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 28
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If there was any rational ground to expect that by a longer prosecution of the war we should ultimately succeed in compelling the enemy to re- linquish, by treaty, the practice of impressment, I would not hesitate to
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continue the war. I believe there is no such reasonable ground of expec- tation, unless we are disposed to bequeath this war to our sons. * * * * X
* *
The Russian officers now in Paris who have been in England are highly disgusted with that nation. They speak of a war with Austria as certain. In this I think they are mistaken. If war breaks out on the Continent, I presume England, in her present temper, must have a finger in it. In this question, however, as she has no resentments to gratify, she will be governed by her interest. She will, therefore, be against that power which is most commercial and the destruction of whose commerce will tend most directly to her interest.
I must really apologize to you for the length of my letters.
Present me most respectfully to your colleagues, and accept yourself the assurance of my most sincere friendship.
P.S .- Mr. Carroll leaves Paris sooner than I expected. I will send your passport by Mr. Todd.
Remember me to the young gentlemen of the mission.
MR. CRAWFORD TO MR. CLAY.
PARIS, July 19, 1814.
MY DEAR SIR :- The departure of Messrs. Blanchard and Elliot for Ghent enables me to send you the passport which I have obtained for you. They will be able to give you the ephemeral news of this capital.
I dined a few days ago in company with the Marquis of Buckingham- shire. We conversed long and freely upon the subject of the approaching negotiation. The result of our conversation was that there can be no peace. He insists absolutely that the question shall be settled in this treaty, and, of course, that it shall be settled entirely in their favor. He attempted to derive their right to take (for he insisted upon dropping the word impressment, to which I assented) their seamen from our vessels, from the law of nations.
It is certainly a pleasant reflection that two such men as Mr. Crawford and Mr. Clay, men of gigantic intellect, of expanding greatness at home, should both be engaged abroad in the diplo- matic service of their country-one as Minister Plenipotentiary and the other as Commissioner Extraordinary-in the midst of the convulsions of Europe. How they both acquitted themselves of the high trusts committed to them, history has long since declared. Honor and gratitude awaited their return. The picture of social communion between these eminent citizens while on another conti- nent is rendered still more attractive by the rivalry which it was . their fortune to maintain, ten years afterward, for the first office in the Government. But they had too much nobility of spirit to suffer this conflict of parties to change the personal relations of the two great leaders. The narrative will bring them together again in friendly correspondence after both have filled places in the Cabinet.
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From the time of accepting the mission to France in 1814, Mr. Crawford continued in high Executive employments until March 4, 1825, when he retired to private life, after declining a reappointment as Secretary of the Treasury, tendered him by President Adams. Some of the events of that period will be here noticed.
On the 3d of March, 1815, Mr. Crawford's appointment as Secretary of War, on the nomination by President Madison, was confirmed by the Senate of the United States. During the recess, October 22, 1816, he was transferred to the Treasury Department. On the coming in of President Monroe's administration, March 4, 1817, Mr. Crawford was again nominated to the same office, and confirmed the next day. He continued in the office of Secretary of the Treasury through both terms of President Monroe. His official reports have been justly ranked with the ablest that ever emanated from that Department. Indeed, he was a worthy suc- cessor of such financiers as Hamilton, Gallatin, and Dallas, and the equal of any one of them in the ability to investigate and the logic to unfold the intricacies of political science. It is not deemed necessary to refer to any documents for the truth of this assertion. Congress, the heads of Department, the verdict of the country, have affirmed it for the last thirty years. No higher authority can be adduced for any movement affecting the public revenue than the opinion of Mr. Crawford. Extracts from his reports and other official papers are often submitted by his successors in office to justify particular acts. The precedent has the authority of a judicial determination.
From the time he entered the Cabinet, Mr. Crawford was looked to by the public as a suitable man for President of the United States. At the session of 1822-23 he was nominated in a caucus of the Republican members of Congress. During the campaign his claims were examined by the partisan press, and he was sub- jected to the most bitter and unjust persecution. Those who desire to see the machinery used in preparing for a Presidential canvass are referred to the letter of the Hon. John Elliott, a Senator in Congress from Georgia, to be found in the Appendix* to this volume ; and those who are curious to see the result officially stated will be informed by the letter of the Hon. R. II. Wilde, (No. 131,) also in the Appendix.
Perhaps at no stage of this memoir could a letter from Mr.
* Memoir of Gen. Blackshear,-No. 125 of the papers attached.
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Jefferson to Mr. Crawford, relative to the defeat of the latter for President, be more appropriately introduced. It has never before been made public ; and it is permitted to appear only at the special desire of the author of this work, expressed in a communication to the gentleman* who furnished it.
THOMAS JEFFERSON TO WILLIAM II. CRAWFORD.
MONTICELLO, February 15, 1825.
DEAR SIR :- Your two letters, of January 31 and February 4, were received in due time. With the former came safely the seeds from Mr. Appleton, which I commit to the Agricultural Society of our county, of which Mr. Madison is president.
Of the talents and qualifications of Dr. Jackson as a professor in the branches of science specified in your last letter, your recommendation would have had great weight in our estimation ; but our professors are all designated, so that we have no vacancy in which we can avail ourselves of his services.
I had kept back my acknowledgment of these letters, in the hope I might have added in it congratulations which would have been very cordially offered. I learned yesterday, however, that events had not been what we had wished. The disappointment will be deeply felt by our State generally, and by no one in it more seriously than myself. I con- fess that what we have seen in the course of this election has very much damped the confidence I had hitherto reposed in the discretion of my fellow-citizens. The ignorance of character, the personal partialities, and the inattention to the qualifications which ought to have guided their choice, augur ill of the wisdom of our future course. Looking, too, to Congress, my hopes are not strengthened. A decided majority there seem to measure their powers only by what they may think, or pretend to think, for the general welfare of the States. All limitations, therefore, are prostrated, and the general welfare in name, but consolidation in effect, is now the principle of every department of the Government.
I have not long to witness this ; but it adds another to the motives by which the decays of nature so finely prepare us for welcoming the hour of exit from this state of being. Be assured that in your retirement you will carry with you my confidence, and sincere prayers for your health, happiness, and prosperity. TH. JEFFERSON.
Testimony from so distinguished a quarter-from the founder of the Republican party in the United States, no less a man than the author of the Declaration of American Independence himself, and one of the most learned and sagacious politicians the world has . ever produced-must have been gratifying to Mr. Crawford at the time, as it will remain an enduring memorial, honorable to his memory.
* George M. Dudley, Esq., son-in-law of Mr. Crawford, -having married his eldest daughter, Caroline, who was the amanuensis of her father during his affliction while Secretary of the Treasury.
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After his return to Georgia, Mr. Crawford visited Milledgeville in the early part of the session of 1825,-when the Clark party had a majority in both branches of the Legislature, though Troup had been elected Governor at the same election. The civilities of a public dinner were tendered and accepted, as the following cor- respondence will show :-
MILLEDGEVILLE, November 11, 1825.
SIR :- The citizens of the town of Milledgeville, not less disposed to honor and respect virtue and integrity than those of any other town, State, or country, have (influenced by a degree of proper respect for the well-earned merits of a distinguished citizen of Georgia) determined to pay you that attention which, in their opinion, is appropriately due you. They have therefore resolved to manifest to you and their country their esteem for your public and private worth, by giving to you a public enter- tainment during your stay among them, and have, in pursuance thereof, directed the undersigned to notify you of the same, and give you the invitation so determined on by our citizens, and further to know of you when it will be convenient for you to attend.
With considerations of high regard, we have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servants, HINES HOLT,
J. S. CALHOUN, WM. H. TORRANCE, LUCIUS Q. C. LAMAR, WM. Y. HANSELL.
Hon. WM. H. CRAWFORD.
MR. CRAWFORD'S REPLY.
MILLEDGEVILLE, November 11, 1825.
GENTLEMEN :- Your friendly letter of this date, inviting me to a public dinner, has been just received. I accept the invitation with great plea- sure, under a conviction that testimonials of this nature may operate as a stimulus to virtuous exertion and therefore may be useful to the Republic. For your kind expression in relation to myself, be pleased, gentlemen, to accept my most grateful thanks, both individually and collectively.
I am, gentlemen, with sentiments of high consideration, your most obe- dient servant and fellow-citizen, WM. II. CRAWFORD. To Hines Holt, J. S. Calhoun, Win. II. Torrance, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, and Wnr. Y. Hansell, Esquires.
Among the toasts offered on the occasion were the following :-
6. Our distinguished guest .- Reared in the school of Republicans, public employments at home and abroad have not impaired the simplicity of his character.
By the Hon. Wm. II. Crawford .- Education, the frequency and free- dom of elections, the main pillars of Constitutional government.
Before tracing Mr. Crawford any farther, the author begs leave to incorporate in this memoir portions of a letter from Col. Dudley, in reply to one requesting information relative to Mr. Crawford,
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which had not been published, and especially in regard to the manner of preparing his Treasury reports while he was confined to his room by the long and painful illness which alone, in the opinion of many, prevented his election to the Presidency. Though perhaps intended as a private letter, the author relies upon the kindness of Col. Dudley to excuse the liberty here taken :-
The notice taken of him [Mr. Crawford] by Col. Benton, in his book, is quite as impartial as his friends had a right to expect; and his testi- mony is the more valuable because given by one whose politieal position inelined him to aeeord no more to Mr. Crawford than exaet justice seemed to demand.
The facts in respect to Mr. Crawford's last report as Secretary of the Treasury are about these. He could not see to write at all, nor had he the physical ability to encounter the labor of preparing his report. Mr. Forsyth, among others, kindly offered to write it out for him. This offer was accepted, and Mr. F. was furnished with the outlines needed to frame the report. The report was drawn up by Mr. Forsyth and submitted to Mr. Crawford for approval before signature. In consequence, no doubt, of the pressure of Mr. Forsyth's official engagements, and not from any want of ability or lack of kindness to Mr. Crawford, the report was not satisfactory, and it was considered necessary to write it over again. Mr. Crawford sent for Asbury Diekens to come to his bedside and learn the facts in detail necessary to be embodied, and from them. to prepare a full and perfect report. Mr. Dickens made several attempts to write out the report before it was satisfactory, but at last succeeded to Mr. Crawford's entire satisfaction.
It is true that his daughter did much of his writing, but generally at his own dietation. Nothing official escaped his severest serutiny before it was given to the publie. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Crawford seems to have retained fewer copies of his letters and papers than any man who ever occupied the position he did before the public view. Having always a contempt for intrigue, he never seems to have suspected anybody, and was the last to believe that anybody was plotting against him. His daughter frequently signed his name to official papers, at his request, during his illness ; and those signatures were generally taken to be his own, even by those best acquainted with his autograph. In this way some of his friends never, in truth, understood the force and violence of his disease, but constantly affirmed that he could not be so siek as he was represented to be; because, they said, it was impossible for a man even partially paralyzed to write his name as he wrote it,-so firm, so bold, so manly, was the signature. There was also a very striking resemblance between his own and his daughter's handwriting in general, as well as in respect to the signature.
In consequence of the strong personal attachment shown Mr. Crawford . by Mr. Bayard, Mr. Louis MeLane, and other distinguished and magna- nimous disciples of the Federal school of politics, as well as in consequence of his advocating the national bank, he was at one time called a Federal- ist. Perhaps the dauntless intrepidity with which Mr. MeLane sus- tained his claims to the Presideney in the darkest hour of his political fortunes gave strength and vigor to the imputation. But, while we feel assured that to account for Mr. MeLane's vote on the ground of party or
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personal attachment alone would be doing great injustice to his character, we are equally well assured that Mr. Crawford's high respect and cordial friendship for Mr. McLane, and other members of the Federal party, never impaired in the slightest degree his devotion to the doctrines which distinguished the Republican party from the days of Jefferson to the pre- sent hour.
There was an incident connected with Mr. Crawford's appointment as minister to the court of St. Cloud, by President Madison, which adds another to the many proofs of the magnanimity of the latter, and shows how far above selfish considerations he placed what he believed to be the public weal. At the opening of the session of Congress preceding this appointment, Mr. Crawford had indulged in some severe strictures upon the President's message. Among other things, he compared it to the axioms of the Delphic oracle, which meant any thing or nothing as best comported with the taste of the inquirer. The North and East were opposed to the war,-though it was on their account principally that war was declared,-while the South and West were for it. "This message," said Mr. Crawford, " is sufficiently Delphic for either point of the con- pass." A less philosophical temperament, a less magnanimous and patriotic President, might have been so vexed with the speaker as to have declined all further intercourse with him. But not so Mr. Madison. Times and circumstances pointed to Mr. Crawford as a suitable minister to France ; and he was appointed without hesitation, notwithstanding his severe criticisms upon the message.
Though Mr. Crawford has told us of the bow he made on his pre- sentation to the Emperor Napoleon, his modesty prevented him from saying what special honors he received in return. We are indebted to his secretary* of legation and others for the following incident. By these it is stated that Napoleon was so much struck with his firm step, his lofty bearing, his tall, manly, and imposing figure, decorated for the first time in whatever additional grandeur the splendors of the court-dress of the Empire can throw around one of nature's noblest mould, the mild radiance of his clear blue eyes, and the undisturbed serenity of his eloquent counte- nance, he avowed that Mr. Crawford was the only man to whom he had ever felt constrained to bow, and that on that occasion he had invo- luntarily bowed twice as he received the minister from the United States. The homage thus paid him by the Emperor was said to be a rare if not unprecedented occurrence at this court. The Emperor was one of those who observed, upon looking at Mr. Crawford, that he was among the few distinguished men whose actual appearance more than realized what one anticipated before seeing him.
I herewith send you a copy of a letter received by Mr. Crawford from Mr. Jefferson immediately after Mr. Adams' election by the House of Representatives, in 1825, and which mainly refers to that event, and is an expression of sentiment by Mr. Jefferson upon the result of that election.
Mr. Crawford's health was very much shattered by his attack at Washington City described in the foregoing letter. His speech was so injured that it cost him much effort at times to articulate
* The late Dr. Henry Jackson.
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distinctly. In this respect, however, he continued to improve, and was once more a very interesting talker, though always laboring under some difficulty in the vocal organs.
A vacancy having occurred on the bench of the Northern cir- cuit by the death of Judge Dooly, in May, 1827, Gov. Troup ap- pointed Mr. Crawford to fill it until the meeting of the Legislature. His commission as judge bore date June 1, 1827. In November of that year, he was elected by the Legislature to serve out the term of Judge Dooly, which was until the session of 1828, at which time Judge Crawford was re-elected for a full term. He was also re-elected in 1831, being two complete terms, besides filling the vacancy.
During his time there was no court for the correction of errors in Georgia. There was a convention of the circuit judges author- ized by law, annually, to consult on questions submitted by each other ; but no judgment could be rendered by the convention, and its action was altogether advisory,-which often answered a good purpose, better than if no such arrangement had existed. During the seven years that he presided as Judge of the Superior Court, Judge Crawford acted as chairman of the convention. For the sake of securing uniformity, he issued the following notification, which appeared in the Southern Recorder of November 20, 1830 :-
DECISIONS OF THE JUDGES.
Whereas, it is provided, among other things, in the 1st section of the 3d article of the Constitution, that the Superior Court " shall have power to correct errors in inferior jurisdictions by writ of certiorari, as well as errors in the Superior Courts, and to order new trials on proper and legal grounds : provided, that such new trials shall be determined, and such errors committed, in the Superior Court of the county in which such action originated." And, by the 55th section of the Judiciary Act of 1799, it is also declared that the Superior Courts " shall have power to correct errors and grant new trials in any cause depending in any of the said Superior Courts, in such manner and under such rules and regulations as they may establish according to law and the usages and customs of courts."
Now, for the more effectual execution of the foregoing powers conferred upon the Superior Court, and for producing uniformity of decision and con- structions of law throughout the circuits of the State, it is resolved by the judges of said courts that they will convene semi-annually at Milledgeville, in the fall, according to the law requiring a convention of judges, and in the spring, at such time as the chairman may appoint, after the close of the present session of the Legislature ; and that each judge will bring to the meeting a docket of such causes in which legal questions have arisen, where, in his opinion, error may have been committed in the decision thereof, or where the same may be of so doubtful a nature as to require the advice and aid of the other judges ; and the said dockets shall be severally takeu up by the meeting, and the cases duly considered by the judges, upon such written
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argument as each party may choose to furnish, and, after ascertaining the opinion of a majority of the judges in each case, the judge to whose circuit the same may belong shall determine the same, in the county where said action originated, according to the advice and opinion received in the said meeting of the judges.
WM. H. CRAWFORD, Chairman.
MILLEDGEVILLE, November 3, 1830.
This reference to the Judiciary Act of 1799 must have revived his early professional labors when, with Horatio Marbury, thirty years before, Judge Crawford compiled the first digest of the laws of Georgia, -a work executed with considerable skill in the arrange- ments and references. The Colonial Acts and Orders in Council were sifted and classified with the laws passed since, which made the compilation of the utmost value. It is even now occasionally resorted to, and some very unexpected statute or clause giving a proper interpretation is evoked, to the dismay of counsel and the failure of suitors.
While indulging in these reflections, the mind of the ex-Secretary of the Treasury, and now presiding chairman of the Convention of Judges, (the only substitute Georgia then had for a court of errors,) must have recalled his associate tutor in the Richmond Academy, the Hon. Chas. Tait, whose fortunes also became conspicuous. He held the office of Judge of the Western circuit from 1803 to 1809, and served as a Senator in Congress from 1809 to 1819, when President Monroe appointed him Judge of the United States Dis- trict Court for Alabama, which caused him to remove to that State. He exercised the office six years, and resigned in 1825. Judge Tait was a native of Louisa county, Virginia, and removed to Georgia in early life. He died at his residence in Wilcox county, Alabama, on the 7th day of October, 1835, at the age of sixty- eight years, an upright citizen and a Christian. This brief allusion to him is deemed appropriate in the memoir of Judge Crawford, to connect their memories on the same page, testifying the mutual friendship which existed between them to the last.
Having been actively engaged in high trusts under the Federal Government for a series of years, and, of course, altogether with- drawn from the practice of the courts, Judge Crawford no doubt felt himself a little embarrassed by the judicial commission issued to him by Gov. Troup in 1827. But, as in every thing where duty called, he went boldly forward and gave the people of his circuit a wise and just administration. In the mean time he did not for- get his old friend and rival Henry Clay, (then Secretary of State,) to whom he addressed the following letter :-
1
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WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD.
WOODLAWN, February 4, 1828.
MY DEAR SIR :- Enclosed is a letter for Mr. Poinsett, our minister in Mexico, which I will thank you to forward to Mr. Poinsett with as little delay as is consistent with your convenience. The object of the letter is to obtain from him some of the productions of Mexico which will probably succeed in the Southern and Western States. Perhaps an intimation from the Secretary of State on this subject may be productive of good effects.
I hope you know me too well to suppose that I have countenanced the charge of corruption which has been reiterated against you. The truth is, I approved of your vote for Mr. Adams when it was given, and should have voted as you did between Jackson and Adams. But candor compels me to say that I disapproved of your accepting an office from him. You ought, I think, to have foreseen that his administration could hardly fail to be unpopular. Those who knew his temper, disposition, and political opinions, entertained no doubt upon the subject. By accepting the office of Secretary of State from him you have indisputably connected your for- tunes with his. And it appears to me that he is destined to fall as his father did, and you must fall with him. This State could not have been driven under the banners of Jackson by any other course of measures than that pursued by the administration toward it. Mr. Adams's general measures would not have ranged the State under Jackson's standard. Mr. Adams has professed to consider the Federal Government limited by the enumerated powers; yet he has recommended to Congress to erect light- houses to the skies,-a recommendation utterly inconsistent with the idea of the Government being limited by the enumerated powers. This re- commendation, it appears to me, can be supported by no other construc- tion than that Congress can do any thing which is not expressly forbidden by the Constitution. The whole of his first message to Congress is replete with doctrines which I hold to be unconstitutional.
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