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 23
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I am satisfied, from the state of feeling at that time, that almost any one would have been elected over my father. Many of his friends, know- ing the cordial relations that existed between them, as well as the con-
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nection by marriage, were disposed to censure Judge Dougherty for the opposition ; but I have ever been able to do justice to his purity of mo- tive, and my father also became satisfied of his sincere friendship, as their continued intimacy proved. Notwithstanding his defeat for the judgeship by his own party, they still entertained for him the highest regard, and sought to make amends immediately by placing him in another position. The objection was not so much to the man as to the decision. It became necessary to sacrifice the judge in order to carry out the policy. This was a sore trial to his party, among whom he had many friends who were satisfied that he acted from the purest motives in the discharge of duty.
At the time of this election a vacancy had occurred in Congress by the resignation of one of the Representatives* from Georgia, and the vacancy was soon to be filled. His political and personal friends, who had just aided in his defeat, insisted upon placing the name of my father before the people for the office. Members of Congress were then elected by general ticket, the district system having been since adopted. At first he unhesitatingly declined. I never saw him more mortified in my life than at his defeat for the bench,-not that he regarded the office as of any consequence to him, but his mortification arose from the defeat, by his own party, for (what he conceived) an act of duty, and the peculiar circumstances under which he was defeated. He stated to me that he would go home and retire from public life, and never again be a candidate for office. And such was his determination up to the night before he left Milledgeville. IIis friends were very much opposed to his leaving Mil- ledgeville under such a feeling of mortification. On the night before he left, Dr. Henry Branham, an old personal and political friend, called to see him after he had retired to rest, and, seating himself by his bedside, remained with him until midnight,-in fact, never left him until he had in some degree reconciled him to his defeat and procured from him a promise to suffer his name to be announced as a candidate for Congress. I was not present at the interview, but know that it was long and earnest on the part of Dr. Branham, who, I believe, was a sincere friend of my father, though I am impressed he voted against him for the judgeship : yet of this I am not certain.
On next morning his name was announced as a candidate for Congress, which resulted in his election by the people. This trust was afterward renewed by his constituents until he voluntarily retired from the position. The documents and papers of the day afford something of his political history, which I have not within my reach to consult.
He was very poor when he commenced life. llis father left two sons and an unmarried daughter, with small property. To his sons he gave a liberal education, and to his daughter all his property. I have often heard him say that when he commenced his profession he had but one object in view, and that was a support. But after he obtained a support his ambition for distinction was aroused. At first, fame never entered into his calculations. Poverty so stared him in the face that he looked upon it as the only foc with which he was called upon to contend. He amassed a good fortune, leaving his widow and eight children in inde- pendent circumstances.
With regard to his religious sentiments, he was, as stated in the funeral discourse of the Rev. Whiteford Smith, skeptical. My mother first
* IIon. Wilson Lumpkin, who was elected Governor in 1831.
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united herself with the Methodist Episcopal Church before any church- building had been erected in Athens. I can just recollect it. There were but two or three Methodists in Athens at the time. The father of Methodism in Georgia-the Rev. Hope Hull, the ancestor of Mr. Asbury and Dr. Henry Hull-had a country church a few miles froni Athens, in which he preached to a small congregation. Not a vestige of this building is left. My mother united herself to this church with the full and free consent and approbation of my father; and, in fact, he was pleased at the course she adopted, though skeptical himself at the time. She is now the oldest member of the Athens Church, and has through a long life exhibited the power and truth of Christianity.
My father was always delighted with the morality of the Bible, and has often said that it could only have originated from Divinity. The human mind could not have conceived it, as it was far above human thought. He practised the morality of the Bible in his intercourse with his fellow-men ; but the doctrine of salvation by faith in and through Christ seemed to be his stumbling-block. This doctrine was a mystery to him. He believed that man would be judged by his works, and he was working to that end.
As I before stated, he was remarkably charitable, always paying annu- ally his full proportion, to the extent of his means, for the support of the gospel, endeavoring at all times to "render unto Cæsar the things that were Caesar's ;" but he failed to "render unto God the things that were God's." His error consisted in too great reliance on himself, -a fatal error, which many commit. I have often known him to quiet himself by comparing his own life and conduct with unfaithful members of the church, and would frequently ask my mother, who was very solicitous for his conversion to Christianity, whether she would have him exchange his prospects of salvation with these unfaithful members. He has often entered into conversation with my mother on his skeptical views of the doctrine of salvation through Christ; and, although she was not able to compete with him in argument, her pious life was a sufficient refutation. Ilis confidence in her religion was never shaken. IIe was devotedly attached to her, and she had an unbounded influence over him; and I believe she never lost faith in his renouncing his error before his death. In this her faith was fully realized, for before his death he made a public recantation of all his errors on the subject of religion. Many years before his profession of religion I had removed to Columbus, Mississippi, and have a letter from him in which he first announced to me his change of opinion on that subject, an extract from which is here given :-
ATHENS, August 21, 1838.
MY DEAR GEORGE :- Under the late, and doubtless distressing, intelligence you have received of my health, (an attack of paralysis, ) I have supposed that a few lines under my own hand would be peculiarly gratifying to you; and hence the present feeble attempt. I am very far from being restored even to my former con- dition ; but I am certainly in a progress toward it, which I never at one time expected. I have nearly recovered the strength of my afflicted arm and hand, and, in a good degree, regained my speech. Indeed, as to the latter, I feel sensible that its greatest defect arises more from a weakness of the lungs than a musenlar inability of the organs of speech.
I am flattered by medical men, and I flatter myself, that I may ultimately recover; that the rigid regimen under which I am now placed to remove the severity of my last attack will, if it succeed in that object, carry with it the old disease. I confess I am not sanguine, for my old complaint is ahnost too deep-seated to hope for an entire cure. And although I may be measurably relieved from my paralysis, at
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least so as to linger out some few years, yet I dare not hope for a hearty restoration to health ; and taking all my afflictions together, and the periodical and progressive character of their warnings, I have determined to appreciate them, as perhaps they may have been meant, as chastisements intended for my future peace. And it gives me great satisfaction to inform you that, though late, yet I trust not the less comforting, I have thrown myself unfalteringly upon that reliance which has so long been the hope and comfort of yourself and your dear mother.
I have most sincerely repented of my past follies, and do now embrace, with unfeigned sincerity, the truth of the Christian religion ; not that I feel or have felt any secret communication of divine influence upon my heart, any further than as I am impressed with a sense of duty, and as a reasonable service which is due from the creature to his Creator, and that infinite obligation imposed by the ten thou- sand blessings we have enjoyed and do daily enjoy. There is fealty due somewhere for our existence and its numerous favors ; and where does it so properly belong as to their great Author? This I feel, and this sentiment I cherish and cultivate. And, as there is no better code of duty than that furnished in the Bible, I do mnost cheerfully, from this time out, receive it as my guide and director, throwing myself upon its promises in and through the strong assurance of faith. I receive it without further eavil or dispute, and hope finally to realize, by a constant observ- ance of its commands, that I have not made myself the dupe of a blind faith. I hold that a blameless life and conversation, and a perfect conformity to the will of God as known and understood, is the best evidence of a changed heart, and shall try to square my future life by this most reasonable test.
His religious views and feelings from the date of this letter to the time of his death may in a great degree be found in the funeral discourse of Dr. Smith.
In relation to the loan made by the United States Bank, I think my father made a public expose of the whole matter in some of the Georgia papers. The facts were simply these :-
He had borrowed a large sum of money to pay for his shares of stock in the Georgia factory, and carried it with him to Washington City, when he went on to Congress, to settle for the machinery, or his portion of it. When he arrived there, he found the Georgia money which he took with him at considerable discount, and was advised by a friend to send the money to Augusta and procure a check on New York, which could be purchased at a small premium. He sent the money to A. Mckenzie, his commission-merchant in Augusta, with the request that he would purchase a check and forward the same immediately. Mckenzie used the money and he lost it, or the greater portion, which placed him in a very peculiar and distressing situation. Ilis mess (and among them the late Vice-President, Col. King, of Alabama) insisted upon his obtain- ing the money from one of the banks in Washington City, and endorsed his note for him, and thereby enabled him to perform his contract with the party from whom the machinery had been purchased. The note was discounted by the branch of the United States Bank in Washington City, in the due course of business, on short time, and was paid at maturity. Out of this transaction arose the charge, made in a heated political contest, that he had been bought up by the bank, &c. If he ever changed his views and opinions relative to the unconstitutionality of the United States Bank, I am not aware of it; and, even if he did, this purely business- transaction could have furnished no inducement for such a change.
I omitted to mention in the proper place that my father was emphati- cally a prace-maker, and did much good in quieting difficulties between his neighbors. When any difficulty arose between the students and the faculty of Franklin College, (which was frequent, ) the delinquent student always came to him for advice and his influence in adjusting the affair ; and he rarely ever failed in restoring the students to their place in col-
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lege and in the respect and regards of the faculty, as many a graduate of the Georgia University can fully attest.
Since the foregoing was arranged for the press, the author has obtained from a file of the Georgia Journal of November 14, 1831, a copy of Chancellor Kent's letter to Judge Clayton, which is sub- joined, together with the note of Judge C. introducing it :-
MILLEDGEVILLE, November 12, 1831.
MESSRS. EDITORS :- You will confer a favor by publishing the following letter of Chancellor Kent. In making this request, I have only to remark that the sole consideration for making it is to submit the testimony of one, in favor of my legal reputation, whose character as a jurist will entitle his evidence to great weight. He is justly considered the Black- stone of America, and his character as a lawyer stands as high in Europe as it does in his own country. He has never been engaged in either party or political strifes, and his whole life has been devoted to legal research. This publication is asked under not the slightest temper of complaint for my late removal from office ; for I hope I shall have it in my power, at a more convenient season, to lay before my fellow-citizens such a statement of the whole matter as will show there is no necessity, on my part, for either ill-will or reproach.
Respectfully, yours, A. S. CLAYTON.
NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 1831.
DEAR SIR :- I was favored yesterday with your letter of the 3d inst., together with the Southern Recorder of September 29, containing your opinion in the case of the State of Georgia vs. Canatoo.
That opinion has been read by me with great care and attention; and, agreeably to your request, I subjoin the conclusions to which my own mind has arrived in regard to the two material points in the case :-
1. It appears to me that upon the whole the statute applies to the case. I can only judge from the extracts from it contained in your opinion. The statute asserts that the mines alluded to are of right the property of Georgia, and it authorizes the Governor to take possession of those mines, and to employ force to protect them from all further trespass. I presume such forcible possession has been taken, and that the offence alleged against the Cherokee Indian arose subsequently. But the statute is so exceptionable in reference to the rights of the Cherokees to their lands (and which include the mines therein, as well as the trees and herbage and stones thereon ) under the existing treaties with them, and in reference to the Constitution and constitutional authority of the United States, that I agree with you that such a statute should receive an interpretation, if possible, favorable to constitutional and treaty rights. If such a statute does not apply in very terms to the very case of a Cherokee Indian digging in the mines, the benign intendment would be that the Legislature did not intend it, because such an intention would contravene the clear right> of the Cherokees to the undisturbed use and enjoyment of the lands within their territory, secured to them by treaty.
2. But the better way is not to rest upon any such construction, but to go at once, as you have done, to the great and grave question which assumes the statute to have intended to deprive the Cherokees, without
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their consent and without purchase, of the use and enjoyment, in part at least, of their lands secured to them by national treaties, and which calls into discussion the constitutional validity of the statute.
On this point I am entirely with you, and in my opinion your argument is sound and conclusive, and you have examined the subject with candor and accuracy, and with the freedom of judgment which your station and character dictate.
I am almost entirely persuaded that the Cherokee title to the sole use and undisturbed enjoyment of their mines is as entire and perfect as to any part of their lands, or as to any use of them whatever. The occu- pancy in perpetuity to them and their posterity belongs to them of right, and the State of Georgia has no other right in respect to the Indian property in their lands than the right of pre-emption by fair purchase : no other interest in the lands, as property, belongs to the State; and to take possession of the mines by force is substituting violence for law and the obligations of treaty-contract. It appears to be altogether without any foundation to apply the common-law doctrine of waste to the case ; and I cannot but think that the Legislature of Georgia would not have passed the statute if they had duly considered that the Indian lands have never been claimed, or the occupancy of them, in the most free and absolute manner by the Indians, questioned, either by the Royal Governments before the American Revolution, or by the Union, or by any State since, except in open wars, or except the claim was founded upon fair purchase from the Indians themselves.
The proceeding of Georgia in this case is an anomaly, and I think it hurts the credit of free and popular governments and the moral character of our country, and is in direct violation of the constitutional authority of the United States as manifested by treaties and by statutes. I cannot think that the high-spirited, free, and noble race of men who compose the citizens of Georgia would be willing, on reconsideration, to do any such thing.
Yours, respectfully, JAMES KENT.
Hon. A. S. CLAYTON.
VII. PAUL COALSON.
IT is the prevailing custom to speak of the early dead with more than ordinary regret, because, had they lived, there was evidence to justify the hope that they would have reached high places and acted a useful part in the community. If this indulgent view be a weakness, it is at least an amiable one. It can be accounted for by the fact, within every man's experience, that the presence of an object does not afford that interest to the beholder for the time- being which the imagination supplies after the object is withdrawn, and especially when distance or death renders it impossible to be- hold it again. On this principle we invest the memory of a rising young man with a charm which cannot be exerted over us by any amount of living excellence.
The author confesses this relation to the gentleman whose charac- ter is under review. Their acquaintance did not exceed a year on the circuit ; yet in this brief period a warm personal friendship was matured, and greatly increased by the cordial hospitality which the author experienced from Mr. Coalson and his family connections. He was obtaining a good practice in Thomas and the adjoining counties which he attended. In all his cases, whatever the amount or principle involved, great or small, he was equally industrious, sanguine, and persevering. His was a temperament that could submit to labor and at the same time indulge its lively propensi- ties. Truly can it be said of him, that if he had lived twenty or thirty years longer his reputation at the bar would have been enviable. His short history can soon be unfolded.
PAUL COALSON was born in Burke county, Georgia, on the 19th day of August, 1799. After passing through the primary schools of his neighborhood, he was sent to Eatonton, where he was placed under the tuition of Rev. Alonzo Church until he was prepared to enter college. From the school at Eatonton he went to Athens, became a student of Franklin College, and graduated in August. 1824. For the last year or two of his collegiate course he devoted his leisure moments to the study of the law under the direction of Judge Clayton, and, shortly after graduating, was admitted to the bar at Athens.
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In the spring of 1825, Mr. Coalson married Miss Elizabeth G. Blackshear, daughter of Edward Blackshear, Esq., of Thomas county. He continued to reside at Athens the balance of that year, and then removed to Thomas county, where he opened a law-office. That portion of Georgia was then on the Indian frontier, and the abode of a miserable population, such as the adjoining wilds of Florida had invited. Robberies and murders were frequent, some- times perpetrated by white men and most generally shifted off on the Indians. The Hon. Moses Fort, Judge of the Southern Circuit, held the first court in Thomas county in 1826. Two Indians were convicted before him for the offence of murder. They had killed a man by the name of White as the latter and his friends were trying to recapture certain property which the Indians had stolen. The late William H. Torrance, Esq. was appointed by the court to see that the prisoners had a fair trial. His plea to the jurisdic- tion of the court, on the ground that the offence was committed in Florida, (within certain disputed lines,) having been overruled, very little could be said to the merits. The solicitor-general (since ' Judge Warren) had the assistance of Mr. Coalson,-if not in the argument, at least in the evidence. It is presumed, however, that the prosecution needed no very special aid, as there was no adverse public opinion to combat.
When the prisoners were brought before the court to receive sentence of death, they were told through an interpreter what was to be done with them,-hung by the neck until they were dead. The judge omitted to invoke the usual blessing,-" May God have mercy on their souls !"-for the reason that the prisoners did not understand English.
The successor of Judge Fort on the bench was the Honorable Thaddeus G. Holt, who was elected in 1828. In the spring of 1829, the author attended him on the circuit, which then consisted of thirteen counties,-Twiggs, Laurens, Pulaski, Telfair, Irwin, Ap- pling, Ware, Lowndes, Thomas, Decatur, Early, Baker, and Dooly, occupying about nine weeks, and the judge and bar travelling up- ward of six hundred miles to complete the riding. At Lowndes the bar was joined by Mr. Coalson, whose society was ever agree -. able, and his peculiar earnestness in his causes quite refreshing.
By his marriage, Mr. Coalson secured a large family influence, which was of great advantage to him in the profession. Thomas county is well known for the wealth and upright character of many of its citizens, among whom may be mentioned General Thomas E. Blackshear, Thomas Jones, Mitchell Jones, E. R. Young, William
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II. Reynolds, Thomas Wyche, Duncan Ray, Lucien H. Raines, Thomas Mitchell, the late James J. Blackshear, Captain Thomas Johnson, Daniel McIntyre, Col. Richard Mitchell, Nathaniel Mit- chell, Michael Young, and others, all of whom were men of sterling worth and of high position, more or less connected with Mr. Coal- son, and all his especial friends and patrons. The brothers Mitchell were the uncles of Mrs. Coalson, whose mother was Emily G. Mitchell previous to her marriage with Edward Blackshear, in Montgomery county, who died on his large estate in Thomas county in 1829; and on the 23d day of March, 1830, his son-in-law, the warm-hearted Paul Coalson, breathed his last, in the thirty-first year of his age. His eldest son, Edward B. Coalson, is now a wealthy planter in Thomas county, liaving married a niece of the late Major John Young, of Macon county.
In those days (1829 to 1834) several members of the Florida bar practised in the Superior Courts of Georgia, particularly in Thomas and Decatur counties, and by their legal ability and social qualities contributed much to the enjoyment of the profession. Among them were Gen. R. K. Call, since delegate in Congress and Governor of the Territory ; Hon. James D. Westcott, United States Senator ; Hon. Leslie A. Thompson and Hon. Charles H. Dupont, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Florida; IIon. Thomas Baltzell, Circuit Judge ; John K. Campbell, Esq., United States Attorney for the Middle District; James A. Ber- thelot, James A. Dunlap, Francis A. Cash, Philip S. White, (brother of the Hon. Joseph M. White,) Oscar White, his cousin, and Col. Richard HI. Long, formerly of Wilkes county, one of the Broad River Colony mentioned in Gov. Gilmer's work, "Georgians."
Of the gentlemen named above as mingling with their Georgia brethren in the contests of the forum, several are known to be dead. Mr. Campbell was killed in a duel in Thomas county, August, 1833, by Mr. George IIamlin, a merchant of Florida, who died in a few months afterward from distress of mind. Messrs. Dunlap, Cash, Berthelot, and Oscar White are also in the grave.
Before taking leave of the Florida bar, the author will be par- doned for dwelling on the peculiarities of two of its members,- both fine story-tellers and teeming with fun. Mr. Westcott had been a clerk in the State Department while Mr. Van Buren was Speretary, and could imitate the manner and official bearing of the different heads of Department, with Gen. Jackson as the master- spirit. He could repeat with diplomatie gravity or with the easy, con- versational flow of words, as the case might require. The scenes
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were often amusing in the extreme. IIe had imbibed the spirit of cach character, and drew only life-pictures,-nothing like caricature. It was indeed a treat of the highest order to see him in one of his best moods. Ten or fifteen years afterward, in the Senate, he was noted for his independence and wit and racy humor in debate. He had fought a duel with Judge Baltzell.
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