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 42
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Political ambition was not a prominent trait in the character of Peter Early; but he had not been many years at the bar before popular opinion began to point him out for the public service. The fruits of an early and judicious training manifested themselves so often and so signally in his
* Hon. Joel Crawford.
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professional achievements, and perhaps, above all, the universal estimate that was placed on his probity as a man and a patriot was such, that the people demanded his services in terms too flattering and too urgent to be resisted. His election to a seat in Congress, in 1802, was carried by a majority of votes seldom cqualled in this or any other State.
In the House of Representatives Mr. Early was an efficient member. On important committees his reports gave proof of industry and re- search, and in debate he certainly ranked among the ablest of his asso- ciates. With the exception of Abraham Baldwin,-that eminent man whom Georgia, so long and so much to the credit of her discerning and patriotic population, delighted to honor,-the State has never had a re- presentative in Congress whose services contributed more to sustain her dignity and honor than Peter Early. Among the notable transactions in which he bore a leading part may be mentioned the act to prohibit the African slave-trade, and also the impeachment and trial of Samuel Chase, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Whatever guilt may be chargeable to Judge Chase's administration of the law, he was doubtless a jurist of acknowledged ability, and as cer- tainly a political partisan of no ordinary zeal. No functionary supported with more earnestness and energy the measures of the first Adams wheu President of the United States. Few, probably, had less respect for those republican principles which lic at the foundation of our American Constitutions. He was an ultra Federalist; and, in presiding at the trial of more than one criminal prosecution for alleged breaches of the famous alien and sedition laws, he incurred the suspicion of gross and vindictive bias against the prisoners. Public resentment rose to a pitch that could not be satisfied with any thing less than the impeachment of the judge; and, during the session of 1803-04, articles of impeachment were pre- ferred on motion of Mr. Randolph, and in due time he was arraigned at the bar of the Senate for trial. The House of Representatives-the constitutional prosecutor in such cases-had appointed a committee to conduct the impeachment, one of which was Mr. Early. John Ran- dolph, of Roanoke, and four or five other members of high rank, belonged to this committee, and took part in the discussions before the court. It has been said, however, that, in force and true forensic eloquence, the argument delivered by the member from Georgia was decidedly the best. Aaron Burr, then Vice-President of the United States, presided with an austere dignity peculiar to the man, and with a stringency of adminis- tration which some suppose to have caused a reaction in favor of the ac- cused. Chase was imminently in peril of conviction, -- from which, indeed, he could not have escaped, according to the recorded vote on several spe- cifications, had a finding of guilty by a less number than two-thirds of the Senate been practicable. His counsel during the trial were Messrs. Martin, Harper, Hopkinson, and Key, who assisted in the defence.
Mr. Early continued to be re-elected to Congress until the condition of his domestic affairs about the year 1807 required his presence at home, when he voluntarily retired for the purpose of resuming his practice at the bar. But, about this time, a recent acquisition of territory lying between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers was formed, by an act of the Legislature, into a new judicial circuit. That the services of Mr. Early might be secured for the bench of the Ocmulgee circuit, the boundaries were extended so as to embrace the county of Greene, in which he had his residence and which had previously belonged to the Western circuit.
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IIe was elected without opposition, and continued to discharge the duties of the bench with distinguished ability until the fall of 1813. It would be difficult to name a qualification for this office which he did not possess in more than usual excellence. To an accurate knowledge of law he united clearness and promptitude of perception, commanding elocution, and a natural dignity of manner which announced at once a conscious rectitude of purpose and a firm determination to carry it into effect.
The judge was fond of society, and was himself to some extent an agreeable companion; but few gentlemen had less wit, humor, and what is usually called address, than he. His whole education and all the habits of his life had been so decidedly pacific that it may well be doubted whether he could have encountered with becoming firmness scenes of personal danger ; but his firmness and fidelity to official duty never failed him, and it is probable that no terrors of an ordinary character could have swerved him from a proper fulfilment of all such obligations. It is not remembered that he was ever absent from the time and place of opening the several courts of his circuit, and he rarely if ever adjourned a court without disposing of the entire docket, unless prevented by accidental cause. Such are the infirmities of human nature that a faithful adminis- tration of justice is not apt to attract to its ministers much of the friend- ship and favor of the people at large : the task of deciding on the adverse claims of litigant parties, especially when the fiat of the presiding judge was so conclusive as it was under the wretched judiciary system of Georgia before the establishment of our Supreme Court, was not likely to bring much popularity to the most able and upright of all judges. But the first judge of the Ocmulgee circuit had the gratification to know that he pos- sessed the confidence of all classes up to the day of his retirement from the bench.
In the fall of 1813, Judge Early was elected Governor of the State. At this period the United States were at war with Great Britain, and the Governor found the labors of office greatly augmented by repeated calls for the organization, equipment, and supply of militia-corps detached for the national service. On this new theatre of action he displayed not only his wonted capacity for business, but a zeal for the successful prosecution of the war at least equal to that of any other functionary in the United States of his position and grade. Scorning the base example of Strong and Chittenden, contemporaneous Governors of Massachusetts and Ver- mont, he not only carried into prompt execution the various orders and requisitions of the Federal Government, but on more occasions than one assumed responsibilities in making the funds and other resources of the State subservient to the prosecution of the war. His entire administra- tion, civil and military, met the approbation of all classes up to the day on which he returned, with his official veto, to the House in which it ori- ginated, a bill for continuing in force what was called, in the jargon of the times, " the Alleviating Law."
This may not be an appropriate occasion to expose the absurd and cor- rupt policy out of which the several acts of the General Assembly sprang which had for their object the suspension of legal process to enforce the collection of debts. Under the sufferance of the Judiciary Department, it prevailed, with various modifications, for a period of about six years : it swayed most of the popular elections from the summer of 1808 to the fall of 1814, when it received the coup-de-grace of the Governor's veto. Many counties, from year to year, sent representatives pledged to a con-
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tinuanec of this iniquitous measure; and, considering the long period through which it had run, and its blighting influence on the public morals, it is a matter of wonder that an electoral college characterized as the General Assembly then was should have placed a man who was not only a profound lawyer, but almost a personification of justice, in the chair of the Executive Magistrate. It is only to be accounted for by reference to the extraordinary popularity of Peter Early and the inherent blindness and imbecility of persons bent on the perpetration of vicious deeds. Whilst demagogues of the most profligate character were carrying their own elections at home by invoking the aid of motives not less delusive than disgraceful, they seem to have forgotten that in conferring power on such a man as Early they were preparing to consummate the destruction of their darling policy. They made a fortunate mistake,-fortunate for the whole country, themselves included. The State was rescued from the pernicious consequences of an enormous folly ; and of this the popular conviction has been so pervading and permanent that no one, since that time, has had the temerity to propose the enactment of another law " to alleviate the condition of debtors."
The Executive veto is a conservative power found, probably, in every Constitution, State or Federal, in the United States : it has been seldom exercised, and never on better grounds or with better effect than in the instance here stated. All its consequences were beneficial to the country, except only the failure of the Governor in his canvass for re-election. The discomfited majority reappeared at the ensuing fall election, and found means to supersede Gov. Early with a man* whose practical politics gave them as little satisfaction as that of his defeated predecessor. But with Gov. Early the loss of office did not involve the loss of publie con- sideration and esteem, much less the friendship and admiration of all who were able to appreciate the true value of his official probity and firmness.
Had the message of Gov. Early discussed nothing but the constitutional question,-had he been content to demonstrate the invalidity of an act of the State Legislature, because it "impaired the obligation of contraets," as the law in question certainly did,-the veto might have been forgiven and forgotten ; but, in remarking on the deleterious tendencies of such legislation on the publie morals, he uttered a sarcasm which was too appli- cable to the ease in hand, and too afflictive to those on whom it fell, to admit of pardon or palliation.
The Governor returned to his estate in Greene, and, with the exception of two or three years as Senator of that county, never afterward took any part in the political affairs of the country.
When quite a young man, Mr. Early married Miss Smith, of Wilkes county, sister of Colonel-afterward General-Thomas A. Smith, of the United States army. The offspring of this marriage were a daughter, (now Mrs. Jones, of Alabama, ) and two or three sons, all of whom removed some few years after the death of their father to the State of Missouri. The Governor's death happened about the year 1822.
A friend; of the author of more than thirty years' standing has kindly furnished the following recollections :-
Judge Early wore the ermine with case, dignity, and grace. I never
* Gov. Mitchell.
Dr. John G. Slappey.
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السنوات
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PETER EARLY.
saw his cqual in this respect. Next to Gov. Troup, I consider him the greatest man who has figured in the annals of Georgia. I will give my impressions as best I can.
In court Judge Early knew no parties, but maintained his office with the sternest proprieties, and measured out justice with an even balance. There was a peculiarity about the corners of his mouth which I never saw in any other man's. His lips were forever compressed and firm. I never saw him smile. His countenance had more of sadness than cheer- fulness, yet indicative of the deepest reflection. On his seat he was erect and commanding in his position, with his arms most generally folded across his breast and one knee thrown over the other. He seldom altered this posture. He looked severe and haughty : yet he was dignified with- out the least affectation. His mind was in perfect correspondence with his body; and it never hesitated or faltered, but took in at a glance and comprehended instantly whatever was presented to it. Having drawn his inferences with that sound judgment for which he was distinguished, he rarely saw cause to change his opinion. He possessed the highest degree of self-respect, and knew how to respect the bar and others. All questions or points in a case before him he met promptly and decided positively. There was nothing negative or vacillating in the character of Judge Early. In all respects he was a perfect specimen of a man, and a model judge.
Believing that the profession would be glad to see the message of Gov. Early returning the Alleviation Bill, with his reasons for not approving it, a copy is subjoined, as follows :-
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, GEORGIA, MILLEDGEVILLE, 11th November, 1814. TO THE SENATE :- I have received and attentively considered the bill which has passed the two Houses of the General Assembly, entitled An act to continue in force an act to alleviate the condition of debtors, passed the sixth day of December, 1813. The result of this consideration is that I am compelled, by a sense of duty which cannot be dispensed with, to return the bill with my dissent. It is due to the Legislature that my reasons should be assigned.
In the first place, it appears that the principle of our alleviating-laws is opposed to the Constitution. On this question there has been much nice and able reasoning, and men of strong discernment as well as sound judg- ment have been found to differ. But it is the paramount duty of every public functionary to act on his own judgment : he can have no legitimate guide but this and his conscience. Believing, then, as I do, that the bill now returned to the Legislature does in principle impair the obligation of contracts, I cannot give it my assent. Secondly, the principle of our alleviating-laws is, in my opinion, unwise and inexpedient. It is now more than six years since the commencement of this system. During the inter- vening period, produce and property, although sometimes low in price, yet at others have yielded an abundant profit. Debtors in the mean time have made crop after erop. Those who were disposed to pay have done so ; those otherwise inclined have diverted their income to other objects ; whilst interest, with a constantly-accumulating hand, has been added to their embarrassments. The tendency of this bill is to continue the destructive course. The present customary price of produce, though not high, is yet sufficient for moderate profit ; and although the publie burdens
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are increased by the war, and are likely to become more so, yet the same state of war creates a market for articles of provision to an extent of which no former times afford an example. The quantity of money in circulation, so far from being diminished, has greatly increased, and must continue to do so. The business of war in its various departments gives employment and profit to thousands who otherwise would have neither. The increased burdens of the war are therefore at least balanced by the increase of the sources of profit.
Contracts between individuals are matters of private right, and no reason of State can justify an interference with them. They are sacred things, and the hand of Government can never touch them without impairing public confidence. The alleviating system is believed to be injurious to the moral principles of the community. It accustoms men to consider their contracts as imposing no moral obligation, and, by making fraud familiar, destroys the pride of honesty. On the ground of expediency also, then, I feel compelled to withhold my assent from the bill. These views are respectfully submitted to the Legislature, and the bill herewith returned to the branch in which it originated.
PETER EARLY, Governor.
Nov. 16, 1814 .- The Senate took up the bill to continue in force An act supplementary to, and amendatory of, an act to alleviate the condition of debtors, passed the sixth day of December, 1813, which was dissented to by his Excellency the Governor; and on the question, Shall this bill constitutionally pass ? it was determined in the negative; and the yeas and nays, being required, are Yeas, 20; Nays, 15 .- Senate Journal, 1814, p. 38.
NOTE TO THE MEMOIR OF GOV. EARLY.
In the Appendix to this volume the reader will find some twenty letters or more from Gov. Early, incorporated in the memoir of Gen. Blackshear. Having reason to believe that many valuable papers connected with the public service had been preserved by Gen. Blackshear, the author applied to his sons for permission to examine, with a view of throwing light on some of the characters in his work. The request was kindly granted, and the search resulted in the discovery of a mass of letters and documents of such importance, relating to the war on the frontier and sea-coast of Georgia in 1813-14, that he determined to embody them in a connected form-so arranged as to be easily referred to-in an Appendix to the volume which contained the memoir of Gov. Early.
The letters from Gov. Early to Gen. Blackshear may be seen in the Appendix,-Nos. 18, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 31, 38, 41, 43, 50, 62, 67, 74, 80, 81, 89, 90, 91, 100, 101.
Appendix.
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MEMOIR
OF
GEN. DAVID BLACKSHEAR,
INCLUDING
LETTERS FROM GOVERNORS IRWIN, JACKSON, MITCHELL, EARLY, AND RABUN,
AND FROM
MAJOR-GENERAL MCINTOSH, BRIGADIER-GENERAL FLOYD.
AND OTHER OFFICERS OF THE ARMY IN THE WAR OF 1813-14 ON THE FRONTIER AND SEA-COAST OF GEORGIA;
AND ALSO
LETTERS FROM MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, DR. MOSES WADDEL, AND OTHERS.
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APPENDIX.
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MEMOIR OF GEN. DAVID BLACKSHEAR.
THE ancestors of DAVID BLACKSHEAR were Germans. John Martin Francks,* James Blackshear, Philip Miller, and other immigrants came to America about the year 1732, and landed at New Berne, the colony-town established in North Carolina by the Baron De Graffenreid. They procured boats and ascended the river Trent some twenty miles, where they put ashore their goods and families. The country was unoccupied : the wilderness was not broken or a tree scarred by the axe when this little band of Europeans, with lusty sinews, brave hearts, and toiling hands, cast their destiny in the New World. They had no horses, no cattle, and, of course, no conveyance, nor could they obtain any, to trans- port their household stock which they brought with them from Germany,-bedding, clothing, provisions, and cooking-implements, and such other articles as they had provided for their forest home. They had no alternative but to pack as much upon each person as his or her strength would carry ; for the families were noble speci- mens of mankind, full of health and of great physical endurance.
Thus equipped for the journey, they took up the line of march, and halted at what was afterward called New Germany, seven
* The author has had in his possession many years, among old family papers, the original passport, of which the following is a copy :-
North
Carolina, ss. PERMIT the bearers hereof, William Franck and Theobold Christler, freemen, to pass through this Colony unmolested, in their way to Pensilvania, they beheaving themselves as becometh.
GIVEN under my hand, this 10th Day of Sept. 1733. Martin Franck, Jacob Gist.
To all whom it may Concern.
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miles above the present village of Trenton, in then Craven, now Jones county. While on the way, laden with household goods, one of the females was assaulted by a half-grown bull, who, not liking the bundles or dinner-pots which she carried on her head, rushed at them with considerable fury. The matron, or damsel, whichever it was, seized her adversary by the horns and instantly twisted him over on his back, quietly remarking, "See that ugly calf!" There was no renewal of the attack .* The settlers at once went to work, entered land under the Colonial Government, and soon began to prosper and multiply.
Mr. Francks and his wife Civil had two daughters, named Catharine and Barbara. The former married Mr. Bush, one of the settlers, by whom she had two sons, John and William, and one daughter, Mary, who was born January 3, 1757. About this time Mr. Bush died, and his widow in a reasonable time intermarried with James Blackshear, and became the mother of eight other children, of whom DAVID BLACKSHEAR, the subject of this memoir, was the third. He was born on Chinquapin Creek, 'near Trent River, about seven miles above Trenton, on the 31st day of January, 1764.
Schools in those days were scarce. Occasionally a man could be engaged for three months-seldom for a longer time-in the same neighborhood. As a class, teachers were then a roving set, perhaps owing to the rough accommodations they received grating to their cultivated taste, (for they possessed a monopoly of learn- ing,) or, what was probably the case, they had no confidence in the good opinions of their patrons after a certain scholastic habit had manifested itself, requiring new fields for sobriety. To a school of this description David Blackshear was sent, and had completed his quarter before the Revolutionary War broke out. Then a mere boy, about twelve years of age, he followed his two elder brothers in an expedition to Wilmington, and was present at the battle of Moore's Creek, February 27, 1776, at which Gen. Cas- well commanded, to the entire defeat of the Tories. He was also with the Whigs in the skirmish at Buford's Bridge. Returning home, he again went to school three months, which was his last. He was instructed by Mr. Joseph Dews, either half or the whole of six months, his entire educational course. A noted Scotchman, named James Alexander Campbell Hunter Peter Douglass, kept school about the close of the Revolution, to whom many of the neighbors
# The author heard Gen. Blackshear relate this incident.
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of the Blackshear family sent their children. The author, in his boyhood, has heard some of the old pupils laugh and tell that a whole Friday-evening class was flogged because they spelt "corn" as Mr. Douglass pronounced it,-kor-run !
While a scouting-party was out, consisting of James, Edward, and David Blackshear, Martin Francks, Peter Calloway, and others, fifteen or twenty in all, led by Captain Yates, in pursuit of the Tories, they stopped at Col. White's to stay all night to relieve their fatigue. James Blackshear, Martin Francks, and Mr. Callo- way, being stronger than the rest, continued five or six miles far- ther, until they reached the house of Mrs. Blackshear. They had just entered, and were about sitting down to supper, when the dwelling was surrounded by Tories, and James Blackshear, her son, and Martin Francks, her nephew, were taken out of the house, carried to the end of the lane, tied to a stake, and there shot dead by the Tories. A negro man ran with the news to Col. White's. The colonel and his party were fourteen in number, and had but seven horses between them. They instantly mounted two on a horse, and set forth on the work of revenge. In the mean time, after killing Blackshear and Francks, the Tories concluded to cap- ture and destroy the whole party of Whigs at Col. White's, and were near enough to the house to hear the orders given by Capt. Yates to his men as they left the gate. The Tories then divided into two companies, and lay in ambush on cach side of the road to fire upon the Whigs. They did fire, killing one Whig and wounding several others, and, among them, Brock was shot through the thigh and Edward Blackshear through both hands, as he was riding on the same horse behind another man, with his hands holding his gun on the pommel of the saddle. Capt. Yates had his collar-bone broken and his horse killed under him. When the Tories opened their fire, the Whigs dashed back to get from between the double ambuscade. On coming up to the spot and finding one man dead, the Tories, supposing that the Whigs had fled, raised a shout of triumph. About this time, Capt. Yates, lying a few yards off, severely wounded as he was, raised his gun* and fired upon the group, killing one Tory captain and breaking the thigh of another, so that he was taken prisoner. They carried the wounded Tory captain to the stake and there shot him, within a few hours after the other frightful tragedy had occurred on the same spot. Soon
* The author has seen the old gun (a long one it was) in the possession of the late Col. James Shine, of North Carolina, who married Leah, a daughter of Captain Yates.
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after the fatal discharge (fatal to the Tories) by Captain Yates, the Whigs rallied, killed several of the Tories, and crippled a good many others.
Thus closed the bloody proceedings of that night, still fresh in the tradition of the neighborhood. The lands adjoining were, in the boyhood days of the author, owned by Levin Lane, Richard Koonce, and Christopher Reynolds. Since these good old citizens have passed away, the Revolutionary homestead may have gone into other families.
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