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 37
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7. That these resolutions be entered on the minutes of this court, that they be published in the city papers, and a copy be transmitted to the family of the deceased.
To which Judge Lumpkin, in behalf of the court, responded as fol- lows :-
Judge Dawson acted a prominent part in the State and nation for more than thirty years. He was one of two of the most efficient Senators of the Congress of the United States. He was the intimate and cherished asso- ciate of Clay and Webster, the trusted and confidential adviser of Presi- dent Fillmore,-and thus distinguished and honored was no ordinary citizen.
But, after all, it is as a man that those who knew the deceased best will love to contemplate him. There was a daily beauty in his life which won every heart. He was benevolent, liberal, and charitable, in the best and broadest sense of those terms. His mansion was ever the home of the most elegant hospitality, and the invitation was, "Come one, come all."
The flatterers of George IV. of England were accustomed to speak of that royal debauchee as the "first gentleman in Europe." How much more properly might Wm. C. Dawson be held up to the imitation of all, and especially the young, as the first gentleman in Georgia! To the bar and the people his example in this respect has been of inestimable value. May it long be remembered !
While the deceased never forsook the political opinions which he first embraced, but retained his confidence in them to the last, he was never- theless always remarkable for his moderation ; and even by his political opponents no one in matters of personal delicacy and difficulty was con- fided in morc.
Is not the death of such a man in the prime of manhood a great public loss ? No wonder that a thousand mourners-collected, many of them, from neighboring towns-assembled to witness his funeral. His death stirred, apparently, the popular heart more than that of the great Troup himself or any other contemporary. The truth is that no one had more friends or fewer enemies.
The departure of such a man so suddenly severs so many ties, interrupts
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so many delights, withdraws so many confidenees, leaves such an aching void in the hearts of family and friends, and such a sense of desolation among associates, that, while we bow submissively to the divine decree, our griefs cannot but pour themselves out in heartfelt lamentations.
A true extract from the minutes. ROB'T E. MARTIN, Clerk.
Since the foregoing memoir was prepared, the author has received from the Hon. E. A. NISBET a communication which cannot fail to gratify the immediate friends of Judge DAWSON, as well as the public at large. Knowing their intimate personal relations of long standing, their service together in Congress, their practice at the same bar, the author applied to Judge NISBET for a sketch of his departed friend, to be used in this memoir. Before introducing it, the author takes this method of thanking Judge NISBET. A con- tribution of this kind from one who, besides having filled other high stations with talent and dignity, was eight years on the bench of the Supreme Court of Georgia, leaving in some fifteen volumes of reports the impress of his acknowledged genius, exact scholarship, and great legal ability, is of no common value ; and, as such, it is with peculiar satisfaction given here as an
ADDITIONAL SKETCH. "Si quid loquar audiendum."-HOR. lib. iv. Ode 2.
I am very sure that this brief sketch of one of Georgia's best men will speak something worthy of being heard. Biography more than history is philosophy teaching by example. What men have done men may do again. Example is the living teacher. Obstacles overcome, impediments removed, competition mastered, wealth attained, and distinction won, are incentives to virtue aud stimulants to effort. Errors corrected and vices eradicated are lights to guide and beacons to warn. Honor and fame, fairly achieved, stir the spirits of noble men to a generous emulation. Professional rivalry is one of the chief sources of professional greatness. One good and great man reproduces himself by acting upon that principle in our nature which constrains us to admire virtue and to emulate greatness.
There is something very beautiful in the rivalry of really great men: it is sometimes, indeed, a sublime spectacle. Take the career of two great lawyers for example,-the two Seotts, Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell. They were brothers in blood and kindred in genius. Their emulation was not one of interest, but for renown. Starting upon the same level, they ran an equal though divergent course. The triumphs of one but guaranteed the triumphs of the other. The glory of one reflected glory upon the other. The reputation of each was a joint possession. They ran abreast and together reached the goal. They entered the British peerage, and their names are immortal. Our own country affords illustrious instances of professional contests waged by the Anaks of the law,-contests far exceeding in interest the most gorgeous displays of imperial gladiatorship at Rome,-contests which arouse a city, command the criticism of the
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press, enlist the sympathies of women, and attract the observation of a nation. Such an one was exhibited in the trial of Burr at Richmond. Such was the first trial of strength at Boston, between Mr. Wirt and Mr. Webster, in the case of Farnum, admr., rs. Brooks,-the former a Southern champion, armed with learning, eloquence, wit, and a national reputation, the latter an Eastern savan, ponderous in solid lore, brilliant in all the furniture of letters, an adroit rhetorician, and of peerless pro- fessional renown. This was a contest in which we are constrained to admit that the vanquished was no less a victor than he who conquered. It is a study for the ambitious young men of the Union. In conten- plating, let them look deeper into it than the forensic scene will allow. Let them reflect how much of intense labor, how much of uprightness, and how much of elegant culture entered into the fitness of such men for such a struggle. Emulation of Hortensius contributed to make Cicero- who was the wisest and best of all the Pagan world-the foremost orator of all ages. Hortensius was, on account of his eloquence, called King of the Forum :- " in fero ob eloquentiam rege causarum." Cicero wrested the sceptre from his hand and wielded it without a rival.
Now, I do not propose to place Judge DAWSON in the same niche with these immortal names. His position as a lawyer was far below theirs, albeit not wanting in elevation. His sense of truth and justice would, were he alive, be shocked by such a pretension. It is not necessary ; since, without that, he was entitled to the respect of the world for virtues peculiarly his own, and for a position in itself distinguished. These reflec- tions are germain to the purposes of this publication. Those purposes are to bring before the country the character of deceased members of the bar of Georgia; to illustrate the action of free government upon a profession which has more to do in its actual administration than any other; to demonstrate the fact that lawyers are the greatest of all the conservators of liberty ; to inspire among the people a truer estimate of the professional character ; to stimulate to honor, zeal, and industry that great body of men who. aspire to the distinctions of the bar; and, further, to perpetuate those intellectual peculiarities and amiable qualities of heart which have so strikingly characterized the profession. It is sad to reflect that, whilst the profession of the law exacts the severest labor, demands the most pro- found learning and the most liberal cultivation, and evokes the most bril- liant displays of genius, yet it affords no record, for the most part, of the greatness of its ornaments. We would catch the glory as it flies and fix it upon the memory of men. To this end we present an outline-sketch of the lamented Dawson.
WILLIAM C. DAWSON was born in Greene county, Georgia, of respect- able parentage,-a county among the first settled in the interior, and which has given birth to more men of note than any other in the State. At the time when his parents settled in Greene it was a frontier-county. The Indians had not been removed from the western bank of the Oconee, and they, in common with others, eucountered the hardships and perils incident to all early settlements in our Western and Southwestern States. Privations, self-denial, self-reliance, and courage were among their virtues and their experiences. I mention these things to show that Judge DAW- SON sprung from a vigorous, sturdy stock, and claims nothing upon the score of birth and the aids which numerous friends, strong connections, and accumulated wealth bestow, in behalf of the honors which awaited
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him. His parents were honest and frugal, "well-to-do" for that day, and appreciated the advantages of education so high as to bestow upon their son the best that the country could at that time afford. That they gave, and left him to become the artificer of his own fortunes. We shall see that he framed them well, and cut his way to the highest places in the State. His academic course was taken under the direction, first, of the Rev. Dr. Cumming, a Scotch-Irish divine of great learning and picty, and, afterward, at the county academy in the town of Greensboro. At an early age he entered Franklin College, the State university, and was graduated from that institution in 1816. Upon leaving college he entered at once upon the study of the law in the office of Hon. Thos. W." Cobb, at Lexington. With Mr. Cobb, who was one of the leading lawyers and politicians of the State, and scarcely inferior to any man in-it for strength of mind and enlightened statesmanship, he remained about one year, when he entered the law-school at Litchfield, Connecticut, under the care of Judges Reeve and Gould, two of the most accomplished jurists in New England, and the best law-instructors then in the Union. Having taken a full course of lectures at Litchfield, he returned home and was admitted to the bar in Greensboro in 1818. There, in the county of his nativity, he opened an office and entered at once upon the labors of the profession. He came to the bar at a time when its honors and cmolu- ments were severely contested. There were reapers in the field beside himself,-men of active, cultivated minds, ambitious hopes, and ardent, energetic purposes. By the time of Mr. DAWSON's maturity the Oemul- gee circuit had become one of the best in the State. Its rich counties had filled with a wealthy and highly-respectable population ; its social, business, and political advantages, together with the reputation of some of the judges who had presided over it, attracted to it the best talent of the State. It was then, and is yet, distinguished for the ability and energy of its bar.
To contend with such men was no holiday-sport; but our débutant girded himself for the struggle. With a joyous heart, a buoyant tempera- ment, and a vigorous constitution, he buckled on the professional harness. Soon his clients began to multiply and fees to cheer his toil. He was not long in taking position in the first rank of the Ocmulgee bar,-a position which he always maintained with honor and also with profit. With liberal habits of living, his profession soon made him independent. He is yet another illustration of the fact that in our country the profession is the road to wealth and fame, and also . that it is the mean by which the most salutary clements of character are made available in influencing the affairs of communities and nations. With the exception of the short period of time that Judge DAWSON was on the bench of the Ocmulgee circuit, and of those longer periods devoted exclusively to politics, he was, up to the day of his death, a laborious practitioner. He may be said to have died in harness; for, after he became a member of the United States Senate, the recess of Congress was occupied with professional labors. At the latest period of his life he mingled freely, and with his wonted effective- ness and relish, in the contests of the bar. Like the mettled habitue of the turf, when he approached the field of his former struggles he inconti- nently took the course. This figure is not only apt as an illustration, but in harmony with his tastes, for he delighted in the sports of the turf and of the field. His hounds and blooded steeds were his subordinate pets. He loved the echo of the mellow horn, the dashing ride, the in-coming at
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the death, and the festive glee that crowned the chase. Upon such occa- sions the dignity of the Senator gave place to the harmless abandon of the boy.
For many years all other things were subordinated to his profession. I will not say that he was born a statesman, but I should not err much if I should say that he was born a politician. Yet the necessities of his family and the wants of others more or less dependent upon him, acting upon his clear sense of personal obligation in his private relations, constrained him to hold in check his fondness for political life ; and if at this early day he had visions of political glory, it was "distance that lent enchantment to the view." In connection with his professional life it may be remarked that in 1828, being then a young man, he was elected by the Legislature to compile the statutes of Georgia. This commission he executed to the satisfaction of the General Assembly and of the profession at large. In 1845 he was appointed by Gov. Crawford to fill a vacancy on the bench of the Ocmulgee circuit. When the Legislature convened, he declined being a candidate for the bench, and returned to the practice, influenced to this course, no doubt, by a desire to pursue the more brilliant career of Congressional life then opening to his view. Had he desired it, there can be no doubt but that he would have been elected to the bench, and that without opposition from his own party, then in the ascendant in the Legis- lature. The term of his presidency over the Ocmulgee circuit was short, and, as the opinions of the circuit judges are not reported, he has left no record of his judicial mind. His manner upon the bench was patient, urbane, and frank, his intercourse with the bar always pleasant; and into this service he carried those habits of industry which have characterized him everywhere. Wherever he has been placed, he has been a working- man. A large professional experience, a clear, strong sense of justice, unimpeached and unimpeachable honesty of purpose, and assiduous atten- tion to every thing appertaining to his office, combined to give to his administration such a character of fairness and consistency and efficiency as left no room for the complaints or censures of the most critical of all reviewers,-an able bar. Although the most affable of men, open to the approaches of every honest class of the people at appropriate times, relishing keenly the flash of forensic wit and the play of popular humor, and despising that false dignity which so often covers shallow minds and cold hearts, yet few of our judges maintained with better effect the grave earnestness, the quiet order, and the solemn authority so necessary to the administration of justice. With steady hand he balanced the scales; and the best commentary upon his brief administration is found in the uncom- plaining acquiescence of bar and people in the soundness, independence, and impartiality of his judgments.
In a survey of Judge DAWSON's professional character, his friends are struck with his industry. IIe was always found present at the opening and adjournment of his courts. Whether remote or near at hand, his attendance was always prompt and continuous with the term. I have before adverted to the fact that he permitted no other engagement, no call of business, or invitation of pleasure, or attractiveness of pursuit, to with- draw him from his practice. This was eminently true during the earlier years of his professional life. The result was that his clients multiplied and business accumulated on his hands. His clients enlisted not only his professional ability, but his personal sympathy. He identified himself with his cause; and, whilst they relied upon him as the advocate and
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jurist, they courted his presence as a friend. His demonstrations of per- sonal regard for those who retained him as a lawyer were not the fruit of policy, but were the developments of a kind and affectionate nature. In the courts and in tavern-halls, on the wayside and in grave assemblies, his sympathies with the people found means of expression. Without effort on his part, he was always the centre of a listening crowd, eager to know his opinions and to catch the playful humor of his conversation. He knew more men personally than any man of his day; and those he did not know he seemed to know. A cordial grasp of the hand, a word of recognition, a bow, a pleasant inquiry, or a bantering salutation, as well as good offices, were the price which he was wont to pay for golden opinions. But let it not be understood that for selfish ends he thus bought the favor of the people. That a man of his sagacity should not know that such means would result in available popularity is not a possible conclusion ; yet those who knew him well are convinced that, irrespective of availability to such an end, his mode of intercourse would have been the same. As proof of his attrac- tiveness as a man, and in memory of the kindliness of his nature, let it. be recorded that many of his clients, whilst opposed to him in opinion, sustained him as a politician. Rarely, indeed, do party-ties yield to the claims of private friendship. The former are usually stronger than even those of nature. The personal qualities referred to, with his firm mind and strong, pure character, made him for many years the most popular man in Georgia.
His knowledge of men was very remarkable, as well as his tact in their management. If required to name that quality of mind which, more than any other, contributed to a career as a lawyer and statesman which cannot be designated otherwise than as brilliant, I should point to his power of insight into character. No man knew better how to control the conduct of others by touching those springs of action which are hid from the ordinary observer. This faculty was native; yet it derived efficiency from a large experience. He studied men as some people study books, and made a better use of them than philosophers often make of the facts of science. In the extracting of testimony from an unwilling witness. in its elucidation before the jury, in the selection of jurymen, in "fencing and foining" with an adversary, in detecting the idiosyncrasies of the judge, and more especially in exposing fraud lurking in the details of complicated transactions, it availed him as an instrument of tremen- dous power. Shrewd and quick of eye, he was prompt to scize a vantage- ground, to recover from a false move, or to discover and storm the weak points in a cause. He knew when to beat a retreat, or how to capitulate with the honors of war,-to break the force of an argument by a timely jest, or to overwhelm his antagonist with the clear, outstanding equity of his case. And if, perchance, there was any thing ludicrous in the claims or conduct of the adverse litigant, he was wont to ignore gravity and "laugh the case out of court." Without disparaging his learning, it may be conceded that he was most powerful in the management of a cause and as an advocate.
In legal discussions he relied more upon elementary principles than adjudicated cases, and was greatly indebted to the native suggestions of a vigorous mind. His was not the error of crushing a case under accumu- lated authority, or the folly of stifling it in a cloud of remote analogies. If it was not his habit (like his great contemporary, John Macpherson Ber- rien) to reduce an argument to mathematical exactness whilst he clothed
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it in the drapery of the most exquisite rhetoric, yet it was his good for- tune to see the strong points of a cause and to present them with a sturdy logic.
Judge Dawson was noted among his brethren for his skill in settling cases out of court,-more especially such as he foresaw would scarcely be settled favorably in the court-house. He knew the value of compro- mising. Nor is it otherwise than true that his out-door settlements were characterized by liberality and forbearance. At all events, the loser not unfrequently came out of his hands believing that he was, after all, the favored party.
It was his thorough knowledge of human nature that enabled him to adapt himself with such peculiar facility to the company he might chance to be in. He was not a learned man; yet he was at home more than most men in a circle of savans. And he was equally at his ease on the streets of Greensboro and at the dinings of Count Bodisco, at Wash- ington. He was all things to all men,-not in the sense of hypocritical adaptation, but of amiable accommodation.
The person is to be considered in acquiring correct views of a man. Especially is it an element of strength or of weakness in oratory. In this regard he was favored. He was above medium height, but well knit, combining strength with activity. His face would attract the observation of a stranger, not because of its intellectuality, but through its benevo- lent and various expression. His voice was strong, his walk elastic, and his attitude erect. And pleasant indeed it was to observe the move- ments of his small, quick, vigilant, and hilarious gray eyes. He was a free and ready speaker, rather vehement in manner, handling facts with adroitness and arguments with force. He owed little to the schools or the classics. He was not wanting in sensibility, (the soul of true elo- quence,) nor in a just appreciation of great themes or great occasions. Hence his most successful efforts were made when some great question of popular right had stirred the masses, or the life or estate of a client hung upon the verdict of a jury. At such times he was eloquent. Sensible himself to every generous or noble or compassionate emotion, and detest- ing every form of meanness, I have seen the listening jury melt beneath his appeals or glow beneath the fire of his denunciations.
The writer has often heard him say that he was a diffident man, and that he rarely arose to address the court or jury without a distressing sense of embarrassment. His contemporaries, who have for years wit- nessed his easy self-reliance in the court-room, I am sure will be slow to believe this. Yet I am not myself incredulous. The inward experience, I have no doubt, was as he represented it, but not so the external exhibi- tion. A strong will and long habitude enabled him to master-and that very effectually-any natural tendencies toward diffidence or self-distrust. Like every other wise man, he felt the insufficiency of his knowledge and the limited range of his capabilities; and, like every other determined man, he disciplined his nature to put forth its strength wlien the neces- sities of times and occasions required it.
In a review of Judge DAWSON's political career, one has occasion to note the influence of the profession upon his success, and also upon his political opinions. The law has been often called the stepping-stone to politics,-which means, I suppose, that it is an available instrument to be used in the outset of political life. Usage has sanctioned this phrase- ology, as expressing truly the relation between the science of the law and
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the science of government. I protest against the phrase and the idea which it conveys, as degrading to the most honorable of all the merely secular professions. The practice of the law brings its votary prominently before the people. The discussions of the court-house make him known and create for him a public character,-a popularity which brings politi- cal promotion, beginning usually in the county of his residence, and not unfrequently terminating in the highest offices of the National Govern- ment. Standing upon this stone, he steps into politics. Thus far and no farther is this saying true.
But, in truth, the science of the law is inseparably connected with the science of government, embracing as the latter does the rights of men as political communities with reference to political constitutions, and the rights of nations with reference to each other. Constitutional law and the laws of nations are not separable from municipal law. The study and application of the laws which regulate personal rights are not distinguish- able from the study and application of the principles of good government, nor from those rules which prescribe the rights and obligations of states in the great community of nations. The study of each and all of these is the study of the wide, deep science of justice among men. Without amplifying upon so great a theme, it may be assumed as true that no man can be a great American statesman without being a profound lawyer. And it is generally true that an able lawyer, if an honest man, will be a liberal yet a conservative statesman. He whose mind is thoroughly im- bued with the principles of the common law, of the civil law, and of the equity jurisprudence of England and America can scarcely be an unsound politician. It is therefore claimed for Judge DAWSON that his training as a lawyer contributed greatly to make him a conservative, enlightened poli- tician ; for all these he was.
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