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 29
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Present my respects to Mrs. Clay, and accept the same yourself.
WM. H. CRAWFORD.
MR. CLAY TO MR. CRAWFORD.
WASHINGTON, February 18, 1828.
MY DEAR SIR :- I received your letter of the 4th instant, and I will take pleasure in having forwarded the letter which it enclosed to Mr. Poinsett, with the first public despatches. I should not hesitate to inti- mate to him my wish that he would comply with your request for the Mexican seeds, etc., if I were not persuaded that it would be altogether unnecessary for me to second any expression of your desire to him. Our country needs much the multiplication of the products of the earth, as well as of industry otherwise applied; and he deserves well of it who will introduce a new, or more successfully cultivate an old, article of agri- culture.
I do, my dear sir, know you too well to suppose that you ever counte- hanced the charge of corruption against me. No man of sense and candor-at least, none that know me-ever could or did countenance it. Your frank admission that you would have voted as I did between Mr.
* The letters in this memoir that passed between Mr. Crawford and Mr. Clay are copied from the Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, edited by the late Dr. Colton.
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Adams and General Jackson accords with the estimate I have always made of your intelligence, your independence, and your patriotism. Nor am I at all surprised or dissatisfied with the expression of your opinion that I erred in accepting the place which I now hold. When two courses present themselves in human affairs, and one only is pursued, experience develops the errors of the selection which has been made. Those which would have attended the adoption of the opposite course can only be a matter of speculation. Thus it is in the case referred to. We see, or think we see, distinctly the errors of the alternative which I embraced. But are we sure that, if I had chosen the other, I should not have been liable to greater hazard or more animadversion? The truth is (as I have often said) my condition was full of embarrassments, whatever way I might act.
My own judgment was rather opposed to my acceptance of the Depart- ment of State ; but my friends and (let me add) two of your best friends (Mr. McLane, of Delaware, and Mr. Forsyth) urged me strongly not to decline it. It was represented by my friends that I would get no credit for the forbearance, but that, on the contrary, it would be said that that very forbearance was evidence of my having made a bargain, though unwilling to execute it. The office, they thought, was an office of the nation, not of the actual Presidential incumbent; and I was bound to look to the good of the country, and not to regard any personal objections which I had to him. "Can you, who have contributed," said they, " to the elec- tion of Mr. Adams, decline the Department of State ? Will you not be charged, if you do, with having co-operated in the election of a man of whom you think so ill that you will not serve in one of the highest places in the public councils with him ? Even if he should be wanting in any of the requisite qualifications for the station to which he has been elevated, you are the more bound for that very reason to accept, in order to endeavor to guard the country against any danger from his mal- administration. Your enemies have sought by previous denunciation to frighten you. They do not believe that you have acted otherwise than from motives of the purest patriotism; but they wish to alarm you and prevent you from entering the Department of State."
These and other similar arguments were pressed on me; and, after a week's deliberation, I yielded to their force. It is quite possible that I may have erred; and you may be right in predicting, as a consequence of my decision, that, being identified with Mr. Adams's administration, if he falls I shall fall. Should such be my fate, I shall submit to it, I hope, with the fortitude of a philosopher, if not with the resignation of a Christian. I shall at least have no cause of self-reproach ; for I will undertake to affirm (and I appeal with confidence to Him who knows best the human heart for the truth of the affirmation) that, throughout my public life, in the many trying situations in which I have been placed, I have been guided exclusively by the consideration of the good of my country. You say that I ought to have forescen that Mr. Adams's ad- ministration could hardly fail to be unpopular. I certainly did not fore- see that the tree would be judged of otherwise than by its fruits. But the popularity of a particular course or proceeding (although I will not pretend that I have been altogether regardless of it) has not been the deciding motive with me of my public conduct. Is the measure right? Will it conduce to the general happiness and the elevation of the national character? These have been always my first and most anxious inquiries.
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WILLIAM II. CRAWFORD.
I had fears of Mr. Adams's temper and disposition, but I must say that they have not been realized; and I have found in him, since I have been associated with him in the Executive Government, as little to censure or condemn as I could have expected in any man. Truth compels me to say that I have heartily approved of the leading measures of his admi- nistration, not excepting those which relate to Georgia. I have not time, if I had ability and it were necessary, to vindicate them. But, my dear sir, I must invoke your frankness and justice to reconsider the only exceptionable measure which you have specified,-that of his recom- mendation of light-houses to the skies. It is not the metaphor, I pre- sume, but the thing, (an observatory,) which has provoked your censure. And can you justly censure Mr. Adams for a recommendation which almost every previous President has made ? If there be no power in the General Government to authorize the erection of an observatory within the limits of a State, is there none to sanction its location in this Dis- trict ? The message, I believe, was silent as to the place where it should be built.
But I will dwell no longer on public affairs. I should not have touched the topic but for your friendly allusion to it. I turn from it with pleasure to the recollection of our amicable relations. Whatever you may have thought, or may have been sought to be infused into your mind, my friendly feelings toward you have never ceased ; and, although our corre- spondence has been interrupted four or five years, I have always enter- tained a lively solicitude for your welfare and availed myself of every op- portunity to inquire particularly about your health and situation. I have heard with unaffected pleasure of the improvement of your health. That it may be perfectly re-established, and that you may be long spared for the benefit of your family and the good of your country, is the sincere wish of your faithful friend and obedient servant, II. CLAY.
These two letters do equal credit to both gentlemen, and show the sincerity of their friendship. Besides, they are illustrative of the times to which they refer, and, for that purpose, are historical.
The merry criticism pronounced by Judge Crawford on that part of Mr. Adams's first message which relates to light-houses to the skies induced the author to search for it, and, if palpably un- warranted, to join in the condemnation rather than make defence. The author confesses that he never was an admirer of Mr. Adams as a politician or as a Chief-Magistrate; yet he will do him perfect justice in this matter, even at the expense of Judge Crawford's generally accurate views. The following is the recommendation assailed by Judge Crawford from President Adams's message of December 6, 1825 :-
Connected with the establishment of an university, or separate from it, might be undertaken the erection of an astronomical observatory, with provision for the support of an astronomer, to be in constant attendance of observation upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for the periodical publication of his observations. It is with no feeling of pride as an American that the remark may be made that, in the comparatively small VOL. 1 .- 16
١ .. . بخدعاً ماكانت٤٠-0 25
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territorial surface of Europe, there are existing upward of one hundred and thirty of these light-houses of the skies, while throughout the whole American hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries which, in the last four centuries, have been made in the physical constitution of the universe by the means of these buildings and of observers stationed in them, shall we doubt their usefulness to any nation ? And while scarcely a year passes over our heads without bring- ing some new astronomical discovery to light, which we must fain receive at second-hand from Europe, are we not cutting ourselves off from the means of returning light for light, while we have neither observatory nor observer upon our half of the globe and the earth revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes?
Whether the power be rightfully in Congress or not, the Con- stitution has been so understood since the time of Judge Crawford as to allow the erection of a National Observatory, which has done much for science, competing with similar establishments in Eng- land, France, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe, in the discovery of new planets and other phenomena of the heavenly bodies, thereby rendering the name of Lieutenant Maury *- already fa- mous for his charts of the ocean-an honor to his country and his race, attracting the homage of kings and the wise men of the earth, who load him with their courtesies. The Observatory at Washington is nothing more nor less than the fulfilment of Mr. Adams's recommendation at the public expense, or, rather, to the public gain ; for the laws of nature are made subservient to com- merce, and commerce is the life of a nation.
While in the Senate of the United States, Judge Crawford maintained the constitutionality of a national bank; and the benefits of such an institution were fully demonstrated while he acted as Secretary of the Treasury. The following letter is sub- mitted as his last on the subject :-
WOODLAWN, December 5, 1831.
DEAR SIR :- Your friendly letter on the subject of the Bank of the United States has been received by due course of mail. The opinion which I formed of the constitutionality and expediency of the Bank of the United States when I was a member of the Senate was the result of a careful examination of the Constitution of the United States, made with- out any preconceived opinions. That opinion is recorded in two speeches which I made in the Senate in the year 1811. Since that time I have had no occasion of reviewing the question. My opinion remains un- altered.
I was Secretary of the Treasury more than eight years; and, during that time, I had ample evidence of the great utility of the Bank of the United States in managing the fiscal concerns of the Union. I am per-
* Author of " The Physical Geography of the Sea,"-a work of profound learn- ing and curious speculation : the ablest ever published on the subject.
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suaded that no man, whatever his preconceived opinions may be [can study the subject] without being deeply impressed with the expediency of the Bank of the United States in conducting the finances of the Union. The provision in the Constitution which gives Congress the power to pass all laws which may be necessary and proper to carry into effect the enu- merated powers gives Congress the right to pass the Bank Bill, unless a law most proper to carry into effect the power to collect and distribute revenue should be excluded by the provision.
The opponents of the constitutionality of the bank place great stress upon the word "necessary," contained in the grant of power, and insist that no law can be necessary but such that without which the power could not be carried into effect. Now, this construction appears to me to be inde- fensible. It does seem to me that the words "necessary and proper" cannot exclude a law that is most proper to carry the power into effect. Yet the unconstitutionality of the bank can be pronounced only upon that construction. It does appear to me that the framers of the Constitution never could have intended to exclude the passage of a law most proper to carry a power into effect because it might be carried imperfectly into effect by another law. My construction of the grant of power to pass all laws which may be necessary to carry the enumerated powers into effect, includes the power to pass all laws which are necessary and proper to carry the enumerated powers into effect in the most perfect and complete man- ner, and not in an incomplete and imperfect manner.
I have not seen a complete development of the President's plan of a bank. It is possible that by his plan the transmission of the revenue may be effected ; but the safety of the public deposits cannot be effected by the President's plan. The advantage of this security to the public is incalculable. It ought not to be relinquished unless it can be satisfactorily proved that the Bank of the United States is unconstitutional.
This, I think, cannot be satisfactorily shown. My speeches are re- corded, and can be republished if necessary. They contain the result of the best investigation I was able to give the subject. I am persuaded I could not improve upon it now if I had the means of investigating the subject, which I have not.
I am, sir, your friend, &c., WM. H. CRAWFORD.
CHARLES JARED INGERSOLL, Esq.
Nothing more remains to be added respecting the public life of Judge Crawford. He was a man of mark,-one of a century. The author heard a gentleman* of distinguished ability and posi- tion in another State once remark that the HIon. Nathaniel Macon was asked to state who of the great men of his acquaintance excelled in strength of mind and simplicity of expression. Ilis reply was in substance that he had been upon familiar terms with Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and with the members of their Cabinets, besides other men high in the public favor; but for vigor
* The late Ilon. William M. Murphy, of Alabama, whose father was a near neighbor of, and intimate with, Mr. Macon.
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of intellect, and the power to present things forcibly to the mind, he was compelled to say that Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, was the greatest man he ever saw.
Mentally and physically he was of gigantic mould. The author never saw Judge Crawford until his health was in ruins. His noble frame was palsied and unsteady, trembling as he walked ; yet he towered above all other men just as an old feudal castle looks by the side of common buildings. The author was once in his com- pany at the house of a mutual friend* and witnessed his colloquial talent. He never saw him afterward.
A few passages from the workt of Gov. Gilmer respecting Mr. Crawford are selected :-
He had arrived at manhood before his education extended beyond the rudiments of learning. His quick apprehension and retentive memory enabled him to master the Latin and Greek languages in the shortest pos- sible time, and to comprehend and enjoy with peculiar zest the beauties of the best ancient writers. He never lost his relish for Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Xenophon, and Homer. He continued to attend the examinations of academies and colleges to enjoy the pleasure of renewed acquaintance with his old favorites. And yet he was above the vanity of display, and entirely free from pedantry.
Again :-
I was a member of Congress whilst Mr. Crawford was Secretary of the Treasury, and had frequent opportunities of observing his singular capacity for business, his contempt for pretences, his excellent memory, and the sagacity which enabled him to bring into the service of his department the best assistants which could be had for the performance of what was to be done. Rascals received no countenance from him, and when he was deceived he told them so and dismissed them.
The improper use of lobelia by Mr. Crawford for an attack of erysipelas, through the advice of an unskilful physician, whilst he was temporarily absent from Washington City, brought on paralysis, from which he never entirely recovered. The electioncering for the Presidency was then going on very actively. He was never sensible of the injurious effects of the disease upon his mind, and refused to withdraw from the canvass.
Further :-
HIe made a better judge than seemed to be possible to those who were familiar with his paralyzed state. His clear and conscientious sense of right, and extraordinary recollection of what he had known in early life, kept him in the straight course.
.* The late William H. Torrance, of Mille Igeville, in November, 1833. Among the gentlemen present besides Judge Crawford, the author recollects the, late Judge Strong, the late W. W. Gordon, Esq., and Col. Seaborn Jones.
+ Georgians, p. 126, &c.
-----
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WILLIAM II. CRAWFORD.
He was violently opposed to the nullification movement, considering it but an ebullition excited by Mr. Calhoun's overleaping ambition.
In another place :-
He retained his social temper and admirable conversational talents to the end of his life. He loved to tell anecdotes and told them well. He saw the knob and made others feel it. He was a capital laugher, and cared not a fig, when at his greatest elevation, for artificial dignity. He was as affectionate to his children as a father could be, loving them heartily and learning them to treat him familiarly and confidingly. To his children, friends, and neighbors, he was what they liked best and admired most.
The author regrets that he was unable to obtain as abundant materials as he desireed, to do justice to the character of this remarkable man ; but he has gathered up a few fragments which he persuades himself will prove interesting to the public. While on his way to the courts of his circuit, Judge Crawford died in Elbert county, at the house of Mr. Valentine Meriwether, from a disease of the heart, on the 15th day of September, 1834, in the sixty-third year of his age.
While struggling to overcome the poverty of his youth, and just as he was launching into professional success, Mr. Crawford mar- ried Miss Gardine, with whom he lived in great happiness. She and several children survived him. The Rev. Nathaniel M. Craw- ford, late President of Mercer University, and William H. Crawford, Esq., of Lee county, are sons of the Hon. William H. Crawford,- worthy inheritors of an illustrious name.
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NOTE TO THE MEMOIR.
The electoral votes given for President in 1824 were 261, of of which Andrew Jackson received 99; John Quincy Adams, 84; William H. Crawford, 41; and Henry Clay, 37. Of the support given to Mr. Crawford, 5 electoral votes were from the State of New York ; 2 from Delaware; 1 from Maryland; 24 (all) from Virginia ; and 9 (all) from Georgia. In the House of Representa- tives Mr. Crawford received the votes of four States,-Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.
The following is a statement of votes cast by the Electoral Col- lege of Georgia for President and Vice-President of the United States, from 1788 to 1856 inclusive :-
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BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
ELECTIONS FOR PRESIDENT.
FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. VOTES.
John Milton 2
James Armstrong 1 Edward Telfair 1
Benjamin Lincoln 1-5
1792. George Washington,
George Clinton
4
1796. Thomas Jefferson,
Aaron Burr 4
1800. Thomas Jefferson,
Aaron Burr 4
1804. Thomas Jefferson,
George Clinton
6
1808. James Madison,
George Clinton
6
1812. James Madison,
Elbridge Gerry 8
1816. James Monroe,
Daniel D. Tompkins. 8
Daniel D. Tompkins 8
Martin Van Buren 9
William Smith .. 7
. John C. Calhoun 2- .9
Martin Van Buren 11
1836. Hugh L. White,
1840. William H. Harrison,
1844. James K. Polk,
George M. Dallas 11
Millard Fillmore 11
William R. King 10
John C. Breckinridge 10
This table contains the names of two gentlemen who became very bitter in their enmity toward each other,-Mr. Crawford and Mr. Calhoun. Their feud originated in the Presidential canvass of 1824, and was increased by the disclosures from Mr. Monroe's Cabinet which led to the quarrel between President Jackson and Vice-President Calhoun, and to the dissolution of the Cabinet in 1831. The details, or even an outline of this matter, to do all par- ties justice, would occupy more space than a memoir of this kind would authorize.
When the Presidential election of 1824-25, took place, General Lafayette was in the United States. He had been a warm per- sonal friend of Mr. Crawford at Paris, and visited his sick-chamber at Washington, sympathizing in his affliction and anxious to see him in the place which the "Father of his country" dignified by his example. Gen. Lafayette and Mr. Crawford both died in 1834.
The following paragraph is from the pen of the IIon. J. F. II. Claiborne, formerly a Representative in Congress from Missis- sippi :-
1820. James Monroe,
1824. William H. Crawford,
1828. Andrew Jackson,
1832. Andrew Jackson,
John Tyler 11
John Tyler 11
1848. Zachary Taylor,
1852. Franklin Pierce,
1856. James Buchanan,
1788. George Washington,
181
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WILLIAM CROCKER.
Mr. Crawford was a man of colossal stature and of massive intellect. In astronomy or mathematics he would have been pre-eminent. No man in this or any other country had a more thorough and orthodox knowledge of political economy, and especially of finance. He spoke with great cogency and wielded a luminous pen. A Virginian by birth and educa- tion, he carried the political opinions of the renowned commonwealth iuto Georgia, and, until he was stricken down by paralysis on the threshold of the Presidency, she never wavered from the true Jeffersonian faith. Her subsequent career has been one of inconsistency and error, until lately she has taken her stand as the Empire State of Democracy,-great in her resources, great in her moral and physical development, great in the ability and reputation of her sons.
X.
WILLIAM CROCKER.
THIS work of biography is not confined to men of the greatest professional eminence, who attained office and honors as the reward of their talents. Many such are included. There is another class equally entitled to praise,-the laborious, faithful, and upright, who leave the impress of their virtues upon the community in which they acted their parts,-men who discharged all trusts with fidelity, and deported themselves with courtesy to the bench and to their professional brethren. It has rarely been permitted any individual who pursues the law to excel in all its branches. A man may be a good draftsman and conveyancer, and also a safe adviser on legal questions, yet not flippant of tongue, for want of self-confidence. He may investigate deeply and closely, preparing cases in the most complete manner, and yet be unable to argue thein cogently before the court or jury. He may be a skilful equity pleader, a master of equity practice, and still deficient in the principles and proceedings at law, where the rules of interpre- tation and the logic of the judges are so variant in the English and American courts that confusion instead of certainty is often the result of patient investigation,-a tangled web which requires the vigor of a Mansfield to cut by the merits of each case as pre- sented. Analogy is good, and precedent will answer when the reasoning applies,-no further. Though knotty questions are fre- quent and perplexing, yet their solution is often as much a plea-
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sure to the mind as victory in a cause. This, however, by way of prelude.
His friends never claimed for him qualities at the bar other than sound judgment and unquestionable integrity, and to these WIL- LIAM CROCKER had perfect title. He was born in Virginia, Sep- tember 1, 1777, and in early manhood came to Georgia, first settling in Wilkes county, where he taught school several years, and married Miss Mary Long, one of whose sisters was the wife of Elijah Clark, brother of Gov. Clark. He afterward read law under Judge Early, and, removing to Watkinsville, he was admitted to the bar in 1810, at a term of the Superior Court of Clark county, of which the Hon. Thomas P. Carnes was the presiding judge. The father of Mrs. Crocker was Evans Long, of Wilkes county, an officer in the American Revolution.
In the mean time Mr. Crocker had undertaken the mercantile business, which, in a year or two, proved unfortunate. He then resumed his former occupation as a teacher, at which he remained but a short time ; for in November, 1810, he removed to Twiggs county, where his pecuniary troubles soon ended. He gradually obtained a good practice, much of it commercial paper, and in eight or ten years his march to prosperity was quite rapid. From 1811 to 1815 the old dockets show that Moses Fort, the brothers Stephen Willis Harris and Thomas W. Harris, Eli S. Shorter, Robert Rutherford, Bedney Franklin, Scaborn Jones, Thomas Fitch, Christopher B. Strong, Adam G. Saffold, - Donoho, and James S. Frierson, were regular practitioners in Twiggs Superior Court, and from 1815 to 1825, besides these, other lawyers attended, among whom were James Smith, Samuel Rockwell, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Joel Crawford, - Hepburn, - Moffett, (the two latter killed in duels,) - Burch, John H. Howard, Albert G. Clopton, Charles J. McDonald, William II. Torrance, Alfred Iverson, Charles Fenton Mercer Betton, Samuel Lowther, Zachariah B. Hargrove, Thaddeus G. Holt, Robert Augustus Beall, Samuel Gainer, Robert L. Perryman, Robert A. Evans, &c., -the six latter being resident attorneys of Marion, the county- site. This period of fifteen years embraces the practice which was most profitable to Mr. Crocker.
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