries. 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 241 
 
 I had fears of Mr. Adams's temper and disposition, but I mnst sa v that 
 they have not been realized ; and I have found in him, since I have been 
 associated with him in the Executive Crovemment, as little to censure or 
 condemn as I could have expected in any man. Truth compels me to 
 say that I have heartily approved of the leading measures of his admi- 
 nistration, not excepting those which relate to Georgia. I have not time, 
 if I had ability and it were necessary, to vindicate them. But, my dear 
 sir, I must invoke your frankness' and justice to reconsider the only 
 exceptionable measure which you have specified, — ^that of his recom- 
 mendation of light-houses to the skies. It is not the metaphor, I pre- 
 sume, but the thing, (an observatory,) which has provoked your censure. 
 And can you justly censure 5Ir. Adams for a recommendation which 
 almost every previous President has made ? If there be no power in the 
 General Government to authorize the erection of an observatory within 
 the limits of a State, is there none to sanction its location in this Dis- 
 trict ? The message, I believe, was silent as to the place where it should 
 be built. 
 
 But I will dwell no longer on public affairs. I should not have touched 
 the topic but for your friendly allusion to it. I turn from it with pleasure 
 to the recollection of our amicable relations. Whatever you may have 
 thought, or may have been sought to be infused into your mind, my 
 friendly feelings toward you have never ceased ; and, although our corre- 
 spondence has been interrupted four or five years, I have always enter- 
 tained a lively solicitude for your welfere and availed myself of every op- 
 portunity to inquire particularly about your health and situation. I have 
 heard with unaffected pleasure of the improvement of your health. That 
 it may be perfectly re-established, and that you may be long spared for 
 the benefit of your famUy and the good of your country, is the sincere 
 wish of your faithful friend and obedient servant, H. Clay. 
 
 These two letters do equal credit to both gentlemen, and show 
 the sincerity of their friendship. Besides, they are illustrative of 
 the times to which they refer, and, for that purpose, are historical. 
 
 The merry criticism pronounced by Judge Crawford on that 
 part of Mr. Adams's first message which relates to light-houses to 
 the skies induced the author to search for it, and, if palpably un- 
 warranted, to join in the condemnation rather than make defence. 
 The author confesses that he never was an admirer of ^Mr. Adams 
 as a politician or as a Chief-Magistrate ; yet he will do him perfect 
 justice in this matter, even at the expense of Judge Crawford's 
 generally accurate views. The following is the recommendation ■ 
 assailed by Judge Crawford from President Adams's message of 
 December 6, 1825: — 
 
 Connected with the establishment of an university, or separate from 
 it, might be undertaken the erection of an astronomical observatory, with 
 provision for the support of an astronomer, to be in constant attendance 
 of observation upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for the periodical 
 publication oi his observations. It is with no feeling of pride as an 
 American that the remark may be made that, in the comparatively small 
 
 Vol. I.— 16 
 
242 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 territorial surface of Europe, there are existing upward of one hundred 
 and thirty of these light-houses of the skies, while throughout the whole 
 American hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon 
 the discoveries which, in the last four centuries, have been made in the 
 physical constitution of the universe by the means of these buildings 
 and of observers stationed in them, shall we doubt their usefulness to any 
 nation 1" And while scarcely a year passes over our heads without bring- 
 ing some new astronomical discovery to light, which we must fein receive 
 at second-hand from Europe, are we not cutting ourselves off from the 
 means of returning light for light, while we have neither observatory nor 
 observer upon our half of the globe and the earth revolves in perpetual 
 darkness to our unsearching eyes ? 
 
 Whether the power be rightfully in Congress or not, the Con- 
 stitution has been so understood since the time of Judge Crawford 
 as to allow the erection of a National Observatory, which has done 
 much for science, competing with similar establishments in Eng- 
 land, France, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe, in the discovery 
 of new planets and other phenomena of the heavenly bodies, 
 thereby rendering the name of Lieutenant Maury* — already fa- 
 mous for his charts of the ocean — an honor to his country and 
 his race, attracting the homage of kings and the wise men of the 
 earth, who load him with their courtesies. The Observatory at 
 Washington is nothing more nor less than the fulfilment of Mr. 
 Adams's recommendation at the public expense, or, rather, to the 
 public gain ; for the laws of nature are made subservient to com- 
 merce, and commerce is the life of a nation. 
 
 While in the Senate of the United States, Judge Crawford 
 maintained the constitutionality of a national bank ; and the 
 benefits of such an institution were fully demonstrated while he 
 acted as Secretary of the Treasury. The following letter is sub- 
 mitted as his last on the subject : — 
 
 WooDLAWN, December 5, 1831. 
 Dear Sir: — Your friendly letter on the subject of the Bank of the 
 United States has been received by due course of mail. The opinion 
 which I formed of the constitutionality and expediency of the Bank of the 
 United States when I was a member of the Senate was the result of a 
 careful examination of the Constitution of the United States, made with- 
 out any preconceived opinions. That opinion is recorded in two speeches 
 which I made in the Senate in the year 1811. Since that time I have 
 had no occasion of reviewing the question. My opinion remains iin- 
 altered. 
 
 I was Secretary of the Treasury more than eight years ; and, during 
 that time, I had ample evidence of the great utility of the Bank of the 
 United States in managing the fiscal concerns of the Union. I am per- 
 
 .j 
 * Author of " The Physical Geography of the Sea," — a work of profound learn- 
 ing and curious speculation: the ablest ever published on the subject. 
 
WILLIAM II. CRAWrOED. 243 
 
 suaded that no man, whatever his preconceived opinions may be [can 
 study the subject] without being deeply impressed with the expediency 
 of the Bank of the United States in conducting the finances of the Union. 
 The provision in the Constitution which gives Congress the power to pass 
 all laws which may be necessary and proper to carry into effect the enu- 
 merated powers gives Congress the right to pass the Bank Bill, unless a 
 law most proper to carry into effect the power to collect and distribute 
 revenue should be excluded by the provision. 
 
 The opponents of the constitutionality of the bank place great stress 
 upon the word " necessary," contained in the grant of power, and insist that 
 no law can be necessary but such that without which the power could not 
 be carried into effect. Now, this construction appears to me to be inde- 
 fensible. It does seem to me that the words " necessary and proper" 
 cannot exclude a law that is most proper to carry the power into effect. 
 Yet the unconstitutionality of the bank can be pronounced only upon that 
 construction. It does appear to me that the framers of the Constitution 
 never could have intended to exclude the passage of a law most proper to 
 carry a power into effect because it might be carried imperfectly into 
 effect by another law. My construction of the grant of power to pass all 
 laws which may be necessary to carry the enumerated powers into effect, 
 includes the power to pass all laws which are necessary and proper to carry 
 'the enumerated powers into effect in the most perfect and complete man- 
 ner, and not in an incomplete and imperfect manner. 
 
 I have not seen a complete development of the President's plan of a 
 bank. It is possible that by his plan the transmission of the revenue 
 may be effected ; but the safety of the public deposits cannot be effected 
 by the President's plan. The advantage of this security to the public is 
 incalculable. It ought not to be relinquished unless it can be satisfactorily 
 proved that the Bank of the United States is unconstitutional. 
 
 This, I think, cannot be satisfactorily shown. My speeches are re- 
 corded, and can be republished if necessary. They contain the result of 
 the best investigation I was able to give the subject. I am persuaded I 
 could not improve upon it now if I had the means of investigating the 
 subject, which I have not. 
 
 I am, sir, your friend, &c., 
 
 Wm. H. Ckawford. 
 
 Charles Jared Ingersoll, Esq. 
 
 Nothing more remains to be added respecting the public life of 
 Judge Crawford. He was a man of mark, — one of a century. 
 The author heard a gentleman* of distinguished ability and posi- 
 tion in another State once remark that the Hon. Nathaniel Macon 
 was asked to state who of the great men of his acquaintance 
 excelled in strength of mind and simplicity of expression. His 
 reply was in substance that he had been upon familiar terms with 
 Washington, Jeiferson, Madison, and with the members of their 
 Cabinets, besides other men high in the public favor ; but for vigor 
 
 * The late Hon. William M. Murphy, of Alabama, whose father was a near 
 neighbor of, and intimate with, Mr. Macon. 
 
244 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 of intellect, and the power to present things forcibly to the mind, 
 he was compelled to say that Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, was the 
 greatest man he ever saw. 
 
 Mentally and physically he was of gigantic mould. The author 
 never saw Judge Crawford until his health was in ruins. His noble 
 frame was palsied and unsteady, trembling as he walked ; yet he 
 towered above all other men just as an old feudal castle looks by 
 the side of common buildings. The author was once in his com- 
 pany at the house of a mutual friend* and witnessed his colloquial 
 talent. He never saw him afterward. 
 
 A few passages from the workf of Gov. Gilmer respecting Mr. 
 Crawford are selected : — 
 
 He had arrived at manhood before his education extended beyond the 
 rudiments of learning. His quick apprehension and retentive memory 
 enabled him to master the Latin and Greek languages in the shortest pos- 
 sible time, and to comprehend and enjoy with peculiar zest the beauties 
 of the best ancient writers. He never lost his relish for Virgil, Horace, 
 Cicero, Xenophon, and Homer. He continued to attend the examinations 
 of academies arid colleges to enjoy the pleasure of renewed acquaintance 
 with his old favorites. And yet he was above the vanity of display, and 
 entirely free from pedantry. 
 
 Again : — 
 
 I was a member of Congress whilst Mr. Crawford was Secretary of the 
 Treasury, and had frequent opportunities of observing his singular capacity 
 for business, his contempt for pretences, his excellent memory, and the 
 sagacity which enabled him to bring into the service of his department 
 the best assistants which could be had for the performance of what was to 
 be done. Rascals received no countenance from him, and when he was 
 deceived he told them so and dismissed them. 
 
 The improper use of lobelia by Mr. Crawford for an attack of erysipelas, 
 through the advice of an unskilful physician, whilst he was temporarily 
 absent from Washington City, brought on paralysis, from which he never 
 entirely recovered. The electioneering for the Presidency was then going 
 on very actively. He was never sensible of the injurious eflFects of the 
 disease upon his mind, and refused to withdraw from the canvass. 
 
 Further : — 
 
 He made a better judge than seemed to be possible to those who were 
 familiar with his paralyzed state. His clear and conscientious sense of 
 right, and extraordinary recollection of what he had known in early life, 
 kept him in the straight course. 
 
 * The late William H. Torrance, of Milledgeyille, in November, 1833. Amono- 
 the gentlemen present besides Judge Crawford, the author recollects the late Judge 
 Strong, the late W. W. Gordon, Esq., and Col. Seaborn Jones. 
 
 f Georgians, p. 126, &c. 
 
WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 245 
 
 * 
 He was violently opposed to the nullification movement, considering it 
 but an ebullition excited by Mr. Calhoun's overleaping ambition. 
 
 In another place : — 
 
 He retained his social temper and admirable conversational talents to 
 the end of his life. He loved to tell anecdotes and told them well. He 
 saw the knob and made others feel it. He was a capital laugher, and cared 
 not a fig, when at his greatest elevation, for artificial dignity. He was as 
 afl'ectionate to his children as a father could be, loving them heartily and 
 learning them to treat him familiarly and confidingly. To his children, 
 friends, and neighbors, he was what they liked best and admired most. 
 
 The author regrets that he was unable to obtain as abundant 
 materials as he desireed, to do justice to the character of this 
 remarkable man ; but he has gathered up a few fragments which 
 he persuades himself will prove interesting to the public. While 
 on his way to the courts of his circuit, Judge Crawford died in 
 Elbert county, at the house of Mr. Valentine jNIeriwether, from a 
 disease of the heart, on the 15th day of September, 1834, in the 
 sixty-third year of his age. 
 
 While struggling to overcome the poverty of his youth, and just 
 as he was launching into professional success, Mr. Crawford mar- 
 ried Miss Gardine, with whom he lived in great happiness. She 
 and several children survived him. The Rev. Nathaniel M. Craw- 
 ford, late President of Mercer University, and William H. Crawford, 
 Esq., of Lee county, are sons of the Hon. William H. Crawford, — 
 worthy inheritors of an illustrious name. 
 
 NOTE TO THE MEMOIR. 
 
 The electoral votes given for President in 1824 were 261, of 
 of which Andrew Jdckson received 99 ; John Quincy Adams, 84 ; 
 William H. Crawford, 41 ; and Henry Clay, 37. Of the support 
 given to Mr. Crawford, 5 electoral votes were from the State of 
 New York ; 2 from Delaware ; 1 from Maryland ; 24 (all) from 
 Virginia ; and 9 (all) from Georgia. In the House of Representa- 
 tives Mr. Crawford received the votes of four States, — Delaware, 
 Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. 
 
 The following is a statement of votes cast by the Electoral Col- 
 lege of Georgia for President and Vice-President of the United 
 States, from 1788 to 1856 inclusive : — 
 
246 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 ELECTIONS rOK PRESIDENT. FOE VICB-PEESIDENT. VOTES. 
 
 {John Milton 2 
 James Armstrong 1 
 Edward Telfair 1 
 Benjamin Lincoln 1 — 5 
 
 1792. George Washington, George Clinton 4 
 
 1796. Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr 4 
 
 1800. Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr 4 
 
 1804. Thomas Jefferson, George Clinton 6 
 
 1808. James Madison, George Clinton 6 
 
 1812. James Madison, Elbridge Gerry 8 
 
 1816. James Monroe, Daniel D. Tompkins 8 
 
 1820. James Monroe, Daniel D. Tompkins 8 
 
 1824. William H. Crawford, Martin Van Buren 9 
 
 tono » J T 1 f William Smith ..7 
 
 1828. Andrew Jackson, ■ s -r i ^ ^ n an 
 
 I. John C. Calhoun 2 — » 
 
 1832. Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren 11 
 
 1836. Hugh L.White, John Tyler 11 
 
 1840. William H. Harrison, John Tyler 11 
 
 1844. James K.Polk, George M. Dallas 11 
 
 1848. Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore 11 
 
 1852, Franklin Pierce, William R. King 10 
 
 1856. James Buchanan, John C. Breckinridge 10 
 
 This table contains the names of two gentlemen who became 
 very bitter in their enmity toward each other, — Mr. Crawford and 
 Mr. Calhoun. Their feud originated in the Presidential canvass 
 of 1824, and was increased by the disclosures from Mr. Monroe's 
 Cabinet which led to the quarrel between President Jackson and 
 Vice-President Calhoun, and to the dissolution of the Cabinet in 
 1831. The details, or even an outline of this matter, to do all par- 
 ties justice, would occupy more space than a, memoir of this kind 
 would authorize. 
 
 When the Presidential election of 1824-25, took place. General 
 Lafayette was in the United States. He had been a warm per- 
 sonal friend of Mr. Crawford at Paris, and visited his sick-chamber 
 at Washington, sympathizing in his affliction and anxious to see 
 him in the place which the "Father of his country" dignified by 
 his example. Gen. Lafayette and Mr. Crawford both died in 
 1834. 
 
 The following paragraph is from the pen of the Hon. J. F. H. 
 Claiborne, formerly a Representative in Congress from Missis- 
 sippi : — 
 
WILLIAM CROCKER. 247 
 
 Mr. Crawford was a man of colossal statare and of massive intellect. In 
 astronomy or mathematics he would have been pre-eminent. No man in 
 this or any other country had a more thorough and orthodox knowledge 
 of political economy, and especially of finance. He spoke with great 
 cogency and wielded a luminous pen. A Virginian by birth and educa- 
 tion, he carried the political opinions of the renowned commonwealth into 
 Georgia, and, until he was stricken down by paralysis on the threshold of 
 the Presidency, she never wavered from the true Jeffersonian faith. Her 
 subsequent career has been one of inconsistency and error, until lately she 
 has taken her stand as the Empire State of Democracy, — great in her 
 resources, great in her moral and physical development, great in the ability 
 and reputation of her sons. 
 
 X. 
 WILLIAM CROCKER. 
 
 This work of biography is not confined to men of the greatest- 
 professional eminence, who attained office and honors as the reward 
 of their talents. Many such are included. There is another class 
 equally entitled to praise, — the laborious, faithful, and upright, 
 who leave the impress of their virtues upon the community in 
 which they acted their parts, — men who discharged all trusts with 
 fidelity, and deported themselves with courtesy to the bench and 
 to their professional brethren. It has rarely been permitted any 
 individual who pursues the law to excel in all its branches. A 
 man may be a good draftsman and conveyancer, and also a safe 
 adviser on legal questions, yet not flippant of tongue, for want of 
 self-confidence. He may investigate deeply and closely, preparing 
 cases in the most complete manner, and yet be unable to argue 
 them cogently before the court or jury. He may be a skilful 
 equity pleader, a master of equity practice, and still deficient in 
 the principles and proceedings at law, where the rules of interpre- 
 tation and the logic of the judges are so variant in the English 
 and American courts that confusion instead of certainty is often 
 the result of patient investigation, — a tangled web which requires 
 the vigor of a Mansfield to cut by the merits of each case as pre- 
 sented. Analogy is good, and precedent will answer when the 
 reasoning applies, — no further. Though knotty questions are fre- 
 quent and perplexing, yet their solution is often as much a plea- 
 
248 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOEGIA. 
 
 sure to the mind as victory in a cause. This, however, by way of 
 prelude. 
 
 His friends never claimed for him qualities at the bar other than 
 sound judgment and unquestionable integrity, and to these Wil- 
 liam Ckocker had perfect title. He was born in Virginia, Sep- 
 tember 1, 1777, and in early manhood came to Georgia, first 
 settling in Wilkes county, where he taught school several years, 
 and married Miss Mary Long, one of whose sisters was the wife of 
 Elijah Clark, brother of Gov. Clark. He afterward read law 
 under Judge Early, and, removing to Watkinsville, he was admitted 
 to the bar in 1810, at a term of the Superior Court of Clark 
 county, of which the Hon. Thomas P. Carnes was the presiding 
 judge. The father of Mrs. Crocker was Evans Long, of Wilkes 
 county, an officer in the American Revolution. 
 
 In the mean time Mr. Crocker had undertaken the mercantile 
 business, which, in a year or two, proved unfortunate. He then 
 resumed his former occupation as a teacher, at which he remained 
 but a short time ; for in November, 1810, he removed to Twiggs 
 county, where his pecuniary troubles soon ended. He gradually 
 obtained a good practice, much of it commercial paper, and in 
 eight or ten years his march to prosperity was quite rapid. From 
 1811 to 1815 the old dockets show that Moses Fort, the brothers 
 Stephen Willis Harris and Thomas W. Harris, Eli S. Shorter, 
 Robert Rutherford, Bedney Franklin, Seaborn Jones, Thomas 
 
 Fitch, Christopher B. Strong, Adam G. Saffold, Donoho, and , 
 
 James S. Frierson, were regular practitioners in Twiggs Superior 
 Court, and from 1815 to 1825, besides these, other lawyers 
 attended, among whom were James Smith, Samuel Rockwell, 
 
 Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Joel Crawford, Hepburn, Moffett, 
 
 (the two latter killed in duels,) Burch, John H. Howard, 
 
 Albert G. Clopton, Charles J. McDonald, William H. Torrance, 
 Alfred Iverson, Charles Fenton Mercer Betton, Samuel Lowther,- 
 Zachariah B. Hargrove, Thaddeus G. Holt, Robert Augustus 
 Beall, Samuel Gainer, Robert L. Ferryman, Robert A. Evans, &c., 
 —the six latter being resident attorneys of Marion, the county- 
 site. This period of fifteen years embraces the practice which was 
 most profitable to Mr. Crocker. 
 
 The largest number of suits he ever brought to one term was in 
 the spring of 1820, of Twiggs Superior Court. Of the five hun- 
 dred placed on docket by all the members of the bar, two hundred 
 were returned by Mr. Crocker, and the dockets show that he was 
 concerned in the defence of about two hundred more, making four 
 
WILLIAM CROCKER. 249 
 
 hundred cases requiring his personal attention at the same term of 
 the court. Besides his commissions for collecting, and the stipu- 
 lated fees for defending, the tax-fee of four dollars in each case 
 where he prevailed was quite an object, — of which the profession 
 is now deprived. 
 
 In future the title of major will be applied, as he was known by 
 that distinction when the author first became acquainted with 
 Major Crocker, in November, 1824. He had formerly belonged 
 to the staff of Major-General Ezekiel Wimberly as judge-advocate, 
 with the privilege of wearing a rich uniform equal to that of his 
 chief, except the two stars on the golden epaulettes of the latter. 
 This office was next held by the eldest son* of Major Crocker, who 
 removing out of the division, it was conferred upon the author by 
 the same noble-hearted patron. This privity of rank will excuse 
 the introduction of matter here^which is connected with the sword 
 worn by the judge-advocate, and which veritable sword is now to 
 be followed a Avhile in a curious direction. 
 
 In March, 1825, while General Lafayette was making his trium- 
 phal tour through the Southern States, a company was formed, 
 called the "Lafayette Volunteers," of which John G. Slappey was 
 elected captain, Theophilus M. Chamberlain first, Hamilton R. 
 Dupree second, and Francis W. Jobson third lieutenant, and the 
 author was appointed orderly-sergeant. The other subordinates 
 he does not recollect, as the muster-roll is not at hand to refresh 
 his memory. This corps adopted a cheap uniform, and, with drum 
 and fife, and a beautifully-painted white silk flag, presented by the 
 ladies, it took up the line of march for Milledgeville, having as a 
 much-venerated charge three Revolutionary soldiers, Fathers Wil- 
 liam Duffel, John Shine, and Charles Raley, in a conveyance pro- 
 vided for the occasion. When the troops reached Marion from 
 Tarversville they halted an hour or two, in which time the orderly- 
 sergeant availed himself of the courtesy of a friendf to obtain a 
 Bword to render him more worthy of respect in his official charac- 
 ter. That sword belonged to Major William Crocker, and was 
 Boon destined to figure in a scene fully as romantic, in a military 
 point of view, as any that this poor world ever afforded. Some 
 particulars touching the reception of Gen. Lafayette, the public 
 dinner on Capitol Square, and a few other incidents, will be first 
 given. 
 
 * Elijah E. Crocker, Esq. 
 
 f John L. Jones, Esq., now of the city of Macon. 
 
250 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The Lafayette Volunteers had reached a hill near Fishing Creek, 
 within sight of Milledgeville, when the roar of cannon announced 
 the arrival of Gen. Lafayette. An express was sent to tender our 
 command to the marshal in the ceremonies of reception. The 
 reply was that the great reception and review would be the next 
 day, at 10 o'clock, when our presence would be very acceptable. 
 This was in the afternoon. "Wishing to show ourselves, and to get 
 a glimpse of the "Nation's Guest," we marched into the town and 
 halted opposite the Government House, where General Lafayette 
 was quartered. Our captain went in and was introduced by Gov. 
 Troup; then the captain introduced the three 'Revolutionary vete- 
 rans to Gen. Lafayette, who, on seeing Father Duffel, cordially 
 embraced him, saying, " I remember you, — I remember you well. 
 You were one of my body-guard, and helped carry me from the 
 field when I was wounded at Brandywine. I am happy to see 
 you, — very glad to see you," or words to that effect. (Father 
 Duffel had previously told us 'of this service he rendered the 
 "marquis," as he called him.) The grateful meeting over, the 
 company returned to camp, first conducting our aged friends to 
 the boarding-house of Captain Solomon Betton, where they and 
 the officers took lodging. 
 
 Early the next morning all was life and motion. Before the 
 appointed hour, some eight or ten military companies, from Wilkin- 
 son, Hancock, Jones, and the adjoining counties, were to be seen 
 marching to the review-ground. The Lafayette Volunteers, from 
 Twiggs, had paraded two or three principal streets with music and 
 banner, when the intendant, Peter F. Jaillett, Esq., came out of 
 his house and saluted our flag. We halted and returned the proper 
 civilities. He expressed his admiration of our beautiful flag and 
 bade us welcome to the city. 
 
 In a short time the marshals of the day, John S. Thomas, Reva- 
 reus L. Buchanan, and one or two others, mounted on elegant 
 chargers, with sword and sash and rosettes gracing their persons, 
 and with baton in hand, dashing in all directions, made known the 
 order of the day. The several companies took the positions as- 
 signed them, all under the chief command of Major-General Daniel 
 Newnan, who, with his military boots and rich uniform, made 
 quite a splendid appearance. Captain Scott, of the Baldwin 
 Cavalry, was the next flgure that attracted special notice. 
 
 The line being formed two deep, stretching several hundred 
 yards, the cannon at the arsenal began to thunder, when a fine 
 barouche, drawn by four horses, was seen advancing up the line in 
 
WILLIAM CROCKER. 251 
 
 front, Tvitt Governor Troup, and Gen. Lafayette seated on his 
 right. The major-general and other officers entitled to the privi- 
 lege presented swords in salutation of the "Xation's Guest." The 
 author has a very distinct recollection of the physiognomy, the 
 beaming smile, of Gen. Lafayette, as he sat in the barouche with 
 his hat off, bowing as he passed the different companies and as the 
 standards waved a salute. That was a proud demonstration of 
 gratitude, and the illustrious man to whom it was given felt it, as 
 his glistening eye and rapt coimtenance clearly revealed. What 
 other movements, if any, took place, the author cannot, after a 
 lapse of more than thirty years, undertake to say. He believes 
 nothing else was done after the review closed until dinner. 
 
 Two tables, about one hundred yards long each, with cross-tables 
 of fifty feet at the ends, were covered with barbecue, roast-beef, 
 bread, and other edibles for the military. At the upper end, in 
 the centre, Gen. Lafayette was placed, with Gov. Troup on one side, 
 and his aid, Col. Seaborn Jones, (the master of ceremonies,) on the 
 other side of the ''Nation's Guest." Gov. Troup's staff, including 
 Col. Henry G. Lamar, Col. Samuel A. Bailey, Col. Telverton P. 
 King, Col. John 'SX. A. Sanford, Col. Samuel T. Bailey, and per- 
 haps others, were arranged at the same end of the table, all taking 
 part in the administration of order, in the observance of proper 
 etiquette, and some of them in reading the regular toasts prepared 
 by the committee of arrangements. The band of music was a few 
 steps in the oblong square formed by the tables. It played when- 
 ever Col. Jones waved his hand as a signal. The author was some 
 thirty paces from Gen. Lafayette, but within good seeing and 
 hearing distance. George Washington Lafayette, the son of the 
 general, was pointed out. His bald head and the wig of his father 
 gave the latter the advantage in youthful appearance. Col. Lavou- 
 sier, the private secretary of the general, who was also present, 
 the author could not identify. There was quite an array of public 
 characters, of men known in the history of Georgia, — among them 
 Gen. John Clark, formerly Governor and again a candidate. 
 
 The appetite being satisfied with strong meat, next came the 
 wine, bottles of which, with wineglasses, were distributed on the 
 tables so that every one could have a share. Then proclamation 
 was made by Col. Jones : — " Gentlemen, fill your glasses for a toast 
 from Gen. Lafayette." The obedience was prompt. Not a growl 
 was heard, not a frown was seen, at the command : like good 
 soldiers, every man did his duty. The "Apostle of Liberty," the 
 companion and bosom-friend of Washington, rose to his feet, and, 
 
252 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 in broken English which all heard with delight, he gave, " The 
 G-eorgia Volunteers: the worthy sons of my Revolutionary breth- 
 ren." Cheer after cheer resounded, the music struck "Hail to 
 the Chief," the cannon uttered its loud rejoicing, and soon all was 
 again quiet. "Prepare for a toast from Gov. Troup," was the 
 next order. With solemn and distinct enunciation, that Julius 
 Caesar of a chief-magistrate gave forth, "A union of all hearts to 
 honor the Nation's Guest, — a union of all heads for our country's 
 good." Again the air was rent with cheers, the band executed a 
 national march, and the cannon fairly jarred the square. The 
 next order was to prepare for a toast from Gen. Clark. Until 
 then the author had never seen this celebrated leader of a party. 
 A tall, bony man, with an open, honest face,'rose at table, and, 
 with a shrill voice, gave " Count Pulaski : the gallant Frenchman 
 who fell at Savannah." We all emptied our glasses in honor of 
 Gen. Clark and his French count as though history had not been 
 contradicted by the sentiment. Gen. Lafayette must have esteemed 
 it a special compliment to himself for such renown to be transferred 
 to his own country in presence of such a multitude of witnesses. 
 Whether the mistake was accidental or otherwise, it did not detract 
 in the smallest degree from the valor or integrity of Gen. Clark. 
 At most it only signified that his youth was spent in fighting the 
 battles of his country instead of being enervated within the walls 
 of a college. 
 
 While the exercises at table were going on merrily, two occur- 
 rences near by created considerable excitement. One was the 
 sudden swooning of Major James Smith, of Clinton, on discovering 
 that he had been robbed of his pocket-book, containing between 
 four and five thousand dollars in money : the other was more 
 dreadful, because human life was the sacrifice. It appears that 
 the man who loaded the cannon had got his shirt-sleeve on fire 
 without knowing it, and, when he put his hand into the large box 
 among the cartridges for another round, fire was communicated, 
 and the whole lump — not less than twenty or thirty pounds of 
 powder — instantly exploded, blowing him several feet up into the 
 air and severely wounding two others connected with the cannon. 
 There was a general rush of people to the spot. Never can the 
 author forget the appearance of the poor man most injured. His 
 face, breast, and arms were burnt into a black cinder. His agony 
 was inexpressible. In a day or two he died. The others recovered 
 after much suffering. This melancholy affair created a painful sen- 
 sation in the crowd, and perhaps hastened the close of the festivities. 
 
WILLIAM CROCKEE. 253 
 
 It should be remembered that before the military companies 
 retired from the square they were formed into line, when Gen. 
 Lafayette, leaning on the arm of Gov. Troup, walked along (a little 
 lame) and shook hands with every man, — officer and private, — 
 Col. Jones officiating in the introduction. The author was men- 
 tioned to him as Sergeant M , and the response was, " Sergeant 
 
 M , I am very glad to see you." This joy was expressed to 
 
 all, and was more than reciprocated by all the volunteers. The 
 hand of Gen. Lafayette had been grasped : that was glory enough 
 then. It is still pleasant to remember ; but thirty years of hard- 
 ship in the camp of life have rather tended to prove, to the author 
 at least, that glory is not communicated in so easy and simple a 
 manner. 
 
 The main incident is now approaching. A splendid military 
 ball was given in the Capitol that night, in honor of Gen. La- 
 fayette. The author attended, duly equipped with sword: it 
 looked official. The Kepresentative and Senate Chambers were 
 stripped of all furniture and formed into dancing-saloons. The 
 company was indeed gorgeous. Epaulettes, swords, sashes, and 
 other war-trappings looked terribly beautiful. And then the 
 matchless array of ladies, skimming in the dance like fairies, — 
 many of them. There was a full band of music in the gallery of 
 each hall. Every thing had a classic air, particularly the generals 
 and sergeants, — the latter claiming equality, at least for a few 
 hours, in the republic of amusement formed by a junction of France 
 and the United States for a limited period. That republic of social 
 enjoyment was plain enough to interest great minds, and yet so 
 magnificent that the feeble were astonished, — not excepting the 
 orderly-sergeant of the Lafayette Volunteers. Now to the finale. 
 
 Capt. Slappey, accosting the orderly in the ball-room, despatched 
 him to head-quarters with a polite request to the first lieutenant to 
 send the flag of the company, to be displayed as the Committee of 
 Arrangements might direct, they having expressed a desire to have 
 it for the occasion. But, before the plot thickens beyond explana- 
 tion, let it be here said that the flag was of pure white silk, very 
 ample in its dimensions, with an eagle tastefully painted on one 
 side, with the arrows and olive-branch in his talons, like other 
 patriotic eagles, and a scroll in his beak inscribed " The Nation's 
 Guest," and below this bird of Jove, "Welcome Lafayette." On 
 the reverse side was a pile of cannon-balls, guarded by a large 
 rattlesnake in coil, with uplifted head, flaming eyes, and darting 
 tongue. The picture looked dangerous indeed. But, to relieve the 
 
254 EEXCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 mind of the beholder, the word "Liberty" appeared in blazing 
 characters above the snake. With such protection, all knew that 
 " liberty" was safe. And then, to make it doubly secure, the name 
 of the company was painted below the balls and the serpent : — 
 " Lafayette Volunteers, Twiggs county, 1825." Such was the flag ; 
 and now the following : — 
 
 The sergeant, with a touch of his hat, delivered the captain's 
 message to the lieutenant. To account for the rigid punctilio of 
 the latter, be it known that he was an Englishman, formerly purser 
 in the British navy, and had great fondness for rank and cere- 
 mony. Instead of ordering Ensign Walton to bear the flag, or 
 intrusting it to the supposed fidelity of the sergeant, to be conveyed 
 to the captain, the lieutenant declared that, as he was second in 
 command, and the flag an emblem of honor which especially 
 devolved on him, he would carry it in person to the ball-room. 
 He took the standard in his hands, neatly folded the silk and 
 secured it by the cords pendent, and then rushed out with the 
 sergeant as an armed escort. Arriving at the door, he attempted 
 to pass in, when he was stopped by the doorkeeper and his ticket 
 demanded. " Ticket, sir ? No ticket, sir, on public duty," 
 shouted the lieutenant, in a voice of command. The doorkeeper 
 mildly replied, " I have orders to admit no person whatever without 
 a ticket. From the major-general down, all have to present tickets 
 to be admitted." " Well, sir, we'll see about that," sternly rejoined 
 the lieutenant. Then turning to the sergeant, he said, sharply, " Do 
 
 you allow this, Sergeant M ? Where is your sword ? what do 
 
 you wear it for but to protect the honor of your flag ? Cut down 
 this insolent doorkeeper at once and proceed to your captain. 
 Never let it be said that your flag was insulted and you did not 
 protect it at all hazards." The poor sergeant protested, "I respect 
 your authority. Lieutenant Chamberlain, and know that it is my 
 duty to obey orders ; but you should reflect that the doorkeeper 
 also has orders which it would be wrong in us to force him to 
 violate. We should rather commend than blame him for his firm- 
 ness. I must decline using my sword against him." The retort 
 was, "No argument, sir, no argument: there is principle in this 
 matter above your conception, and I will maintain it to the last." 
 Leaving the lieutenant with the flag at the door, the sergeant passed 
 in and stated the difficulty to the captain, who sought Col. Trip- 
 lett, one of the managers. They came to the door, and, after 
 soothing explanations were made, the flag was committed to the 
 custody of the captain, and by him transferred to the managers. 
 
WILLIAM CKOCKER. 255 
 
 In the mean time the lieutenant declared his intention of ivatch- 
 ing that flag all night, if necessary, until it was restored to his 
 hands ; and, to enable him to do so, the sergeant procured a ticket 
 for his superior, who had placed ten dollars in his hand for the 
 purpose, — that being the price of each ticket to the ball-room. 
 When it ■was presented by the furious lieutenant, the doorkeeper, 
 with a look of triumph and respect, said, " Xow, sir, you may pass 
 in." The lieutenant immediately hunted up his flag, and saw it 
 streaming proudly from the gallery of the Representative-Chamber, 
 a hundred eyes gazing with admiration on the rich material and 
 the expressive devices upon it, — even Gen. Lafayette smiling as he 
 looked upon it, saying handsome words to Captain Slappey. The 
 lieutenant soon made his way to the gallery, where he sat hour after 
 hour at the end of the flag-staff, guarding his treasure. He did not 
 appear at the supper-table, nor was he seen in the dance or among 
 the spectators below. The sergeant left the scene at twelve o'clock, 
 his parting glance resting on his gallant superior whose peremp- 
 tory order he had ventured to disobey at the door. An hour before 
 day the lieutenant returned to Captain Betton's with the flag safe 
 and sound, muttering about " Stupid set," "We'll see who is right," 
 and other short phrases which the half-awake sleepers did not com- 
 prehend. No court-martial arraigned the sergeant for disobedience 
 of orders. He took the responsibility for once, — whether from want 
 of nerve to execute the command, or from good sense to evade it, 
 does not become the author to say. The lieutenant died within 
 two years afterward, a rigid disciplinarian, — intelligent, fearless, 
 but unhappy, to the last. The adventure has been poorly related, 
 and must take its chances for favor or contempt. 
 
 Before the sword which has led to all this digression is returned 
 to its rightful owner, a few words more of the expedition will be 
 pardoned. 
 
 While at Captain Betton's, enjoying his tind attentions and 
 those of his refined lady, (a sister of General Charles F. Mercer, 
 of Virginia,) the author saw Col. H. G. Lamar ride up in the uni- 
 form of an aide-de-camp, and heard him request Captain Betton to 
 make out his bill for the board of the Revolutionary soldiers whom 
 he had entertained and send it to the Governor for payment by 
 the State. The good old veterans were deeply sensible of this 
 liberality ; and their trip to MUledgeville, with so many pleasant 
 things to remember, was among the few green spots in their pil- 
 grimage to the tomb. 
 
 On marching homeward, the company was supplied with refresh- 
 
256 BENCH AND BAR OF QEORSIA. 
 
 ments as they passed Dr. Williamson's splendid mansion (formerly 
 Robert Rutherford's) within a mile or two of Milledgeville ; and 
 again, a few miles farther, when opposite Gen. Clark's residence, 
 another favor of the same kind was experienced : Gen. Clark him- 
 self came to the road and conversed familiarly with the officers and 
 men, (about eighty in all,) most of whom received a personal intro- 
 duction to him. This was the last time the author saw Governor 
 John Clark, — a man so conspicuous in the political history of 
 Georgia. 
 
 Nothing special occurred until the company reached Meriwether's 
 store, within four miles of Marion. There they saw a large col- 
 lection of persons, many of whom were intoxicated and disposed to 
 quarrel. Robert L. Ferryman, the lawyer, had just been seriously 
 stabbed in the abdomen, and was lying in a room near the store. 
 While Ensign Walton was in the act of mounting his horse, with 
 the standard of colors in his hand, the horse took fright; and, 
 holding on to the standard, the ensign became entangled in it, was 
 thrown, and had his under lip and chin severely gashed. Dr. 
 Slappey, (our captain,) an excellent surgeon, sewed up the wound, 
 put on straps of adhesive plaster, and we continued our march, the 
 ensign along with us. As we passed the house of Archibald 
 Mclntyre, Esq., (the old clerk of the Superior Court,) a signal-gun 
 was fired from his piazza, and soon he was in our midst, talking in 
 his lively Scotch style, praising our soldierly appearance, and 
 treating us to very substantial refreshments. A mile farther, the 
 sword was returned to Major Crocker, with many thanks. And, 
 if the incidents grouped in this narrative touching the Lafayette 
 campaign possess any interest, that sword is entitled to the praise, 
 whilst the orderly-sergeant bids the reader farewell. 
 
 There were two resident members of the bar, at one time part- 
 ners in the practice, with whom Major Crocker came frequently in 
 contact, — Col. Moses Fort and Robert A. Evans, Esq. Col. Fort 
 had been many years elected to the Legislature from Twiggs 
 county, — was a man of extensive reading, of strong, discriminating 
 mind, and quite an agreeable speaker. He was by no means fond 
 of office-labor, and much preferred fishing and hunting to drudgery 
 of any kind. He also had a decided propensity to his bottle ; and 
 that was the only objection to him. He was a kind-hearted man 
 and always ready to aid persons in distress. Still, owing to his 
 habits of intemperance, he wielded no great influence in his profes- 
 sion. In 1825, he was again elected to the Legislature but, ascer- 
 taining that the Clark party, to which he belonged, had a majority 
 
WILLIAM CROCKEK. 257 
 
 on joint-ballot, he resigned his seat mthin twenty days from the 
 election, so as to become a candidate, and was elected Judge of the 
 Superior Court of the Southern circuit. His old habits still clung 
 to him, and he was often seen intoxicated on the bench. For some 
 decisions he made in the great case of A. B. Ridley and wife 
 against Joseph Blackshear, executor of Elijah Blackshear, de- 
 ceased, in Laurens, Col. Blackshear preferred articles of impeach- 
 ment against him at the session of the Legislature in 1827. A 
 committee heard evidence, made a report, and recommended his 
 removal from ofBce by an address to the Governor. A majority 
 of two-thirds in the House of Representatives sustained the report ; 
 but, the Constitution also requiring two-thirds in the Senate, the 
 measure was lost in that body, although having an actual majority. 
 
 Judge Fort served out his term of ofSce in a somewhat improved 
 manner after his escape from the Legislature. He was highly 
 gifted, had nice sensibilities, and threw a flood of light upon any 
 subject of conversation, la the language of a gentleman* well 
 qualified to form an opinion, " Judge Fort in his best days was not 
 even the shadow of what he might have been." Several years after 
 his judicial term expired, he removed to Midway, where he died. 
 He was a brother of Dr. Owen C. Fort, who died in 1829, and also 
 of Dr. Tomlinson Fort, of MilledgeviUe. Their father, Arthur 
 Fort, was a signer of the Constitution of Georgia in 1798. 
 
 The other individual, Robert Addis Evans, was a rare curiosity. 
 He was a native of South Carolina. His education was fair, and 
 his mind of a subtle, penetrating order, capable of mastering the 
 first principles of any science ; and yet he applied himself to nothing 
 useful or permanent. He read Tom Jones and the Bible with the 
 same desire of truth, played the fiddle, and then talked profoundly 
 about the decrees of fate, abused all mankind one day as a worth- 
 less pack, and the next day would give his last coat to a beggar. 
 Hia mental and moral organization varied from that of other men. 
 For a few hours he would take up a treatise on mental philosophy, 
 and discourse on the wonders of the human intellect, upon the 
 goodness of the Almighty in adapting it to all conditions and pur- 
 suits. Again he would declare that all matter came by chance : 
 there was no Supreme Agent to form or control it ; that man would 
 perish as the brute, and it was ridiculous to say that he had a soul, 
 a principle or substance within him that could never die; an 
 existence after death was nothing less than self-contradiction, and 
 
 * Dr. Ira E. Dupree. 
 Vol. L— 17 
 
258 BESCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 ■was fit only to soothe weak people. At another time, man was a 
 noble being, full of the divine nature, immortal, and bound by 
 every obligation to love and reverence his Creator. Life was a 
 state of trial to develop faith, to inspire virtue by constant tempta- 
 tions and the peace self-conquest afforded. 
 
 And in the social relations he was equally capricious, — to-day 
 unfolding a happy scheme for the future of a young friend, advising 
 kindly, throwing business in his way, guarding him with a parent's 
 solicitude, and pledging eternal fidelity; the next week all was 
 changed : bitterness and disgust filled his soul and gushed from his 
 lips whenever that young friend was mentioned : he was a simple- 
 ton, had not a ray of intellect, was wanting in courage, and would 
 soon be given up by his relations in despair. 
 
 Then, as to the law, it was the great machine that wove happi- 
 ness for mankind, adjusting their rights and securing equality and 
 repose to all classes. It was reason personified, — a system of great 
 and just principles, abstruse enough to tax the loftiest minds and 
 yet so simple that all might see and admire its rules. At the next 
 interview, the whole civil administration ought to be cast into the 
 sea. It was a miserable cheat : there was no uniformity, no tnith, 
 in it. The crude ideas of judges who had neither sense nor con- 
 sistency formed the substratum of the common law; and the 
 statutes were known to be the work of the most consummately stupid 
 portion of mankind. Look at A, B, and C, in your Legislature, 
 who cannot tell whether Julius Caesar lived before or after the 
 Mood, or whether Sir Isaac Newton did not discover the planets 
 from Noah's ark, or whether Columbus was not killed in a duel by 
 Aaron Burr. Blackstone laughs at this idea of men passing new 
 laws who do not understand the provisions of the old. A few self- 
 conceited demagogues and upstarts in the legal profession prepare 
 bills, and then, hy the aid of thege legislators, who do not know the 
 difference between civil and criminal process, vote them into statutes 
 binding on the people at large ! Such nonsense is insufferable ! 
 
 As the mood would strike him, the Legislature and the courts 
 of Georgia were the most enlightened in the Union. Look at our 
 judiciary system : it was a master-piece of wisdom and justice. 
 Every thing started right, and there has been regular improvement 
 since. Thus would he discourse, extolling a measure or an indi- 
 vidual one day, and the next day he would demolish both by the 
 caustic inflictions of his tongue. No one understood his mind, his 
 heart, or his affairs. He was a strange compound, and died, as he 
 lived, in perfect mystery. 
 
WILLIAM CROCKEK. 259 
 
 Nor should a third gentleman be forgotten, who died much earlier. 
 Soon after the battle of New Orleans, such was his admiration of 
 the hero, that Robert L. Ferryman ^Tote and published, in pam- 
 phlet form, " The Life and Public Services of Major- General Andrew 
 Jackson." The whole was summed up by a declaration of the fact, 
 which other historians have omitted to notice, that at the battle of 
 the 8th of January, 1815, "the British took to their heels and 
 sneaked off like egg-sucking curs!" 
 
 These were competitors of Major Crocker at the bar of Marion. 
 A few besides might be mentioned, some now dead, and others 
 living, were it necessary for any special reason. One* of them 
 has a place in this work who always held Major Crocker in the 
 highest esteem. 
 
 The property of Major Crocker had increased to a large estate, 
 which enabled him to give liberally to his children as they settled 
 in life. He was a prudent manager, even to the most rigid economy, 
 yet provided a good education for his sons and daughters, and 
 whatever was necessary to support their position in society. All 
 of them formed advantageous matrimonial connections. One of 
 his daughters, Lucy, married Samuel WiUiams, late of Stewart 
 county ; another, Mary, married Allen Belsher, after whose death 
 she intermarried with Tomlinson Fort, late of Stewart; and the 
 youngest, Frances, married James Solomon, and several years 
 after his death she became the wife of Hugh L. Dennard, of 
 Houston county. The daughters are still living, aU of whom have 
 grandchildren. The sons of Major Crocker are Elijah Evans 
 Crocker, who resides near the old homestead. Dr. William N. L. 
 Crocker, of Macon county, formerly a Senator in the Legislature, 
 and Peter Early Crocker, yet of Twiggs county. 
 
 In person, Major Crocker was of the ordinary size, well formed, 
 had blue eyes, fresh complexion, and a round, well-developed fore- 
 head. He was very plain in his manners, which resembled those 
 of a farmer, and was quite a favorite among the people, who honored 
 him the more for his quiet, social deportment. He died at his 
 residence near Marion, Twiggs county, June 22, 1835, at the age 
 of fifty-eight years. 
 
 * R. A. BeaU. 
 
XL 
 
 WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 
 
 It is often the case that a man possesses a high character and 
 great inflaencein his own State without heing known elsewhere,— 
 without any reputation which might he called national. Many 
 such men are to he found, equal in merit to the more fortunate,— if to 
 be known in a wider sphere in the annals of the Government be 
 indeed superior fortune. The subject of this memoir filled a large 
 space in the public eye at home and abroad; and it is the design 
 of the author to produce testimony of the fact, as well as to 
 exhibit the individual qualities of WiLLIAM C. DawsON, whose 
 memory is dear to the people of Georgia. 
 
 An extract of a letter received from a gentleman* well known 
 and appreciated for his public services and private worth will be 
 first introduced: — 
 
 You ask me for some of the leading incidents in the life and character 
 of the lamented Judge Dawson; and you are right in supposing that I 
 was intimately acquainted with him and could impart the desired in- 
 formation. I knew him well : we were born in the same county, and in 
 the same neighborhood. We received the first rudiments of our educa- 
 tion at the same school. He was my playmate in boyhood, my companion 
 in manhood, and my co-partner in the practice of the law for many years. 
 Judge Dawson was born January 4, 1798, in Greene county, and died 
 May 5, 1856, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. 
 
 He was graduated at Franklin College about the year 1816. Soon after 
 leaving college, he entered the law-office of Judge Thomas W. Cobb, with 
 whom he commenced the study of the law. He afterward attended the 
 Law-School at Litchfield, Connecticut, and there completed his law 
 studies, — ^was admitted to the bar and settled in Greensboro' about the 
 year 1818. Very soon he won for himself a high reputation as an advo- 
 cate. In fact, he was considered one of the best jury-lawyers at the 
 Ocmulgee bar. He possessed the rare faculty of bringing his auditors 
 into the ideal presence of every scene. 
 
 He was Clerk of the House of Kepresentatives of Georgia for about 
 twelve years, and this post he held during a time of great party excite- 
 ment. Often during that period there was a majority against him : yet 
 he was elected, such was his personal popularity. He was several times 
 elected a Senator and Representative from Greene county in the State 
 
 » Col. Tolverton P. King, long a member of the Legislfttnre of Georgia, and late 
 Chargd d' Affaires to Central America. 
 260 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 261 
 
 Legislature, and subsequently a Representative and Senator in Congress. 
 At tbe time of his death, he was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of 
 Georgia. 
 
 Thus, you perceive, he was often honored; and, I will add, he was 
 always faithful. As a friend, they to whom he was attached will bear 
 testimony that no human being ever more faithfully cherished and per- 
 formed the duties of that relation; and those who had a right to regard 
 him as such knew, absent or present, that he never was found wanting in 
 readiness, fidelity, and zeal. The eloquent tribute inscribed by the poet 
 on the monument of his friend can most truly be applied to Judge 
 Dawson : — 
 
 "Ennobled by himself, by all approved, 
 Praised, wept, and honor'd by the friends he loved." 
 
 His manners were easy and prepossessing, his conversation various and 
 gay. He was the life and soul of every company; and you truly said 
 that he "never permitted any one to be dejected in his presence." To 
 sum up all. Judge Dawson possessed all those attributes which constitute 
 a generous, magnanimous, and high-minded gentleman. 
 
 An event in the life of Mr. Dawson which greatly contributed 
 to his success and felicity was his intermarriage with Miss Hen- 
 rietta M. Wingfield, daughter of Dr. Thomas Wingfield. This lady 
 possessed qualities of mind and heart, united with rare cultivation 
 and refinement, which made her society a constant charm and 
 gave home its sweetest attractions. 
 
 To those old enough to remember the contest between Col. 
 George M. Troup and Gen. John Clark, sustained by personal 
 competition for the State Executive, — first by the defeat of Col. 
 Troup in 1821, then his election by the Legislature in 1823, and 
 finally the seal of favor he received at the ballot-box in 1825, when 
 the people of Georgia for the first time were authorized to vote for 
 Governor, — ^it is unnecessary to state that Mr. Dawson was an active 
 supporter of Col. Troup and his measures. The Indian treaty of 
 1825, which arrayed Gov. Troup and President Adams on opposite 
 sides, was triumphantly maintained by the wisdom and firmness of 
 Gov. Troup, in the face of a high military commission of which 
 Major-General Edmund Pendleton Gaines was the head. A few 
 passages from the correspondence on that occasion appear else- 
 where in this work.* This controversy gave rise to the State- 
 Rights party of Georgia, which received more or less organization 
 in 1833, as may be seen in another memoir.f On several issues 
 the party lines were established. Although there was some diver- 
 sity of action relative to the writs of error granted by the Supreme 
 
 * Memoir of William H. Torrance. 
 J Memoir of Piobert Augustas Beall. 
 
262 BEXCH AND BAR OF GEOKGIA. 
 
 Court of the United States to control the criminal jurisdiction of 
 Georgia within the territory occupied by the Cherokees, both par- 
 ties agreed in the most essential thing— to resist by force, if neces- 
 sary; and the only dispute was, or appeared to be, as to the phrase- 
 ology which should be employed. 
 
 The facts were briefly these. James Graves, a Cherokee Indian, 
 had been convicted of murder and sentence of death passed on 
 him in Murray Superior Court, in 1834. The offence was com- 
 mitted in the Creek nation, which claimed to be an independent 
 power. Counsel applied to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, and obtained a mandate from one of the judges to carry 
 up the record and to stay execution of the sentence, — serving the 
 Governor and Attorney-General of the State with notice of such 
 proceedings. The Executive laid the whole subject before the 
 Legislature, which was referred to the Committee on the State of 
 the Republic, of which Mr. Dawson was a member. As a substi- 
 tute to the report of a majority of the committee, Mr. Dawson 
 offered the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 in his 
 minority report, — which was rejected by a vote of 26 to 51. His 
 speech on the occasion was reported in the Times and State-Rights 
 Advocate, a paper then published at Milledgeville, and edited by 
 a gentleman* who has since acquired considerable reputation as a 
 jurist as well as for profound research in almost every branch of 
 human knowledge. From the Times of November 18, 1834, the 
 following is extracted : — 
 
 The report and resolutions of the majority of the committee on the 
 state of the Eepublic, and the counter-report of the minority, being the 
 special order of the day, and both having been read, — 
 
 Mr. Dawson moved that the Senate adopt the report of the minority in 
 substitution of that presented by the majority. 
 
 Mr. Wofford expressed a wLsh that before a vote was taken the gentle- 
 man would favor the Senate with his reasons in favor of the substitute. 
 
 Mr. Dawson then rose and addressed the Senate as follows : — 
 
 Mr. President : — In compliance with the appeal made to me by the 
 honorable Senator from Habersham, I will attempt, as briefly as the sub- 
 ject will admit, to state the reasons why I prefer the substitute to the 
 original report and resolutions. It is, sir, undeniable that the substitute 
 offered by myself in behalf of, and under the direction of, the minority of 
 the committee, contains principles of more importance to this country, 
 and involving more the welfare and happiness of its people, than any other 
 subject which could arise. They are the principles which distinguish 
 the two great parties now prevailing in the State of Georgia, as well as 
 throughout the whole of this great Confederacy. Since I arrived at years 
 of discretion, and became acquainted with political characters and princi- 
 
 » WiUiam S. Kockwell, Esq. 
 
WILLIAM- C. DAWSON. 263 
 
 pies, it is known to all my personal and political friends that I have been 
 an humble but undeviating advocate of the JefFersonian doctrine of State 
 Rights and State Remedies, and I can conscientiously aver that no one 
 act of my life has been in violation of them. I have said that the ques- 
 tion is one of the most deep and vital importance. It is one involving the 
 nature and character of our Government and our Constitution, and which 
 becomes us all, however widely we may differ, to treat with candor and 
 solemnity. , 
 
 To come at once, Mr. President, to the reasons why I prefer the report 
 submitted by the minority to that of the majority of the committee. In 
 the first place, I would observe that the principles laid down in the 
 former are those that were adopted by the Republican party at the forma- 
 tion of the Constitution, and, as I hope I shall be able to prove, the prin- 
 ciples advocated by those distinguished and patriotic statesmen and phi- 
 losophers, Jefferson and Madison. They are to be found in the celebrated 
 Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and 1799, and they were the 
 same that elevated Mr. Jefferson to the Presidential chair in 1801. From 
 the foundation of this Government, down to the present day, two great 
 parties have agitated the country. I shall not now stop to inquire if there 
 be any points of similarity or shades of difference between the parties now 
 in conflict and those of 1798 ; but a brief review of the questions then 
 at issue will the better enable us to form a correct conclusion. No sooner 
 was the Government of the United States constituted, than two great par- 
 ties immediately sprung up, — one in favor of a strong National or General 
 Government, whose efforts, aided by inference and construction of the 
 Constitution, tended to consolidation and monarchy. These were denomi- 
 nated the Federal party. Those who went for the maintenance of the 
 Government by a strict construction of that document were said to belong 
 to the Republican, or people's party. The histoiy of our Government 
 sufficiently proves this. Until the year 1798, the former party had the 
 ascendency, — when those apostles of liberty, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madi- 
 son, stood forth as the friends of strict construction, resolved to secure the 
 limitations of the Constitution and preserve the rights of the States. 
 When those efforts were made, what was the condition of the country ? 
 I see before me men of venerable age, who well recollect our condition 
 at that time, and who can testify to the truth of the picture. We had 
 just gained our independence, after a struggle of severe hardship and long 
 duration : we were then in a state of peace and tranquillity; and the people, 
 requiring ease and repose, as an inevitable consequence sunk, for a time, 
 into supineness and negligence. Soon, however, oppression was seen to 
 march with rapid strides. The Federal party began to usurp powers 
 unheard of before, and the liberties of the people were again at stake. 
 The people then ralUed, and against whom ? Why, sir, against the Fede- 
 ral party. And for what purpose, Mr. President ? To restore the coun- 
 try to its republican simplicity, and to secure on a more solid basis those 
 sovereign rights of the States which had been threatened with ruin. In 
 order to restore the Government to its former simplicity, and give to the 
 Republican party that ascendency which was necessar}', Mr. Jefferson 
 became the leader of the Democratic party. Then it was that the con- 
 troversy assumed a tangible shape ; for, though its advances had previously- 
 been rapid and powerful, they had been cautious and almost silent. This 
 was in the year 1798. Is not this the plain historical truth? I fear- 
 lessly call upon those who advocate a different doctrine to say if I have 
 
264 BENCH A>D BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 herein erred. Well, sir, the priaciples then contended for by those two 
 great men have been recognised as the principles of the Kepublican party 
 of these United States, and it will- be seen that the substitute is not only 
 in strict accordance with the spirit of the Virginia and Kentucky Kesola- 
 tions, but the first five of them are almost exact transcripts. Is there an 
 honorable Senator of this House who will attempt to controvert these 
 celebrated resolutions ? None would be so hardy. Well, then, whence 
 can arise the opposition to the substitute offered b^ the minority of the 
 committee, agreeing as it does, both in spirit and in language, with these 
 resolutions ? K those who have avowed themselves advocates of the 
 Jeffersonian doctrines are consistent, then do I look for their support of 
 the resolutions proposed by myself. 
 
 Then, sir, what is the sum and substance of these resolutions? It is 
 that this General Government is a government of delegated powers, and 
 entitled to no other powers than those delegated to it, and that the States 
 have certain rights. Here arises the grand question at issue : — What are 
 those rights, and how are they to be exercised? These resolutions 
 declare their right to interpose and protect the people from the encroach- 
 ment of any undelegated power and to pronounce any such attempts 
 unconstitutional, null, and void ; that the people of a State, or, in other 
 words, the State herself, shall be the judge of the constitutionality of a 
 law and whether it be usurpation or not; and that the States have the 
 right to judge of the mode and the measure of redress. I call upon gen- 
 tlemen who differ from me — and dare them to the investigation of the 
 resolutions of 1798 and 1799 — to say whether these sentiments are not 
 in strict accordance with those of Jefferson and Madison, and whether 
 they do not embody the Kepublican doctrines of 1801. Are they not 
 those upon which the two great parties of Federal and State-Rights con- 
 tend that they are still divided? If I am incorrect in what I have 
 stated, there is ample testimony at hand to detect my errors- but, sir, 
 however feeble I may be as an advocate, I claim the merit at least of 
 keeping within the bounds of historical truth. The issue is now as it 
 was then; and, though shades of verbal difference may seem to exist, it 
 is a war between the same contending principles. 
 
 When the Virginia and Kentucky Eesolutions were sent to the various 
 State Legislatures, all those north of a certain line declared them to be 
 dangerous to the Government of the United States, subversive of the prin- 
 ciples on which it was based, and that the Federal Constitution admitted 
 of no such construction. Then the issue between the Federalists or 
 friends of an inferential construction of the compact, and the Repub- 
 licans, or friends of a strict construction, was fairly brought before the 
 American people. The people, sir, when not led away by interested 
 demagogues, but suffered to reflect, will always be right. They were so 
 then, and the result was the election of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency. 
 Then was the triumph of the Republican doctrines accomplished; and 
 from that day to the present the same parties have continued in conflict 
 under some form or other, the chief variations being only in names with 
 very few material shades of difference. Am I incorrect, sir? 
 
 1 hold in my hand the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 
 from which the first four in the substitute of the minority of the com- 
 mittee are taken, and I call upon those gentlemen who profess themselves 
 to belong to the Republican party to say whether they will now abandon 
 the principles contained in them,— the principles of those great champions 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 265 
 
 of liberty, Madison and Jefferson, and the principles -which, we have 
 been taught, were those alone which could secure the stability of our 
 Union and the perpetuity of our great Confederacy. 
 
 [Here Mr. Dawson read the Virginia and Kentucky R;esolutions 
 whicli appeared in the report of his speech.] 
 
 Well, then, sir, we have seen that Virginia advocated those doctrines ; 
 and we shall see that the State of Georgia, with some few alterations, fol- 
 lowed in the wake. In 1802 occurred the well-known case of Chisholm, 
 when the State of Georgia was cited before the Supreme Court, and all 
 the judges, with the exception of Judge Iredell, declared the Supreme 
 Court had jurisdiction. A brief history of that case is this : — 
 
 In the year 1792 the United States Marshal served copies of a 
 process from the Supreme Court on the then Governor of the State of 
 Georgia and the Attorney-General of the State, at the instance of one 
 Chisholm. After the meeting of the Supreme Court, the then Attorney- 
 General of the United States moved, " That, unless the State of Georgia 
 shall, after reasonable notice of tMs motion, cause an appearance to be 
 entered in behalf of said State on the fourth day of the next term, or 
 shall then show cause to the contrary, judgment shall be entered against 
 the said State, and a writ of inquiry of damages awarded." At the 
 February term, 1793, the case was called up, and a protest of the State 
 of Georgia (sent by the authorities of the State) was presented, denying 
 aU jurisdiction by the United States courts, and absolutely refusing to 
 enter into any argument or to answer in any other way. 
 
 The case was then argued ex parte, and the court did decide against 
 the State of Georgia in favor of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. 
 On the question of jurisdiction all the judges agreed except one, (Judge 
 Iredell,) who maintained — and independently — the States to be creators and 
 superiors of the General Government, and happily elucidated the distinction 
 between a sowerei'^ra Slate andamere corporation. Judgment was then taken 
 by default against Georgia, and additional notices of the proceedings of 
 the court served. To none of these proceedings did the sovereign State 
 of Georgia yield. She disobeyed and disregarded; she interposed her 
 sovereignty; or, if gentlemen prefer or will not be frightened, I will say 
 Georgia nullified. At February Term, 1794, of the Supreme Court, 
 judgmevf was rendered against her by default, and a writ of inquiry 
 ordered. Was this writ ever executed ? No, sir. See 2 Dallas's Re- 
 ports, 419, where this case is reported. Thus Georgia set this decision 
 at naught; she defeated it; and therein, by an act of nullification, avow- 
 ing her determination to resist the mandate, she did not appear. What, 
 sir, was the consequence ? Was there any disturbance ? Was there any 
 convulsion ? Was there any bloodshed, any war, any pestilence ? No, 
 sir. In spite of the position assumed by the Supreme Court, — which 
 took an ex parte proceeding, and had judgment entered against the State, 
 — what did Georgia do? She declared the jurisdiction null and void and 
 refused obedience. What, then, sir, was the consequence of all this ? 
 No war, sir, no bloodshed, no convulsion. No, sir. The people of the 
 United States met and amended the Constitution, limited the powers of 
 the Supreme Court, and declared that the Constitution could not be so 
 construed as to give to that court the power claimed. 
 
 The foregoing is not the whole of the speech delivered by Mr. 
 
266 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Dawson, a portion of it being reserved for another paper. The 
 following editorial paragraph appeared in connection with the 
 speech, and is here inserted to throw light on the issues of that 
 day:— 
 
 In the recent debate in the Senate, we were rauch struck with the vast 
 apparent difference between the orators on both sides. The gentlemen 
 of the State-Eights party who spoke in favor of the substitute offered by 
 the minority presented the doctrines of the party with so much eloquence, 
 that we were not surprised at the apparent reluctance with which our 
 opponents came forward to vindicate themselves from the inconsistencies 
 charged upon them and proved so conclusively. The President of the 
 Senate vacated his chair to reply to Mr. Dawson. Standing so high in 
 the confidence of our adversaries, and holding his office by their suffrages, 
 we must believe the positions he advanced to be the tenets of the party to 
 which he belongs. We listened with much attention to his speech, 
 and for the life of us we could not distinctly perceive the honorable 
 Senator's meaning, — doubtless owing rather to our limited capacity than 
 the orator's perspicuity. We understood him to say " that the people 
 were the source of power," and from this axiom he deduced the conclusion, 
 that, as the agents of the people exercised the attributes of sovereignty, 
 the sovereignty resided with them ; or, in his own words, " the Grovern- 
 ments created by them were sovereign." He afterward asserted that 
 " the people could create any amount of sovereignty they pleased !" — a 
 task that, with all their admitted omnipotence, they would find it rather 
 difficult to accomplish. The occurrences of the last few days have now 
 clearly developed the creed which our adversaries profess. The positions 
 maintained by their orators in the Senate are perfectly in accordance with 
 the Federal doctrines so signally defeated in 1801. We feel ourselves 
 forced to the conclusion that they are Federalists in theory and practice 
 when the people can be deluded, but, when cases occur where the deceptive 
 system cannot be further practised upon, they abandon all they labor so 
 hard to prove, and furtively attempt to appropriate to themselves the 
 practice of the State-Rights party, at the same time loudly condemning 
 their principles. This delusion cannot be longer supported by those 
 whose interest it is to deceive the people. Georgia, on the question which 
 has called forth legislative interposition, is awake; the mask will be 
 plucked from the features of Federalism, which it now conceals, and the 
 independent freemen of this State will turn from their confidence those 
 by"whom they have been duped. The reaction is commencing even now :' 
 the brazen idol totters on its clay foundation, and a short year will see it 
 shattered to fragments in its fall. In the next- Legislature the State- 
 Rights party will preponderate ; and if in the case of State interposition, 
 where Georgia now stands ready to put forth her arm in defence of her 
 rights, the doctrines of the Federalists shall weigh it to the earth, she 
 will be nobly redeemed when the principles of the State-Rights party 
 become (as they must eventually become) the principles of the State. 
 
 In 1835, Mr. Dawson was re-elected to the State Senate. On 
 the breaking out of hostilities in the Creek nation, in the spring 
 of 1836, he raised a volunteer company, marched at their head, 
 and received from General Scott a separate command for special 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 
 
 267 
 
 ser'V'ice, the duties of which he performed to the satisfaction of that 
 gallant soldier.* In the same year he was nominated for Congress, 
 on general ticket, and was elected a member of the House of Re- 
 presentatives to commence 4th March, 1837. A vacancy occur- 
 ring by the death of General John Coffee, Mr. Dawson was elected 
 to fill the unexpired term, and took his seat in Congress on the 
 first Monday in December, 1836. He at once became a prominent, 
 working, influential member, and was re-elected in 1838 and in 
 1840. 
 
 Such was his popularity — supposed to exceed that of any man 
 in Georgia — ^tbat his political friends, after mature consultation in 
 the usual mode, nominated him for the Executive in 1841, in oppo- 
 sition to Gov. McDonald. But he was defeated by a majority of 
 about four thousand votes, owing, unquestionably, to the perse- 
 cution waged against him in the canvass on account of a vote he 
 gave in Congress including tea and coffee in the tariff for revenue. 
 For convenient reference, the author has collected the official votes 
 cast by the people at each election for Governor : — 
 
 1825. 
 G. M. Troup, 20,545 
 
 J. Clark, 19,862 
 
 -683 
 
 1827. 
 J. Forsyth, 22,220 
 
 Scattering, 9,072 
 
 40,407 
 
 1829. 
 G. R. Gihner, 24,204 
 
 J. Crawford, 10,718 
 
 81,292 
 
 1831. 
 W. Lumpkin, 27,305 
 G. R. Gilmer, 25,853 
 
 -12,158 
 
 34,922 
 
 1833. 
 W. Lumpkin, 30,861 
 
 J. Crawford, 28,585 
 
 -13,486 
 
 59,446 
 
 1837. 
 G. R. Gihner, 34,178 
 
 W. Schley, 33,417 
 
 -2,276' 
 
 53,158 
 
 1835. 
 W. Schley, 31,177 
 
 C. Dougherty, 28,606 
 
 -1,452 
 
 59,783 
 
 -2,571 
 
 67,595 
 
 -761 
 
 1839. 
 C. J. McDonald, 34,634 
 C. Dougherty, 32,807 
 
 67,441 
 
 -1,827 
 
 * See White's Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 482. 
 
268 
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 1841. 
 
 C. J. McDonald, 37,847 
 W. C. Dawson, 33,703 
 
 71,550 
 
 1845. 
 G. W. Crawford, 41,514 
 M. H. McAllister, 39,763 
 
 -4,144 
 
 1843. 
 G. W. Crawford, 38,713 
 M. A. Cooper, 35,325 
 
 3,388 
 
 74,038 
 
 1847. 
 G. W. Towns, 43,220 
 D. L, Clinch, 41,931 
 
 
 
 81,277 
 
 
 184i 
 
 >. 
 
 G.W. 
 
 Towns, 
 
 46,514 
 
 E. Y. 
 
 mi, 
 
 43,322 
 
 g 
 
 
 89,836 
 
 
 1853. 
 
 H.V. 
 
 Johnson, 
 
 47,708 
 
 C.J. 
 
 Jenkins, 
 
 47,168 
 
 1,751 
 
 85,151 
 
 -1,289 
 
 1851. 
 H. Cobb, 57,397 
 
 C. J. McDonald, 38,824 
 
 3,192 
 
 96,221 
 
 -18,573 
 
 540 
 
 94,876 
 
 1855. 
 H.V.Johnson, 54,461 
 G. Andrews, 43,721 10,740 
 R. H. Overby, 6,261 6,261 
 4,479 
 
 104,443 
 
 Pending the election for Governor, Mr. Dawson did not resign 
 his seat in Congress, as it is quite common among politicians to 
 hold on to what they have until the better office is secured. But 
 after the refusal of his fellow-citizena to accept his tender of service 
 as Chief-Magistrate, he resigned, from a proper feeling of delicacy 
 and self-respect, construing the vote against him as a disapproval 
 of his course in Congress. 
 
 After his withdrawal from public life, Mr. Dawson gave himself 
 up to his profession, and was employed in the chief causes of his 
 circuit. He was a very effective advocate, and, where important 
 interests had to be litigated, he was generally selected as leading 
 counsel. 
 
 On the 1st of February, 1845, Gov. Crawford tendered him the 
 appointment of Judge of the Ockmulgee Circuit, to fill the vacancy 
 caused by the resignation of the Hon. Francis S. Cone. He 
 accepted the office until an election could be had by the Legis- 
 lature, positively declining to be a candidate. 
 
 A new scene is now to open to Judge Dawson, — one which is to 
 crown his eminently useful and agreeable life. At the session of 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 269 
 
 the Legislature in November, 1847, he was elected* a Senator in 
 Congress for a term of six years, commencing on the 4th of March, 
 1849. This is justly regarded as one of the most honorable 
 positions in the Government. It was a tribute worthily bestowed. 
 Of the part acted by Judge Dawson in the Senate of the United 
 States, it is the purpose of the author to give an outhne, by refer- 
 ence to public documents and other reliable sources of information. . 
 Merely to show the form, the author gives the copy of a very 
 proper credential : — 
 
 State of Georgia. — By his Excellency GtEORGE W. Towns, Governor 
 of said State. 
 
 To the Honorable William C. Dawson, greeting : 
 
 Whereas, by the third section of the first article of the Constitution 
 of the United States of America, it is ordained and established that the 
 Senate of the United States should be composed of two Senators from 
 each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for the term of sis years ; 
 and whereas, the General Assembly did,, by joint-ballot of both branches 
 thereof, on the thirteenth day of November instant, elect you, the said 
 William C. Dawson, to be one of the Senators from this State in the Con- 
 gress of the United States, to serve six years from and after the fourth 
 day of March, eighteen hundred and forty-nine : 
 
 These are therefore to commission and authorize you, the said William 
 C. Dawson, to take session in the Senate of the United States from and 
 after the fourth day of March, 1849, to use and exercise all and every the 
 privileges and powers which you may or can do in and by virtue of the 
 said Constitution, in behalf of this State. 
 
 Given under my hand and the great seal of the State, at the 
 y<;=^=^ Capitol in Milledgeville, this nineteenth day of November, in the 
 ( 5^5^J year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-seven, and of the 
 " Independence of the United States of America the seventy- 
 second. 
 
 By the Governor : ^^°^«^ ^- T°^^'^- 
 
 N. C. Baenett, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 All who were weU acquainted with Judge Dawson know his 
 industrious habits. The record, therefore, affords only what might 
 be expected in this regard. The author has before him the Con- 
 gressional Globe for certain sessions of Congress, and a summary 
 is here given of the debates in which Judge Dawson participated 
 in the Senate. At the session of 1850-51 he addressed the Senate 
 on the following subjects : — 
 
 1. On the bill for the relief of Irad Day. 
 
 2. On the bill authorizing the State of Wisconsin to select the 
 residue of a certain grant of land. 
 
 * The baUot stood,— W. C. Dawson, 91 ; W. T. Colquitt, 85. 
 
270 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 3. On the bill granting lands to Louisiana and Mississippi for 
 the construction of a railroad. 
 
 4. On the bill for the settlement of private land-claims in 
 California. 
 
 5. On the Deficiency Bill. 
 
 6. On the bill granting land for the benefit of the indigent 
 insane. 
 
 7. On the bill to remit duty on certain railroad-iron. 
 
 8. On the bill explanatory of the bounty-land law. 
 
 9. On the appropriation to pay the amount of a judgment to 
 Manuel Harmony. 
 
 10. On the proposed dry-dock in California. 
 
 11. On the bill to assist the State of Louisiana to reclaim the 
 swamp-lands within her borders. 
 
 While the joint resolution from the House of Representatives 
 was before the ' Senate makiog land-warrants assignable, Judge 
 Dawson offered the following amendment : — 
 
 And he it farther Remlved, That nothing in the first section of the act 
 of 28th September, 1850, grantiog bounty-lands to certain officers and 
 soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United 
 States, shall be so construed as to exclude any commissioned or non-com- 
 missioned officer, musician, or private, whether of regulars, volunteers, 
 rangers, or militia, who was mustered into the service of the United States 
 for the suppression or prevention of Indian hostUities and served the 
 length of time required by said act. 
 
 At the session for 1851—52, Judge Dawson submitted remarks 
 to the Senate : — 
 
 1. On the resolution relative to the reception and entertainment 
 of Kossuth. 
 
 2. In regard to intercourse with France. 
 
 3. On the bill for the relief of Margaret Hetzel.' 
 
 4. On the bill providing for the assignability of land-warrants. 
 
 5. On the bill for the relief of Erastus A. Capron. 
 
 6. On the bill for the relief of Thomas H. Leggett. 
 
 7. On the bill for the benefit of Carmelite nunnery. 
 
 8. On the joint resolution for the continuance of the work on 
 the Capitol. 
 
 9. On the public expenditures. 
 
 10. On the bill granting to Ohio the unsold lands in that State. 
 
 11. In relation to the proceedings of the Whig Congressional 
 Caucus. 
 
 12. On the bill authorizing a survey for a basin for the Chesa- 
 peake and Ohio Canal. 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSOS. 271 
 
 13. On the bill granting land to Wisconsin for a railroad. 
 
 14. On the memorial of the Society of Friends in relation to 
 the Fugitive Slave Law. 
 
 15. On the bill granting land to Michigan for a railroad. 
 
 16. On the bill emendatory of the patent-laws. 
 
 17. On the bill for the relief of Elizabeth B. Lomax. 
 
 18. On the bill providing for an exchange of school-lands. 
 
 19. On the bill for the relief of the legal representatives of 
 James C. Watson. 
 
 20. In relation to the North American fisheries. 
 
 21. In relation to the Census Board. 
 
 22. On the bill providing for the election of a public printer. 
 
 23. On the Apportionment Bill. 
 
 24. In relation to printing the Census returns. 
 
 25. In relation to the construction of a ship-canal around the 
 Falls of St. Mary. 
 
 26. On the Iowa Land Bill. 
 
 27. Concerning the Expedition to Japan. 
 
 28. On the bill providing payment for the surveys of claims in 
 California. 
 
 29. Concerning the establishment of a telegraph and mail- 
 line to California. 
 
 30. For the relief of the West Feliciana Railroad Company. 
 
 31. On the Army Appropriation Bill. 
 
 32. On the appropriation for the Collins line of steamers. 
 
 33. On the appropriation to pay balances due the Creek In- 
 dians. 
 
 34. On the appropriation to indemnify the people of Georgia, 
 Alabama, and Florida for depredations committed by the Creek 
 Indians. 
 
 35. On the Naval Appropriation Bill. 
 
 36. On the proposition to regulate the appointment of mid- 
 shipmen. 
 
 37. On the appropriation for the Seneca Indians of New 
 York. 
 
 38. On the bill to increase the salary of the District Judge of 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 39. On the appropriation! for the floating dry-dock at San 
 Francisco, California. 
 
 40. On the appropriation for the Indians in California. 
 
 41. On the Civil and Diplomatic Bill. 
 
 As Judge Dawson had the sagacity and boldness to differ from 
 
272 BENCH AXD BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 a majority of the Senate in relation to Kossuth, the subject will 
 be more particularly noticed. 
 
 On the 3d day of December, 1851, the following joint resolution 
 was taken up in its order : — 
 
 Joint resolution in relation to the reception and entertainment of Louis 
 Kossuth, Governor of Hungary, in the United States. 
 
 Be it Resolved, &e. That a joint committee of the two Houses of Con- 
 gress, to consist of — members of the Senate and — members of the 
 House of Eepresentatives, be appointed by the presiding officers of the 
 respective Houses, to make suitable arrangements for the reception of 
 Louis Kossuth, Governor of Hungary, on his arrival in the United States, 
 and to communicate to him assurances of the profound respect entertained 
 for him by the people of the United States, and to tender to him, on the 
 part of Congress, and in the name of the people of the United States, the 
 hospitalities of the metropolis of the Union. 
 
 Judge Dawson addressed the Senate as follows :* — 
 
 Mr. President : — Perhaps it would be as well to meet the question at 
 once upon the proposition to fill these blanks. I am not prepared myself, 
 as a representative of one of the States of this Union, to adopt this" reso- 
 lution. As an individual, as a citizen of the United States, I am willing 
 to show to Kossuth that respect which my judgment and my feelings may 
 dictate; but in my capacity as a Senator I cannot consent to what is here 
 proposed. I know of no precedent in the history of our Legislature which 
 would justify the adoption of this resolution. I have never known such 
 marked distinction shown to any distinguished citizen of our own country, 
 whether a military man or a civilian. I see nothing in the character of 
 this distinguished individual which should make the Government of the 
 United States get up a great pageant on his account and distinguish him 
 from all other men who have ever lived. Has he ever been connected 
 with our institutions ? Has he ever rendered any particular service to 
 this country to entitle him to this mark of distinction ? Not at all. It 
 is true he is a great man, but he is not greater than many men who now 
 live and have lived. His position is such as to call into exercise our 
 sympathies for him and his associates as men. That sympathy this 
 Government has already shown to an extent almost unparalleled, by send- 
 ing one of the national vessels to receive him and his associates, if they 
 were willing to come to this country. Have we not done enough to show 
 our sympathies and our good feelings ? I think we have. Against the 
 man's character and cause I utter not a word. The American heart 
 is open for his reception. It is the people who will receive him. La- 
 fayette, when he came to this country, was received in a manner which 
 was justifiable on the part of the Government of that day, because he was 
 connected with the Revolution which gave us the liberties which we 
 enjoy. 
 
 Several days afterward, when the resolution was again under 
 consideration, Mr. Dawson remarked if — 
 
 * See Congresaonal Globe, vol. xxiv. part 1, p. 21. f Ibid, p. 71. 
 
■n-ILLIAM C. DAWSON. 273 
 
 Mr. President : — ^Whea the first resolution offered by the Senator from 
 Mississippi (Mr. Foote) was presented, I briefly stated the reasons why 
 I could not vote for that resolution. Since the discussion has commenced, 
 the character of the proposition before the body has most essentially 
 changed. It is due to candor, and to a right understanding of this sub- 
 ject, before the nation and the distinguished individual whom we are dis- 
 posed to honor, that we should understand each other thoroughly, — that we 
 should know what were the expectations created in the mind of Kossuth 
 when he received what is called the invitation to the hospitalities of this 
 country. We have to ask him his impression of that invitation. We 
 should know what expectations were created. We should understand 
 them. We should understand his impressions of the obligations he is laid 
 under. And that candor would compel us to investigate the understand- 
 ing between the host and the guest. We tendered to him a national ves- 
 sel to come to this country and seek an asylum, — or to come and receive 
 hospitality, according to the interpretation of some. We did not intend 
 to interfere with the domestic affairs of Hungary or any other country. 
 We found him an exUe, a voluntary captive, or under the hospitable pro- 
 tection of the Turkish Government. We asked him here. He has come. 
 On his way to receive our hospitality, he announced to the world the 
 character of the invitation. He lets us understand what is his construc- 
 tion of it : that he has come here, not merely for the purpose of receiving 
 our sympathy, but to ask us to interfere between his country and foreign 
 Governments. He asks us to declare that we will interfere, in the event 
 that the struggle should recommence in Hungary against Austria. He 
 tells the world that this is the object of his visit. And when he lands on 
 our shores he tells us that he knew he had our sympathies ; that he and 
 his countrymen had the sympathies of the world ; that it was not from 
 mere sympathy that he crossed the Atlantic Ocean ; that he came here to 
 have something more substantial. He wants to receive the pledge of this 
 Government, that, if the hour of revolution should ever come again in his 
 fatherland, the United States will stand by and see fair play, and that if 
 any other nation on earth interferes, then the United States shall take 
 part in the controversy. That is the character of the position he now 
 occupies. He tells us that he expects the material of aid to protect his 
 country. And what is that ? Men, money, and arms. That is his im- 
 pression. 
 
 Is it not, then, due to candor — do not honor and magnanimity require 
 us — to announce to Kossuth that this Government has no such design ? 
 Will you suffer .him to come to the seat of Government with such expec- 
 tations ? or will you state to him the character in which you expect to re- 
 ceive him ? My colleague, (Mr. Berrien,) sensible of his position, and 
 of the impression made upon the mind of this distinguished individual by 
 the formal welcome to our shores, has introduced an amendment asking us 
 to announce to him that he is mistaken, — that he is not to come to the seat 
 of Government of this great nation under the expectation that this Go- 
 vernment gives any pledge, or any assurance, that they will sustain him 
 at any time. Why should we not tell him that he must not expect that 
 we shall afford him men and means as a Government ? As an honorable 
 man, connected with another individual, would you suffer that individual 
 to have wrong impressions in relation to the course you intended to pur- 
 sue ? Would you not let him understand precisely what you intended ? 
 Just so with nations. It is due from the Government of the United States 
 
 Vol. I.— 18 
 
274 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 to announce to this distinguisbed individual the object they have in view. 
 I submit to honorable Senators whether they intend to justify the expecta- 
 tions which Kossuth has announced he had in coming to this country ? 
 Will they allow the impression to be left on his mind that we are to fur- 
 nish him with any material of war? I think not; although some Senators 
 declare they will not express opinion one way or the other; that " suffi- 
 cient unto the day is the evil thereof;" when the occasion arises they will 
 determine whether or not to interfere. Tliis is the language of the Sena- 
 tor from Illinois, (Mr. Douglas.) This is the language of the Senator 
 from Michigan, (Mr. Cass,) and, indirectly, the language of the Senator 
 from Mississippi, (Mr. Poote.) 
 
 When the Senator from Mississippi read the speech made by the present 
 distinguished Secretary of State (Mr. Webster) in 1823, it at once drew 
 my attention to the state of this country at the time, and to the principles 
 upon which the Republican party have stood from the days of Washing- 
 ton down to the present hour. Then it was that revolutions were going on 
 in South America ; then it was that our country had to announce to the 
 civilized world the principles upon which we administered this happy 
 government. Then it was, I would remind the Senator, that the distin- 
 guished Mr. Monroe, who concentrated in himself, on account of his purity, 
 both the Republican and Federal parties, announced what were the prin- 
 ciples of this Government, and the principles which had been sustained by 
 Washington, by Adams, by Jefferson, and by Madison. I will show you, 
 by reference to the message of 1824, what were the views of 3Ir. Monroe, 
 and upon precisely such a question as this ; that is, the question of inter- 
 ference with foreign Governments. I beg to read from that message, in 
 order that this may go out with the speech which was read by the Senator 
 from Mississippi. 
 
 Mr. FooiE, of Mississippi. I wish to ask the gentleman whether we 
 are to understand him as concurring with Mr. Webster or Mr. Monroe. 
 
 Mr. Dawsgis. K they differ at all, I concur with Mr. Monroe, thougt 
 I do not think there is any difference of opinion. But I would ask the 
 Senator, in return, whether in 1824 he would have concurred with Mr. 
 Webster or Mr. Monroe. 
 
 Mr. FooTE. If their views were the same, there is no necessity for 
 that. 
 
 Mr. Dawson. I read from Mr. Monroe's message of 1824 : [Only the 
 closing portion of the extract in Mr. Dawson's speech is here given.] 
 
 " Separated, as we are, from Europe, by the great Atlantic Ocean, we can 
 have no concern in the wars of the European Governmeats, nor in the 
 causes which produce them. The balance of power between them, into 
 whichever scale it may turn in its various vibrations, cannot affect us. 
 It is the interest of the United States to preserve the most friendly re- 
 lations with every power, and on conditions fair, equaJ, and applicable to 
 all. But in regard to our neighbors [the South American States] our. 
 situation is different. It is impossible tor the European Governments to 
 interfere in their concerns, especially in those alluded to, [casting off the 
 Spanish yoke,] which are vital, without affecting us : indeed, the motive 
 which might induce such interference in the present state of the war 
 between the parties, if a war it may be called, would appear to be equally 
 applicable to us. It is gratifying to know that some of the powers with 
 whom we enjoy a very friendly intercourse, and to whom these views have 
 been communicated, have appeared to acquiesce in them." 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 275 
 
 Sir, (continued Mr. Dawson,) the principles here laid down by Mr. 
 Monroe have been laid down from the foundation of this Government : 
 that we should not interfere in the affairs of European nations, that we 
 should take no part in their wars, and that we should suffer no European 
 power to interfere or intermeddle with the relations of this continent. 
 What is sought now to be done ? I know that gentlemen disclaim the 
 idea of interference; that is, they do not intend to intermeddle in any 
 of their strifes. But what is the proposition before us, stripped of the 
 circumstances which surround it? Take away the verbiage and the 
 rhetoric which have been thrown around it, and what does the proposition 
 amount to ? What does Kossuth expect from this country ? What does 
 he believe your invitation is intended to signify ? From whom can you 
 get this information but himself? He tells you, candidly, that he comes 
 not merely for your sympathy, but for your material, — for your pronuncia^ 
 mento or proclamation that, in case Austria and Hungary again engage in 
 bloody strife, you will stand by and see fair play ; and, if any other foreign 
 power interferes, we shall take a hand in it. I defy any Senator to put a 
 different construction upon the language of this distinguished man. Tet 
 in a crisis like this in our own country, at a time just preceding the Pre- 
 sidential election, when the foreign influence is tremendous, we are called 
 upon to do this. I say it is wrong. There is a want of candor and a 
 want of magnanimity in giving him a public reception here, unless we 
 tell him what we really intend to do, and what we intended at the time 
 we invited him, and that when we opened our hearts to receive him it 
 was for the purpose of throwing around him the protection of the Consti- 
 tution and laws of this country. But when he comes here he changes 
 his character to that of an agitator, and proclaims to us. Gentlemen, I 
 will dine with you : but I shall prescribe the character of the dishes which 
 shall be on your table; I shall tell you what I expect when I come to 
 see you, and not have it to your own taste. This question comes home 
 to our candor and magnanimity, not as politicians, but as men and states- 
 men. The consequences growing out of this question will involve not us 
 only, but our reputation as a Senate. Is there a Senator here who 
 would say to Kossuth, "We will give you the material of war at the pro- 
 per time" ? But he says, " I came here under that expectation : I an- 
 nounced that expectation : and still you asked me to come." He will say 
 to you, as he said to the deputation from Philadelphia, that " if he had 
 known, before he came here, that this was the limitation upon the invita- 
 tion, he would have hesitated long before he would have come." 
 
 Kossuth is acting with candor. He is carrying out that boldness and 
 independence of conduct which has marked his career. Let us follow the 
 same example ; and, when dealing with a man of honor, of chivalry, of in- 
 telligence and statesmanship, let us deal with him in candor, and not 
 allow him to be led astray by our uncertain course. Hence it is that 
 I have taken up my position in opposition to this resolution ; hence I 
 oppose the resolution of the Senator from New York. What is meant by 
 it '( The Senator from Michigan says. We welcome Kossuth as the repre- 
 sentative of a great principle. Of what principle ? Kossuth says it is the 
 right of nations to interfere with foreign nations ; not the principle of non- 
 intervention, but the right to interfere, when two contending powers are 
 engaged in war, to prevent a third power from taking part. That is his 
 principle, and he expects to be sustained. Now, will you receive him, and 
 receive him publicly, without announcing to him what we mean, without 
 
276 BENCH AXD BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 letting him understand, as proposed by my colleague, the principle which 
 we intend to pursue, — a principle coeval with the foundation of our Union ? 
 I ask pardon of the Senate for having trespassed so long upon them. 
 I did not design to speak; but I thought it necessary for me to do so in 
 consequence of the position in which the question had been placed. 
 
 The reader may see the various resolutions about Kossuth, and 
 the final action of Congress on the subject, by reference to another 
 part* of this work. 
 
 Following the example of other Senators, who took occasion to 
 notice on the floor of the Senate certain newspaper-allusions to 
 them, Mr. Dawson, on the 15th of April, 1852, asked the indulgence 
 of the Senate for a personal explanation. He had seen in a New 
 York paperf some unfair criticisms relative fro a Whig caucus 
 which he was charged with attending a few nights previously. 
 His name occurred in the following passage : — 
 
 What are the facts of this Whig caucus ? The North was there in 
 strength. William H. Seward, Thaddeus Stevens, Mr. Wade, of Ohio, 
 and other notorious ringleaders of the Abolitionists, were there, apparently 
 the most efficient members in the practical action of the caucus. Certain 
 spirited and consistent Union Whig members from Kentucky, Tennessee, 
 and North Carolina were there, boldly demanding an understanding with 
 the North, as the first step to united action ; but they were overwhelmed. 
 There was a debate of four hours ; but the question was deferred, and Mr. 
 Mangum intimated that he should at the next meeting mle the motion 
 for an understanding to be out of order. This is bad, and places Mr. Man- 
 gum in a bad position ; and the apparent concurrence with his views by 
 Messrs. Badger, Dawson, Jones, of Tennessee, Stanly, and some other 
 Southern Whigs, places them in the same questionable attitude. 
 
 In another article the same paper remarks : — 
 
 Mr. Mangum would undoubtedly, upon a satisfactory platform, be a 
 very popular candidate to run with Gen. Scott. Perhaps his colleagues — 
 Mr. Badger, of the Senate, and Mr. Stanly of the House — entertain the 
 sanie opinion. It may be that Mr. Senator Dawson, of Georgia, has some 
 aspirations for the Vice-Presidency. At all events, the apparent willin<r- 
 ness of all these distinguished Southern Whigs to take Scott and his ri<^ht 
 bower — Seward — upon trust, gives a bad aspect to the whole case, — -the 
 aspect of a final caving in to the most insidious and dangerous of all the 
 enemies of the South. 
 
 Only one paragraph of Mr. Dawson's explanation to the Senate 
 is here given. He said, — 
 
 Now, Mr. President, I did not attend that caucus, nor did I participate 
 in its conclusions, either directly or indirectly; nor am I under any pledge 
 to abide by the determination to which these gentlemen may come. My 
 position, I thought, was well known. It was publicly announced, more 
 than a year since, that I would support no man for the Presidency 
 who would not support the measures, one and all, known as the Compro- 
 
 * Memoir of the Hon. John M. Berrien. f The Herald. 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSOX. 277 
 
 raise, openly and honestly, with no view to deceive either the friends or 
 the opponents of those measures. Hence I aver that I will act with no 
 party which shall endeavor, either directly or indirectly, to open for agita- 
 tion the questions adjusted by the Compromise, even for the purpose of 
 securing votes at the ensuing Presidential election. Xor will I combine 
 to elect any man to the Presidency whose opinions are not beyond doubt 
 or cavil on the finality of the Compromise ; nor shall I, under any circum- 
 stances, act with any party that shall not have the firmness publicly to 
 avow their support of the Compromise. Nor shall I commit myself by 
 attending the Whig or Democratic Convention, as at present advised. I ' 
 desire to see our friends in the non-slaveholding States by their own action 
 determine for themselves what is their true position in regard to the 
 agitating questions of the day. If the South is to have no quiet upon 
 these questions, I want to know it. The South herself desires to know it; 
 and if it shall be determined that agitation is to be continued, then, my word 
 for it, there will be no division in the South : there will be, as there should 
 be, but one sentiment, — that of union against unconstitutional aggressions. 
 
 It is presamed that Mr. Dawson was content with the letter of 
 Gen. Scott accepting the nomination for President, as he became 
 one of his supporters, and exerted considerable influence in his 
 favor ; though of course no man of intelligence was very sanguine 
 that the vote of Georgia would be given to the brave old hero. 
 
 But the leading effort of Mr. Dawson during the session was 
 the speech he delivered in the Senate, March 1, 1852, " on the 
 bill granting land to the State of Iowa in aid of constructing cer- 
 tain railroads." ' As containing the facts and the arguments, a 
 tolerably copious extract is given from the speech, as received in 
 pamphlet form by the author from Mr. Dawson himself. 
 
 Mr. Dawsox saidj — 
 
 ■ As new States are added day aft«r day, they call for appropriations of 
 public lands, either by their Legislatures, or they wish to have them 
 given to companies ; and, strange to say, we have appropriated millions of 
 acres without the Legislatures of the States asking for the appropriations ! 
 Senators rise and tell us for what purpose it is wanted, and under such 
 mistaken apprehensions we vote the appropriations. I am not now speak- 
 ing of Iowa. I will look into Illinois. I am sorry that one of the Senators 
 from Illinois [Mr. Douglas] is not now in his seat; but many Senators 
 who were with me on this floor when the Illinois Railroad Bill was passed 
 will recollect that it was said that it would be four hundred miles long, 
 from Chicago to Cairo; in other words, from the farthest northern 
 boundary of Illinois down to its most southern on the Mississippi. Alter- 
 nate sections were donated for ten miles in width. I opposed it then, 
 on the ground of its injustice ; but I was not even aided by many friends 
 from the old States. I then proclaimed the injustice of it; but I was not 
 sustained. I saw that the rights of the old States were to be thrown over; 
 and I saw what would be the result. The Senator from Illinois threw 
 himself in for railroads yet in embryo, and took land lying six hundred 
 and ninety miles along for a road, as I will show you. Upon that, I sup- 
 pose, he thought he would ride triumphantly right off to the White 
 
278 BEXCn AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 House; and he ia driving there now. I do not wish to interfere with {he 
 gentleman's aspirations, but I do not like to pay for his platform. 
 
 I have a statement before ine, showing the lands granted under the 
 Illinois bill. I call upon Senators, and I call upon the country, to look 
 this matter in the face, and see whether we, the old States, can pass these 
 bills and do injustice to ourselves. Does any Senator on this floor know 
 the length of the road from Chicago to Cairo for which we granted 
 lands during the last Congress ? If I am wrong in my statement, I wbh 
 to be corrected. For that road — which was unsurveyed, which was not 
 located, which was not called for except by the imagination of Senators — 
 from Chicago down to Cairo, instead of appropriating lands for the length 
 of four hundred miles as was represented, we appropriated for six hundred 
 and ninety miles, including the branches. We appropriated money — or 
 land, which is its equivalent — for two hundred and ninety miles of rail- 
 road which we did not know we were building. Yet you will not vote a 
 dollar for a light-house, for a fortification, or for an improvement, in any 
 of the old States, unless surveys have been made and estimates have been 
 presented. Still, you will suffer Senators and others from the Northwestern 
 country to come here and take more in millions than you would grant to 
 other States in thousands, and call it correct legislation, and charge those 
 who oppose it and make these presentations of facts to the country, with a 
 want of liberality and justice. Here, then, is a mistake. Instead of grant- 
 ing lands for a railroad four hundred miles in extent, we were granting 
 lands for a railroad six hundred and ninety miles long; and we did not 
 know it ! Let us go a little further. The land which was granted under 
 that act was taken up by Illinois. And how many acres do Senators sup- 
 pose it was ? Why, 2,700,000 acres of land. My friend from Illinois 
 knows it to be so. I do not blame the Senators from that State for it. 
 They presented the claim. They made no misrepresentation. They were 
 asked for no information as to the true condition of affairs ; and they said 
 to us, " If you are willing, let it pass ;" and, gloriously for them, it did 
 pass. I will show you now how it was carried out, *who were the benefi- 
 ciaries, and what was the object and character of the appropriation. 
 
 Mr. Shields. Will the honorable gentleman permit me to ask on what 
 basis his calculation is founded ? 
 
 Mr. Dawson. From information given by the colleague of the honor- 
 able Senator. 
 
 Mr. Shields. I wish to know the authority of the gentleman for 
 saying that the road is six hundred and ninety miles lone. 
 
 Mr. Dawson. I learn from the gentleman's colleague that the main 
 road, including the branch to Galena and the other branches, will be six 
 hundred and ninety miles long. 
 
 Mr. Shields. The road from Chicago to Cairo will not be quite four 
 hundred miles long; but I find that the gentleman includes the branches. 
 
 Mr. Dawson. The six hundred and ninety miles include all. It is 
 immaterial whether it is cross-firing or direct firing : the lands have been 
 taken. The Senator corrects me on a part that does not involve any 
 principle. I have not said that the Senators from Illinois acted wrongly. 
 If I was a constituent of theirs, I should probably have approved of their 
 course, by which their State got 2,700,000 acres of land to construct six 
 hundred and ninety miles of road. What does the Senate suppose, what 
 does the country suppose, has become of these 2,700,000 acres of land, 
 which are said to be the finest lands in Illinois ?— and all the lands in that 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 279 
 
 coTintry are said to be of excellent quality. It is one of the most beauti- 
 ful eountri^ in the West. I was reading the other day the remarks of 
 a gentleman on the subject, and he astonished me : he says it is the finest 
 part of God's globe, — the finest country on which civilized man ever 
 settled, — promising, healthful, and fertile. Two million seven hundred 
 thousand acres of this land have been taken for the construction of the 
 Illinois Railroad, ^hy, it is but a little more than one year since we 
 passed the bill authorizing the appropriation of this amount of public lands 
 to build the railroad. Illinois, through her Legislature, passed an act 
 authorizing certain agents to dispose of these lands to companies who would 
 construct these railroads. Those agents disposed of these lands to a com- 
 pany formed in Boston and New York, (through their agent Mr. Rantoul, 
 who made a speech in the other House on this subject a short time ago, 
 which astonished me, coming from a Representative of one of tfie old 
 States,) who undertook to build these railroads and complete them in 
 four years from this date. Illinois, I believe, reserves to herself seven 
 per cent, of the gross receipts of these railroads thus to be built with the 
 proceeds of 2,700,000 acres of the public lands. This number of acres is 
 now in the hands of a company formed in Boston and New York, who, 
 in their corporate character, are the sole and exclusive owners of the land. 
 
 Mr. Shields. Lest there might be some misapprehension about this 
 subject, I would take occasion to state that the company only get control 
 of the land as they make the railroad. They are not the absolute pro- 
 prietors; they only obtain the land in proportion to the progress of the 
 road. If they fail, the land reverts to the State. 
 
 Mr. Dawson. Exactly. The Senator's statement shows that the com- 
 pany receives the land in instalments instead of getting it all at once. 
 What undertaker would pay a man 85,000,000 for work and labor to be 
 executed ? He would not pay at all until all the work was done. It is 
 admitted, however, that the title to the land is vested contingently in the 
 company, and, as they finish the road from point to point, the title abso- 
 lutely vests in them. I have gone into the estimates and calculations, 
 and I find that the cost of building a railroad in that country will not 
 exceed 810,000 a mUe for laying down the rails, including excavations, 
 embankments, and superstructures. The cost for these, and then for 
 putting on the engines and cars for these six hundred and ninety miles, 
 will be §6,900,000. What is now the estimated value of this land by the 
 corporators themselves, — by the gentlemen of the corporation in Illinois ? 
 The Senators from Illinois know its value. It is the finest land, as is 
 admitted by the Senators, in the whole Valley of the Mississippi, and worth 
 at least ten dollars an acre. There are 2,700,000 acres of land gone into 
 the hands of this company to build a railway worth to them 827,000,000. 
 Thus, by our legislation here, this company will receive a profit of 
 §21,000,000 on six hundred and ninety miles of railroad. If we had 
 acted properly, that might have been done by the United States, and the 
 same profits been received into the Treasury. And yet it is said that this 
 is honest and just legislation toward every section of country ! Why, it 
 is an outrage upon the justice and rights of the States which we represent 
 here, and one which ought not to be again permitted to occur. 
 
 Nor is this all. These gentlemen say that they will not allow a division 
 of the lands, and will not let the old States hold lands within the limits 
 of the State of Iowa or Illinois, or any other of the new States. They 
 tell us they will not allow other States to hold- lands within their limits. 
 
280 BENCH AXD BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Is a State more unkind than individuals ? Illinois will allow a corpo- 
 ration of individuals to own 2,700,000 acres of lands within her limits. 
 I present this to show that all these ideas are fanciful. They are unjust 
 to ourselves and unjust to the country. It did not become us as repre- 
 sentatives of the people, intending to do what is right and just between 
 State and State. Why may not a State hold lands within another State ? 
 Could not the Governor of Georgia have gone to Illinois and purcha.sed 
 the lands as Governor, by undertaking to execute the contract? and then 
 he could have held the land. Why, where is the constitutional provision 
 to prevent one State holding land within the limits of another ? Nowhere. 
 This is the reasoning got up to encourage what are called State-Rights 
 men to support these appropriations. Here is the working of the system 
 now illustrated before the country, and I want the country to know it : 
 2,700,000 acres of land have gone into the hands of a company to build 
 a road six hundred and ninety miles long, which will cost §6,900,000 ; 
 and the land is worth not a dollar less than 827,000,000. Then here are 
 §21,000,000 gone by our legislation into the hands of a company, — gone 
 by our legislation when we were not thinking of what we were doing. 
 This is no fancy-sketch. I am telling the truth, and gentlemen know it, 
 and I stand by it. 
 
 But, Mr. President, I promised to be short, and I have been. I have 
 taken every thing in the way of a calculation out of my speech, because 
 my friends from Kentucky [Mr. Underwood] and Tennessee [Mr. Bell] 
 argued those matters so folly that I felt it would be unjust to the 
 indulgence of the Senate to go over them. I have only gone over ques- 
 tions which they did not touch upon. What next occurs ? My friend 
 from Missouri [Mr. Geyer] talked about the great connecting-link which 
 was to run and bind this country together by iron bars. That was the 
 idea, though perhaps I am a little more fanciful than he was. And he 
 said that these appropriations were made to carry on great roads, for the 
 purpose of internal transportation upon land from place to place. That 
 is true. Now, let me present a fact to this country. Yon say, gentlemen, 
 that it is for the public good you do this; and if it did not increase the 
 prosperity of the whole country it would be wrong, because, under the 
 Constitution, we have no power to benefit a part at the expense of the 
 whole. You say you want to form a great connecting-link in the country. 
 Let us begin at Boston. Who built the railroad from Boston to New 
 York? Who built the railroads from New York to Philadelphia, from 
 Philadelphia to Baltimore, from Baltimore to Washington, and on, on, 
 until you strike the Georgia line ? These are great connecting-links for 
 transportation, for convenience, for rapidity. Who built them ? They 
 were built by the people ; they were built by individual capital and enter- 
 prise. What people ? The people of the United States, — equally entitled 
 and equally bound first for the benefits, and then for the consequences, 
 of our Government. These people did it. And when you get to my own 
 State, one of the youngest of the Old Thirteen, which was kept down for 
 years and years because she could not extend her possessions coextensive 
 with her lines and limits, as they were in the possession and occupancy 
 of the Indians; when she saw the condition in which the country was 
 placed; when she perceived that a connection with the North and South 
 was desirable, — that intercourse must be rapid and improve our knowledge 
 of each other, increase our aflFections for each other, and make us love our 
 Government and love one another, — she did what ? In the mid.st of her 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSOX. 281 
 
 poverty, wbat did she do ? She commenced the line which had ended by 
 the railroad from Charleston to Augusta. She commenced on the Georgia 
 bank of the Savannah River, and with her own enterprise and with her 
 own money ran that road to the Valley of the Mississippi ; and it is now in 
 full operation. She went over to Tennessee and asked an act of incorpo- 
 ration and permission to run her road through that State until we should 
 strike the waters of the valley of the great Mississippi ; and I will invito my 
 friend from Missouri, [Mr. Atchison,] who said that Georgia wanted lands, 
 and would be quiet if she only got them, — I will invite him, I say, to return 
 home with me by that route to Missouri. I will pass him over that road at 
 the rate of twenty miles an hour, — over mountains and through tunnels. I 
 will place him upon the waters of his own great West by steam, from one 
 end of Georgia to the other, and I will connect him with a steamboat to 
 cany him in the direction he wishes, and then I will ask him to tell me 
 why was all this done and by whom. 2vow, who joins the road at Cairo 
 with this link of ours ? We have now eleven hundred miles of railroad, 
 at the expenditure of a capital of something like §7,000,000, within our 
 own State, all paid out of our own funds, running to the Yalley of the 
 Mississippi ; and when you get to Cairo, and want to go up to Chicago to 
 see the President, if he should ever be there, what do you do ? When 
 you land from your steamboat at Cairo and go over that road to Chicago, 
 (six hundred and ninety miles with its branches,) if the honorable Senator 
 from Missouri should ask who built it, the people of Illinois would stand 
 on that road and look as majestic, as magnificent, and as consequential as 
 if it had been done out of their own money and by their own hands, when 
 they got from us six hundred and ninety miles of railroad built at an 
 expense to the Government of the United States of 86,900,000, and by the 
 contract for which a company will make §21,000,000. That will be the 
 result ; and then for the Senator to say that Georgia wants her share ! If 
 Illinois is entitled to this great benefit, why is not Massachusetts or 
 Georgia? Because Georgia has done these things by her enterprise and 
 energy, is it a reason why any fair, just, or honorable man should say, 
 "You have done the work already: you have expended labor and money 
 and ought to be satisfied" ? ^o, sir. The question which ought to be 
 apprehended is this : — Whose money is this ? How should it be divided ? 
 To whom does it belong ? But my friend, I believe, will go with me, and 
 when he gets into Georgia will say, "By-the-by, you ought to have your 
 share." He says that now; but he is fearful of endangering the bill by 
 the adoption of this amendment. 
 
 I said — I make the observation now, and it can be explained — I was 
 astonished when I saw the course of some Senators and Representatives 
 from the old thirteen States upon the land-bills, who come out to vindi- 
 cate the right of the new States to take up all these public lands. I read 
 a speech, as I before observed, made by a gentleman in the other branch 
 of the Legislature, which perfectly astounded me, vindicating these vast 
 appropriations of the public money or public lands, and denying to his 
 own State the right to have her share. I asked, Why is it so ? When I 
 came to search it out, I found he belonged to one of the companies which 
 purchased these 2,700,000 acres of land from Illinois. I make this as no 
 charge. It may have been all honest and fair ; but I can see how it is 
 that gentlemen here to-day jumped upon the Baltic, because it was the 
 representative of capital, and denounced the idea that capital should be 
 brought within the view of this Capitol to influence members in their 
 
282 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 course here; and yet you will do acts here that give capital to the amount 
 of $27,000,000 to those who combine together to do a thing, in conse- 
 quence of your legislation. I trust these gentlemen will become alarmed 
 at this idea that the public lands are all to go into the hands of capitalists. 
 Where is the Senator from Wisconsin, [Mr. Walker,] that he does not 
 raise his voice against this accumulation of wealth and property in the 
 hands of great landed proprietors and moneyed corporations ? Not a word 
 is said; but let Georgia, Massachusetts, or North Carolina, or any other 
 of the old States, ask for what justly ought to be given her, and they will 
 say, "No: we will never submit to such a great landed proprietor within 
 the limits of our States." Look at the question and meet it fairly. 
 
 But gentlemen ask. Where is the power thiis to dispose of the public 
 lands as we desire ? I have taken occasion to look at this thing; and just 
 let me state what Congress has done. Congress has made grants to com- 
 munities and individuals for various purposes. They have made grants 
 to the States for education, for internal improvements, for public build- 
 ings, and have even granted lands to corporations, &c. for education, and 
 granted them for the deaf and dumb. Where did you get the power from 
 the Constitution to do all these things? If you can benefit all the rest 
 of the world, why can you not benefit the old States ? Where is the 
 principle in the Constitution that gives you the power to do that for others 
 that you cannot do for your own ? It is an insult to the understanding, 
 and calculated merely to awaken fears in the minds of the people and keep 
 them confused on this subject; but if light ever fully dawns upon them, 
 and they see how these public lands are taken from them, woe be unto 
 that man or that party that seeks to deprive them of their rights. But 
 is that all ? You have given land to cultivators, to men to raise olives, 
 and to raise grapes from which to make wine. Where did you get that 
 power, when you cannot give lands to the State of Georgia, or Kentucky, 
 or North Carolina, or Massachusetts, to educate even the poor and save 
 them from starvation ? You cannot do that ! Oh, no ! but you can give 
 them to foreigners to cultivate the olive and grape : and then to stand up 
 before an honest and intelligent community and tell them you cannot do 
 this, for you have not the power ! Gentlemen who do that must have very 
 little respect for the intelligence of the people. I feel amazed at these 
 arguments, and I feel worse than astonished when I find them prevail in 
 some sections of the country over the minds of the people. 
 
 But is this all ? Since that period you have given lands to Lafayette, — 
 an individual. It was all right. You have made a donation of the pro- 
 ceeds of the public lands. Now, if you are entitled to the proceeds of the 
 public lands, will any one tell me what is the difference between the land 
 and the money for which it was sold ? Where is the principle of the 
 Constitution which says you have a right to sell the lands and then divide 
 the money, but which prevents you from dividing the lands among the 
 States and letting them dispose of them in their own way? There is 
 none at all. It is discreditable to the country to attempt to infuse such 
 distinctions into the minds of the people and lead them from the main 
 object in view. And, Mr. President, what do we all submit to ? I appeal 
 now not to the old thirteen States alone, but to all the States which have 
 come into the Union whose lands are nearly gone. What is the effect of 
 this policy upon our own section of the country? We are called upon 
 to vote away public lands in this way,— for what ? To diminish our 
 population, to urge them to emigration and seduce them from the old 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 283 
 
 States, ttereby impairing the value of our own lands at home, and 
 increasing the value of those in the new States, — all at our expense. And 
 yet we are called upon to sustain these propositions. Gentlemen see it 
 and understand it. But I will not comment upon or illustrate these 
 positions. I hasten to a conclusion. 
 
 I drop every thing else, and come down to the last point upon which I 
 shall speak. The great question which has been presented is, What dis- 
 tribution shall be made of the public lands ? Are the States of the Wnion 
 all equally entitled to participate in the advantages growing out of them ? 
 Is there a Senator on this floor who dares, in violation of his own good 
 sense, get up and announce that each State in this Union is not entitled 
 to its share of the public lands ? Is there one who dare do it ? And yet 
 they will waive that question, and adopt a course of policy by which they 
 deny the principle in their action. They will not dare to avow it in their 
 places in the Senate ; but they are pursuing a policy that will by degrees 
 sap the whole of the public lands, take from them, time after time, the 
 best land, granting two or three hundred miles at a time to particular 
 neighborhoods, like the Des Moines, and then at another time making a 
 grant of lands ten miles deep for an extent of six or seven hundred miles, 
 — and all this for the benefit of individual States, and without any regard 
 to an equal distribution. 
 
 If we, the members of the Senate of the United States, composed of 
 sixty-two persons, were partners in this great land-fund, and owned it as 
 the United States do, if two of us lived in every State of this Union, if 
 we held the lands under the same compacts, under the same articles of 
 agreement, under the same treaties, that the United States hold them, is 
 there a man who would violate his honor and that faith which is due to 
 integrity, by saying that he would dispose of these lands to the injury of 
 his distant friends in other States, by giving the benefit of them only to 
 individuals living in the State in which the lands lie ? And, if they were 
 to do so, would not the Supreme Court of the United States instantly 
 arrest this attempt to deprive one or more of the copartners of their just 
 rights, and force them by the whole power of the Government to do jus- 
 tice among one another ? Yet here we are, without any just cause, without 
 any good reason for it, disposing of our public lands in just the same 
 inequitable and improper manner. 
 
 Mr. President, let me suggest that this is the only question remaining 
 between the two old parties of the country. The tariff is settled. The 
 question of internal improvements is settled. Neither is now strictly a 
 Whig or a Democratic question. Portions of both parties take difi"erent 
 sides in regard to them. The disposition of the public lands is now the 
 only question left unsettled ; and I wish now to present this idea : — Is it 
 right, is it prudent, for Congress to legislate in such a way as to give dis- 
 satisfaction to any portion of the country in relation to their rights ? And 
 is it not known that this partial mode of distributing the public lands has 
 produced discontent ? And this discontent will grow greater and greater 
 as more and more acts are passed of this character and description. If 
 this is the only question remaining, what ought we to do ? Settle it ; 
 adjust it. Do it amicably; do it with justice ; and do it with unlimited 
 liberality toward the new States. I am one of those who, in such a dis- 
 tribution, would go as far as the farthest in being liberal toward the new 
 States, — toward the younger members of the Confederacy, who have had 
 to grow up in the wilderness and the forest. I will do for them as much 
 
284 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 as any other man. But we all know what has been done for them. My 
 worthy friend from Kentucky [Mr. Underwood] has told you of the 
 advantages they have received ; and I have, through his kindness, before 
 me here a statement of what the three per cent, fund and the two per 
 cent, fund granted to the new States have amounted to. And how much 
 do you suppose has been paid out of the Treasury under these land-laws, 
 in actual cash, to the new States ? Four millions and some hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars,— all gone to them already, besides the immense 
 quantity of land they have received for educational purposes and for pur- 
 poses of internal improvements. I do not mention this for the purpose 
 of creating discontent or dissatisfaction ; nor does it spring from any 
 feeling of uukindness toward the new States. What I say is, that we 
 have showed liberality upon liberality; and, if the representatives of the 
 new States are willing to come to an equitable adjustment of this question, 
 I want to know when they are going to begin. Was there ever a more 
 modest, diffident, unassuming request made than that which is made by 
 the amendment of my friend from Kentucky? He asks 14,000,000 of 
 acres for the old States. He says. Give it to us : we want it to educate 
 our poor people ; we want it to increase our internal improvements. Look 
 at what Illinois has got ; look at what Iowa has got ; look at what Indiana 
 has got; look at all the new States : they are making railroads charm- 
 ingly, successfully, and prosperously at our expense. Gentlemen of the 
 new States, will you not do something to aid us ? If you intend to do us 
 justice, what time will be better than this to begin? What evidence can 
 you give of a returning sense of doing that justice to us which the compact 
 and the articles of cession require should be done, than to allow this 
 amendment to pass ? It is small and limited, to-be-sure, — scarcely enough 
 to do much good. Still, if adopted, it would be the beginning of a system 
 founded upon equity and justice, which might grow, and grow, until con- 
 tent and satisfaction would reign throughout those States, founded upon 
 the justness and propriety of your legislation. But if you stop now, and 
 declare that this distribution shall never take place, my word for it, this 
 public-land question will be the great question that will disturb the har- 
 mony of parties and the aspirations of individuals. I am resolved, for one, 
 that this injustice to the State which I in part represent shall never be 
 perpetrated by any set of men with my approval. If they do me injustice 
 in a case where I am clearly entitled to justice, I shall calculate that they 
 would do me injustice on other grounds; and I may make it a foundation 
 upon which I would make a stand, even against a friend who would not 
 do us justice when it is claimed and when he knows he ought to do it. 
 
 This public-land question should not only be made a question in politics, 
 but it should be made a question in morals. By what right can we here 
 combine together to take from one another's people that which justly 
 should be devoted and appropriated to their use, contrary to the law of 
 the land and the moral law ? Are we to forget every thing here and go 
 into one common melie for the purpose of seeing who can get the most ? 
 There is a want of morality in that which I cannot approve. I would 
 prefer that a man should win my fortune, and then enjoy himself in 
 splendor upon it, than to get it in such a way as this. There is a want 
 of morals and a want of principle in this which should be looked into. 
 I make no charges against anybody. We have forgotten what is due to 
 each other. The section of the country in which I reside is willing that 
 the proceeds of these lands should be paid into the Treasury and be 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 285 
 
 appropriated for the payment of the general expenses of the Government. 
 I have so voted. But the representatives of the new States will not per- 
 mit it to be done hereafter. It is given away for every other purpose 
 than that which would benefit the people of the old States. I have looked 
 into this matter in every form and shape ; and the more I have looked 
 into it, the more I have become discontented with the manner in which 
 the public lands have been appropriated. I have felt the necessity of a 
 system founded upon equity and justice, by which the public lands may 
 l)e disposed of. When will the period arrive when that may be done ? 
 Never, unless we begin; and there is no better time to begin than the 
 present. Hence it is that I say, that if this proposition is rejected it will 
 show that you never intend to adopt any proposition by which the old 
 States of this Confederacy may be benefited by the public lands. If that 
 is done, we will understand you. 
 
 I ask pardon for having detained the Senate so long; and I assure them 
 that it was not my intention, when I arose, to have spoken more than 
 thirty minutes. 
 
 !Mr. Underwood. I hope the question will not be taken now. I think 
 it would be better that it should not now be taken. The truth is, that if 
 you force me to vote at this time I do not know but that I shall have to 
 contradict myself. I stated the other day that if my amendment was not 
 acceptable to the Senate I should still vote for the bill. I told the worthy 
 chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, this morning, that I doubted 
 very much whether I ought to do so. And, under the feelings which have 
 been inspired by the speech of my friend from Georgia, I really feel almost 
 disposed to retract my former assertion that I intended to vote for the 
 bill in any event. I feel a sense of the injustice which has been practised 
 toward the old States to such an extent, that I do not know whether, if 
 something like justice is not done to my own State, I can vote for the 
 bill. I therefore hope that the question will not be pressed at this late 
 period of the day, but that it may lie over, in order that we may all think 
 about it, and that, as the speaking is pretty well over, when we meet again 
 we may be prepared to take up the bill and vote upon it. There is no 
 immediate necessity for acting on the bill now. 
 
 The further consideration of the bill was postponed. 
 
 For the second session of the Thirty-Second Congress, from first 
 Monday in December, 1852, to 4th March, 1853, the author has 
 no reported proceedings; and he is therefore unable to give a 
 synopsis of the discussions in which Mr. Dawson engaged or the 
 measures he introduced in that session. 
 
 In April, 1854, a bill was before the Senate, introduced by Mr. 
 Everett, to recompense the discoverer of practical anaesthesia, 
 •which had been referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, 
 and amended in committee by inserting the names of William T. Gr. 
 Morton, Charles T. Jackson, and Horace Wells, as the probable 
 discoverers, and by filling a blank in the bill relative to the amount 
 to be paid with the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. The 
 report* says that 
 
 * Cong. Globe, voL xxviii. part 2, p. 943. 
 
286 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The bill, as amended, recites that a discovery has been made, and is 
 now in practice, whereby the human body can be rendered safely insen- 
 sible to pain in dental, sargical, and obstetrical operations, by the use of 
 what are commonly called anaesthetic agents, and the Government of the 
 United States has been and is in the enjoyment of the discovery, in the 
 military and naval service ; and that it is believed that the discovery was 
 made by some one of the following persons, — William T. G. Morton, Charles 
 T. Jackson, each of Boston, and Horace Wells, of Hartford, deceased; but 
 it does not appear to the satisfaction of Congress which of these parties 
 was the original, true, and first discoverer thereof; and, as Congress is 
 willing to provide a recompense for such discovery when ascertained, it 
 proposes to appropriate 8100,000, to be paid by the Secretary of the 
 Treasury as a recompense for the discovery and the use and benefit 
 thereof by the Government and people of the United States. 
 
 The following conversational remarks transpired in the Se- 
 nate : — 
 
 Mr. Dawson. I regret that I failed this morning to bring up some 
 papers connected with this subject. I wish now to ask that the further 
 consideration of the bill be postponed until to-morrow, in order that I may 
 produce those papers. I have in my possession a letter from Dr. Jackson 
 and one from Dr. Long, of Athens, in the State of Geor^a, on this sub- 
 ject. Dr. Long is a very young man ; but he commenced his practice as 
 early, I think, as the year 1843, and has, therefore, been over ten years 
 in the profession. The evidence which I have will, I think, establish the 
 fact beyond controversy, that this young man applied this discovery in the 
 same form in which it is said to have been applied by one of the three 
 individuals mentioned. I have forgotten his given name, or I would pro- 
 pose to insert it in the proper place. 
 
 Mr. EvEEETT. It is provided for by the general provision allowing all 
 persons to come in. 
 
 ]Mr. Dawson. I know that ; but I wish Dr. Long to stand among the 
 four named in the bill as one of the individuals who, in all probability, 
 made the first discovery. Perhaps it would be sufficient to put in Dr. 
 Long, of Athens, Georgia. 
 
 Mr. Walker. I will state to the Senator from Georgia that I heard of 
 this gentleman, and procured of Mr. Hilltek, of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, his name, and I thought I had it in ray pocket ; but I have 
 lost it. The terms of the bill, however, are broad enough to embrace 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Dawson. But I wish to have him distinctly mentioned in both 
 sections. I move, therefore, to insert the name of " Dr. Long, of Athens, 
 Georgia," in every place in the bill where the names t)f Dr. Jackson and 
 Dr. Morton occur. 
 
 The amendment was agreed to. 
 
 On the 20th April, 1854, Mr. Dawson addressed the Senate aa 
 follows :* — 
 
 Mr. President : — During my recent absence from this city, resolutions 
 were transmitted to me from the Legislature of the State of Georcna, 
 
 * See Congreasional Globe, vol. xxviii. part 2, p. 955. 
 
"WILLIAM C. DAWSOX. 287 
 
 through the Executive of that State, which I did not intend, nor think it 
 necessary, to submit to the Senate ; but, as I am instructed to do so, in 
 consequence of the oft-repeated presentation of petitions on the subject 
 of slavery, I beg leave to present them. 
 
 They set forth that the State of Georgia, in solemn convention, had 
 firmly fixed herself upon the principles of the Compromise measures of 
 1850, relating to the subject of slavery in the Territories of the United 
 States, as a final settlement of the agitation of that question, its with- 
 drawal from the halls of Congress and the political arena, and its refer- 
 ence to the people of the Territories interested therein, and distinctly 
 recognises in those Compromise measures the doctrine that it is not com- 
 petent for Congress to impose any restrictions as to the existence of 
 slavery among them upon the citizens moving into or settling upon the 
 Territoi'ies of the Union, acquired or to be hereafter acquired, but that 
 the question whether slavery shall or shall not form a part of their do- 
 mestic institutions is for them alone to determine for themselves. Her 
 present Executive has reiterated and affirmed the same fixed policy in 
 his inaugural address. They therefore resolve : — 
 
 That the Legislature of Georgia, as the representatives of the people, speaking 
 their ivill and expressing their feelings, ha.ve had their confidence strengthened in 
 the settled determination of the great body of the Northern people to carry out 
 in good faith those principles, in the practical application of them to the bills re- 
 ported by Mr. Donglas from the Committee on Territories in the Tnited States 
 Senate at the present session, proposing the organization of a territoria.1 goTem- 
 ment for the Territory of Nebraska. 
 
 And be it further Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be, and they are hereby, 
 instructed, and our Representatives requested, to vote for and support those prin- 
 ciples, and to use all proper means in their power for carrying them out, either 
 as applied to the government of the Territory of Nebraska, or in any other bill for 
 territorial government which may come before them. 
 
 Resolved, further. That his Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit a, 
 copy of these resolutions to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. 
 
 I present these resolutions. I do not wish to make any further com- 
 mentaries on them, but simply to say that they are the decision of the 
 representatives of the people of Georgia, in Legislative Assembly con- 
 vened. I move that they lie on the table. 
 
 Throughout the session he maintained his habitual activity and 
 devotion to his public duties, and frequently submitted his views, 
 as the following subjects on which he addressed the Senate will 
 show : — 
 
 1. The mission of the Papal Nuncio to the United States. 
 
 2. Refunding to certain railroad-companies duties paid on rail- 
 road-iron. 
 
 3. To enable the United States to make use of the solar com- 
 pass in the public surveys. ^ 
 
 4. The Nebraska and Kansas Bill. 
 
 5. To print additional copies of the Patent-Office Report. 
 
 6. For the publication of the Senate debates, and compensation 
 therefor. 
 
 7. On the bill authorizing a large gold coinage. 
 
288 BENCH ASD BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 8. On the bill for the construction of a railroad from the Mis- 
 sissippi Valley to the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 9. To authorize the extension of the Washington and Alexan- 
 dria Railroad into the District of Columbia. 
 
 10. On the Homestead Bill. 
 
 11. Relating to the Lower California expedition against Mexico. 
 
 12. On the bill granting land to the State of Michigan for the 
 construction of the Oakland and Ottawa Railroad. 
 
 13. On the bill granting land to the State of Louisiana for con- 
 structing a railroad from Algiers, on the Mississippi River, to the 
 Sabine, &c. 
 
 14. To repeal the Minnesota Land Bill. 
 
 While the Homestead Bill was before the Senate, on the 20th 
 July, 1854, he proposed an amendment, the nature of which may 
 be seen by the official report:* — 
 
 Mr. Dawson. I then move to strike out the words "who may not be 
 a landholder;" and my reason for doing so is this : — As I stated before, 
 the whole of these public lands belong as much to one citizen of the 
 United States as to another; and it is but equal and fair justice because 
 A has been an industrious and thriving man, and has drawn around him 
 the comforts of life, that he should be entitled to the same rights, at 
 least, as the man who has been prodigal and lazy. The qualification 
 placed in the amendment is to give to the landless ; and the landless may 
 be as rich as any man in the Union, for a millionnaire in this country may 
 not hold lands. Sir, when we are going to do justice, let us do it broadly, 
 fairly, and honestly. 
 
 It is known to all that I am opposed to this giving away of the public 
 lands at all ; but, if they are to go, I am just as much entitled to my 
 share as any man in the Union, and any man in the Union is as much 
 entitled as I am. How is it that we undertake to specially legislate for 
 individuals instead of the masses, and to lay down a discrimination and 
 say that the landless, from improvidence, shall be preferred to the indus- 
 trious man, because the latter has drawn around him the comforts of a 
 home? Do you believe, gentlemen of the Senate, that the industrious, 
 hardy people of this country will submit to such a regulation ? Will any 
 man feel that you are conferring a favor on him by the bill, when it 
 induces the people to live in idleness, in carelessness, and indifference to 
 industry? Shall we put men who are idle upon a more elevated foot- 
 ing than the industrious and persevering? Sir, when these things are 
 known, the public mind will stand astounded at this special legislation, 
 which is so incompatible with the equal rights of the people of this 
 country. 
 
 Now, sir, it is seen by every gentleman that the mechanics of the 
 country cannot go and occupy such a homestead. They are driven by 
 implication, and by making a distinction against their occupation, either 
 to go on the lands or not to receive the benefits of the bill. It says to 
 
 * Appendix to the Congressional Globe, vol. xxix. p. 1106. 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 289 
 
 the industrious classes wto have nothing, "Here is a proposition; but, if 
 you do not go on the land, you shall have no interest in the land." 
 
 In a few days after making this speech on the Homestead Bill, 
 Mr. Dawson addressed the Senate, giving his views on appropria- 
 tions of the public money to improve rivers and harbors, — a subject 
 on which there is a great diversity of opinion among statesmen. 
 The House of Representatives had passed a bill designating large 
 sums for different localities, with the following provisions : — 
 
 The Secretary of War, before expending any part of the money herein 
 appropriated, shall, in such cases as he may think the public interests 
 require it, cause a re-examination and re-survey of the public works 
 hereby appropriated for; and he is hereby authorized to modify the pre- 
 sent plan if, in ^is opinion, the public works will be materially benefited 
 thereby. 
 
 The following is an extract from Mr. Dawson's speech:* — 
 
 When the bill came to the Senate I looked upon its passage almost as 
 certain. I knew it had incorporated into it objectionable features ; and I 
 thought, sir, that conservative, constitutional men in the Senate would 
 meet it with boldness and with firmness, and limit the power of the 
 Government in making appropriations for rivers and harbors by some just 
 discretion, if there be none in the Constitution for it. But instead of 
 that, sir, all the objectionable features which would bring down the veto 
 of the President of the United States on the bill are sought to be covered 
 over, and the President is sought to be deprived by indirection, by an 
 ad captandum. movement, of the right of veto, upon the idea that he is 
 so weak and so wanting in firmness and independence as to act on mo- 
 tives of expediency and leave the final decision to a future time. Sir, 
 my confidence in the President of the United States is far above this. 
 If his friends charge him with want of discretion, want of observation, 
 want of capacity, by incorporating such a provision as this, I shall not do 
 it. Why, sir, for the purpose of passing the bill through this body 
 (which every one of them believes to be unconstitutional) they seek to 
 divide the responsibility. And how do they do it ? By first announcing 
 to the people of this country that the Congress of the United States has 
 not sufficient intelligence or information to act upon a subject of this 
 kind. My friend from Michigan says that there is no other way in which 
 they may know how to act ; therefore he is for transferring the legislative 
 discretion to an executive officer : and he says he will take the opinion 
 of the Secretary of War in regard to the facts. We are to take the 
 examination of the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of War is to 
 regulate the power of Congress in the making of appropriations of money, 
 for commercial purposes, for these rivers and harbors. We are to transfer 
 that to the head of the War Department; so that Congress will be en- 
 lightened when the Secretary of War, at the next Congress, shall com- 
 municate to us his views upon the subject, with the facts he may have 
 ascertained. How is he to ascertain the facts ? Will it not be had by 
 
 * Appendix to the Globe, vol. xjdx. p. 1160. 
 Vol. I.— 19 
 
290 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOESIA. 
 
 sending out engineers and officers to make surveys and estimates and lay 
 them before him? and can we not act npon them just as well as the 
 Secretary of War? Why, sir, it is an insult to this body and to the 
 other branch of Congress to make such a proposition. For what do we 
 have our engineers but for the purpose of ascertaining the facts? and if 
 we stick to principle, sir, and vote for no proposition of this kind except 
 upon proper estimates made upon the subject, there will be no necessity 
 for this. 
 
 Now, sir, for a large proportion of this bill I am prepared to vote ; but 
 do we not see, have we not received from the President of the United 
 States, honestly, as a man should act, an assurance that he would have 
 sanctioned the Cape Fear Eiver appropriation but for certain reasons 
 expressed in his Message ? In turning over and looking to this bill, we 
 find in it an appropriation for the Appomattox E,iver, which runs up to 
 Petersburg, in Yirginia, and which is not as wide as from my seat to the 
 centre of the Senate-Chamber. The bill contains an appropriation of 
 $500,000 for that object. Could there be any difference in putting that 
 out of the bill, if there are in this body any constitutional views in accord- 
 ance with those formerly sustained by the Democratic party ? Not a 
 particle. And yet we are not to undertake to strike out such unconstitu- 
 tional appropriations. But what do you undertake to do ? Divide the 
 responsibility — ^like a cuttle-fish in shallow water, who blackens it in order 
 to escape — and try to throw it upon the Government. Why, do they not 
 know that the President, in honor, would be bound to veto the bill? 
 You cannot change it. The people will understand it. There is not a 
 Senator but knows it. Whether the President has been conversed with 
 for the purpose of adopting this plan, I cannot tell. I do not believe he 
 has. The object is to wind round and get over the constitutional prin- 
 ciple. And how do you propose to do it ? By throwing the question of 
 the constitutionality of the appropriation upon the head of one of the De- 
 partments, the Secretary of War. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, anxious as I am, for one, for the passage of many 
 appropriations contained in this bill, I would never make myself an in- 
 strument or agent in getting through such an amendment as this. When- 
 ever the Constitution is mandatory, and the representatives of the people 
 fail to stand within its prescribed limits, I call for the President to exer- 
 cise his veto, and not let Congress determine and plan the system for the 
 purpose of undermining that sacred instrument. Sir, Hook upon that 
 amendment as an evasion, more than an absolute violation, of the Con- 
 stitution; for by it we are sapping the foundation of the Constitution in 
 a mode and manner unknown to the Constitution, and in time it will 
 destroy the dignity of the Legislature and the independence of our 
 Senatorial action. Of that there is no dispute. Now, what are we to 
 do ? The President tells you, like a man, " My conscience will not permit 
 me to approve a bill of a character like this, because there are objection- 
 able features in it. Send it back, knock them out, and I will signify 
 my approval of it." No, you say, in the language of the Senator from 
 Tennessee, (Mr. Bell:) there is a combination by which appropriations 
 are put into these bills ; but if you strike out one of them you destroy 
 the whole bill : therefore, it is to get round this that such a proposition is 
 made. 
 
 _ Mr. Bell. I said that all appropriation-bills were got through by a 
 kind of compromise. 
 
' WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 291 
 
 Mr. Dawson. I stated you correctly. All bills are carried through 
 by log-rolling : it is not on principle. Now, what is the reason ? I ask 
 the Senator from Tennessee why he cannot strike out the appropriation 
 for the Appomattox Kiver. "Why cannot you do it ? 
 
 Mr. Benjamin. Why does not somebody move it ? 
 
 Mr. Dawson. Why do not the friends of the bill, who are so deeply 
 interested in it, move to strike it out ? But the idea is to smooth over 
 the entire arrangements and endeavor to avoid the veto. Now, the object 
 that I have in view is to bring the matter right back to constitutional 
 appropriations, so as to make the bill proper before the President of the 
 United States. That is what I want to do; and I submit to the Senate 
 and the country if this is not the constitutional and only proper mode of 
 proceeding. 
 
 Mr. Benjamin. If the Senator from Georgia will move to amend the 
 bill by striking out the objectionable features — if he will satisfy us that 
 they are objectionable — I shall vote for it. 
 
 Mr. Dawsox. Everybody knows that I am opposed to these general 
 appropriation-bills. I believe them to be unconstitutional. My views on 
 the subject have been well expressed by a Democratic President of the 
 United States; and I have fought side by side with the Senator from 
 Michigan, (Mr. Cass,) upon the question of river and harbor bills, against 
 my distinguished leader, Mr. Clay. And I did it upon no party con- 
 siderations. I did it upon constitutional considerations. Such are my 
 views. Everybody knows that I belong to the Whig party ; but I never 
 acted with them loosely on that subject. In speaking of myself, before 
 the last Presidential election I had the honor of being at the Baltimore 
 Convention when General Scott was nominated ; and we put down our 
 position as being in favor of appropriations for national objects, and left 
 it to the sense of propriety and justice of Senators and Representatives 
 here what woald make it national. I know there is a great diversity of 
 opinion in any one State. I have described them myself, and I thought 
 every Senator had described them for himself. I am satisfied with the 
 limitation placed upon it by the President of the United States. 
 
 The quotations given will suffice to show the method and ability 
 of Mr. Dawson in debate. He was a vigilant Senator, watching 
 the interests of the whole country. No constituents were ever 
 served more faithfully in the various trusts committed to his 
 charge. Though very attentive to what was passing, and re- 
 strained by no diffidence of character, yet he was not as often 
 upon the floor as a number of other members less qualified to 
 speak. As a matter of curiosity, the author* took the trouble to 
 ascertain what names appeared most frequently in the proceedings, 
 and he here gives the result. The figures in the table signify 
 that the names mentioned may be found on an equal number of 
 pages in the Congressional Globe for the first session of the Thirty- 
 Third Congress, 1853-54. 
 
 * See article, "Chronicles of the CrOTemment and People of the United States," 
 in the September No., 1855, (p. 286,) De Bow's Eeyiew. 
 
292 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 TABLE REFERRING TO DEBATE, MOTIONS, &C. 
 
 IN SENATE. TIMES. 
 
 1. Hunter, Virginia 335 
 
 2. Badger, N. Carolina.... 254 
 
 3. Weller, California 241 
 
 4. Shields, Illinois 202 
 
 5. Cass, Michigan 190 
 
 6. Pratt, Maryland 185 
 
 7. Bayard, Delaware 188 
 
 8. Douglas, Illinois 183 
 
 9. Rusk, Texas 168 
 
 10. Dawson, Georgia 144 
 
 IN HOUSE OP BEPRESENTATIVES. TIME9. 
 
 Gr. W. Jones, Tennessee.... 703 
 
 Houston, Alabama 378 
 
 Orr, South Carolina 341 
 
 Haven, New York 299 
 
 Campbell, Ohio 266 
 
 Clingman, North Carolina.. 256 
 
 Smith, Virginia 233 
 
 Richardson, Illinois 195 
 
 Bayley, Virginia 173 
 
 Phillips, Alabama 123 
 
 •While in the Senate, Mr. Dawson had for companions and co- 
 laborers John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster, 
 statesmen of a world-wide fame. He had frequent opportunities 
 of witnessing their great powers in debate and in the preparation 
 of measures for the public good. With Mr. Clay he was quite 
 a favorite, both possessing an urbanity of manner never sur- 
 passed, which made their personal relations still more intimate and 
 agreeable. 
 
 On the 4th day of March, 1855, the public life of Mr. Dawson 
 terminated with his commission as a United States Senator. He 
 returned home to enjoy the society of his friends and neighbors 
 and the respect of all parties in Georgia. 
 
 Here the author takes occasion to introduce several letters which 
 he received from Mr. Dawson, as proof of the friendship of that 
 gentleman. Their acquaintance began in 1828. That the letters 
 were entirely private can be no objection to them. Had they 
 been intended for the public eye, they would in all probability have 
 been more artificial, and the less valued on that account. 
 
 TO STEPHEN F. MILLER. , 
 
 Greensboro, July 2, 1832. 
 
 My dear Sir : — Will you be so kind as to inquire for a Mr. , of 
 
 Twiggs, and if you can find him please see him, and inquire of him how 
 
 much he gave for the land he purchased of the executors of , and 
 
 write me forthwith ? If you cannot see him in a day or two, go to the 
 
 Clerk's Office, and examine for the deed from the executors of to 
 
 , or any one else. I want the information by the 10th instant. 
 
 Please attend to it for me, and T will kindly reciprocate the favor. 
 In great haste, sincerely, your friend, 
 
 Wm. C. Dawson, 
 to stephen f. miller. 
 
 Washington Cut, March 10, 1853. 
 My dear Sir : — The documents of the last session of Congress are just 
 being completed — printed : hence my delay in sending you, according to 
 
WILUAM C. DAWSON. 293. 
 
 your request in December last. I have directed all mine to be sent to 
 Greensboro. I am, and have been, uuable to attend to my friends, in con- 
 sequence of excessive pain from a felon on my right thumb for several 
 weeks. I am now writing without the use of my thumb. Now, my 
 friend, so soon as you receive this, write to me at Greensboro, reminding 
 me of my promise to send you a copy of all. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 Wm. C. Dawson. 
 
 to stephen f. millee. 
 
 Gkeensboro, July 8, 1853. 
 
 My deae Sie : — Your letter has not been answered, because it came 
 during my " absent days" on a visit to the great West, where I have been 
 about two months, doing some important jjritiaie and public business, and 
 playing the agreeable. 
 
 To-day I send you the " Constitution," a suitable book for reference; 
 you will be pleased to have it. It will be followed by documents, as soon 
 as I catch up with my correil|)ondence, which is awfully behind, accumu- 
 lated during my absence. I wish you could see what is before me. You 
 would pity and help me. But S. F. Miller shall not be forgotten, if he 
 will only continue to write me friendly and amusing letters and things as 
 kindlj' as he always has done ; and I beg him to remember that W. C. 
 Dawson is the same man precisely as he has always been, and as full of 
 laugh and fun as he ever was, and likes old friends better than ever. So 
 make no apologies to me, but fill your letters with fun most freely, and 
 with any thing calculated to make me feel comfortable, or laugh, — if it 
 even be at myself. 
 
 By-the-by, begin by letting me know how Jenkins goes about you. 
 He gets nearly everybody in these parts. You may also inform me how 
 Dawson stands as Senator : and are the people for his re-election ? About 
 here the men and the women are all for him. He would like to hear 
 from you. I know he is sanguine of success, especially if his friends will 
 take an interest. 
 
 Thermometer 96, coat oflf, and it is too hot to think. Dry, and crops 
 distressingly bad ; and I already begin to fear the next year will be a hard 
 year generally throughout the State. My own crop is fair, but it is not 
 good. My health is very good. Your friend, 
 
 Wm. C. Dawson. 
 
 TO STEPHEN F. MILLEE. 
 
 Washington Cixt, January 15, 1854. 
 
 Deae Sie : — A most beautiful day out ; but my head aches, so as to 
 keep in-doors. Still, you see, I am writing, endeavoring to reduce the 
 bundles on my table, which constantly remind me what has yet to be 
 done. But, as you said in your letter, " look up j be cheerful as ever :" 
 so here goes. 
 
 I will send you the proceedings on the Vice-President's^ death, when 
 published. I cannot find the proceedings on Mr. Calhoun's and Mr. 
 Clay's death. Should I at last succeed, I will send them. 
 
 1 wonder if you would like to have a copy of the Census ? That you 
 
294 BENCH AND BAK OF GEOfiGIA. 
 
 will not get until it is bound, and you write me a letter full of news and 
 fun. Is my old friend William Y. Hansell* in your city ? 
 
 Stephens is better, and Dawson quite well, except the headache cold. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 Wm. C. Dawson. 
 
 to stephen f. millee. 
 
 Washinqton Citt, February 22, 1854. 
 
 Mt dear Sir :— As it is the 22d day of February, and the ground 
 covered one foot six inches deep with snow, I feel rejoiced that Wash- 
 ington was born, — consequently grateful. The snow makes me cool. 
 Under such influence I choose to answer your provoking, amusing, cun- 
 ning, skinning, complimentary letter. Because you have had your fun 
 with Livingston, is that any reason why you should "poke it" at me, 
 reminding me of what has been done for me, — as much as to say, you " old 
 fogy," I have heard of you for the last twenty years? Why did you not 
 speak of my military services, — the dangers I have passed, the suff'erings 
 I have undergone, to protect my country ? « Why, sir, you do not know 
 that at least one day out of six I was without " a cup of cofiee" for 
 breakfast, compelled to satisfy my appetite with nothing but bread and 
 meat, and perhaps a little chicken? Notwithstanding all this, I still kept 
 afloat the flag of my country, and you fail to think of these sufiierings when 
 telling me what has been done for me. 
 
 And to tell me not to murmur " at public ingratitude," you letter- 
 writer, you dyspeptic, "you cigar-destroyer," you writing critic, biogra- 
 phical sketcher, and cynical philosopher. " But I will keep my temper," 
 and, if you don't mind, I won't send you any more documents : if you 
 don't behave, I won't do it, nohow : see if I do. You want the Census. 
 I will send them to you. When you get them, I hope you will be suffi- 
 ciently enlightened to do justice to one of the soldiers of your own State, 
 who was defending your liberties and rights whilst you were gently and 
 securely sleeping, or basking, " in the sunshine of security." Don't you 
 feel that you have done me great injustice? Tell me "not to murmur" ! 
 Who cares that I was turned out of the Senate? I don't. But to have 
 my military services forgotten by you, how can I stand it ? You must 
 come out in your next letter to me and apologize. If you don't, you must 
 sufier the consequences. 
 
 Now, as to that letter to Livingston. Don't become vain, my young 
 friend : it was here before you sent it. Did you suppose that nobody 
 could find out that that letter was a good thing before you told them ? 
 Suppose you did write it : why, it is just as fine as if written by Junius. 
 Why, Senator , with the " Southern Standard," printed in Charles- 
 ton, in his hand, brought it to me, saying, "Dawson, do tell me who wrote 
 this letter. I want to know the man : it is the best thing I have read for 
 many years. It is very excellent." I read it, and found it out, and saw 
 that it was a fine specimen, for style and sarcAasm : (you see I put the h to 
 make the word keen, — do you perceive ?) Junius to the Duke of Grafton. 
 
 * Much of the time that Mr. Dawson was Clerk of the House of Representatives, 
 Major Hansell was Secretary of the Senate ; and each, no doubt, delivered a thousand 
 messages, with the usual formalities of communication, between the two Houses. 
 Besides, they were intimate personal and political friends. 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 295 
 
 So you see, my letter-writer, some people can find a clever thing as well 
 as otheis, although you did — ^I had a great mind to tell you of it, because 
 you said nothing about my military services, — so I had. But, 'cause you 
 behaved bad, I won't. 
 
 Mr. has kept the letter, of course charmed with the hidden wit, 
 
 sarcasm, &c. I spoke of you as a promising young man, — the one to whom 
 Mr. Clay wrote the Tuscaloosa letter about slavery, Texas, &c. Being 
 about my own age, I knew you were comparatively but " an old boy." 
 Tour reputation is rising, — no dispute of it ; and there are solid reasons for 
 it. Ton have a good platform, but not calculated to make one popular 
 with the "distinguished gentlemen" rendered immortal by Livingston's 
 Biographical Sketches. " Think of that, Master Brooke." I will keep 
 this " in pickle" for you, and if you don't " treat me well," you sarcastic 
 epistolatory skinner, I will put it at you. 
 
 The aforesaid letter shall not die : it shall be published again for the 
 good it may do. Is that right ? I have written in a hurry, in good 
 humor, if nothing else : so write to me. 
 
 I take the liberty of subscribing myself your friend ; but it will injure 
 me if known. Wm. C. Dawson. 
 
 TO STEPHEN r. MILLEIL 
 
 Washlsgtoh City, January 21, 1855. 
 
 Mt dear Sie : — Mrs. Dawson enters, and says, " Judge, why are you 
 writing letters on Sunday ?" " Why, dear, young Dr. Miller, the son 
 of an old friend, wants the post of assistant surgeon in the navy, and has 
 written me for a letter recommending him as such, to accompany his ap- 
 plication, and I must send it ofiF to-day." The letter being written, folded, 
 and sent off, and I begin to write another letter, Mrs. Dawson says, " Why 
 don't you now stop? Who is that to?" "The father of Dr. Miller." 
 " So violate the Sabbath just to gratify the Millers !'' " Tes, the old man 
 is grumbling terribly : here are three letters he has written in one day." 
 "What does he want ?" "Documents, books, speeches, pamphlets, &c." 
 " Well, do send him some. But does he read them ?" 
 
 Then I was stopped, but said, " I suppose so." So look out for what shall 
 come. I shall send you the " Criminal Codes of Europe," to remind you 
 that "crime exists," although you may have forgotten it, and to let you 
 know it is a crime for you to make a " married man" work on Sunday for 
 you, to keep you from scolding so outrageously. I wish it was iu my 
 power : you should read every document I send to you. But I will soon 
 be out of Congress, (oh, ho !) then what will such " Grumbletonians" as 
 you do ? Won't you miss Dawson ? Yes, you will; and I don't care if 
 others do, " confound them." They behaved so naughty; and now write 
 to me, and say how sorry they are that " my services are to be lost to the 
 country," — as if it was my fault ! I will "pester them fellows yet :" see 
 if I don't. 
 
 What do you think ? At least a dozen — yes, a full dozen — of good, old- 
 fashioned Democrats have written to me that they want me to be Governor, 
 (whew-ew !) and say, " Tea and Coffee" won't hurt me any more. " Now, 
 did you ever?" But it is all well enough to hear "these sayings" just 
 about the time I am about to depart this life politically, perhaps forever. 
 Oh, what an ungrateful world this dirty ball is, — is it not? Only think, 
 the money, the blood, the sleepless hours, the mud and dirt I have been 
 
296 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 in for my country, — spent, spilt and lost; and then — oh, then — think what 
 is to hecome of me, — "just think of it," and look at me, as happy as a 
 Christian, with an amiable wife by my side, patting my cheeks — yes, my 
 cheeks : I have cheeks yet — and saying, " How happy we shall be when you 
 get out of Congress, and get rid of answering that big pile of letters, and 
 doing so much work night and day, enough to kill a common man, and then 
 to get no thanks for it, but to be called an ' Old Fogie,' when you are 
 as young as the best of them and can do more work than anybody ! Who 
 wants your place ? But who cares ? I don't : do you V 
 
 We have but little news here. I shall leave the Senate without any 
 personal regrets, and I suppose the world will not be shocked by it. Still, 
 I can but think some persons in Georgia will regret it. 
 
 Mrs. Dawson is blessed with great equanimity of temper, and looks on 
 political honors generally as bubbles, empty things. But patriots- 
 such men as you and I — think them something. But enough of this. 
 Write me the Georgia news. Your friend, 
 
 Wm. C. Dawson. 
 
 to stephen f. miller. 
 
 Senate-Chamber, January 30, 1855. 
 
 My deak Sir : — What do you mean ? Do you want to quarrel, send- 
 ing me scraps from newspapers, to "fret me," to make me desire — what? 
 Do you know? Do you mean to put me into "harness" again? Why 
 don't you talk plain, and let me know ? You confuse me, — make me feel 
 "aspirations" when you know I have never felt them. Don't you know 
 it? Don't you say you don't. If you do, I shall call you a "Know- 
 Nothing." Your "scrap" is quite complimentary, and I have come to 
 the conclusion to let it pass, thinking you did not intend to give cause 
 "for pistols and coffee for two;" for I don't want to travel away just 
 now, as I shall at least hereafter be useful to myself, and perhaps to you. 
 
 Democracy is in a "muss," and so is Whiggeiy. What will be the 
 result, I can't tell. In the confusion Georgia had a chance for a trump, 
 and, if the game be "three up," may turn a "Jack ;" and if Georgia can 
 hold "low" and make the game, she will be "out." And so will I be 
 "out" on the 4th of March, and in the ranks of the "rank and file," 
 and shall take my position in line according to " height," and obey the 
 "drill-officers," unless I shall be considered "muster free" or placed on 
 the "retired list." But, having been dreadfully injured "in the battle of 
 Milledgeville," in January, 1854, am I not, by the laws of Georgia, en- 
 titled to a bounty ! But who cares? If the old soldiers' bill passes Con- 
 gress, I will receive a land-bounty, and will have a "homestead," an old 
 soldier's home. Think of that, "Master Brooke," and poke no more of 
 your fun at me. 
 
 I find the only way to keep you at peace with me is to feed you with 
 " documents" until you get dyspepsia. I will soon bring you to that : 
 see if I don't. 
 
 Now, my dear sir, come to business. Write me fully and freely the 
 condition of things politically in Georgia. How are the people divided ? 
 I see I am charged with being a " Know-Nothing." This is caused by 
 my speech against conferring the honors of the Senate on Father Matthew, 
 which had never been done upon any American divine or temperance-man ; 
 by my speech against Kossuth, and refusal to stand up, with hat off, when 
 he and his baboon suite were introduced into the Senate, (Judge Berrien 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 297 
 
 did the same thing,) and by my various speeches against giving the public 
 lands to foreigners upon terms more favorable than to native citizens. 
 Now, if these views make me a " Know-Xothing," I am one without 
 knowing it. I don't care if it does. It comes by pursuing my prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 I have been "baptized" into no confessions, and as yet admitted iuto no 
 political church; but it seems I am a Christian, — at least judged so by my 
 acts and independent political course. In the same way I may be called 
 a "temperance-man," because I never "drink to hurt," — only enough to 
 make me agreeable and feel comfortable. Xow, shall I grumble when I 
 am called a "temperance-man?" No, I won't. 
 
 I am only writing to amuse you, whilst my old friend, General Cass, is 
 making a "Buncombe speech," and saying he is no aspirant, &c. 
 
 My health is firm, hair on the head, and my whiskera black, all native 
 growth and no black mixture required to naturalize them. Hem ! Some 
 call me "a young filibuster;" but when I pour out my conservative 
 notions, some chap cries out, " He is an old fogie." Upon the whole, like 
 Webster was at one time, I have to exclaim, "Where am I to go?" The 
 Georgia Legislature has decided the question : — " Go back to the post of 
 honor, a private station." I obey, and shall comply in a' few weeks with 
 the decision, pay up the costs, and settle the case. Now, what have you 
 to say? Say it. Your friend, 
 
 Wm. C. Dawson. 
 
 to stephen f. miller. 
 
 Sehate-Chambeb, February 19, 1855. 
 
 My dear Sir : — The lightning I see : the thunder will be along 
 presently, no doubt. Having escaped the flash, the noise will not alarm 
 me, as I anticipated it. 
 
 Now, my dear sir, as I have an immense number of letters to write, and 
 my imagination is sleeping, I will postpone a full reply to your quizzical 
 letter until I have an opportunity of " lounging it out" with you, — which, 
 I hope, will not be long. But I will say that Wm. C. Dawson has come 
 to the conclusion that he will be placed on the " retired list." Although 
 a young man, the severe wound he received in the Senatorial battle of 
 "'53" in Milledgeville has impaired his usefulness, and the country will 
 not feel much disposed, I apprehend, to call him again into service. 
 
 What do you think of it ? People will sympathize with a " dying man," 
 whether he is about to depart naturally or politically. I shall file no in- 
 junction ; but my down-hill tendencies may run their course, and by that 
 time I shall consider the policy of spelling up again. 
 
 But we are now on " that monstrosity," the Pacific Kailroad Bill, and I 
 must say a word or two. I am in fine health, looking young and cheerful, 
 anticipating sunshine the remainder of my life, — in public or in private 
 life. I will not say a word about my new partner, who is in all things 
 what she ought to he. 
 
 I promise " to pounce" on you when I meet you. Tour friend, who 
 thanks you sincerely for your very pleasant and amusing letters, &c. &c. 
 
 Wm. C. Dawson. 
 
 These letters afford evidence of the playful disposition of Judge 
 Dawson, — of the goodness and simplicity of his heart. If all that 
 
298 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 he has written to his friends in a similar vein could be collected, 
 they would form a volume of elegant, provoking humor. The 
 memory of such a man, of such endearing qualities is pleasant, 
 yet mournful, to the soul of friendship. 
 
 His public life has now been traced to its close, and it was too 
 soon that his mortal career also terminated. Suddenly, and with 
 only a few hours' warning, this distinguished patriot and friend of 
 his race departed this life at his residence in Greensboro, on the 
 5th of May, 1856. 
 
 The announcement took the country by surprise, and melted all 
 hearts. Telegraphic despatches gave the afflicting event the widest 
 circulation. The press everywhere noticed it in terms suited to 
 the standing of the deceased, — of respect for his character and 
 sorrow for his death. 
 
 A brief notice of his family will be given. The first Mrs. Dawson 
 died in 1850, leaving a number of children. Judge Dawson remained 
 a widower until November, 1854, when he intermarried with Mrs. 
 Eliza M. Williams, of Memphis, Tennessee. 
 
 His eldest son, William Reid Dawson, died while a student at 
 the University of Georgia, in the junior class. The second child 
 was Henry Mounger Dawson, who died at the age of three years. 
 The third is George Oscar Dawson, at this time a lawyer resident 
 in Greensboro, and who has frequently represented the county of 
 Greene in the Legislature. His fourth child was Henrietta Wing- 
 field, now the wife of Joseph B. Hill, of Columbus ; the fifth is 
 Edgar Gilmer Dawson, a lawyer, also residing in Columbus, who 
 married the only daughter of the late Dr. William Terrell, of Sparta, 
 so honorably known to the public as a former Representative in 
 Congress, — one of the most intelligent agricultural writers of his 
 day, — a man of great wealth, out of which he established a profes- 
 sorship in Franklin College. The Legislature named a county 
 after him, as an acknowledgment of his generosity and public 
 spirit. The sixth child of Judge Dawson was Emma Caledonia, 
 who married Edward W. Seabrook, of South Carolina, the nephew 
 of Governor Seabrook of that State. The seventh is Lucien Wing- 
 field Dawson, a lawyer residing in Greensboro, who married Eliza, 
 daughter of George Dent, of Athens. 
 
 A son* of Judge Dawson (to whose courteous reply to a letter 
 on the subject the author is indebted for the family-record given) 
 thus speaks of his father : — 
 
 * Edgar G. Dawson, Esq. 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 299 
 
 I see that the Masonic Fraternity are preparing and arranging to raise 
 a monument to his memory, and to establish a " Dawson Professorship" 
 in the Masonic Female College. 
 
 My father was very liberal in his donations to such institutions, — always 
 active in the cause of education. As you are aware, he was eminently 
 social, — was remarkably fond of the chase, — always kept a fine pack of 
 fox-hounds, the fleetest in the country, as he spared no expense in pro- 
 curing them. He was the best horseman I ever saw, and surpassed all 
 his companions in his exploits upon the field with his horse and hounds. 
 I have frequently seen him from daybreak until nightfall in the chase, 
 (of the red fox, the fleetest and most enduring of the species,) and then 
 return home and work until twelve or one o'clock in his office. I think 
 he was one of the most industrious men I ever knew, and at the same time 
 the most social. 
 
 He made companions of his children, and never failed to have them 
 with him, when not inconvenient to do so, — upon the circuit, at Wash- 
 ington, in his travels, upon the plantation, — and seemed delighted, in 
 the chase, to see his sons well mounted, contesting with him the palm of 
 horsemanship in leaping fences, ditches, and in keeping nearest the hounds 
 in full pursuit through woods and fields. 
 
 * ****** 
 
 A few months prior to his death he wrote me : — 
 
 " I shall return to the practice with all diligence in the spring, and have 
 nothing to draw my attention from it, and shall expect to be pointed at in 
 a short time by the people and have them say, ' There is a rising and 
 promising young man who will soon make his mark at the bar.' " He 
 always contended that he was never over thirty years of age, and that he 
 was as able and active at fifty-eight years of age as at thirty-eight. 
 
 The employments Judge Dawson held, in all of which he acquitted 
 himself usefully to the public, may be stated : — 
 
 1. Clerk of the Georgia House of Representatives twelve years. 
 
 2. Compiler of the laws of Georgia from 1820 to 1830,— ^the last 
 publication in the quarto form. 
 
 3. Representative in the State Legislature. 
 
 4. Senator in the State Legislature. 
 
 5. Captain of a volunteer company in the Creek War of 1836. 
 
 6. Representative in Congress from 1836 to 1841. 
 
 7. Judge of the Superior Court of the Ocmulgee circuit. 
 
 8. Senator in Congress from 1849 to 1855.* 
 
 While in Congress, he was placed on committees of much labor 
 and responsibility, and, as chairman, had frequently to report 
 evidence and the result of his investigations. Just before he 
 retired from the Senate, the citizens of Washington, through the 
 mayor and aldermen, presented him a silver pitcher, or with a 
 pair of richly- chased silver goblets, with inscriptions signifying 
 
 * Judge Dawson presided at the great Memphis ConTeution ia 1853. 
 
300 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 their gratitude for his services in behalf of the city as Chairman 
 of the District Committee. The ceremony of presentation was 
 noticed in the papers at the time. 
 
 As a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Judge Dawson had 
 reached the highest ele\ation. Of the two hundred subordinate 
 Lodges in Georgia, perhaps there were but few, if any, which did 
 not drape their rooms in mourning and pass resolutions of sym- 
 pathy and honor on account of his death. Such an instance of 
 universal grief, of such genuine outpouring of the Masonic heart, 
 is not to be found elsewhere in the annals of the Order. The 
 extracts which follow, from the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge 
 of Georgia, at its Annual Communication in October, 1856, will 
 show in what light he was held by his brethren : — 
 
 P. 10. — E. W. Deputy Grand Master Kockwell, in behalf of the com- 
 mittee appointed in the morning, under the resolution offered by Bro. 
 A. W. Eedding, respecting the death of our late Grand Master, Wm. C. 
 Dawson, reported as follows, which report was read and ordered to be 
 entered on the minutes : — 
 
 The committee appointed to prepare a suitable tribute to the memory 
 of our late Grand Master beg leave to report : — 
 
 Whereas, It has pleased the Almighty Disposer of events to remove 
 from our earthly temple to a higher and holier one, as we devoutly trust, 
 our late Grand Master, Most Worshipful Wm. C. Dawson, who for 
 thirteen years has presided over our deliberations, guiding them by his 
 wisdom, controlling them by his firmness, and dignifying them by his 
 manly and Masonic bearing. While we bow in humble submission to His 
 All-wise decree, and acknowledge the solemn importance of the momentous 
 truth that man is born to die, we deem it our Masonic duty to place on 
 record a fitting testimonial of our affection for him as a brother and our 
 deep and abiding reverence for his memory as a man. Therefore, 
 
 Be it resolved, hy the Grand Lodge of Georgia, That in the death of 
 our late Grand Master we have sustained a loss which human wisdom 
 cannot measure. Our onward progress in prosperity has received a check 
 which a close imitation of his bright example can alone enable us to over- 
 leap ; our Masonic fabric is weakened by a breach of which the broken 
 column among our mystic emblems will perpetually remind us ; but the 
 ^living sprig of evergreen which a Brother's hand has deposited with his 
 perishable dust in the last home of all the living, with its symbolic teach- 
 ings, triumphantly assures us that his undying spirit will live forever, as 
 we cheerfully hope, in the realms of a blissful immortality. 
 
 Be it also Resolved, That this memorial to our late beloved presiding 
 officer be inserted in a fitting place in the minutes of this Grand Com- 
 munication. 
 
 P. 13. — From the report of R. W. Deputy Grand Master 
 Gaulding : — 
 
 On the 7th day of May, having been informed of the sudden death 
 of our worthy and honored Grand Master, Wm. 0. Dawson, I hastened 
 to the village of Greensboro for the purpose of attending his funeral. 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 301 
 
 Being tte senior ofiScer of this Grand body present, it became my mournful 
 duty to conduct the solemn ceremonies. In this I Tras assisted by 
 Worshipful David E. Butler, Senior Grand Warden, being the only other 
 Grand officer present. At 3 o'clock p.m., San Marino Lodge convened 
 in their room, together with a number of the Brotherhood from the neigh- 
 boring counties of Warren, Hancock, Morgan, Taliaferro, Newton, Putnam, 
 and other parts of the State. A procession in accordance with the usages 
 of our Order was formed, and proceeded to the residence of the deceased. 
 A strong desire being manifested by the people generally to' behold for 
 the last time the face of the honored dead, the procession, composed of 
 hundreds, passed through the chamber, where he lay in an open coffin, 
 and, with pensive eyes, looked for the last time upon him for whom, while 
 living, they entertained feelings of so much kindness and respect. The 
 remains were escorted to the Presbyterian Church, where an appropriate 
 sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Axsom, President of the Greens- 
 boro Female College. The body was then conveyed to the village 
 cemetery and deposited in its final resting-place, with the solemn burial- 
 ceremonies peculiar to our Order. The occasion was indeed a solemn as 
 well as an interesting one. Every person present seemed to feel the force 
 of the sudden blow which had fallen upon the community and stricken 
 down a strong pillar of our social fabric. To the Masonic Fraternity 
 especially the scene was truly affecting^ calculated to impress every mind 
 with awe and fill each bosom with the deepest sorrow. Their beloved 
 and honored chief, who had for thirteen years been to them as a father 
 and a governor, was taken from them, and they were now left to look for 
 a new leader, and search for a new object, around which the broken ten- 
 drils of their affections might be entwined. The interest of the occasion 
 was materially enhanced by the presence of the faculty and about one 
 hundred of the pupUs of the Southern jMasonic Female College. An 
 appropriate position was assigned them in the procession, next to the 
 relatives of the deceased and near the body of their Masonic father. The 
 presence of these pupils was peculiarly appropriate. They are the mem- 
 bers of an institution under the immediate control and patronage of the 
 Grand Lodge of Georgia, at the head of which had so long stood our 
 illustrious brother. This school was with him an object of deep solicitude. 
 It was his delight to speak of the pupils in the affectionate relation of 
 daughters ; hence, it was peculiarly fit and proper that the children should 
 foUow to the grave the remains of a fond and loving father. It was a 
 sight upon which angels might look down with admiration, — to behold one 
 hundred young ladies, all dressed in robes of spotless white, the chaste 
 emblem of innocence and virtue, marching with solemn tread in the 
 funeral procession of their friend and benefactor. While the vast number 
 of Brethren present surrounded the grave, forming the mystic chain 
 peculiar to our burial-service, these young ladies were alined within the 
 large circle in the form of a crescent, thus symbolizing the invisible 
 bulwark which Masonry rears around female weakness, virtue, and inno- 
 cence. 
 
 I have thus briefly and imperfectly sketched an outline of the solemn 
 obsequies of a distinguished man and an illustrious Mason. William C. 
 Dawson is dead ; his mortal remains now slumber in silence beneath the 
 sod, but his memory, like the evergreen, symbol of immortality, shall 
 continue to flourish in perpetual verdure in the remembrance of a grateful 
 people and in the hearts of a trusting and affectionate brotherhood. 
 
302 BENCH AND BAE 0? GEORGIA. 
 
 P. 25. From the report of the Right Worshipful Deputy Grand 
 Master A. Hood, of the First Masonic District : — 
 
 It would seem needless to remind you, my Brethren, that since our last 
 Annual Communication, Death, that fell destroyer, has heen in our midst. 
 All our hearts feel the sad and melancholy bereavement we have sustained 
 in the death of our much-beloved Grand Master, Wm. C. Dawson. Our 
 Grand Master's chair, which is now temporarily filled by one of your 
 chosen substitutes, the absence of that Brother whose cheerful countenance 
 and urbane manner lent a charm to our Annual Convocation, remind us 
 of our sad bereavement, and teach us the sad but truthful lesson that "in 
 the midst of life we are in death," and "that we know not the day nor 
 the hour when the Son of man cometh." To «« he was indeed a friend 
 and a brother. Who of this Grand body whose privilege it was to have 
 met with him here year after year, as it were in our annual love-feast, but 
 feel the sad loss we have sustained ? While dwelMng on our loss we should 
 endeavor to recall the many excellencies of character which endeared him 
 to us, and that secured our respect and affection while living, heartfelt 
 tears at his death, and a memory precious to all who esteem goodness so 
 thoroughly manifested and so purely preserved. He was indeed happily 
 constituted. Of manners gentle, of affections mild. His manner and 
 heart won that confidence that was never forfeited, his goodness and 
 greatness that love and affection that was never lost or impaired. 
 
 P. 52. From the address of the Most Worshipful Grand Master 
 of New York, Joseph D. Evans : — 
 
 In a communication recently received from the K. W. Wm. S. Rock- 
 well, Deputy Grand ]^.Iaster of Georgia, was conveyed the melancholy intel- 
 ligence of the death of the Grand Master of that State, the Most Worship- 
 ful the Honorable William C. Dawson. His death will not only be felt 
 by the Craft in that jurisdiction, hut the whole country will sympathize 
 with them in his loss. He was a zealons Mason, a true patriot, and a 
 highly honorable and noble statesman. For years he had been Grand 
 Master, and for years a member of the United States Senate, representing 
 Georgia. In both of these prominent positions his amiability and wisdom 
 won for him the esteem and respect of all his peers. He had a strong 
 hold upon the affections of his brethren, and was beloved by all who knew 
 him. But he has gone to his eternal home. His spirit has fled to God 
 who gave it ; but his memory will remain deeply impressed upon our 
 hearts, to flourish there as the green bay-tree. Thus for a brief period do 
 our bright lights display their effulgence in sparkling and glittering rays, 
 and then pass from us forever. 
 
 The official circular of the Deputy Grand Master, communicating the 
 sad intelligence, was afterward read by the Grand Secretary and referred 
 to a special committee, who reported the following resolutions : — 
 
 Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of New York has heard with emotions 
 of heartfelt sorrow of the decease of the M.W. and Hon.Wm. C. Dawson, 
 the Grand Master of Georgia, alike distinguished for his ability and 
 patriotism as a statesman and as a wise and accomplished Mason. 
 
 Resolved, That we sincerely sympathize with our Brethren in Georgia 
 in the loss of one who has added wisdom, prudence, and energy to their 
 counsels, who gave additional lustre to the distinguished station he has so 
 ably filled, and whose fame and memory will not only be cherished by the 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 303 
 
 Brethren of his State, but is the heritage of the Craft throughout the 
 Union. 
 
 Resolved, That the R.W. Grand Secretary transmit a certified copy of 
 these resolutions to the M.W. Grand Lodge of Georgia. 
 
 P. 77. Bro. H. P. Bell, from the committee appointed in relation to 
 the erection of a monument over the grave of our late deceased Grand 
 Ma.ster, Wm. C. Dawson, made a report, which was amended and adopted 
 as follows : — 
 
 The undersigned committee, to whom was referred the resolutions sub- 
 mitted to the consideration of the Grand Lodge by Baber Lodge, No. 123, 
 and San Marino Lodge, No. 34, in relation to the erection of a marble 
 monument in memory of our late lamented Grand Master, Hon. William 
 G. Dawson, and also the resolution in relation to the procurement of a 
 portrait of our deceased Grand Master, to be placed in the East of the 
 Grand Lodge hall, have had the same under consideration ; and respect- 
 fully submit, — ^That his eminent public services, his resplendent virtues 
 as a citizen, and his unswerving d'evotion to the tenets of our cherished 
 and time-honored Order, and the elevated position which he so long held 
 and so nobly adorned as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, 
 all conspire to render it proper that we should perpetuate his memory and 
 virtues in some enduring and substantial manner. 
 
 Tlierefore Resolved, That the sum of §1200 be, and it is hereby, appro- 
 priated by the Grand Lodge, out of any funds now in the treasury not 
 otherwise disposed of, to be expended in the erection of a suitable monu- 
 ment (of white marble) in memory of the Hon. Wm. C. Dawson, deceased, 
 late Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, and that the treasurer 
 is hereby authorized to pay the same to a committee hereafter to be 
 appointed to superintend the erection of the same. 
 
 Resolved, That a suitable sum be, and the same is hereby, appropriated 
 to be expended in the procurement of a lifelike portrait of our deceased 
 Grand Master, to be placed in the East of the Masonic hall of the Grand 
 Lodge of Georgia. 
 
 A committee to carry out the object of the above report was appointed 
 by the M.W. Grand Master, consisting of Brothers H. P. Bell, Y. P. King, 
 R. A. Lane, Wm. Cox, H. Greene, L. H. Featherston, and D. E. Butler. 
 
 The members of the bar at various courts gave expression to 
 theu: feelings on the occasion. The proceedings of the Supreme 
 Court of Georgia, held at Macon, June Term, 1856, are of record: — 
 
 Upon the opening of the court, the Hon. E. A. Xisbet, formerly one of 
 the judges, announced the death of Hon. WiLLLiM C. Dawson as 
 follows : — 
 
 Mat it please tour Honors : — It is proper to arrest the business of 
 the court, and, standing around the grave of a deceased brother, contem- 
 plate for a few moments the virtues which ennobled his character. It is a 
 matter of serious thon^ht and of painful interest that, within a short 
 period of time, we have been called to bury so many of the distinguished 
 members of the bar of this court. The brilliant and almost faultless 
 Charlton; the strong, honest, upright, and independent Dougherty; the 
 eloquent, accomplished, and profound Berrien ; Judge Colquitt, the ear- 
 nest, ardent, impulsive, and generous man of genius, and the accurate and 
 learned Miller. Nor are these all. Others have died within a short period 
 
304 BENCH AXD BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 of time not undistinguished or wanting in merit. Now wc add to the list 
 Judge Dawson, who recently departed this life at his residence in Greens- 
 boro. They are all beyond that bourne whence no traveller returns. They 
 are silent, yet they speak : they are dead, yet they live in the record of 
 their lives. It becomes us to profit by their virtues and to take the warn- 
 ing which their death affords. We, too, are mortals. It is appointed 
 unto man once to die, and then the judgment. Verily, until our time 
 comes we are immortal, and when it arrives we are merely mortal. Arch- 
 angels' arm cannot pluck us hence : legions of angels cannot hold us here. 
 Occasions like the present are melancholy, yet they are not altogether 
 painful. Even when we come to bury our dead there is a mixture of 
 pleasure in the solemn service. It is our necessity to mourn their loss, 
 but it is our privilege to rejoice in the achievements of their life. It is 
 manly to weep beside the bier of a departed friend, and the tear that falls 
 upon his grave meets, as it descends, a smile which, springing from the 
 heart, mantles the face as memory traces his generous traits and noble 
 deeds. The departed members of the bar are never dead. When in life 
 they were our keepers and we their keepers. United in the bonds of pro- 
 fessional brotherhood, linked together by habits of close association, accus- 
 tomed to similar trains of thought and investigation, and holding in our 
 mutual custody the honor of our class, the character and distinctions of 
 each are the property to no small extent of all. And to each belongs the 
 responsibilities of all. Are we not brothers ? And when a brother de- 
 scends to the tomb, shall not we rejoice in the good fortune of his life, — 
 exult in the triumphs of his genius and learning, and emulate his virtues? 
 Shall we not protect his fame and reputation, and watch around his grave 
 as kindred guard the resting-place of their dead ? The lesson taught us 
 in the death of these eminent gentlemen is, that the ways of wealth and 
 honor and social life — ^indeed, all the paths of glory — ^lead but to the tomb. 
 In relation to Judge Dawson, allow me to say that I have known him 
 from my childhood, and, on account of my long and intimate association 
 with him, I feel at liberty to speak with some confidence. I can but speak 
 with sensibility, for he was my friend. When quite a child I met him at 
 my first school, — a school taught by Kev. Dr. Gumming, in Greene county, 
 in the neighborhood where we were both bom. He was then a youth of 
 some seventeen or eighteen years of age, with the stature of a man. A few 
 years in advance of me when I came to the bar, he was, for a young man, 
 in the enjoyment of a handsome practice. Living in the same circuit with 
 him, I was in the habit, for twelve years of my professional life, of attend- 
 ing the same courts that he attended, and therefore saw a great deal of 
 him. I was with him in the State Legislature and in the Congress of the 
 United States. I saw him occasionally on the bench and was not unfre- 
 quently an inmate of his family. On the wayside, at village taverns, in 
 the court, in legislative halls, among the people, in the highest circles of 
 the Federal City, and under his own roof, surrounded with his family and 
 friends, he was always cheerful, affable, genial, kind, and just. No one 
 sympathized more promptly or more sincerely with the troubles or joys of 
 others. His hand was always open to the claims of charity, and to public 
 objects he ever gave an early and effective support. Under all circum- 
 stances he was a gentleman and an honest man. Is not that his highest 
 eulogium ? For what are talents, or riches, or honors, without those attri- 
 butes which constitute the gentleman ? The occasion does not warrant 
 any elaborate review of Judge Dawson's character as lawyer, citizen, states- 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 305 
 
 man, master, husband, and parent. If it did, it would be no unpleasant 
 or unprofitable task to undertake its elucidation. I cannot forbear, how- 
 ever, to say that, amid all the agitations of his political life, such was his 
 amiable and upright bearing that he never forfeited the respect of his 
 adversaries, and very often, indeed, secured their warm personal regard. 
 He was a patriot. He loved his country, — his whole country. He was a 
 thorough-working, practical legislator. In my poor judgment, he gave as 
 few bad votes, whilst in the Senate of the United States, as any member 
 of that august body. He maintained as stringently and as wisely as any 
 other man the rights of his section, and was at the same time eminently 
 conservative, looking steadily to the interests of the whole Union. But 
 I will not detain you longer. His body sleeps beneath the soil of his 
 nativity. May his character be ever a living presence among us ! 
 
 On motion of Judge Nisbet, seconded by Col. H. G. Lamar, a com- 
 mittee, consisting of Hon. E. A. Nisbet, Col. Henry G. Lamar, Hon. Lotc 
 Warren, Col. Hines Holt, and Washington Poe, Esq., was appointed to 
 report to the court suitable resolutions on Monday morning next. 
 
 Monday morning, Jane 30, 1856. 
 
 The Hon. E. A. Nisbet, chairman of the committee, made the following 
 report : — 
 
 The committee appointed to report upon the death of the Hon. Wm. C. 
 Dawson beg leave to submit the following resolutions : — 
 
 Resolved, 1. That it is a matter of serious reflection as well as pro- 
 found regret that within a few years so many of the leading minds and 
 beautiful ornaments of the profession have been summoned to the grave. 
 Charlton, Dougherty, Colquitt, Berrien, Miller, and others, with startling 
 rapidity have followed each other from the scenes of earth to the realities 
 of eternity. The places that knew them — ^the bar, the bench, the Senate, 
 the walks of private life, and their own firesides — know them no more. 
 Still they live in the record of their virtues, in the memory of affection 
 and of friendship, and in the recognition of their genius and learning. 
 They were the guiding lights of this bar; and it is a pride and a solace to 
 know that, though dead, they yet speak. To this brilliant list of departed 
 worthies it is now our painful duty to add the Hon. William Crosbt 
 Dawson, who died at his residence in Greensboro, in the month of May 
 last. 
 
 2. That whilst we rejoice that our brother died in the full vigor of his 
 Acuities, bodily and mental, before age had impaired his capacity either for 
 enjoyment or for the duties of his high station, we mourn his departure at 
 a time when those faculties gave promise of long usefulness to the State 
 and the nation. 
 
 3. That we who knew him (and he was known to the bar and people 
 of Georgia more generally as a familiar acquaintance than almost any man 
 in the State) realize his removal from our social, political, and professional 
 circles as a personal bereavement. And many, very many, beyond the 
 limits of our own State have heard the announcement of his death with 
 the most poignant anguish ; for, to a greater extent than most men, he 
 possessed the power of electing and securing the affection and esteem of 
 all who had the good fortune of coming within the influence of his agree- 
 able manners and genial spirit. Political rivalry and party struggles had 
 no power to cool his friends, or to heat his adversaries. Men differed 
 with and opposed, but at the same time loved and respected him. 
 
 Vol. I.— 20 
 
306 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 4. That we testify that with industry, integrity, and honor he performed 
 the duties of a lawyer; that with impartiality and ability he administered 
 the law ; that with fidelity and assiduity, with unconsciousness and efii- 
 ciency, he executed the numerous public trusts to which he was called; 
 and that we respect and would emulate those qualities of head and heart 
 which raised him from undistinguished and not very propitious beginnings 
 to Senatorial dignity, and there sustained him respectably among the 
 greatest minds of the nation. 
 
 5. That he is chiefly to be admired for the amiable virtues of private 
 life. His hand was ever open to the calls of charity ; his means were 
 liberally appropriated to the necessities of his relations; his house was 
 the seat of a frank, free, and profuse hospitality; and in his family he 
 enforced and obeyed but one law, and that was the law of kindness. 
 
 6. That these multiplying memorials demonstrate the inevitable cer- 
 tainty of death, and that neither wealth, nor honors, nor genius, nor 
 learning, nor social position can for one moment postpone its advent, 
 and that they impressively warn us also to be ready so that when called 
 we may go in peace. 
 
 7. That these resolutions be entered on the minutes of this court, that 
 they be published in the city papers, and a copy be transmitted to the 
 family of the deceased. 
 
 To which Judge Lumpkin, in behalf of the court, responded as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Judge Dawson acted a prominent part in the State and nation for more 
 than thirty years. He was one of two of the most efficient Senators of the 
 Congress of the United States. He was the intimate and cherished asso- 
 ciate of Clay and Webster, the trusted and confidential adviser of Presi- 
 dent Fillmore, — and thus distinguished and honored was no ordinary 
 citizen. 
 
 But, after all, it is as a man that those who knew the deceased best will 
 love to contemplate him. There was a daily beauty in his life which won 
 every heart. He was benevolent, liberal, and charitable, in the best and 
 broadest sense of those terms. His mansion was ever the home of the 
 most elegant hospitality, and the invitation was, " Come one, come all." 
 
 The flatterers of George IV. of England were accustomed to speak of 
 that royal debauchee as the ^' first gentleman in Europe." How much 
 more properly might Wm. C. Dawson be held up to the imitation of all, 
 and especially the young, as the first gentleman in Georgia ! To the bar 
 and the people his example in this respect has been of inestimable value. 
 May it long be remembered ! 
 
 While the deceased never forsook the political opinions which he first 
 embraced, but retained his confidence in them to the last, he was never- 
 theless always remarkable for his moderation ; and even by his political 
 opponents no one in matters of personal delicacy and difficulty was con- 
 fided in more. 
 
 Is not the death of such a man in the prime of manhood a great public 
 loss ? No wonder that a thousand mourners — collected, many of them, 
 from neighboring towns — assembled to witness his funeral. His death 
 stirred, apparently, the popular heart more than that of the great Troup 
 himself or any other contemporary. The truth is that no one had more 
 friends or fewer enemies. 
 
 The departure of such a man so suddenly severs bo many ties, interrupts 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 307 
 
 SO many delights, withdraws so many confidences, leaves such an aching 
 void in the hearts of family and friends, and such a sense of desolation 
 among associates, that, while we bow submissively to the divine decree, 
 our griefs cannot but pour themselves out in heartfelt lamentations. 
 
 A true extract from the minutes. Rob't E. Maktin, 
 
 ClerJc. 
 
 Since the foregoing memoir was prepared, the author has received 
 from the Hon. E. A. Nisbet a communication which cannot fail 
 to gratify the immediate friends of Judge Dawson, as well as the 
 public at large. Knowing their intimate personal relations of long 
 standing, their service together in Congress, their practice at the 
 same bar, the author applied to Judge Nisbet for a sketch of his 
 departed friend, to be used in this memoir. Before introducing it, 
 the author takes this method of thanking Judge Nisbet. A con- 
 tribution of this kind from one who, besides having filled other high 
 stations with talent and dignity, was eight years on the bench of 
 the Supreme Court of Georgia, leaving in some fifteen volumes of 
 reports the impress of his acknowledged genius, exact scholarship, 
 and great legal ability, is of no common value ; and, as such, it is 
 with peculiar satisfaction given here as an 
 
 additional sketch. 
 " Si quid loquar audiendmn." — HoK. lib. iv. Ode 2. 
 
 I am very sure that this brief sketch of one of Georgia's best men will 
 speak something worthy of being heard. Biography more than history is 
 philosophy teaching by example. What men have done men may do 
 again. Example is the living teafcher. Obstacles overcome, impediments 
 removed, competition mastered, wealth attained, and distinction won, are 
 incentives to virtue and stimulants to effort. Errors corrected and vices 
 eradicated are lights to guide and beacons to warn. Honor and fame, 
 fairly achieved, stir the spirits of noble men to a generous emulation. 
 Professional rivalry is one of the chief sources of professional greatness. 
 One good and great man reproduces himself by acting upon that principle 
 in our nature which constrains us to admire virtue and to emulate 
 greatness. 
 
 There is something very beautiful in the rivalry of really great men : it 
 is sometimes, indeed, a sublime spectacle. Take the career of two great 
 lawyers for example, — the two Scotts, Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell. They 
 were brothers in blood and kindred in genius. Their emulation was not 
 one of interest, but for renown. Starting upon the same level, they ran 
 an equal though divergent course. The triumphs of one but guaranteed 
 the triumphs of the other. The glory of one reflected glory upon the 
 other. The reputation of each was a joint possession. They ran abreast 
 and together reached the goal. They entered the British peerage, and 
 their names are immortal. Our own country affords illustrious instances 
 of professional contests waged by the Anaks of the law, — contests far 
 exceeding in interest the most gorgeous displays of imperial gladiatorship 
 at Kome, — contests which arouse a city, command the criticism of the 
 
308 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 press, enlist the sympathies of women, and attract the observation of a 
 nation. Such an one was exhibited in the trial of Burr at Richmond. 
 Such was the first trial of strength at Boston, between Mr. Wirt and 
 Mr. Webster, in the case of Farnum, admr., vs. Brooks, — ^the former a 
 Southern champion, armed with learning, eloquence, wit, and a national 
 reputation, the latter an Eastern savan, ponderous in solid lore, brilliant 
 in all the furniture of letters, an adroit rhetorician, and of peerless pro- 
 fessional renown. This was a contest in which we are constrained to 
 admit that the vanquished was no less a victor than he who conquered. 
 It is a study for the ambitious young men of the Union. In contem- 
 plating, let them look deeper into it than the forensic scene will allow. 
 Let them reflect how much of intense labor, how much of uprightness, 
 and how much of elegant culture entered into the fitness of such men for 
 such a struggle. Emulation of Hortensius contributed to make Cicero — 
 who was the wisest and best of all the Pagan world — ^the foremost orator 
 of all ages. Hortensius was, on account of his eloquence, called King of 
 the Forum : — " in fero oh eloquentiam rege causarum." Cicero wrested 
 the sceptre from his hand and wielded it without a rival. 
 
 Now, I do not propose to place Judge Dawson in the same niche with 
 these immortal names. His position as a lawyer was far below theirs, 
 albeit not wanting in elevation. His sense of truth and justice would, 
 were he alive, be shocked by such a pretension. It is not necessary ; 
 since, without that, he was entitled to the respect of the world for virtues 
 peculiarly his own, and for a position in itself distinguished. These reflec- 
 tions are germain to the purposes of this publication. Those purposes are 
 to bring before the country the character of deceased members of the bar 
 of Greorgia; to illustrate the action of free government -upon a profession 
 which has more to do in its actual administration than any other; to 
 demonstrate the fact that lawyers are the greatest of all the conservators of 
 liberty ; to inspire among the people a truer estimate of the professional 
 character; to stimulate to honor, zeal, and industry that great body of 
 men who aspire to the distinctions of the bar ; and, further, to perpetuate 
 those intellectual peculiarities and amiable qualities of heart which have 
 so strikingly characterized the profe.ssion. It is sad to reflect that, whilst 
 the profession of the law exacts the severest labor, demands the most pro- 
 found learning and the most liberal cultivation, and evokes the most bril- 
 liant displays of genius, yet it affords no record, for the most part, of the 
 greatness of its ornaments. We would catch the glory as it flies and fix 
 it upon the memory of men. To this end we present an outline-sketch 
 of the lamented Dawson. 
 
 William C. Dawson was born in Greene county, Georgia, of respect- 
 able parentage, — a county among the first settled in the interior, and 
 which has given birth to' more men of note than any other in the State. 
 At the time when his parents settled in Greene it was a frontier-county. 
 The Indians had not been removed from the western bank of the Oconee, 
 and they, in common with others, encountered the hardships and perils 
 incident to all early settlements in our Western and Southwestern States. 
 Privations, self-denial, self-reliance, and courage were among their virtues 
 and their experiences. I mention these things to show that Judge Daw- 
 son sprung from a vigorous, sturdy stock, and claims nothing upon the 
 score of birth and the aids which numerous friends, strong connections, 
 and accumulated wealth bestow, in behalf of the honors which awaited 
 
WILLIAM C. DATFSON. 309 
 
 Mm. His parents were honest and frugal, "well-to-do'' for that day, and 
 appreciated the advantages of education so high as to bestow upon their 
 son the best that the country could at that time afford. That they gave, 
 and left him to become the artificer of his own fortunes. We shall 
 see that he framed them well, and cut his way to the highest places in 
 the State. His academic course was taken under the direction, first, of 
 the Rev. Dr. Gumming, a Scotch-Irish divine of great learning and piety, 
 and, afterward, at the county academy in the town of Greensboro. 
 At an early age he entered Franklin College, the State university, and 
 was graduated fi-om that institution in 1816. Upon leaving college he 
 entered at once upon the study of the law in the office of Hon. Thos. W. 
 Cobb, at Lexington. With Mr. Cobb, who was one of the leading lawyers 
 and politicians of the State, and scarcely inferior to any man in it for 
 strength of mind and enlightened statesmanship, he remained about one 
 year, when he entered the law-school at Litchfield, Connecticut, under 
 the care of Judges Reeve and Gould, two of the most accomplished jurists 
 in New England, and the best law-instructors then in the Union. Having 
 taken a full course of lectures at Litchfield, he returned home and was 
 admitted to the bar in Greensboro in 1818. There, in the county of 
 his nativity, he opened an office and entered at once upon the labors of 
 the profession. He came to the bar at a time when its honors and emolu- 
 ments were severely. contested. There were reapers in the field beside 
 himself, — ^iien of active, cultivated minds, ambitious hopes, and ardent, 
 energetic purposes. By the time of !Mr. Dawson's maturity the Ocraul- 
 gee circuit had become one of the best in the State. Its rich counties 
 had filled with a wealthy and highly-respectable population ; its social, 
 business, and political advantages, together with the reputation of some of 
 the judges who had presided over it, attracted to it the best talent of the 
 State. It was then, and is yet, distinguished for the ability and energy 
 of its bar. 
 
 To contend with such men was no holiday-sport; but our debutant 
 girded himself for the stmggle. With a joyous heart, a buoyant tempera- 
 ment, and a vigorous constitution, he buckled on the professional harness. 
 Soon his clients began to multiply and fees to cheer his toU. He was not 
 long in taking position in the first rank of the Ocmulgee bar, — a position 
 which he always maintained with honor and also with profit. With liberal 
 habits of living, his profession soon made him independent. He is yet 
 another illustration of the fact that in our country the profession is the 
 road to wealth and fame, and also that it is the mean by which the most 
 salutary elements of character are made available in influencing the affairs 
 of communities and nations. With the exception of the short period of 
 time that Judge Dawsox was on the bench of the Ocmulgee circuit, and 
 of those longer periotls devoted exclusively to politics, he was, up to the 
 day of his death, a laborious practitioner. He may be said to have died 
 in harness ; for, after he became a member of the United States Senate, 
 the recess of Congress was occupied with professional labors. At the 
 latest period of his life he mingled freely, and with his wonted effective- 
 ness and relish, in the contests of the bar. Like the mettled habitue of 
 the turf, when he approached the field of his former struggles he inconti- 
 nently took the course. This figure is not only apt as an illustration, but 
 in harmony with his tastes, for he delighted in the sports of the turf and 
 of the field. His hounds and blooded steeds were his subordinate pets. 
 He loved the echo of the mellow horn, the dashing ride, the in-coming at 
 
310 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 the death, and the festive glee that crowned the chase. Upon such occa- 
 sions the dignity of the Senator gave place to the harmless abandon of 
 the boy. 
 
 For many years all other things were subordinated to his profession. I 
 will not say that he was born a statesman, but I should not err much if I 
 should say that he was bom a politician. Yet the necessities of his family 
 and the wants of others more or less dependent upon him, acting upon his 
 clear sense of personal obligation in his private relations, constrained him 
 to hold in check his fondness for political life ; and if at this early day he 
 had visions of political glory, it was "distance that lent enchantment to 
 the view." In connection with his professional life it may be remarked 
 that in 1828, being then a young man, he was elected by the Legislature 
 to compile the statutes of Georgia. This commission he executed to the 
 satisfaction of the General Assembly and of the profession at large. In 
 1845 he was appointed by Gov. Crawford to fill a vacancy on the bench 
 of the Ocmulgee circuit. When the Legislature convened, he declined 
 being a candidate for the bench, and returned to the practice, influenced 
 to this course, no doubt, by a desire to pursue the more brilliant career of 
 Congressional life then opening to his view. Had he desired it, there can 
 be no doubt but that he would have been elected to the bench, and that 
 without opposition from his own party, then in the ascendant in the Legis- 
 lature. The term of his presidency over the Ocmulgee circuit was short, 
 and, as the opinions of the circuit judges are not reported, he has left no 
 record of his judicial mind. His manner upon the bench was patient, 
 urbane, and frank, his intercourse with the bar always pleasant; and into 
 this service he carried those habits of industry which have characterized 
 him everywhere. Wherever he has been placed, he has been a working- 
 man. A large professional experience, a clear, strong sense of justice, 
 unimpeached and unimpeachable honesty of purpose, and assiduous atten- 
 tion to every thing appertaining to his office, combined to give to his 
 administration such a character of fairness and consistency and efficiency 
 as left no room for the complaints or censures of the most critical of aU 
 reviewers, — an able bar. Although the most affiible of men, open to the 
 approaches of every honest class of the people at appropriate times, relishing 
 keenly the flash of forensic wit and the play of popular humor, and 
 despising that false dignity which so often covers shallow minds and cold 
 hearts, yet few of our judges maintained with better eflfect the grave 
 earnestness, the quiet order, and the solemn authority so necessary to the 
 administration of justice. With steady hand he balanced the scales; and 
 the best commentary upon his brief administration is found in the uncom- 
 plaining acquiescence of bar and people in the soundness, independence, 
 and impartiality of his judgments. 
 
 In a survey of Judge Dawson's professional character, his friends are 
 struck with his industry. He was always found present at the opening 
 and adjournment of his courts. Whether remote or near at hand, his 
 attendance was always prompt and continuous with the term. I have 
 before adverted to the fact that he permitted no other engagement, no call 
 of business, or invitation of pleasure, or attractiveness of pursuit, to with- 
 draw him from his practice. This was eminently true during the earlier 
 years of his professional life. The result was that his clients multiplied 
 and business accumulated on his hands. His clients enlisted not qply his 
 professional ability, but his personal sympathy. He identified himself 
 with his cause; and, whilst they relied upon him as the advocate and 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 311 
 
 jurist, they courted his presence as a friend. His demonstrations of per- 
 sonal regard for those who retained him as a lawyer were not the fruit of 
 policy, but were the developments of a kind and aflFectionate nature. In 
 the courts and in tavern-halls, on the wayside and in grave assemblies, his 
 sympathies with the people found means of expression. Without effort on 
 his part, he was always the centre of a listening crowd, eager to know his 
 opinions and to catch the playful humor of his conversation. He knew 
 more men personally than any man of his day; and those he did not know 
 he seemed to know. A cordial grasp of the hand, a word of recognition, 
 a bow, a pleasant inquiry, or a bantering salutation, as well as good offices, 
 were the price which he was wont to pay for golden opinions. But let it not 
 be understood that for selfish ends he thus bought the favor of the people. 
 That a man of his sagacity should not know that such means would result 
 in available poptdarity is not a possible conclusion ; yet those who knew 
 him well are convinced that, irrespective of availability to such an end, his 
 mode of intercourse would have been the same. As proof of his attrac- 
 tiveness as a man, and in memory of the kindliness of his nature, let it 
 be recorded that many of his clients, whilst opposed to him in opinion, 
 sustained him as a politician. Karely, indeed, do party-ties yield to the 
 claims of private friendship. The former are usually stronger than even 
 those of nature. The personal qualities referred to, with his firm mind 
 and strong, pure character, made him for many years the most popular 
 man in Georgia. 
 
 His knowledge of men was very remarkable, as well as his tact in their 
 management. If required to name that quality of mind which, more 
 than any other, contributed to a career as a lawyer and statesman which 
 cannot be designated otherwise than as brilliant, I should point to his 
 power of insight into character. No man knew better how to control the 
 conduct of others by touching those springs of action which are hid from 
 the ordinary observer. This faculty was native ; yet it derived efficiency 
 from a large experience. He studied men as some people study books, 
 and made a better use of them than philosophers often make of the facts 
 of science. In the extracting of testimony from an unwilling witness, 
 in its elucidation before the jury, in the selection of- jurymen, in " fencing 
 and foining" with an adversary, in detecting the idiosyncrasies of 
 the judge, and more especially in exposing fiaud lurking in the details 
 of complicated transactions, it availed him as an instrument of tremen- 
 dous power. Shrewd and quick of eye, he was prompt to seize a vantage- 
 ground, to recover from a false move, or to discover and storm the weak 
 points in a cause. He knew when to beat a retreat, or how to capitulate 
 with the honors of war, — to break the force of an argument by a timely 
 jest, or to overwhelm his antagonist with the clear, outstanding equity 
 of his case. And if, perchance, there was any thing ludicrous in the 
 claims or conduct of the adverse litigant, he was wont to ignore gravity 
 and " laugh the case out of court." Without disparaging his learning, it 
 may be conceded that he was most powerful in the management of a 
 cause and as an advocate. 
 
 In legal discussions he relied more upon elementary principles than 
 adjudicated cases, and was greatly indebted to the native suggestions of a 
 vigorous mind. His was not the error of crushing a case under accumu- 
 lated authority, or the folly of stifling it in a cloud of remote analogies. 
 If it was not his habit (like his great contemporary, John Macpherson Ber- 
 rien) to reduce an argument to mathematical exactness whilst he clothed 
 
312 BENCH AND BAR OF GE0K6IA. 
 
 it in the drapery of the most exquisite rhetoric, yet it was his good for- 
 tune to see the strong points of a cause and to present them with a sturdy 
 logic. 
 
 Judge Dawson was noted among his brethren for his skill in settling 
 cases out of court, — more especially such as he foresaw would scarcely be 
 settled favorably in the court-house. He knew the value of compro- 
 mising. Nor is it otherwise than true that his out-door settlements were 
 characterized by liberality and forbearance. At all events, the loser not 
 unfrequently came out of his hands believing that he was, after all, the 
 favored party. 
 
 It was his thorough knowledge of human nature that enabled him to 
 adapt himself with such peculiar facility to the company he might chance 
 to be in. He was not a learned man; yet he was at home more than 
 most men in a circle of savans. And he was equally at his ease on the 
 streets of Greensboro and at the dinings of Count Bodisco, at Wash- 
 ington. He was all things to all men, — not in the sense of hypocritical 
 adaptation, but of amiable accommodation. 
 
 The person is to be considered in acquiring correct views of a man. 
 Especially is it an element of strength or of weakness in oratory. In 
 this regard he was favored. He was above medium height, but well knit, 
 combining strength with activity. His face would attract the observation 
 of a stranger, not because of its intellectuality, but through its benevo- 
 lent and various expression. His voice was strong, his walk elastic, and 
 his attitude erect. And pleasant indeed it was to observe the move- 
 ments of his small, quick, vigilant, and hilarious gray eyes. He was a 
 free and ready speaker, rather vehement in manner, handling facts with 
 adroitness and arguments with force. He owed little to the schools or 
 the classics. He was not wanting in sensibility, (the soul of true elo- 
 quence,) nor in a just appreciation of great themes or great occasions. 
 Hence his most successful efforts were made when some great question of 
 popular right had stirred the masses, or the life or estate of a client hung 
 upon the verdict of a jury. At such times he was eloquent. Sensible 
 himself to every generous or noble or compassionate emotion, and detest- 
 ing every form of meanness, I have seen the listening jury melt beneath 
 his appeals or glow beneath the fire of his denunciations. 
 
 The writer has often heard him say that he was a diffident man, and 
 that he rarely arose to address the court or jury without a distressing 
 sense of embarrassment. His contemporaries, who have for years wit- 
 nessed his easy self-reliance in the court-room, I am sure will be slow to 
 believe this. Yet I am not myself incredulous. The inward experience, 
 I have no doubt, was as he represented it, but not so the external exhibi- 
 tion. A strong will and long habitude enabled him to master — and that 
 very effectually — any natural tendencies toward diffidence or self-distrust. 
 Like every other wise man, he felt the insufficiency of his knowledge and 
 the limited range of his capabilities ; and, like every other determined 
 man, he disciplined his nature to put forth its strength when the neces- 
 sities of times and occasions required it. 
 
 In a review of Judge Dawson's political career, one has occasion to 
 note the influence of the profession upon his success, and also upon his 
 political opinions. The law has been often called the stepping-stone to 
 politics, — which means, I suppose, that it is an available instrument to be 
 used in the outset of political life. Usage has sanctioned this phrase- 
 ology, as expressing truly the relation between the science of the law and 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSON. 313 
 
 the science of government. I protest against the phrase and the idea 
 which it conveys, as degrading to the most honorable of all the merely 
 secular professions. The practice of the law brings its votary pi-ominently 
 before the people. The discussions of the court-house make him knowQ 
 and create for him a public character, — a popularity which brings politi- 
 cal promotion, beginning usually in the county of his residence, and not 
 unfrequently terminating in the highest oflEices of the National Govern- 
 ment. Standing upon this stone, he steps into politics. Thus far and 
 no farther is this saying true. 
 
 But, in truth, the science of the law is inseparably connected with the 
 science of government, embracing as the latter does the rights of men 
 as political communities with reference to political constitutions, and the 
 rights of nations with reference to each other. Constitutional law and 
 the laws of nations are not separable from municipal law. The study and 
 application of the laws which regulate personal rights are not distinguish- 
 able from the study and application of the principles of good government, 
 nor &om those rules which prescribe the rights and obligations of states 
 in the great community of nations. The study of each and all of these 
 is the study of the wide, deep science of justice among men. Without 
 amplifying upon so great a theme, it may be assumed as true that no 
 man can be a great American statesman without being a profound lawyer. 
 And it is generally true that an able lawyer, if an honest man, will be a 
 liberal yet a conservative statesman. He whose mind is thoroughly im- 
 bued with the principles of the common law, of the civil law, and of the 
 equity jurisprudence of England and America can scarcely be an unsound 
 politician. It is therefore claimed for Judge Dawson that his training as 
 a lawyer contributed greatly to make him a conservative, enlightened poli- 
 tician ; for all these he was. 
 
 Two years after his admission to the bar, — to wit, in 1821, — ^he was 
 elected Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature. 
 This place he filled for ten or eleven consecutive years, through frequent 
 changes of party supremacy, — no inconclusive evidence, this, of his fidelity 
 as an officer and his amiable character as a man. Indeed, it was here 
 that he laid the foundation of that remarkable popularity which he has 
 always enjoyed. As Clerk of the House for so many years, he had the 
 means of becoming personally acquainted with leading men from every 
 section of the State. Familiar with the forms of business, and qbliging 
 in his disposition, he gave his aid to all such as needed it. Prompted by 
 his amiable disposition as well as the policy of the thing, he never per- 
 mitted an opportunity to go unimproved of making a friend or of con- 
 ciliating an opponent. It is true that he was always (as before intimated) 
 a man of the people, and was never known to pass a sovereign without a 
 shake of the hand and a pleasant word. This was, however, more the 
 outgoing of his buoyant spirit than the cold working of a selfish policy, — 
 more the generous recognition of the claims of all men upon his courtesy 
 than the forecasting of the political aspirant. Never, however, has he 
 been known in political action to pander to popular prejudice or yield 
 principle to popular passion. On the contrary, with unyielding firmness, 
 he testified his devotion to the people by pursuing such a course and ad- 
 vocating such measures a.°, in his judgment, would promote their true in- 
 terest. In the outset he took position with the State-Eights party of 
 Georgia, then better known as the Crawford party, and subsequently as 
 the Troup party, and later and for many years as the Whig party. To 
 
314 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 the fortunes of the Whig party he adhered with unwavering consistency. 
 Supporting the Compromise measures of 1850 in the Senate, he was one 
 of the leaders of that great mass of Georgia Whigs and Democrats who 
 organized the Constitutional Union party, and, as most men believe, saved 
 the Union in 1851. His political opinions were those of the Southern 
 Whig party, — eminently conservative, true to the Constitution, insisting 
 upon the faithful observance of its compromises, and of unquestioned 
 loyalty to the Union. For many years after he entered upon active life, 
 the war of parties raged in Georgia with fearful violence. The history 
 of that war this is not the place to trace. He might with truth say of it, 
 "Magna pars fui." Gallantly did he bear himself in those struggles for 
 many years. It is proper to say of him that, when the storm was at its 
 height of violence, he could boast of more personal friends among his 
 political opponents than almost any man of the day. 
 
 In 1834, he entered especially into politics, being returned for that 
 year and the following year (1835) to the State Senate from the county 
 of Greene. There he was known to the State as a diligent business- 
 member, sustaining with able advocacy all the great interests of Georgia, — 
 among them, education, internal improvements, a sound currency, equal 
 representation, equal taxation, reform in prison discipline, and a court for 
 the correction of errors. It was about this time that the State began to 
 move in those great works which have pushed her ahead of her Southern 
 sisters and crowned her queen of the Southern tier. To these he lent his 
 efficient aid both in and out of the Legislature. 
 
 In 1836, he was elected to Congress. Georgia elected at that time by 
 general ticket. Judge Dawson was the only Whig returned, prevailing 
 over a popular Democratic majority by reason of his extraordinary per- 
 sonal popularity. General Coffee, a member of Congress from Georgia in 
 1836, having died, he was elected to fill his unexpired term, and took his 
 seat in the winter of that year in the House of Representatives. The 
 Creek and Seminole Indians in Florida and on the line of Georgia be- 
 coming hostile in 1836, and threatening depredations, Judge Dawson 
 raised a very handsome volunteer company, to the command of which he 
 was unanimously chosen, and, under the authority of the State Govern- 
 ment, took the field. Having fulfilled with judgment and discretion the 
 duties of this new post, he returned to his home, still more endeared to a 
 people who had found him as willing to serve them in the field as in the 
 Legislature. 
 
 General Scott, who had at that time taken the conduct of the Florida 
 war, gave him a separate command, and detailed him upon a special ser- 
 vice, which he performed to the satisfaction of that great captain. 
 
 He was re-elected, together with the entire Whig ticket, in 1838, and 
 also in 1840. For the first time for many years, in 1838 the State re- 
 turned an entire Whig representation- to Congress, the subject of this 
 sketch leading the electoral triumph. But it seems that the course of 
 popularity, like that of true love, never does run smooth, — never, cer- 
 tainly, through a public life. Our popular favorite was destined to expe- 
 rience one of those reverses to which all public men are liable. He from 
 his "pride of place" fell into disfavor, a victim to popular caprice, real- 
 izing one division of Burke's aphorism, that popularity may be acquired 
 without a single virtue and lost without a single fault. The popular frown 
 did not, however, long rest upon him. Popular honesty, rectified in its 
 judgment by knowledge, soon reinstated him, and, like a fabulous hero of 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSOK. 315 
 
 antiquity, he may be said to have gained strength by his fall. In 1841, he 
 was nominated the Whig candidate for the State Government, ran with great 
 confidence of success, and was beaten. This discomfiture was owing to 
 the use that was made before the people of a vote which he gave at the 
 extra session in 1841, to increase the duty on tea and coffee. An in- 
 crease of revenue was at that time found indispensable to discharge the 
 accumulated obligations of the Government and maintain the national 
 honor untarnished. Believing it better not to increase the duties on the 
 articles taxed under the tariff compromise acts, and that by taxing tea and 
 coffee the new burden would fall mainly upon those most able to bear it, — 
 to wit, the wealthy consumers, — he voted for an increased duty upon 
 those articles. The people were told that he had voted to tax them for 
 using tea and coffee, — to deprive them of two of the necessaries of life ; 
 and, voters enough being found to believe these and numerous like versions 
 of the matter, he was defeated. Notwithstanding that such perversions 
 were made of his vote, it is not probable that he would have been beaten, 
 if his friends had not relied with too much confidence upon his success. 
 Believing that this result was a disapproval by the State of his course in 
 Congress, and being incapable, according to his views of the relation 
 between a Representative and bis constituents, of holding office when his 
 opinions upon leading questions of policy were not in harmony with those 
 who elected him, in November, 1841, he resigned his seat. The prin- 
 ciple of instruction may rightfully apply to the Representative of the people 
 in the House of the people. In this case it may be questioned, however, 
 whether there was a fair and deliberate expression of opinion against him. 
 I am inclined to think that he might have waited for the "sober second 
 thought." He remained in private life — except the interval, as stated, 
 that he was on the bench — from that time until the autumn of 1847, 
 when he was elected to the Senate of the United States. 
 
 He occupied his seat in the Senate for an entire term, commanding the 
 respect of his colleagues for his ability and patriotism, their affection as a 
 man, and their admiration for his assiduity as a business-member. His 
 reputation, indeed, at the expiration of his term, had become national. 
 
 His character in Congress was that of a vigilant, industrious, effective 
 man of business. He spoke rarely, and, when he did take the floor, it 
 was upon a question requiring action. He was not wont to address Bun- 
 combe from the halls of Congress upon abstract propositions introduced 
 for the purpose of party, or sectional, or personal effect. Whilst no man 
 evinced more zeal in behalf of those rights under the Constitution which 
 are peculiarly Southern, or a more unflinching determination to maintain 
 them at all hazards, than himself, yet he was decidedly national in the 
 general cast of his politics. His judgment was too sound to be misled by 
 impracticable theories of government, however plausibly constructed or 
 adroitly addressed to the strong republican sympathies of the nation, and 
 his patriotism too elevated and pure to be weakened by the ultra demands 
 of a section, however stimulated by wrongs and fortified by aggressions. 
 Good sense and independence characterize his speeches. They are plain, 
 unambitious of ornament, and free from cant. 
 
 The limits assigned to this article will not admit of any notice, however 
 brief, of all the measures with which his name has been creditably asso- 
 ciated in the course of his Congressional career. Whilst a member of the 
 House, he was Chairman of the Military Committee, and also Chairman of 
 the Committee on Claims, — ^the latter one of the most laborious and useful 
 
316 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 positions appertaining to the National Legislature, and one which cannot 
 be well filled but by a good lawyer and an industrious and just man. He 
 whose voice is potent enough to call the attention of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives away from its turbulent political struggles, and fix it upon the 
 memorial of a private citizen for justice long enough and close enough 
 to examine into minute facts, must have its confidence as an officer and 
 its kindly regards as a man. 
 
 In 1840, the Whig Representatives divided upon the election for Presi- 
 dent, Judge Dawson and five others — Messrs. Habersham, King, Warren, 
 Alford, and Nisbet — supporting General Harrison as a safe exponent of the 
 principles of the Whig party, and the balance sustaining Mr. Van Buren. 
 In that agitating canvass he entered with his usual spirit and address. 
 The State was carried for Harrison. 
 
 At the opening of the Twenty-Sixth Congres.?, Judge Dawson was put 
 in nomination for the Speaker's chair. Upon the first ballot he received 
 a very flattering vote. Discovering that two of his colleagues voted 
 against him in consequence of a division between them on the election of 
 President, he required his name to be withdrawn at once. His friends 
 believed that if it had not been withdrawn he would have been elected 
 to this distinguished office, for which they believed him well qualified. 
 
 He was among the very first of those who took ground against the 
 absurd theories and indelicately selfish, not to say impudent, demands of 
 Kossuth. He had the moral courage, in his place in the Senate, to con- 
 demn those theories and denounce those demands, choosing rather to 
 abide the counsels of Washington than the revolutionary teachings of a 
 foreign exile, who, coming to our shores as a beneficiary of the nation, 
 sought to repay its hospitality by arraying the people against their own 
 Government, and, through the process of revolution at home, commit 
 them to the complications of revolution abroad. 
 
 In the latter years of his life, his position upon national politics was 
 defined by himself in a speech in the Senate in the following words : — 
 " It was known that he had declared that he could support no one for the 
 Presidency who would not openly, plainly, and honestly declare that he 
 will support the Compromise ; and he would act with no party in the 
 next election who is not pledged to oppose any further agitation 
 of the matters embraced in it. He would not support any man 'nor act 
 with any party who will not declare, in terms not to be mistaken, a de- 
 termination to adhere firmly to the finality of the Compromise." He was 
 twice niarried : his last wife, an accomplished lady of Tennessee, still sur- 
 vives him. To the wife of his youth and the mother of his children he 
 was indebted for much of the success of his life. 
 
 It is at this day and in this country, so far from being humiliatino-, a 
 source of pride for men to confess the obligations they are under" to 
 women. In all relations they contribute to make the fortunes of the 
 sterner sex, bat chiefly as mothers and wives, — as mothers, in the forma- 
 tion of characters; as wives, in seconding, by counsel and exertion, and 
 inspiring by affection, the highest aims and the noblest resolves. Fortu- 
 nate is the young adventurer upon the stormy sea of professional life who 
 has secured the hand and heart of an amiable and sensible woman. She 
 IS the truest of all friends, the safest of all advisers, and the sweetest of 
 all solaces. The instinct of wedded love is equal to the conclusions of the 
 profoundest wisdom. These propositions were illustrated in the married 
 life of Judge Dawson. It falls to the lot of but few men to be so signally 
 
WILLIAM C. DAWSOX. 317 
 
 blest in a wife as was lie. She was, witliout a figure of speech, his better 
 half, and, in literal verity, his guardian angel. To nse his own language, 
 she was "the chief source of his happiness and success." In 1819 he 
 was married to Miss Henrietta M. Wingfield, the daughter of Dr. Thomas 
 Wingfield, an eminent physician of Greensboro, whose family, one of the 
 most worthy of that ilk, emigrated to Georgia from the State of Virginia. 
 With her, surrounded with their children, numerous friends, and a large 
 body of relations, he enjoyed the highest 'degree of domestic bliss until 
 the 7th day of April, 1850, when she left the duties of earth to enter 
 upon the joys of heaven. She was a lady of great beauty, of refined 
 tastes, easy yet dignified manners, remarkable for good sense, and dis- 
 tinguished for her intense yet unostentatious pietj-. She possessed in a 
 remarkable degree the almost indescribable quality which is indicated by 
 the word "sensible," — a word which, in its application to women, means 
 an ahnost intuitive perception of what is proper under all circumstances. 
 Without bringing down upon herself the unpleasant observation of the 
 world, or violating the delicacies peculiar to her sex and station, she, witli 
 consummate address, became his strongest auxiliary in every honorable 
 aspiration of his life. With him she ascended gracefully to the highest 
 level of social life at Washington. Knowing her well, I can with truth 
 say that she never occupied a station that she did not adorn. She adapted 
 herself to his circumstances, — gave to practical things the aid of her sound 
 judgment, to the hospitalities of his house the elegancies of a cultivated 
 taste, to her children the unwearied assiduities of a mother, to the poor 
 profuse charity, and to God the devotion of a meek and quiet spirit. 
 Judge Dawson appreciated the character of his wife, and repaid her love 
 with the most marked respect and the most unremitting tenderness. 
 
 Already it has become manifest that he was eminently social in his 
 nature and habits. " Carpe diem" was with him a practical precept. He 
 illustrated his gratitude to Heaven by enjoying its bounties. He was at 
 home where wit and humor and harmless frolic ruled, and was happy at a 
 table-speech. His house was always open to a wide circle of friends, who 
 found there the comfort and repose of their own homes, the welcome of 
 afiection, and the courtesies of cultivated life. He trained his sons to 
 honor and virtue, and his daughters to gentleness, grace, and love. But 
 he is lost to bench, bar, country, and family. His body moulders into 
 dust, but his memory lives, a bright and instructive entity. He fell in 
 the prime of his age, ere yet the hopes of life had begun to fade or the 
 orb of his intellect bad begun to wane. It is true that the dial had 
 begun to cast its shadow eastward; but as yet it was short, and lengthened 
 slowly. Suddenly his sun of being sunk beneath the horizon, and, lo ! 
 all was shadow. The grave received with him as much of practical 
 capacity, of uprightness, energy, and benevolence, as ordinarily falls to 
 the lot of favored men. 3Iany — very many — throughout the Union 
 mourn his death whilst they rejoice in the healthful example of his life. 
 
XII. 
 
 SEABORN DELK. 
 
 Many persons who may look into this work will not expect to 
 find in it the name of Seaborn Delk as the subject of biography. 
 The author of course alludes to such persons as were acquainted 
 with the hostile relations which existed between Col. Delk and him- 
 self more than twenty years ago. He must take occasion to say 
 that his nature forbids injustice even to an enemy. More than 
 this ; the grave has long since hallowed a better feeling ; and, 
 although there was a mutual dislike for a short period, let it be 
 said they had been friends. Something of this personal affair will 
 be noticed hereafter. 
 
 The author has not been informed of the birthplace of Mr. 
 Delk. It may have been in Wilkinson county, as his father, the late 
 David Delk, Esq., is believed to have been the first clerk of the 
 Superior Court of that county after its organization in 1807. It 
 is therefore quite certain that the subject of this memoir was a 
 native of Wilkinson. From his sprightly and intelligent mind, it 
 is inferred that he was placed early at school and made fair 
 progress in his studies. When old enough to write legibly, he as- 
 sisted his father in the clerk's oflSce in keeping up the records, 
 which proved to be of great service to him in after-life. His pen- 
 manship was neat, even elegant, and at the same time rapid. 
 
 Of the incidents of his early life no account has been obtained. 
 
 He was probably a dutiful son and warm in his friendships. 
 
 Nothing more need be said on that subject previous to 1828, 
 
 when the author formed his acquaintance. Mr. Delk was then a 
 
 law-student in the office of the Hon. Lott Warren in Marion, 
 
 Twiggs county. Both near the same age, and both hopeful of the 
 
 future, a very cordial attachment soon grew up between Mr. Delk 
 
 and the author. Besides their legal aspirations, they had tastes 
 
 similar in the military line ; for, almost beardless as they were, one 
 
 was colonel of the Wilkinson county regiment, and the other was 
 
 a member of Major-General Wimberly's staff, — appointments most 
 
 gratifying to their ambition. Let not older and wiser heads mock 
 
 at the heroic mood of the two young friends. If peace continued, 
 818 
 
SEABORN DELK. 319 
 
 they ■were certain of glory at the har, in the halls of legislation, or 
 in some other bright field where reputation was to be won, just by 
 the desire, with a very trifling effort. To wish earnestly for an 
 object was about the same thing as having it in possession, as they 
 then innocently believed. And, should war come, what a pair of 
 chiefs they would make ! Yorktown and New Orleans would be 
 eclipsed by their strategy ! If these two worthies were a specimen 
 of youth generally in their ideas of the future, it may be affirmed that 
 language has no word so utterly in contrast as the tender and art- 
 less word inexperience and the pregnant letters remaining after 
 the first syllable is detached. A gnat and an eagle are not more 
 unlike in power than the fantasies of youth and the conclusions of 
 age are unlike in the great concerns of life. All rememher that, 
 when Demosthenes was asked what was most essential to an orator, 
 he replied, "Action, action, action." So, if the question were put 
 to an old man, what was the most valuable thing, what was truth, 
 what did men most need to make them wise and happy, he would 
 say. Experience, experience, experience. And yet this pearl is 
 rarely gained until it is too late to profit by the merchandise. 
 The meaning of this episode on the reveries of youth will be mani- 
 fest in the course of this memoir. 
 
 After applying himself with becoming assiduity to the studies 
 prescribed, Col. Delk was admitted to the bar at Wilkinson Supe- 
 rior Court, at October Term, 1828,* the Hon. 0. H. Kenan the 
 presiding judge. He immediately opened a law-office in his old 
 village of Irwinton, amid the friends of his father and those who 
 had known him from childhood. He at once obtained a respect- 
 able practice. His competitors, or rather legal friends, were Robert 
 Hatcher, Esq., who represented the county several years in the 
 Legislature ; James P. H. Campbell, Esq., afterwards Solicitor- 
 General of the Chattahoochee circuit, and Col. John S. Barry, 
 late Governor of Michigan. Mr. Barry was a Northern man, and 
 his first employment in Wilkinson county was that of a school- 
 teacher. He read law, and obtained a license to practise a short 
 time before Col. Delk came to the bar. Being a gentlemen of 
 intelligence and address, he was recommended to Gov. Forsyth for 
 an aidship, which was bestowed, with the rank of lieutenant-colo- 
 nel. He forthwith provided himself with military attire suitable 
 for a representative of the commander-in-chief, and made quite 
 
 * The Hon. J. J. Scarborough applied at the same term and was admitted at the 
 same examination. 
 
320 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 a figure at regimental reviews. Col. Delk took credit to him- 
 self for getting up and supporting the request to the Governor 
 which secured to Col. Barry a higher influence in society. As a 
 lawyer he did not well succeed, — not from any deficiency of talent 
 or legal qualifications, but mainly because he could not make him- 
 self " a people's man." His fondness for books had inspired him 
 with too much of the ideal to fraternize with rude human nature in 
 its every-day garb. After a few years he removed to the West, 
 and, beyond all expectation, though not to the regret of old friends 
 in Georgia, he was advanced to the Executive chair of Michigan, 
 with the right to confer titles such as proved very gratefuj to him 
 at an early period of life. 
 
 In the year 1831, Col. Delk married Miss Coates, the only 
 daughter of the late Robert Coates, Esq., of Laurens county, a 
 man of considerable fortune. In 1832, he removed from Irwinton 
 to Marion, to pursue his profession without being annoyed by 
 loungers and idle persons, who gave him no time for study or office- 
 labor in his native village. He was an expert in pleading and con- 
 veyancing, and possessed much legal information, fluency of speech, 
 and a great knowledge of human nature. He aimed to please all 
 who might possibly be useful to him, by adapting himself to their 
 tastes. His stories were told in a natural way, both in feeling and 
 in language, and he always had a stock on which to draw, to suit 
 the company, or any particular individual whose favor he desired. 
 He was actuated by policy in all his movements ; and he did not 
 hesitate to avow that success was his object, without any quibbling 
 as to the means. An example will be given. 
 
 An individual, S , had killed H by a blow on the head in 
 
 Marion. S fled, and the Governor offered a reward of two hun- 
 dred dollars for his apprehension. Col. Delk suggested to the father 
 
 of S to have him surrendered to the sheriff by a friend, take a 
 
 receipt on which to obtain the reward, and pay it to him (Col. 
 
 Delk) as a fee, and he would have S acquitted. The deed 
 
 was done accordingly, the fugitive brought in and imprisoned, 
 and Col. Delk immediately sent a young man who was living 
 with him to Milledgeville after the reward, and actually put 
 it in his pocket. The case lingered many years on the docket, 
 and was never tried, — the defendant in the mean time at large on 
 bail. 
 
 After his removal to Marion, Col. Delk attended all the courts 
 of the Southern circuit, and by his talents and self-control soon 
 attracted fees. He possessed no delicacy of feeling, and not much 
 
SEABORN DELK. 321 
 
 respect for the rights of others when opposed to his own interests. 
 He was in the habit of following up men who had business in court 
 and putting himself before them so as to gain patronage. This he 
 did from two motives, — one to benefit himself, and the other, per- 
 haps, to render better service than any other member of the bar 
 could afford. For it was a singular fact that his merit, though 
 obvious to all, was, contrary to the usual doctrine on the subject, 
 still more apparent to himself. He and the members of the bar 
 generally were upon kind terms ; yet at the same time his lax 
 morality was losing him the respect of many who had a different 
 standard of action. 
 
 The author has referred to a state of feeling which suspended for 
 a while all amicable relations between Col. Delk and himself. How 
 the matter arose, and how it terminated, will be seen by the corre- 
 spondence and statements appearing in this memoir. In his reply 
 to the first note of Col. Delk the author embodied the facts. On 
 the interposition of mutual friends the affair was submitted. Owing 
 to the imprudent, boastful remarks made by Col. Delk to the friend* 
 of the author who alone was admitted into his part of the contro- 
 versy, it was determined to publish the whole of it, with the evi- 
 dence supporting the author's allegations. To this end the author 
 had inserted a " Card" in the Southern Recorder, about the middle 
 of November, 1833, announcing his intention. To prevent its fulfil- 
 ment. Col. Delk made a secret assault on the author with deadly 
 weapons at Bainbridge, within the closing hour of the Superior 
 Court, December 7, 1833. The grand jury immediately found a 
 " true biU" for assault with intent to murder, and Col. Delk was 
 placed under bond by the court for his appearance at the next 
 term. 
 
 In reproducing this old affair, or at least such portions of it as 
 are material to the merits, the author has no desire to cast even 
 the shadow of reproach on the memory of Col. Delk. It had 
 ample publicity at the time, and may serve as a warning to 
 youth how they indulge generosity of sentiment, and what sacri- 
 fices it costs to maintain a principle which all admit to be 
 right enough in the abstract, but erroneous in practice, — the 
 frankness to condemn an unworthy action, proceed from what 
 quarter it may. 
 
 The first note of Col. .Delk to the author was as follows : — 
 
 * William H. Young, Esq., now of Columbus. 
 \-0L. I.— 21 
 
322 BEKCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Marion, 23d July, 1833. 
 SiE : — T have understood that in speaking of the case lately tried in the 
 Superior Court of Early county — Taylor vs. Sheffield — and the fee which 
 I received in that case, you the other day used language calculated to 
 affect my standing as a lawyer or gentleman, or both. 
 
 I ask, (I have the right to ask,) Was the information I received as to 
 this matter true or false ? 
 
 Tours, respectfully, S. Delk.- 
 
 On the same day the following reply was sent to Col. 
 
 Delk :— 
 
 Marion, 23d July, 1833. 
 
 Sir : — I have just discovered upon my table your note of this date, 
 availing yourself of the right which belongs to every gentleman, when 
 he feels himself injured, of calling upon the author of the supposed in- 
 jury; and my attention is especially directed to any remarks I may 
 have used touching your conduct in the case of Taylor against Sheffield, 
 lately tried in the Superior Court of Early county, and which may have 
 been "calculated to affect your standing as a lawyer or gentleman, or 
 both." 
 
 That I have detailed facts, connected with the case mentioned, both in 
 your presence and elsewhere, which had the tendency to rebuke the part 
 you acted, I pretend not to deny; for, if your memory is faithful, you 
 have not forgotten the language I addressed to both yourself and Mr. 
 Sturges, your respected associate, when the judgment was in a course of 
 payment, and which is substantially the same I have indulged in respect- 
 ing your interest in that case. What are those facts? At the term of 
 Early Superior Court, in December last, the plaintiff, deserted by his 
 original counsel, took you and Mr. Sturges into his case, upon the terms 
 (so far as you were concerned, as I learnt from your declarations) that he 
 was to pay you twenty-five dollars as a fee certain, and one-half of the 
 recovery. * 
 
 The verdict exceeded greatly what was generally expected, although 
 the evidence presented an aggravated case of criminal conversation with 
 the plaintiff's wife ; yet the rank of the parties and her bad character 
 went much in mitigation with the public : still, a verdict for SIOOO was 
 returned, the whole proceeds -of which were afterward assigned by the 
 plaintiff, in my presence, to you and Mr. Sturges jointly. When you 
 requested me to witness the assignment, having heard it read, I observed, 
 rather seriously, that I would not attest such an t iniquitous transaction; 
 to which you replied that, when the money should be collected, you 
 intended to give the old man (the plaintiff) something. I then became a 
 witness. 
 
 At that time I considered the writing, conveying the whole judgment, 
 merely as an expedient to defeat John Taylor's claim for services rendered 
 in bringing the action and collecting the testimony at much trouble and 
 expense on the first, and preparatory to the second, trial. Indeed, it 
 was doubtful whether any money could be realized upon the judgment, as 
 the defendant had sold his property in Georgia (as was generally reported) 
 and had taken up his residence in Florida ; but, at the late term of that 
 court, the defendant's brother, Mr. Bryan Sheffield, offered to pay eight 
 hundred dollars as a compromise, rather than have certain property mo- 
 lested which he claimed through the defendant. To this you and Mr. 
 
SEABORN DELK. 323 
 
 Stnrges agreed, — a portion to be paid in beef-cattle and the balance at the 
 fall. 
 
 This being adjnsted, and hearing from you and Mr. Stnrges that it was 
 yonr mutnal intention to appropriate the whole collection to yourselves, I 
 asked you both if it could be possible that you were going to cut the poor, 
 old, helpless plaintiff out of every cent, by enforcing the literal terms of 
 the assignment. Ton both answered affirmatively, and said that you 
 might perhaps give him something, a very small snm indeed, to be upon 
 the open and express footing of a gift, — not that he had a shadow of claim 
 or right to any part of the judgment. I candidly and at the instant, to 
 both yonr faces, reprobated the proceeding as unfair, oppressive, and unpro- 
 fessional. This of course enlisted some feeling, and the remark from Mr. 
 Sturges, of which you approved, that I was officiously meddling with your 
 business, and that I was prompted by envy. I scorned the imputation to 
 your very teeth, and told you that you both were far from being objects 
 of envy with me ; when you qualified, and said that I envied your pros- 
 perity, — ^meaning the exorbitant gains you were about to pocket. To this 
 I added that I took pleasure in seeing my brethren of the profession 
 succeed, but that I woidd not dishonor myself nor stain the profession for 
 any emoluments it affijrded, and that I viewed your act then in contention 
 as one that would reflect unfavorably upon yourselves and the profession. 
 I repeated this conviction to several members of the bar then at court ; 
 and, as I do not wish to identify them with my position, I shall not refer 
 to their sentiments. 
 
 To continue a statement of the facts which influenced my remarks 
 respecting your conduct, I press upon your recollection the scene between 
 yourself and the plaintifij when he respectfully and in the most friendly 
 manner made inquiry how the judgment was progressing, and what was 
 the prospect of ite settlement. You told him that he had no interest or 
 share in it ; that he had transferred the whole amount to yourself and Mr. 
 Stnrges. The plaintiff expressed surprise, and said that you must have 
 been jesting with him ; that he admitted you and Mr. Sturges had full 
 control of the judgment, and, apparently, for your private use ; but that 
 the contract was that half of the amount recovered should be equally 
 divided between you both, — trusting to your honor, — and the other half 
 to belong to himself. Whereupon you declared he was a liar, and, with 
 a vulgar and irreverent oath, that since he denied the contract you would 
 not ^ve him one cent ; that you and Mr. Sturges had previously intended 
 to give him a hundred dollars each ; but, as it was, you would see him in 
 perdition before you would give him a cent. This was heard by several 
 persons, and myself among the number, which I presume you will not deny. 
 
 What I have stated in substance became the open and spirited topic 
 of conversation before and after you left the court, and convinced me 
 that the profession sufiered in the estimation of the plain, honest, and 
 useful citizens of the country by the act of /vhich I have given a 
 history. They denounced it as fraud and oppression, and expressed a 
 general distrust of the integrity of the members of the bar, that they 
 would take all advantages of their clients and others, however ruinous 
 or foul. Upon the score of labor, and therefore of justice, your remarks 
 to the jury who tried the case will furnish the best illustration. In 
 apologizing to the jury for the imperfections of your address, you stated 
 to them that you had not bestowed an hour's attention on the case pre- 
 vious to the investigation then going on, — that your knowledge of the case 
 
324 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 was just such as the jury possessed, all gathered from the evidence then 
 suhmitted. Now, sir, I state these facts as wholly disconnected with 
 speculation, which readily admit of proof; and suppose, for argument, 
 that the written transfer which you possess set forth the contract triily, 
 is there such a want of generosity, nobleness, and high-toned feeling in 
 members of the bar, that they must distress the poor and insult public 
 opinion, hazard their own standing, and tarnish the respectability of their 
 calling, merely for money, and that, too, eight times in excess of what 
 they expected reasonably to obtain ? You stated that before the jury 
 made known their finding you did not calculate upon a verdict exceed- 
 ing a hundred dollars. You could have satisfied the desolate and poverty- 
 stricken old man, your client, and then you and Mr. Sturges could have 
 had two hundred dollars each, fairly, — an ample compensation for the 
 speech you made, although perhaps as able as it was short. You and Mr. 
 Sturges justified your conduct still further (probably not in earnest) by 
 stating it was your ability and eloquence operating upon the jury which 
 secured such heavy damages. Admitting that you both displayed un- 
 rivalled talents and skill in the management of the case, (perhaps a com- 
 pliment which your modesty would decline,^ still, the latter sum ought tc 
 be, in all conscience, a most satisfactory equivalent. 
 
 Entertaining the opinion so evident in what I have already said to you 
 upon the subject, I have made known to a few persons since my return 
 home, particularly since your drove of beef-cattle paraded the streets of 
 Marion for several days, much to the curiosity of its inhabitants, the true 
 state of the case as it is submitted to you, and may have given my 
 judgment freely to the gentlemen with whom I conversed. The informa- 
 tion you sought is aiForded ; but I disclaim, in all that I have said in re- 
 lation to the matter, having been actuated by jealousy of your prospects at 
 the bar, or rank as a politician, or by feelings of personal disfavor. The 
 act itself provoked my comments and relations : I wish to see the profes- 
 sion honorable and exalted as it ought to be, as are some of its members ; 
 and I will ever war against a certain species of hard-hearted and avari- 
 cious conduct of which some have been guilty ; and, whether I live or 
 perish, my principles are my only fortune, and these I will claim and de- 
 fend irrespective of persons. 
 
 To your . call thus far have I responded. What course you design for 
 the future as a punishment for my frankness, I know not : neither is it a 
 matter of much solicitude with me. I repeat what I have heretofore said 
 in relation to the subject of the dispute: my remarks would have been the 
 same, had another acted as you have done. If you feel wronged, and con- 
 sider my disclosures unjustifiable, you may select what channel of redress 
 is most suitable to the occasion, and it will remain for me either to fur- 
 nish that redress, or make such provision as the exigency may require. Be 
 assured, sir, that I am satisfied with my statements : I retract none ; and, 
 as I invite no bitter, painful warfare, I shall not feel terrified at the pro- 
 posal of any. 
 
 I am, sir, with due respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 Stephen F. Miller. 
 
 While the controversy was pending, and before any decisive 
 action, the author received the following letter, nobly lending the 
 authority of the writer's name to prevent a fatal issue : — 
 
SEABORN DELK. 325 
 
 BcsKER Hill, August 19, 1833. 
 Dear Sir : — When at town j'csterday, I regret to say that I heard that 
 there existed between yourself and Col. Delk an unfortunate diflFerence, 
 characterized by violent feelings on either side, and that our friends below 
 had reason to apprehend serious consequences might grow out of it. No- 
 thing could have been more unexpected to me. It appears to me that be- 
 tween you and Col. Delk such a state of things should not be cherished, nor 
 allowed to continue long, under almost any circumstances. There certainly 
 can be no reason which would justify permanent and lasting hostility be- 
 tween you ; and I do hope that neither of you will look upon the other as sworn 
 and inooiTigihle enemies, until your friends shall make an effort to reconcile 
 and adjust the affair. Our pride, you should recollect, has such an influence 
 upon us all as to disqualify us, in what are called affairs of honor, from doing 
 even justice to our opponent. Without passing upon the merits of the 
 unfortunate controversy, allow me in kindness to say that you both may 
 be wrong, as is generally the case between those who have been hitherto 
 friends. So sincere is my friendship for yon both, and so sensible am I 
 that diflSculties between old friends, terminate as they may, never result 
 to the advantage of either, that I have ventured this morning to write to 
 you both a lett«r of the same description, begging of you to leave the whole 
 affair to those whom you know to be your mutual friends. You owe it to 
 your families and to your friends, to consult your reason and to rebuke 
 your passions and your excited feelings. I repeat, if this matter cannot 
 be sooner amicably terminated, for the sate of your families and your 
 friends, allow it to rest until your court, when we all shall have an oppor- 
 tunity to take upon ourselves that responsibility (by your permission) 
 which it is always incumbent upon those who are really friends to do in 
 the settlement of difficulties between men whose interest it is to encourage 
 and maintain au amicable relation. 
 
 I am, with much respect, your friend, 
 
 John' H. Howakd. 
 
 P. S. — Please write to me giving me assurances that my request shall 
 be granted. I make the same postscript to the letter written to Col. 
 Delk. J. H. H. 
 
 In his letter of August 23, 1833, thanking Major Howard for his 
 honorable proposition, the author gave a history of the dispute, 
 and closed with the following paragraph : — 
 
 I must apologize for my tediousness : the character of our profession is 
 so severely estimated by the people at large, that it is my resolution, so 
 far as I can effect it, to place it high and beyond reproach. To be gene- 
 rous and self-denying, to toil for reputation and not to seek it, pre- 
 ferring ultimate honor to present gains, — these are my views, — at least, 
 such as govern my course, and such as the brightest stars of our vocation 
 have practised upon, and to which they are indebted for their eminence 
 and renown. 
 
 In another part of the same letter to Major Howard, the author 
 
 said : — 
 
 My conduct, I am sure, will stand examination. I feel envious toward 
 no man, however elevated, as that is a passion which withers the finest 
 
326 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 qualities of our nature, and is therefore to be carefully suppressed. What, 
 in the name of honor, even of common sense, is there in my adversary to 
 awaken my jealousy, (were I so mean as to feel it of particular persons,) 
 which would make it an object to supplant him ? He is not of that 
 mould which pleases me : he has not that professional loftiness, dignity, 
 address, and emulation which I covet. As to his practice, it gave me 
 pleasure to witness his success. I do not grasp after business, concluding 
 that when I deserve it my harvest will arrive. I merely use these hints 
 to shield me from an uncharitable and unjust imputation. 
 
 This much has been extracted to show certain opinions of the 
 author at the time, and which he has never thought proper since 
 to abandon, however they may work in a pecuniary sense. Know- 
 ing that his ideas on the subject were a little peculiar, he ventured 
 to give the sources from whence they were derived ; and he reiterates 
 the assertion that, if he is not orthodox on the subject, he has been 
 led into heresy in a manner he now proceeds to explain. 
 
 As a reason for coming before the public with the difficulty be- 
 tween Col. Delk and himself, the author referred to early impres- 
 sions as being too strong for his manhood to resist. In a sort of 
 preface to the correspondence, dated November 4, 1833, the 
 author remarked : — 
 
 The depravity of man has been a constant subject for all ages to harp 
 upon, and, so far as respects a spiritual kind, may be and no doubt is per- 
 fectly true ; yet in charity and good faith, with abundant evidence before 
 me, I do believe that integrity, honor, and beneficence are active virtues 
 in many members of the profession of the law, and that the impressions I 
 received early in life of the character and influence of such members 
 are not to be effaced by the opposite conduct of others. When quite a 
 youth, just passing the line of boyhood, I was deeply and earnestly in- 
 terested in hearing of the fame and ability of two distinguished gentlemen 
 of the bar in my native State; and, as I had an opportunity of hearing 
 them in the courts, I felt that their celebrity was just. Who has not 
 heard of William Gaston and John Stanly of North Carolina, men 
 whose talents, virtues, and accomplishments would have made them emi- 
 nent and beloved in any country ? They were models of all that was 
 commanding and perfect at the bar, — dignified, graceful, learned, and 
 eloquent : when they appeared in a cause, the crowd to hear them was 
 always great, and the anxiety of the spectators intense and untiring. 
 Such were the legal advocates I first heard in my life; and never shall 1 
 forget with what admiration and pleasure I gazed upon them and listened 
 to their surpassing and brilliant addresses. Mr. Gaston was called the 
 first character in the State, and that appellation he yet deservedly retains. 
 In him I never saw nor heard any thing that was trifling or idle ; but on 
 all occasions, both in public and in the private circle, he was the same 
 great, pleasing, and delightful man. He seemed conscious of his weight 
 only so far as to manifest a proper, by no means an artificial or studied, 
 self-respect. As to his habits of business, or the manner of acquiring it, 
 he was equally consistent. He sought no practice, nor did he ever give 
 an uncandid opinion to those who asked his advice. His words to others 
 
SEABORX DELK. 327 
 
 were the counsels of wisdom and tTie voice of kindness; yet he claimed 
 no superijrity, nor slighted the humblest man who approached him. No 
 man ever had reason to say, nor did I ever hear, that Mr. Gaston used 
 deceit or extortion : his fees were moderate and always regulated by 
 the circumstances of his client and the service he could render him. 
 Such is North Carolina's most gifted, if not favorite, son. 
 
 I now recur to the life and qualities of the most extraordinary man 
 of his time, the political and personal friend, but professional rival, of Mr. 
 Gaston, the late John Stanly, Esq. Both these gentlemen were citizens 
 of Newbern, where I resided several years ; and I know the influence they 
 both wielded over the people and the affairs of that city. Mr. Stanly was 
 in some respects different from Mr. Gaston. The former was ready, 
 strong, and captivating, the latter learned, clear, and impressive. To a 
 person adorned with a native grace and imposing dignity Mr. Stanly 
 united the most lively and fascinating wit. In the language of an elegant 
 writer in allusion to Mr. Stanly, " he had truth, reason, and argument for 
 the candid inquirer, logic, wit, and eloquence to confront a respected 
 adversary, and bold rebuke and withering sarcasm to chastise ignorance, 
 vulgarity, and self-conceit : he was emphatically the terror of witlings and 
 blockheads." His heart was as liberal as his genius was lofty and bril- 
 liant. I have seen him toil in defence of the poor, without a cent or the 
 promise of a fee. I have heard his rich, full, and miisical voice in be- 
 half of the unfortunate and the stranger, when they were unable to retain 
 him. I have seen him, the great Napoleon of the mind, followed by his 
 admiring and idolizing townsmen, some on business, others for the be- 
 nefit and pleasure of his conversation, and all for the deep feeling of re- 
 spect they bore him and the confidence they had in his principles. But 
 the scene is now sadly changed : the accomplished John Stanly is wrapt 
 in eternal silence, and his eloquent tongue forever hushed !* 
 
 I have made free with the names of Messrs. Gaston and Stanly, partly 
 as a tribute to the land of my birth, but mainly to hold up their examples, 
 and show that my ideas of professional duty and success were formed at 
 an early period, and that I do not now choose to abate them, although 
 they are not fally realized (with a few exceptions) in the manner and 
 reputation of any gentlemen of my acquaintance. Mr. Jefferson said that 
 when he was a young man, when any temptations to do wrong were pre- 
 sented, or when he was at a loss what course to pursue or how to act 
 in any matter, he reflected what would be the opinion of Mr. Wythe as to 
 his conduct, and as he believed Mr. Wythe would approve so he acted. 
 By this means Mr. Jefferson said he chastened and confirmed his habits 
 of propriety and rectitude, from which he derived the greatest benefit. 
 Of course the only parallel which I intend to draw between Mr. Jef- 
 ferson and myself is, that I took Mr. Stanly for my monitor, and, if I 
 thought he would condemn any act of mine, it would be abandoned if 
 practicable, and that which he would sanction I would endeavor to per- 
 form. I have never regretted this influence, now so essentially a part of 
 
 * Mr. Stanly was attacked with paralysis in the Legislature of North Carolina, 
 in January, 1827 : from that time he lingered, " sorely smitten, the wreck of his 
 former self," until his death, August 2, 1833. The unfortunate Johu K. Campbell, 
 Esq., late United States Attorney for the Middle Uistriet of Florida, informed me 
 that he was present and saw Mr. Stanly sink in debate under the infliction, when 
 the Legislature instantly adjourned in confusion. Mr. Campbell fell in a duel in 
 Thomas county, Georgia, August 29, 1833. 
 
328 BENCH AND BAB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 me that I view Mr. Stanly as having led me into error, if an enlarged 
 and liberal spirit toward mankind, and a sincere contempt of little things, 
 be a hurtful delusion. I am sensible, and so Mr. Stanly found it, that te 
 avoid certain misfortunes which the grovelling, low-minded, and selfish 
 class of people call the deepest disgrace, that to rescue genius and virtue 
 from the contempt and sneers of such, and to command their respect, 
 a man must take care of his own interests, even at the sacrifice of all that 
 can ennoble a human being. Let me ask, What man ever reached the pin- 
 nacle of glory who distressed his brains about dollars and cents, and, in- 
 stead of training his mind to bold and exciting contemplations, would 
 quibble and argue with all the zeal and obstinacy of a sharper about the 
 smallest matters of traffic ? If there be such lawyers, (and such I know there 
 are,) I would advise them, independent of the lessons of their destiny, to 
 leave a profession which may honor them, but which they cannot recipro- 
 cate. Without pledging myself to exhibit any member of the profession 
 in this unenviable light, (to some in my knowledge it is true glory, for it 
 is their greatest ambition to move in that sphere,) I now proceed to 
 touch upon the facts which led to this appeal. 
 
 A copy of the pamphlet containing the correspondence, with the 
 prefatory address, was forwarded to the late Judge Gaston, with a 
 letter respectfully calling his attention to it. The following is the 
 reply :— 
 
 Raleigh, February 25, 1834. 
 
 Dear Sir : — I received a few days since your very polite letter of the 
 28th of January, and have been in daily expectation ever since of receiv- 
 ing also the pamphlet to which you refer, as accompanying your letter, 
 but which has not yet come to hand. Sensible of the proof of your esteem 
 which is given, by thus deferring to my opinion in a matter which con- 
 cerns the honor of the legal profession, I have not a little curiosity to see 
 the pamphlet, and request that you will have the goodness to transmit it 
 to me. 
 
 Your admiration of my deceased friend, Mr. Stanly, is well founded. 
 He was indeed a great man, distinguished pre-eminently for aeuteness of 
 intellect, rapidity of conception, a bold, vigorous, and splendid eloquence. 
 How unfortunate it has been for his family that he lived so much for 
 others and so little for himself ! 
 
 For the flattering sentiments you have been pleased to express toward 
 me individually, I am very grateful. Although I have ever been anxious 
 that my conduct should be regulated by a higher and more certain standard 
 of right than the opinion of any set of men, I cannot but feel much satis- 
 faction whenever I discover that I have obtained the approbation of those 
 who are qualified to decide upon what is just and honorable. 
 
 I am, dear sir, very respectfully, ygur obedient servant. 
 
 Will : Gaston, 
 Stephen F. Miller, Esq. 
 
 After the pamphlet had been freely circulated, and the author 
 relieved from what he deemed a misconception by many, of the 
 part he had acted toward Col. Delk, he then determined to give 
 bis adversary a full discharge from legal punishment. Conversing 
 
SEABOES DELK. 329 
 
 with a venerable clergyman,* the friend of both, the author ex- 
 pressed his intention to enter a nolle prosequi to the indictment at 
 the ensuing term of the court, and thus restore to Col. Delk every 
 assurance of safety relative to the crime he had rashly committed 
 ■with a view to suppress what had been since accomplished, the 
 publication of the whole controversy and the proofs connected with 
 It. The worthy man to whom this purpose was revealed was so 
 gratified that it soon reached the ears of Col. Delk. This led to 
 a pacification, as will be seen by the following paper which the 
 author has now before him, in the handwriting of Col. Delk : — 
 
 / Indictment — Assault with intent to murder — ^in 
 Seaborn Delk. ) ^^•'^*'" Superior Court. 
 
 Stephen F. Miller, the prosecutor, declined of his own accord the far- 
 ther prosecution of this case, which being made known to the defendant, 
 he, defendant, acknowledged that he regretted the transaction. Where- 
 upon, at the request of mutual friends, a written statement in relation to 
 the matter was drawn up and agreed to, and the whole matter amicably 
 settled in a manner disgraceful to neither in any point of view, but highly 
 honorable to both. Stephen F. Millek, 
 
 Seaborn Delk. 
 
 Bebkiek, March 26, 1834. 
 
 Very little remains to be added. In politics Col. Delk had been 
 a decided Troup man and a member of the State-Rights party, 
 figuring conspicuously at public meetings, and was the Correspond- 
 ing Secretary of the Twiggs County State-Rights Association 
 formed in 1833. He was quite dexterous in debate, and had an 
 earnestness of manner that impressed spectators with the idea of 
 sincerity on his part. At the general election on the first Monday 
 of October, 1834, it was said he voted against his old party friends 
 for the first time, — for what reason the author is not informed. 
 The judicial elections were to come on at the approaching session ; 
 and it was pretty evident, from the manifestations of public senti- 
 ment, that the Union party would have a majority in the Legisla- 
 ture. Whether he was actuated by self-interest, or by the convic- 
 tions of his judgment, in the course he adopted, is a secret which 
 probably died with him in less than two weeks afterward ; for on 
 the 13th of October, 1834, he was summoned to another world, 
 after an Ulness of two or three days, at the age of about twenty- 
 eight years. 
 
 After their reconciliation, as stated, the usual courtesies were 
 ioterchanged between Col. Delk and the author, — of course never 
 
 * The late Bev. Wilson Conner. 
 
330 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 ■with the same cordiality as before the rupture. The last interview 
 with him was on the eve of Laurens Superior Court the week before 
 he died, when he gave the author his Laurens papers, and requested 
 him to appear in his cases, as the court in Wilkinson, in which he 
 had the most practice, was held at the same time. The request 
 was cheerfully complied with, and they saw each other no more. 
 Col. Delk became indisposed at Irwinton, and was merely able to 
 reach home to die in the arms of his family. 
 
 In selecting characters for this volume, the author felt that if he 
 omitted Col. Delk altogether it might be attributed to a feeling of 
 unkindness which even the grave could not cancel ; and, now that 
 he has noticed his career, with such comments as he believed justice 
 authorized and truth demanded, it may possibly be alleged by some 
 that the object of the author has been to cast a shade upon the 
 memory of his former adversary. To t^his opinion, entertained by 
 whomsoever, the author opposes his solemn disclaimer of any such 
 motive. On the contrary, he takes the principal blame on himself 
 in the origin of the dispute ; and, were it ever his privilege to stand 
 by the tomb of Col. Delk, he could not resist that tender emotion 
 which the remembrance of past bitterness never fails to inspire 
 over the ashes of the dead. 
 
 Col. Delk's brother, David Delk, Esq., also a member of the bar, 
 was killed by the Indians in the battle at Shephard's plantation* 
 in Stewart county, June 9, 1836. The only child of Col. Delk, an 
 infant son named Warren, died first. His widow married Dr. James 
 Moore, son of the late Dr. Thomas Moore, of Laurens county, and 
 nephew of Col. Seaborn Jones, of Columbus. 
 
 * See White's Historical Collections, p. 641. 
 
xni. 
 
 JOHN M. DOOLY. 
 
 From the renown tMs gentleman has acquired as a wit, much 
 will be expected in his memoir illustrative of this peculiar faculty. 
 The author can only submit his collections and leave the perform- 
 ance to speak for itself. 
 
 Col. John Dooly, in honor of whom a county in Georgia has been 
 named, was the father of John M. Dooly. The family pedigree and 
 the public services of the brothers are noticed in a work* familiar 
 to the public. They were originally from North Carolina, but 
 removed to Georgia and settled in Lincoln county about the begin- 
 ning of the American Eevolution. In this county John M. Dooly 
 was born : the precise date the author has not been able to ascer- 
 tain. Nor has he succeeded in obtaining any account of his early 
 life, where and by whom educated, with whom he read law, or what 
 time he came to the bar. But these facts can be dispensed with in 
 the abundance of his maturity. 
 
 By an inspection of the Register of Commissions in the Secre- 
 tary of State's Office, it appears that John Mitchell Dooly was 
 appointed Solicitor-General of the "Western circuit, September 2, 
 1802, to fill a vacancy, and that on the 22d November, 1804, he 
 was elected to the same office by the Legislature. Supposing that 
 he was thirty years of age when he first received office, the date of 
 his birth would refer back to 1772, — ^which is probably the correct 
 period. In 1816, he was elected Judge of the Western circuit ; and 
 in 1822, he was elected the first Judge of the Northern circuit, 
 and in 1825 was re-elected by the Legislature. Of his other 
 public services something may possibly be said in the course of the . 
 memoir, though the author regrets that no particular measure or 
 question has been connected with his name, of which any record 
 has been preserved worthy of his powers in debate. TTia character 
 has been lost sight of in all other respects, partially, in the blaze 
 of wit with which his memory is invested. The author will pro- 
 ceed with such account as he has obtained from reliable quarters. 
 
 * White's statistics of Georgia, p. 210. 
 
 331 
 
832 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Other names have been introduced in the correspondence, as 
 essential to the object in view. 
 
 A gentleman* of great intelligence thus writes : — 
 
 I retired from the bar in 1827, and, having been engaged in other pur- 
 suits, I feel peculiarly disqualified to answer your queries. D. P. Hill- 
 houge, Esq., who was the editor, for a number of years, of a paper pub- 
 lished in this place, informed me recently, that William Harper, Esq., of 
 Appalachioola, Florida, an attorney of Lincoln county, and a neighbor of 
 Judge Dooly, knew more anecdotes relating to him than any other per- 
 son, and had promised to write them out for him. 
 
 The la^vyers of this circuit, when I was admitted to the bar, in 1810, 
 were John GriflSn, Esq., an old practitioner, who had been a judge of the 
 Superior Courts a short time, and had the reputation of being a sound 
 lawyer; Col. Thomas P. Games, A. S. Clayton, and Edward Paine, of 
 Clarke county; Thomas W. Cobb and Stephen Upson, of Oglethorpe; 
 John M. Dooly, of Lincoln, a man of an original and vigorous mind, and 
 of whom more witty and humorous anecdotes are related than of any mem- 
 ber of the bar in this State ; Col. Duncan G. Campbell and 0. H. Prince, 
 Esq., of Wilkes, and some others, — all gentlemen of high reputation at the 
 bar, and a number of whom obtained offices of high honor. Col. Camp- 
 bell died in 1828. Had he lived, he would no doubt have attained to the 
 highest office in the gift of the State. Gen. J. V. Harris, formerly of 
 Elbert, and now of Athens, and Col. M. Henley, of Lincoln, are (I believe) 
 the only surviving lawyers who were practising when I was admitted in 
 1810. From a conversation I recently had with Judge Andrews, I ex- 
 pect they could give you the history of the dispute between Clarke, Craw- 
 ford, and Tait, which gave rise to the Crawford and Clarke parties, which 
 agitated the State for so many years. They were on different sides in the 
 dispute. You have probably written to them, and they are more com- 
 petent to furnish the information sought than I am. 
 
 Many of the lawyers of the middle circuit attended our courts, to wit : 
 Gen. Plournoy, Major Freeman Walker, Col. John Forsyth, Richard H. 
 Wilde, Col. Ware, Col. Carr, George Carey, Judge Jlontgomery. Mr. 
 Hopkins N. Brewer, a talented young lawyer, (my partner,) died in 1833. 
 R. M. Allison, a promising young lawyer, died previously. I have no 
 doubt omitted the names of some. Judge Andrews can furnish you (if 
 desired) with some anecdotes of Judge Dooly, and one relating to him 
 and Carnes, and a negro man Charles, who was placed at the breakfast- 
 table with them, some fifty years past, — which would give some idea of the 
 state of society in the upper parts of the State. I find persons more wil- 
 ling to furnish information when appealed to directly by the person want- 
 ing it, than when it is applied for through the agency of a third party. 
 
 After the passage of the severe laws against gambling, Judge Dooly was 
 very rigid in their enforcement. At the close of one of the Superior 
 Court.s in this place, the judge had retired to rest ; but the noise of a faro- 
 table in the adjoining room disturbed him so much that he got up, dressed, 
 and went in and told them that he had tried all legal methods to break them 
 up, and had failed : he was determined to adopt another plan. And be- 
 fore the night had closed he broke the bank, and told the parties to clear 
 
 * Alexander Pope, Sen., Esq., of Washington, WUkes county, under date of 
 May 8, 1851. 
 
JOHN M. DOOLY. 333 
 
 themselves, and be more careful in future how they interfered with the 
 court. 
 
 The anecdote of the roast pig has been published, and many others are 
 related ; but I have too imperfect a recollection to furnish, and am a poor 
 hand to relate them. The judge had a most admirable talent in this 
 respect, and was an extraordinary man. 
 
 From another gentleman* of the same town the author has re- 
 ceived a communication, of which the following is an extract : — 
 
 To begin with Judge Dooly. I had no acquaintance with him until I 
 was admitted at February Term, 1822, of Wilkes Superior Court. Five 
 of us then made application, three of whom were broken merchants. I 
 believe it was directly after Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry was published. 
 You will recollect that Henry was a broken merchant. Dooly had lately 
 read the work. The country having just passed through a severe pecu- 
 niary crisis, many broken merchants were applicants for admission ; and, 
 when three applied at one time, he said, in his petulant, satirical tone, 
 that Wirt's Life of Henry would do great injury, as it had given the 
 world to suppose that it was necessary for a man to break as a merchant 
 before he could make a lawyer ! 
 
 He bad a fine head, and the finest, brilliant, round black eye that 
 was ever put in a head. When any thing began to operate in his mind, 
 you would first observe it in the sparkling of his eyes. I have been told, 
 by the old people who knew him when a student with Matthews in this 
 place, that he was a little, sallow, pot-gutted lad, rather than a man, in his 
 appearance. I have heard the judge say that he was so badly clad that 
 he was ashamed to come into town. The office was just out of the town. 
 He was born in Lincoln, near Savannah Kiver, and saw his father killed 
 by the Tories during the Revolutionary War, or soon after. 
 
 He and Carnes (Tom Peter, I think it was) used to practise in the upper 
 districts of South Carolina. Huger, and some other high-toned gentle- 
 men of the profession in that State, would not notice the two hoosiers 
 from Georgia. Carnes said that Dooly took great delight in ridiculing 
 them at every chance, and so successfully that they abandoned the prac- 
 tice in those districts. I recollect a quotation Dooly gave from one of 
 Cames's speeches. His adversary had spoken of a syllogism, the major 
 and minor proposition, and the consequence, &e. Carnes, in reply, to 
 convince the jury that the gentleman had lugged in immaterial matter be- 
 cause he had nothing material, complained of the indelicacy of mentioning 
 in court the names of a very respectable, peaceable family residing over 
 in Lincoln, Georgia, who had never had any thing to do with courts ; that 
 old Major Syllogism would be exceedingly alarmed did he know that his 
 name had been mentioned in a court-house ; that they must know that 
 the minor Syllogism could never have been in court, being a minor ; and 
 the crudest cut of all was to name the blushing Miss Consequence, who 
 hardly knew that there was such a thing as a court-house. He spoke of 
 the family of Syllogisms as being large and respectable in Georgia. 
 
 As an evidence of the rudeness of the^times, and the equality of master 
 and slaves when they were few, he mentioned that he and Carnes had 
 
 * Hon. Gamett Andrews. 
 
334 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 driven hard, earlj one Monday morning, to the breakfast-house, on their 
 way to one of the upper District courts. They had called for breakfast, 
 making known their anxiety to eat and proceed. The good woman told 
 them breakfast was ready, and as soon as Charles came they should eat. 
 She called for Charles, and Mowed for Charles, and sent for Charles. 
 They were anxious to see Charles, not only that they might eat, but for 
 the privilege of beholding so important a member of the family, — husband, 
 brother, or son, as they supposed he was. Finally, Charles came walking 
 leisurely up, and proved to be a large black negro fellow, radiant as ebony, 
 odorous as a musk-ox, and independent as a voter on the first Monday in 
 October. " Well now, Charles," said the woman of the house, " I wish 
 you would sit down and let the gentlemen eat, as they are in a great hurry 
 to get off to court." " D — n your gentlemen," says ebony : " no more 
 gentlemen than me are. Let 'em wait till their hurry is over." However, 
 Charles was coaxed to the table, on which was a basin of clabhet, three 
 spoons, and as many pieces of bread. "Now, Charles," says the good 
 woman, " do eat, and then the gentleman will begin." Carnes, being per- 
 mitted, at length, to take some part in the festivities of the morning, 
 picked up his spoon and said, (shaking it at Charles,) " Now Charles, d — n 
 you, spooney your own side;" whereupon the trio breakfasted until the 
 coagulated clabber gave way between the posts where the gentlemen and 
 Charles were spooneying, and then they left the repast to Charles and his 
 dignity. 
 
 Before he went on the bench, Dooly was fond of cards and conviviality, 
 and was not always restrained afterward. I heard him say he never went 
 to a faro-table determined to win a moderate sum and stop, that he did not 
 succeed if left to his own judgment. He went to Augusta on one occasion, 
 and determined that he would win fifty guineas each night that he might re- 
 main. He carried out his resolution several nights, and was progressing 
 well the last night, till some intermeddling friend began to advise him, 
 when he began to have bad luck. He commenced drinking, and con- 
 tinued to lose, and proceeded until he lost all. 
 
 ^ He lived in the midst of a large plantation. A long lane led down to 
 his gate, which you opened, and rode some hundred yards up to his house. 
 One very hot day, a neighbor rode up to the large gate, and called and 
 beckoned, until he called the judge, through the hot sun, to where he was ; 
 and when within speaking-distance the neighbor asked him if he had 
 seen ■ any thing of Mark Bond, another neighbor. " No," said Dooly, as 
 he turned about and walked back to his porch, from whence he watched 
 him in search of Mark Bond as long as he was in reach of a halloo by 
 Dooly. He then called and beckoned until the neighbor rode back 
 through the gate and up to the porch, when the judge said, " I have not 
 seen Mark Bond, and do not care if I never do," and turned on his 
 heel and walked into the house. 
 
 I witnessed the scene of ordering the sheriff to discharge the stuffed 
 pig on his own recognizance, which, together with the breaking of the faro- 
 bank at Wilkes court, you have no doubt often heard. 
 
 When I first came to the bar, Wilkes court sat from two to three weeks 
 in July One evening, a lawyer of this place, during the July court, 
 asked the judge and several other gentlemen, among whom was myself, 
 to hjs office to eat watermelons. The judge had complained all the week 
 of my being unusually slow in conducting my business. After we had 
 eaten all the melons before us, I proposed to go with another friend a 
 
JOHN if. DOOLY. 335 
 
 few steps off to a cellar for more. "No, no, Andrews : don't you go," 
 says Dooly : "they will get too ripe before you will return." 
 
 He was of feeble health, and more peevish when unwell than at other 
 times, though always irritable. He also had great contempt for any 
 thing like foppery. Being sick at MUledgeville, he was confined in the 
 second story of the hotel. His friends had advised him to have a young 
 doctor to prescribe for him who was rather foppish, and wore heavy brass- 
 heeled boots, just as they were coming in fashion. After he had visited 
 Dooly once or twice, he became disgusted with his manners, and thought 
 the doctor took unusual pains to let it be known that he was shod after 
 the latest fashion. He could hear the brass heels ring at every step up- 
 stairs and to his door. When the doctor arrived at the door on the 
 third visit, Dooly called out, " Ride in, doctor I" 
 
 On one occasion, at Hancock, he was trying a prisoner for murder; and 
 the case turned on the point whether he was justifiable in shooting the 
 deceased. The jury returned a verdict " That the prisoner had the 
 right to shoot." So soon as the verdict was read out, Dooly called, in 
 great apparent alarm, " Take care, Mr. Sheriff ! take care that he don't 
 shoot this way !" 
 
 Dooly's father was prosecuting attorney about the close of the Eevolu- 
 tion, when some eight or nine men were hung in this county, under indict- 
 ments about as long as your finger. The records are interesting and 
 curious. 
 
 The author is indebted to a gentleman* of Columbus for the 
 greatest variety of anecdotes concerning Judge Dooly that he has 
 obtained from any quarter : — 
 
 When I first knew this extraordinary man, he was in the prime of life; 
 and I shall never forget the impression which his person made upon me. 
 He had a large head, with a bold, elevated forehead, heavy eyebrows, 
 prominent nose, a small, compressed mouth, large, vivid, sparkling eyes 
 with long eyelashes, which, frequently opening and shutting, gave his 
 countenance an expression as if under the influence of an electric battery, 
 from which the beholder at first sight was almost sure to recoil. He 
 was about the medium size, and his head always seemed too heavy for 
 his body, his mind too active and strong for his frame. His peculiarity 
 of voice, which was sharp and discordant, was well calculated of itself to 
 get up attention from all within its reach. But there was a point, a 
 spice, a felicity of expression, in all he said, marked with a conciseness 
 which showed him at once to advantage, and which drew all other tongues 
 into silence when he spoke. The learned and the ignorant, the old and 
 the young, aU felt his power to please, and did him honor. It was his 
 wit and sarcasm which gave him such power to please and to hurt. I 
 never knew his equal in either. Yet the very subject of his wit, from 
 the happy manner in which it was played off upon him by the judge, 
 was generally the first to join in the loud and hearty laugh which it pro- 
 duced; and even the unfortunate object of Ms sarcasm soon recovered 
 from the overwhelming blast, from a consciousness that it resulted not 
 from any settled malice in the judge, but from a mere wanton exertion of 
 that power to punish with which the God of nature had endowed him. 
 
 * Hon. G. E. Thomas. 
 
336 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 If his adversary would give him a time of parlance, the difficulty waa 
 adjusted by a single stroke of good humor, which very often followed tfie 
 most writhing and scathing thunderbolt. 
 
 A most remarkable anecdote is told, which grew out of the personal 
 difficulty between himself and Judge Tait, and which shows the very tact 
 he possessed of disarming his foe at a single blow. It is well known to 
 everybody that was acquainted with Judge Dooly that he was a man of 
 peace, not of war, and that he always considered " discretion the better 
 part of valor." When challenged to the field of mortal combat by Judge 
 Tait he replied that, in consequence of the misfortune of his rival foe 
 in losing one of his legs, he did not think they could fight on equal terms; 
 and, from all he had ever heard of his distinguished adversary, he was led 
 to suppose he would not seek a fight except upon equal terms, and he 
 hoped his refusal would be attributed to proper motives, and not to a dis- 
 position to reflect on his misfortunes, for which he entertained the most 
 sincere regret. 
 
 When his answer was received and read by Judge Tait, he became very 
 much exasperated, and was determined to press the matter to a point and 
 not sufier the judge to escape in that way. So he replied in a severe 
 manner, casting insinuations on him, that he was apprehensive his reluc- 
 tance to fight sprung more from cowardice than from a tenderness of shed- 
 ding the blood of an unfortunate cripple. Whereupon Judge Dooly 
 came boldly out, and was explicit in stating to him his mistake in sup- 
 posing he was not willing to fight upon terms of equality, and informed 
 Judge Tait that he would certainly meet him on any day, at any place to 
 be agreed upon, and exchange a shot with him, if he would let him put 
 one of Ms legs in a bee-gum,! Upon the reception of this note, Judge 
 Tait became indignant, and replied to him, with much severity, that he 
 should publish him as a coward ; to which Judge Dooly calmly responded 
 that he might do so at his own expense in every gazette in the State, for 
 he would rather Jill a dozen newspapers than one coffin! 
 
 On one occasion he was most happy in giving a hint to a landlord in 
 one of the upper counties, who had honored him by presenting the judge 
 every day for dinner, during the court, with a half-grown hog in the 
 shape of a stuflfed baked pig. The clever, punctual gentleman had 
 attended upon the table every day without injury : no fork had pierced 
 him, no knife had cut him. When first asked to take some of the pig, 
 the judge repUed that he was certainly a well-grown pig, — that he was 
 much larger and in better order than any of his fattened hogs. At the 
 close of the term, on finishing the dinner of the last day, he called the 
 sheriflF to him and ordered him to discharge the pig upon his own recog- 
 nizance, to be and appear at the next term of the court, with the thanks 
 of the court for his prompt and faithful attendance. 
 
 On another occasion, during the protracted trial of a criminal case in 
 Hancock, his friend, T. H., Esq. was discovered by the judge to be 
 always drinking out of a certain little pitcher which sat before him, and 
 which, by-the-by, had plenty of apple-toddy in it. The judge at length 
 became thirsty, as well he might, and called for water. The sheriff soon 
 sprang down to the pail, which sat in the corner, and brought a tumbler 
 of water for the judge. On its being presented to him he shook his 
 head, and, with a significant manner which all understood, begged him to 
 let him have some out of the pitcher which Mr. H. drank out of. Having 
 tasted it copiously, under the gaze of all present, the judge smacked his 
 
JOHN M. DOOLY. 337 
 
 lips and returned it, saying it was decidedly the best water he had 
 drank since he came to the village, and enjoined it upon Mr. bailiff 
 always to draw from the same spring Mr. H. drank out of, for him ! 
 
 The writer was riding out with the judge for the purpose of viewing, 
 as he termed it, the beautiful little village of Warrenton, which he always 
 insisted was next to Wrightsboro, the loveliest in his circuit. It was in 
 the afternoon of the day on which the citizens had met, during the recess 
 of the court, to discuss the ruinous policy of the Tariff of 1828 ; when, 
 seeing the village swarming with happy children just turned loose from 
 school, he inquired if all those children belonged there . On being 
 answered in the affirmative, and that he did not see half of them, he 
 remarked, " To-be-sure ; you don't say so ! Ah !" he exclaimed, readily, 
 " this, I believe, is a species of domestic industry that needs no protecting 
 duties to support it. The South is rich in children, tariff or no tariff !" 
 
 "When canvassing for a re-election to the judgeship of the Northern 
 circuit before the Legislature, during the stormy session of 1825, in con- 
 sequence of the warlike message of Gov. Troup, his political adversaries, 
 to which party the judge belonged, branded him with Tnadness ; to which 
 Judge Dooly most happily replied, in the midst of a large number of Gov. 
 Troup's friends, "J/ he is mad, I wish the same m,ad dog that bit him 
 would bite me." This saying so pleased his opponents that they voted for 
 him almost to a man, and even put a stop to all opposition to him in the 
 election. 
 
 The ladies at a certain dining-party were all speaking very highly of a 
 new-maijied lady who had just come among them as a young bride, saying 
 that she was a lady of such a fine, even temper, they knew the judge would 
 be pleased to form her acquaintance ; when he replied that under different 
 circumstances he should be highly gratified, but, as she was a lady of a 
 fine, uniform temper, he must beg to be excused, for he never knew but 
 one lady of that character, which was old George C.'s wife. He had 
 known her intimately for forty years, during the whole of which time she 
 had been of a uniform temper; that she had been mad one day with 
 another — uniformly mad, without the least variation — ever since he first 
 knew her, and he prayed God that he might never know another ! 
 
 One cold morning, during the Spring Term of Hancock Court, he 
 seemed to be quite husky in his voice and laboring under a cold, when 
 a member of the bar inquired of him after his health. He replied that 
 he had a severe attack of the quinsy, — ^for, as cold as the wind blew, there 
 was a man who came and stood all the morning at the court-house door 
 with only his morning-gown on and without any cravat ; that the sight of 
 the man had affected his throat so much it was quite sore, and that he 
 should have to resort to his hoarhound before night if it did not get better. 
 
 The ruling passion is strong even in death. When confined to his bed 
 for the last time, a friend called to inquire of his condition. He replied 
 that he had a baid cold without any cough to suit it, — that his cold never 
 hurt him when his cough suited it. 
 
 He was a man of the warmest charity. He observed on one touching 
 occasion, when a poor beggar asked him for alms, that he was early taught, 
 from reftising to give to an unfortunate widow in Savannah, never to let 
 the devil cheat him out of another opportunity of bestowing charity ; that 
 he had determined to err on the safe side ever after, and to give some- 
 ihing in all cases of doubt. 
 
 I am now reminded of one more anecdote which is very characteristic 
 
 Vol,. I.— 22 
 
338 BENCH AND BAK OF GEORGIA. 
 
 of the man. A certain lawyer in Lincoln county was a candidate before 
 the people for a seat in the Legislature. When asked by the judge as to 
 his prospects in the coming election, he replied that he was apprehensive 
 he should be defeated, as the people in that county had a strong prejudice 
 against voting for a lawyer. " Oh," replied the judge, "if that is all, I 
 will aid you, for you can get a certificate from me at any time that you are 
 no lawyer." 
 
 This singular and gifted man will long be remembered as one of the 
 ablest of Georgia's sons, — one whose talents always gave him a place among 
 the first jurists of the State, — one whose genius shone in the zenith of 
 his fame with a dazzling light. 
 
 In a second letter, the same obliging correspondent says : — 
 
 There is one more peculiarity in the character of Judge Dooly which I 
 think, upon reflection, I ought to have said something about, which is the 
 wonderful quickness of apprehension he possessed. No man with whom 
 I was ever acquainted had this trait in so eminent a degree. His mind 
 was clear as light and quick as thought. He seemed never to be at a loss 
 for a correct understanding of the case tried before him, no matter how 
 complicated. He readily unravelled it, exposed all the fallacy and 
 sophistry which counsel might throw around it, and presented its true 
 merits to the jury. His memory was very tenacious. He seems never to 
 have forgotten any case he read or any decision which he had heard made 
 while a practising attorney at the bar. His recollection of the names of 
 parties and witnesses was no less remarkable. He seemed to fait in love, 
 almost intuitively, with system and order in speaking on any subject. 
 His method was clear, natural, and happy. He used but few words, and 
 those always to the point. 
 
 He said he could not help it, he ever felt a pleasure in the company of 
 some men, a disgust for the physiognomy and society of others; that 
 some folks had honest faces, in which even a child might confide, while 
 others had a pickpocket countenance, which put every man, woman, and 
 child on their guard. 
 
 His insight into men was very remarkable. He seemed, as if by a 
 glance, to know readily who would make a good foreman of the grand 
 jury or a good bailifi'. 
 
 He was always a friend to the young members of the bar, and would 
 willingly throw his shield around them when overpowered by an older and 
 merciless practitioner. Hence he was not so much beloved by the older 
 as younger members of the legal profession. 
 
 His sagacity as a lawyer showed itself on one occasion, I was told, most 
 happily, when it was attempted, in the county of Columbia, to palm off 
 upon his client a forged deed to a tract of land, which had been dated 
 back to be older than the one on which he relied. But, in the anxiety to 
 ante-date it far back, his adversary in the suit had gone behind the time 
 when the county was formed, and thus the deed proved itself manifestly a 
 forgery. 
 
 It is said that his power of ridicule often subjected him to the ire of 
 his adversary; yet he usually found a way of escape, when called to 
 account, by cracking some pleasant joke with his enraged foe. 
 
 His versatility of character was great. On one occasion, he entered 
 into the room where a faro-bank was in operation, while he was judge, and 
 insisted on putting an end to the demoralizing practice by winning all 
 
JOHN M. DOOLY. 339 
 
 their money, and thus bankrupting the table, — declaring it as his opinion 
 that law was a dead letter, compared to one severe beating, with a gam- 
 bler; that when you won his last dollar, then he was the fit subject of 
 punishment ; that while the gambler had money, he was sorry to find, he 
 always had friends and countenance. He said it was laying the axe at 
 the root of the tree, to break them up at a fair game. 
 
 At Hancock Superior Court, the judge had to impose a fine on two 
 men brought before him for a riot. He called for some paper from Philip 
 Sims, the clerk, who was known to be a rigid economist, — so much so that 
 he rarely handed over more paper than was barely sufiBcient to write what 
 was required. When, after much ado, Sims handed up a small, dirty 
 piece of paper, the judge turned the scrap over and over; then of a 
 sudden he threw it down contemptuously on the bald pate of the clerk, 
 saying, "I would not fine a dog on such a piece of paper as that. Go, 
 gentlemen, and sin no more; or I will see to it the next time that you 
 are fined upon gilt-edged paper." 
 
 At Taliaferro Court, (Crawfordville,) one dark, gloomy night, — when 
 the judge had retired to rest in a room below the one in which most of the 
 lawyers attendant upon the court were lodging, the gentlemen above were 
 telling anecdotes and making quite an uproar with their loud laughter, 
 the scraping of their feet, and the rattling of chairs, much to the judge's 
 annoyance, — suddenly a dreadful rencontre seemed to be going on in the 
 judge's chamber : chairs and sticks and blows were distinctly heard. 
 Immediately all the members of the bar rushed into his room below to see 
 what it meant, — when, to the mortification and surprise of every one, the 
 judge was beating one chair with another all over the floor, apparently in 
 a furious passion. To the question, What was the matter? he replied, 
 "Nothing: I am only keeping time with the noise up-stairs." 
 
 Once, at Hancock, he was much enraged at the disorderly conduct of 
 two members of the bar. He remarked, sternly, that they must take their 
 seats, when one of them, sitting down quick, was making an efibrt to rise 
 again for the purpose of apologizing, and, being about half-way up when 
 the judge discovered him, "3Ir. G.," said he; "rise, if you dare, and 
 yon are fined a hundred dollars;" whereupon Mr. G., being half bent, 
 made an effort to speak, when he replied, " Just speak a word, and you 
 are fined a hundred more." So, Mr. G. being confounded and confused, 
 half rising and half speaking, made such a grotesque appearance as to 
 excite the universal laughter of all present; when the judge, collecting 
 himself and cooling down, mildly remarked, "Mr. G. has the floor, and is 
 in order. You can now both rise and speak till you are satisfied, provided 
 you do so one at a time." 
 
 The judge had a happy way of having a favorite horse he drove, taken 
 care of. Whenever he djove up to an hotel, he would ask if he and his 
 horse could find quarters. If the answer was favorable, he would then 
 apologize for his horse, by informing the landlord that he had not long 
 since purchased him of a Frenchman; that he had not yet learned to speak 
 English,; that he had to speak for him ; that he was desirous he should 
 be put in charge of a faithful hostler, who would feed, water, and curry 
 him three times a day and furnish him a nice pallet of clean straw every night. 
 
 An old personal friend* of the author, of another profession, has 
 
 kindly responded to a call, as follows : — 
 
 * Dr. John G. Slappey. 
 
340 BENCH AND BAE OF GEORGIA. 
 
 The most remarkable character I ever saw was Col. John M. Dooly; 
 for my knowledge of him was acquired before he went on the bench. 
 He was of middle size, well proportioned, and, when standing, and sober, 
 his appearance was handsome. I hardly ever saw him still : he was 
 always moving. His temperament was sanguine and lively, his com- 
 plexion florid, and his features regular, with sparkling eyes. He was 
 extremely volatile and social in his disposition, and was much admired for 
 his constant flow of good-humor and pleasantry. He was truly a wit, and 
 a great droll. At the bar, and elsewhere, he feared nothing. He mani- 
 festly had nothing of that fawning, whining, sycophantic mixture in his 
 composition which too many are tinctured with at the present day. 
 
 As an advocate, he was bold, independent, and at times apparently 
 reckless. When wanted in court, on the call of the docket, he was not 
 always at his post, but often had to be hunted up and brought in by his 
 client in a state of inebriation. Boy as I was, I never saw him before 
 aristocratic and frowning Judge Early, but the conduct of Col. Dooly re- 
 minded me of a passage, "What is man, that I should be mindful of him, 
 or the fear of man, that I should regard him?" He possessed a most 
 active mind, forcible and penetrating, and was energetic in thought, vivid 
 and cogent in delivery. When excited by his cause, he was not always 
 tipsy, and seldom fell short of his aim or carrying his point. He applied 
 caustic and sarcasm with more effect than any person I ever saw; and, 
 when stimulated and goaded to it by the strength of his adversary, he 
 was acrimonious and blistering in a rare degree. 
 
 Col. Dooly was as simple and unostentatious in his manners and habits 
 as a little child. He was above the aristocratic nonsense of the times in 
 which he lived. He was quick and brilliant in repartee, and, when pro- 
 voked, would give a loose rein to his thoughts and feelings in a strain of 
 satire for which he had no rival; and woe to that man who opposed him! 
 it was scalding, blasting, — annihilation itself. And yet' this same giant 
 was without guile in his heart or selfishness in his nature. Such was the 
 public and social character of John M. Dooly. 
 
 I cannot dismiss this prodigy of a man without alluding to a court- 
 scene in which I was one of the principal actors, — a defendant on the 
 criminal side of the court 1 The grand jury had prosecuted several young 
 men — ^mostly medical student's — for disturbing a grave. The conduct of 
 the accused parties was not inconsistent with the usual respect due to 
 families. The body selected had come to a violent death, and was such, 
 in public estimation, as might be used for the advancement of science. 
 Notwithstanding, the trespassers were arraigned. I was horror-stricken 
 and terrified for years afterward; and, even at this moment while I write, 
 I can call up, and in part realize, the excitement, the same tingling sen- 
 sations, run through my nervous system, as my old heart palpitates at the 
 recital. 
 
 Col. Dooly was my counsel. I looked to him for deliverance in my ex- 
 tremity. The case was called. My champion was in the back room of a 
 store, most particularly unfit to appear in behalf of a young man whose 
 character and prospects in life depended on the skill of his advocate. I 
 roused him, and pressed him into court. He looked at the indictment, — 
 said a word or two which I did not fully understand, from an excess of 
 alarm, — and the next moment I was told to go about my business, as the 
 court had no further use for me. My heart swells with gratitude, and my 
 
JOHN M. DOOLY. 341 
 
 eyes grow dim -with tears, wten I think of John M. Dooly, as he stood 
 by me on that occasion. Honor to his memory !" 
 
 Soon after announcing his intention to prepare this work, the 
 author requested Gov. Gilmer to furnish him such recollections as 
 his long service in public affairs and his experience at the bar 
 might enable him to impart, relative to deceased members of the 
 profession. Gov. Gilmer kindly wrote a letter, under date of 
 September 4, 1851, in which he communicated some interesting 
 facts, but, much to the regret of the author, concluded with this 
 injunction : — 
 
 I would not publish what I have written ; I do not expect you to do 
 so. It may, however, aid you in what you may write. 
 
 As a rule of acknowledged propriety, this puts the seal on the 
 information afforded ; yet the author takes the responsibility of 
 selecting certain passages, and throws himself upon the kindness of 
 his honored correspondent for so doing. They are too good to 
 perish under lock and key. He expects his readers to stand by 
 him for the discourtesy. Governor Gilmer says : — 
 
 I have a great liking for biography. I feel an interest in the success 
 of your undertaking, and would aid in its success but for my health. 
 My health has always been so bad, my practice of the law so limited, and 
 my life so domestic, that I doubt whether I can add any thing of value to 
 what you will find in my Essay.* 
 
 I fear that you will find it impossible to obtain the necessary materials 
 for doing what you propose. You will see what I say in my Essay of my 
 success in collecting information from and about old times, men, and 
 former events in Georgia. 
 
 If the sayings and doings of Judge Dooly, and the events of his life, 
 could be known, they would furnish more interesting matter for biography 
 than Lord Campbell has given in any one of the lives of the Chancellors 
 of England. But there is no hope of this. There is not a lawyer of 
 
 his day living except General . He will not communicate what he 
 
 knows. He so stated to me in answer to a letter I addressed him, asking 
 him to give me an account of the lawyers of the early times in Georgia. 
 
 Though identified with Wilkes county as Judge Dooly was, my friends 
 had little or no intercourse with him. The habits and opinions of the 
 old Georgia settlers from North Carolina were so different from those of 
 the Virginians who followed them, to whom I belonged, that there was 
 scarcely any intercourse between them. I have no recollection of having 
 seen Judge Dooly until I was grown. I never met with him in private 
 society. I never dined with him but at a tavern, except in my own 
 house. 
 
 * The Literary Progress of Georgia: an Address delivered in the College 
 Chapel at Athens, before the Society of Alumni, and at their request, on Thursday, 
 August 7, 1851, being the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of Franklin College. By 
 George R. Gilmeb. 
 
342 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 I never knew Judge Gresham except very slightly, until after he was 
 on the bench. He was a kind, social man. He had talents, but they 
 had been trifled with instead of improved. He probably was without the 
 necessary firmness and industry to have made him a permanently useful 
 public man. I recollect being at Wilkes court whilst he was on the 
 bench. Edmund Bacon was there, and told stories and played antics so 
 much to the amusement of Judge Gresham that his nerves gave way 
 from the agitation of laughter, so that he had to adjourn the court without 
 completing its business. 
 
 Mr. Prince and Judge Clayton were the wits of the bar in my time. 
 But my taste'is so little inclined to humor that I retain but slight recol- 
 lection of what was considered by many^s their good things. Mr. Prince, 
 wrote " Captain Clodpole, or the Oglethorpe Muster," which was repub- 
 lished throughout the United States and in some parts of Europe. 
 
 In the social intercourse of the bar during a court-week in Oglethorpe, 
 soon after the publication of Scott's Marmion, Mr. Prince and Judge 
 Clayton expressed the opinion that the poetry was only doggerel, which 
 anybody could write. To prove the truth of their opinion, Mr. Prince 
 immediately wrote some rhymes on Col. Johnson, a kinsman of mine, and 
 Judge Clayton added notes. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Captain Hillhouse published the poem and the notes in a paper which 
 he edited in Columbia, South Carolina. 
 
 At a large dinner-party in Lexington, at which Mr. Prince and Judge 
 Clayton were present. Judge Clayton told one of his stories which he 
 thought very good. Nobody laughed. Whilst Judge Clayton was look- 
 ing somewhat disappointed, Mr. Prince broke out into the most uproarious 
 laughter. Everybody's eyes turned upon him with astonishment. When 
 asked what tickled him so, he answered that he was laughing to keep 
 Judge Clayton in countenance on account of the failure of the story. 
 Then indeed laughter was irresistible. 
 
 Whilst Judge Clayton was yet young at the bar, he was appointed 
 attorney for Franklin College. A difficult law-case came up for trial, in 
 which the college was a party. Judge Clayton tried to continue the 
 case, alleging that he did not understand its merits. Whilst he was 
 urging his motion, a large uncouth lawyer by the name of Carter, who had 
 been raised in Franklin county and was then practising somewhere in 
 the piney-woods, came into court. He was a stranger to everybody but 
 Judge Clayton. He was standing within the bar, and replied to Judge 
 Clayton's argument by stating that it was the first time that he had ever 
 heard ignorance pleaded in bar of going on with the trial of a case. 
 Judge Clayton immediately replied that, if such a plea was allowed in the 
 courts where he (Carter) practised, he might put off forever the cases in 
 which he was attorney. It was a sight to see Carter dodge the blow, 
 rush from the court-house, order his horse and ride off! 
 
 ******** 
 
 Mr. Cobb was a man of genius and industry. He was a well-read 
 lawyer, and had a very extensive and profitable practice. His fees had 
 accumulated for him an estate of eighty thousand dollars when he died. 
 He was young when first elected to Congress, and was elected Judge of 
 the Superior Court soon after his service in Congress terminated. He 
 was a very handsome man, having a well-proportioned person and regular 
 
JOHN M. DOOLY. 343 
 
 yet striking features. His voice was clear, strong, and well modulated. 
 He was social, conversable, and had a love for music, and played admirably 
 on the violin. His extraordinary self-possession and uniform confidence 
 were always strikingly exhibited. He inherited an excellent constitution, 
 which he greatly abused. His grandfather was a hale man at one hundred 
 years old, married a young wife afterward, and died at one hundred and 
 eleven, — some say one hundred and twenty. Mr. Cobb died of an exhausted 
 constitution when young in years. Had his early training been judicious 
 and controlling, he would have been one of the great men of Georgia. 
 
 -P ^ ijC 3)C 3{C ^ Sp 3fC 
 
 The author has heard a few things outside of his correspondence, 
 which he gives for what they are worth. 
 
 Judge Dooly and the late Major Freeman Walker disagreed at 
 a public table, when the latter observed that he had borne with the 
 liberties taken by Judge Dooly long enough, and that, as the attack 
 on his feelings was public, so should be his redress. He thereupon 
 caught up a chair and advanced on Judge Dooly, who seized a 
 large carving-knife for his defence. Several gentlemen sprang 
 to keep the judge from stabbing his assailant, and only one gen- 
 tleman held back Major Walker. Looking calmly at the scene, 
 Judge Dooly said, " Gentlemen, one of you will be sufficient to 
 prevent me from doing mischief: the rest of you had better hold 
 Major Walker." Of course the affair ended in an explosion of 
 merriment, and friendly relations were soon restored. 
 
 At the close of a court, having settled his tavern-biU and ordered 
 his horse, the judge came from his room with a very small pillow 
 under his arm, a miniature likeness of a more satisfactory article 
 on which to repose the weary head after the toils of the court 
 during the day. Some person inquired of him what he was going 
 to do with the pillow. " I am going to plant it in some rich soil, 
 that it may grow ^rger by next court," was the reply of the witty 
 experimenter. 
 
 A very good hit was made by the judge at McComb's Hotel, 
 soon after the election of Mr. Adams to the Presidency in 1825. 
 It is said that a young gentleman was -complaiaing very much that 
 the country was disgraced by the election of Mr. Adams ; that a 
 man of Mr. Crawford's merit, the wisest and soundest statesman 
 of the age, shoiild be passed over ; that even General Jackson, with 
 his faults, was far preferable to the successful candidate. In fact, 
 it was his deliberate opiaion that ruin and dishonor would result to 
 the country from the administration of Mr. Adams. AH this time 
 Judge Dooly was sitting before the fire, with his head drooped on 
 the back of his chair, attentively listening. Then, raising his head 
 and looking the grumbler in the face, he said, " Young man, does 
 
344 BENCH AND BAR OF GEOEGIA. 
 
 Mr. Adams know that you are opposed to him?" "No, sir: I 
 wish he did know how little I thought of him." With that twinkle 
 of the eye and cutting tone of the voice usual in his sarcastic 
 moods, the judge administered this consolation : — " Suppose I write 
 on to let Mr. Adams know that you are dissatisfied with his election ? 
 perhaps he will resign." In a moment afterward the youthful 
 politician glided into the street, not waiting to join in the roar of 
 laughter which followed at his expense from the large number of 
 persons present. 
 
 What has been already submitted from sources entitled to the 
 highest credit will sufficiently illustrate the character of Judge 
 Dooly, without any comments by the author. That he was one of 
 nature's rare productions all must be convinced who read his his- 
 tory. That he had defects which, no doubt, obscured his public 
 usefulness, all must regret. It only remains to add that, on the 
 26th day of May, 1827, he breathed his last, committing his soul 
 to God and his memory to man. 
 
 In his published work ("Georgians," p. 210) Gov. Gilmer thus 
 speaks of Judge Dooly : — 
 
 His capacity was sufficient for any attainment if it had been properly 
 directed and actively employed. Unfortunately for himself and for so- 
 ciety, he was, when young, under the influence of idle, drunken, gambling 
 associates. Though his estate was large, his education was neglected. 
 His scholastic knowledge was limited to what he learned from the com- 
 mon school-masters of his time. His person was erect, and of proper pro- 
 portions. His features were of the finest cast. His large, protrudiDg 
 black eyes indicated to any one who looked into them his extraordinary 
 genms. He was a lawyer, and would have been the most successful at 
 the G-eorgia bar if his habits had corresponded with his talents. He was 
 born, continued to live, and died, within the limits of Lincoln county. 
 Its people were always gratified when they could make him their repre- 
 sentative. He was a member of the Legislature during the embargo and 
 restrictive measures of the General Government and the war with Great 
 Britain, and successfully advocated the alleviating, thirding, and stop laws 
 then passed. His wit, keen satire, quick perception, and extraordinary 
 speaking-capacity were never surpassed by any one in Georgia. Mr. 
 Forsyth was his only countryman who equalled him in polemic party de- 
 bate. They were never pitted against each other so that their debating- 
 powers could be compared. 
 
XIV. 
 
 PETER EARLY. 
 
 No list of great names in Georgia would be complete without 
 including that now under consideration. Much has been written 
 of Judge Early, and all parties have united in awarding him the 
 loftiest meed of praise. Without referring to any publication for 
 his materials, the author is persuaded that the sketch he submits 
 will be faithful, as it is drawn from sources of known authenticity. 
 Soon after deciding to prepare this work, he requested a gentle- 
 man* of ripe qualifications, who was well acquainted with Judge 
 Eai-ly and practised law in his courts, to furnish an outline of his 
 character and public career. That request has been promptly 
 complied with, as follows : — 
 
 Peter Early was born in June, 1773, in Madison county, Virginia, 
 and migrated with his father, Joel Early, and family, about the year 
 1795, to the county of Greene, State of Georgia. After the usual pre- 
 paration, he entered Nassau Hall, at Princeton, New Jersey, and in duo 
 time received its academic honors as a regular graduate. From this in- 
 stitution he passed, after a short respite from study, into the office of Mr. 
 Ingersoll, an eminent counsellor of the Philadelphia bar, where he had 
 the benefit of a protracted apprenticeship as a student of law. With the 
 advantages of such a course of study, it cannot be matter of wonder that 
 Mr. Early's first appearance in the courts of Georgia should have made a 
 most favorable impression. His voice and elocution were admirable; and 
 his manners, at once dignified and gentle, secured the esteem and favor 
 not less of the multitude than of his associates in the practice. 
 
 Though he entered on his professional career with bright prospects, in 
 the pursuit of fame and fortune he had to encounter competitors who put 
 his confessedly great resources to frequent and severe* trials. Among 
 these were Carnes, Dooly, Griffin, and William H. Crawford, of the 
 Western, and Kobert Watkins, George Walker, and John E. Anderson, 
 of the Middle circuit. None of these gentlemen, indeed, had received 
 a collegiate education, nor had they enjoyed the benefits of a systematic 
 study of the law; but most of them were his seniors in the practice, — all, 
 perhaps, except Mr. Crawford; and the three last mentioned eminently 
 distinguished by genius and a high order of eloquence. 
 
 Political ambition was not a prominent trait in the character of Peter 
 Early; but he had not been many years at the bar before popular opinion 
 began to point him out for the public service. The fruits of an early and 
 judicious training manifested themselves so often and so signally in his 
 
 * Hon. Joel Crawford. 
 
 345 
 
346 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 professional achievements, and perhaps, above all, the universal estimate 
 that was placed on his probity as a man and a patriot was such, that the 
 people demanded his services in terms too flattering and too urgent to be 
 resisted. His election to a seat in Congress, in 1802, was carried by a 
 majority of votes seldom equalled in this or any other State. 
 
 In the House of Representatives Mr. Early was an efficient member. 
 On important committees his reports gave proof of industry and re- 
 search, and in debate he certainly ranked among the ablest of his asso- 
 ciates. With the exception of Abraham Baldwin, — that eminent man 
 whom Georgia, so long and so much to the credit of her discerning and 
 patriotic population, delighted to honor, — the State has never had a re- 
 presentative in Congress whose services contributed more to sustain her 
 dignity and honor than Peter Early. Among the notable transactions in 
 which he bore a leading part may be mentioned the act to prohibit the 
 African slave-trade, and also the impeachment and trial of Samuel Chase, 
 one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States._ 
 
 Whatever guilt may be chargeable to Judge Chase's administration of 
 the law, he was doubtless a jurist of acknowledged ability, and as cer- 
 tainly a political partisan of no ordinary zeal. No functionary supported 
 with more earnestness and energy the measures of the first Adams when 
 President of the United States. Few, probably, had less respect for 
 those republican principles which lie at the foundation of our American 
 Constitutions. He was an ultra Federalist; and, in presiding at the trial 
 of more than one criminal prosecution for alleged breaches of the famous 
 alien and sedition laws, he incurred the suspicion of gross and vindictive 
 bias against the prisoners. Public resentment rose to a pitch that could 
 not be satisfied with any thing less than the impeachment of the judge; 
 and, during the session of 1803-04, articles of impeachment were pre- 
 ferred on motion of Mr. Randolph, and in due time he was arraigned at 
 the bar of the Senate for trial. The House of Representatives — the 
 constitutional prosecutor in such cases — had appointed a committee to 
 conduct the impeachment, one of -which was Mr. Early. John Ran- 
 dolph, of Roanoke, and four or five other members of high rank, belonged 
 to this committee, and took part in the discussions before the court. It 
 has been said, however, that, in force and true forensic eloquence, the 
 argument delivered by the member from Georgia was decidedly the best. 
 Aaron Burr, then Vice-President of the United States, presided with 
 an austere dignity peculiar to the man, and with a stringency of adminis- 
 tration which some suppose to have caused a reaction in favor of the ac- 
 cused. Chase was imminently in peril of conviction, — from which, indeed, 
 he could not have escaped, according to the recorded vote on several spe- 
 cifications, had a finding of guilty by a less number than two-thirds of 
 the Senate been practicable. His counsel during the trial were Messrs. 
 Martin, Harper, Hopkinson, and Key, who assisted in the defence. 
 
 Mr. Early continued to be re-elected to Congress until the condition of 
 his domestic affairs about the year 1807 required his presence at home, 
 when he voluntarily retired for the purpose of resuming his practice at 
 the bar. But, about this time, a recent acquisition of territory lying 
 between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers was formed, by an act of the 
 Legislature, into a new judicial circuit. That the services of Mr. Early 
 >inight be secured for the bench of the Ocmulgee circuit, the boundaries 
 were extended so as to embrace the county of Greene, in which he had 
 his residence and which had previously belonged to the Western circuit. 
 
PETER EARLY. 347 
 
 He was elected without opposition, and continued to discharge the duties 
 of the bench with distingnished ability until the fall of 1813. It would 
 be difficult to name a qualification for this office which he did not possess 
 in more than usual excellence. To an accurate knowledge of law he 
 united clearness and promptitude of perception, commanding elocution, 
 and a natural dignity of manner which announced at once a conscious 
 rectitude of purpose and a firm determination to carry it into effect. 
 
 The judge was fond of society, and was himself to some extent an 
 agreeable companion; but few gentlemen had less wit, humor, and what 
 is usually called address, than he. His whole education and all the habits 
 of his life had been so decidedly pacific that it may well be doubted 
 whether he could have encountered with becoming firmness scenes of 
 personal danger ; but his firmness and fidelity to official duty never failed 
 him, and it is probable that no terrors of an ordinary character could have 
 swerved him from a proper fulfilment of all such obligations. It is not 
 remembered that he was ever absent from the time and place of opening 
 the several courts of his circuit, and he rarely if ever adjourned a court 
 without disposing of the entire docket, unless prevented by accidental 
 cause. Such are the infirmities of human nature that a faithful adminis- 
 tration of justice is not apt to attract to its ministers much of the friend- 
 ship and favor of the people at large : the task of deciding on the adverse 
 claims of litigant parties, especially when the fiat of the presiding judge 
 was so conclusive as it was under the wretched judiciary system of Georgia 
 before the establishment of our Supreme Court, was not likely to bring 
 much popularity to the most able and upright of aU judges. But the first 
 judge of the Oemulgee circuit had the gratification to know that he pos- 
 sessed the confidence of all classes up to the day of his retirement from 
 the bench. 
 
 In the fall of 1813, Judge Early was elected Governor of the State. 
 At this period the United States were at war with Great Britain, and the 
 Governor found the labors of office greatly augmented by repeated calls 
 for the organization, equipment, and supply of militia-corps detached for 
 the national service. On this new theatre of action he displayed not only 
 his wonted capacity for business, but a zeal for the successful prosecution 
 of the war at least equal to that of any other functionary in the United 
 States of his position and grade. Scorning the base example of Strong 
 and Chittenden, contemporaneous Governors of Massachusetts and Ver- 
 mont, he not only carried into prompt execution the various orders and 
 requisitions of the Federal Government, but on more occasions than one 
 .assumed responsibilities in making the funds and other resources of the 
 State subservient to the prosecution of the war. His entire administra^ 
 tion, civU and military, met the approbation of all classes up to the day 
 on which he returned, with his official veto, to the House in which it ori- 
 ginated, a bill for continuing in force what was called, in the jargon of 
 the times, " the Alleviating Law." 
 
 This may not be an appropriate occasion to expose the absurd and cor- 
 rupt policy out of which the several acts of the General Assembly sprang 
 which had for their object the suspension of legal process to enforce the 
 collection of debts. Under the sufferance of the Judiciary Department, it 
 prevailed, with various modifications, for a period of about six years : it 
 swayed most of the popular elections from the summer of 1808 to the fall 
 of 1814, when it received the amp-de-grace of the Governor's veto. 
 Many counties, from year to year, sent representatives pledged to a con- 
 
348 BENCH AND BAK OP GEOKSIA. 
 
 tinuance of ttis iniquitous measure; and, considering the long period 
 through which it had run, and its blighting influence on the public morals, 
 it is a matter of wonder that an electoral college characterized as the 
 General Assembly then was should have placed a man who was not only 
 a profound lawyer, but almost a personification of justice, in the chair of 
 the Executive Magistrate. It is only to be accounted for by reference to 
 the extraordinary popularity of Peter Early and the inherent blindness 
 and imbecility of persons bent on the perpetration of vicious deeds. 
 Whilst demagogues of the most profligate character were carrying their 
 own elections at home by invoking the aid of motives not less delusive 
 than disgraceful, they seem to have forgotten that in conferring power on 
 such a man as Early they were preparing to consummate the destruction 
 of their darling policy. They made a fortunate mistake, — fortunate for 
 the whole country, themselves included. The State was rescued from the 
 pernicious consequences of an enormous folly; and of this the popular 
 conviction has been so pervading and permanent that no one, since that 
 time, has had the temerity to propose the enactment of another law "to 
 alleviate the condition of debtors." 
 
 The Executive veto is a conservative power found, probably, in every 
 Constitution, State or Federal, in the United States : it has been seldom 
 exercised, and never on better grounds or with better effect than in the 
 instance here stated. All its consequences were beneficial to the country, 
 except only the failure of the Governor in his canvass for re-election. 
 The discomfited majority reappeared at the ensuing fall election, and 
 found means to supersede Gov. Early with a man* whose practical politics 
 gave them as little satisfaction as that of his defeated predecessor. But 
 with Gov. Early the loss of office did not involve the loss of public con- 
 sideration and esteem, much less the friendship and admiration of all who 
 were able to appreciate the true value of his official probity and firmness. 
 
 Had the message of Gov. Early discussed nothing but the constitutional 
 question, — had he been content to demonstrate the invalidity of an act of 
 the State Legislature, because it " impaired the obligation of contracts," 
 as the law in question certainly did, — the veto might have been forgiven 
 and forgotten ; but, in remarking on the deleterious tendencies of such 
 legislation on the public morals, he uttered a sarcasm which was too appli- 
 cable to the case in hand, and too afflictive to those on whom it fell, to 
 admit of pardon or palliation. 
 
 The Governor returned to his estate in Greene, and, with the exception 
 of two or three years as Senator of that county, never afterward took any 
 part in the political affairs of the country. 
 
 When quite a young man, Mr. Early married Miss Smith, of Wilkes 
 county, sister of Colonel — afterward General — Thomas A. Smith, of the 
 United States army. The offspring of this marriage were a daughter, 
 (now Mrs. Jones, of Alabama,) and two or three sons, all of whom removed 
 some few years after the death of their father to the State of Missouri. 
 The Governor's death happened about the year 1822. 
 
 A friendf of the author of more than thirty years' standing has 
 kindly furnished the following recollections : — 
 
 Judge Early wore the ermine with ease, dignity, and grace. I never 
 
 * Got. Mitchell. -f- Dr. John G. Slappey. 
 
PETER EARLY. 349 
 
 saw his equal in this respect. Next to Gov. Troup, I consider him the 
 greatest man who has figured in the annals of Georgia. I will give my 
 impressions as best I can. 
 
 In court Judge Early knew no parties, but maintained his office with 
 the sternest proprieties, and measured out justice with an even balance. 
 There was a peculiarity about the corners of his mouth which I never 
 saw in any other man's. His lips were forever compressed and firm. I 
 never saw him smile. His countenance had more of sadness than cheer- 
 fulness, yet indicative of the deepest reflection. On his seat he was erect 
 and commanding in his position, with his arms most generally folded 
 across his breast and one knee thrown over the other. He seldom altered 
 this posture. He looked severe and haughty : yet he was dignified with- 
 out the least affectation. His mind was in perfect correspondence with 
 his body; and it never hesitated or faltered, but took in at a glance and 
 comprehended instantly whatever was presented to it. Having drawn his 
 inferences with that sound judgment for which he was distinguished, he 
 rarely saw cause to change his opinion. He possessed the highest degree 
 of self-respect, and knew how to respect the bar and others. All questions 
 or points in a case before him he met promptly and decided positively. 
 There was nothing negative or vacillating in the character of Judge 
 Early. In all respects he was a perfect specimen of a man, and a model 
 judge. 
 
 Believing that the profession would be glad to see the message 
 of Gov. Early returning the Alleviation Bill, with his reasons for 
 not approving it, a copy is subjoined, as follows : — 
 
 ExBCUTivE Depaetment, Geoegia, Milledgeville, 11th November, 1814. 
 
 To THE Senate : — I have received and attentively considered the bill 
 which has passed the two Houses of the General Assembly, entitled An 
 act to continue in force an act to alleviate the condition of debtors, passed 
 the sixth day of December, 1813. The result of this consideration is 
 that I am compelled, by a sense of duty which cannot be dispensed with, 
 to return the bill with my dissent. It is due to the Legislature that my 
 reasons should be assigned. 
 
 In the first place, it appears that the principle of our alleviating-laws is 
 opposed to the Constitution. On this question there has been much nice 
 and able reasoning, and men of strong discernment as well as sound judg- 
 ment have been found to differ. But it is the paramount duty of every 
 public functionary to act on his own judgment : he can have no legitimate 
 oTiide but this and his conscience. Believing, then, as I do, that the bill 
 now returned to the Legislature does in principle impair the obligation 
 of contracts, I cannot give it my assent. Secondly, the principle of our 
 alleviating-laws is, in my opinion, unwise and inexpedient. It is now more 
 than six years since the commencement of this system. During the inter- 
 vening period, produce and property, although sometimes low in price, yet 
 at others have yielded an abundant profit. Debtors in the mean time 
 have made crop after crop. Those who were disposed to pay have done 
 so • those otherwise inclined have diverted their income to other objects ; 
 whilst interest, with a constantly-accumulating hand, has been added to 
 their embarrassments. The tendency of this bill is to continue the 
 destructive course. The present customary price of produce, though not 
 hifh, is yet sufficient for moderate profit; and although the public burdens 
 
350 BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. 
 
 are increased by the war, and are likely to become more so, yet the same 
 state of war creates a market for articles of provision to an extent of which 
 no former times afford an example. The quantity of money in circulation, 
 so far from being diminished, has greatly increased, and must continue to 
 do so. The business of war in its various departments gives employment 
 and profit to thousands who otherwise would have neither. The increased 
 burdens of the war are therefore at least balanced by the increase of the 
 sources of profit. 
 
 Contracts between individuals are matters of private right, and no reason 
 of State can justify an interference with them. They are sacred things, 
 and the hand of Government can never touch them without impairing 
 public confidence. The alleviating system is believed to be injurious to 
 the moral principles of the community. It accustoms men to consider 
 their contracts as imposing no moral obligation, and, by making fraud 
 familiar, destroys the pride of honesty. On the ground of expediency 
 also, then, I feel compelled to withhold my assent from the bill. These 
 views are respectfully submitted to the Legislature, and the bill herewith 
 returned to the branch in which it originated. 
 
 Petee Early, 
 
 Governor. 
 
 Nov. 16, 1814. — The Senate took up the bUl to continue in force An 
 act supplementary to, and amendatory of, an act to alleviate the condition 
 of debtors, passed the sixth day of December, 1813, which was dissented 
 to by his Excellency the Governor; and on the question, Shall this bill 
 constitutionally pass ? it was determined in the negative ; and the yeas 
 and nays, being required, are Yeas, 20; Nays, 15. — Senate Journal, 
 1814, p. 38. 
 
 NOTE TO THE MEMOIR OF GOV. EARLY. 
 
 In the Appendix to this volume the reader will find some twenty 
 letters or more from Gov. Early, incorporated in the memoir of 
 Gen. Blackshear. Having reason to believe that many valuable 
 papers connected with the public service had been preserved by 
 Gen. Blackshear, the author applied to his sons for permission to 
 examine, with a view of throwing light on some of the characters 
 in his work. The request was kindly granted, and the search 
 resulted in the discovery of a mass of letters and documents of such 
 importance, relating to the war on the frontier and sea-coast of 
 Georgia in 1813—14, that he determined to embody them in a 
 connected form — so arranged as to be easily referred to — in an 
 Appendix to the volume which contained the memoir of Gov. 
 Early. 
 
 The letters from Gov. Early to Gen. Blackshear may be seen in 
 the Appendix,— Nos. 18, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 31, 38, 41, 43, 60, 62, 
 67, 74, 80, 81, 89, 90, 91, 100, 101. 
 
g^jlplfe. 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 GEN. DAVID BLACKSHEAR, 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 LETTERS FROM GOVERNORS IRWIN, JACKSON, 
 MITCHELL, EARLY, AND RABUN, 
 
 AND FBOM 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL MCINTOSH, BRIGADIER-GENERAL FLOYD, 
 
 AND OTHEK OFFICERS OF THE ARMY IS THE WAR OF 1813-14 ON THE 
 FRONTIER AND SEA-COAST OF GEORGIA; 
 
 AND ALSO 
 
 LETTERS FROM MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, DR. MOSES 
 WADDEL, AND OTHERS. 
 
 23 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 MEMOIR OF GEN. DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 The ancestors of David Blackshear were Germans. John 
 Martin Francks,* James Blackshear, Philip Miller, and other 
 immigrants came to America about the year 1732, and landed at 
 New Berne, the colony-town established in North Carolina by the 
 Baron De Graffenreid. They procured boats and ascended the 
 river Trent some twenty miles, where they put ashore their goods 
 and families. The country was unoccupied : the wilderness was 
 not broken or a tree scarred by 'the axe when this little band of 
 Europeans, with lusty sinews, brave hearts, and toiling hands, cast 
 their destiny in the New World. They had no horses, no cattle, 
 and, of course, no conveyance, nor could they obtain any, to trans- 
 port their household stock which they brought with them from 
 Germany, — bedding, clothing, provisions, and cooking-implements, 
 and such other articles as they had provided for their forest home. 
 They had no alternative but to pack as much upon each person as 
 his or her strength would carry ; for the families were noble speci- 
 mens of manhind, full of health and of great physical endurance. 
 
 Thus equipped for the journey, they took up the line of march, 
 and halted at what was afterward called New Germany, seven 
 
 * The author has had in his possession many years, among old family papers, 
 the ori^al passport, of which the following is a copy : — 
 
 North 
 
 Carolina, ss. PERMIT the bearers hereof, William Franck and Theobold 
 
 Christler, freemen, to pass through this Colony unmolested, 
 in their way to Pensilvania, they beheaving themselves as 
 becometh. 
 
 GIVEN under my hand, this 10th Day of Sept. 1733. 
 
 Martin Franck, 
 Jacob Gist. 
 To all whom it \ 
 may Concern. / 
 
 355 
 
356 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 miles above the present village of Trenton, in then Craven, now Jones 
 county. While on the way, laden with household goods, one of 
 the females was assaulted by a half-grown bull, who, not liking 
 the bundles or dinner-pots which she carried on her head, rushed 
 at them with considerable fury. The matron, or damsel, whichever 
 it was, seized her adversary by the horns and instantly twisted him 
 over on his back, quietly remarking, " See that ugly calf!" There 
 was no renewal of the attack.* The settlers at once went to work, 
 entered land under the Colonial Government, and soon began to 
 prosper and multiply. 
 
 Mr. Francks and his wife Civil had two daughters, named Catharine 
 and Barbara. The former married Mr. Bush, one of the settlers, 
 by whom she had two sons, John and William, and one daughter, 
 Mary, who was born January 3, 1757. About this time Mr. Bush 
 died, and his widow in a reasonable time intermarried with James 
 Blackshear, and became the mother of eight other children, of 
 whom David Blackshear, the subject of this memoir, was the 
 third. He was born on Chinquapin Creek, near Trent River, 
 about seven miles above Trenton, on the 31st day of January, 
 1764. 
 
 Schools in those days were scarce. Occasionally a man could 
 be engaged for three months — -seldom for a longer time — in the 
 same neighborhood. As a class, teachers were then a roving set, 
 perhaps owing to the rough accommodations they received grating 
 to their cultivated ta^te, (for they possessed a monopoly of learn- 
 ing,) or, what was probably the case, they had no confidence in the 
 good opinions of their patrons after a certain scholastic habit had 
 manifested itself, requiring new fields for sobriety. To a school 
 of this description David Blackshear was sent, and had completed 
 his quarter before the Revolutionary War broke out. Then a 
 mere boy, about twelve years of age, he followed his two elder 
 brothers in an expedition to Wilmington, and was present at the 
 battle of Moore's Creek, February 27, 1776, at which Gen. Cas- 
 well commanded, to the entire defeat of the Tories. He was also 
 with the Whigs in the skirmish at Buford's Bridge. Returning 
 home, he again went to school three months, which was his last. 
 He was instructed by Mr. Joseph Dews, either half or the whole of 
 six months, his entire educational course. A noted Scotchman, named 
 James Alexander Campbell Hunter Peter Douglass, kept school 
 about the close of the Revolution, to whom many of the neighbors 
 
 * The author heard Gen. Blackshear relate this incident. 
 
DAVID BLACKBHEAR. 357 
 
 of the Blackstear family sent their children. The author, in his 
 boyhood, has heard some of the old pupils laugh and tell that a 
 whole Friday-evening class was flogged because they spelt "corn" 
 as Mr. Douglass pronounced it, — Icor-run ! 
 
 While a scouting-party was out, consisting of James, Edward, 
 and David Blackshear, Martin Francks, Peter Calloway, and others, 
 fifteen or twenty in all, led by Captain Yates, in pursuit of the 
 Tories, they stopped at Col. White's to stay all night to relieve 
 their fatigue. James Blackshear, Martin Francks, and Mr. Callo- 
 way, being stronger than the rest, continued five or six miles far- 
 ther, until they reached the house of Mrs. Blackshear. They had 
 just entered, and were about sitting down to supper, when the 
 dwelling was surrounded by Tories, and James Blackshear, her 
 son, and Martin Francks, her nephew, were taken out of the house, 
 carried to the end of the lane, tied to a stake, and there shot dead 
 by the Tories. A negro man ran with the news to Col. White's. 
 The colonel and his party were fourteen in number, and had but 
 seven horses between them. They instantly mounted two on a 
 horse, and set forth on the work of revenge. In the mean time, 
 after killing Blackshear and Francks, the Tories concluded to cap- 
 ture and destroy the whole party of AVhigs at Col. White's, and 
 were near enough to the house to hear the orders given by Capt. 
 Yates to his men as they left the gate. The Tories then divided 
 into two companies, and lay in ambush on each side of the road to 
 fire upon the Whigs. They did fire, killing one Whig and wounding 
 several others, and, among them. Brock was shot through the thigh 
 and Edward Blackshear through both hands, as he was riding on 
 the same horse behind another man, with his hands holding his 
 gun on the pommel of the saddle. Capt. Yates had his collar-bone 
 broken and his horse killed under him. When the Tories opened 
 their fire, the Whigs dashed back to get from between the double 
 ambuscade. On coming up to the spot and finding one man dead, 
 the Tories, supposing that the Whigs had fled, raised a shout of 
 triumph. About this time, Capt. Yates, lying a few yards ofi", 
 severely wounded as he was, raised his gun* and fired upon the 
 group, killing one Tory captain and breaking the thigh of another, 
 so that he was taken prisoner. They carried the wounded Tory 
 captain to the stake and there shot him, within a few hours after 
 the other frightful tragedy had occurred on the same spot. Soon 
 
 * The author has seen the old gnn (a long one it was) in the possession of the late 
 Col. James Shine, of North Carolina, who married Leah, a daughter of Captain Yates. 
 
358 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 after the fatal discharge (fatal to the Tories) by Captain Yates, the 
 Whigs rallied, killed several of the Tories, and cnppled a good 
 
 many others. -n /■ u • 
 
 Thus closed the bloody proceedings of that night, still tresh m 
 the tradition of the neighborhood. The lands adjoining were, in 
 the boyhood days of the author, owned by Levin Lane, Richard 
 Koonce, and Christopher Reynolds. Since these good old citizens 
 have passed away, the Revolutionary homestead may have gone 
 into other families. 
 
 It may be remarked here that the other daughter of John Martin 
 Francks, Barbara, married Daniel Shine, who resided on Cypress 
 Creek, ten miles above Trenton. She had the honor of enter- 
 taining President Washington at her house when he made his 
 Southern tour in 1791. She died in 1814, at the age of ninety- 
 five years. Afterward, her son. Col. James Shine, had President 
 Monroe and his suite, in which was Mr. Calhoun, the Secretary of 
 War, at his mansion in 1819, partaking of a splendid hospitality. 
 John Bush, the eldest half-brother of Gen. Blackshear, is men- 
 tioned in a historical work* as an ensign, and John Bryan, a near 
 family relative, as colonel, in the Revolutionary War. Lemuel 
 Hatch, a leading name in the county of Jones, is mentioned on the 
 same page as lieutenant-colonel. A new career is now to open. 
 
 ACTS' AS SURVEYOR. 
 After the close of the Revolution, Mr. Blackshear made several 
 trips to Georgia, in winter, with his surveying-instruments, and 
 was active in running out and platting such lands as might be 
 located in virtue of head-rights or other claims then allowed by the 
 Government. He possessed a strong mind, which mastered what- 
 ever he undertook ; and a little attention to mathematics taught 
 him the use of Gunter's Scale, with which, aided by compass and 
 protractor, he could measure lands by actual survey and give cor- 
 rect plats of his work. He performed much labor of this kind in 
 the county of Wilkes during these excursions to Georgia, which he 
 found quite profitable, besides making him acquainted with border 
 life and the hardships of a new country in which he was soon to 
 act so prominent a part. 
 
 REMOVAL TO GEORGIA IN 1790. 
 The information for which Mr. Blackshear and all his brothers 
 were distinguished was acquired mostly by studying by torchlight 
 
 * Wheeler'8 History of North Carolina, vol. i. pp. 80, 81. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAB. 359 
 
 after the farm-labors of the day were ended. Indeed, all the 
 family, brothers and sisters, possessed uncommon vigor of mind 
 and great practical sense. They all managed their affairs pru- 
 dently, and left large estates. Relative to such, the author takes 
 it for granted that the following record will interest the reader : — 
 
 1. James Blackshear, bom August 30, 1759 ; killed by the 
 Tories of the Revolution. 
 
 2. Edward Blackshear, born January 20, 1762; removed to 
 Georgia, married Emily G. Mitchell, and died in Thomas county 
 in 1829. Gen. Thomas E. Blackshear is one of his sons. 
 
 3. David Blackshear, born January 31, 1764. 
 
 4. Elizabeth Blackshear, born September 16, 1765; married 
 Blake Bryan. Mrs. Mary Wimberly, widow of the late Maj. Gen. 
 Ezekiel Wimberly, of Twiggs county, is their daughter. 
 
 5. Susannah Blackshear, bom May 27, 1769 ; married Edward 
 Bryan, who died on Cypress Creek, Jones county, North Carolina, 
 about the year 1813. In a short time she removed to Georgia, at 
 the instance of her brothers. She had five sons : — John Bryan 
 and Edward Bryan, now residing in Florida ; James Bryan, a citi- 
 zen of Twiggs, and the late William Bryan and Joseph Bryan, of 
 Early county, Georgia. 
 
 6. Elijah Blackshear, born July 17, 1771 ; never married; died 
 in Laurens county in 1821. 
 
 7. Penelope Blackshear, born April 13, 1773 ; married Edward 
 Bryan, who died in Twiggs county in 1825. She took the first 
 premium of a silver pitcher ever offered in Macon for a bale of the 
 best cotton. The late Elijah Bryan, of Florida, Thomas Jefferson 
 Bryan, and Blackshear Bryan, of Twiggs, were her sons. Jen- 
 nette, wife of Robert Hodges, of Louisiana, is her daughter. She 
 had other sons and daughters, most of whom are dead. She died 
 in 1839. 
 
 8. Joseph Blackshear, born September 7, 1775 ; married Wini- 
 fred, sister of Col. William A. Tennille, late Secretary of State, 
 and died in Laurens county, 1830. 
 
 Most of his relatives here introduced resided near him in Geor- 
 gia, or within convenient visiting-distance. On his arrival, he 
 found the frontier subject to Indian depredations, and he at once 
 united with the few settlers on the Oconee to suppress them. He 
 pitched his camp on the lands which he afterward owned, and on 
 which he resided until his death. They are now in the possession of 
 his sons, and include several thousand acres, with fine river-bottoms. 
 This circumstance is referred to as showing that he did not waste 
 
360 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 his time or his means in frequent removals. His skill and suc- 
 cess as a planter, wine and sugar grower, will appear elsewhere 
 in this memoir. 
 
 APPOINTED A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. 
 The county in which Mr. Blackshear settled on his removal to 
 Georgia was then called Washington. Laurens was formed after- 
 ward, with which his name is honorably identified. It seems that 
 he had not been there many years before a public trust was ten- 
 dered him, as will be seen by the following commission : — 
 
 Georgia. — By his Excellency Jared Irwin, Governor and Commander- 
 in-Chief in and over the State aforesaid. 
 
 To David Blackshear, Esq., greeting : — 
 
 By virtue of the power and authority in me vested by an act of the 
 General Assembly of the State aforesaid, passed the twenty-second day of 
 February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, I do hereby 
 commissionate you, the said David Blackshear, a justice of the peace for 
 Captain Blackshear's district, in the county of Washington in the said 
 State. 
 
 You are therefore hereby authorized and required to do and perform all 
 and singular the duties incumbent on you as a justice of the peace for the 
 said district according to law and the trust reposed in you. 
 
 Given under my hand and seal, at the State-House in Louis- 
 ville, this fourth day of June, Anno Domini one thousand seven 
 hundred and ninety-six, and in the twentieth year of American 
 independence. Jared Irwin. 
 
 By the Governor : 
 
 Horatio Marbury, 
 
 for 
 John Milton, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Another commission for the same office, dated 6th May, 1799, 
 signed by Gov. Jackson, is before the author. It recites that the 
 nomination was by the justices of the inferior court, and that 
 "this commission is to continue in force during good behavior, or 
 until removed by conviction, &c., or by the Governor on the 
 address of two-thirds of each branch of the Legislature." 
 
 A couple of executions were found among the papers of Gen. 
 Blackshear, which are here copied as a specimen of the olden 
 time : — 
 
 Washb|ton county. } ^° ''"y ^^''^"^ «*°«''- 
 
 You are hereby commanded that of the goods and chattels, lands and 
 tenements, of Sherwood Harper, you levy the sum of twenty dollars seven- 
 teen and one-third cents, and costs of suit, to satisfy two judgments in 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAB. 361 
 
 favor of Seth Bishop, obtained in this court the 11th September last, and 
 also the cost of this execution. 
 
 Given under my hand, this 9th of October, 1802. 
 
 David Blacksheae, J. P. 
 
 It will be seen that the magistrate saved labor by issuing one 
 execution expressing the amount of several judgments, — ■which is 
 somewhat different from the practice now, and what was intended 
 by the Legislature. The old system, as here exemplified, was at 
 least a saving of cost, and was perfectly in character with Justice 
 Blackshear in doing things boldly by the shortest method. 
 
 ITT , -^ . ' . }• To any lawful officer. 
 
 VVashmgton county, j •' 
 
 Tou are hereby requested that of the goods and chattels, lands and 
 tenements, of Godfrey Dreher and Daniel McElduff, you levy and make 
 the sum of one hundred and twelve dollars and forty-six cents, to satisfy 
 three judgments obtained in our Justice's Court, the 9th January last, in 
 favor of Major Huist, and also interest from the judgment until paid, and 
 cost of these executions, and make you your return agreeable to law. 
 
 Given under my hand, this 9th April, 1808. 
 
 David Blackshear, J. P. 
 
 APPOINTED MAJOR OF BRIGADE. 
 The author has not been able to ascertain the time when Mr. 
 Blackshear received the appointment of brigade-major, — an office, 
 he presumes, corresponding with the present -inspectorship of 
 brigade. As far back as October 21, 1797, orders were issued to 
 him as major by the Adjutant-General of the State, as may be seen 
 by reference to Document No. 2, at the eifd of this memoir. That 
 order for raising troops was founded on tbe prospect of war with 
 France, growing out of President Washington's proclamation of 
 neutrality. His brother, Joseph Blackshear, was appointed by 
 Gov. Jackson captain of militia in the Washington county regi- 
 ment, April 22, 1800, and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of 
 the regiment, November 23, 1812, by Gov. Mitchell. 
 
 HIS MARRIAGE. 
 Major Blackshear was so engrossed with Indian difficulties and 
 in providing himself with the goods of life, that he had no. time to 
 wait upon the ladies and cultivate their favor until his thirty-ninth 
 year, when, on the 2d day of December, 1802, he married Miss 
 Fanny Hamilton, daughter of John Hamilton, Esq., of Hancock 
 county. This was a family of great influence and position in 
 society. Mrs. Blackshear had six brothers, all men of chivalrous 
 bearing and manly virtues. Thomas Hamilton was afterward 
 
362 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 aide-de-camp to Gen. Blackshear during the war, and Captain James 
 Hamilton commanded a company of artillery in the same service, 
 as may be seen by the orders of Gen. Floyd, at Darien, February 
 6, 1815, No. 99 in the papers attached to this memoir. William 
 Hamilton was also in the army, and for a long time brigade-in- 
 spector, — a very accomplished drill-officer. He married two nieces 
 of Gen. Blackshear, and daughters of his sister, Penelope Bryan. 
 Duke Hamilton was brave as Caesar, and also had a military rank. 
 He fought a duel with General Brown, and wounded him in the 
 head, though not mortally. Everard Hamilton is well known as 
 the former Secretary of State under Gov. Troup's and Gov. 
 Forsyth's administrations, including that of Gov. Gilmer from 
 1829 to 1831. He was in the staff of Gen. Floyd, and gallantly 
 participated in several battles with the Indians, and soon after the 
 war married a daughter of Gen. Floyd. He died in Savannah 
 several years ago, much lamented. In all the relations of life he 
 was upright, and bore the reverses of fortune with true Christian 
 fortitude. He had succeeded, however, in latter years, in laying 
 the foundation for a good estate, leaving his family quite inde- 
 pendent. This notice of the brothers has been deemed necessary 
 in connection with the family ties of Gen. Blackshear, and of the 
 still further alliance that may be mentioned when the author comes 
 to speak of the general's children. 
 
 The two sisters of Mrs. Blackshear were named Mary and 
 Sarah. The former married George Hayes, Esq., of Clark 
 county, and the latter married Robert Raines, who afterward 
 resided in Twiggs county. Gen. Thomas E. Blackshear married 
 Emily, one of her daughters, and Lucien H. Raines, her son, mar- 
 ried Ann, daughter of Edward Blackshear, of Thomas county. It 
 is thus seen, and could be shown still further, that there was 
 extensive intermarrying in the family, all resulting in the utmost 
 happiness. 
 
 FIRST LAND-LOTTERY. 
 
 As the correspondence of Gen. Blackshear, to be found attached 
 to this memoir, shows that he was earnestly concerned for the 
 acquisition of the Oconee lands, an extract from the Journal of the 
 House of Representatives at the extra session in June, 1806, (p. 
 41,) is here given : — 
 
 Ordered, That the Clerk inform the Senate that this House ia now 
 ready to receive them in the Representative-Chamber, for the purpose of 
 electing thirty-eight surveyors of districts, in conformity to an act to dis- 
 pose of and distribute the late cession of lands obtained from the Creek 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 363 
 
 nation by the United States, in a treaty entered into at the city of 
 Washington on the 14th of November, 1805. 
 
 Whereupon the President and members of the Senate attended, and, 
 being seated in the Representative-Chamber, both branches proceeded by 
 joint ballot to said election; and, on the ballots being received and 
 counted, it appeared that 
 
 1. Abner Franklin had 71 votes. 20. William Watson had 55 votes. 
 
 2. Reuben Langstone, 68 21. William Downing, 53 
 
 3. William Mitchell, 68 22. James Alston, 52 
 
 4. Christopher Killbee, 67 23. James Cooper, 52 
 
 5. Hugh Montgomery, 67 24. Hughes Walton, 51 
 
 6. Levin Wailes, 66 25. John Carpenter, 49 
 
 7. Noah Paramore, 66 26. Thomas Cooper, 47 
 
 8. Abner Davis, 65 27. William Graves, 47 
 
 9. David Glenn, 64 28. David Creswell, 46 
 
 10. William Lett, 64 29. John Ragan, 45 
 
 11. Thomas Davis, 62 30. George D. Willis, 44 
 
 12. Hezekiah Luckey, 62 31. Isham S. Fannin, 41 
 
 13. John D. Terrell, 61 32. Moses Fort, 41 
 
 14. Reuben Dejernett, 61 33. Alexander Ferryman, 41 
 
 15. Hugh McDonald, 61 34. Leonard Abercrombie, 40 
 
 16. Garland Hardwick, 61 85. Cuthbert Reese, 40 
 
 17. Benajah Smith, 60 36. John Dyson, 39 
 
 18. David McCord, 60 37. John Moore, 38 
 
 19. Edmund B. Jenkins, 56 38. John Torrance, 38 
 
 And thereupon the President of the Senate declared the aforesaid 
 persons duly elected. 
 
 YAZOO FRAUD. 
 
 As the declaration in 1807 may interest the public, especially 
 as it sustains the action of Gen. Blackshear and other men of in- 
 fluence in opposing the Yazoo grant in 1795, the author copies the 
 following resolutions, which may be found in Clayton's Digest, 
 page 680: — 
 
 Whereas, in the year seventeen hundred and ninety-five, as will be 
 recollected with emotions of indignation by every virtuous citizen of this 
 State, a combination of influential and moneyed men succeeded, by 
 hrihery and corruption, in obtaining the passage of an act conveying the 
 rio'ht of this State in a well-known portion of the western country called 
 YAZOO, to several companies of purchasers : And whereas, the succeed- 
 ing Legislature, duly convinced of the flagitious agency which had pro- 
 cured the act aforesaid, virtuously determined, by a rescinding law, to 
 prohibit all contracts, conveyances, and grants originating in that fraud 
 from being carried into effect, it solemnly becomes the duty of this 
 Legislature to support and preserve consistent the reputation of this State, 
 by denying the statement of a band of speculators, combined from New 
 Hampshire to Mississippi, to embezzle the funds either of this State or 
 the United States, and to riot on the profits of an extensive tract of coun- 
 try in aliening falsely that the State of Georgia contemplated, in the 
 articles of cession to the United States of her western territory in eighteen 
 
364 MEMOIK OF GENERAL 
 
 hundred and two, any compromise of the Yazoo claims in any way 
 whatever. And, inasmuch as it is important to the decision of Congress 
 on this subject, and greatly to the dignity and justice of the State of 
 Georgia, that the truth as it is in this matter should be fully and un- 
 equivocally defined, it is therefore unanimously 
 
 Resolved, hy the Senate and House of Representatives of tlie State of 
 Georgia in General Assembly met, That they have viewed, and still view, 
 with abhorrence the attempt made by a set of unprincipled men, commonly 
 known by the appellation of Yazoo men, to corrupt a majority of the 
 Legislature of this State in the year 1795 ; which attempt was rendered 
 abortive by the virtue of the succeeding Legislature. 
 
 Resolved, That it never was the intention of 'the Legislature of this 
 State, when they ratified certain articles of agreement and cession entered 
 into by commissioners appointed by the State of Georgia and the United 
 States, to evince any desire to compromise claims that originated in fraud 
 and which were rendered invalid by the State sovereignty. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Senate and House of Representatives 
 of the State of Georgia be given to John Randolph, member of Congress 
 from the State of Virginia, and the late majority of the Ninth Congress, 
 for their virtuous and manly opposition to a compromise which would, in 
 their opinion, equally compromit the dignity of the Government of the 
 United States and the sovereignty of this State. 
 
 Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit copies, of the 
 foregoing resolutions to Mr. Randolph, to the Secretary of State, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, and the Attorney-General of the United States. 
 
 Approved by the Governor the 23d day of November, 1807. 
 
 APPOINTED BBIGADIER-GENERAL. 
 
 While following Major Blackshear to a higher commission, it may 
 be well to refer the attention of the reader to a letter from Gov. 
 Jackson, dated June 18, 1799, advising him in certain difficulties 
 with the Indians and with border-trespassers. This document is 
 marked No. 6, and is valuable as so much history of the times. 
 As justice of the peace, he exerted a salutary influence in pre- 
 serving the public order and in bringing lawless men to punish- 
 ment. He served in that capacity, it is believed, until his higher 
 military rank vacated the office, as will appear by the following 
 commission : — 
 
 State of Georgia. — By his Excellency David B. Mitchell, Governor 
 and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of this State and of the 
 Militia thereof. 
 
 To David Blackshear, Esquire, — greeting : 
 
 We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, 
 conduct, and fidelity, do by these presents constitute and appoint you 
 brigadier-general of the second brigade of the fifth division of the militia 
 formed for the defence of this State and for repelling every hostile 
 invasion thereof. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge 
 the duty of brigadier-general by doing and performing all manner of 
 things thereto belonging. And we do strictly charge and require all 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAH. 365 
 
 OITICERS and privates under your command to be obedient to your 
 orders as brigadier-general. And you are to observe and follow sucb 
 orders and directions, from time to time, as you shall receive from me or 
 a future Governor and Commander-in-Ohief of this State for the time-being, 
 or any other of your superior officers, in pursuance of the trust reposed in 
 you. This commission to continue in force during your usual residence 
 within the brigade to which you belong, unless removed by sentence of a 
 court-martial, or by the Governor, on the address of two-thirds of each 
 branch of the General Assembly. 
 
 Given under my hand and the seal of the Executive, at the 
 State-House in Milledgeville, this ninth day of December in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve, and 
 of the Independence of the United States of America the thirty- 
 seventh. 
 
 D. B, Mitchell. 
 By the Governor : 
 
 Abner Hammond, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 It was not long after receiving this appointment before he was 
 called into active service, as the military correspondence attached 
 to this memoir will show. 
 
 war of 1813, 1814, AND 1815. 
 
 Merely as a guide to the official papers wherein the several 
 matters are fully set forth, the author has prepared the following 
 summary : — 
 
 No. 11. A letter from Gov. Mitchell, to afford security to the 
 inhabitants within the brigade in view of Indian hostilities. Aug. 
 4, 1813. 
 
 No. 12. Orders to Col. Wimberly to man certain forts for the 
 protection of the frontier. August 7, 1818. 
 
 No. 13. Eeport to Gov. Mitchell on measures taken to build 
 forts in certain counties. August 13, 1813. 
 
 No. 14. Letter from Gov. Mitchell, suggesting economy and 
 certain works of defence. August 14, 1813. 
 
 No. 15. Orders to Col. Joseph Blackshear to have certain diffi- 
 culties brought before a court of inquiry. September 3, 1813. 
 
 No. 16. Orders to Col. Wimberly to discharge the men on duty 
 in Twiggs county. September 14, 1813. 
 
 No. 17. Orders from Maj. Gen. Adams to raise certain troops 
 and build stockades and block-houses on the frontier. November 
 19, 1813. 
 
 No. 18. Letter from Gov. Early respecting pay-roll, thanking 
 Gen. Blackshear for his ideas on the subject of defence, &c. Dec. 
 
 2, 1813. 
 
 No. 19. Letter from Gov. Early, tendering the command of the 
 
366 MEMOIK OF GENERAL 
 
 army to Gen. Blackshear, in consequence of the disability of Gen. 
 Floyd to take the field. January 4, 1814. 
 
 No. 20. Letter to Gov. Early, noticing the plan of the campaign 
 as given by Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, and the contradictory rumors 
 about the British and Indians at Appalachicola, and his objections 
 to the Indian regiment under Col. Hawkins. January 13, 1814. 
 
 No. 21. Letter from Gov. Early relative to the contemplated 
 road from the Ocmulgee River to St. Mary's, and asking a per- 
 sonal interview with Gen. Blackshear. April 19, 1814. 
 
 No. 22. Orders from Maj. Gen. Adams to call out the first class 
 of the militia for discipline. 
 
 No. 23. Letter from Gov. Early in regard to detachment of first 
 class of militia, to be commanded by a major-general and two 
 brigadier-generals, — offering the latter to Gen. Blackshear and 
 Gen. Floyd. July 16, 1814. 
 
 No. 24. Letter to Gov. Early, accepting . the appointment of 
 brigadier-general in the detachment of first class of militia. July 
 20, 1814. 
 
 No. 25. Letter from Maj. Freeman, the Governor's Secretary, 
 stating provision for camp-equipage, and also that the British were 
 reported to be in great force, having ten vessels-of-war at Appa- 
 lachicola, and that Gen. Jackson had concluded a treaty of limits 
 with the Creek Indians, &c. August 25, 1814. 
 
 No. 26. Letter from Gov. Early, notifying that the War Depart- 
 ment had called on Georgia for 8500 militia for United States 
 service. September 1, 1814. 
 
 No. 27. Letter from Col. Allen Tooke, giving certain alarms of 
 an attack on Hartford by the Indians. September 8, 1814. 
 
 No. 28. Orders of Gov. Early for a detachment of cavalry to 
 explore the country between the Ocmulgee, opposite Hartford, and 
 Flint River, to ascertain the route for a road, &c. Sept. 17, 1814. 
 
 No. 29. Letter to Captain Richard Thomas, detailing his com- 
 pany of mounted men for the exploration between Hartford and 
 Flint River. September 19, 1814. 
 
 No. 31. Orders from Gov. Early to muster certain commands 
 into the United States service. October 21, 1814. 
 
 No. 32. Letter from Farish Carter, army-contractor, as to the 
 issuing of rations. November 23, 1814. 
 
 No. 33. Letter from Farish Carter, army-contractor, applying 
 for an escort for the protection of his cattle and hogs. November 
 23, 1814. 
 
 No. 34. Orders from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh to organize the detach- 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAK. 36T 
 
 ment into two regiments and a battalion, — prescribing the com- 
 panies to each, regulations for the quartermaster's department, &c. 
 November 24, 1814. 
 
 No. 35. Letter from Major Mark Hardin, giving certain reports 
 of Gen. Jackson's success over the British near New Orleans ; a 
 naval battle by Capt. Blakely ; failure of Gen. Izard on the Nia- 
 gara frontier ; firmness of Gov. Early in suppressing certain dis- 
 orderly conduct of a military corps at Milledgeville ; Austria taking 
 the field against Napoleon ; diversion of Lord Hill from America 
 with his fleet; improvement of Georgia troops under drill, &c. 
 November 27, 1814. 
 
 No. 37. Order from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh to have Capt. Williams's 
 and Capt. Thomas's companies consolidated into one in Col. Wim- 
 berly's regiment. December 8, 1814. 
 
 No. 38. Letter from Gov. Early, ordering the command of Gen. 
 Blackshear to the Seminole settlements, sixty miles west of Flint 
 River. December 9, 1814. 
 
 No. 39. Orders from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh for Gen. Blackshear to 
 march with Col. Wimberly's regiment of infantry from Camp Hope 
 to Hartford, and from thence by opening a road in the most direct 
 way to Flint River. December 14, 1814. 
 
 No. 40. Letter to Col. Allen Tooke to have certain tools fur- 
 nished for building flats, &c. December 12, 1814. 
 
 No. 41. Letter from Gov. Early, inquiring the probable time 
 the troops will leave Hartford for Flint- River, that he may furnish 
 a mounted reinforcement. December 14, 1814. 
 
 No. 42. Orders to Col. Wimberly and Maj. Lawson to take up 
 the line of march. December 16, 1814. 
 
 No. 43. Letter from Gov. Early, granting the use of the public tools 
 at Hartford ; time of marching left discretionary ; Capt. Thomas's 
 cavalry to attend the troops to Flint River, &c. Dec. 16, 1814. 
 
 No. 44. Letter from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, stating that Col. 
 Hawkins had been informed by a runner from Forbes's Store that 
 ten British vessels were at anchor near Deer Island, — seven of 
 them very large, each with two thousand men on board, — and the 
 other smaller vessels were loaded with presents for the Indians ; 
 that the British had built a strong fort at Forbes's Store and were 
 landing their troops, part of whom were negroes ; that the British 
 had invited the Indians to come and receive presents. Gen. Black- 
 shear's command must proceed with all diligence to the point of 
 their destination, at the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint 
 Rivers. December 19, 1814. 
 
368 MEMOIR OF QENEKAL 
 
 No. 45. Letter to Gov. Early, transmitting list of delinquents 
 and deserters, delay in crossing the river at Hartford for want of 
 tools to build flats, &c. December 23, 1814. 
 
 No. 46. Orders to Capt. Thomas to hold his troop of horse of 
 one hundred men in readiness to march on a tour of five months. 
 December 23, 1814. 
 
 No. 47. Orders to Capt. Groce to hold in readiness all the first 
 class of Pulaski county militia, and to apprize Maj. James Patton 
 of the time and place of rendezvous. December 23, 1814. 
 
 No. 48. Letter to Gov. Early, informing him that part of the 
 army had crossed the Ocmulgee at Hartford, and that the ■whole 
 would be over as soon as one flat could transport them ; that sup- 
 plies were scant and great deficiency in the quartermaster's de- 
 partment ; no contractor ; rations short. Intended to proceed, 
 whether he had rations or not, &c. December 28, 1814. 
 
 No. 49. Letter to Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, stating that the com- 
 mand had crossed the river at Hartford, and that a detachment 
 had opened the road and built bridges, so that the next day the 
 march would begin, reaching first dep6t in six days. Had no 
 quartermaster-general, and only a "forage-master to act for him. 
 Without funds ; not more than one day's rations ahead, and some- 
 times less ; no contractor. He would persevere in obedience to 
 orders, whether he had supplies or not. December 30, 1814. 
 
 No. 50. Letter from Anthony Porter, Secretary to the Gover- 
 nor, relative to tents, pistols, and other supplies, Capt. Thomas's 
 cavalry, &c. December 30, 1814. 
 
 No. 51. To Major James Patton, ordering the first class of 
 militia in the frontier-districts of Twiggs county to be in readiness 
 to join the first class of Pulaski county, under the command of 
 Capt. William H. Groce. December 23, 1814. 
 
 No.52. Reportof Alexander McDonald, assistant forage-master, on 
 the state of supplies, transportation of corn, &c. December 31, 1814. 
 
 No. 53. Letter from Capt. Richard H. Thomas, stating that he 
 had applied to the Executive Department for tents, pistols, and 
 swords for his troop. January 1, 1815. 
 
 No. 54. Letter from Wilson Navey, principal forage-master, ex- 
 plaining certain irregularities, and that a better system would be 
 observed in future. January 1, 1815. 
 
 No. 55. Letter from A. McDonald, giving the particulars of the 
 accident at the ferry opposite Hartford, the sinking of the flat 
 with public stores, &c. January 3, 1815. 
 
 No. 56. Orders to A. McDonald respecting transportation of 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAR. 369 
 
 tools, baggage, supplies, &c., and escort, when necessary. Janu- 
 ary 3, 1816. 
 
 No. 57. Letter to A. McDonald, reminding him that, as agent 
 for the quartermaster's department, it was his duty to make and 
 repair bridges and roads, to build boats, &c. for the army. Janu- 
 ary 4, 1815. 
 
 No. 58. Copy of a letter from Col. Hawkins to Gen. Mcintosh, 
 touching certain Indian murders and conduct of the British at 
 Forbes's Store, vessels, troops, tampering with the Indians, &c. 
 January 4, 1815. 
 
 No. 59. Letter to Col. Hawkins, requesting him to recommend 
 some twenty Indians to act as guides, interpreters, spies and mes- 
 sengers in the nation, for the use of the army, &c. January 5, 
 1815. 
 
 No. 60. Letter from Maj. Gfen. Mcintosh, regretting that he had 
 ordered Gen. Blackshear's command to Flint River, as information 
 from Mobile showed danger in that quarter. Forced marches were 
 necessary. Go on, as the detachment, with the aid of Col. Haw- 
 kins's Indian regiment, would subdue the hostile tribes, then for 
 Gen. B. to proceed with his army direct to the Mobile territory to 
 form a junction, &c. January 5, 1815. 
 
 No. 61. General orders to the command about firing on the 
 Indians during the march, to avoid communicating the strength, 
 route, or object of the army, and always to respect the bearer of 
 a white flag. January 6, 1815. 
 
 No._62. Letter from Gov. Early, enclosing copies from Generals 
 Mcintosh and Winchester, showing the imperious necessity for 
 a change of route, and of marching at once to overtake Gen. 
 Mcintosh before he reached Mobile. Route to be left at discre- 
 tion, &c. January 6, 1815. 
 
 No. 63. Letter to A. McDonald, notifying that the first 30,000 
 rations must be hauled from Hartford, and that on 13th inst. the 
 second 30,000 will be on demand ; that a place of deposit must be 
 built for the public stores, and a fort for defence on Flint River, 
 &c. January 7, 1815. 
 
 No. 64. Report from A. McDonald that he had started four 
 wagons, and would start five more next day, with provisions for 
 the army and forage for the horses, from Hartford. January 7, 
 1815. 
 
 No. 65. Letter from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, giving intelligence 
 received from one of his confidential Indians of the proceedings 
 of the enemy at Forbes's Store; that the British had 13,000 
 
 Vol. I.— 24 
 
870 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 troops near New Orleans, marching on that city, had laid Pass 
 Christian in ashes ; that Gen. Jackson had ordered all the free 
 people of color to take up arms ; that eleven British barges had 
 been sunk, -with their crews, and five American gunboats had been 
 taken, — all rendering it necessary to call for a battalion from 
 Gen. Blackshear's command to support Gen. Jackson, and then 
 leave enough, with Col. Hawkins's reinforcement of 1000 warriors, 
 to protect the Georgia frontier, &c. January 9, 1815. 
 
 No. 66. Orders to A. McDonald to have forthwith twenty-six 
 empty wagons at the camp on Flint River (exclusive of those on 
 the way) for transportation, &c. January 8, 1815. 
 
 No. 67. Letter from Gov. Early, countermanding the orders of 
 Gen. Mcintosh to march on Mobile, leaving the detachment to 
 pursue the route it was going. January 10, 1815. 
 
 No. 68. Report of Wilson Navey that he had shipped a boat- 
 load [barge] of flour and corn to Fort Barrington for the army, 
 when it shall reach there. January 10, 1815. 
 
 No. 69. Letter from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, approving the Gover- 
 nor's orders, of 6th inst., to march for Mobile, and urging rapid 
 movement for that purpose. Col. Hawkins to remain for the 
 chastisement of the Seminoles or any other hostile Indians. 
 January 11, 1815. 
 
 No. 70. Talk from Col. Hawkins, IT. S. Agent, to be delivered 
 by Gen. Blackshear to Jack Kennard, a half-breed, to render such 
 service as the general may require, &c. January 11, 1815. 
 
 No. 71. Letter from Col. Hawkins by Coe-e-maut-lau, of _Casse- 
 tau, express, with despatches for the army, and with a talk to the 
 chiefs of Am-mic-cul-le. January 11, 1815. (See No. 72.) 
 
 No. 73. Letter to Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, reporting march from 
 the Ocmulgee 31st ult., and arrival at Flint River on 6th inst., 
 cutting and hauling timber for a fort, return of wagons to Hart- 
 ford for supplies, when, on 8th inst., received the Governor's letter 
 (No. 62) changing route from Appalachicola to Mobile ; sickness of 
 troops, &c. January 11, 1815. 
 
 No. 74. Letter from Gov. Early in relation to hospital-stores 
 under the care of Maj. A. B. Fannin. January 12, 1815. 
 
 No. 75. Letter to Gen. Floyd, on march down the Altamaha 
 for the defence of the seaboard. (Without date.) 
 
 No. 76. Letter to Gov. Early, expressing regret at the unfounded 
 rumors from Col. Hawkins's Indian runners about the British at 
 Forbes's Store upon which the order of 9th, taking one battalion, 
 was issued by Gen. Mcintosh, and, after that, the imperative order 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 371 
 
 of 11th to march with whole command for Mobile. The field 
 clear, Col. Hawkins can keep as many of his Indians under pay 
 and rations as he may think necessary, and then write and talk, 
 and talk and write, to his satisfaction. January 14, 1815. 
 
 No. 77. Letter to Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, recapitulating that on 
 12th inst. he received orders to co-operate with Col. Hawkins 
 against the British and Indians on the frontier of Georgia. Now, 
 just received two orders, — 9th and 11th, — directing whole force to 
 Mobile, pursuant to the Governor's order of 6th inst. Shall retrace 
 steps and take your route at Fort Hawkins, to form junction for 
 the defence of the Mobile country. January 14, 1815. 
 
 No. 78. Letter from Timothy Barnard, an educated and trusty 
 half-breed Indian, sending a red man of Chehaw as express, with 
 a letter from the Agency. January 14, 1815. 
 
 No. 79. Letter to Gov. Early, acknowledging receipt, on 14th 
 inst., of imperative orders from Gen. Mcintosh, dated 11th inst., 
 to march with whole force to Mobile. Suggests that some changes 
 are necessary, &c. January 15, 1815. 
 
 No. 80. Letter from Gov. Early, expressing regret at the fre- 
 quent change of route ; will have to send 500 troops on State ac- 
 count to accomplish the object first in view, to be commanded by 
 Maj. Freeman. January 16, 1815. 
 
 No. 81. Letter from Gov. Early, stating the crisis on the sea-board, 
 — fifteen ships-of-the-line, seven frigates, and a number of smaller 
 vessels, landing on Cumberland Island; that the British barges 
 occupy all the sounds and inlets between St. Mary's and Bruns- 
 wick; from the necessity of the case, the proposed march to 
 Mobile is countermanded, and Gen. Blackshear's whole force 
 ordered to the point invaded, — the sea-coast of Georgia. January 
 19, 1815. 
 
 No. 82. Orders to Farish Carter, army-contractor, to keep 
 30,000 rations on hand monthly, and to cause no delay in the 
 movement of the troops for want of provisions. January 21, 1815. 
 
 No. 83. Letter to Capt. Lane, directing the quartermaster- 
 general's department to call on the ordnance-department for at 
 least five hundred pounds of best powder and ten reams of car- 
 tridge-paper, and forward to army on its march to Darien. Janu- 
 ary 21, 1815. 
 
 No. 84. Letter to Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, stating obedience 
 to orders he had given, and that while on way by Hartford for 
 Mobile the Governor's order turned the command in another 
 direction. The peculiar state of things led to a breach of his 
 
372 MEMOIR or GENERAL 
 
 orders ; but it was believed the course of his Excellency would be 
 sanctioned. January 21, 1815. 
 
 No. 85. Letter to Gov. Early, notifying that last orders had 
 been obeyed, and the army was marching for the seaboard, — the 
 Governor assuming the responsibility of a breach of the major- 
 general's orders. January 22, 1815. 
 
 No. 86. Letter from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh at Fort Decatur 
 compliments Col. Boothe in building boats for transportation 
 down the Tallapoosa and Alabama Rivers to Mobile, and express- 
 ing a hope that Gen. Blackshear's command will join in eight or 
 ten days. Gen. Jackson had been skirmishing with the enemy 
 near New Orleans, (battle of the 8th not then heard from.) 
 January 22, 1815. 
 
 No. 87. Letter from Maj. Gen. Mcintosh, urging forward, 
 and expressing the hope tl^at command would join him at the 
 Tallapoosa by 5th or 6th February, when he expected to be ready 
 to take boats for Mobile. January 23, 1815. 
 
 No. 88. Letter from Maj. A. B. Fannin, Deputy Quartermas- 
 ter-General of the United States Army, respecting the delivery of 
 rations at certain points, increased diligence of the subordinates in 
 future, &c. January 24, 1815. 
 
 No. 89. Letter from Gov. Early, stating that all the country 
 south of the Altamaha was in possession of the British; that the 
 people had fled, and the militia and regulars had retreated across 
 the river. It was supposed that the enemy intended to march by 
 land on Savannah. Suggestions were made as to dep8ts, and the 
 employment of vedettes to observe and inform as to their move- 
 ments. January 25, 1815; 
 
 No. 90. Letter from Anthony Porter, Secretary to the Governor, 
 sending a Savannah Republican of 17th instant, containing certain 
 letters to Gen. Floyd, detailing the operations of the enemy 
 near St. Mary's, &c. January 25, 1815. 
 
 No. 91. Letter from Anthony Porter, stating that he had sent 
 by wagon four hundred pounds powder, a lot of cartridge-paper, 
 and five boxes containing in all 14,850 musket-cartridges, for the 
 command. January 25, 1815. 
 
 No. 92. Letter of A. McDonald, exculpating himself for delay 
 in transportation, &c. January 22, 1815. 
 
 No. 93. Orders to the army-contractor for 100,000 complete 
 rations, to be delivered at St. Savilla Bluflf on the Altamaha. 
 January 27, 1815. 
 
 No. 95. Letter to Gov. Early, detailing progress of the 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 373 
 
 detachment, ■with remarks on the contractor and quartermaster- 
 general's department; short of rations and forage. January 27, 
 1815. 
 
 No. 96. Letter from Gen. Floyd, noticing the conduct of the 
 British in pillaging St. Mary's and destroying the fort and maga- 
 zine at Point Peter, the seizure of all vessels in the waters of the 
 St. Mary's. Force about two thousand, of ■which number four hun- 
 dred are said to be black. The stations of troops and their officers 
 are noticed as defending the coast. January 31, 1815. 
 
 No. 97. Letter to Gen. Floyd reporting advance, with de- 
 tention occasionally from high waters and extensive swamps almost 
 impassable from the great number of wagons flying from the in- 
 vaded district. Force a little above eight hundred. The sick left 
 at Hartford are beginning to join the army. February 2, 1815. 
 
 No. 98. Letter to Captain A. A. Massias, stating that command 
 would arrive at Fort Barrington in the evening ; that a feu-de-joie 
 of nineteen guns had been fired at Fort Hawkins on the Monday 
 previous, because of the victory gained by Gen. Jackson over 
 the British at New Orleans. February 4, 1815. 
 
 No. 99. Orders from Gen. Floyd distributing troops at cer- 
 tain stations, and placing Darien and its vicinity under the special 
 protection of Gen. Blackshear. February 6, 1815. 
 
 No. 100. Letter from Gov. Early, stating that Gen. Mcintosh 
 had fully approved the diversion of the command from Mobile 
 to the coast. February 8, 1815. 
 
 No. 101. Letter from Anthony Porter,, enclosing commissions for 
 officers in the command, to fill certain vacancies. February 8, 
 1815. 
 
 No. 102. Orders from Maj. Gen. Pinckney in regard to arrests 
 by military authority, &c. February 8, 1815. 
 
 No. 103. Orders from Gen. Floyd, detaching from command 
 one full company to join the local militia under Maj. Hopkins, for 
 the purpose of preoccupying Sapelo Island in order to repel any 
 hostile attempt of the enemy. February 12, 1815. 
 
 No. 104. Letter from Gen. Floyd, stating that it was confi- 
 dently believed the preliminaries of peace had been signed at 
 Ghent on 24th November, though it would be unwise and impolitic 
 to rely on its probability. February 12, 1815. 
 
 No. 105. Orders from Maj. Gen. Pinckney to muster the first 
 regiment, and part of second and thirtieth regiments, and certain 
 companies of dragoons and militia. February 13, 1815. 
 
 No. 106. Letter to Gen. Floyd, giving information of certain 
 
374 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 pillaging-parties of the British in the neighborhood of Darien. 
 February 13, 1815. 
 
 No. 107. Orders from Maj. Gen. Pinckney, discharging cer- 
 ,tain troops from the service of the United States. February 
 14, 1815. 
 
 No. 108. Letter of the Secretary of War to Gen. Pinckney, 
 announcing that a treaty of peace was concluded between the 
 United States and Great Britain at Ghent, on 24th December last, 
 and that hostilities between the troops of the two countries should 
 cease. February 14, 1815. 
 
 No. 109. Orders to the military-store keepers. February 16, 
 1815. 
 
 No. 110. Letter to Maj. Hopkins, notifying him of the official 
 intelligence of peace, and ordering the troops under his command 
 to be mustered, &c. February 25, 1815. 
 
 No. 111. Letter from Gen. Floyd, ' describing the celebration 
 of the news of peace in Savannah, — the illuminations and music, 
 military parade, and other rejoicing. February 25, 1815. 
 
 No. 112. Orders from Gen. Floyd, discharging the militia 
 from the service of the United States within the State of Georgia, 
 &c. &c. February 27, 1815. 
 
 Though not a part of the official communications relating to the 
 war, two letters addressed to Gen. Blackshear, descriptive of 
 the conduct of the British on the coast of Georgia, have been in- 
 cluded in the papers connected with this memoir. One was from 
 John Sawyer, Esq., dated January 27, 1815, and is marked No. 
 93; and the other was from Gen. John Houstoun Mcintosh, 
 dated April 2, 1815, and is marked No. 113, — both of which are 
 interesting and worthy of perusal. The high sources from which 
 they emanated sufficiently guarantee the facts. 
 
 The routes of the army, marches and countermarches, may be 
 ascertained from the correspondence of which an abstract has been 
 given. It is not necessary to dwell on the incidents of the cam- 
 paign or of the character of Gen. Blackshear as a commander. 
 That he acted wisely, promptly, and to the satisfaction of his supe- 
 riors in authority, as well as to the people of Georgia, is fuUy 
 shown by the following vote of thanks : — 
 
 In Senate, December 12, 1815. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Charlton : — 
 
 The late war with Great Britain being closed by an honorable peace 
 imposes upon the Legislature of this State the duty of approving the 
 conduct of those defenders of their country who deserve it, and who have 
 not heretofore received the tribute of applause due to their services. And 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 375 
 
 in tendering this public expression of Legislative thanks and gratitude, 
 the General Assembly of this State are first attracted by the gallant and 
 determined manner the late Major-Greneral Mcintosh, and the present 
 Brigadier-General Blackshear, their officers and nien, obeyed the call of 
 the State, and promptly marched in the most inclement season to meet 
 the enemy then threatening a neighboring territory of the United States, 
 and, with a zeal and patriotism highly honorable to this army, endeavored 
 to meet the foe, in despite of danger or his discipline and superiority of 
 numbers. Wherefore, 
 
 Be it Resolved, unanimousli/, hy the Senate and Mouse of Representa- 
 tives of the General Assemhli/ of the State of Georgia, That the Legisla- 
 ture, for and in behalf of the free people of this State, render their thanks 
 to the said Major-General Mcintosh and Brigadier-General Blackshear, 
 and the brave officers and soldiers under their command. 
 
 And whereas, during the late invasion of this State, an army was placed 
 under the command of Brigadier-General John Floyd, who, as commander 
 of the militia of this State, had under his orders various officers, soldiers, 
 and volunteers, exerting themselves in defence of their insulted and invaded 
 country, whose general conduct and bravery met the approbation of the 
 said General Floyd : 
 
 Be it therefore Resolved, unanimously, hy the authority aforesaid, That 
 the thanks of this Legislature, acting for the free people of this State, be, 
 .and the same are hereby, tendered to the said General Floyd for his 
 gallant and patriotic services, as also to the officers, soldiers, and volun- 
 teers under his command, in the service lately performed in the eastern 
 division of this State. 
 
 Be it further Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be presented by 
 his Excellency the Governor to Major-General Mcintosh, Brigadier- 
 General Blackshear, and to General Floyd. 
 
 Approved, December 16, 1815. 
 
 OCONEE NAVIGATION. 
 
 At the close of the war, Gen. Blackshear returned to his farm in 
 Laurens county. At the session of 1815 the Legislature appointed 
 him a member of the Board of Commissioners for the Improvement 
 of the Navigation of the Oconee River, to admit the passage of 
 boats, from its junction with the Ocmulgee, to Milledgeville. This 
 employment cost him much time and labor, without any other 
 reward than the consciousness of having done what might be useful 
 to the public. As the author, more than twenty-five years ago, had 
 a brief official connection with the board, he submits the following 
 documents, which will serve as a better explanation than any he 
 could now give on the subject : — 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, January 7, 1831. 
 
 Sir : — I enclose to you an order from this Department appointing you 
 
 a^ent for the State, to complete the settlement with the commissioners of 
 
 the Oconee River, (which has been in part effected by the former State 
 
 Agent, Richard K. Hines, Esq.,) in pursuance of resolutions of the 
 
376 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 Legislature passed at its last session, a copy of which is also enclosed for 
 your information and direction. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 Geoege R. Gilmee. 
 
 Stephen F. Mihee, Esq. 
 
 [ENClOSUEE.j 
 Executive Depabtmest, Milledgetille, January 7, 1831. 
 Ordered, That Stephen P. Miller, Esq. be, and he is hereby, appointed 
 agent for the State to complete the settlement with the commissioners of 
 the Oconee River, (which has been in part effected by the former State 
 Agent, Richard K. Hines, Esq.,) in pursuance of resolutions of the Legis- 
 lature, approved December 23, 1830. 
 By the Governor : 
 MiLLEE Geieye, 
 
 Secretary Ex. Dep. 
 
 EEPLY TO THE AGENT. 
 ExEcniiVE DEPAitTMEHT, Geoegia, Milledgeville, February 17, 1831. 
 SiE : — ^Your letter of the 14th inst. has been received, and I have been 
 instructed by the Governor to transmit to you the enclosed copy of Mr. 
 Hines's report, a copy of the receipts given by the commissioners of the 
 Oconee Navigation Association, and the copy of the report of the com- 
 mittee of the late board, taken from their book of minutes at pages 35, 
 36, 37, and 38, referred to by Mr. Hines. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 E. H. Pierce, 
 
 Secretary Ex. Dep. 
 Stephen F. Millee, Esq., 
 
 Agent, &c. 
 
 Condemed view of the account accompanying R. K. Hina'i Report a» Agent for leltling 
 with the Oconee River CommUrionert. 
 
 Appropriations $20,000 00 Amount disbursed $16,9-59 87j 
 
 Bank-stock 10,000 00 Notes for money loaned... 6,106 64^ 
 
 Dividends on bank-stock.... 1,050 00 Notes for hire 776 42 
 
 Cash of P-. A. Blount, Sec'y 459 43 Bank-stock 10,000 00 
 
 Sale of Bias 4-55 00 Cash in treasury 1,400 00 
 
 Hire of public hands 2,760 36 Cash in hands State Agent 98 79|^ 
 
 Interest on money loaned.. 616 94^ 
 
 $35,341 73} $35,341 73* 
 
 THE GOVEENOE'S COIIMUSICATIOX. 
 
 Executive Depabtmest, Geoegia, Milledgeville, November 18, 1831. 
 To THE Senate: — I herewith lay before the General Assembly the 
 report of Stephen F. Miller, Esq., the agent appointed for the State to 
 complete a settlement with the Commissioners of the Oconee River, under 
 the resolution of the General Assembly, passed on the 23d of December, 
 1830. Wilson Lumpkin. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 377 
 
 agent's KEPORT. 
 
 Marion, November 1, 1831. 
 
 Sir : — The resolution of the Legislature passed 23d December, 1830, 
 under which your Excellency appointed me agent for the State to com- 
 plete a settlement with the Commissioners of the Oconee River, left no 
 particular direction how it should be carried into effect. In fixing a point 
 of time at which to commence my labors, the report made in the Senate 
 the 2d December, 1824, in which the funds and property of the association 
 were ascertained up to that date, readily occurred to me as the most proper 
 and conclusive. I have therefore limited my investigation from that time 
 to the organization of the new board created by the act of 26th December, 
 1826, for the improvement of the Oconee River below Carter's Bridge, 
 opposite Milledgeville, believing that I was foreclosed by the facts con- 
 tained in that report from making inquiries beyond it. As the basis, 
 then, upon which I have acted, I have charged the commissioners with 
 having had "under their control eighteen working-hands, ten thousand 
 dollars in bank-stock, five hundred and fifty-one dollars and forty-seven 
 cents in notes, accounts, and attorneys' receipts, and one hundred and 
 twenty dollars cash on hand" the 2d December, 1824, and the sum of 
 three thousand dollars appropriated by act of the 22d December, 1825, 
 together with the sum of two hundred and twenty-nine dollars and ninety- 
 five cents received from Mr. John T. Rowland, in 1826, as a balance for 
 hire of the public hands. These furnish the debits of the board, and by 
 these I have made the settlement. 
 
 It may not be amiss to consider briefly the origin of the Oconee Navi- 
 gation Association. The Legislature, by act of 16th December, 1815, 
 appointed a board, consisting of five individuals, to improve the Oconee 
 River, with authority to pursue such measures, under the direction of the 
 Governor, as he might deem most proper to accomplish the object of the 
 appropriation, -thereby made, of ten thousand dollars; in addition to which, 
 the further sum of ten thousand dollars was allowed by act of the 19th 
 December, 1817. By the act it became " the duty of the commissioners 
 to make a fair, just, and regular return, every six months, to his Excel- 
 lency the Governor, of all disbursements made by the commissioners, and 
 of the progress made by them in clearing out the obstructions in the said 
 river." When the commissioners ceased to obey this direction the agent 
 has not been informed, but presumes it was complied with until the 
 Legislature of 1824, when it was " Resolved, That said commissioners are 
 entitled to the highest confidence for their strict attention and indefati- 
 gable exertions in promoting the interest of the State so far as respects 
 the improvement of said river." With this evidence before me, I felt 
 bound to assume the state of the institution as presented in that report 
 as the true basis to start upon. The commissioners have produced to me 
 vouchers for all the expenditures made by them from the 2d December, 
 1824, to 1st February, 1827, about which latter time the new board went 
 into operation ; and I herewith submit copies of all the vouchers thus 
 produced, marked from 1 to 30 inclusive, — the commissioners desiring to 
 retain the originals, which I agreed to return to them. 
 
 By the account-current herewith transmitted, it is shown that the com- 
 missioners, in the time to which I have confined my examination, have 
 had under their control the sum of thirteen thousand nine hundred and one 
 dollars and forty-two cents, in disposable funds, including bank-stock, and 
 that they have expended thirteen thousand five hundred and ninety-eight 
 
378 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 dollars and thirty-seven cents, and that the sum of five hundred and fifty- 
 one dollars and forty-seven cents remains on hand in " notes, accounts, and 
 attorneys' receipts," mostly on insolvent persons, and all barred by the 
 statute of limitations. I have inspected a list of these debts, a copy of 
 vrhioh is marked No. 30, and was informed by Col. Blount that no part 
 had been collected. Those corresponding in amount and description with 
 those mentioned in the report of 1824 are believed to be the same, and 
 the only bad debts which accumulated in the hands of the commissioners 
 during their service, by which a balance of one hundred and forty-eight 
 dollars and forty-two cents is left in favor of the commissioners, exceeding 
 their receipts. The public hands were increased to twenty-one, sixteen 
 of whom were delivered to the marshal of Milledgeville, as will be seen by 
 a copy of his receipt, marked A, and a part of the balance sold, and others 
 died. None of the proceeds of sale were received by the commissioners 
 with whom I settled, but their successors, for which Mr. Hines, former 
 States' Agent, has accounted. 
 
 In the report of Mr. Hines, acted upon by the last Legislature, allusion 
 was made to a settlement which Col. Blount, in behalf of the board, had 
 made with Gen. Blackshear for moneys received and expended by the 
 latter. This reckoning extended several years beyond thp report in Senate 
 of 1824, and was simply an ascertainment, between members of the same 
 board, how funds committed to each had been applied. Col. Blount was 
 of opinion, as stated in his letter to Mr. Hines, that he had omitted to 
 charge Gen. Blackshear with five hundred dollars received from John T. 
 Eowland. In that settlement, a copy of which I have before me, it is 
 perceived that Gen. Blackshear was charged with ten hundred and twenty 
 dollars received from Mr. Rowland, generally, without referring to any 
 particular date. I considered it due to the State, to all the members of 
 the board, and particularly in justice to Gen. Blackshear, that this should 
 be sought into and explained, and herewith submit a copy of Col. Blount's 
 communication to me, marked B, and the account it enclosed, marked C, 
 which puts the matter at rest. By the document which I have taken as 
 a guide, I am clearly impressed that the State as well as commissioners 
 acquired rights which it is not my business to disurb, and that all trans- 
 actions between the parties up to 2d December, 1824, are adjusted by 
 solemn legislation. 
 
 I have thus endeavored, in the best manner of which I am capable, to 
 perform the duties required by my appointment, and earnestly hope that 
 the result may be approved by your Excellency and satisfactory to the 
 Legislature. I am, most respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Stephen F. Miller. 
 
 His Excellency Geoege E. Gilmer. 
 
 The communication of the Governor and report of the Agent 
 were referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Internal 
 Improvement. 
 
 REPORT or THE COMMITTEE. 
 
 In Senate, December 16, 1831. 
 The Committee on Agriculture and Internal Improvement, to whom 
 was referred the report of Stephen F. Miller, the agent appointed under 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAE. 379 
 
 a resolution of the last Legislature to eflfect a full settlement with the 
 Commissioners of the Oconee Eiver below Milledgeville, together with the 
 accompanying documents, have had the same under their attentive con- 
 sideration, and ask leave to submit the following report : — 
 
 The agent has properly, in the opinion of the committee, limited his 
 investigation to the period between the 2d December, 1824, at which time 
 the funds and property of the association were ascertained, a satisfactory 
 report made thereon to the Legislature, and the creation of the new board 
 by the act of 26th December, 1826. By the account-current accompany- 
 ing the report, it appears that the commissioners have had in disposable 
 funds, including bank-stock, $13,901 42, and that they have expended 
 §13,498 37, — leaving a balance in the hands of the commissioners of 
 $403 05. The agent remarks that the balance against the commissioners 
 consists chiefly of notes, accounts, and attorneys' receipts, mostly on insol- 
 vent persons, and all barred by the statute of limitations, and that he was 
 informed by Col. Blount that no part of the same had been collected. 
 The agent also states that he has inspected a list of these debts, a copy 
 of which is appended to his report, marked No. 30 ; that they correspond 
 in amount and description with those mentioned in the report of 1824; 
 that they are in his opinion the same, and that they are the only bad 
 debts which accumulated in the hands of the commissioners during their 
 service. Admitting that the commissioners have done all that could have 
 been reasonably expected of them in the collection of these debts, there 
 would be a balance in their favor of $148 42 ; but this they do not even 
 assert, nor does it appear that all of the above-mentioned debts were bad ; 
 so that the committee cannot assume the settlement to be complete until 
 those evidences of debt are more satisfactorily accounted for ; and in no 
 event, in the opinion of the committee, could the commissioners rightfully 
 charge the State more than the amount of the funds placed in their 
 hands : though it is the opinion of the committee, under the circum- 
 stances as they are presented in the report of the agent, that a further 
 prosecution of the settlement with the commissioners would only result in 
 expense to the State without any corresponding benefit. 
 
 The public hands under the control of the commissioners have been 
 accounted for to the satisfaction of the committee. 
 
 It appears by the report of Mr. Hines, made to the late Governor and 
 acted on by the last Legislature, that Col. Blount believed he had omitted 
 to charge Gren. Blackshear with $500 paid him by Mr. Eowland : it now 
 appears that the transaction took place previous to the settlement acted on 
 by the Legislature in 1824, and consequently, in the opinion of the com- 
 mittee, must have been accounted for in that settlement. The committee, 
 in conclusion, respectfully recommend the adoption of the following 
 resolution : — 
 
 Resolved, That the further interference of the Legislature in regard to 
 the settlement with the Commissioners of the Oconee Eiver is unnecessary. 
 
 Approved, December 26, 1831. 
 
 It is due to the character of the Hon. Beverly Allen, who was 
 chairman of the committee, to say that he had long been a faithful 
 Senator from Elbert county and was a man highly respected for 
 his virtues and intelligence. The communication of the Governor, 
 the report of the agent, and the report of the committee were all 
 
380 MEMOIK OF GENERAL 
 
 published in the Georgia Journal of January 12, 1832, as a final 
 settlement with the commissioners. 
 
 SERVICE IN THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Whether Gen. Blackshear had served in the Legislature previous 
 to his return from his military expedition against the Indians and 
 British, the author has not been able to satisfy himself, and of 
 course cannot enlighten his readers on the subject. From con- 
 versations he has had with Gen. Blackshear about the inception 
 and defeat of the Yazoo Grant and the stormy times in the Legis- 
 lature at Louisville, of which he was an eye-witness in 1795—96, it 
 is probable that he was a Representative from Washington county, 
 standing side by side with Gen. James Jackson in repealing that 
 iniquitous measure. It is certain, however, as the journals will 
 show, that he was a Senator from Laurens county from the year 
 1816 to 1825, inclusive, until he voluntarily retired from public 
 life. 
 
 At page 67 of the Senate Journal for 1816 the following entry 
 appears, as of December 16 : — 
 
 Mr. Blackshear, from the committee appointed to make arrangements 
 for the funeral and interment of the Honorable George G. Noavlan, a 
 Senator from the county of Effingham, reported the following resolu- 
 tions : — 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate, deeply impressed with the sudden and 
 unexpected dispensation of Providence which hath deprived it of one of 
 its most valuable members, will wear crape on the left arm during the 
 remainder of the session, and for ten days thereafter, as a testimonial of 
 their high respect for the deceased. 
 
 Resolved, That the said committee do, in the name of the Senate, 
 invite his Excellency the Governor, the Speaker and members of the 
 House of Kepresentatives, with all the Executive officers, to attend the 
 interment of the deceased to-morrow at nine o'clock a.m. 
 
 Resolved, That the committee appointed do wait on the Rev. Myles 
 Greene, and request htm to attend on the said interment. 
 
 At the session of 1823, Gen. Blackshear was appointed Chair- 
 man of the Committee on the State of the Republic, the other 
 members being Messrs. Berrien, Jones of Baldwin, Cook, Allen 
 of Burke, Val. Walker, and Wooten. A few passages from the 
 journal will be given: — 
 
 P. 49. On motion of Mr. Blackshear, — 
 
 Resolved, That the Judiciary Committee be instructed to inquire into 
 the expediency of reporting a bill to prevent the repeated running away 
 of slaves under aggravated circumstances, with death or such other 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 381 
 
 punishment as the court or jury may think best calculated to prevent the 
 pernicious practice. 
 
 [The Committee on the Judiciary were Messrs. Berrien, Gamble, Bur- 
 ney, Wellborn, Bonner, and Kobinson.] . 
 
 P. 94. On motion of Mr. Blackshear, — 
 
 Resolved, That the Judiciary Committee be instructed to inquire into 
 the expediency of reporting a bill to enable a jury to find a divorce, on 
 legal principles, for acts of either of the parties after as well as before 
 the contract of matrimony is entered into. 
 
 P. 94. On motion of Mr. Blackshear, — 
 
 Resolved, That the Judiciary Committee be instructed to inquire into 
 the expediency of reporting a bill to have for its object so to amend the 
 penal code as not to subject persons convicted of crime resulting from the 
 heat of passion, or self-defence, to penitentiary punishment, but in the 
 usual mode. 
 
 An event occurred at this session which the author thinks may 
 with propriety be noticed in this memoir, — the death of William 
 Robertson, Secretary of the Senate, who had filled the office some 
 twenty-five or thirty years with credit to himself and with the 
 approbation of the whole country. He was indeed a faithful public 
 servant, who died at his post, — a warm personal friend of Gen. 
 Blackshear. 
 
 P. 95. November 24, 1823, Mr. Berrien presented the following 
 report : — 
 
 It being represented to the Senate that William Robertson, Esquire, 
 late Secretary of this House, hath departed this life yesterday at the seat 
 of Government, in indigent circumstances ; 
 
 And it appearing to this House that it is a just tribute of respect to 
 the memory of a man whose public services have been so long devoted to 
 the people of Georgia, and to this House in particular, that the funeral 
 of the deceased should be conducted under its immediate superintendence, 
 and at the public expense : 
 
 Therefore Resolved, That Messrs. Berrien, Walker, Cofi'ee, Groves, and 
 Baker, be a committee to make the necessary arrangements for the funeral 
 of the said William Robertson, and that they report thereon without delay 
 to this House, to the intent that the President and members may attend 
 the same. 
 
 And be it further Resolved, That the Governor be, and he is hereby, 
 requested to defray, out of the contingent fund, the expense of the funeral 
 and last sickness of the said William Robertson, deceased. 
 
 P. 98. Mr. Berrien, from the committee to make arrangements for the 
 funeral of William Robertson, Esq., late Secretary of the Senate, re- 
 ported, — 
 
 That the committee had made the necessary arrangements for that 
 purpose ; that they have united on the Rev. William Capers, who would 
 attend on the interment of the deceased ; that the committee had, in the 
 name of the Senate, invited his Excellency the Governor, the Speaker 
 and members of the House of Representatives, with all the State-House 
 officers, to attend the interment of the deceased, this evening, [Nov. 24,] 
 at three o'clock, and that the funeral-procession be formed at the house of 
 
382 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 Mr. Betton at that time, and proceed to the place of interment in the 
 following order : — 1. The clergy, with the committee of arrangements ; 
 
 2. The Corpse, supported by six members of the Senate as pall-bearers ; 
 
 3. The President and members of the Senate as chief mourners, two-and- 
 two ; 4. The Governor and State-House officers ; 5. The Speaker and 
 members of the House of Eepresentatives, two-and-two ; 6. Citizens, twO; 
 and-two. 
 
 The most important document with which the name of Gen. 
 Blackshear was connected during the session was a response to the 
 Special message of Gov. Troup, stating the rights of Georgia to the 
 lands occupied by the Indians within her chartered limits, and 
 insisting that the General Government should be urged, by every 
 possible means, to extinguish the Indian possessory title at the 
 earliest moment, under the compact of 1802. 
 
 P. 278. Mr. Blackshear, from the Joint Committee on the State of the 
 Republic, made the following report : — 
 
 The Committee on the State of the Republic, to whom was referred the 
 communication of his Excellency the Governer on the subject of the ex- 
 tinguishment of Indian claims to the lands within the territorial limits of 
 Georgia, beg leave to report, — 
 
 That they have derived much gratification from the perusal of this 
 interesting document. It presents to them an unequivocal manifestation 
 of the disposition of the Executive to sustain the just rights of the State 
 on the important subject of the extension of her jurisdictional limits, with 
 a firmness which is tempered by discretion, and a zeal which is guided by 
 intelligence, — ^a disposition to which, in the unanimous opinion of this 
 committee, every suggestion of duty and every feeling of honorable pride 
 on the part of this Legislature will be accordant and responsive. 
 
 The committee do not deem it necessary, in this report, to enter into a 
 minute examination of the luminous exposition of the rights of this State 
 which is contained in the communication of his Excellency the Governor. 
 Adopting it, as they do, unanimously and in its whole extent, they be- 
 lieve they will best perform the duty which is assigned them by recom- 
 mending that an address be presented to the President of the United 
 States, based on the principles and fortified by the arguments of the com- 
 munication. They ask leave, therefore, to report the following memorial 
 and resolution. 
 
 Here follows a memorial to the President of the United States, 
 from which the following is an extract : — 
 
 In recurring to the articles of agreement and cession entered into 
 between the commissioners of the United States and of Georgia, on the 
 twenty-fourth day of April, 1802, these memorialists find a stipulation 
 that the United States shall, as soon as may be, extinguish the Indian 
 title to all the lands within the State of Georgia. This stipulation was 
 not gratuitous on the part of the Government of the Union, but was in 
 consideration of the surrender by the State of Georgia of a territory suf- 
 ficiently valuable and extensive to constitute two independent and powerful 
 members of the Federal compact. The motive to this surrender cannot 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAB. 383 
 
 he misunderstood. In consenting thns to restrict her right of soil and her 
 sovereignty, Georgia looked, with the confidence which she has always 
 reposed in the plighted faith of the Union, to the prompt extingnishment 
 of the Indian title to all the lands within her remaining limits, and the 
 speedy settlement of her then, and still, vacant territory. Limiting her 
 ultimate views of extensive empire, she had hoped by such limitation to 
 escape from the helplessness of a protracted infancy, and, marching in 
 quick time to the accomplishment of her destinies, to have seen her laws 
 and her sovereignty coextensive with the limits of the territory within 
 which she had consented to confine herself. Twenty-one years have 
 passed away, and she is still destined to experience the disappointment of 
 her hopes. She has witnessed, during this period, the extension of the 
 Union, the multiplication of members of the Federal Republic, by repeated 
 acquisitions of territory, whUe she is still doomed to have a long line 
 of frontier exposed to the predatory incursions of the savage, and the 
 lives of her citizens who dwell there, to his subtle and relentless vengeance. 
 
 The report and resolution were unanimously agreed to by the 
 Senate and in the same way concurred in by the House. • 
 
 Extracts might be multiplied from the journal of the Senate, 
 showing the part Gen. Blackshear took in legislation, his motions 
 of inquiry, his amendments to bills, and his reports from committee. 
 He justly exercised great influence in the Legislature, and the 
 wisest and most experienced minds were glad to confer with him. 
 He occasionally addressed the Senate, always to the point, and 
 with a manner so positive and dignified, and a voice so clear and 
 rich in expression, that he never failed to command the most per- 
 fect attention. He was usually an observer of forms ; but on one 
 well-known occasion he laid aside mere etiquette and gave way to 
 his feelings. This was in 1818, when the two Houses had convened 
 to elect a Senator in Congress. He rose, and confessed that it 
 was not customary to advocate the claims of any candidate, 
 beyond the simple announcement of his name, while assembled on 
 joint-ballot ; but he would take the liberty of saying that the 
 country needed a man of the highest qualifications, and such a man 
 was John Forsyth, whose talents and patriotism all admired. He 
 therefore proposed 'Mi. Forsyth to represent Georgia in the Senate 
 of the United States, and he wanted him elected by a large vote. 
 The scale was at once turned, and Mr. Forsyth was triumphantly 
 elected. To Gen. Blackshear belonged the praise of first intro- 
 ducing him, amid discouraging prospects, (in a party sense,) to that 
 sphere in which he gained so much national renown. 
 
 RESIGNATION Ai3 BEIGADIEK-GEXERAL. 
 Long before his commission as brigadier-general in 1812, Gen. 
 Blackshear had made military tactics and the methods of fortifica- 
 
384 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 tion and defence a subject of earnest study. He understood well 
 how to employ his command in the field, in presence of the enemy, 
 though, beyond a few skirmishes with the Indians, he never had 
 the opportunity of leading his troops into battle. He was a man 
 of quiet chivalry, and never compromised with danger where duty 
 called. He was a good disciplinarian, rather stern in enforcing 
 system, and had his reviews conducted properly as often as the 
 law required. Whether it be possible for any inspector, adjutant, 
 or even major-general, to improve the militia into a warlike corps, 
 has yet to be tested. Whatever could be done by the best drill- 
 officers, and the most persevering practice, Gen. Blackshear ac- 
 complished in his brigade. 
 
 The author claims the thanks of the reader in advance for ex- 
 hibiting a document which has never been excelled in delicacy of 
 exmession and force of compliment ; and no one but the writer 
 of it could produce its equal : — 
 
 Executive Depaetment, Milledgetiilb, Febmary 21, 1826. 
 
 Dear Sir : — It would be ungenerous, after you had filled so many 
 o£6ces of trust and honor, civil and military, and all to the satisfaction and 
 advantage of your country, to deny to you, in the decline of life, the 
 privilege to retire from your military command. I regret, notwith- 
 standing, that the infirmities of age, or any other cause, should deprive the 
 public of your usefulness in any sphere of action. It is known to me 
 that, if your strength has departed, your patriotism remains unquenched, 
 and that in any peril or danger threatened to the country we can still 
 confidently appeal to that first of virtues which has never failed you in the 
 worst of times, and which you will carry with you to the grave. Your 
 resignation is accepted, with a sincere hope that many days of happiness 
 remain for you. Gr. M. Troup. 
 
 Brig. Gen. Blackshear. 
 
 The author begs to publish in this connection a letter he received 
 from Gov. Troup, to whom he had addressed one of his circulars 
 to collect matter for the biographies in this work, and also a pri- 
 vate letter requesting him to furnish, at his leisure, such outlines, 
 facts, and suggestions about the public men of Georgia, within the 
 range of his extensive acquaintance,- as he might think proper. 
 The following is the brief yet courteous reply, and the author 
 regrets that it is the only communication he ever received from 
 that distinguished citizen on the subject : — 
 
 Latjeens County, September 4, 1851. 
 Dear Sir : — My health is very feeble, and I cannot promise aught ; 
 but it would give me great pleasure to be able hereafter to oblige and 
 serye you. Very respectfully, 
 
 G. M. Troup. 
 Stephen F. Miller, Esq. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 385 
 
 His resignation only completed what he had otherwise done in 
 part, — his withdrawal from public life altogether, at the close of the 
 session of the Legislature for 1825. Nor did Gen. Blackshear per- 
 mit his name to be used for any public trust afterward, except 
 as a 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR. 
 
 In 1800, he was in the Electoral College of Georgia, and voted 
 for Mr. JeflFerson as President, and Aaron Burr as Vice-President, 
 such being the ticket of the Eepublican party. Twenty-eight 
 years afterward, he was also an elector, and voted, in 1828, for 
 Andrew Jackson for President, and probably for William Smith, of 
 South Carolina, for Vice-President, of the United States, — thus 
 having the singular fortune of aiding to displace both the elder and 
 the younger Adams from the Executive of the Union, each at 
 the end of one term. Mr. Calhoun was the regular candidate for 
 the Vice-Presidency on the Jackson ticket in 1828 ; but, as a personal 
 feud existed between that gentleman and the Hon. William H. 
 Crawford, growing out of the Presidential contest of 1824, the 
 State of Georgia, which adhered to Mr. Crawford, refused to sup- 
 port his adversary, only two of the electors voting for Mr. Calhoun. 
 The names of the Presidential electors in 1828 were David Black- 
 shear, of Laurens ; Augustin S. Clayton, of Clark ; Solomon Graves, 
 of Newton ; John J. Maxwell, of Bryan ; John Moore, of Oglethorpe ; 
 Oliver Porter, of Greene ; Robert R. Reid, of Richmond ; John Ru- 
 therford, of Baldwin, and William Terrell, of Hancock. 
 
 Gen. Blackshear was also a Presidential elector in 1832, for the 
 last time. The names of his colleagues appear in the following 
 message of the Governor, taken from the Senate Journal, p. 161 : — 
 
 ExECUTiTB Defabthent, Geobgia, MttLBDOEvrLiB, December 3, 1832. 
 I have deemed it proper to communicate to the General Assembly that 
 the persons elected electors of President and Vice-President of the United 
 States — viz., Beverly Allen, Elias Beall, David Blackshear, William B. 
 Bulloch, John Floyd, Seaton Grantland, Hines Holt, Henry Jackson, 
 William Terrell, John Whitehead, and Wilson WOliams, Esqs. — are la 
 attendance at the seat of Government, and have signified their acceptance 
 of the appointment conferred upon them by the people. 
 
 Wilson Lumpkin. 
 
 CONDUCT OF JUDGE FORT. 
 
 By reference to No. 130 of annexed papers will be seen a letter 
 from Col. Seaborn Jones to Gen. Blackshear, dated January 23, 
 1825, relative to a proceeding in chancery, at the instance of 
 Archibald B. Ridley and wife, against Joseph Blackshear, executor 
 of Elijah Blackshear, deceased, to recover a large estate. In a 
 
 Vol. L— 25 
 
386 MEMOIB OP GENERAL 
 
 note to that letter, the author has made allusion to certain charges 
 preferred by Col. Joseph Blackshear against Judge Fort, who pre- 
 sided on the trial of the case, and whose decisions -were deemed 
 erroneous, either from improper motives, or incapacity resulting 
 from habitual intoxication. As the brothers were strongly united, 
 all men of large property and of high character, the case natu- 
 rally enlisted a great deal of public attention, and gave rise to 
 parties for and against a recovery. After final decree had, the 
 Clerk* of Laurens Superior Court refused to issue an execution ; 
 and this brought upon him a mandamus, which Judge Fort made 
 absolute. The execution was then issued. Col. Blackshear, who 
 thought himself aggrieved, laid a memorial before the Legislature 
 at its session in 1827, the proceedings on which are noticed of 
 record : — 
 
 [^From the Journal of the House of Representatives.'] 
 P. 168. The Speaker laid before the House a communication from 
 Joseph Blackshear Iq relation to the conduct of Judge Fort, which was 
 read and referred to a select committee, consisting of Messrs. Dougherty, 
 Bumside, Haynes, Saffold, Stiles, Copp, and Davis. 
 
 Mr. Dougherty offered a resolution, which was read, amended, and 
 agreed to, as follows, — to wit : 
 
 Resolved, That the select committee to whom was referred the commu- 
 nication of Joseph Blackshear, preferring charges against Moses Fort, 
 Judge of the Southern circuit, be authorized and empowered to send for 
 persons and papers to investigate said charges, and that said committee 
 notify said judge of the investigation, and furnish him with a copy of the 
 charges. 
 
 P. 213. On motion of Mr. Haynes, — 
 
 Resolved, That the select committee to whom was referred the charges 
 against the Hon. Moses Fort be exempt from the services of this House 
 pending the investigation of said charges. 
 
 P. 283. Mr. Dougherty, from the select committee to which was 
 referred the charges preferred by Joseph Blackshear against Moses Fort, 
 Judge of the Southern circuit in this State, presented a report, which 
 was read. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Holt, of Richmond, two hundred and ten copies of 
 said report, and the evidence accompanying, were ordered to be printed 
 for the use of the General Assembly 
 On motion of Mr. Dougherty, — 
 
 Resolved, That the witnesses subpoenaed by the committee to investi- 
 gate the conduct of Judge Fort be discharged from their attendance on 
 said committee. 
 
 Mr. Dougherty laid on the table the following : — , 
 
 The counsel for Judge Fort, whose conduct has been arraigned before 
 this House, having been requested to be heard in his defence : 
 
 * The late Dr. Thomas Moore, a high-toned gentleman of the olden time, who 
 in bis yonth attended the levees of President Washington in Philadelphia. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 387 
 
 Therefore, Resolved, That the counsel for Judge Fort be admitted 
 when the subject shall come before the House for consideration. 
 
 P. 326. On motion of Mr. Burnside, — 
 
 Resolved, That the messenger of this House be directed to give notice 
 to Moses Fort, Esq., Judge of the Southern circuit, that the House of 
 Representatives will, on to-morrow at ten o'clock, proceed to the considera^ 
 tion of the address and resolution relative to his removal from office. 
 
 P. 334. The House agreed to take up the report of the select com- 
 mittee to whom was referred the charges preferred by Joseph Blackshear 
 against Moses Fort, the Judge of the Southern Circuit in this State; 
 when Moses Fort, Esq., judge of said court, appeared at the bar of the 
 House, attended by John A. Heard, Samuel Rockwell, Robert Augustus 
 Beall, and Zachariah B. Hargrove, Esquires, as his counsel, and the said 
 report being read, as follows : — 
 
 The select committee to whom was referred the charges preferred by 
 Joseph Blackshear against Moses Fort, the Judge of the Southern circuit 
 in this State, report 
 
 That they entered upon the discharge of the duty devolving upon them 
 by said reference under a deep sense of the duty which they owed to the 
 rights of the person whose conduct was impeached, on the one hand, and 
 the rights of the citizens of this State, on the other; that, under these 
 feelings, they deemed it their duty to allow of the freest investigation on 
 the one side and the most ample means of defence on the other. The 
 more effectually to obtain these ends, your committee considered that they 
 had the power (and accordingly exercised it) of permitting both the ac- 
 cuser and the accused to appear before them by counsel. Both parties 
 availed themselves of this privilege, and thereby enjoyed the rights, to 
 the fullest extent, of cross- and re-examining all the witnesses who were 
 brought before the committee. The evidence thus taken before the com- 
 mittee has been committed to paper and herewith submitted to the House, 
 with the papers therein referred to. From the evidence thus submitted, 
 your committee feel themselves authorized to say that the first chaige 
 submitted — to wit : That the said Moses Fort "has been on the bench 
 as judge so intoxicated, at repeated times and places, as to render him 
 incapable and utterly incapacitated from performing the duties assigned 
 him as judge" — has been substantially supported and proven. 
 
 Much evidence has been submitted to your committee in support of the 
 second charge, — to wit: That the said Moses Fort "has repeatedly de- 
 cided causes in courts, (or some of them,) in and over which he presided, 
 from base and unworthy, improper, partial, and corrupt motives." And 
 although the evidence adduced to support this charge proves many acts 
 of the said Moses Fort which might be deemed either illegal or improper, 
 yet, in the opinion of your committee, it is not of that clear and positive 
 nature which they have considered necessary to enable them to pronounce 
 the motives of the said Moses Fort either improper, partial, or corrupt. 
 
 In support of the third charge, very little evidence has been submitted 
 to your committee other than an exemplification of the record of one 
 case, (which was an indictment for assault with intent to murder,) which, 
 in the opinion of your committee, cannot be considered sufficient to wa,r- 
 rant the conclusion that the judge was actuated by corrupt motives in 
 making his decisions in this case. 
 
 The fourth charge is in its nature more general,— to wit : That the 
 said Moses Fort, " from general intemperance and intoxication, is unfit 
 
388 MEMOIR OF GEXEBAL 
 
 and incapacitated from performing the duties of judge." Evidence in 
 support of this charge consists of that produced to substantiate the first, 
 connected with proof of the general habits of the said Moses Fort fbr 
 intemperance. 
 
 It will readily be perceived that the truth or falsity of this charge 
 must depend upon the eflFect which a given degree of intemperance will 
 or may have upon the mind and conduct of any individual ; and, though 
 the whole evidence may not show an extravagant or continual use of 
 ardent spirits by the said Moses Fort, yet, in the opinion of your com- 
 mittee, it must have opposed a considerable barrier to the speedy and 
 faithful administration of justice in the circuit over which he presides. 
 
 Whatever diflFerence of opinion may exist as to the disqualification of 
 the judge, from intemperance, to perform the duties of his office, your 
 committee are of opinion that all must agree that the evidence shows an 
 habitual intemperance on the part of the judge as to prostrate the dignity 
 of his office and materially to interrupt the discharge of his official duties. 
 With these views of the subject and the evidence, your committee feel 
 themselves constrained to ofiier the following resolution :— r- 
 
 Resolved, hy the Senate and House of Representatives, two-thirds of 
 each branch concurring. That the Governor be, and he is hereby, author- 
 ized and required forthwith to remove from office Moses Fort, the present 
 judge of the Southern circuit in this State. 
 
 After the counsel for the judge had concluded their argument in his 
 behalf, they retired, accompanied by the judge, after which considerable 
 discussion arose in the House, when, on motion to agree to said report, 
 the yeas and nays were required to be recorded, and are, — ^Yeas, 88; 
 Nays, 37. 
 
 The Speaker announced the result, and declared the report and resolu- 
 tion agreed to by a majority of two-thirds, as required by the Constitution, 
 and the clerk was directed forthwith to carry said report and resolution to 
 the Senate. 
 
 In Senate, Journal, 290. 
 
 The President laid before the Senate the following communication : — 
 
 MiLLEDGEVLLLE, December 21, 1827. 
 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE. 
 
 Sm : — The resolution of the House of Representatives in relation to my 
 removal from office having been conveyed to the Senate, I beg leave to 
 request that I may be heard by counsel in my defence after the report 
 and the evidence shall have been read, at such time as the Senate may 
 designate. If in accordance with the views of the Senate, I would respect- 
 fully ask an indulgence of reasonable time for preparation and consultation 
 with my counsel until Monday morning. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Moses Foet. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Sellers, — 
 
 Resolved, That Moses Fort, Judge of the Superior Courts of the South- 
 em circuit, be permitted to appear by attorney in his defence of the 
 charges preferred against him by Joseph Blackshear, within the bar of 
 the Senate, to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. 
 
 P. 293. The President laid before the Senate the following communica- 
 tion from Judge Fort : — 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 389 
 
 MiiLEDGEViLLE, December 22, 1827. 
 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE. 
 
 Sir : — Although the liberality of the honorable body over which you 
 preside granted me the right of being heard in my defence by counsel, 
 yet, considering that every moment is precious to the Legislature on the 
 eve of its close, and considering that the evidence is before the Senate, 
 and that the argument of counsel would but serve to occupy the attention 
 of the Senate without producing any other result than that of consuming 
 its time, I have determined to waive the right so freely granted; but 
 asking the body over which you preside, collectively and individually, to 
 consider, in making up the determination, the source whence the accusa- 
 tion proceeds, and the probable motives which have doubtless actuated 
 my accuser in making it. It is also respectfully asked of the honorable 
 body over which you preside, not to fix a precedent that may be hereafter 
 viewed as depriving a citizen of the inestimable right of trial and defence 
 by concurring in a course having all the effects of an impeachment with- 
 out any of its justice. 
 
 There is one other consideration which I desire to submit on the present 
 occasion. It is this : — Notwithstanding much evidence has been collected 
 in relation to the charges, yet not one of them has been sustained ; and, 
 when taken in connection with the testimony the limited time allowed 
 me enabled me to present, there exists much variety of opinion on the 
 subject; and as to disqualification, there is no evidence upon which any 
 reliance can be placed. If the administration of public justice has suf- 
 fered through me, where are the complaints of the people against me ? 
 There exist none. On the contrary, whenever any of the witnesses have 
 been required to testify upon this subject, the opinion is uniform that I 
 have presided as well as those who have gone before me. 
 
 I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 Moses Fort. 
 
 The Senate took up so much of the message of the House of Represen- 
 tatives yesterday as relates to the report of the select committee of the 
 House to which was referred the charges preferred by Joseph Blackshear 
 against Moses Fort, the Judge of the Southern circuit in this State : 
 
 And on the question of concurring with the House, by a majority of 
 two-thirds, in said report and accompanying resolution, the yeas and nays 
 being required, it was determined in the negative, — Teas, 39 ; Nays, 27. 
 
 The honorable Senator* from Washington county was unanimously 
 excused from voting on the report and resolution of the House relative 
 to the removal of Judge Fort from office, in consequence of his relation- 
 ship to one of the parties. 
 
 Thus terminated the investigation. The author has no remarks 
 either of praise or censure to indulge. Judge Fort was his towns- 
 man, with whom his personal relations were agreeable, and Colonel 
 Blackshear was his friend, whose hospitality he had enjoyed. The 
 
 * Col. William A. Tennille, brother-in-law of the prosecutor, afterward Secre- 
 tary of State,— a brave soldier who lost an arm fighting for his country. 
 
390 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 prosecutor and the accused are both in the grave ; and there let 
 all differences repose". 
 
 SOCIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 From the long connection of Gen. Blackshear with public affairs, 
 and his admitted -wisdom and integrity, it is reasonable to presume 
 that he both received and wrote many letters which, if collected, 
 would prove a valuable acquisition to history. On applying to his 
 family for leave to examine his papers, the author felt assured in 
 his own mind that he would discover many letters from the old 
 statesmen and leaders of Georgia, as well as from those of a later 
 origin, out of which he could select such as were applicable to his 
 biographies ; also that he would find complete sets of Legislative 
 journals from 1795 to 1825, as a record which Gen. Blackshear 
 had carefully preserved for his own reference, and as affording to 
 his posterity the evidence of his public life, — the measures he sup- 
 ported and those he opposed, as well as the business he introduced, 
 his reports from committee, and other machinery of legislation at 
 which he had taken a turn. But the search yielded little, com- 
 paratively. With the exception of the Military Papers, which 
 were in a bundle secured and marked by Gen. Blackshear himself, 
 and the few other letters annexed to this memoir, nothing of any 
 interest was found. 
 
 Expressing his disappointment to the sons* of Gen. Blackshear, 
 who assisted the author in the examination, they informed him 
 that, after the death of their father and the neglect of the old 
 family mansion, large quantities of his papers, even bushels of old 
 letters and documents, were scattered in the garret, where they 
 remained when the house was burnt, and all of them destroyed. 
 Out of the wreck they found difficulty in recovering important 
 title-papers. As for the printed journals and other pamphlets, 
 Congressional speeches, Presidents' messages, and the like, they 
 all shared a like fate, from carelessness of the overseer, who had 
 ordered the trash in the yard to be fired too near the house. Had 
 the collection of papers and documents been preserved as General 
 Blackshear left it, the public would have gained much curious and 
 useful information which is now lost forever, and the author would 
 have been spared the occasion of expressing his regret. 
 
 From the portion taken care of, not included under the military 
 
 * Edward, Everard, and Elijah Blackshear. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAE. 391 
 
 bead, tlie author presents an abstract, referring by number to the 
 letters themselves for perusal at length : — 
 
 No. 4. Letter from the Hon. James Jones, a Representative in 
 Congress, relative to the yellow fever in Philadelphia, the removal 
 of the public offices to New Jersey, flight of the physicians ; pros- 
 pect of war with France ; jealousy of European powers ; good 
 advice of President Washington, &c. September 4, 1798. 
 
 No. 6. Letter from Gov. Jackson relative to the Indian disturb- 
 ances on the Oconee ; improper conduct of certain white men in 
 giving the Indians liquor ; the steps proper to be taken for its sup- 
 pression ; taking up trespassing Indians as vagabonds ; difficulties 
 to be avoided in obtaining Oconee lands, &c. June 18, 1799. 
 
 No. 7. Letter from the Hon. James Jones, at Philadelphia; 
 slow action of Congress ; envoys to France to negotiate for peace ; 
 victory of Massena over the Russians and Austrians in Switzer- 
 land ; commissions to treat for western territory of Georgia, &c. 
 December 12, 1799. 
 
 No. 8. Letter from Hon. James Jones ; Congress tardy ; reduc- 
 tion of the army ; abridging freedom of the press ; case of Jona- 
 than Robbins, who was given up by a South Carolina judge to the 
 British consul and hung in Jamaica ; President Adams interfering 
 with the judiciary ; system of bankruptcy ; Gen. Lee's new militia 
 bill; proposed change in the Constitution; American envoys 
 arrived in France ; commission not full to treat for western terri- 
 tory, &c. February 16, 1800. 
 
 No. 9. Letter from Hon. James Jones ; conference about western 
 territory ; clause to save Yazoo purchasers ; facts to be reported 
 to Congress; Indian title to be extinguished when Indians get 
 ready, and money paid to Georgia ; Yazoo deposit to be trans- 
 ferred to the United States Treasury ; prospect of treating with 
 Indians for land in Ocmulgee, Fork and Tallasse country ; full 
 power to commissioners to cede western territory, &c. September 
 11, 1800. 
 
 No. 10. Letter from Hon. Samuel Hammond, Representative in 
 Congress ; Georgia militia claims ; unfavorable report of commit- 
 tee ; Secretary of War recommends the claims ; proposed amend- 
 ment to the Constitution, &c. December 23, 1803. 
 
 No. 30. Letter from Ezekiel Park, recommending Dr. William 
 W. Strain as hospital surgeon. October 13, 1814. 
 
 No. 36. Letter from Bedney Franklin, introducing Dr. Abner 
 Franklin, and presenting a copy of Buonaparte's Campaigns. De- 
 cember 1, 1814. 
 
392 MEMOIR OP GENERAL 
 
 No. 115. Letter from Hon. Joel Crawford, a Representative in 
 Congress ; enclosure from the Secretary of War ; oflScial evasions ; 
 names of captains to be given ; army rations. September 15, 
 1818. 
 
 No. 116. Letter from Gov. Rabun about finding of court-mar- 
 tial ; case of hardship ; application for relief ; ■wishes to know the 
 facts. June 30, 1819. 
 
 No. 117. Letter to James Hamilton Blackshear, at college ; 
 taking care of money ; advice of cousins Jefferson and Blackshear 
 Bryan ; stand to the truth at all hazards ; avoid wicked company, 
 and seek the respect of good people. May 14, 1821. 
 
 No. 118. Letter to James H. Blackshear ; diligence in study ; 
 laying foundation of character for life ; home anxieties ; returning 
 in vacation ; compliments to Mr. Moore ; desire to hear about col- 
 lege. October 4, 1821. 
 
 No. 119. Letter from Col. Edward F. Tattnall, recommending 
 Col. Daniell for general of first brigade ; soldier's character ; 
 N. P. Bond for solicitor-general ; factions in the State. October 
 16, 1821. 
 
 No. 120. Letter from Col. E. F. Tattnall, introducing Captain 
 Hunter, Cashier of the Branch Bank of the United States in 
 Savannah ; attentions due a stranger. November 8, 1821. 
 
 No. 121. Note from Peter Crawford, Esq., Senator from Co- 
 lumbia county, to accompany him to spend the Sabbath at the resi- 
 dence of Col. Moughon. December 9, 1821. 
 
 No. 122. Letter to James H. Blackshear ; urges him to write ; 
 reciting privately ; importance of solid knowledge, not merely to 
 get ahead of class ; death of two slaves and injury to another. 
 March 22, 1822. 
 
 No. 123. Letter to J. H. Blackshear ; danger from measles at 
 Athens, but disease everywhere; Providence our only protec- 
 tor ; symptoms of asthma in Mrs. Blackshear ; William indis- 
 posed ; teachers' approval gratifying ; cherish harmony with 
 cousins, and all schoolmates who conduct themselves properly; 
 envy none; avoid quarrels if possible; when right, shrink not, 
 regardless of consequences ; compliments to Dr. Waddel. April 
 12, 1821. 
 
 No. 124. Letter to J. H. Blackshear ; patience in study ; learn 
 well as you go ; conforming to the rules of the college ; avoid all 
 riots and the parties who commit them ; now is the time to prepare 
 for future greatness; a misstep will injure always; highest freshet; 
 river top of mill-door; carried off fences and forty acres cotton 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAB. 393 
 
 planted ; sugarcane slow in coming up ; brown sugar last year 
 superior ; prospect of fruit, &c. May 5, 1822. 
 
 No. 125. Letter from Hon. John Elliott, Senator in Congress ; 
 efforts of Mr. Calhoun's friends to weaken Mr. Crawford in New 
 York ; seduced the Patriot newspaper over ; the great body of the 
 Republicans for Mr. Crawford ; Connecticut vacillating ; Edwards 
 left out of Congress in Illinois ; support in caucus from Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont, cheering ; twenty 
 votes counted on ; New York, 28 votes, certain ; calculation as to 
 other States ; Mr. Forsyth's exertions ; Col. Troup's success ; 
 re-election to the Senate, &c. September 4, 1822. 
 
 No. 126. Letter to J. H. Blackshear ; sending money, not to be 
 wasted; reasons for silence not sufficient; better penmanship 
 required ; improve the opportunity to learn and get the benefit of 
 money expended; leave college with credit, &c. February 26, 
 1824. 
 
 No. 127. Letter from Dr. Moses Waddel, President of Franklin 
 College ; grateful for kind expressions ; acting the best he can ; 
 praises James ; good standing in college and in town ; will be a 
 good scholar, useful man, an honor to the institution, and a com- 
 fort to his father ; request of Senatus Academicus to remain ; con- 
 sents, though retirement and repose preferred ; did not solicit the 
 office, &c. November 18, 1824. 
 
 No. 128. Letter from Hon. Richard Henry Wilde, introducing 
 George W. Crawford, Esq., a candidate for attorney-general; cha- 
 racter, politics, and talents altogether unexceptionable. November 
 27, 1824. 
 
 No. 129. Letter from Dr. Waddel, securing Mr. Mitchell as a 
 private tutor ; requests a visit to select a teacher, and for other 
 purposes ; singular events of late known only to a few ; cannot 
 write on the subject ; James doing well as usual. January 21, 
 1825. 
 
 No. 130. Letter from Col. Seaborn Jones ; lawsuit between 
 Ridley and wife vs. Col. Blackshear; facts stated; defendant 
 advised wrong; must lose the property, $30,000; compromise 
 offered, &c. January 23, 1825. 
 
 No. 131. Letter from Hon. Richard Henry Wilde, Representa- 
 tive in Congress, enclosing the vote of the House electing Mr. 
 Adams President. February 9, 1825. 
 
 No. 132. Letter from Hon. R. H. WUde ; breakers ahead ; 
 policy of the incoming administration; claims for militia ser- 
 vices ; reputation of Government ; emancipation ; right of search ; 
 
394 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 Southern States the Ireland of the Union. February 20, 
 1825. 
 
 No. 133. Executive circular from Mirabeau B. Lamar, Go- 
 vernor Troup's secretary, inviting the generals of divisions and 
 brigades to pay their respects to General Lafayette. March 4, 
 1825. 
 
 No. 134. Letter from Henry King, introducing his brother, 
 .David R. King, in support of a claim before the Legislature. 
 October 16, 1825. 
 
 No. 185. Letter from Hon. C. B. Strong, expressive of his 
 gratification at the victory of Gov. Troup over his opponent ; bull 
 by the horns ; Gen. Gaines, &c. October 19, 1825. 
 
 No. 136. Letter from Dr. James Perry, introducing a Repre- 
 sentative from Tattnall county. November 2, 1825. 
 
 No. 137. Letter from Hon. Charles Harris, offering himself as a 
 candidate for Judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer of Savan- 
 nah. October 21, 1826. 
 
 No. 138. Letter from Col. Richard A. Blount, touching the 
 Oconee navigation ; regrets Gen. Blackshear's leaving the Senate ; 
 Peter Crawford out ; the new Board of Internal Improvement, &c. 
 October 20, 1826. 
 
 No. 139. Letter from Peter Crawford, Esq. ; disgusted with 
 Milledgeville legislating ; harness up again to serve constituents ; 
 ^ohite men very uncertain ; prospects of the Troup party ; opposi- 
 tion caucusing by a judge ; regrets to see so many running for 
 Congress on the Troup side ; expects to see a half-dozen vaga- 
 bonds of the Clarkites announced for Congress ; Mr. Monroe, 
 successor of General Blackshear in the Senate ; faithful service ; 
 following an old leader ; state of the crops. July 8, 1828. 
 
 140. Letter from Daniel Chandler, Esq., asking influence for 
 his election as Solicitor-General of the Northern circuit. October 
 10, 1831. 
 
 Having glanced at all the correspondence attached to the me- 
 moir, the author pleads guilty to the bad taste of introducing a 
 letter written to himself by Gen. Blackshear, about thirty years 
 ago. That paper is now before him. The youth to whom such 
 kindly expressions were breathed, more to encourage than to flat- 
 ter, is now about to finish the memoir of his revered correspondent 
 in a spirit of justice, if not with ability. The author and James 
 Hamilton Blackshear were devoted friends, both about the same 
 age. As a guest for several days together in the sports of the 
 chase and in convivial pastimes, sampling the excellent wines and 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAR. 395 
 
 rich drinks of the general, which no man knew better how to pre- 
 pare for his friends, — in listening to his sage counsel, his racy 
 anecdotes, and curious recollections, — the author can never cease 
 to feel gratitude and a melancholy pleasure in reviving those scenes 
 in his memory and in his heart. A few months ago he visitedthe 
 old homestead. The dwelling was burnt down ; tall cotton-stalks 
 grew in the yard ; the large old china-trees, planted by the general 
 sixty years ago, had rotted from age. Nothing was green but a small 
 live-oak, which came from an acorn he brought in his pocket from 
 the coast at the close of the war in 1816, — an emblem of his own 
 enduring character. 
 
 But there were the graves ! General Blackshear and his wife 
 slept side by side, and near him was old Peter Calloway, the once 
 heroic youth who served with him in the Revolution. James 
 Hamilton and William Thweatt, his two sons, who died in the meri- 
 dian of life, and Mary Jane, the wife of Edward Jeflferson Black- 
 shear, reposed within a few feet. His nephew William L. Bush, 
 well known to the author, was in the enclosure, far away from the 
 home of his childhood. Several members of a French family, 
 (Dessaubleaux,) who had been friends and neighbors, mingled their 
 dust in this home of the dead. A half-dozen little graves told of 
 angelic slumbers there. Dear old spot, hallowed by so many 
 tender memories ! A voice, as if from the tomb, addresses the 
 author : — 
 
 Springfield, August 30, 1828. 
 
 My dear Sir : — ^I received with pleasure your favor by the last mail. 
 It is next to taking an esteemed friend and relative by the hand. 
 
 With re'spect to your becoming a candidate for solicitor, if merit has 
 any influence I should think your claim a good one. It is unnecessary 
 for me to say that it is not a general rule in these times. I would recom- 
 mend your urging your claim ; and, with such competitors as you men- 
 tioned, I think those who know you cannot hesitate in their choice. , 
 
 You overrate my influence, as I shall have no more power than another 
 humble individual. I shall, however, take pleasure in promoting your 
 views where I think it will be of service to you. I am not certain that I 
 shall be up, [at Milledgeville,] but intend to if I can, and can there say a 
 word or two to my old friends. 
 
 I am in flne health. James is in bed with the ague and fever; the rest 
 are all well. We shall make half-crops in this quarter. I should be glad if 
 you could come in and pay us a visit, and my old cousin, John Shine.* 
 My nephew, William L. Bush, from near Wilmington, died at my house 
 the 14th ult. I have nothing new or important. 
 
 Accept the full assurance of my high esteem, D. Blackshear. 
 
 Stephen F. Miller, Esq. 
 
 * A soldier of the Revolution, — grandfather of the author. See a notice of his 
 services in White's Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 656. 
 
396 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 A circular addressed to Gen. Blackshear by the committee is 
 here inserted in honor of Savannah and its public-spirited men : — 
 
 Savannah, March 18, 1825. 
 
 Sir : — It has been resolved by the citizens of Savannah to erect monu- 
 ments to the memory of Generals Greene and Pulaski. The occasion of 
 Gen. Lafayette's visit has been selected as the most fit time for laying the 
 corner-stones of these monuments. The lively interest which this great 
 and good man has evinced in all parts of our country in the fame of his 
 brothers in arms is an assurance that this tribute to the valor and virtues 
 of two of the heroes of the Revolution will be an occasion of joy and 
 gladness to his generous heart, and will form a pleasing and lasting asso- 
 ciation in the mind of our venerable guest with his future recollections of 
 the State of Georgia. 
 
 The characters and services of the brave commanders to whose memo- 
 ries we are about to pay these tributes of veneration are known to you. 
 Their names are recorded in the history of our republic ; their deeds in 
 arms were the pride of their compatriots and the glory of our country; 
 the value of their services demands from posterity the tribute of their 
 gratitude. We therefore invite our fellow-citizens throughout the State 
 to co-operate with us in this work of duty, that the State of Georgia may 
 give another example to the world that republics are not unmindful of the 
 obligations which they owe both to the living and the dead. 
 
 It was before the ramparts of Savannah that Pulaski fell on the field of 
 gloiy, and here General Greene was buried. It is therefore with peculiar 
 propriety that two of the most conspicuous squares of this city have been 
 selected for the sites of these monuments. 
 
 It is proposed to complete these monuments in a style corresponding 
 in simplicity and durability with our republican principles, and to make 
 them the common property of every citizen. Hence, it has been deter- 
 mined to limit the subscription to two dollars, in order to enable every 
 person to enroll his name on this list of Eevolutionary gratitude. Those 
 who may wish to contribute more can do so, and their names will be 
 noticed as making special donations. 
 
 The names of the subscribers will be eagrossed on duplicate rolls of 
 parchment, one of which will be deposited in each monument, secured in 
 the most perfect manner. 
 
 Your zealous co-operation in this patriotic undertaking is solicited with 
 great confidence. The moneys that may be subscribed you are requested 
 to collect and pay over to the cashier of either of the branches of the 
 Bank of the State of Georgia, or either of the branches of the Bank of 
 Darien, who will thereafter be directed to transmit the money to Anthony 
 Porter, Esq., Cashier of the Bank of the State of Georgia, at Savannah, 
 subject to the order of Joseph V. Bevan, Secretary and Treasurer of the 
 Greene and Pulaski Monument Committee. 
 
 John Stephens, S. B. Parkman, 
 
 John Shellman, Anthony Porter, 
 
 William B. Bulloch, A. B. Fannin, 
 
 James Bond Read, M. Myers, 
 
 Richard W. Habersham, William P. Marshall, 
 
 Alexander Telfair, James P. Screven. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 397 
 
 FAMILY RECORD. 
 It is deemed proper to give a record which will at least prove 
 interesting to the kindred and the more immediate friends of the 
 family. 
 
 David Blackshear and Fanny Hamilton were married in Han- 
 cock county, December 2, 1802. Their children were, — 
 
 1. Mary Hamilton, born December 1, 1803, and died in 
 infancy. 
 
 2. James Hamilton, born November 4, 1805 ; married Caro- 
 line E. L., daughter of Gen. John Floyd, July 2, 1828. He 
 represented the county of Laurens several times in the Legisla- 
 ture, was major of battalion, and died February 23, 1845, leaving 
 a widow and two daughters. 
 
 3. William Thweatt, born November 14, 1807, and died August 
 13, 1838. 
 
 4. Edward Jefferson, born June 21, 1810 ; married Mary Jane, 
 daughter of Col. James J. Pittman, of Mariana, Florida. She died 
 June 20, 1852, leaving a daughter and three sons. E. J. Blackshear 
 was several years a member of the Senate from Laurens county, 
 and a justice of the Inferior Court. 
 
 5. Ann Eliza, born April 25, 1812, and died in infancy. 
 
 6. Eliza Ann, born December 26, 1813, and died in infancy. 
 
 7. David, born February 26, 1816 ; married Susan E., daughter 
 of Edward Bryan, of Florida, August 14, 1845. 
 
 8. Everard Hamilton, born June 19, 1818; married Isabella 
 Maria C, daughter of Col. Everard Hamilton, of Savannah, Octo- 
 ber 10, 1844. 
 
 9. Joseph John Floyd, born October 2, 1821. 
 
 10. Elijah Francks, born September 26, 1822 ; married Mary 
 Ann L., daughter of Colonel Everard Hamilton, October 16, 
 1845. 
 
 11. John Duke Blackshear, bom January 14, 1824, and died at 
 the age of one year. 
 
 It will be seen that the three daughters of Gen. Blackshear, and 
 one son, died in their infancy. Seven sons survived him, two of 
 whom have since died. 
 
 Edward Jefferson Blackshear, Everard Hamilton Blackshear, 
 and Elijah Francks Blackshear all reside on the paternal estate, 
 within a few miles of each other, the settlement provided for them 
 being about four thousand acres, to which they have added by 
 purchase. David Blackshear resides in Florida, and Joseph John 
 Floyd Blackshear has established a plantation in Texas, with part 
 
398 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 of his own force and part of the force of his brothers Everard and 
 Elijah, retaining an interest in their planting-operations in Laurens. 
 They act together in great harmony, and all of them are prudent 
 managers, steadily increasing their property, and are upright, use- 
 ful citizens. 
 
 Mrs. Blackshear, the general's wife, was born January 22, 1781, 
 and died February 28, 1824, aged forty-three years. 
 
 HIS DEATH, JULY 4, 1837. 
 
 The time has now arrived when the affairs of this world are no 
 longer to hold dominion. He had performed the duties of life 
 faithfully. At the age of seventy-three years, he could review the 
 past and bear witness to the emptiness of fame. It had been his 
 privilege to associate with the leading men of his day, and to leave 
 the impress of his character in all the offices he had filled and upon 
 the public mind. Serenely meditating on the future, he relied upon 
 the truths of revelation for his comfort. His illness continued seve- 
 ral weeks, in all which time he talked of death with the utmost 
 composure, — said it had been a subject of reflection with him for 
 years, and that his peace with God and with his fellow-men had 
 been assured. In this frame of mind, General David Blackshear 
 died on the 4th day of July, 18-37. While the cannon was pealing 
 forth its thunders in city and village throughout the Union, in cele- 
 bration of the day which his youthful valor had assisted to render 
 immortal, his spirit was passing from time to eternity. Gallant 
 soldier, noble patriot, and sincere friend. Farewell ! 
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 Though his early education was imperfect, his mind was abun- 
 dantly stored with knowledge of almost every description. He 
 was acquainted with many of the sciences, especially those which 
 related to agriculture, such as vegetable chemistry and the analysis 
 of soils. He cultivated the grape extensively, and knew the process 
 of fermentation, the saccharine matter to be added, the alcoholic 
 principle, and the temperature for giving it the best body and 
 flavor. He had the most approved instruments, and used them 
 skilfully for this purpose. He often improved on other methods, by 
 his own reasoning and experiments, on the large variety of grapes 
 in his vineyard. 
 
 Between Gen. Blackshear and the late Thomas McCall* (the 
 
 * Brother to the anther of McCall's History of Oeorgia. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 399 
 
 best wine-groTver of his day in the South) there existed a warm 
 personal friendship. They mutually aided each other in the manu- 
 facture of wine. Mr. McGall cultivated the grape on a much 
 larger scale, and produced as elegant wines as any imported. In 
 his message to the Legislature in 1827, Gov. Troup refers to him : — 
 
 The introduction of a new culture may claim the countenance of Govern- 
 ment, as well from its general utility as from the difficulties attending on 
 it. Among the varieties which contribute to the comfort of man, that of 
 the vine ranks with the first class, — a culture eminently promotive of the 
 public health and the public morals. Our respectable fellow-citizen, 
 Thomas MeCall, of Laurens, distinguished alike for his science and 
 philanthropy, has devoted many years to this culture, and his laudable 
 zeal and patient industry give promise of ultimate success. A temporary 
 and limited encouragement may insure itj and good effects would be seen 
 eventually in a diversified cultivation, in an independence on foreigners 
 for an article of great value, and in the gradual substitution in practice 
 of a less for a more intoxicating beverage. If you coincide with me in 
 the policy of extending a fostering hand to this subject of agriculture, 
 the kind and degree of encouragement will be regulated by a sound dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 Besides his grapery of several acres, Gen. Blackshear had large 
 orchards, from which he distilled apple and peach brandies of the 
 purest kind. Nothing was neglected in the manufacture, from 
 gathering the fruit to the dropping of the rectified spirits from the 
 tube. He usually gave morning drams to his slaves ; and when- 
 ever, from exposure to cold or water, they reqidred a tonic, he 
 ordered them to receive it from his cellar. It was often the case 
 that in heavy work — raising houses, building mill-dams, and adjust- 
 ing timbers — they were in a condition, as was then believed by 
 most owners, to justify a little spirits for their health. The slaves 
 at all events were grateful, and seemed to pursue their work more 
 cheerfully. He never permitted them to have it in such quantity 
 as to produce intoxication, and of course he saw nothing to regret 
 from the custom. 
 
 He also cultivated the cane, and made sugar and syrup more 
 than enough for his own use. It was his rule to let his neighbors 
 have whatever he could spare from his farm, — corn, bacon, flour, 
 beef, sugar, syrup, rice, brandy, wine, wool, — lumber from his saw- 
 mills, and all kinds of produce which he did not need for his own 
 consumption. He never profited by scarcity and high prices in the 
 market. His rates were just fairly remunerative for the labor 
 bestowed. He never speculated on the necessities of people. All 
 that came were supplied, if in his power. If they were able, he 
 required payment within a reasonable time. The truly poor, who 
 
400 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 were pinched by hunger, received provisions gratis, — plenty for 
 them and their little ones. Gen. Blackshear was a first-rate judge 
 of human nature, and was not often deceived. To the honest and 
 industrious he was ever a friend; to the idle and dissolute he 
 showed no favor, except rebuke, when they troubled him with their 
 wants. Though obliging in his disposition, he adhered to certain 
 rules which he adopted early in life : — 
 
 1. Never to spend money before you get it. 
 
 2. Never pay other people's debts. 
 
 3. Never pay interest. 
 
 Much is comprehended in these few words. They reveal the 
 secret of prosperity, in violence often to the best sympathies. Gen. 
 Blackshear was governed by principle in all his movements, — never 
 by impulse. Hence his great success and influence. 
 
 His hospitality was abundant and most agreeably dispensed. 
 In his days, with lessons from the Revolution, through all ranks 
 of society, in camp and in council, and until within the last twenty 
 years, it was the prevailing custom — the social law — to offer wines 
 and stronger drink to visitors, and to treat in public places. Gen. 
 Blackshear kept up the usage. For those who did not relish wine, 
 and refused to indulge higher, he had a drink of his own invention, 
 which he called cider-royal, which was indeed good enough for 
 kings. It was composed of brandy, sugar, and cider, — perhaps 
 something else, — in such proportions as he had ascertained to form 
 the most palatable and refreshing beverage. His sideboard was an 
 ingredient of hospitality. He partook himself, but never to excess ; 
 nor could any guest so far forget himself, even if inclined, as to 
 become out of fix under his roof by too free a resort to the 
 decanters. 
 
 During their journeys on the circuit, and often in the intervals 
 between courts, the judges and bar would spend their leisure time 
 with Gen. Blackshear. The dignified Early, the jovial Strong, 
 and other high functionaries who enjoined silence in court and held 
 the multitude in awe by their stern authority, laid aside their official 
 consequence, and shot ducks and angled for fish with as much glee 
 as the boys who for the time-being were their guides and com- 
 panions. The judges would go to the mill and wade upon the 
 sheeting, or creep softly upon the dam, spearing the finny tribe or 
 harpooning a turtle, with a perfect relish for the sport. After 
 such achievements, the sideboard was called upon for its quota of 
 applause. It was all right then, as public opinion had decreed it 
 so. But a very decided change has since taken place. Sideboards, 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 401 
 
 ■wine, and brandy, and such old-fashioned luxuries, have been dis- 
 pensed with, — certainly an improvement on the virtues of our 
 predecessors. 
 
 In politics, Gen. Blackshear belonged to the school of Jefferson, 
 and was a great friend and adviser of Gov. Troup. He voted for 
 him as a Representative to Congress in 1805, and for Governor in 
 1821, 1823, and 1825. His influence in the Legislature exceeded 
 perhaps that of any other member. An anecdote or two related 
 of Judge Dooly will be in point. 
 
 Before going on the bench, Col. Dooly had some military am- 
 bition, and was a candidate for brigadier-general. When the 
 election came on before the Legislature, Gen. Blackshear proposed 
 some man whom he deemed worthy as an opposing candidate. 
 Dooly was defeated, and charged his disgrace to Gen. Blackshear. 
 Accosting a man from the country before a crowd at the hotel, 
 Dooly asked him if he would do a little job for big pay? The 
 man said he had no objection, if he was able. Dooly remarked, 
 "You are able, very able, — well qualified, no doubt, for the 
 business." The countryman desired to know what it was. Dooly 
 told him it was merely to curse. "Well," replied the man, " I can 
 do a little of that in my own way." " Then, sir," remarked Dooly, 
 "begin at once, and I will pay you a dollar to curse Gen. Black- 
 shear one hour. Curse him loud on these steps ; curse him at the 
 corners of the streets ; curse him in the Capitol-square ; curse him 
 all over town ; curse him till your words give out, and then come 
 to me for more. The cursing must be done this evening, or it will 
 be too late. I am not strong enough to curse on so big a scale, 
 and must do it by deputy." The man excused himself, and thus 
 the CMrszM^-operation failed, amid roars of merriment. 
 
 At another time Judge Dooly noticed a gentleman very assiduous 
 in his attentions to members of the Legislature for several days, 
 when, taking him aside, he asked if he was a candidate. The 
 reply being in the affirmative, Dooly inquired if Gen. Blackshear 
 supported him. The candidate was unable to say, but thought 
 from circumstances that the general would vote against him. 
 "Then," said Dooly, "go home at once: save your tavern-bill 
 and your feelings. If Gen. Blackshear is against you, you are 
 beaten, — badly beaten. I was once a candidate, and Gen. Black- 
 shear had me beaten by a dead man, who was no candidate !" 
 
 Gen. Blackshear was frequently called to the President's chair 
 while the Senate was organizing, and on other special occasions 
 acted as chairman. His dignified manner, open and expressive 
 
 Vol.. I.- 26 
 
402 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 countenance, and his great experience in deliberative bodies, made 
 his presence quite commanding. He very much resembled Dr. 
 Franklin ; and the full-length portrait in the House of Representa- 
 tives of the great philosopher affords a correct idea of Gen. Black- 
 shear. In strong common sense, and in the ability to understand 
 first principles, they were also alike. Dr. Franklin excelled all 
 men of his day in conversational powers. Gen. Blackshear was 
 eloquent in the simplicity and force with which he expressed him- 
 self. He was a man of great natural abilities, and only wanted 
 the cultivation and employments of Franklin to render his name 
 as eminent in statesmanship, letters, and philosophy. 
 
 At the Anti-Tariff Convention of 1832, Gen. Blackshear was 
 chairman of the committee, which consisted of twenty other mem- 
 bers, — ^Berrien, Forsyth, Gumming, Clayton, Cuthbert, Gamble, 
 Reese, Spalding, Tait, Rockwell, Beall of Bibb, Taylor of Burke, 
 Bailey, Warner, Dawson, Haynes, Gordon of Putnam, Clark of 
 Henry, Janes, and Harris. 
 
 Enough has been shown from public documents and from the 
 history of his life to prove that Gen. Blackshear was a man of note 
 and is worthy of a place among public benefactors. He did not, 
 it is true, fill so wide a space as some ; but he acted his part with 
 as much patriotism and integrity as the greatest. 
 
 His old age was soothed by the presence of one who assisted in 
 the Revolution to punish the murderers of his eldest brother, of 
 which an account has been given in the early part of this memoir. 
 After a separation of forty years, the Rev. Peter Calloway, stricken 
 by domestic sorrows, came to the house of Gen. Blackshear, who 
 embraced him with tears of joy. The reunion was pleasant to 
 both. Mr. Calloway was invited to make Springfield his home. 
 For several years he was a cherished inmate of the family, shared 
 the best, was treated with the tenderness of a brother, and at length 
 died under the general's roof. The same graveyard contains the 
 dust of both. The commander of armies and the humble Baptist 
 preacher — ^the two friends in life, one successful and the other 
 unfortunate — will continue to repose together until the trumpet of 
 the resurrection shall summon them to their final destiny. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAR. 403 
 
 [^Papers referred to in Memoir.^ 
 
 I. GOV. IRWIN TO D. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 February 9, 1796. 
 Dear Sib : — Time will not permit me to -write you so fully as I could 
 wisli. But I am happy to hear of your spirited exertions on the present 
 occasion, and trust you will still exert yourself in giving all assistance in 
 your power to the frontiers. And rest assured that there shall be 
 nothing lacking that is in the power of Grovernment for their protection. 
 I am, dear sir, with respect, yours, 
 
 Jared Irwin. 
 
 ii. — adjutant-general to major d. blackshear. 
 
 Adjutani-Genbbai's Office, Gkeensbobo, October 21, 1797. 
 
 (General Orders.) 
 
 In consequence of a law passed in Congress the 24th of June, 1797, 
 and of a communication to his Excellency the Governor of Georgia from 
 the Secretary of War, bearing date of the 1st August last past, for organ- 
 izing, arming, and equipping, according to law, and holding in readiness 
 to march at a moment's warning, our proportion of 80,000 militia,* officers 
 included, being 1334 — 
 
 You are therefore immediately to proceed in detailing to the proper 
 officers in your brigade the following number of officers and men, and 
 cause the same to be organized, armed, and equipped, according to law, 
 and held in readiness to march at a moment's warning. 
 
 You will accept any independent corps of cavalry, artillery, or in- 
 fantry, as part of this detachment, provided they shall voluntarily engage 
 in the service, — ^viz. : 1 lieutenant-colonel, 4 captains, 4 lieutenants, 4 en- 
 signs, 16 sergeants, 16 corporals, 1 adjutant, 1 quartermaster, 1 pay- 
 master, 1 surgeon, 1 surgeon's mate, 1 sergeant-major, 1 drum-major, 1 
 fife-major, 4 drummers, 4 fifes, and 256 privates. 
 
 You will without delay report to me your progress, and on the state of 
 this detachment. 
 
 By the commander-in-chief's command, of Louisville, the 16th Octo- 
 ber, 1797. Jonas Fauche, 
 
 Adjutant- General. 
 
 III. — MAJOR BLACKSHEAR TO f 
 
 May 24, 1798. 
 
 Sm : — Agreeably to general orders of the 9th of February, 1798, and 
 the arrangements of the adjutant-general of the 14th of February, 1798, 
 yourself, and adjutant of your battalion, will rendezvous at Sparta, on the 
 3d of July next, uniformed, armed, and equipped, according to law, pro- 
 vided with your commissions, there to perform such evolutions and other 
 military exercise as the adjutant-general may direct. 
 
 You will also cause to be held a review of your battalion at Sanders- 
 ville on July 5th next, for the adjutant-general's inspection, as contem- 
 plated in the fore-mentioned general orders, which you will find in the 
 
 * For the expected war -with France after the President's proclamation of neu- 
 trality. Major D. Blackshear was brigade-inspector at the time. 
 •!• The address does not appear in the copy retained. 
 
404 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 Augusta Chronicle of the 17th of February, 1798, and to which you 
 will have reference to conduct yourself accordingly in the orders you will 
 issue. 
 
 By the brigadier's command. D- Blackshear, 
 
 Brigade-Major. 
 
 IV. — JAMES JONES* TO D. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Ship-Yabd, September 4, 1798. 
 Dear Sir : — After you left us, my indisposition increased and con- 
 tinued pretty severe, so as entirely to confine me till about ten days ago. 
 The moment I was able, I went to town, and have written to New York 
 for the articles you want, through a very honest friend in town who deals 
 there. In all probability, they will arrive in about four weeks from this, 
 — say 1st October. Not meeting with a conveyance from Savannah, and 
 being, besides, in a very great hurry to return home, I deferred writing 
 you till now. 
 
 The only news of consequence was that the city of Philadelphia has again 
 been attacked with the yellow fever, and it made its first appearance in 
 greater terror than at any former period. The public offices had all been 
 removed to Trenton, New Jersey. The principal physicians had con- 
 cluded to leave the place; and, of course, every person who can po.ssibly 
 get away will abandon a place that seems devoted to fall a victim to the 
 most dreadful pestilence ever experienced in this New World. To contem- 
 plate the emporium and most flourishing city of a great and rising nation, 
 till lately exempt from most of the great national calamities which have 
 desolated many parts of the Old World, now seriously threatened with a 
 combination of two of the most awfiil afflictions that ever visited any 
 land, is a melancholy and painful reflection, and, with the aid of a very 
 small share of superstition, (or, perhaps, more justly, of religious confi- 
 dence,) might induce us to consider and ascertain whether these dreadful 
 visitations are the consequence of our own national pollution. The zealous 
 advocates of the times would account for them on plain and familiar prin- 
 ciples. They would say the malady is introduced by contagion from 
 foreign intercourse; and this is probably the true cause. The other 
 calamity — ^I mean war — they will not consent to rank in the same class. 
 For my own part, I believe them to be the offepring of the same parent 
 cause. 
 
 The connections we have formed, and, in some instances, diligently cul- 
 tivated, with European powers, could not fail to involve us in their desti- 
 nies. That jealousy which is so inseparable from human nature, and 
 which can scarcely tolerate an equal attention with others from a friend, 
 can much less brook the slightest mark of particular favor. This passion 
 is as prevalent in nations and their rulers as it is among individuals. 
 
 These are barely remarks : I need not apply them. Present appear- 
 ances prove the justice and goodness of the late President's advice to the 
 United States on the propriety of avoiding foreign connections. 
 I am, dear major, with esteem, your most obedient servant, 
 
 James Jones. 
 
 * Mr. Jones wag often a member of the State Legislature from Chatham county, 
 and was elected a Representative in Congress in 1798. He died at Washington 
 City, January 12, 1801. See a notice of him in White's Historical Collections, p. 
 367. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 405 
 
 V. — MAJOK D. BLACKSHEAR TO COL. RrTHERFORD. 
 
 May 21, 1799. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Agreeably to orders from Brigadier-General Irwin of the 
 20th inst., and from the adjutant-general in the Louisville Grazette of the 
 19th of March, 1799, the field-officers of your regiment will meet at 
 Sparta on the 23d of September next, uniformed and equipped, in order 
 to receive such instruction of the discipline prescribed by Congress as the 
 adjutant-general may think proper to direct. 
 
 You will also order all the commissioned officers of your regiment, 
 together with the adjutant and first sergeant of each company, to appear 
 at Sandersville on the 25th of September, armed with muskets and bayo- 
 nets, — ^the commissioned officers to have their commissions, — in order to 
 perform the evolutions prescribed by law. You will also call the whole 
 of your re^ment together at Sandersville, the 26th of September, by 
 ten o'clock in the forenoon, well equipped. The officers commanding 
 companies will come provided with exact rolls of the number of each 
 grade enrolled in their respective districts or commands, in order that 
 the regiment may be reviewed, inspected, and manoeuvred as the law 
 directs. 
 
 Believe me to be, respectfully, sir, yonr obedient servant, 
 
 D. Blackshear, Brigade-Major. 
 
 \I. GOV. JACKSON TO D. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 ExECXJTiTB Depaetjiest, LouisviLLE, June 18, 1799. 
 
 Sir : — I received your communication of the 16th instant, by Mr. 
 Allen, this morning, and am sorry to learn the state of things in your 
 quarter; but I yet hope there will be no occasion for violence on our 
 side. 
 
 Did the citizens who entice the Indians on this side the river know the 
 injury they do to the reputation of the State, exclusive of that they occa- 
 sion to their neighbors, I am certain they would desist from a practice 
 neither warranted by the laws nor dictated by honesty, justice, or pru- 
 dence. 
 
 Supposing that I possess a gang of cattle which can feed better over the 
 Oconee than on this side, but to gain permission for which I must accept 
 of visits from the Indians and furnish them with spirituous liquors : is 
 it proper that I should keep, or be allowed to keep, that gang over that 
 river, in order to entice those Indians on this side, give them liquors, and, 
 in a state of intoxication, lay all my neighbors open to their depredations, 
 — and this, too, when my neighbors are in no ways interested in property 
 over the river ? The settlement would be justified in taking harsh steps 
 with the pei^ons and cattle which should thus expose them to savage 
 incursion. 
 
 Mr. Allen has mentioned two persons guilty of this charge, — Captain 
 
 , of Montgomery, and Mr. , at the Bluff. I confess myself 
 
 surprised at Captain , after the recent occurrence which put him to 
 
 so much trouble. It appears as if, after having drawn the vengeance of 
 the Indians on his country, and risked an Indian war, with all its horrors, 
 that way, (and that some were killed in consequence of his conduct is cer- 
 tain,) that he is now determined to rouse the whites against the Indians, 
 
 and bring on trouble that way. Mr. I am not acquainted withj 
 
 but should be sorry if I should be driven to the necessity of informing Mr. 
 
406 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 Hawkins of those things, and of permitting the Indians taking off such 
 gangs over the Oconee as may have been purposely driven over. 
 
 The enclosed extract of a law now in force in this State will, however, 
 be sufficient for you or any other magistrate to stop the practice of selling 
 spirituous Hquors to Indians, by taking up and binding over the persons 
 guilty as therein pointed out. 
 
 As to the Indians, I wish we could forbear as much as possible from 
 commencing violence. At the same time, it is far from my wish or inten- 
 tion to screen them or support them in any bad action. Should the 
 horses not be found, (but which I hope they may be,) I shall make a posi- 
 tive demand of them, and for that purpose request a particular descrip- 
 tion of them by the owners, on oath, with the particulars of and 
 
 conduct, and that of the Indians when last in. 
 
 Should other Indians come into your settlement, and behave so as to 
 require noticing, if you can procure any information, they are liable to 
 be sent to gaol equally with whites for any crime they may be guilty of; 
 and if, after being required to go over the river to their own side, they 
 obstinately remain, they are liable to be apprehended by a warrant, under 
 the hand of any magistrate, as vagabonds, under the act to amend the act 
 for punishment of vagabonds, passed the 1st February, 1788. 
 
 But I would much rather prefer the punishment of our own people, 
 who are, in fact, the sole authors of those mischiefs by enticing them 
 on this side the river. Should the worst of your fears, however, take 
 place, you shall be supported. I only advise moderation and prudence on 
 our side, to convince the Union that it is not the wish of the citizens of 
 Greorgia to commence hostility, or to precipitate the United States into an 
 Indian war when they have every expectation of an European one, and 
 which conduct, were we to commence, might so anger the Union as to 
 prevent our obtaining the Oconee lands, which, I have reason to believe, is 
 in a fair train. 
 
 The extract of the law, as I before mentioned, will point out your powers 
 and duty, with those who draw the Indians for interested purposes to 
 this side the river. 
 
 I am, sir, your very obedient servant, 
 
 James Jackson. 
 
 vii. — james jones to d. blaoksheae. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 12, 1799. 
 
 Dear Major : — It is not the longest absence or most remote distance 
 from an old friend that can make me forget him. When I saw you last, 
 I recollect my promise to correspond with you constantly from this place. 
 It is to prove I mean to fulfil that engagement, more than any interesting 
 intelligence I can as yet afford you, that I now write. 
 
 We have been almost two weeks in session without taking the sense of 
 Congress on any question of the least anxiety. Nothing of importance 
 has as yet been proposed. My hours pass away very heavily for want of 
 employment, for I have not been accustomed to this kind of dull inactivity, 
 and it does not agree with me. 
 
 Our envoys to France have been gone now about six weeks ; and many 
 people here of high rank and information believe their mission will pro- 
 duce a full and speedy reconciliation with that nation. There are others, 
 however, who seem to consider their embassy in a different view, and who 
 do not entertain any hopes of their success. From every thing I can 
 
DAVID BLACKSIIEAR. 407 
 
 learn, I am fully of opinion we stall have peace. On this ground it is in 
 contemplation to attempt a reduction of the army-establishment and of 
 ttie expensive system of defence. It is generally believed the attempt 
 will succeed. The disposition of the present Congress appears at present 
 to be much more temperate than that of the late. There are in the 
 majority many moderate men, who will not support any violent party 
 measures, if any such should be proposed. The President tells us, although 
 peace should be established with France, we must not relax in the system 
 ot defence; that is to say, be it peace or be it war, we must have an 
 army and navy. But I hope he will not find a majority of this Congress 
 of that opinion. ° 
 
 This day we have the accounts of a most important victory obtained by 
 Massena over the Russians and Austrians in Switzerland, I enclose you 
 a paper containing this and other information. 
 
 I have not yet been able to attend to your business : that shall be the 
 subject of my next. I hope to hear often from you. Please make known 
 this information to your friends and neighbors. We are in hourly ex- 
 pectation of being informed of the appointment of commissioners by the 
 President to treat with us for our western territory. His language to 
 us when we made known our powers to him gives us a right to expect it. 
 I am, dear sir, with real esteem, your most obedient servant, 
 
 James Jones. 
 
 viii. — james jones to d. black.shear. 
 
 Philadelphia, February 16, 1800. 
 
 Deae Major : — In my former letter I told you that I would inform 
 you in my next of .the state of the business you requested of me to in- 
 quire into here. I then thought confidently that I had brought on your 
 memorandum on the subject. I am well assured I attended to it in 
 assorting my papers at home just before I set out; but, to my surprise and 
 mortification, I now find I must have left it in my desk in the hurry of 
 business on leaving home. You must pardon this accident; and, if you 
 receive this in season, write me immediately on the subject, and it 
 will still be in time for me to inquire and bring you information on my 
 return. 
 
 Congress do business so tediously that not one act of consquence is 
 passed, although we have been nearly three months in session. You will 
 no doubt have seen in the newspapers the motion for reducing the army, 
 and the debates thereon, or a part of them ; also the motion for repealing 
 
 that part of the * law abridging the freedom of the press, and the 
 
 fate of both these attempts. They were both unsuccessful. The first was 
 
 lost by a majority of twenty votes; the last was once carried , and, on 
 
 a motion to amend the resolution, was defeated by a counter-resolution, 
 52 to 49. 
 
 Some resolutions have lately been passed to inquire into the circumstances 
 of Jonathan Eobbins' case, the man who was given up by the judge in 
 South Carolina to the British consul and afterward hung in Jamaica. 
 It appears, by the papers laid before Congress by the President, that he 
 did request and advise the judge to give the man up. It also appears 
 that no question was made whether Robbins was an American or not. An 
 interesting question now arises in Congress to be determined : — whether, by 
 
 * Several words in this letter have been obliterated by the decay of the paper. 
 
408 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 the 27tli article of the British treaty, an American citizen is liable to be 
 delivered over to a foreign tribunal on a charge of having committed an 
 offence on board a British ship or in the dominions of that kingdom,_or 
 whether that article of the treaty is to be construed to affect only British 
 subjects who may seek refuge from justice in this country ? . . . . 
 
 Another equally interesting question is whether the Executive is justi- 
 fiable in throwing the weight of his advice and request into the scale on 
 any judicial determination. Each of these points will no doubt require a 
 full and temperate discussion, and, I hope, will be determined consistently 
 with the liberties and safety of our fellow-citizens. 
 
 There is an act before us for establishing a uniform system pf bank- 
 ruptcy, which I now think will pass. This was not my opinion till lately. 
 I have serious apprehensions it will be the means of great fraud and 
 abuses, and shall vote against it. Should it pass, I shall be happy to find 
 my fears groundless on the operation of the law. 
 
 There is also a new militia law before us, introduced by G-eneral Lee. 
 It has been ordered to be printed; but it is not yet done, so that I can 
 only give you some of the principal features of it. It divides the people 
 into classes according to age. All under twenty-six form the first class : 
 these are to be first called out in case of war, and the others are not to be 
 called on so long as the first class are sufficient to defend the country. 
 These young men are to be called out so many days in each year to — 
 (defaced,) the other classes not at all. I do not expect this will pass, — 
 at least, in its present shape. 
 
 A resolution was last week laid on our table proposing an alteration in 
 the Constitution to prevent judges from being appointed to any other offices 
 than judicial. 
 
 You must have heard of the wonderful revolution in the French Govern- 
 ment. What is to be the fate of that long convulsed and distracted 
 country is for time only to ascertain. May it arrive at a permanent and 
 happy system of government, ought to be every good man's wish. We 
 have not yet heard of the arrival of our envoys in France. Some believe 
 that the late change is favorable to negotiation; others think differently. 
 For my own part, with the opportunity I have to judge, I cannot suppose 
 there is much doubt of an amicable adjustment, if, as I have been assured 
 and believe, our envoys are seriously disposed to effect it. 
 
 We have not yet had a meeting with the Commissioners of the United 
 States on our land-business, although we have done all we could to obtain 
 one. One of the commissioners has gone to England lately, and another 
 is appointed in his stead. We are now told we are to be favored with a 
 meeting in a few days. We cannot promise ourselves any thing more at 
 present than to obtain from those commissioners such proposals as may be 
 likely to meet the approbation of our' Assembly, who may in that case 
 pass another act to accept them; for we are informed, indirectly, that the 
 terms in our act will not be acceded to. We shall, be assured, use every 
 exertion to put this great subject in a train for completion as early as 
 possible. 
 
 We have a law respecting post-roads before us^ and have got an office 
 inserted in Sandersville from Louisville. I would write you very often 
 if you had a post now. Yours, truly, 
 
 J. Jones. 
 
BAVID BLACKSHEAR. 409 
 
 IX. — JAMBS JONES TO D. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Louisville, September 11, 1800. 
 
 Dear Sir : — ^If I had not been prevented by the interdiction of inter- 
 course from Savannah, I should some time since have visited you and 
 some other friends in the western* part of the State, to esplain fully the 
 situation of our negotiation about the territory. It will be out of my 
 power to perform that duty, and I will give you a statement of the busi- 
 ness on paper. 
 
 You will have seen, by my letters from Philadelphia, that nothing could 
 be done under the act of our State or that of Congress. The commis- 
 sioners had power only to receive our proposals, not to close with them. 
 We had no power to make proposals other than those contained in the 
 law. Thus our negotiations would have terminated at the beginning, had 
 we not supposed it better to endeavor to enter upon such explanations as 
 would tend to bring about the accomplishment of our object as early as 
 possible. With this view, we had frequent interviews with the Commis- 
 sioners of the United States, who at length told us that if their powers 
 were enlarged they would make us positive proposals immediately, which 
 we might lay before our Legislature for their determination. This we 
 considered a desirable plan, and a clause was introduced in Senate author- 
 izing the Commissioners to agree finally with us and accept a cession on 
 such terms as they might think reasonable. This passed ; but a clause 
 was added to empower them to settle all claims of individuals to any of the 
 land in question. This I opposed, and after a long debate it was struck 
 out. Another clause, however, was inserted, to authorize them to report 
 a statement of facts to Congress for their decision thereon. This I did 
 not like, and told the House so ; but I thought it not so bad as the for- 
 mer, and believed it best not to defeat the law on that account. It finally 
 passed in this shape at the close of the session, — for the Senate had hung 
 up the bill in suspense for three weeks, on account of losing the former 
 clause, which they so ardently wished to pass. 
 
 The Commissioners of the United States now brought forward their 
 proposals, which, to our surprise, were by no means such as we had a right 
 from their conversation to expect. They proposed to extinguish the 
 Indian claim to all our reserved lands at the expense of the United States, 
 as soon as the Indians can be prevailed on to relinquish, and, further, to 
 pay to Georgia a sum of money, to be hereafter agreed on, by way of price. 
 This sum they intimated might be five hundred thousand dollars. But 
 they propose to our Legislature to transfer the Yazoo deposit into the 
 Treasury of the United States, and that the United States do indemnify 
 the State against the purchasers. This we assured them we had no power 
 to treat of, nor had the State Legislature power over it, nor, if they had, 
 did we believe they would do any thing of the sort. They said the State 
 might do it or not, as she pleased, but they thought it necessary to propose 
 it. We told them it would be very obnoxious. They also speak of the 
 claims against the lands, which will reduce the price to be paid to the 
 State. We replied, we admit no claims whatever on the lands except 
 those of the settlers, and that we would not, nor did we believe the State 
 would, notice or admit of any claims whatever in the act of cession, when- 
 
 * It is quite amusing now to hear of the Oconee as the western portion of 
 Georgia. 
 
410 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 ever it should be made, and remonstrated against introducing that subject 
 into the proposals. But they answered, we might avoid answering to that 
 part of the proposals if we chose, but they deemed it their duty to suggest 
 the claims. 
 
 We discovered very soon a disposition in the commissioners to favor 
 the purchasers if it was possible, and used every means in our power to 
 defeat them. They obtained from the President positive instructions 
 to Col. Hawkins to use every exertion to bring the Indians to a treaty, 
 for the purpose of obtaining the Oakmulgee Fork and Tallasee country, 
 and authority for the Governor of the State to appoint an agent to co- 
 operate with the agent of the United States in bringing about a dispo- 
 sition in the Indians to relinquish their claims to those lands. This paper 
 I enclosed to the G-overnor on my first arrival ; but the present distracted 
 state of the Nation, owing to the wicked projects of Bowles and his abet- 
 tors, forbid any attempt to hold a treaty at present; and Col. Hawkins has 
 written the Governor to this effect. He also mentions he has received no 
 instructions from the Government on the subject of a treaty. This is un- 
 accountable, as we were assured the Secretary of War would enforce the 
 instructions of the President, by writing in the most pressing manner 
 to the agent on the subject. It may be possible that the copy which I 
 brought on and furnished the Governor was intended to be forwarded 
 to Col. Hawkins ; but this is an unusual way of sending despatches, and a 
 very loose and uncertain one. In short, it is mysterious to me how this 
 omission has happened. As it turns out, however, the State suffers no in- 
 convenience from it, for it is obvious that nothing could be done at pre- 
 sent with the Indians ; and, if a treaty were held, it is most likely the 
 money which Congress have appropriated for it would be faithlessly ex- 
 pended. I trust, however, that the influence of Bowles in the Nation is 
 by this time at an end, and that the divisions and ferment among the In- 
 dians will soon subside, and afford us a favorable opportunity of making 
 use of the means and power we have of acquiring the long-wished-for ex- 
 tension of our limits. 
 
 I am still of opinion, if our next Legislature are firmly attached to the 
 principles which have prevailed for some years past, and take the proper 
 measures to confirm and establish what has been done, we shall soon have 
 the happiness to see harmony and tranquillity restored, with a confirmation 
 of our just and necessary proceedings. It is not to be denied that there 
 are many men of considerable rank and influence in the General Govern- 
 ment deeply interested in the speculations which have been made on our 
 territory, and who have used, and will use, every effort in their power to 
 establish the grants : but I am consoled by the belief that there will be 
 found enough of disinterested patriotism and public virtue in the National 
 Legislature to defeat their towering projects. 
 
 It will be necessary, if the Legislature shall think proper to pursue 
 the object of a cession to the United States, to pass another law, giving 
 full power to their commissioners to cede on such terms as they may think 
 right. They may, and ought, at the same time to draw up a set of in- 
 structions to their commissioners, prescribing the terms on which they 
 were to cede ; for if the terms are specified in the act there will be no 
 room left for negotiation, and the other party have only to say yes or no. 
 Whereas, on the other plan, mutual explanations might produce a fortunate 
 termination of the business, which can hardly be expected from an abrupt 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 411 
 
 declaration of the terms of cession in the law itself. Of this, however, 
 the Legislature will judge and determine. 
 
 I am, dear sir, your most obedient friend and servant, 
 
 Jas. Jones. 
 
 N.B. — The Secretary of War did not make his report on the claims of 
 the militia till very late in the session. We endeavored, but in vain, to 
 have it referred to a select committee. This could not be carried ; for it 
 was contrary to the rule of the House. It was referred to the Committee 
 of Claims ; and I frequently pressed that committee to investigate and report 
 on this subject ; but it was then so late, and the committee so much 
 thronged with other business, they could not act on it. The chairman 
 has promised, in a letter to me, to take up the subject at the beginning of 
 the next session, when I shall press the matter with every exertion. 
 
 Major Blackshear will please communicate this information to his and 
 my friends and constituents in the frontier-counties, and oblige his obedient 
 friend, J. Jones. 
 
 X. — SAMUEL HAMMOND* TO D. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Washisgtos City, December 23, 1803. 
 
 Dear Sm : — I cover you herewith one of our papers of the day, which 
 will communicate an idea of the proceedings of Congress. Of other news 
 we are very barren here. 
 
 The Committee on Claims have, contrary to my expectations, reported 
 unfavorably upon our militia-claims, although the Secretary of War had 
 made a favorable report, which was referred to them. I yet hope, as their 
 report is bottomed upon an opinion directly opposite to all the documents 
 before them, that we shall procure an order for payment whenever the 
 report is acted upon. At present we have a very thin House; and. Gen. 
 Meriwether being one of the members absent, we shaU avoid acting upon 
 the report for some time, in order for the absent members being again in 
 their places. 
 
 I have not heard any thing from our State Legislature except the ap- 
 pointment of their State officers. I fear they will adjourn before they 
 will have it in their power to act upon the resolutions which passed here, 
 proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States relative 
 to the election of President and Vice-President. I think it a subject of 
 very high importance, and would be very sorry if we should be compelled 
 to go again to that election hoodwinked as heretofore. The lively recol- 
 lection of the situation we were placed in at the last Presidential election 
 produces my anxiety on the present occasion. 
 
 Accept my best wishes for health and prosperity. With compliments 
 of the season, I am, respectfully, your fellow-citizen, 
 
 S. Hammond. 
 
 XI. GOT. MITCHELL TO GEN. DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Mtlledgevule, August 4, 1813. 
 Dear Sir : — From the representations I have received of the fears 
 of our people on the frontier, under the present state of Indian hostility, I 
 
 * Col. Hammond was an ofEcer in the Revolution, was elected to Congress from 
 Georria in 1802, and, after filling various public employments under the General 
 Government, served as Secretary of State of South Carolina. He died, September 
 11, 1842, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. See his biography in White's Historical 
 CoUeotions, p. 624. 
 
412 MEMOIR OF 6ENEEAL 
 
 have to request that you will proceed to that part of the frontier within 
 your brigade, and adopt such measures as will afford some security to the 
 inhabitants, until the troops now ordered to be got in readiness are 
 marched to the attack of the Indians. 
 
 You will report to me what you deem necessary in this respect, and 
 have as much regard to economy as the nature of the case will admit. 
 
 I am, dear sir, with great regard and esteem, your very obedient servant, 
 
 D. B. Mitchell. 
 
 XII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO LT. COL. E. WIMBERLY. 
 
 August 7, 1813. 
 (General Orders.) 
 
 Sir : — Agreeably to orders from his Excellency the Governor, of the 4th 
 instant, you will proceed without delay to call out of your regiment one 
 subaltern, one sergeant, one corporal, and fifteen privates to each of the 
 three forts to be built on the frontier of your county, whose duty it will 
 be to erect the said forts agreeable to the plan enclosed. You will relieve 
 the said detachments once every week by the same number, until you re- 
 ceive further orders. Those at Forts Telfair and Twiggs will be furnished 
 with rations by Mr. Drury Williams, and Fort Jackson by Mr. William 
 Jemison. Should any thing transpire to excite further alarms, you will 
 communicate it to me without further delay. 
 
 You will call on some expert captain, in whom you have confidence, to 
 take command of the whole detachment, whose duty it will be to super- 
 intend the aforesaid works and the discipline of the troops. 
 
 I am, &c., D. Blackshear, 
 
 Brigadier- General 2d Brigade bih Division. 
 
 Note in the Order-Booh. — Similar orders were given to Col. Allen 
 Tooke, of Pulaski county. Major James Taylor is appointed to furnish 
 the men building the forts in said county. 
 
 There were also similar orders given to Major Cawthom, of Telfair 
 county, who is authorized to make a contract to furnish the troops build- 
 ing the forts on the frontier of that county. 
 
 XIII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO GOV. MITCHELL. 
 
 Oconee, August 13, 1813. 
 
 Sir : — I have just returned from my tour on the frontier of my brigade, 
 where I found the inhabitants in a high state of alarm, — an immense 
 number of whom had left and fled to the interior. 
 
 I proceeded to lay off three forts on the frontier of Twiggs county, (at 
 about ten miles distant from each other,) about one hundred feet square, 
 to have two block-houses, and enclosed with a stockade eight feet above 
 ground, — and ordered one subaltern, a sergeant, a corporal, and fifteen 
 privates to each, and a captain to command and superintend the buildings, 
 and discipline of the men. 
 
 In Pulaski, having a greater extent of frontier, I laid out four, to be 
 built in the same manner as those in Twiggs, and the same number of 
 men to each, commanded by a captain. 
 
 I then proceeded to Telfair, and laid out three, ninety feet square, and 
 ordered one sergeant, a corporal, and twelve privates to each, and a subal- 
 tern to command the whole, to be relieved every ten days until further 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 413 
 
 orders. I employed persons to furnish those men caJIed out with meat, 
 meal, and salt until some arrangement can be made. 
 
 This plan of defence, with the addition of two horsemen to each fort to 
 reconnoitre on the other side of the river as far as the next fort, I should 
 deem sufficient even in time of actual danger, which protection will be 
 a great inducement to those who have left their homes to return. Those 
 in Telfair should have the same force as the other counties ; but that 
 county is thinly inhabited, and the men called out are from the frontier- 
 counties. 
 
 Should this plan meet your Excellency's approbation, I shall imme- 
 diately order men from Wilkinson and Laurens to relieve them ; and, if it 
 should be deemed proper to reduce or augment the force thus ordered out, 
 any other order your Excellency may think proper to give shall be at- 
 tended to with the utmost promptness. My exertions, together with your 
 letter to Col. Tooke reiterating that the frontier should be protected, had 
 great eflTect in removing the apprehension of danger. Should there be any 
 arms and ammunition to spare, those forts in Telfair county will stand in 
 need of some. I am, &c., D. Biackshear, 
 
 Briga dier- General. 
 
 P.S. — ^I send this express by Mr. Maddux, by whom I can receive any 
 communication you may think proper to make. D. B. 
 
 XIV. GOV. MITCHELL TO GEN. BLACKSHEAB. 
 
 MlLLEDGEVILIE, AugUSt 14, 1813. 
 
 Sir : — Tour letter of yesterday I have this moment received by Mr. 
 Maddux express. I hope the inhabitants of the frontier in your brigade 
 will be satisfied with the measures you have adopted, although I am fear- 
 ful the expense will be very considerable. I shall rely upon the inhabitants 
 in that quarter doing all they can to make the burden as light as pos- 
 sible to the State in her present situation, when all her resources will be 
 wanted to carry on an active campaign against the enemy. 
 
 I have thought, since I saw you, that the best mode of securing the 
 whole of our lower frontier will be to erect a fort and block-house on the 
 middle ridge over the river, between that and the Ekau-fo-no-ko Swamp, 
 and occupy it with a suitable garrison. This would save us the trouble 
 and expense of garrisons for all the forts along our frontier, and would 
 hold the Indians in complete check. The objection that it is Indian 
 country can be easily obviated by obtaining the consent of the G-eneral 
 Government, and the friendly Indians, if necessary. In the mean time, 
 the posts you have marked out will keep our frontiers in quiet. 
 
 I returned yesterday from a tour to Fort Hawkins, and from thence to 
 Clinton, Monticello, and Eatonton. Nothing new has occurred. I expect 
 to issue an order for the march of the troops to the frontier next week. 
 
 I am, with high consideration and respect, your very obedient servant, 
 
 I). B. Mitchell. 
 
 The express is in such haste to get back that I have not detained him 
 an hour. 
 
 XV. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO LT. COIi. JOSEPH BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 September 3, 1813. 
 (Brigade Orders.) 
 
 SiE : — ^It is but too manifest that a part of the militia of your county 
 called out by the authority of the United States in the late expedition to 
 
414 MEMOIK OF GENERAL 
 
 Point Petre, either from a disregard to the laws of their country, or from 
 some other cause, failed to perform the duties required of them. I have 
 therefore ordered the captains under whom they were liable to serve to 
 report to you a list of all such defaulters as belong to your county, on the 
 receipt of which you will order a regimental court of inquiry and have 
 the said defaulters duly notified, and will proceed to the trial under the 
 militia law of this State, the eighteenth section of which will completely 
 reach their case. I am, &c., 
 
 D. Blacksheak, 
 
 Brigadier- General. 
 
 Similar orders were issued to Lieut. Cols. Wimberly, Cawley, Tooke, 
 and Major Com't Cawthom, of Telfair county. 
 
 XVI. — GEN. BLACKSHEAE TO COL. WIMBEELT. 
 
 FoKT Twiggs, September 14, 1813. 
 
 Sir : — The danger of an immediate invasion on the frontier appears to 
 have subsided for the present. A detachment of troops having marched 
 out to Flint River will, in my opinion, give security to the frontier. You 
 will therefore discharge the men ordered out on the frontier of your 
 county. I am, sir, &c., 
 
 D. Blacksheae, 
 
 Brigadier- General. 
 
 XVn. — MAJ. GEN. ADAMS TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 lIiLLEDGEViLLE, November 19, 1813. 
 (Division Orders.) 
 
 General orders of the 12th instant require me to raise, in the Fifth 
 Division, one hundred and fifty men, seventy-five of whom, including 
 non-commissioned officers, will be furnished from your brigade, to be 
 taken from the first class of miUtia. When a classification has taken 
 place in conformity with general orders of the 19th day of September, 
 1812, nine good horses must be furnished by the men of your brigade. 
 You will take care to have attached to the privates and non-commissioned 
 officers the proper and requisite captains and subalterns according to the 
 number you detach from your command, — viz. : one captain, one lieu- 
 tenant, and one ensign ; and you will cause a full and accurate return to 
 be made to the commander-in-chief of this State, and to Major James 
 Patton, of Twiggs county, with as little delay as possible. Should a 
 voluntary tender of services of a sufficient number render detaching 
 unnecessary, they should be accepted. 
 
 You will view the frontier-line in your brigade, and select places for 
 the erection of block-houses, and cause the necessary stockading to be laid 
 ofl' at proper and advantageous sites, and suitable distances between ten 
 and twenty miles from each other. You will remember that block-houses 
 have been erected in the counties of Twiggs, Pulaski, and Telfair. They 
 should be retained if by alteration or repairing they can be made to 
 answer the purpose of defence. As soon as the troops shall have volun- 
 teered, or be detached, you will command them to march in equal ratios 
 to the difierent places on the frontier-line which you will have designated 
 and selected for the erection of block-houses. In distributing the number 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 415 
 
 required from yonr command, you will exempt those companies which lie 
 immediately on the frontier-line of each county from the performance of 
 this duty, as their services may be wanted in ease of an actual attack or 
 invasion, for which service they should be held in constant readiness. 
 The term of service of the troops called out under these orders will be 
 sixty days, at the expiration of which time they wiU be discharged. 
 
 Should the situation of the country require it at the expiration of that 
 term, others will be ordered out to relieve them. 
 
 By order of Major-General David Adams : 
 
 James Woodeufp, 
 
 Aide-de- Gamp. 
 
 XVni. GOV. EAKLT TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 Mllledgevule, December 2, 1813. 
 Dear Sib. : — Tour two letters by Mr. Spear were safely deUvered. 
 The Legislature will adjourn the day after to-morrow, and you can readily 
 perceive that I can only snatch a moment to address you. The pay-roll 
 shall have an early attention. The service performed by you must be 
 duly appreciated by the State. Nothing has occurred here worth men- 
 tioning since you left us. 
 
 I thank you for your ideas on the subject of defence along the route 
 you have marked. I will take that subject into consideration as speedily 
 as possible. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 xix.— gov. early to gen. blackshear. 
 
 ExECtiTrrE Depaktmest, G-eobgia, Muledgeville, January 4, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — It has become necessary, in consequence of the disability of 
 Brigadier-General Floyd to take the field, that some officer of the same 
 rank should be detailed from the militia of this State to assume the com- 
 mand of the army from Georgia, now in the service of the United States 
 against the hostile Creek Indians. 
 
 The task of doing this devolves upon me. In discharging a trust so 
 important to the public interest, I shall look §olely to the good of the ser- 
 vice • and, with this alone in view, I now tender you the command of the 
 
 army. 
 
 Permit me to believe that you will not hesitate a moment to accept it. 
 The operations during the remainder of the campaign are intended to be 
 entirely active. Preparations are already made for an immediate forward 
 movement to the Tallapoosa River, and that movement will take place 
 immediately on your taking the command. The time is short; but, with 
 every necessary preparation already made, much may be done by the close 
 of the campaign. As the army is now only waiting for a commander, 
 permit me to request that you will repair to this place without the least 
 delay. Here you will receive your instructions from Major-General 
 Pinckney, and can repair forthwith to the scene of operations. 
 
 I am, dear sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 xx. gen. blackshear to gov. early. 
 
 Camp, ten miles south op Flint Eivee, January 13, 1814. 
 
 gjg . I have just received your Excellency's despatch by the hand of 
 
 Captain Lane, dated the 10th instant, vrith the enclosed copies of an order 
 
416 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 from Major-General Mcintosh, and the report from Col. Hawkins on 
 ■which the order is forwarded for my again pursuing the object of my first 
 expedition. 
 
 I have remained silent on the subject of Col. Hawkins s numerous 
 reports until silence on that subject would cease to be a virtue. Such 
 ambicnious reports are calculated to keep the army bandied about without 
 ever having it in the power of any commander to effect any thing. 
 
 When I first arrived at Camp Hope the Miccasukie Indians were repre- 
 sented as hostile, the British force at the Appala«hicola few in number, 
 the Red Sticks, or hostile Indians, at about three hundred. At Perry- 
 man's, before I left that place, the Miccasukies were represented as 
 friendly, the Seminoles hostile. I endeavored to find out who were the 
 Seminoles ; but all the information on that subject was so vague and eva- 
 sive, and contained so many ambiguities, — the same reports at diflerent 
 times explained differently, — the same Indian towns represented at dif- 
 ferent times by different names, all calculated to mislead any officer who 
 was credulous enough not to suspect some design. 
 
 The day after I left Camp Hope I received an order from Gen. 
 Mcintosh, grounded on another report, that fourteen thousand British 
 troops were at the mouth of this river. Now there are a few, some 
 Indians and some negroes, and the Miccasukies have been killing people 
 in Wayne county; and, after all this, it is thought one battalion will be 
 sufficient to conquer the whole of them with the co-operation of Col. 
 Hawkins's seven hundred Indians, and that without artillery or rifles. 
 
 If I had the planning of the expedition, (and which I deem of the first 
 importance to Georgia,) I should ask a full regiment, exclusive of detach- 
 ments to guard my dep6ts, if Col. Hawkins and his seven hundred troops 
 remained at Fort Mitchell ; but if they were to go and co-operate with 
 me, I should want at least fifteen hundred effective men, besides officers. 
 No calculation can be made on any advantage that can result from the 
 colonel and his red force. If your Excellency will only turn to the letter 
 which I saw published two or three weeks since, grounded on one of 
 these reports, stating the receipt of a letter from Linebaugh, dated the 
 15th of November, the contents of which were reported to Gen. Mcintosh 
 about the 18th of December; stating the intelligence of the ten ships and 
 fourteen thousand British at the mouth of the river, — if the date of that 
 letter comports with the one I received, it will be seen that it was some- 
 thing more than a month from Linebaugh to Col. Hawkins, and was not 
 communicated to Gen. Mcintosh until after I marched from Camp Hope. 
 
 If Gen. Jackson or Gen. Mcintosh believe that they can induce Col. 
 Hawkins and his red regiment to fight, why not march them to Mobile ? 
 Why send them where they are not wanted ? I know of no other service 
 they can or will render with me but to employ one-half my force to watch 
 them, and to punish us if we should meet with a repulse; for I should 
 calculate as certain on their turning on us and assisting the enemy in our 
 destruction. But I am aware of them, and told Gen. Mcintosh that I 
 did not want that force with me ; that if Bamett and about one hundred 
 of his Indians were to go with me I should' have no objection. 
 
 A great number of my men are sick. Three have died since I crossed 
 the Ocmulgee, three more like to die, about ninety sick and convalescent. 
 A number deserted. I have about seven hundred effectives to guard my 
 places of deposit which I must necessarily establish, to destroy all the hos- 
 tile Indians, all the negroes, and all the British at the mouth of this river. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 417 
 
 and at the same time keep an artful commander and seven hundred war- 
 riors in check. Of my situation your Excellency may judge. If I can 
 only obtain grovisions, (and of which I have but little doubt if Captain 
 Lane continues here,) I think we shall ^ve a good account of ourselves 
 before long. We shall have to beat meal a few days until the supplies 
 can get on. I shall wait here to-day, and then return back to Flint River, 
 and there act as my orders and circumstances require. 
 
 There is a six-pound piece of ordnance in Hartford which might be of 
 great service to us if it was mounted and we had ball. 
 
 On my arrival at this place I examined my ammunition, and find the 
 powder fit for nothing but to bum in artillery or to practise with blank- 
 cartridges. My cartridges are too small to load and prime, and some of 
 them in bad condition. If your Excellency could let me have some powder 
 of a good quality, I could go into action with much more confidence.* 
 
 XXI. — ^FEOM GOV. EAbLT TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 MlLLEDOETILLE, April 19, 1814. 
 
 Dear Sib : — ^I have for some time forborne taking any definitive steps 
 in relation to the contemplated road fi«m Ocmulgee to St. Mary's, though 
 we wish to have an understanding with Col. Hawkins which might prevent 
 any thing unpleasant from arising between us and the friendly Indians. 
 This understanding is now efi"ected, and there is no obstacle remaining 
 against proceeding immediately to the accomplishment of the object. 
 
 To concert properly the arrangements and preparations, so that it may 
 progress spee£ly and be executed judiciously, is a matter very desirable. 
 For this purpose I wish to have with you a personal interview. If, there- 
 fore, it be not too troublesome, I hope and request that you will, as early 
 as may be convenient to you, come to this place. 
 
 Major James Taylor has offered to famish all supplies. 
 
 I am, sir, with high regard, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peteb Eablt. 
 
 XXH. MAJOa-GENERAL ADAMS TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Heab-Quaetebs, 15th Division G. M. 
 
 Sm : — ^In pursuance of general orders from the commander-in-chief of 
 the militia of this State, you will, immediately on the receipt of this 
 order, cause the whole of the first class of the militia within your brigade 
 to be assembled at the respective court-houses of the counties in which 
 they reside, for the purpose of being trained and disciplined by their 
 company-officers at least one day in every two weeks. 
 
 It is to be understood that the troops (if not already done) are to be 
 oiganized into companies until they are ordered to take the field, and that 
 each company shall consist of one captain, one first lieut«nani^ one second 
 lieutenant, one third lieutenant, one ensign, five sergeants, six corporals, 
 two musicians, and one hundred privates. A muster-roll of each com- 
 
 * The letters from Gen. Blackshear here published, to which no signattire is 
 attached, are from the rough drafts in his handwriting, or from the Order-Book. 
 Vol. 'l.— 27 
 
418 MEMOIK OF GENEKAL 
 
 pany, with the names alphabetically arranged, will be returned to me 
 without delay. 
 
 By order of Major-General Adams : 
 
 William Cook, 
 
 Aide-de- Camp. 
 
 XXIII. GOV. EAKLY TO GEN. BLACKSHBAB. 
 
 ExECUTiTB Depaetmebt, Geobgu, Milledgbville, July 16, 1814. 
 
 Sib : — It has become my duty to appoint the general officers who are 
 to command the first class of the militia of this State. There will be to 
 the detachment one major-general and two brigadiers. Yourself and Gen. 
 Floyd are fixed on as the brigadiers. Be pleased to inform me as early as 
 possible whether you will accept. 
 
 I am, with high regard, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peteb Eablt. 
 
 xxiv. gen. blacksheab to gov. eablt. 
 
 Oconee, July 20, 1814. 
 Sib : — ^I this day received yours of the 16th inst., in which you have 
 honored me with a tender of the command of one of the brigades composed 
 of the first class of the militia of this State. I beg leave, therefore, to 
 signify to your Excellency that I am at all times ready promptly to accept 
 that or any other appointment you may think proper to confer on me in 
 which it is in my power to serve my country. 
 
 Believe me to be, with highest consideration, respect, and esteem, sir, 
 your Excellency's humble servant, 
 
 David Blacksheae, 
 Brigadier- General. 
 
 XXV. — FEEDEEICK FEEEMAN TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 Executive Depaetmeht, Geokgia, Milledoeville, Angnst 25, 1814. 
 
 Deab Sib : — I have just received your letter of this morning by Mr. 
 Bane, and, as his Excellency is not now at the seat of Government, have 
 thought proper to give you my opinion upon the subject to which it 
 relates. 
 
 "We have certainly good reasons to calculate upon military operations 
 from this quarter at no distant period ; and it is equally certain that, in 
 that event, the tools and camp-equipage spoken of will not be a burden to 
 the troops. I therefore accord with you in the opinion that they had 
 better be "retained for further public use;" for, although the General 
 Government will be expected to furnish those articles, yet we know how 
 deficient they have been on former occasions. At all events, no injury 
 can result to the State by suspending the sale of them until you can hear 
 from his Excellency upon the subject. He will be here on Monday 
 next. 
 
 Col. Hawkins has written to the Governor that the enemy at Appalachi- 
 cola have ten vessels, — are using all stratagems in their power to deceive 
 the Indians and unite them in their cause. They are training some 
 Indians and negroes in military tactics for purposes hostile to us, telling 
 them that seven nations have combined to put down France, and are now 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 419 
 
 united and determined to conquer America. All this is stuff to dupe the 
 poor devils. 
 
 Gen. Jackson has terminated his negotiations with the Creeks, (says 
 Col. Hawkins.) The line of limits drawn from them is Coosa River 
 (reserving two miles square for Fort Williams) to the falls seven miles 
 above Fort Jackson ; thence across to the Tallapoosa at the mouth of 
 Opickshee Creek ; thence up said creek ten miles ; thence to Chattahoo- 
 chee, at the mouth of Sum-mo-chi-co Creek, and thence east to Georgia, 
 (supposed to strike the Ocmulgee near the commencement of the new 
 road cut out by your brother,) with an occasional reserve to accommodate 
 the Kinnards. All below the line belongs to the United States. 
 
 I have to beg you to excuse my scrawl, for I write in haste, as the 
 bearer is waiting, and I expect you would like to know the facts I have 
 written. 
 
 For fear that you may not have seen the last general order relative to 
 the organization of the first class, I send enclosed herewith a copy ; and 
 am, with high respect. 
 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Fred. Freeman. 
 
 N.B. — I am not a candidate, nor can I reconcile it to myself to be 
 one ; but I shall be with you when you are called on to take the field, if 
 upon my own expenses. 
 
 XXVI. — GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 Executive Department, Georgia, Milledgetiile, September 1, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — ^I had the honor in due time to receive your letter accepting the 
 appointment which had been tendered to you in the first class of militia 
 ordered to be held in readiness for the field. 
 
 When I determined on organizing this detachment, and on having them 
 ready for service, I took the step from a conviction that the crisis rendered 
 it necessary. I had not then received from the War Department any 
 requisition or instructions on the subject. Two days after the date of my 
 letter to you, a requisition from the War Department was received at this 
 ofSce for detaching, organizing, and holding in readiness three thousand 
 five hundred militia for United States service. This requisition prescribes 
 one major-general and two brigadiers. Our movements were, therefore, 
 fortunately timed. The same major-general and brigadiers will command, 
 should it alone be ordered into service. 
 
 I have now, after immense difficulties arising from the law of the last 
 Legislature, nearly completed the organization of the whole of the first 
 class, save from Floyd's brigade. That brigade, for obvious reasons, is to 
 remain untouched. In ten days at farthest, the quota, or the whole of 
 the first class, will be completely ready to march. If the quota only is to 
 be used, it can at once be ordered from such parts of the State as may 
 be deemed most advisable. 
 
 The elections for company and field officers I have ordered to be held 
 at home. The former have all taken place ; the latter will be over within 
 ten days. I have thought it proper to communicate these matters to 
 yourself and the other general officers appointed for this command. The 
 distance of all of you from the seat of Government has deprived me of the 
 benefit of your advice ; but I have proceeded with an honest zeal to do 
 
420 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 that which my best judgment prescribed. The issue I leave to Provi- 
 dence and the courage of my countrymen. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with high regard, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 XXVII. — COL. ALLEN TOOKE TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 Habtfobd, September 8, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — ^I have this day received information from Christian Linebaugh, 
 assistant agent, which contains alarming news; and, in order that you may 
 be fully acquainted with the same, I hereunto annex a copy of the official 
 note received for your perusal : — 
 
 " Chattahoochee Camp, neae. Foet Mitchell, September 4, 1814. 
 " To the Inhabitants of Pulaski county and the town of Hartford. 
 
 " It becomes my duty to make known to my fellow-citizens of Georgia 
 that I have received information from down this river that the Seminole 
 Indians are preparing to make an attack upon Hartford or this place. 
 They have as yet not determined at which place they will strike first. If 
 the information I have received is correct, Hartford, or that neighbor- 
 hood, will be the first place they will aim for. I think it would be advi- 
 sable for the inhabitants to be watchful, and have guards and spies out in 
 that quarter, and be prepared for the events. In a short time we shall 
 know how affairs will be with these Lower Indians. 
 
 "I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Christian Linebaugh, 
 "Principal Assistant- Agent for Indian Affairs 
 
 Creek Nation." 
 
 Sir, I have repeatedly laid letters before you which go to prove the 
 foregoing facts : therefore I have to ask your pardon for intruding on you, 
 which I hope you will grant. The foregoing has created great alarm 
 among the inhabitants of this county. I have therefore ordered an 
 ensign's command to Forts Pike, Greene, and Lawrence, and forty pri- 
 vates, a lieutenant, two sergeants, and two corporals to Fort MitcheU, and 
 one captain to take command of the 'whole. I am somewhat at a loss 
 respecting the furnishing the provisions : therefore I hope you will instruct 
 me immediately, as I have not laid the orders I have given before his 
 Excellency the Governor. 
 
 The first class of militia being organized and given up for the United 
 States service, I have thought proper not to order or request them to per- 
 form any service unless in case of invasion : therefore you will be so 
 good as to instruct me whether or not I should order the first class into 
 service. 
 
 As we are very weak after deducting the first class, which is within 
 your own knowledge, I hope you will as early as possible aid us in the 
 protection of our defenceless frontier. 
 
 I am your most obedient servant, 
 
 Allen Tookb, 
 Lieutenant- Colonel 36<A Regiment 
 Georgia Militia. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 421 
 
 XXVIII. — GOV. EABLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAK. 
 Head-Qcakters, Geokgia, MiLLEDGEViLLE, September 17, 1814. 
 (General Order.) 
 
 It being represented to the commander-in-cliief that the Indian frontier 
 on the counties of Twiggs, Pulaski, and Telfair is menaced with depreda- 
 tions from the hostile Indians, Brigadier-General Blackshear will order 
 some prudent and judicious officer, with a patrol of cavalry, consisting of 
 twenty privates, armed with guns, to explore the country between the 
 Ocmulgee, opposite Hartford, and Flint Eiver, at, below, and above the 
 Hitchee Town. 
 
 The object of the expedition is twofold : — first, to ascertain whether 
 any hostile Indians are lurking in that quarter; secondly, to ascertain 
 the best practicable route for a road from Hartford to Flint River, striking 
 the latter below the mouth of We-cuy-wau Creek. The officer who shall 
 be ordered on this service will be charged carefully to avoid any interrup- 
 tion with friendly Indians. 
 
 By order of the commander-in-chief : 
 
 Anthony Porter, 
 Secretary 
 
 XXIX. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO CAPTAIN RICHARD THOMAS. 
 
 Ocmulgee, September 19, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — I am directed by the commander-in-chief of this State to order 
 some prudent and judicious officer, with a patrol of cavalry, consisting of 
 twenty privates armed with guns, to explore the country between the Oc- 
 mulgee, opposite Hartford, and Flint River, at, below, and above Hitchee 
 Town. The object of the expedition is twofold : — first, to ascertain 
 whether any hostile Indians are lurking in that quarter; second, to 
 ascertain the best practicable route for a road from Hartford to Flint 
 River, striking the latter below the mouth of We-cuy-wau Creek. 
 
 I have, therefore, with the public interest alone in view, thought propeir 
 to call on yourself. You will with the least possible delay take the afore- 
 said number of privates, who will furnish themselves with about six or 
 seven days' provisions, and arms as above directed, and perform the said 
 tour of service; and at the same time be careful to avoid any interruption 
 with friendly Indians ; and immediately on your return make your report 
 to the commander-in-chief. 
 
 Believe me to be, with the highest cousideration and respect, sir, your 
 humble servant, D. Blackshear, 
 
 Brigadier- General. 
 
 XXX. — ezekiel park to gen. blackshear. 
 
 Gkeensboeo, October 13, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — It is anticipated that you will have the command of the new 
 requisition of militia ordered into service by the United States from the 
 State of Georgia. An old citizen of this place, (Dr. William W. Strain,) 
 quite eminent in his profession and other public business, is desirous of 
 promoting his country's cause by tendering his services in the direct line 
 of his profession. Should it be in your power to confer upon him the 
 
422 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 appointment of hospital-surgeon, you will highly gratify the solicitations 
 of a number of his and your friends. 
 
 I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 E. Park. 
 
 XXXI.— GOV. early to gen. blackshear. 
 Hbad-Quaeteks, Geoegia, Milledgeville, October 21, 1814. 
 (General Orders.) 
 
 The commander-in-chief of the militia of this State, having been required 
 by a letter from the Secretary of War, dated 25th September ultimo, to 
 organise, arm, and equip two thousand five hundred of the militia of 
 Georgia, detached conformably to the orders of the War Department of the 
 4th of July last, to be held in readiness to join Major-General Jackson, 
 now in the Western country near Mobile, and by a second letter, dated 
 the 10th of October instant, to put in march as soon as practicable the 
 said detachment, orders and directs the following-described regiments, or 
 corps of the first class of militia, to be marched by their respective com- 
 manders to Fort Hawkins, on the Ocmulgee River, by Mon&y, the 21st 
 day of November ensuing, viz. : — 
 
 The regiment detached from Major-General Daniel's division, com- 
 manded by Col. David 8. Booth, and the regiment commanded by Col. 
 Ezekiel Wimberly, detached from Brigadier-General Blackshear's brigade, 
 including the two companies of the first class from Brigadier-General 
 Lee's brigade, in Jones county, and also a volunteer company of artillery 
 commanded by Captain James Saffold, in Clinton, Jones county. 
 
 The commanding officers of the foregoing detachments will direct the 
 captains of companies to require of their men to provide themselves with 
 provisions, and employ a baggage-wagon to accompany their several com- 
 manders from the place of their march until they reach the rendezvous, 
 for the purpose of transporting such articles of camping and cooking-uten- 
 sils as may be provided by the men for their own comfort and convenience 
 during the campaign. 
 
 At Fort Hawkins they will be furnished with provisions by the United 
 States Army Contractor. They will likewise be furnished at the same 
 place with arms and accoutrements ; but it would be very desirable that 
 all persons who can furnish themselves with rifles, shot-pouches, &c. to 
 do so, as they might be formed into companies of riflemen after their arri- 
 val at the rendezvous. 
 
 The officers commanding regiments and companies are therefore directed 
 and required to use their best endeavors to procure as many of this species 
 of arms as possible, because of their great value in the mode of warfare 
 which will in all likelihood be pursued by our enemy. Substitutes may 
 be received, provided they be able-bodied, strong, and healthy men, by the 
 captains at or before their arrival at the place of rendezvous, but not after 
 their march from thence. 
 
 Major-General John Mcintosh and Brigadier-General David Blackshear 
 will command this detachment of militia. 
 
 By order of the commander-in-chief: 
 
 Daniel Newnan, 
 
 Adjutant- General. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 423 
 
 XXXII. FAEISH CAttTER TO GEN. BLACKSHEAK. 
 
 FoBT Hawkins, Noyember 23, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — Yesterday I notified the quartermaster of the regiment that I 
 should be ready to issue provisions to them at sunrise, and, in consequence 
 of the late hour they arrived to draw provisions, there is considerable com- 
 plaint of the meat being kiUed last evening. 
 
 You will be pleased to make known to me the hour that provisions are 
 to be issued, and will appoint some one to inspect the same before they 
 are ofiFered to be issued, as the loose way of doing business as heretofore, 
 of every man inspecting the provisions, is not admissible by my contract. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with respect and regard, sir, your obedient ser- 
 vant, Fakish Cakter, 
 
 Army Contractor. 
 
 XXXm. — FAEISH CARTER TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 FoKT Hawkejs, November 23, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — Having applied to the commanding officer of this post for an 
 escort for the protection of the cattle and hogs designed for the army, and 
 having received for answer that it will be out of his power to comply with 
 the requisition, owing to the limited force under his command, he requests 
 that I should apply to you on the subject. The beef and pork are ready to 
 start. You will oblige me by stating if it will be in your power to furnish 
 the necessary escort in the morning. 
 
 Yours, with respect and regard, Farish Carter, 
 
 Army Contractor. 
 
 XXXIV. — MAJOR-GENERAL McINTOSH TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 FoET Hawkins, November 23, 1814. 
 
 (Detachment Orders.) 
 
 Brigadier-General Blackshear will proceed to organize the detachment 
 now assembled at this place into two regiments and a battalion, agreeable 
 to the enclosed table, which will be his guide. 
 
 Col. Wimberly's regiment, being far short of its complement, must be 
 completed by companies of the second class of militia from the counties 
 of Jasper and Morgan. These will be entitled to choose a major. 
 
 The battalion will be formed of Captain Saffold's artillery-company, 
 three rifle-companies, commanded by Captains Henry Lane, Samuel Lane, 
 and Thomas Anderson, and one line-company of the second class from the 
 county of Morgan. Col. Booth's regiment being full without Captain 
 Anderson's rifle-company, which is directed to form a part of the bat- 
 talion. The battalion will be entitled to elect a lieutenant-colonel and 
 one major. 
 
 Major Philip Cook will inspect and muster the troops when thus 
 organized. 
 
 The contractor will issue the rations in future at the camp, where regi- 
 mental deposits must be provided for the reception of rations, and the 
 regimental quartermasters will attend to receive their rations. 
 
 General Blackshear wiU appoint two discreet persons to inspect the beef 
 or pork before it is issued ; and, should said inspectors reject as unwhole- 
 some any part of the rations offered to the troops, the contractor is imme- 
 
424 MEMOIR OF GBNEKAL 
 
 diately to be apprized of the same, being his property, that he may make 
 the best dispositioa he can of any part of the rations le^Uy rejected as 
 unwholesome,— the troops having no control over what is not issued to 
 them. The rations will be issued at sunnse every morning. 
 
 Returns of the state of the army must be made without delay, that tbe 
 general commanding may be apprized of the delinquency in his command 
 The general flatters himself that every officer attached to his command 
 will feel the necessity of his strict attention to the duties devolved on him 
 from his station, and that good order, and a disposition to forward the 
 interest and welfare of our country, will pervade the army he has the 
 
 honor to command. , -rr • :. o. ^ a 
 
 The Rules and Articles of War which govern the Umted States Army 
 are to be the rule and guide of our conduct. They are therefore to be 
 read to the army by the commanding officers of companies at least once 
 a week. This order will be communicated through the adjutants of 
 regiments. 
 
 By order of Major-General John Mcintosh : 
 
 Thomas Hatson Harden, 
 
 Aide-dC'Gamp. 
 
 XXXV. — MAJOR MAEK HARDIN TO GEN. BLACKSHEAB. 
 
 Camp Covingtok, November 27, 1814. 
 Dear Genebai. : — This is the third time I have sat down to write you 
 since the army has pitched its encampment. I was defeated, having been 
 obliged to attend to other business. I did hope to have received an answer 
 to my letter from Savannah (soon after my arrival at that place) ere this, 
 but was always disappointed. I cannot account for this in any other way 
 than that you have been as busy as I have, though I don't know this to 
 be the cause ; yet I am induced to believe it as the most plausible from 
 what must have been, and must now be, your situation. I know you had 
 a very correct idea of the trouble of managing a large body of raw troops 
 before, which I presume you must by this time find realized. There is 
 no doubt but an officer commanding mUitia in the service, and does his 
 duty, fully earns his money. 
 
 There is a report here that Gen. Jackson has had another fight with 
 the British and was victorious, having had it in his power to count four 
 hundred of the enemy slain on the field, with the great disparity of loss 
 of only one hundred on our side. God grant the truth of this report ! 
 The privateer Gen. Armstrong has lately been taken, as you will see by 
 the enclosed handbill. The Wasp has been doing great things lately. 
 Oh, what a fine fellow Blakely is ! 
 
 It appears that our affiiirs at the North are yet badly managed. What 
 Gen. Brown had gloriously fought for during the summer, Gen Izard has 
 been obliged to give up in the fall. This is truly unfortunate, for we 
 shall again have to begin the work next year. Whether this misfortune 
 is to be imputed to Gen. Izard or not, I am not yet sufficiently convinced, 
 and hope it is not. One thing is certain : the general is not as popular in 
 the country as he has been. 
 
 I am every day more confirmed in my good opinion of Governor Early. 
 The stand which he has taken against the alleviating-system is sufficient 
 to convince any reasonable man of his independence ; and his reasons for 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 425 
 
 not signing the bill is a substantial evidence of his correct knowledge of 
 human nature, and judgment in the proper form of government. I am 
 well aware that if the law is opened now it will distress a number of 
 citizens : but there is another fact which long experience has taught us 
 equally true ; that is, the longer the law is suspended the more deeply 
 those citizens will be involved. 
 
 It is reported here that a battalion of the troops which are now at your 
 head-quarters took Milledgeville in their route thither, and while there 
 behaved most ridiculously, threatening to force the Legislature to act as 
 they should dictate as soon as they got arms in their hands. On this 
 occasion, it is said, the Governor gave an additional proof of his firmness 
 by going to the officer who had command of them and ordering him to 
 march immediately, or he would put him where he could be found again. 
 I hope to God this is not tnie. Though it is credibly reported, yet I 
 can't believe that there are that number of the citizens of Georgia who 
 are so hardened in corruption. If it is true, my God, what a motley face 
 it will carry abroad I It will place a stain on the character of a Georgian 
 that the present generation will scarcely be able to wipe off, no matter how 
 correct their conduct may be in future. 
 
 The wars in Europe appear to be reviving. It is said Austria has a large 
 force in the field. France has also a large force ready for exigencies, and Lord 
 Hill will be ordered elsewhere than to America. This augurs something 
 in favor of us. Lord send that they may get to pulling each others' wool 
 in Europe again ! This may be a wicked prayer, but I can't believe it ; 
 for I do think that every prayer which is made for the good of our coun- 
 try is a religious one, though it may be ushered from the heart and through 
 the lips of one who is called by the professors of religion a sinner; and I 
 do think that this prayer is for the good of our country, because it will 
 compel (speaking ironically) our old friend King George to keep some of 
 those invincible troops which he has been threatening us with, at home, 
 for other purposes of more immediate importance to him, thereby leaving 
 it more in our power to bring him to a speedy accommodation with us. 
 Adieu, for the present, to the affairs of Europe : Stop ! I must ask you.' 
 if you don't think Napoleon is only sleeping. 
 
 My dear sir, I have so little time for private correspondence that I can't 
 copy this letter, — therefore must request that you will receive it with its 
 blots as one that I can only offer in place of another without blots. 
 
 Our troops improve much in discipline. I drill the officers separately 
 every morning, and the brigade at ten o'clock. This, in addition to the 
 writing-part of my duty, I can assure you, is enough for any one man to 
 attend to. I am informed that Major Easter is your assistant adjutant^ 
 general : he will make a good officer. 
 
 In writing to Mrs. Blackshear, I'll thank you to tender my respects to 
 her and Miss Bush. You will be good enough also to give my respects to 
 Col. Wimberly, Major Hamilton, and my uncle, John Hardin, together 
 with others of my friends who may inquire after me. General Floyd has 
 not been entirely well since he left home, but has been able to attend to 
 his duties. He desires me to give his respects to you. I should be very 
 glad to be with you ; but there is no hope of such an event. 
 
 That you may reap laurels to the honor of yourself and your country 
 is the sincere prayer of your sincere friend, 
 
 Mabk Haedin. 
 
426 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 XXXVI. — ^BEDNET FBANKLIN TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 MoEGAN County, December 1, 1814. 
 
 Dear General:—! will take the liberty of introducing to your 
 acquaintance Doctor Abner Franklin, who will hand you a copy of Bona- 
 parte's Campaigns. If you will be encumbered with them, they are at 
 your service. 
 
 I would be very much delighted to see you, as I am persuaded (at 
 this time) you are in the avocation that nature designed you to act, 
 and, it is trusted, conspicuously j but my health will scarcely permit my 
 coming down. 
 
 I am, dear sir, very respectfully yours, &c., 
 
 B. Franklin. 
 
 XXXVII. — MAJ. GEN. McINTOSH TO GEN. BLACK8HEAR. 
 
 Camp Hope, December 8, 1814. 
 
 Brig. Gen. Blackshear will have Captains Williams's and Thomas's com- 
 panies, of Col . Wimberly's regiment, consolidated into one company, and 
 proceed to have an election for company-officers. A major and two cap- 
 tains, not being candidates, will preside, with a sergeant's guard to pre- 
 serve order. The men attached to each company will be permitted to 
 attend and give in their votes. The general will order this election at as 
 early an hour as may be convenient, naming the officers to preside at said 
 election. 
 
 By order of Maj. Gen. John Mcintosh : 
 
 Daniel Otis Dunham. 
 
 XXXVIII. — GOV. early to gen. blackshear. 
 
 Executive Depaetment, Milledqeville, December 9, 1814. 
 
 Sir: — I have this day written to Gen. Mcintosh, and enclosed him a 
 copy of General Jackson's letter to me. This letter contains a paragraph 
 which appears to me to countenance, in a particular manner, the course 
 which was decided on at our conference. The Seminole settlements lying 
 sixty miles to the west of Flint Kiver can, I apprehend, be most advan- 
 tageously destroyed by a rapid march from some convenient point on that 
 river, which shall be selected as a depot. The troops may carry provi- 
 sions enough, without wagons, to last them until their return to the depot. 
 This movement will probably have the advantage, too, of being unexpected 
 by the enemy. 
 
 I intend to hold in readiness two hundred horsemen, who will be directed 
 to overtake the infantry, after the latter shall reach the river and esta- 
 blish their first depot. The object will be to co-operate in the destruction 
 of the Seminole settlements. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 XXXIX. — MAJ. gen. Mcintosh to gen. blackshear. 
 
 Camp Hope, December 14, 1814. 
 (Detachment Orders.) 
 
 Brig. Gen. Blackshear will march, with Col. Wimberly's regiment of 
 infantry, direct from this encampment to Hartford, on the Ocmulgee 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 427 
 
 River, and proceed from ttence by opening a road in the most direct way 
 to the Flint River, bearing in mind that he must apprize me, from time 
 to time, of the strength and movements of any hostile Indians that he may 
 acquire a knowledge of on his march, — taking special care that the informa- 
 tion sent me may be the best his means may afford or admit of, keeping 
 in view the object of his march, — to wit, to deter any hostile or marauding 
 party of Indians from committing acts of violence or making predatory 
 excursions on the frontiers of the State of Creorgia most exposed to their 
 savage fury, making every effort at the same time to arrive at the Flint 
 River as speedily as possible, giving me the earliest information of that 
 event. 
 
 Upon Gen. Blackshear's arrival at the Flint River, he will proceed to 
 select a proper situation as a place of deposit for provisions, and throw up 
 a small breastwork, with pickets around it, and two block-houses at right 
 angles of the same, about sixteen or eighteen feet square, which will be 
 sufficient to secure the work from assault on every side. A subaltern's 
 command will be sufficient for this station, who will remain and occupy it 
 until otherwise ordered or reUeved. His Excellency the Governor will 
 detach two hundred horsemen to join the general at this point, as soon as, 
 in his opinion, a sufficient time has been allowed to this detachment to 
 reach Flint River. 
 
 Major Blue, of the 39th Regiment, with about sixteen hundred mounted 
 men, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks, were to march on the 1st inst. 
 in pursuit of the Red Sticks and their allies. Col. Hawkins's warriors are 
 likewise ready, and will join to chastise the Seminoles or any other hos- 
 tile tribe of Indians that may be collected or collecting; and (if neces- 
 sary) I will combine my whole force to that object, — ^which will depend on 
 the intelligence I shall receive from you. If there should be the smallest 
 grounds for believing a collected enemy in the route directed, the general 
 will be particularly cautious to march in regular order, either in two or 
 three columns, as he finds most convenient, — keeping an advance and rear 
 guard, with double flankers in front, centre, and rear, to prevent surprise 
 or ambuscade. The flankers ought to be relieved every hour, being an 
 arduous duty. 
 
 The general's own prudence will suggest the propriety of securing 
 his command from any advantage which the enemy might take in night- 
 attacks, by felling trees and throwing up intrenchments wherever he 
 encamps. 
 
 The general will keep in view the importance and necessity of my being 
 well informed in all matters relative to his command, that I may act 
 promptly as circumstances may require ; and he will report himself ready 
 to join me as soon as he reaches the Flint River. 
 
 Before you march, you will order the regimental surgeon to report to 
 you any of your detachment incapable of performing duty from indisposi- 
 tion ; and, should there be any that require medical aid, a surgeon's mate 
 must be left with them, and one or two attendants, if necessary, with 
 orders to proceed on to Fort Mitchell as soon as the surgeon deems them 
 able to perform the march. 
 
 By order of Maj. Gen. John Mcintosh : 
 
 Daniel Otis Dunham, 
 
 Aide-de- Camp. 
 
428 MEMOIE OF GENERAL 
 
 XL.— GEN. BLACK8HEAR TO COL. ALLEN TOOKE. 
 
 Camp Hope, December 12, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — I have ordered Lieut. Dean with a detachment of men to 
 Hartford, for the purpose of building a flat on the river at that place ; and, 
 as we are not provident of grindstones here, you will let them have the 
 one that Maj. Elijah Blackshear purchased at Dublin for the road-cutting 
 expedition, and which was carried to that place by Maj. S. Taylor. Should 
 they stand in need of any other tools to accomplish the object of their 
 mission, you will furnish out of those left by Maj. Blackshear's orders, 
 and which, I understand, were put in your care. They are public pro- 
 perty, and, be in whose care they may, you can command them. I have 
 spoken to the Governor on the subject, and should be glad if you would 
 furnish Lieut. Dean with any information that may facilitate his busi- 
 ness. I expect to see you in a, few days. 
 
 I am, sir, with the highest consideration and respect, 
 
 D. Blackshear, 
 
 Brigadier- General. 
 
 XLI. — GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 ExECCTiTE Department, Milledgeville, December 14, 1814. 
 Sir : — It is desirable that I should be particularly informed of the tune 
 of your movement, to the end that I may prepare the reinforcement con- 
 templated. If that reinforcement is to consist entirely of mounted men, 
 I apprehend they need not leave Hartford until you arrive at Flint River 
 and establish your depot. I fear, however, that it will be found very dif- 
 ficult to forage two hundred horses, and would suggest the propriety 
 of one hundred mounted men and one hundred infantry, the latter to 
 garrison your depot. Your ideas in detail on the whole subject would 
 be very acceptable. I wish to go up the country early next week, and 
 must make all the arrangements before I leave here. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Earlt. 
 
 xm. — gen. blackshear to the officers of his command. 
 
 Camp Hope, December 16, 1814. 
 
 (Detachment Orders.) 
 
 The third regiment, under the command of Col. E. Wimberly, will hold 
 themselves in readiness to strike their tents and take up the line of march 
 to-morrow, at eight o'clock a.m. The regiment will march in two columns. 
 The first battalion, commanded by Major Lawson, will take the right. The 
 officers will be responmble for the good order of their respective com- 
 mands, to see that the men do not break their ranks, leave their com- 
 panies, and stroll out of the army. Should any officer or soldier be so 
 regardless of the duties incumbent on them as to leave the army without 
 special permission from the officer of the day or commander-in-chief, or 
 commit any depredation on the person or property of any citizen of the 
 country through which he may pass, he may rest assured that he will be 
 punished according to the nature of his offence. But the general has a 
 fond hope that none of his detachment will, regardless of his orders, sub- 
 ject him to the painful necessity of even reproving them. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAB. 429 
 
 XLin. — GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAB. 
 ExECUTivB Department, Geoegia, Milledgeville, December 16, 1814. 
 
 Sib : — I have just received, by Major Grey, your letter of yesterday. 
 You will consider yourself authorized to take with you such of the State's 
 tools at Hartford as you may deem necessary or useful. 
 
 Captain Thomas's troop of cavalry in the county of Pulaski is in a con- 
 stant state of readiness for service, and his company must be the one 
 which shall attend you. Tou will therefore apprize him of this as early 
 as possible, and issue to him the necessary orders. The time at which it 
 may be most advisable for him to leave Hartford and pursue you must be 
 left to your judgment. The length of time it may be expedient for 
 him to remain with you, depending on events yet to happen, cannot'now 
 be prescribed. But, whenever the objects of your movement down Flint 
 River shall be accomplished, it will be proper that he should return. I 
 enclose you the chart made by Captain Thomas of his route last Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 The company of infantry intended to garrison your dep6t must be 
 drawn from the first class remaining in the county of Twiggs or Pulaski, 
 or from both, as you may deem most advisable. And, as those counties 
 are within your brigade, you will issue the necessary orders accordingly. 
 I presume that if this company shall overtake you by the time at which 
 you shall have completed your fort it will be sufficient. The arms and 
 accoutrements necessary for their use must be taken from those belonging 
 to the State at Hartford. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peteb Eablt. 
 
 XLIV. — MAJOB-GENEBAL MCINTOSH TO GEN. BLACKSHEAB. 
 
 Camp Hope, December 19, 1814. 
 
 Deab GrENEBAL : — I think it expedient to give you immediate intelli- 
 gence of information I have this moment received through Col. Hawkins, 
 that may be relied on. 
 
 The British have determined to meet us half-way and contend the 
 point of superiority with us. The following is the substance of the com- 
 munication through Mr. Linebaugh, dated 15th November last, camp near 
 Fort Mitchell : — " Power Hanjoe says, a runner which he sent from his 
 town to Forbes's Store to learn the truth about the Red Sticks and the 
 movements of the British, said runner gave Power Hanjoe the following 
 talk : — ' Ten British vessels are at anchor near Deer Island; seven of them 
 are very large, and the British say each of those vessels have two thou- 
 sand men on board, which will make fourteen thousand men. The other 
 vessels are of a smaller size, and loaded with ammunition and presents 
 for the Indians. The British have built a powerful strong fort at Forbes's 
 Store, and the British landed and put three hundred men in the fort, 
 which he saw with his own eyes. He farther states that he expects the 
 whole force will land there. He was down there, and saw the ten 
 ships. Numbers of the troops are negroes. The British have invited all 
 the Indians to come and receive presents ; and all the Red Sticks have 
 arrived there, and all runaway negroes have gone to the British." 
 
 Tou will readily perceive, from the substance of this information, the 
 necessity of your using all diligence in getting to the point of destina- 
 tion to wit, the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, and 
 
430 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 to report to me immediately: at the same time to use every exertion to 
 accomplisli a place of deposit in as little time as the means you have will 
 do so. 
 
 In great haste, I remain, dear general, your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 J. McIntosh. 
 
 XLV. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO GOV. EARLY. 
 
 Camp Blakelt, December 23, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — I hasten to transmit to your Excellency a list of delinquents, 
 and also of the deserters from the detachment under my command. It 
 is presumed by some of the officers that some of the deserters will join 
 camp in a day or two. Others, I think, will not. 
 
 I arrived at this place (Hartford) last evening, and am anxious to cross 
 the river; but, on my arrival, I found my flat (which I had sent a detach- 
 ment to build) not finished, owing to the insufficiency of the tools fur- 
 nished by the quartermaster-general's department. The axes are said by 
 my workmen to be made of iron. Only twelve screw-augers, — not worth 
 a cent. I fear my operations will be impeded, owing to that circum- 
 stance; but, so soon as I can possibly get off, I shall march. 
 
 I have ordered the troop of horse and company of infantry to hold 
 themselves in readiness to march at the shortest notice. If I should not 
 be better advised, I shajl order the rations and transportation from the 
 same department from which the rest of the army is supplied as soon as 
 they rendezvous. 
 
 On my arrival at my first dep6t, I shall not fail to communicate any 
 occurrences which may transpire. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, your Excel- 
 lency's obedient servant, D. Blackshear, -S. Genl. 
 
 XLVr. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO CAPT. THOMAS. 
 
 Camp Blakelt, December 23, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — Agreeably to orders from his Excellency the Governor of this 
 State, you will immediately warn, and hold in readiness to march at the 
 shortest notice, your troop of horse, consisting of one hundred men. It 
 is presumable you will be called on about the first of January next, if not 
 sooner. You will be prepared to serve at least five months, unless sooner 
 discharged. 
 
 I have the honor to be your obedient servant, D. Blackshear, 
 
 £. Genl., 2d Brig. 5th Div. G. M. 
 
 XLVII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO CAPT. GROCE. 
 
 Camp Blakelt, December 23, 1814. 
 
 Sir: — ;-Agreeably to orders from his Excellency the Governor of 
 this State, you will warn, and hold in readiness to march at the 
 shortest notice, all of the first class of Pulaski county militia, to which 
 will be added the first class of the frontier-districts of Twiggs county; 
 and, immediately on your receiving marching-orders, you will apprize 
 Major James Fatten of the time and place of rendezvous, who will order 
 them, under the care of some expert officer of the militia, to that place, 
 and of which you will take charge, to the amount of one complete com- 
 pany in the whole. You will in the mean time apprize the men to pre- 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 431 
 
 pare themselves for an expedition of six months, unless sooner dis- 
 charged. 
 Believe me to be, with respect, yours, &c., D. Blackshear, 
 
 B. Genl. 2d Brig, bth Div. G. M. 
 
 XIVIII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO GOV. EARLY. 
 
 Camp Blakelt, December 28, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — I have the honor to state to your Excellency that a part of the 
 army under my command has crossed the river, and the whole will be 
 over as soon as one flat can transport them. I shall take up the line of 
 march as soon as we are all completely across. And it is with pain that 1 
 am^ impelled to state that we have no quartermaster, no contractor, — one 
 assistant forage-master, who set out from Camp Hope to act in the 
 quartermaster-general's department, as well as that of forage-master, with 
 but five hundred dollars, (as he states to me,) out of which all requisi- 
 tions and all the forage for horses and hogs are to be furnished. We 
 now have not one day's forage in advance by the contractor. No soap, 
 no spirits, no candles; nor is there any of the component parts of a 
 ration, except flour, meat, and salt, and no contractor to apply to. We 
 seem to be neglected by the departments on whom we chiefly depend. 
 
 I shall proceed to the place of my destination and wait for none of 
 them, whether I have rations and forage or not. If I am obliged to re- 
 turn for want of supplies, it will then be seen who is in fault. I have 
 used every exertion to get off earlier. As soon as I take up my line of 
 march I shall communicate with Gen. Mcintosh. In the mean time it 
 might be of service if your Excellency would let him know how I am 
 treated by the contractor and quartermaster-general's department. 
 
 XLIX. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO MAJ. GEN. MCINTOSH. 
 
 Camp on the west side op OcMniGEE, December 30, 1814. 
 
 Sir: — I have the honor of communicating to you that I arrived at 
 Hartford on Thursday evening after my departure from Camp Hope, 
 where I found my flat not finished ; but, by the time I had my tools 
 helved and. ground, it was ready for our transportation across the river. 
 On Tuesday, the 26th, we began to cross the river. Owing to some 
 obstructions, did not get the army over until yesterday evening. As soon 
 as I got a sufficient number of my troops over, I detached two companies 
 to clear a road and make a bridge across the first creek, — which is the 
 most important in my route, and which is now complete. 
 
 I shall take up my line of march early to-morrow morning, and expect 
 to gain the point of my first depot in about six days, if the department 
 of the quartermaster-general does not stop me, — which, by-the-by, I have 
 serious reasons to apprehend. We have no quartermaster-general, but a 
 forage-master authorized to act for him, — and that without funds. We 
 seldom have more than one day's forage at a time, and sometimes not 
 that. We have no contractor, no soap, none of the component parts of a 
 ration except flour, hogs, and salt. I feel myself much neglected by 
 both these departments; but I shall persevere in obedience to your 
 orders, whether I have supplies or not. 
 
 On my arrival at the place of my destination, I will lose no time to 
 communicate to you particularly all occurrences which may transpire.. 
 
432 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 On my arrival at my first stand, I shall make use of the best means I 
 am possessed of to gain all the intelligence in my power relative to the 
 force mentioned in your last at Appalachicola, and which, I still appre- 
 hend, is not so formidable as was represented to you. 
 
 I shall send this to T. Barnard,* and request him to forward it by one 
 of his runners, and by whom I shall be gratified to hear from you. By 
 that time I shall be at my first stand, where I shall wait your further 
 orders. 
 
 With my sincere wishes for your health and prosperity, I have the 
 honor to be, with the highest consideration, respect, and esteem, sir, your 
 very humble servant, D. Blacksheae. 
 
 * 
 
 L. — ANTHONY PORTER TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 M1LLED0EVII.IE, December 30, 1814. 
 
 Sie: — ^Your letter of the 28th instant was received this evening by 
 Captain Thomas. In the absence of his Excellency the Governor, who, 
 I presume, will not return to this place until Tuesday evening, the 2d 
 January, I beg leave to make a few observations to you in reply. 
 
 It was, I have no doubt, the impression of the Governor that, when 
 you left Camp Hope with your detachment of the army, a due proportion 
 of the staff of the army would have been ordered by the general to 
 attend you on your march. If this has been neglected, you should, I 
 think, represent immediately and without delay your situation and em- 
 barrassment to the general, in order that he may compel by peremptory 
 order that attention to duty which appears by your letter to be likely 
 neglected without it. 
 
 Would it not be advisable for you to delay issuing an order to Captain 
 Thomas to march until you can see a better prospect for supplying his 
 company with forage, and can hear from Gen. Mcintosh as to tents and 
 pistols for them ? If there are any of either at Fort Hawkins, Gen. 
 Mcintosh can order him to be supplied ; and without the latter it appears 
 his company would be almost useless. 
 
 An order should be issued upon the contractor immediately to furnish 
 supplies at Hartford, to be transported overland to Flint River, provided 
 you should not be certain of getting a supply sent down the river. Of 
 this, however, you are no doubt properly advised. 
 
 By a letter received at the Executive office yesterday from Gen. Mcin- 
 tosh, dated at the Creek Agency, 27th inst., he informs the Governor that 
 "We arrived at this place to-day. Crossed the army over the river. In 
 the morning I shall take up my line of march." 
 
 Probably Gen. Mcintosh will be able to relieve all your wants by send- 
 ing supplies down Flint River, except what may be necessary for Captain 
 Thomas's troop. This troop the Governor conceives to be in the service 
 of the United States, and is to be provided for accordingly; but says, 
 should he not succeed in getting the Government to admit of the expense 
 
 * Timothy Barnard, a half-blood chief of the Creeks, was a. man of fair educa- 
 tion, ■wrote correctly, and was acquainted with the languages of several Indian 
 tribes. He acted as interpreter at the treaty of Fort Wilkinson, June 16, 1802, 
 and also as interpreter and witness .it the signing of the treaty concluded at the 
 city of Washington, November 14, 1805, between Gen. Dearborn, as Secretary of 
 War, and the chiefs of the Creek Nation. See the two proclamations of President 
 Jefferson in Clayton's Digest, p. 701 and p. 705. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 43S 
 
 incurred by it, he will guarantee the faith of the State to pay the expense 
 of it. 
 
 Respectfully, yours, 
 
 Anthony Porter. 
 
 li. gen. blacksheab to major james patton. 
 
 Camp Blakelt, December 23, 1814. 
 
 Sir : — Agreeably to orders from his Excellency the G-ovemor of thb 
 State, you will cause all of the first class of the frontier-districts of Twiggs 
 county to be warned to hold themselves in readiness to piarch at the 
 shortest notice and join the first class of Pulaski county under the com- 
 mand of Captain William H. Groce, at such place of rendezvous as you 
 may hereafter be apprized of, and who will form them into one complete 
 company, and march when and where ordered, prepared to serve six 
 months, unless sooner discharged. It is to be understood that when the 
 first class of your county are called out they are to be conducted by some 
 vigilant officer of the militia to the place of Capt. Groce's rendezvous. 
 
 Believe me to be, with the highest consideration and respect, your 
 humble servant, 
 
 J). Blackshear, 
 Briff. Gen. 2d Brig. 5th Div. G. M. 
 
 LII. — ^ALEXANDER McDONAlD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Haktfobd, December 31, 1814. 
 Dear Sir : — According to your requisition, I purchased fifty-five pounds 
 of soap, which was all I could get at this time. I have sent that in the 
 care of the wagon-master Paul, whom I directed to deliver it to the mili- 
 tary-store keeper or the quartermaster. 
 
 I have sent on three wagons loaded with fifty bushels of corn each> 
 which will, I am in hopes, overtake you this night. Every exertion on 
 my part will be made to furnish you with forage. While I continue at 
 tlus place, I will buy soap to the amount of your requisition and send on 
 to you. 
 
 I have employed ferrymen to take charge of the flat. Mr. Kinnard, 
 whom I sent to Fort Hawkins, has not yet returned. As soon as he returns 
 I will send him until he overtakes the army. I wish the mOitaiy-store 
 keeper to take charge of the forage and attend to issuing it out. I wish 
 the wagons to return as fast as they can be emptied. 
 Yoors, with the greatest esteem, 
 
 Alexander McDonald, 
 Ass't Forage-Master Georgia Militia. 
 
 LIU. CAPTAIN B. H. THOMAS TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Pulaski Couhtt, January 1, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — ^I returned this evening from MilledgevUle. I had not the satis- 
 faction of seeing the Governor. I mentioned to Mr. Porter, his Secretary, 
 that I was at a loss to know whether I should be attached to the service 
 of this State or that of the United Slates. I also mentioned my situation 
 with rcmrd to pistols and tents. He observed that there was one hundred 
 and ninety pistols at Fort Hawkins ; and, as to tents, by your informing 
 Gen. Mcintosh how many you would want, he would order the quarter- 
 master to furnish them. I also made application for fifteen or twenty 
 
 Vol. I.— 28 
 
434 MEMOIR OF GENEKAL 
 
 swords in addition to those I have already drawn. He stated that the 
 quartermaster would furnish me by your order. 
 
 If you will make the above arrangements for furnishing of my troop, 
 the favor will ever be acknowledged by your friend and most obedient 
 servant, 
 
 KicHAED H. Thomas. 
 
 LIV. — WIIfSON NAVEY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAB. 
 
 Haeitoed, January 1, 1815. 
 
 SiE : — I was ordered yesterday by the quartermaster to repair without 
 delay to this place and make such arrangements about forage as I thought 
 best or as you might direct. On my arrival here (which was at ten 
 o'clock this morning) I find the business somewhat deranged, owing 
 to the inexperience of the young men, and principally for the want of 
 funds. 
 
 I did intend visiting you personally, but am ordered to return to Fort 
 Hawkins by to-morrow, which makes it completely out of my power, as I 
 understand the army is at least twenty miles distant. 
 
 Will you be so good as to inform Mr. McDonald, assistant forage- 
 master at this place, what quantity of corn you suppose will be sufficient 
 at this place, or to send from here to the army under your command ? 
 The reason why I make the inquiry is this : — If, after your arrival at 
 Appalachieola, the army is furnished by water from Fort Mitchell, would 
 it be advisable to lay in corn at this place ? On this point you will please 
 decide. 
 
 Suffer me to take the liberty of asking, Is it safe to send a few wagons 
 on after the army without an escort ? 
 
 The distance which you will be in a few days will render it almost 
 impossible for fodder to be transported to you. I have therefore told Mr. 
 McDonald not to forward on any more after to-day, but to send corn as 
 fast as possible, unless otherwise ordered by you. 
 
 I have left five hundred dollars with Mr. McDonald which the quarter- 
 master sent, and have given him such instructions as I think will enable 
 him to get along quite smoothly. I find the neighbors of Hartford extra- 
 vagant in their prices of corn, (75 cts. per bushel,) and haul it t«n or 
 twelve miles. By the direction of the quartermaster, I told Mr. McDonald 
 to give a dollar, rather than the army should not be supplied. 
 
 I have the honot to be, sir, your obedient, humble servant, 
 
 Wilson Navet, 
 Principal Forage-Master G. M. 
 
 Lv. — A. Mcdonald to gen blackshear. 
 
 HAETfOED, January 3, 1815. 
 SiE : — I deem it necessary to inform you of the accident which has 
 happened here this morning. Five wagons — ^four loaded with corn and 
 one with the cartridge-boxes and blacksmith-tools — started. The first 
 wagon got over safe ; the second wagon sunk the flat at the other bank. 
 This is what I have dreaded for several days. I am at an entire loss to 
 know what to do. I have written on to Captain Lane, and directed the 
 men to ride all night. The wagon is fastened to the bank. The flat has 
 gone down the river. There are some hands after it, but it is uncertain 
 when we will be able to do any thing with it. You can judge for the best, 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR, 435 
 
 and act accordingly. I have thought it my duty to let you know the situa- 
 tion of the business. 
 
 Yours, with the greatest esteem, &c., 
 
 ^ Alex. McDonald, 
 
 Ass't Forage-Master. 
 
 LVI. GEN. BLACKSHEAE TO ALEX. McDONALD. 
 
 Camp, Cbeek Nation, Jannaiy 3, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — ^Agreeably to orders which have already been received from me, 
 the foK^e-master will continue to furnish the detachment under my com- 
 mand with long and short forage until I deem it expedient to order to the 
 contrary. The quantity requisite for a considerable time to come you 
 will yourself estimate from what you know of the quantity heretofore 
 required to afford an ample sufficiency. It is also required of you, as 
 agent of the quartermaster's department, to furnish a sufficient number 
 of wagons to transport the blacksmiths, their tools, and baggage, as well 
 as the forage, and also to superintend and furnish the means of keeping 
 the ferry on the Ocmulgee in good order. 
 
 In addition to the forage required for the troops now under my com- 
 mand, you will take immediate steps for laying in and transporting forage 
 for one hundred horse, which it is thought expedient shortly to call into 
 service. Whenever an escort is by me conceived to be necessary, it will 
 be furnished : therefore you will never wait for wagon-guards, but always 
 send on your forage with the utmost expedition, leaving it to me to judge 
 of the danger and of the propriety of escorts. 
 
 You will call on Major James Taylor, who has charge of certain tools, 
 the property of the State, and who is hereby required to deliver to you 
 all the axes and chisels of said tools. Having received, you will send 
 them to me by the first opportunity. 
 
 In future the quartermaster will keep the road in good condition; it 
 being at all times his duty, it wUl henceforth be required of his depart- 
 ment. Therefore it becomes necessary immediately to hire hands to repair 
 the road, as it is in a condition requiring it. 
 
 By order of Brig. Gen. Blackshear : 
 
 Thos. Hamilton, 
 
 Aide-de- Camp. 
 
 LVII. GEN. BLACKSHEAE TO ALEX. MCDONALD. 
 
 Cahp, Twesti-Six MrLE Ceeek, Jannaiy 4, 1815. 
 
 Sm : — I received yours of yesterday, and am sorry for the misfortune 
 at the river. Had the same attention been paid to the flat and landing 
 as when the army crossed, the loss might have been averted. 
 
 You are well apprized that it is the duty of the quartermaster-general's 
 department to furnish transportation, to make and repair bridges and 
 roads, to build boats, &c. &c. But, in order to facilitate the business as 
 much as possible, I have had much of that kind of work performed : the 
 rest remains for the quartermaster-general's department. I have already 
 directed you to employ hands for those purposes. You will lose no time 
 in having the flat brought up and the way made good and safe, and 
 forward on the provisions before directed. I have sent back a detach- 
 ment to repair the road a few miles. So soon as they return I shall 
 proceed to the object contained in my orders. I shall implicitly rely on 
 your best exertions to furnish me, that I may thereby be enabled to come 
 
436 MEMOIR OF GEXERAL 
 
 up to the most sanguine expectations of Gen. Mcintosh, from whom I 
 expect to receive orders to-morrow. 
 
 I am, sir, yery respectfullj, your obedient servant, 
 
 . D. Blacksheae, 
 
 * Brig. Gen. 
 
 LVnr. — COL. HAWKINS TO GEN. McINTOSH. 
 
 (Copy.) 
 
 The following information, received to-day from the Speaker of the 
 Lower Creeks in a public council, is deemed by them substantially true : — 
 
 " The chief warrior of Micco-sookie led a party of his warriors toward 
 the frontiers of Georgia, — ten in number, — and killed five white people, 
 and carried the scalps to the British below the confluence of the Flint and 
 Chattahoochee. There are a few white troops at Forbes's Store, (eighteeu 
 miles up Appalachicola, on the east side.) The store was surrounded 
 with a ditch. Thirty-two warriors of Choctaws, from Fort Jackson, (a 
 part of those who had surrendered there,) and a great many Red Clubs, 
 were there. The runaway and stolen negroes were close by the store. 
 Provisions short ; biscuit only. So great the scarcity of meat, that the 
 Choctaws subsisted partly on old, stinking, raw hides. 
 
 " The supplies of Indian goods, arms, and ammunition were abundant : 
 two boxes of dry-goods and four of saddles, brass kettles, arms, and 
 ammunition. There were some vessels back of the islands opposite the 
 mouth of the river with troops on board, and some of the troops were 
 landed and could be seen from the mouth of the river." 
 
 Accept assurances of my most respectful regard. 
 
 Camp, neak Fobt Mitchell, Jarraary 4, 1815. 
 
 MX. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO COL. HAWKINS. 
 
 Cahp, within eight miles of Flint Riveb, January 5, 1815, 
 Sir : — I received yours of the 27th ultimo this evening. I have been 
 much impeded in my march in consequence of difficulties that presented 
 themselves in cutting and travelling a new road, and in consequence of 
 the difficulty of procuring forage by this route. I should be glad to hear 
 from you what preparations are making for transportation from the agency 
 to this place by water. I am anxious on that subject, as it is indispensable 
 that I should keep up a constant communication with the general after 
 my arrival at my first dep6t, soon after which I shall expect to meet with 
 some twenty Indians, who will come well recommended, and I know of no 
 person so capable of doing that as yourself. But the. channel through 
 which a communication is to be opened will rest entirely with Gen. 
 Mcintosh. 
 
 Believe me to be, with respect, yours, &c., 
 
 D. Blackshear. 
 
 Lx. — major-general Mcintosh to gen. blackshear. 
 
 Fobt Mitchell, January 5, 1815. 
 Sir:— I received your letter of the 30th ult., informing me of your 
 movements and the delay you were under in consequence of the want of 
 some tools, but that your difficulties were nearly overcome, and that you 
 would be in six days at the point where you were ordered to erect works 
 and a place of deposit. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 437 
 
 In consequence of information I have received from Mobile, pressing 
 me to forced marches, I lamented exceedingly the measure I was advised 
 to, and finally acceded in, of your marching on the east of Flint lliver to 
 the junction, as one battalion, from the last information I have collected, 
 would have been amply sufficient for tife service in that quarter. 
 
 But, as we are now so far separated that a junction with me to answer 
 the present argent call at Mobile is entirely impracticable, you will, with 
 Col. Hawkins, who will co-operate heartily with you, subdue any hostile 
 tribes of Indians or British in that quarter where Georgia would be 
 affected; and, as soon as all disturbances are silenced and overcome by 
 you, you will, without loss of more time than cannot be avoided, march 
 with your command to the support of the MobUe territory, and join me as 
 early as possible. 
 
 In haste, I remain, respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. McIsTOSH, 
 
 Major- General. 
 
 IJtl. GEN. BLACKSHEAB TO HIS COMMAND. 
 
 Camp, Thikty-Six Mile Ckeee, January 6, 1815. 
 General Orders.) 
 
 All officers and soldiers will be careful not to fire on any Indian that 
 may be seen, except he discovers some manifest intention of hostility, or 
 refuse to stand when bid to do so, or refuse to answer when hailed. They 
 will be careful not to injure any friendly Indian, and particularly when 
 bearing a white flag or other token of friendship. They will be careful 
 not to communicate, by writing or otherwise, the strength, contemplated 
 route, or object of the army. 
 
 tXII. GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 ExjBCDTivE Depaetmext, Geoegia, Milledgeville, January 6, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — On my return to town yesterday, I found in the office your two 
 letters of the 23d and 28th ultimo. At the same time I received by 
 express, from Gen. Mcintosh, a letter of the 1st instant, enclosing a copy 
 of one to himself from Gen. Winchester, dated at Mobile on the 20th of 
 December. Copies of both those are now enclosed for your perusal. You 
 will perceive by them the imperious necessity for changing your route. 
 
 Whilst Gen. Mcintosh refers this matter to my discretion, it is at the 
 same time evident that his solicitude is great that the force under your 
 command should pursue and join him. And when I consider the great 
 object for which the War Department required the troops from this State, 
 and when to this view is added the fact, now clearly ascertained, that the 
 very crisis has occurred which was at first only anticipated, I feel a deep 
 conviction that you ought to pursue the original destination of the army. 
 The destruction of the Red Sticks by Major Blue is a circumstance which 
 also has its weight. It has diminished very much the causes which gave 
 rise to your being detached from the main army. The Seminoles will, it 
 is to be presumed, be deterred from committing hostility; and, should they 
 continue to manifest an unfriendly temper, I must send against them 
 another force. _ 
 
 You will therefore consider yourself ordered to join Gen. Mcintosh 
 with the least possible delay. The route to be taken must be left to your 
 own discretion. 
 
438 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 Should you have reached Flint Kiver, and boats should have met you 
 from above, possibly you may deem it advisable to ascend the river to the 
 Agency. I presume, however, that you will consider it most advisable to 
 retrace your steps, and, if boats should have come down, to order them to 
 return, sending in them some of yaur heaviest baggage. 
 
 I cannot but enter into your feelings at this retrograde movement. But 
 I know enough of your patriotism to believe that you will smother them 
 under a sense of duty and the prospect of serving your country more 
 effectually. I feel no doubt that, with exertion, you will be enabled to 
 overtake Gen. Mcintosh before or by the time he reaches Mobile. 
 
 The troop of cavalry, and the additional company of infantry which 
 were authorised, will of course be discharged. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with high respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Eaelt. 
 
 P.S. — Since writing the foregoing, I have had a conversation with Col. 
 Hammond on the subject of your route. He suggests that, in case you 
 should be considerably advanced toward Flint River, it would be advisa- 
 ble for you to penetrate by Barnard's to Coweta. He states that wagons 
 and carts have repeatedly gone from Barnard's to Coweta ; that the route 
 is over high sandy ground, and unobstructed by water-courses. He thinks 
 that Barnard keeps a flat ; but adds, after the trial you have made, and 
 with the means of information you possess, you can best judge for your- 
 self Barnard's is as near to Coweta as to the Creek Agency. If your 
 boats are afloat, you might readily draw your supplies from them. 
 
 I only give you this as the suggestion of a man whom you know. He 
 tells me he has travelled the route, and that families have moved along it 
 to the Western country. You will be the best judge of your own move- 
 ments. P. E. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL McINTOSH TO GOV. EARLY. 
 
 (Copy.) 
 
 Within fifteen miies of Chattachochee, January 1, 181d. 
 
 Sir :— I enclose your Excellency copies of two letters I received yes- 
 terday from Brigadier-General Winchester and Taylor. 
 
 You will therein discover the strength and efforts of the enemy to pos- 
 sess himself of that section of the Union, and the solicitude of Gen. Win- 
 chester for aid at this critical juncture. 
 
 He refers me for particulars to a letter of the 13th ultimo, which, un- 
 fortunately, I did not receive, as it would have determined me in a different 
 course vrith respect to Gen. Blackshear's movements. 
 
 I am sorry, as circumstances have occurred, it had not been otherwise, 
 as I believe no other enemy it in 7ns route but a few Seminole Indians, 
 not exceeding three hundred, which might have been subdued by one or 
 two companies of foot and a troop of horse. 
 
 I have received information, which I believe to be correct, that Major 
 Blue received from the Red Sticks or hostile Creeks who fled from Pensa- 
 cola at the approach of Gen. Jackson's army, being situated on an island 
 which they had recourse to as a temporary safety from pursuit. The mode 
 of his acquiring this information was from two of his Choctaw Indians 
 being sent out to endeavor to get some information of their situation, who 
 spoke the Creek language. They met with two of them who had crossed 
 over to the mainland in boats to kill cattle. The Choctaws appeared 
 friendly until they acquired the necessary intelligence. They then killed 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. . 439 
 
 and scalped tte Indians, and returned to Major Blue, who immediately 
 took advant^e of those boats and passed his command over on the island 
 in the course of the night, killed and captured the whole, except eight or 
 nine that made their escape in another boat they had. 
 
 No exertion on my part shall be wanting to press forward with all 
 Mtivity, that I can endeavor to he in time to afford my best efforts to save 
 our country from the polluted foot of a cruel and oppressive foe. I wish 
 to God I had been a month in advance ! I did think, under existing cir- 
 cumstances, that I would order Gen. Blackshear to retrace his steps°with 
 all expedition and to follow me with zealous industry. There is no other 
 mode by which he can ever join me, as the idea of cutting a road across the 
 country to be timely to render aid in the present urgent case is chimeri- 
 cal, in my opinion, and would defeat every object of his usefulness. If 
 you think with me, you can give that order positive; otherwise, if you 
 conceive the frontiers of the State of Geoigia may be benefited from his 
 services, let him be retained for that service. 
 
 I beg that your Excellency will take this broad and discretionary power 
 to govern that business, as my movements will be as rapid as I can make 
 them, without probability of communication with that detachment, or 
 having it in my power of judging of circumstances that might make it 
 necessary to detain them. 
 
 But on this subject I shall be glad of your final decision by express, as 
 it will be of some importance to me to be informed on that head. 
 
 I am, with great consideration, your Excellency's most obedient servant, 
 (Signed,) J. McIntosh. 
 
 GEN. •WINCHESTER TO GEN. MoINTOSH. 
 
 (Copy.) 
 
 Mobile, December 20, 1814. 
 
 Sib : — After referring you to my communication addressed to you on the 
 13th insantt, I beg leave to solicit your attention to that part of it which 
 relates to a reinforcement of one or two regiments. The enemy has assem- 
 bled his fleet at Ship Island, consisting of one hundred and twenty or one 
 hundred and thirty of all descriptions, and his land-forces are stated to be 
 from six to eight thousand. On the 13th instant, he captured five gun- 
 boats near the entrance of the pass of St. Joseph, and on the same day 
 one hundred and fifty boats and barges, full of men, were seen standing 
 a course which indicated an intention of attacking New Orleans. 
 
 If he succeeds or not in that project, this place will be his next aim, as 
 the key to Indian influence. Therefore permit me to repeat my solicita- 
 iSons for a reinforcement of one or two regiments, to be hastened forward 
 by forced marches. A few days gained by celerity of movement may 
 insure victory, when without it the conflict may be doubtful. 
 
 I have the 'honor to conclude, with great respect, your most obedient 
 servant, (Signed,) J. Winchester, 
 
 Brigadier- General Commanding East 7th District. 
 
 LXm. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO A. McDONALD. 
 
 Camp at Filst Eivbk, January 7, 1815. 
 Sir : — 1 arrived at this place last evening, and am almost entirely 
 without forage, and not many days' rations on hand. I send you wagons 
 sufficient for the transportation of forage and rations, if the contractor has 
 
440 MEMOIR OF SENKRAL 
 
 provided any at Hartford, or any other place within a reasonable distance. 
 If the contractor will not furnish at Hartford until after the expiration of 
 the whole thirty days, the quartermaster-general's Department will haul 
 it from Fort Hawkins, or so much, at least, as will complete the first thirty 
 thousand rations required of him by Gen. Mcintosh to be transported with, 
 this detachment, and of which the flour will fall short, (from what in- 
 formation I have on the subject.) I think about the 13th of this month 
 is the time when the second requisition for thirty thousand more, to be 
 laid in at Hartford, will be on demand. 
 
 As I am about to make this a place of deposit, and build a house for 
 the reception, and a fort to defend it, and as you are well apprized that I 
 shall call to this post one hundred infantry and one hundred cavalry, you 
 will readily perceive the necessity of your unremitting vigilance in pro- 
 curing and sending on forage and provision in such quantity as will leave 
 me at no time with less than ten days' provision in advance. You will, 
 without delay, state to such other of the quartermaster-general's depart- 
 ment as you may have correspondence with, the necessity of more of their 
 attention being turned to this object. I am now but forty-one miles from 
 Hartford, and on the batik of Flint River, and, with very little labor in 
 addition to what has already been done, will have an excellent road, and 
 particularly so in dry weather. 
 
 LXiv. — A. Mcdonald to gen. blackshear. 
 
 Haetfoed, January 7, 1815. 
 
 Dear Sir : — ^I received yours by the men who act as spies, — also, 
 by the two men whom I sent on to let you know of the accident that 
 h0.ppened with the flat. 
 
 I expect to start four wagons across the river to-day, and to-morrow 
 five more. I am using every exertion in my power to furnish a sufficiency 
 of forage. I am doubtful, after every exertion, there will be blame at- 
 tached to me. We have not a sufficieney of wagons to transport the 
 forage. From what I can learn,- the road is so intolerably bad that it is 
 impossible for the wagons to haul a load. The wagons that I have loaded 
 start with forty bushels, and receipt for thirty, allowing them eight days to 
 go and come. In consequence of not having a sufficiency of wagons, I 
 have not had it in my power to send long forage. I am at present en- 
 tirely out of funds and out of provisions. We have not any flour or meat 
 to issue to wagoners. On to-morrow, however, you may depend on my 
 using every exertion in my power to furnish you with a sufficiency of 
 forage. Your obedient servant, 
 
 Alex. McDonald, 
 
 Assistant Forage-Master G. M. 
 
 LXV. — MAJ. GEN. McINTOSH TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Camp west of the Chattahoochee, January 9, 1815. 
 Sir : — Since my last letter to you, Col. Hawkins has received the fol- 
 lowing intelligence from one of his Indians, — a confidential man sent for 
 the purpose : — 
 
 " He saw twenty white and forty black soldiers below the forks of the 
 
 river, about two miles east of the little old fields, where the Commissioners 
 
 of Limits encamped : one officer commanded, in British uniform. They 
 
 had not fort or ditch. They had one house built, and were to build an- 
 
 . other. They came up by land, and one boat came up with their provisions 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 441 
 
 and other stores. He saw about thirty white- and sixty black soldiers 
 at Forbes's Store, — in all, ninety, which he counted. Five are officers, — ■ 
 the whites dressed in red, the blacks in blue. They have four cannon, and 
 seven mortars about seven-inch, two feet long, fixed on carriages with 
 two low wheels, and the stores surrounded with a ditch and about two 
 hundred hostile Indians. He saw a number of black women and children 
 at the stores. The men were all soldiers. 
 
 " He went by land down the west side of the Chattahoochee to Jack Mea- 
 ling' s, twenty-five miles or thereabouts below the forks, crossed the Appa- 
 lachicola and went down the eastern side to Forbes's Store. The way 
 pretty good for horse and foot. From the forks there are two creeks to 
 Is-te-foo-mul-gee, a bluff twenty miles below Mealing's ; small streams 
 thence to the stores. It is thirty miles from Is-te-foo-mul-gee to the 
 Store, in all, — about seventy-five miles. He-te-he-hee had settled at Cho-co- 
 mith-lo, a bluff about five- miles below the forks, but are to move up to the 
 settlement at the commissioners' old camp. The Mic-co-soo-kee people 
 brought three scalps the day before he got to the Store, which they got 
 near the St. Ilia. They were men's scalps, and were killed on horseback. 
 He saw a large supply of goods and ammunition of good quality for 
 the Indians. It is twelve days from the 8th instant since he left Forbes's 
 Store. Three vessels arrived with the goods and munitions of war, landed 
 them, and sailed immediately. He saw no other, or any boats, except 
 Indian visiting-boats. In addition, tBe following accounts have been re- 
 ceived from the postmaster near Fort St. Stephens on the Tombigbee, — that 
 the British have landed thirteen thousand troops near New Orleans, and have 
 laid Pass Christian in ashes, and were marching for New Orleans. The Tom- 
 bigbee was ordered to be navigated as a means of conveying provisions to 
 that quarter, as breadstuffs were getting scarce. He says that General 
 Jackson has ordered all the I'ree people of color to take up arms, — that the 
 gun-boats and barges had a severe engagement, and eleven of the British 
 barges were sunk with their crews, and that five of our gun-boats were 
 taken." 
 
 I have sent a battalion from this, under Col. Booth, to the Tallapoosa, 
 with all the artificers I could collect, to build boats to take us down that 
 river, and the Alabama to the Mobile, with our provisions, — considering 
 this mode .as the best I could adopt under existing circumstances, being 
 informed that provisions are not to be had in that quarter, and the want 
 of wagons to convey them any other way compels this alternative. 
 
 From the overwheln:iing force that has appeared at New Orleans and 
 Mobile, Gen. Jackson needs support with all the reinforcements that can 
 possibly be carried to his relief I fear greatly the enemy will gain some 
 serious advantage, tinder these circumstances, I am compelled to call 
 for a battalion from your detachment, as you will then have a sufficient 
 number with Col. Hawkins's reinforcement, (which will consist of at least 
 one thousand warriors,) who will march to-morrow or next day down the 
 Chattahoochee, and co-operate with you in all matters for the eventual 
 subjugation of all hostile appearances in that quarter ; and, as this detach- 
 ment was particularly intended for the defence of Mobile and New Or- 
 leans, five hundred detached for the Georgia frontier defence is all I can 
 sanction with the information I am now possessed of. If additional aid 
 is required, the Executive of Georgia, or General Pinckney, whose dis- 
 trict you are in, will furnish it. 
 
 You will therefore lose not a moment, on receipt of this, in ordering a 
 
442 MEMOIK OP GENERAL 
 
 battalion to join me with all possible expedition. I am told the distance 
 you are now from me does not exceed seventy-five miles. _ 
 
 I have ordered the quartermaster's department to build boats at Fort 
 Laurens without delay, for the transportation of one hundred thousand 
 rations to your dep6t on Flint Eiver. I think you had best send some of 
 your best artificers to promote and accelerate this object. Let me hear 
 from you by express. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 J. McIntosh, 
 
 Major' General. 
 
 P.S. — You can direct the battalion ordered to join me to march what- 
 ever way you may think most advisable, either by retracing their steps, 
 or to take one of the ridges to Fort Perry. J. McIntosH, 
 
 Major- General. 
 
 LXVI. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO A. MoDONALD. 
 
 Camp, Flint Bivee, January 8, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — Circumstances of the most important nature having made it im- 
 periously necessary that I should immediately have at this post twenty-six 
 wagons, you are hereby required to send on that number without a moment's 
 delay. These twenty-six wagons you will charge with nothing more than 
 a sufficiency of forage to last them until they reach this place (which must 
 be within two days from the receipt^f this, if possible) and back. 
 
 The number of wagons herpin required must be exclusive of those 
 already on the way to this post; and, if you should not have on hand a 
 sufficiency of fodder and corn, immediately procure as much as will, with 
 what is now on the way, serve them. 
 
 LXVn. — GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 ExBCtTTiVB Department, Geoegia, Milledgevhie, January 10, 1815. 
 Sir : — I have this moment received the enclosed* by express. I hope 
 you may not have recrossed the Ocmulgee when this reaches you. I en- 
 close you a copy of the intelligence on which General Mcintosh's letter 
 or order of the 4th is founded. I difier with him in believing, according 
 to this state of things, that a battalion would be sufficient ; and we have 
 occasion to rejoice that this intelligence has been received so soon after 
 you had orders to retrograde. 
 
 You are now to pursue the route you were going. Captain Lane comes 
 to your assistance with some money. 
 
 The great difficulty in foraging cavalry at a distance renders it indis- 
 pensable that none should be retained. You will therefore pursue my 
 last orders in relation to them and the additional company of infantry. 
 
 General Mcintosh writes me that Col. Hawkins, with seven hundred 
 Indians, was to leave Fort Mitchell for the confluence of the rivers about 
 the 9th of this month, to co-operate with you. 
 
 In great haste, your obedient servant, 
 Peter Early. 
 
 lxviii. — wilson navey to gen. blackshear. 
 
 FoKT Hawkins, January 10, 1815. 
 Sir : — I have not (until now) had any opportunity of writing you my 
 success as respects the corn-expedition. I proceeded immediately to Majoi 
 
 * A duplicate of Ko. 65. The second enclosure does not appear. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 443 
 
 Blaekshear's and reported my business. His boat was not complete; but 
 so soon as it is completed, he told me, he would load her with com to Fort; 
 Barrington. 
 
 I came tx> Fort Hawkins and gave Mr. Armstrong instructions to 
 proceed to Hartford and purchase a sufficient quantity of corn, which, to- 
 gether with the flour at Hartford, would make a boat-load. This he has 
 done, and has reported to me this day that he put on board bushels 
 porn, and that the boat has gone. 
 
 I should have used greater exertions on the Oconee, but, the evening 
 of my arrival at Major Blackshear's, a boat loaded with corn, &c. passed 
 the ferry, which I was pretty confident would reach you in due time. This, 
 I assure you, sir, alleviated my mind considerably. 
 
 I report-ed to the quartermaster your situation as regards provision. 
 He says Gen. Floyd has made a formal requisition on the contractor for 
 thirty thousand rations (I think) to be delivered at Fort Banington 
 monthly. Should this be promptly complied with, I think you can get 
 along quite smoothly. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Wilson Navet, 
 Principal Forage-Master G. M. 
 
 ixix. — MAj. GEN. Mcintosh to gen. blacksheab. 
 
 West of thb Chattaboocbee, Jannaiy 11, 1815. 
 
 Sm : — Since I wrote you, ordering one battalion to join me, I have re- 
 ceived a copy of the Governor's communication to you of the 6th instant, 
 agreeable to discretionary powers I had vested him with, believing I should 
 not have an opportunity of corresponding with you as I was passing on to 
 the point of my destination, — ^namely. Mobile and New Orleans. 
 
 The Governor's decision on that discretion evidences his zeal and 
 patriotism for his country's best interests. Ton will therefore, without 
 the loss of a moment that can be avoided, press on with your whole detach- 
 ment agreeable to his orders. 
 
 Col. Hawkins wUl receive any support he may call on the Governor for, 
 for the chastisement of the Seminoles or any other hostile Indians, and 
 will be competent to that end, which he will keep in view. In conse- 
 quence of tlus arrangement, I have countermanded my order for buUding 
 boats on the Flint Kiver, and have directed the quartermaster's depart- 
 ment to transport, without loss of time, the provisions lodged there, to Fort 
 Decatur, on the I'allapoosa. 
 
 Your zeal and patriotism will urge you to eveiy reasonable effort to 
 comply as speedily as you can with this order, which is imperative. 
 
 Col. Hawkins has sent a man well acquainted with the country, and 
 who can advise you the best and shortest way you can march your detach- 
 ment. It will be well to advise with him. 
 
 I am, sir, respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. McIntosh, 
 Major- General. 
 
 IXX. — COL. HAWKINS, AGENT, TO MB. JACK KINNARD. 
 
 The time is come when we are to compel our enemies to be at peace, 
 that we may be able to sit down and take care of our families and 
 
444 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 property without being disturbed by their threatening and plundering 
 of us. 
 
 General Blackshear is with you to try to protect and secure the friendly 
 Indians on your river, and to aid in punishing the mischief-makers. Gro 
 you to him, and keep with him till I see you. Take Joe with you. The 
 general will furnish you provisions, and, when he has it, corn for your 
 horses. You are one of our great chiefs. You know all our mischief- 
 makers and all your neighbors, and can give good information to the 
 general. You know the country, and you are a man to be depended on. 
 You shall soon hear from me and the warriors under my command. I am 
 your friend and the friend of your nation. 
 
 Coweta, January 11, 1815. 
 
 (To be read to him by General Blackshear.) 
 
 LXXI. — COL. HAWKINS TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 In the neighborhood of Fobt Mitoheli, January 11, 3 p.m., 1815. 
 
 I have called back the express to send to you the order of the general 
 for a change of the destination of your command. Of course, the com- 
 munication intended for Am-mic-cul-le chiefs and Col. Kinnard will not 
 be communicated. I shall call on the Governor for a company of foot 
 and horse which were intended for you. 
 
 I am respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Benjamin Hawkins. 
 
 (Pass.) Coe-e-maut-lau, of Cassetau, is an express to Brig. Gen. Black- 
 shear. He left Fort Mitchell at 2 p.m., 11th January, 1815. 
 
 Benjamin Hawkins, 
 
 Agent for I. A. 
 
 LXXII. — COL. HAWKINS, AGENT, TO THE CHIEFS OF AM-MIC-CUL-LE. 
 
 The time is come when we are to compel our enemies to be at peace^ 
 that we may be able to sit down and take care of our families and pro- 
 perty without being disturbed by their threatening and plundering of us. 
 
 General Blackshear is with you to protect and secure the friendly In- 
 dians on your river, and to aid in punishing the mischief-makers. Go 
 you to him; see him; take him by the hand, and two of you must keep with 
 him. You must point out sixty of your young warriors, under two chiefs, 
 to be with, and act under the orders of, the general till you see me. He 
 will supply them with provisions and some ammunition. 
 
 You must be very particular about spies. You know all the friendly 
 Indians, and all who are hostile. If any spies come about you, or the 
 hostiles, point them out to the general. And your warriors acting with 
 the general must be as quick and particular as his white soldiers to 
 apprehend or put to death any enemy you meet with. Your warriors 
 will receive the same pay as the soldiers in the service of the United 
 States. 
 
 Tell your women and children not to be afraid, — that friends have come 
 for their protection, and that I am at the head of the Creek warriors. 
 
 I am your friend and the friend of your nation. 
 
 Coweta, January 11, 1815. 
 
 (To be read to them by General Blackshear.) 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 445 
 
 tXXIII. — SEN. BLACKSHEAR TO MAJ. GEN. MoINTOSH. 
 
 Camp, Funt River, January 11, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — I have the honor to acquaint you that, on the 31st December, I 
 decamped from the- banks of the Oomulgee and took up the line of march 
 for Flint Kiver, which I reached on the evening of 6th instant; and, 
 after forming substantial and durable breastworks after the manner pre- 
 scribed in my orders and pursued on my march, I the next day proceeded 
 to the selection of a proper situation for a fort, and immediately com- 
 menced building. On the same day unloaded all my wagons, and, 
 except three or four retained for hauling timber, &c., ordered them to 
 repair without delay to Hartford, for the purpose of transporting such 
 articles as it was deemed necessary to deposit at this place. 
 
 These operations, however, were suspended by the reception of de- 
 spatches from his Excellency on the evening of the 8th, embracing copies 
 of your letter to him, and from G-eneral Winchester to yourself, as well 
 as orders requiring me to retrace my route and pursue you with the least 
 possible delay. I accordingly sent immediately on in pursuit of my 
 wagons a man authorized to order them to return without delay to this 
 place. Should my wagons arrive this evening, (of which I have no 
 doubt,) I shall take up the line of march early to-morrow morning, and 
 cautiously exercise every expedient to pursue you with the utmost 
 expedition. 
 
 On the 5th, by the hands of John Winslet, a white inhabifent of the 
 Creek Nation, I received a few lines from Col. Hawkins; but, from the 
 hints of caution which these lines seemed to breathe, and from my not 
 having yet reached this place, I conceived it proper to defer writing to 
 you till I could do so by a future and safer Opportunity. 
 
 On the morning of the 6th I despatched Winslet with a few line^ to 
 Col. Hawkins, and with orders to call on Kinnard and invite him forth- 
 with to meet me at this place. Of Kinnard I however neither heard nor 
 saw any thing till last evening, when an Indian came, bearing a white 
 flag, to the opposite bank of the river, and informed me that Kinnard 
 would visit me this morning, — which he has accordingly done, and under 
 whose care I transmit to you this communication. 
 
 At this time many of my troops are quite sick; and, since my de- 
 parture from Camp JCope, three have died,— r-two here and one on my 
 march ; and of hospital-stores I am almost destitute. 
 
 Concerning your route and views I would at any time cheerfully receive 
 the earliest advices ; but instructions meeting me at Fort Mitchell would 
 be particularly pleasing. 
 
 LXXIV.— GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 Executive Department, Georgia, Milledgeville, January 12, 1815. 
 
 Sir:^I duly received your letter by Captain Parten. You will pro- 
 bably this evening see Captain Lane and receive your last orders. 
 
 The requisition for medicines and hospital-stores has been attended to 
 here by Major Fannin in person. On consultation, we were of opinion 
 that, as you would now have to penetrate far from your resQurces, the 
 quantity of hospital-stores ought to be enlarged. This has accordingly 
 been done, and the whole are now sent to Captain Lane. 
 
 Woodbine, a British officer, is with the Indians in Florida. I think it 
 
446 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 liiely you may hear of the gentleman amongst the Seminoles. Beware 
 of surprise. Your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 lxxv. — gen. blackshear to gen. floyd. 
 
 (Without date.) 
 
 Sir: — Pursuapt to orders from his Excellency, received 21st instant, I 
 am now on my march toward St. Mary's, making my route down the Alta- 
 maha, and having in view the defence of our seaboard and the protection 
 of our flying and injured citizens, and, if possible, eventually to repel 
 the enemy from our borders. 
 
 The invasion of the State by such a formidable force, and the confusion 
 and distress resulting to our citizens, not only warrants this order of his 
 Excellency, but makes it his imperious duty to call on such forces as can 
 with most promptitude avert impending devastation. I shall, therefore, 
 march with the utmost expedition to the scene of distress — the place 
 invaded, or about to be invaded — as may in future be deemed proper. 
 
 As the object of the enemy is not yet satisfactorily known, and as it is 
 possible that his movements may make it necessary that you and myself 
 should unite our forces, or in some other way co-operate, I have thought 
 proper, with the advice of the Governor, to acquaint you that I am or- 
 dered to march to the relief of the seaboard of this State, and that it is 
 our duty t» reciprocally communicate such information as may enable us 
 to derive advantages from our respective positions, as well as such other 
 information as would enable either of us, severally or conjointly, to con- 
 duce to the defeat or repulse of the enemy. 
 
 Presuming that much will be committed to our care and discretion, I 
 think it by no means wise or patriotic to pause at niceties or dread re- 
 sponsibility. I shall, consequently, render you all the aid in my power 
 which can tend to accomplish the grand object, hoping and believing that 
 you will not, on your part, act with injudicious reserve. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
 
 D. Blackshear, jB. Genl. 
 
 LXXVI. — GEN. blackshear TO GOV. EARLY. 
 Camp, twelve miles east or Flint Kiveb,, January 14, 1815. 
 Sir: — On the receipt of your Excellency's despatch by Captain Lane, 
 with the .order of Gen. Mcintosh, I made arrangements to march to Flint 
 Eiver and to pursue the object it contained so soon as my supplies would 
 justify me. But I hope your Excellency will not suspect I was surprised 
 on opening a packet, express from Gen. Mcintosh, which arrived this 
 night at ten o'clock, to find another report from Col. Hawkins, stating 
 intelligence from one of his Indians— a confidential man sent for the 
 purpose — that there were twenty whites and forty blacks below the forks 
 of the river, without any fort or ditch ; had built one house, and were 
 to build another. They came up by land, and one boat came up with 
 provision. He saw thirty whites and sixty blacks at Forbes's Store, and 
 a good deal of such stuff,— on which was founded a general order of the 
 9th to send one of my battalions immediately to join head-quarters on the 
 road to Mobile. 
 
 _ In the same packet I received another general order, dated the 11th, 
 directing me imperatively to march my whole force to General Mcintosh, 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 447 
 
 and join him on the road to Mobile. I shall accordingly take up my 
 march and pursue the general until I receive orders to the contrary. 
 
 Duty to my country impels me to apprize your Excellency that while 
 such reports can transform a British army of fourteen thousand from one 
 number to another until it is reduced to fifty whites and a few blacks, 
 the citizens of Georgia may be scalped with impunity. I beg leave to 
 remark that the colonel has arranged every thing to his mind. He has 
 furnished the Indians with arms, ammunition, rations, — for all sorts and 
 denominations; has as many under pay as soldiers as he may choose to 
 break sticks for, (a muster-roll being out of the question.) In doing this, 
 it was necessary to make reports of various kinds; and as variable in their 
 features, until Gen. Mcintosh has gone on to Mobile and left an imperious 
 general order for me to pursue him. And then he can make just as many 
 British or hostile Indians as are necessary to keep himself and Indians 
 under pay and rations ; and in one night he can receive reports from 
 confidential runners and civilize all the rest, and nothing to do but to 
 break another bundle of sticks, and take his new civilians into pay and 
 rations, and stay at their homes quietly, while we are beating through the 
 wilderness, making roads to transport provisions and funds to such of his 
 most happy and favored people as he may choose to point out. 
 
 When the militia are called into service, they must be mustered by an 
 officer of high responsibility; every man must be present and inspected, 
 and, if not able to perform drudgery, he is sent home, and is glad to 
 return without pay or rations. If he is able-bodied, he must do duty, be 
 frequently inspected, reported every day, and punished if he fails to do 
 his duty, (which is right.) But contrast this with the situation of the 
 colonel and his scalping myrmidons. By this your' Excellency will 
 perceive that all your indefatigable exertions and arrangements for the 
 defence of our beloved State are broken in upon by the artifice of that one 
 old man, who does nothing but write and talk, and talk and write. 
 
 Pardon me if I discover too much zeal for the defence of Georgia, exit 
 the subject. It is almost indispensable that I should see you before I 
 leave this State; but I cannot leave my little detachment, two of whom 
 died last night. I shall obey my orders at all events. I have made 
 choice of you to convey my private sentiments ; and this is only intended 
 as a confidential, private communication, and a small proportion of facts 
 of which I have an ample fund. 
 
 • 
 
 LXXVn. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO MAJ. GEN. McINTOSH. 
 
 Camp, twelve miies east or Flint Eivee, January 14, 1815. 
 
 glK : — On the 12th I had the honor of receiving yours of the 5th inst., 
 in which you stated the impracticability of our forming a junction, and 
 directing me to co-operate with Col. Hawkins in subduing any hostile 
 Indians or British in that quarter where Georgia would be affected. 
 
 Enclosed I received at the same time a copy of a letter from Col. 
 Hawkins, and a line from the Governor directing me to carry your order 
 into effect. I accordingly march again for Flint Eiver. This night, at 
 nine o'clock, I received your two orders of the 9th and 11th, directing me 
 to march with my whole force, in obedience to his Excellency's orders of 
 the 6th inst. I shall immediately retrace my steps and take your road ' 
 at Fort Hawkins, which route I deem it best to pursue from a want of 
 provisions. 
 
448 MEMOIR OF GENERAB 
 
 LXXVIII. — TIMOTHY BARNABD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 Flint Eivee, January 14, 1815. 
 
 Sib : — I received a letter for you from the Agency last evening by 
 express, which I send on to you this morning by a red man of Chehaw. 
 I had to promise him four dollars before he would undertake the business, 
 which you will please pay him on delivery of your letter. He says he 
 will take the value in homespun if you do not wish to pay money. 
 
 If the Chehaw man I send you had not been here, I know not how I 
 could have got your letter to you, as I could not have got one of the 
 lichees to have undertaken the business if I had offered them ten dollars, 
 as tbey say some of the red people in that quarter are much displeased 
 with them for acting as spies here and at the Agency. I have given the 
 bearer a strict charge : therefore I hope you will get your letter safe 
 delivered. 
 
 Eemain, sir, your most obedient, &c. &o-, 
 
 Tim't Barnard. 
 
 ixxix. — gen. blacksheae to gov. eaely. 
 
 Camp, twelve miles east of Flikt Rivee, January 15, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — I have the honor to acquaint your Excellency that on the last 
 evening I received by express from Gen. Mcintosh imperative orders, 
 dated 11th inst., requiring me, with my whole force, immediately to 
 pursue him on the way to Mobile. 
 
 Pursuant to these orders, I shall to-morrow morning begin to retrace 
 my route to Fort Hawkins, and then march on to Mobile. Consequently 
 your Excellency may perceive the propriety of making some alterations 
 in the arrangements last contemplated. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
 
 D. BLACKSHEAE, 
 
 ' £rig. Gen. 
 
 LXXX. — GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 Executive Department, Geobgia, Milledgeville, Janoary 16, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — Your fiivor of the 13th inst. has been duly received. A copy 
 of Gen. Mcintosh's final orders to you of the 11th inst. has been trans- 
 mitted to me. 
 
 t can enter into your sensations on this varying business ; and indeed 
 my own feelings are little short of those which you must feel. I shall 
 have to send a detachment on State account immediately to effect the 
 object you were in pursuit of. It will consist of about five hundred 
 mounted infantry, and, I hope, may be commanded by Major Freeman. 
 1 am, respectfully,, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 lxxxi. gov. early to gen. blacksheae. 
 
 Executive Depaetment, Geoegia, Milledgeville, January 19, 1815. 
 
 SiE : — I received your letters of the 14th and 15th insts. by express. 
 A great crisis in our State has occurred, which has determined me to 
 assume a responsibility in relation to yourself and the regiment under 
 your command which no other condition of things would justify. 
 
 Our State is actually invaded by the enemy, in large force. It is 
 invaded in its most vulnerable point. I have official intelligence that two 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAB. 44& 
 
 ships-of-the-line, seven frigates, and a number of smaller vessels have 
 entered St. Andrews' Sound, made a landing on Cumberland Island, and 
 are there establishing themselves. I have further intelligence that their 
 barges occupy all the sounds and inlets between St. Mary's and Bruns- 
 wick, inclusive. 
 
 The defence of our own land is the first and most imperious duty. 
 Were the regiment under your command without the State, on its route 
 to Mobile, I should not interfere with it; but, under existing circum- 
 stances, I should think it criminal inattention to my own greatest duty to 
 suffer the force to pursue its destination. You are already in the field, 
 prepared at all points, and at the very spot most favorable for marching 
 to the relief of the sea-coast. Before other troops could be collected, 
 organized, and marched there, insurrection on one side, and Indian mas- 
 sacre on the other, may have produced their full measure of ruin. The 
 enemy have black troops with them. 
 
 Under all these circumstances, I take on myself the responsibility of 
 ordering you with the force under your command to shape your course, 
 without delay, to the point invaded. You shall hear from me further on 
 your march. Your route, I presume, will be down the river-road through 
 Telfair, across the Oconee at Bell's Ferry, and then to Fort Barrington. 
 The road which was cut last year by Major Blackshear would be nearer, 
 but I suspect could not, at this season, be passed by wagons. Besides, the 
 other is through an inhabited country and near the river down which 
 your supplies will have to be sent. 
 
 I shall give immediate notice to the contractor and quartermaster, both 
 now at Fort Hawkins, of this arrangement. I think it advisable for 
 you to take the earliest measures to have your detachment regularly sup- 
 plied with provisions while on your march and at any given point of 
 destination. 
 
 Being ordered on a separate and distinct command from Gen. Mcintosh, 
 the contractor will obey your orders for supplies, and the quartermaster's 
 department likewise for transporting them. 
 
 I shall, by express, immediately inform Gen. Mcintosh of the step I 
 have taken, and transmit to him a copy of this letter. 
 
 I am, with high respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Earlt. 
 
 lxxxii. — gen. blacksheab to faeish carter. 
 
 Camp, iitb miles below Habtfobd, January 21, 1815. 
 
 Sib, : — ^Imperious circumstances make it necessary that your attention 
 be given to the deliveiy at Hartford of thirty thousand complete rations, 
 contemplated in a requisition from Gen. Mcintosh; and, as I am ordered 
 to operate within the settled limits of Georgia, you will take such steps 
 as will enable you to keep the detachment under my command constantly 
 furnished with thirty thousand rations in advance until the 1st of May 
 next, provided this detachment continues to operate within the limits of 
 your contract, or unless you are notified to do otherwise. 
 
 Our country is invaded; and I hope in God you will use every exertion 
 in your power to facilitate the movement of the troops to check the insur- 
 rection and depredation that will ensue should we delay for want of pro- 
 vision. 
 
 Vol. I.— 29 
 
450 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 LXXXIII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAK TO CAPTAIN LANE. 
 
 Camp, five miles below Haetfobd, January 21, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — ^You wijl, before this reaches you, have received intelligence of 
 my route being again and again changed, and that I am now on my way 
 down this river to Barrington on the Altamaha. I expect to continue this 
 route until I do something. You will therefore use every exertion in 
 your power to facilitate my movements. 
 
 The quartermaster-general's department will forward on the supplies 
 furnished by the contractor, agreeably to the requisitions he may have 
 received, and call on the ordnance department for at least five hundred 
 pounds of best powder in his possession, and at least ten reams of cartridge- 
 paper, and transmit it to me without delay. You are well apprized of 
 the quality of the powder he has furnished. I think you or Major 
 Tannin had best come on, that I can have an understanding with your 
 department. I shall proceed down as soon as possible. 
 
 LXXXIV. — GEN. BLACKSHEAE TO MAJ. GEN. MoINTOSH. 
 
 Camp, five miles below Haktfoed, January 21, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — ^In obedience to your orders of 11th instant, I retraced my steps 
 by way of Hartford, and on my way up this river this day received an 
 order from his Excellency Governor Early, a copy of which, he informs 
 me, was forwarded to you by express. 
 
 Knowing, as I do, the high sense you entertain of his Excellency's 
 patriotism, and the imperious necessity of checking the pillage of that 
 marauding foe who has already set his polluted foot on the most vulnerable 
 part of our seaboard, and at the same time being greatly in your rear, with- 
 out the least intention or inclination to deviate from your orders, I have 
 changed my route, fully anticipating your sanction of the proceeding of 
 his Excellency. But, should circumstances so present themselves as to 
 induce you to order to the contrary, I am still ready cheerfully to obey, 
 and hope your conclusion will be that, if I have erred, it was with the 
 purest intentions, which could only be resisted by a man less attached to 
 his country's interest. 
 
 LXXXV. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO GOV. EARLY. 
 
 Camp, five miles below Habtfokd, January 22, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — ^Yesterday, five miles above Hartford, I received your order to 
 tack and shape my course for the seaboard. Notwithstanding it was 
 counter to the last orders of my major-general and might implicate me 
 for disobedience of orders, I, knowing the patriotism of my major-general, 
 and your Excellency vouching for the responsibility, reflecting at the 
 same time on the necessity of anticipating his orders, did deign to change 
 my route, and am now on my way down this river in pursuance of your 
 orders. 
 
 From this place, where I arrived last night, if the contractor and quarter- 
 master-general's department will only be vigilant, I have made a requisi- 
 tion on the ordnance department for five hundred pounds of good powder 
 and some cartridge-paper. The quality of what I have you are apprized 
 of. If the ordnance-officer is on the spot and has not given out all the 
 good powder to Col. Hawkins for his Indians, perhaps I may get some ; 
 but it is even doubtful then. With the powder we have, our bayonets 
 will be our main dependence. The country abounds in provision, and the 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 451 
 
 two rivers calculated to raft it down, that, with proper exertion in the 
 proper departments, we need not suffer. 
 
 I shall be at the point where I can begin to render my country some 
 service as soon as possible. I have a good number sick and many de- 
 serters ; but nothing shall stop me but want of provision. Great part of 
 my deserters, I think, will return, and of whom I shall treat more particu- 
 larly in my next communication. 
 
 LXXXVI. — MAJOR-GENERAi McINTOSH TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 FoBT Decatuk, January 22, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — I arrived at this station to-day with the balance of my detach- 
 ment from Fort Mitchell. Colonel Boothe, who had the superintendence 
 of building boats for the transportation of the army down this river and 
 the Alabama, has exerted himself beyond my expectation, and in eight or 
 ten days will have sufficient boats to convey fifteen hundred men, bag- 
 gage and provisions, to Mobile. 
 
 I hope before that period you wiU have joined us. As it is all-import- 
 ant that you should make use of every effort to accomplish a junction 
 with me, the artificers with you will very much accelerate our object of 
 speedy departure from this place ; and a few days gained may afford us 
 an opportunity of rendering essential services to our invaded country. 
 
 We learn that General Jackson has for several days been skirmishing 
 with the enemy near Orleans, and that he has uniformly had the supe- 
 riority, although with a far inferior force. 
 
 It will be necessary for you to send as many pioneers in advance of 
 your army from Fort Bainbridge to this place as you can iiirnish with 
 tools, to repair the road for your wagons. It was with the greatest diffi- 
 culty I got on, the road being the worst I ever saw. 
 
 You will, on receipt of this letter, despatch an express to me, stating the 
 probable period of your arriving here. 
 
 I am, sir, respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. McIntosh, 
 Maj. Gen. Com/nxanding, &c. 
 
 LXXXVII. MAJ. GEN. McINTOSH TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Camp, near Foet Dbcatoe, Janaary 23, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — I received your letter of the 14th instant, dated twelve miles 
 east of Flint River, stating that you would immediately march, retracing 
 your steps, and take the road after me from Fort Hawkins. 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to repeat to you the necessity of pressing for- 
 ward with all diligence, — which if you do, I hope you will join me at the 
 Tallapoosa, Fort Decatur, on the 5th or 6th February, when I expect to 
 be ready to take my departure in boats to Mobile. If you should not 
 arrive at that period, I shall be at a loss to give you instructions, as I 
 should, in that event, consider the services of the detachment under your 
 command lost to the General Government. You will, as stated in my 
 letter of 22d, despatch an express to me. 
 
 I am, respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. McIntosh, 
 
 Major- General, <fec. 
 
452 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 rixxxvra. — major a. b. fannin to gen. blacksheab. 
 
 FoBT Hawkisb, January 24, 1815. 
 
 Sm : — Tour letter of the 22d instant by express was handed to me this 
 morning. I had previously been informed of the incursion of the enemy 
 on our coast, and of your destination in that direction by the Governor 
 
 of Georgia. , , . 
 
 I learn that the contractor has been ordered to supply thirty thousand 
 rations per month at Hartford for your consumption. I presume he has 
 by this time furnished for one month, which you can take with you on 
 your march. For the second month it should be deposited at Fort Bar- 
 rington, or some other eligible place on the Altamaha, in readiness for your 
 reception. It would be well to point out to Carter the spot immediately, 
 that he may have no room to equivocate and say the requisition is not in 
 form. The contract requires the place of deposit to be set forth, and 
 yours just received is in general terms. 
 
 I have no authority to appoint an assistant in my department : that 
 authority alone is vested in the President of the United States. The 
 brigade-quartermaster attached to your command will represent that 
 officer. It is his duty, and I have given him orders and instructions 
 accordingly. The disposition made of the members of the department will 
 not admit of any one of them to accompany you. Major Gray, who should 
 be here, is with Gen. Mcintosh; Captain Lequerse is at Fort Mitchell, 
 superintending the building of boats for the supplying of Col. Hawiins's 
 command down the Chattahoochee; and Capt. Lane is engaged in the 
 purchase of forage and the forwarding of provisions in the Nation. I am 
 hourly engaged in making settlements. When my funds are exhausted — 
 which is nearly the case — I shall come on to the sea-coast. 
 
 It is with regret that I hear you complain of the incapacity of the 
 forage-masters attached to your command. They are men whom I never 
 knew. If there have been any wanton improprieties or neglect of duty, 
 by any member of my department, you owe it to yourself and countiy to 
 have it redressed as pointed out by the regulations of the army. 
 
 The ordnance department are not capable to furnish at this place one 
 pouud of powder nor any cartridge-paper. I would recommend that you 
 make known- your wants on that head to Gen. Floyd, Savannah. I shall 
 write to the Governor to know whether he can spare 'any from the State 
 Arsenal, and, if so, will send it down the river in a boat intended to be 
 chartered with corn, — as it will be difficult to procure that necessary 
 article in the country you are to operate in. 
 
 Mr. Slaughter, one of our best forage-masters, with instructions, is 
 ordered to accompany you on your march. He will do his duty, and will 
 be under your immediate control. I advanced him two hundred dollars 
 until further aid can be obtained. If you have more wagons in service 
 than are necessary, please have them discharged. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient, humble 
 servant, 
 
 A. B. Fannin, 
 Deputy Q. M. Genl. U. S. Army. 
 
 N.B. — The two forage-masters complained of are ordered to this post 
 to settle their accounts and retire from the service. A. B. F. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 453 
 
 LXXXIX. GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 ExECCTiVE Depabtment, Geobxsia, MiLLEDGEViLLE, January 25, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — Your letter of the 22d instant has been duly received. The 
 promptness with which you have proceeded to meet the enemy in our 
 country is truly laudable. According to my calculation, this will reach 
 you somewhere in the neighborhood of Bell's Ferry. 
 
 My latest intelligence of the enemy's movement is from General Stewart, 
 at Riceboro, on the 19th. All the country south of the Altamaha is in 
 their possession. The people have fled, and the militia and regulars re- 
 treated across that river. It is by some supposed that the aim is a march 
 by land to Savannah. 
 
 The part you have to act must necessarily be left to your own discretien. 
 You ought immediately to communicate with General Floyd ;* and it will 
 be highly proper that you employ vedettes to observe and inform you of 
 the movements of the enemy. Should he be marching on Savannah, you 
 will of course, if possible, fall on his rear and harass him on his march. 
 Should he remain south of the Altamaha, I apprehend you should esta- 
 blish a depot at St. Savilla, and operate as circumstances may admit. I 
 have heard, verbally, that a considerable reinforcement from South Caro- 
 lina was some days ago within a short distance of Savannah, but know 
 not whether the account is to be credited. 
 
 Captain Conner, j" of Tattnall or Montgomery, commands a volunteer 
 company of mounted riflemen. I think it probable that he may be em- 
 ployed to advantage in protecting the Indian frontier from Fort James on 
 toward the St. Mary's. You will be better able to judge; and if he can, 
 in your opinion, be serviceable in that way, you will order him accordingly. 
 The ammunition you Write for will be sent off to-day from this place. 
 There is none in store at Fort Hawkins. 
 
 I am, with high respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 xc. — ^anthony porter to gen. blacksheak. 
 
 JIiLLEDGEViLLE, January 25, 1815. 
 
 Dear Sir : — I take the liberty of sending to you enclosed a Savannah 
 Republican of the 17th instant, in which you will find two letters from 
 Capt. Massias at Point Petre to Gen. Floyd at Savannah, and one from 
 Col. Scott at Jefferson, Camden county, detailing the operations of the 
 enemy in the neighborhood of St. Mary's. It was by these documents. 
 
 * See No. 75. 
 
 t The Rev. Wilson Conner, who had been with the " Patriots" in Florida under 
 the command of Gen. John Hoastoun Mcintosh, was appointed Delegate from the 
 Provisional Government in Florida to the Congress of the United States ; and, while 
 on his way to the city of Washington, hearing of the disavowal by President 
 Madison of the treaty negotiated by Governor Mathews, he desisted from the 
 further prosecution of his journey, as his official character was at an end. Mr. 
 Conner was physically of majestic mould, with features, voice, and expression of 
 countenance to correspond, impressing the beholder with great dignity and reve- 
 rence. For the last twenty years of his life, or more, he was a distinguished 
 minister of the Baptist Church. At the close of a sermon he fell dead in the pulpit, 
 some ten or fifteen years ago, realizing the wish he had often expressed to his friends 
 to leave the world in this triumphant manner. His education was defective, yet 
 his style was pleasing and generally correct. What he lacked in polish was more 
 than made up by uncommon vigor of mind and unction of delivery. 
 
454 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 communicated to the Executive by express, that you were ordered to that 
 quarter of the country. 
 
 You will readily see what distress the people of that section of the State 
 must be in. They will hail you as their protector and deliverer. 
 
 We have not a word from Gen. Mcintosh relative to his progress on 
 toward Mobile since the Governor last wrote you. We have a rumor 
 by way of Athens, from Tennessee, that Gen. Jackson has had a battle 
 with the British at New Orleans on the 22d December, and was success- 
 ful. I send you the extra handbill from Athens relative to this subject. 
 God send it may prove true ! 
 
 In great haste, I am, dear sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Anthony Porter. 
 
 xci. — anthony porter to gen. blackshear. 
 Executive Defabtsient, Geobgia, Milledgfville, Jannary 25, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — A wagon will start from this place early in the morning, for the 
 purpose of conveying to you, as was mentioned by the Governor in his 
 letter to you of this date, four hundred pounds of excellent powder, in 
 sixteen small kegs, twenty-five pounds in each, and seven reams of car- 
 tridge-paper, — ^wbich is all we have on hand at present, and this but of an 
 indifferent kind. It will, however, with judgment and care, make up a 
 great many cartridges. 
 
 The Governor has concluded it would be acceptable to you to have 
 a few musket-cartridges in addition to the supply which you may at pre- 
 sent have on hand, to meet any unforeseen casualty or event. With this 
 view, he has sent in this wagon five boxes containing 2970 in each box, — 
 in all 14,850, — which, with what powder we have sent you, and the car- 
 tridges you may have on hand, will be a tolerable supply, and will enable 
 you, in case of necessity, probably to furnish any small detachment of 
 militia which may be in the field and should stand in need of the like. 
 
 You will please direct the regimental quartermaster to give you a 
 receipt oflBcially, in the name of the Governor, for the whole of the articles 
 sent you, particularizing the quantity of each, and send it back, under 
 cover, by the wagoner, Mr. Stubbs. 
 
 I send you enclosed a duplicate of the receipt given by the wagoner for 
 the delivery of the articles before mentioned to your care. 
 I am, sir, your very obedient servant, 
 
 Anthony Porter, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 xciL — A. Mcdonald to gen. blackshear. 
 
 Haktfokd, January 22, 1815. 
 Dear Sir : — I understand from Mr. Armstrong that you are inter- 
 rupted with me for not coming on last evening to your camp. I am in 
 this case blamed without cause, in my opinion. When we parted yester- 
 day on the road, you told me that you would expect me to do every thing 
 in my power to furnish you with provision and forage. I then took it for 
 granted that you did not expect to see me any more until I was ordered 
 on from here ; neither did I ever hear you say any thing about purchasing 
 any provision on the road below this, — though, upon reflection, I conceive 
 I did wrong, as I might have thought of the propriety of purchasing pro- 
 vision on the road myself, and have come on to make arrangements 
 accordingly. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAK. 455 
 
 I wish you to let me know whether you desire me to come on to yon, 
 to lay out what money I have in my possession, or whether you want me 
 to continue here. I will have the boats loaded with corn in the morn- 
 ing, and start to-morrow, if you do not direct Mr. Wilcox to wait to take 
 in the flour. 
 
 I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 Alex. McDonald. 
 
 xcni. — gen. blacksheak to the army conteactob. 
 
 Camp, Bell's Febrt, January 27, 1815. 
 
 The contractor will furnish at St. Savilla Bluff, on the Altamaha, one 
 hundred thousand complete rations, to carry more completely into effect 
 my general instructions of the 22d instant, within thirty days from this 
 notice. 
 
 By order of Brig. Gen. Blackshear : 
 
 Thomas Hamilton, 
 
 Aide-de- Gamp. 
 
 XCIV. — ^JOHN SAWYER TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Ma. Shoetlong's, January 27, 1815. 
 
 Dear General : — No doubt but that you are anxious to hear from the 
 low country, since what you may have lately heard from that quarter. 
 
 I was down at the time of the British landing on Cumberland Island, 
 as well as when they took Point Petre and St. Mary's surrendered to 
 them. They promised to respect private property ; but that promise has 
 been violated, and some of the gentry who confided in them are prisoners 
 on board the Primrose frigate, (Major Clark and Dr. Ross in particular.) 
 They are seducing the negroes to join them, under fair promises ; and 
 many have accepted, and they are still going to them. All or nearly all 
 the negroes on Cumberland !bland are in training under the wretches in 
 human form. 
 
 They appear to be proceeding on toward Darien ; their ships and 
 barks are seen off daily. I have no doubt but that they have plundered 
 St. Simon's before this. They had plundered Jekyl before we (Mr. Chase 
 and myself) left Darien, and burnt the buildings. Mr. Couper's family 
 were on Cumberland Island when they first landed. He went with a flag, 
 and endeavored to learn from them whether private property would be 
 respected if the inhabitants did not move off. They told him it would 
 be sacred. After that he had a conversation with a Captain Stephens, 
 who had the candor to tell Mr. Couper that, whatever they might tell him, 
 private property would not be sacred; that he would advise him by all 
 means to move off his property, particularly his negroes, and tell his firiends 
 to do so. 
 
 Captain Massias has fallen back to Barrington. Col. Scott still holds 
 on to the St. Ilia with about eighty men ; and the Patriots — about sixty;ia 
 number — are much on the alert. They keep up a constant correspondence 
 with Col. Scott. Scott has intercepted some scoundrels driving beeves to 
 the British. He took one drove from a party going to St. Mary's. I 
 am in great hopes that Darien will be held. They have a force there of 
 about five hundred ; and more are joining daily. Mr. Spalding has not 
 moved any of his negroes. It was understood, but not much said about 
 it, that his negroes exhibited signs of rebellion. Should a removal be 
 
456 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 attempted, you can have no idea of the distress of the low country, — every 
 one moving their negroes that can, and niany leaving every thing behind. 
 
 The idea of Woodbine was more alarming than the British, if possible; 
 but that fear has in a great measure subsided. From the best informa- 
 tion, Woodbine never has had more than from forty to sixty men. They 
 have not been heard of very lately. I left Barrington on Wednesday last, 
 where I saw people direct from the southward. 
 
 I am, sir, with great respect, your most obedient and humble servant, 
 
 J. Sawyer. 
 
 N.B. — Captain Massias lost one killed and two or three wounded. 
 I saw two of the British deserters, who state that the British had two 
 killed and several wounded. 
 
 XCV. — GEN. BLAOKSHEAE TO GOV. EARLY. 
 Camp, Little Ocmulgee, sevesty-thkee wiles below Haetfobd, Jan. 27, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — ^Last evening I arrived at this place with my little detachment, 
 all in health and spirits. 
 
 It was a comfort, on the receipt of your orders, to bear down with all expe- 
 dition, as early as possible, to check the enemy, and save as mnch as pos- 
 sible the feelings and property of the flying inhabitants from the plun- 
 der and devastation of the marauding foe. I immediately made such 
 arrangements as would warrant the most precipitate march, if the con- 
 tractor and quartermaster-general's department will do their duty. I 
 wrote them immediately, and called on the contractor to keep me con- 
 stantly furnished with thirty thousand rations in advance until the 1st 
 of May next, except he should receive counter-orders. Not being fur- 
 nished with a copy of his contract, I was at some loss in what manner to 
 make my requisition ; but I ordered the former requisition of Gen. J. Mcin- 
 tosh to be delivered at Hartford. These I contemplate to have furnished 
 on my march, or at such place as may be stationed within the limits of 
 his contract. I have, however, received no information from either of 
 the departments, nor do I know whether they will attend to the business 
 80 as to enable me to proceed by forced marches until I arrive at Barring- 
 ton. We should have been completely out yesterday but for a boat we 
 fell in with that had taken alarm on ite passage down and was about to 
 return. I ordered the quartermaster to purchase the load. Under 
 existing circumstances, it is impossible to coerce the contractor to his duty 
 except I had funds to enable me to furnish when he neglected. We have 
 been much neglected by that department in small rations. Provisions 
 and forage might be sent down the Oconee, and for which we shall suffer 
 if we do not get a supply in a few days. 
 
 I should be glad to hear, as early as possible, if Gen. Mcintosh sanc- 
 tions the change of my route. 
 
 I shall be detained here to-day in getting across this rivulet; and to- 
 morrow it is probable I shall be at Bell's Ferry. This is the last com- 
 munication I shall be able to make, until I get some paper, as I am now 
 quite out. 
 
 XCVI. — GEN. FLOYD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Savannah, January 31, 1815. 
 Sir : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
 the 27th instant, and to express the gratification it afforded me to learn 
 the route and progress of your march. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 457 
 
 Tte enemy, after pillaging St. Mary's and destroying the fort and maga- 
 zine at Point Petre, evacuated these points on the 24th, and withdrew to 
 the island of Cumberland, having seized all the vessels of the citizens in 
 the waters of the St. Mary's, without regard to the sovereignty of his 
 Catholic majesty or the rules of neutrality. Neither afforded protection 
 to American property. 
 
 It is pretty well ascertained that their force amounts to two thousand 
 men, of which number four hundred are said to be black. The whole of 
 our ordnance-stores and the baggage of Captain Massias's detachment fell 
 into the hands of the enemy, who, it is believed, meditate an attack upon 
 this city after, if not before, the fate of Orleans is decided, — a circum- 
 stance which must ere this have taken place. 
 
 Indeed, their designs against our State are derived from a source which 
 seems to place the certainty beyond a doubt : it therefore becomes the 
 imperious duty of those who have the direction and control of the ener- 
 gies of the State to breast against the impending storm, which, from its 
 threatening aspect, had elicited the exercise of the discretion delegated to 
 me to augment our numerical force to such numbers as would make the 
 result of an assault as it ought to be. 
 
 The impression, however, that the enemy have not as yet received 
 reinforcements has induced General Pinckney (who is now here) to dis- 
 pense with the services of Gen. Byne's brigade, with the exception of 
 three hundred volunteers drawn from Augusta, Burke, and Jefiierson 
 counties, under the conviction that the direction which has been given to 
 your command, and one thousand men held in requisition from South 
 Carolina, would afford a force competent to meet present emergencies. 
 
 Three companies, in addition to some local militia, are stationed at 
 Darien, amounting in number to about three hundred and fifty men. 
 Captain Massias, with his command, is at Barrington, and Col. Scott, 
 with about ninety men, at the Great St. Ilia, near Jefferson. 
 
 As your command has been included in the calculation of the means of 
 defence to be given to the seaboard and Indian frontiers, you will readily 
 perceive the necessity of giving me the earliest notice of any extraordi- 
 nary detention or change in the route now contemplated. As you will 
 probably cross the AlUmaha at Bamngton, I shall, on your arrival there, 
 communicate to you more fully the arrangements in view : in the mean 
 time, I shall be happy to reciprocate an unreserved correspondence. 
 
 Knowing that you breathe my own sentiments as respects our country 
 and its enemies, it will at all times afford me pleasure to unite my efforts 
 to promote the interests of the one and the discomfiture of the other. 
 
 In your next, be pleased to acquaint me with the strength of your com- 
 mand, prospects of provisions, and the probable period of your arrival at 
 Barrington. 
 
 That we may both be instrumental in preserving the interests of our 
 country, and prove worthy of the confidence reposed in us, is the sincere 
 wish of one who has the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, John Floyd, 
 
 Brigadier- General. 
 
 XCVII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO GEN. FLOTD. 
 
 Camp, 118 miles below Hakifobd, February 2, 1815. 
 Dear Sir : — ^It is with no inconsiderable pleasure that I have the honor 
 to inform you that, on my march fifteen miles from this place, I this 
 
458 MEMOIR OF GENERAt 
 
 day received yours of the 31st, — but am extremely sorry to have to state, 
 that from the great number of small streams bordered by extensive swamps, 
 rendered almost impassable by the multitude nf wagons flying from the 
 horrors of invasion and insurrection, my march to Harrington is much 
 retarded, and I fear I shall thereby fall short of your expectations, and 
 perhaps fail to enjoy an opportunity of rendering to our distressed fellow- 
 citizens that speedy relief and security so anxiously desired. 
 
 My solicitude to attain the point of destination is much increased by 
 the certainty you express of the enemy's designs against this State ; but, 
 should no unfortunate event interfere to impede my progress, I presume I 
 shall be able to reach Barrington on the evening of Saturday next, at 
 which time I hope to be ready to receive from you advices concerning the 
 arrangements. 
 
 At this time the effective force of my command is a little above eight 
 hundred, officers included ; but I expect a gradual augmentation to the 
 number of nine hundred. My sick and convalescent, left at Hartford on 
 the receipt of his Excellency's order, are beginning again to join the 
 detachment, while new cases of disease are becoming extremely rare. 
 
 Immediately on the receipt of orders, turning my course toward the 
 seaboard, I ordered the contractor forthwith to furnish, at Hartford, thirty 
 thousand rations previously required to be about that time deposited at 
 that place. Of this, however, I have consumed a part, but have on hand 
 at this time about fourteen days' rations. 
 
 As soon as I was apprized of a place at which I should probably be able 
 to make deposit, I made a requisition on the contractor for one hundred 
 thousand complete rations to be delivered at St. Savillil Bluff. This 
 supply I hope to receive in time to meet the exhaustion of what provision 
 I have at present on hand. Of forage there is indeed a scarcity; but I 
 nevertheless have a hope that I shall be supplied. 
 
 Unless emergencies demand the contrary, I contemplate remaining at 
 Barrington a few days, with a view to the restoration and improvement of 
 the strength and spirits of my troops, and for the inspection of my arms 
 and ammunition, as well as for the rearing of a few temporary buildings 
 for the reception of public stores, &c. 
 
 XCVIII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAE TO CAPT. A. A. MASSIAS. 
 
 Camp, 132 miles below Haetford, February 4, 1815. 
 
 Gen. Blackshear has the honor to inform Capt. Massias that the detach- 
 ment under his command will arrive this evening at Barrington, and also 
 that a gentleman of high respectability arrived in camp last evening with 
 the pleasing intelligence that on Monday last a feu-de-joie of nineteen 
 guns was fired at Fort Hawkins in celebration of the signal victory gained 
 over the British, by Greneral Jackson, at New Orleans. The report is 
 that Gen. Jackson killed one thousand dead, and took five hundred 
 prisoners, with only the loss of twenty men. Too good to be entirely 
 true, I fear. Gloria Dei ! Gloria Jacksoni ! 
 
 By order of Brigadier-General Blackshear : 
 
 Thos. Hamilton, 
 
 Aide-de- Camp. 
 
DAVID BLAGKSHEAR. 459 
 
 XCIX. — GEN. FLOYD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Daeien, February 6, 1815. 
 (Division Orders.) 
 
 Brigadier-Greneral Blackshear will, on the receipt of this order, relieve 
 the troops stationed at this place under the command of Major King, 
 making Harrington his head-quarters, where he will cause to be erected 
 houses for provisions, as the principal depot in this quarter. 
 
 In placing troops in the neighborhood of Darien, Gen. Blackshear will 
 take a view of the different points capable of being approached, and post 
 the detachment accordingly, keeping out pickets to guard against sur- 
 prise. Boats and crafts of every description will be placed in some secure 
 and commanding situation, unless their owners will be responsible for their 
 safe-keeping. 
 
 Major King, on being relieved, will immediately take up his line of 
 march and proceed to Camp Covington, where he will report himself on 
 his arrival. The returning provision-wagons will furnish transportation 
 for the detachment's baggage. 
 
 Captain James Hamilton's company of artillery will resume their com- 
 mand at Sunbury, taking with them the artillery belonging to that place. 
 
 Major Hopkins will discharge the local militia under his command, 
 taking care to hold them in readiness to co-operate with the detachment 
 at Darien, or at any other point, as circumstances may require. The 
 detachment furnished at Darien by Gen. Blackshear will take charge of 
 the two pieces of ordnance, which will not be removed unless emergencies 
 should make it necessary. 
 
 The detachment of regulars under Capt. Massias will, as soon as they 
 are supplied with provisions and ammunition, hold themselves in readi- 
 ness to march southwardly. 
 
 Gen. Blackshear will communicate all important information to head- 
 quarters at Savannah. 
 
 By order of Brigadier-General John Floyd, commanding 1st Division 
 Georgia militia. Thos. Boubke, 
 
 Aide-dc- Camp. 
 
 C. — GOV. EARLY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Executive Department, Geoegia, February 8, 1815. 
 
 Sir : — I have not heard from you since you crossed the Oconee River, 
 but presume you are by this time about Fort Barrington. I believe I 
 have not, in any of my former letters, directed you expressly to report 
 yourself to General Floyd; but I presume you have communicated with 
 him in such way as to answer the same purpose. I have written to Gen. 
 Pinckney at Savannah fully on the subject of your situation, and expect 
 an answer to-morrow. 
 
 By a letter from Major-General Mcintosh, dated at the Tallapoosa 
 River on the 28th ultimo, I have been assured that he most fully approves 
 of the orders which were given you to march toward the seaboard. He 
 was to move the next morning for Mobile. 
 
 Should orders or instructions be sent you by Gen. Pinckney or Gen 
 Floyd, you will of course conform to them. Indeed, it is to be expected 
 that you may have received such immediately on your opening a commu- 
 nication with the latter ofiScer. 
 
460 MEMOIR OF 6EXERAL 
 
 1 enclose you a newspaper, by which you will discover that General 
 Jackson is making glorious havoc of the enemy at New Orleans. 
 I have the honor to be, with high respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Early. 
 
 ci. anthony porter to gen. blackshear. 
 
 MiLLEDGEViLLE, February 8, 1815. 
 
 Dear Sir: — On the 31st of January, I wrote a letter to you with a 
 view of sending it immediately after : being disappointed, however, it has 
 remained in the office ever since. I have now an opportunity, and have 
 concluded to send it to you. 
 
 I send enclosed some commissions for officers in your detachment of 
 militia in the room of Capt. Lee, &c. from Wilkinson. 
 
 The Governor writes you by this conveyance, and has sent the last 
 Georgia Journal, whhoh will, 1 believe, give you all the information we 
 have at this place at present. 
 
 In haste, I am, dear sir, your very obedient servant, 
 
 Anthony Porter. 
 
 CII. — major-general PINCKNEY to gen. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 (General Orders.) 
 Head-Qdabteks, Sixth Militabt Disteict, Savannah, Febrnary 8, 1815. 
 
 In all cases where bacon is issued to troops as a part of the rations, nine 
 ounces will be the proportion of each ration in lieu of beef or pork. 
 
 The quartermaster's department and contractor will be prepared to fur- 
 nish to troops, to be stationed at Brearly, Montgomery, and White Bluff, 
 \rhatever is allowed by law or regulations in their respective departments. 
 
 (^Order of February 9, 1815.) In all cases where persons (other than 
 soldiers) are arrested by military authority for contravention of the laws, 
 or suspicion of treason or illegal practices, affidavits must be taken of the 
 facts alleged, and transmitted with the prisoners to the officer commanding 
 the troops of the United States in the State where the arrest takes place. 
 The prisoners, with the affidavits and evidence, will be referred to the 
 United States District Attorney, except in cases cognizable by military 
 law only, when they are to be brought before a military tribunal. 
 
 By order of Major-General Pinckney, commanding military district 
 No. 6 : Mark Hardin, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant- General State Troops U. S. service. 
 
 Cin. — GEN. FLOYD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Savahsah, Febrnary 12, 1815. 
 (Division Order.) 
 
 Brigadier-General Blackshear will, on the receipt of this order, furnish 
 from his command one full company, who will join a detachment of local 
 militia under the command of Major Hopkins, for the purpose of pre- 
 occupying Sapelo Island in order to repel any hostile attempt of the 
 enemy. A voluntary tender of service for the accomplishment of this 
 object would be preferred, and, it is believed, will be afforded with alacrity, 
 on the condition that Major Hopkins will furnish a competent number of 
 mefl to navigate the boats to be employed, and act as pilots, by water and 
 land, taking care to furnish the whole detachment with at least eight or 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 461 
 
 ten days' provisions. The continuance of the troops on Sapelo will be 
 regulated by circumstances, or augmented as General BlacksbciU- in his 
 judgment may think proper. John Floyd, 
 
 Brigadier- General. 
 CIV. — GEN. FLOYD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Sav.ynnah, February 12, 1815. 
 
 Dear General : — It is confidently believed, by the best-informed 
 persons here, that the preliminaries of peace were signed at Ghent by the 
 contending parties, on the 24th of November, and that the official account 
 of it will soon reach us, although it would be unwise and impolitic to rely 
 on its probability ; yet it has considerably lessened the expectations of an 
 attack on this place. 
 
 It is_ nevertheless believed that the enemy will, in the mean time, be 
 more vigilant in the prosecution of their predatory warfare where it can 
 be effected without much risk. The greater exertion on our part becomes 
 necessary to counteract their mischievous designs. Therefore, if Major 
 Hopkins will furnish a suitable number of his militia who are acquainted 
 with the management of boats, I think the contemplated expedition will, 
 if properly managed, be productive of beneficial effects, without encoun- 
 tering much risk. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 John Floyd, Brig. Gen. 
 
 Cy.- — M.4J0R-GENERAL PINCKNEY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 Head-Qdakteks, Sixth Militakt Division, Savannah, February 13, 1815. 
 
 (General Orders.) 
 
 Colonel Boote, Inspector-General United States army, will proceed to 
 have mustered, as expeditiously as possible, the following militia troops 
 called into the service of the United States, — viz. : 
 
 First regiment, commanded by Col. Johnson, now at Savannah. 
 
 Three volunteer companies from Augusta, one from Scriven, one from 
 Jefferson, and one from Burke. 
 
 A company of second regiment, now at Hardwick. 
 
 One company of artillery, commanded by Capt. Hamilton, now at 
 Sunbury. 
 
 A detachment of 30th regiment under Col. Scott, now at the St. Ilia. 
 
 Two troops of dragoons and two companies of riflemen of South Caro- 
 lina, ordered to report to the officer commanding troops of the United 
 States in Savannah. 
 
 One regiment and one battalion of South Carolina infantry, ordered to 
 rendezvous at the Two Sisters' Ferry. 
 
 The drafted militia will be mustered in the same proportion of com- 
 missioned and non-commissioned officers and privates as obtain in the 
 regular service, — the volunteers, serving as such, in the same proportion 
 that obtain in the laws of the States to which they respectively belong. 
 
 By command of Major-General Pinckney : Mark Hardin, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant- General. 
 
 OVI. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO GEN. FLOYD. 
 
 Camp near Darien, February 13, 1815. 
 Sir : — Ever since you left this place, we have been in a constant state 
 of alarm, and the principal inhabitants remonstrating against my leaving 
 
462 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 this station. I have therefore, agreeably to your orders, explored the 
 passes through which this place is most accessible, and picketed them ; 
 and immediately on your departure I despatched one full company to 
 Barrington in addition to those already there, to build houses for the 
 deposit of provisions, and to protect that post. 
 
 Last Thursday, a party of the British ran up and landed at Mr. Brails- 
 ford's, south of this, broke the house and trunks, and carried off some 
 clothing. They then went over to Broten Island, broke and plundered 
 the house. Immediately on gaining this intelligence, I detached a party 
 to Broten and the intermediate islands, who waited in ambush one day and 
 night, in hopes that they would make a secoad visit, but made no dis- 
 covery, only of a boat from Amelia. 
 
 I have just heard from St. Simon's by a gentleman of high respect- 
 ability, who states the force of the enemy there to be a small plundering 
 party, who are getting all the negroes they can entice, and large numbers 
 are going off the main to them. I have just passed an order for the 
 security or destruction of all the small boats and canoes between this and 
 Brunswick, to prevent the blacks from going off era masse. They are con- 
 tinually going to and returning from the enemy. I have received advice 
 that they sent a boat, piloted by a negro, to cut off the picket on the 
 General's Island, but failed in consequence of the pilot missing his way. 
 Independent of this, we have citizens now in Darien who not only justify 
 the enemy, but openly abuse the American Government, and endeavor to 
 induce them to believe that they will never get pay for their services, that 
 our Government is bankrupt, and a number of like expressions calculated 
 to excite sedition or mutiny. I am anxious to have these men, and all 
 suspected characters, arrested ; but, being aware of the privileges allowed, 
 I am at a loss what mode to pursue. I should be glad, therefore, if you 
 would fully point out to me what line of conduct I ought to pursue in 
 such cases. 
 
 I expect to remain in this neighborhood a day or two, or until I can 
 hear from you. I shall, however, proceed to Barrington as soon as I can 
 have the exposed points on the south branches of this river so picketed 
 as to prevent the enemy completely from stealing a march on this place, 
 except it shall be your pleasure, or that of Gen. Pinckney, to order me 
 otherwise, — which I am at all times, in any circumstances, ready to obey, 
 and, in the mean time, to afford any exertion to protect the persons and 
 property in this part of the country. 
 
 CVn. — GEN. PINCK.NEY TO GEN. FLOYD. 
 Hbad-Quaktees, Sixth Milit.\ey Divisiox, Savannah, February 14, 181-5. 
 
 (General Orders.) • 
 
 The militia troops of Cuthbert's brigade, called into the service of the 
 United States, and assembled at Sisters' Ferry, including the two com- 
 panies of riflemen under marching-orders, will be discharged as soon as 
 mustered. Any part of these troops not joined are hereby countermanded. 
 The senior oflBcer at Sisters' Ferry will take the most prompt and effectual 
 means to publish this order, that those who have not joined may not 
 unnecessarily turn out. The draft from this brigade being countermanded, 
 those who have already assembled will be mustered without observing the 
 proportions of commissioned and non-commissioned oflBcers and privates 
 directed by the general orders. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Austin, an officer commanding a regiment of South 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAB. 463 
 
 Carolina infantry called into United States service and ordered to ren- 
 dezvous at Two Sisters' Ferry, will obey the requisition of Brigadier- 
 General Floyd, commanding troops in the United States service in G-eor^a 
 to move into Georgia, and, on his arrival there, will report to Gen. Floyd 
 and obey hfs orders. 
 
 By command of Major-General Pinckney : John Ewing, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant- General. 
 
 CVIII. — ^JAMES MONROE TO MAJOR-GENEBAL PINCKNEY. 
 
 Depaktmest of Wab, February 14, 1815. 
 (Copy.) 
 
 Sir : — It is with great satisfaction that I have to inform you that a 
 treaty of peace was concluded between the United States and Great Britain, 
 at Ghent, on the 24th December last. A copy of this treaty was received 
 to-day, by Mr. Carroll, has been examined by the President, and will, I 
 have no doubt, be ratified. 
 
 I give you this information that hostilities may immediately cease 
 between our troops and those of Great Britain. It will be proper for you 
 to notify this to the British commander in your vicinity. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed,) James Monroe. 
 
 cix. — orders from gen. blackshear. 
 
 Camp near Dabien, February 16, 1815. 
 
 The military-store keepers will, in future, be held responsible for the 
 quality and condition of all provision which they may receive from the 
 contractor's or other department, at the time such provision may have 
 been received. And should it appear that any such provision so received 
 by them was unfit for the use of the army at the time it was receipted for, 
 it shall be their loss, and not the loss of the United States ; and of this 
 order all whom it may concern will take notice. 
 
 ex. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO MAJOR F. HOPKINS. 
 
 Camp neae Dabien, February 25, 1815. 
 Sm : — Captain Burke arrived last night, two days from Charleston, 
 with intelligence of peace, — a copy of which is enclosed ; and it is or- 
 dered that hostilities should cease. Capt. Burke is gone with despatches to 
 Cumberland, to the commanding-officer of the British forces at that place. 
 Captain White, with his command, will therefore immediately return 
 and join camp; and Major Hopkins will dispose of the local militia under 
 his command, in pursuance of his orders from Gen. Floyd, — which, I pre- 
 sume, under existing circumstances, will be to discharge them. Of the 
 propriety of this Maj. Hopkins will judge. , 
 
 I have the honor to be your humble servant, 
 
 D. Blackshear, 
 
 £rig. Genl. 
 
 CXI. — GEN. FLOYD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Savannah, February 25, 1815. 
 (Private.) 
 
 Dear Sir : — The official accounts of a peace having been concluded 
 between our country and Great Britain appear to have filled the hearts of 
 
464 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 the populace here with joy. The accounts were received on the evening 
 of the day which the mayor had proclaimed should be celebrated by 
 illumination and music, in commemoration of the illustrious Washing- 
 ton's birth, and in celebration of General Jackson's victory over our im- 
 placable enemy at Orleans. 
 
 This strange coincidence of circumstances aflForded all parties an oppor- 
 tunity of expressing their joy. But I presume that many whose hearts 
 throbbed for the fallen bands of the world's last hope congratulated 
 themselves at the close of the drama which might, if continued, have 
 brought tbem in their proper colors on tlie stage. Joy gleamed on every 
 countenance. The night was gloomy and calm. The streets were crowded 
 with people of all colors, sorts, and denominations, who, with lighted 
 candles, on foot and on horseback, enlivened the streets. 
 
 The crowd, led by the military, traversed the streets in procession, ac- 
 companied by all the music of a martial kind that the city afforded. The 
 vessels in the harbor were illuminated, and the air resounded with loud 
 huzzas and firing of small arms. The seamen had a small ship, which 
 they carried through the streets, decorated, exclaiming, "Don't give up 
 the ship!" 
 
 Private letters froro Washington state that the treaty was ratified on 
 the 16th instant. This evening's mail will probably bring us the Presi- 
 dent's proclamation on that subject. In England, such was the joy, 
 that the horses were taken out of the stage which conveyed the intelli- 
 gence through the country towns, and the stage drawn through the towns 
 by the populace. 
 
 I presume that the militia of my brigade will shortly be disbanded. I 
 have sounded General Pinckney to know whether he will permit you to 
 pay our red friends a visit, by the way of winding up the show. I shall 
 communicate to you the result. 
 
 I dislike the cession of the Floridas to the English. They will be a 
 thorn in our side so long as we suffer them to remain, — which, I trust in 
 God and my country, will not be long. Time will not allow me to say 
 more at present. Accept my best respects. Present me to your officers, 
 and believe me to be, with sentiments of high regard, your friend and 
 fellow-citizen, John Floyd. 
 
 OXII. — GEN. FLOYD TO GEN. BLAOKSHEAE. 
 
 Savaksah, February 27, 1815. 
 
 (Division Orders.) 
 
 Officers commanding regiments and separate corps of militia in the 
 service of the United States within the State of Georgia will, imme- 
 diately on the receipt of this order, cause estimates to be made out of the 
 pay due to their regiments and coi-ps up to first March, and transmit 
 thetfl without delay to the United Stjites paymaster in this State. 
 
 In pursuance of general orders of 25th instant, all the militia in ser- 
 vice within the State will be discharged as soon as they shall be mustered 
 and settlements made with the paymasters. They will be marched to 
 their regimental rendezvous, and there discharged. 
 
 Commanding officers of regiments and corps are authorized to give per- 
 mission to such officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, as are 
 desirous to proceed home without transportation being furnished them by 
 the public. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 465 
 
 The quartermaster-generars department will furnish the necessary 
 transportation on the requisition of officers commanding regiments, corps, 
 or detachments, and afford every accommodation to the sick (on requisi- 
 tion of a medical officer) to enable them to get to their homes. Those 
 who cannot at present move will he accommodated at the present hos- 
 pitals, and supplied with hospital-stores until they are able to move. 
 Commanding officers of separate commands will detail a sufficient number 
 of surgeons to attend them. 
 
 The quartermaeter-geiierars department will provide stores, if neces- 
 sary, and appoint proper agents to receive army-accoutrements, ammuni- 
 tion, camp-equipage, and articles of every description belonging to the 
 United States, from the officers to whom they were issued, and make re- 
 turns thereof to the proper departments. 
 
 The ordnance and ammunition at Camp Covington will be immediately 
 returned to the authorities from which they were received. 
 
 Officers granting furloughs will keep a regular entry of all officers and 
 men to whom those indulgences have been granted. All avoidable loss 
 of arms, &c. will be placed to the account of officers who have receipted 
 for them. 
 
 The lieutenant-colonel commanding the 2d and 3d regiments, and all 
 officers commanding detachments and corps, will direct muster and in- 
 spection rolls to be made out without delay, preparatory to their discharge. 
 
 By order of Brig. Gen. Floyd, commanding : 
 
 Mark Hardin, 
 Assi£t Adj't Genl. 
 
 CXni. GEN. JOHN HOUSTOUN McINTOSH* TO GEN. BLAOKSHEAB. 
 
 Tab Rbfugb, April 2, 1815. 
 
 Dear Sir: — ^A day or two after we left you, one of our carriage- 
 horses took sick on the road and died. This accident, together with the 
 badness of the roads, prevented us from reaching here until the latter 
 part of last week. The bearer, (Mr. Saltonstall,) who, I believe, is a 
 very good man, tells me that he intends living in your neighborhood; 
 and being now on his way up, I embrace the opportunity of dropping you 
 a line, — ^which I do the more readily as our mails, since the war, have 
 been extremely irregular. 
 
 The conduct of the British, (particularly of the officers,) both at St. 
 Simon's and St. Mary's, exceeds even what you and I believed of them 
 in flagitiousness. Nothing was of too little value to tempt them; and 
 every thing was grasped, let it belong to friend or foe, widow or orphan. 
 Mrs. Shaw, however, is an exception to this general rule. Cockburn, 
 though her negroes were the first to join him, had them all returned to 
 her, together with a quantity of cotton, some of which belonged to other 
 persons. She also had influence enough to get her cousin Bay Sands's 
 ne<Toes also returned. The report of her being so distressed was only 
 until the arrival of Oockbum. Shortly after this event, it is said, she was 
 remarkably lively; and, if Cockburn was master of the house and every 
 thing in it, she was certainly mistress. 
 
 * Commander-in-clilef of the "Patriots,?' who took possession of East Florida in 
 1814 and maintained a quoH goTemment for about twelve months at their camp, 
 within a few miles of St. Angnstine. The Gen. John Mcintosh nnder whose orders 
 Gen. Blackshear served was a different personage, though a relative of the other. 
 
 Vol. I.— 30 
 
466 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 The account of the Patriots having killed a great many of them is 
 correct. The officers found it necessary, after they were fired upon from 
 two blufi, to douse their epaulettes and all the marks of an officer. 
 Cockbum was so enraged when his six boats returned, with two-thirds of 
 their crews killed and wounded, that he made a signal for all the boats 
 and marines to come from the vessels, and swore that he would bum St. 
 Mary's and every house between the Altamaha and St. Mary's. But the 
 arrival of Maj. Burke with the account of peace prevented him from 
 putting his threat in execution. I have no doubt but that he would 
 nave burnt St. Mary's; but I am confident that you would have pre- 
 vented him from trusting his men any distance out of their boats. 
 
 I am anxious to hear what your brother has done with ; and I 
 
 sincerely hope he will agree to no compromise after the unworthy treat- 
 ment he has received. Pray, remember me afiectionately to the major, 
 and tell him I never think of him without gratitude for his hospitality 
 and attention, and that I have taught all my children to play "Man- 
 rice," which I call, after him, " Blackshear," — a name certainly as 
 pretty as that of " Maurice." Remember me also kindly to your brother 
 the colonel, and tell him I have not yet seen Mr. Sands, but will certainly 
 attend to his business as goon as I do. 
 
 Our seasons have been in this part of the country uncommonly wet. 
 I hope they have not been so with you. We had, a night or two ago, 
 cold almost enough for a frost. 
 
 Mrs. Mcintosh and my daughters are all well, and join with me in kind 
 and best remembrance to your amiable lady, Mrs. Bryan, Miss Bush, and 
 yourself. We all expect that Miss Bush will shortly lose her name, 
 though not her verdure. That she and you all may never change your 
 situation but for the better is the wish, my dear sir, of your sincere friend 
 and obedient servant, John H. McIntosh. 
 
 CXIV. — TIMOTHY BARNARD (INDIAN CHIEF) TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Flist Rivee, December. 2, 1815.* 
 
 Sir : — I received yours last evening by Mr. Volice and Mr. Jas. Joice, 
 and fully observed the contents. I send on your letters this morning to 
 the Agency, by express to Gen. Mcintosh. The general, I expect, got to 
 Fort Mitchell last evening. I had some information yesterday by a red 
 man which I believe is true, — that is, that the British have erected their 
 forts near the forks of these rivers, and one down at Forbes's Store, and 
 that there is a number of British landed there. It is reported by the 
 red people from that quarter that the red people do not wish to join the 
 British in these wars. The Chehaw people — near where you will arrive 
 on Flint River — are all inclined to be peaceable and assbt our army. A 
 man arrived from there yesterday, requesting me to send the chiefs a few 
 lines to show you when you arrive on Flint River, that you may know 
 your friends. The chiefs of Chehaw say they will be glad to furnish you 
 with all the beef and hogs they have to spare, and render you any other 
 
 * This 19 evidently a wrong date. It must have been intended for 1814, because 
 on 2d December, 1815, Gen. Blackshear was on his farm, having discharged his com- 
 mand in March, 1815, soon after peace with Great Britain was proclaimed. The 
 Jetter is given as a proof of the fidelity of the respected aathor of it, who was known 
 as the "white man's friend." 
 
BAVID BLACKSHEAR. 467 
 
 service in their power. I expect one of my sons will be down there, to 
 assist you, that speaks our language. 
 
 CXV. — ^JOEL CRAWFOED* TO GEN. BLACKSHEAK. 
 
 MiLi.EDGEVii.LE, September 15, 1818. 
 
 Deae Sie : — By yesterday's mail I received from the Secretary of War, 
 in answer to inquiries made pnisnant to your request, the communication 
 contained on the first page of this sheet. Thongh far from being satis- 
 fiictory, it is about such a reply as might have been expected. I have 
 ascertained by much experience that the gentlemen about the city aU 
 have a way of their own in doing business which is a great deal more 
 convenient to themselves than any one else. I am sorry the Secretary 
 has so soon fallen into those habits of evasion which have ever been 
 fashionable in the city of Washington. 
 
 However, sir, if you will draw up an explicit letter to Mr. Calhoun, as 
 nearly conformable to his already-expressed wishes as practicable, I wUl 
 take charge of it, and, on arriving at Washington, press a proper attention 
 to it. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, yours, 
 
 J. Cbawfoed. 
 
 [ENCLOSURE.] 
 
 War Dbpaktmext, August 2, 1818. 
 SiE : — ^I have received your letter of the 19th of July. To obtain 
 satis&ctory information, it will be necessary to furnish the names of the 
 commanding-officers of the respective companies, because, in some cases, 
 the rations were issued complete, and in others the provisions were 
 delivered in bulk and issued by the quartermasters. 
 
 I have the honor to be your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. C. Calhoun. 
 Hon. Joel Crawford. 
 
 CXVI. GOV. EABUN TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 ExEOBTivB Dbpaetmes^p, Geoegl^, Milledgevillb, June 30, 1819. 
 
 SiE : — I have been this day waited upon by , who has deposited 
 
 in this office a petition or declaration containing a number of exceptions 
 
 to the proceedings of a court-martial held in , on the 15th of last 
 
 month, before which he was accused of sundry high crimes and mis- 
 demeanors, which were alleged to have been committed by him while in 
 the public service, in the months of March and April, 1818. It appears 
 
 from the statement of that he has been oppressed and borne down 
 
 by the strong arm of power, contrary to the Constitution, laws, and usages 
 of our country, and on charges and specifications which he alleges to be 
 frivolous and unfounded. 
 
 Being desirous to hear both sides on this subject, I have deemed it my 
 duty to call on you to furnish me a certified copy of the whole proceedings 
 
 of the court-martial held in for the trial of Captain , of the 
 
 troop of cavalry. 
 
 The reasons which have induced me to adopt this course are, that if the 
 
 * Then a Bepresentative in Congress. 
 
468 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 charges exhibited against Captain were for any misconduct which 
 
 occurred while in actual service, then, according to the 29th section of the 
 militia-law, the proceedings of the court must receive the approbation of 
 the commander-in-chief before the sentence can be complete. But, if the 
 charge was only for an " offence against military orders and decorum," 
 then, according to the 27th section of the militia-law, the approbation of 
 the brigadier-general was sufficient to perfect the sentence. 
 
 You will probably view this as a novel proceeding ; but I can assure- 
 you that the duty I owe to the State, and the respect I have for your 
 uniform conduct, has urged me to pursue this course, in order that 
 impartial justice may be administered, and, if possible, to arrest the public 
 clamor that has been excited respecting this decision. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Wm. Rabun. 
 
 cxvii. — gen. blackshear to his son james.* 
 
 MiuBDOEViiLE, May 14, 1821. 
 
 Dear James : — ^I again write you by Mr. Golding, although I have 
 written by Major Meriwether, and by whom I have sent you some money. 
 I expect to leave this place to-morrow for home. I have heard that your 
 mother is yet complaining of the asthma. The rest of the family are 
 getting better. 
 
 When you receive the money, take care that you do not spend or other- 
 wise dispose of it only as you are obliged to do. Be sure to keep out of 
 bad company, and do not be persuaded to do any thing that is improper. 
 Be advised by your cousinsf and those gentlemen I recommended you to 
 in my last. Never place yourself in a situation to deny what you know 
 to be true, and always have a strict eye on what will support a good cha- 
 racter. You can hardly conceive how easy it is for a youth to injure his 
 character, which is rarely ever recovered ; that is, if you should do any 
 thing with other boys, you will all be implicated, and when you become a 
 man it will not be forgotten. If you conduct yourself well, you will 
 always be respected by good people. I have great solicitude for your 
 welfare; and, having written you so lately, have nothing more. 
 
 Your loving father, 
 
 D. Blagkshear. 
 
 CXVIII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO HIS SON JAMES. 
 
 Spbinofield, J October 4, 1821. 
 
 My dear James : — I received yours of the 7th ult., and am glad to 
 find that you are pursuing your studies with a knowledge of the necessity 
 
 '*' James Hamilton Elackebear, the eldest son of the general, was at the time a 
 stadent of Franklin College. He afterward married a daughter of Gen. John 
 Floyd, and represented the county of Laurens several times in the Legislature. He 
 was highly intelligent, and was much beloved for his noble qualities. He died in 
 1845, leaving many frjends, who will ever cherish his memory with the warmest 
 affection. This letter, and other letters from the same sonrce, thongh written of 
 course in all the freedom of privacy, are given to the public for the excellent advice 
 they contain for young men. 
 
 ■j- The two brothers, Thomas Jefferson Bryan and Blackshear Bryan, of Tvriggs 
 county, both since deceased. 
 
 J The name of Gen. Blaokshear's residence in Laurens county. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHBAK. 469 
 
 of having an edncation. Continae to persevere, and remember the advice 
 I have ever tried to impress on your mind, — that you are now laying the 
 foundation of a character by which you will be judged all the rest of your 
 life. 
 
 I have no doubt but you have your anxieties to see your mother and 
 little brothers, and even amusements about home. But learning is worth 
 more than these little temporary amusements, and particularly when yoa 
 can hear from home so often as you do. Our election is over, — myself 
 for Senate, Major Thomas and Mr. Horn for the House. 
 
 ******** 
 
 My respects to Jefferson, and tell him I hope he will continue at school 
 until he gets an education, and particularly while you and he can progress 
 as fast as the rest of your schoolmates. 
 
 I have it in contemplation to let you come home and see us next 
 vacation; but do not let the thought of it interfere with your studies. 
 Press on as fast as possible to the last day. Make my compliments to 
 Mr. Moore, and tell him I should be glad he would write me at times 
 when he can conveniently do so, as I am anxious to hear from that quarter 
 more than you have an opportunity of knowing. 
 
 CXIX. COL. E. F. TATTNALL TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 Whitbmabsh Isxasd, October 16, 1821. 
 
 Deak General : — ^A vacancy has occurred in the station of Brigadier- 
 General of the First Brigade. Cols. Daniell and Harden, of Chatham, 
 and Col. Dunham, of Mcintosh county, are the candidates to fill it. The 
 former I wish particularly to recommend to your support. I do not 
 know whether you are personally acquainted with each other; but, as I 
 have long and intimately been acquainted with him, I can, with, confidence^ 
 assure you that he is brave, chivalric, and gentlemanly; that he is 
 ambitions of military distinction and loves the soldier's character. In 
 short, that he is all which you, as an old soldier, could wish a man to be. 
 
 I do not mean to disparage the claims of either of the other candidates ; 
 but were I acting under oath, and had I to ^ve a vote to either, it should 
 conscientiously be ^ven to Col. Daniell. With Col. Dunham I have been 
 but slightly acquainted, but I have always seen in him the evidence of 
 his deservedly high and respectable standing in his county. With Col. 
 Harden I have been intimate, and my esteem and respect for him is 
 great; but my decided preference is to Col. Daniell. 
 
 I win also, as I am on the subject of elections, suggest to you that a 
 gentleman of the Savannah bar (N. P. Bond, Esq.) will be a candidate 
 for the office of solicitor-general at the ensuing session, vice William Law, 
 Esq., resigned. He is a fine, promising young Georgian, and his talents 
 and worth are inferior to none in the State. His opponents are Levi 
 S. D'Lyon and J. C. Nicoll, Esqs. 
 
 From all I can learn, our election goes on welL God grant we may 
 succeed ! Our State has been too long deluded by the fectious and design- 
 ing. It is time for us to restore it to that rank in the Union which it 
 ought to hold and which the rancor of party-spirit has so long removed it 
 from. Col. Troup, it would seem, must be elected; but I hope we shall 
 continue active and alert on our post, for ideal security may defeat us 
 again, as at the last election. 
 
 I hope to see you at the opening of the session, as I shall probably be 
 in MilledgeviUe before I travel to the North. Pray communicate such 
 
470 MEMOIK OF GENERAL 
 
 part of this letter as relates to Col. Daniell and N. P. Bond, Esqs., to your 
 Representatives, and beg them to excuse the liberty which I take as a 
 stranger. 
 
 Be assured, dear general, that I am, with the highest esteem and 
 respect, your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 Edw'd F. Tattnall. 
 
 cxx. — col. tattnall to gen. blacksheae. 
 
 Savanbah, November 8, 1821. 
 
 Dear General : — I with much pleasure avail myself of an opportunity 
 of introducing to you my very intimate friend, who was in the same 
 service with yourself during the late war, and whose character as a gentle- 
 man, a man of talents, and a soldier will, I am sure, make him a pleasing 
 acquaintance, in your estimation. 
 
 Captain Hunter, the gentleman alluded to and the bearer of this intro- 
 ductory letter, is the present Cashier of the United States Bank. His 
 official duties carry him to Milledgeville. Of these I have nothing to 
 communicate, as I know nothing of them. I am, however, desirous of 
 making him feel easy during his stay in Milledgeville, and I know no 
 one who would feel more for a stranger than yourself. 
 
 Accept, my dear general, the reassurance of my highest regard and 
 esteem. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Edw'd F. Tattnall. 
 
 CXXI. — peter CRAWFORD* TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Sanday morning, Dec. 9, 1821. 
 
 Dear General: — I know you are in the habit of visiting Col. 
 Moughon. He has invited me to dine with him. This is the only day 
 that I can command or call my own. Will you honor me this day with 
 your company to the colonel's '( If you will, any hour that may be agree- 
 able to you to set out will suit me. Let me know by the boy whether I 
 shall have the pleasure of your company, and the hour. 
 
 Your friend, &c., 
 
 Peter Crawford. 
 
 cxxii. — gen. blackshear to his son james. 
 
 SPBrNGFiEU), March 22, 1822. 
 
 Dear James : — I have only received one letter from yon since you left 
 me, and this is the first that I have sent you. Tou seem to have forgotten 
 that I required you to write every fortnight. 
 
 You ask my approbation for you to recite privately, for a few weeks, 
 
 * Long time a Senator from Colambia coanty, — a man of superior intelligence and 
 marked integrity of character. He was usually Chairman of the Committee on 
 Finance, and in that position afforded much light on the revenue and objects of 
 appropriation by the Legislature. He was the father of the Hon. George W. 
 Crawford, formerly Governor of Georgia and Secretary of War under the adminis- 
 tration of President Taylor. Col. Monghon, referred to in Mr. Crawford's note, 
 was a planter in the vicinity of Milledgeville, of extensive wealth and hospitality, 
 lie was accidentally killed a few years ago by being thrown from u buggy while 
 riding with his son-in-law, Joseph Bond, Esq., in the city of Macon. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 471 
 
 that you might get ahead of your class. I shall not ohject to your pro- 
 gressing as fast as your capacity will admit, and if it is thought to be of 
 advantage to you to do so. But my fears are that you will not be 
 studious, and pay money to get ahead without knowing what is necessary. 
 I wish you to learn, and not merely get forward in high classes without 
 knowing what you ought to have studied. If you have been as attentive, 
 why are you not as far advanced as Jefferson Bryan ? You were both in 
 one class at first. It is in vain for me to write you and encourage you if 
 you do not strive. I once more renew my advice by saying that education 
 is for your own advantage, and if you neglect it will be your own loss. I 
 shall never think money wasted if you only progress well. 
 
 I have had great misfortunes since you left here. Jack took sick and 
 died after three weeks' illness j and yesterday Mike got upon the gin- 
 wheel, and it carried him under the piece that holds the band-wheel and 
 killed him. So you see that two most valuable boys are gone. 
 
 CXXIII. — GEN. BLACKSHEAE TO HIS SON JAMES. 
 
 Speingfield, April 12, 1821. 
 
 Mt dear James : — Tours of the 29th ult. has just come to hand, it 
 being the third I have received. I am quite anxious for your welfare, and 
 uneasy for fear of the measles and the fever that exist at Athens. But 
 diseases prevail in all countries, to which mankind are subject. An all- 
 wise Providence is your only protector. 
 
 We have generally good health here. Tour mother has had some 
 symptoms of the asthma, but is better, and as well as common. Tour 
 brother William* has a bad cold, which I was afraid was symptomatic of 
 asthma. He is now better, but not so well as he has been through the 
 winter. 
 
 I am much pleased to hear that your teachers approve of your progress 
 in learning, and that your cousins improve also, with whom, I hope, yon 
 will cherish harmony and friendly intercourse, and also with all your 
 schoolmates who conduct themselves with propriety. Avoid the company 
 of all that do otherwise, and try to act in such a way as to merit the 
 approbation and respect of all men of respectability. Envy none ; avoid 
 quarrels and disputation as much as possible. But, if any should unavoid- 
 ably occur, be sure that you are in the right ; and, when you are sure that 
 you are so, shrink from none from fear, regardless of consequences. I 
 am sorry that none of my nephews think enough of me to write me even 
 one letter since Blackshear left there. I am engaged in getting in my 
 
 new ground. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Make my compliments to Doctor Waddel, with whom I have some 
 acquaintance, and request him when at leisure to write me on your 
 improvement. 
 
 CXXrV. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO HIS SON JAMES. 
 
 Speingfield, May 5, 1822. 
 
 Dear James : — I received yours of the 13th ult., in which you 
 informed me of your indisposition from measles. I am solicitous to hear 
 of your final recovery. 
 
 * William Thweatt Blackshear died in 1838, aged thirty-one years. Asthma was 
 quite established in his constitution. 
 
472 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 . It would seem as if you expected to enter college in June. You know 
 how anxious I am for your welfare, and it affords me much pleasure to 
 hear of your advancing as fast as any of your schoolmates. But I wish 
 you to be perfect as far as you go, if it takes you a little longer time. 
 That, however, I must leave with your teacher and yourself. When you 
 enter college, I should be glad, if consistent with the rules, that you could 
 continue to board with Mr. Moore ; but you must conform to the rules, 
 and be sure not to join any party that commit riots. Often reflect that 
 you are now laying the foundation of your future greatness : a misstep 
 may injure you as long as you live. 
 
 We have had more rain than ever, and a greater freshet than you ever 
 saw. The river was nearly to the top of my little mill-door. It carried 
 off my fence and destroyed forty acres of cotton which was planted. 
 
 j(l Jfl JjS ifS -T- '7* ^ 
 
 My sugarcane has not come up well, and I begin to fear it will not 
 come soon enough to make much this year. What I made last is of a 
 superior quality of brown sugar. I wish I could send you some to show 
 the up-country people what can be done here. We have a great prospect 
 of fruit, particularly peaches. 
 
 Your mother has been very unwell with the asthma, but is now in 
 pretty good health, and will be uneasy until she hears that you have quite 
 recovered from the measles. You are apprized' that to expose yourself 
 after you appear to be well is dangerous : you will therefore be guarded 
 against taking cold or overheating yourself for some time after you think 
 you are well. 
 
 CXXV. — JOHN ELLIOTT* TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Philadelphia, September 4, 1822. 
 
 Mt dear Sir : — After ar rough passage of seven days, we landed in 
 New York. I found this State, as usual, much agitated by factions. 
 Mr. Calhoun's friends are making violent efforts here to weaken Mr. 
 Crawford's influence, in the vain hope of securing the vote of this great 
 State in support of their favorite. They have so far succeeded as to have 
 seduced from his engagements to advocate Mr. Crawford the editor of 
 "The Patriot," and turned his press in favor of Mr. Calhoun. But this 
 shameful defection on the part of the editor has already deprived him of 
 the patronage of the principal Republicans of the city of New York, and 
 will very shortly consign the paper to deserved insignificance. The efforts 
 of this press have produced no unfavorable impressions on the public 
 sentiment. New York and the great body of Republicans are decidedly 
 friendly to Mr. Crawford's success. Connecticut is vacillating; but I 
 have the most positive assurances from my friends there that she will 
 come out in due time for us. 
 
 Mr. Crawford's most violent political enemy, Mr. Edwards, 'has been 
 left out of Congress in the late elections in Illinois ; and two of the Repre- 
 sentatives who were last winter opposed to him have recently advocated 
 
 * Hon. John Elliott was a Senator in Congress from Georgia from 1819 to 1825. 
 This letter bears upon its face evidence that it was not intended for the public eye ; 
 yet, as curiously speculative, it is submitted as so much history of the state of parties 
 at a memorable epoch. Similar letters no doubt circulate among political leaders iu 
 every important canvass without affecting the propriety of the candidates. All tho 
 public men named in the letter are dead. 
 
BAVID BLACKSHEAB. 473 
 
 his election before the people. From Maine, New Hampshire, Massa- 
 chusetts, and Vermont we shall obtain in caucus a much greater support 
 than our enemies are aware of; and I think we may safely calculate on 
 twenty votes from this section of the nation. In caucus, New York may 
 be depended on for twenty-eight votes. New Jersey is now much divided, 
 but will certainly give us six votes. The people of Pennsylvania are 
 evidently in favor of Gen. Jackson ; but, as they have generally admitted 
 the necessity of. supporting the caucus candidate, the friends of Mr. 
 Crawford wink at their present predilections, knowing that the general 
 cannot be nominated, and believing Mr. Crawford must ultimately receive 
 the vote as the caucus candidate. In the caucus, however, we shall 
 receive from this State seven votes at least. Delaware is with us. Mary- 
 land is not fixed, but will surely lend us her support with five votes. 
 Mr. Crawford's strength, then, in the caucus may be fairly thus estimated, 
 — ^viz. : 
 
 From New England, 20 votes; from New York, 28; New Jersey, 6; 
 Pennsylvania, 7; Delaware, 3; Maryland, 5; Virginia, 24; North Caro- 
 lina, 15 ; South Carolina, 2 certainly, and, should Mr. Calhoun withdraw, 
 or be dropped, 7 votes; Georgia, 9; Ohio, 1; Indiana, 2; Illinois, 2; 
 Mississippi, 2; Tennessee, 2 at least, — making an aggregate of one 
 hundred and twenty-eight votes, which will be a majority of the Kepub- 
 lican members. And should any of the other candidates withdraw, or be 
 dropped by their friends, the number will receive considerable accession. 
 For no combination of interest can be formed to prejudice the standing 
 and prospects of Mr. Crawford: the West can never be induced to 
 support Mr. Adams, nor will the Republicans of the East, in the absence 
 of Sir. Adams, prefer Mr. Clay or Gen. Jackson to Mr. Crawford. 
 
 I consider Mr. Crawford's success, then, as more tlian probable; and, 
 in forming this opinion, I think I have not suffered my wishes, strong as 
 they are, to influence my judgment. 
 
 In conformity to your wishes expressed in your letter first received, I 
 have given you the preceding view of the Presidential question. As our 
 success greatly depends on a caucus-nomination, it will be proper to 
 conceal from our adversaries our real strength until the moment of trial. 
 Our friends in Georgia may be made acquainted with these facts, but they 
 must be kept from the newspapers. 
 
 Mr. Forsyth is here, and we improve every occasion to strengthen our 
 friends and weaken our adversaries. Our situation enables us to act 
 sometimes very efficiently in this regard. 
 
 The prospect of Col. Troup's success is highly gratifying to me, and I 
 hope no untoward circumstance may occur to lessen his well-deserved 
 influence with the people. 
 
 As it respects myself, I am quite disposed to leave the propriety of my 
 re-election to' the judgment of my friends. I was urged in the most 
 flattering manner by those in the eastern district, whose opinions and 
 wishes I greatly respected, not to leave public life at this time; and, 
 having been induced to ask for a re-election, I should be gratified by a 
 liberal support. It is probable I may continue here until the meeting of 
 Congress, occasionally visiting Jersey and the upper part of this State, as 
 political appearances may render it necessary. And, although you are 
 not fond of writing, I hope you will indulge me with an occasional 
 letter. My correspondence is very extensive, and I write always in great 
 haste. 
 
474 • MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 Offer my best regards to Col. Troup when you see him, and believe me 
 most cordially your friend, J- Elliott. 
 
 CXXVI. — GEN. BLACKSHEAR TO HIS SON JAMES. 
 
 Spbinofield, February 26, 1824. 
 
 My dear James : — I herewith enclose you twenty dollars for your 
 ordinary expenses. I am not willing you should be out of money, but 
 that you should know it is not to be wasted for things of no real benefit. 
 To know how to lay out money is more difficult than to make it. So 
 soon as you receive this, write me and acknowledge the receipt, that I may 
 know the money is not lost. 
 
 Your reasons for not having written me are not sufficient, as you might 
 write beforehand, if it was a whole week. I should know things at the 
 time you write. I wish you to take more pains in writing well, and not 
 write so small and cramped a hand. Make your letters larger, and take 
 pains to write and spell well. Continue your assiduity in your studies, 
 that you may derive the whole benefit of the money I am paying and the 
 time and privation you experience in getting your education ; and be sure 
 to be able to leave that place with credit to yourself, which will add 
 much to my happiness. 
 
 Farewellj my son. D. Blaokshear. 
 
 CXXVII. — DR. MOSES WADDEL TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Athehs, November 18, 1824. 
 
 Dear Sir : — ^Yours of the 16th is received this morning, and for the 
 expressions of friendship and confidence which it contains I feel much 
 obliged to you. 
 
 I am sincerely conscious that I have honestly exerted myself to do my 
 duty since I have been here, and am sorry that I have not succeeded in 
 pleasing all my fellow-citizens. I am sure I have done all that I could 
 for the interest of the college, situated as I have always been since I came 
 to the place ; and, though I will not venture to say that I have done all 
 that very many could have done here, yet I do firmly believe that scarcely 
 any other man would have done more, in the same time and circumstances. 
 
 Had every man counselled and treated his son as you have treated yours 
 here, many misrepresentations which have gone abroad would never have 
 been heard. James has behaved well, and has been studious. He honors 
 the laws : of course his standing is good in college, and in the vill%e his 
 character is fair, and his improvement in knowledge is very considerable. 
 If he persist in the course he has observed during the past year, I confi- 
 dently predict that he will be a good scholar, and an estimable, useful 
 man, an honor to this institution, and a comfort to your decKning years. 
 
 I have paid all the money you sent me for his board and tuition, except 
 ?4 37 J, which I paid to him this evening. 
 
 I now expect to remain here, in compliance with the request of the 
 trustees and Senatus Academicus, during some part of the next year at 
 least, — although such is my desire of peace and quietness that I would 
 sincerely prefer retirement and repose in the evening of life. I do not 
 wish to be in anybody's way. As I did not solicit the office, which is 
 exceedingly arduous and responsible, I thank God, who has blessed my 
 honest industry, I am not in such circumstances as to render it necessary 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 475 
 
 that I should wish to remain in it against the will of any one who is 
 opposed to my administration. 
 
 Please present my respects to my old friend Peter Crawford, Esq. I 
 do hope you will visit us shortly. I shall be glad to see or hear from you 
 at any time, and am your assured friend, M. Waddel.* 
 
 CXXVIII. — ^RICHARD HENRY WILDE TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Augusta, November 27, 1824. 
 
 Dear General: — My friend, George W. Crawford, Esq., who will 
 deliver you this letter, intends being a candidate for the office of attorney- 
 general next session. 
 
 Mr. Crawford studied with me, and is entirely deserving of the appoint- 
 ment. His character, politics, and talents are altogether unexceptionable. 
 May I beg you to assist him in extending his acquaintance among the 
 members of the Legislature, in such a manner as may insure him the 
 fairest prospect of success ? 
 
 Believe me, very sincerely and respectfully, your friend and servant, 
 
 R. H. Wilde. 
 
 CXXIX. — ^BEV. MOSES •ffADDEL TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Athens, January 21, 1825. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Tours of the 8th is received, for which I thank you. Mr. 
 Mitchell is a youth of superior scholarship and steady habits. I think he 
 will exactly suit your purpose. But, as he has one study to prosecute yet 
 in order to complete his course, I presume he can hardly be prevailed on 
 to go before the Commencement. I am cordially desirous to promote his 
 interests and your views in this case, which appear to me to be entirely 
 compatible. 
 
 My opinion is, that you would do well to visit this place yourself, in 
 person, some time in February, before crop-season arrives. I am sure you 
 could do much more toward succeeding in procuring a teacher, were you 
 here a day or two yourself. Your son and other young friends would be 
 glad to see you; and I am certain a number of your old ones would rejoice 
 to see you under their roof. I can truly speak for one. 
 
 Judge Clayton will go on the circuit about the middle of February. I 
 greatly wish you could be here before he goes, for some weighty reasons. 
 Some singular events have occurred here of late which are known to but 
 a few. I wish to communicate them to you, but not by letter. 
 
 Your son is doing well as usual. The students have generally returned, 
 and about half a dozen new ones. I am unusually anxious to converse 
 with you freely and at length on some interesting subjects. Do come, if 
 you can ; and, if not, write as often as convenient. 
 
 Very sincerely, your friend, 
 
 M. Waddel. 
 
 * President of PranMin College : elected to that office in 1819, and resigned in 
 1829. Dr. Waddel was renowned as an educator of youth. Among his pupils 
 were John C. Calhoun, William H. Crawford, William Lowndes, and George 
 McDuffie, aU of whom were men of the very highest order of intellect and who 
 acquired imperishable fame. He died at the residence of his son, in Athens, in 
 1840, at an advanced age. 
 
476 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 CXXX. — COL. SEABORN JONES TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 MiLLEDGEYiLLE, January 23, 1825. 
 
 My dear Sir : — The subject* on which I am about to address you 
 must form the best apology for troubling you; and the relations of friend- 
 ship which have existed between us will best explain the reasons why 
 this letter is addressed to you. 
 
 The suit at present existing between Dr. Kidley and your brother 
 Joseph is one which involves much property and no little feeling. At 
 the last court of Laurens county, Major Walker suggested to me a desire 
 that a settlement might be made between them, which would not only 
 terminate the present suit but prevent any future litigation. This ac- 
 corded so well with my own feelings that I immediately determined to 
 use my utmost exertions to bring about so desirable an event. I say it 
 accorded with my feelings; for I assure you I have, ever since I was 
 engaged in the case, most ardently desired a settlement might be made 
 which would save me the disagreeable necessity of discussing questions 
 involving so much feeling as those connected with the prosecution and 
 defence of the case. 
 
 It is urged by Ridley, and must necessarily be by his counsel, that 
 Joseph Blackshear had the most implicit confidence reposed in him by his 
 brother Elijah; that he placed his only child and daughter under his 
 guardian care and protection, and died with an entire confidence that his 
 only child would be taken care of and treated as though she were the 
 child of Joseph himself; that, while living, they were as twin-brothers; 
 and that Joseph is now attempting to take advantage of every quirk and 
 quibble of the law to deprive this daughter of all, or the greater part, of 
 her property. 
 
 The defence which has been set up is, too, of the most odious character, 
 and calculated to injure him ; and the remarks upon that defence (I mean 
 the doctrine of survivorship) must necessarily be most wounding to his feel- 
 ings. All this I hoped we might be able to avoid, and that we might 
 be able to make a settlement equally beneficial to both parties. 
 
 By the will of your brother Elijah, Ridley's wife is entitled to fifteen 
 thousand dollars of personal property, and land in proportion, on her in- 
 termarriage, with interest from that time. If the counsel of your brother 
 Joseph have acted with candor, they must have informed him that this 
 was inevitable. The proportion of land equivalent to that sum of per- 
 sonal property cannot be less than five thousand dollars, making together 
 820,000. To this add interest from the marriage (December 8, 1822) to 
 
 * The bill in chancery filed by Archibald B. Ridley and his wife Harriet against 
 Joseph Blackshear, as executor of Elijah Blackshear, deceased, pending which Mrs. 
 Kidley died, and her husband subsequently, as administrator, recovered judgment 
 for about twenly-five thousand dollars, which was collected. For some decision or 
 ruling of the law in this case, Judge Moses Fort was arraigned before the Legisla- 
 ture of Georgia, in 1827, by Col. Blackshear. A committee in the House of Kepre- 
 sentatives, of which the Hon. Charles Dougherty was chairman, heard evidence 
 upon the charges, (habitual intoxication included,) and reported an address to the 
 Governor recommending the removal of the judge from office, which passed in the 
 House, but failed in the Senate for want of two-thirds, the constitutional majority 
 required in such cases. Col. Jones was probably mistaken in his inference touching 
 the "odious" defence set up by Col. Blackshear to the donation made by his bachetor- 
 brother out of partnership-effects. 
 
478 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 House of Kepresentatives j when it appeared that, for President and Vice- 
 President of the United States, the votes were as follows : — 
 
 FOE PRESIDENT. TOE VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 i. 
 
 
 
 '2 
 
 d 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 d 
 
 •T3 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 QQ 
 
 ^ 
 % 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 Maine 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Hampshire.. 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts . . . . 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vermont 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New York 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 ...... 28 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Maryland ;.... 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 North Carolina... 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 South Carolina... 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 0., 
 
 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Alabama 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 84 41 99 37 182 24 13 30 2 9 
 
 It appeared, therefore, that, for President, there was no choice by the 
 Electors; and that for the office of Vice-President, John C. Calhoun, 
 having a majority of votes, was duly elected. 
 
 The Senate having retired, the House of Representatives proceeded to 
 arrange itself into States, and, at three o'clock, a balloting took place for 
 President of the United States, which resulted as follows : — 
 
 For John Quincy Adams 13 votes. 
 
 For Andrew Jackson 7 votes. 
 
 For William H. Crawford 4 votes. 
 
 24 
 
 So John Quincy Adams was duly elected President of the United States 
 for four years from the fourth day of March next. 
 
 It is understood that the votes of the several States were given as 
 follows : — 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 479 
 
 For John Qdincy Adams. — Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
 Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Maryland, Ohio, Ken- 
 tucky, Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana. 
 
 For Andrew Jackson. — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, 
 Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Indiana. 
 
 For William H. Crawford. — Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 Georgia. 
 
 CXXXII. — RICHARD H. WILDE TO GEN. BLACKSHEAE. 
 
 Washington City, February 20, 1825. 
 
 Dear Sir : — From what you have already heard, you may well imagine 
 we have fallen on evil times. There is no hope for the Republic during 
 the next four years : if it outlives that time, and has stiength enough 
 remaining to shake off its doctors and its diseases, its constitution may 
 be restored. But I have my doubts. So insensible to every thing but 
 the promotion of their own selfish views of interest or ambition are 
 many of our public men of the present time, so open and unblushing 
 the traffic in influence which we have seen established, that either they 
 must be signally punished, or the people will lose — nay, must have 
 already lost — all belief in political honesty, and consider all difference of 
 party as a mere pretext to cover the struggle for office between outs 
 and ins. 
 
 The coalition-ministry is not yet certainly announced. Clay will be 
 Secretary of State, Mr. Cheves of the Treasury, if he will accept. Mr. 
 Wirt and Mr. Southard, it is thought, will be retained. Mr. Webster must 
 be in some way provided for, — but how, is the difficulty. The holy politi- 
 cal alliance' are afraid of bringing so decided a Federalist into office. He 
 would like to be Speaker of the House, into which Mr. Adams's friends 
 cannot put him. Forsyth, or McLane of Delaware, will be in his way. 
 This much is certain : let the materials be compounded as they may, we 
 have nothing to hope from the General Government. Our claims for 
 militia-services and for the removal of the Indians are not treated with 
 common decency. A refusal to do us justice is accompanied with a careless 
 contempt of our rights, and of . the obligations of the Union to us, such 
 as no man would use who had the least regard for the reputation of this 
 Government. 
 
 Rely upon it, we are not far from questions which must rouse Southern 
 feeling, if it is not dead. We shall have before long proposals for eman- 
 cipation. A committee of the House of Representatives have already 
 made a report justifying the treaty of Mr. Adams yielding the right of 
 search; and the House, in spiteof all opposition, has ordered three thou- 
 sand copies to be printed. 
 
 The Southern States are already the Ireland of the Union. I pray 
 God that ere long we may not realize all the bitter consequences of the 
 policy which has made us so. 
 
 Farewell, my dear sir : remember me to our friends in Laurens, and 
 believe me, sincerely, yours, R. H. Wilde. 
 
480 MEMOIR OF GENERAL 
 
 CXXXni. — M. B. LAMAR* TO GEN. BLACK.SHEAR. 
 
 Head-Qttaetebs, Milledqeville, March 4, 1825. 
 (Circular.) 
 
 The commander-in-chief presents his compliments to the major-generals 
 and brigadier-generals commanding the militia of the State, and invites 
 them to pay their respects to Gen. Lafayette, either at Savannah, Augusta, 
 or Milledgeville, as may best suit their convenience. He will probably be 
 present at either place, and will take pleasure in presenting them to the 
 general. 
 
 By the commander-in-chief: 
 
 MiRABEAu B. Lamar, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 CXXXIV. — HENRY KING TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Alientown, Lehigh Codnty, Penna., October 16, 1825. 
 Dear Sir : — My brother, David K. King, who will hand you this, is 
 about to go to Milledgeville to attend to the claimf which I, last winter, 
 brought before the Legislature of Georgia. You are so well known for 
 your love of justice that I am led to hope you will still look upon the 
 claim with a favorable eye. 
 
 I cannot go on to attend to it this winter myself; and, indeed, I have 
 already suffered severely in my attempts to recover it. Georgia feels 
 how hard it is to have justice refused her ; and I am sure she would not 
 willingly refuse justice to an individual whose rights are entirely in her 
 power. 
 
 Believe me, with sentiments of the greatest regard, yours, &(!., 
 
 Henry King. 
 
 CXXXV. — C. B. STRONG TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Iewinton, October 19, 1825. 
 
 Dear Sir : — We have fought the good fight and kept the faith, and, 
 thank God, we obtain a good reward. The honor and rights of Georgia 
 are sustained. 
 
 It having fallen to my humble lot to take the bulls by the horns, fGaines 
 
 and ,] I cannot tell you how muqji I am gratified. They boast of 
 
 a legislative majority ; but, with prudent management, we can disappoint 
 the certificate-and-affidavit faction in that respect also. I am unencum- 
 bered with oflGice, or the desire or expectation of office, and will meet you 
 
 * He espoused the cause of Texas in 1835, commanded the cavalry at the bat- 
 tle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, and by his impetuous charge decided the con- 
 test in a few minutes. Ho adviBcd the execution of Santa Anna when the latter 
 was taken prisoner by the Texians. Gen. Lamar was the first Vice-President 
 and the second President of the Eepublic. His courage and genius have fully 
 established his fame as the hero-poet. 
 
 j- The nature of this claim does not appear in the correspondence, this being the 
 only letter found relating to it. It may, perhaps, appear in the Journals of the 
 Legislature for 1824 and 1825 ; but, as the author of this memoir has no copy of 
 these on hand, he can only suggest that it possibly referred to Continmlal money , or 
 some special service rendered the State without the authority of law or contract. 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAE. 481 
 
 at Milledgeville, and ex6rt my feeble' powers to sustain our good cause 
 and virtuous administration. 
 
 YourS; with cordial respect, &c., 
 C. B. Strong. 
 
 CXXXVI. — DR. JAMES PERRY TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 Tattnall, November 2, 1825. 
 Sir: — ^I beg leave to introduce to your notice Mr. , a Repre- 
 sentative in the Legislature. from this county. He is a new member, and 
 will require such aid as you can bestow on him. He will thankfully 
 acknowledge the favor, and, in my opinion, will support the present ad- 
 ministration and the officers of Government who served the present year 
 with fidelity. And, from party prejudice, he will not (unless led away) 
 advance any others. 
 
 I have the honor to be your most obedient, 
 
 Jas. Perry. 
 
 cxxxvii. — charles harris* to gen. blackshear. 
 
 Savannah, October 21, 1826. 
 
 My dear Sir : — ^I address you as an old friend, and that on a subject 
 I never expected to write about. I am a candidate for the appointment 
 of Judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer located in this city. Judge 
 Nicoll, who has held the office for the last three or four years, will again 
 offer at the election to take place at the ensuing meeting of the Legis- 
 lature. He is a gentleman of respectability and integrity, and I make no 
 personal opposition to him. But he is young, and at the bar, and I am 
 old, and going out of it, and the judgeship would benefit me, not being 
 rich. 
 
 I have served in several offices and performed many public duties in 
 Savannah without fee or reward, for twenty-five years past, and therefore 
 hope that my claims at this election will not be viewed as frivolous or 
 intrusive. I am not acquainted with the members of the Legislature of 
 the "West ; and, if you feel inclined to serve me, I shall be grateful for 
 your aid among your friends, such as Gen. Wimberly, Mr. Lawson,f and 
 others. I am, my dear sir, respectfully, your old friend, 
 
 C. Harris. 
 
 CXXXVIII. — eOL. RICHARD A. BLOUNT TO GEN. BLACKSHEAR. 
 
 MiLLEDQEViLLE, October 30, 1826. 
 Dear Sir : — Since my return from the Chattahoochee River, I have re- 
 peatedly thought of writing to you. The time draws near when the 
 
 * Mr. Harris was a native of England, educated in France, and removed to Georgia 
 in 1788, residing at Savannah until his death, March 17, 1827. He was a profound 
 jurist and estimable man. 
 
 f Col. Roger lawson, for many years a Representative from Twiggs county. 
 He served as a major in the army with Gen. Blackshear, and his name appears in 
 the official despatches. His social and benevolent nature betrayed him into acts of 
 familiarity with the private soldiers of his command in the intervals of duty, for 
 which offence (forbidden by military discipline) he was arrested and tried by a 
 court-martial under the orders of Col. Patton. The evidence plainly established his 
 guilt of uniform kindness of heart; attention to the sick, and an occasional glass of 
 grog with the healthy. On his return home, these charges, so fully sustained, at 
 once secured him an extensive popularity, which continued until his death in 1830. 
 He was the father of the Hon. Andrew Lawson, late one of the Judges of the Cir- 
 cuit Court of Louisiana. 
 
 Vol. I.— 31 
 
482 MEMOIK OF GENEBAL 
 
 Board of Commissioners of the Oconee Navigation should make another 
 report. I begin to tire in public business ; and if we could close what we 
 have on hand, and turn it over to the Board of Internal Improvement, I 
 am willing to resign it to them. Or, if you see any way that we can pro- 
 mote the public interest, I am yet willing to try ; or I am very willing to 
 decline all. 
 
 I wish you had continued one year more in the Senate, as our old friend 
 Crawford is out. I expect to be in town the first week and absent the 
 second week of the session. We claim the majority in the Senate, and in 
 the House of Kepresentatives also; but I see Bartlett claims the strength 
 in Senate. 
 
 Old is completely stringhalted and spavined, and, with proper 
 
 management this session, I think he will never recover. Prudence and 
 moderation in our ranks will establish the Eepublican party. Very few 
 alterations will suffice this session, — some change in the penitentiary, 
 and enough to turn the scale in the Darien Bank, in Mcintosh county, &c. 
 
 I fear the internal improvement is to branch out rather too far, and in 
 the wrong place, though I know not what the board is engaged on at this 
 time. Write me by return-mail, if practicable, whether you will be up. 
 
 I am, dear sir, sincerely yours, 
 R. A. Blount. 
 
 P.S. — Col. E. Hamilton is in town. 
 
 CXXXIX. — PETER CRAWEOKD TO GEN. BLACKSHEAB. 
 
 CoiTJMBiA, July 8, 1828. 
 
 My dear Friend : — I have for a long time contemplated renewing our 
 old acquaintance and friendship by letter, and have not been able to summon 
 resolution enough to perform this aqt of friendship until to-day j and now 
 I have nothing new or interesting to communicate. I can only say that 
 since I saw you last I have enjoyed good health, and, like an old blockhead, 
 suffer my name to continue before the public ; but I believe, my dear 
 general, it does not arise from vanity or ambition. 
 
 I am sick and disgusted with Milledgeville and legislating, but my 
 friends cannot, or will not, consent to my retiring to private life ; and, 
 although it is against my interest, wishes, and inclinations, yet somehow 
 or other I cannot muster resolution enough to say no to my friends and 
 manifest myself firm. I sensibly begin to feel a burden. 
 
 I seldom leave home ; but I am informed that both parties in this county 
 have a full ticket. Our friends, I understand, are sanguine, and have no 
 doubt that the whole Troup ticket will prevail. Every thing in this 
 wise world is uncertain ; and the negro is correct when he says, " White 
 man is very uncertain." From all appearances, we shall succeed. It is 
 said that, by deaths, removals, and changes in the sentiments of a number 
 of our citizens, the prospect is fair that the election will terminate in 
 favor of the Troup ticket. 
 
 Our Judge is caucusing and setting up opposition to the 
 
 Troupers, begging and soliciting individuals in the circuit to continue 
 him in office. He has been operating in this county and Richmond. I 
 irust you Southern people will remember his honor in November next. 
 He cannot, I think, get a half-dozen votes in his own circuit. 
 
 It is unpleasant to see so many of our friends coming out for Congress. 
 I cannot see how the evil can be corrected. Every week, almost, we see 
 some new candidate announced in the public papers. If there is an in- 
 
DAVID BLACKSHEAR. 483 
 
 terference with the view to their withdrawing from the contest, it will 
 give offence to the individual and his friends. If they go on and are dis- 
 appointed, they will change their political friends with their defeat. I 
 can see no other way for us than to look on and let them pursue their own 
 course. But I fear this folly and vanity will result in the election of one 
 
 or more Federalists. , I hear, has withdrawn, but holds on, and 
 
 the Clarkites will not let so favorable an opportunity escape them. I 
 look out every day to see half a dozen of their vagabonds announced for 
 
 Oongfess. Old or his son-in-law, , I calculate, will soon be 
 
 announced. 
 
 William H. Torrance, Esq., is now with me, and will take this letter to 
 Milledgeville. He tells me that he has recently seen you, and that you 
 enjoy fine health. Believe me, my dear friend, I am gratified to hear 
 that your health has improved. When I saw you last, you appeared to be 
 in a rapid decline, and I had doubts whether I should ever have the plea- 
 sure of seeing you again. I now anticipate the pleasure in November 
 once more to take you cordially by the hand. 
 
 I have the fullest confidence in Mr. Monroe, your Senator. He is a 
 fine, decisive man ; but he does not carry with him into the Senate the 
 talent, knowledge of business, and influence that you have so long exer- 
 cised for the interest and benefit of the State. Believe me, general, this 
 is not flattery. It is the honest conviction of a friend who, I persuade 
 myself you have long believed, flattered no man. Your health is now 
 restored ; and, if you were not announced by your friends for Elector, I 
 should certainly press you — and strongly, too — once more to come into the 
 Senate, at all events. I hope and trust you will yield in 1829 to the 
 wishes of your friends, and come into the Senate. From long experience 
 I find I cannot emancipate myself from my country and my friends. The 
 latter will force me upon the county until, from old age or crime, I shall 
 be rejected. But so long as I continue in the Legislature it will afford 
 me much pleasure to support your wise measures and follow you as an 
 old veteran and file-leader. 
 
 Our seasons, so far, have been favorable, and our crops are good, par- 
 ticularly the cotton. We wslnt rain at this time, but are not suffering. 
 In writing I make no apology to friends. They must decipher my scrawl 
 as they can. 
 
 I can only add that my best wishes attend you and every branch of 
 your family, and believe me to be your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 Peter Crawford. 
 
 cxl. — ^daniel chandler* to gen. blacksbcear. 
 
 ■Washington, October 10, 1831. 
 Dear Sir : — I have been induced to become a candidate for the office 
 of Solicitor of this circuit, and, yielding to the advice of my friends, I take 
 this opportunity, if it be consistent with your views and feelings, to solicit 
 any assistance that you may feel disposed to render me in my election. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 Daniel Chandler. 
 
 * Mr. Chandler was elected Solicitor-General of the Northern circuit, in Novem- 
 ber, 1831. In 1835, he removed to the city of Mobile, Alabama, where he now 
 resides, — one of the purest men living. He was a classmate of James H. Black- 
 shear, son of the general. 
 

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