USA > Georgia > The bench and bar of Georgia: memoirs and sketches. With an appendix, containing a court roll from 1790-1857, etc., volume I > Part 21
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Sufficient has been said to show the vivid mind of Judge Clayton as a statesman, jurist, and miscellaneous writer. After his return
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from Congress in 1835, he devoted himself to such matters as were most agreeable at his period of life, being easy in his fortune, and under no necessity to make those exertions which in the accom- plishment of his manly ambition he had found requisite. Honored for his talents and virtues even beyond the limits of his own State. he was especially a favorite in the community where he resided. All classes found in him a wise counsellor and ready friend. But his active career was near its termination. He was stricken with paralysis, which for several months confined him to his house: and, on the 21st day of June, 1839, what was mortal of Aters. TIN SMITH CLAYTON ceased to exist, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.
This memoir will be closed by the testimony of others. Several years ago, (1851,) the author applied to Philip Clayton, Esq., Second Auditor of the Treasury at Washington, for information respecting his father. An extract from the reply is here given to questions propounded :-
He married in Franklin county Miss Julia Carnes, the niece of Judge Carnes,-when, I have not the date,-and left when he died eight chil- dren, all still living, to wit :- George R. Clayton, William Wirt Clayton, Philip Clayton, Almira D. Cobb, Ed. P. Clayton, Julia Baldwin, Claudia C. Howze, and Augusta C. Clayton. I have placed them according to age.
Gen. Jephtha V. Harris, Asbury Hull, Judge Charles Dougherty, all of Athens, are the living men who were most familiar with him. Gen. Harris was his classmate at college. Judge Longstreet, Oliver II. Prince. and Judge Dooly were his intimate associates, and with him constituted a galaxy of wit that has never had its equal in any generation of lawyers that have graced the Georgia bar. I feel some delicacy in speaking of my revered father's character and position as I think it deserves, and I trust your good sense will appreciate any extravagance into which my partiality may lead me.
As a writer I conceive he had not his superior in Georgia. His politi- cal essays were numerous and have never all been collected. ITis " Atticus," during the contest between Troup and Clark, was considered as an efficient means in the decision to which the people came on that occasion. Ihave heard from men of that day that, as each number would appear, (having been originally published in a paper at Athens,) it would be sought with avidity.
Ilis reports in the Legislature of Georgia were also important in fixing the legislation of the country. His career in Congress was distinguished by ability, and no one rose higher in so short a time. Ile was the author of the " Mysterious Picture,"-a literary work that received the coal- mendation of the best reviewers of that day. His legal decisions were generally considered sound; and the one declaring the law of Georgia unconstitutional which prevented an Indian from digging gold on his own land (the case of Kanatoo) was approved by Marshall, Story. and Kent, whose written opinions he received after he was defeated by the
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Georgia Legislature for making the decision. But the most finished production of his pen, in my opinion, was an oration delivered by him at Athens, Georgia, before the Demosthenian and Phi-Kappa Societies, in 1828.
He was a man of spotless character, devoted to truth and justice, gentle in his manners, and kind to all, unsurpassed in wit, and the admired of every circle. Even at this late day, I am often reminded by men who were his associates in Congress of the pleasant hours they have spent in his society in this city. As a father, he was untiring in his attention to his children, and especially in impressing upon them all those sentiments that ennoble the man; and to his early training they are indebted for their respectability and character. But the crowning virtue of his life was his devotion to his wife. As a husband he never had a superior, and seldom, if ever, an cqual.
My time at present will not permit me to say more. Should you wish information upon any particular point of his character that I have omitted, I will cheerfully give it. He was the friend of education and the asso- ciate of Dr. Waddell, and rendered more service to Franklin College than any man that has ever lived,-of which Dr. Church could no doubt give you much information.
The legal profession has been long reproached with indifference, if not with direct hostility, to the Christian religion, and it is the desire of the author to remove the complaint whenever he has the opportunity. To this end he extracts freely from the discourse delivered by the Rev. Whiteford Smith on the occasion of Judge Clayton's funeral, June 23, 1839 :-
Our departed brother was permitted to attain to the age which com- monly falls to the lot of man, and, like other men, he had experienced that this world was one of perpetual vicissitude. He was one of the ear- liest graduates of this institution, and one of its oldest trustees. Having realized the benefits of a liberal education himself, he was desirous of extending the same advantages to others. He was gifted with a high order of talent, which prepared him for the responsible duties which his position in society involved. The confidence of his fellow-citizens raised him to public office, and he received at their hands one of the highest dis- tinctions which it was in their power to bestow. It rarely falls to the lot of the statesman to escape unjust censure from his political opponents, and frequently this is the meed awarded by his friends. The busy, rest- less, political world knows not how to appreciate the character of him who, with a consciousness of rectitude which is sufficient to sustain him, pursues that course which he honestly believes is right. Our brother found it so. In his last hours he appeared to have bestowed a few thoughts upon the review of his political life. Addressing one who was his old associate and bosom friend, he said, " His motives had often been misunderstood. Ile felt that he might have crred, but had faithfully devoted a portion of his life to the service of his country: though he claimed no reward, they had already rewarded him abundantly." Had he an enemy,-as what political man has not ?- had the strife of party ever brought upon him the hatred or enmity of any? I come commissioned from his dying bed to say to such, if such there be, that he forgave them
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freely, and sent up to heaven for them his ardent prayers. That mercy which he sought he generously shared.
In his domestic relations, as a husband, father, and master, none could have been more kind, affectionate, and gentle. Few families have been blessed with such a head, and very few have felt and manifested the same assiduous desire to minister to the happiness of one who was endeared to them by every tie. Peculiarly tender was the exhibition of paternal love which he made before he left them. Oh, could you have seen him, as he gathered his children around him, and, one by one, encircled them in his wasted arms, giving them a father's dying benediction, and commending them especially to the grace of God, and entreating and exhorting them to seek after the kingdom of heaven, that they might be united there, you would have been convinced that the flame of parental love that burned within that bosom was one which the cold waters of death could not extin- guish,-that the affection which animated that heart sunk not with the decay of nature's strength.
Happy that the providence of God had enabled him to leave a compe- tency for the maintenance of his family, he adverted with gratitude to that ; but, while he rejoiced that they were thus provided for in this life, his chief concern and desire on their behalf related to the life to come. He pressed upon them with unusual strength and energy an exhortation upon this subject which overwhelned us all. IIe adverted with regret to the lateness of the period at which he had embraced Christianity. "I have lost oceans of happiness by not beginning earlier," was his own em- phatic language. And then, alluding to the support which it afforded him in his afflictions, and the value which he then felt it to be, he told them, "If I could leave you all such legacies as I wish, and Christianity were set down at the price of a million, I would rather bequeath you Chris- tianity than a million of dollars." He further urged upon them its excel- lence, by virtue of its power to fit them for the duties of life. "God first, and man afterward," said he, and then illustrated his conviction that a true Christian must be a philanthropist.
But there was one dearer to him than all others. She had been his guardian angel, his ministering spirit. She had been the wife of his youth : she had been the companion of his journey through all its scenes of change. When the world wronged him, he knew where to go for solace and comfort,-to one whose bosom was his ever-happy home. When affliction came, she was still by his side ; and when his long-protracted sufferings required vigil upon vigil, she had an eye that asked no slumber, and a hand that owned no fatigue. And she it was who had sought for many a year to lead him, by her gentle and her winning way, from the turbid streams of carthly pleasure to the pure and the better spring at which she drank. Hard was the struggle of his soul to leave her. But he gave another and a brighter cast even to this heaviest ill. ""Tis only a jour- ney," said he, "and I am going a little ahead of you, and you will all soon follow."
"Our dying friends are pioneers to smooth Our rugged pass to death, -to break those bars Of terror and abhorrence Nature throws 'Cross our obstructed way, and thus to make Welcome, as safe, our port from every storm."
Nor were his servants forgotten. Fixing his eye on one who stood by his bedside, and who had been constant in his services throughout his
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master's illness, he commended him for his fidelity, and warned hia of the dangers to which he was exposed, and particularly of the evil of in- temperance ; and, unable to address them all, he closed his admonition by saying, " What I say to you applies to all the rest."
We have hitherto viewed the character of the deceased only in those points of light which are calculated to increase our sorrow for his loss, without affording us any consolation. And if the history of his life were here to be wound up, then should we sorrow "even as others which have no hope." But let us now consider the religious character of our brother.
For the greatest part of his life Judge CLAYTON had been skeptical of the truth of Christianity. Though always respectful to those who made a profession of religion, yet he had never submitted himself to the cross of Christ until within the last twelve months. During the month of August, 1838, he was attacked with paralysis, and, for a short time, lost the use of one hand, and his articulation became very indistinct. Upon the day of his attack I visited him. Knowing that the fears of his family and friends were awakened for his safety, and probably judging from my presence that we were particularly anxious about his spiritual state, he addressed me as well as he was able. "I think I may safely say I am prepared for the event." I replied that I had perceived in his conversation from time to time some familiarity with the Bible, and hoped he had made it a matter of study. His answer was,-" No: but in all my dealings with the world, and in all my acts, I have always had regard to the existence of a just God; and, if there is a man I have wronged, I do not know him." Having endeavored to direct his mind to the Lord Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for sin, and to the necessity of the merit of his atonement, I inquired if it was his wish that we should pray, and, he desiring it, the family assembled, and we prayed. No op- portunity offered (from the nature of his affliction) for some days after for religious conversation. Some short time subsequently, however, when he had so far recovered as to be able to go about, understanding that he desired to see me, I called, accompanied by one of the ministers who was in attendance at a protracted meeting then in progress. The subject of religion was now introduced, and never had I witnessed so great a change. fle who, but a short time before, had been dwelling complacently upon his own virtuous deeds, and even meditating an entrance into eternity with no other preparation, now sat before me overwhelmed with grief and tears at the recollection of his ingratitude to God for all his mercies. He had been employed in reviewing the past; and, though he found that his conduct toward the world had been quite equitable and just, he had also been convinced that his duties toward his Maker had been neglected. Now he inquired what had kept him from being a Christian ; and, having learned the true state of his own heart, this was his candid confession, and, at the same time, the avowal of his purposes :- " Sir, I am deter- mined that pride of opinion, which has so long kept me from embracing Christianity, shall keep me away no longer." Nor was he insensible to the difficulties which he met in turning to God with repentance and faith. " In pursuing this course," said he, "at every step I am met by a committal. For all the aets of a man's life are so many committals. and every act contrary to religion is a committal to vice. But shall I permit these things to deter me when I see the extended arms of my God ready to receive me?"
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Ilaving abandoned that pride of opinion which he felt had so long prevented his becoming a Christian, he manifested the greatest meekness and docility in the reception of truth. Sensible that in trusting to the merit of his own good works he had rested upon a frail and weak founda- tion, he now desired to place himself upon another and a surer basis. And upon the eternal foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone, there was but one way of successfully building, and that was by the exercise of an humble and confiding faith. How simple and how sineere was his reception of the gospel may be best learned from his own words. "Sir," said he, " I view myself as though I had been a heathen, shut up in darkness and supersti- tion, and you, as a missionary of the eross, (for all ministers are, or ought to be, missionaries,) were presenting me for the first time with the Bible; and, although I do not comprehend all that may be in it, yet I receive it all by faith. I throw away, as a heathen would his idols, all my old systems and views, and adopt this for my ereed. I take it all."
The interviews which it was my privilege to enjoy with Judge CLAYTON subsequent to this were all of the most delightful character. IIe dwelt with much anxiety on the subject of his former opinions, and was espe- cially fearful lest his influence over others might have led them into error, and most earnestly solicitous to erase any such impressions wher- ever they had been made. When, therefore, he communicated his desire of attaching himself to the Church and making a public profession of Christianity, knowing from his weakness that it would be with difficulty, if at all, that he could attend at the place of worship, I suggested that his wish might be made known without his personal attendance. To this, however, he immediately objected, desiring, feeble as he was, to perform this act in person, both as a public recantation of his former views, and in the hope that the influence of his example upon others might be salutary. And accordingly, on the 26th August, 1838, he presented himself in the presence of a large congregation, making an open profession of faith in his divine Redeemer, and united himself with ,the Methodist Episcopal Church. At this time he had not experienced that sense of joy and spiritual communion with God which he desired, but was earnestly seeking after the Lord if haply he might be found. Nor did he seek in vain. For but a short time had elapsed after he had taken this decisive step when he felt the springing up of inward comfort and rejoiced in the elear assurance of his sins forgiven. From this time, his whole soul seemed absorbed in the great subject of religion. The language of his heart appeared to be, "Oh, how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day." It was his darling theme of conversation. His very weak state of bodily health allowed him to attend at church but very seldom; and now he sorrowed that, just as he had begun to appre- ciate those religious privileges, he was cut off from their enjoyment. Still, he patiently submitted to the will of his heavenly Father.
There was one point upon which our departed brother seemed particu- larly sensitive and anxious from the time of his conversion until his death. Hle knew full well that there would not be wanting those who would say that his mind had been enfeebled by his disease; that the apprehension of death had alarmed him, and occasioned his pursuing this course. To the last this thought seemed constantly before him. He adverted to it calmly, but firmly, expressing his conviction that, amid the decay of his physical energies, his powers of composition and reflection VOL. 1 .- 12
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were as strong as ever. And many who visited him during his illness, and even in his dying hours, were witnesses of this. Never had I be- held one less agitated in prospect of death. He spoke of it, not as of an event which must happen, and for which he had been preparing him- self by the principles of a stoical philosophy,-not as of an unending sleep, where no consciousness of existence should be felt, and where the waters of oblivion should wash out all remembrance of the past, -but he viewed it rationally, as a winding up of the affairs of this life, which was to be followed by a rigid scrutiny into all his acts and principles and inor tives. Sensible, as every honest dying man must be, that, in the judg- ment of an all-wise and holy God, there would be found many delinquen- cies and errors which needed a satisfactory atonement, with faith in the record which God had given of his Son, he reposed in the merits of the sacrifice which he had offered for the sins of the whole world. Expe- riencing the peace and joy which attend upon a sense of sins forgiven, he spoke of death as though he were "prepared," and not only prepared, but cheerfully willing and ready to go. He spoke of it as a "pleasure;" and, when asked upon one occasion what he wished, he answered, "To die."
The warm and generous emotions of his heart were not checked by his physical weakness. He had a word of affectionate tenderness for all who visited him. Sitting upon his bed one afternoon, very shortly before his death, he prayed with great earnestness for his enemies, and then ob- served :- " I wish that the world could all be brought into one embrace, and that embrace were mine : I would throw my arms around them and bring them all to Christ."
I called his attention to his expression of " having been prepared for the event" when attacked with paralysis last summer. "Ah, yes !" said he : " I was then trusting in my morality. But it would not do."
Are there any here who look upon all this as the result of fear? Hear what he bade me tell you :- "Say to those stout-hearted stoics-those men of learning-who say this is all fear, that they may call it so: but who would not fear a God ?''.
Surely it can be called no want of reason or moral courage that mau should stand in awe of his great Creator. In the pride of his ungrateful heart, surrounded by friends and all the pomp of power, he is often ready to suppose that the acknowledgment of his dependence upon and obli- gations to his Maker involves a weakness which he would not own: But there must come a time when the proudest and most stubborn feel their utter impotency in his hand. He who can paralyze in a moment the strongest arm and still the tongue of the bold blasphemer must be confessed to be the Almighty. Too long have men trampled with impious foot the sacred canon, and endeavored, by dethroning God, to exalt and deify what they have termed their reason. Vain and arrogant pre- sumption ! If to condemn unread the book of revelation,-if to impugn and vilify the whole system of Christianity because there are some of its truths so sublime and pure that we cannot fully comprehend and appre- ciate them,-if this be reason, then folly would be bliss.
"'Tis reason our great Master holds so dear ;
"Tis reason's injured rights his wrath resents ;
'Tis reason's voice obey'd his glorious crown :
To give lost reason life he pour'd his own."
That
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The chamber where the good man meets his fate Is privileged beyond the common walk Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven-
was fully realized by those who were permitted to attend upon our lamented brother in his dying hours. On the Wednesday morning before he died, being attacked with violent spasms, his family supposed that he was about to be taken away from them. While, overwhelmed with grief at the anticipation of his loss, they wept around him, he ministered consolation to them all. Throughout the day these paroxysms continued, and in the afternoon were still more violent. It was in the close of one of those agonies that he distinctly, though slowly, uttered these words :- "Oh, what darkness ! what dismal darkness ! how profound !- physically speaking. But all is bright beyond." He lingered until Friday night. slowly sinking; and, throughout all this time, never did he seem to lose sight of the great object of his faith and hope. Frequently and emphati- cally would he say, " Blessed be God !- blessed be God forever !"
And when at last his hour had come, it pleased God to give him a calm and easy passage. As we hung near him to catch his last accents, faintly and softly we could hear him murmur, "The way is bright"-" Here's room" -- " Over Jordan"-" Enter in"-" Door is open"-"This is heaven"-"I'm so happy"-" It is ended"-"I am through"-" Bless God." These short sentences he would frequently repeat in soft and gentle whispers. But they were sufficient to indicate what were the exercises of his mind as he passed away. Doubtless, could we have seen as he beheld, we should have witnessed the ministering spirits, as they gathered around, beckoning him onward to the throne of God. Without a groan or a struggle, our brother sweetly breathed his spirit into the boson! of his Father and his God,-illustrating what one has so beautifully said of the Christian's death :-
"IIe sets as sets the morning star, which goes Not down behind the darken'd west, nor hides Obscured amidst the tempests of the sky, But melts away into the light of heaven."
From what has been said, and from the brief review which we have taken of our brother's history, we learn, first, the goodness and long- suffering of God. Had our friend been taken from us one year earlier, how different would have been our feelings ! But it pleased God to spare him, and this long-suffering and forbearance led him to repentance. Is there one here to-day who has long lived in the neglect of these saered and import- ant things, and whose heart, now seriously impressed, is bordering on despair, thinking that it has been put off until it is too late? In the instance of mercy we have just been considering, let him learn that God is gracious and ready to forgive; yea, our God is merciful. And, if he will repent and believe, he may yet obtain that blessed hope which can support his spirit in the hour of heaviest trial. But let no one presume to defer this interest because our brother found pardon at so late a day. Let his own words proclaim to you the folly of such a course, and remember that, while he rejoiced in the pardoning mercy of God sought and obtained at so late a period, he felt that he had lost oceans of happiness by not beginning earlier. These oceans of happiness you may enjoy by devoting your- elves to God in early life.
But, as examples of this kind are comparatively rare, we learn, secondly, that such manifestations of divine grace are intended for the benefit of
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all within the range of whose observation they come. So St. Paul con- templated his conversion :- "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in him to life everlasting." Here was a miracle of the grace of God,-a brand plucked from the burning,- chosen as a vessel to bear this grace for the encouragement of all who may seek the Lord. This testimony comes not from one who was previously prejudiced in favor of Christianity, and from whom you might have expected it ; not from one whose sincerity you might doubt; not from one terrified into a confession of sin; but from one whose carly prepossessions were hostile to Christianity, but who, from being skeptical of its truth, became the subject of its power and cheerfully testified of its excellence ; from one who had been accustomed frankly and fearlessly to avow his opinions ; from one whose intellectual vigor we all respected, and who retained that mental power to the last. IIe now addresses you in those words which we have brought you from his dying bed, and calls upon you to turn unto the Lord and live.
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