SANOIEGO,"
 
 TWODOO^SW, JFFICEOH 
 
 F STREET 5AN OlcGO. 
 608 SOUTH BROADWAY, LOS ANGELES.
 
 THE 
 
 BENCH AND BAR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST, 
 
 BY HEKRY S. FOOTE. 
 
 ST. LOUIS: 
 
 SOULE, THOMAS & WENTWORTH. 
 1876.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 
 
 HENRY S. FOOTE, 
 in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The unpretending volume which is now about to make its 
 appearance in the world of books owes its origin to the follow- 
 ing circumstances. The worthy editor of the SOUTHERN LAW 
 REVIEW, with whom I had not at the time the honor of a per- 
 sonal acquaintance, towards the close of the last winter re- 
 quested me, by letter, to write something concerning the 
 "Bench and Bar of the South and Southwest," accompanying 
 the application with a statement that he had been induced to 
 open this correspondence with me by seeing, a few months 
 previous, an article in one of the newspapers, over my signa- 
 ture, from which he had derived some entertainment. To 
 this complimentary request though much occupied with 
 other engagements I could not refuse my assent. How the 
 first of the articles transmitted by me to St. Louis was fol- 
 lowed by a second, third and fourth, and in what manner 
 enough was written by me to fill a book of the present dimen- 
 sions, will sufficiently appear hereafter. Meanwhile, the light 
 and hastily prepared article which had thus favorably attracted 
 the notice of Mr. Thompson will be here set forth: 
 
 "In former days, during the earlier years of Mr. Madison's 
 memorable Administration, that interesting portion of the 
 present State of Louisiana which lies contiguous to the fron- 
 tiers of the then Mississippi Territory, was far from being in 
 as peaceful and undisturbed condition as it should have been. 
 The Spanish authorities evinced much reluctance to yield up 
 to the Anglo-American race the beauteous and fertile region 
 which Mr. Jefferson had so dexterously acquired at the hands 
 of the First Consul of France, in the year 1803. Collisions of 
 a very serious character were constantly occurring between 
 citizens of the United States on one side of the dividing line, 
 and the earlier Spanish and French settlers on the other. The
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 volumes of the American State Papers of that period abound 
 with the most thrilling and disgusting recitals of murders, 
 robberies, and even crimes of a more shocking character still. 
 The surface of the debatable ground in the neighborhood of 
 Baton Rouge, though in ostensible possession of the Span- 
 iards, and yet called West Florida, was already crowded with 
 enterprising colonists from the United States, who were 
 eagerly awaiting such action on the part of the peace-loving 
 American Government as would enable them to realize the 
 large fortunes which many of them had confidently expected 
 to obtain as the reward of removal from their former homes. 
 At length the patience of this enterprising class was exhaust- 
 ed by long delay and multiplied sufferings at the hands of the 
 corrupt and tyrannical Spanish officials, and they resolved to 
 improvise a sort of coup d'etat. About the year 1810 (as my 
 very respectable informant assures me) a meeting of American 
 residents was called in the town of Baton Rouge, upon a cer- 
 tain bright Monday morning, and a number of resolutions 
 were offered and unanimously adopted, declaring the termina~ 
 tion of Spanish rule, and providing for the immediate estab- 
 lishment of a republican government. These resolutions 
 prescribed that the new state or commonwealth should be 
 called the 'State of Florida;' that one Fulwar Skipwith 
 should be the Governor thereof for the time being; that a 
 court should be forthwith organized under the name of the 
 'Court of Florida/ to be composed of three justices, of which 
 the same Fulwar Skipwith was to be one; and that this court 
 should hold its first session the very next day at eleven o'clock, 
 A. M., precisely, and within the precincts of a certain well- 
 known log tenement situated about the centre of the town. 
 In this court was to be concentrated all the judicial power of 
 the infant State; and the two remaining judges thereof were 
 likewise specified by name in the resolutions which, until 
 further arrangements could be made, were to be recognized 
 as constituting the organic law of Florida. One of the last 
 mentioned judges was a wealthy planter in the vicinage, of 
 known moral worth and of many amiable attributes besides. 
 The third was a noted personage then dwelling in Baton
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 Rouge, once commanding a small vessel in the American ser- 
 vice, who was reputed to have in that capacity evinced no 
 little energy, and to have been particularly effective in all 
 matters of marine discipline needful to be enforced by the 
 cat-of-nine-tails and other kindred instrumentalities. 
 
 "Fulwar Skipwith was a man of no little note. He was a 
 native of Virginia, and was quite celebrated for his high-bred 
 courtesy, his general literary accomplishments, and his splen- 
 did style of living. He had been for many years American 
 Consul in France, at one of its most commercial cities, had 
 performed the duties attached to that position in a most cred- 
 itable manner, and had returned to the United States with an 
 elegant and accomplished French wife, (whom many years 
 ago I personally knew,) bringing back with him also French 
 politesse and French notions and habits. He was on intimate 
 terms with Mr. Jefferson, and had corresponded with him 
 freely upon many subjects, subsequent to the return of this 
 illustrious American statesman from his mission to the Court 
 of Versailles. 
 
 "Well, at the hour agreed upon for the assemblage of the 
 judges mentioned, Fulwar Skipwith drove into Baton Rouge 
 from his palatial residence in the country, in a splendid coach 
 and four, with outriders and lackeys to match ; and, on reach- 
 ing the front of the hall of justice, found it surrounded by a 
 multitude of his enthusiastic and aroused countrymen, who 
 received 'him -with loud and ; oft-reiterated huzzas. He de- 
 scended majestically from his carriage, arrayed in costly ha- 
 biliments of undoubted Parisian cut, and strode slowly, and, 
 it must be confessed, somewhat ostentatiously, towards the 
 open door of the court-house, bowing, as he moved along, to 
 the right and to the left, alternately, with as much of mingled 
 grace and majesty as Louis le Grand himself could have 
 brought into requisition. When he got within the door, he 
 saw in the back part of this most uncourtly edifice three plain 
 straw-bottomed chairs, which had been placed upon a plat- 
 form of singularly rude construction, raised about two feet 
 above the level of the floor. In the central one of these he 
 bestowed his prepossessing person, and awaited silently the
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 coming of his official confreres. The first of these that ap- 
 peared was Mr. Thomas. Being a singularly modest and re- 
 tiring person, this gentleman waited at the door for a moment, 
 not knowing precisely where he was to sit. Upon observing 
 this, Mr. Skipwith leaned forward and beckoned him to ad- 
 vance, which he did, and presently took the chair on the right 
 of Mr. Skipwith. After an exchange of the usual salutations, 
 the latter observed, in a singularly bland and winning manner, 
 that he presumed that little could be done by the court for 
 the present beyond getting organized and appointing a chief 
 justice; 'to-morrow,' said he, 'we can proceed to administer 
 the justice of the land.' To this Mr. Thomas deferentially 
 assented, adding: 'Of course, Mr. Skipwith, you, who have 
 had so much and such varied experience, will have to act as 
 our chief justice.' 'As to that,' said Mr. Skipwith, 'neither 
 seeking nor declining such a signal honor, I shall be content 
 to conform to the wishes of my respected associates.' A noise 
 was presently heard outside the door. The third judicial 
 magnate had arrived. He had walked more than a mile from 
 his own habitation to the place of concourse. The new- 
 comer was dressed out in a full suit of naval uniform rather 
 the worse for wear. His large, capacious head was sur- 
 mounted with a cap and feathers, a good deal soiled, but of a 
 very menacing aspect. A rusty sword hung at his side. 
 The weather being quite warm, the perspiration was flowing 
 freely down his plump and rosy cheeks, which he was dili- 
 gently wiping away with a crimson bandanna handkerchief, 
 His hand held a heavy cane, terminating in a sharp iron spike, 
 with which he rapped emphatically upon the resounding 
 plank floor, as he advanced unceremoniously and sat down 
 heavily in the vacant chair upon the platform. So soon as 
 he had cleverly composed himself therein, Mr. Skipwith, with 
 somewhat increased courtesy, made the same suggestion to 
 which Mr. Thomas had already responded so civilly. Upon 
 this, up rises the personage just described, (but whose sur- 
 name I have really quite forgotten,) and thus vociferated, in a 
 most stentorian voice, accompanied with a suitable rapping, 
 of his cane upon the platform: 'Oh! if that is the question to
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 be decided, that's easily settled; I'm chief justice of this 
 
 court, by .' To this Skipwith mildly answered that if he 
 
 claimed the position referred to, he should himself be far from 
 holding controversy with him upon that point. Then the 
 self-constituted chief justice, seeing the sheriff of the parish 
 in court, addressed him in the same grand and imposing 
 manner, asking what prisoners he had in jail, and what were 
 their offences. To this enquiry the sheriff responded that 
 there were several men in his custody charged with minor 
 offences, and one man accused of murder, but against whom 
 no indictment had been yet found. 'Bring out the fellow 
 charged with murder/ cried this modern Jeffries; 'I wish to 
 try my hand upon him immediately. I intend to show all 
 such ruffians that no man is hereafter to be killed in this 
 parish except with the consent of this court first had and ob- 
 tained.' He then resumed his seat. In a few minutes the 
 sheriff reappeared, driving before him a pale, wretched look- 
 ing man, whom 1'ong confinement and other sufferings had 
 reduced almost to a skeleton, and deprived well-nigh alto- 
 gether of the power of locomotion. Upon beholding this 
 ghastly apparition, up rose the chief justice again, and staring 
 at the prisoner ferociously, he propounded this astounding 
 interrogatory : ' What have you to say why sentence of death 
 should not be pronounced against you?' The poor creature, 
 frightened almost to death, and trembling from head to foot, 
 feebly^ answered: 'I have employed this lawyer to defend 
 me,' pointing to a good-looking and neatly-dressed young 
 man who was standing near him, and with whom I became 
 .acquainted about twenty years after, as Judge Turner, pre- 
 siding with much dignity in the Criminal Court at New Or- 
 leans. This reply of the prisoner greatly increased the rage 
 of his official interlocutor. Staring angrily at the mild and 
 amiable-looking attorney, he broke forth in a voice of thun- 
 der: 'Oh, by ! none of your quirks or quibbles of the law!' 
 
 Then turning to the prisoner, and stretching forth his long 
 and muscular right hand, with the fingers thereof closely ad- 
 hering to each other, he said: 'If you are guilty, which I have 
 good reason to believe, I'll be if you slip through these
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 fingers.' It was with great difficulty that this sort of sum- 
 mary justice was stayed in its execution for a few days, during 
 which intelligence fortunately arrived that the Spanish Gov- 
 ernment had at length yielded to reason, that the disputed 
 territory would be at once placed under the protection of the 
 immortal stars and stripes, and that the constitution and laws 
 of the Union would thereafter guarantee 'life, liberty, and 
 pursuit of happiness' to all the white residents of Louisiana. 
 The 'State of Florida,' after a brief but romantic existence, 
 ceased to dominate along the banks of the Father of Waters, 
 and this suddenly improvised government disappeared from 
 the view of men forever, 'like the unsubstantial fabric of a 
 dream.' " 
 
 Having thus explained the facts referred to in the outset of 
 this prefatory address, I now cheerfully commit this book to 
 the fate which may be in reserve for it neither altogether 
 careless of increased fame, nor over-eager of commendations 
 not likely to be bestowed upon a performance which, I am 
 aware, owes whatever of merit it may have to a memory 
 somewhat more than ordinarily retentive of the passing oc- 
 currences of life. 
 
 H. S. FOOTE. 
 JANUARY 29, 1876.
 
 THE 
 
 BENCH AND BAR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Why this Work came to be Written. General Remarks. The Duties and Re- 
 sponsibilities of Attorneys and Judges. De Tocqueville on the Bar of the United 
 States upon the Occasion of his Visit to this Country. Mr. Burke's Reference to the 
 Lawyers in the American Congress of 1776. Migration of the Author to the State of 
 Alabama in 1825. Visit to Huntsville. Lawyers then Practicing there. Author F. 
 Hopkins. Clement C. Clay. William Kelley. James G. Birney. John McKinley^ 
 Harry I. Thornton. James McClung. Caswell R. Clifton. 
 
 The writer of the following pages sets up no claim to ab- 
 solute originality, either in thought or expression, in the few 
 general reflections which he is about to communicate. He 
 has long felt that there is nothing which can be said to im- 
 part true dignity to man as a rational and sentient being, save 
 the performance of acts of illustrious virtue and the inculca- 
 tion of those lessons of practical wisdom which the accumu- 
 lated experience of ages has supplied. The lustre of gold is 
 dazzling to the vulgar eye, and luxurious pleasures are at- 
 tractive to coarse and grovelling sensualism; but there is 
 naught in these which can adequately respond to the aspira- 
 tions of a cultured intellect and an uncorrupted soul. But we 
 all know that the shortness of human life, and the feebleness 
 of human memory are such, that the best and noblest acts of 
 earthly wisdom or virtue, and all the advances which we are 
 capable of making, during our present state of existence, in 
 knowledge and refinement, would fail alike of present recog- 
 nition except in an exceedingly limited circle and of be-
 
 2 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 coming known to future generations, were no special means 
 put in use for the purpose of bringing them to the notice of the 
 world in general, and perpetuating them in the recollection of 
 posterity. Though not much given to fits of solitary musing, 
 it did so happen that I chanced to be meditating one morn- 
 ing in my room, at the great and growing Metropolis of the 
 Republic, upon topics such as these, when a letter was handed 
 to me, referred to already in the preface to this volume, 
 which caused me to write " something upon the Bench and 
 Bar of the Southern and Southwestern States " for insertion 
 in the SOUTHERN LAW REVIEW, which, with certain other 
 writings on the same subject appended thereto, is now pre- 
 sented anew for the consideration of such as shall be at all 
 curious as to matters of this kind. 
 
 This is indeed a most suggestive subject, and would well 
 admit of being discussed in several different modes, neither of 
 which would perhaps be altogether devoid of entertainment 
 or of instruction. It would be gratifying to me to find out 
 that I had been at least so far successful in this hasty and im- 
 perfect essay, as to attract attention to the importance of col- 
 lecting and preserving in some mode the rich material yet ex- 
 isting for the future composition, by some competent and 
 judicious writer, of the history of the eminent jurists and ad- 
 vocates, who, in former days, delighted and edified the men 
 of their own generation, either by the spoken eloquence of 
 the forum, or by the more grave and authoritative exposition 
 of those principles of law and order which lie at the very 
 foundation of all enlightened and prosperous commonwealths. 
 
 It has long been asserted by men whose words are entitled 
 to much respect, that in all communities enjoying free institu- 
 tions, and especially in such of them as have become remark- 
 able for commericial growth and consequence, mind and money, 
 that is to say, cultured intellect and accumulated wealth, are 
 unequalled elements of power, and are capable, when thrown 
 into combination, of wielding an almost irresistible influence 
 over the concerns of the whole body politic. Experience has 
 more than once most signally demonstrated that when the 
 possessors of actual capital, in the various forms which it is
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 3 
 
 capable of assuming, become in any way very closely affili- 
 ated with those classes of population whose native intellectual 
 energies have been expanded and invigorated by scientific cul- 
 ture, these eventually become, for many purposes, a single 
 class or association, more 'or less organized for action, and 
 are sometimes seen to gain an ascendancy only to be counter- 
 vailed by a resort to something like revolutionary expedients, 
 rarely less mischievous in their effects than the evils sought to 
 be removed by their instrumentality. In this view of the sub- 
 ject it would seem impossible to over-estimate the importance 
 of preserving in the bosom of the dominant classes referred 
 to, all the higher social virtues in their fullest vigor, in order 
 that the power which they are capable of bringing into exer- 
 cise may not be so applied as either to engender wide-spread 
 social demoralization or bring about the destruction of civil 
 liberty itself. 
 
 When the celebrated French writer, DeTocqueville, visited 
 this country, some years since, he took occasion in the justly 
 celebrated work which he then published upon Democracy in 
 America, to assert, as the result of his own personal observation, 
 that in all our great commercial cities, the merchants or men 
 I of trade, and the lawyers, constituted what he deemed a verit- 
 lable aristocracy. This was, perhaps, a somewhat overstrained 
 declaration, but has, nevertheless, this foundation, that these 
 two singularly alert and vigilant classes of our people are 
 often found in such close association as to give them the ap- 
 pearance of acting with imited counsels, influenced, as in such 
 cases they seem to be, by the same motives of action, following 
 the same schemes of speculative emolument, and, perhaps nat- 
 urally enough, seeking to mould the general legislation of the 
 country in such forms as to give undue protection and further- 
 ance to particular class-interests, at the expense of the gen- 
 eral welfare, and to the deep and irreparable detriment of 
 other portions of the community of a more sluggish and 
 inactive character. It may be safely asserted that at least 
 nine-tenths of all the laws from time to time enacted, owe their 
 origin, directly or indirectly, to the associated influence of the 
 two classes under consideration. The administration of law
 
 4 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 in our courts of justice, which in many instances is really 
 equivalent in practice to the exercise of the law-making power 
 itself, is, naturally enough, devolved almost exclusively upon 
 those who chance to have made our system of jurisprudence a 
 subject of special study. Those who know precisely what 
 laws are already in existence, and who are familiar with the 
 various, and often directly conflicting interpretations to which 
 they have been subjected, are, reasonably enough, presumed 
 to be able to decide what new laws are at any moment neces- 
 sary, or what modification of existing statutes experience and 
 the progress of society shall have rendered expedient. The 
 commercial or moneyed class has never yet failed to make its 
 wishes, as to additional legislation, known to the law-making 
 department, and has seldom failed to find in our legislative as- 
 semblies, both state and national, ready and skillful agents to 
 facilitate the adoption of the amendments desired. 
 
 It is often justly mentioned as a circumstance highly hon- 
 orable to the legal profession, that in almost all ages and 
 countries, eminent jurists have been found who proved them- 
 selves to be just and patriotic men, and firm protectors of lib- 
 erty. Mr. Burke is known to have remarked, on a particu- 
 larly grave and interesting occasion, in the British Parliament, 
 when our struggle for national independence was in progress, 
 upon the fact that both in the colonial legislatures of that pe- 
 riod, and in the first Congress of the Union which ever sat, a 
 much larger proportion of lawyers were occupants of seats in 
 those bodies than had been elsewhere known, and he attests 
 in very emphatic language the learning and ability of the 
 American lawyers of that time, their sterling patriotism, and 
 their skill in drafting the great state papers which were then 
 promulged, and which yet command the general admiration 
 of refined and cultivated minds in all civjlized countries. 
 
 With the members of my own profession, as a class, I have 
 long had much familiarity in some nine or ten states of the 
 Union, and I take pleasure in attesting that I have derived 
 from my intercourse with them, much, both of gratification and 
 instruction. Were I to indulge in indiscriminate commenda- 
 tion of all those whom it has been my fortune to meet in the
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 5 
 
 contests of the forum, or the incidents of whose professional 
 career have been brought to my notice, I should greatly 
 wrong my own self-repsect and do egregious injustice to the 
 public at large ; but I am certain that I do not go too far in 
 declaring that in the various states which I have from time to 
 time visited, in the progress of a now somewhat protracted 
 professional career, I have found my brethren of the bar, with 
 a few exceptions, intelligent, astute, laborious, upright and 
 manly in their conduct, cherishing a high and delicate sense 
 of individual honor, and displaying, on all proper occasions, 
 a proper regard for the dignity of their own calling, as well as 
 a profound respect for the example and counsels of those 
 illustrious sages who have earned undying renown in the 
 judicial annals of our own country and of England. 
 
 It has now been a little more than fifty years since I mi- 
 grated from my own native state, and entered for the first time 
 a court-house in that region where my subsequent life has 
 been chiefly spent a region then, in all respects so eminently 
 prosperous and happy, and now, alas! so wretched and forlorn. 
 The court-house to which I have just referred was situated in 
 the town of Huntsville, and in the state of Alabama. An in- 
 teresting case was under trial. An upright and enlightened 
 judge was presiding, the bar was filled with learned and well- 
 dressed attorneys, and an immense assemblage of citizens 
 was in attendance. Arthur F. Hopkins was addressing a jury 
 of singularly good-looking men, and I soon became deeply 
 interested in the speech which he was most impressively 
 enunciating. I had never before seen him, but had often heard 
 him spoken of in terms of marked respect and commendation. 
 There were opposed to him several lawyers of standing, who 
 afterwards attained a most extended and enviable reputation, 
 both as jurists and statesmen. Among these was Clement C. 
 Clay, who was afterwards a worthy member of the national 
 senate, and whose son of the same name, after a long course 
 of trials and sufferings, which I rejoice to know he has en- 
 countered with singular dignity and composure, yet survives. 
 I do not remember often to have enjoyed a higher intellectual 
 treat than the trial of the case referred to afforded me. Judge
 
 6 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Hopkins, afterwards so distinguished as a member of the 
 supreme bench of his adopted state, was then just in his 
 prime. He was of a most impressive and winning aspect ; 
 perfectly dignified and self-possessed, though full of earnestness 
 and energy. He possessed a most easy and graceful delivery ; 
 exhibited remarkable powers of argument, and was, upon the 
 whole, one of the most polite, affable and gentlemanly persons 
 that ever left the venerated state of Virginia to seek fortune 
 and fame in the far southwest. Though he was then only 
 about thirty-five years old, he was universally admitted to 
 have made himself a complete master of his profession. He 
 was reported to have been for some years a most diligent and 
 assiduous student of the law, and to have possessed himself 
 of much and various learning in other departments of science. 
 In after years I enjoyed his personal intimacy and friendship, 
 and I found him every day and hour growing in my affection 
 and esteem. He died a few years since universally respected 
 and lamented by his numerous friends and admirers. Judge 
 Clay, whom I have mentioned as also speaking on this occa- 
 sion, was a man of highly prepossessing appearance. He had 
 also been born on the soil of Virginia, but had been reared to 
 manhood in East Tennessee. He was about six feet in height, 
 well-shaped, and easy in his movements, bland and courteous 
 in his manners, and of a personal courage never called in 
 question. He had rather a redundant suit of jet-black hair ; 
 his eyes were dark and lustrous, and they positively blazed in 
 their sockets when he was under special excitement. I heard 
 both these gentlemen often afterwards, and never had any 
 reason to modify my first favorable impressions in regard to 
 them. 
 
 I have stated that at the time to which I have referred the bar 
 of Huntsville was crowded with attorneys. I have not space at 
 this time for the mention of many of them, and of those whom 
 I am about to mention it is not convenient at present to speak 
 in such terms as their merits would well justify. Among these 
 was Judge William Kelley, a native of Tennessee, a man of 
 most brilliant intellect, of great originality, full of learning of 
 almost every kind, of surpassing ingenuity and logical dexter*
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. >r 
 
 ity, copious in illustration, almost to profuseness; at times 
 most touchingly eloquent, and with a rich and fervid imagina- 
 tion ; possessing an inexhaustible fund of facetiousness ; occa- 
 casionally bitterly sarcastic ; but sometimes overflowing with 
 harmless but irresistible raillery. He occupied a seat in the 
 United States Senate in the winter of 1824-5, where I first saw 
 him; was an ardent devotee of General Jackson, and both a 
 hater and reviler of his illustrious antagonist, Mr. Clay. 
 
 The famous Jas. G. Birney was also at the time men- 
 tioned a member of the Huntsville bar, where he was exceed- 
 ingly beloved and respected. When he afterwards became the 
 zealous advocate of African Emancipation, though his friends 
 in Alabama could not then approve this part of his public ca- 
 reer, he still retained much of their respect and kindness, and 
 his integrity as a man was never called in question by them, 
 nor were his learning and eloquence as a forensic advocate. 
 Mr. Birney was a singularly fluent and polished speaker, and 
 was known to have given much more attention to the niceties 
 of orthoepy than was then customary among the lawyers of 
 this newly-settled region. 
 
 John McKinley, I also now first met. Born, as I have heard 
 him say, in the county of Culpepper, and state of Virginia, 
 he had commenced his professional career in Kentucky, whence 
 he migrated to Alabama, and soon gained a high rank at the 
 bar of Huntsville. He was for some years in Congress, after 
 my acquaintance with him was formed, and was appointed by 
 General Jackson to a seat upon the Supreme Bench of the 
 Union. He was undoubtedly a man of great morality and up- 
 rightness, and deficient neither in legal learning nor in ability 
 in the argument of causes, both before courts and juries. 
 There was much in his busy and varied career to reward the 
 labors of some impartial and competent biographer. 
 
 Harry I. Thornton was also a member of the Huntsville 
 bar in 1825. Born also in Virginia,.and reared in Kentucky, he 
 came to Alabama about fifty-five years ago. He was the grand- 
 son of the celebrated Harry Innes, of whom Mr. Wirt 
 makes such glowing mention in his Life of Patrick Henry; 
 had married, before he left Kentucky, the accomplished and
 
 8 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 amiable sister of John J. Crittenden, who, I am glad to 
 know, still lives, surrounded by all that can render life desir- 
 able, save the presence and society of her tenderly lamented 
 husband. Harry I. Thornton, after acquiring much reputa- 
 tion at the bar, in legislative halls, and upon the bench of the 
 supreme court of his adopted state, was selected by President 
 Fillmore, in 1850, as one of the three land commissioners sent 
 to California. There he gained much additional honor, and 
 is yet remembered by all who then enjoyed his society, with 
 unmixed affection and reverence. His eloquence in conversa- 
 tion was such as I have seldom known equalled, and his 
 fund of choice and classic anecdote seemed altogether inex- 
 haustible. A truer, braver, and more magnanimous gentle- 
 man has never lived. 
 
 In Huntsville, too, at the time mentioned, I first met James 
 McClung, a leading member of the Alabama bar for many 
 years; a graceful and effective speaker, born to be loved by all 
 mankind, and one of the noblest specimens of genuine South- 
 ern chivalry that I have ever known. He was brave almost 
 to a fault, but possessed as warm and generous sensibilities as 
 ever glowed in the heart of purest and most exalted manhood. 
 Colonel McClung was born in east Tennessee, where many of 
 his relations and early friends yet have him in respectful and 
 tender remembrance. Some of the incidents of his stormy 
 and eventful life would prove as attractive in narrative as the 
 most thrilling scenes depicted by a Scott, a Bulwer or a 
 Dickens. 
 
 I should not omit to state here that in Huntsville, at this 
 time, I first encountered a gentleman of the rarest gifts and 
 graces, and with whom I afterwards formed a close friendship 
 in the state of Mississippi, where, for many years he practised 
 law with great distinction, and where he was universally loved 
 and respected. I allude to Caswell R. Clifton, whose whole 
 life was marked with displays of domestic and social virtue, 
 who held various public offices of much responsibility, and 
 was universally admitted to have done honor to them all. 
 
 Many other loved and venerated names recur to " my 
 pained and softened memory," in looking back to the occa-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 9 
 
 sion of my first visit to Huntsville, upon which, were it allowed 
 me, I should gladly dilate. But I must hasten to conclude this 
 article, which I fear will seem to some already too long, by 
 some account of a scene of unusual interest which I will now 
 briefly depicture. 
 
 General Andrew Jackson, and Colonel James Jackson, of 
 Lauderdale county, in the state of Alabama, were at one time 
 intimate friends. They were both men of eminent worth, of 
 most elevated social standing, and of indomitable strength of 
 will. They became bitter enemies, both political and personal. 
 I have heard the causes of their lamentable estrangement re- 
 cited, but do not care to specify them here. Colonel John 
 Donelson, a nephew of the venerated wife of General Jackson, 
 resided in north Alabama, not far from the residence of James 
 Jackson. He was a very wealthy man. His personal integ- 
 rity was unquestioned ; his personal courage had well-nigh 
 passed into a proverb. It so happened that a Mr. Smith, also 
 a resident of this once famous vicinage, had married a niece 
 of James Jackson. A bitter personal feud sprang up between 
 Donelson and Smith which soon involved their numerous 
 friends, and in the progress of which much crimination and 
 recrimination was indulged. At last aspersive words of a 
 highly insulting character were publicly used by Donelson, 
 out of which originated an action for slander. Donelson, 
 when sued, so far from denying the employment of the offen- 
 sive words imputed to }\\m, justified \.\IQ utterance of them and 
 prepared to make them good by proof. James Jackson was, 
 perhaps, the wealthiest man at this time in the county where 
 he lived. He was in the highest degree popular and influen- 
 tial. I had a familiar acquaintance with him, and esteemed 
 him most highly. He was an Irish immigrant to this cduntry, 
 and had brought with him from his native land much money 
 and a numerous and accomplished family connection. He had 
 come across the ocean in the latter part of the last century 
 because of the serious civil disturbances then prevailing there. 
 It was soon ascertained that the whole population of Lauder- 
 dale had become so embroiled by this unhappy contest, that 
 it would be impossible to try the case there, and a change of
 
 IO BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 venue was had. This proceeding brought the case and parties 
 across the river to the county of Franklin, where I resided at 
 the time. The circuit court was then held in the old village 
 of Russelville, about eighteen miles from the Tennesse river. 
 The judge who was to preside at the trial was a gentleman of 
 great integrity and reputation, of undoubted learning, and was 
 sternly resolved to do his duty as a public officer, under the 
 trying circumstances which surrounded him. The day of 
 trial came, and the contending litigants came also, attended by 
 their numerous friends and adherents. The witnesses of Don- 
 elson were so numerous that, for want of tavern accommoda- 
 tion, they had to encamp in the fields adjoining the village. 
 There was a grand array of attorneys on both sides, each ol 
 the parties contestant having employed four or five. Judge 
 Kelley was the leading counsel for the defence, and was ex- 
 pected to make the concluding speech in support of the plea 
 of justification. I had a good opportunity of seeing and hear- 
 ing all that occurred, having been specially employed to take 
 down the evidence, for which I gratefully remember to have 
 received what I regarded at the time as quite a remunera- 
 tive fee. 
 
 The trial occupied several days. The lawyers on both sides 
 exerted themselves to the utmost, and exhibited ability and 
 zeal which I have never seen surpassed. It had not then be- 
 come fashionable to occupy seven or eight weeks in the trial 
 of a single case, and the arts of procrastination, now so freely 
 allowed in certain localities, for the spread of social excite- 
 ment and the diffusion of forensic fame, would have been then 
 nowhere tolerated. More than a hundred witnesses were ex- 
 amined ; there was much conflicting evidence ; many different 
 and interesting points of law were discussed and decided, and 
 the trial was brought to an end before the close of a week. 
 The speech of Judge Hopkins was most masterly. I do not 
 not know that I have heard it since surpassed. He analyzed 
 the testimony fully ; he explained the legal principles involved 
 with a power and earnestness which filled ail present with ad- 
 miration ; his peroration was marked with the most soul-mov- 
 ing and overwhelming eloquence. The court having adjourned
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. i j 
 
 for dinner immediately after Judge Hopkins had concluded, I 
 met Judge Kelly at the door of the court-house as he was 
 passing through it, and enquired of him what he thought of 
 the effort he had just witnessed. He responded, with tears 
 flowing down his cheeks: "I shall leave the state for New 
 Orleans in a few days, but I leave no man behind me whose 
 abilities I respect as much as I do those of Arthur F. Hopkins. 
 He is the biggest handful I ever grasped '/" After our return 
 from dinner, Judge Kelly commenced his response. I doubt 
 exceedingly whether a more telling and effective forensic 
 speech has ever been made on either side of the Atlantic since 
 the days of Erskine and Curran. He was logical, he was face- 
 tious, he was pathetic, be was denunciatory, by turns ; and 
 he seemed to wield the jury as a boy would do his playthings. 
 The presidential contest between Jackson and Adams had 
 just occurred, and the whole public mind of Alabama had 
 been inflamed almost to madness by the fierce discussions of 
 the period. The members of the jury were all Jackson men. 
 Right well did Juge Kelly know this important fact, and right 
 adroitly did he take advantage of it. He alluded more than 
 once to the fact that Donelson was the nephew of the hero of 
 New Orleans, and that his antagonist was the nephew, by mar- 
 riage, of one of his bitterest foes. As he thundered forth his 
 furious invective, the faces of the jury were ablaze witn partzan 
 excitement and indignation. They retired, under the charge of 
 the court to the room assigned them for conference; but no 
 conference there took place. Their minds were already made 
 up. A loud " hurrah for Jackson " was heard as they left the 
 court room, and a few minutes thereafter, they returned with 
 a verdict for the defendant ; which verdict the Judge, though 
 himself an ardent Jackson man, set aside at once without wait- 
 ing for a motion to be made for that purpose.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 General Remarks. Duties and Responsibilities of Lawyers. Dr. Draper's Tri- 
 'bute to the Profession. Lord Brougham's View of Professional Fidelity. Whole- 
 some Influence Exercised by Lawyers as a Class. Visit of Author to Natchez in 
 1830. Supreme Court of Mississippi Judges Turner, Child, Nicholson, Black, and 
 Cage. Duels between Child and Joor, Ben. Leigh and Davis. Thomas B Reed 
 William C. Griffith. Robert H. Adams. Spence M. Grayson. Robert H. Buck- 
 ner. Edward C. Wilkinson. Vicksburg Bar in 1831. S. S. Prentiss and others. 
 Joseph Holt. Danial Mayes. 
 
 It is possible that there may be some by whom the propriety 
 may be a little questioned of an attempt being thus made, 
 however modestly, to preserve the scattered and fast disap- 
 pearing memorials of a class of individuals concerning whose 
 merits and achievements the opinions of mankind, in different 
 countries and ages, have not been altogether identical. To 
 the more liberal-minded the facts presently to be adverted to 
 may perchance supply some excuse for an undertaking which 
 might otherwise be recognized as alike superfluous and obtru- 
 sive. 
 
 In the more prosperous and enlightened communities which 
 have heretofore existed, lawyers, whether performing the or- 
 dinary duties of their calling, or elevated to positions from 
 which it is expected that they will authoritatively enunciate 
 the principles of jurisprudential science, and take adequate 
 measures also for the maintenance and enforcement of those 
 principles, have been, from time immemorial, recognized in 
 many important respects, as indispensable civil functionaries, 
 and as such, invested with certain peculiar powers and privil- 
 eges, and also held amenable to a number of grave and delicate 
 responsibilities, from which other members of the body-politic 
 are altogether exempt. The customary presence in courts of 
 justice of attorneys and counselors, and their habitual parti- 
 cipancy in the most solemn and interesting judicial proceed- 
 ings, have naturally caused them to be considered a constitu- 
 ent part of the court itself, or at least as an essential appur- .
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 13- 
 
 tenant thereto. Nor is this to be at all wondered at, since 
 many of the functions which they are expected to take upon 
 themselves, and for the failure to discharge which with fidelity 
 and efficiency they are subject to be held to account, are of a 
 nature alike needful to the convenient and satisfactory dispensa- 
 tion of equity between man and man, the due enforcement of 
 the law of the land, and the upholding of the governmental 
 authority itself. It can not well be denied that the institution 
 of a wise and practicable system of judicature is one of the 
 distinguishing characteristics of what is called civilization 
 that highest form of social organization which system,, 
 though, to be of any appreciable value, must, of necessity, be 
 fairly and impartially administered. Otherwise, indeed, the 
 evils of disorder and anarchical lawlessness not seldom re- 
 sulting in mob despotism that fearful omen of returning bar- 
 barism and badge of municipal dishonor, must inevitably en- 
 sue. But it would be in the highest degree absurd to expect 
 laws, however artistically framed they may be, to prove whole- 
 somely operative unless they shall become intelligible in some 
 way, with a view to their enforcement among those for whose 
 benefit they are framed. That is to say, they must be com- 
 pletely understood by the mass of those subject to their 
 authority, or by some special class of persons capable of sup- 
 plying a reasonable and adequate explication of them. Now,. 
 it is exceedingly plain that this matter is one to which the 
 citizens can not give due attention by reason of their being 
 necessarily otherwise occupied. Nor should the fact be over- 
 looked that uniform experience has shown what would be per- 
 haps sufficiently evident in itself without this aid from ex- 
 perience that legal requisitions of almost every description 
 are seen to multiply in number, and to take upon themselves 
 also an increased complexity of structure, in proportion as 
 society advances in wealth and refinement ; thus rendering the 
 task of interpreting them more and more difficult; as well as 
 the skilful ministration of remedial expedients needful to be 
 resorted to for the speedy and effective redress of violated 
 rights, or for vindicating the majesty of the violated law by 
 the exemplary punishment of flagrant wrong -doers. In such
 
 14 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 a state of affairs the perpetual presence in the bosom of the 
 community of a class of individuals whose minds have been 
 especially, if not exclusively given to the study of law as a 
 science, as well as to all the technical formalities of its ad- 
 ministration, seems too manifest to need a more elaborate ex- 
 planation. It is in this view of the subject that the whole 
 body of the community is deeply interested in all things ap- 
 pertaining to the history of the legal profession, in the advance 
 of those belonging to it in intellectual culture, and the pre- 
 servation among them of the purest and most elevated mo- 
 rality. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary, after what has been already said, to 
 suggest that the members of the bar in a free country like our 
 own, have it in their power, both individually and collectively, 
 to render great and peculiar services to the community in 
 which they have been given a commission to expound the 
 solemnly enacted laws of the land, and to take upon them- 
 selves the most important fiduciary responsibilities. It is 
 equally true that the chosen profession opens to them oppor- 
 tunities of perpetrating much evil, and of setting a bad and 
 deleterious example of demoralizing and disgustful iniquities 
 before the eyes of their own and of future generations. That 
 the well-recognized duties of their vocation expose them to 
 special and almost overwhelming temptations to extreme sel- 
 fishness and perfidy, can not be denied which temptations, if 
 unwisely yielded to, may bring upon them irreparable disgrace, 
 but which, if resisted with manly firmness, may secure to them 
 imperishable honor, there are few who do not understand. 
 
 The history of lawyers, both in Europe and America, has 
 much of what they may justly feel proud, and more, also, 
 than it is pleasant to remember, over which no good and 
 upright man feels otherwise than chagrined and horrified. 
 Whilst the Somerses, the Hardwickes, the Holts, and the Ers- 
 kines of England ; and the Marshalls, the Rents, and the 
 Choates of our own favored land, have reflected a glory upon 
 the class which they so highly adorned, it is not to be forgotten 
 that such monsters as Jeffreys, and Macclesfield, and others, 
 whose names all upright attorneys and high-souled men are
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 15 
 
 reluctant even to pronounce, Jiave lived, and have left behind 
 them memorials of dishonor, the humiliating mention of which 
 can never cease to kindle afresh the sentiments of lamentation 
 and contempt. 
 
 It must be obvious to all but those whose deplorable ob- 
 tuseness of intellect no reasoning can penetrate, that the in- 
 discriminate advocacy of right and wrong, for money, or for 
 money's worth, is a fearful trial for the soul of man in its present 
 feeble and degenerate state, and that members of the bar of 
 no little respectability in certain social circles, have before now 
 been known, with too careless a scrutiny of facts, to make 
 engagements for the rendition of professional service to indi- 
 viduals, who, on fuller investigation, they can not avoid discov- 
 ering to have been guilty of abominable knavery, is a position 
 not to be denied ; and if Lord Brougham be correct in assert- 
 ing that no discovery of corruption or turpitude on the part 
 of his once recognized client can justify the lawyer in ceas- 
 ing to represent his interests, it is manifest that the dignity of 
 a useful and venerated profession may be occasionally put in 
 jeopardy, in the way just indicated, by men who would be as 
 far as any other individual that can be mentioned, from delib- 
 erately doing aught which the sternest and most upright mor- 
 alist would hesitate to sanction and defend. 
 
 That, upon the whole, at least for some generations past, in 
 all countries where lawyers are known, their example and in- 
 fluence as a class, have been, in general, favorable to sound 
 morals, as well as to t,he advance of civil and religious free- 
 dom, I do not myself at all doubt ; and, I have little fear that 
 a majority of the attorneys in these United States will ever fail 
 to remember that the world has a right to look to them con- 
 fidently for the avoidance of all those wretched arts of 
 chicane and knavery which some whom our highest courts 
 are sometimes compelled to recognize as entitled to address 
 them, have been known unscrupulously to put in exercise, and 
 unblushingly to defend. Long may the members of the Amer- 
 can bar, in general, and the members of the bar of the Southern 
 and Southwestern states in particular, bear vividly in mind, 
 that by them, if at all, are the hidden villainies of the world
 
 l6 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 to be brought to light and to be punished ; profligacy, how- 
 ever plausible, to be unmasked and brought to shame; 
 and the betrayers of the cause of freedom to be consigned to 
 undying infamy. Let them ever recollect that it is their high 
 and inestimable privilege, by judicious and seasonable counsel, 
 to rescue their clients from the fangs of merciless cupidity, 
 and from unmerited ruin ; to defend their characters against 
 unjust reproach, no matter how potential may be their assail- 
 ants, and whether thes^e assailants shall be few or many ; to 
 rescue their lives, it may be, from the perils in which calum- 
 nious accusations may have involved them ; that on the bench, 
 at the bar, in grave deliberative assemblies, or as the sworn 
 official advisers of government, glorious opportunities are 
 presented to them of earning solid and enduring fame ; of 
 proving themselves to be great national benefactors, the de- 
 fenders and upholders of such civil institutions as the world 
 has never seen but once ; and the fearless and indefatigable 
 champions and promoters of social reform and progress. 
 
 Before these general remarks are brought to a close, I must 
 ask permission to cite a short and gratifying extract from the 
 pages of one, of whose profound abilities and marvelous scien- 
 tific attainments America and mankind in general may be 
 justly proud. Dr. Draper, in his " Intellectual Development 
 of Europe," speaking of the two professions of law and med- 
 icine, says : " It is to the honor of both these professions that 
 they never sought a perpetuity of power by schemes of vast 
 organization; never attempted to delude mankind by stupen- 
 dous impostures; never compelled them to desist from the ex- 
 pression of their thoughts, and even from thinking, by alliances 
 with civil power. Far from being the determined antagonists 
 of human knowledge, they uniformly fostered it, and, in its 
 trials, defended it. The lawyers were hated because they re- 
 placed supernatural logic by philosophical logic; the physic- 
 ians, because they broke down the profitable but mendacious 
 system of miracle-cures by relics and at shrines." 
 
 But it is time that I should proceed to the immediate task 
 before me. Without dilating further, for the present, upon the 
 members of the bar flourishing in the state of Alabama, be-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. \J 
 
 tween the years 1825 and 1830, and for some twenty years 
 thereafter (some of whom will demand more or less notice 
 hereafter), I must ask the reader to descend, in imagination, 
 with me, the Mississippi river, in the month of December, 
 1830, for the purpose of surveying the condition of the bench 
 and bar there at that period, and tracing a number of scenes 
 which afterwards occurred in that stirring region, and of which 
 I was myself a very close observer. 
 
 I journeyed, during the year and month just named, to the 
 city of Natchez, then a place of much commercial importance, 
 and possessing a population full of intelligence, enterprise, 
 and refinement. There Burr had been the recipient of a cor- 
 dial and splendid hospitality, on his first descent to New Or- 
 leans, where he was expecting, in concert with General 
 Wilkinson and others, to mature his grand scheme for organ- 
 izing a new Anglo-American empire in Mexico. In the lit- 
 tle village of Washington, only a few miles from Natchez, 
 had he undergone that memorable judicial examination which, 
 despite the energetic prosecution of the afterwards celebrated 
 George Poindexter, speedily resulted in his honorable acquit- 
 tal. Here sojourned, for some years, the ill-fated Blennerhas- 
 set, whose paradisaical residence on an island of La Belle 
 Riviere, was on the occasion of the trial of Burr for treason, 
 afterwards so gorgeously depictured by William Wirt. In 
 Natchez I found residing, when I reached there, several most 
 accomplished and affluent citizens who had been the known 
 associates of Aaron Burr; among whom were the financial 
 magnates of that period, James C. Wilkins. and Stephen A. 
 Duncan. The very hotel at which I was entertained in 1830, 
 was kept by a Mr. Parker, who was also one of the " Burr 
 men," as they were called, and from whose lips I heard much 
 of the famous expedition, in which he was not at c-1 ashamed to 
 acknowledge that he had borne part. On the veiy night that 
 I reached Natchez, I saw the son of Blennerhasset lying dead 
 drunk upon the pavement in front of the Parker hotel, and 
 who (as I was told) having been, during the day which had just 
 closed, refused by the medical board of the state, then in ses- 
 sion, a license to practice the curative art, had solaced his
 
 1 8 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 chagrin by huge potations of alcoholic fluid. Sic transit gloria 
 mundi ! ! 
 
 The supreme court of the state was sitting when I reached 
 Natchez, and many attorneys were in attendance thereupon, 
 some of whom lived in remote counties. I had brought with 
 me letters of introduction to several prominent members of 
 the bar, whose civilities to me were of a far more marked and 
 cordial character than I had even anticipated. The supreme 
 court was at that time composed of five judges; whose decis- 
 ions, up to about that period, had been, a short time before, 
 placed in the hands of a diligent and accomplished lawyer for 
 revision and publication. These decisions will be found em- 
 bodied in a single small volume known as Walker's Reports, 
 but few copies of which are now extant, the work itself being 
 mainly of value because of Mr. Walker's copious and learned 
 notes, with which it is besprinkled. The names of the supreme 
 judges were as follows : Turner, Child, Nicholson, Black, and 
 Cage. 
 
 Chief Justice Edward Turner was a man of uncommonly 
 striking appearance. He must have been considerably more 
 than six feet in height, slenderly and even delicately shaped, 
 with a bright and genial countenance, and of exceedingly kind 
 and conciliatory manners. He was born in the old county 
 of Fairfax, in the state of Virginia, and, as I have heard from 
 his own lips (and which I remember to have once seen men- 
 tioned in a printed circular over his name), was grandson to 
 the Mr. Payne whom Weems, in his Lite of Washington, 
 reports to have once had a serious collision with the Father 
 of his Country at Fairfax Court House, when Washington was 
 there engaged in the raising of military recruits for the ill-fated 
 Braddock campaign. This historic incident Mr. Weems seems 
 to have regarded as worthy of being transmitted to posterity, 
 by reason of the fact that it presents perhaps the only occasion 
 when Washington was known to have been guilty of offering 
 to any individual an unprovoked insult, as on account also of 
 his having set the meritorious example of at once tendering 
 the amende honorable. Early in life, Judge Turner, with 
 most of his Virginia kindred, removed to the state of Ken-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. jg 
 
 tucky, and located in the neighborhood of Lexington, where 
 so many distinguished men have since flourished. There he 
 read law with the once famous George Nicholas, the inti- 
 mate friend of Thomas Jefferson for many years, and to whose 
 hands Mr. Jefferson will be remembered to have transmitted 
 the original draft, in his own hand-writing, of the never-to-be- 
 forgotten Kentucky resolutions of '98-9 ; in which it is em- 
 phatically stated, that for certain palpable breaches of the fed- 
 eral constitution, "nullification is the rightful remedy" Mr. 
 Nicholas was always mentioned by Judge Turner in terms 
 of respect and gratitude, and to his valuable instructions he 
 was disposed to attribute much of his own subsequent success 
 as a lawyer. On migrating to Mississippi, then a territory, 
 Judge Turner established himself in the bosom of a small in- 
 terior village, where he commenced the practice of his pro- 
 fession, holding at the same time the office of justice of the 
 peace, which latter he found quite profitable. Having there 
 accumulated several thousand dollars, in a few years he re- 
 moved to the city of Natchez, where he soon took very cred- 
 itable rank as a lawyer, in time made a large fortune, became 
 eminently popular and influential, and was at last elected to 
 the dignified station which he now held. His intellect was of 
 a sound and practical cast, his industry was most remarkable, 
 and he was of unsurpassed integrity. His warmest friends did 
 not claim for him any very extraordinary knowledge of law as 
 a science, and he had no literary attainments worth noting, be- 
 yond the sphere of his own chosen profession. He was a 
 most exemplary person in all the domestic and social relations, 
 and, on several trying occasions, and especially in the peril- 
 ous season of 1851, is known to have given evidence of a 
 steady and fearless patriotism worthy of the best ages of Greece 
 and of Rome. His devotion to the federal union was as in- 
 tense as that of Mr. Clay himself, of whom he was always a 
 great admirer. 
 
 Judge Child was quite a sui generis personage. He was a 
 native of New England, was said to be of good parentage, 
 and had been educated in the best New England style. 
 He was a good Latin and Greek scholar ; had read law with
 
 2O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 both attention and success ; had traveled a good deal ; knew 
 much of the human character ; was not at all choice in his 
 companionship ; drank freely ; swore hard ; was lively in so- 
 cial converse, but much given to satirical remark ; in collo- 
 quial controversial dispute was supposed by some to have 
 greatly excelled; spoke kindly of nobody; delighted much 
 in the use of fire-arms and in hunting; was a good horseman; 
 of fierce and indomitable courage ; believed devoutly in the 
 duelling code; spoke slightingly of womanhood in general, 
 and lived and died a bachelor. He was about five feet seven 
 or eight inches in height ; of a body as long in proportion to 
 the distance of his head from the ground, when he was stand- 
 ing erect, as his legs were short. His mind was agile and vig- 
 orous ; he always expressed himself, in his written opinions, 
 with clearness and precision ; and always with a decided aver- 
 sion to long and flatulent speeches, to turgid declamation, or 
 the copious citation of books of authority. He exclaimed 
 from the bench of the circuit court in Port Gibson, once, when 
 a lawyer of some standing had, after reading in his hearing 
 the whole of quite a long judicial opinion, announced with an 
 air of pleasant exultation, that he had lying before him, at 
 least seventeen decisions of various respectable courts precisely 
 to the same effect, to all of which ,he proposed to invite his 
 honor's attention, "What! Do you say that these authorities 
 are all to the same effect? " " Yes, sir," answered the delighted 
 and learned advocate, "I do; they are all to the same effect, 
 precisely." " I am really rejoiced to hear it," said the sneer- 
 ful judge; "and you will please have the goodness to read 
 again the decision I have already heard read with such ex- 
 quisite pleasure ; as I thought it read very well ; and if you 
 will read it over again sixteen times, we shall all understand 
 it perfectly, and be able to give it such application as may be 
 right, to the case now to be decided." 
 
 On another occasion, when holding court in the city of 
 Vicksburg, my old and worthy friend, Judge Coalter, com- 
 menced reading a few extracts from a legal authority of the 
 highest character, in elucidation of a question which had arisen 
 on demurrer. He had scarcely opened the book before Judge
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 21 
 
 Child interrupted him, and said, " Judge Coalter, put down 
 that book; I have read all the law in the world, and recollect 
 well what I have read. I want no aid from the musty vol- 
 umes you have brought into court. If you have any original 
 views to bring forward, I will listen to you ; otherwise I think 
 you would do well to take your seat." Coalter, in mute sur- 
 prise at this wonderful amount of learning so modestly con- 
 fessed by the judge, took his seat accordingly. 
 
 I heard Judge Child relate one day, that he had a few 
 weeks before returned from a visit to his native town in New 
 England. His father, he said, having recently died and left 
 him some real estate, on arriving at the place where his prop- 
 erty was located, he sent a message to a tenant of the prem- 
 ises, demanding the payment of the rent which remained un- 
 paid. " And what," said he, " do you think of this fellow's 
 impudence ? He refused to pay me a dollar, and declined 
 recognizing me as landlord ; whereupon I hurried to his resi- 
 dence, had myself announced, and on the scoundrel's making 
 his appearance, I told him that I had come to force him to 
 ' attorn to me,' and if he did not do so at once, I should cer- 
 tainly give him a severe caning calling his attention signi- 
 ficantly to a large cane which I then held in my hand. You 
 may rest assured that the delinquent tenant did attorn, and in 
 double-quick time." 
 
 Judge Child was often known to sit on the bench in some 
 of the then newly-settled counties of the state, when so much 
 overpowed with the draughts of intoxicating drink which he had 
 recently imbibed, that, notwithstanding his ability and learning, 
 he was wholly incapable of conducting the business of the 
 court in a decent and orderly manner. This was particularly 
 the case in the town of Benton, during one of the last courts 
 he ever held in the state, on which occasion I well remember 
 his calling up to the bench, one day during the trial of a most 
 important case, a drunken attorney to preside in his stead, 
 whilst he went across the public square to a low drinking shop 
 to " wet his whistle," as he said. It was in this town that 
 after he had been holding court for a week, and rendered 
 many judgments, he fell into a fit of ill-humor, and avenged
 
 22 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 himself on the members of the bar at whom he had taken 
 offence, by suddenly mounting his horse and riding out of 
 town, after having made an order for final adjournment with- 
 out signing the minutes thus leaving all the judgments he had 
 been granting mere nullities. 
 
 It is certainly true that the very outrageous official conduct 
 of Judge Child, together with the ascertained impossibility of 
 getting rid of a judge misconducting himself ever so grossly, 
 by impeachment, contributed very materially to the change 
 which was at this period effected in the state constitution by 
 means whereof the election of judicial officers was vested in 
 the people, and the life-tenure, then existing, changed to a 
 term of years. 
 
 I have already stated that Judge Child was not averse to 
 the settlement of personal difficulties upon what is called the 
 field of honor. Indeed I have scarcely heard of a more des- 
 perate duel than that which occurred between himself and a 
 gentleman whom I once knew well, General Joor. The latter 
 was a native of South Carolina, and was not a little proud of 
 his place of birth. He was an ardent admirer of John C. Cal- 
 houn, and sympathized warmly with the body of politicians 
 in the South, of which he was the acknowledged head. Gen- 
 eral Joor was in affluent circumstances, a planter by occupation, 
 a kind-hearted and sociable gentleman", but of a temperament 
 highly inflammable. I never knew the precise origin of the 
 dispute between himself and Judge Child which resulted in 
 the hostile meeting already referred to. They agreed to 
 a rendezvous on the verge of the little village of Woodville, 
 in the vicinage of which they both resided, where the parties 
 were to appear on a certain day, without regular seconds 
 on either side, armed and accoutred according to their own 
 taste, and to fight in such manner as might be most agree- 
 able to them. Child came attended by a large mulatto body- 
 servant, who drove a vehicle of some kind to the field of com- 
 bat, loaded down with muskets and pistols, which he was to 
 hand out to his master as the exigencies of the battle might 
 render necessary. This duty he is said to have performed 
 with singular coolness and address. The parties were, 1 be-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 23 
 
 lieve, both severely wounded, but neither of them mor- 
 tally. General Joor I know to have borne the marks of the 
 conflict upon the fingers of his right hand all his life after- 
 wards. 
 
 And here I am tempted to relate, by way of episode, another 
 affair of this kind, which occurred some years subsequent, be- 
 tween the oldest son of Benjamin Watkins Leigh of Virginia, 
 and Colonel Fielding Davis, who was afterwards federal marshal 
 in Mississippi, and a very worthy and chivalrous gentleman. 
 Leigh was an exceedingly promising young member of the 
 bar of Woodville. The parties fought not far from Wood- 
 ville, and Leigh was unfortunately killed. 
 
 Judge Ira R. Nicholson, also a judge of the supreme court 
 at the period referred to, was born in Georgia, and was for 
 some time a lawyer in the southern part of Alabama, before 
 he settled in Mississippi, where he very soon obtained a re- 
 spectable standing at the bar. I practiced before him for 
 some years, and ever found him good-natured, affable, atten- 
 tive to his official duties, and in all respects a trustworthy per- 
 son. He was never at all inclined to make himself a profound 
 jurist, and was generally occupied, when not on the bench, 
 with pursuits not at all calculated either to enlarge the 
 amount of his legal attainments, or to expand and invigorate 
 his intellect. 
 
 Judge Black was born somewhere to the north of Mason 
 and Dixon's line, and his education had been there so well at- 
 tended to as to enable him to teach a select classical school for 
 several years before he took his position at the bar. He was 
 very young when raised to the bench, and had awakened ex- 
 pectations of high distinction in his profession, never fully 
 realized. Being elected to the position of United States Senator 
 in place of Judge Powhattan Ellis, who had been just appointed 
 federal district judge by President Jackson, he there, as the 
 colleague of the celebrated George Poindexter, opposed very 
 warmly the Democratic administration then existing, and, in 
 consequence lost his popularity in Mississippi. After leaving 
 the senate he recommenced the practice of law, but gained 
 little additional reputation at the bar.
 
 24 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Judge Cage was born and reared in Tennessee, and was a 
 member of a very extensive family connection in that state, a 
 number of whom I have very favorably known. He was a 
 man of much intellectual vivacity; of a warm and sympathetic 
 heart; brave almost to a fault; exceedingly energetic and en- 
 terprising, and the delight of every social circle into which he 
 entered. He was fond of novel reading and politics, and had 
 but little relish for law books. His congeniality of temper; 
 his overflowing facetiousness ; his rare talent for relating amus- 
 ing personal anecdotes ; his kind and unassuming manners, 
 and his well-known sincerity and manliness, made him a gen- 
 eral favorite. He served, between 1830 and 1834, for a short 
 time in Congress, and took part in some of the stormy de- 
 bates of that period, but soon voluntarily retired to a fine 
 plantation which he owned in Louisiana, where he lived for 
 many years in a state of cheerful and unbroken repose. 
 
 Of such materials was the Supreme Court of Mississippi 
 composed when I first beheld it in session. Of the members 
 of the bar there convened I have some vivid and pleasant 
 remembrances, which I will now as concisely as possible re- 
 late. 
 
 Robert J. Walker was at that time universally acknowledged 
 to be, among the lawyers of the state then surviving, facile 
 princeps. Of him I will speak more particularly hereafter. 
 
 Thomas B. Reed, William C. Griffith, and Robert H. Ad- 
 ams had, all of them, disappeared, only a year or two before, 
 from that grand forensic theatre where they had, severally, 
 acted so distinguished a part. Their names were still upon 
 the lips of hundreds of those who had familiarly known them. 
 Mr. Reed was acknowledged to have been profoundly versed in 
 the mysteries of the common law, and to have been singularly 
 familiar with the reported decisions both of this country and 
 of England. He had a remarkable aptitude for the profession 
 which he had adopted, and had been for many years known, 
 both in Kentucky (his native state) and in Mississippi, to have 
 been a very devoted student. In general learning he was de- 
 ficient; he lacked fluency of expression, and never was known 
 to attempt what is called forensic eloquence. His person
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 25 
 
 was large and commanding ; he dressed with much taste and 
 elegance ; and his manners were marked with a loftiness bor- 
 dering on hauteur, which impressed ordinary beholders with 
 mingled awe and aversion. He was much admired and ex- 
 tolled by several of the younger members of the Natchez 
 bar, one or two of whom were accused of imitating both his 
 style of speaking and his somewhat ostentatious costume. Du- 
 ring the short period that he occupied a seat in the United 
 States senate he gained no little reputation, and one of his 
 last speeches, upon what was called the judiciary question, 
 was much commended in the newspapers of the time, and 
 might yet be read with no little profit and entertainment. 
 
 Mr. Griffith was born in Maryland. He fell a victim to 
 yellow fever in the summer of 1828 or 1829. He had enjoyed 
 all the advantages which high birth, early association with 
 persons of taste and refinement and a finished education could 
 supply. He was a man of much and varied learning, had 
 mastered the science of law in all its branches, and had be- 
 come alike expert and ingenious in argument, and skilled in 
 the mysteries of the art rhetorical, when he made his first 
 appearance at Natchez, some fifty-five or sixty years ago. I 
 am quite satisfied that he was, at the time of his decease, by 
 far the most polished and fascinating speaker that a Missis- 
 sippi audience had ever then heard. His face was full of benig- 
 nity ; his gesticulation was most graceful ; and his voice was 
 melody itself. He had, when thus suddenly cut off, accumu- 
 lated a considerable fortune, had been married to a most beau- 
 tiful, wealthy, and accomplished lady (the daughter of Judge 
 Turner), and seemed to be in reach of the most wide-spread 
 and lasting renown. 
 
 Robert H. Adams was, in some respects, one of the most 
 remarkable men that this country has produced. Born in the 
 valley of Virginia, of poor and obscure parents, he was bound 
 apprentice to the cooper's trade, at which he is well known to 
 have worked for several years subsequent to his reaching the 
 years of manhood. His early education must, of necessity, 
 have been exceedingly defective. By whom or by what cir- 
 cumstances his attention was first turned to the legal arena, I
 
 26 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 
 
 have never been able to learn. Possibly an inward conscious- 
 ness of superior native endowment may have, in this instance, as 
 in so many others, supplied the needed motive power. It would 
 be pleasing to know something of the budding hopes of such 
 a rare original genius; to ascertain the primordial food upon 
 which his eager mental appetite was nourished, and to learn 
 that he was in some degree aided in his early studies by 
 the counsels of some sympathizing and generous patron. But 
 in regard to these matters we have been left entirely in the 
 dark. He took his position at the bar of East Tennessee, so 
 far as is now known, unfriended and undirected, at a time 
 when it was supplied, as it ever has been for the last three- 
 quarters of a century, with able and successful attorneys, 
 many of whom have smce reached civil positions of the high- 
 est dignity. Here he was able to secure a competent living, 
 but his earnings were not sufficient to satisfy his soaring as- 
 pirations, and he determined to pass the Cumberland mountain 
 range and try the chances of professional success in Nashville, 
 then a promising village. Here he remained only long enough 
 to obtain the means of journeying still further west, and he 
 then came to Natchez, where he seems almost immediately to 
 have attracted favorable notice and to have become recog- 
 nized as one of the most astute and vigorous reasoners, as 
 well as one of the most winning and impressive advocates 
 that this city, so prolific in gifted men, had ever known. 
 Robert H. Adams could never justly lay claim to be re- 
 garded as a man of erudition. It is doubtful whether he 
 at any time acquired more than a smattering of any lan- 
 guage save that vernacular tongue in the use of which he 
 afterwards became so potential. It is certain that the lucu- 
 brations of Aristotle, of Quintillian, and of the other an- 
 cient masters of dialectics and of the art rhetorical, were 
 ever to him as a sealed fountain. He has never been even 
 suspected of looking with a critic's glance upon the won- 
 drous classic writers of ancient Greece and Rome. Newton 
 and Locke, Leibnitz and Descartes, Bacon and Hobbes, he 
 had probably only heard spoken of. The best speeches ot 
 Demosthenes and Cicero he had doubtless perused in an Eng-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 2/ 
 
 lish dress; and it is to be supposed that he had pored with 
 delight over the imposing orations of Burke and Chatham, or 
 Fox and Pitt, of Erskine and of Curran. With the history of 
 his own country he is said to have become well acquainted, 
 and often to have alluded to the great American statesmen 
 and warriors of our own revolutionary era; but it is painful 
 to reflect that his vigorous and elastic intellect had never re- 
 ceived any regular and methodical training whatever, and that 
 he had been thus far precluded from a thousand renowned 
 sources of melioration and improvement, to which many minds 
 of far inferior grade had enjoyed easy and unobstructed ac- 
 cess. And yet it is certainly true that Robert H. Adams had,, 
 in some way or other, succeeded in impressing all those who 
 had listened to his animated and persuasive addresses in court, 
 with the conviction that he was indeed one of nature's most 
 wonderful productions; that he was able to encounter any 
 speaker of his time, and in a manner creditable to himself, 
 upon any of the great questions which he was called to dis- 
 cuss ; that he was an undoubted master of all the legal lore 
 which he had occasion to adduce; that he could make a state- 
 ment of facts in the hearing of the jury, in a manner so lucid, 
 so concise, and, withal, so suggestive, as to render it impos- 
 sible that the most adroit and artful adversary should be able 
 to confuse or becloud them; that he could be as witty and 
 amusing as the nature of the case which he had in hand would 
 admit of; that he could be as bitterly sarcastic as if he had 
 been all his life employed in learning the language of oblo- 
 quy and denunciation ; that he could talk when he pleased in 
 the melting strains of heart-moving pathos, or thunder forth 
 against some known offender such indignant tones of con- 
 tempt and abhorrence as to compel the most hardened crim- 
 inal to tremble before the picturings of his own enormity, and 
 despair of longer holding in concealment from the eyes of 
 mankind the dark secrets of a soul up to that moment confi- 
 dent of evading all scrutiny and of obviating all serious, 
 suspicion of iniquity. Most of those who knew Robert H. 
 Adams well, undoubtedly adjudged him to possess more of 
 native ability than any of his distinguished rivals for foren-
 
 28 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 sic renown in Mississippi ; and had he lived a few years lon- 
 ger, and used those means of intellectual culture which a seat 
 in the national senate is well known to bring within reach, 
 there is no knowing what amount of fame he might have ac- 
 quired, or what wonders he would have achieved upon the 
 theatre of national affairs. He was much beloved by all 
 who held familiar intercourse with him, and he is believed to 
 .have departed from the the world leaving no enemy behind 
 him. 
 
 After the almost contemporaneous demise of the three ex- 
 traordinary personages I have just named, it has been already 
 stated that Robert J. Walker became the acknowledged head 
 of the Natchez bar. His elder brother, Duncan, had been for 
 some years a resident of Natchez, when, on the elevation of 
 his then professional partner, Judge Turner, to the bench, he 
 invited Robert to leave his native state (Pennsylvania) and 
 join him in the practice of law in Judge Turner's place. The 
 education of Robert J. Walker was as complete as the schools 
 of that period could supply. He had studied both the com- 
 mon and the civil law, with assiduity and success. He was 
 said to have obtained in addition a diploma at the renowned 
 medical college of Philadelphia. He was thoroughly versed 
 in the Greek and Latin languages. He could both speak and 
 Write French with facility and elegance. He had given much 
 attention to mathematical studies, and was quite a proficient 
 in astronomy, chemistry, botany, geology, and mineralogy. 
 He could write smooth and flowing verses in English, and 
 was in early life much inclined to exercise himself in this way. 
 He was the most untiring student I have ever known, and he 
 had such a memory as few men besides himself have ever 
 displayed. He could write off or dictate to an amanuensis a 
 long speech upon any subject which had closely engaged his 
 attention, and then repeat it verbatim without the aid of a 
 single note. This wonderful fact is known to many thousands. 
 Mr. Walker always made the most ample preparation for an 
 argument in court, or for a speech elsewhere, and then often 
 poured forth such a stream of ideas as were greatly entertain- 
 ing and edifying, and often astonishing, to those who listened
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 2 9 
 
 to him. He possessed, as I have thought, no large amount 
 of originality ; his imagination had been cultivated to the ut- 
 most, but its picturings were deficient in vividness and variety 
 of coloring ; and his appeals to the passions were often feeble 
 and ineffective. He always spoke and wrote with strict 
 scholastic accuracy, and with a clearness and precision which 
 might well defy criticism ; but he .displayed on no occasion 
 any remarkable felicity of diction, or such exquisite beauties 
 of phraseology as to draw forth from persons of taste and 
 sensibility expressions of special admiration and delight. He 
 was possessed, perhaps, of as large a fund of learning of almost 
 every description, as almost any man of his times ; but others, 
 with far inferior attainments, have been able to effect far more 
 than he can be supposed to have done, and have shown a 
 capacity for persuading and commanding their fellow-men, far 
 beyond anything which the history of Mr. Walker can be 
 said to have brought to view. I do not recollect of ever hear- 
 ing any important subject mentioned in Mr. Walker's hearing 
 of which he seemed to be altogether ignorant ; but he did 
 not always show off his information to the best advantage, 
 and he sometimes appeared to impede the action of his intel- 
 lect by constraining it to bear up under a larger mass of scien- 
 tific facts than it was altogether capable of supporting. Mr.. 
 Walker was a man of strong and generous instincts ; of great 
 simplicity and kindness of heart ; of a most charitable and 
 confiding temper ; but he was far from being always judicious 
 in the selection of his friends, or the recipients of his confi- 
 dence. His person was well proportioned but decidedly di- 
 minutive ; his features were as delicate in their conformation, 
 and as benign and playful in their expression as if he had 
 himself belonged to the gentler sex. He is said to have had 
 much personal comeliness when a child, as might well have 
 been believed. His voice, in conversation, was, on all ordin- 
 ary occasions, soft and even tender in its accents. In the de- 
 livery of a speech of much importance, there was in that voice 
 something which I have never seen so strikingly displayed in 
 any other instance; its tones were either high and resounding 
 or so low as scarcely to be heard ; the transitions of which
 
 3O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 were alike sudden and extreme, without the least approach to 
 the famous os rotundum so much lauded by Cicero. In listen- 
 ing, therefore, to a long speech from Mr. Walker, however 
 cogent it might be in argument, rich with instruction, and 
 varied in its topics, the ear became inevitably wearied with 
 the constantly recurring iteration of sharply contrasted 
 sounds. Mr. Walker would, I feel assured, have very greatly 
 excelled as a law professor at some university, and on the 
 bench he would have doubtless earned most extendd and 
 lasting fame. 
 
 Next to the two Walkers, Spence M. Grayson oftenest ap- 
 peared at the bar of the Natchez courts in 1830. He was born 
 either in Alabama or in Virginia; I believe that he was a descen- 
 dant of that Grayson so well and favorably known in the early 
 history of Virginia, and for several years a representative of that 
 state in the Congress of the Union towards the close of the last 
 century. Spence M. Grayson had been engaged in the practice 
 of the law for some years at the period of my last seeing him. 
 He was a fine-looking man of about thirty years of age ; de- 
 lighted not a little in the adornment of his person ; was a 
 plain, direct and sensible speaker ; well informed in his pro- 
 fession ; honest, industrious and pains-taking. He had many 
 cases in his hands, was said to be making money rapidly, and 
 had been just married to a most interesting lady with whom 
 he seemed to enjoy much happiness. He died some thirty 
 years since, leaving a wife and several children. One of these, 
 a son, whom I once knew familiarly, became a married man 
 about twenty years ago. He did not live happily with his 
 wife, whom I saw in' California in the year 1858. What was 
 my surprise at learning a year or two ago, that this female 
 was the same person who had been known so extensively 
 since as the celebrated Laura Fair! 
 
 Robert H. Buckner was also a member of the bar of Natchez 
 in the year 1830, and, as the partner of John T. McMurran, 
 enjoyed no little personal prosperity. He was a quiet and un- 
 obtrusive person, much given to the study of law b.ooks, and 
 in truth reading little else at any time. He was an eminently 
 safe and honest legal adviser, but excelled little as a forensic
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 3 1 
 
 speaker. He afterwards became chancellor of the state, in 
 which office, though acquiring no extended fame, he com- 
 manded alike the respect of his brother attorneys and of the 
 country at large. 
 
 Much was I entertained during my sojourn of a few weeks 
 in Natchez with various learned and able arguments in court 
 which I there heard, and not less, I may well say, with the pleas- 
 ures of social intercourse to which I was there admitted. I 
 shall have occasion hereafter to speak of several gentlemen 
 whom I there met, and of whom I have not thus far made 
 mention, but who stand honorably enrolled among the attor- 
 neys of Mississippi of a former generation. 
 
 Whilst making ready to leave Natchez, I fell into company, 
 by accident, one morning, at the hotel where I was staying, 
 with a young gentleman who at the very first sight impressed 
 me with a deep and peculiar interest. He was apparently in 
 delicate health, and was evidently suffering also from serious 
 depression of spirits. He gave me some account of his per- 
 sonal history, which I found to be not a little tinctured with 
 romance, and marked with several incidents well calculated to 
 awaken feelings of tenderest commiseration. 
 
 He had a special claim upon my sympathy by reason of 
 the fact that he was, like myself, a native of Virginia, and a 
 friendship at once sprang up between us which lasted, without 
 the least abatement of kindness on either side, up to the pe- 
 riod of his lamented decease, some seventeen or eighteen 
 years ago. I refer now to Edward C. Wilkinson, a consum- 
 mate scholar, an erudite lawyer, and an upright and pious gen- 
 tleman. After having achieved much success in his profession, 
 and after having surrounded himself with multitudes of friends 
 and admirers, he became involved in a tragic affair in the city 
 of Louisville, Kentucky, of most melancholy import, which re- 
 sulted in his being tried for murder, amid the raging of a fu- 
 rious local excitement, and in his being, in the end, honofably 
 acquitted. This case is one of marked celebrity, and in de- 
 fence of Judge Wilkinson, S. S. Prentiss made, in association 
 with the celebrated John A. Rowan, one of the ablest speeches 
 of his life in opposition to Benjamin Hardin, whose extraor-
 
 32 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 dinary powers were most vehemently exerted in order to bring 
 about a conviction. 
 
 Judge Wilkinson and myself traveled up the Mississippi 
 river in company, in January, 1831, as far as Vicksburg, where 
 he left me for Yazoo City, which was afterwards his place of 
 residence for many years, and where his memory is yet pro- 
 foundly respected. I remained in Vicksburg, where I labored for 
 professional success for some years amid localities strangely 
 marked with events of a startling and tragical character in 
 after days. There I found many lawyers of decided ability,. 
 some of whom have since borne a distinguished part in the 
 history of the country, but nearly all of whom have long since 
 ceased to live. 
 
 I had not been in Vicksburg many days, when the inn- 
 keeper, in whose house I was staying, called my attention to 
 a serious personal grievance which he had recently experi- 
 enced, and for the redress of which he was disposed to ap- 
 peal to judicial arbitrament. The mayor and common coun- 
 cil of Vicksburg had passed an ordinance several months be- 
 fore for the closing of his hotel, on the alleged ground that a 
 case or two of small pox had broken out among the inmates 
 thereof. The hotel had been accordingly shut up, and, as 
 mine host insisted, this had deprived him of a large amount of 
 valuable custom. I was glad to have so early an opportunity 
 of entering the field of litigious strife, under circumstances 
 apparently so auspicious, and, accordingly, I lost no time in 
 the commencement of an action for damages. The declaration 
 filed in the case was responded to by a general demurrer, and 
 the question was thus raised whether the corporate authori- 
 ties of the city possessed adequate authority to adopt and 
 enforce such an ordinance as the one complained of. Before 
 the case came on to be argued, S. S. Prentiss, then a young 
 and inexperienced lawyer, like myself, arrived in Vicksburg, 
 with some intention of locating himself there. I invited him 
 to aid me in the argument of the demurrer, which he very 
 willingly agreed to do, and soon after did, in point of fact, make 
 an argument of such extraordinary force and ingenuity, that 
 he was immediately invited to become a member of a law firm
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 33 
 
 in Vicksburg of the highest rank there. Thenceforward Mr. 
 Prentiss' forensic career was one of uninterrupted prosperity, 
 and his reputation as an advocate continued to expand and 
 display additional splendor, up to the end of his mortal ca- 
 reer. 
 
 I shall venture here to repeat what I have thought proper 
 to say of this remarkable person elsewhere. "About two 
 years before I first saw Mr. Prentiss, he had landed at Natchez, 
 as I repeatedly heard from his own lips, with a single dime in 
 his pocket. He had, at the time, no acquaintance there, and 
 had, as yet, not studied a profession. His college course 
 had just been completed at an excellent institution in New 
 England, and, being quite proficient in the several branches 
 of learning to which he had been giving his attention, he 
 determined to make an effort to obtain a small private school. 
 In this he succeeded, and he followed this respectable voca- 
 tion for a year or two, during which period he was ap- 
 plying himself with extreme diligence to the study of the 
 law. The distinguished Robert J. Walker, then a lawyer in 
 full practice, was kind enough to open his library to his eager 
 and enquiring mind, and he was soon able to obtain license to 
 practise in all the courts of the state of Mississippi. 
 
 " There was much that was remarkable in the appearance 
 and bearing of Mr. Prentiss at this time. He was not more, I 
 think, than five feet six and a half inches in height, and was 
 very stoutly built, and well proportioned. His head was some- 
 what large when compared with his body ; it was in truth a 
 head that a Grecian artist might well desire to copy. His fore- 
 head was wide, high, almost semi-circular in its outline so 
 admirably were all the phrenological organs developed. His 
 eyebrows were full, but not bushy, and were gently arched. 
 His eyes were large and bright, and of an expression in which 
 the absolute fearlessness of his nature was very happily blen- 
 ded with the rarest geniality of spirit, and the keenest relish 
 for the ludicrous. He had but a moderate beard, and always 
 kept his face cleanly shaven. His chest was one of uncom- 
 mon expansiveness, and, though perfectly straight between 
 the shoulders, a stranger approaching him from the rear could
 
 34 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 not avoid being struck with the singular breadth and fullness 
 of the whole tergal superficies. His nose was Grecian, and 
 was both beautiful in shape and highly expressive. His upper 
 lip was a little shorter than is customary, and of a flexibility 
 I have never seen equalled. Often was he seen to curl it up, 
 both in mirth and in anger, displaying to view a row of strong, 
 well-set, and beautifully white teeth. He had all his life suf- 
 fered from a lameness in one of his feet suggesting to the 
 historic beholder, a similar pedal blemish, alike in Agesilaus 
 and in Byron and he was said to have a good deal of sensi- 
 tiveness as to this matter, though if such was the case, I never 
 was able to discover it. He hobbled, of course, very percept- 
 ably in his gait, and would, I conjecture, have found it diffi- 
 cult to walk at all without the aid of a large stick which was 
 his perpetual attendant. When I was introduced to him forty- 
 two years ago, Natchez was already full of his fame. He 
 had delivered several speeches at the bar, which all admitted 
 never to have been equalled there, either in vigor of argument, 
 brilliancy of expression, or rich and flowing facetiousness. 
 Though exceedingly modest by nature, yet the signal foren- 
 sic triumphs which he had already achieved over men of estab- 
 lished reputation, had inspired him with a manly confidence 
 in his own powers, which could not but be more or less ap- 
 parent, both in his aspect and demeanor, and alike amid the 
 discussions of the forum and in ordinary converse. I was talk- 
 ing only a short time since with the Hon. Joseph Holt, in 
 reference to his former illustrious rival in oratory at the Mis- 
 sissippi bar, and was not at all surprised to find that his opin- 
 ion of Mr. Prentiss' extraordinary powers was altogether in 
 harmony with my own. I have been long satisfied that in 
 regard to all the faculties and graces which constitute the ver- 
 itable orator, Sargent S. Prentiss was equal to any man of 
 modern times, and such is my estimate of him in this respect 
 that I should distrust either the judgment or sincerity of any 
 one who, after having once listened to him in a case calculated 
 to bring his remarkable abilities into full display, should ex- 
 press a different opinion. At times he was indeed most elec- 
 trical in his utterances, reminding one at all versed in Hebraic
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 35 
 
 lo*re, of the soul-thrilling strains of an Isaiah or an Ezekiel ; 
 whilst, on other occasions, yet well remembered by many still 
 living, his wondrous harangues imparted credibility to all the 
 gorgeous, and, perchance, over-wrought descriptions which we 
 have read in relation to the majestic thunderings of a Pericles 
 or a Henry, or of the soul-dissolving pathos of a Somerfield or 
 a Maffet. I was not at all surprised to see it published in the 
 newspapers of Boston many years ago, on the occasion of 
 Mr. Prentiss' visit to that city for the first time, that even in 
 the midst of that memorable dinner-speech which he was then 
 delivering, Mr. Webster and Mr. Everett, with eyes overflow- 
 ing under his magic enunciations, were heard generously 
 whispering to each other, ' We have never heard such elo- 
 quence as this before.' " 
 
 Whilst all who have had the good fortune to hear Mr. Pren- 
 tiss speak in court will, I am sure, agree with me in the opin- 
 ion that he was very superior to most of those with whom he 
 came in contact in the management and discussion of causes, 
 both on the civil and criminal side of the docket, it seems to 
 have been generally thought that his grandest manifestations 
 of the peculiar powers of the advocate, as distinguished from 
 mere logical analysis, occurred in the prosecution and defence 
 of persons charged with criminal offences. Such certainly is the 
 conclusion to which I have myself arrived, after much reflec- 
 tion, and after much consultation with others. Whether his 
 powers of persuasion were more fully put in requisition in 
 vindicating the innocent against unjust and virulent assail- 
 ment, or in the bringing of great offenders to justice, it 
 would be difficult to decide ; for he seemed, in cases of every 
 description, to be entirely equal to the exigencies of the 
 occasion arising, and he most generally succeeded in sur- 
 passing the expectations of all who came to listen to him. 
 I should, though with some hesitation, decide that his 
 speech in prosecution of Alonzo Phelps, and that against 
 Mercer Byrd were his forensic master -pieces.* "I chanced 
 to be enlisted in the defence both of Phelps and Byrd, and had, 
 therefore, a most favorable opportunity of appreciating the 
 * Vide Casket of Reminiscences.
 
 36 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 power displayed on the part of the prosecution. Alonzo 
 Phelps was a native of New England. According to his own 
 account of himself, he had, in a fit of jealousy, slain a rival 
 lover in his native vicinage, secreted the body of his victim 
 in a neighboring mill-pond, and fled to the valley of the 
 Mississippi. He had here been a wanderer for many years, sel- 
 dom entering any human habitation, and subsisting mean- 
 while altogether upon the raw meat of squirrels and other wild 
 animals which he had captured in the chase. He had long 
 infested the banks of the Mississippi ; had committed eight 
 murders and more than sixty robberies, and had some dozen 
 times broken jail and evaded the punishment of the law. 
 Strange to say, he was a ripe and accurate scholar, and when 
 taken prisoner, a few weeks subsequent to the perpetration of 
 his last murder, had, as I personally know, a much-worn 
 pocket-copy of Horace in his possession, which he was able 
 to read with much more facility than our ordinary college 
 graduates would be likely to evince, and with a far keener 
 relish for the quiet and unpretending beauties of the poetic 
 friend and protegee of the great Mecaenas than Lord Byron 
 reports himself to have at any time felt. The trial of Phelps 
 had attracted to the Vicksburg court-house a vast assemblage 
 of excited citizens. Judge Montgomery, an able and learned 
 functionary, who, I am glad to know, is still living, presided 
 on the occasion. I was aided in the defence of the prisoner 
 by two very accomplished and able gentlemen, John Gildart, 
 Esq., of Woodville, and Mr. Pelton, then a resident of Natchez, 
 but now a wealthy sugar planter of Louisiana, and a most 
 worthy and interesting person. General Felix Huston and 
 several other attorneys of rank, co-operated with Mr. Pren- 
 tiss and the district attorney in furtherance of the prosecu- 
 tion. The speech delivered by Mr. Prentiss would have en- 
 hanced the fame of an Erskine, a Mclntosh, or a Curran. His 
 delineation of the character of the accused was, indeed, most 
 masterly, in the course of which he bestowed upon him the im- 
 perishable cognomen of 'The Rob Roy of the Mississippi.' 
 in allusion to his having habitually, year after year, levied 'black 
 mail' upon the unhappy travelers whom he had, from time to
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 37 
 
 time, encountered on the highways along the banks of the 
 great river; hundreds of whom he had despoiled, and some of 
 them under circumstances both romantic and ludicrous. 
 Phelps had been, of course, relieved of his irons before being 
 brought into court for trial, but it had been deemed expedi- 
 ent to surround him with an armed guard. His appearance 
 on the occasion was very striking and impressive. He was 
 a muscular, well-shaped man, about five feet eleven inches in 
 height, and evidently possessed of great vigor and activ- 
 ity. He had a particularly fair complexion, though somewhat 
 bronzed and freckled from constant exposure to the damp 
 air of the river bank and the torrid rays of a southern 
 sun. His hair was blood-red, and was much inclined to curl 
 up in knots, and his crispy, snakelike locks stood stiffly up 
 over and about his cranium, with a singularly fierce and 
 menacing aspect. His keen gray eyes exhibited a curious 
 blending of audacity and furtiveness. Prentiss' speech galled 
 and irritated him greatly. When the orator was depicting the 
 enormous and shameless criminality of the culprit, and most 
 fiercely looked him full in the face, with a most withering look 
 of scorn and indignation, I saw the muscles of this hardened 
 criminal quiver with convulsive agony; and seeming presently 
 to grow desperate, he bent forward a little and whispered in 
 my ear: ' Tell me whether I stand any chance of acquittal, 
 and tell me frankly ; for if my case is hopeless, I will snatch a 
 gun from the guard nearest me and send Mr. Prentiss to hell 
 before I shall myself go there.' Never was I more embar- 
 rassed in my life. I saw that my robbing and murdering 
 client was in dead earnest. I did not doubt that at this mo 
 ment Mr. Prentiss was fully in his power. If he should slay 
 him, he would deprive of life one whom I could not help 
 loving and admiring much, despite the unkind relations then 
 existing between us. Were Prentiss assassinated by the hands 
 of this fiendish ruffian, immediately, too, after this whisper- 
 ing intercourse with me, who, of all that vast crowd, would 
 hold me guiltless ? I may have been wrong, but frankness 
 constrains me to confess that I whispered back to Phelps, ' you 
 are not in the least danger ; we shall have no difficulty what-
 
 38 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ever in preventing your conviction, and shall presently intro- 
 duce a motion for a new trial, or in arrest of judgment, which 
 will save you from all further annoyance.' " 
 
 The jury in a few moments brought in a verdict of " guilty," 
 as they could not avoid doing without the commission of the 
 most shameless perjury; and Phelps escaped being hung 
 upon the scaffold only by breaking jail and endeavoring to 
 fly towards the river bank, in the attempt to do which he was 
 shot down by the sheriff of the county, a most resolute and 
 faithful officer. 
 
 I have more than once had occasion to declare that 1 have 
 myself heard only one man whom, as an advocate in criminal 
 causes of difficulty, I should think of comparing to Mr. Pren- 
 tiss ; and of the gentleman thus alluded to, I purpose to take 
 somewhat more than a mere passing notice. 
 
 It was in the autumn of 1837 tnat the renowned Joseph 
 Holt first made his appearance in the state of Mississippi. On 
 his arriving among us, in the central portion of the state, 
 he quickly ascertained that his fame as a supporter of the 
 sound democratic creed of the ancient time, had preceded 
 him, for the eloquent harangue which he was reported to 
 have delivered in the national Democratic convention of the 
 previous summer, in support of the nomination of Richard 
 M. Johnson for the vice presidency, had been read with min- 
 gled surprise and rapture in every nook and corner of the 
 land, and Mr. Holt had already become a great popular favor- 
 ite everywhere, and especially among the appreciative and en- 
 thusiastic inhabitants of. the rapidly advancing southwest. 
 Such a reception was now accorded to him in the neighbor- 
 hood of the Mississippi capital as must have been both sur- 
 prising and gratifying to him, though he met the cordial greet- 
 ings of his new-found friends with a bland and unassuming 
 courtesy in which there was not a particle of weak-minded 
 exultation or self-sufficient vanity. It was at that time whis- 
 pered about among those who had known him in Kentucky 
 that he had recently been the recipient there of a rare, and, 
 perhaps, unprecedented personal compliment at the hands of 
 the governor of that commonwealth, who had, in a very cour-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 39 
 
 teous and respectful manner declined re-appointing him to the 
 office of district-attorney which he had for several years filled 
 with distinguished credit, on the ground that his powers as a 
 prosecutor were such as, when fully exerted against an ordi- 
 nary citizen charged with crime, rendered acquittal well nigh 
 an impossibility. However this may have been, there cer- 
 tainly was nothing in the countenance or manner of Mr. Holt 
 to indicate undue severity of temper or to suggest the idea 
 that he could be induced either by venality or exorbitant per- 
 sonal ambition to give an over rigorous and oppressive opera 
 tion to the crimnal law, or to disregard the claims of humanty. 
 It has been elsewhere said by the writer of this article, that 
 Mr. Holt, on becoming domiciliated in Mississippi, " lost no 
 time in entering upon the brilliant forensic career now open- 
 ing before him ;" and that, "by an extraordinary display of 
 professional diligence, as well as by giving constant evidence 
 of ability, he succeeded in the short space of four or five years, 
 in accumulating an estate larger than is seen to reward the 
 labors of most lawyers in a life-time. In the argument of 
 causes of the greatest dignity and importance, he was never 
 known to put on a dogmatical or assuming manner, never 
 seemed to forget the proprieties of his position, or indulged, 
 to the least extent, in unseemly affectation or triviality. He 
 always, when engaged in the duties of his vocation, had an 
 air of serenity and mildness (not as common at the bar as it 
 should be), and his then pale and somewhat sallow face was 
 a little shaded by what seemed to be an expression of sad- 
 ness ; the tones of his voice, when he was not under the in- 
 fluence of some very strong and sudden emotion, were inex- 
 pressibly soft and touching, and, as he advanced from point to 
 point of his never flagging discourse to court or jury, he be- 
 came so marvellously fascinating to his enraptured audience 
 that few who heard the opening sentences of his exordium, 
 were able to tear themselves away from the scene until the 
 closing words of his ever animated and fervid peroration had 
 been pronounced. He indulged less than any speaker I have 
 known in studied gesture or attempts at stage effect, and 
 scarcely ever was known to withdraw his thoughtful and earn-
 
 4O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 est gaze from the countenayes of those whom he was ad- 
 dressing, for a single instant ; and, strange to say, no one ever 
 saw him, on any occasion, cast a glance of inquiry towards 
 the surrounding audience, as if in quest of the wished-for 
 signs of approval now, alas, so customary. It was most ev- 
 ident that Mr. Holt was, even then, a well-read lawyer, and 
 the style in which he expressed himself, either to judge or jury, 
 bore evident marks of the highest literary culture." 
 
 The first of the speeches made by him after his arrival in 
 Mississippi that attracted any very particular attention, was 
 one which he delivered in the court-house at Vicksburg, in 
 certainly as remarkable a case as has ever been tried. An 
 elderly individual by the name of Herring, and who had been 
 for many years an extensive negro-trader, was charged with 
 having murdered his own son, and the district attorney being 
 much indisposed at the time, Mr. Holt was induced to give 
 what aid he might choose to contribute towards bringing the 
 alleged offender to justice. The affair had aroused the most 
 intense interest in the community, and opinions were some- 
 what conflicting touching the guilt or innocence of the accused. 
 Herring was quite a large cultivator of cotton, and divided his 
 time between his residence in the countiy and one which 
 he owned in town. His son, then almost of mature years, 
 lived with him at his town mansion. It appeared that un- 
 pleasant, if not hostile feelings, had sprung up between father 
 and son in connection with a colored mistress of the former, 
 for whom he suspected his son of having become too partial. 
 Herring, the elder, was a very free consumer of intoxicating 
 liquids, and was generally, especially towards the winding up 
 of the day, more or less under the influence of Bacchus. One 
 evening, about twilight, the neighbors round about the Her- 
 ring domicile were startled by the sound of a pistol, which 
 had apparently been fired off in Herring's back yard. Many 
 rushed to the spot for the purpose of ascertaining what had 
 caused so unusual an occurrence, and several individuals, on 
 entering the house, found young Herring bleeding profusely, 
 and lying motionless upon the ground. Upon examining the 
 body, a gun-shot wound was found, from which the blood
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 41 
 
 was still flowing freely, and in a few seconds the young man 
 was no more. His father presented himself to view, but in re- 
 sponse to the inquiries propounded to him, he said that a 
 stranger had suddenly entered the premises, and, after firing 
 at his son, had fled. This story was so confused and his man- 
 ner so marked with embarrassment wholly unmixed with 
 paternal sympathy as at once to awaken suspicions of guilt. 
 It was noted as a striking fact, too, that he was altogether 
 unable to describe the stranger, of whom he had spoken, or 
 to explain in what manner he had entered the lot or made his 
 escape. He could not even state in what direction he had 
 fled. Those present resolved to search the house, and when 
 doing so, found, on entering Herring's chamber, that some 
 one had deposited a pistol there, under the pillow that lay at 
 the head of the bed in which he usually slept. The pistol 
 was yet warm, as if it had just been fired off. There was an- 
 other shocking fact in the case : before the departure of the 
 crowd, Herring coldly requested one of those present to have 
 the body of his son interred stating that he would be an- 
 swerable for the burial expenses, and enquired, in addition, 
 whether there would be any impropriety in his being present 
 at the funeral ceremonial! 
 
 He denied most vehemently and persistently that he was 
 the slayer of his son, and seemed to have but little apprehen- 
 sion as to the result of any legal proceedings which might 
 be instituted. He gave bail for his appearance at court to un- 
 dergo trial. Before the case came on to be tried, the excite- 
 ment occasioned by the killing to some extent subsided, and 
 as Herring was a man of wealth, and could afford to pay large 
 fees to lawyers, and, possibly, even suborn witnesses, should 
 this become necessary, there were not a few who supposed 
 that his acquittal was at least a possible occurrence. 
 
 When the trial took place, and no testimony in addition to 
 that which has been specified had been yet adduced, both 
 Herring and his counsel appeared to be confident of an easy 
 acquittal. The fact was unknown to them that another wit- 
 ness was yet to be brought forward who would be able to give 
 evidence against the accused of a most conclusive character.
 
 42 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 And now did this witness appear in court. There lived at the 
 time, in a house adjoining Herring's, a woman who was in a 
 very low state of health, and who seldom rose from the bed 
 on which she was expecting soon to die. On the night of the 
 murder, the weather was very sultry and enfeebling, and she 
 made an effort to rise up and creep into the veranda of her 
 house, in order to snatch a few breaths of fresh air. She had 
 barely reached the threshold of her own door, when she heard 
 the report of the pistol in Herring's enclosure, followed imme- 
 diately by the exclamation : " Oh father ! you have shot me /" 
 To these words there was no reply ; and this woman was the 
 only human being, except Herring himself, near enough to 
 hear the last words of the dying man. When all the other 
 witnesses had been examined, as has been already mentioned, 
 this female, to all appearance on the edge of the grave, was 
 borne into the court on the arms of her friends, and detailed 
 the facts of which she was cognizant, with a clearness and 
 impressive solemnity which could leave no doubt upon the 
 mind of any in the vast concourse there assembled, that the 
 "father" whom, amidst the deepening shadows of that terri- 
 ble night, she had heard addressed by his dying boy, in words- 
 of such damning accusation, could not possibly be any other 
 person than the ruffianly and unrepentant prisoner then await- 
 ing the just punishment of a cruelly violated law. 
 
 After what I have already said of Mr. Holt's powers as an 
 advocate, I may well leave it to the imagination of the reader 
 to body forth the speech which he was likely to enunciate 
 upon such an occasion as I have described. That speech I 
 have often heard alluded to by those who heard it, all of 
 whom united in declaring it to have equalled, and even sur- 
 passed all the conceptions they had previously formed of the 
 electrifying force of human eloquence. The glowing and 
 overwhelming peroration is yet vividly recollected by hun- 
 dreds, in which he compared the aged and hardened monster, 
 whom he was there struggling to subject to the exemplary 
 punishment of the law, to Nero as delineated by the pen 
 of Tacitus swollen and brutified by long-continued sen- 
 sual indulgence with a heart accustomed to crime and ob-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 43. 
 
 livious alike of the sacred obligations of filial duty and the 
 all needful decencies of social life gazing with those blood- 
 shotten and cruel eyes of his upon the face of that now mute 
 and voiceless mother whom he had just caused to be stealthily 
 murdered and, with more than Mephistophelic sneerfulness 
 of tone and visage, coldly commending that comeliness of 
 person once imputed to her, who, in days now past and gone, 
 had given nourishment to his own feeble infancy from that 
 now marble and pulseless bosom; or when, as he could not 
 help even yet remembering, his ears had drunk in with delight 
 the tender whisperings of maternal affection, or his yet guile- 
 less and uncorrupted heart had gladdened in that smile which 
 had now given way to the clayey and expressionless aspect 
 which it is death's alone to impart, ere yet his cold 
 
 defacing fingers 
 
 Have swept the lines where beauty lingers, 
 On 
 
 That first dark day of nothingness, 
 
 The last of danger and distress. 
 
 I have spoken of Mr. Holt and Mr. Prentiss as having been 
 rivals at the bar of Mississippi, and so, indeed, in a certain 
 sense they were; for they were both eager and ambitious 
 strugglers for professional fame upon the same attractive the- 
 atre ; they were both surrounded by numerous applauding 
 friends and admirers ; comparisons between them were often 
 instituted ; and repeatedly did they meet in earnest conflict in 
 the various courts of the state. I am not aware that either of 
 these gentlemen ever displayed feelings of illiberal jealousy 
 towards his accustomed opponent, or was heard to apply to 
 him the language of decrial or disparagement ; though there 
 is no reason to believe that they were ever upon terms of per- 
 sonal intimacy. In truth they differed so much from each 
 other in disposition, in habits of life, as well as in political 
 opinions, that it would have been almost impossible that they 
 could have lived together in the same vicinage without being 
 in some degree accessible to occasional feelings of unkindness, 
 or at least of estrangement. The most noted civil case by 
 far in which I ever knew them to be arrayed against each 
 other was that of " Vick and Rappeleye v. The Mayor and
 
 44 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Aldermen of Vicksburg." This case involved a large amount 
 of property, and had awakened much local feeling. In it Mr. 
 Prentiss had a large contingent fee depending, supposed to be 
 .as much in value as several hundred thousand dollars, and he 
 was, of course, particularly anxious to succeed. He had never 
 been known to make such elaborate preparation in any case be- 
 sides. There was much ground for contestation, both as to 
 facts and law, and the interesting question of " dedication" as it 
 is called, which has arisen so often in connection with our ris- 
 ing towns and cities within the last half century (the doctrine 
 appertaining to which is perhaps not altogether settled), under- 
 went, on this occasion, a most laborious and searching examina- 
 tion. The copious and learned briefs filed in this case, and 
 which are to be found in the volumes of reports of that period, 
 may be yet read with interest and instruction. It was, indeed, 
 a battle of giants, and its progress was observed with intense 
 interest by many not personally connected with the controversy. 
 Mr. Prentiss and Mr. Holt were, of course, the Achilles and 
 Hector of the scene, though several other attorneys partici- 
 pated to some extent in the struggle in a manner highly cred- 
 itable to them. Mr. Prentiss was successful before the Supreme 
 Court of Mississippi, but the decision of that tribunal was 
 afterwards reversed in the Supreme Court of the Union, and 
 Mr. Prentiss lost his expected fee. In the condition of his pecu- 
 niary affairs at that period, this was, indeed, a severe blow, 
 but he bore up under the disastrous result with manly dignity, 
 and was seldom heard to complain of his ill-fortune. A year 
 or two after, he removed to the city of New Orleans, where he 
 did not long survive. Mr. Hoit, about the same time, owing 
 to continued ill-health, withdrew from the regular practice of 
 his profession ; travelled much in foreign lands ; returned ; 
 was called to occupy a respectable official position in Wash- 
 ington City ; has been long there since, in the discharge of 
 duties involving serious and delicate responsibilities ; has been 
 in the meantime the subject of much commendation and of 
 much dispraise, according to the prejudices and partialities of 
 men of opposing political factions; and still survives in the 
 full possession of his faculties, and in far more robust physical
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 4^ 
 
 health than when he first made his appearance in the state of 
 Mississippi, almost forty years ago. 
 
 In the year 1830 the state of Mississippi was one of the 
 least populous in the Union, though, as I have said already r 
 there was much wealth there, much intelligence, and much 
 enterprise. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians had not yet 
 relinquished their primeval homes and gone to reside beyond 
 the great " Father of Waters." When this grand exodus oc- 
 curred, a few years later, an almost unprecedented tide of 
 population flowed to Mississippi from other states, and from 
 beyond the ocean ; and the most remarkable influx of lawyers 
 also took place, which has been ever known in this country. 
 These came chiefly from Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia,. 
 Georgia, Alabama, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. 
 Many of them were persons of much intelligence andnvorth, 
 and of no little standing and influence in the states whence 
 they had migrated. Of a number of them I shall have much 
 to say hereafter, both as barristers and as occupants of the 
 bench ; and there are likewise a considerable number of those 
 who were residents of the state at a much earlier period, and 
 well-known in connection with the legal profession, whose 
 merits will be hereafter noticed, should these numbers be con- 
 tinued. 
 
 I propose to close the present article with some remarks 
 upon one of the new-comers of that period from the state of 
 Kentucky, with whom it was my happiness to enjoy for many 
 years relations of the closest intimacy, and of whom thousands 
 yet surviving cherish the most pleasant and respectful remem- 
 brance. I allude to the Hon. Daniel Mayes. 
 
 Judge Mayes, if I have not been the recipient of erroneous 
 information concerning this matter, first saw the light in Ken- 
 tucky. It is certain that he studied his profession in that 
 state and practiced there for many years previous to his com- 
 ing to the state of Mississippi. He came to his new home 
 in the Southwest with a high reputation for legal learning and 
 ability, and was known by many among us as having offici- 
 ated most creditably as a law professor at the Transylvania 
 University. Many of those who had sat under his sage minis-
 
 46 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 trations at this famous institution, had preceded Judge Mayes 
 in his advent to this inviting theatre, and had been every- 
 where heard to speak of their revered preceptor in terms of 
 glowing and grateful commendation. 
 
 This gentleman, after a calm survey of the field of profes- 
 sional labor upon which he was about to enter, concluded to 
 open an office in the city of Jackson. His merits were not 
 slow in being discovered in this locality, nor did he have to 
 wait long before he became enlisted in many cases of much 
 interest and complexity, in all of which he more than equalled 
 the public expectation. He at once showed himself to have 
 mastered every branch of the law, and to be fitted, in every re- 
 spect, for the competition in which he was now to engage. As 
 a special pleader, I do not suppose that he had, in the whole 
 state of Mississippi, an equal. He was a smooth and grace- 
 ful speaker ; an adroit and skilful logician ; was of most gen- 
 tle and conciliatory manners, and of a patient and persevering 
 energy which no difficulties could baffle, no embarrassments 
 could perplex, no amount of professional labor could fatigue or 
 discourage. As a forensic speaker he was always calm, strictly 
 methodical in the arrangement of his m'atter ; terse, vigorous, 
 and pointed in his phraseology, and singularly accurate and 
 felicitous in his choice of words. He has the credit of hav- 
 ing made one of the most effective speeches of his life in the 
 celebrated Beauchamp case in Kentucky, and this I am myself 
 not at all inclined to doubt; since I have heard from his own 
 lips, that he exerted himself on that occasion far beyond what 
 was customary with him. Judge Mayes was in general cheerful 
 and fond of social intercourse, but suffered from occasional fits 
 of despondency, arising, as he thought, from physical causes, 
 which rendered him at times a little gloomy and morose, and 
 induced him to avoid all company save that of his own quiet 
 and beloved home. In the contests of the forum he was 
 never captious or impolite; never coarsely boisterous; never 
 in the least degree dogmatic or egotistical. He constantly 
 evinced the nicest sense of professional propriety ; was never 
 known to be unduly punctilious or exacting, and never took 
 an unseemly personal liberty ; but if his own sensibilities
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 47 
 
 were gratuitously assailed, or he was treated with marked in- 
 civility by an adversary, he was far from being slow in the 
 emphatic assertion of his own dignity and in compelling the 
 aggressor to lament his own temerity. 
 
 Judge Mayes was assuredly one of the most acceptable and 
 useful forensic allies that could be wished for : he was ready 
 to take upon himself any amount of labor that the exigencies 
 of the case in which he chanced to be employed might seem 
 to demand ; was perfectly frank in the disclosure of such 
 views as he had adopted, in advance of the expected argument^ 
 and in all causes seriously involving life, reputation or fortune, 
 his active and suggestive mind was ever on the alert, in the 
 devising of new expedients for the furtherance of his client's 
 interests, in finding out new avenues of escape from unfavor- 
 able presumptions of any kind, in casting new difficulties in 
 the way of opposing counsel, or in the framing of subtle and 
 ingenious interpretations of some disputed fact, or of some 
 ambiguous provision of law applicable to the case under in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 I am here to invite attention to several interesting criminal 
 trials in which I recollect this remarkable personage to have 
 taken part, and in which his skill and ability were brought 
 forth in a particularly striking manner. 
 
 A man of very humble social standing by the name of 
 Dunn, and who resided in the southern portion of the county 
 in which Judge Mayes himself lived, stood charged with the 
 murder of a female, under most peculiar circumstances. The 
 accused individual had previously sustained an irreproachable 
 character for industry, sobriety and amiableness of temper. He 
 had never been known to wrangle with his neighbors, was just 
 and upright in all his dealings, was kind and exemplary in do- 
 mestic life, and was not known to have an enemy in the world. 
 He lived in a neat and comfortable cottage, on a much-travelled 
 road, and occasionally entertained persons who chanced to 
 call upon him for such accommodations as his humble mansion 
 could supply. A female stopped at his gate one day, of gen- 
 teel appearance, having two children in her arms and asked 
 for admission, which was of course not refused her, as she
 
 48 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 stated that her husband would join her in a day or two, he 
 having gone upon a short journey. The children were twins, 
 and were, at the time, apparently only about a month or two 
 old. The woman was herself quite good looking, but was 
 almost a giantess in dimensions. Several months rolled 
 away, and no husband yet made his appearance. Dunn and 
 his wife were in quite an embarrassing predicament. They did 
 not wish to turn the woman out of doors, but she had as yet 
 paid them not a cent for her board, and they were too poor to 
 allow her to remain with them without some prospect of re- 
 muneration. Mrs. Dunn, who appeared to be an amiable 
 person, and in very delicate health, concluded that she would 
 name the matter to her mysterious boarder, and, if she found 
 that she could pay nothing for the entertainment she was 
 receiving, to request of her, civilly, to leave her house. This 
 she did accordingly, when the female in question flew into a 
 violent rage, and used the most insulting language, rushed out 
 of doors, and, seizing a large wooden trough which she found 
 lying in the yard, came back to the house with it, and 
 holding it aloft in both her hands, was in the very act of 
 striking Mrs. Dunn with it, when Mr. Dunn himself (having 
 been drawn from the shop, where he was working, by the loud 
 and angry words which had been uttered), struck the assail- 
 ing party with the butt-end of a whip which he chanced to 
 hold in his hands at the time, and felled her to the earth ; where 
 she immediately died! A post mortem examination was im- 
 mediately had, from which it appeared that the head of this 
 unfortunate female had received some injury in the region of 
 the temple, but that the skull had not been at all fractured. 
 The surgeon conducting the examination declared that the 
 death had been caused by the sudden bursting of an artery ; 
 but whether this bursting of the artery had been the effect of 
 a sudden rushing of blood to the head produced by a violent 
 fit of anger, or had been either wholly or in part the result of 
 the blow which had been struck, he was not prepared to say. 
 The neighbors who gathered to the spot where this fearful dis- 
 aster had occurred, found Dunn and his wife in tears and in 
 an agony of grief; the dead body of the unfortunate woman
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 49 
 
 lying upon the ground where she had fallen, and her twin 
 children clinging to her bosom to obtain the nourishment 
 which they had been accustomed to receive therefrom. A 
 more piteous spectacle than this was hardly to be imagined. 
 Dunn set off immediately for the city of Jackson in order to 
 obtain professional advice as to the course which it would be 
 best for him to pursue under these alarming circumstances. 
 Here he was counselled to surrender himself at once to the 
 civil authorities, which he did, and gave bail for his appear- 
 ance at the circuit court of the county, which was in a few 
 days to be held. 
 
 When the day of trial came on, Judge Mayes and the coun- 
 sel associated with him in defence of Dunn, came to the con- 
 clusion that he could not possibly escape conviction for mur- 
 der, unless his daughter, a little girl about ten years old, 
 who had witnessed the scene just detailed, could be used 
 as a witness in his behalf. She had seen and heard all that 
 had taken place, and, being of far more than ordinary in- 
 telligence, might be able to give such an explanation of 
 facts as would save her father's life. Judge Mayes, with that 
 astuteness which was one of his most striking characteristics, 
 advised that the case should be continued until the next term 
 of the court, and that, meanwhile, the little girl should be sent 
 to a good school, and taught especially the responsibility at- 
 tached to the oath which she was expected to take. This 
 course was accordingly pursued. When at last the trial came 
 on, and the little girl was produced in court, the wisdom of 
 the course which had been pursued became most manifest ; for, 
 not only did our young novitiate stand nobly all the tests of 
 her competency to which the representative of the state sub- 
 jected her, but she gave such a sensible and lucid statement of 
 all the particulars of this sad occurrence as almost entirely to 
 justify her father in what he had done, in order to save his 
 wife from the serious bodily injury with which she was ob- 
 viously menaced. 
 
 The speech made by Judge Mayes in defence of Dunn was 
 extolled by all who heard it as a marvellous combination of 
 ingenious and forcible argument, winning and pathetic elo-
 
 5O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 quence, and lucid exposition of the law. Dunn was convicted 
 of manslaughter, and, after a short confinement, was released 
 from prison and restored to the society of his family; but this 
 unfortunate affair clouded the remainder of his life with sor- 
 row, and he was never seen, as I learn, again to enjoy that 
 serenity and cheerfulness for which he had been once re- 
 markable. 
 
 A case of at least equal interest and of much greater diffi- 
 culty was not long after tried in the county of Rankin, 
 whither it had been removed by change of venue, in the 
 management of which Judge Mayes prominently participated, 
 and in which he gained much additional reputation. At a 
 time of severe pecuniary pressure, a Mr. Pigg, having become 
 surety for a neighbor, was sued and a judgment obtained 
 against him in the Circuit Court of the United States, for more 
 than the value of all the property he owned in the world. He 
 had a large and helpless family, chiefly composed of a wife 
 and some half-dozen small children. His own health was not 
 good ; he had, in fact, suffered much from a serious contusion 
 of his skull, received in one of the famed battles fought in 
 the winter of 1815, in defence of the city of New Orleans. 
 He was a very industrious, hard-working man, and was a 
 most devoted husband and father. He had, latterly, taken to 
 drink, and when at all under the influence of alcoholic stimu- 
 lus, was very irritable, and not a little pugnacious. His 
 character in other respects was unexceptionable. A deputy 
 federal marshal had recently visited his house, and levied an ex- 
 ecution on all he possessed, which he was informed would, in 
 a few days, be sold. The wretched man was in a state of 
 despair. He had some angry words with the deputy marshal, 
 and he vowed to him that he would never submit to have his 
 family turned out to starve. The marshal, in turn, used some 
 insulting and acrimonious words which rankled in the sen- 
 sibilities of Pigg after the termination of their interview. 
 On the day fixed for the sale of Pigg's goods, an announce- 
 ment was made to him that the marshal was at the door. 
 Pigg m a condition of mind easier to be imagined than 
 described, seized his gun, rushed to the door, and fired upon
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 51 
 
 the officer whom he found standing there, and killed him. 
 So soon as this fatal act had occurred, it was ascertained that 
 the person who had been shot was not the officer with whom 
 he had previously quarrelled, but another individual altogether, 
 who had been sent in his place, and who had been up to that 
 time, wholly unknown to Pigg. When this mistake of 
 persons was made known to the unhappy man, he burst into 
 tears, and could scarcely be prevented from taking his own 
 life. 
 
 This was the precise character of the case in which Judge 
 Mayes was now called upon to exert his high powers in order to 
 save a fellow-being from an ignominious death upon the scaf- 
 fold, and an innocent and interesting family from penury and 
 degradation. He came to the conclusion, after consulting with- 
 associate counsel, that it would be possible to defend Pigg suc- 
 cessfully upon the ground that when he committed the act of 
 killing, he was not in a state of sanity, but non compos mentis. 
 I do not suppose that more extraordinary pains were ever 
 taken than were now put in use in order to make out, if possi- 
 ble, this difficult species of defence. Judge Mayes argued the 
 case, when the day of trial came, at much length, with infinite 
 earnestness, and with more even than his wonted address and 
 plausibility. To the jury, which was one of uncommon in- 
 telligence, he explained in the most lucid manner the complex 
 organization of the human brain, and the various causes by 
 which it was subject to be injuriously affected. He drew 
 illustrations from Locke, from Spurzheim, from Comb and 
 other writers of profundity. He read copious extracts from 
 the standard works on medical jurisprudence, and applied 
 them all most felicitously to the case under trial. He quoted 
 a paragraph or two from Erskine's celebrated speech in de- 
 fence of Hadfield. He urged most warmly and earnestly 
 that the defence of insanity had been fully made out. He then 
 took a view of the defendant's previous good character ; en- 
 larged upon his many good qualities, his kindness of heart, 
 his valorous and patriotic conduct in defending his country 
 against a foreign invading army ; insisting that the grievous 
 responsibilities which he was now caljed upon to meet were
 
 $2 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 the result of injuries received in that country's service; and 
 wound up with a pathetic and soul-moving appeal to the jury 
 in behalf of his unhappy family, several of whom he pointed 
 out as then in court awaiting the result of the trial. The 
 defendant was not convicted of murder; but the jury, under 
 such instructions as they received from the court, could not 
 avoid finding him guilty of manslaughter. 
 
 Here I will for the present cease to occupy the attention of 
 the readers of the SOUTHERN LAW REVIEW. Should this 
 attempt to amuse them be at all successful, it is not improb- 
 able they may hear from me again ; meanwhile, I may say to 
 them, one and all, in relation to these hasty and somewhat 
 experimental lucubrations, in the language of modern poesy : 
 
 " If in your memories dwell 
 A thought which once was mine, if on ye swell 
 A single recollection, not in vain 
 I've worn my sandal shoon, and scallop-shell ; 
 Farewell ! with me alone may rest the pain, 
 If such there were with you the moral of my strain."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 General Remarks upon the Legal Profession. Extraordinary Influx of Lawyers 
 into Mississippi about Forty Years Ago. Recompense of Attorneys. Views of 
 Quintilian on this Subject. William L. Sharkey. His Powers as an Advocate. 
 His Conservatism of Temper and Character. His lamentable Decease. 
 
 Having heretofore made mention of that remarkable mi- 
 gration to the state of Mississippi of barristers from other 
 states of the Union a little anterior to the close of the fourth 
 decade of the present century and having also stated as one 
 of the causes of this memorable aggregation of professional 
 ability, the anterior purchase by the general government of 
 that wide domain held by the Choctavv and Chickasaw tribes 
 of Indians, it may not be amiss here to bring to view an ad 
 ditional cause of the flocking to this fertile and attractive re- 
 gion of such a prodigious number of attorneys in quest of 
 fame and fortune, both of which, they had reason to hope, 
 might be here acquired more easily than elsewhere. 
 
 When the stern and inflexible virtue of a sagacious and 
 enlightened chief magistrate, the leading measures of whose 
 eventful administration will long continue to attract the 
 thoughtful and scrutinizing attention of his countrymen, in- 
 terposed, by the heroic exercise of the veto power, an insu- 
 perable obstacle to the re-charter of the famous Bank of the 
 United States, the noxious influence of which upon the poli- 
 tics and morals of an eterprising commercial people had be- 
 gun to be painfully realized, the state banks existing at this 
 period having been made the depositories of the money of 
 the Federal government, were, in this new capacity, coun- 
 selled in a manner which could not but prove effectual, to 
 emit, as soon as possible, adequate amounts of their own paper 
 circulation, to supply that deficiency in the accustomed me- 
 dium of exchange expected to be realized, and save the country 
 from the deleterious effects of an over-sudden contraction 
 which might otherwise result from the rapid withdrawal of the 
 issues of that huge institution which had so long dominated 
 over all the concerns of trade and business. The vast amounts
 
 54 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH .AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 of state bank circulation which soon inundated the land, im- 
 parted such a stimulus to moneyed enterprises of every de- 
 scription, and awakened such an extravagant spirit of specu- 
 lation everywhere, and especially in the new cotton states of 
 the southwest, that some check to this rapidly growing evil 
 was deemed expedient, and the celebrated Treasury Circular 
 made its appearance, which quickly brought on such mone- 
 tary re-action, as to spread almost universal bankruptcy 
 throughout a region where the hopes of countless wealth, be- 
 yond all that is told even in tales of romance, had become, by 
 the action of the causes specified, almost universally diffused. 
 Such a scene of distress, devastation and confusion as was 
 now unfolded, no language could adequately portray. Uni- 
 versal loss of confidence ensued. The deposit banks were 
 swept out of existence as by a whirlwind. All the state 
 banks had been imitating their example in deluging the land 
 with irredeemable paper, and had to share their fate. The 
 commission merchants of New Orleans were compelled, in 
 great numbers, to close their business houses, and call in the 
 vast sums which they had been liberally supplying to their 
 customers in the cotton-planting region, and upon which they 
 had been realizing large commissions. The wholesale mer- 
 cantile houses of the North and East, and who had sold enor- 
 nious amounts of goods on credit to almost all who chose to 
 apply for them, naturally enough participated in the general 
 moneyed panic, and vehemently demanded of their numerous 
 local customers the immediate payment of what was due 
 them. This could, in general, only be effected by the general 
 transfer of claims against those who had been dealing with 
 them in a manner so extravagant as almost to indicate a sup- 
 position on their part that the day of payment would never 
 come. The courts began to be filled with suits of almost 
 every description. Rumors soon went abroad that lawyers 
 in Mississippi were far too few in number to cope with the liti- 
 gation in progress, and that many of them were rapidly ac- 
 cumulating over-grown fortunes. The effect of such intelli- 
 gence as this was almost electrical ; it was really almost like 
 the letting loose of an avalanche from some lofty Alpine
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 55 
 
 height. Attorneys came in great numbers almost by every 
 stage-coach which came into the state, and by every steamer 
 which descended the Mississippi river. Many came only with 
 an intention of sojourning in the land of promise for a short 
 period, leaving their families behind them, whilst others came 
 to take up a permanent residence. Many of these new comers 
 were men of learning and worth, and deserved all the success 
 which they afterwards achieved. If there were a few others 
 of a different 'description, the fact is not at all to be wondered 
 at. That, in such a state of things as has been described, too 
 much avidity for the accumulation of wealth should have, to 
 some extent, made itself apparent even among the members 
 of the legal profession in Mississippi ; that sometimes fees 
 were demanded to an amount a good deal beyond the ser- 
 vices actually rendered; and that there were instances of gross 
 oppression in the collection of money by execution, should, 
 perhaps, occasion no great surprise. That attorneys chiefly 
 representing non-resident clients should have occasionally 
 shown but little commiseration for debtors wholly unknown 
 to them personally, was, perhaps, to have been expected ; and 
 that here and there large and valuable estates should be exposed 
 to sale, under sheriff's or marshal's execution, for gold and 
 silver, when these commodities were almost impossible to be 
 obtained in the community, are melancholy facts belonging 
 to the history of the past, which should, perhaps, be more 
 grieved over than harshly condemned. It must be confessed, 
 though, that occasionally a certain class of cold-blooded 
 collecting attorneys were known to put in exercise all the 
 harsher expedients known to the law in cases where a 
 little more humanity and moderation towards the unfortu- 
 nate defendants, whom circumstances had thrown into their 
 power, would have comported better with the dignity of the 
 legal profession, and have been equally advantageous to those 
 in whose service they were enlisted. I shall not enlarge upon 
 this prolific theme ; though many scenes of pecuniary suffer- 
 ing at this distressful period, arising to some extent, from the 
 causes just specified, are still held by me in painful and humil- 
 iating remembrance. I may be pardoned, though, for here
 
 $ BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 adding that attorneys who chance to be almost absolute 
 strangers in the community where they are employed to en- 
 force the collection of claims held by non-resident creditors, 
 may, in general, be expected to display somewhat more of 
 vigilance and activity, than the same lawyers would evince if 
 seeking to secure the payment of debts owing by persons 
 long known to them by multiplied acts of civility and kind- 
 ness. Certain it is, either for the reasons suggested, or for 
 some others not easy to be discovered, the greater part of the 
 business of collection fell into the hands of attorneys who had 
 not been long resident in the distressed and bankrupt com- 
 munity in whose midst they now had duties imposed upon 
 them from which, with their attendant profits, I have before 
 now known lawyers of a certain generous strain, and more 
 desirous of securing forensic fame than of filling their pockets 
 with money, instinctively to recoil. 
 
 In bringing these preliminary remarks to a close, the grave 
 and interesting question seems naturally to suggest itself: 
 Whether, upon the whole, it might not be better for society, 
 were the existence of no class of persons tolerated, the mem- 
 bers of which should be recognized as entitled by law to 
 claim pecuniary recompense for services, the rendition of 
 which, in some instances, would seem to array them in opposi- 
 tion to the sound administration of justice and law, and 
 therefore against the best and highest interests of the com- 
 munity itself. There is certainly something very noble in 
 the utterance of truth, and in the exercise of honesty with- 
 out any expectation of requital, save the approval of con- 
 science and the applause of the virtuous members of society. 
 If it be one's duty to speak the truth always, it may be plaus- 
 ibly argued that it can never be creditable to assert falsehood. 
 If perfect fairness and sincerity are required by every sound 
 system of morals, it may be rather difficult to show under 
 what circumstances it can be justifiable, for the gratification t 
 of mere mercenary motives, to act in conscious disregard of 
 them both. To deprive the widow of her mite, and the or- 
 phan of his inheritance, because one is paid for these feats, 
 it might puzzle either an Aristole or a Plato to vindicate. To
 
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 57 
 
 labor for the acquittal of some notorious violator of that law, 
 upon the firm and steady maintenance of which the peace 
 and well-being of the community depend, seems, in a certain 
 subtle point of view, to liken itself very closely to the be- 
 coming accessory to crime after it shall have been committed. 
 To minds given to super-sublimated reflection, the idea might 
 occur that at the dread moment when we shall stand before 
 the great Searcher of Hearts, it might turn out to be an in- 
 sufficient apology, when charged with upholding the guilty 
 of this world, or cruelly harrassing the virtuous or unfor- 
 tunate, that the culprit was one of an honorable and learned 
 fraternity to whom these things had been regarded as allow- 
 able. Without going more deeply into these matters at pres- 
 ent, I shall venture to say that, could it be satisfactorily de- 
 monstrated that all the offices now expected to be discharged 
 by attorneys, were at all likely to be skilfully and beneficially 
 attended to by some other body of functionaries from whom 
 all prospect of pecuniary recompense should be withheld, it is 
 quite probable that but little diversity of opinion upon this 
 long-disputed topic would be anywhere apparent; and it, per- 
 haps, may be safely admitted that the very highest evidence 
 of advanced social culture and refinement which any civilized 
 people could possibly supply, would be the present or future 
 realization of that far-famed theory of gratuitous forensic ex- 
 ertion, boastfully asserted to have had existence in the purer 
 days of the Roman republic, when (as is reported to us) the 
 venerable sages of the law, the Catos,the Scaevolas and the 
 rest, daily came from their unostentatious residences and 
 made their appearance in the Forum, as a token that they stood 
 ready to bestow jurisprudential advice, free of charge, to such 
 of their fellow citizens as chose to apply to them for aid. 
 Whether this Christian world of ours is ever to know a time 
 when lawyers shall become regardless of fees, and advocates 
 be found willing to undertake the prosecution of the guilty or 
 the defence of the innocent, merely for " the luxury of doing 
 good," is a question which must be left to future generations 
 to decide. But I trust that there are some even of the legal 
 fraternity among ourselves who will agree with me in approv-
 
 58 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ing what an illustrious Roman advocate, (Quintilian) has 
 said in his immortal work on rhetoric. His language is as 
 follows : 
 
 " Whether an orator ought always to plead gratuitously, is 
 a question which admits of discussion, and which it would 
 be mere inconsiderateness to decide at once, and without re- 
 flection ; for who is ignorant that it is by far the more honor- 
 able, and more worthy of the liberal acts and of the feelings 
 which we expect to find in an orator, not to set a price on his 
 efforts and thus lower the estimation of so great a blessing as 
 eloquence, as many things seem worthless in the eyes of the 
 world for no other reason than that they may be purchased. 
 This, as the saying is, is clear enough even to the blind ; nor 
 will any pleader who has but a competency for himself (and 
 a little will suffice for a competency) make a gain of his art 
 without incurring a charge of meanness. But if his circum- 
 stances demand something more for his necessary require- 
 ments than he actually possesses, he may, according to the 
 opinions of all wise men, allow a recompense to be made him; 
 since contributions were even raised for the support of So- 
 crates ; and Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus took fees from 
 their scholars. Nor do I see any more honorable way of 
 gaining a support than by the practice of a noble profession, 
 and by receiving a remuneration from those whom we have 
 served, and who, if they made no return would be unworthy 
 of defence. Such a return, indeed, is not only just, but nec- 
 essary, as the very labor and time devoted to other people's 
 business precludes all possibility of making profit by any 
 other means. But in this respect, also, moderation is to be 
 observed ; and it makes a great difference from whom an 
 orator receives fees, and how .many, and for how long a time. 
 The rapacious practice of making bar gains, and the detestable 
 traffic of those who ask a price proportionate to the risk of 
 their clients, will never be adopted even by such as are but 
 moderately honest, especially when he who defends good 
 men and good causes has no reason to fear that any one he 
 defends will be ungrateful ; or, if such should be the case, I 
 had rather that the client should be in fault than the pleader.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 59 
 
 The orator, therefore, will entertain no desire of gaining more 
 than shall be just sufficient, and, even if he be poor, he will 
 not receive anything as pay, but will consider it only as an 
 acknowledgment of service, being conscious that he has 
 conferred much more than he receives. Benefits of such a 
 nature, because they are not to be sold, are not to be thrown 
 away; and it belongs to the obliged party to show gratitude." 
 
 One can scarcely avoid feeling some surprise that views so 
 pure and exalted should have found utterance in hearing of 
 the Roman youth during the reign of the infamous Domitian 
 at a period when the depravation of morals was so deep- 
 seated and incurable and when swarms of unprincipled in- 
 formers had rendered life an almost intolerable burden, and 
 freedom of speech an experiment almost the precursor of 
 death. But even at that moment Tacitus and the younger 
 Pliny were daily enunciating speeches to which Cicero or the 
 elder Cato would have been delighted to listen, and the ethical 
 teachings of Seneca were read and admired in all the fashion- 
 able resorts of relaxation and luxury. The principles of a 
 high-toned and expansive system of equity were even then 
 expounded, both in courts of judicature and in the public 
 schools of that period, by able and eloquent advocates and 
 professed lecturers, who aspired to maintain in unsullied 
 purity the dignity of that forum where Crassus and Antonius,. 
 Cicero and Brutus had been once the most distinguished or- 
 naments. 
 
 It would be but doing simple justice to the bench and bar 
 of Mississippi, during the period which elapsed from 1830 to 
 1860, to assert that no state of the Union could then boast of 
 an abler and more incorruptible judiciary, or a greater number 
 of lawyers and advocates of deep legal learning, of brilliant and 
 effective eloquence and of pure and unimpeachable morals. The 
 election of judicial officers of every grade by the people, was 
 productive of no such deleterious effects as many had predicted. 
 Neither party influence nor mercenary considerations of any 
 kind were known, in any very marked instance, to cause the 
 popular vote to be concentrated upon an ignorant and corrupt 
 aspirant over an opponent of superior probity and learning.
 
 6O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 The ordinary devices of political electioneering were seldom 
 resorted to, and never to the advantage of him who thus dis- 
 honored his own character. In the exercise of their noble 
 calling, the members of the bar were almost uniformly up- 
 right, frank, and manly ; vigilant and energetic, but courteous 
 -and accommodating ; disdaining to succeed in any case by 
 mere trick or chicane; and sacredly observant of all the en- 
 gagements they assumed, or agreements into which * they 
 entered with opposing attorneys, whether these were oral or 
 reduced to writing. 
 
 The shortness of the terms of judicial service provided by 
 the constitution of the state was supposed to be attended 
 with more or less disadvantage. The judicial incumbents of 
 any given period having no satisfactory assurance of being 
 re-elected when their respective periods of official service 
 should expire, and this being necessarily dependent, to some 
 extent, upon contingencies impossible to be anticipated, were 
 naturally inclined to regard themselves more as members of 
 that forensic brotherhood, from the bosom of which they had 
 so recently emerged, and to which, in all probability, they 
 would soon return, than as constituting a class of functiona- 
 ries whose business it would be, so long as they might hold 
 connection with the scenes of public life, to fit themselves 
 more and more thoroughly for the high task of ascertaining the 
 true state of the law, and of enunciating it in all its fullness and 
 purity when thus ascertained cultivating with ever-increas- 
 ing assiduity a passionless impartiality and steadily up- 
 holding principle in disregard of ail the demands of personal, 
 political, or local expediency. It has always seemed to me 
 that the judges, in every country desirous of having an en- 
 lightened and reliable judiciary, should be allowed to hold 
 their offices during good behavior, be liberally paid for their 
 official services, and prohibited, after being once seated on 
 the bench, from ever again enlisting in the practice of the law. 
 Unless some such arrangement as this shall be adopted, it 
 is plain that many inconveniences may result, some of which 
 experience in several of our states has already brought quite 
 conspicuously to view. Fortunately for the state of Missis-
 
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 6l 
 
 sippi, no instance ever arose, during the space of time to 
 which these observations are intended to apply, in which an 
 individual occupying at the moment a place upon the bench, 
 ever took upon himself the character of an advocate, or 
 called upon some other attorney to preside in his place, whilst 
 he should address him from the bar in favor of the interests 
 of some cherished client, a decision in favor of whom he was 
 solicitous of securing by the exercise of his own powers of 
 forensic persuasion. I hold it to be absolutely certain that 
 no judicial officer can often set this unfortunate example with- 
 out losing more or less of his dignity as a selected expositor 
 of the law. It is impossible that he can play Mansfield or 
 Erskine, as his occasions may require. To be thoroughly con- 
 fided in and venerated as a judge, he must altogether avoid 
 the excited contests of the forum. It is much to be feared 
 that a judge acting this part if, under such trying circum- 
 stances, he is able to preserve unimpaired the true judicial 
 temper will not be so fortunate as to escape misconstruction 
 as to his motives and character, which can not but be seriously 
 prejudicial to his official usefulness. 
 
 I well remember that a little more than thirty years ago a 
 highly respectable member of the General Court of Virginia,, 
 chancing to be on a visit to the state of Mississippi, took part 
 in the trial of a cause of great interest in which an early and 
 respected female friend was a party. He made an admirable 
 argument for his client, and was much praised by all who- 
 listened to his speech in her behalf, for his eloquence and 
 learning; but the fame of this exploit reached the heart of 
 the ancient dominion, and produced the most vehement com- 
 plaints of conduct deemed so un-judge-like, and the personage 
 in question very narrowly escaped the experience of an im- 
 peachment. 
 
 But let us return to our immediate theme. It has now 
 been a little more than two years since, just as I was depart- 
 ing upon a journey to the Pacific coast, I beheld upon the bed 
 of disease the prostrate form of one of the most remarkable 
 and interesting men I have ever known. I allude to the Hon. 
 William L. Sharkey ; who, for so long a period of years, had
 
 62 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 been the acknowledged head of the bar of Mississippi, and 
 who had presided as chief justice of her High Court of Errors 
 and Appeals longer than any other individual has ever been 
 known to do. I took an affectionate leave of my dying and 
 honored friend, with no hope at all of ever beholding him 
 again in this life. He died .a few days after, profoundly re- 
 gretted by all who have known him sufficiently to be able to 
 appreciate his merits, and, as I confidently believe, without 
 leaving a single enemy behind him. Judge Sharkey was a 
 man of many shining and impressive traits of character. I held 
 cordial and intimate intercouse with him for more than forty 
 years, and have repeatedly seen him under circumstances 
 well calculated to test the strength of his understanding, 
 and of his exalted sense of self-respect. I never knew a 
 person of more integrity and honor ; nor one whose general 
 course of life was more blameless and worthy of commenda- 
 tion. His mind was one of singular elasticity and vigor, and 
 he had all its powers completely under his control. He was 
 profoundly acquainted with law as a science, and exceedingly 
 delighted in the examination of legal questions of particular 
 importance and difficulty. He was a ready, ingenious, and 
 impressive speaker ; possessed of a majestic and commanding 
 person ; a clear, pleasant, and sonorous voice ; graceful and 
 appropriate gesticulation ; and his countenance was ever lit 
 up and made resplendent with the mingled rays of reason 
 and sentiment. He was never affected, churlish, ostentatious 
 or pedantic; always expressed himself in language simple, 
 natural and idiomatic ; was never unduly prolix in discussion, 
 nor ever coarsely boisterous or dogmatical. His manner in 
 s*peaking was in general marked with solemnity and earnest- 
 ness, but he occasionally indulged in a humorous allusion, or 
 in the relation of some pleasant and characteristic anecdote ; 
 but no man was ever less inclined than he was to be disre- 
 spectfully sneerful or unamiably sarcastic. He was indebted 
 to a respectable institution in the state of Tennessee for 
 whatever of education he had the good fortune to receive in 
 youth and opening manhood ; but he is understood never to 
 have become familiar with the ancient classic languages, or to
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 63 
 
 have given more than ordinary attention to the more recon- 
 dite departments of science. His stock of general reading 
 was considerable ; he was well versed in both ancient and 
 modern history, and was one of the best informed politicians 
 with whom I was ever acquainted. He had mingled freely 
 in society, and possessed a knowledge of human nature seldom 
 surpassed. In social intercourse he was easy and familiar; 
 not in the least degree either assuming or austere, and ever 
 carefully withheld himself from coarse and disreputable com- 
 panionship. He was the acknowledged head of the Vicks- 
 burg bar so long as he continued in the practice of his pro- 
 fession, and enjoyed a lucrative practice up to the period of 
 his advancement to the bench. Judge Sharkey held the 
 office of Chief Justice of the High Court of Errors and Ap- 
 peals in Mississippi far longer than any other person has been 
 known to do, and during his period of judicial service deliv- 
 ered a series of opinions upon questions of commercial, crim- 
 inal, and constitutional law, which have been for many years 
 of great authority in every state of the Union. In the prep- 
 aration of his opinions he employed much care, and when he 
 enunciated them from the bench in his own animated and 
 emphatic manner, no one was in hearing of his voice who was 
 not interested and edified. The understanding and temper 01 
 this admirable man were both of an eminently conservative 
 cast ; he was much given to the reading of the scriptures and 
 to the study of ethical works of a cheerful and inspiring char- 
 acter; was singularly patient and forbearing even towards 
 those who had intentionally wronged him, and ever made a 
 liberal allowance for the infirmities inseparable from human 
 nature. He was averse to all sudden and extreme changes in 
 the constitution and laws ; had an almost morbid dread of 
 popular outbreaks and excesses; and strongly disapproved of 
 all movements, with whomsoever originating, and by whom- 
 soever conducted, which looked ever so remotely to the dis- 
 solution of the Federal Union. The character of Washing- 
 ton he held in special veneration, and the counsels of his 
 celebrated Farewell Address he recognized as constituting 
 the true palladium of our national safety and felicity. In the
 
 64 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. , 
 
 year 1850, as president of the celebrated Nashville conven- 
 tion, he evinced a mingled courage and wisdom which tended 
 much to calm the excitement of that body, and commanded 
 the respect of all true lovers of their country. A short time 
 subsequent to the adjournment of this convention, Judge 
 Sharkey paid a visit to Washington City, where he found 
 Congress in session, and had an opportunity of making valu- 
 able suggestions which had no little effect at the time in sup- 
 pressing sectional excitement and in allaying rising discon- 
 tents. Whilst in Washington, President Fillmore, through 
 Mr. Webster, in a singularly complimentary manner, tendered 
 him the position of secretary of war ; but he declined the 
 proffered honor promptly and respectfully; alleging, with 
 characteristic modesty, his own want of qualification for this 
 high place, by reason of his not having before had that kind 
 of experience which he deemed requisite to the successful ad- 
 ministration of this important office. The fact is known to 
 me personally that he even left Washington City somewhat 
 precipitately, in order to avoid further solicitation on this sub- 
 ject. His known devotion to the Union and aversion to un- 
 called-for civil strife exposed him to no little discomfort and 
 harassment during the late most deplorable sectional conflict ; 
 but those lofty attributes of character which all knew him to 
 possess, and his patient and dignified conduct throughout 
 that trying period, caused. him to be loved and respected by 
 all virtuous and well-intending citizens far more than he had 
 ever been before ; and when the clash of arms at last ceased 
 to be heard in the land, and the people of Mississippi were 
 seeking to be reconciled to the government against which 
 they had been arrayed, and to be re-admitted into that sister- 
 hood of states from which they had for a time severed their 
 connection, it was under the counsel and leadership of this 
 venerable and trusted personage that these desirable objects 
 were ultimately attained. As provisional governor of Mis- 
 sissippi and as a senator-elect to Congress, Judge Shar- 
 key attracted in a particular manner the general attention of 
 his countrymen, and could his voice have been then heard in 
 that " more than Amphyctionic council " of sovereign states,
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 65 
 
 and his sage counsels been listened to, the sublime work of 
 national pacification, since so happily realized, would, in all 
 probability have been much earlier effected. 
 
 Whilst Judge Sharkey was yet at the bar, I had once or twice 
 the honor of being associated with him in the trial of capital 
 cases of no little importance, on which occasions, as senior 
 counsel, he manifested, in a manner which I can never forget, 
 all that tact and discriminating judgment which distinguished 
 him, and in discussion evinced powers of which no advocate 
 that I have known need have been ashamed. 
 
 Many persons yet surviving in Mississippi remember Judge 
 Sharkey's earnest and energetic opposition to the election of 
 judges by popular suffrage, when it was first proposed to in- 
 corporate a provision for this purpose in the new constitution 
 of the state, then about being adopted ; yet it is a circum- 
 stance worthy of rtote, and one demonstrating conclusively his 
 standing and popularity at that time, that he afterwards be- 
 came the first Chief Justice of the state under the new sys- 
 tem of judicial election. In subsequent years several grave 
 constitutional questions arose for the decision of that tribunal 
 in which he was then presiding. On one of these occasions 
 the alleged invalidity of what were known as the Union Bank 
 bonds was expected to come up for consideration ; and, though 
 it was well known everywhere that he regarded these bonds 
 as obligatory upon the state, and though a majority of the 
 voters in his judicial district were undeniably opposed to be- 
 ing taxed for the payment of the same, yet was he triumph- 
 antly re-elected over the opposing candidate, though the latter 
 was a jurist of undoubted learning and ability, and had form- 
 ally pledged himself, if elected, to decide the bonds to be 
 invalid. In this contest Judge Sharkey delivered a number 
 of popular addresses in which he boldly defended his own 
 views upon this subject, and remonstrated with his fellow citi- 
 zens in the most eloquent and convincing manner against the 
 repudiation of the pledged faith of the state at that time pro- 
 posed. The result of the contest was alike creditable to those 
 by whom Judge Sharkey was re-elected and to himself. 
 
 Judge Sharkey had been occupying a place upon the bench
 
 66 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 some three or four .years, when he was fated to pass through 
 one of the severest ordeals which any public man has had to 
 encounter. The celebrated book of Stewart, in which Murrell 
 and his associates were charged with having set on foot a 
 scheme of negro insurrection, which it was asserted looked to 
 the general destruction of the white population of the South, 
 had reached the state of Mississippi and had awakened the most 
 wide-spead excitement and alarm. The more densely settled 
 counties of middle Mississippi, it was apprehended, would be 
 soon laid waste and ruined. The people were apprehending 
 that all the unnamable horrors of servile revolt would soon 
 blaze forth among them in the most aggravated form. Stew- 
 art himself had been received at the capital of the state and 
 elsewhere in the most enthusiastic manner, and public honors 
 had been accorded him such as the most illustrious benefac- 
 tors of the human race have seldom enjoyed. A fine horse 
 was purchased and presented to him, and he became the re- 
 cipient of many costly presents besides. In a short time the 
 whole country became thoroughly convulsed. Large public 
 meetings occurred, and the most elaborate preparations were 
 made to meet the multitudinous foe. In a number of coun- 
 ties, vigilance committees, or committees of safety (as they 
 were sometimes called) were organized, and efficient instru- 
 mentalities of every kind provided, by means of which sus- 
 pected persons were to be apprehended and brought to trial. 
 Such a trial was quite sure to result in speedy conviction and 
 execution, without the benefit of jury trial, or the privilege 
 of habeas corpus. The popular rnind was in such a diseased 
 and phrenzied condition that nothing was wanting but the 
 kindly offices of the guillotine, to usher in all the imagined 
 glories of Jacobinical violence, such as stand imperishably 
 connected with the names of Danton, Robespierre and Marat. 
 Just at the moment when the public furor was at its acme, 
 and when instances were occurring of the owners of large 
 numbers of slaves being arraigned before these lawless and 
 self-constituted tribunals ; persons who, though themselves 
 wholly untinctured with the abolition virus, but who, having 
 thus far been able so far to preserve their mental equipoise as
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 6/ 
 
 to disapprove most strongly the confused and bloody proceed- 
 ings then in progress, were on that account suspected of com- 
 plicity in the dark scheme of criminality which was supposed 
 to have been concerted. By a singular coincidence, the cel- 
 ebrated hanging scene occurred at Vicksburg, whilst the whole 
 interior country was in the condition just described, intelli- 
 gence of which event was brought to the city of Jackson on 
 the very day that Judge Sharkey called at my room in one 
 of the hotels of that city and asked an interview with me, lay- 
 ing before me a letter which he had just received from a valued 
 relative of his, Mr. Patrick H. Sharkey, which he asked me 
 to read. The letter informed the judge that the writer there- 
 of was then in the neighboring town of Clinton, was about to 
 undergo trial before the safety committee there in session, 
 and besought him to come as soon as possible to intercede 
 for his life. Patrick H. Sharkey was one of the wealthiest 
 planters in the county of Hinds, and a justice of the peace. 
 A body of men from the adjoining county of Madison, hav- 
 ing arrested one of his most respected neighbors a day or 
 two previous, with the intention of carrying him to the town 
 of Livingston for trial, where men were then being summa- 
 rily hanged almost daily, Sharkey had ventured to protest 
 against their action, and, claiming jurisdiction of the case, 
 had turned the alleged culprit loose. This conduct had 
 brought down upon him the vengeance of the Regulating 
 Band, by whom his house was attacked in the night-time, and 
 in defence of which he had slain one of the trespassers, and 
 been severely wounded himself; but escaping in the dark, he 
 had voluntarily appealed to the committee of Hinds county 
 for a full investigation of the affair, being quite willing to be 
 tried by citizens of his own county, but wholly averse to 
 being dragged to Livingston, where, he felt assured, his life 
 would not be for a moment safe. After I had read the letter 
 referred to, Judge Sharkey proposed to me to go with him to 
 Clinton, which being the place of my own residence at the 
 time, he thought I might be able to exercise some influence in 
 favor of his imperiled kinsman. We proceeded to Clinton 
 accordingly ; where we found the examination about com-
 
 68 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 mencing. The unhappy man at whose summons the judge 
 had come to the place of trial, was suffering greatly from the 
 wounds he had received, and was scarcely able to sit erect 
 whilst his conduct was undergoing scrutiny. The proceed- 
 dings of the committee being ordinarily conducted with closed 
 doors, Judge Sharkey, without asking the privilege of being 
 present whilst the trial was going on, contented himself with 
 addressing the committee a few words before the adduction 
 of testimony should occur, which were listened to with the 
 most profound attention and respect. This short and touch- 
 ing address to the committee was truly a master-piece of its 
 kind. Neither Erskine nor Curran could have met the dan- 
 gers of the moment with a greater display of discretion, of 
 tact, and of soft, insinuating persuasiveness, than Judge Shar- 
 key on this occasion put in exercise. He knew too well the 
 disturbed condition of the country to call in question the au- 
 thority of the committee. He did not even allude to his own 
 power to grant a habeas corpus for the relief of the accused. 
 He frankly confessed the utter powerlessness of the courts in 
 such an exigency as had then arisen. He appealed directly 
 to the self-respect and known intelligence of the committee, 
 at whose hands he could not doubt that justice would be 
 rendered in the case. He showed the gross absurdity of the 
 charge of complicity which had been preferred; and concluded 
 by urging with great solemnity and impressiveness the duty 
 of the committee to protect the citizens of their own county 
 from trial beyond its confines, and by persons already too 
 much prejudiced against the individual then in custody to 
 give him a fair and dispassionate hearing. 
 
 I need hardly say that the committee were not long in de- 
 termining this interesting case in favor of the accused. That 
 their action was wise and equitable, may be inferred from the 
 fact that Patrick H. Sharkey afterwards brought an action of 
 damages against those who had so ruthlessly invaded his 
 home, and recovered damages from them to the amount of 
 $ 10,000, not a farthing of which found its way into his own 
 pocket, but was generously distributed in charity. 
 
 There is another instance in Judge Sharkey's history as a
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 69 
 
 public man which I feel inclined to mention, as illustrative of 
 the principles which uniformly guided his career as a sound 
 and conservative statesman. In the year 1858 a commercial 
 convention was held in the city of Vicksburg. I had the honor 
 of being a member of this body as a delegate from the state 
 of Tennessee. Much to the surprise of many who attended 
 on this occasion, a proposition was introduced by a delegate 
 from the state of South Carolina for the re-opening of the 
 African slave trade. The question had been discussed a few 
 months before, in the legislature of South Carolina, and had 
 there failed of being adopted by reason of the wise and manly 
 opposition of General Wade Hampton, whose forcible and 
 eloquent speech on the subject I read at the time with the 
 highest gratification. It was argued by the supporters of 
 this policy that there was nothing in the Constitution of 
 the United States which, properly considered, was pos- 
 itively prohibitory of this infernal traffic, and that the 
 revival of it would be productive of great advantage to 
 the Southern states in general, and tend to bujld up the 
 city of Charleston as a great commercial emporium. A 
 more ingenious and powerful speech than that delivered 
 in support of the measure proposed, by its chief cham- 
 pion, I have rarely heard. It was listened to with breath- 
 less attention and applauded vociferously. Those of us 
 who rose in opposition were looked upon by the excited as- 
 semblage present as traitors to the best interests of the South, 
 and only worthy of expulsion from the body. The excitement 
 at last grew so high that personal violence was menaced, and 
 some dozen of the more conservative members of the con- 
 vention withdrew from the hall in which it was holding its 
 sittings. Judge Sharkey hearing of this tumultuous scene, 
 came at once from his own residence in Jackson, to Vicks- 
 burg, and did what he could to still the raging tempest. The 
 fact having been ascertained that this movement in behalf 
 of the re-opening of the slave trade was the result of pre-con- 
 cert, and that the agitation which had been initiated was de- 
 signed to operate upon a State Democratic convention, the 
 session of which was to occur in Jackson in a lew days, Judge
 
 70 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Sharkey proposed to me that I should accompany him to 
 several neighboring counties, in advance of the convention, 
 and aid him in putting the people of Mississippi on their 
 guard against the coming danger. This I cheerfully agreed 
 to do; being perfectly satisfied that out of the question which 
 had now been so suddenly sprung upon the South, the ut- 
 most mischief might ensue, if no opposition should be rea- 
 sonably and effectively interposed. Many are yet living who, 
 I am certain, will agree with me that the speeches which 
 Judge Sharkey delivered at this time were among the most 
 felicitous of his life. They unquestionably had much effect 
 in supressing the dangerous agitation which had commenced
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Judge John I. Guion. Eugene Magee. George Coalter. William S. Bodely. 
 The Yergers. Judge William E. Anderson. Andrew C. Hayes. Gen. Volney E. 
 Howard. Anderson Hutchinson. Gen. Jno. A. Quitman. William A. Lake. 
 Palrick H. Tompkins. Col. Horace H. Miller. 
 
 Whilst Judge Sharkey continued in practice as attorney, he 
 was associated in business with a gentleman whose memory will 
 always be dear to the people of the state of Mississippi. 
 I allude to the Hon. John I. Guion. Judge Guion was also 
 educated in the state of Tennessee, and the friendship and in- 
 timacy which so long subsisted between Judge Sharkey and 
 himself, began at school. He was decidedly a man of ability, 
 and possessed many endearing traits of character. Nature 
 had lavished upon him some of her choicest gifts. He pos- 
 sessed a most symmetrical person, a face of much regularity 
 and beauty, and a genial expression of countenance which 
 predisposed those who met him to yield to him their confi- 
 dence and sympathy. He was a sprightly and vigorous 
 speaker ; discussed both facts and legal principles with much 
 adroitness and plausibility ; and, had he been a man of studi- 
 ous habits as, unfortunately, he was not he would indu- 
 bitably have attained a very high rank in the profession. I 
 never heard Judge Guion speak with disreputable feebleness 
 or want of grace, though it could hardly be said that he was 
 on any occasion overwhelmingly eloquent, or that he ever 
 displayed the highest logical powers. In social life he was 
 a great and deserved favorite ; his disposition was placid and 
 equable ; in converse he was sprightly and engaging; he was 
 at times much inclined tofacetiousness; told an anecdote with 
 much good humor, and occasionally indulged successfully in 
 mimetical representatious of what he deemed ludicrous in 
 others. After Judge Sharkey had been raised to the bench, 
 Judge Guion invited Mr. Prentiss to join him in the practice. 
 Great as were the abilities of Mr. Prentiss, this second part- 
 nership was decidedly detrimental to Judge Guion ; for it was 
 observed that, owing to his profound deference for his new
 
 72 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 associate, or from some other cause, he rarely afterwards at- 
 tempted to take the lead in forensic discussion, and was much 
 more solicitous of building up the fame of Mr. Prentiss than 
 of advancing his own. 
 
 Judge Guion was always more successful in addressing 
 juries than he was in the argument of mere legal questions. 
 In the defence of criminals he sometimes spoke in a manner 
 calculated to elicit much commendation. The last time that 
 I remember to have heard him in a capital case was in the 
 defence of a man called William A. Hardwicke, who was 
 charged with having committed a most atrocious murder. 
 Hardwicke had in some way managed to enlist the sympathies 
 of Judge Guion very deeply, and in his defence all his powers 
 as an advocate were fully put in requisition. The case was 
 one of the greatest difficulty, and the alleged outrage had 
 called forth much popular indignation. The victim of Hard- 
 wicke's ruffianly malevolence was a colored man whom I 
 knew very well, and who was under excellent character. For 
 some unknown reason Hardwicke had conceived for him a 
 strong feeling of hatred, and had, apparently without any re- 
 liable evidence of the fact, charged him with having stolen 
 from him some article of personal property of no considera- 
 ble value. He appears to have gone to his cabin at midnight, 
 dragged him forth from his bed where he was lying by the 
 side of a sick wife after which, with the aid of several mis- 
 creants of his own stamp, he tied him across a barrel, and 
 inflicted upon his bare back more than a thousand stripes. 
 When the poor creature was released he was found to be in a 
 dying condition, and only survived a few seconds. In the 
 intenseness of his agony, he had bitten his tongue in two. 
 An honest and enlightened justice of the peace, sitting as a 
 court of inquiry, had sent Hardwicke to jail ; an application 
 for his discharge on bail had been denied ; an indictment had 
 been regularly found against him, and after a few month's delay, 
 Hardwicke's trial came on in the Circuit Court of Hinds County, 
 and in the town of Raymond. The offender was prosecuted 
 by a very able district attorney, and with as much of rigor, as 
 the law allowed ; but when Judge Guion entered upon the
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 73 
 
 defence of his client, he very soon convinced many of his 
 listeners that in no case should negro evidence be allowed to 
 prevail against a member of the proud Caucasian race ; and, 
 as the evidence against the accused was mainly of that char- 
 acter, he insisted that it should be altogether thrown out of 
 the case. After this, when the plausible and captivating ad- 
 vocate suggested the extreme impolicy, in the then existing 
 condition of the country, of having a white man hanged for 
 punishing' a negro for theft, the case was well nigh won. Then 
 came an animated and touching peroration, under which both 
 jury and bystanders were melted to tears, and the oppressed 
 and persecuted Hardwicke was in a few moments strutting 
 forth from the court-house, and hurrying towards a neighbor- 
 ing tippl ing-shop, purse in hand, for the purpose of treating 
 to liquor all who were willing to drink in honor of his de- 
 liverance. 
 
 For a year or two previous to Judge Guion's decease, he 
 held a judicial appointment, and presided in a highly satisfac- 
 tory manner in the several courts of the judicial district in 
 which he had so long resided. 
 
 Among the contemporaries of the personages I have just 
 been endeavoring to portray, there were several prominent 
 attorneys to whom I will here cursorily invite the reader's at- 
 tention. 
 
 Eugene Magee was by birth an Irishman. He had been 
 educated with all the care bestowed on favorite pupils at the 
 institutions of the Jesuit order. He is conjectured to have 
 been intended for the priesthood, but, on arriving at maturity, 
 betook himself to the more congenial vocation of the law. 
 He was a most ripe and accurate scholar, and had given much 
 attention to works of general science and literature. In legal 
 learning he was by no means deficient, and much excelled in 
 the drafting of business papers of every discription. In the 
 argument of a question of law, and especially of such as 
 arose out of the pleadings, he was singularly acute and lucid, 
 and displayed a concise vigor and a winning felicity of ex- 
 pression which made it quite a pleasure to listen to him. At 
 times his sparkling vivacity and caustic humor which ren-
 
 74 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 dered him the terror of slow-minded plodding attorneys, 
 tended much to relieve the dull monotony of ordinary court 
 proceedings. He was quite a favorite in social life, and was 
 the head of a charming family circle. He died very suddenly 
 a few years after my acquaintance with him was formed, of a 
 slow pulmonary malady with which he had been long afflicted. 
 
 His associate in practice was Colonel George Coalter, 
 whom I had known for some years previous to his migration 
 to the state of Mississippi. He was born in Virginia, had 
 spent much of his life in Tennessee, and had then practiced 
 in the courts of Alabama for many years, where he is doubt- 
 less yet remembered. He was a most pains-taking and labor- 
 ious office lawyer, and a most persevering student. His mind 
 was exceedingly slow in its movements, and he had not the 
 least relish for intellectual novelties of any description. His 
 early education was singularly defective, and his reading had 
 been confined exclusively to law books. He was devoid of 
 all rhetorical grace, and was particularly sluggish and awk- 
 ward in expression. By dint of extreme industry and atten- 
 tion to business he had acquired a considerable number of 
 paying clients ; and his quiet and unassuming manners en- 
 abled him at last to rise to the bench of the circuit court, 
 where he got along somewhat better than might have been 
 expected; committing, during his few years of judicial rule, 
 no notable blunder, and giving no special offence in any par- 
 ticularly influential quarter, so far, at least, as I have obtained 
 information as to this matter. 
 
 Alexander G. McNutt, who became in after life very exten- 
 sively known as an active and bustling politician, settled in 
 the city of Vicksburg at a very early period I should say 
 about the year 1820. He attracted no notice as an attorney 
 for some years, and fell into a state of almost absolute desti- 
 tution, from which he ultimately emerged by the kindness of 
 a Mr. Hough, a merchant retiring from business, who placed 
 in his hands for collection a large number of outstanding 
 claims, by industrious attention to which, with such assiduity 
 and success as strongly recommended him to others of. the 
 creditor class, by whose patronage he ultimately grew rich.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 75 
 
 He had so little confidence, in the early part of his career, in- 
 his own powers as a speaker, that he seldom attempted to 
 argue a case, but generally employed some brother attorney 
 to represent him when a legal argument had to be made. On. 
 turning his attention at last to politics, he evinced much ca- 
 pacity, and in a few years managed to become a recognized 
 Democratic leader in the state legislature. He afterwards be- 
 came governor of the state, and was able to secure a re-elec- 
 tion to this position. He was regarded as absolutely invinci- 
 ble, until, becoming a candidate for the United States Senate, 
 he was imprudent enough to attack with the weapons of sar- 
 casm and ridicule so large a number of the influential mem- 
 bers of his own party, that he was .easily beaten before the 
 legislature for the position which he had sought so ardently,, 
 and retired to private life. He is now universally admitted to 
 have been a man of considerable ability, and to have acquired 
 in his latter years such adroitness and skill as a political 
 speaker that few deemed it prudent to encounter him. He 
 died in the year 1848. Mr. McNutt, perhaps, accumulated as 
 much money by the practice of the law as any barrister that 
 Mississippi has known. 
 
 A very worthy gentleman who is now a resident of Louis- 
 ville, in the state of Kentucky, I found engaged in the suc- 
 cessful practice of law in Vicksburg in the winter of 1831. 
 I allude to Judge William S. Bodely, who, whilst he remained, 
 in Mississippi, deservedly held a high rank among the bar- 
 risters with whom he was thrown into competition. He had 
 enjoyed many educational advantages in Kentucky before his 
 migration to the South, and his professional training had been 
 thorough. His industry as a lawyer was such as acquired 
 for him very quickly a respectable practice. He spoke well, 
 wrote better, and was exceedingly agreeable in social com- 
 mune. He was for a short time on the bench, and whilst 
 there demeaned himself so as to give general satisfaction and 
 add not a little to his previous reputation. I was glad to find 
 him six years ago a prosperous lawyer in Louisville, and but 
 little oppressed by the weight of years. 
 
 Towards the close of the last century, a very worthy Dutch
 
 76 BENCH A.ND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 family was residing in the town of Lebanon, Tennessee, now 
 so celebrated for its institutions of learning, and especially for 
 its law school. The Yerger mansion is still standing, and in 
 a comfortable state of preservation. In this house were born 
 eight worthy gentlemen, all brothers, and all but one of them 
 practitioners of law. I have only room at this time to notice 
 specially three of them. 
 
 The eldest of these brothers, George S. Yerger, was at one 
 time a prominent member of the Nashville bar, and officiated 
 for some years as reporter of the judicial decisions of the 
 Supreme Court of Tennessee at first alone, and afterwards 
 with a younger brother. Between the years 1838 and 1840, 
 all of the Yerger family, whom I have known located in the 
 state of Mississippi. When I first saw George S. Yerger, he 
 was apparently in the prime of healthful and vigorous man- 
 hood. His manners were marked with much simplicity and 
 frankness, and he evinced a gentleness and placidity of tem- 
 per which it was delightful to behold, and which was well 
 calculated to enlist in his behalf the warmest sympathies 
 of those with whom he came in contact. His countenance 
 beamed with benignity, and his voice possessed a sweetness 
 and kindliness of tone such as is seldom found in the posses- 
 sion of the rougher sex, and is of almost irresistible potency 
 in social intercourse. He brought with him to his new home 
 a high reputation for legal learning, and this reputation he 
 succeeded in retaining unimpaired up to the last moment of 
 his life. His learning was chiefly such as he had derived 
 from law books, and this he had stored away in a memory of 
 wonderful retentiveness, and in a form so admirably digested 
 and methodized as to be ready for use at any moment when 
 it might be wanted. Though ever one of the most laborious 
 men in his profession I have known, yet he always found 
 time for performing all the duties of kind neighborship, and 
 for amiable and refreshing relaxation in the domestic circle. 
 He possessed a clear head, a sound and generous heart, and 
 was alike devoid of envy, of low selfishness, of narrow and 
 irrational prejudices, and of overweening ambition. His im- 
 pulsive nature was easily roused, but never ran into excesses
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 77- 
 
 of any kind. He had studied his profession in a somewhat 
 irregular manner, but he had treasured up a vast fund of legal 
 learning, in a great degree derived from his study of adjudged 
 cases, but which he had thoroughly digested and could 
 promptly use in citation without being compelled to hunt for 
 the volumes containing them in huge libraries. He always 
 spoke with animation, and sometimes with no little fervor 
 and emphasis. His manner was uniformly easy and natural, 
 his diction chaste and unpretending, and his gesticulation 
 decorous and impressive. No man ever heard him indulge 
 in extravagant flights of imagination, give utterance to coarse 
 and ribald invective, or pour upon a respectable antagonist 
 streams of low and heartless ridicule. Nor was he at any 
 time heard to talk merely for the purpose of display as the 
 custom of some is or in reference to matters not properly 
 appertaining to the case in hand. He preferred taking part 
 in the trial of commercial causes, or in the discussion of such 
 as were of equitable jurisdiction; but he was well fitted, both 
 by temperament and intellectual training, for the vindication 
 of the innocent or the prosecution of the guilty, before courts 
 of criminal cognizance. Of the truth of this last assertion,, 
 it would be in my power to cite several conclusive proofs. I 
 shall content myself at this time with the following recital 
 of facts : In the year 1844, a deeply interesting trial for 
 murder occurred in the Circuit Court of the County of Hinds,, 
 in which I had the honor of being associated with Mr. Yer- 
 ger on the side of the defence. Our client was a young man 
 of gentle birth, of spotless character, and of the greatest in- 
 tellectual promise. Added to all this, he was a young gentle- 
 man of most prepossessing countenance and manners, and 
 beloved and respected by all who knew him. He had only 
 a short time before returned from the Virginia University, 
 where he had graduated with great distinction. He was one 
 of many children all amiable, accomplished and devoted to 
 himself. His mother was yet living, and was universally held 
 to be a rare model of moral excellence and exemplary piety. 
 His father was upon the theatre of active life, and was alike 
 revered for his learning, his domestic and social virtues, and
 
 78 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 his elevated patriotism. He had been long a member of the 
 bar of Mississippi, and had recently retired from the position 
 of District Judge of the United States, without leaving a spot 
 upon the ermine which had adorned his person and which he 
 had now voluntarily laid aside. This father was the late 
 George Adams, and the son of whom I have been speaking 
 was the late General Daniel W. Adams, whose feats of daring 
 prowess during the late war have gained for him a high place 
 upon the rolls of chivalry. 
 
 As I have already said, our then young and inexperienced 
 client had but just returned home from the university. He 
 was full of youthful enthusiasm, and held his father in almost 
 idolatrous admiration. What was his surprise and indigna- 
 tion at seeing a newspaper, printed in the city of Vicksburg, 
 containing a most cruel and insulting editorial attack upon 
 that father's character ? It was but natural that he should 
 proceed at once to that place to demand a retraxit of the 
 offensive article, or some other atonement for the outrage 
 which had been perpetrated. This he did. On arriving at 
 Vicksburg, he felt his situation somewhat embarrassing, for 
 he did not know the editor personally. Being informed that 
 he had gone to dinner, he set out in quest of him ; and hav- 
 ing reason to suppose that he saw the individual of whom he 
 was in quest approaching him, he advanced towards him with 
 the newspaper in question in his hand, and, pointing to the 
 defamatory article, asked him whether he was the author 
 thereof? This brought on an immediate collision, in which 
 young Adams having fallen to the earth, beneath his antag- 
 onist, who was apparently making ready to slay him, he 
 reached up his hand, armed with a pistol which he had suc- 
 ceeded in drawing from his pocket, and, placing it in contact 
 with the hinder part of his adversary's head, fired it, and thus 
 put an end to the contest. All the attendant circumstances 
 clearly indicated that the killing which had taken place had 
 been done in pure self-defence ; yet, as it had grown out of a 
 bitter political quarrel then raging in the state, a most furious 
 and illiberal prosecution was instituted. Such was the- char- 
 acter of the case in which, as I have said above, Mr. Yerger's
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 79 
 
 powers as an advocate were to be exerted. I well remember 
 the occasion, and could almost repeat Mr. Yerger's line of ar- 
 gument. To say that it was logical and convincing would be 
 but moderate praise indeed. It was one of the most compact, 
 lucid, and overwhelming specimens of reasoning and pathos 
 combined that I ever witnessed. Deeply were his own sensi- 
 bilities enlisted, and deeply did he enlist the sensibilities of all 
 who were in hearing of his voice. When he closed his speech 
 I felt that our case had been won, and that all further .ad- 
 dresses to the jury in behalf of our client would be superflu- 
 ous. Not a single position which he had assumed were 
 those concerned in the prosecution able either to overturn or 
 seriously enfeeble. The jury brought in a verdict of acquittal 
 in precisely eight minutes. 
 
 It was about fifteen years after this scene when I was attend- 
 ing court in the county of Bolivar, where his brother, J. S. 
 Yerger, was presiding, that news of the sudden decease of 
 the worthy personage of whom I have been speaking reached 
 that village. Court was immediately adjourned in order to 
 enable all who might desire to do so, and especially his dis- 
 tressed brother, to attend his funeral. His death had oc- 
 curred under very striking circumstances. He was apparently 
 in usual health, and had gone out upon a deer-hunt Com- 
 ing in sight of a fine buck, he fired at him. Seeing him fall, 
 he ran, as is usual in such cases, to make sure of him, and 
 on reaching the spot where the deer was dying, he fell, gun 
 in hand, upon the prostrate form of his victim, and at once 
 ceased to breathe. This was the beginning of sorrows for his 
 amiable and bereaved family, upon whom calamity after cal- 
 amity has since fallen, of a character more soul-moving and 
 humiliating than anything recorded either in history or ro- 
 mance. 
 
 The second brother of the Yerger family, whom I propose 
 to notice, was the circuit judge to whom I have just referred 
 J. S. Yerger. His mind differed materially from that of 
 his elder brother, already described, and his stock of general 
 attainments was somewhat larger. His mind possessed many 
 of the best qualities which give fame at the bar. His powers
 
 8O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 of perception were -unusually quick; his judgment strong; 
 his capacity for drawing subtle distinctions such as was in 
 no small degree surprising to men of more dull and sluggish 
 intellect ; and he always expressed himself in the very 
 language which seemed the best suited for the communica- 
 
 o o 
 
 tion of his ideas. He had read deeply and generally, and 
 was a good judge both of men and their motives of action. 
 His knowledge of legal principles was wondrously precise 
 and accurate, and I feel certain that his strong and retentive 
 memory never relaxed its hold upon any useful information 
 with which it had once been stored. He was of an eminently 
 sociable disposition, and possessed conversational powers of 
 a most entertaining and instructive character. He was blessed 
 with a rich fund of humor, and excelled in lively and humor- 
 ous narrative. He had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and 
 could hit off a character particularly marked with eccentrici- 
 ties, or odd ways and notions, to the very life. In the whole 
 course of my travels I have never met with a nisi prius judge 
 who seemed able to perform with equal success the duties 
 connected with that position. He was sober, industrious, 
 energetic, prompt in the dispatch of business, gentlemanly 
 and dignified in his demeanor, and in the highest degree civil 
 and courteous towards all with whom he was compelled to- 
 have official contact. Judge Yerger delivered, some years ago, 
 several eminently useful and impressive addresses to the 
 grand juries of the courts wherein he presided, which I list- 
 ened to at the time, and which I hope have been preserved 
 among his papers, and may yet be presented to the public in 
 a more convenient and durable form. 
 
 With the youngest of the three brothers of the Yerger family 
 who have been specially alluded to above Judge William 
 Yerger I had the happiness of enjoying a close and unreserved 
 intimacy of many years' duration. It is gratifying to me now 
 to be able to remember that I invited him into the first case 
 in which he appeared in a Mississippi court, and that I caused 
 a very respectable fee to be paid to him on the occasion ; 
 which same fee, though, I must confess to have very inade- 
 quately requited services such as he rendered. He was then
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 8 1 
 
 as I conjecture, about twenty-two years of age ; and I could 
 not help being most forcibly struck with an intellectual dis- 
 play so very superior to most exhibitions of the kind I have 
 witnessed, and suggesting almost inevitably the examples of 
 intellectual precocity of the younger Pitt and Alexander Ham- 
 ilton. Mr. Yerger was even then a well read and able lawyer ; 
 a ripe and accurate scholar; a profound judge of men and 
 affairs, and altogether free from those trivialities and follies 
 which are the customary attendants of young and unchastened 
 men. He habitually talked and spoke like a man of extended 
 experience ; was perfectly at ease in all company, without the 
 smallest approach to effrontery or forwardness. Even when 
 he had but just passed the dawn of manhood, he encountered 
 repeatedly on the forensic arena lawyers of long-established 
 reputation, who were known to have triumphed in a thousand 
 intellectual conflicts, and never did the struggle terminate 
 to his loss of reputation. It is difficult to say whether he 
 most abounded in weighty and profound conceptions, or in 
 apt and appropriate language; but in both these respects he 
 was far superior to what is commonly met with at the bar, or 
 encountered in miscellaneous society. It is almost needless 
 to say that such a personage as this could not lack of pro- 
 fessional patronage in the bosom of so discerning a commu- 
 mity as that amid which he was now to struggle for fame and 
 fortune. When I spent a few delightful days at Judge Yer- 
 ger's hospitable mansion in the city of Jackson, in the year 
 1858, he was, perhaps, near the acme of his fame. I found, 
 though, to my gratification, that he was still ambitious of in- 
 creased intellectual culture ; that he was diligently keeping 
 up with the literature of the day, and was daily seeking the 
 improvement of his taste by the perusal of the ancient clas- 
 sics. He then seemed to have many happy and prosperous 
 years before him. But alas ! he has now gone from the pres- 
 ence of those who loved and admired him on earth, and can 
 no longer interchange with them the language of respect and 
 affection, or discourse in their hearing upon those lofty topics 
 upon which he was once so sagely eloquent. 
 
 About the period when the Yergers made their first ap-
 
 82 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 pearance in the state of Mississippi, the bar of Tennessee 
 supplied to that of her sister state many other attorneys of 
 ability, whose merits I should be pleased to record, did cir- 
 cumstances admit of it. Let me give a passing notice to a 
 few of them. 
 
 William E. Anderson was a native of the county of Rock- 
 bridge in the state of Virginia. He was truly a Samson 
 Agcnistes, alike in his physical frame and in his gigantic 
 mental proportions. He was considerably more than six feet 
 in height. His shoulders were broad and massive. His 
 limbs were huge and muscular, but of most harmonious pro- 
 portions. His figure was perfectly erect, even when he was 
 far past the meridian of life. His expansive chest gave shelter 
 to one of the most generous and sympathizing hearts that 
 ever yet palpitated in a human bosom. His physiognomy 
 was most striking and expressive, and when kindled into ex- 
 citement, as in his latter days he rarely was, there flashed 
 forth from his commanding visage the mingled light of reason 
 and sentiment, the effulgent beamings of which no man ever 
 beheld and afterwards forgot. The temperament of this re- 
 markable personage was what is in general known as the bil- 
 ious-sanguineous ; and it is, therefore, not at all surprising 
 that he was recognized by those who knew him best as a sort 
 of human volcano, ordinarily in a state of slumbrous repose, 
 but capable of being stirred into sublime and terrible commo- 
 tion by some adequate cause, and, in the moment of its fury, 
 menacing with desolation and ruin all the living things of 
 earth that might stand in the way of its overflowings. It is 
 said by those who listened to his magical utterances in the 
 moment of his happiest inspirations, that his voice exhibited 
 a compass and power almost superhuman, and that his most 
 exalted tones were sometimes distinctly heard to the distance 
 of half a mile. He has left behind him the reputation of 
 having never been a very diligent student of the learning ap- 
 pertaining to his own profession. He was certainly very 
 fond of desultory reading. All admit, though, that he was 
 by no means deficient in legal lore. Judge Anderson was a 
 man of a cheerful and sympathizing turn of mind, and took
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 83 
 
 much delight in scenes of innocent festivity. I can myself 
 vouch for his often saying very lively and witty things, and 
 that he occasionally was heard to sing a mirth-moving song 
 at the hour of midnight, for the entertainment of some of 
 the more genial of his brethren of the bar, to their infinite 
 merriment and gratification. 
 
 Andrew C. Hayes is yet well remembered by many of his 
 surviving friends and early associates in Tennessee. He was 
 also a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, and owed his 
 education to what was formerly known as Washington Col- 
 lege. He removed to the state of Mississippi in the year 1837, 
 where he made many friends, by whom his sudden decease 
 a few years after he came among them, was very much re- 
 gretted. He was a person of quite an original turn of mind, 
 and was accused of not a little eccentricity. He did not 
 profess ever to have been a very close student of his profes- 
 sion, from which, I am confident, he would at any time have 
 withdrawn, had circumstances permitted. He sometimes 
 spoke at the bar with considerable vivacity and force, and was 
 certainly one of the most kind-hearted and companionable 
 men I ever knew. He is reported by his early Nashville ac- 
 quaintances to have officiated in Tennessee for some years, 
 anterior to his removal to Mississippi, as a district attorney, 
 and to have performed the duties of that position with much 
 fidelity and success. He was much noted, when I knew him, 
 for an unaccountable forgetfulness of names, and for his ad- 
 dictedness to unseasonable fits of abstraction, which often 
 caused much innocent amusement in the court-house and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Colonel Hayes as he was commonly called commenced 
 his career in Mississippi in connection with a gentleman who 
 has since acquired much reputation in several states of the 
 Union, and whose life has been quite an eventful one. I re- 
 gret not to be able to speak more at large of him on this oc- 
 casion for Volney E. Howard was certainly no ordinary man. 
 Born in Maine, he came to Mississippi when very young, and 
 at once engaged in politics. He was for some years editor of 
 the Mississippian, a newspaper yet, I believe, published, and
 
 84 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 wielded for several years much influence over the affairs of 
 what was called the Democratic party. He was a caustic 
 and trenchant writer, and many suffered under his editorial 
 castigation, both of his own and of the opposing political 
 faction. For several years he was reporter of the decisions of 
 the High Court of Errors and Appeals of Mississippi, and 
 co-operated with the late Anderson Hutchinson in bringing 
 out a new edition of the Mississippi Code. He afterwards 
 removed to Texas ; was one of the representatives of that 
 state in 1850, and took an active part in securing the adoption 
 of the compromise measures of that period. On the admis- 
 sion of California, he was sent out in an important official 
 character to that new and rising state, and is understood to 
 have there been exceedingly successful in the acquisition of 
 both fame and fortune. 
 
 I have had occasion, in speaking of General Howard, to 
 mention a name which springs a thousand painful and pleas- 
 ant remembrances of the past. Anderson Hutchinson was a 
 native of Greenbrier county in the state of Virginia. He 
 here received a good English education, became familiar with 
 the forms of judicial proceeding, whilst assisting his father 
 in performing the duties of clerk of the courts of Greenbrier 
 county, and removed, on attaining manhood, to Knoxville, 
 in East Tennessee, where he read law and obtained a license 
 to practice. Soon after this he joined the celebrated William 
 Kelly at Huntsville, Alabama, in the practice of his profes- 
 sion. Subsequently, migrating to Mississippi, he formed a 
 partnership with the writer of this hasty and imperfect sketch. 
 In about ten years he left Mississippi as an adventurer to 
 Texas, were he was favorably received and soon placed upon 
 the bench of her Supreme Court. He had not held this re- 
 sponsible and dignified position long, when an event occurred 
 of a most disastrous character, which, for a time, subjected 
 him to much inconvenience and suffering. He was holding 
 court in the city of San Antonio, and was superintending the 
 trial of an important cause, when a body of armed Mexicans, 
 whose proximity had not been suspected, broke into the 
 court-house, and carried off the judge and several others
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 85 
 
 who were in attendance upon the court, to the Castle of 
 Perote, where they were for some months kept in a state of 
 close incarceration. Through the friendly interposition of 
 the American Minister near the Mexican capitol, the late 
 Waddy Thompson, Judge Hutchinson was at last released 
 from imprisonment, when he returned to the state of Missis- 
 sippi, and again engaged in the practice of law, becoming 
 once more my co-partner in business. He died in the year 
 1853,- beloved an< ^ respected by all who knew him. Judge 
 Hutchinson did not at all excel as a speaker; but he was a 
 deeply read lawyer, possessed a sound and vigorous intellect, 
 and was the most industrious, persevering, and skillful office 
 lawyer I have ever known. He was a man of the greatest 
 simplicity of manners; credulous and confiding almost to a 
 fault ; and was universally recognized as an honest, public- 
 spirited and patriotic citizen. 
 
 Amid that throng of meritorious attorneys whom I formerly 
 knew as occupying elevated positions at the Mississippi bar, 
 and who are now no longer among the living, it is impossible 
 that I could fail to notice the Honorable Caswell R. Clifton. 
 He, like Judge Hutchinson, had been a member of the bar 
 in Alabama and had afterwards removed to Mississippi, where 
 he almost immediately obtained a large and profitable practice. 
 He was for some time a circuit court judge, and was highly 
 approved as such ; but he soon resigned this position, and 
 joined Judge Mayes, who was at the time overwhelmed with 
 professional business. He had, early in life, officiated as clerk 
 of the District Court of the United States at Huntsville. 
 When he died he was occupying the place of clerk of the 
 High Court of Errors and Appeals. Judge Clifton was a 
 man of extensive general reading, was possessed of much 
 legal learning, had much success in early life as a chaste, 
 pointed and entertaining political writer, and was admirably 
 qualified to command respect and secure numerous friends in 
 social life. 
 
 General John A. Quitman is familiarly known by character 
 to every intelligent freeman in America. He was a brilliant 
 and meritorious actor in the late Mexican war, was at one
 
 86 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 time chancellor of the state of Mississippi; at a subsequent 
 period of life he became governor of that state, and repre- 
 sented for several years one of her congressional districts in 
 the national house of representatives. He is said to have 
 been educated for the ministry; but not having much relish 
 for that vocation, he studied law, and located in the city of 
 Natchez about the year 1822. General Quitman's legal at- 
 tainments were respectable, his scholarship quite considerable, 
 and his general reading by no means contemptible. He was 
 a ready and vigorous writer, but was singularly deficient in 
 rhetorical energy and grace. He was a courageous and high- 
 minded gentleman, and left behind him numerous friends and 
 admirers. 
 
 Major William A. Lake, for many years a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Mississippi bar, was a native of Maryland. He 
 was a man of most majestic person, of polished and agreeable 
 manners, and very extensively loved and respected. His 
 standing at the bar was highly reputable, his personal popu- 
 larity unsurpassed, and his untimely death, upon the field of 
 honor, was universally regretted in the community where he 
 had so long lived in the practice of every social and domestic 
 virtue. It may be truly said of this amiable and accomplished 
 man, that though proud and sensitive in his feelings, he was 
 not at all irritable or petulant; and, though assiduous in 
 maintaining his own dignity, he was never in the least degree 
 arrogant or overbearing in his demeanor towards others. 
 
 Patrick H. Tompkins first saw the light in the state of 
 Kentucky, where he was occupied in the practice of law for 
 some years before he was attracted to a region where he was 
 destined soon to rise to distinction, and to run a very brilliant 
 career, both as an attorney and politician. The scholastic 
 attainments of Mr. Tompkins were by no means extensive ; 
 his knowledge of law not much above what is usual at the 
 ,bar; but he was richly endowed by nature, and well qualified 
 -by reason of his energy and close application to whatever he 
 undertook, to obtain patronage as an attorney, and to acquire 
 prominence as a party leader in bustling and exciting times* 
 He was wonderfully ready as a speaker; reasoned upon or-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. g/ 
 
 dinary facts with much astuteness and ingenuity, exhibited 
 on all occasions a rich fund of humor, and bore along with 
 him perpetually a weighty budget of apt and telling anec- 
 dotes, which he related in a manner often irresistibly comical. 
 He appeared in many well-remembered criminal trials with 
 great credit whilst he remained in Mississippi, and as a polit- 
 ical debater, had few, if any superiors in the state. He served 
 in Congress for several years, and upon the acquisition of 
 California, removed to the city of San Francisco, where in a 
 year or two he died. 
 
 Though, in performing the task in which I am now en- 
 gaged, I have deemed it prudent to avoid, as far as practica- 
 ble, the mention of individuals, however meritorious and dis- 
 tinguished they may be, who are yet living, I am tempted to 
 make an exception to this rule in the case of the interesting 
 individual now about to be mentioned. 
 
 Colonel Horace H. Miller was known to me very familiarly 
 in the city of Vicksburg, some twenty-five years ago, as a 
 young gentleman of much intellectual promise, and of many 
 noble traits of character. He was then the editor of a news- 
 paper of considerable circulation and of quite an extended 
 influence. He was a zealous supporter of the Union in the 
 memorable political struggle of that period, and gained much 
 reputation as a manly, energetic, and judicious political writer. 
 As a reward for his valuable patriotic services, President Fill- 
 more, at my instance, conferred upon him an important diplo- 
 matic appointment, the duties of which he is known to have 
 discharged with eminent credit. When he returned from 
 abroad, Colonel Miller returned to the practice of the law, in 
 which I rejoice to learn that his success has been equal to 
 his merits. 
 
 Should I live twenty years longer, there are able and learned 
 attorneys yet residing in Mississippi, who, should they have 
 left the scenes of earth in advance of me, I shall take pleasure 
 in delineating for the benefit of future generations ; and I 
 shall be especially encouraged to the performance of this 
 task by the continued successful publication of the SOUTHERN 
 LAW REVIEW, providing its editor of that period shall be
 
 88 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 willing to aid me in preserving the materials needful for the 
 preparation, by some more gifted pen, of a regular and com- 
 plete History of the Bench and Bar of the South and South- 
 west. 
 
 In bringing this article to a close, I hope to be excused for 
 the remarks which I deem it proper here to subjoin. At 
 different stages of my own somewhat active career as a public 
 man, I have been brought into contact, of a more or less 
 familiar character, with a large majority of the lawyers who 
 have been residents of Mississippi during the last forty-five 
 years. It has been my fortune likewise to traverse, at differ- 
 ent periods, most of the states and territories comprised with- 
 in the limits of this wide-spread Republic ; and I now take 
 pleasure in averring that I know of no region where the 
 members of the bar, as a class, have shown themselves en- 
 titled to more consideration and respect than those of the 
 yet loved and honored commonwealth in which my own days 
 of early manhood were spent, and where I have been formerly 
 the recipient of honors and kindnesses far beyond any merit 
 which I possessed. Upon the Bench of Mississippi many 
 learned and able judges have presided in the last half century, 
 whose recorded opinions will "stand the test of scrutiny, of 
 talents and of time ;" and among the servitors of the Forum 
 there has ever prevailed in this once prosperous but now un- 
 happy state, a nice and delicate sense of professional and of 
 personal honor, and a freedom from immoral habits and 
 coarse incivility of manners, which would do credit to any 
 age or country. 
 
 NOTE. After the above article, or chapter, as it now is, had been written and sent 
 forward for publication in the SOUTHERN LAW REVIEW, a correspondence occurred 
 between the enterprising publishers of that excellent periodical and myself the re- 
 sult of which was an arrangement for the publication by them of the present volume, 
 containing, as it does, the numbers which had previously appeared in the REVEIW, 
 together with much other matter in addition, subsequently prepared by me for that 
 purpose. It thus became necessary to divide all that might find a place in this work 
 into chapters prefixing to each a short statement of contents. This explanation of 
 particulars has been deemed proper for the satisfaction of those who may honor 
 these hasty and imperfect sketches with a perusal. F.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 General Remarks. Judge Rucks. O. B. Hubbard. Amos R.Johnston. John N. 
 Drake. William Vannerson. General Allen. Colonel McClung. -Nicholas Cole- 
 man. John M. Chilton. Beverly Hughes. Hinman. William B. Redd. Buckner 
 C. Harris. Wiley P. Harris. George Winchester. Richard H. Webber. John W. 
 C. Watson. Roger Barton. Reuben Davis. Luke Lea. L. Q. C. Lamar. 
 
 Few things have been more the subject both of playful 
 ridicule and literary sarcasm than an over-great facility in 
 changing one's opinions, and, as a consequence, an over- 
 readiness in modifying one's course of action. Fickleness 
 and inconstancy of purpose in affairs of importance are in truth 
 less apt to be pardoned than a dogged and wilful obstinacy 
 which is alike impervious to the suggestions of reason and the 
 persuasions of sympathizing tenderness. And yet, consider- 
 ing the exceeding feebleness and inadequacy of our intellec- 
 tual faculties the uncertainty of all our means of intercom- 
 munication with the various objects which surround us the 
 constantly changing condition of all those things with which 
 it is permitted to us to hold contact and the numberless 
 delusive influences of every kind which are ever dominating 
 in a greater or less degree upon our fancies and whole emo- 
 tional nature it would seem that nothing could be more 
 .absurd than that vanity and presumption so often displayed 
 by men even of the meanest mental endowments, in claiming 
 for themselves the glory oC never altering resolves when once 
 formed, and never declining to do what they have on some 
 former occasion declared it to be their intention to do. The fact 
 is, we must modify our opinions in accordance with the shift 
 ing circumstances amidst which we are thrown, or become 
 victims to our own wilful obstinacy. We must vary our 
 action when some new and unexpected light beams in upon 
 us, or stumble fatally over obstacles that a little good sense 
 and tact might have avoided. We must be willing on some 
 occasions to recall even our own words, either as to ourselves
 
 9O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 or others, when we find them to have been rashly and inju- 
 diciously uttered. And thus do I find the case to be with 
 myself at this very moment: for, having heretofore announced, 
 as a general rule, that I should in these sketches confine my 
 remarks to persons no longer living, I have, for several reasons 
 which seem to me at least to be quite satisfactory, so far 
 altered my intention in this respect, that the exceptions to this 
 rule which may hereafter occur will be, I apprehend, far more 
 numerous than some of my readers will consider judicious 
 and politic. 
 
 Having thus premised, I will call attention for a moment to 
 one whom I have not heretofore mentioned, but who is en- 
 titled to a far more extended notice than that which I am able 
 at present to accord him. James Rucks was born in the 
 county of Granville and State of North Carolina. His parents 
 removed to the State of Tennessee when he was in his seven- 
 teenth year; but the subject of these remarks soon returned 
 to the State of his nativity for the completion of his collegiate 
 education. Having taken the customary degrees at the Uni- 
 versity of North Carolina, he returned to Tennessee, read law 
 diligently and successfully for two years, and commenced the 
 practice of his profession in Carthage, then a most promising 
 town, where he soon obtained a profitable business, in com- 
 petition with some of the ablest attorneys that Tennessee could 
 then boast. He is reported by his friends of that period to 
 have been singularly industrious in the preparation of his 
 cases, and remarkably clear and forcible in his manner of dis- 
 cussing them in Court. He subsequently located in the town 
 of Lebanon, where he remained cintil about the year 1828, 
 when he removed to the city of Nashville, and was associated 
 in business with the celebrated Felix Grundy, and General 
 Gibbs. He afterwards became one of the Circuit Judges of 
 Tennessee, and, in that responsible position, gave universal 
 satisfaction. He removed to the city of Jackson, in the State 
 of Mississippi, in the year 1839. Being now in affluent cir- 
 cumstances, he seldom appeared in court as an attorney, but 
 I had the honor of occasionally hearing him in the argument 
 of causes of considerable magnitude and difficulty, and can
 
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. Ql 
 
 attest his ability as a jurist, his astuteness and ingenuity as a 
 reasoner, and his remarkable address and plausibility both 
 before courts and juries. Judge Rucks was a man of com- 
 manding person, of most refined and pleasing manners, and 
 of a generous and glowing benevolence, and was, in all the 
 duties of life, as exemplary a person as I have ever known. 
 He was residing quietly on his plantation in the county of 
 Washington, when he heard of the fall of Fort Donelson, in 
 February, 1862; after which, he is reported never to have 
 eaten or slept dying on the fourth day after the reception of 
 this overwhelming intelligence, 
 
 O. B. Hubbard was nearly connected with Judge Rucks, 
 having married his sister. I knew him well as early as the 
 year 1826, in the neighborhood of Tuscumbia, Alabama, 
 where he was occupied in the creditable employment of 
 teacher of a classical school. He was a native of Lincoln 
 county, in the State of Georgia; was reared in the State of 
 Tennessee, where he practiced for many years along the banks 
 of the Cumberland, in connection with a well-known attorney, 
 William McClain, Esq., and, in 1839, removed to the town of 
 Canton, Mississippi, where he is still most respectfully and 
 affectionately remembered. Mr. Hubbard was profoundly ac- 
 quainted with the ancient languages, Latin, Greek, and He- 
 brew; had thoroughly mastered the science of law, and was 
 a very sensible and pleasing speaker. He left behind him 
 when he died, in 1844, a spotless reputation for integrity and 
 all the domestic and social virtues, and' his untimely decease 
 awakened feelings of painful regret among his numerous 
 friends and acquaintances both in Mississippi and Tennessee. 
 
 In January, 1831, it chanced that I had temporary charge 
 of a newspaper of some standing and circulation then pub- 
 lished in the city of Vicksburg. Having occasion one morn- 
 ing to visit the printing office from which this paper issued, I 
 was unexpectedly accosted by a young gentleman of most 
 modest and prepossessing manners, who was at the time in 
 his shirt-sleeves, and had been evidently the moment before 
 engaged in setting type for the newspaper. He held out to 
 me a neatly written communication which he desired me to>
 
 -Q2 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 read. I did so at once, and found tliat it purported to have 
 been written by a practical printer, and was designed to vin- 
 dicate the dignity of his calling. The writer very touchingly 
 complained that persons engaged in mechanical pursuits were 
 not received upon terms of social equality in Vicksburg, which 
 the writer regarded as a discreditable thing and worthy of the 
 most marked censure, evincing, as he conceived, the preva- 
 lence of an aristocratic spirit in the community wholly un- 
 suited to republican institutions. I do not believe that 
 Franklin himself, on the memorable day of his first arrival in 
 the renowned Quaker City, when, as he describes himself, he 
 was leisurely sauntering along Market street devouring a roll 
 of bread which he had just purchased even under the inspira- 
 tion of his future wife, Miss Read, whom he saw that day for 
 the first time could have drawn up a more touching, decorous, 
 and manly defence of that respectable class of artisans among 
 whom he had cast his lot, than this interesting young stranger 
 now tendered for publication in the columns of the newspaper 
 of which I was for the moment the magister. Deeply inter- 
 ested with the vigorously penned article thus submitted for 
 my examination, I lost no time in expressing my willingness 
 that it should appear in the newspaper of next morning, and 
 it gave me pleasure to accompany it with some laudatory 
 comments such as I judged suitable and deserved. On en- 
 quiring who this young man was with whom I had thus 
 informally come in contact, I found that he was a member of 
 a highly reputable family in Tennessee; that though then not 
 more than twenty years of age, he had already acquired some 
 reputation as a political writer in the Western District, as it 
 was then called, and that he was there part-owner of a news- 
 paper with another young gentleman by the name of Zolli- 
 coffer, in whose hands he had left the management of their 
 joint concerns during his absence for a few weeks. This en- 
 terprising young man was the now famous Amos R. Johnston, 
 for many years past, one of the most distinguished members 
 of the bar of Mississippi. The Zollicoffer referred to was no 
 other than the celebrated General Zollicoffer, for many years 
 the editor of the leading Whig journal in the city of Nashville,
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 9$ 
 
 afterwards a prominent member of the House of Representa- 
 tives in Congress, and one of the first victims of the late un- 
 happy civil war. Amos R. Johnston, a few months after I 
 first saw him, was the editor of an able and influential news- 
 paper in the interior of Mississippi, subsequently read law,, 
 and obtained a license to practice. He has, at different times,, 
 held a number of important civil offices in Mississippi, and is 
 now, I learn, a member of the State Legislature. It has been 
 my fortune to see much of this accomplished gentleman in 
 the contests of the forum, and never without receiving con- 
 stantly renewed evidences of his intellectual strength, his 
 skill and adroitness in discussion, and his high-bred courtesy 
 in social intercourse. A more upright, patriotic, and thorough- 
 ly trustworthy personage is not to be found upon the roll of 
 attorneys in any State of the Union. 
 
 Judge Johnston was many years ago concerned in the de- 
 fence of a young man charged with murder, in which I had 
 the honor to be associated with him. The killing had been 
 productive of intense local excitement, and it was deemed 
 most judicious not to bring on a trial of it immediately. The 
 young man was detained in prison several years, during which 
 period a somewhat curious event had occurred. A peach- 
 stone accidentally cast from the window of his cell had germ- 
 inated and grown into a tree large enough for the prisoner to 
 pluck ripe fruit from its branches a few weeks previous to his 
 release from incarceration. Having heard of no correspond- 
 ing instance, I have thought proper here to advert to the 
 particulars just mentioned. 
 
 It has now been some forty-two or more years since the 
 dangerous and absurd dogma of nullification first erected its 
 Gorgon crest in South Carolina ; from which state its baleful 
 influence quickly diffused itself over many of the slave-hold- 
 ing states of the South and Southwest. Various attempts 
 were made by the enthusiastic devotees of this plausible but 
 most deleterious heresy, through newspapers, popular meet- 
 ings, state conventions, &c., to build up a nullification faction 
 in the State ot Mississippi. It is a remarkable fact that 
 several of the most zealous and effective propagators of the
 
 94 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 extreme State Rights creed were natives of Northern states. 
 The good people of Mississippi in general, at the period re- 
 ferred to, showed little disposition to engage in chimerical 
 projects of any kind, or to do aught to enfeeble the ties that 
 bound them to their fellow citizens of other states. It was 
 in the spring of 1833 that I had occasion to visit, as an attor- 
 ney, the little village of Brandon, distant from Jackson, the 
 capital of the state, about ten miles. A Circuit Court was 
 about to be held, where I had a case or two pending. On 
 reaching the hotel where I usually sought entertainment, 
 having descended from my horse, I proceeded to the bar room 
 for the purpose of registering my name and depositing my 
 saddlebags. There I saw a young man in attendance, officiat- 
 ing as bar-keeper, who accosted me by name and seemed to be 
 really pleased at my arrival. He was clad in most homely 
 vestments, wearing a coarse green baize round-jacket and 
 trousers and waistcoat to match. This individual was of 
 -ordinary stature, of good physical proportions, having a 
 bright and genial face, and would have been pronounced 
 handsome anywhere. He was smoking a cigar, apparently 
 with much gusto, and was the very personification of cheer- 
 ful and contented repose. On asking his name, he told me 
 it was John N. Drake, and that I had been introduced to him 
 in the town of Clinton, a month or two before, by a valued 
 friend of mine. I then remembered him very well, and en- 
 quired how he had been since I saw him last. He answered 
 that his health had never been better, but that he had in- 
 curred, since I met him in Clinton, some rather severe pecun- 
 iary calamities. His explanation of these may be thus 
 summed up: He had brought a considerable number of 
 family negroes with him to Mississippi, from Tennessee, his 
 native state, whom, on arriving in Clinton, he had been ad- 
 vised to take with him to the sugar region of Louisiana. He 
 had, accordingly, proceeded with them to New Orleans, 
 where he concluded to dispose of them. He had then been 
 enticed to the gambling houses of that city, where he had 
 lost every dollar that he had in the world. He disposed 
 of all his usual wearing apparel in order to obtain the means
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 95 
 
 >f getting back to Tennessee, and, with a portion of the pro- 
 ceeds of this sale had supplied himself with the garments 
 which he was then wearing. Every cent of the remainder 
 thereof had been spent by him in journeying from New 
 Orleans to Brandon. There he had sought temporary em- 
 ployment in the hotel where I found him, until something 
 should " turn up in his favor." 
 
 Deeply distressed by this tale of woes, I felt much desire 
 to do something to rescue a young person of so many at- 
 tractive qualities from the fate to which he seemed to be 
 hurrying ; and having been invited to take supper that even- 
 ing at the house of a mercantile friend, I made it my business 
 to bring this unfortunate 'case to his notice. From him I 
 learned the following interesting facts. A debating society 
 existed in the village of Brandon, which was in general at- 
 tended by many of the citizens. At one of the recent meet- 
 ings of the society, Major Drake had delivered a speech of 
 such extraordinary eloquence that the whole community was 
 now resounding with his praises, and all were anticipating 
 for him great fame as an orator. I went to see him immedi- 
 ately, and enquired as to his politics. He avowed himself to 
 be a zealous democrat and a warm supporter of the Federal 
 Union. I then made known to him that a Nullification meet- 
 ing was to be held the next day in the court-house, during 
 the recess of the court, at the dinner hour, and I wished him 
 to attend it for the purpose of aiding in the counteraction of 
 a movement which I could not but deem fraught with the 
 greatest mischief. He made no objection to coming to the 
 meeting and addressing it, except on the ground of his shabby 
 habiliments. But being persuaded that these would at least 
 not operate to his disadvantage, but, perhaps, somewhat deepen 
 the surprise which his speech was expected to produce, and 
 thus add to its effect, he at length consented to be on hand 
 at the proposed time and place. 
 
 The next day, according to appointment, when the court 
 adjourned for dinner, the sheriff proclaimed at the door of 
 the court-house that a State Rights meeting was about to 
 come off, and in rushed a most tumultuous throng to witness
 
 96 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 such a proceeding as up to that moment had never occurred in 
 that particular locality. The meeting was called to order, and 
 duly organized, and the gentleman who it was understood 
 was to take a leading part in the discussions of the hour, rose 
 to his feet and talked very furiously for a long time, closing 
 with the presentation of resolutions of the genuine South Caro- 
 lina type. The speech was apparently very well received, and a 
 vote was about to be taken upon the resolutions, when sud- 
 denly rose to view my friend of the green baize round jacket, 
 and announced his wish to utter a few words in opposition to 
 the resolutions. He commenced in quite a solemn and formal 
 manner, and uttered one of the most beautiful and impressive 
 exordiums I ever listened to. He then entered upon the dis- 
 cussion of the great constitutional question involved, and 
 evinced a most thorough acquaintance with all the leading 
 topics appertaining thereto, as well as with the then existing 
 state of political parties. He dwelt upon the value of the 
 Federal Union, quoting freely from Jackson's proclamation,, 
 which had a short time before been promulged, and most im- 
 pressively depicted the sufferings which must attend upon 
 a civil war, which he deemed to be then plainly menaced. 
 His peroration was full of patriotic enthusiasm and con- 
 tained a thrilling and felicitous eulogy upon General Jack- 
 son, whose numerous battles he specified by name. Hav- 
 ing learned that many of the old soldiers of Jackson were 
 then present, he appealed to them most earnestly, not to> 
 abandon their venerated leader in arms, in this, his most 
 difficult and perilous struggle to save his loved country from 
 dishonor and ruin. 
 
 It is almost useless to say that after such a speech as this, 
 there was no possibility of passing the nullifying resolutions. 
 The meeting soon broke up in confusion, and the judge just 
 then returning from his dinner, the court resumed its business. 
 
 As soon as this important result had been attained, I went 
 to Major Drake, thanked him for his noble and successful 
 effort, and said to him : " Now, sir, your fortune is made,, 
 if you choose to gather the harvest of renown and emolu- 
 ment which is spread out before you. The victory which you
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. p/ 
 
 have just achieved will make you known, and favorably 
 known, to all Mississippi. Such oratorical powers as you 
 have displayed should by no means be withheld from the 
 forum. I propose to you to become at once a member of the 
 bar. I will hand you a short list of law-books which I would 
 urge you to read without delay. In regard to obtaining a 
 license to practice, I will see that this shall cost you no diffi- 
 culty. I learn that the district attorneyship in this district is 
 now vacant. Announce youself at once as a candidate for 
 this position. Your speech of to-day will ensure your elec- 
 tion, if followed up by one or two addresses of similar vigor 
 in the other counties of the district." He promptly consented 
 to act upon my advice, was a candidate and was elected. I 
 procured him a license upon a mere nominal examination, 
 and he afterwards became by far the most efficient criminal 
 prosecutor that this portion of the state had ever known. In 
 two months after the Brandon scene, he was busily occupied 
 in drawing indictments, in counselling grand juries, and speak- 
 ing before petit juries, with a force, ingenuity, and effective- 
 ness which it was, indeed, most gratifying to witness. He 
 never over-acted his part, however, attempted the perversion of 
 the law or evidence, or sought to bring about the conviction 
 of those whom he had not good reason to believe to have 
 been justly accused. On no occasion was he known to dis- 
 play a particle of personal malevolence towards the accused, 
 and I am sure never made an effort to secure a conviction not 
 fully warranted by the evidence adduced. He would have re- 
 garded it as altogether beneath the dignity of the office which 
 he held to seek a verdict not in consonance with the laws of 
 the land and the eternal principles of justice. But all the 
 famed wealth of Golconda could not have bribed him to favor 
 the release of those whom he felt to be guilty, or to relax in the 
 least degree in the performance of the duty assigned him. 
 That in several flagrant and yet well remembered cases, Major 
 Drake exerted himself in the prosecution to the full extent 
 of his abilities, in order to secure such salutary examples of 
 punishment as might " magnify the law and make it honora- 
 ble," need not be denied ; but in cases where he had reason
 
 98 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 to believe the accused to be really innocent of the offence 
 which he was alleged to have committed, he never hesitated a 
 moment to ask of the court to allow the entry of a nolle 
 proseqni. 
 
 Whilst Major Drake was thus acting as District Attorney, 
 many trials occurred of an exceedingly grave and difficult 
 character; and often had he to contend against as able and 
 experienced barristers as the Republic anywhere contained. 
 I am sure that he was never signally worsted in these en- 
 encounters, and that his reputation as an advocate was ever 
 on the increase so long as he continued to hold the position 
 of District Attorney. 
 
 There was one case which arose for trial at this period 
 which seems to me to call for some notice here. 
 
 The inhabitants of the town of Clinton were one morning 
 roused from their accustomed quietude by the intelligence 
 that a murder had been committed during the preceding 
 night, which seemed to be marked with some rather peculiar 
 circumstances. A man of much respectability in the settle- 
 ment a Mr. Hinson was reported to have been slain, about 
 the hour of midnight, by one of his slaves. This gentleman 
 had enjoined the slave a negro man not to intermarry with 
 any female who did not live upon his own farm. He had ex- 
 pressed a particular objection to his marrying any resident of 
 the town, for reasons not needful to be here specified. This 
 prohibitory regulation had been set at naught by the man in 
 question, who had formed a connubial union with a mulatto 
 woman belonging to one of the citizens of Clinton, and was in 
 the habit of coming to town at night in order to enjoy her so- 
 ciety. The master, becoming apprised of these facts, deter- 
 mined to make an example of him. He accordingly came 
 into Clinton about midnight, called loudly for the boy at the 
 door of the cottage where he was lying in bed, and, attended 
 by a single resolute friend, broke into the house for the pur- 
 pose of arresting this second Sampson in the arms of his 
 modern Delilah. As he advanced, in the dark, towards the 
 bed, the negro man leaped therefrom, armed with a sharp 
 knife, and cut the intruder upon his pleasures literally in
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 99 
 
 pieces. Moving then towards the door, he encountered Hin- 
 son's auxiliary, and inflicted several terrible gashes also upon 
 him. He then made his exit, and fled beyond the limits of 
 the town to some forest-grounds adjacent, where he sought 
 refuge. 
 
 Daylight broke upon a most horrific scene. Hinson was 
 now dead, and his friend in a most helpless and suffering con- 
 dition. A number of the young men of the town, in the 
 progress of the morning, set out in quest of the murderer, 
 who for a long time evaded the pursuit, and when discovered 
 seemed resolved to resist all attempts to apprehend him. He 
 was fired upon by the pursuing party, wounded in the legs, 
 and so far disabled as to be constrained to surrender. He was 
 then brought back to town, and carried immediately to the 
 room where his master's corpse was lying, and compelled to 
 approach the exanimate body and look upon the horrible 
 wounds which he had inflicted. The wretched creature burst 
 into tears, fell upon his knees by the side of his dead master, 
 and uttered howls of remorseful agony which might have been 
 distinctly heard at the distance of a hundred yards. A more 
 distressful spectacle could hardly be imagined. 
 
 Meanwhile the excitement awakened by this occurrence in 
 town had become most intense. Preparations had been actu- 
 ally made for the public execution of the offender, and a huge 
 pile of wood had been deposited in one of the principal streets 
 upon which it was designed to burn him alive. So soon as I 
 learned of these facts, I determined to interpose for the pre- 
 vention of a deed of atrocity which I felt would be a great 
 disgrace to the community, and from which no good whatever 
 could possibly arise. On approaching the multitude assembled 
 for the purpose of participating in or witnessing this monstrous 
 violation of the law of the land and of public decency, I 
 mounted an empty goods-box lying on the streetside, and 
 delivered a short address, and, among other things, informed 
 the crowd that I had been employed by the family of the de- 
 ceased to aid in prosecuting their intended victim in the Cir- 
 cuit Court of the county, and that as the community had the 
 good fortune to have an able and faithful District Attorney,
 
 IOO BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 there was no reason to doubt that the culprit would be in a 
 few weeks brought to justice. More easily than I had antici- 
 pated, those whom I addressed consented to forego their 
 scheme of vengeance, and the accused was quietly conveyed 
 to the county jail, where he remained until a trial of his case 
 could be had. 
 
 When the trial came on, it was found that some explanation 
 of the particulars connected with the act of killing would be 
 more conveniently explained by the wife of the prisoner than 
 in any other way, and therefore she was examined as a wit- 
 ness. At the time of this trial, marriages, such as were cus- 
 tomary among slaves, were not so clearly recognized by the 
 judicial tribunals as to make her evidence incompetent. Her 
 demeanor in court was marked with much trepidation and 
 anxiety; and she was observed to cast many a look of sympa- 
 thizing solicitude towards the prisoner, who all the while ex- 
 hibited a stern and unbroken composure. When questions 
 were propounded of a nature clearly calculated to develop 
 facts unfavorable to the accused, she would weep profusely 
 before responding thereto, and when she did so she seemed to 
 do it almost to the relinquishment of her own vitality. When 
 the testimony had all been adduced, and the summing up 
 commenced, the prisoner still remained calm and unmoved, 
 whilst his wife seemed ready to fall into convulsions. The 
 jury retired, and in a very few moments brought in a verdict 
 of guilty. Never did Major Drake acquit himself more nobly, 
 and the speech which he made was on all sides most warmly 
 commended. The court adjourned'for dinner, leaving the pris- 
 oner in the box, in care of the sheriff, until the judge should re- 
 turn and pass sentence. During this interval I lingered in 
 the court-house, and beheld a scene which I can never forget. 
 The prisoner sat quietly in the same place which he had occu- 
 pied during the trial. He was perfectly erect, and seemed not 
 in the least degree discomposed. Considering his very dark 
 complexion and the fact that he had always been in servitude, 
 and had therefore been cut off from all opportunities of moral 
 and intellectual training, the dignity of his aspect and the 
 decorous gravity of his whole bearing on this trying occasion
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. IOI 
 
 could not fail to impress all present very deeply. Presently I 
 saw the prisoner beckon to his wife, who was standing not far 
 distant from him, to approach more nearly. She did so; when 
 he leaned forward gently, and in hoarse and guttural accents 
 said: "Can you not come and see me once before I die?" 
 "I will if my master will let me." "Who is your present 
 master?" I enquired; for I had learned that her former owner 
 had sold her, after the commission of the murder. She an- 
 swered, "Squire Garner." Knowing this gentleman well, and 
 seeing him to be in the court-house, not far distant, I asked 
 him, in quite an audible voice, to give his consent to this last 
 interview between husband and wife. Though an eminently 
 humane man, he hesitated for a second or two, evidently 
 fearing to give his sanction to what might possibly lead to a 
 still further demoralization of this unhappy female. During 
 this brief period of delay, the eyes of the woman were fixed 
 upon him with a most intense and anxious expression. She 
 was evidently in the deepest agony of soul ; and the afflicted 
 and tortured spirit operating upon a nervous and enfeebled 
 physical system, a spectacle was presented to the view that a 
 painter might have delighted to portray. The blood poured in 
 torrents from both nostrils ! The effect of this display was in- 
 stantaneous: Squire Garner at once agreed to grant the boon 
 thus implored. Viewing these signs' of devoted affection 
 on the part of this apparently deeply distressed woman, the 
 beautiful lines of the poet naturally arose in my memory: 
 
 " Come rest in this bosom, my own stricken deer, 
 Though the herd have fled from thee, thy home is still here ; 
 I know not, I ask not, if guilt 's in thy heart, 
 I but know that I love thee, whatever thou art !" 
 
 A few weeks only elapsed before the convict expiated upon 
 the scaffold the enormous crime which he was accused of hav- 
 ing perpetrated. A vast multitude was in attendance on this 
 occasion, of all classes, colors, and conditions. Among others 
 the bereaved wife came to behold the taking away of the life 
 of one who had been to her a source of so much solicitude 
 and of so much domestic beatitude. She came not in mourn- 
 ing weeds ; she came not shedding tears of nuptial commiser-
 
 IO2 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ation, and refusing to be comforted. She came not alone, with 
 tremulous step and heart-breaking agony. But she came 
 dressed forth in gay habiliments ; with elastic step and hope- 
 gilded visage; and attended by one who so soon as this curi- 
 ous hanging-scene should be over, was to supply the place of 
 him whom she was about to lose forever ; thus exemplifying 
 in a manner not at all honorable to human nature or to the 
 attributes of womanhood, the melancholy truth that many of 
 our strongest emotions, and even of our most tempestuous 
 passions, are as fleeting and transient as the morning-dew 
 upon the grass of mid-summer, or the bubble upon the swift- 
 running stream of winter. A less ardent admirer of the 
 female sex than I am might be almost tempted to exclaim 
 that the heart of womanhood hath mysteries that neither 
 philosophers have yet penetrated, nor bard, nor novelist de- 
 picted. 
 
 I first saw William Vannerson in the year 1830. He was 
 then a white-haired gentleman, and was supposed to be about 
 fifty years of age; though his physical sprightliness and vigor 
 seemed not to be at all impaired. He was full of hope and 
 animation, and he appeared to take the greatest delight 
 in the oratorial exercitations of the bar. He had devoted his 
 attention almost exclusively to the defence of persons charged 
 with infractions of the criminal law. He had much felicity 
 of speech ; was much noted for his powers of ridicule, and on 
 some occasions showed considerable capacity for awaken- 
 ing the tender emotions of the soul. His early education 
 was imperfect, nor had he supplied his deficiency in this re- 
 spect by extensive reading of a kind best adapted to improve 
 and expand his intellectual faculties. He was never a well- 
 read lawyer, and I suppose that he had seldom, if ever, filed 
 a bill in Chancery, or argued a case of much difficulty on the 
 civil side of the docket in common law courts. He was, when 
 I first met him, practicing his profession very actively in the 
 City of Natchez. He subsequently located in the town of 
 Monticello, and attended for many years some dozen or more 
 courts in what was known as the Piney- woods portion of 
 Mississippi. He had extraordinary tact in securing employ-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. IO3 
 
 ment in cases of the kind best suited to his taste, and had the 
 reputation of being quite successful. When he did not deem 
 it altogether safe to go to trial, he showed wonderful address 
 in obtaining a continuance, and it is related of him that on one 
 occasion an astute and learned judge, who is yet living, when 
 Vannerson applied for continuance, after hesitating for a few 
 minutes whether he would accede to his wish, on Vanner- 
 son's announcing his intention to draw up an affidavit in sup- 
 port of his application, hesitated no longer, saying: "Oh! 
 Mr. Vannerson if you are going to draw up an affidavit, the 
 continuance which you ask will be at once granted." 
 
 Mr. Vannerson died only a year or two since, and I am 
 told, that when in extremis, he confessed to being one hun- 
 dred and nine years old. Vannerson was very remarkable for 
 the hopefulness of his temper, his ambition for distinction as a 
 forensic advocate, his genial habits, and his multitudinous 
 stock of personal anecdotes, all of them of a ludicrous cast, 
 and some bordering upon obscenity. He had not a slight 
 alloy of egotism ; but it was always of an inoffensive character, 
 not at all implying envy of others, or a desire to enhance his 
 own personal consequence by detracting from those with whom 
 he was thrown into collision. Thinking very highly of his 
 own powers as a speaker, he assumed the soubriquet, some 
 forty years ago, of the "Napoleon of the bar;" and his asso- 
 ciates were kind enough often to allude to him by that high- 
 sounding title, and especially when he was himself present. 
 One of the last occasions on which I remember him to have 
 appeared in the City of Jackson was before a Court of Inquiry 
 composed of several justices of the peace, in a case of alleged 
 murder. He reached the place of examination after one or 
 two witnesses had testified, and, on taking his seat, and look- 
 ing around him to see what adversary he would have to en- 
 counter, he deliberately wrote on a piece of paper, which he 
 handed to the opposing lawyer, these words : " The Napoleon 
 of the bar has indeed arrived, but he regrets to find that he is 
 to meet a Wellington." The gentleman thus addressed, scrib- 
 bled on the same paper in response: " Napoleon is not in the 
 smallest danger of a Waterloo defeat, as it is not possible that
 
 IO4 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 a Blucher, with his fierce Prussian troops, will appear upon 
 the field of battle." 
 
 Mr. Vannerson, though married twice, had no children ; but 
 General Allen, who was killed by Colonel -A. K. McClung in 
 a duel about forty-two or three years ago, was his stepson, to 
 whom he was most tenderly attached. It chanced that I saw 
 him not long after this lamentable affair gccurred, and I re- 
 member him to have manifested the deepest distress over the 
 decease of one so dear to him. I knew both of these com- 
 batants well, and can testify to their being both of them young 
 men of the richest intellectual promise, and of the most un- 
 doubted gallantry. Each of them was just entering upon the 
 practice of the law, and their respective friends were specula- 
 ting very favorably as to their future career. 
 
 Of Colonel Alexander K. McClung I have spoken else- 
 where with some minuteness. But I am not at liberty to leave 
 him out of the list of distinguished attorneys who formerly 
 adorned the bar of Mississippi. He never enjoyed a large 
 and lucrative practice at the bar, for which only one good 
 reason could be assigned he never devoted himself arduously 
 to his chosen profession. He had read many works of science 
 and general literature, but he had never looked into many law 
 books. With the elementary principles of jurisprudence he 
 was thoroughly conversant, and no man delighted more than 
 he did in reading, or in listening to the oral enunciation of, a 
 profound, ingenious and lucid legal argument. The ordinary 
 questions of meiim and tuum had no charms for his proud and 
 soaring intellect. His argumentative powers, when fully 
 brought forth, were such as to awaken the highest admiration. 
 Had he been able to endure the viginti annorum lucubrationes 
 (as Blackstone calls them), there is no knowing the height of 
 celebrity which he would have been capable of attaining. 
 Many likened his intellect to that of his illustrious uncle, 
 Chief Justice Marshall; and his eulogy upon the life and 
 character of Henry Clay, which I had the pleasure of listening 
 to in the State House at Jackson, will compare favorably with 
 any of the numerous eulogies delivered upon the renowned 
 orator and statesman of Kentucky, which his lamented decease
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. IO5 
 
 evoked. Growing tired of life, he died by his own hand, a 
 few years subsequent to this his latest great intellectual 
 achievement. 
 
 John M. Chilton was a native of Virginia, and belonged to 
 a family connection, there resident, of the highest respecta- 
 bility. He was a sound and well-informed lawyer, an easy 
 and forcible speaker, and was for some years engaged in a 
 very profitable practice in the State of Mississippi. He after- 
 wards removed to New Orleans, where he did not long sur- 
 vive. 
 
 Nicholas Coleman was born in Kentucky, and represented 
 one of the congressional districts of that State when he was 
 not yet thirty years of age. He afterwards removed to Vicks- 
 burg, where for many years he was much respected as a law- 
 yer, and universally beloved in social life. He was a person 
 of amiable temper, of refined and gentlemanly manners, and 
 maintained, during his whole career at the bar, a most credit- 
 able standing. 
 
 Beverly Hughes was a native of Virginia. He located very 
 early in life in Huntsville, Alabama. Here he was quite suc- 
 cessful in the accumulation of business as a lawyer, and ac- 
 quired much general popularity. He was a member of the 
 convention which framed the Constitution of Alabama, and 
 sustained in that body, marked as it was for ability, a highly 
 creditable rank. He afterwards removed to Vicksburg, where 
 he died about a half century since. 
 
 When Mr. Hughes died he was in partnership with a Mr. 
 Hinman, whom I once knew very well, but whose Christian 
 name has now escaped my memory. Mr. Hinman was a 
 native of New England, had there received a thorough educa- 
 tion, and enjoyed much reputation at one time in Mississippi, 
 both as a cogent and polished speaker and a pointed and 
 vigorous writer. He was a man of most genial disposition, of 
 great vivacity of temperament, and of an amiable and sym- 
 pathizing heart. It is painful to be compelled to add that 
 he died a victim to intemperance. I cannot say that I 
 ever saw him absolutely sober, nor do I believe that I ever 
 met with him when he was so stupefied by strong drink as to be
 
 IO6 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 wholly unfit for rational conversation. He was for some years 
 an object of general commiseration on the part of his brethren, 
 of the bar, to all of whom he had ever been kind and obliging. 
 
 During the last years of Mr. Hinman's life he was profes- 
 sionally associated with a gentleman whom I had familiarly 
 known from a child. William B. Redd was a native of Vir- 
 ginia, and had at no time received the advantages of a classical 
 education. He wandered forth from the bosom of the "Ancient 
 Dominion" before he was fully grown to manhood. Where 
 he read law I never knew, but he had never fully mastered his 
 profession. He had evidently never devoted himself very 
 closely to the study of any branch of science. He was one of 
 the handsomest men I ever saw, being of majestic height, of 
 well-shaped bust and limbs, and being blest with a face every 
 feature of which was calculated to charm the gentler sex. His 
 eyes were large and of dazzling brightness; his forehead was 
 of noble expansion and without a furrow, and he had a profu- 
 sion of dark chestnut hair which it was most charming to look 
 upon. His voice was of the most exquisite sweetness of into- 
 nation, and his physical movements were replete with grace 
 and impressiveness. He had not the least turn for argument 
 of any kind, and I never knew him even to attempt it. He 
 sometimes was not a little pathetic at the bar in cases admit- 
 ting of it, and he, on one or two occasions, was said to have 
 delivered popular harangues not a little pleasing to those 
 whom they were intended to impress. He was much devoted 
 to genial companionship, and was unhappy enough to outlive 
 his reputation as a speaker. I never saw him angry in my 
 life; he was wholly devoid of envy and all illiberal feeling, and 
 I am satisfied that there was not a human being known to him 
 whom he would not willingly have aided and comforted so 
 far as that was in his power. 
 
 Buckner C. Harris was born in the State of Georgia, and 
 belonged to a family connection unusually prolific in abilities 
 such as conduce most to the acquisition of personal popularity 
 and high social rank. Whilst he remained in the State of 
 Mississippi he was located in the county of Copiah, where he 
 was for many years the acknowledged head of the bar. As a
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. IO/ 
 
 Circuit Judge he was much respected, and he would probably 
 have reached higher official positions in Mississippi than it 
 was his fortune to attain, had he not removed, more than 
 twenty years ago, to the State of Texas. 
 
 I recollect an anecdote I once heard from him, which I 
 shall here take the liberty of reciting. Judge Harris' judi- 
 cial district embraced the county of Simpson, of which West- 
 ville was the seat of justice. Here there were several little 
 taverns where plain accommodations were afforded to such 
 as might choose to apply for the same. A man had recently 
 gotten possession of one of these establishments, and very 
 naturally desired to obtain as large a share of the public pat- 
 ronage as he could. A term of the Circuit Court was to com- 
 mence in a few days. So mine host availed himself of his 
 ability to write legibly by addressing a letter to the Judge, 
 urging him, when he should come to Westville, to give his 
 hotel a trial, and to bring in his company all the attorneys he 
 could, promising very precisely to do all in his power to ac- 
 commodate them satisfactorily. The Judge, painfully re- 
 membering that he had never had any but the most uncom- 
 fortable quarters in Westville on former occasions, when 
 holding Court there, readily closed with the proposal, and 
 reached the hotel in question on a bright Sunday evening. 
 He asked to be shown the room he was to occupy, and learn- 
 ing the number thereof, he proceeded to it without delay. 
 On reaching the door of the room and opening it, he found a 
 gentleman and lady in it, and immediately returned and asked 
 to be shown another room. Some little delay occurred before 
 this was done, and when he reached the second room he found 
 that also occupied. He then came back to the bar and rather 
 indignantly addressed the host upon this irritating subject, 
 saying to him: "Pray, sir, are you keeping a bawdy-house? 
 I found the first room you directed me to occupy already in 
 possession of a man and woman the latter of whom I under- 
 stand to be your wife who were lying together upon the bed. 
 On opening the door of the second room, I found the same 
 woman lying on the bed there, but attended by another man.. 
 I wish to know what all this means." " My dear Judge," ex-
 
 IO8 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 claimed the good-natured tavern-keeper, "I beg you will be 
 composed. It is not possible that I can for the present say a 
 single word concerning the matter of which you complain. 
 You see, my dear Judge, I am a candidate for constable in 
 this beat, and very hard run for votes. Were I to make any 
 parade of my wrongs before the election shall have occurred, 
 I should inevitably be beaten. The election will come off to- 
 morrow, after which I promise you that there shall be no 
 similar cause of complaint." 
 
 Judge Harris was still a resident of the county of Copiah 
 when I had the honor to be invited thither some time in the 
 year 1839, for the purpose of taking part in the trial of a case 
 of alleged murder. It was then that I first saw a nephew of his 
 who has attained great distinction both as a lawyer and states- 
 man. Wiley P. Harris, who has so long held a high rank at 
 the Mississippi bar for eloquence, learning, and argumentative 
 power, was at the period referred to about twenty-one years 
 of age. I was much impressed by his modesty of aspect and 
 demeanor, his bright and hopeful face, and his elegant and be- 
 coming costume. He made a speech on this occasion which 
 would have established his reputation at any bar in America, 
 and awakened expectations of future fame and eminence 
 which it is no flattery to say have been fully realized. Mr. 
 Harris delivered several Speeches in the Congress of the 
 Union, a year or two before the late unhappy civil war, which 
 .are yet spoken of in terms of warm commendation. A man 
 of his commanding abilities and extended influence has a most 
 favorable opportunity opened to him in the state where he has 
 so long resided, of reconciling conflicting factions, and restor- 
 ing general concord and brotherhood in the bosom of a much 
 distracted and deeply suffering commonwealth. 
 
 George Winchester is a name' which is doubtless yet familiar 
 in Mississippi. He was born in one of the New England 
 States, and presented all the indications of having been well 
 derived, and of having been carefully trained and brought up 
 in the best society. His knowledge of the ancient classic 
 writers was far from being superficial, and what he had learned 
 .at school, his tenacious memory retained even in old age.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 For many years, he maintained a high reputation for legal 
 learning, and his assiduity in the performance of professional 
 duties knew little relaxation whilst I had intercourse with him. 
 He was not an orator; but he spoke always in refined and 
 polished language, and with impressive kindness and urbanity. 
 I do not suppose that a single word of personal incivility, or 
 of coarse revilement, ever passed his lips at the bar. His 
 mind was more subtle than vigorous; more elastic in its move- 
 ments, than profound in its explorations. He was much given 
 to the drawing of overnice distinctions, and sometimes wearied 
 the court with the tedious and elaborate discussion of matters 
 altogether of subordinate importance, scarcely deserving to be 
 passingly alluded to. I remember that when on one occasion 
 the Supreme Court decided a case in his favor which had been 
 for many years pending, and in which a considerable amount 
 was involved, Judge Winchester complained most vehemently,, 
 not of the result, of course, but of the reasons given by their 
 honors for the conclusion at which their minds had arrived. 
 
 Judge Winchester never married, and had many of the 
 eccentricities commonly attributed to protracted celibacy in 
 either sex ; but a more honest, benevolent, and patriotic man 
 has perhaps never lived. 
 
 To the State of Kentucky Richard H. Webber owed his 
 birth. His professional career was commenced in what was 
 known as the Piney-woods portion of the State of Mississippi. 
 His figure was ungainly; his manners were marked with awk- 
 wardness to a degree very uncommon, and almost ludicrous ; 
 in his dress he was not only untasteful but even slovenly. His 
 heart was full of kindness and his animal spirits were exuber- 
 ant. He was passionately fond of conversation, and delighted 
 much in forensic argument. He was deeply read in his pro- 
 fession, but had scarcely read anything else. He never at- 
 tempted eloquence. A more astute and logical mind than he 
 possessed is difficult to be conceived of, and I have heard ar- 
 guments from his lips that would have done no discredit to 
 any lawyer living or dead. His genial temper very often in- 
 volved him in excesses which it was painful to witness; but I 
 never knew his bright and active intellect entirely overwhelmed
 
 IIO BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 by that direst of all enemies to intellectual pre-eminence 
 Alcoliol. I recollect on one occasion the occurrence of an 
 amusing scene between Colonel Webber and one of his brother 
 attorneys, which may be regarded as more or less illus- 
 trative of character. Webber had been imbibing very freely ; 
 when an important case of his was called, which stood on de- 
 murrer. The opposing attorney was in a similarly awkward 
 fix ; and the latter labored under an additional disqualification 
 of which he was profoundly conscious : unlike Webber, whose 
 mind was capable of resisting the ravages of liquor upon his 
 intellectual faculties, this unfortunate gentleman when in liquor 
 uniformly lost his mental equipoise and was rendered utterly 
 unfit for everything like logical digladiation. He, therefore, 
 rose and asked of the court, in tremulous accents and with 
 most forlorn expression of countenance, that the case just 
 called might be passed by for the present, he being exceed- 
 ingly indisposed. Webber well understanding the shrewd 
 policy of the adversary, and eager to bring on the contest 
 without delay, rose and addressed his honor somewhat in the 
 following manner : " May it please the court : I really regret 
 to learn that my worthy brother is indisposed, and I should 
 not insist upon arguing this case at the present moment, but 
 for the fact that I am suffering from indisposition also of the 
 self-same kind, and do not know when I shall get better; so 
 that as the gentleman and myself are in precisely the same 
 fix,, and both of us chance to be now in court as it is possi- 
 ble we may not be on any future occasion when the case shall 
 be again called I should prefer going on with the argument 
 at once." His Honor, fully appreciating the state of affairs 
 between these two distinguished attorneys, and quite relishing 
 the joke, decided to hear them at once. It is almost needless 
 to say that Webber won an easy victory, at least so far as the 
 argument was concerned. What was the final decision of the 
 court though upon the question involved, I did not learn. 
 
 John W. C. Watson was born in Virginia, and had estab- 
 lished a high reputation there as a lawyer before his removal to 
 the State of Mississippi. On locating at Holly Springs, in the 
 northern part of the state, he very soon secured that rank at
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. Ill 
 
 the bar which he has ever since continued to hold. He is 
 undoubtedly one of the best informed attorneys that ever left 
 Virginia for the great West, is a smooth and graceful speaker, 
 ctear, animated and forcible. He has been long renowned for 
 his professional industry, his pure and unbending integrity, 
 and his exemption from all the fashionable immoralities of the 
 age. A purer exemplar of all that is becoming and honorable 
 in the forensic character, no portion of our country has ever 
 presented to the view of mankind. 
 
 With the celebrated Roger Barton, who, for more than 
 twenty years, sustained an almost unequalled reputation in the 
 courts of Mississippi as an advocate in criminal causes, I en- 
 joyed a familiar acquaintance as early as the year 1829. He 
 was undoubtedly both a brilliant and a forcible speaker, and 
 as a judicious and adroit manager of that class of causes to 
 which he principally devoted himself, has left behind him a 
 reputation such as few attorneys have been able to acquire. 
 He was just about removing to the State of California, (as I 
 chance to know from a letter of his addressed to myself) 
 when he suddenly departed this life, to the deep regret of his 
 numerous friends and admirers. Mr. Barton was born in 
 East Tennessee, and is reported to have been quite a near 
 relative of the famous Missouri senator of the same name, the 
 colleague of Mr. Benton, and so familiarly known twenty 
 years ago, as the " Little Red" This last-named gentleman 
 was one of the most vivacious, witty, bitterly sarcastic, and 
 glowingly eloquent speakers that the Mississippi Valley has 
 ever sent to the council-hall of the nation. 
 
 Next to Roger Barton, I suppose that General Reuben 
 Davis may be recognized as the most successful defender of 
 criminals in the northern counties of Mississippi; but as this 
 gentleman is yet living and actively concerned in practice, it 
 may be prudent for me not to expatiate here either upon his 
 professional achievements or his many well-known virtues in 
 domestic and social life. 
 
 Some time between 1838 and 1840, if my memory serves 
 me faithfully, Luke Lea, Esq., made his first appearance at
 
 112 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 the Mississippi bar. This gentleman brought with him from 
 Nashville, Tennessee, a high reputation for general intelli- 
 gence and amiability of manners. He was found to improve 
 much upon acquaintance, and soon attained a most respecta- 
 ble standing at the bar, and a most remarkable personal pop- 
 ularity. I am rejoiced to learn that he is still living and pros- 
 perous, and that he has so demeaned himself for the last ten 
 or fifteen years, under the trying circumstances which have 
 surrounded him, as to command the respect and kindly re- 
 gard of all with whom he has been brought into contact. 
 
 I conclude what I have to say at present upon the Bench 
 and Bar of Mississippi of former days with a few remarks 
 upon a gentleman now occupying an important and responsible 
 position in public life, and of whom much has been said of 
 late, in various forms, both in commendation and in decrial. 
 L. Q. C. Lamar was born in the State of Georgia, and is one 
 of a family connection there well known as alike respectable 
 and influential. Mr. Lamar has had much more experience 
 in connection with public affairs than most men of his years 
 and wheresoever he has appeared he has been able to com- 
 mand general respect and to win his way to the confidence 
 and esteem even of his political adversaries. He is undoubt- 
 edly a man of unswerving integrity and unblemished honor, 
 and presents a most happy blending of high-bred courtesy 
 and manly energy and independence. His literary and scien- 
 tific attainments are of a very high order; he is both a grace- 
 ful and forcible speaker, and among the best informed poli- 
 ticians of the age. His present position in Congress is one 
 of great and peculiar responsibility, and it will require all his 
 acknowledged abilities and tact to equal the expectations of 
 those who are now acting under his leadership. His knowl- 
 edge of law is unquestionable, and his reputation as a forensic 
 advocate is equal to that which he enjoys as a popular ora- 
 tor. The South contains no man at present, who, upon the 
 whole, can be pronounced superior to the subject of this no- 
 tice, in all the qualities which ensure capacity for public use- 
 fulness and lasting renown. Thus much have I felt justified
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 113 
 
 in saying in reference to a gentleman with whom I have been 
 at no time in full political acco'rd upon the many grave public 
 questions which have risen for solution in the last twenty- 
 five years ; but for whose manliness, affability, and unbending 
 sense of justice I have ever cherished a profound regard.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Early History of Tennessee. Civil Troubles General Remarks upon the Origin of 
 Society and Government. Quotation from Cicero. Knoxville Bar. Hugh L. White. 
 Andrew Jackson. Judge White's Death, and Public Notices thereof. Judge 
 Reese. William C. Preston. John Bell. Judge White's Vindication of East Ten- 
 nessee. State of Franklin Humorous Anecdote Andrew Jackson as a Lawyer 
 and Judge. John Overton. John Haywood. William L. Brown. Henry Crabb. 
 Henry Crabb, Jr.; his tragic fate. 
 
 The judicial functionaries and the members of the bar who 
 in former days were connected with the administration of jus- 
 tice in the great and populous State of Tennessee have received 
 far less particular attention heretofore than I should be glad to 
 bestow upon them. It is confidently believed that no other 
 State west of the Alleghany mountains has supplied richer and 
 more varied materials for historical notice of the kind referred 
 to than the renowned commonwealth just named. It is scarcely 
 necessary to premise, after what has been already several 
 times mentioned elsewhere in regard to this matter, that in 
 the cursory sketches which I am about to present, many per- 
 sonages famous in the days of yore, and of no little influ- 
 ence in the community of which they were actual and useful 
 members, will receive no special mention, or be so briefly 
 alluded to as to communicate but little knowledge to the 
 reader of the scenes in which they acted, or of the virtues and 
 abilities of which they gave evidence. 
 
 At the close of the great struggle for national independence, 
 the centennial celebration of which is now so universally 
 attracting the attention of our countrymen, as well as of the 
 public-spirited inhabitants of other lands, the beautiful and ro- 
 mantic region bordering on the State of North Carolina, and 
 now known as East Tennessee, was very sparsely settled by 
 members of the Caucasian race. Most of these early pioneers 
 were men of a singularly bold and enterprising character, not 
 a few of whom had been distinguished as soldiers or officers 
 in the Revolutionary contest, as well as in multiplied conflicts
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 11$ 
 
 with the fierce Indian tribes who yet dwelt in their vicinage, 
 and who were constantly annoying them with hostile incur- 
 sions in all the forms known to savage warfare. Under such 
 circumstances as these it would have been indeed surprising 
 had not these brave and hardy adventurers been inclined far 
 more to rely upon their own courage and vigor for protection 
 and safety, than on the tardy and spiritless aid which the gov- 
 ernment of North Carolina seems in the beginning to have 
 afforded them. The principles of law and order were but 
 little known in these remote and rarely visited localities, and 
 tradition asserts many instances of social collision and strife 
 to have occurred, such as in older and more perfectly regu- 
 lated communities are seldom if ever known. The scenes of 
 severe suffering and peril through which it was the fortune of 
 these primeval colonists to pass have been long since chroni- 
 cled by historians whose thrilling and graphic narratives will 
 be found, by such as are at all curious about such matters, to 
 have more than the charms of romance. Well might be ap- 
 plied to some of these dwellers in the mountain fastnesses and 
 secluded valleys of East Tennessee, at this period, the .lan- 
 guage of the renowned Roman orator, who, on a very mem- 
 orable occasion, is known to have said in hearing of a Roman 
 court: " For who of you, O judges, is ignorant that the nature 
 of things has been such, that at one time men, before there 
 was any natural or civil law fully laid down, wandering in a 
 straggling and disorderly manner over the country, had just 
 that property which they could either appropriate or hold 
 by their own personal strength or vigor, by means of war or 
 bloodshed ? Those men, therefore, who showed themselves 
 to be most eminent for virtue and wisdom having considered 
 men's aptitude for instruction and . their natural disposition 
 and faculties, collected gradually into one place those who 
 were previously scattered abroad, and brought them over 
 from their previous lawless and irregular way of life, to justice 
 and mildness of manners. Then came those constitutions, 
 devised for the utility of man, which we call commonwealths ; 
 then came collections of men, which were subsequently called 
 states; then men surrounded with walls sets of houses
 
 Il6 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 joined together, which we now call cities ; and divine and 
 human laws began to be recognized. And there is no 
 point (he continues) in which there is so much difference be- 
 tween this manner of life, polished by civilization, and that 
 savage one, as in the fact of law being the ruling principle in 
 the one and violence in the other. If we do not choose to be 
 guided by the one, we must adopt the other_ Do we wish 
 violence to be put an end to ? Law must inevitably prevail ; 
 that is to say, courts of justice must; for in them all law and 
 justice are comprehended. Do we disapprove of courts of 
 justice, or are they destroyed or suspended? In a moment 
 violence must be supreme." 
 
 Though the singularly healthful and attractive region con- 
 cerning which I have been just speaking, was, at the early 
 period referred to, lamentably deficient in most of those facil- 
 ities for high moral culture, as well as of those invaluable ed- 
 ucational advantages which the greater portion of our country 
 is known to possess at the present moment, yet there were 
 even then to be found among the hardy settlers here located, 
 not a few individuals, who were destined, in the fulness of 
 time, to achieve great and solid renown as wise and beneficent 
 legislators, as distinguished warriors, as brilliant and effective 
 forensic advocates, as erudite and useful judges, or as active 
 and influential political leaders. It was in the year 1796, that 
 one of these made his first appearance at the Knoxville bar, 
 as a candidate for professional fame, whose name has since 
 been honorably associated with many of the most memorable 
 events of American history. I allude to the late Hugh 
 Lawson White. This personage is known to have received 
 but an imperfect education never to have at anytime entered 
 any college or academy as a pupil, and to have been indebted 
 chiefly, if not entirely, to his own laudable ambition for 
 knowledge and the assiduity which he employed for its ac- 
 quisition, for the large attainments which he eventually made 
 in almost every kind of learning which could give vigor and 
 expansion to his native faculties, and fit him for the distin- 
 guished part which he was destined to act in association with 
 many of the most eminent public men that the country has
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. I \J 
 
 ever produced. He succeeded almost at once in acquiring 
 prominence as a practitioner of law, and as early as his 
 twenty-eighth year was called to preside in the Superior Court 
 of the State, at that time the highest judicial tribunal of Ten- 
 nessee. In this position he officiated with great credit for six 
 years. In January 1810, he became one of the judges of 
 what was known as the Court of Errors and Appeals, in 
 which capacity he served with a constantly increasing reputa- 
 tion; after which he was tendered a membership of what was 
 called the Spanish Commission, and in that high and respon- 
 sible position became most favorably known to the whole Re- 
 public. At the termination of his duties as Commissioner he 
 was unanimously elected by the Legislature of Tennessee to a 
 seat upon the bench of the Court of Errors and Appeals, 
 which office he promptly declined, preferring to resume the 
 practice of his profession. Judge White had repeatedly 
 served in the State Legislature, where he had always acted a 
 leading part, previous to his being elected, in the year 1825, 
 to a seat in the National Senate for the unexpired term in 
 that body, which had become vacant by the resignation of his 
 commission as senator by General Andrew Jackson. In this 
 dignified position he continued to officiate uninterruptedly for 
 the space of fifteen years. In the month of January, 1840, 
 he resigned his place in this body, in consequence of his hav- 
 ing received instructions from the Legislature of Tennessee to 
 support the celebrated sub-treasury bill, to the adoption of 
 which he was well known to be most strenuously opposed. 
 The concluding words of his letter of resignation were as 
 follows : 
 
 "I was called to the service of my state, fifteen years ago, 
 without any solicitation on my part. With reluctance I ac- 
 cepted the high station I now occupy. I have been continued 
 in it, perhaps, too long for the interest of the country. I have 
 been thrice elected by the unanimous vote of your predeces- 
 sors. My services have been rendered in terms of high party 
 excitement sometimes threatening to burst asunder the bonds 
 of the Union and your resolutions contain the higJi compli- 
 ment that bitter political opponents can find only a solitary
 
 IlS BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 vote, worthy in their judgment, of unqualified condemnation. 
 
 "I hope it will be in your power to select a successor who 
 can bring into the service of the state more talents I feel a 
 proud consciousness that more purity of intention, or more 
 unremitting industry, he never can. 
 
 "For the sake of place I will never cringe to pozver. You 
 have instructed me to do those things which, entertaining the 
 opinions I do, I fear I would not be forgiven for, either in this 
 world or the next, and, practising upon the creed I have long 
 professed, I hereby tender to you my resignation of the trust 
 confided to me, as one of the Senators of the State of Tennes- 
 see to the Congress of the United States. 
 
 "Allow me to add my sincere prayer that the Governor of 
 the Universe may so overrule our dissensions as to secure the 
 liberty and promote the prosperity of our common constitu- 
 ents."' 
 
 Thus closed the public career of one of the most merito- 
 rious personages that the -State of Tennessee has ever held 
 within her confines; a man who, alike in domestic and social 
 life, was an exemplar of moral purity and disinterested patri- 
 otism; honest, sincere, scrupulously truthful, pure-minded 
 and resolute in the performance of duty; of a lofty and inde- 
 pendent spirit; an inflexible devotee to the principles which 
 he had in early life espoused and to which he ever adhered, 
 regardless of the fascinations of place, the insidious persua- 
 sives of professing friends, or the menaces of party proscrip- 
 tion; unjust to no man; affable and courteous towards all 
 with whom he had intercourse; not easy to take offence, but, 
 if wronged or insulted, quick to resent, and persevering in 
 his efforts to bring the aggressor to a proper sense of his own 
 injustice; yet placable and forgiving upon a proper show of 
 atonement, and ever ready to make a charitable allowance for 
 the weaknesses, petty aberrations, or honest mistakes of others. 
 Few men have ever lived who possessed a mind more acute 
 and vigorous; a judgment more unerring, both as to men and 
 the affairs in which they have to deal; a quicker and more 
 profound prescience of the future, or a more unerring divina- 
 tion of the motives which ordinarily influence men in public
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. I 1 9 
 
 station. His style of composition was not unlike that of Chief 
 Justice Marshall plain, direct, forcible; free from everything 
 like tawdry rhetorical ornament, and fastening his own con- 
 victions upon the minds of other men with a logic which 
 nothing could resist, and with a mild but earnest persuasive- 
 ness which rendered it delightful to agree with him, and pain- 
 ful to dissent from one so unassuming, so gifted, and so wise. 
 His industry when engaged in the performance of judicial 
 functions was most unremitting; though there was nothing in 
 him of that blustering and ostentatious activity and self- 
 importance sometimes displaying itself so disgustingly upon 
 the bench; his demeanor in the sanctuary of justice was always 
 marked with serenity, with patience, and with a vigilance 
 which knew no relaxation; and the decisions which he from 
 time to time rendered in cases of the most difficult and ex- 
 citing character were uniformly such as gave the most com- 
 plete satisfaction both to the bar and the country. Law, as a 
 science, he had fully explored; his mind was a storehouse of 
 well-digested juridical principles; and he had conceived in his 
 early life, and cherished to the day of his death, a high and 
 elevated sense of the dignity of the legal profession. As a 
 constitutional lawyer it is doubtful whether the Republic has 
 ever produced Judge White's superior, and some of his most 
 elaborate speeches in the National Senate upon important 
 questions of finance are perhaps as valuable specimens of 
 politico-economical discussion as can anywhere be found. It 
 cannot be said that Judge White was endowed with a brilliant 
 and fervid imagination; he had no claim to be recognized as a 
 man of sparkling wit; and he very rarely indulged in mere 
 humorous allusion; but, on several well-known occasions, 
 whilst he was a member of the Senate of the United States, 
 he displayed not a little power in the department of satire, 
 and, on the spur of the occasion, when under the influence of 
 special irritation, spoke in a tone of caustic and withering 
 severity which was not the less effective perhaps by reason of 
 its being so little in unison with his accustomed manner of 
 speaking in this dignified and illustrious body. Could Judge 
 White's proud and independent' nature have permitted him to
 
 I2O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 submit, with a tameness and servility now so common, to the 
 exacting and heartless rules of party discipline, it is not to be 
 doubted that it was in his power to have reached the Presi- 
 dential station; and no unprejudiced man will be now in- 
 clined to deny, in view of much that has been occurring dur- 
 ing the last forty years, that his advent to power in the year 
 1837 might have been attended with many beneficial results, 
 and have saved the men of this generation from the experience 
 of evils the magnitude and detrimental influence of which 
 could scarcely be overestimated. 
 
 As a forensic advocate Judge White was distinguished as 
 much as any lawyer of his time, by his modest and unas- 
 suming manner, his freedom from all affectation and parade, 
 the simplicity and aptness of his illustrations, and his mar- 
 vellous powers of condensation. Cicero has told us, in his 
 "Orator," that the "eloquent speaker is a man who speaks in 
 the forum and in civil causes in such a manner as \.o prove, to 
 delight, and to persuade" This seems to me as precise and 
 accurate a description of Judge White as could well be drawn; 
 and his honor, Judge Reese, upon the occasion of his decease 
 in 1840, thus expressed himself from the bench of the Supreme 
 Court, where he was then worthily presiding, in response to 
 certain complimentary resolutions just adopted by the bar of 
 Tennessee : 
 
 'We receive with the liveliest sensibility and profound re- 
 gret the melancholy intelligence that one so long and so emi- 
 nently distinguished, as a member of our profession and as a 
 judge of this court, is no longer to be numbered among the 
 living. The individual upon whom has devolved the duty of 
 responding to the request of the gentlemen of the bar, has 
 known the deceased intimately for the last twenty years. The 
 traits of his character were strongly marked. His intellect 
 was unusually active, acute, clear and vigorous. He had 
 great firmness of purpose and energy of will, and if his tem- 
 per was ardent and his emotions sometimes intense he had a 
 prudence, discretion and fairness which directed his efforts to 
 right ends by right means. His professional career com- 
 menced about the time that this State became a member of
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 121 
 
 the Union, and he rose at once to honorable distinction. 
 Although his preparation, scholastic and professional, as 
 might be expected from the character of the country and the 
 times, was rather accurate and useful than extensive, still, 
 such were the endowments of his mind and the strength of 
 his character, that for forty-five years, and to the last, he kept 
 up with the improvements of society and the developments 
 of our institutions, and never lost that position in the very 
 front rank of his profession with which he set out. As a law- 
 yer, he was ever at his post and always prepared. As a 
 speaker at the bar, he was animated, argumentative, and emi- 
 nently impressive; force and perspicuity were his striking at- 
 tributes. As a judge, he was courteous, dignified, impartial 
 and able. This elevated station he reached at an early age, 
 and he largely contributed b)' the purity of his personal 
 character and the energy, wisdom and justice of his official 
 actions, to impress upon a new community that respect for, 
 and submission to, an enlightened administration of the law, 
 which has at all times and under all circumstances since so 
 honorably distinguished them." 
 
 When the news of Judge White's decease reached Wash- 
 ington, the customary motion in honor of the illustrious ex- 
 Senator was introduced in the body of which he had been so 
 long a respected member, and Mr. Preston of South Carolina 
 expressed himself in the following glowing and generous 
 terms: 
 
 "I do not know, Mr. President, whether I am entitled to 
 the honor I am about to assume in seconding the resolutions 
 which have just been offered by the senator from Tennessee, 
 in honor of his late predecessor; and yet, sir, I am not aware 
 that any one present is more entitled to this melancholy 
 honor, if it belongs to long acquaintance, to sincere admira- 
 tion, and to intimate intercourse. If these circumstances do 
 not entitle me to speak, I am sure every senator will feel, in 
 the emotions which swell his own bosom, an apology for de- 
 siring to relieve my own, by bearing testimony to the virtues 
 and talents, the long services and great usefulness of Judge 
 White.
 
 122 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 " My infancy and youth were spent in a region contiguous 
 to the sphere of his earlier fame and usefulness. As long as 
 I can remember anything, I remember the deep confidence he 
 had inspired as a wise and upright judge, in which station no 
 man ever enjoyed a purer reputation, or established a more 
 implicit reliance in his abilities and honesty. There was an 
 antique sternness and justness in his character. By a general 
 consent he was called Cato. Subsequently, at a period of 
 our public affairs very analogous to the present, he occupied 
 a position which placed him at the head of the financial in- 
 stitutions of East Tennessee. He sustained them by his in- 
 dividual character. From this more limited sphere of useful- 
 ness and reputation, he was first brought to this more con- 
 spicuous stage as the member of an important commission on 
 the Spanish treaty, in which he was associated with Mr. Taze- 
 well and Mr. King. His learning, his ability, his firmness 
 and industry, immediately extended the sphere of his reputa- 
 tion to the boundaries of the country. Upon the completion 
 of that duty, he came into the Senate. Of his career here I 
 need not speak. His grave and venerable countenance is 
 even now before us that air of patient attention, of grave 
 deliberation, of unrelaxed firmness. There his position was 
 of the highest beloved, respected, honored ; always in his 
 place always prepared for the business in hand always 
 bringing to it the treasured reflections of a sedate and Vigor- 
 ous understanding. Over one department of our delibera- 
 tions he exercised a very peculiar control. In the manage- 
 ment of our complex and difficult relations with the Indians, 
 we all deferred to him, and to this he addressed himself with 
 unsparing labor, and with a wisdom, a patient benevolence,, 
 that justified and vindicated the confidence of the Senate." 
 
 To the late John Bell a gentleman who is known to have 
 been most intimately associated with Judge White for many 
 years the public is indebted for the following characteristic 
 anecdote which is to be found in the deeply interesting speech 
 delivered by Mr. Bell in Washington City, in hearing of a 
 very large assemblage of citizens met to render appropriate 
 honors to the more than Roman patriot and statesman whose 
 decease had then recently occurred.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 " It may not be generally known," said Mr. Bell, "that this 
 venerable patriot was, late in life, destined to the affliction of 
 beholding the objects of his early paternal care, the pride and 
 hope of his affections, fall, ' stricken by the insatiate archer,' 
 one by one, in succession, until two only of a loved and cher- 
 ished group of ten remained ; and, what seemed yet a harder 
 and more relentless fate, all these sank into the tomb at full 
 maturity Jiis sons in the vigor of manhood, and giving high 
 promise of all their father was the more tender and loveljr 
 members of his family in the full bloom of youthful beauty, 
 yet so stern was the sense of public duty, which always gov- 
 erned this eminent citizen, that, at its bidding, I have known 
 him to allow himself but a single hour in which to weep the 
 early doom of still another ' daughter dear.' 
 
 " By a singular and unfortunate coincidence, a measure of 
 great importance in the Senate of which he had charge, and 
 which he alone, from his intimate acquaintance with the sub- 
 ject, was able to explain and enforce, was set for the very day 
 on which he received the melancholy tidings of this new be- 
 reavement. The measure was urgent, and admitted no post- 
 ponement. One moment I saw him with his heart wrung by 
 inexpressible anguish the next, he appeared to the Senate, 
 composed and resolute, and a moment afterwards he entered 
 upon one of the ablest and most effective speeches ever de- 
 livered in that body." 
 
 Who, on reading this touching narrative, can fail to be re- 
 minded of a similar instance in Roman annals in conjunction 
 with that renowned conqueror of Macedonia who is reported, 
 when visited with the severest domestic calamities of a like 
 description, to have calmly led up his triumph along the 
 streets of the Eternal City as if fortune had done naught to 
 fill his bosom with paternal anguish, or to remind him of the 
 transitory character of all human glory ? 
 
 Having in the beginning of this sketch had occasion to re- 
 fer to the excited and tempestuous state of society in East 
 Tennessee, for several years anterior to the admission into the 
 Federal Union of the august state of which it forms a part, I 
 have judged it expedient, before closing what I have to say of
 
 124 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Judge White, to adduce here what fell from his own lips 
 touching the civic troubles of which he had been himself a 
 witness in the days of his raw and inexperienced manhood; 
 Mr. Webster having alluded in a somewhat ludicrous manner 
 to some of the circumstances connected with the memorable 
 attempt, in the closing years of the last century, to establish 
 the state of ' Franklin" Judge White said in response : " But, 
 sir, these old proceedings more clearly developed the true 
 character of my state than almost anything of the present 
 day. 
 
 " The territory or tract of country called ' Franklin ' was 
 composed of four counties of North Carolina, and separated 
 from the body of the state by the great ledge of mountains, 
 called at different places by different names, and from what is 
 now West Tennessee by the Cumberland mountains and a 
 wilderness of two hundred miles. 
 
 " The revolutionary war had terminated with Great Britain 
 in 1783, but it continued with the powerful tribes of Indians 
 who had been in alliance with her. The depredations of these 
 Indians were so serious that aid to arrest their ravages was 
 desired from North Carolina ; that state was not in a situation 
 to furnish protection, and, instead thereof, from good motives, 
 no doubt, but without due consideration, passed an act ceding 
 us to the United States. When the news was received, the 
 leading men, who were " King's Mountain " men, Sevier, the 
 companion of the gallant Campbell and Shelby, at their head, 
 took fire ; the discontent ended in a Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, and the formation of the State called, to perpetuate our 
 Whig principles, ' Franklin' 
 
 " North Carolina discovered her error, and, before Congress 
 could act on the subject, repealed her act of cession. But it 
 was too late. We had been disposed of without our consent. 
 Though but a handful, with a powerful savage enemy infesting 
 our whole frontier, and without a dollar to begin with, we set 
 up for ourselves. We would not brook the indignity; we had 
 begun the fight for liberty, and liberty or death we would 
 have. We continued the controversy till 1789, when an ac- 
 commodation with our present state took place, and with our
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 own consent, and with terms thought just, we, with other por- 
 tions of territory, were ceded, in 1789, to the United States." 
 
 A curious anecdote related by Judge White in the same 
 speech, illustrates very happily the primeval condition of the 
 people of the region referred to ninety years ago. He says: 
 'It will be remembered that the governor, chief justice, and 
 several other officers, were to be paid in deerskins; other in- 
 ferior officers were to be paid in raccoon skins. * * * 
 
 " We thought that these taxes might safely remain in the 
 hands of the collectors, as sub-treasuries, until wanted for dis- 
 bursement. The taxes were therefore fairly collected in the 
 skins and peltry pointed out by law. But the collectors, as 
 report says, knew that though raccoon skins were plenty, 
 opossum skins were more so, and that they could be procured 
 for little or nothing. They, therefore, procured the requisite 
 quantity of opossum skins, paid them into the general or 
 principal treasury, and sold the raccoon skins to the hatters." 
 
 It was at this early period that an acquaintance was formed 
 and a cordial friendship established between Judge White and 
 General Andrew Jackson ; which friendship, after existing 
 without diminution or distrust on either side, for a full half 
 century, was lamentably severed by political differences about 
 the year 1836. Since the notable separation of Mr. Burke 
 and Mr. Fox upon the questions growing out of the French 
 Revolution, a more remarkable breach of amicable relations 
 has not occurred between two men alike distinguished for in- 
 tellectual power, integrity of soul, and unquestionable patriot- 
 ism. It is not necessary to expatiate here upon the career of 
 General Jackson as a member of the bar of Tennessee and 
 one of her earliest judicial functionaries. None of the opin- 
 ions delivered by him as a judge have been preserved for the 
 inspection of the present generation. In the course of my 
 rambles through Tennessee I have encountered a few of those 
 who knew him as an active and successful practitioner of the 
 law both in East and in Middle Tennessee, all of whom spoke 
 of him in most favorable terms. No one can doubt that had 
 this remarkable man devoted himself with such unremitting 
 diligence to the study of his chosen profession, as is known.
 
 126 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 to be indispensable to the acquisition of deep and varied legal 
 learning, he might easily have attained a very high rank both 
 as an advocate and judge. His mind was one of almost un- 
 surpassed activity and vigor; he expressed himself in conver- 
 sation with a fluency and impressive brilliancy, to which there 
 was nothing wanting except, perhaps, a more polished and 
 scholastic phraseology, a more extensive knowledge of books, 
 and a slight diminution of that fiery and dashing impulsive- 
 ness which occasionally involved him, in early life, in an over- 
 hasty avowal of impressions which had not yet solidified into 
 opinions, and into the precipitate denunciation of those whom 
 he chanced to recognize as occupying a position of semi-an- 
 tagonism to himself and his chosen friends. Though he is 
 known to have been emphatically of a combative disposition 
 and to have had numerous personal collisions, at different 
 periods of his career, with persons endowed with a tempera- 
 ment little less inflammable than his own, yet it is a well as- 
 certained fact that at the bar he was uniformly courteous and 
 obliging, and on the bench, calm, patient, painstaking, and 
 decorous. No man, perhaps, ever cherished a more profound 
 sense of the intrinsic dignity of the tribunals established for 
 the administration of justice, and of the reverence due to 
 recognized civil authority than the eminent personage to 
 whom I am now referring. In support of this affirmation it 
 is almost needless to allude to that well-known transaction 
 connected with New Orleans just fifty years ago; when he 
 voluntarily paid out of his own pocket, the amount of a thous- 
 and dollars, in obedience to a manifestly unjust and tyranni- 
 cal judicial fiat, though then at the head of an army of ir- 
 resistible force; which sum, as is well known to all, some 
 twenty years after it had been thus levied, the Congress of 
 the Union, upon the fullest discussion of all the facts of the 
 case, caused to be returned to him after his retirement to 
 private life, and only a short period antecedent to his decease. 
 In this connection, I should not omit to mention another in- 
 cident, the occurrence of which is as certain as any other his- 
 toric event which can be mentioned, but which, so far as I am 
 informed, has no parallel in judicial annals. I allude now to
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. I2/ 
 
 the fact of his having on one occasion, when holding court 
 in a certain locality of East Tennessee on learning that a 
 lawless individual, by the name of Beane then charged with 
 the commission of a serious criminal offence was boldly 
 setting the authority of the law at defiance and refusing to 
 be apprehended ordered the sheriff to summon him (the 
 judge of the court) to act in aid of the law ; which having 
 been done accordingly, he walked, coolly and fearlessly up to 
 Beane, who was armed to the teeth, took him in charge, and 
 delivered him over to his own court for trial. It may be al- 
 lowed to me to notice here another occurence of a somewhat 
 similar character, which I have never yet seen in print, but 
 for which I can personally vouch. After General Jackson had 
 been defeated as a Presidential candidate in 1824-5, an ^ had 
 resigned his seat in the Senate, he paid a visit to a farm then 
 owned by him near the town of Tuscumbia, in North Ala- 
 bama. Passing through Tuscumbia, he met the overseer to 
 whose care that farm had been entrusted. A dialogue oc- 
 curred between them, in which the overseer presuming upon 
 his superior youth and vigor, applied to his venerable em- 
 ployer the most disrespectful and insulting language ; upon 
 the utterance of which General Jackson proceeded to subject 
 the offender to a genteel and exemplary caning, in presence 
 of many persons and to the gratification of all of them. Tus- 
 cumbia was then a small village, but there was a resident in 
 it, a justice of the peace, for many years well known to me, 
 by the name of Parham. He made out a warrant against 
 General Jackson, and placed it in the hands of a constable, 
 directing him to summon without delay this " hero of two 
 wars," to his own majestic presence ; who at once appeared, 
 apologized most respectfully for the violation of law which he 
 had committed, and announced his willingness to pay any fine 
 which might be assessed against him. He was ordered to 
 pay ten dollars, which he did, and was discharged from 
 further attendance upon the court. 
 
 It is now an ascertained fact that General Jackson was born 
 in North Carolina, and not in South Carolina, as for many 
 years was supposed to be the case. He read few and ob-
 
 128 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 tained license to practice, before emigrating from his native 
 State. For about six years he exercised the functions of a 
 judge of the Superior Court of Tennessee, from the autumn 
 of 1798 to the month of June, 1804. Without going into his 
 merits and demerits (if demerits there were) as a great and 
 successful party leader, I may be permitted to observe that to 
 his profound sagacity, his indomitable firmness, and his truly 
 national spirit, the country is mainly indebted for the pre- 
 vention of that fratricidal war which at one time, during his 
 administration as President, was so seriously menaced. Had 
 he been so unfortunate (as one of his successors is known to 
 have been) in adopting the absurd and puerile notion that the 
 Federal Government has been given no adequate power of 
 defending itself against insurrectionary violence, or to coerce 
 into obedience to its authority all who shall undertake either 
 to obstruct or to resist it in arms the abundant blessings 
 which we now enjoy as a united people, and which are held 
 in reserve for our posterity, of all future generations, would 
 in all probability have long ago passed away, and given place 
 to all the evils which wait upon civil violence, anarchy, and 
 despotic rule. 
 
 A long and uninterrupted friendship is reported to have 
 existed between General Jackson and the late John Overton, 
 his successor upon the bench of the Superior Court in the 
 year 1804. These two gentlemen were co-practitioners of 
 law in the city of Nashville for some years, and participated 
 in many pleasant and romantic scenes connected with the 
 early history of Middle Tennessee. The high character 
 borne by Judge Overton for truth and honor enabled him to 
 be exceedingly useful, during that trying and eventful period 
 in the life of General Jackson which intervened between the 
 years 1824 and 1828, in the vindication of the character of the 
 then Democratic candidate for the Presidency against many 
 plausible but unfounded rumors to which partisan malevo- 
 lence had given a wide and injurious currency, but which the 
 manly and comprehensive explanations given by Judge Over- 
 ton, over hns own signature, put at rest forever. Accusations 
 involving p'ersonal character, purporting to be founded upon
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 129 
 
 facts which had occurred a quarter of a century before, in 
 a new and sparsely settled vicinage, would never perhaps 
 have been effectually counteracted save by just such testi- 
 mony as Judge Overton was happily able to supply. Judge 
 Overton lived to see his beloved and honored friend elevated 
 to the Presidency of the Republic, and is known to have 
 warmly sympathized with him in the excited and tempestu-. 
 ous scenes of political turmoil and contention through which 
 it was his fortune to pass. For many years he enjoyed a 
 large practice as an attorney, and during the protracted period 
 of his service upon the bench, delivered many able and lumin- 
 ous opinions which are yet held in high respect in the courts 
 of Tennessee and the adjoining states opinions bearing con- 
 clusive evidence of deep legal learning, of unsurpassed labor 
 and research, and of a vigorous and elastic intellect. Judge 
 Overton's knowledge of the common law was such as few of 
 his contemporaries had succeeded in acquiring, and his mind 
 seemed to be singularly adapted to the disentangling of com- 
 plex questions of mixed law and fact, and to the attainment 
 of sure and satisfactory conclusions by processes which 
 owed their effectiveness far more to the exercise of a solid 
 and penetrating common sense than to the often misapplied 
 rules of a subtle and artificial logic. His industry and 
 impartiality in the discharge of his official duties entitle 
 him to special respect and veneration, and his exemplary 
 conduct in private life, surrounded him whilst living with nu- 
 merous sympathizing friends, a few of whom are yet surviving, 
 and who are heard occasionally to allude to him in terms of 
 affectionate respect and undiminished admiration and grati- 
 tude. It may be worthy of passing mention that Judge Over- 
 ton was more than usually successful in the acquisition of 
 wealth, now so much overvalued by large numbers of our 
 countrymen. The estate which he accumulated and left to 
 his descendants, if now held by a single possessor, would 
 make him one of the largest capitalists in the Republic. 
 
 John Haywood, whose name occurs so often in the col- 
 umns of reported decisions, both of North Carolina and Ten- 
 nessee, removed from the former to the latter of these states
 
 130 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 early in the present century, bringing with him a command- 
 ing reputation for legal learning and ability, which speedily 
 opened the way to an extensive and lucrative practice 
 at the bar, and his ultimate elevation to the bench as one 
 of the judges of the highest appellate court of his adopted 
 state. As an advocate Judge Haywood was earnest, impres- 
 sive, and at times surpassingly eloquent. His native intel- 
 lectual powers were unquestionably of a very high character, 
 and the studious habits of many consecutive years had sup- 
 plied him with vast stores of learning of almost every de- 
 scription that can be mentioned ; which gave him an advan- 
 tage difficult to be estimated over all ordinary competitors. 
 His imagination was lively and vigorous, though always 
 held under rigorous restraint; his capacity for reasoning, 
 whether upon law or facts, was such as to cause his admirers 
 often to compare him to Chief Justice Marshall; he never 
 spoke without the fullest preparation, and, though sometimes 
 supposed to be a little diffuse in his style, was never inco- 
 herent, never feeble and trivial, never tedious or inconsequen- 
 tial. His was the diffusiveness of a rich lump of pure gold 
 heated to liquidation by the intense heat of the furnace, and 
 ready to spread itself abroad upon all objects with which it 
 might come in contact. Never could court or jury listen to 
 him save with the most interested and unremitted attention. 
 He was of commanding stature, of a most manly and pleas- 
 ing expression of countenance, and possessed a voice at 
 once clear, penetrating and conciliatory. After passing the 
 middle stage of life he became quite corpulent; but he re- 
 tained both his physical and intellectual energies in full per- 
 fection up to the last moment of his brilliant and useful career. 
 He was an eager seeker of knowledge of every useful kind, 
 even after old age had crept upon him; and at a period of life 
 when most men who have run a stirring and laborious career 
 are inclined to sigh for repose, he was still drinking at the 
 fountains of knowledge with unabated thirst, and writing vol- 
 umes in which may be found bold and original views upon 
 important questions of general science, ingenious geological 
 and mineralogical suggestions, valuable compilations of facts
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 13! 
 
 connected with the early history of Tennessee, and exceed- 
 ingly striking and impressive remarks upon the Indian tribes 
 then spread over the greater portion of the stat^, their origin, 
 their wanderings, their usages, and their destiny. 
 
 I shall make no apology for introducing here a short ex- 
 tract from one of Judge Haywood's most admired judicial 
 opinions, having reference to a highly interesting question of 
 constitutional law, in which the peculiar characteristics of his 
 mind are very strikingly presented to view. The Supreme 
 Court, of which he was always a most conspicuous and influ- 
 ential member, had decided that it was in the power of Con- 
 gress to vest the jurisdictional authority for the trial of certain 
 cases involving the violation of the revenue laws, in the courts 
 of the separate states, and had ruled also, that it would not 
 be competent in such cases, for the defendant to allege in. his 
 own behalf, a want of jurisdiction. A motion was thereupon 
 made for the suspension of the judgment of the court, until 
 a succeeding term thereof, in order that further argument 
 might then be had, and the advantage might be enjoyed of 
 citing several decisions of the question in dispute said to 
 have been rendered in the State of New York and in several 
 other states, no certified copy of which had yet reached Ten- 
 nessee. Upon this motion, Judge Hayvvood said : 
 
 "It is as much the duty of a judge to cause his judgment 
 to be carried into effect when he has no reasonable doubt 
 pressing on his mind, as it is to suspend it when he has, and 
 I cannot say that my mind is affected with any reasonable 
 'doubt. If we ought to respect the opinions given by the 
 judicatures of other states, as we undoubtedly ought, we 
 ought also, and perhaps equally, to respect the opinions of 
 those legislators who, from the time of the first Congress to 
 the first decisions we are invited to reflect on, have viewed 
 the judicial power of the Union, so far as regards citizens of 
 different states, or the United States and a citizen, as concur- 
 rent with the judicial power of the states, except in those in- 
 stances where Congress might render it exclusive. How many 
 cases are left by the judicial law of 1789 to be decided by the 
 state judiciaries ? The causes which produced the judicial
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 power of the Union are such as did not require exclusion in 
 all cases." * * * "As to the notion that our courts can- 
 not execute the laws of another sovereignty, surely the laws 
 of the United States, made by Congress upon subjects sub- 
 mitted to their government by the constitution, are as much 
 our laws as those made by our own Legislature. Do we not 
 make them ourselves? Do we not appoint the legislators 
 and President? Are they not our representatives intrusted 
 with the regulation and care of our interests, for the purpose 
 of procuring the public welfare and prosperity? Are we not 
 sworn to support them ? Is it not our duty to obey and carry 
 them into effect? Are we not bound in conscience, and as 
 good citizens, to aid in the support of them? Whenever the 
 time comes when the laws of the Union shall be disobeyed 
 and looked upon as the laws of a foreign sovereignty, and 
 when all our courts and judicial officers withdraw from them 
 sustentation, then that anarchy, with its threatening aspect, 
 will come again, which shortly preceded the formation of the 
 present constitution. United by no common head, we shall 
 pursue as many different courses as there are states, and be 
 divided and separated into disunited portions, never to be 
 again drawn together by sound principles, but only by the 
 despotism of the sword. A judge has no right to be a poli- 
 tician ; but when such are the consequences of a disregard of 
 the laws of the Union, it is not improper to contemplate them, 
 that thereby he may feel an invigorated desire to execute 
 them." 
 
 He thus concludes: 
 
 " No man values more highly than I do the New York de- 
 cisions. 
 
 "Why say that the grant of this judicial power is absolute 
 and exclusive, when the cause and reason of it is not so, and 
 when the words of the constitution do not require it so to be 
 considered? Suppose no judicial power had been given to 
 the Union; or a judicial power not extending to the penalties 
 created by the laws of the United States; what then? Would 
 not the state courts have carried the law into execution? And 
 is this not precisely the state of things, when Congress, having
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 133 
 
 a power to order or not to order the courts of the Union to 
 take cognizance, have omitted to do so, and have intentionally 
 left this matter as it would stand without the interference of 
 the federal constitution? Are not all the powers reserved to 
 the states which are not expressly taken from them by the 
 constitution? And is the power in question taken from them 
 till Congress thinks proper to appropriate it exclusively to the 
 courts of the Union ? If I give you a power of attorney to sell 
 my land, is it not mine till you have executed the power of 
 selling? If I authorize you by a declaration of uses to be 
 made by yourself to appropriate it exclusively to yourself, is 
 it not mine till the declaration is made? Is not such portion 
 of it as is not included in the declaration mine still? I will 
 not speak of the consolidation which is talked of. The dread 
 thereof is an illusion which exists in the imagination only. 
 An appeal in any shape to the Supreme Court of the Union, 
 in the few cases we are contemplating, in which the judicial 
 power may not be exclusive, and is not so, will never lead, as 
 an appeal in all cases and over all causes might, -to an extinc- 
 tion of state sovereignties, and the consolidation of all the 
 state powers into one great mass. I do greatly respect the 
 General Court of Virginia; I see ; n that stnfe 'he most illus- 
 trious characters, the ornaments of mankino, much to imitate, 
 much to praise; but so far as they contradict the opinion now 
 given, I must say, Cato amicus, et. Plato amicus ; sed major 
 amicus veritas" 
 
 This opinion was delivered in the year 1816, nearly a half 
 century ago; since which, to prevent this dreaded consolidation, 
 a bloody civil war has been waged, and some of the evils so 
 glowingly depicted by Judge Haywood have been painfully 
 realized. Consolidation though is still apparently as remote 
 as it was a half century ago. The reserved rights of the states 
 and people are all yet as fully enjoyed as thev were when the 
 Federal Government was established; and constitutional free- 
 dom, in all its amplitude and blessedness, is still the distin- 
 guishing glory of those whose good fortune it is to inhabit 
 the natal land of Washington and his immortal compeers. 
 
 Whilst Judge Haywood was yet a little beyond the prime
 
 134 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 of lusty manhood, and in the enjoyment of a forensic and 
 juridical renown, rarely, if ever, equalled in any part of the 
 great Mississippi valley, a man who was his junior by many 
 years, was fast rising to eminence as an advocate in a neighbor- 
 in^ town, between whom and himself relations of a somewhat 
 
 o 
 
 peculiar character were soon to spring into existence. I al- 
 lude to the celebrated William L. Brown, whose career as a 
 barrister was commenced, as I have heard, in what is now 
 known as the City of Clarksville, in which place he continued 
 to practice with much success until he concluded to secure to- 
 himself a somewhat wider sphere of action by locating in the 
 City of Nashviile. The personage now under review is re- 
 puted to have beei. n native of S. Carolina. Of his early ed- 
 ucation I have not been able to obtain any precise information. 
 Nature had been exceedingly bounteous to him in regard to 
 his intellectual gifts; and he evinced his grateful sense of her 
 munificence by doing all in his power to increase the value of 
 these gifts and to use them as the means of acquiring fame 
 and fortune. He was a most persevering and untiring student 
 of books. His knowledge of law was universally admitted 
 to be such as few of his competitors had succeeded in ac- 
 quiring. His scholastic attainments were respectable; his 
 general reading not contemptible, and he possessed an exten- 
 sive and accurate knowledge of the practical concerns of 
 life, and of the ordinary motives of human action. A man 
 of a more fervid and insatiable ambition hac never lived, 
 though the purity and elevation of his nature effectually with- 
 held him from all those low and debasing arts by which a 
 meretricious fame is so often acquired. A legitimate and 
 honorable celebrity he sought for with all the earnestness of 
 a zealous and hopeful temperament; he toiled for it with ex- 
 haustless assiduity ; he meditated upon the means by which 
 it was to be realized through many an anxious day and many 
 a restless night. He seemed to have been born with an in- 
 domitable confidence in his own capacity for self-advance- 
 ment, and his ultimate realization of a splendid destiny com- 
 mensurate with his aspirations and indispensable to bis earthly 
 happiness. His moral courage almost amounted to audacity;
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 135 
 
 his persevering energy was without bounds ; and there was 
 no labor, however irksome or distasteful, from which he 
 thought even for an instant of recoiling, provided it was need- 
 ful to be encountered in order to reach the one grand object 
 of his life. Such was his tenacity of purpose that no difficul- 
 ties could seriously discourage him, no disappointments de- 
 press him, and not even the most splendid successes in the 
 forum could induce him to relax his exertions or withdraw 
 his attention for an instant from that bright star of renown 
 which was constantly sparkling before his vision. His energy 
 verged upon combativeness ; and he was sometimes not over- 
 patient in those contestations to which the accidents of pro- 
 fessional life necessarily exposed him. He is more than sus- 
 pected of having taken little pleasure in the increasing fame 
 of those whom he was compelled o meet as rivals for pre- 
 eminence. Judge Brown had but little claim to be recognized 
 as an orator of the highest grade ; but he always spoke with 
 earnestness, with more than ordinary facility of expression, 
 and with a happy condensation of argumentative force which 
 rendered it a most difficult task to answer with effect his more 
 studied and elaborate speeches at the bar. Mere flowers of 
 rhetoric he utterly despised, and he could scarcely conceal 
 the contempt which he felt for those who paraded them in 
 court when questions of great practical importance were 
 under discussion. Seldom, indeed, did he seek either for or- 
 nament or illustration outside of the large and well-selected 
 library of law books to which he alone looked for inspiration 
 and for victory. Seldom was it that he was not reading the 
 volumes which composed that library, except when engaged 
 in forensic argument, or in drafting some important profes- 
 sional paper. He gave but little time to mere social pursuits, 
 and never visited scenes of festive mirth, or of mere holiday 
 display. When he relaxed, as he did occasionally, among a 
 few chosen friends, he was able to make himself not a little 
 agreeable. Some of his arguments at the bar are yet remem- 
 bered by many as master-pieces of their kind ; and it is prob- 
 able that he never spoke in court without being listened to 
 with something more than respect by all to whom he ad-
 
 136 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 dressed himself. During the short period that he occupied a 
 seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the State, his 
 reputation was constantly on the increase, and had he con- 
 tinued in that position he would probably have gone nigh to 
 equalling in the splendor of his fame, many of those judicial 
 magnates of our own and of other countries who have 
 reached the loftiest heights of juridical eminence. But he 
 continued on the bench only about two years; either not al- 
 together relishing the duties which he had there to perform, 
 and preferring thereto the animated and somewhat more im- 
 posing discussions of the forum, or, which seems to be a well 
 ascertained fact, he was not content to occupy a place where 
 the overshadowing influence of Judge Haywood's long es- 
 tablished fame necessarily held him in a position of only 
 secondary dignity. It has been even said by persons quite 
 likely to be correctly informed in relation to this matter, that 
 Judge Haywood's somewhat dogmatic and ex cathedra man- 
 ner of enunciating his views, and the claim to deference on 
 the part of his official colleagues which he sometimes very 
 distinctly put forth, had proved not a little offensive to Judge 
 Brown's professional pride, and that on this account he gladly 
 returned to his old arena of the forum where he felt quite 
 sure of being recognized, as of yore, facile princeps. His re- 
 tirement from the bench was a general subject of regret 
 among his fellow citizens, all classes of whom estimated most 
 highly, his abilities, his industry, and his unblemished purity 
 of character. Judge Brown did not live a great while after 
 his return to the bar, but it may be safely asserted that the 
 improved condition of his powers as an advocate, and the ex- 
 tension of his fame as a safe and able legal adviser only ceased 
 with the termination of his mortal career. Tradition asserts 
 that on the retirement of General Jackson from the United 
 States Senate in 1826, Judge Brown, always one of his warm- 
 est admirers, was eagerly desirous of becoming his successor, 
 and that the disappointment of his hopes in this particular 
 tended seriously to becloud the evening of his days. 
 
 The late Judge Crabb was some years younger than the 
 remarkable personage whose character and career have just
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 137 
 
 been passed in review. For a considerable period they were 
 co-members of the Nashville bar, and appeared often in op- 
 position to each other in cases of the greatest dignity and 
 magnitude. A keen spirit of professional rivalry very soon 
 sprang up between them, which, on one or two noted occa- 
 sions, seemed likely to result in feelings of decided alienation 
 if not of settled enmity; yet were both these gentlemen (so 
 thoroughly contrasted to each other as they were in several 
 material respects) universally recognized by the community 
 in which they lived as persons of abundant kindness and gen- 
 erosity of temper, of manly and honorable sentiments, and of \ 
 an inflexible regard for the rules of a refined and high-bred 
 courtesy. Judge Brown and Judge Crabb were never very 
 intimate friends, and indeed it was almost next to impossible 
 situated as they were that they should become so. The 
 former as has already been hinted was of a particularly in- 
 flammable temperament; not a little testy and impatient of 
 opposition; occasionally somewhat dictatorial in his bearing; 
 morbidly sensitive to anything like irony or suggested re- 
 proach, and prone to distrust the friendship and esteem of 
 those who seriously called his cherished opinions in question, 
 or who even failed to defer on occasions of special public im- 
 portance to his own generally admitted intellectual superi- 
 ority. Judge Crabb, on the other hand, was always calm and 
 self-possessed; not at all pervious to ordinary assailment; 
 seldom, if ever, giving way to feelings of anger or irritation; 
 bland and civil in his ordinary demeanor, though occasionally 
 a little cold and formal; gravely respectful, as a general 
 thing, to those with whom he was thrown into professional 
 antagonism, though sometimes apparently taking pleasure in 
 stirring up the feelings of an over-excitable adversary by cool 
 sarcastic allusions and a kind of half-concealed raillery which 
 seemed rrtore or less distinctly to intimate that he was very 
 far from feeling anything like a profound respect for the ar- 
 guments to which he was responding, or the intellectual 
 prowess with which it was his fortune to be contending. I 
 have been told by an honored member of the bar of Nash- 
 ville, only a few days since, of a curious and characteristic
 
 138 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 scene between these two well-matched rivals, some account 
 of which I shall here give. In a case of much importance, a 
 certain statute of limitations, of which Judge Brown was the 
 acknowledged author, came up for consideration. Judge 
 Crabb made a most elaborate speech, in which he analyzed 
 the several clauses of this statute, denounced the policy upon, 
 which they were founded, and denied both the justice and 
 validity of the act. His argument on this occasion is sup- 
 posed to have been one of the most skilful and masterly 
 which ever emanated from him. The satiric power which he 
 displayed, and the logical dexterity of which he showed him- 
 self to be master, might have reminded one of the far-famed 
 Prwencal Letters of Pascal. When Judge Crabb took his 
 seat, exhibiting at the moment just as much sedateness and 
 composure as had marked his opening words, Judge Brown,, 
 excited and indignant beyond measure, leaped to his feet, ac- 
 knowledged himself to be the draughtsman and legislative 
 propounder of the derided law, defended alike its phraseology 
 and its purposes, and after a speech of far more than ordinary 
 length, every sentence of which was marked with acrimony 
 and wrathfulness, closed by a fierce and almost insulting 
 challenge to his cool-headed and secretly exultant antagonist 
 to meet him on some other occasion, whenever and wherever 
 he might please, for the fuller discussion of this subject, 
 pledging himself to make good every position which he had 
 there assumed, to the satisfaction of any assemblage of any 
 reasonable men in Christendom, and somewhat more than 
 intimating that should such a conflict as he invited take 
 place, the gentleman to whom he was replying would have 
 abundant reason to lament the temerity which he had dis- 
 played in making this unjust assault upon his feelings. The 
 only notice which Judge Crabb took of this furious harangue 
 was to change his seat towards the close of it, and to whisper 
 in the ear of the gentleman to whom I am indebted for this- 
 anecdote an inquiry whether he thought that "he (Judge 
 Crabb) had said or done aught to justify so tempestuous an 
 exhibition." I should add here that though Judge Crabb 
 had been able, by dint of the severest self-training, to keep
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 139 
 
 the stronger passions of his nature under the control of his 
 reason he was well known to be a man of the highest per- 
 sonal bravery; and there was at least one instance in his life 
 when he felt it to be his duty to invite a gentleman of great 
 celebrity to what has been called tJie field of honor. 
 
 Judge Henry Crabb died in the thirty-fourth year of his 
 age, just when he had fairly commenced a career which, had 
 it been his fortune to continue upon the public arena a few 
 years longer, would perhaps have numbered him among the 
 most renowned jurists and statesmen that our country has 
 known. 
 
 Judge Crabb was elevated to the bench of the Supreme 
 Court of Tennessee in the year 1827. He was then in a state 
 of rapid physical decline, and died in less than two years 
 thereafter. In looking over the judicial opinions delivered 
 by him during this brief period, I have found two of them to 
 which I feel inclined to invite special attention. The first of 
 these was delivered in a case where the interesting question 
 had to be determined, how far an attorney in the State of Ten- 
 nessee was entitled to claim pecuniary remuneration for pro- 
 fessional services rendered by him, upon the basis of a quan- 
 tum meruit. The following short extracts from that opinion 
 will I am sure be read with some interest: 
 
 " The defendant says that the complainant cannot recover, 
 because the profession of the law is of an honorable character,, 
 and services rendered by its professors gratuitous. The law 
 of England is certainly as contended for, both in relation to- 
 counsellors and physicians. But the law has not prevailed in 
 this state in regard to either. It has been common here for 
 professional men, as well as other persons who have labored 
 for the benefit of their employers, to sue for and obtain what 
 they reasonably should have for their services, in the opinion 
 of an impartial jury. Such recoveries have been constantly 
 had in the inferior courts, and their propriety has been sanc- 
 tioned in this court in repeated instances." * * * "In 
 the opinion of this court the law should be so; it is conso- 
 nant with the nature of our institutions that faithful labors 
 should be rewarded by reasonable remuneration; and he who-
 
 140 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 works at the bar, and he who works at the plane ; the farrier, 
 the carpenter, and the blacksmith, should all possess an 
 -equality of rights, and be paid what they reasonably deserve 
 to have, according to the nature and value of their respective 
 services. 
 
 " We have here no separate orders of society none of those 
 exclusive privileges which distinguish the lawyer of England, 
 in order to attach him to the existing government, and which 
 constitute him a sort of noble in the land rising, by regular 
 gradation, from an apprentice's humble seat in Westminster 
 Hall, until he becomes a sergeant, and then is invited to a 
 seat within the bar as king's counsel; after a little time he 
 -receives some sinecure appointment, or is placed on the bench 
 for life, with a salary of many thousand pounds sterling; or 
 is appointed solicitor-general to the king or queen, or attorney- 
 general, or perchance attains to the highest professional hon- 
 ors, by taking his seat on the wool-sack; equal, whatever 
 may have been his birth or origin, to the proudest peer he 
 looks upon. 
 
 " None of these privileges are possessed by the advocates 
 and attorneys of Tennessee. True, the latter may be. pro- 
 moted (if promotion it may be called) from a lucrative prac- 
 tice at the bar to a troublesome and unproductive, though 
 honorable, seat on the bench. 
 
 " But, upon the whole, a lawyer in England is as different 
 from a lawyer here as a man clad in a plain suit of black or 
 blue his head such as nature made it is unlike him in ap- 
 pearance who has his body surrounded with a long robe and 
 his head covered with a large wig. 
 
 "It cannot be seriously thought that the General Assembly 
 intended the tax fee, which is directed to be included in the 
 bill of costs in each suit, as the sole reward of professional 
 exertion." * * * 
 
 "But it is contended that on the score of public policy 
 such actions should be discountenanced, and the client be left 
 to give, and the counsel to receive, whatever the liberality of 
 the former may prompt him to offer, or the conscience of the 
 flatter may induce him to ask. On this point, it is believed
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 that the weight of argument is clearly on the part of the ad- 
 judications of Tennessee. 
 
 " Leave the doctrine as desired, and the happy moment will 
 always be selected by the unconscientious when the anxious- 
 suitor is elevated by hope, or depressed by fear, to extort un- 
 reasonable advances in the shape of gratuities. But let it be 
 known that industry and attention and ardor will be certainly 
 compensated by reasonable payment, and you encourage for- 
 bearance on the part of the attorney or advocate. He is not 
 tempted to get what he can, while the fever of his client is 
 up, but waits in security until his labors are performed, his 
 services rendered, knowing that he will at last receive what a 
 disinterested jury shall award." 
 
 Perhaps the most elaborate opinion ever enunciated by 
 Judge Crabb during the brief period that he occupied a seat 
 upon the bench of the Supreme Court, was that delivered by 
 him in the very interesting case of Vaughn v. Phebe, to be 
 found in Martin & Yerger's Reports. This was a suit for free- 
 dom instituted by one claiming to be of Indian ancestry. The 
 main question to be decided was whether the claim to freedom 
 could be sustained by evidence of general reputation, as in 
 ordinary cases of pedigree. The case was ably argued on 
 either side, and a most copious citation of authorities, both 
 English and American, seems to have been made. The whole 
 discussion will be found deeply interesting, and the opinion of 
 the court bears evidence of the most laborious scrutiny of de- 
 cided cases, and of a sage discrimination among conflicting 
 authorities worthy of the highest commendation. Want of 
 space forbids the presentation of more than a very short ex- 
 tract ; but this will suffice to show how felicitously Judge 
 Crabb was capable of expressing himself in a case where 
 great principles were involved. He says : 
 
 " How is an individual in this country, who is unfortunate 
 enough to have a woolly head and a colored skin, to prove 
 that he is free ? Not being white, nor copper-colored, nor 
 having strait hair and a prominent nose, the presumption pro- 
 bably is that he is a slave. Contrary to the general rule, he 
 who is charged with having trespassed upon his person, pleads
 
 142 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 .an affirmative plea, and yet need not prove it. He says, 
 in justification of his trespass, that the plaintiff is a slave, and 
 yet, on that plaintiff is devolved the onus probandi of show- 
 ing himself to be a free man. How is he to show it? He 
 may, perhaps, procure testimony that he or some ancestor 
 was in possession of freedom ; that he has acted as a free 
 man ; that he has been received as a free man in society ; and 
 very soon will he find himself under the necessity, increasing 
 in proportion to the distance he has to travel into time past, 
 for want of other evidence, to use hearsay, that he or his an- 
 cestor was commonly called a free man, or commonly reputed 
 .a free man ; or, in other words, evidence of common reputa- 
 tion. And why should he not? Is it a concern of so little 
 moment, that the law, in its benignity, ought to refuse it those 
 aids for its support and protection, that have been so exuber- 
 antly extended in analogous cases ? Is it of less importance 
 than the right of digging stone upon the waste of the lord of 
 a manor ? Or the right of the lord to take coals from under 
 the lands of those holding from him ? Or a right to have a 
 sheep-walk over a piece of land ? Or to a modus by which 
 six pence an acre should be paid in lieu of small tithes ? 
 These are a few out of many cases. 
 
 " But it is said that these rights, franchises, &c., which in 
 England are permitted to be established by common reputa- 
 tion, are, or savor of, a public character ; and therefore the pub- 
 lic, where this reputation is to be formed, will be more apt to 
 possess a knowledge of their existence, &c. We put it to the 
 candid and enlightened, whether the right to freedom has not 
 in this respect very much the advantage over many of those 
 rights where such evidence is every day received in the Eng- 
 lish courts ? Indeed, it is no light matter to be a freeman in 
 these United States. Freedom in this country is not a mere 
 name a cheat with which the few gull the many. It is 
 something substantial. It makes itself manifest by many 
 privileges, immunities, external public acts. It is not confined 
 in its operations to privacy, or to the domestic circle. It 
 walks abroad in its operations : transfers its possessor, even 
 if he be black, or mulatto, or copper-colored, from the kitchen
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 143 
 
 and the cotton-field to the court-house and the election 
 ground ; makes him talk of Magna Charta and the constitu- 
 tion; in some states renders him a politician, brings him 
 acquainted with the leading citizens, busies him in the politi- 
 cal canvass for office, takes him to the ballot-box ; and above 
 all, secures to him the enviable and inestimable trial by jury. 
 Can it be said that there is nothing of a public nature in a 
 right that thus, from its necessary operation, places a man in 
 many respects on an equality with the richest, and greatest, 
 and best in the land, and brings him into contact with the 
 whole community ? Can it be said that common reputation 
 is no evidence of a right, producing so many effects relative 
 in their character, to that veiy society where the common un- 
 derstanding, report, or reputation is required to exist ? Can 
 it be said that the community or neighborhood, as the case 
 may be, the ''public" around a man, will too readily give 
 credence to a claim by which the individual who makes it ob- 
 tains among themselves so high a comparative elevation ? If 
 those around him have interest or prejudice they will usually 
 be against his claim. It is difficult to suppose a case where 
 common reputation would concede to a man the right to free- 
 dom if his right were a groundless one. If such a case be 
 imagined, it will most probably be an extreme one ; and we 
 must bear in mind that when the evidence we are speaking of 
 is received, it is not regarded as conclusive. It is to be 
 weighed, encountered, and compared with other evidence ; 
 and ultimately to have no more effect than, after a full exam- 
 ination, the jury shall be disposed to give it." 
 
 It is worthy of note that these views so manly and liberal 
 were uttered by a slave-holding judge, in the bosom of a 
 slave-holding community, nearly a half century ago, and long 
 before the fierce agitations in behalf of immediate abolition 
 had obtained the least influence in any populous section of 
 the Republic. 
 
 When Judge Crabb departed this life, he had become the 
 father of a single child a fine boy, then in his infancy. With 
 the latter I formed a personal acquaintance about the year 
 1847, m the City ot Vicksburg, where he had just located for
 
 144 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 the practice of the law. He evinced much intellectual prom- 
 ise, and would, doubtless, long ere this, have obtained much 
 distinction at the bar, but for the occurrence of circumstances, 
 which I should, perhaps, here briefly relate. The warmly 
 contested Presidential struggle of 1848 was in progress, when, 
 it became my duty to address a large assemblage of the citi- 
 zens of Vicksburg, in support of what was known as the 
 Democratic ticket. Whilst this meeting was in progress, an 
 accidental quarrel ensued between Henry A. Crabb, the young 
 gentleman of whom I have been speaking, and a Mr. Jenkins, 
 the editor of a Democratic newspaper then published in Vicks- 
 burg. This dispute resulted in a street fight between the par- 
 ties to it, next day, in which Jenkins (a young man of great 
 worth) was unfortunately killed. Crabb was afterwards tried 
 upon a charge of murder, and was honorably acquitted. 
 
 A few years subsequent to this occurrence, I met young 
 Crabb again, in the far-off State of California. Here he had 
 been more or less successful as an attorney, had served re- 
 peatedly in the state legislature, and had become a man of 
 higli standing and extended influence. He was afterwards a. 
 prominent candidate for the United States Senate; was one 
 of the Fillmoreand Donelson electors of the State of California 
 in 1865, and in the autumn of that year, led a gallant band of 
 young Californians into the State of Sonora, upon an arrange- 
 ment which he had previously concerted with certain Mexi- 
 can chiefs, by the aid of whom he expected confidently to be 
 able to effect a revolution against Mexican authority. This 
 project was defeated alone by the treachery of his Mexican 
 associates. Crabb and his party were betrayed into the hands 
 of the local authorities in Sonora, and all of them were im- 
 mediately put to death in a most insulting and barbarous man- 
 ner. I saw Colonel Crabb a few days before he set out upon, 
 this ill-fated expedition, and hearing from his lips that he 
 was then in his thirty-fourth year, I ventured to call his at- 
 tention to the fact that his father had died at that precise 
 period of life. I mention this merely as a curious co-inci- 
 dence.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Judge Catron. Felix Grundy. Jenkin Whiteside. Thomas H. Benton. O. B. 
 Hayes. Sam. Houston Abram P. Maury. Judge Turley. Judge Reese and 
 Judge Greene. Judge Abram Caruthers Pleasant M. Miller. George W. Camp- 
 bell. General Ewell. Return J. Meigs. Francis B. Fogg. James K. Polk. John. 
 Bell. ]ohn Marshall. Andrew J. Ewing. Thomas Fletcher. Thomas A. R. Nel- 
 son. Balie Peyton. Henry A. Wise. 
 
 Whilst Judge Crabb held the position which he so highly 
 adorned, as one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Ten- 
 nessee, he had been officially associated for a short period 
 with the distinguished personage whose career will now be 
 briefly noticed. John Catron is a name which will be long 
 held in veneration by all American patriots, and by the ad- 
 mirers of intellect and learning. His birth was obscure ; his 
 early life was beset with many difficulties, and his ultimate 
 rise to places of the highest civic trust and dignity reflects 
 much credit upon our republican institutions. Judge Catron 
 with but a limited education, and without a single influen- 
 tial friend to aid or encourage his early efforts for professional 
 success located himself in the little village of Sparta. Here 
 in a few years, he acquired much reputation for ability, ac- 
 cumulated enough to justify his removing to a more commer- 
 cial locality, and (as I have heard from his own lips) by the 
 advice of General Andrew Jackson became a resident of the 
 City of Nashville. Here he quickly rose to eminence, and ob- 
 tained, in a few years, a seat upon the bench of the Supreme 
 Court of Tennessee ; from which position he was elevated to 
 the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States by the 
 favor of General Jackson, only a day or two before he retired 
 to private life. 
 
 I knew Judge Catron well. He was in some respects one 
 of the most remarkable men I have ever met. His heart was 
 warm and generous ; his energy and firmness in the perform- 
 ance of public duty, were perhaps never surpassed; he was- 
 as simple-minded and as simple-mannered as a child; his
 
 146 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 confidence in other men was such as often to involve him in 
 difficulties and embarrassments ; and there was scarcely any 
 sacrifice which he did not stand willing to make in order to 
 further the welfare of a friend, or to relieve the victims of 
 misfortune. Among the members of the bar to whom he 
 was best known, he stood very high as a common law lawyer; 
 and in other departments of jurisprudential science he was 
 not far behind the most learned of his compeers. His mind 
 was acute and vigorous; his power of juridical analysis such 
 as but few can boast; his capacity for labor most marvellous, 
 and his desire to do justice and uphold established principle, 
 such as will ever command for him the respect and gratitude 
 of his countrymen. It must be admitted that this excellent 
 functionary was never entirely able to supply the deficiencies 
 of his early education, and that he was never fortunate enough 
 to acquire a graceful and polished style as a writer. Most of 
 his opinions whilst on the bench will ever be held as high 
 authority, and not a few of them are replete with suggestions 
 of a moral cast, and have reference to the suppression of 
 social crime, which it would be well for legislators of the 
 present generation, both in Tennessee and elsewhere, to read 
 and ponder. The following extract from an opinion delivered 
 by Judge Catron in a case of deep interest will enable the 
 reader to estimate very accurately his peculiar style of ex- 
 pression in regard to matters deeply involving his feelings as 
 a member of society and as a judicial conservator as well of 
 the public morals as of the dignity of the bar: 
 
 Calvin M. Smith, an' attorney, had accepted a challenge to 
 fight a duel with Robert M. Brank, and the said duel had ac- 
 tually been afterwards fought in the State of Kentucky. 
 Brank was slain, and Smith had been indicted in the State of 
 Kentucky for murder. An information was filed against 
 Smith upon the above facts , to which he demurred. The 
 court in which these proceedings had occurred gave judg- 
 ment against Smith and ordered that he should be stricken 
 from the roll of attorneys. From this judgment Smith having 
 prosecuted an appeal in the nature of a writ of error to the 
 Supreme Court of Tennessee, after full argument Judge 
 Catron thus expressed himself.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 147 
 
 " Much inquiry has been made into the powers of the 
 courts to remove attorneys ; if the old statute H. 4, had been 
 examined, that which has been searched for and found ob- 
 scurely hinted at in so many authors, could have been found 
 in a short paragraph ; the statute first provides that all who 
 are of good fame shall be put upon the roll, after examination 
 of the justices at their discretion, and after having been 
 sworn w#ll and truly to serve in their offices ; ' And if any 
 such attorney be hereafter notorioiisly found in any default, of 
 record, or otherwise, he shall forswear the court, and never 
 after be received to make any suit, in any court of the king. 
 They that be good and virtuous, and of good fame, shall be 
 received and sworn, at the discretion of the justices; and if 
 they are notoriously in default, at discretion, may be removed 
 upon evidence either of record, or not of record.' 
 
 " This statute has received the sanction of four centuries 
 without alteration, and almost without addition ; governing a 
 profession more numerous and powerful, (when applied to 
 counsel also, as in most of the United States) than any known 
 to the history of the world, without complaint of its provi- 
 sions, or abuse of power on the part of the court in its exer 
 cise, so far as the judicial history of England or America fur- 
 nishes instances. It is remarkable that there is not a provi- 
 sion in any act of assembly of Tennessee upon the subject, 
 but what is in strict affirmance of it, nor does a single provi- 
 sion go beyond it; our statutes require that the attorney shall 
 be of good moral character, learned, and of capable mind. 
 A loss of either of these is good ground for withdrawing the 
 privilege conferred by the license. 
 
 " Suppose an attorney were to become insane, by the hand 
 of providence, or by intemperance, he would be disqualified, 
 and the license should be withdrawn ; were he to become be- 
 sotted or notoriously profligate, he would be neither virtuous 
 nor of good fame, and should be stricken from the roll. An 
 hundred instances might be cited, where attorneys, once qual- 
 ified, might become disqualified, when the privilege should be 
 taken from them. Who must perform this duty ? The power 
 which has conferred the appointment; that is, every court
 
 148 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 where the attorney is permitted to practice, for they equally 
 extend the privilege. The principle is almost universal in all 
 governments, that the power which confers an office, has also 
 the right to remove the officer, for good cause the county 
 court, constable, etc.; the senate, officers elected by the legis- 
 lature and people ; in all these cases the tribunal removing is 
 of necessity the judge of the law and fact ; to ascertain which, 
 every species of evidence can be heard, legal in its 'character, 
 according to common law rules, consistent with our constitu- 
 tion and laws. This court, the circuit court, or the county 
 court, on a motion to strike an attorney from the rolls, has 
 the same right, (growing out of a similar necessity) to ex- 
 amine evidence of the facts, that the Senate of the State has, 
 when trying an impeachment. The authorities to sustain 
 these positions are all cited in the case of the State against 
 Fields (i Mar. & Yer. Rep.) and will not here be referred to." 
 
 After going into a detailed examination of the mode of 
 proceeding in such cases provided by the State of Tennessee, 
 and denying that the defendant in the case under examina- 
 tion had a right to file a demurrer, he says : 
 
 "The act of 1801, ch. 32, sec. 3, declares the killing in a 
 duel, murder; and that the survivor shall suffer death. This 
 provision was wholly unnecessary, as it always has been mur- 
 der, punishable with death, without the benefit of clergy, to 
 kill in a duel. The second of the slayer being an accessory 
 before the fact, and a principal present when the murder was 
 committed, aiding and abetting, is equally guilty of murder, 
 and subject to suffer death. It is the law of every Christain 
 country in the known world. Notwithstanding the laws, sanc- 
 tioned by the concurring opinion of mankind for centuries, it 
 is gravely insisted (accompanied by predictions of terrible 
 consequences) that it is not our duty to have them executed, 
 because it is said good character is not forfeited in this in- 
 stance, and therefore disqualification should not follow ; to 
 prove which, the acts of many English names in the last and 
 present centuries are referred to, as also many in the United 
 States, -who have sanctioned the practice by being parties to 
 duels, and who continued thereafter equally distinguished 
 members of society. Let us examine this matter.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 149 
 
 " It is true, as a part of the history of our species, that 
 many men of strong mihds, have equally strong passions, 
 which are ill controlled, and subject such men to grosser 
 errors than others with fewer mental advantages; these are 
 the men of worth that fight duels, having no guide but blind 
 and reckless passion, when aroused, regardless of their own 
 lives or those of others ; hence their conduct furnishes the 
 worst possible evidence upon which to ground a rule for the 
 government of society. This class of duellists are not less 
 wicked than others that we will name, but their standing ren- 
 ders it more difficult to punish them. 
 
 " Another set of men fight duels (or more generally make 
 a show towards it) to gratify their vanity, by drawing upon 
 themselves a little temporary notice, which their personal 
 worth or good conduct cannot procure. These are always 
 worthless coxcombs, equally destitute of bravery, virtue, or 
 sense, whose feeble nerves would be shattered and prostrated 
 at the sight of an enemy in the field of battle, who are ridicu- 
 lous in every situation when courage is required. This class 
 of duellists do little harm other than to disturb the community; 
 they quarrel to make peace, or if officious intermeddlers force 
 them into a fight, are too much alarmed to hit, or perhaps 
 see their antagonist. The affair is laughed at as a farce, and 
 the parties turned over to the constable. 
 
 " Many of this description challenge, because they know 
 the party challenged will not fight, having a due regard to re- 
 ligion, the laws of the country, and his family. The infamy 
 and worthlessness of the challenger generally is such as to 
 disgrace any decent man to notice him. These pretenders to 
 bravery and gentlemanship are always absolute cowards ; for 
 no man will challenge another, knowing he either will not or 
 dare not fight, unless he be cowardly. The officers of our 
 army at present dare not fight ; therefore it is a disgrace for 
 one officer to challenge another. The most distinguished 
 man in the service lately refused to accept or reply to a 
 challenge, from an officer of equal rank, because he feared 
 his God and the laws of his country; he has met his due 
 reward by having accorded to him the unlimited approbation 
 of his countrymen.
 
 150 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 " Let it be once understood that the bar of Tennessee dare 
 not fight, and it will be deemed cowardly to challenge a mem- 
 ber of it; and this court solemnly warn every lawyer, that if 
 he violates the laws made to suppress duelling, we will strike 
 him from the rolls of the court upon the fact being made 
 known to us. The truth is, such men are often insolent and 
 impudent bullies, who tyrannize over and impose upon all 
 orderly men about them, who literally dragoon society, by 
 fear of personal violence, into silence and seeming acquiesc- 
 ence with respect to their conduct. That such a counsellor 
 is a disgrace, and a serious encumbrance to any court where 
 he is permitted to practice, all will admit; those who engage 
 in duels, the statutes deem, and we will treat, as of this de- 
 scription." 
 
 After expatiating at considerable length upon other classes 
 of duellists, and pointing out the numerous evil consequences 
 proceeding from this abominable practice, the judge said : 
 
 " Such are duelling and its consequences ; and such, gener- 
 ally, the characters of the men who engage in it ; which if 
 it does not involve wickedness and criminality, crime deserves 
 no name, and morality no place in the human heart these 
 do not exist, if this be not a crime." 
 
 I take the liberty of subjoining here an extract from a num- 
 ber of the Spectator, in which the celebrated Addison gave 
 expression to views very similar to those enunciated from the 
 bench of the Supreme Court of Tennessee more than one 
 hundred years after. 
 
 " The placing the point of honor in this false kind of cour- 
 age, has given occasion to the very refuse of mankind, who- 
 have neither virtue nor common sense, to set up for men of 
 honor. An English peer, who has not long been dead, used 
 to tell a pleasant story of a French gentleman that visited 
 him early one morning at Paris, and, after great profession of 
 respect, let him know that it was in his power to oblige him ; 
 which in short amounted to this, that he believed he could tell 
 his lordship the person's name who jostled him as he came 
 out of the opera ; but, before he would proceed, he begged" 
 his lordship that he would not deny him the honor of making
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 15! 
 
 him his second. The English lord, to avoid being drawn into 
 a very foolish affair, told him that he was under engagements 
 for his next two duels to a couple of particular friends. Upon 
 which the gentleman immediately withdrew. 
 
 " The beating down (continues Mr. Addison) this false 
 notion of honor, in so vain and lively a people as those of 
 France, is deservedly looked upon as one of the glorious 
 parts of the present king's reign. It is a pity but the punish- 
 ment of these mischievous notions should have in it some 
 particular circumstances of shame and infamy ; that those 
 who are slaves to them may see that instead of advancing 
 their reputations, they lead them to ignominy and dishonor. 
 
 " Death is not sufficient to deter men, who make it their 
 glory to despise it ; but if every one that fought a duel were 
 to stand in the pillory it would quickly lessen the number of 
 these imaginary men of honor, and put an end to so absurd 
 a practice. 
 
 " When honor is a support to virtuous principles, and runs 
 parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be 
 too much cherished and encouraged ; but when the dictates 
 of honor are contrary to those of religion and equity, they 
 are the greatest depravations of human nature ; by giving 
 wrong ambitions and false ideas of what is good and lauda- 
 ble ; and should, therefore, be exploded by all governments, 
 and driven out as the bane and plague of human society." 
 
 A few years ago, when certain influences were actively at 
 work, the renewal of which no true patriot could desire, there 
 were some persons of no little social consideration who did 
 not hesitate to complain very clamorously that Judge Catron 
 did not resign his commission as a judge of the Supreme Court 
 of the Union upon the assumption of a hostile attitude to the 
 general government on the part of his adopted state Ten- 
 nessee. This was certainly doing him great injustice. His 
 authority as a judge of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States did not emanate from the State of Tennessee. He 
 was emphatically a federal or to speak more correctly a 
 national functionary. When he took his official oath as judge, 
 he did not assume an obligation to resign in the event that either
 
 152 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 the State of Tennessee, or the State of Kentucky where in 
 truth he was born should choose to withdraw from the 
 Union. Besides, the latter of these states certainly can not 
 be said in point of fact ever to have participated in the scheme 
 of secession. His first duty undoubtedly was to the Federal 
 government. Sworn to maintain the constitution and laws 
 of the Union, as "the supreme law of the land," how could 
 he consistently withdraw from the official position which he 
 held, when, by doing so, under the circumstances existing in 
 1861, he would have imparted much moral strength, at least, 
 to a cause bottomed upon the policy of overturning that law 
 and destroying that government with which he himself stood 
 connected by the most sacred ties? But, as before observed, 
 his holding on to his judicial commission gave serious um- 
 brage to a certain class of his fellow citizens at the time ; and 
 a few over-excited persons in the city where he had so long 
 resided, even went so far as to signify to him in a formal 
 manner their desire that he should leave the State of Tennes- 
 see at once upon a plea that so long as he continued to re- 
 side there, he would have it in his power to exercise a sort 
 of espionage upon certain proceedings then in progress. As 
 a sincere friend of peace he did not hesitate to comply with 
 this semi-friendly monition, being altogether averse to un- 
 kind and angry contention with those who had been his 
 neighbors and friends for something like the third of a cen- 
 tury. A characteristic anecdote should here be related. 
 When Judge Catron arrived in the City of Louisville, on the 
 occasion just referred to, it chanced that in one of the Union 
 newspapers published there, an exceedingly acrimonious edi- 
 torial appeared, complaining violently of the disrespect and 
 injustice which had been inflicted upon this venerable per- 
 sonage by the citizens of Nashville. So soon as he read this 
 article, Judge Catron responded to it over his own signature 
 denying that any personal indignity had been done him, say- 
 ing all that it was possible for him to say in extenuation of 
 the alleged outrage, and expressing for the citizens of Ten- 
 nessee in general, and for the people of Nashville in particu- 
 lar, sentiments of the warmest affection and respect. I well
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 153 
 
 recollect meeting Judge Catron on the street-side in Nash- 
 ville one morning, a short time subsequent to the election of 
 Mr. Lincoln to the presidency, and making known to him the 
 serious apprehension which I felt that a certain well-known 
 class of Southern politicians in the South were then medi- 
 tating the adoption of movements looking to the prosecution 
 of a war for the destruction of Union. I asked him what he 
 thought as to the expediency of the true friends of the Union 
 In Tennessee adopting some early steps, of a purely pacific 
 and friendly character, for the purpose of arresting, if possible, 
 the movements alluded to, before they should have received 
 body and dangerous strength suggesting especially to him, 
 as I did to others at the time, the expediency of sending dele- 
 gates to the State of Georgia, where a convention was shortly 
 to be held, remonstrating, kindly and earnestly, against the 
 adoption of an ordinance of secession by the people of that 
 state then, as I thought, most seriously menaced. Never 
 did I see more distress depicted upon a human face than that 
 which I then beheld displayed upon the visage of Judge Cat- 
 ron. But he could not be brought to believe that the danger 
 was so serious as I had suggested. He supposed that the 
 excitement at that time raging was but temporary in its char- 
 acter, and would soon pass away without any large amount 
 of public detriment of any kind. He insisted that if proper 
 vigilance and energy should be used by the government in 
 Washington City such as Jackson had brought into exercise 
 in 1832 the people of the South would be found as true sup- 
 porters of the Union as they had been in former days, and 
 that it would be best that in Tennessee the subject upon which 
 we were conversing should be as little discussed as possible. 
 This was the last time that I met this excellent and patriotic 
 person. 
 
 I shall now proceed to offer a few remarks upon the life and 
 character of a man whose name has been more or less con- 
 nected with the prominent events in American history for 
 almost three quarters of a century. Among the first books 
 which fell into my hands, in the days of my early manhood, 
 devoted to what is known as party politics, was a work, now
 
 154 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 but little read, called the "Olive Branch," written by the 
 once famous Matthew Carey. From the pages of this enter- 
 taining and instructive volume, I learned, that during the war 
 of 1812-15, the Federal editors of the most malevolent and 
 denunciatory stamp were accustomed to associate three per- 
 sonages of very dissimilar attributes, and to write very flip- 
 pantly and insultingly of "James Madison, Felix Grundy and 
 the Devil." This naturally enkindled in my mind much cur- 
 iosity concerning the second mentioned of these alleged 
 workers of iniquity ; which curiosity was revived and inten- 
 sified, a few years later, on my becoming a citizen of Alabama 
 in the autumn of 1825 ; where I heard much said by those 
 with whom 'I associated, touching the marvellous achieve- 
 ments of Mr. Grundy as an advocate in defence of persons 
 charged with the perpetration of criminal offences. It was about 
 this period, or perhaps a little later, that I heard of Mr. 
 Grundy's appearing in defence of a young man accused of 
 having murdered a traveller on the road-side, near the little 
 village of Triana, under very peculiar circumstances indeed. 
 The young man, it was said, having walked out from the 
 aforesaid village one evening, with a gun on his shoulder, for the 
 alleged purpose of hunting partridges, then much abounding 
 in the vicinage, was seen to elevate his piece, just after a man 
 on horse-back had passed him, and to fire it off. The travel- 
 ler dropped from his horse a lifeless corpse. Those who had 
 been spectators of this deed immediately rushed to the spot, 
 and were informed by the alleged culprit that he had fired at 
 a hawk which he had seen upon a tree only a few steps from 
 the place where the dead body of the traveller was found,, 
 and that he had no intention whatever of doing the least in- 
 jury to the man whom he did not deny he had deprived of 
 life. It did not appear that the slayer and his victim had ever 
 before met, or that there was any particular motive which 
 could have prompted the latter to this strange act of violence. 
 I heard much from those who had witnessed the trial of this, 
 young man, of the wondrous powers which Mr. Grundy had 
 exerted in his defence ; of the ingenuity which he had dis- 
 played in the discussion of the facts of the case, and of his
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 155, 
 
 pathetic appeals to the jury in behalf of his youthful client ; 
 appeals, which it was reported had drawn tears from the eyes 
 of all who had been in hearing of this highly gifted speaker. 
 As was to have been expected, the young man was promptly 
 acquitted, though it is certain that to this day there are per- 
 sons who believe it very doubtful whether the unfortunate 
 deceased was not the victim of a foolish and fanciful experi- 
 ment on the part of a reckless and inconsiderate young man, 
 belonging, youthful as he was, to that class of human bipeds 
 described in Holy Writ as monsters " scattering arrows, fire- 
 brands and death," and then " crying out 'am I not in sport?'" 
 
 During many years subsequent to this trial, it was my for- 
 tune to be so located as to get tidings of many similar achieve- 
 ments on the part of Mr. Grundy, who, as is recollected by 
 many yet surviving, was not only extensively concerned, for 
 a long period of time, in criminal practice in the State of 
 Tennessee, but was repeatedly called to the courts of adjoin- 
 ing states, to render his aid as an advocate in cases of the 
 gravest import, where parties felt themselves able to pay re- 
 munerative fees to counsel resident in distant localities. I 
 have lived for the seventeen years last past, in the midst of 
 those to whom Mr. Grundy was necessarily well known, 
 as a neighbor and fellow citizen, and who also enjoyed 
 numerous opportunities of listening to him, alike in the dis- 
 cussion of matters connected with his own profession, as 
 when addressing large multitudes upon political questions 
 deeply involving the welfare and honor of the whole Re- 
 public. I do not therefore feel it to be at all presumptuous 
 in me frankly to state here the conclusions to which my 
 mind has attained concerning one with whom my own per- 
 sonal acquaintance was unfortunately quite superficial. 
 
 Felix Grundy was a native of Virginia; but spent the 
 years of his early manhood chiefly in the State of Kentucky. 
 To have achieved distinction at the bar in Kentucky at that 
 period of her history, when such men as Clay and Rowan, 
 Harden and the Wickliffs, Bledsoe, Barry, and many other 
 advocates of almost equal ability, had to be encountered as 
 competitors, implies the possession of powers not ordinarily
 
 456 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 displayed by the seekers of forensic fame. To have honor - 
 .ably represented an intelligent and patriotic constituency in 
 Congress, during the most stormy and troublesome period of 
 Mr. Madison's administration, and to have gained such de- 
 cided prominence in the councils of the Republic before he 
 had yet reached his intellectual meridian, as to have been 
 singled out by the champions of faction as a fit subject of 
 malignant reprehension and opprobrium, must be regarded as 
 .a distinction far more to be coveted than to be deplored. Upon 
 Mr. Grundy's political career in Tennessee, I do not feel called 
 upon at the present to pass. There was doubtless much in it 
 to be warmly commended, and much in it perhaps also which, 
 in the light of subsequent experience, very many of his 
 ^warmest admirers could not conscientiously approve. As 
 a jurist, he has not been regarded as having been very 
 deeply and extensively informed ; nor did he ever manifest 
 an ambition for the highest celebrity in this respect. In 
 scholastic attainments no one has thought of claiming for 
 him a very high rank. His general reading was very exten- 
 sive, and his knowledge of the affairs of the world and of the 
 human heart, was such as has been seldom surpassed. His 
 person was impressive and commanding; his face was radiant 
 with the mingled beams of genius and benevolence; his voice 
 was naturally of great strength and sweetness, and it had 
 been so modulated by judicious discipline, as to adapt its 
 tones most happily to the expression of all the emotions 
 of which the human soul is susceptible. His gesticulation 
 was never profuse, but always apposite and graceful. When 
 addressing either court or jury, his manner was composed 
 and full of dignity, unmixed with either arrogance or affecta- 
 tion. His countenance was habitually serene and benignant. 
 He never indulged in coarse and unseemly denunciation ; in 
 buffoonery or low ridicule ; or in boisterous and vehement 
 declamation. To everything like rant or rhapsody he was 
 altogether averse ; nor was he by any means given to pedantic 
 pomposity, or inclined to the making of elaborate efforts to 
 pass himself off upon his audience as a man of superhuman 
 wisdom and of an amount of learning beyond all that the
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 sages of either ancient or modern times could justly boast.. 
 Never was Mr. Grundy known to indulge in metaphysical 
 subtlety, or to seek the applause of the superficial and uncul- 
 tured by forced and extravagant figures of speech, by exagger- 
 ated appeals to the passions, by wire-drawn distinctions hav- ' 
 ing no foundation in reason and experience, or by inappro- 
 priate and unreasonable quotations from poets or rhapsodists 
 notoriously remarkable only for glittering but meaningless 
 generalities, for absurd and puerile conceits, or for turgid and 
 empty verbiage without the least claim to sense, to signifi- 
 cancy, or to veritable ornament. For points of special plead- 
 ing he had not the smallest relish, and the argument of de- 
 murrers, either general or special, he was always glad to de- 
 volve upon associate counsel. He is reported by those who 
 have heard him most frequently, to have entered upon the 
 discussion of matters, however important they might be, with, 
 no appearance of previous preparation, though there can be 
 no doubt that when time and circumstances allowed thereof,, 
 he did not fail to perform his duty in this respect. Indeed I 
 have reason to believe that, though this renowned advocate 
 knew, as well as William Pinckney or any ofte else, how to 
 put in practice the ars celare artem ; yet that he had in his 
 time devoted far more attention than the majority of our modern 
 orators are accustomed to do, to that noble art rhetorical which 
 such men as Demosthenes and Cicero, Chatham and Mira- 
 beau, Choate and Everett are known to have thoroughly mas- 
 tered. Five fundamental rules I am confident he never failed 
 to observe : I. To study and understand beforehand, per- 
 fectly, the matters, whether of fact or law, which he was 
 called to discuss : 2. To arrange all these matters in an or- 
 derly manner in the repositories of his own mind : 3. To 
 impart such ornament to the whole mass thereof, or to de- 
 tached parts, as he might judge most tasteful and impressive: 
 4. To store all these in his memory, so as to be able to bring 
 them into display with readiness and ease: and 5. To pre-de- 
 termine everything material connected with what we moderns 
 call delivery, and what the ancients called action, embracing, 
 of course, the expression of the countenance, the movements of
 
 158 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 the body and its several members, and all the different inton- 
 ations of which the human voice is susceptible. 
 
 I have been told that Mr. Grundy was at times, when the 
 occasion seemed to justify such an experiment, exquisitely 
 humorous not always refraining from the exercise of a species 
 of innoxious and inoffensive mimicry ; and by such means he is 
 reported to have more than, once convulsed large crowds with 
 irrepressible merriment. I am disposed to think though that 
 the display of his powers in this respect must have been con- 
 fined to occasions of a strictly political character ; and I hold 
 it to be certain that his own good taste would scarcely have 
 permitted him to indulge his admitted comic vein when hand- 
 ling topics of a deeply tragical import. I have heard not a 
 little said concerning a singularly facetious speech made by 
 Mr. Grundy in the presidential campaign of 1840, at the town 
 of Columbia, when he is reported to have rung the changes 
 upon hard-cider, log-cabins, coon-skins, Ogleism, silver spoons, 
 &c. &c., in a manner that produced almost inextinguishable 
 laughter among the gravest and most devoted supporters of 
 Harrison and Tyler. 
 
 An anecdote has been long in circulation which may be 
 perhaps not inappropriately related. During this same cam- 
 paign of 1840 the presidential contest was specially enlivened 
 in the neighborhood of Nashville by the presence of many 
 distinguished orators, and among them Mr. Clay. The alleged 
 mal-administration of the preceding twelve years, during 
 which the Democrats had been in power, was expected to 
 be exposed, as it indeed was, in the most impressive and 
 effective manner. The great leader of the Whig party was 
 himself decidedly in the prosecuting vein, and showed powers 
 -of accusatory eloquence little inferior to those displayed by 
 Cicero in his speeches against Verres, or Burke in his terrible 
 arraignment of Warren Hastings. Mr. Clay, on reaching 
 Nashville, is reported to have enquired eagerly for his old 
 friend Grundy. On being told that he had left home to at- 
 tend a large Democratic meeting in a distant part of the 
 country, " Oh," the facetious chief of Ashland exclaimed, " I 
 am not at all surprised to hear that mine ancient friend is still
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 159 
 
 nga ged in his accustomed occupation of defending criminals!' 
 When Mr. Grundy was at the very acme of his fame as an 
 orator, a member of the Nashville bar was slowly and toil- 
 somely climbing his way to eminence in a special department 
 of the legal profession, for complete success in which neither 
 scholastic culture, nor general literary attainments, nor the 
 most varied and extensive knowledge of law as a science, nor 
 a brilliant and graceful elocution, constitutes the stepping- 
 stone to fame and emolument. Jenkin Whiteside has come 
 down to the men of this generation exclusively as a great 
 2and-laivyer. No one was more familiar than he was with all 
 that Coke and Blackstone, and the other English writers, have 
 said in their labored and profoundly reasoned, treatises upon 
 the law of real property. No man had mastered more fully 
 than himself the principles involved in the doctrine of Execu- 
 tory Devises and Contingent Remainders. No lawyer of his 
 time could talk more learnedly and luminously upon the 
 celebrated rule in Shelley's case ; and he manifested a steady 
 energy and a masterly dexterity in the management of all the 
 sharp points and subtle devices that appertain to the trial 
 of actions of ejectment; which things gave him many ad- 
 vantages over a more sluggish and less wily adversary. No 
 man could be more conversant than was Jenkin Whiteside 
 with the whole history of land titles in Tennessee, as well 
 as with the operations of the land offices both in that 
 state and North Carolina; a species of knowledge quite in- 
 dispensable to success in the arduous but profitable vocation 
 in which he had enlisted, and upon which his attention had 
 been concentrated in a manner rarely exemplified. He 
 was undoubtedly a man of vigorous understanding; of 
 wonderful sagacity and acuteness ; devoted much to money 
 making, and especially delighting in what was known as 
 speculation in uncultivated lands, of which he had, in one 
 way or another, at different times, accumulated large bodies, 
 the titles to which were not rarely involved in troublesome 
 and expensive litigation. He was of a rough and unimpos- 
 ing exterior; of awkward and ungainly manners; and had 
 no relish whatever for those elegant and refined pursuits
 
 160 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 which are understood to distinguish polished and aristocratic 
 communities; but he is admitted by all who knew him, to 
 have been civil and unobtrusive in his general demeanor ; not 
 deficient in public spirit ; and of a coarse and unpretending 
 cordiality which made him many friends and no enemies. 
 
 It is not perhaps generally known that the celebrated 
 Thomas H. Benton was at one time a member of the Tennes- 
 see bar. Terminating his educational exercises at a college 
 in North Carolina, he migrated to Middle Tennessee, and be- 
 came the teacher of a small school upon Duck river, not 
 many miles distant from the present beautiful town of Frank- 
 lin, in which latter place he subsequently commenced the prac- 
 tice of his profession. The little brick tenement, which he first 
 occupied as an office, is yet in a state of good preservation, 
 and is often-times pointed out by the hospitable residents of 
 Franklin to the passing traveller. Mr. Benton from the first 
 was much fonder of political pursuits than of the study of 
 law-books ; and greatly preferred the making of stump 
 speeches to the argument of legal causes. He never enjoyed 
 a large practice as a lawyer, and tradition has not supplied us 
 with any precise information touching his appearance in 
 forensic contests. That Mr. Benton possessed intellectual 
 powers which might, with proper culture and application, 
 have ultimately secured him no inconsiderable rank as a 
 jurist, no one at all acquainted with the public scenes in which 
 he afterwards participated, would be inclined to doubt. With- 
 out being what is called a man of genius, he certainly pos- 
 sessed intellectual faculties far above mediocrity. He was 
 ever a diligent reader of books, and more than ordinarily am- 
 bitious of fame and influence. His reading though was al- 
 ways of a miscellaneous character, and occasionally such as 
 was calculated rather to cramp and confuse his conceptive 
 organs, than to animate and invigorate them. His scholar- 
 ship was never deep and thorough ; his mind was lacking in 
 genuine elastic vigor; of imagination he was wholly devoid, 
 and of delicate and refined comic humor he never seemed to 
 have formed even the most imperfect idea. No man was ever 
 more industrious, more persevering, or more fertile in expe-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. l6l 
 
 dients than Mr. Benton. In dialogue, when he chose to un- 
 bend himself, he was not a little instructive. His topics of 
 conversation, at least in the evening of life, were exceedingly 
 limited in number, not always of an attractive character, and 
 not uniformly pleasing to persons of delicacy and refinement 
 or to individuals of a placid and kindly temper, to whom the 
 language of boisterous denunciation, or of sneeiful innuendo, 
 can never be otherwise than disagreeable, if not offensive. No 
 amount of rhetorical training could ever have enabled Mr. 
 Benton to cope in lively and splendid forensic eloquence with 
 such persons as Henry Clay or Felix Grundy ; in mere legal 
 argumentation he could not hope, however favored by cir- 
 cumstances, to rival the condensed vigor of a Marshall or a 
 Pinckney. The ready and rapid flow of choice and appropri- 
 ate words, and of earnest, clear, and forcible logic, sometimes 
 bordering upon metaphysical subtlety, and occasionally em- 
 bellished and adorned with sublime generalities, to which Mr. 
 Calhoun was indebted for so large a portion of his fame and 
 influence, seemed ever to rouse in Mr. Benton a feeling 
 allied to astonishment, not unmixed with an emulation nearly 
 akin to resentment, and a painful restlessness apparently aris- 
 ing, in some degree, from the mortifying sense of intellectual 
 inferiority, and the despair which he could not but feel of 
 ever being able himself to ascend to those empyrean heights of 
 grand and lofty thought where the great South Carolinian 
 seemed to be as much at home as if he had been traversing the 
 level and beautiful fields of his own loved plantation in the time- 
 honored Palmetto state. Mr. Benton's voice was to the last 
 most harsh and untunable, his gesticulation was clumsy and 
 ungraceful ; he delighted in the delivery of long and tedious 
 set discourses always over-crammed with matter not al- 
 ways perfectly germane to the subject under consideration ; 
 and it is not at all unjust to him to say that he WdS far more 
 plenteously endowed with the dictatorial spirit than with the 
 gentle graces of persuasion, and that he was much less ambi- 
 tious of conciliating opposition, than of crushing out antago- 
 nism by untempered and overbearing force. Let no one im- 
 agine though that Mr. Benton was as defective as a writer, as
 
 l62 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST 
 
 he was infelicitous as a speaker. When he chose to do so, 
 he could express himself on paper with a clearness and pre- 
 cision not often equalled ; he had command of a simple, ner- 
 vous, and idiomatic English style which few of his own 
 generation could boast; and there is one -specimen of his 
 elaborate composition which no man of just taste can peruse 
 without unmixed gratification. I allude now to the eulogy 
 delivered, or rather read by him in the national Senate upon 
 his colleague, Dr. Lynn ; which I have read more than once 
 and always with renewed and increased admiration. Mr. 
 Fox's celebrated eulogy upon his fiiend and compatriot 
 that Duke of Bedford, who, whilst living, was so unfortunate 
 as to be so terribly stigmatized and derided by Mr. Burke I 
 confess seems to me to be decidedly inferior in all essential 
 respects to the speech of Mr. Benton to which I have referred ; 
 and, had he always written and spoken so happily, he would 
 have attained a far higher rank in the world's estimation, than 
 can be now accorded to him. 
 
 For a year or two, during Mr. Benton's residence in Ten- 
 nessee, he was connected in the practice of law with a gentle- 
 man who afterwards rose to considerable prominence, and 
 who is understood to have been more than ordinarily success- 
 ful in regard to what so many attorneys recognize as the 
 prime object of professional exertion the acquisition of a 
 fortune. I have now allusion to the late O. B. Hayes, who 
 became a resident of Nashville in the year 1808, having pre- 
 viously studied law in the City of Baltimore. Mr. Hayes was 
 a native of Massachusetts, had there received a liberal educa- 
 tion, and in after life, is said to have always paid more or less 
 attention to classic literature and to such other studies as 
 were best calculated to improve his taste and fit him for the 
 duties of an advocate. Opinion has been much divided as to 
 his claims to oratorical excellence. By some he was very 
 highly admired, and I have heard one or two of his efforts 
 especially in the defence of persons charged with crime very 
 highly lauded. All admitted his facility of speech, his ex- 
 tensive and accurate knowledge of law, and his abundant zeal 
 and industry. A few have thought his manner as a speaker
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 163 
 
 to have been somewhat marked with a stiffness and formality, 
 bordering on affectation. He appeared often in the argument 
 of land causes, and the briefs filed by him will be found al- 
 ways to have been skilfully framed and full to exuberance in 
 the citation of adjudicated cases. Towards the close of a 
 somewhat bustling career, Mr. Hayes became a minister of 
 the Gospel, but is not understood to have acquired in this new 
 calling a rank altogether equal to that which he had previ- 
 ously enjoyed at the bar. 
 
 Sam. Houston too was once a seeker of forensic fame in 
 Tennessee. Born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, reared to 
 manhood partly in East Tennessee, he joined, when he had 
 scarcely reached the age of maturity, the noble volunteer 
 army led by General Jackson against the hostile Indians then 
 resident in what is now called the State of Alabama, and dis- 
 played much valor in this famous campaign especially at 
 the battle of the Horseshoe, where he received a painful and 
 dangerous wound, from which he is said never afterwards to 
 have recovered. At the close of the war of 1812-13, he reac ^ 
 law and located in Middle Tennessee. The house which he 
 for several years occupied in the town of Lebanon, was once 
 pointed out to me. General Houston was never what is 
 called a profound jurist, having very early been tempted to 
 abandon his professional studies by the prospect held out to 
 him of occupying a seat in Congress. In this body he served 
 several years, but delivered no speeches fitted to give him 
 permanent reputation either as an orator or statesman. Mr. 
 Webster, one day, when General Houston was delivering a 
 speech in the national Senate, upon a question of no little 
 moment, and in a style and manner very like some of the 
 histrionic displays which we witness at theatres, smilingly 
 said to me, that his friend Houston, when they were in the 
 House of Representatives, had been a regular attendant upon 
 dramatic performances in Washington, and had labored to 
 form himself as a parliamentary debater upon the model of 
 some celebrated actor then in vogue I think either Forrest, 
 or the elder Booth. This was doubtless a great mistake on his 
 part, and assuredly operated as a serious obstruction to his
 
 164 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 success as a political speaker. His subsequent romantic 
 career is well known to the public, and need therefore not be 
 here dwelt upon. He was doubtless a man of considerable 
 ability, of much amiability in private life, and an unswerving 
 devotee and friend of our National Union. The day must 
 yet come when that self-sacrificing zeal which he displayed in 
 the closing days of his long and brilliant public career, will 
 be duly appreciated by his countrymen everywhere. 
 
 It was my fortune many years since, whilst he was running 
 quite a brilliant Congressional career, to form a very agreeable 
 acquaintance with a gentleman who though only nominally a 
 lawyer in Tennessee, I am not willing to pass without a brief 
 notice. Abram P. Maury was a member of a well-known 
 and highly honored Huguenot family who were driven from, 
 their native land by cruel religious persecution, and who 
 located in Virginia. The subject of this notice was born 
 in Tennessee. He was educated at West Point ; evinced very 
 early and decided fondness for literary and scientific pur- 
 suits, and gained much reputation as a contributor to several 
 extensively circulated periodicals. He settled at the City of 
 St. Louis in 1820, and if I am correctly informed, participated 
 in the establishment of the St. Louis Republican, now a news- 
 paper of such commanding influence. Disposing of his in- 
 terest therein, he returned to Tennessee, and in connection 
 with others, established the Nashville Republican, which 
 afterwards became the Republican Banner. This last well- 
 known journal has now become merged in the American. 
 Colonel Maury was a gentleman of the most polished and win- 
 ning manners, of most unexceptionable morals, and of tried 
 and tested patriotism. Voluntarily retiring from public life,. 
 his last days were spent in the enjoyment of the sweets of 
 domestic and social intercourse and in pursuing those studies 
 which most conduce to intellectual culture and practical use- 
 fulness. He died in his forty-eighth year, and left behind him 
 numerous friends and admirers who yet hold him in respect- 
 ful and kindly remembrance. 
 
 In the month of November 1829, 1 was journeying, in quite 
 a leisurely manner, through that portion of the State of Ten-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 165 
 
 nessee then known as the western district. Reaching one 
 evening the little town of Savannah, I sought entertainment for 
 the night at what seemed to be the' principal hotel of the 
 place. Here I found a goodly number of attorneys, some of 
 whom had then acquired much reputation at the bar and 
 others were hopefully toiling for the rewards of professional 
 industry. A circuit court was being held in the town, in which 
 Judge Turley was presiding. With this gentleman, whom I 
 had never before seen, I was very much struck at first sight, 
 and on hearing him in free conversation with some of the 
 lawyers in attendance, in his own room, I became every 
 moment more and more delighted with the extreme benignity 
 of his aspect, his overflowing cordiality, his sound and in- 
 structive views of men and of books, and his felicitous style 
 of expressing himself upon all the topics which arose for dis- 
 cussion. He was then apparently thirty years of age. I 
 suppose him to have been about five feet ten inches in height, 
 of a well proportioned figure, and he was exceedingly easy 
 and graceful in all his movements. He might even have been 
 called a handsome man, and he was on this occasion clad in 
 a simple suit of black, which fitted him admirably and was 
 wholly unstained with use. With the members of the bar he 
 seemed to be a great favorite, all of whom spoke of him as 
 decidedly the most rising man in the state. I was not at all 
 surprised to hear afterwards of his elevation to the bench of 
 the Supreme Court, and, in still later years, to behold in the 
 volumes of reported decisions which made their appearance 
 during his short but brilliant judicial career, evidences of 
 learning and ability such as have placed him very high indeed 
 upon the roll of the illustrious worthies who have at different 
 times taken part in the duty of meting out exact and impartial 
 justice to all the various classes of their fellow citizens. The 
 opinions of Judge Turley as recorded and promulgated evince 
 an amount of legal learning which could not well be over- 
 estimated. He seems uniformly to have expressed himself 
 in the most perspicuous and polished language, and he poured 
 forth such a stream of continuous and well-compacted logic 
 as could not leave the smallest doubt upon the minds
 
 1 66 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 of others either as to the depth and earnestness of his own 
 convictions, or the absolute correctness of the conclusions to 
 which he gave such weighty and eloquent enunciation. Those 
 who have had most intercourse with the members of the bar 
 of Tennessee, in the various sections of the state, will -agree 
 with me in asserting that among those who had the gratifica- 
 tion of seeing Judge Turley on the bench, and of hearing him 
 when delivering opinions in cases of special magnitude and 
 difficulty, there is a universal conviction existing that a greater 
 judicial name than his has never yet become associated with 
 the administration of justice in this section of the Union. If 
 there be those who have the least doubt as to this matter, I 
 would ask them to read with attention the whole history of 
 the deeply interesting case of Montgomery v. Hobson, re- 
 ported in the tenth volume of Verger's Reports, and sure I 
 am that they will doubt no longer. 
 
 There are not a few lawyers in the state of Tennessee who 
 are inclined to recognize the period during which Judges 
 Greene, Turley and Reese conducted so ably and satisfac- 
 torily the business of the Supreme Court as a sort of Augus- 
 tan era in the judicial annals of this far-famed common- 
 wealth. Whether this view of the subject is justified by 
 facts I shall not presume to decide. Of Judge Turley I have 
 already spoken. With Judge Reese I had not the good for- 
 tune to have the least personal acquaintance ; but I have 
 universally heard him spoken of as a man of the greatest up- 
 rightness, of the most ample legal attainments, and of scho- 
 lastic and literary culture of a very high grade. The style in 
 which his opinions are drawn up is eminently creditable to 
 him ; the reasonings embodied therein are in full keeping 
 with the language in which they are presented by him ; and 
 I have understood that they lost nothing either of force or 
 impressiveness from the manner in which they were enun- 
 ciated from the bench by their distinguished author. 
 
 I knew Judge Green most intimately, and had with him 
 some very peculiar and interesting relations. He was truly 
 a man eminently entitled to be loved and venerated. I had 
 become somewhat familiar with his claims to respect as a
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. l6/ 
 
 judicial functionary, from a diligent perusal of his published 
 opinions, some time anterior to my meeting him personally. 
 It was during a deeply interesting criminal trial in the year 
 1860 that I first beheld this gentleman. He appeared as a 
 witness in behalf of a young man who had been unfortunate 
 enough to slay one of his associates of the Lebanon Univer- 
 sity, and in whose defense I had been invited to participate. 
 The testimony of Judge Green was of a most important 
 character, and he was retained under examination some 
 twenty or thirty minutes. His demeanor on this occasion 
 was most solemn and impressive, and he evinced 
 throughout a tender sympathy in behalf of the ac- 
 cused, and a deep and unmistakable solicitude for his fate. 
 I did not see this venerable personage again until our re- 
 spective friends had thrown us into competition for a seat in 
 the Confederate Congress, the cares and responsibilities at- 
 tendant upon a seat in which body I have a thousand times 
 since wished had devolved upon him instead of on myself. For 
 several weeks the contest between us proceeded, and ques- 
 tions were discussed by us, as well as by a third candidate, 
 of a nature not a little exciting to the popular mind. But 
 never did he utter one unkind or disrespectful word towards 
 myself or towards others. His manner was uniformly of an 
 amiable and even of a patriarchal character, and when we 
 parted at the close of the canvass we were even better friends 
 than we were at the commencement thereof. I never saw 
 him afterwards, and happily he did not live to feel the suffer- 
 ings and encounter the troubles which others have been fated 
 to experience. 
 
 Judge Green was born in Virginia and was, when I formed 
 his acquaintance, in his seventieth year. I heard from his 
 own lips that he was born in the same year with William C. 
 Rives ; that he knew him well before his migration from his 
 native state, and that he was sworn in as a lawyer at the 
 same court and on the same morning \vith Mr. Rives. He 
 was a man of most majestic stature, of a highly commanding 
 aspect, and of sedate and gentlemanly manners. The 
 state of Tennessee owes to him a heavy debt of gratitude, as
 
 1 68 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 well on account of his long-continued, able and useful ser- 
 vices upon the bench, as by reason of the fact that he 
 officiated, for many years after his retirement from the per- 
 formance of judicial duties, as one of the professors at the 
 law university at Lebanon, where so many young men of the 
 South have received such sound and judicious training for 
 the performance of forensic duties as few institutions in the 
 country have been known to supply. 
 
 Having incidentally spoken of this famous seat of judicial 
 learning, I seize the opportunity of alluding to another ven- 
 erated personage to whom the Lebanon Law University owes 
 much of its celebrity. Judge Abram Caruthers, the author 
 of that admirably digested volume known as " The History of 
 a Laia Suit" has in the preparation of this valuable work 
 done more perhaps to enable young and inexperienced attor- 
 neys to master the dry and perplexing formalities of practice, 
 and to relieve their minds from the embarrassing technicalities 
 which are sometimes so much fraught with discouragement 
 and solicitude, than any man of the present generation. I 
 knew Judge Caruthers well, though I never had the advantage 
 of being present on any occasion when he was holding court; 
 and I had much pleasant and profitable intercourse with him du- 
 ring the last year of his mortal pilgrimage. I saw him on his 
 death-bed in the town of Marietta, Georgia, where he was for 
 some time sojourning during our mournful civil war, to the 
 sad and horrifying incidents of which I am satisfied his un- 
 timely decease may be safely attributed. I was one of the 
 numerous concourse of bereaved and saddened friends who 
 attended his remains to the tomb. I drew up for publication 
 his obituary notice, and drafted the resolutions adopted in 
 honor of him at that period, by an assemblage of his profes- 
 sional brethren of several states of the Union ; and I now 
 declare that, in my judgment, a purer, wiser or more patriotic 
 man I have never known ; that a sounder and more highly 
 informed jurist Tennessee has never produced ; and that a more 
 attentive, judicious and skilful law-instructor no university on 
 either side of the Atlantic has numbered among its professors. 
 
 Among the lawyers of the Tennessee bar whom I have
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 169 
 
 already mentioned as having been seen by me in company 
 with Judge Turley in the town of Savannah, forty-five years 
 ago, was the celebrated Pleasant M. Miller. He was then far 
 advanced in life, but was still actively concerned in the busi- 
 ness of his profession. I found him to be a most civil and 
 affable gentleman, easy and unaffected in converse, and full 
 of lively sallies of good-natured raillery. He seemed to be 
 very much respected by his brother attorneys, and to receive 
 in his intercourse with them many tokens of deferential re- 
 gard of a most flattering character. Mr. Miller was a Virgin- 
 ian by birth, but had located in East Tennessee at a very 
 early period, where he very soon obtained high rank, both as 
 a jurist and advocate. It is of this gentleman that Mr. Parton 
 in his Life of Jackson relates substantially the following 
 rather ludicrous anecdote : Whilst Patrick Henry was still 
 astonishing all who heard him speak by his marvellous powers 
 as an orator, it chanced that General Jackson, who was then 
 a dashing young attorney, took a trip to one of the neighbor- 
 ing counties of Virginia, where he had the good fortune to 
 hear one of Mr. Henry's most effective jury speeches. He 
 returned to his own home full of admiration of the " Forest- 
 born Demosthenes," and occupied 'himself much for several 
 days thereafter with the most hearty laudations of his elo- 
 quence. He had done so on one occasion when in the 
 presence of Mr. Miller and the afterwards well-known George 
 Washington Campbell, when the latter is reported to have 
 called Mr. Henry's abilities as a speaker somewhat in ques- 
 tion suggesting very gravely that the world was often- 
 times exceedingly unjust in its estimate of men, and espec- 
 ially of forensic personages, and that he did not at all doubt 
 that there were many to be found all over the country not a 
 whit behind Mr. Henry as an orator, who had not been yet 
 given credit for abilities of more than an ordinary character. 
 To which Miller facetiously responded : " Campbell, I per- 
 fectly agree with you, and have not the smallest doubt that 
 if you and I could once manage to get Patrick Henry enlisted 
 in opposition to us in some suit in our county court, we 
 Avould be able to make such havoc of his reputation as an
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 advocate that no one would ever again be heard to chant his 
 praises, as everybody seems now to do." Words like these, 
 uttered in a tone and manner amiably ironical, roused General 
 Jackson, and brought forth from him the terrific exclamation : 
 "Bring me my pistols!" On being asked what he wanted 
 with his pistols, he replied : " I wish to kill Miller at once ; 
 for he has just immortalized himself, and it is better he 
 should die at once than to live and do aught to destroy the 
 glory he has just acquired." George W. Campbell was in 
 many respects entitled to be kindly and respectfully remem- 
 bered. At different periods 'of his long and diversified career 
 he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice as an attorney, and 
 succeeded in accumulating a large estate. He was for a short 
 time on the bench of the Supreme Court of the state, for 
 several terms a member of the National House of Represent- 
 atives, a Cabinet officer and a Minister to the Russian capital. 
 His amiable and accomplished wife before marriage a Miss 
 Stoddert, and daughter to a well-known member of the Cab- 
 inet of John Adams was a lady of rare intelligence and of 
 many domestic and social virtues. Both Mr. Campbell and 
 his wife lived to extreme old age, leaving a vast estate to be 
 enjoyed by a daughter, one of the most intellectual and pub- 
 lic-spirited ladies of the age, the early decease of whose only 
 brother left her the sole representative of a noble stock and 
 the sole inheritress of more wealth than is at all necessary to 
 felicity or usefulness. Lezinka Campbell inter-married when 
 yet very young, with a gentleman whom I once knew well; 
 and, upon his decease, remained for many years in a condi- 
 tion of reserved and dignified widowhood, devoting all her 
 attention to the training and education of her two children, a 
 son and daughter, and visiting Europe in 1859, for the pur- 
 pose alone of accomplishing this most sacred duty more 
 perfectly. When she returned to her native land, she found 
 it convulsed with civil war. In this war her son enlisted at 
 once on the Confederate side, served as aide-de-camp to the 
 celebrated General Ewell in several campaigns, and doing his 
 full duty as a gallant soldier. Now General Ewell was 
 cousin-german to Mrs. Brown, had been familiarly associated
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 17 1 
 
 with her in early life, and had been her devoted admirer. 
 Seeking her hand in wedlock and being disappointed in his 
 suit, he gave up all thought of marrying, and devoted himself 
 for a series of years, with most painstaking fidelity, to his 
 duties as an officer in the Federal army, where he succeeded 
 in obtaining a high rank. The beginning of the war found 
 him in New Mexico. Deeply regretting the occurrence of 
 this unbrotherly and wholly unnecessary conflict, as a Vir- 
 ginian born, he, like General Lee, resigned his commission as 
 a Federal officer, and tendered his services to the Confeder- 
 ate officials. In one of the most terrific battles of the war, 
 fought only a few miles from the spot of his birth, one of 
 General Swell's legs was carried away by a cannon-ball, and 
 for several weeks he lay in a disabled, helpless condition. 
 Under these circumstances Mrs. Brown, who, during the war, 
 had more than once journeyed to the Confederate camp on 
 a visit to her son, most naturally claimed the privilege of 
 tending upon her suffering relative as his nurse, and to her 
 gentle and unremitting attentions in that capacity, the lan- 
 guishing hero was doubtless greatly indebted for his ultimate 
 recovery. I visited General Ewell often, whilst confined to 
 his bed in Richmond, and always found this ministering angel 
 watching over him with sleepless vigilance, and cheering him 
 up by hopeful and recreative converse. One evening, when 
 I called to see General Ewell, he mentioned to me that he 
 saw, on reading the morning papers, that General Sterling 
 Price was in the city, and, stating that he had long held him 
 in the greatest admiration, asked me whether I thought that 
 he would come to see him, if invited to do so. I answered 
 at once in the affirmative, and took it upon myself to bring 
 this gallant and noble-spirited man to his bed-side next morn- 
 ing. This, of course, I did not fail to do, and well recollect 
 that we had to walk through a thick and blinding snow-storm 
 for more than a mile along the streets of Richmond, m order 
 to fulfill this interesting engagement. Never shall I forget the 
 scene which ensued in General Ewell's sick-room, or the hearty 
 interchange of affection and respect which then occurred. 
 No one should now be surprised to learn that, on General
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Ewell's restoration to health, the hope of his young manhood 
 was at last realized, and he became the husband of the only 
 woman he had ever loved. 
 
 For several years after the war had drawn to a close, Gen- 
 eral Ewell and his wife lived in a state of connubial bliss 
 seldom realized on earth. They were my neighbors and inti- 
 mate friends, whose society I prized more highly than I can 
 well express in words. About three years ago the General 
 was suddenly stricken down by a malignant fever, which 
 baffled the skill of all the physicians who were called upon to 
 minister to him. When he was in a critical condition, 
 expecting every moment to breathe his last, his wife, who had 
 been for days nursing him most faithfully, was visited by the 
 same terrible malady, and only survived a few hours. The 
 dying hero, on hearing of her decease, demanded a last sight of 
 those beloved features which he had so long felt to be identi- 
 fied with his own being. Her yet life-like but inanimate form, 
 dressed for the tomb, was borne to his bed-side; he gazed 
 upon the face of his beloved for one single moment of heart- 
 convulsing but tearless agony, and fell back upon his pillow 
 as dead as the corpse upon which he had been tenderly gazing ! 
 
 I may be allowed here to mention that the father of Gen- 
 eral Ewell was once a distinguished resident physician of the 
 City of Washington, and the author of a well known and 
 valuable work called, I believe, " Ewell's Family Medicine," 
 He was born in the county of Prince William, Virginia, 
 where I have repeatedly seen him in the days of my own boy- 
 hood. He and my father studied medicine together in the old 
 and now decayed town of Dumfries, in the office of Doctor 
 George Graham, who died about the year 1814. I witnessed 
 the burial of Dr. Graham in a piece of beautiful wood-land 
 part of his own farm and listened to the reading over his re- 
 mains of the beautiful funeral service of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal church, by my father, for want of the presence of a 
 Christian minister. His grave is not more than a mile or two 
 from the famous spot where the last battle of Bull Run was 
 fought. Dr. Graham was the great grandfather of Mrs. 
 Jefferson Davis, so that when the whilom Confederate chief
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 173. 
 
 visited the field of slaughter on the day after the falling of so 
 many gallant men on the field of bloody strife, he was (doubt- 
 less without the knowledge of a fact so interesting) within a 
 few minutes ride of the place where had quietly slept, for 
 nearly fifty years, the venerable progenitor of his own loved 
 children ! 
 
 But whither am I wandering, forgetful of what Horace has 
 said so pithily of the gabbling loquacity of advanced years? 
 Let us say with the great Moliere, Rcvenons a nos moiitons! 
 
 There is a gentleman of uncommon worth, now resident in 
 Washington City, and holding a most responsible official 
 position, who was for quite a long period a distinguished 
 member of the bar of Tennessee, but whom, having closed his 
 professional career in this part of the world, I am inclined to 
 make an exception to the rule which I have heretofore 
 thought it best to observe, of confining my description of in- 
 dividuals to persons no longer living. 
 
 Return J. Meigs is a name which is destined to be favor- 
 ably recollected for many generations yet to come. High 
 though as are his merits and qualifications, I am not certain 
 of being able to delineate him more justly than I have al- 
 ready done, in a newspaper article published a few months 
 since, a portion of which I will here insert : 
 
 "In the year 1858 I was traveling on the railroad which 
 connects Nashville with Chattanooga, when I was introduced 
 to a gentleman whom I had never before seen. Having for 
 many years heard him spoken of as a jurist of profound learn- 
 ing, a ripe and accurate scholar, a public-spirited and pa- 
 triotic man, and, withal, renowned for all the virtues which 
 adorn social and domestic life, I could not but regard it as 
 an instance of personal good fortune thus to be allowed to 
 form his acquaintance. Having much curiosity about this 
 personage, it was but natural that I should seek to draw him 
 into familiar converse. I found him polite and affable, but 
 he was evidently at the time in low spirits, and there was 
 something in his tone and aspect which made the impression 
 upon my mind that he had recently been visited with serious 
 misfortune of some kind, the remembrance of which was
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 then sorrowfully preying upon his sensibilities. He left the 
 car in which we were riding at some wayside station, and we 
 were once more in motion. I learned on inquiry that this 
 gentleman had, a few days before, lost an amiable and accom- 
 plished wife, whom he had loved with a devotion well-nigh 
 romantic, and that his many friends were beginning to fear 
 that his former cheerfulness and animation would never more 
 return to him. 
 
 " The individual to whom I have been referring is now as I 
 have said, a resident of Washington City and is the incumbent 
 of an office, the duties of which all admit him to be discharg- 
 ing with singular fidelity and credit. I will now mention his 
 name; it is Return J. Meigs, a man who at this moment is 
 greatly loved and respected by all respectable and patriotic 
 citizens of Tennessee on either side of the Cumberland 
 Mountain range. He was concerned for nearly thirty years 
 in the management of a large a number of difficult and 
 important causes, before the various judicial tribunals of 
 the state, as any one individual that can be mentioned. 
 He is the author of a voluminous digest of the judicial de- 
 cisions of the state, which I have long regarded as by far the 
 best arranged and most skilful book of the kind which I have 
 ever yet examined, and is one of the honored compilers of 
 the " Code of Tennessee," which will favorably bear com- 
 parison with any other municipal code which has fallen 
 under my view. Tennessee is more indebted to this learned 
 and accomplished person for that choice collection of books, 
 to be found in her valuable state library, than to all other 
 persons besides, whether living or dead. There are but few 
 languages which have been heretofore spoken and written 
 among civilized men with which Mr. Meigs has not made 
 himself more or less acquainted. In the Latin and Greek 
 classics he has been asserted to be thoroughly versed, by far 
 more competent judges than the present writer. He has 
 given as much attention to what is known as comparative 
 philology as any man I have yet met. I verily believe that 
 there is no useful branch of human knowledge that has 
 found preservation in printed books which is altogether terra
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 175 
 
 incognita to his curious and scrutinizing intellect. He has 
 ever manifested a deep and most generous interest in the 
 general spread of education, as well as in the various pro- 
 jects and experiments looking to reform and improvement in 
 the methods of teaching." 
 
 I often met Mr. Meigs in social intercourse whilst he con- 
 tinued to reside in Nashville, and now look to the moments 
 then spent in commune with this gifted person as among the 
 most pleasant and instructive of my whole life. Our occa- 
 sional encounters in the room of our state library (shall I 
 confess it?) on the long and othenvise almost unoccupied 
 Sabbath days, I am quite confident that I shall not cease to 
 remember, with both gratification and thankfulness, so long 
 as I shall myself be permitted to live. 
 
 Mr. Meigs practised law for many years in Athens, East 
 Tennessee, and afterwards removed to Nashville, where he 
 ran as brilliant, as useful, and as amiable and inoffensive a 
 career as any man has done of whom I have any knowledge. 
 Here he remained until the terrible excitements which marked 
 the first year of the late ever-to-be lamented civil war in- 
 duced him to make sale of his possessions there and remove 
 to some less tempestuous locality. It is indeed distressing 
 to reflect that such an individual as I am describing, should 
 have been compelled by such causes as have been specified, 
 to leave the home which had become so dear to him, and to 
 break asunder so abruptly all the social ties of a life-time ; 
 but so it was ! Mr. Meigs was a firm and inflexible Union 
 man. Who would not now rejoice to have been equally faith- 
 ful to the example of our honored fathers ? He mortally 
 detested the absurd and country-distracting dogma of Seces- 
 sion, and he had but little respect either for the understand- 
 ings or the hearts of those by whom it was noisily and mis- 
 chievously agitated. He sometimes expressed his views 
 touching these matters in the frank and manly language 
 which was in keeping with his own character ; and he occa- 
 sionally ventured to use words of expostulation and warning 
 which thousands now deeply regret not to have patiently 
 and respectfully listened to. But never did he descend to
 
 1/6 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 the use of coarse and scurrilous epithets, to the employment. 
 of which he was indeed wholly unaccustomed. I have al- 
 ways thought that fully nine-tenths of our Nashville popula- 
 tion would have fought, if necessary, in defence of this ex- 
 cellent man's life and* person, but there were, doubtless, at 
 the period referred to, a few noisy zealots, such as no com- 
 mercial city is ever altogether uncursed with, persons hang- 
 ing loosely upon the skirts of society, and ambitious of gaining 
 a vulgar notoriety, by the employing of menaces such as they 
 had not the least intention of attempting to execute. Cer- 
 tainly I never suspected that Mr. Meigs was in danger of 
 mob violence until after the state had lost forever as a citizen 
 one the want of whose presence in our midsi: 'is not at all 
 likely to be supplied for many years to come, if ever. When 
 Mr. Meigs left the City of Nashville he left no equal behind 
 him in general scholarship, and no superior in legal attain- 
 ments. The only man who could at all risk comparison with 
 him, among those who resided among us fifteen years ago, was, 
 the venerable Francis B. Fogg, who, now an octogenarian, is as 
 gentle and kindly, as entertaining and instructive as he could 
 have been when battling with that race of intellectual giants 
 of a former generation whom he has been permitted to sur- 
 vive. No one who knows Mr. Fogg well would refuse to 
 join me in saying of him, (what I do verily believe) that he 
 has at this time no superior west of the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains in deep legal research, in scholarly accomplishments,, 
 and in unstained purity of morals. His uniformly calm and 
 philosophic dignity of aspect and demeanor, his winning 
 graciousness of temper, and his ever overflowing benevolence 
 have justly rendered him an object of general esteem and 
 veneration. Serns in coslnm redeas ! 
 
 Pope, referring to Lord Mansfield, exclaims : " How 
 sweet an Ovid was in Murray lost!" Often is it that men of 
 extraordinary intellectual promise fail to attain fame of some 
 particular kind by reason of having allowed themselves to be 
 withdrawn from pursuits to which they do not perhaps perceive 
 their own special adaptation. Two members of the bar lie 
 entombed in the neighborhood of Nashville, each of whom
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. I// 
 
 gave early and impressive tokens of future forensic distinc- 
 tion ; but both of whom having been seduced from the study 
 of law books by the more attractive scenes of political life, 
 are scarcely ever alluded to now as members of a profession 
 which they were so well fitted to adorn. It is of James K. 
 Polk and of John Bell that I am now speaking, and to each 
 of these eminent personages I shall pay somewhat more than 
 a passing notice. 
 
 James K. Polk was born in North Carolina, and is said to 
 have graduated at the principal college of that state with 
 more than customary honor. He became a student of law 
 immediately thereafter, and on obtaining license to practice, 
 located in the beautiful and healthful village of Columbia. He 
 was very soon recognized as one of the most industrious and 
 skilful attorneys in the section of Tennessee where he had 
 determined permanently to reside. His even and benignant 
 temper, his gentle, unobtrusive, and conciliatory manners, 
 and his uniformly moral and upright conduct soon surrounded 
 him with clients and ardent personal friends and admirers. 
 His ability as a lawyer has never been doubted ; but ere he 
 had attained the high professional rank to which he aspired, 
 he was persuaded to become a candidate for a seat in the 
 Congressional House of Representatives, to which he was 
 elected almost without an effort. 
 
 At the same period of time, John Bell was engaged in the 
 legal profession also, in a neighboring town. He too was 
 urged, when quite young and inexperienced, to enter the 
 political field, which he did under very exciting circumstances. 
 In his first contest for a seat in Congress, he had to encounter 
 as an opposing aspirant the celebrated Felix Grundy. A 
 more excited canvass than that just alluded to has never 
 occurred in any State of the Union. There are some remark- 
 able features about it, which imparted to it at the time that it 
 was in progress peculiar interest. Mr. Bell was a young man, 
 of yet unestablished reputation. Mr. Grundy was a man past 
 the middle stage of life, and of world-wide fame. They 
 were both avowed friends and supporters of General Jackson 
 in the coming Presidential election, but Jackson openly de-
 
 178 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 clared his preference for Mr. Grundy over his more youthful 
 and less experienced opponent. Often did the two candi- 
 dates meet in discussion, and sometimes words were uttered 
 by each of them not altogether comporting with kindness 
 and courtesy. Several of the speeches made by Mr. Bell 
 during this heated conflict are yet referred to often by old 
 residents of Tennessee as masterpieces in what may be called 
 political digladiation. The success of Mr. Bell, over such a 
 competitor as Mr. Grundy, at once gave him a high national 
 attitude. When he reached Congress he soon found himself 
 in the midst of a new contest. Mr. Polk and himself were 
 pitted against each other by their respective friends, as can- 
 didates for the Speakership of the House, and a' bitter polit- 
 ical antagonism sprang up between them, which did not 
 sensibly abate for a long series of years. Mr. Polk attained 
 the Presidential station through the election of 1844. Mr. 
 Bell was unsuccessfully run for the same high place in 1 860. 
 Mr. Polk served in the office of Governor of Tennessee for a 
 single term ; Mr. Bell officiated as a Senator of the United 
 States for two full terms. They are both now dead, and the 
 questions upon which they were arrayed against each other 
 are at rest, perhaps forever. No one now denies to either of 
 these personages many virtues, and abilities of a very high 
 order. They were both men of an, eminently conservative 
 turn of mind, and devoted friends of the National Union. I 
 have not heard that either of them had ever made a legal 
 argument of transcendent vigor and eloquence. Neither of 
 them is charged with having spoken, on any occasion, feebly 
 or unbecomingly. Mr. Polk, as a popular speaker, has, per- 
 haps, never had his equal in Tennessee : Mr. Bell occasionally 
 delivered a profound and statesmanlike discourse, which 
 would have done credit to any public man that our country 
 has produced. One of his political harangues, delivered at 
 Vauxhall Garden, in the city of Nashville, during the summer 
 of 1836 (if I recollect aright), made very much such an 
 impression upon the public mind at the time as one would 
 suppose might have been produced by that grand address of 
 Edmund Burke, to the people of Bristol, in defense of his
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 179 
 
 course in Parliament upon some of the great questions agi- 
 tated in his day. There is a depth and grandeur, and a lofty 
 and fervid eloquence displayed in certain portions of this 
 speech, which must always awaken the greatest respect and 
 admiration among readers of just taste and of a thoughtful 
 turn of mind. Having the honor of being on exceedingly 
 intimate terms with Mr. Bell in the latter years of his life, I 
 recollect having said to him, in presence of his most intel- 
 ligent and estimable lady, that I thought this Vauxhall speech 
 by far the best I had ever seen of his composition, and that 
 I had heard much as to its effect upon those who listened to 
 it. He very modestly declared that he had taken more pains 
 in preparing it than he had exercised in any other instance. 
 Mrs. Bell said, with that noble and hearty frankness and free- 
 dom from false delicacy which so distinguished her, that there 
 was an anecdote connected with that same speech which she 
 -would relate to me, which she did, very much in these words : 
 41 1 had never seen Mr. Bell until the day on which he ad- 
 dressed the large assemblage at Vauxhall, though I had 
 heard much of him, and sympathized with him deeply as a 
 public man. I listened to the whole of it, with the warmest 
 admiration. When he closed, I whispered to a friend, that 
 though I had never before thought of marrying a second 
 time, I did not know how I should be able to refuse a nuptial 
 offer from such an orator and patriot as I had been just listen- 
 ing to with such unqualified delight. Whether Mr. Bell 
 heard of my commendations of him or not, it is not for me 
 to say ; but not many days elapsed before he called to pay 
 "his personal respects, and in little less time we became, as 
 you see us, man and wife." 
 
 After Mr. Bell's retirement from the Senate he never re- 
 sumed the practice of law, though I know him to have been 
 repeatedly urged by his friends to do so. President Polk on 
 reaching the elegant home in Nashville, which he had chosen 
 as his place of permanent residence, and where his venerated 
 widow yet resides, at once occupied himself in putting his 
 large law library in order with a view to re-entering upon the 
 toils of the forum. Whilst engaged in this task he was at-
 
 I SO BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 tacked with a malignant disease which in a few days brought 
 him to the end of his brilliant and useful career, and filled all 
 parts of the Republic with the emblems of mourning. The 
 writer of this notice had the honor of delivering his funeral 
 oration in Washington, in presence of a vast concourse com- 
 posed in part of President Taylor and his cabinet ; and what 
 I then said in commendation of this illustrious personage, I 
 could now, after the passing away of nearly a third of a 
 century, sincerely and conscientiously re-utter. 
 
 Only a few years previous to the death of Mr. Bell which 
 event did not occur until about six years ago there died in the 
 town of Franklin, in Williamson county, one of his nearest 
 relatives and most esteemed friends the late John Marshall. 
 This gentleman was born within a short distance of the spot 
 where he spent the greater part of his life. He was one of 
 the most quiet and modest of men in his manners and gen- 
 eral bearing. No one ever suspected him of being ambitious 
 of public preferment. His temper was kind and gentle 
 almost to a fault. He was open, frank and outspoken about 
 all things, and to all persons. His mind was strong, well- 
 balanced, and active in its movements. He delighted in read- 
 ing law books, and delighted just as much in reading history,, 
 novels, and poetry. His memory was both capacious and 
 retentive. In conversation, and occasionally at the bar also,. 
 he was a little sluggish and difficult to rouse. When excited 
 to the proper pitch he conversed with animation and bril- 
 liancy, and spoke with a vehement energy and fervid elo- 
 quence which alike surprised and delighted all who listened 
 to him. His rise to forensic distinction had been a little 
 slow, but, for about ten years before his decease he was al- 
 most universally recognized as one of the best informed 
 jurists and most effective advocates to be found anywhere 
 in the State of Tennessee. Had he lived ten years longer it 
 would have been in his power to reach the highest honors of 
 his profession had he chosen to do so. 
 
 Contemporary with Mr. Marshall and of almost equal in- 
 tellectual excellence, was Andrew J. Ewing. He was born 
 in Nashville, and was there brought up and educated. His.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. l8l 
 
 intellectual faculties were of rather a peculiar structure. His 
 perceptive powers were quick and lively; his judgment was 
 solid and accurate ; his sensibilities were easily roused, and 
 he had the utmost facility in communicating his feelings to 
 others. He had read much, thought more, and seemed to 
 have an intuitive perception of the characters of those with 
 whom he came in contact, and of their particular motives of 
 action. He was one of the most successful jury-lawyers that 
 Tennessee has known ; but in no department of professional 
 life did he show any want of those qualities which command 
 success and lead to permanent fame. Just as the civil war 
 was commencing, he formed a partnership with the distin- 
 guished advocate last delineated ; but both Mr. Marshall and 
 himself died before their compact of association could be 
 carried into effect. 
 
 Thomas H. Fletcher belonged to an earlier generation of 
 attorneys. He had been a merchant in Nashville for some 
 years before he ever thought of practicing or even of study- 
 ing the science of law. Failing in business he took to the 
 reading of law books from necessity, obtained a license, and 
 became quickly known as a brilliant and effective speaker in 
 jury cases. Mr. Fletcher became widely known in the sum- 
 mer of 1824, as the author of what was called " The Politi- 
 cal Horse-race," in which he humorously and graphically por- 
 trayed the characteristics and conjectured popularity of the 
 presidential candidates of that period, Messrs. Clay, Craw- 
 ford, Adams, Jackson, and Calhoun. I well remember the 
 merriment awakened in popular circles by this political jeu 
 d 1 esprit, and have always regretted not to have formed the 
 personal acquaintance of its sprightly and amiable author. 
 
 Cave Johnson, for many years a member of Congress from 
 Tennessee, and subsequently postmaster-general in the time 
 of President Polk, was for many years a practitioner of law 
 in Tennessee, and has left behind him a high reputation for 
 shrewdness and practical intelligence, for manly energy, 
 and sterling probity. He was too deeply immersed in poli- 
 tics for some thirty years of his active and bustling life, to 
 become an erudite lawyer or a forensic advocate of the 
 highest grade.
 
 1 82 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 One of the most brilliant and versatile men that has ever 
 appeared at the bar of Tennessee was the late Thomas A. R. 
 Nelson. He was a man most richly endowed by nature, and, 
 having in early life been blessed with an excellent education, 
 he had subsequently used all accessible means of cultivating 
 his intellect in all its various departments. His reasoning 1 
 powers were of a very high order ; his imagination was one 
 of uncommon fertility, and easily excited to action ; he was 
 capable of the most pungent and telling satire when circum- 
 stances were such as to call it into requisition ; and he posses- 
 sed a command of words which was positively marvellous. 
 He very early in life acquired much reputation as a well-in- 
 formed jurist, and in the field of politics he often shone with 
 a resplendency which awakened the admiration of all who 
 listened to the eloquent speeches to which he gave utterance 
 either in the presence of large popular assemblages, or on the 
 floor of the House of Representatives in Congress. During 
 the short period that he served as one of the judges of the 
 supreme court of Tennessee he delivered a number of opin- 
 ions which greatly enhanced his fame as a man of ex- 
 tended judicial learning, of a sound and discriminating judg- 
 ment, and of a refined and polished elocution. The severe 
 sufferings which he had to undergo during the earlier stages 
 of the civil war have been a source of sincere and painful re- 
 gret to thousands of good and patriotic citizens ; but the 
 trials which it was then his lot to encounter presented to him 
 an opportunity of displaying virtues for which he would not, 
 in all probability, have been given credit but for the almost 
 unparalleled tribulations which called them forth. Judge 
 Nelson occasionally amused himself with writing in poetic 
 measure, and several of his brilliant b t unlabored effusions, 
 partaking strongly of the Hudibrastic stamp, have in former 
 days afforded no little amusement to the few select friends 
 among whom they were alone permitted to circulate. 
 
 Whilst many bright names, not heretofore mentioned, are 
 rising up before my memory, to all of which I should rejoice 
 to pay a fitting tribute, did circumstances admit, I am reluc- 
 tantly constrained to bring to a termination all I ha e to say
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 183 
 
 in this chapter concerning the bench and bar of Tennessee, of 
 the olden times, with a few brief remarks upon two person- 
 ages, both of whom have been long and favorably known to 
 the American public. Balie Peyton and Henry A. Wise were, 
 a little less than a half century ago, cotemporary members of 
 the Tennessee bar. The former of these gentlemen was a 
 native of Tennessee, whilst the last-mentioned of them was 
 born in Virginia. They met, as I have learned, for the first 
 time in the city of Nashville. Being about the same age and 
 of congenial dispositions, they at once became familiar as- 
 sociates and intimate friends. Nature had been lavish in her 
 gifts to both of them, and at the commencement of their 
 forensic career hosts of admiring friends predicted, both for 
 the one and the other, quite as much of distinction as it has 
 since been their fortune to acquire. Mr. Wise having re- 
 mained in Nashville only a year or two, returned to the state 
 of his birth, and soon after commenced that brilliant politi- 
 cal career which I cannot but hope has not yet terminated. 
 The two friends again met upon the floor of the House of 
 Representatives, and took a leading part in the excited de- 
 bates which had their progress during General Jackson's most 
 eventful administration. Each of these gentlemen has in his 
 time held high public stations, and has participated promi- 
 nently in scenes which constitute an important portion of 
 American history. As both are yet surviving, and not at all 
 inclined, as is to be seen from many tokens, to retire alto- 
 gether into obscurity and inaction, it would not be, for sev- 
 eral obvious reasons, very becoming on my part to apply to 
 them the language of formal laudation ; and as for each of 
 them I have long cherished sentiments of elevated esteem 
 and cordial friendship, it would be impossible that I could 
 refer to them in language of censure or disparagement. May 
 they both long live, with constantly multiplying honors, and 
 with ever-strengthening claims to the confidence and grati- 
 tude of their countrymen !
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Robert C:ittenden. Chester Ashley. Wm. Cummins. Ambrose H. Sevier. 
 Absalom Fowler. Benjamin Johnson D iniel Ringo. Edward Cross. Thomas J; 
 Lacy. David Walker. Frederic W. Tratnall. J. W. Cocke. A. H. Garland. 
 General Albert Pike. 
 
 Having resided at several places, not far distant from the 
 borders of Arkansas, during the last fifty years, and having 
 during that period, to a limited extent, participated in judicial 
 trials there in progress, it is with pleasure that I put on record 
 a few particulars connected with the history of the Bench and 
 Bar of that very interesting and now rapidly growing com- 
 monwealth. From the adoption of her first State Constitution, 
 Arkansas has been remarkably well supplied with learned and 
 able attorneys, and with respectable and well-informed judges, 
 as the volumes of her judicial reports very satisfactorily 
 attest. 
 
 Robert Crittenden located in Arkansas at a very early 
 period. He was a native of Kentucky, and a younger brother 
 of the celebrated John J. Crittenden. In natural intellectual 
 resources he was supposed by many to be not inferior to his 
 distinguished kinsman. He is universally admitted to have 
 been a bold, impressive and able advocate, well informed in 
 everything appertaining to his profession, and especially per- 
 suasive with juries. He was an ardent partisan, a dexterous 
 and influential political leader, and possessed a fiery energy 
 of character decidedly bordering on combativeness. He was 
 a full believer in the rules of the duelling code, and, on at 
 least one occasion, had proved his faith by his works in that 
 perilous sphere of action. I never had the pleasure of seeing 
 Mr. Crittenden but once, and that was under very peculiar 
 circumstances. When I was myself very foolishly engaged in 
 what was then called an affair of honor with S. S. Prentiss, a 
 fine-looking gentleman suddenly appeared upon the field, and 
 announcing his name, addressed the parties combating and 
 their seconds for a few minutes in the interests of pacification.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 1 8$ 
 
 This manly and generous effort not proving successful, Mr. 
 Crittenden (for it was he who had thus interposed) withdrew, 
 and I never met him afterwards. This was in 1832, and I 
 believe that he died a few months subsequently. 
 
 Chester Ashley was a native of New York. His legal 
 .attainments were more than respectable ; he possessed a clear 
 and discriminating intellect; evinced more than ordinary 
 shrewdness and sagacity in all business concerns, and suc- 
 ceeded in laying up much money, and in the accumulation of 
 large bodies of well-selected and valuable wild lands. I had 
 the honor of serving with him in the National Senate for 
 several years. He seldom addressed that body, and never 
 except upon questions involving the local interests of his 
 state. He was a man of a pleasing and decidedly impressive 
 aspect, had the appearance of much cordiality, and seemed 
 much disposed to be on agreeable and amicable terms with 
 .all whom he met in social intercourse. 
 
 The colleague of .Mr. Ashley in the Senate was Ambrose 
 H. Sevier. He had obtained a license to practise law, but had 
 left the bar very soon for the more congenial field of politics. 
 He was a man of fine person, and of most agreeable and 
 winning manners. He possessed a strong and penetrating 
 mind ; evinced much tact in the management of party con- 
 cerns, and, had he chosen to be a student of books, might 
 doubtless have attained much distinction. He was decidedly 
 a favorite with his party, and his kind and conciliatory man- 
 ners gave him general popularity. I never heard him speak 
 at much length ; nor did he seem ambitious of oratorical fame ; 
 but when he did engage in debate, he always evinced a large 
 amount of native good sense and practical intelligence. He 
 was Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the 
 Senate, when the Mexican Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo 
 was submitted to that body for ratification, and was very effi- 
 cient in procuring for it the sanction of his brother Senators. 
 He was despatched by President Polk to the City of Mexico, 
 in order to secure the acquiescence of the Mexican Govern- 
 ment in the amendments affixed by the Senate to the treaty, 
 .and, in connection with the present Justice Clifford (who was
 
 1 86 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 united with him in this important commission), succeeded in> 
 obtaining the desired object. Colonel Sevier died very soon 
 after his return to the United States. 
 
 William Cummins emigrated from the State of Kentucky 
 to Arkansas. He obtained much respectability as a lawyer, 
 having a mind of much quickness, and habits of untiring 
 industry; but was not regarded as at all a profound jurist. 
 
 Absalom Fowler was also a Kentuckian by birth, as I have 
 been informed. He was not wanting in legal attainments, 
 and possessed a mind of a decidedly practical cast ; but he 
 had no claims to be regarded as an orator, having a harsh 
 and grating voice, and a disposition but little turned to con- 
 ciliation. 
 
 The Honorable Benjamin Johnson was for many years 
 a most efficient and satisfactory Judge of the superior courts 
 of Arkansas, and afterwards officiated, for a considerable 
 period, and in a most creditable manner, as a United States 
 Judge. He was a man of many social and domestic virtues,, 
 and has left behind him a high and spotless character. He 
 was born in Kentucky and was brother to Richard M. John- 
 son. 
 
 Daniel Ringo, a Kentuckian also, is remembered chiefly 
 as a lawyer thoroughly versed in the forms and technicali- 
 ties of the profession. 
 
 The Honorable Edward Cross was a highly respected ter- 
 ritorial judge. 
 
 Judge Thomas J. Lacy I had the pleasure of knowing 
 well. His ability as a judge was universally admitted, 
 and the accuracy of his decisions was such that, during a 
 long period of service on the bench, no opinion of his was 
 ever overruled. He was a gentleman of great urbanity, and 
 the delight of all social circles. 
 
 David Walker, who is yet engaged in the performance of 
 official duties, has served for the greater part of his life as a 
 judge, and is a man of much ability, well versed in his pro- 
 fession, and of most unexceptionable manners and character. 
 
 Frederic W. Tratnall and John W. Cocke are yet kindly 
 remembered and greatly respected by the early residents of
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. l8/ 
 
 Arkansas. I had not the pleasure of knowing either of 
 them ; but I have heard, in past years, much both of their 
 professional learning and their general literary attainments. 
 
 With the present renowned governor of Arkansas, A. H. 
 Garland, I have held the kindest and most confidential rela- 
 tions for many years. It has been nearly twenty years since 
 I first met him at the bar of Arkansas, and learned to appre- 
 ciate his many noble traits of character, his industry and 
 ability as a lawyer, and his inflexible devotion to principle. 
 The high moral courage, the commingled energy and wis- 
 dom, and the wonderful tact and adroitness displayed by 
 him, during the last two years, in the very difficult and re- 
 sponsible position which he has occupied, have secured to him a 
 solid and enduring fame which few men of the present gen- 
 eration have acquired. He is still young, not being yet be- 
 yond the prime of life, and has, I trust, many years of honor- 
 able usefulness before him. 
 
 I have now to speak of one whom I have known for many 
 years most favorably, and whose reputation is diffused 
 throughout this continent. General Albert Pike is a native 
 of the state of Massachusetts, and of a most respectable 
 lineage. His early education was by no means neglected, 
 but was of a singularly miscellaneous character. He has 
 been, from boyhood, passionately fond of books, and is the 
 owner, at the present moment, of one of the largest and best 
 selected private libraries to be found on the continent, and 
 with the contents of every volume contained therein he is 
 most familiarly acquainted. He is thoroughly versed in 
 several of the ancient languages, and there are but few of 
 the modern tongues of which he is ignorant. He has been 
 much devoted, for many years past, to what is known as 
 comparative philology, and has written several volumes on that 
 subject which, should they be ever published, will, I doubt 
 not, at once secure him a European fame such as few native- 
 born Americans have been yet able to attain. He has also 
 written quite voluminously upon the learning of his own pro- 
 fession, which he has not chosen though, thus far, to give to 
 the public. His mind is one of uncommon strength and
 
 l88 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 -versatility; he writes with elegance and vigor; speaks 
 with marked earnestness and force, and is the author of 
 many beautiful poems, which thousands of his admiring 
 friends have read with exquisite entertainment and delight. 
 General Pike is reported to have mastered all the arcana of 
 free masonry, and has long enjoyed a very high rank in that 
 .ancient and venerated order. 
 
 He migrated from New England in 1831, and sojourned 
 for some time in New Mexico. In 1832 he removed to 
 Arkansas and located for the practice of his profession at the 
 Post of Arkansas. There he met a gentleman destined to be- 
 come the wealthiest citizen of St. Louis. The late James H. 
 Lucas was then also a member of the bar, a justice of the peace 
 and county judge, and had the honor, in the latter capacity, of 
 marrying General Pike and his still surviving wife. The General 
 removed to Little Rock in 1833, and became most extensively 
 engaged in the exercise of his chosen profession. Though an 
 ardent devotee of the Federal Union, when the late civil war 
 broke out, he promptly enlisted in it, and but for the grossest 
 and most cruel injustice and illiberality put in practice to- 
 ward him by high official personages, not necessary to be 
 here named, would doubtless have gained much reputation 
 as a military commander. At the termination of the war he 
 located in the city of Memphis, where he remained until in- 
 vited to give his professional attention to several cases of 
 great magnitude and complexity pending in the courts of 
 Washington, when he removed thither, and is now delightfully 
 domiciled in the neighboring town of Alexandria, whence he 
 comes every day or two to his professional office at the 
 capital. As the General is still living I shall say nothing of 
 "his majestic person, his cordial and winning manners, or his 
 deeply instructive and highly entertaining converse in hours 
 of social relaxation. I take the liberty of subjoining a poem 
 written by General Pike many years since, which, I am 
 sure, will be read with pleasure by all who have a true relish 
 for the beautiful and touching in this species of composition.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. l8o> 
 
 THE WIDOWED HEART. 
 
 Lachrymas pondera vocis habent. 
 Tristis eris, si solus eris : dominseque relictr; 
 Ante oculos fkcies stabit. ut ipsa. tuos. 
 
 Thou art lost to me forever ! I have lost thee, Isadore ! 
 Thy head will never rest upon my loyal bosom more ; 
 Thy tender eyes will never more look fondly into mine, 
 Nor thine arms around me lovingly and trustingly entwine, 
 Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore ! 
 
 Thou art dead and gone, dear loving wife, thy heart is still 
 
 * and cold, 
 
 And mine, benumbed with wretchedness, is prematurely old : 
 
 Of our whole world of love and joy thou wast the only light, 
 
 A star, whose setting left behind, ah me ! how dark a night ! 
 
 Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore ! 
 
 The vines and flowers we planted, Love, I tend with anxious 
 
 care, 
 And yet they droop and fade away, as though they wanted 
 
 air: 
 They cannot live without thine eyes to feed them with their 
 
 light; 
 Since thy hands ceased to twine them, Love, they cannot 
 
 grow aright ; 
 
 Thou art lost to them forever, Isadore ! 
 
 Our little ones inquire of me, where is their mother gone, 
 What answer can I make to them, except with tears alone? 
 For if I say, " To Heaven," then the poor things wish to learn 
 How far it is, and where, and when their mother will return ; 
 Thou art lost to them forever, Isadore ! 
 
 Our happy home has now become a lonely, silent place; 
 Like Heaven without its stars it is, without thy blessed face: 
 Our little ones are still and sad ; none love them now but ! 
 Except their mother's spirit, which I feel is always nigh ; 
 Thou lovest us in Heaven, Isadore !
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Their merry laugh is heard no more, they neither run nor 
 
 play, 
 But wander round like little ghosts, the long, long summer 
 
 day: 
 
 The spider weaves his web across the windows at his" will, 
 The flowers I gathered for thee last are on the mantel still ; 
 Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore ! 
 
 Restless I pace our lonely rooms, I play our songs no more, 
 The garish sun shines flauntingly upon the unswept floor; 
 The mocking-bird still sits and sings, O melancholy strain ! 
 For my heart is like an autumn cloud that overflows with rain ; 
 Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore ! 
 
 Alas ! how changed is all, dear wife, from that sweet eve in 
 
 spring, 
 When first my love for thee was told, and thou to me didst 
 
 cling. 
 Thy sweet eyes radiant through their tears, pressing thy lips 
 
 to mine, 
 
 In our old arbor, Dear, beneath the over-arching vine ; 
 Those lips are cold forever, Isadore ! 
 
 The moonlight struggled through the leaves, and fell upon 
 
 thy face, 
 
 So lovingly upturning there, with pure and trustful gaze ; 
 The Southern breezes murmured through the dark cloud of 
 
 thy hair, 
 
 As like a happy child thou didst in my arms nestle there ; 
 Death holds thee now ferever, Isadore ! 
 
 . 
 Thy love and faith so plighted then, with mingled smile and 
 
 tear, 
 
 Was never broken, Darling, while we dwelt together here : 
 
 Nor bitter word, nor dark, cold look thou ever gavest me 
 
 Loving and trusting always, as I loved and worshipped thee ; 
 
 Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore !
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. IQI 
 
 Thou wast my nurse in sickness, and my comforter in health, 
 So gentle and so constant, when our love was all our 
 
 wealth : 
 Thy voice of music cheered me, Love, in each despondent 
 
 hour, 
 As Heaven's sweet honey-dew consoles the bruised and 
 
 broken flower ; 
 
 Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore ! 
 
 Thou art gone from me forever ; I have lost thee, Isadore ! 
 And desolate and lonely I shall be forevermore : 
 Our children hold me, Darling, or I to God should pray 
 To let me cast the burthen of this long, dark life away, 
 And see thy face in Heaven, Isadore !
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Edward R.Livingston. Mazereau. Davezac. Carleton. Mr. Henning. 
 Judge Workman. General Ripiey. Charles Conrad. John R. Grimes. Contest 
 between Grimes and Prentiss. Pierre Soule" John A. SHdell. Seth ^Barton. 
 Louisiana Bench. Judge John A. Campbell. 
 
 By far the most important measure of Mr. Jefferson's 
 memorable administration was unquestionably the acquisi- 
 tion of Louisiana. The advantages of various kinds which 
 flowed, either directly or indirectly, from this amplification of 
 our national domain, admit not of anything like a precise and 
 accurate specification, and, were this even possible, certainly 
 this is not the proper occasion for the setting of them forth 
 in entirety, or for the specification of any particular class or 
 portion thereof. 
 
 The incorporation of so large a number of people as then 
 inhabited the extensive region purchased from Napoleon the 
 First into our own national family, speaking as they did the 
 language of Spain or France, and possessing civil institutions 
 totally unlike our own, and social habits and usages equally 
 dissimilar, was, to say the least, a bold and hazardous exper- 
 iment of statesmanship. From the earliest settlement of 
 Louisiana, the civil law prevailed there ; the titles to landed 
 estate were drawn up exclusively in the French or Spanish 
 language; both legislative and judicial proceedings were 
 recorded therein ; and few or none of the distinctive princi- 
 ples of the common law of England had been yet introduced. 
 Indeed, even at the present moment, the jurisprudential sys- 
 tem of Louisiana has far more resemblance to that of France 
 or Spain than to the laws prevailing in any of the other states 
 or territories of the American Union.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 193 
 
 If there were any very learned jurists residing in the city 
 of New Orleans during the first years of the present century, 
 their fame has certainly not come down to men of the present 
 generation ; but the condition of affairs in this delightful and 
 attractive locality was such as to hold out strong inducements 
 to enterprising Americans of every class to migrate thither; 
 and in a very few years the Crescent City became filled with 
 wealthy merchants, accomplished members of the bar, learned 
 and skilful physicians, and artisans and laborers of almost 
 every description possible to be mentioned. 
 
 Among these were some men whose fame is destined to 
 live as long as this great republic shall itself continue to stand. 
 
 Perhaps the highest rank at the bar of Louisiana, in the 
 earlier days of that respected commonwealth, should, be 
 accorded to Edward R. Livingston. This gentleman had 
 represented his native state in the Congress of the Union, and 
 officiated as mayor of the city of New York, before his set- 
 tlement in New Orleans. He was a gentleman of most varied 
 attainments, and had thoroughly mastered the learning apper- 
 taining to every branch of his profession, before his removal 
 to the Southwest. Here he immediately obtained the most 
 extended employment as a barrister, and is understood to 
 have accumulated a large fortune. His subsequent career as 
 a member of the National Senate, one of President Jackson's 
 Cabinet, and as a Minister abroad, is familiar to all intelligent 
 citizens. His speech upon the Force Bill, as it was called, in 
 1832, must ever be regarded as one of the most remarkable 
 specimens of parliamentary eloquence, and of patriotic and 
 consummate statesmanship, that our country has ever yet 
 known. His admirers have gone so far as to claim for him 
 the authorship of President Jackson's famous proclamation, 
 addressed to the people of South Carolina. It is cer- 
 tain that he was consulted by that venerable man in 
 regard to the questions so ably and eloquently discussed 
 therein, previous to its emanation, and it is not improb- 
 able that Mr. Livingston supplied the constitutional ar- 
 gument which it contains, supervised the whole document, 
 and imparted to it that high literary polish and refine-
 
 194 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ment which eminently distinguish it. I have heard it said 
 that Mr. Livingston, in the latter part of his professional 
 career, declined the giving his advice as an attorney in 
 any case where the party who solicited his professional aid 
 could not afford to pay a fee of five hundred dollars. He is 
 reported never to have spoken in court, except upon the 
 fullest preparation, and to have been always more remarkable 
 for force, clearness and precision, than for grace, declamatory 
 power, or delicate and soul-moving pathos. 
 
 I have repeatedly heard Mr. Mazereau in the courts of 
 New Orleans. His person was grave and impressive. His 
 voice was strong and sonorous. The expression of his face 
 was singularly indicative of profound self-esteem, and dis- 
 dain of opposition. He was far too much given to dogma- 
 tism to practice conciliation, and he sometimes yielded to his 
 fiery and impulsive nature to an extent that was not a little 
 startling to men of a more sober and sedate temperament. 
 He claimed a very high place in the ranks of scholarship and 
 general science, but it was whispered in certain circles where 
 I was formerly conversant, that his erudition was not by any 
 means as extensive as that of many of his less assuming 
 compeers. 
 
 I knew Mr. Davezac well, but only in social circles. There 
 he did not shine conspicuously being not a little coarse and 
 obscene. His face, in which a geniality bordering on sensual- 
 ism habitually sparkled, brought to my mind always the idea 
 of a satyr, and there was in it an appearance of cunning and 
 insincerity not a little disagreeable to behold. He had the 
 credit of speaking with uncommon fluency, and of being 
 quite effective in jury trials calling for ridicule and invective. 
 I believe that he was never regarded as a deeply read lawyer 
 or a man of more than ordinary literary culture. 
 
 Mr. Carleton, his brother-in-law, was a person of great 
 gentleness of manners, and was reported to have given far 
 more than ordinary attention to the books of the civil law. 
 He translated in a very satisfactory manner at least one val- 
 uable civil law treatise from the Spanish into the English 
 language. He was much beloved in social life, and left be-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 195 
 
 hind him a reputation for integrity of which any man might 
 have been justly proud. 
 
 Mr. Henning, when I first saw him, in the year 1828, was 
 apparently, between forty-five and fifty years of age. He 
 had quite a full suit of hair, which had already become quite 
 gray. He seemed to be in the enjoyment of abundant health ; 
 had a hopeful and serene expression of countenance, and his 
 manners, both at the bar and in social life, were singularly 
 bland and captivating. He possessed a large and lucrative 
 practice ; was acknowledged to be thoroughly skilled in the 
 business of his profession, and spoke with equal fluency in 
 the French and English languages. His reputation for mor- 
 ality was unblemished, and he was said to be exceedingly 
 uniform in the performance of his duties as a member of the 
 church. This gentleman had in the early part of his career 
 exercised the legal profession in Nashville, Tennessee, where 
 there are still surviving several citizens who cherish a pleas- 
 ant recollection of him. 
 
 Judge Workman was still living in 1828, and seemed to be 
 enjoying the most robust health. He was a Northern man 
 by birth, and came to the Southwest with Colonel Burr, as 
 one of his most trusted associates. When Burr's famous 
 expedition into the adjacent Mexican provinces failed, Judge 
 Workman located as a member of the bar in the City of 
 New Orleans. Here he had prospered very highly, and had 
 become surrounded with almost innumerable friends. I am 
 sure that I never beheld a face upon which the signs of in- 
 ward benevolence and integrity were more impressively 
 stamped than upon his. The first occasion upon which my 
 attention was specially attracted to him I shall never cease 
 to recollect. I was walking along one of the most crowded 
 streets in New Orleans when I saw General Ripley (then also 
 a practitioner of law in that city) approach Judge Workman 
 when the latter was advancing from a different direction. No 
 sooner did they recognize each other than they quickened 
 their steps, and in a few seconds actually almost ran into each 
 others arms ; each extending his right hand with most affec- 
 tionate eagerness, seizing that of the other, and holding it
 
 196 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 tightly grasped for some time, gazing all the while kindly 
 upon each other, and conversing, both of them apparently 
 unmindful of all that was going on around them. I was so 
 much interested in this scene that it was with some difficulty 
 that I was able to withdraw from the sight of it, until it 
 should be brought to a termination. 
 
 I have incidentally mentioned General Ripley as connected 
 with the bar of New Orleans in the year 1828. I had the 
 pleasure of hearing him address the court more than once at 
 this period. He gave evidence of possessing a mind of far 
 more than ordinary vigor and sprightliness, and professional 
 attainments of a very respectable grade. He was certainly 
 though by no means distinguished for oratorical power, and 
 I should conjecture that he was blessed with powers of per- 
 suasion not above mediocrity. His figure was tall and com- 
 manding ; he was robust without being fleshy ; had a fresh 
 and ruddy complexion ; auburn hair ; keen and piercing blue 
 eyes, and a nose decidedly aquiline in shape. He had re- 
 ceived a severe wound in the neck in one of the battles on 
 the Canadian frontier, during the war of 181215, whereby 
 the muscles there located had been much stiffened, render- 
 ing it difficult, and even a little painful to hold the head ex- 
 cept in a perfectly erect posture. This circumstance gave 
 rise among strangers to the suspicion that he was haughty 
 and austere, which was indeed very far from being the case. 
 General Ripley was in his latter days a representative in Con- 
 gress from the State of Louisiana, and, whilst in Washington, 
 sustained a standing of which no man need have been 
 ashamed. 
 
 In 1 828 he was practicing law in connection with Charles 
 M. Conrad, then a very young man, but giving the most 
 gratifying signs of future professional distinction. Mr. Con- 
 rad, after many years of severe and successful professional 
 labor, was elevated to the National Senate about the year 
 1841, was subsequently secretary of war during the adminis- 
 tration of President Fillmore, and in 1861, was a member of 
 the Confederate Congress, where he showed himself to be a 
 most sensible, moderate, just-minded, and truly conservative 
 legislator.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 197 
 
 When the gentleman just mentioned was elected to the 
 Senate, the celebrated John R. Grimes was an opposing can- 
 didate. This personage seems to be entitled to a somewhat 
 extended notice. I knew him well, and shall endeavor to 
 describe him impartially. Colonel Grimes was a native of 
 Orange county in the State of Virginia, and grew up to 
 manhood under influences exceedingly favorable to the full 
 development of such intellectual faculties as nature had be- 
 stowed upon him. He had scarcely reached the age of ma- 
 turity when he resolved to leave the venerated state of his 
 birth and to seek fame and fortune in the far Southwest. 
 Before locating himself though permanently, he travelled 
 very extensively through the most attractive portions of 
 Mexico ; after which he came to New Orleans, and joined an 
 elder brother who was then holding a respectable official 
 position in that city. In a few months, he prepared himself 
 for entering upon the practice of the law, and quickly at- 
 tained a very high rank as an advocate. In process of time 
 he achieved such a reputation for learning and ability as few 
 men have enjoyed in any part of the Republic. 
 
 John R. Grimes had been singularly favored by nature, 
 both in regard to his physical and mental attributes. He was 
 tall, well proportioned, and of an air and carriage in the high- 
 est degree prepossessing. His face beamed with intellect; 
 his eye impressed the beholder with mingled respect and 
 sympathy; his voice was clear, sonorous, and perfectly modu- 
 lated ; his gesticulation was simple, graceful and winning. 
 He seldom spoke above the conversational tone, never in- 
 dulged in harsh and boisterous declamation, or in extrava- 
 gant and high-flown figures of speech. He made no elabo- 
 rate effort to display his learning, or claimed to be wiser 
 than those with whom he held social intercourse. Any ap- 
 proach to pedantry was, to his just and well-regulated taste, 
 supremely disgusting. Those who dealt in unmeaning mys- 
 ticism, or who sought an ephemeral glory by paradoxical 
 assertions, never gained a patient audience from him. He 
 seldom quoted from books of any kind merely for the sake 
 of ornament, and preferred plain, idiomatic English words to
 
 198 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 the most euphonious and pompous phrases from some for- 
 eign tongue. His absolute self-possession, when addressing; 
 either court or jury, awakened a placid feeling of admira- 
 tion and deference in all who listened to him. He was uni- 
 formly sedate, unaffected, courteous and obliging in his de- 
 meanor; words of coarse revilement or of fierce denunciation 
 never found utterance from his lips. He employed none of 
 the tricks and devices of false rhetoric. As a logician it is 
 doubtful whether any one superior to him has appeared in 
 the forum since the days of Tacitus and Pliny. His facility 
 of oral enunciation was truly marvellous. He had mastered 
 all the complexities of the Common Law of England ; and 
 there was no department of the jurisprudence of the Romans 
 with which he had not made himself familiar. It is con- 
 fidently believed that there is scarcely a standard book in 
 English literature which he had not perused and digested; 
 and the Greek and Roman classics he had read and re-read 
 until all the precious treasures which they contain had been 
 made a portion of his own private property, and all the beau- 
 ties, both of sentiment and expression, which render them so 
 attractive and enamouring, had been safely laid away in the 
 recesses of his own surprisingly retentive memory, to be re- 
 produced with undiminished splendor and effectiveness 
 when some suitable occasion should call them forth. When- 
 ever drawn out in colloquy, as oftentimes he was, he really 
 seemed, like Mr. Webster, to have read all that had been 
 printed ; to have been a recipient of all useful or entertaining 
 traditionary lore, and to be ignorant of nothing suited to 
 strengthen the mind of man or chastely to adorn it. A 
 keener and more profound observer of human life I do not 
 expect to meet. He was able to adapt himself without ap- 
 parent effort to all the classes of society with which the acci- 
 dents of his varied and somewhat eccentric career, of neces- 
 sity, brought him into association, and he as seldom gave 
 offense in his intercourse with mankind as any individual that 
 can be mentioned. In conversation he was ready, instructive 
 and entertaining, and occasionally related anecdotes with a 
 serene and quiet facetiousness which those who listened to
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 199 
 
 him found it difficult to forget. Such rare abilities and such 
 shining accomplishments did not fail to awaken envy in some, 
 and incite others to illiberal and malevolent strictures. It 
 would have been, indeed, surprising had such a man escaped 
 calumny, since we all well know that 
 
 He who surpasses or subdues mankind, 
 Must look down upon the hate of those below. 
 
 He was, whilst yet living, freely charged with being a 
 libertine and thousands who only heard of him at second hand 
 adjudged him guilty of sensualism and immorality in their 
 worst and most degrading forms, just as Lord Somers, the 
 illustrious British chancellor, had been more than a century 
 before. That Colonel Grimes was not exactly a puritan, 
 either in his religious creed or in his habits of life, is alto- 
 gether certain ; and that he displayed a keen relish for sev- 
 eral indulgences not by any means in consonance with the 
 lofty aspirations which he cherished and the elevated social 
 position which he held, it would be dishonest to deny. But 
 I am confident that there was no period of his life in which 
 he was addicted to habitual excesses of any kind, of a nature 
 calculated to degrade or enfeeble his intellecual faculties, 
 seriously to diminish his dignity as a leading and influential 
 member of society, or to impede his progress in knowledge. 
 He maintained his ascendency at the bar so long as he 
 continued in life, and some of his latest forensic efforts are 
 acknowledged to have been his best. Colonel Grimes, 
 whilst he always placed a due estimate upon the opinions of 
 the more enlightened and upright of his own day and gen- 
 eration, is known to have had little respect at any time either 
 for the commendations of the shallow and superficial, or the 
 praises of the dissolute and corrupt. He was perhaps less a 
 seeker of what is called popularity than any public man of 
 his time. He was scarcely ever known to speak in reference 
 to his associates or cotemporaries in terms either of decided 
 laudation or of unqualified censure. No man was ever more 
 indifferent to the verdict of coming generations upon 
 himself or aught that appertained to him, than was this
 
 2OO BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 singularly constituted individual, and the huzzas of the pro- 
 miscuous and often ill-judging populace had no music for his 
 ear or inspiration for his well-regulated soul. He was far, 
 indeed, from being a misanthrope, and had seldom if ever 
 shown that he could retain in his lofty and heroic bosom the ig- 
 noble and debasing sentiment of bitter personal hate. Though 
 not at all unkind and repulsive in his manners, and not by any 
 means neglectful of the obligations of personal friendship, it is 
 doubtful whether he ever had a half-dozen perfectly confiden- 
 tial friends at any period of his career. I am quite satisfied 
 that had he known himself to be ever so cruelly calumniated 
 by the ordinary newspapers of the' country, he would not 
 have been deprived of the smallest portion of that sublime 
 composure of spirit in which he luxuriated so unbrokenly, or 
 of that lofty and somewhat austere self-respect which he felt 
 to be securely bottomed upon a thorough knowledge of him- 
 self, his attributes and his capabilities. 
 
 In the evening of life, and only a year or two previous to 
 his decease, he was brought for the first and only time into a 
 conflict at the bar with the celebrated S. S. Prentiss, in a case 
 of the greatest magnitude and difficulty. James Erwin, for 
 many years one of the most influential citizens in New Or- 
 leans, who had been at one time reputed to be very wealthy, 
 and who, moreover, was son-in-law to the illustrious Henry 
 Clay, was the defendant in a suit which deeply involved both 
 his estate and character. He stood charged with pecuniary 
 fraud of a peculiarly dishonoring nature. Mr. Prentiss had 
 been employed to conduct the prosecution; Mr. Grimes 
 appeared for the defense. The trial attracted a vast assem- 
 blage, and the public curiosity was intensely roused. Two 
 such combatants had never before met upon that arena. Two 
 men more strikingly contrasted to each other in several im- 
 portant respects could scarcely be imagined. 
 
 In justice to Mr. Prentiss, it should be mentioned that, at 
 the time of this celebrated encounter, he was in a wretched 
 physical condition. His health had been undermined by 
 causes the destructive power of which no human constitution 
 has ever been able to withstand. Pecuniary troubles, too, had
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 2OI 
 
 gathered about him, of a most depressing and paralyzing 
 character. Dire necessity had forced him to leave the State 
 of Mississippi, where he had so long resided, and where he 
 was yet so loved and honored by a generous and appreciative 
 population, for some new and more propitious theatre where 
 his extraordinary abilities might find ample and multiplied 
 opportunities for display. His nervous system had been 
 .seriously disturbed. He had to some extent lost that con- 
 trol of his temper so necessary to complete success in all 
 the more important undertakings of life. He spoke on this 
 occasion with far more than his accustomed fervor and vehe- 
 mence. His imagination displayed itself with all that mar- 
 vellous grandeur and gorgeousness which had given to him so 
 large a portion of his oratorical fame. He was humorous; 
 he was witty; he was bitterly sarcastic. His denunciatory 
 potency was such as both to astonish and electrify. In the 
 highest state of excitement, he forgot himself so far as to 
 utter reproachful and insulting epithets, which the facts in 
 proof did by no means justify. He closed with one of the 
 most thundering and soul-rousing perorations which ever was 
 heard in a court-house. He had made a wondrously eloquent 
 speech ; but, so far from having gained a victory worthy of 
 his high reputation, he had only opened to his veteran and 
 perfectly self-balanced antagonist an opportunity, in one short 
 half hour, to respond triumphantly to all his utterances, and 
 to impress conviction upon the minds of those in hearing, of 
 the gross injustice with which his client had been treated, and 
 of the vast superiority in all forensic contests of moment, of 
 cold and passionless logic set off and embellished with a 
 show of perfect good nature, the appearance of sincerity and 
 conscientiousness, and a charmful complaisance of manner 
 over all the splendors of unregulated genius deformed and 
 enfeebled by misplaced declamatory energy, and overstrained 
 efforts to excite, to dazzle, and to delude. 
 
 Of all the advocates that New Orleans has known, next to 
 John R. Grimes was unquestionably Pierre Soule. I heard 
 Mr. Soule address a mixed French and English jury in New 
 Orleans, nearly fifty years' ago, with a brilliancy and effective-
 
 2O2 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ness which I have seldom known surpassed. He spoke most 
 felicitously, both in his native tongue and in that of his 
 adopted country. It was evident that his education before 
 leaving France had been faithfully attended to, and that, after 
 reaching this country, he had neglected no opportunity of 
 improving his intellect and ripening his literary taste. In 
 person he was supposed strikingly to resemble the elder 
 Napoleon. He was a gentleman of the greatest affability ; 
 noble and elevated in all his sentiments; of a most generous 
 and enthusiastic nature, and eminently calculated to acquire 
 friends and to command confidence in any enlightened and well 
 regulated community. He had much reputation for general 
 scholarship, and was supposed by those who knew him best, 
 to be by no means deficient in legal learning. ' 
 
 Judah P. Benjamin is said to be a native of the Island of 
 St. Thomas. He practised law for many years most success- 
 fully in the city of New Orleans. His person is not at all 
 prepossessing, and his manners are lacking both in modesty 
 and gentlemanly refinement; but in the discussion of a strictly 
 legal question his excellence is positively beyond criticism; 
 and he writes with a beauty, chasteness and vigor, of which 
 Lord Mansfield himself might be justly proud. His profes- 
 sional attainments are of a high order, and in knowledge of 
 general literature he is inferior to but few of his cotemporaries. 
 
 John A. Slidell was for many years associated with Mr. 
 Benjamin in the practice of law; and these gentlemen pub- 
 lished, under their joint names, many years since, a digest of 
 the judicial decisions of Louisiana, which has been regarded 
 as a work evincing much intelligence and judgment. Mr. 
 Slidell, whom I chanced to know very well, was a man of 
 singular vivacity of temperament, exceedingly astute and dex- 
 trous in dealing with men of all classes, and strongly sus- 
 pected of not being over-scrupulous in the use of means 
 adapted to the attainment of his coveted objects. He con- 
 versed with ease and sprightliness, made no professions of 
 special political purity, evinced the utmost pertinacity in the 
 pursuit of his various projects, and often avowed, in connec- 
 tion with public affairs, motives of action such as prdinary
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 2O3 
 
 politicians, if swayed by them, deemed it expedient to con- 
 ceal. He was not at all blessed with the higher powers of 
 eloquence, and neither at the bar nor in Congress was recog- 
 nized as anything more than a mediocre speaker. 
 
 Seth Barton was a native of Virginia and belonged to a 
 large and influential connection. No little attention was paid 
 to his early education, and he evinced signs of intellectual 
 promise ere he left the neighborhood of his birth, which 
 caused many to predict his future distinction. I first knew 
 him as a leading member of the Alabama bar, and an elo- 
 quent and influential member of her state legislature. After 
 this he became a candidate for the House of Representa- 
 tives in Congress, and delivered a number of popular ad- 
 dresses in that character, which I well remember to have 
 been greatly admired and lauded at that period. He re- 
 moved to the City of New Orleans in the winter of 1831, 
 where he remained for many years, and where he attained 
 much reputation both as an advocate and a political writer. 
 His mind was not remarkable for quickness or agility, but in 
 solidity and strength of reasoning he was excelled by few of 
 his competitors for forensic fame. He was profoundly versed 
 in the principles of the English common law, and he is one 
 of a very few persons whom I have known to take delight 
 in the ancient black-letter authorities, and to be enthusiastic 
 in his admiration of the darkest and most complex chapters 
 of Coke upon Littleton. His physical frame was one of un- 
 common vigor; he was not a little distinguished for personal 
 bravery, and he possessed such a manly and independent soul 
 as rendered it impossible that he should stoop to the practice 
 of servility, or resort to low and oblique expedients for his 
 own advancement. His powers of condensation were such 
 as caused him often to be warmly commended by those who 
 listened to him in cases of importance and difficulty ; but 
 yet, strange to say, he, like Mr. Burke, sometimes spoke at 
 such prodigious length, and with such copiousness of illustra- 
 tion, that his hearers were painfully fatigued with his masterly 
 but tedious utterances. 
 
 Mr. Barton was called by President Polk to officiate as
 
 .204 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 solicitor of the treasury, in which position he conducted him- 
 self in a manner so satisfactory, that he was in a few months 
 sent to Chili as minister plenipotentiary to that Republic. 
 On his return he wrote a number of able and earnest articles 
 for the Washington newspapers in opposition to the com- 
 promise measures of that period, which, though marked with 
 .his accustomed ability, did not add at all to his popularity, 
 .and were in truth not very extensively read. 
 
 Having been a practitioner of law for some time in the City 
 of New Orleans, and in several of the northern parishes of 
 Louisiana, I had an opportunity of being a good deal in var- 
 ious courts of the state, and of forming more or less acquaint- 
 ance with a considerable number of those engaged in the dis- 
 charge of judicial functions. Were I to take it upon myself 
 to pass upon the comparative merits of such personages as 
 Martin and Porter, Bullard and Eustis, and their learned and 
 venerated confreres of the bench, I should be justly regarded 
 .as not a little presumptuous and immodest. The opinions 
 delivered by them, running through a long series of years, 
 upon questions of the utmost dignity and moment, have 
 long since gained the highest consideration and respect 
 .among the most renowned juris-consults both of America 
 and Europe. I cannot consent though to overlook the fact 
 that the judges of Louisiana when I had an opportunity of 
 knowing them familiarly, were quite as much distinguished for 
 their stertling integrity, their lofty patriotism, and their gen- 
 tlemanly urbanity and refinement as for their erudition and in- 
 tellectual profundity. I can recollect only one instance of 
 .marked deviation from the pathway of honor among the 
 grave dispensers of justice in this once prosperous and happy 
 commonwealth, and the prompt reprobation and disgrace in- 
 flicted upon the offender in this instance, with the hearty 
 consent of his official associates, and the universal approval 
 of all good citizens, render even this solitary case of flagrant 
 dereliction, almost as much a subject of gratulation as of 
 censure and lamentation. 
 
 There are many bright names upon the roll of attorneys 
 in Louisiana, the mention of which, in this cursory and im-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 20$. 
 
 perfect review, I find myself compelled to pretermit. But 
 there is one illustrious individual yet surviving upon whose 
 career and character I feel inclined to offer here a few obser- 
 vations. I allude to the Honorable John A. Campbell, form- 
 erly one of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. This gentleman is a native of Georgia. 
 His father was many years ago well known as an eminent 
 jurist in that state. Judge Campbell located in the City of 
 Mobile when yet a very young man, and there quickly rose 
 to distinction. When elevated to a seat upon the bench of 
 the highest judicial tribunal known to our constitution and 
 laws, his great and universally acknowledged abilities at once 
 attracted to him the general admiration of his countrymen. 
 His juridical learning has never been disputed. His mind is 
 at once active, penetrating, of marvellous expansive energy, 
 of the firmest and most comprehensive grasp, and he is en- 
 dowed with a clearness of conception and a subtle astuteness 
 of discrimination, which completely set at defiance all the 
 arts of sophistical deception, and all the efforts to substitute 
 passion and prejudice in the place of reason and justice. 
 Some of his dissenting opinions, in cases of great celebrity,, 
 and with which the public is already quite familiar, will 
 be read both with respect and gratitude long after the lips 
 from which they emanated shall have been closed in death. 
 I shall ever recognize it as one of the most deplorable events 
 in American history that Judge Campbell was induced, either 
 by the taunts of enemies, or the injudicious persuasions of 
 excited friends, to resign the judicial position which he so 
 highly adorned, and where his influence for good would have 
 been so unquestionable. Had he continued in the perform- 
 ance of the high duties appertaining to his station, many 
 golden opportunities would doubtless have been presented 
 to him of mediating between his estranged and warring 
 countrymen, by taking advantage of which he might have 
 efficiently contributed to the correction of existing misun- 
 derstandings upon exciting sectional questions, the cessation 
 of profitless and ruinous hostilities, and that dreadful accum- 
 ulation of evils of almost every description which was after-
 
 2O6 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 wards to ensue, and from which the country has not by any 
 means yet altogether recovered. When I saw this highly 
 endowed and eminently disinterested and patriotic man, for 
 many long and dreary months, patiently and quietly per- 
 forming the duties of a subordinate position in the War De- 
 partment at Richmond, under the supervision of men who, 
 compared with him, were mere pigmies in intellect, I could 
 not help mentally recurring to the noted case of Epaminon- 
 das, in the olden time, who was insultingly sentenced to 
 sweep the streets of Thebes as a meet reward for public ser- 
 vices which all the wealth and honors in the gift of his stupid 
 and inappreciative countrymen would have been able but 
 poorly and inadequately to requite.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 
 
 Godfrey Fogg, Senior. Ephriam H. Foster. Neill S Brown. Judge McKinney. 
 Judge Robert L. Caruthers. Henry G. Smith. John A. Nooe. Edwin Yerger. 
 Henry T. Ellett. Emerson Etheridge. Treasurer Graves. The Anti-Gallon Law of 
 Mississippi. Its Faithful Enforcement and Beneficial Effects. Its Repeal, and the 
 Evils Resulting Therefrom. John J. Ormond. David Ligon. Peter Anderson. 
 James Deavenport Joseph E. Davis. George W. Paschal. Armisted Burwcll. 
 William L. Yancey. fames C. Mitchell. J. L. Alcorn. 
 
 Just as I was writing the closing words of the last chapter, 
 I received intelligence of the decease of a long valued pro- 
 fessional friend, of whose character and career as a member 
 of the Tennessee bar I propose at this moment to take a 
 brief notice. 
 
 Godfrey Fogg, Senior, was a native of New England, and 
 had there received a liberal education. He located at Nash- 
 ville, some years subsequent to his elder brother elsewhere 
 in this work favorably noticed by me and almost imme- 
 diately became possessed of a paying practice. In connection 
 with the late Ephriam H. Foster, he enjoyed a large collect- 
 ing business, in which he conspicuously evinced all the qual- 
 ities needful to success in that branch of his chosen profession. 
 Mr. Fogg possessed few of the graces of oratory, but he 
 always displayed in his speeches in court soundness and vigor 
 of intellect, a thorough knowledge of the case which he was 
 arguing, an adequate fund of legal erudition, and the utmost 
 serenity of temper and courtesy of manner. He lived and 
 died without a spot upon his reputation as a man, and his 
 sudden and unexpected decease has left a chasm in society 
 difficult to be supplied. Just four months ago, I was con- 
 versing with this sociable and communicative gentleman con- 
 cerning a number of his professional associates of former 
 years, and it is with pleasure that I acknowledge myself in- 
 debted to him for a considerable number of the most striking 
 facts which I have heretofore detailed.
 
 2O8 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 I had the honor of knowing Ephriam H. Foster personally, 
 but not very intimately. He was a maa of most command- 
 ing person, of most winning manners, and of exuberant 
 animal spirits. It was almost impossible to know him and 
 not to love him, and his name will continue to be remembered 
 with affection and esteem among all those whose good fortune 
 it was to be thrown into social intercourse with him. He was 
 a man of high courage, of the utmost frankness and liberality 
 of temper, and of consummate tact in the management of 
 men. He was for many years a leading and influential poli- 
 tician in Tennessee, and, during his short period of official 
 service in the national Senate, commanded alike the affec- 
 tionate esteem and confidence of his own party allies, and the 
 cordial regard of those with whom he was thrown into con- 
 flict. Mr. Foster could scarcely have failed to attain the 
 highest rank in every department of his profession, had he 
 not been persuaded to enter the political field, and to devote 
 himself somewhat more than is customary among the eager 
 seekers of forensic eminence to the more congenial pursuits 
 of social life, for which he was so transcendently fitted. 
 
 A gentleman is still residing in the city of Nashville and 
 engaged in the practice of his profession as a lawyer, who 
 has such peculiar claims to the public regard, alike as an em- 
 inent member of the bar and otherwise, as to deserve more 
 than a passing allusion, especially at the hands of one who 
 has so long loved and honored him as I have done. Neill S. 
 Brown, in many important respects, is undoubtedly one of 
 the most marked and interesting persons of the present age. 
 His early education was not as complete as would have been 
 desirable, but it was sufficient to supply an ample foundation 
 for that superstructure of general knowledge which many 
 years of successful diligence have enabled the subject of this 
 notice to acquire. A readier or more showy speaker than ex- 
 Governor Brown is nowhere to be found upon this continent. 
 He is endowed with a lively and fervid imagination, chastened 
 by laborious self-culture and judicious training. His percep- 
 tive powers are of a very high grade, and he is by no means 
 deficient in logical clearness and force, though his rich and
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 brilliant thoughts are not always methodized and presented in 
 an orderly manner, in accordance with the stricter maxims of 
 the schools, and render him a little more discursive at times 
 than modern courts of justice are inclined to approve. He 
 is most respectably informed in the various departments of 
 his chosen profession, and there are but few branches of 
 knowledge, either theoretical or practical, to which he has 
 not given more or less attention. He has been long renowned 
 as a popular debater, and in several of the political canvasses 
 in which he has been formerly engaged, is remembered to 
 have displayed controversial powers such as commanded 
 respect and commendation far beyond the limits of Tennes- 
 see. He has the happiest command of his own temper, in 
 the midst of the most heated political contest, and possesses 
 a promptitude and felicity in repartee which give him a great 
 advantage 4 over any slow and drowsy antagonist. A finer 
 model of serene and gentlemanly urbanity in private inter- 
 course it would be difficult to find. This well-known personage 
 has in former days held various important official positions, 
 both under State and under Federal authority, in all of which 
 his conduct has been such as to secure general respect and 
 commendation. Tennessee has no surviving son of whom 
 she should be more justly proud; for, in addition to his long- 
 continued public services, his devoted patriotism, and his sage 
 and unswerving patriotism, he has given to the world such an 
 example of virtue in private and social life as has caused 
 more than one of his contemporaries to compare him to 
 Scipio Nasica, who was adjudged by the Roman Senate and 
 people to be the best citizen of that renowned republic. To- 
 Governor Brown, more than to any one individual whom I 
 could now name, is the State of Tennessee indebted for her 
 present civil quietude and the general diffusion of that spirit 
 of amity and confraternity which so nobly distinguishes her 
 people. 
 
 The recent decease of Judge McKinney, who was for so 
 many years a distinguished justice of the Supreme Court of 
 Tennessee, has suggested to my mind the propriety of speak- 
 ing briefly in commemoration of his many virtues and official
 
 2IO BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 services. Judge McKinney was born in Ireland, but the 
 whole period of his mature manhood was spent among the 
 romantic and healthful hills and valleys of East Tennessee. 
 His arguments at the bar were always remarkable for their 
 logical force and precision, their singular and commendable 
 perspicuity, their freedom from all circumlocution or mere 
 parade of words, and were occasionally tinctured with some- 
 thing approaching to sarcasm and irony. On the bench he 
 was diligent, pains-taking, and unrelaxing in his labors, as 
 his reported opinions so satisfactorily attest. He was ac- 
 cused of being occasionally a little too stern and austere in 
 his demeanor towards the members of the bar, and was, as I 
 should judge, not a little inclined to constrain attorneys to 
 avoid everything at all approaching to a superfluity of illus- 
 tration. I am told, and believe it to be true, that the Judge 
 on one occasion found, in his effort to circumscribe discus- 
 sion, that he had exposed himself to a wordy infliction which 
 he had not at all anticipated, and of which he could not de- 
 cently complain. A very worthy barrister, now residing in 
 Nashville, and who was really not at all inclined to be over- 
 troublesome to the court, was one day discussing a somewhat 
 complex land case in the Supreme Court, when Judge 
 McKinney, fearing that he might become a little tedious, 
 and desirous of hinting to him the expediency of not at- 
 tempting too grand a display of recondite learning leaning 
 fonvard from the bench, with something of a cheerful smile 
 upon his face, inquired of my stalwart and imperturbable 
 friend, Major Fare (who was then addressing him), whether it 
 had chanced to him in his extended legal researches ever to 
 have made himself acquainted with the memorable discus- 
 sions in England of the famous " Shelley case ?" "Oh!" cried 
 the indefatigable Major, " I can assure your Honor that I 
 have fully mastered all the learning of the Shelley case, of 
 which fact I am prepared to lay before the court the most 
 indubitable evidence." After which the undismayed advo- 
 cate, with all due formality, pulled from one of his coat- 
 pockets a stout roll of paper, upon which he had carefully 
 written out his own views upon the " Shelley case" in the
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 211 
 
 most minute and elaborate manner. This he commenced 
 reading with most stoical composure (being evidently not a 
 little pleased at the opportunity which had been so unex- 
 pectedly afforded him of ventilating his learning), to the ex- 
 tent of some fifteen or twenty closely-written pages. This 
 remarkable scene produced much amusement to the mem- 
 bers of the bar, the by-standers and all the judges them- 
 selves, saving indeed, Judge McKinney, who is described as 
 having evinced on the occasion an amount of restlessness and 
 chagrin not at all in keeping with his customary calmness 
 and equanimity. 
 
 Whilst Judge McKinney was on the bench he was inti- 
 mately associated with a gentleman, now far advanced in 
 years, but who has long been admitted in Tennessee to be 
 one of the most learned jurists that has ever presided in her 
 courts. I allude to the Honorable Robert L. Caruthers, now, 
 and for many years past, the chief law professor of the Leba- 
 non University. It is due to Judge Caruthers to state that 
 he took a leading part in the establishment of this famous 
 institution of learning, and has for many years watched over 
 its interests with a tender fidelity and vigilance which have 
 known no intermission. It is but moderate praise to say of 
 this venerable person that the whole legal fraternity of Tennes- 
 see have long recognized him as a man of profound judicial 
 learning, of indomitable industry, of unsurpassed public 
 spirit, and as peculiarly qualified by temper, by manners, and 
 by reason of his admirable tact in the communication of in- 
 struction, for the dignified and responsible position which he 
 holds. 
 
 I know of not a single member of the present bar of Mem- 
 phis with whom I have been so long acquainted as the Hon- 
 orable Henry G. Smith. His learning and ability have been 
 displayed most conspicuously both upon the bench and at 
 the bar. Amidst the terrible trials and sufferings through which 
 the state of Tennessee has been fated to pass during the last 
 fifteen years, Judge Smith has uniformly conducted himself 
 with such discretion, such dignity, and such decorum as to 
 win both the affection and esteem of all who were observers
 
 212 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 of his acts. No one could have given higher evidences than 
 he has done of courage mingled with forbearance, love of 
 country tempered with moderation, and detestation of vice 
 softened and regulated by feelings of a generous and refined 
 humanity. The numerous friends and admirers of this sober- 
 minded and well-balanced personage have been expecting, 
 for several years, some adequate recognition of his qualifica- 
 tions and services at the hands of the administration now in 
 power. Whether a man of such eminent modesty and dis- 
 interestedness is destined to become the recipient of official 
 favor in these times of turmoil and confusion, when so many 
 of less delicacy and self-respect are unblushingly struggling 
 for places which they are not at all qualified to fill, is a ques- 
 tion which I am not at all prepared to solve. 
 
 The accomplished and amiable wife of Judge Smith I have 
 known in former years as the affectionate help-mate of one 
 of the most devoted personal friends I have ever known 
 the late John A. Nooe. Of this loved and honored gentle- 
 man I can scarcely speak without a tear. I knew him from 
 early boyhood, and was once connected with him in busi- 
 ness as a member of the Memphis bar. A higher-toned 
 gentleman I never met. His temper was as mild and affec- 
 tionate as if he had belonged to the gentler sex. His coun- 
 tenance beamed with benignity ; his sincerity was never 
 called in question ; his justice was as unbending as that of 
 Cato himself. Judge Nooe was a lawyer of much reading, 
 and could effectively apply the learning he had acquired. 
 His diffidence in public was a serious draw-back upon his 
 complete success as a forensic advocate ; though he always 
 spoke with striking good sense and in language both chaste 
 and elegant, and as a draftsman of all legal papers he was 
 particularly skilful and accurate. I can honestly affirm that 
 this excellent gentleman grew in my affection and esteem up 
 even to the moment of his lamented decease. 
 
 Edwin Yerger was a member of that worthy and noted 
 family of which I have heretofore had occasion repeatedly 
 to speak. He was introduced to me in the very beginning 
 of his brilliant professional career, and I was at that time
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 213 
 
 most favorably impressed in regard both to his abilities and 
 moral qualities. He was decidedly a man of genius ; and 
 of this he gave such evidence in his daily exhibitions at the 
 bar as to place his fame both as a jurist and advocate, upon 
 a foundation too firm to be now shaken. Nothing could ex- 
 ceed his liveliness and dexterity in the discussions of the 
 forum, his wonderful readiness in reply, or the immense fer- 
 tility of his general resources. Had he been of uniformly 
 studious habits, and as much devoted to his professional 
 avocations as he was to the attractive pleasures of social life, 
 he undoubtedly would have had it in his power to establish 
 an almost unequalled reputation both as a speaker and jurist. 
 He died in the meridian of life whilst surrounded by hosts 
 of sympathizing and admiring friends. 
 
 Henry T. Ellet, now of Memphis, formerly of Mississippi, 
 has been known to me familiarly for more than thirty-five 
 years. I had the honor of being more than once associated 
 with him, in cases of no little importance, before his eleva- 
 tion to the bench of the Supreme Court of Mississippi ; and 
 always found him affable, cordial, and gentlemanly. His 
 manners are marked with a degree of refinement and deli- 
 cacy not as common as might be desired among the members 
 of the bar as a class ; his temperament is one not easily dis- 
 composed by the ordinary occurrences of professional life ; 
 he is uniformly courteous, civil, and obliging in his inter- 
 course with the members of his own profession with whom he 
 is thrown into contact ; and his labors, both as a student and 
 legal practitioner, are unremitting ; leaving less time for social 
 intercourse than would be desirable to others, and doubtless 
 gratifying to himself. Few men now living have read law 
 books with more profit than Judge Ellet ; few occupants of 
 the bench have enunciated a larger number of sound and 
 well reasoned opinions; and no juridical personage, either 
 living or dead, has given more conclusive evidences than he 
 has done, of unswerving personal integrity, and of the nicest 
 and most profound regard for all that is pure, decorous, and 
 elevated in the administration of public affairs. 
 
 I remember to have been employed, many years ago, in
 
 214 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 connection with Judge Ellet, to defend a man charged with 
 sheep-stealing in the Circuit Court of Claiborne county in the 
 State of Mississippi. Our client was a man of considerable 
 wealth and able to pay his counsel liberal fees. He was far 
 advanced in years, was a member of the church, and was of 
 a previous character wholly free from reproach. He was ac- 
 cused of having caused to be caught and slain, in the night 
 time, some fifteen or twenty sheep, of a particularly valuable 
 kind, belonging to one of his nearest neighbors, and of having 
 had them buried upon his own premises. The circumstances 
 were such as were calculated to awaken strong suspicions of 
 the guilt of our client. With the neighbor mentioned he 
 had been for some time past at variance. The wagon of 
 Mr. Wood (the alleged culprit) was found crimsoned with 
 the blood of animals of some kind, freshly butchered, and 
 which had been apparently piled up irregularly in the body 
 of the wagon, the tracks of which had been distinctly traced 
 from the house of Mr. Wood to the place of sepulture. The 
 carcasses, when exhumed, were found to bear the mark of 
 the person referred to, though then in a state of incipient 
 putrefaction. The neighbors had collected about the place 
 of burial, and the ghastly spectacle which they beheld had 
 awakened intense excitement among them. Prejudice against 
 our client ran so high at one time that he stood in evident 
 danger of undergoing summary punishment for his supposed 
 crime. A vast concourse attended the trial at the court 
 house in Port Gibson, a few weeks after, but a small number of 
 whom expected anything else than an easy conviction. Our 
 client constantly averred his own innocence, and came into 
 court with a countenance and manner which spoke strongly 
 in his favor. It was clear that he must be guilty as charged 
 or had been the victim of a dark and diabolical conspiracy 
 deliberately set on foot for his undoing. The latter hypothe- 
 sis was of course the one upon which the defence of the 
 accused was made to rest. This hypothesis had to be up- 
 held by circumstantial testimony alone. 
 
 The speech made by my honored associate in the case was 
 indeed a most masterly one, as had also been his previous
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 215 
 
 cross-examination of the State's witnesses. The jury was 
 persuaded to acquit our client, who returned to his own home 
 relieved from all danger of incarceration in the penitentiary, 
 but not by any means restored to his former good standing 
 in the estimation cf his neighbors. 
 
 Emerson Etheridge is one of the most brilliant and accom- 
 plished men that the State of Tennessee has yet been able 
 to boast. He is a most showy and effective speaker before 
 the people, in legislative halls, or in courts of justice. He is 
 but little past the middle age of man at this moment, has a 
 physical constitution of much vigor, is of unexceptionable 
 habits, and is as solicitous as he could have been in earlier 
 life of all useful knowledge, as well as of those accomplish- 
 ments which give grace and attractiveness to learning, and 
 win the kindly sympathies of the multitude. Mr. Etheridge's 
 felicity in the delineation of character is one of his most noted 
 attributes; his colloquial powers are such as to make him the 
 charm of every social circle into which he enters ; his facetious 
 sallies are often of irresistible potency ; his illustrations, when 
 he chooses to bring them to his aid, are at once copious, 
 apposite, and full of originality. His satire, on occasions 
 demanding a resort to this terrible implement of chastisement, 
 is as bitter and all-consuming as the 1 most successful of the 
 far-famed letters of Junius; but, unlike the murderous " Stat 
 nominis umbra" Mr. Etheridge never stabs in the dark, or 
 skulks from the just responsibility of his own aggressive hos- 
 tility. Seldom has so much native kindness of heart been 
 associated in the same bosom with a stern and unyielding 
 sense of justice. His manliness and generosity are at least 
 equal to his hatred for all that is ignoble or degrading. His 
 commiseration for the unavoidable weakness of humankind 
 has as much influence over his conduct as that immeasurable 
 scorn to which he has so often given eloquent expression 
 when beholding acts of high-handed villainy, or when called 
 upon to expose the cruel exactions of official tyranny. Mr. 
 Etheridge has been more than ordinarily successful, both as an 
 attorney and politician ; but he is well known equally to abhor 
 chicane and trickery at the bar, and corruption and knavery
 
 2l6 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 in places of civil trust and dignity, and is, upon the whole, 
 far better calculated to command the respect of the unlet- 
 tered multitude, than to possess himself of their sympathy 
 and their suffrages. 
 
 About the year 1842, or 1843, a man, whose surname was 
 Graves, and whose Christian name, having now forgotten, I 
 am not disposed to put myself to the trouble of impressing 
 again upon my memory, found his way into the legislature of 
 Mississippi from one of the newly settled counties of the 
 state. He was said to be engaged in the practice of law, and 
 no doubt was so to a limited extent. The first time I ever 
 saw this person, he was delivering a rampant and incoherent 
 speech in the Mississippi House of Representatives, against 
 the then existing Anti-Liquor Law. I had not listened to him 
 five minutes before I discovered that he was a demagogue of 
 the lowest type. He gave utterance to all the customary 
 clap-trap suggestions of that class of artful and dishonest 
 political declaimers to which he belonged ; talked much and 
 vehemently of the sacred rights of freedom, handed down 
 from our ancestors ; denounced all sumptuary laws, as hostile 
 to republican institutions, and railed out most vociferously 
 against what he described as the inqiiisitorial cruelty of any 
 interference on the part of the government with the domestic 
 and social habits of the citizens. This individual was evi- 
 dently of opinion that every man in a Christian and civilized 
 community, blessed with genuine freedom, has an unques- 
 tionable and inalienable natural right not only to get drunk 
 himself, whenever he shall choose to do so, but likewise to 
 make others drunk also, provided, in the latter case, the 
 government shall be willing so far to degrade itself as to guar- 
 antee to certain of its citizens, for a trifling pecuniary consid- 
 eration, the noble and precious privilege of inciting their 
 fellow citizens (by filling their stomachs with the requisite 
 quantity of alcoholic stimulants) to part with their own ration- 
 ality, and debauch their own physical and moral nature, so as 
 to become fitted for deeds of blood and violence, and for 
 nearly all the worst and most degrading crimes which bring 
 disgrace and ruin upon society. This wretched creature had
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 2I/ 
 
 -evidently never in his life reflected that a republican system 
 of government can only be maintained by the free and un- 
 trammeled exercise of both intellect and virtue; neither of 
 which can survive the general prevalence of drunkenness. 
 He had never learned that a large majority of the crimes 
 which occur in every community where the sale, in small 
 quantities, of alcoholic stimulants is allowed, at tippling shops 
 and elsewhere, are attributable to an accursed compact entered 
 into with the government itself, which, for a stipulated sum, 
 paid into its treasury, basely guarantees indemnity to those 
 wretches who, for money's sake, are daily and hourly engaged 
 in distributing that which incites to murder, and to almost 
 every crime that man in his most debased condition is found 
 capable of perpetrating, and is the chief cause of commercial 
 l>ankruptcy, the pauperism of families, connubial wretched- 
 ness, deaths by apoplexy, by paralysis, by mania a potti, and 
 other similar maladies. The idea had perchance never en- 
 tered into his cranium, that a very large proportion of the 
 most intellectual and cultivated men in this republic have 
 "been disgraced and ruined by strong drink imbibed at licensed 
 liquor shops. But he evidently did expect to grow popular 
 with drinking men everywhere by aiding prominently in ob- 
 taining the repeal of the Anti-Gallon Law ; and supposed that 
 in this way he would infallibly enlist all the vendors of alcohol 
 who should thereafter renew their work of destruction upon the 
 soil of Mississippi, in support of his own political aspirations, 
 not doubting, perhaps, that thus he might, after a while, be 
 elevated, as the indomitable champion of freedom, into some 
 station of no little dignity and emolument. I listened to this 
 man for a few minutes, whilst he spoke, and withdrew in dis- 
 gust ; for I had been most unfavorably impressed by his style 
 of delivery ; his low and grovelling appeals to the coarsest sen- 
 sual appetites of the community ; his cunning and impudent 
 expression of countenance, and his blustrous self-importance. 
 Thanks to this man and to others of his stamp, the Anti- 
 Liquor Law was repealed ; that law which had been faithfully 
 and beneficially enforced throughout the State of Mississippi 
 for more than two years ; that law under which honest and
 
 2l8 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 enlightened juries had convicted hundreds of lawless culprits- 
 that law the validity of which had been affirmed by the 
 highest appellate court in the State ; that law under the 
 beneficent influence of which a whole people had become 
 oberized, and the number of crimes and criminals undeniably 
 diminished at least seventy-five per cent. What innumerable 
 ills have flowed from the doing away of this enactment in 
 the last thirty years, it is in the power of no earthly being to- 
 estimate ! 
 
 It so happened that this very man Graves was a nominee 
 for the office of treasurer of the State of Mississippi, in the 
 year 1843. What exploit, save the one I have named, gave 
 him this dubious honor, I have never yet learned. Some 
 facts connected with this period are indelibly impressed upon 
 my mind, which I will here recite. 
 
 In the heated political canvass, then occurring, it chanced 
 that the nominated candidates of my own political party (the 
 Democratic) visited the town in which I resided, on a certain 
 occasion, for the purpose of addressing the people of that 
 vicinage. The celebrated William M. Guin, General John 
 D. Freeman, Governor Tucker, and others, including the 
 before-named nominee for treasurer, delivered speeches in 
 the courthouse, to all of which I listened. After the meet- 
 ing was at an end I invited all the state candidates, save one,, 
 to dine with me. When dinner was over, I took the liberty 
 of saying to my honored guests that whilst I should vote for 
 them with pleasure in the coming election, I could not sup- 
 port Mr. Graves, for there were marks of obliquity about 
 his visage which I could not behold without shuddering. I 
 even ventured to predict that this man, if elected to the office 
 of treasurer, would purloin the money placed in his charge. 
 Well, Graves was elected treasurer, and in less than twelve 
 months from that event, the people of Mississippi were 
 thrown into commotion by the startling intelligence that 
 Graves had abstracted more than a hundred thousand dol- 
 lars of the gold and silver in the treasury. A scrutiny was 
 instituted, and this intelligence turned out to be well-founded. 
 A criminal prosecution was immediately commenced, and I
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST 
 
 Jiad the honor of being called upon to aid the able and ac- 
 complished Attorney-General Freeman in bringing the 
 alleged offender to justice. In order to give dignity and 
 impressiveness to the proceedings, Chief Justice Sharkey was 
 requested to act as a court of inquiry. This he consented to 
 do, and the investigation of Graves' case began in the room 
 where the supreme court of the state ordinarily held its ses- 
 sions. The evidence adduced was overwhelming, and 
 some of the discussions which arose upon points involving 
 the competency of a portion of the evidence disclosed to the 
 defaulting treasurer the extreme danger of his position. The 
 court adjourned on a Saturday evening, to resume its session 
 on the ensuing Monday morning. For want of a regular 
 jail, the prisoner was committed to the care of a worthy citi- 
 zen, a Mr. Carr, who engaged to retain him at his own house 
 and bring him into court again at the proper time. During 
 the still hours of a warm Sabbath day the wife of Graves, a 
 beautiful and accomplished woman, paid a visit to her hus- 
 band, was conducted to his room, there exchanged garments 
 with him, and the prisoner escaped in female vestments, as 
 several eminent heroes have been likewise known to do, in- 
 cluding Charles the Fifth of Spain, and Charles the Second 
 of England. 
 
 Thus was this noted prosecution brought to an end. 
 Graves succeeded in getting to Canada. I may properly add 
 here that not a dollar of this large amount was ever restored 
 to the treasury of Mississippi until the year 1853, when, as 
 governor of the state, empowered by a special act to com- 
 promise the affair, I succeeded in getting back less than half 
 the amount abstracted, on condition of releasing the securi- 
 ties on Graves' official bond as treasurer from the payment of 
 the remainder. 
 
 Some time in the year 1826, I formed an acquaintane with 
 John J. Ormond, who was then a resident of the town of 
 Courtland, in North Alabama, where he had located some 
 five or six years previously, and where he had quickly estab- 
 lished a high reputation as a lawyer. His professional rank 
 was altogether superior to that of any attorney in that par-
 
 22O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ticular section of country, and he enjoyed the general re- 
 .spect and confidence of the community to an extent corres- 
 ponding with his success in his profession. He was a man 
 of much vivacity and vigor of intellect, was thoroughly in- 
 formed in everything appertaining to juridical learning, and 
 spoke at the bar with a pointedness and force which always 
 commanded the fullest attention of both court and jury. He 
 had no talent for declamation, and always confined himself 
 closely to the facts and principles involved. His appearance 
 and manners were those of a polished and well-bred gentle- 
 man, and there was a dignity and stateliness about him, both 
 in court and elsewhere, which seemed to justify the supposi- 
 tion that he had been both born and nurtured in the higher 
 ranks of society. Yet it is now quite well known that he had 
 been a maker of boots and shoes in the days of opening 
 manhood, and had evinced much skill in this useful calling. 
 He had at one time resided in the town of Charlottesville, in 
 Virginia; but whether he was born there, or in one of the 
 Northern states, has never been distinctly ascertained. He 
 afterwards became one of the Supreme Judges of Alabama, 
 and is known to have delivered a number of able and learned 
 opinions from the bench which are yet much respected as 
 authority. In all the social and domestic relations Judge 
 Ormond was a model of propriety, and he left behind him a 
 reputation for uprightness and patriotism of which his descen- 
 dants may well be proud. The last time I saw this excel- 
 lent gentleman was in the month of November, 1851, when 
 on my way to Washington, after having succeeded as a 
 Union candidate for the office of Governor of Mississippi, 
 over Jeff. Davis. Passing through the City of Montgomery, 
 I was invited to address the members of the Alabama Legis- 
 lature and the citizens of Montgomery, in the state capitol, 
 upon the political questions then pending, which I did ; after 
 which I spent some four or five hours in confidential con- 
 verse with Judge Ormond in his own room, and heard with 
 profound respect many sage remarks from his lips, which I 
 am sure I shall never forget. He was a broad-minded and 
 enlightened statesman, and a firm and earnest devotee to the 
 Federal Union.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 221 
 
 One of the professional contemporaries of Judge Ormond 
 whilst he continued to reside in the Tennessee valley, was 
 David G. Ligon, who was also well known to me for a series 
 of years. He was born in Virginia, and was very proud of his 
 place of nativity. He was a man of much more than ordin- 
 ary reading, was a singularly fluent speaker, and possessed 
 conversational powers such as persons less gifted in this 
 respect, could not but witness with feelings of surprise not 
 unmixed, it may be, with admiration. His excitable imagin- 
 ation was almost always in a state of effervescence, and often 
 did he allow his Pegasus to bound over boundless regions 
 both of thought and action far beyond the sober gaze of the 
 ordinary habitants of earth. He was when I knew him in 
 the exuberance of physical health and in the enjoyment of 
 a somewhat superabundant supply of animal spirits, and,, 
 when addressing either court or jury, was sure to give vent 
 to much which men of graver habits of thought would be 
 inclined to call rodomontade, and pronounce to be much 
 better fitted to give transient entertainment to those having 
 a special relish for the ludicrous than to enforce conviction 
 or to attract respectable suitors to his office. After the year 
 1830, it was never my fortune to meet Mr. Ligon, but I have 
 been told that the flow of years carried away towards the 
 evening of life, much of the trashiness of young unripened 
 manhood, and that he became before his decease both a 
 member of the church and an acceptable preacher of the 
 Gospel. He also attained a seat upon the chancery bench, 
 and in this responsible position, is reported to have given 
 general satisfaction. 
 
 About the time that Mr. Ormond and Mr. Ligon were re- 
 siding in Courtland as active practitioners of law, an attor- 
 ney was gradually rising to eminence at the bar in the neigh- 
 boring town of Florence, a brief delineation of whom will 
 now be attempted. Peter Anderson was a native of New 
 York, and reported himself to have been trained to the 
 duties of his profession by the celebrated Chancellor Kent. 
 He was a tall slender man, of most fragile structure, and had 
 apparently less of flesh and blood about him than any living.
 
 222 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST 
 
 man I -ever beheld who was able to walk with elastic vigor 
 and discharge the ordinary functions of social existence. 
 Though considerably over six feet in height, he could not 
 possibly have weighed more than a hundred pounds. His 
 hair was jet black; his complexion was swarthy; he had a 
 face of unusual longitude ; a long protruding nose ; small 
 dark eyes, deeply sunken in his head ; with rough bushy eye- 
 brows, the inner extremities of which almost met and formed 
 a decidedly acute angle. Mr. Anderson had a hollow sepul- 
 chral voice and his enunciation seemed to indicate the exist- 
 ence of pulmonary disease of long standing. It was uni- 
 versally admitted that Mr. Anderson was deeply read in 
 legal science, and that he could, when necessary, state a 
 point in court in language of singular clearness and signifi- 
 cance. He was not at all though a graceful and winning 
 speaker, and he was altogether lacking in complaisance and 
 affability. He was irritable, dogmatic, and assuming, to an 
 extent altogether unusual at the bar, and whilst all gave him 
 much credit for juridical learning and intellectual acuteness, 
 I should think it certain that he never made a warm and 
 sympathizing friend outside of his own family connection, 
 which was undoubtedly one of great respectability. The last 
 time I saw this individual he was a resident of New Orleans. 
 Whether he succeeded there as an attorney I have not 
 learned. 
 
 An attorney of very opposite qualities in some respects 
 was James Deavenport, of the Mississippi bar. He was born 
 somewhere in Virginia, as I have learned, but was educated 
 and prepared for the practice of law in Middle Tennessee. 
 Mr. Deavenport migrated to Mississippi about forty-two years 
 since, and located in the town of Clinton. He was a well- 
 read lawyer, of considerable acquaintance with the volumes 
 of literature at that time most in vogue, and spoke at the bar 
 with much facility and in language both correct and impres- 
 sive. He was a man of the utmost sweetness of temper and 
 of uniform civility and friendliness of manner. The petty feel- 
 ings of professional rivalry never found entrance into his 
 manly and generous soul, and during a familiar acquaintance
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 223 
 
 of many years I do not remember of hearing from his lips 
 one unjust or illiberal allusion to any human being. He was 
 of delicate physical structure, but of very symmetrical pro- 
 portions, and possessed an expression of countenance as soft 
 and benignant as we are accustomed to behold in the gentler 
 sex. The last occasion of any note when I had an oppor- 
 tunity of hearing Mr. Deavenport speak in court was con- 
 nected with some very peculiar circumstances, a recital of 
 which I shall now give. 
 
 A man by the name of Fitzpatrick was keeper of a hotel 
 formerly much resorted to, located at what was then known 
 as the Mississippi Springs. He had in his employment a 
 genteel and intelligent looking man by the name of Wood, 
 who was officiating as bar-keeper. One morning Fitzpatrick, 
 upon the plea that Wood had abstracted a portion of the 
 money of the house trusted to his custody, accused him 
 openly of embezzlement, and proceeded so far as to break 
 open the trunk of Wood's wife in order, if he could, to find 
 and repossess himself of his lost treasure. Here he found 
 some twenty or thirty dollars, to all of which he boldly laid 
 claim, and proposed to identify the whole mass which he 
 found lying together in the trunk, by swearing to the owner- 
 ship of a silver quarter of a dollar, which he professed to 
 recognize by reason of a hole which some one had before 
 that time pierced through it. A criminal investigation after- 
 wards ensued before a court of inquiry, and I was employed 
 to defend the parties accused. The case was returned to the 
 circuit court; the grand jury failed to find a true bill, so that 
 the only question remaining to be determined related to the 
 ownership of the money, which was yet in judicial custody. 
 In regard to this matter a discussion ensued between Mr. 
 Deavenport and myself, which was going on in quite a com- 
 plaisant and orderly manner when Fitzpatrick suddenly ap- 
 peared in court armed with a large stick, and by his manner 
 evidently menaced me with violence if I should allude to him 
 at all disrespectfully. Upon this, calling the attention of the 
 court to the offender's conduct, I took occasion to speak of 
 him in terms far more uncivil than I had originally intended
 
 224 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 to employ. When the discussion was over I called upon Mr. 
 Deavenport, whom I knew to be a just and high-minded 
 gentleman, and asked him to ascertain from his client whether 
 he designed to make an attack upon my person, in which 
 case I should feel bound to put on arms for my own defense. 
 Mr. Deavenport accordingly had an immediate interview 
 with Fitzpatrick, who observed that he had no intention to 
 carry the matter further. 
 
 Months elapsed, and I did not hear that Fitzpatrick had 
 ever complained audibly of the language which I had felt 
 justified in applying to him in court. Visiting the City of 
 Jackson one day, and having occasion to hold a conference 
 in one of the hotels there with an honored friend, long since 
 deceased, just as I came forth to the tavern portico, on my 
 way to the open street, Fitzpatrick rushed upon me with a 
 heavy club in his hand, and attempted to strike me with it. 
 I seized the weapon and held it fast, until I had succeeded, a 
 good deal to my own surprise, in throwing the assailant out- 
 side of the door, and leaping upon his prostrate person. He 
 was armed with pistols, but before he could draw and fire 
 upon me, the venerable George W. Adams came along and 
 separated the combating parties. After this, learning that 
 Fitzpatrick was still armed, and that he meditated a renewal 
 of hostilities, I borrowed several pistols, and placed myself 
 in front of the hotel, where I knew him to be, and 
 remained in this place, strictly on the defensive. In a minute 
 or two, my antagonist sallied forth and fired at me, but with- 
 out effect. I returned his fire, but did him no injury. He 
 then ran towards me with his cane elevated, evidently intent 
 on my destruction. As he thus advanced, I took deliberate 
 aim at him, and shot him directly through the abdomen; 
 but, strange to say, the wound inflicted did not prove mortal. 
 So soon as Fitzpatrick got well enough, I determined to hold 
 him responsible for this serious and aggravated violation of 
 the law of the land. I took out a warrant for him, and he 
 was brought before two justices, constituting a court of inquiry, 
 upon a charge of having committed an assault with intent to 
 commit murder. Mr. Prentiss appeared in behalf of the
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 22$ 
 
 accused, but despite his eloquence and ingenuity, Fitzpatrick 
 was bound over to appear at the next circuit court, to answer 
 for the offense which he had committed. His situation had 
 now become a very disagreeable one ; for, in the event of his 
 being ultimately convicted, confinement in the penitentiary 
 was the least punishment which he would have to endure. 
 Under these circumstances, I was earnestly persuaded by the 
 friends of Fitzpatrick to discontinue the prosecution, they 
 promising in his behalf that I should in future have no cause 
 to complain of his conduct. This course I took pleasure in 
 pursuing, and not only prevailed upon the grand jury, when 
 I was summoned to testify before them, to decline examining 
 me as a witness, but to receive no other evidence against the 
 accused whatever, and to ignore the bill of indictment pre- 
 sented to them. 
 
 It is due to Fitzpatrick to say that he was ever after my 
 friend, and gave me many proofs of his respect and kindness. 
 Mr. Deavenport was sent out to New Mexico by President 
 Pierce, as a judicial officer in that remote region. Whether 
 he is still surviving, I have no convenient means of ascertain- 
 ing ; but, whether living or dead, I can say of him that a 
 truer, kinder, or more magnanimous man I have never known. 
 I have yet made no mention of an individual who is well 
 entitled to a more extended description than it is at present 
 in my power to present. 
 
 Joseph E. Davis was a native of Georgia. He was reared 
 in the State of Kentucky, and in the neighborhood of the 
 town of Hopkinsville. Here he read law, obtained license 
 to practice, and soon after removed to the State of Missis- 
 sippi, and became a resident of the village of Fayette, in 
 Jefferson county. He subsequently removed to the City of 
 Natchez, was quite successful in the accumulation of money, 
 and ultimately located himself in the county of Warren, 
 where he purchased a large and valuable plantation, and 
 became the owner of many slaves. I formed a personal ac- 
 quaintance with Mr. Davis in the spring of 1831, and formed 
 a high opinion both of his intellect and attainments. He is 
 admitted by all to have been a well-informed attorney, a
 
 226 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 shrewd and successful trader, and a man of strong common 
 sense. He certainly had read many books of general science 
 and digested them well. Though a frigid and prosy speaker, 
 he wrote both with correctness and vigor, and, as I have al- 
 ways thought, was one of the best informed politicians of his 
 time. He was an affectionate father and brother, and to- 
 wards a younger brother, now of world-wide celebrity, gave 
 evidence of such devoted attachment as was calculated to 
 awaken general respect and sympathy. He left a number 
 of children behind him whom he devotedly loved, and for 
 them he provided most generously by will, a short time be- 
 fore his death. Of the younger brother alluded to he was 
 not unmindful. He had bestowed upon him many years be- 
 fore a competent estate, which the latter at the time very 
 much needed, and confidently looked to him for the judicious 
 administration of the property he was about to leave behind 
 him, and for the protection of those children now sqon to 
 experience the woes of orphanage. It is painful to know 
 that this large estate has recently become the subject of al- 
 most as unkind controversy as did Numidia of old between 
 Jugurtha and the children of Micipsa ; and the following de- 
 cree of the the firm-minded and enlightened Chancellor of 
 Warren county may be with the coming generations of pos- 
 terity as interesting in the perusal as the graphic pages of 
 Sallust. Here it is : 
 
 OPINION OF CHANCELLOR HILL. 
 
 The following is the official copy of the opinion of Chancellor 
 Hill of the Chancery Court of Warren county, Mississippi, in the 
 case of Jefferson Davis v. J. H. D. Bowmar et al., delivered at 
 Vicksburg, on the 8th of January, 1876. 
 
 Complainant claims to have been the owner of "Brierfield" 
 plantation, situated in this county, not as a purchaser but by pos- 
 session adverse to his brother J. E. Davis, originating in an alleged 
 parol gift by him, and entry thereunder, as long ago as about 1835. 
 
 J. E. Davis originally entered said plantation from the United 
 States Government, together with a large quantity of land adjoin- 
 ing it, known as "Hurricane." He. never conveyed any part of 
 either of said plantations. 
 
 Complainant claims to have occupied "Brierfield " until it and
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 22/ 
 
 " Hurricane " were taken possession of by the United States Gov- 
 ment in 1862 or 1:63. In 1865 both "Hurricane" and "Brier- 
 field " were turned over by the United States Government to J. 
 E. Davis, it being represented to the government that he, and not 
 Jefferson Davis,- was the owner of it. 
 
 In 1866 Mr. J. E. Davis sold, and by his deed conveyed, the 
 whole of said two plantations to Benjamin Montgomery and his 
 two sons, for and at the price of $300,000, taking therefor their 
 bonds secured by mortgage upon the lands. The interest on the 
 bonds was payable annually. The proportionate value of " Brier- 
 field," as represented by the bonds given for the purchase price, 
 is claimed to be $70,000. 
 
 Joe E. Davis died in 1870, leaving his last will and testament, 
 whereby he made these respondents, Mrs. Hamar and J. D. 
 Mitchell, his principal legatees, and also residuary legatees. He 
 specifically willed to the former -00,000, and to the latter $50,000, 
 and to each of the complainant's four children $20,000, payable 
 out of the bonds aforesaid, and requiring the interest accruing 
 thereon to be paid proportionally on those legacies. The will em- 
 powered the executors, in their discretion, to abate or remit princi- 
 pal and interest upon said purchase price, and directed them to 
 deal leniently with the purchasers. 
 
 The sale was entirely on a credit, and was to parties who were 
 of late slaves of J. E. Davis, and I think was for a larger sum than 
 the purchasers could well carry from the resources of the places. 
 The sale was made at the time when Mr. Jefferson Davis was in 
 prison upon a charge of treason, and it is suggested, in argument, 
 that there were prudential reasons why the transactions concern- 
 ing the lands might not have been made in his name, conceding 
 him to have been the real owner ; to-wit, a fear of confiscation. 
 The political disabilities of complainant have not been removed, 
 and it is conceded, on behalf of respondent, that the same pru- 
 dential reasons may have operated to induce the testator to will 
 the value of "Brierfield" to the children of complainant instead 
 of to him directly. 
 
 The theory of respondents is that the occupation of complain- 
 ant of the land in question was only permissive, and not adverse, 
 and that while J. E. Davis always held the legal title and absolute 
 power of disposition in himself, it may have been his design to give 
 complainant its use and eventually the property or its proceeds. I
 
 228 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 do not deem it necessary to a disposition of the points I am now 
 approaching to determine that question of fact. 
 
 In 1870 the will of J. E. Davis was admitted to probate, and 
 this complainant and two others qualified and entered upon their 
 duties as executors, whereupon the relations of complainant to the 
 matters involved in this litigation became that of a trustee. 
 
 Complainant joined with his co-executors in inventorying the 
 whole of said bonds as the property of the estate of his testator ; 
 also, in determining what should and what should not be paid, 
 under the will, out of the proceeds of said bonds. He paid to 
 his children and to Mrs. Hamar and Mr. Mitchell the interest on 
 their legacies out of the interest collected from the bonds, as 
 directed in the will. In December, 1870, he joined with his co- 
 executors in the performance of their duty as such, in agreeing 
 and declaring that " funds arising from the sale of ' Hurricane ' 
 and 'Brierfield' plantations, after satisfying the claims of the lega- 
 tees specifically provided for from that source, are available f r 
 payment of debts due the estate and for current expenses in the 
 administration thereof; the balance shall be considered as part of 
 the residuary legacy." Of this they made a record and signed it 
 officially, and upon that theory the administration proceeded. So 
 down to about the time of the commencement of this suit, the ex- 
 ecution of the trust proceeded upon that theory, the trustees in 
 every way treating the sale to the Montgomerys as valid and the 
 bonds as the property of the estate, complainant making no claim 
 against it, nor against the estate on account of such sale for the 
 money received therefrom. 
 
 About the time the estate was administered upon, (which was 
 September 21, 1870,) it was suggested to complainant, by a co- 
 executor, Dr. Bowmar, that the legacies to his children were in 
 compensation for ' Brierfield." When making his will testator 
 had said, in subs'.ance, that the said legacies were intended to rep- 
 resent the value of "Brierfield." Complainant now claims that 
 "Brierfield" was his property, and that the proceeds of the sale, 
 so far as it represents the value of " Brierfield," to wit, $70,000 
 of the bonds, is held by the estate of J. E. Davis, in trust for him, 
 and that he is entitled to the same. 
 
 It is contended by respondents that by accepting and entering 
 upon the trust and administering its benefits the trustee thereby 
 confirms the trust, asserting that the trust property is legitimately 
 and rightfully disposed of. and he stands as its protector and de-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 fender against any claims adverse to the express directions given 
 it by the trust, and is thereby estopped from making such claims 
 himself. 
 
 It is, however, contended by complainant that this rule does not 
 go so far as to exclude a person who is a trustee from making his 
 claims against the trust estate in an individual capacity, but only 
 affects the remedy. To illustrate : A trustee of an estate, who is 
 also a creditor of the same, is not, by reason of his trusteeship, pro- 
 hibited from enforcing his debt, because in this there is nothing 
 inconsistent nor in conflict with the trust. 
 
 In the cases referred to, (as, for instance, an administration 
 of an estate,) one of the very purposes of the trust is 
 the payment of all debts and legitimate claims in the manner 
 prescribed by law; but I conceive the case at bar is different in 
 this, that here, in the creation of the trust, the trust property is 
 given express direction ; and the complainant now seeks, not to 
 recover a debt or ordinary claim against the estate, but he seeks 
 to carve out of the body of the trust certain portions of it, which 
 he claims as his own ; in other words, upon a claim of ownership 
 or right to certain portions of it, he seeks to divert the 
 subject of the trust from what I conceive to have been 
 the clear purport and design of the testator in its crea- 
 tion. Complainant qualif.ed as executor of the will of his 
 his brother, and entered upon the trust with his eyes open, cer- 
 tainly knowing then, as well as at any time since, his exact rights, 
 if any he had ; and yet he proceeded to its execution in pursuance 
 of it, dealing out from the body of the trust, as a whole, benefits 
 to the beneficiaries, including the members of his own family, 
 even receiving to himself pay for his services as such trustee. 
 
 I do not conceive that it is a matter of importance to the de- 
 termination of this point to inquire whether complainant entered 
 upon and proceeded with the trust upon the apparent theory that 
 the Montgomery bond was absolutely and entirely the property of 
 the testator, for the reason that under the circumstances he was in 
 his heart satisfied to let it remain so ; or for the reason that his 
 children were large beneficiaries under the will ; or because, his 
 political disabilities not yet being removed, he might have an- 
 ticipated danger of confiscation if he had the property in his own 
 name ; or for any other prudential reasons. It is not so much a 
 question of motive as of fact. I think that upon this view the 
 complainant is estopped from setting up his claim, so inconsistent
 
 23O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 and damaging to the trust. To conclude otherwise would be to 
 strike down the sacred seals of confidence which under the jealous 
 eye of courts have so long stood guard over the peculiar relations 
 which characterize trusts, and open the portals to the infirmities of 
 human nature. 
 
 Respondents contend for another distinct estoppel against the 
 complainant's claim in this that after he entered upon the trust 
 he made a claim against the estate for about $10,000 for a debt 
 alleged to be owing to him. This claim was disputed, and after- 
 wards an adjustment and compromise was made and reduced to- 
 writing by and between complainant and these respondents, Mrs. 
 Hamer and J. D. Mitchell, the two principal witnesses, and also 
 the residuary legatees under the will, whereby they obligated 
 themselves in a manner and to an extent that upon the evidence 
 it would be unreasonable to suppose they would have done had 
 complainant then claimed to be entitled out of the Montgomery 
 bonds to the purchase price of "Brierfield." It does not appear 
 that at this time complainant had ever evinced any pretense to 
 any right to the proceeds of "Brierfield," though his co-executor, 
 Dr. Bowmar, had long before suggested to him that the legacies to 
 his children were in lieu of it. These respondents do not appear 
 to have had any suspicion of such claim, and if they had enter- 
 tained such suspicion I think complainant's course with regard to 
 the matter was well calculated to quiet and remove it. 
 
 I do not think that, under the established and wholesome rules- 
 governing such matters, complainant can be permitted to contro- 
 vert his acts and course. Not only as trustee under the will, but 
 in adjusting the said individual matter, complainant's acts and 
 course were confirmatory of the disposition made of ' Brierfield" 
 by the testator, all parties in interest acquiescing, and respondents,. 
 Hamer and Mitchell, obligating themselves to complainant's ad- 
 vantage as aforesaid. Again and as bearing upon the question 
 of estoppel already considered it is not out of place to advert to 
 the point, that the principal contested fact in this case is the own- 
 ership of "Brierfield," based not upon paper titles, but upon ad- 
 verse possession. 
 
 The testimony bearing upon this question is such, pro and con, 
 as to command the most thorough and analytical consideration in 
 order to arrive at the real truth of the matter, which condition of 
 the case is such, in my opinion, as to give additional force to the 
 claims of estoppel set up by the defense.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 23! 
 
 I am of the opinion that for the reasons afore presented Mr. 
 Davis is estopped from prosecuting this claim. 
 
 These conclusions seem to render the consideration of other 
 questions unnecessary. Let a decree be entered accordingly. 
 
 E. HILL, Chancellor. 
 
 George W. Paschal was born in the county of Greene, in 
 the State of Georgia, on the 23d of November, 1812, but was 
 reared in Oglethorpe. The standing of his family was one 
 of great respectability, and both his father and mother were 
 noted for their intelligence and moral worth. The former 
 having failed in business, the opportunities of mental culture 
 accessible to the subject of this notice were very restricted. 
 By singular application and energy, young Paschal was able 
 to make greater educational progress than could have been 
 reasonably expected, prepared himself very creditably for 
 commencing the study of law, and, in 1832, received a license 
 to practice, subscribed by the celebrated William H. Craw- 
 ford. He located immediately thereafter in the county of 
 Lumpkin, and there continued for four years, enjoying as 
 much success as is ordinarily achieved by young attorneys in 
 the outset of their career. Meanwhile he continued his legal 
 studies, mingling therewith considerable attention to works 
 of general science and literature, and occasionally contributed 
 articles for the newspapers which attracted at the time a good 
 deal of attention. He removed to Arkansas in the year 1 837, 
 and established his residence in the little town of Van Buren, 
 in Benton county, where he recommenced his professional 
 career. The first case of interest in which he appeared was 
 one in which the alleged culprit was accused of having forged 
 a free pass for a negro, which pass was to enable him to 
 obtain relief from service by flying to the State of Illinois. 
 The negro having been arrested on the way, confessed that 
 he had stolen five hundred dollars of his master's money, and 
 paid the same to a neighboring white citizen, as his recom- 
 pense for the preparation of this manumitting document. 
 Though there was little other evidence of the guilt of the 
 accused besides the confession of the slave, whose testimony 
 was legally incompetent, yet so strong was the prejudice
 
 232 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 awakened by the affair, that the grand jury of the county did 
 not hesitate to find a true bill against the white man alluded 
 to, and a civil suit was in addition instituted for the recovery 
 of the five hundred dollars. 
 
 In the trial of these cases, several attorneys appeared, all 
 of whom have since gained more or less prominence. These 
 were David Walker, Seaborn G. Sneed, and Williamson S. 
 Oldham, on the part of the prosecution, and Samuel D. 
 Evans, Royal T. Wheeler, and George W. Paschal, on the 
 part of the defence. A verdict of acquittal was obtained for 
 the accused, in the criminal prosecution, and the civil action 
 resulted in the defeat of the plaintiff. Paschal, Oldham, 
 Walker and Wheeler, were all of them afterwards elected to 
 the bench of the Supreme Court of Arkansas, and three of 
 these occupied the office of Chief Justice thereof. Sneed 
 became a distinguished district judge, and afterwards served 
 as a Representative in Congress. 
 
 Immediately after these trials, Paschal found himself in 
 possession of an extensive practice as a lawyer. Professional 
 success was far from inducing him to relax in his pursuit of 
 knowledge, but, on the contrary, he is known to have become 
 more and more devoted to books as he advanced in years, 
 and to have at all times avoided the use of strong drink, that 
 direst enemy and assured extinguisher of forensic fame and 
 mental power. 
 
 Judge Paschal did not continue as long upon the bench as 
 his numerous advising friends most earnestly desired, but 
 voluntarily retired therefrom, and resumed the practice of 
 his profession just in time to take charge, at a critical moment, 
 of what had been long known as the " Cherokee Case." He 
 wrote much and ably on this much controverted subject, and 
 greatly extended his reputation thereby, and especially among 
 the friends of the long-suffering Indians. His labors in their 
 behalf were crowned with the most distinguished success, 
 and resulted in the treaty of 1846, well known as the Treaty 
 of Amnesty, by means of which more than two millions of 
 dollars were restored to those from whom the same had been 
 for so many years unjustly and cruelly withheld.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 233 
 
 Being invited to Texas, in order to attend to some matters 
 of great importance to certain of his clients, in the year 1848 
 Judge Paschal located in the City of Galveston, from which 
 place he aftenvards deemed it expedient to remove to Aus- 
 tin, the capital of the state. It is doubtless a fortunate 
 circumstance in his forensic history that he entered at this 
 period upon a field of professional exertion so different in 
 many respects from that which he had previously occupied ; 
 for in Texas he found it necessary to become profoundly 
 acquainted with the principles of the civil law, and with the 
 laws of Spain, as modified in the Mexican states of Coahuila 
 and Texas. Notwithstanding his severe professional labors, 
 at this period of his career, he became also extensively known 
 as a political writer, and did much to preserve Texas from the 
 criminal absurdities of Know-Xothingism and pro-slavery 
 fanaticism fiercely demanding the reopening of the African 
 .slave trade. 
 
 When the dangers of disunion in 1860 were menacing the 
 peace and happiness of the republic, no one was more zealous 
 and active than Judge Paschal in warning his countrymen of 
 the South against all the evil consequences which they have 
 since been fated to experience. When he found his patriotic 
 warnings disregarded, and his sage and salutary counsels 
 rejected, he quietly retired from the arena of profitless con- 
 tention, and has, for some years past, whilst diligently attend- 
 ing to his business as an attorney, been engaged also in the 
 writing of books, several of which have already attracted 
 much public attention, and greatly added to his fame as a 
 jurist. Among these may be mentioned his Annotated Digest 
 of the Laws of Texas, and his Annotated Constitution of the 
 United States, two works of surpassing usefulness to the 
 present and to future generations. 
 
 With Armstead Bunvell, formerly a distinguished member 
 of the bar of Mississippi, I have had the honor of enjoying an 
 intimate personal acquaintance for many years past. Virginia 
 gave him birth, and here he received a thorough collegiate 
 education. He became a citizen of Mississippi about thirty- 
 .six years since, and, in a few years, obtained a large and
 
 234 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 lucrative practice. Though one of the most zealous and 
 unswerving supporters of the Federal Union that the South 
 contained at the eventful period of 1861, yet has he suffered, 
 in various ways, more severely by the late distressful war 
 than any person whom I can name. He is now, when long 
 past the meridian of life, struggling with manly and per- 
 severing energy to retrieve his lost fortunes. 
 
 Mr. Burwell possesses a sound and discriminating mind, 
 much and varied learning, a generous and patriotic heart, and 
 a fondness for professional labor which should command in 
 his behalf the respect and sympathy of all who can appre- 
 ciate intellectual and moral worth, and feel sorrow over the 
 undeserved sufferings of the unoffending and the upright. 
 
 I shall now give some account of one of the most re- 
 markable men, in many respects, that this age has pro- 
 duced. I saw William L. Yancey, for the first time, in the 
 summer of 1848. He had an interview with Mr. Calhoun, in 
 the hall of the National Senate, when he was on his way to 
 Baltimore, where the National Convention of the Democratic 
 party was about assembling. Of what occurred at this in- 
 terview, I received authentic and satisfactory information at. 
 that time. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Yancey, as well as many 
 other pro-slavery men in the South, were not content with 
 the protection understood to be given by the Federal Consti- 
 tution to slavery in the states where it then existed, but 
 desired to obtain for this institution additional organic guar- 
 antees. This they hoped to secure through the instrumen- 
 tality of the Democratic party, and, with a view to this end, 
 resolved to get, if they could, a new plank in the accus- 
 tomed political platform of that party, committing its mem- 
 bers to the adoption of a distinct intervention policy, and 
 allowing slavery to be introduced into all the vacant territory 
 of the Union. Mr. Yancey is well known to have proceeded 
 to Baltimore on the occasion referred to, and to have made 
 an effort to have such a resolution as has been described 
 adopted by that body. Failing in this, he withdrew from the 
 convention in disgust, returned to his own home in Alabama, 
 and, for some years thereafter, confined himself exclusively
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 235. 
 
 to the practice of his profession, in which he had already 
 become not a little distinguished. His devotion to the study 
 of law-books was such as is not often seen. Meanwhile, he 
 read scientific and literary works of acknowledged merit, and 
 labored with a most unremitting zeal to perfect himself in 
 the art of oratory. In a few years his fame as a jurist and as 
 a forensic advocate was widely diffused, and he attained such 
 a degree of intellectual culture as placed him far beyond the 
 reach of all local rivalry. There was in Mr. Yancey's per- 
 son, at least in his latter days, but little to impress the casual 
 beholder, or to enkindle the sympathies of those who had 
 no special commune with him. In stature he was rather be- 
 neath than above the height of ordinary men. His face was 
 well shaped, but neither strikingly handsome nor the reverse. 
 His vestments were quite remarkable for their plainness 
 and simplicity, and did not alv/ays fit him as well as they 
 might have done. His aspect was in general somewhat lack- 
 ing in animation, and not seldom betrayed tokens of nervous 
 exhaustion. His manners were decidedly reserved, with a 
 perceptible approximation to moroseness. He made no 
 attempt to shine in ordinary converse. It is known that he 
 had studied men closely, and had looked deeply into the 
 motives and purposes of those with whom he had held inter- 
 course, or whose movements in public life had specially 
 attracted his attention. In general he was able to keep the 
 tempestuous feelings of his soul in a state of stoical suppres- 
 sion ; but occasions sometimes arose when, either having lost 
 his accustomed power of self-control, or deeming it expedient 
 to make some display of the stormier energies with which he 
 was endowed, he unloosed all the furies under his command 
 upon some noted antagonist, and did and said things which, 
 those who witnessed his sublime ravings never again forgot 
 To William L Yancey, more than to any man besides whom, 
 I have known, I should feel justified in applying the graphic 
 language of a modern poet, and say :
 
 236 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 " Unlike the heroes of each ancient race, 
 Demons in act, but gods at least in face, 
 In Conrad's form seems little to admire, 
 Though his black eye-brow shades a glance of fire. 
 Robust, but not Herculean to the sight, 
 No giant frame set forth his common height, 
 Yet, on the whole, who paused to look again 
 Saw more than marks the herd of vulgar men ; 
 They gaze and marvel how and still confess 
 
 That thus it is, but why they cannot guess. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Though smooth his voice, and calm his general mien, 
 
 Still seems there something he would not have seen ; 
 
 His features' deepening lines and varying hue, 
 
 At times attracted but perplexed the view, 
 
 As if within that murkiness of mind 
 
 Worked feelings fearful and yet undefined. 
 
 Such might it be ; that none could truly tell ; 
 
 Too close inquiry his stern glance would quell. 
 
 There breathe but few whose aspect might defy 
 
 The full encounter of his searching eye. 
 
 He had the skill when cunning's gaze would seek 
 
 To prove his heart and watch his changing cheek, 
 
 At once the observer's purpose to espy, 
 
 And on himself turn back his scrutiny, 
 
 Lest he to Conrad rather should betray 
 
 Some secret thought, than drag that chief's to day." 
 
 I never had the least personal acquaintance with William 
 L. Yancey until his arrival in Richmond as a Confederate 
 Senator from Alabama. The civil war which he had been so 
 prominently concerned in bringing on \vas then raging, and 
 almost every day we were hearing of new battles and of a 
 most lamentable waste of precious American blood on either 
 side. Mr. Yancey had then just returned from Europe, 
 whither he had gone with a hope of so far propitiating for- 
 eign powers as to secure at their hands a formal recognition 
 of the newly organized Confederacy which he represented.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 237 
 
 In this quest he had been painfully disappointed, and he had 
 been reported in the newspapers of the time as having ex- 
 pressed himself in rather discouraging terms, on several 
 public occasions, touching the probable result of the war. 
 At the moment of Mr. Yancey's reaching Richmond, a 
 number of occurrences had taken place well calculated to 
 deepen his chagrin and fill his mind with hopelessness and 
 gloom. Tokens of gross maladministration in Confederate 
 affairs were almost everywhere manifest, and the unparalleled 
 obstinacy of those in power seemed to render all ameliora- 
 tion impossible. Under these circumstances I had the honor 
 of being summoned to a festal entertainment in one of the 
 hotels of Richmond, where Mr. Yancey was also an invited 
 guest. I sat opposite to him at table, but we were not intro- 
 duced. In truth such a proceeding would have been much 
 out of place, since each of us had denounced the other in 
 heated political speeches delivered in 1860. Mr. Yancey was 
 evidently in bad spirits, and said not a word in furtherance 
 of the hilarity in which he had been called to participate. 
 Several months passed after this, before our common friends 
 brought Mr. Yancey and myself together, and we became 
 reconciled. After this, our relations became so kind that 
 when his decease was formally announced in the Confederate 
 House of Representatives of which I was a member, I was 
 requested to speak in commendation of him ; which I cer- 
 tainly took great pleasure in doing. 
 
 I do not wish to be understood as claiming to have been 
 at any time on terms of close intimacy with this very re- 
 markable person, but I heard him speak repeatedly in the 
 Confederate Senate, and listened to his celebrated speech to 
 a vast concourse in the summer of 1860, on Capitol Hill in 
 Nashville, and have thus been able to form a very decided 
 opinion as to his powers as a speaker. 
 
 In my judgment, the South has contained within her limits 
 no such eloquent and effective political speaker as William L. 
 Yancey, since the death of George A. McDuffie. When 
 rising to discuss a question of special dignity and import- 
 ance, his aspect and manner were marked with mingled ear-
 
 238 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 nestness and solemnity. His exordium was always uttered 
 with an imposing slowness and formality. He enunciated 
 every word and syllable distinctly. His voice was clear, strong, 
 and sonorous. He commonly spoke in the conversational 
 tone, a little elevated. His gestures were few, but these were 
 .most apt and impressive. He never addressed either a de- 
 liberative body or a popular audience without having previ- 
 ously mastered the subject upon which he was expected to 
 -dilate, in all its parts. His acute and well-balanced intellect, 
 supplied as it was with vast stores of information of almost 
 every kind, generally enabled him to anticipate and respond 
 effectually to whatever might be said by his adversaries in 
 debate. His powers of sarcasm were tremendous, and he 
 sometimes indulged in a bitter and sneerful ridicule which it 
 was very difficult to tolerate patiently. The greatest of his 
 speeches in Richmond was that which he delivered upon 
 what was known as the judiciary question, in which he took 
 strong ground against conferring appellate jurisdiction upon 
 the Confederate Supreme Court in cases originating in the 
 state courts. I had the satisfaction of hearing the whole of 
 his elaborate argument on this occasion, and can sincerely 
 declare that it seemed to me to be very nearly equal in 
 vigor, brilliancy, and classic ornament, to some of the best 
 speeches of Webster or Pinckney. Arthur F. Hopkins sat 
 by my side on this interesting occasion, and exclaimed to me 
 more than once that he was now thoroughly convinced that 
 Mr. Yancey was by far the ablest of living speakers. 
 
 I have already said that Mr. Yancey had much hand in the 
 origination of the late civil war, and such was certainly the 
 case ; but in regard to his conduct in this respect, I have 
 long since ceased to censure him with bitterness. Trained 
 in the days of his opening manhood, in the extreme state 
 rights school of the South, he very naturally adopted cer- 
 tain plausible dogmas, to the support of which he afterwards 
 devoted the best energies of his splendid and gigantic in- 
 tellect. He really believed, that under our system of gov- 
 ernment, the states are absolutely sovereign, bound to- 
 gether only by a league which they may at any moment dis-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 239 
 
 solve, and that the Federal Government owing its origin to 
 states, as such, is a mere agency established by them, for 
 purposes of convenience, and has no powers whatever" save 
 those which have been formally and specifically conceded 
 to it. He devoutly believed, with Mr. Calhoun, that African 
 slavery was a vital and indispensable ingredient of the sys- 
 tem of polity established by our fathers ; that, without it, no 
 freedom, worthy of the name, could be enjoyed by the 
 white race of this continent, and that the more widely diffused 
 it might become, the more prosperous and happy would be 
 the whole Republic. 
 
 Entertaining these views, it is not at all wonderful that Mr. 
 Yancey should have sought to engraft upon the Democratic 
 political platform of 1848 a resolution affirmatively protective 
 of slavery in the territories. It is as little surprising that he 
 and those agreeing with him in sentiment should advocate 
 disunion in 1851, because of the admission of California as a 
 free state ; that they should have made an attempt in 1861 to 
 persuade the Democratic party to take what he called an 
 " aggressive attitude" in behalf of slavery; that, failing- in 
 this, he and they should have attempted to disintegrate that 
 party ; and that when, by these proceedings, the election of 
 a Republican President was brought about, secession was at 
 once resolved on as the only means left, in their opinion, of 
 saving African slavery from ultimate extermination. 
 
 I repeat that, far as I am, and have ever been, from coin- 
 ciding with Mr. Yancey and his state-rights adherents as to 
 these matters, I am not at all inclined, at this moment, to 
 heap opprobrium upon his memory. His sincerity in utter- 
 ance of his opinions, I do not at all question, and it is due to 
 him to say that his conduct as a legislator in Richmond, dur- 
 ing the trying years of the War of the Rebellion, was in the 
 highest degree marked with consistency, firmness, and manly 
 independence. Whatever else may be justly said by the ene- 
 mies of William L. Yancey, these truths may be safely 
 asserted of him : he never sought to make money by the 
 war; he ever opposed the suspension of habeas corpus a 
 measure so baneful to individual freedom ; he never gave his
 
 24O BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 assent to the displacement of able and gallant military com- 
 manders, in order to make way for the incompetent favorites 
 of a prejudiced and self-willed executive chief ; he never pro- 
 posed to murder in cold blood all the prisoners taken in war; 
 he never introduced a bill providing for the permanent estab- 
 lishment of m-.ir:ial law ; he never united in a scheme for the 
 coercing of one of the states deemed by him sovereign, and 
 constraining it to remain in a confederacy after it had become 
 heartily disgusted with it, and wished to return to the Federal 
 Union ; he never voted for a bill providing for the payment 
 of the salary of the Confederate President in gold, whilst the 
 Confederate soldiers, in rags and barefoot, were refused the 
 wretched pittance of depreciated paper which they had been 
 allowed by law ; he had no hand in the unpardonable burning 
 of Richmond, and, had he survived so long as the month of 
 December, 1864 seeing the ruin then impending over the 
 Confederate cause he would, I feel perfectly assured, have 
 urged, with all the eloquence at his command, the making of 
 peace with the Federal Government, on the honorable and 
 advantageous terms at that time offered by Mr. Lincoln, as 
 all intelligent men now know. 
 
 Future generations will undoubtedly recognize William L. 
 Yancey as one of the ablest, most far-seeing, and most states- 
 manlike personages that took part in the Confederate strug- 
 gle, as he was undeniably one of the most profound jurists 
 and most eloquent advocates that have ever adorned the bar 
 of the South and Southwest. 
 
 I shall venture to add further that, were William L. Yancey 
 yet living, he would rejoice as much as any other man that 
 can be mentioned, over the cessation of unbrotherly and prof- 
 itless hostilities, the prevalence of peace, concord and amity 
 once more within our borders, and the splendid prospect 
 opening before us at this blessed Centennial period, of the 
 future glory, power and felicity of this noble republic, one 
 and indivisible'. 
 
 I have heretofore failed altogether to make mention of a 
 gentleman long known both in Tennessee and Mississippi as 
 a member of the bar, and in the former of these states as a
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 24! 
 
 circuit judge for some years and representative in Congress 
 of some prominence. In order to do full justice to the rare 
 traits of character of James C. Mitchell, the individual just 
 alluded to, I find that it will be necessary to offer a remark 
 or two upon what is called egotism, or egoism as Mr. Jeffer- 
 son has chosen, for some reason not very apparent, to entitle 
 it. Gibbon commences his famous autobiography with a 
 confession that few persons have been able to speak grace- 
 fully of themselves ; and all the world seems to be united in 
 regarding a habitual and extravagant self-laudation as de- 
 cidedly in bad taste and not a little disgusting. Yet as the 
 history of man, so far as the same is of any value, must, to a 
 large extent, consist of individual experiences, and as we are 
 so constituted as to be specially inclined to feel an interest 
 in the narratives of persons of any note, embracing scenes 
 through which they have passed, dangers to which they 
 have been exposed or difficulties which they have had to 
 overcome, or which they have been, perchance, so unhappy 
 as to find insurmountable nothing can be well imagined 
 more absurd than to place the cold hand of prohibition upon 
 revelations made by our associates of what they have 
 chanced personally to see and hear of the world's concerns, 
 or of the perilous struggles in which they may have been 
 compelled to participate, amidst the everchanging circum- 
 stances of a short and eventful existence. Those who have 
 pursued the graphic and impartial commentaries of Julius 
 Caesar, the autobiographies of such personages as our own 
 Franklin, Jefferson and John Adams, the deeply entertain- 
 ing diaries of Evelyn and John Quincy Adams, or the charm- 
 ing memoirs of Sully, or have reflected that the poems of 
 Lord Byron owe a very large proportion of their unequalled 
 attractiveness to the fact that in these wondrous effusions 
 this bold and eccentric genius has manifestly attempted, like 
 Rousseau in his Confessions, to give to mankind some ac- 
 count of his own inner man, as well of his outward manifes- 
 tations and varied troubles and perplexities will hardly be 
 inclined to pass a sweeping condemnation upon all that the 
 dull and uninspired writings of this generation have united 
 in deriding as egotistical.
 
 242 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 But to return to our theme : James C. Mitchell was born 
 in the State of Virginia, and, as he was fond of mentioning, 
 in the mountainous portion of that ancient commonwealth, 
 in the neighborhood of the celebrated Peaks of Otter, to the 
 mystical influence of which, in some way never fully ex- 
 plained by him, he attributed his majestic and erect figure 
 and his lofty and aspiring temper and intellect. He was a 
 good deal above six feet in height, had a massive and mus- 
 cular frame, and a voice which, when fully exerted, was au- 
 dible to a great distance round him. His physiognomy was 
 strongly marked and his bodily strength and activity were 
 such as few, if any, of his associates could justly boast. He 
 was thought, by many, to resemble the famous Sam Hous- 
 ton in person, and such, indeed, was Judge Mitchell's own 
 opinion ; but he ever maintained that his eyes were both 
 larger and more lustrous than those of the San Jacinto hero. 
 I have heard the Judge say, more than once, that when in 
 Congress, Houston and himself were much disposed to dress 
 in habiliments of the same cut and color, and that, on one 
 occasion in particular, they arrayed themselves in a full suit 
 made of cloth, bottle-green in color, and strode down Penn- 
 sylvania avenue together, arm in arm, compelling all feeble 
 pedestrians to move to the right or left of their line of ad- 
 vance. Then it was, as he said, that they obtained the sou- 
 briquet of "the couple," which significant appellation was 
 afterwards customarily applied to them so long as they staid 
 in Washington. Houston himself used pleasantly to com- 
 plain, as I have myself heard him do more than once, that 
 his friend Mitchell was a little too much inclined, when in 
 Congress, to claim superiority over his official colleagues, of 
 which I remember that he cited this special example, by way 
 of illustration. The Tennessee members of Congress agreed 
 one morning to call together upon some newly-arrived for- 
 eign minister. When they reached the door of the minis- 
 ter's residence Judge Mitchell advanced, and having rung the 
 door-bell with some vehemence, when the janitor of the 
 mansion made his appearance he handed him a card in- 
 scribed as follows : " General James C. Mitchell and the rest 
 of the Tennessee delegation."
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 243 
 
 Whilst Judge Mitchell was in Congress, the tariff question 
 was attracting much attention. It so happened, according to 
 his own account of the matter, that he was very ill at this time 
 and confined to his room for several weeks. When he emerged 
 from his sick chamber, he found that the pending tariff 
 bill was about being put upon its passage. It was a sub- 
 ject which he had very laboriously examined, and which he 
 flattered himself he had very thoroughly mastered. Though 
 still feeble, he determined to be heard, took the floor accord- 
 ingly, and delivered a speech a good deal commended at the 
 time in party circles. When he took his seat (as I have sev- 
 eral times heard him state), he had occasion to pass the seat 
 occupied by the celebrated John Randolph of Roanoke, 
 who on seeing him approach, rose up and saluted him cor- 
 dially, and thus addressed him : " General Mitchell, I thank 
 you, in the name of Virginia, for your eloquent and noble 
 speech. I have heard none such before since I came into 
 Congress. Allow me to say further, that I regard you as one 
 of our most precious jewels ; yes, sir, one of our most precious 
 jewels" 
 
 On returning from Congress, he was elected to the bench 
 of the Circuit Court of Tennessee. In this new field of 
 labor, he is admitted to have been zealous, active, and pains- 
 taking. From my knowledge of him in his afterlife, I should 
 conjecture that he did not exhibit as a judge any unusual 
 degree of learning, though I have reason to believe that his 
 conduct as a judicial officer was upon the whole quite satis- 
 factory. He is reported to have been especially careful in 
 preserving the dignity of the court. Of his excellence jn 
 this respect, the following characteristic anecdote is related. 
 He was one day presiding in the trial of a civil case of much 
 importance, when he was subjected to annoyance which 
 greatly discomposed his feelings; a genteel-looking, well- 
 dressed young man walked through the court room, once or 
 twice, wearing boots whose creaking resounded through the 
 hall of justice in a manner which could not but attract gen- 
 eral attention. " Mr. Sheriff," exclaimed the judge, " bring 
 that young man with creaking boots immediately before the
 
 244 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 court." This having been done, and the young man coming 
 forward with striking signs of perturbation, the judge thus 
 addressed him : " Pray, how much did your boots cost you ?" 
 "Ten dollars," was the answer. "Well," said the judge > 
 " you will never be able to reply thus again ; the boots shall 
 cost you twenty dollars. Enter up a fine of ten dollars," 
 said the irritated judge to the clerk of the court, "against 
 this young man for striding through this court room in creak- 
 ing boots ;" which was done accordingly. 
 
 No man could be more desirous of diffusing through the 
 country a knowledge at least of the elementary principles of 
 law than Judge Mitchell ; in proof of which, I take pleasure in 
 stating that he fcad formally taken upon himself the import- 
 ant duty (which my Lord Coke so solemnly insists that every 
 attorney owes to his own profession) of contributing as far as 
 he can in his day and generation to its honor and usefulness, 
 and he had, with this view, actually written a law book of 
 reasonable dimensions, called " Mitchell's Justice." In the 
 same commendable spirit he had even gone much further, 
 and caused to be carried round the circuit with him, when 
 holding his successive courts, a number of these precious 
 products of his intellect, to be disposed of to such as might 
 stand in particular need of such information as this wondrous 
 volume contained. It is said that the judge was kind enough 
 on the first day of each of these courts, to make known 
 from the bench that all who wished to purchase " Mitchell's 
 Justice," would be able to do so by calling at the hotel where 
 for the time being he was sojourning. 
 
 .When Judge Mitchell removed to Mississippi, about forty 
 years ago, he was beginning to show the effects of growing 
 age upon his sturdy and gigantic frame ; but he was still full 
 of life, and became soon very widely known as a man of 
 prodigious colloquial powers, and remarkably fitted for the 
 ordinary discussions of the forum ; for no man could talk 
 more glibly than he could upon miscellaneous matters, 
 declaim with more fervor, assume legal positions with more 
 dogmatic impressiveness or pour forth a more copious flood 
 of epithets, without any very fastidious regard for deli-
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 24$ 
 
 cacy or refinement. He was also at this time a preacher of 
 the Gospel, and sometimes in the pulpit was known to thun- 
 der forth discourses abounding in the boldest figures of 
 speech, the most glowing pictures of fancy, and racy per- 
 sonal anecdotes of almost every conceivable kind at all cal- 
 culated either to illustrate the topics which he discussed, or 
 to " split the ears of those groundlings," to whom Shakes- 
 peare so significantly alludes in the dialogue between Ham- 
 let and the Players. 
 
 Numberless were the stories told by Judge Mitchell of 
 which he was himself the hero, and often have I known the 
 lawyers who frequented the Hinds Circuit Court to convene 
 specially in some spacious tavern apartment at night, for the 
 purpose of hearing him narrate occurrences that he had wit- 
 nessed, or describe achievements which he had performed ; 
 most of which it must be confessed, were but little in unison 
 with the ordinary experience of mankind. For hours would 
 this kind-hearted and accommodating man contribute to our 
 entertainment without becoming himself at all exhausted, 
 and without that imagination of his, which he so often forced 
 to perform the accustomed offices of memory, ever seeming 
 to flag for a single instant of time. 
 
 I will give here one specimen, out of many, of these mar- 
 vellous givings-forth, none of which, by the way, were ever 
 in the least degree tinctured with malevolence or deliber- 
 ately-intended injustice. " Some years ago," said the Judge, 
 
 "it chanced that the citizens of the town of , 
 
 in Tennessee, wherein I was myself a resident, assembled in 
 public meeting to make arrangements for the reception of an 
 honored neighbor of ours who was about returning from a 
 mission abroad, where he had well sustained the dignity of 
 the government and supported his own high reputation for 
 intellect and attainments. It was determined that he should 
 be met at the confines of the town, and be suitably addressed 
 by some qualified speaker. It being recollected that I had 
 been, in my life, much accustomed to such scenes, and that 
 my long residence at Washington had given me familiar ac- 
 quaintance with all the established rules of etiquette, I was
 
 246 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 chosen to deliver the address of welcome, which I did, in a 
 manner much commended by the newspapers of that time. 
 It had been further agreed that a grand ball should be given 
 in honor of oiir respected ex-minister and his accomplished 
 family, and I was formally requested to accompany the beau- 
 tiful and charming daughter of our returned friend to that 
 same hall, and to be her partner in the first dance : to which 
 arrangement I could not but accede, not being able to deny 
 that I was quite as well versed in the mysteries of the danc- 
 ing art as in the business of public speaking. Well, the first 
 dance happened to be a contra-dance. There were at least 
 fifty couples upon the floor. My partner and myself had, of 
 course, taken our stations at the head, where, for a minute 
 or two, we were the ' observed of all observers.' And well 
 we might be, for a better-looking and more splendidly- 
 dressed couple had, I am sure, never before been seen on 
 terra firma since the days of our first parents in Paradise. 
 The music struck up and I whisked my graceful partner 
 through the mazes of the dance with a vivacity and elegance 
 which I am quite sure has never been surpassed whispering 
 in her ears as we moved along such words of soft and win- 
 ning complaisance as men of genuine gallantry have ever at 
 their command, and which ladies of taste and sensibility 
 never fail to appreciate. When we reached the foot of the 
 set the captivated fair exclaimed, in tones of thrilling pathos : 
 'Oh! Judge Mitchell, how I wish that you were not a mar- 
 ried man ! ' To this I promptly responded : ' Most adorable 
 lady, I assure you that at least one thousand of your sex 
 have expressed the same wish.' On uttering these last 
 words, seeing a vacant space to my right, I leaped from the 
 side of my partner, full ten feet, turned a graceful and im- 
 pressive somersault, and, lighting firmly upon my feet, I 
 faced the astonished lady, and, waving my hand in token of 
 respect, I said : ' Miss, pray tell me what you think of that?' 
 To which inquiry she responded : ' That is positively the 
 most wonderful exploit I ever witnessed, and I feel that it is 
 my duty to apply to you the words of Lord Byron when de- 
 scribing George the Fourth :
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 247 
 
 'Without the least alloy of fop or beau, 
 A perfect gentleman from top to toe.' " 
 After the recital of many scenes of a kindred nature, I re- 
 member that one of the company asked the Judge what he 
 thought of the newly-nominated candidate of the Whig party, 
 General William Henry Harrison. This was early in the 
 summer of 1840. The Judge answered at once that he did 
 not at all approve of General Harrison's nomination ; that he 
 had served with him in Congress for several years, and had 
 found him to be a man of very subordinate abilities. He 
 stated other objections, not needful to be here mentioned, 
 several of which were even of a more serious character; but 
 it may be mentioned as an evidence of his remarkable ver- 
 satility of temper and his disposition to make a generous 
 allowance for the inevitable deficiencies of human kind, that 
 in less than four weeks from this merry nocturnal assemblage, 
 the good Judge was on horseback, moving through the state 
 in every direction and thundering forth the praises of "Tippe- 
 canoe and Tyler too," in front of huge log cabins, in sight of 
 rustic cider-barrels and coon-skins, and gaining a wide-spread 
 notoriety and eclat well calculated to awaken the envy of less 
 skilful and eloquent political stumpers. It is reported that 
 on one of these occasions Judge Mitchell displayed more 
 than his usual powers as a bold and subtle party advocate. 
 Some Democrat of the piney woods of the state, the field of 
 labor wherein the Judge was now operating, desperately irri- 
 tated at the hopeless prospects of his faction, undertook to 
 revile the Whig presidential candidate in a very sweeping 
 and reckless manner, and even accused him, in the hearing 
 of many, of being both an idiot and a coward, charging 
 special mal-conduct at the battle of Tippecanoe, where he 
 professed to have been present in person. The Judge having 
 been informed of these things before he commenced his 
 speech, and having been given the name of the offender, who 
 was then present, after a few preliminary remarks in com- 
 mendation of General Harrison as a military chieftain, re- 
 ferred to the slanders then in circulation, and bawled out the 
 name of the man who had placed himself in the attitude of
 
 248 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 an accuser. Upon his responding, the following dialogue en- 
 sued : 
 
 Judge Mitchell." Did you say that you were at the battle 
 of Tippecanoe, and that you saw General Harrison display 
 evidences of cowardice ?" 
 
 Accuser." I did." 
 
 Judge M. " Did you see me there, sir?" (Staring at him 
 most ferociously.) 
 
 Accuser. " I do not remember seeing you." 
 
 Judge M. " Yet, sir, I was there, and was by General Har- 
 rison's side throughout that scene ; and if you had really been 
 present, you could not have failed to see me." Then, turning 
 to the crowd, he exclaimed : " See, fellow citizens, how easily 
 this liar has been refuted. So perish all the calumniators of 
 the immortal hero of Tippecanoe ! " Thus closed this curious 
 scene. 
 
 Only a year or two previous to Judge Mitchell's death, he 
 was a candidate in the county of Hinds, for a seat in the 
 state legislature. At a large popular meeting near the little 
 village of Spring Hill, Colonel Dupree, an opposing candi- 
 date; said or did something which called forth in full display 
 the Judge's acknowledged powers of ridicule. Dupree, 
 growing impatient under his merciless assailment, exclaimed : 
 "Judge Mitchell, so soon as you descend from that stand, I 
 shall whip you." " Very possibly you may," coolly responded 
 the Judge ; " but (continuing to address him) I will make known 
 to you that your doing so is not at all likely to give you suc- 
 cess in the pending canvass, or prove your ability to make 
 laws ; for I recollect that when I lived in East Tennessee, my 
 father had a /;//// that could whip any other bull in the neigh- 
 borhood ; but I never heard it said that he could legislate" 
 
 For the benefit of political speakers generally, I should 
 not omit to mention that Judge Mitchell professed to have 
 made an important discovery in the mysteries of the art, 
 alleging that, in order to make a perfectly safe and effective 
 electioneering harangue, it was needful that the speaker 
 should carefully avoid ever making a single distinct point. 
 "A speech of this kind," he was in the habit of saying,
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 249 
 
 " should be blown np like a bladder, leaving no handle to be 
 seized by the adversary." It is a somewhat curious coinci- 
 dence, that the great Addison should, in one of his most 
 exquisitely humorous numbers, have inculcated something like 
 the same idea, when he ironically felicitates an opponent upon 
 having written an article not capable of being responded to 
 by reason of its consummate nonsense ; insisting, as he very 
 gravely does, that nonsense, or no-sense which is just the 
 same thing is the most potential of all the elements of con- 
 troversial discussion since it neither asserts a fact, nor states 
 a proposition, by the negation of which refutation might be- 
 come possible. 
 
 Just as I was writing this sketch, a brother attorney to 
 whom Judge Mitchell was well known reminded me of his 
 claim to have much stronger powers of vision than ordinary 
 men ; in proof of which the Judge was accustomed to cite 
 two sufficiently remarkable proofs, which were as follows : 
 One day, standing in the City of Murfreesboro, he called the 
 attention of a number of gentlemen to the movements of a 
 wild turkey, which he professed plainly to see in Hoover's 
 Gap, distant about five miles ; which, of course, no one else 
 was able to discern. On another occasion, when standing on 
 the bank of the Mississippi river, he saw, as he reported, a 
 steamboat coming towards him, and read the words, "Red 
 Rover" painted upon her sides, when distant fully six miles ! 
 
 It has been now nearly forty years since the Hon. J. L. 
 Alcorn located in the State of Mississippi. He became a 
 resident of one of the newly laid-off counties of the state 
 (Coahoma), and practiced his profession in several adjoining 
 counties, making Friar's Point his place of residence. There 
 was then but little law business in this section of the state, 
 but, in a few years, as the country became settled and sub- 
 jected to the culture of cotton, much litigation of every kind 
 sprang up, and General Alcorn's natural vigor of intellect, 
 remarkable industry, and thorough knowledge of law, secured 
 to him a business both extensive and profitable. He is a 
 man of uncommon enterprise, and his familiar acquaintance 
 with the rich and productive region in which he is located,
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 united with his unsurpassed aptitude for speculative opera- 
 tions, very soon opened the way to him for the acquisition of 
 large bodies of valuable lands and ultimate affluence. He is 
 one of the most extensive cotton planters that the South has 
 known, and is said to raise upon his various plantations as 
 much as from twelve to fifteen hundred bales of cotton per 
 annum. His active and successful career as a politician has 
 brought him very prominently before the public view, and 
 his genial temper and fascinating manners have surrounded 
 him with numerous admiring friends.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 David C. Glenn. Chancellor Chalmers. William H Haskell. Spencer Jarna- 
 gia. Milton Brown. David C. Humphreys. Edwin Ewing. William F. Cooper. 
 
 The reader of these pages has been already advised that in 
 what I have been writing for his entertainment, I have not 
 judged it necessary to pay a strict regard to chronological 
 order; not aiming at anything like historic method in the no- 
 tices I was taking of facts and persons, for the presentation of 
 which I should have to be indebted to such reminiscences as 
 might chance to arise in my mind, whilst recurring casually, 
 from time to time, to those varied fields of observation with 
 which I have been to some extent familiar for more than a 
 half century past. Continuing to pursue this desultory course 
 of delineation, I shall now bring forward a gentleman to whom 
 some allusion has been already made, and who was at one time 
 a busy and influential actor amid scenes not likely to be soon 
 forgotten by those who prominently participated therein. 
 David C. Glenn was by birth a Virginian, and cherished a 
 strong regard for ancestral honors and the historic glories of 
 the past, such as the sons and daughters of the venerated 
 " Ancient Dominion " have been wont to display " from time 
 whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." 
 He was unfortunate enough to lose his father by death, when 
 yet an infant, and had to be indebted to the kind offices of an 
 amiable and accomplished uncle for the education and moral 
 training bestowed on him. That uncle was the late Chancel- 
 lor Chalmers, who was himself a well-informed and well-pat- 
 ronized lawyer, and who practiced in the town of Holly 
 Springs for many years, in partnership with Roger Barton, of 
 whom particular mention has been already made. Chancellor 
 Chalmers was at one time a member of the National Senate. 
 He was the immediate successor in that illustrious body of 
 Robert I. Walker, and the immediate predecessor of the pres-
 
 252 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ent writer. Mr. Chalmers, during his brief membership in the 
 Senate, is understood to have conducted himself with uniform 
 modesty and decorum, but to have had no opportunity opened 
 to him of acquiring lasting renown. His nephew, now under 
 review, was tenderly devoted to him. and was supposed by 
 some not to be wholly unlike him in person or character; 
 though it is certain that David C. Glenn was of a much loftier 
 stature than his uncle, and displayed in the progress of his 
 career as a public man an amount of intellectual power, blended 
 with a fiery energy of soul, to which the protector of his boy- 
 hood could not have justly laid claim. When I first saw Col. 
 Glenn, he was only in the 2Oth year of his age. He had been 
 specially commended to my care by his friends, and, as one of 
 the Democratic Presidential electors of 1844, for the State of 
 Mississippi, I labored hard in the electoral college to have him 
 sent on to Washington as carrier of the vote of that common- 
 wealth, a station which my young friend very much coveted. 
 Unfortunately for him, Mr. Jefferson Davis was a co-elector, 
 and he succeeded in defeating my wish upon this subject, and 
 procuring a favorite of his own to be appointed in his stead. 
 
 Colonel Glenn, young as he was, had delivered several very 
 brilliant and effective speeches in the Presidential canvass of 
 1844, and had already obtained license to practice law. I have 
 a very agreeable reminiscence of a curious speech delivered 
 by him in a Democratic convention which assembled in 
 the City of Jackson about this period, in which he undertook 
 to prefer regular articles of impeachment against the promi- 
 nent chief of the Whig party, and in which he displayed 
 very remarkable powers, as all present concurred in thinking, 
 as a prosecuting attorney. He is even said to have been in- 
 debted in some degree to this bold and unsparing harangue for 
 "the nomination which he subsequently received for the office 
 of attorney-general of the state, on the Democratic ticket. 
 Certain it is that he immediately thereafter commenced the 
 practice of his profession in the City of Jackson. Nor was he 
 long in obtaining extensive employment as an attorney, and 
 in acquiring an enviable reputation as a graceful, impressive, 
 .and energetic forensic advocate.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 253 
 
 Colonel Glenn is said very early to have imbibed all the 
 distinctive notions of the extreme States Rights party of the 
 South; he became an almost idolatrous admirer of John C. Cal- 
 houn, and, when that illustrious personage formally declared, 
 in the summer of 1850, his opinion that if California should 
 be admitted into the Union as an additional free state, it would 
 be the duty of the slave states at once to withdraw therefrom,, 
 no one was a more zealous and thorough-going advocate of 
 this policy than the eloquent and accomplished attorney-gen- 
 eral of Mississippi. He was among the foremost of those 
 who, in connection with John A. Quitman, Jefferson Davis 
 and others, struggled so fiercely and zealously at that period 
 to draw the State of Mississippi into a co-operative compact of 
 disunion with the State of South Carolina. It is doing no 
 wrong to others to declare that the speeches made by Colonel 
 Glenn in the summer and autumn of 1851, in support of the 
 Secession cause, were by far the ablest which I heard from the 
 extremists of that period anywhere in the State of Mississippi.. 
 No one can well doubt that this gentleman, and a majority 
 of those who were then acting with him, were perfectly honest 
 and conscientious in the views to which they gave expression; 
 which views, by the bye, only lacked about five hundred votes 
 of obtaining practical enforcement, since Mr. Davis was only 
 beaten in the election for governor nine hundred and ninety- 
 nine votes ! I repeat that the opinions uttered by Colonel 
 Glenn and most of his associates, in favor of the proposed 
 plan of co-operation, however unwise and dangerous in their 
 tendency, were sincerely entertained by them ; which view of 
 the matter will be regarded as altogether reasonable by those 
 who will take into consideration the following facts : I. Their 
 venerated leader, Mr. Calhoun, had taught them in a manner 
 not a little imposing, that no political freedom worth possess- 
 ing could exist in this country, except such as might have 
 African slavery for its basis; that the admission of California 
 as a free state would inevitably bring about the destruction of 
 slavery; and that the co-operative action of two or more of the 
 ' slave-holding states of the South in the adoption of secession 
 ordinances would certainly be acquiesced in by the free states,
 
 ;254 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 so that secession would become an accomplished fact without 
 incurring the evils of civil war. 2. These views were noto- 
 riously countenanced in high quarters north of Mason and 
 Dixon's Line. 3. It was known that several leading Demo- 
 cratic statesmen of the North were of opinion that the Federal 
 Government had no coercive power in opposition to the de- 
 clared will of sovereign states ; which strange and pernicious 
 dogma was nine years later formally avowed by James Bu- 
 chanan, as President of the United States, and by his accom- 
 plished attorney-general, Jeremiah S. Black. 4. The enthu- 
 siastic champions of secession in the South had universally 
 adopted the strange and unfounded notion that domestic slav- 
 ery would not only not be at all enfeebled, but actually 
 strengthened and solidified, by the cancellation of those or- 
 ganic guarantees which had so long upheld it against the 
 general public sentiment of the Christian world. 5. It un- 
 fortunately did not at all strike the minds of these gentlemen 
 that, after the Union should have been broken into two dis- 
 tinct sovereignties, it would become at all more difficult to 
 obtain the return of fugitives from service than it had been in 
 past time, under the constitution and laws of the unsevered 
 republic. 6. They had been taught to believe, and verily did 
 believe, that in the new state of things mentioned, there would 
 be no danger of perpetual border hostilities, and no necessity 
 of large standing armies on both sides of the line of territor- 
 ial separation, tending constantly to the establishment of rival 
 military despotisms. All this will doubtless appear not a little 
 surprising to the sober-minded and experience-illuminated 
 men of future generations ; but it is incumbent upon us, to 
 whom the particulars are perfectly well known, to exercise a 
 charitable allowance for those who, blinded by temporary de- 
 lusion, enlisted in movements from which such disastrous 
 results were soon to flow. The class of sectional politicians 
 with which Colonel Glenn was proud of being affiliated were 
 far from relinquishing the project of disunion which had been 
 barely defeated in 1851. They resolved, by nursing their sec- 
 tional wrath, to keep it warm, and to change their modus oper- 
 .andi in several material respects. It will be recollected by
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 2$ 5 
 
 some, that they were much favored by circumstances from the 
 time of Mr. Pierce's coming into power, and the accession of 
 a leading advocate of disunion to the office of secretary of 
 war, who, for four years, was notoriously allowed to use all 
 the patronage of the government to make secession popular, 
 and discredit the Union cause. 
 
 Colonel Glenn was therefore fully prepared to second the 
 movements of Mr. Yancey in 1860 ; to aid in breaking up the 
 Democratic Convention at Charleston, and disrupting the Dem- 
 ocratic party ; thereby securing the election of a Republican 
 President, with a view to realizing the glories of Secession 
 under his administration by the joint action of the whole 
 body of the slave-holding states. The prominent position 
 assumed by Colonel Glenn in the Charleston Convention is 
 too well remembered by the whole country to need specifica- 
 tion here, and the disastrous consequences which afterwards 
 resulted from the unwise policy then adopted by the followers 
 of Mr. Yancey are too fresh in the recollections of all men 
 of intelligence to justify me in expatiating thereupon when 
 engaged in delineating the character of one of the most re- 
 markable members of the bar of Mississippi who flourished 
 in these times of tempest and commotion. Colonel Glenn 
 did not live long enough to behold the fearful scenes of 
 slaughter and devastation which have come upon his native 
 land since his memorable withdrawal from the Charleston 
 Convention, followed, as it was, very quickly by that of the 
 president of the body, Caleb Gushing, the American Talley- 
 rand, who has figured conspicuously in so many excited 
 political factions, and has thus far uniformly succeeded in 
 winning the favor and confidence of the winning party. 
 
 How much astonished would this generous-minded and 
 confiding champion of secession have been could he have 
 foreseen that so soon as a sectional war should have broken 
 out, this same Caleb Gushing would be found tendering that 
 wrathful sword of his which had been erst so bloodlessly 
 flourished upon the plains of Mexico, to a patriotic Republi- 
 can administration, which he had aided so materially in get- 
 ting into power for the exemplary chastisement of those 
 
 *
 
 256 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 allies whom he had led to the very edge of that fearful vortex 
 of civil strife which has swallowed up well-nigh a million of 
 valiant and liberty-loving American freemen ! How Colonel 
 Glenn's generous and heroic soul would have been convulsed 
 could he have then had distinct prescience that another of 
 his loved and admired States Rights allies of the North, B. 
 F. Butler, would, in a short year or two, be enlisted in a war 
 for the putting down of the rebellion, even at that time ex- 
 isting in its embryo state, and be gaining a peculiar glory as 
 the commander of troops of African descent and lineage, for 
 the wasting of Southern plantations and the dispeopling of 
 Southern cities and country places! God, in his mercy, 
 saved him from beholding horrors such as some of us have 
 seen and felt. Long ago this brilliant advocate, this able 
 and learned jurist, this warm-hearted and proud-spirited gen- 
 tleman has ceased to participate in the affairs of earth and 
 gone far beyond the din of party clamor and the noise of 
 fratricidal conflict. Reqidescat in pace ! 
 
 William H. Haskell, in former days, attracted much atten- 
 tion as a member of the bar of Tennessee, and awakened a 
 wide-spread admiration as a brilliant and effective popular 
 speaker. His mind was one of much quickness and energy ; 
 his imagination was easily excited to action, and. when fully 
 roused, displayed a fertility and pictorial splendor not often 
 exemplified. He had great powers of ridicule, and some- 
 times uttered words of burning indignation which those who 
 heard him could not soon forget. His argumentative powers 
 were far from being contemptible, and he had a turn for re- 
 partee with which but few of his contemporaries were equally 
 endowed. His heart was warm and sympathizing; he was 
 stead}' and tenacious in his friendships; of a most kindly and 
 placable temper, and of a personal bravery unquestioned, 
 Had he been of a less inflammable temperament, somewhat 
 more inclined to the study of books of science, and a little 
 less inclined to occupy his time in scenes of pleasurable en- 
 joyment, he would infallibly have reached heights of distinc- 
 tion and deserved fame to which only men of surpassing 
 genius and of elaborate and thorough intellectual culture can 
 reasonably expect to attain.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 Of Spencer Jarnagin I should be pleased to say more than 
 my personal knowledge of him would seem to justify. I 
 met him once in Washington, when he was a member of the 
 National Senate, but never had the pleasure of hearing him 
 debate. He was born and brought up in East Tennessee, and 
 prepared himself for the practice of law in the office of Hugh 
 L. White. There were some peculiarities in his manner of 
 speaking which seem to deserve special notice. He was not 
 possessed of an imagination at all remarkable for vigor, splen- 
 dor or fertility. He seldom attempted declamation, and 
 rarely indulged in what is known as pathos. When he did 
 so, his reputation as a forensic advocate was sure to receive 
 more or less of detriment. His head was one of the clearest 
 in the world ; his powers of reasoning upon facts and law 
 commingled were such as to call forth warm commendation 
 whenever they were put in exercise. His language was al- 
 ways simple, well chosen and impressive. His elocution 
 was pleasing, animated and free from all superfluity. His 
 voice was of a soft and silvery intonation, like the gentle run- 
 ning of some unimpeded rivulet. It is said that there was a 
 mysterious charm about his utterances when engaged in the 
 calm and unimpassioned discussion of legal principles, which 
 rendered it positively delightful to listen to him, and almost 
 impossible for any man of sound and discerning intellect to 
 leave the court house whilst Mr. Jarnagin was upon his feet. 
 His success as a jury lawyer was such that litigants felt al- 
 most certain of winning their cases when they were so fortu- 
 nate as to be represented by Spencer Jarnagin. He was a 
 very near relative to the celebrated Barton of Missouri, who 
 was for some years the colleague in the United States Senate 
 of Thomas H. Benton, and who is known to have repeatedly 
 driven the latter from the senatorial hall by the vehemence 
 and pungency of his invective and the irresistible power of 
 his ridicule. Judge Hugh L. White, who knew Senator Bar- 
 ton well before he left Tennessee, and was afterwards inti- 
 mately associated with him in the Senate, was accustomed to 
 say that this gentleman and his kinsman Jarnagin were so 
 much alike in person, as well as in regard to voice and man-
 
 2$8 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 ner of speaking, that, at a little distance, it would have been 
 quite difficult to distinguish them from each other. 
 
 Mr. Jarnagin did not attain a very high rank in the Senate, 
 and is reported to have had but little relish for the duties 
 there devolved on him. He is admitted to have excelled in 
 the relation of apt and facetious anecdotes, and to have been 
 particularly felicitous in the framing of fictitious stories of a 
 purely innocent character, which he oftentimes told, to the 
 infinite amusement of all in hearing of his graphic and ludi- 
 crous recitals. He was universally recognized as a kind- 
 hearted, genial and affable gentleman, and his presence in 
 social circles was always a matter of special rejoicing and 
 gratulation. 
 
 With Milton Brown, of Jackson, West Tennessee, I have 
 long been upon familiar and intimate terms. He is a native 
 of the State of Ohio, but located in Tennessee in the days of 
 young and lusty manhood. He practiced law in the various 
 courts of the state for many years, and acquired a high repu- 
 tation for industry, probity and all lawyerlike accomplish- 
 ments. His knowledge of law is full and accurate ; his 
 reasoning powers are much above mediocrity, and his astute- 
 ness and skill in the management of his causes are univer- 
 sally acknowledged. He is understood to have accumu- 
 lated, by his professional labors, quite a large fortune, and is 
 now, in the evening of his days, enjoying all the dignity and 
 comfort which health, prosperity and troops of loving and 
 admiring friends have it in their power to confer. 
 
 David Campbell Humphreys is now one of the judges of 
 the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, but was born 
 in North Alabama, and is derived from most respectable Ten- 
 nessee ancestry. I knew Judge Humphreys well when he 
 was a member of the Hunts ville bar, where he was always 
 held in high esteem. He is a man of sterling integrity, of the 
 highest moral courage, and as unswerving a patriot as ever 
 lived. He has been in his time subjected to the severest 
 tests, and has never failed to sustain himself with dignity un- 
 der all circumstances. He is a well-read lawyer, an indus- 
 trious and painstaking judge, and as far from all obliquity of 
 purpose as any man that the country has produced.
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 2 59 
 
 Edwin Ewing has been long and favorably known to intel- 
 ligent citizens in every part of the Republic. Having the 
 advantage of a thorough collegiate education, he entered 
 upon his career as a member of the Nashville bar many years 
 since, under most favorable circumstances. His legal learn- 
 ing and ability would secure him a high rank in any com- 
 mercial city on the continent. There is no department of 
 legal learning that he has not mastered ; no decided case of 
 special importance which he has not examined, and but few 
 branches of useful learning with which he is not more or 
 less familiar. Judge Ewing has long been recognized as a 
 leading barrister in all the counties of Middle Tennessee, and 
 his reputation for integrity and patriotism is second to none. 
 If popular approval and support were always bestowed in 
 proportion to merit and qualification, Edwin Ewing would 
 long since have been chosen to occupy a seat in the Senate 
 of the United States, for which honor he has been once or 
 twice a disappointed suitor. 
 
 I have already spoken in terms of respect and commenda- 
 tion of the Bench and Bar generally of the State of Tennes- 
 see ; and I am quite sure that a half dozen volumes might be 
 conveniently written upon this inspiring and attractive subject. 
 Of the judges now constituting the Supreme Court of the 
 State, I cannot refrain from saying that since they reached 
 their present high positions they have every day grown in 
 the public esteem and confidence, and that no tribunal can be 
 mentioned in any part of the Republic where the administra- 
 tion of perfect justice may be more confidently expected, or 
 where a more patient and courteous hearing may be looked 
 for on the part of counsel, however humble in standing or 
 inexperienced in practice. The judges presiding in the vari- 
 ous local tribunals of Tennessee are for the most part men of 
 ability and learning, and have in general been fortunate enough 
 to escape all suspicions of partiality or corruption. Several 
 of those gentlemen at the present moment officiating in the 
 circuit courts and courts of chancery might be mentioned in 
 terms of the warmest commendation without at all transcend- 
 ing the bounds of truth and justice.
 
 26<D BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 
 
 I am sure I shall be excused for singling out one of the 
 chancellors of the state for such laudatory mention as I can- 
 not but regard as due to him. Judge William F. Cooper, the 
 present distinguished Chancellor of Davidson county, was 
 born in one of the counties of Middle Tennessee and is now 
 in the prime of life. He commenced his professional career 
 in the City of Nashville under most auspicious circumstances. 
 He is supposed to owe his early and extensive success as an 
 attorney in some degree to a most judicious partnership 
 which he contracted with Messrs. Edwin and Andrew Ewing. 
 His mind is acknowledged by all who know him to be particu- 
 larly adapted to the legal profession. His knowledge of 
 jurisprudence generally is such as few men in any country 
 have been known to attain. His familiarity with both ancient 
 and modern literature is universally admitted. His knowledge 
 of the dead and living languages is such as American attor- 
 neys are seldom found to possess. He has never been recog- 
 nized as a brilliant or fascinating speaker; but he always ex- 
 presses himself in clear and forcible language ; is never at all 
 at a loss either for words or ideas ; and his forensic argu- 
 ments are uniformly marked with a cogency and impressive- 
 ness which command the profound respect both of the bench 
 and bar. He is perhaps one of the most skilful and elegant 
 draughtsmen of legal papers west of the Aileghany moun- 
 tains ; and his briefs are ever distinguished for conciseness, 
 lucidness, and profound legal learning. His mind is at once 
 astute, vigorous and prompt in action. His aptitude for busi- 
 ness is really wonderful, and his patience of severe intellect- 
 ual labor is inexhaustible. His temper is not easily ruffled, 
 and he is not a little remarkable for kindness of heart, easy 
 civility, and genial affability. In connection with Mr. Meigs, 
 formerly an eminent member of the Nashville bar, Judge 
 Cooper prepared the present Code of Tennessee, and it was 
 only two days since that I heard Mr. Meigs remark that 
 he should not be satisfied until the people of Tennessee 
 shall have elevated Judge Cooper to the highest judicial office 
 in their gift. I have just had the opportunity of examin- 
 ing with attention the admirable volume of Equity Reports,
 
 BENCH AND BAR OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 26 1 
 
 just published, containing his decisions in equity. It con- 
 tains a considerable number of the opinions delivered by 
 him since he was elevated to the chancery bench some two 
 or three years since. These opinions are such as would un- 
 doubtedly have done credit to any judge that our country 
 has yet known. They are replete with jurisprudential learn- 
 ing, and are equally distinguished by logical vigor and acute- 
 ness, classic elegance of expression, and the most impressive 
 and commendable impartiality. The questions which he has 
 been called upon to decide were many of them of a most 
 complex character, concerning which the ablest jurists both 
 in this country and in Great Britain have for a long time 
 painfully conflicted; and I have no hesitation in declaring 
 that in my judgment, Chancellor Cooper has done as much as 
 any other judge that can be mentioned in dissipating ob- 
 scurities, in disentangling the confused reasonings of others, 
 in dissolving ambiguities, and in establishing sound and salu- 
 tary juridical principles. I have read every page of this re- 
 markable volume of reports with such gratification as few 
 books of any kind have ever afforded me, and I feel that I 
 can honestly recommend it to the members of the profession 
 generally as not only worthy of their perusal, but as deserv- 
 ing of a permanent place in their libraries. 
 
 I had the goo'd fortune to witness the enunciation from the 
 bench of several of the most elaborate opinions contained 
 in the volume referred to, and can attest that they were read 
 in hearing of the bar in a graceful and impressive manner, 
 and with a distinctness of articulation altogether superior to the 
 clumsy, hum-drum, and half-whispering utterances to which 
 we are constrained so often to listen now-a-days in courts of 
 last resort. There is one of these opinions to which I shall 
 venture specially to refer as containing by far the most lu- 
 minous exposition of the obscure and long-disputed doctrine 
 of "Fixtures " I have ever met ; and if space permitted I 
 would set forth here the whole of what fell from Chancellor 
 Cooper's lips on this subject with a confident belief that others 
 would be as much interested as I have been with this remark- 
 able specimen of juridical eloquence. 1 
 
 Seethe case referred to, which may be found on p. 22 of Vol. I. 
 Tennessee Chancery Reports.
 
 INDEX OF NAMES. 
 
 Adams, Daniel W 78 
 
 Adams, George 78 
 
 Adams, George W 224 
 
 Adams, Robert H 24 
 
 Alcorn, J. L 249 
 
 Allen , Gen 104 
 
 Anderson, Peter. ... 221 
 
 Anderson, William E 82 
 
 Ashley, Chester 1 85 
 
 Barton, Roger in, 251 
 
 Barton, Senator in, 257 
 
 Barton, Seth 203 
 
 Bell, John 122, 177 
 
 Benjamin, Judah P 202 
 
 Benton, Thomas H 160 
 
 Birney, James G 7 
 
 Black, Judge 23 
 
 Bodeley, William S 75 
 
 Bowmar, J. H. D 226 
 
 Brank, Robert M 146 
 
 Brown , Milton 258 
 
 Brown, Neill S 208 
 
 Brown, William L 134 
 
 Buckner, Robert H 30 
 
 Burwell, Armstead 233 
 
 Cage, Judge 24 
 
 Calhoun, John C 234, 255 
 
 Campbell, George W 170 
 
 Campbell, John A 205 
 
 Campbell, Washington 169 
 
 Carey, Matthew 154 
 
 Carleton, Mr 194 
 
 Caruthers, Abram 168 
 
 Carulhers, Robert L 211 
 
 Catron , John 1 45 
 
 Chalmers, Chancellor 251 
 
 Child, Judge 19 
 
 Chilton, John M 105 
 
 Clay, Clement C 5 
 
 Clay, Henry 158 
 
 Clifford, Nathan 185 
 
 Clifton, Caswell R 8, 85 
 
 Coalter, George 21, 74 
 
 Cocke, John W 186 
 
 Coleman, Nicholas 105 
 
 Conrad, Charles M 196 
 
 Cooper, William F 260 
 
 Crabb, Henry A 136, 144 
 
 Crawford, Wm. H 231 
 
 Crittenden, Robert 184 
 
 Cross, Edward 186 
 
 Cummins, William 186 
 
 Gushing, Caleb 255 
 
 Davezac, Mr '. 194 
 
 Davis, Fielding 23 
 
 Davis, Jefferson.. ..226, 252, 253 
 
 Davis, Joseph E 225 
 
 Davis, Reuben in 
 
 Deavenport, James 222 
 
 Donelson, John 9 
 
 Drake, John N 94 
 
 Duncan, Stephen A 17 
 
 Dunn, Case of 47 
 
 Dupree, Col 248 
 
 Elle^, Henry T 213 
 
 Er win, James 200
 
 INDEX OF NAMES. 
 
 263. 
 
 Etheridge, Emerson 215 
 
 Evans, Samuel D 232 
 
 Ewell, Gen 170 
 
 Ewing. Andrew J 180 
 
 Ewing, Edwin 259 
 
 Fare, Major 210 
 
 Fitzpatrick, 223 
 
 Fletcher, Thomas H 181 
 
 Fogg, Francis B 176 
 
 Fogg, Godfrey, Sen 207 
 
 Foster, Ephraim H 208 
 
 Fowler, Absalom 186 
 
 Franklin, State of. 124 
 
 Freeman, John D 218 
 
 Garland, A. H 187 
 
 Garner, Squire 101 
 
 Gibbs, Gen 90 
 
 Glenn, David C 251 
 
 Graham, Dr. George 172 
 
 Graves, 216 
 
 Grayson, Spence M 30 
 
 Green , Nathan 1 66 
 
 Griffith, William C 24 
 
 Grimes, John R 197 
 
 Grundy, Felix 90, 154, 177 
 
 Guion, John 1 71 
 
 Hamar, Mrs 227 
 
 Hampton, Wade 69 
 
 Hardin, Benjamin 31 
 
 Hard \vicke, William A 72 
 
 Harris, Buckner C 106 
 
 Harris, Wiley P 108 
 
 Harrison, William Henry. ..247 
 
 Haskell, William H 256 
 
 Hayes, Andrew C 83 
 
 Hayes, O. B 162 
 
 Haywood, John 129 
 
 Henning, Mr 195 
 
 Henry, Patrick 169 
 
 Herring, Case of. 40 
 
 Hill, E 231 
 
 Hinman, Mr 105 
 
 Hinson, Mr 98 
 
 Holt, Joseph 38 
 
 Hopkin?, Arthur F 5, 238 
 
 Houston, Sam 163, 242 
 
 Howard, Volney E 83, 
 
 Hubbard, O. B 91 
 
 Hughes, Beverly 103 
 
 Humphreys, David C 258 
 
 Hutchinson, Anderson 84 
 
 Jackson, Andrew 9, 125, 169 
 
 Jackson, James 9 
 
 Jarnagin, Spencer 257 
 
 Jenkins, Mr 1 44 
 
 Johnson , Benjamin 1 86 
 
 Johnson, Cave 181 
 
 Johnston, Amos R 92 
 
 Joor, General 22 
 
 Kelley, William 6 
 
 Lacy, Thomas J 186 
 
 Lake, William A 86 
 
 Lamar, L. Q. C 112 
 
 Lea, Luke in 
 
 Ligon, David G 221 
 
 Livingstone, Edward R 193 
 
 McClain, William 91 
 
 McClung, Alexander K 104 
 
 McClung, James 8 
 
 McKinley, John 7 
 
 McKinney, Robert J 209 
 
 McMurran, John T 30 
 
 McNutt, Alexander G 74 
 
 Magee, Eugene 73 
 
 Marshall, John 1 80 
 
 Maury, Abram P 164 
 
 Mayes, Daniel 45 
 
 Mazereau, Mr 194 
 
 Meigs, Return J 173, 260 
 
 Miller, Horace H 87
 
 264 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES. 
 
 Miller, Pleasant M 169 
 
 Mitchell, James C 241 
 
 Mitchell, J. D 227 
 
 Nelson, Thomas A. R 182 
 
 Nicholas, George 19 
 
 Nicholson, Ira R 23 
 
 Nooe, John A 212 
 
 Oldham, Williamson S 232 
 
 Ormond, John J 219 
 
 Overton, John 128 
 
 Paschal, George W 231 
 
 Peyton, Balie 183 
 
 Phelps, Alonzo 36 
 
 Pigg, Case of. 50 
 
 Pike, Albert 187 
 
 Polk, James K 177 
 
 Prentiss, S. S 31, 32, 71, 
 
 184, 200 
 
 Preston (of S. C.) 121 
 
 Price, Sterling 171 
 
 Quitman, John A ^85 
 
 Randolph, John 243 
 
 Redd, William B 106 
 
 Reed, Thomas B 24 
 
 Reese, William B 120, 166 
 
 Ringo, Daniel 186 
 
 Ripley, Gen 195 
 
 Rives, William C 167 
 
 Rucks, James 90 
 
 Sevier, Ambrose H 185 
 
 Sharkey, Patrick H 67 
 
 Sharkey, William L 61 
 
 Skipwith, Fulwar iv 
 
 Slidell, John A 202 
 
 Smith, Calvin M 146 
 
 Smith, Henry G 211 
 
 Sneed, Seaborn G 232 
 
 Soule, Pierre 201 
 
 Southern Law Review iii 
 
 Thomas, Mr vi 
 
 Thompson, Seymour D iii 
 
 Thornton, Harry 1 7 
 
 Tompkins, Patrick H 86 
 
 Tratnall, Frederick W 186 
 
 Turley, William B 165 
 
 Turner, Edward vii, 18 
 
 Vannerson, William 102 
 
 Vaughn v. Phebe 141 
 
 Walker, David 186, 232 
 
 Walker, Duncan 28 
 
 Walker, Robert J 24, 28, 33 
 
 Watson, John W. C no 
 
 Webber, Richard H 109 
 
 Webster, Daniel 1 63 
 
 Wheeler, Royal T 232 
 
 White, Hugh Lawson.. .116, 257 
 
 Whiteside, Jenkin 159 
 
 Wilkins, James C 17 
 
 Wilkinson, Edward C 31 
 
 Winchester, George 1 08 
 
 Wise, Henry A 193 
 
 Workman, Judge 195 
 
 Yancey, William L 234, 255 
 
 Yerger, Edwin 212 
 
 Yerger, George S 76 
 
 Yerger, J. S 79 
 
 Yerger, William 80 
 
 Zollicoffer, Gen 92
 
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