USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 26
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 26
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 26
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But, in the midst of all their trials and vicissitudes, the French refugees were happy. Immured in the depths of the Tombigby forest, where, for several years, want pressed them
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on all sides,-cut off from their friends in France,-surround- CHAPTER ed by the Choctaws on one side, and the unprincipled squatters XLI. and land-thieves on the other-assailed by the venom of insects and prostrating fevers-nevertheless, their native gaiety pre- vailed. Being in the habit of much social intercourse, their evenings were spent in conversation, music and dancing. The larger portion were well educated, while all had seen much of the world, and such materials were ample to afford an ele- vated society. Sometimes their distant friends sent them rich wines and other luxuries, and upon such occasions, parties were given, and the foreign delicacies brought back many in- teresting associations. Well cultivated gardens, and the abundance of wild game, rendered the common living of the French quite respectable. The female circle was highly inter- esting. They had brought with them their books, guitars, silks, parasols and ribbons, and the village, in which most of them dwelt, resembled, at night, a miniature French town. And then, farther in the forest, others lived, the imprints of whose beautiful Parisian shoes on the wild prairie, occasionally arrested the glance of a solitary traveller. And then, again, when the old imperial heroes talked of their emperor, their hearts warmed with sympathy, their eyes kindled with enthu- siasını, and tears stole down their furrowed cheeks .*
* Conversations with George N. Stewart, Esq., of Mobile, who was the secretary of the French Vine Company ; also, conversations with Mr. Amand Pfister, of Montgomery, whose father was one of the French grantees.
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CHAPTER XLII.
LAST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE-STATE CONVENTION.
CHAPTER XLII.
THE second session of the Legislature of the Territory of Alabama convened at St. Stephens, in the fall of 1818. John W. Walker was Speaker of the House, and James Titus President of the Legislative Council. Among other acts, two new counties were formed-St. Clair, with the courts to be held at the house of Alexander Brown, and Autauga, with the courts to be held at Jackson's Mills, on Autauga Creek. The territory of the latter county was formerly attached to that of Montgomery. These new counties were added to the Middle Judicial District.
1818
Fall
The Bank of Mobile, with a charter extending to Ist Jan., 1839, and with a capital stock of five hundred thousand dol- lars, was established. The banks at St. Stephens and Hunts- ville were empowered to increase their capital stock, by selling shares at auction. The profits, to the extent of ten per cent., were to be divided among the stockholders, and, if there proved to be an excess, it was to be applied to the support of Green Academy, in Madison county, and the academy at St. Stephens.
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Governor Bibb was constituted sole commissioner, to lay off CHAPTER the seat of government, at the confluence of the Cahawba XLII. and Alabama. He was required to have the town surveyed, expose maps of the same at public places, and give ninety days notice of sale, out of the proceeds of which he was to contract for the building of a temporary capitol. About the last of November, the legislature adjourned, having deter- mined to hold the next session at Huntsville .*
The Territory of Alabama increased in population to such an extent, that Congress authorized the people to form a State constitution.
1819
March 2 -
The following persons were elected members of the con- vention :
FROM THE COUNTY OF MADISON-Clement C. Clay, John Leigh Townes, Henry Chambers, Samuel Mead, Henry Minor, Gabriel Moore, John W. Walker and John M. Taylor.
MONROE-John Murphy, John Watkins, James Pickens and Thomas Wiggins.
BLOUNT-Isaac Brown, John Brown and Gabriel Hanby.
LIMESTONE-Thomas Bibb, Beverly Hughes and Nicholas Davis.
SHELBY-George Philips and Thomas A. Rodgers. MONTGOMERY-John D. Bibb and James W. Armstrong. WASHINGTON-Israel Pickens and Henry Hitchcock
TUSCALOOSA-Marmaduke Williams and John L. Tindal. LAWRENCE-Arthur F. Hopkins and Daniel Wright.
* State Atchives.
1*
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FRANKLIN-Richard Ellis and William Metcalf. CorACO-Melkijah Vaughan and Thomas D. Crabb. CLARKE -- Reuben Saffold and James McGoffin. CAHAWBA-Littlepage Sims.
1 CONECUH-Samuel Cook. DALLAS-William R. King. MARENGO -- Washington Thompson. MARION -- John D. Terrell.
LAUDERDALE-Hugh McVay. ST. CLAIR-David Conner. -
AUTAUGA-James Jackson.
BALDWIN -- Harry Toulmin. MOBILE-S. H. Garrow.
These members convened at Huntsville, on the 5th July, 1819. John W. Walker was chosen to preside over the convention, and John Campbell was elected its secretary.
Being about to introduce biographical notices of some of these members,* we begin with the following well-written sketch, prepared by a college companion and intimate friend of the distinguished person of whom he writes.t
"John W. Walker was born in Virginia, and, while yet a
* I regret to have occasion to observe that my application to the friends of many of the members of this convention, for information in relation to their birth, early life, and political career, has not been re - sponded to, and hence I have been unable to embody in this work any notice of theni.
t From the pen of Richard Henry Wilde, formerly of Georgia, but afterwards of New Orle .u , and now deceased.
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child, accompanied his father, the Reverend Jeremiah Walker, who emigrated to Elbert county, Georgia. His preceptor in the rudiments of education was the Reverend Moses Waddel, long accustomed, with an honest pride, to enumerate among his pupils many of the most celebrated jurists and statesmen of the South. He graduated, with distinguished honor, at Princeton, preserving, during his collegiate course, an untar- , nished moral character, and acquiring, along with the repu- tation of an excellent scholar, a high relish for polite litera- ' ture, which he ever afterwards retained. On leaving college, he applied himself to the study of the law, and, although more than once interrupted by illness, his quick and keen perception of the right and just, and the extent and variety of his previous attainments, speedily ensured him clear and comprehensive views of a science not always enjoyed by more laborious, but less sagacious, students. Seeking the temple, as a worshipper in spirit and in truth, who regarded jurisprudence, not as a craft or mystery, but the noblest of sciences, he thus insured his future superiority over practi- tioners who treat their profession as an art, and its principles as a mere collection of rules and codes.
"In 1810, Mr. Walker, then a resident of Petersburg, Georgia, married Matilda, the daughter of LeRoy Pope, Esq., of the same village, and removed with his father-in-law, and several of his neighbors, to Alabama, then a territory, where they became the first settlers of Madison county, and founded the now flourishing town of Huntsville. Here he began the practice of his profession, soon wose to eminence, and was
CHAPTER XLII.
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CHAPTER XLII.
repeatedly chosen a member of the Territorial legislature. In 1819, he declined the office of district judge, tendered him by President Monroe, and, in the same year, was chosen to preside over the convention which formed the constitution of the State, an instrument indebted to him for many of its best provisions.
"Immediately after its adoption, and the admission of Ala- bama into the Union, he was elected an United States Sena- tor, an office which he held until 1823, when ill health com- pelled him to retire ; and, on the 23d of April, of that year, he passed away from life, leaving behind him the memory of no fault, and the enmity of no human being.
"In person, Mr. Walker was tall, his figure slender but well formed, and his manners and address mild, graceful and prepossessing. He had blue eyes, brown hair, a fine com- plexion, handsome features, and a countenance whose expres- sion, habitually pensive, kindled into animation, with every lofty thought and generous feeling. Even to a stranger, his appearance was highly engaging and attractive, while those who enjoyed his familiar conversation were charmed with the sweet, low tones of his colloquial eloquence, the intellectual music of a pure heart, a sound mind, a rich memory, and brilliant imagination. Surrounded by friends who loved and honored, or in the bosom of a family who idolized him, how often hours vanished unconsciously, in conversation, grave and gay, in the inexhaustible topics of art, science, literature, government and morals, to all of which his perfect urbanity, extensive reading, the refinement of his taste, and the delicacy
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of his feelings, gave interest and novelty. His letters, many CHAPTER of which have been preserved by the writer, with reverential XLII. care, are models of the familiar epistolary style, correct and sparkling, yet free, cordial and unstudied-true to the feeling of the moment, and passing from the whimsical and excur- sive playfulness of Sterne, to the pathos of Mckenzie, with all the graceful negligence of Byron or slip-shod gossip of Walpole.
" Before the higher aims or heavier burdens of life came upon him, he was, like most other men of genius, a rhymer, and the few specimens of his verse, which had currency in the circles of his love and friendship, were prized, not unreasona- bly, as jewels, by their possessors.
"Mr. Walker's literary attainments, far from impairing, increased his efficiency as a jurist and orator. Many, it is true, believe that belles-lettres scholarship is usually an im- pediment to forensic eloquence; but the examples of Mans- field and Blackstone, Story and Legare, stamp this as a vul- gar error. The prejudices of ignorance and envy may, indeed, retard the success of the more thorough-bred and highly educated ; but, in this case, as in every other, where industry and good sense are not wanting, all learning is useful, as well as ornamental, and ultimately tends to form the character of a perfect advocate. As might naturally be expected, there- fore, Mr. Walker's contemporaries at the bar speak of his professional skill and knowledge with the highest praise, and assigned to lim the palin, for persuasive eloquence, readiness of resource, and gentlemanly bearing.
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" In the Senate, he was mainly instrumental in producing the passage of the first law for the relief of purchasers of the public lands, emphatically a bill of peace, which, while it saved the new State of Alabama from bankruptcy, preserved their affections to the Union, and led to the abolition of the credit system, thus preventing future evils.
"To this nevy theatre of usefulness and honor, Mr. Walker brought all the modest worth and unalloyed patriotism of Lowndes, with much of the easy and graceful manner of Forsyth, and, to his career as a statesman, only a longer life was wanting .- But time, as it has been beautifully observed, is the indispensable ally of genius, in its struggle for immor- tality, and, though death may have shut the gate on other aspirants as highly gifted, it has never closed on one more fondly loved or more deeply mourned."
ARTHUR FRANCES HOPKINS was born near Danville, in the State of Virginia. He was a descendant of Arthur Hopkins, an Englishman, and a physician of very high standing, who settled, in the early part of the eighteenth century, in the colony of Virginia. His grandmother was a Miss Jefferson, a relative of the President of that name. His father, James Hopkins, was in the severe battle of Guilford Court House, a volunteer soldier of the United States, at the age of fifteen, and died at his residence, in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, in 1844.
In the pursuit of an education, ARTHUR FRANCES HOPKINS studied in an academy at New London, in Virginia, in an- other at Caswell Court House, North-Carolina, and at the
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University at Chapel Hill. He received his law education in CHAPTER the office of the Honorable William Leigh, of Halifax county, XLII. Virginia, who was a distinguished jurist, and the brother of the celebrated Benjamin Watkins Leigh. In December, 1816, Mr. Hopkins, at the age of twenty-two, settled in the town of Huntsville, Alabama. Owning a plantation, near Huntsville, and the price of cotton then being very high, and the practice of law in the valley of the Tennessee river worth but little, he relinquished his business at the bar, in the spring of 1818. Ini January, 1819, he moved to the county of Law- rence, was elected a member of the convention in May, of that year, and took his seat in that body, as we have seen. The people of Lawrence elected him to the State Senate, in August, 1822. IIe immediately ranked with the most ta- lented and influential men, and endeavored, with all his ability and ingenuity, to dissuade the legislature from enacting a measure which, it is believed by many, has inflicted much evil. We allude to the establishment of the State Bank. His speeches, upon that occasion, were powerful efforts against the system of connecting bank and state, and the evils which he predicted have been, as many believe, most sensibly real- ized. His views were overruled by the legislature, only thir- teen of the entire body, among whom were the Honorable Joshua L. Martin, afterwards Governor of Alabama, James Jackson, of Lauderdale, and Nicholas Davis, of Limestone, concurring with him. The opposition of Mr. Hopkins to the State Bank, which was called the People's Bank, diminished materially his popularity, which was shortly afterwards im-
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CHAPTER XLII.
paired still more, by his opposition to the election of General Jackson to the office of President of the United States. He preferred Henry Clay to all other men, and supported him whenever he was a candidate for the Presidency. He voted for Judge White, in 1836, and for General Harrison, in 1840, again for Henry Clay, and, lastly, for General Taylor ; but, as he emphatically said to us, one day, "never for General Jack- son."
In March, 1825, Mr. Hopkins returned to Huntsville, and applied himself successfully to the profession of the law, without any interruption, until the summer of 1833, when he was returned a member of the legislature, from Madison county. The most exciting measure before the legislature was the "CREEK CONTROVERSY," then waging between the national administration and Governor John Gayle. Although personally friendly to the governor, and opposed to General Jackson, the conviction of his judgment led Mr. Hopkins to take the side of the administration, and, in support of his views, he delivered in the house a speech of power and re- search, which was published and widely distributed, giving him great reputation as a constitutional lawyer and statesman. Since the close of the session of 1833 and 1834, he has not been a representative of the people of this State. In Janua- ry, 1836, he was elected, by the legislature, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, without opposition, and at the solici- tation of both political parties, and, in 1837, he was appoint- ed, by his associates on the bench, Chief Justice of Alabama. In December, 1836, the whig members of the legislature did
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1
bim the honor to vote for him, as a Senator in Congress, against the Honorable John McKinley. They conferred upon him the same unsolicited honor, in January, 1844, when Mr. Lewis was elected a Senator of the United States. In June, 1837, Judge Hopkins resigned his seat upon the bench, re- turned to Huntsville, engaged in the practice of the law, and was soon tendered by Mr. Van Buren the office of commis- sioner, with others, under a late treaty with the Cherokees, which he declined. During the Presidential canvass of 1840, Judge Hopkins was one of the whig electors, and addressed .many public meetings, in North Alabama. At the Baltimore whig convention, in May, 1844, he presided as chairman, until the convention was fully organized, and, during that summer, he often addressed the people of Alabama, to induce them to vote for Mr. Clay, for the Presidency. Judge Hop- kins appears to have always been a great favorite with the whig party, for they ran him upon a two day's ballot, when William R. King and Dixon HI. Lewis were candidates for the United States Senate, during the first session of the legis- lature, held at Montgomery, and again, in the winter of 1849 - and 1830, he was balloted for against Colonel King, to till the vacancy which occurred in the Senate, and, when the latter succeeded over him, the whig party immediately ran him for the other vacancy in the Senate, against our excellent and much-admired friend, Governor Fitzpatrick. But the whigs, being in a minority, have never been able to place him in the United States Senate.
Judge Hopkins lives in Mobile where he is regarded as a
CHAPTER XLII.
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CHAPTER XLII.
lawyer of ability, and as a gentleman of honor, benevolence and refinement. In person, he is compactly made, and rather large. He has an agreeable countenance, and is pleasant and affable in his manners.
WILLIAM RUFUS KING is a native of North-Carolina. He was born on the 7th April, 1786. His father, William King, was a planter, in independent circumstances, whose ancestors came from the north of Ireland, and were among the early settlers on James river, in the colony of Virginia. He was highly esteemed for his many virtues, and was elected a member of the State convention which adopted the Federal constitution. The mother of Mr. King was descended from a Huguenot family, which had been driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantz.
William Rufus King received his education at the Univer- sity of North-Carolina, to which he was sent at the early age of twelve years. On leaving that institution, where his atten- tion to his studies, and uniformly correct and gentlemanly deportment, had commanded the respect and regard of his fellows, and the approbation of the professors, he entered the law office of William Duffy, a distinguished lawyer, residing in the town of Fayetteville, North-Carolina, and, in the au- tumn of 1805, obtained a license to practice in the superior courts of the State. In 1806, he was elected a member of the legislature of the State, from the county of Sampson, in which he was born. He was again elected, the year follow- ing, but, on the meeting of the legislature, he was chosen solicitor by that body, and resigned his seat. Colonel King
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continued in the practice of his profession, until he was elected CHAPTER a member of Congress, from the Wilmington district, which XLII. took place in August, 1810, when he was but little more than , twenty-four years of age; but, as his predecessor's term did not expire before the 4th March, 1811, Colonel King did not take his seat in the Congress of the United States until the autumn of that year, being the first session of the twelfth Congress. This was a most important period in the history of the country. The governments of England and France ' had, for years, rivalled each other in acts destructive of the · neutral rights, and ruinous to the commerce of the United States. Every effort had been made, but in vain, to procure an abandonment of orders in councils, on the one hand, and decrees on the other, which had nearly cut up the commerce of the country by the roots, and a large majority of the peo- ple felt that, to submit longer to such gross violations of their rights, as a neutral nation, would be degrading, and they called upon their government to protect those rights, even at the hazard of a war. In this state of things, Colonel King took his seat in the House of Representatives, and unhesita- tingly ranged himself on the side of the bold and patriotic spirits in that body, who had determined to repel aggression, ` come from what quarter it might, and to maintain the rights and the honor of the country. The withdrawal of the Berlin and Milan decrees, by France, while England refused to aban- don her orders in council, put an end to all hesitation as to which of those powers should be met in deadly strife. In June, 1812, war was declared against England, Mr. King
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advocating and voting for the declaration. He continued to represent his district in Congress during the continuance of the war, sustaining, with all his power, every measure deemed necessary, to enable the government to prosecute it to a suc- cessful termination ; and not until the rights of the country were vindicated and secured, and peace restored to the land, did he feel at liberty to relinquish the highly responsible position in which his confiding constituents had placed him. In the spring of 1816, Colonel King resigned his seat in the House of Representatives, and accompanied William Pinckney, of Maryland, as Secretary of Legation, first to Naples and then to St. Petersburg, to which Courts Mr. Pinckney had been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary. Colonel King remained abroad not quite two years, having, in that time, visited the greater portion of Europe, making himself acquainted with the institutions of the various governments and the condition of their people. On his return to the United States, he determined to move to the Territory of Alabama, which determination he carried into effect in the winter of 1818-19, and fixed his residence in the county of Dallas, where he still resides. A few months after Colonel King arrived in the Territory, Congress having authorized the people to form a constitution and establish a State government, he was elected a member of the convention. Colonel King was an active, talented and influential member of that body, was placed on the committee appointed to draft a constitution, and was also selected by the general committee, together with Judge Tay- lor, now of the State of Mississippi, and Judge Henry Hitch-
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cock, now no more, to reduce it to form, in accordance with the principles and provisions previously agreed on. This duty they performed in a manner satisfactory to the commit- tee. The constitution, thus prepared, was submitted to the convention, and adopted, with but slight alterations.
On the adjournment of the convention, Colonel King re- turned to his former residence, in North-Carolina, where most of his property still was, and, having made his arrangements for its removal, set out on his return to Alabama. On reach- ing Milledgeville, in the State of Georgia, he received a letter from Governor Bibb, of Alabama, informing him that he had been elected a Senator in the Congress of the United States, and that the certificate of his election had been transmitted to the city of Washington. This was the first intimation which Colonel King had that his name even had been presented ·to the legislature, for that high position, and, injuriously as it would affect his private interests, in the then condition of his affairs, he did not hesitate to accept the honor so unex- pectedly conferred upon him, and, leaving his people to pur- sue their way to Alabama, he retraced his steps, and reached the city of Washington a few days before the meeting of Congress. His colleague, the IIonorable John W. Walker, had arrived before him.
Alabama was admitted as a State, aud her senators, after taking the oath to support the constitution of the United States, were required to draw for their term of service, when Major Walker drew six years and Colonel King four. At the time that Alabama became a State of the Union, the
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indebtedness of her citizens for lands, sold by the United States, under what was known as the credit system, was nearly twelve millions of dollars. It was perfectly apparent that this enormous sum could not be paid, and that an at- tempt to enforce the payment could only result in ruin to her people. Congress became satisfied that the mode heretofore adopted, for the disposal of the public domain, was wrong, and a law was passed reducing the minimum price from two to one dollar and twenty-five cents the acre, with cash pay- ments. This change was warmly advocated by our senators, Walker and King.
At the next session, a law was passed, authorizing the pur- chasers of public lands, under the credit system, to relinquish to the government a portion of their purchase, and to trans- fer the amount paid on the part relinquished, so as to make complete payment on the part retained. At a subsequent session, another law was passed, authorizing the original pur- chasers of the lands so relinquished to enter them at a fixed rate, much below the price at which they had been originally sold. To theexertions of Senators King and Walker, Ala- bama is mainly indebted for the passage of these laws, which freed her citizens from the heavy debt which threatened to overwhelin them with ruin, and also enabled them to secure their possessions upon reasonable terms.
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