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 6
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I'.S .- You will please continue to discharge the duties of the office of Attorney-General until you make all those arrangements which you may deem necessary, which, when completed, and I am notified thereof by you, a successor will be appointed. A. J.
WASHINGTON, June 22, 1831.
SIR :- In conformity to the suggestion contained in your note of the 15th inst., I have to notify you that the arrangements necessary to put the office of the Attorney-General in a condition for the reception of iny successor are now complete.
The misinterpretations which are contained in the newspapers on the subject of my retirement from office make it proper that this correspond- ence should be submitted to the public, as an act of justice both to you and to myself.
I am, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,
JN. MACPHERSON BERRIEN.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
WASHINGTON, June 22, 1831.
SIR :- Your note of this day is received, advising me "In conformity to the suggestions contained in my (your) note of the 15th inst., I (you) have to inform you (me) that the arrangements necessary to put the office of the Attorney-General in a condition for the reception of my successor are now complete."
For reasons assigned in your note, you further observe, " make it proper that this correspondence should be submitted to the public, as an
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JOIIN MACPHERSON BERRIEN.
act of justice both to you and myself."-I am sure I can have no objec- tion to your submitting them as you propose, as you believe this to be necessary.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, ANDREW JACKSON.
JOHN M. BERRIEN, Esq.
Here the author will go back a few years to notice two literary discourses delivered by Mr. Berrien, -- one at Athens, in 1828, and the other at Princeton, in 1830. On the first occasion, he and Judge Clayton were the orators, each representing one of the rival societies of Franklin College. Both selected Eloquence as the theme,-one contending that it could be acquired by art, and ought to be methodical and persuasive ; the other that oratory was a natural gift, and moved the passions of men by storm, without any particular rules. These two were highly-finished productions, and still rank among the classics of the day.
The discourse at Princeton was delivered while Mr. Berrien was Attorney-General, in the zenith of his fame, with a cloudless future before him. He was said to be so much a favorite of President Jackson that the mantle of Chief-Justice Marshall would probably be cast on his shoulders if the opportunity occurred. The author well remembers the warm compliments and predictions of honor that flowed upon Mr. Berrien from all quarters. And he will further add, that it was in the Princeton address he learned for the first time, from a man so gifted and successful, so com- manding in genius and reputation, as Mr. Berrien, that glory was a delusion. The passage to which he refers the author committed to memory at the time, and he will venture to repeat it for its sound philosophy. Addressing himself to the graduating class, Mr. Ber- rien said :-
My young brothers ! The world on which you are entering in all the ardor of hope, in all the purity of uncorrupted feeling, is arrayed in charms which it borrows from fancy, and which will vanish at your approach. The pleasure with which it allures the unwary is brief and evanescent as the dream of the morning. Its floats gaily on the advan- cing tide, but vanishes with the flood. You will be too surely called to exert the courage which can encounter danger with calmness, and the fortitude which endures and triumphs over calamity; but, on this side the grave, the beautiful vision which now dazzles your inexperienced eye will forever elude your grasp. Human life is but a step in the infinite series of existence,-a point at which a man pauses to look around him before he launches on eternity's ocean.
In 1830, a volume of "Sketches of Public Characters" appeared from the New York press, in which (p. 58) Mr. Berrien is thus introduced :-
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BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
The present Attorney-General, John Macpherson Berrien, is from Georgia, but I understand that he is a native of Philadelphia. He is a most eloquent speaker. In the Senate he was a model for chaste, free, beautiful elocution. Ile seemed to be the only man that Webster softened his voice to, when he turned from his seat to address him. There is not the slightest dash in his manner : it is as grave as it is pleasant. IIis views are clear, and he meets the subject manfully. In his arguments there is no demagogical praises of his constituents, no tirade of abuse against his opponents or of the section of country from whence they came. He is said to have been a good judge on the bench and an excellent lawyer at the bar, and surely he was a host for his party in the Senate. He is now an Attorney-General, and a Cabinet councillor as well as counsel for the Cabinet. The public of all parties have great confidence in him, and he stands fair for higher promotion. It is so seldom that we hear in Congress a classical style of speaking that a man who has any regard for the advancement of taste admires such a speaker. He is said to be a lover of literature, and it is to be hoped that in his high office he will advise the President to recommend its protection and encouragement. The President and heads of departments can do much for literature and science if they feel disposed to do it.
A few months after his return from Washington City, on leaving the Cabinet, Mr. Berrien was an invited guest at a public dinner given at Milledgeville, in November, 1831, as a testimony of respect to Gov. Gilmer, who had failed in his re-election to the Executive. Among the sentiments offered was the following :-
John Macpherson Berrien :- We hail with pleasure his return to Georgia. His services in Congress, in the Cabinet of the United States, and in the Free Trade Convention, are viewed with grateful feelings by his fellow-citizens of this State.
In responding, he entertained the large company in a speech nearly half an hour, in his best style, both as to composition and delivery. He did ample justice to the policy of President Jackson, saying that of foreign powers he demanded nothing more than justice, and would accept nothing less. He eulogized the Presi- dent as the friend of Georgia, firm in his course for the removal of the Indians; but when the Chief-Magistrate of the Republic sought to prescribe rules and to select associates for the families of his Cabinet, he scorned the dictation. The author never heard Mr. Berrien speak until that dinner. There was a magic in the tones of his voice which never before captivated his ear. IIe heard him on several occasions afterwards with equal delight,- once in the Circuit Court of the United States, before Judges Johnson and Cuyler, in 1833, in a large ejectment cause .*
* Winn v. Patterson, 9 Peters's Reports, 663.
53
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN.
The fame of Mr. Berrien as a profound jurist and brilliant advocate (two characters rarely united) secured him about as much professional employment as he desired, at home, as well as in the adjoining States, and in the Supreme Court at Washington. He was very laborious, and never appeared in a cause without full preparation. He has been known to pass the whole night in searching up authorities and arranging for the trial of the next day. In criminal cases he seldom failed of an acquittal, however complicated the facts. His arguments were conclusive. He stood by unanimous consent at the head of his profession in Georgia, if not in the entire South.
Finding it necessary to move on the subject, the Legislature of Georgia, in 1838, passed the following resolution :-
Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be, and he is hereby, requested to appoint forthwith three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to take the whole subject of State Finance in hand, arrange, digest. and report, at the earliest possible day of the next session of the Legisla- ture, a system of finance for the State, which, calling into action all her resources, shall afford ample and sufficient means to sustain, as in the present age they should be sustained, the great interests of Public Educa- tion and Internal Improvement.
Gov. Gilmer accordingly appointed Judge Berrien, Hon. W. W. Holt, and Hon. A. H. Chappell, to execute the resolution. The report of sixty-four printed pages, made at the next session, is very elaborate and comprehensive. It is a document evincing great sagacity in the details, from which a few passages are selected. The introductory part is known to be from the pen of Mr. Berrien : it bears the evidence. He of course assisted in other portions. In unfolding the duty and resources of the State, the report says :-
A State possessing an extent of territory which stretches from the seaboard to the mountains, wide-spreading on every side; whose easy and gentle ascent is free from those irregularities of surface which elsewhere obstruct the progress of interior communications; watered by noble rivers which are never scaled by the frosts of winter, and whose estuaries form safe and commodious harbors; possessing, too, a variety of soil and climate which admirably fit it for the production of all that is useful to man ;- such a State, the cherished abode of a free, enlightened, and enterprising people, is called to the consideration of the high duties which, in the providence of God, are devolved upon her.
She is called to this consideration, moreover, at an epoch in the world's history which has no parallel in the annals of time ; when science, direct- ing all its energies to purposes of practical ntility, has advanced with unexampled rapidity in all those arts which minister to the substantial enjoyment of man; when the other nations of the world, and the other
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BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
States of this Confederacy, are eagerly pressing forward to grasp the bril- liant prize which is presented to their view ; when, amid the universal and cheering cry of "Onwards ! Onwards !" among nations urging on the cause of internal improvement, to the laggard in the race, momentarily excited by the prospect, but too inert to engage in the struggle, is denied the full enjoyment even of that which has hitherto sufficed to satisfy his desires,-thus illustrating the emphatic denunciation of Holy Writ :- " From him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him."
And why should Georgia hesitate to nerve herself for the struggle ? Why should she linger in the race? The voice which issued from the legislative halls, at the close of its last sittings, has been cheered by- the responsive acclamations of her people. Rising in the strength of their intellect and in the fervor of their patriotism, contemplating with grate- ful enthusiasm the multiplied resources which the bounty of Providence has bestowed upon them, and animated by the still more growing pros- pects which a near futurity opens to their view, they, too, have joined in the universal acclaim of the nations, and bid you "God-speed" in the discharge of your high duties.
Why, then, should Georgia hesitate to nerve herself for the struggle ? Why should she linger in the race ? It is not because her chosen Repre- sentatives are careless of the high interests which a free and confiding people have intrusted to their patriotism, to their wisdom, to their ceaseless vigilance. Is it because the prize is valueless ? To sustain, as in the present age they ought to be sustained, the great interests of Public Education and Internal Improvement, is the object of your labors.
Of Public Education ! The improvement of the mind; the cultivation of science and the arts; the diffusion of knowledge; the universal instruction of a whole people.
Of Internal Improvement ! Improving our navigable rivers; connect- ing them by canals ; traversing the State with railroads; uniting them to the termini of similar communications in the adjacent States of Tennessee and Alabama ; furnishing means for the cheap and rapid transportation of our produce to market ; carrying home to every man's door the supplies of the great Southwest, and those of foreign nations from our Atlantic border ; bringing the mountains and the seaboard in such close proximity that the waves of the ocean may, almost without a figure, be said to wash their base; and, finally, scaling those mountain-heights, and along the line of similar improvements in other States, establishing our communica- tions with the great river of the West ; thus making friends of those who were strangers to each other, and brethren of those who had looked upon each other with distrust.
No! with such objects in view, it cannot be that the prize is deemed valueless. It is, indeed, of inestimable value. Is it attainable ?
Does Georgia possess the means to accomplish so great an enterprise ? Are her resources adequate to the expenditure which it will necessarily involve ? This is, in truth, the only inquiry. The duty of answering it, according to the best information they can command, has devolved upon the undersigned. Fully sensible of the magnitude of the subject, and of their inability to meet the expectations of your honorable body, they, nevertheless, invite your attention to this interesting inquiry.
Our attention is first to be directed to an examination of the actual
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JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN.
resources of the State. These may be said to consist, or rather (in part) to have consisted,-
1. Of the Public Lands. 2. Of Taxes. 3. Of the Funds of the State in the Central Bank.
Thus far the language of the report is copied, as showing the earnest and hopeful visions of Judge Berrien twenty years ago, which he lived to see realized in a considerable measure. Further items in the report will be condensed.
The quantity of land in Georgia was shown by two methods,- from surveys of record, and from the tax-digests in the Comptrol- ler's office. The comparatively small difference between the two shows the accuracy with which tax-returns are made by the receivers in the several counties :-
Reported by Surveyor-General .... . acres 35,515,526
Reported by Comptroller taxed 66 35,866,336
Excess of taxation 350,810
But it appears from another return of the Surveyor-General that the State has granted more than either of these amounts of land ; consequently the income from grants has entirely ceased.
The tax system is next examined, and sundry objections to it urged. Estimating the land at $3 per acre, and slaves at $400 each, the value of $200,000,000 of property is connected with agriculture in Georgia, which paid a tax of only $53,450; while the capital employed in commerce at the same time was but $18,304,148, upon which was assessed $28,600. The classification of certain lands is noticed as onerous. The same tax paid on ali slaves under sixty years,-mechanics worth from $2000 to $3000 paying no more than a common field-hand, and no more than the merchant paid on each $100 of his stock in trade. This inequality is condemned in the report. After the Central Bank was esta- blished, and its profits supposed to be sufficient to support the State Government, the general tax was relinquished in 1835. For 1834 the tax-account stood thus :-
Amount of tax returned as due $56,024 36
Amount of tax paid into the Treasury 39,192 18
Lost in commissions, insolvents, and defaulters $16,832 18
The statistics of the Central Bank are given at considerable length in the report, showing that when the bank was first organ- ized, January 29, 1829, it had specie and cash funds to the amount of $513,101 77; and on the 2d of November, 1829, out of
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BENCHI AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
$355,597 90 due the State in bonds and notes at the time the bank went into operation, the sum of $117,340 92 had been con- verted into accommodation-paper running in the bank,-making in all a fund for discounting equal to $630,340 69. For the ten years from 1829 to 1838 inclusive, a table is submitted in the report, exhibiting the discounts and profits for each year, all summed up as follows :-
The aforegoing statement shows that for the ten years which it em- braces, the sum total of the discounts of the bank was $11,975,985 73, and that the sum total of the profits for that time was $565,134 21. - To determine the rate of profit which these results show to have been made on the capital employed by the bank, it must be borne in mind that the discounts are based on capital only, and represent nothing but capital ; and that consequently, whatever amount of discounted paper appears at any time to have been held by the bank, it is certain that an equal amount of capital had come to the hands of the bank and was used in those discounts. Then, inasmuch as all the discounts for ten years amounted to $11,975,985 73, which makes an average for each year of $1,197,598 57, it follows that the average amount of the State's moneyed capital which the bank each year employed in discounts was also the sum of $1,197,598 57. And the average profit thereon for each year was $56,513 42, which is equal to an interest of 4 7-10ths per cent. per annum.
Whether this be a good or a bad business for the State, in a mere finan- cial view of the matter, depends on the question whether the State might not, with as much case and as little peril, have realized a better profit in some other known mode of employing the public money. And here the aforesaid results of her investments in the stocks of certain of our joint- stock banking companies are at hand, and furnish a decisive answer. For it has already been shown that on her capital of $1,005,000 vested in those banks she has realized, in the ten years just above mentioned, a clear profit of $745,860 92, which gives an average for each year of $74,586 09, and is equal to an interest of 7 4-10ths per cent. per annum on the whole capital thus invested.
If the capital employed by the Central Bank during these same ten years had yielded an equal rate of profit, to wit, an interest of 7 4-10ths per cent. instead of an interest of 4 7-10ths per cent., then the sum total of its profits for that time would have been $886,222 50, instead of $565, 134 21, whereby the State would have been gainer to the amount of $321,088 29; which sum must consequently be set down as so much loss in ten years, chargeable to the policy of having discarded the old and well-tried system of investing in ordinary bank-stocks for the new and questionable experiment of the Central Bank.
The report discusses the policy of loans for other than commer- cial purposes, the bearing of certain fiscal measures, the credit system, exchanges, the abuse of accommodation-paper, and the various channels through which the public prosperity is affected by the circulation of money on proper equivalents. The views set forth in the report are worthy to rank high in the best system of
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JOIIN MACPHERSON BERRIEN.
political economy. The analysis of the financial resources and obligations of Georgia is a masterly labor. The want of space alone forbids more copious extracts. Those introduced will show the character of the whole,-deep, sifting, and logical. Perhaps no commission of the kind ever acquitted itself with more credit. The subject of Education-the aid of the State in time past, and what ought to be done to secure intelligence among the masses- is pressed with a truly bold and discriminating statesmanship.
The estimates of every kind on which to base a judicious system of taxation to support internal improvement, to establish public schools, and to work out a proud destiny for Georgia through her legislation, are furnished in the report. In many strong passages the pen of Col. Chappell is distinctly recognised. The same may be said in reference to Judge Holt, who prepared many tables and calculations, with the necessary comments, all showing the vigor and grasp of his mind. The report is indeed a valuable document, which the author presumes is out of print, except a few copies accidentally preserved.
Merely for reference, a further extract is given :-
The ordinary expenses of the Government for the last year, and the average of those expenses since the year 1828, as these appear in the report of the Treasurer, have been taken as the data from whence to cal- culate their probable annual amount in future.
They have been considered as embraced under the following heads :- Civil Establishment, Printing, Contingent Fund, Military Disbursements, Redemption of Public Debt, Penitentiary, and Presidents' and Speakers' warrants.
These expenses for the year 1838 were as follows :
For Civil Establishment
$38,928 61
. Printing 19,824 85
Contingent Fund 15,867 16
Military Disbursements 4,895 30
Redemption of Public Debt.
3,372 81
Penitentiary. 15.000 00
Presidents' and Speakers' Warrants 88,906 80
Ordinary expenses for 1838 $186,795 53
The average of the same expenses since 1828 is as follows :-- For Civil Establishment $38,869 47
Printing 14,355 79
Contingent Fund. 18,058 31
Military Disbursements
3,077 63
Redemption of Public Debt. 787 55
Penitentiary 7,386 00
Presidents' and Speakers' Warrants 67,751 58
Average for ten years. $148,286 33
- -
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BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
On the basis furnished by these two exhibits, and assuming that the Legislature will make such reductions as are in its power, we have con- sidered that the ordinary annual expenses of the Government may be esti- mated at $150,000.
In about sixteen years from the date of the Commissioners' report, the expenses of the Government were thus estimated by John B. Trippe, Esq., State Treasurer, in his report to the Legis- lature of October 20, 1855 :-
Estimated Expenses for 1856.
Payment of Legislature and officers. $150,000 00
Civil Establishment
52,000 00
Contingent Fund
15,000 00
Deaf and Dumb.
8,000 00
Academy for Blind
2,500 00
Provisions for Penitentiary
2,500 00
Military Fund.
1,000 00
Military Storekeeper
450 00
Military Institute.
2,000 00
Lunatic Asylum
20,000 00
Penitentiary Inspector.
500 00
Chaplain Penitentiary
150 00
Printing Fund.
18,000 00
Interest on Public Debt
160,000 00
Reduction Public Debt.
30,000 00
Miscellaneous Appropriations
10,000 00
Total expenses for 1856 $472,100 00
The expenses for 1857 are estimated by the Treasurer at $284,100 00, there being no session of the Legislature to provide for this year, and the Printing Fund being about $10,000 less on that account. Since 1838, several items have been added to the ordinary expenses of the Government, among which may be men- tioned provision for the Deaf and Dumb, Lunatic Asylum, the Blind, Military Institute, &c. The estimated expenses for 1856 and 1857 amount to $756,200 00, in which the following objects are included, not to be found on the list in 1838 :-
ESTIMATES.
1856.
1857.
Deaf and Dumb
$8,000 00.
$8,000 00
Academy for Blind
2,500 00
2,500 00
Military Institute
2,000 00
2,000 00
Lunatic Asylum.
20,000 00 20,000 00
Interest on Public Debt ....
160,000 00
160,000 00
Reduction Public Debt .....
30,000 00
16,000 00
New charges on Treasury $222,500 00
$208,500 00
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JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN.
Deduct these two sums, $131,000 from $756,200, and there will remain $325,200 as the expenses of the Government for two years, equal to $162,600 per annum, very little more than the commis- sioners stated in 1839 to be necessary. This excess of $12,600 may be accounted for by the Supreme Court and several judicial circuits which have been formed since, increasing the ordinary expenses of the Government. It is at least a remarkable coinci- dence that the average is so nearly the same.
The estimated receipts into the Treasury for 1856 are thus stated by Mr. Trippe :-
General Tax for 1856 $400,000 00
Special Tax on Bank Stock
23,000 00
66
Railroads 6,500 00
Agencies of Foreign Banks 300 00
Miscellaneous Resources 1,500 00
Total estimate for 1856. $431,300 00
These tables have been drawn into the memoir of Judge Berrien merely to bear out the calculations of the Financial Committee of which he was chairman in 1839.
And here the author takes occasion to go back a few years in the narrative, so as to notice the part which Judge Berrien acted in the Anti-Tariff Convention at Milledgeville, in November, 1832. A list of the delegates and a sketch of the proceedings of that body are given elsewhere in this volume .* It may be truly said that it was a collection of talented men,-such as Forsyth, Gilmer, W. Cumming, J. P. King, Torrance, S. Rockwell, Clayton, Dawson, T. Haynes, T. Spalding, W. H. Underwood, HI. Warner, H. Holt, S.W. Flournoy, J.C. Alford, A. Cuthbert, R. L. Gamble, J.G. Park, D. A. Reese, T. W. Harris, R. A. Beall, Wiley Williams, and the "Old Constitution," Gen. David Blackshear, and others more or less known to the public.
Mr. Berrien appeared as a delegate from Monroe county. His was the second name on the Committee of Twenty-one, General Blackshear being the chairman. On the second day, Mr. Forsyth offered a preliminary resolution on which sprung up unexpectedly a long and brilliant discussion. Mr. Berrien came prepared to examine the Tariff, and the power of the Federal Government to discriminate for protection, and on that question he was a match for any man. But Mr. Forsyth led off in another direction,
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