USA > Georgia > The bench and bar of Georgia: memoirs and sketches. With an appendix, containing a court roll from 1790-1857, etc., volume II > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
1838, April 17 .- The "Savannah," an American vessel, first crossed the Atlantic by steam in 1818-19.
May 22 .- The Sub-Treasury bill is everywhere condemned,-which was to have been expected, considering the power of the banks. 'Tis an old maxim :- money is power ! After all, the Sub-Treasury bill is but a choice of evils.
Steam, steam ! Why, the smoke of thousands of steamers will rise, like the fumes of a huge caldron, from the ocean. Steam is but in its in- fancy.
May 24 .- What is the cause of the distress which has so sorely visited the commercial classes ? The extension of credit, followed by a sudden contraction thereof. It is to the banks that we are indebted for this elas- ticity of trade.
June 23 .- Connecticut is getting democratic. She has given the elec- tion of justices of the peace and judges of probate to the people.
Mr. Snyder proposes in Congress to abolish the Military Academy. They had better give more light, instead of putting out what little there is.
Columbus discovered the New World on Friday; he had sailed on Friday ; the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Friday ; Washington, Madison, and the younger Adams were born on Friday.
July 10 .- Read the heart-sickening account of the Pulaski! They seem inclined to blame the mate ; but, in my opinion, he acted well. How heroically the women behaved! How generously some of the distressed, who gave up their slender support on the waters to those who were weaker than they ! How admirably Mr. W- died with his wife and child, in prayer ! In the horrid accident there are many things to reconcile us to . our nature. How well Heath put down the proposition to cast lots ! How devotedly the negro cared for the safety of his master ! How strong the attachment of parents and children, and husbands and wives ! It was indeed a noble crew !
Talleyrand is at last off. He was certainly a very managing sort of fellow.
July 12 .- Every time I read the " Tempest" I find something new : but it is always so with Shakspeare and the Bible.
July 24 .- The mob at Washington has dispersed,-leaving things pretty much as they found them, and after having made a great noise and wasted a great deal of public treasure. What a bore a seat in the House of Representatives must now be! The days of the Lowndeses, Randolphs, Clays, and Forsyths have passed away ; such men as - and - galble in their places.
July 29. I have been watching my ant-nests : it seems that the young are born with wings, which they are soon forced to use,-for the old ones drive them off to settle for themselves.
221
ROBERT RAYMOND REID.
Aug. 4 .- Read a letter from James, [Midshipman Reid,] who is soon to sail for the Antarctic seas : he is in fine spirits.
Clay was nearly lost, on board a steamboat, on his return home.
At the Astor House, clothes are washed, dried, ironed, and fit for use, half an hour after they are given out.
The Texan minister has committed suicide. [Col. Grayson, at Louis- ville, Kentucky.]
Aug. 6 .- Mr. Clay thinks the Rev. Mr. Bascom the most eloquent man he ever heard speak.
Aug. 13 .- Rothschild has well said, "England is the bank of the world."
It is a strange idea of Mr. Legare's, and very malapropos for a Union man to express, that nothing but a dissolution of the Union can build up Charleston !
Aug. 26 .- Rhode Island and North Carolina withheld assent when the Constitution was ratified ; but when Congress was about to treat them as foreign States they came to their mush.
My boy [Midshipman Reid] is appointed to the command of the Sea- Gull, in the Exploring Expedition. May God bless and prosper him !
Aug. 29 .- Two strange things. In Maine, lightning lately descended through a feather bed; and a man in South Carolina, though shot through the breast, continued to fight on until he had conquered his antagonist, and then died.
The best application to the ear when any thing gets into it is lauda- num and brandy.
About 1750, the Seminole chief Secoffer lived in Alachua. He was a great man, and violently hostile to the Spaniards. When the English came, in 1763, he was their friend. When the Spaniards returned, in 1783, he prepared an army against them, but took the fever from over- exertion in the sun, at seventy years of age, and died. Whilst dying, he sent for his sons, Payne (afterward King) and Bowlegs, and exhorted them to proceed with the war,-requiring them to kill fourteen Spaniards, for that he and his kindred had vowed to kill one hundred : they had slain eighty-six; but his and their spirits would not rest without the other fourteen were killed. Payne, his successor, did not obey him.
Penhajo, a young Indian, was upbraided by his mother because he had not killed an enemy to revenge the death of a near relative. He said he would convince her he had done all that he could, and, bringing his rifle from his tent, shot himself.
King Payne was killed by Newnan's men in 1812. 'Tis said he ex- posed himself to rally his men.
Aug. 31 .- It is very delightful to me to know that my boy is in com- mand of a vessel,-the Sea-Gull.
They catch a fellow who had been stealing watermelons, and bring him to me naked as he was born. I flourish my whip, and pretend to be in a great rage, -- but dismiss him intact. There are several devils who have been keeping a market overt upon my watermelons.
Sept. 1 .- Spain incorporated the Indians and made them subjects. Did she not pass them over to the United States by treaty, to be admitted into the Union ? Yes ; but according to the principles of the Constitu- tion ; and ours is a Constitution for white people, and not red and black. Motley is not our wear !
Sept. 3 .- Letters from my boy put me in spirits again. His last is
222
BENCHI AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
dated on board the Sea-Gull, a schooner of 110 tons, which he is com- manding, (I can't repeat it too often : he is justly proud of it, and so am I,) off Cape Henry, 17th August. May God bless him, and restore him in safety to us !
Sept. 6 .- All bank-notes in England are payable in gold,-silver not being a tender for more than 40 shillings. The English gold coinage will consist of the £5 piece, $25, (the largest coin in the world, except the Portuguese $32 piece;) the sovereign and half-sovereign, equal to the eagle and half-eagle,-$10 and $5. The silver coinage will consist of nine pieces : crowns, 5 shillings ; half-crowns, 2s. 6d .; shillings, 24 cents; groats, 8 cents ; queen's maunday-money, 8 cents ; 3 d., 6 cents ; 2 d., 4 cents ; 1 d., 2 cents.
Sept. 11 .- The gloom of the weather, too, has had its effect on my spirits ; added to which, my forty-ninth birthday has just passed. A man should begin to feel the pressure of age a little when he is approach- ing fifty.
Sept. 13 .- The Indians have been within a few hundred yards of Arenta. They stole fifteen horses. [Arenta was the country-seat of Judge Reid, within a mile of St. Augustine, on the Sebastian River. ]
Sept. 15 .- The exploring squadron consists of Vincennes, 750 tons, Ch. Wilkes, Esq., 8 guns, 150 men; Peacock, Wm. L. Hudson, Esq., 600 tons, 130 men, 8 guns; storeship Relief, A. R. Long, Esq., 450 tons, 6 guns, 75 men ; brig Porpoise, Lieut. Cadwallader Ringgold, 200 tons, 4 guns, 65 men ; the Sea-Gull, my son commanding, 110 tons, 15 men ; the Flying-Fish, 90 tons, 12 men, passed midshipman Samuel Knox. The squadron left Cape Henry on the 18th. God speed them and my sailor-boy !
Sept. 17 .- Yesterday I was moody and indolent, but read my Bible, and a fine sermon of Blair's on confidence in God. He says there are only two ways of getting on in the world,-by worldly wisdom and by 1 principle. The first, I say, will succeed sometimes with the world; the last will ultimately triumph both on earth and in heaven.
Sept. 25 .- Socrates in old age learned music; Cato, at 80, the Greek language ; Plutarch. studied Latin between 70 and 80; Boccaccio was 35 when he began the study of polite literature ; Sir Henry Spelman addicted himself to the sciences between 50 and 60; Colbert at 60 resumed his Latin and law-studies ; Doctor Johnson learned Dutch in his old age ; Ogilby did not understand Latin and Greek till past 50,-he translated Homer and Virgil; Franklin became a philosopher after 50 years of age ; Dryden was 67 when he commenced the translation of the Iliad : he wrote some of his best poems in old age.
Sept. 30 .- The mind sometimes becomes saturated with proof, and no increase of conviction comes of multiplying witnesses : a thousand wit- nesses are often no better than five or six. When evidence is pretty equally balanced, 'tis the dictate of wisdom to lean to the safe side. When we are satisfied by sufficient evidence, 'tis unsafe to yield to an objection which we cannot solve.
Oct. 1 .- - told me last night queer stories of B-, how he used to give himself up to debauchery and deviltry. He was a young man put in possession of a large property, without education or experience. He would, have about him a dozen young fellows, whose business it was to tickle his feet and to rub his head when he was drunk; and on the slightest provocation ho punished them severely. Once a negro woman laughed
223
ROBERT RAYMOND REID.
at one of his companions, who, very drunk, reeled on his horse. He called up the fifty women on his plantation, and caused each to be put over a hogshead and paddled severely. Again, he ordered his negro preacher to pronounce a sermon. It did not please him, and he gave the preacher fifty lashes. Upon another occasion he caused all his negroes to be col- lected, and, placing the preacher across a beam, he made him deliver a discourse, and then proceeded to whip the whole congregation, when a bat flew into the room, and the preacher exclaimed, "Lord, massa! lookee de bat !" "Open the door, Robin," said the drunken B-, "and let them all go, bat and all." He believed in neither God nor devil.
Oct. 6 .- When Queen Charlotte, the spouse of George III., was hissed by a mob, she put her head out of the coach-window and exclaimed, " Vat for you hiss ? I come to England for your goots." "Yes, and our chattels too !"' returned the mob.
A certain learned Dr. Campbell looked into a pamphlet in a book- seller's shop, was pleased with and bought it. When he had read it half through, he discovered 'twas his own production.
Oct. 7 .- Oh that God would put me in the right way ! The preachers say, Prepare ! prepare ! How prepare ? What shall I do to be saved ? Which is the path of salvation ? Who among Christians are right, and who are wrong?
Oct. 18 .- Yesterday, Janet [Mrs. Graham] left me, and I was sick, sick, sick at heart ! My dear daughter, there are few women like you in this world ! So much good sense and good heart ! May God bless you ! I shall perhaps never enjoy much of your society again ; but I shall love you tenderly to the last moment of my life. Oh, you have been so sweet to hear, so kind a child to me ! If Heaven loves goodness, it will be kind to you. How much I miss Janet and the captain !
1839, July 27 .- We should be quite dull but for little Travers, [infant son of Judge Reid.] He was baptized the other day. God bless him ! He was rather naughty at the fount, and fought the man of God manfully,- at least in a way quite exceeding his years, and promising a proper spirit of resentment in after-life. The fitting vows were made by his godfather and godmother, and the affair ended with wine and cake.
Aug. 25 .- Mr. Bell, an English lawyer, wrote three different hands,- one he read himself, one his clerk could read, one nobody could deci- pher.
Sir Edward Sugden was irritable.
A lawyer once a judge cannot return to the bar in England.
It is a happy knack to know when to stop.
Every sentence should express an argument or state a fact.
Clients often suffer from the long speeches of their lawyers.
Lawyers do not change circuits in England; 'tis considered a breach of etiquette.
In the case of Atwood vs. Small, Mr. Sergeant Wilde received, from first to last, fifteen thousand guineas,-five thousand with his brief, and fifty for every day he appeared, (say forty days,) and twenty a day consultation-fees. His fees were repeated when the case went to the House of Lords. For six weeks he shut himself up and studied the case in solitude. He spoke twelve or fourteen days in the House of Lords.
It is sometimes better to damage the case of your opponent than to establish your own.
Knights were bound to speak the truth, to succor the helpless and
224
BENCHI AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
oppressed, and never to turn back from an enemy. They were simple in clothing, austere in morals, humble after victory, and pious under mis- fortune.
Sept. 8, 1839 .- I am fifty years of age this day. I think of a better life rather than resolve upon it. God's will be done !
Sept. 10 .- In the Bible and Shakspeare you can always find something suited to present times.
Oct. 5 .- I am made unhappy by an account from the Baltimore American, which states that Capt. Waterman, of the brig Philip Hone, reports the ship Falmouth as having left Valparaiso for Callao on the 13th June, and the exploring squadron on the 3d, and that fears were enter- tained of the safety of the Sea-Gull, she having parted company from the Flying-Fish in a heavy gale off Cape Horn! And yet is it possible that the squadron returned without going to the Columbia River ? I trust in God there is some mistake. My dear, brave boy ! do you still live? 'Tis now half-past ten, and a rough night. I am miserable even to madness !
Oct. 20 .- A melancholy day. My poor, dear, and brave boy! he is resting in the ocean! A letter from Callao on the 17th July says his vessel has not been heard from in three months. And yet 'tis hard for me to realize this calamity. My God! have mercy on an erring child, and save his child !
Tallahassee, Feb. 4, 1840 .- I have been Governor of Florida since the 13th of December. To-day has been one of business.
Not well in the morning; but to my office. Every body calls : visits of business and ceremony.
Feb. 20 .- I despair about poor James. Oh, my son ! my son ! my son ! Are all my hopes of you blighted and blasted ? My heart is very sor- rowful, and I feel an impatient solicitude to know the worst! But I will keep all to myself, for nobody can sympathize with me. My noble boy ! who would not mourn the loss of such a son ? God help me! for I need his help.
March 6 .- My poor James's fate hangs upon me like an incubus. My son ! my son !
March 12 .- Gen. Taylor calls. He considers the dogs good for no- thing, and goes for posts, posts, posts ! He abuses poor - and considers the country well defended. He is not the man for me. We part in civility.
March 31 .- Gen. Taylor refuses to pay for the dogs. He wants com- panies, and is under --- 's control.
April 4 .- Capt. H- calls,-an excellent officer, I take it. He thinks the Indians should be pursued incessantly; that Taylor's plan of scouring the country is good, but not well enforced,-too little time allowed and at last performed in a very slovenly manner; thinks there are few Indians between the Appalachicola and this place.
April 13 .- It seems Twiggs has returned from his expedition to the Oclawahee and unsuccessful, and the bloodhounds good for nothing. Alas, alas! The volunteers must endeavor to do better with them !
April 20 .- Mr. Burritt, a blacksmith of Massachusetts, is a self-taught and learned man : he has compassed nearly fifty languages.
April 21 .- Letter from Gen. Taylor: he is crusty, and does not judge correctly.
April 23 .- Return home with a sad heart. But little hope remains to me : my son, my noble, brave boy, is indeed lost,-
225
ROBERT RAYMOND REID.
"Cut off from honor and from glory's course, While never mortal was so fond to me."
God bless me! 'tis the heaviest affliction which could befall me.
April 25 .- Made known my military scheme to Gov. Branch. It is this : let the Executive defend the country, the army offend the Indians. The Governor approves.
April 26 .- It is strange that, with such manifestations of the Deity ever present to us, our devotions should be ever cold; but, alas ! man is too selfish to feel a proper affection even for the Divinity.
April 27 .- There is no hope : my beloved son met his death, now near twelve months ago, in the Southern seas. I will not say farewell: the thought of my son is ever present with me, and we shall soon meet again !
April 28 .- The last night was almost sleepless. Confused dreams were all of sleep that was permitted me. "Oh, my son, my son! would to God I had died for thee!" said David for the insurgent and ingrate. . What shall I say of the best, bravest, and kindest son man ever had? My dear, dear James, how my heart swelled with pride and joy when I looked to you as the favorite of your country and the support of my old age! Now your bones are tossing in the wild waters, and I have no con- solation but the hope that one more bright spirit is pleading with the Almighty for your poor and afflicted father. Dear son! when night comes I think of you more intensely. I con over every feature, remember the lustre of your eyes, the laugh of your lips : even the moles on your neck and brow are visible to me. I shall never be happy again. And yet there is a glimmering of hope,-not for me, but for others,-which I must not destroy. I cannot mingle my tears with your sisters' : let them hope if they can. I cannot !
May 6 .- The public debt of Florida presses with the weight of two hundred dollars upon every man in Florida; and yet our people don't want to go into the Union, for fear of taxation !
May 28 .- I am far from happy. There are cares which oppress me. My private business suffers. There is nobody to help me, but in public matters. Above all, my noble son! Alas! "I shall go down into the grave unto my son mourning."
Well, I will pluck up courage and strive to do for my country and my family, my friends and myself. We shall see how things will be a year hence.
To my office. Gen. Miller keeps me in formal discourse for nearly two hours, interrupted, only by Capt. - 's awkward history of his scouts and soldier-life. He complains of the multitude of snakes in the lagoons and lowlands near the seaboard.
July 11 .- Read portions of the Psalms. What a heart David must have possessed ! How thoroughly penetrated by the love of God !
1841, March 29 .- How much have I suffered !- a thousand deaths! My poor heart, why is it not broken? and my head, why not crazed? Both have been near such destiny; but I am now calm, and think my spirit has achieved a mastery over misfortune.
The mail comes. Reports of my dismissal from office not confirmed by the papers ; but it will come. Harrison is in a terrible fix,-overrun by politicians and office-seekers. It would not be wonderful if the old fel- low's steps to the grave were not hastened by such cares.
April 2 .- I am preparing for the ejection. I expect the old hero will VOL. II .- 15
226
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
certainly send me packing ... . I am in a more perplexing condition than I have ever been in my life. To-morrow may enlighten me.
April 7 .- I might quote Cardinal Wolsey, but I don't despond. Let them take away office; I'll try to do without it .... Removal cannot dis- grace me. "More true joy, Marcellus," &c. &c.
April 28 .- Gen. Harrison is dead. The Remover is removed; the Reformer reformed. He was literally assassinated by his Whig friends.
2 o'clock P.M .- Just returned from Gov. Branch's, whither Martha and myself went to attend Gen. Read's funeral. The company with the body had left " Live-Oak" for the burial-place, some miles distant, before we arrived. Thus the proud, high-spirited, and, in some sort, gifted, Read has gone to his account, cut off in the very flower of his days by an assassin !
May 4 .- I have not been doing much for the past week. I must be more incessantly employed. Action, action, action, for the re- . mainder of my life ! The following is the scheme I have resolved on for the next four months,-viz. : May, June, July, and August. [Here fol- lows a plan allowing certain hours in each day for business, recreation, reading, family, &c.]
May 6 .- My life, at near fifty-two, must be an experiment, and the following my pursuits :-
Imprimis .- I will practise law if employed in important cases.
Item .- I will devote myself to literature and to law, and deliver lec- tures on both in the fall.
Item .- I will strive to be an author, and place my chief dependence on that.
I have other plans with which others are interested; but I shall not set them down until I can "imprimatur," as upon the foregoing.
May 24 .- "The President," I fear, is lost. I mean the steamship; but her misfortune is a true type of that which awaits the man in the White House.
So Tyler is showing more and more of the cloven foot. He has appointed two abolitionists to office.
June 11 .- I've had a hard time of it of late. Been quite unwell myself, and our poor Travers almost gone. I've never seen a child of mine in a fit before, and I hope never again to look upon any thing so horrible. Martha bears it well, but is really worn and fatigued. Our dear child is better, and that compensates for all. May the change be permanent ! [The journal ends with this date.]
For the liberal quotations he has made, the author, so far from apologizing, is inclined to challenge the thanks of his readers. He considers that he has provided them a feast. Surely no man can peruse these reflections made in the closet by Judge Reid without thinking better of the human heart. He did not live half through the four months which he had subjected in imagina- tion to a regular plan for the improvement of his condition.
It will be seen that no entries appear for 1837, as no journal of that year was submitted to the author, for the reason, it is be- lieved, that none was kept. And here he takes occasion to notice an event in the life of Judge Reid which took place November 6,
227
ROBERT RAYMOND REID.
1837,-his marriage with Miss Mary Martha Smith, daughter of Captain James Smith, of Camden county, Georgia. The union was most happy. Miss Smith was much admired for her superior intelligence and graceful manners. She proved an excellent com- panion, and was the pride of her distinguished husband. Two children were born to them : one died in infancy, and the other- Raymond Jenckes-is now living with his mother in St. Augustine, -a very promising youth, inheriting the features of his father in a striking degree.
Thus far no mention has been made of the partisan efforts to injure Judge Reid in the estimation of the President and to lessen his popularity with the people of the Territory. Besides his judi- cial functions proper, he was required to investigate land-claims in the character of a commissioner and judge combined, on all of which he was to hear evidence and report at length. The late Col. Joseph M. White, who was then the Delegate in Congress, pursued a course inimical to Judge Reid, which called forth a full and complete vindication from the Grand Jury of St. John's and Mosquito counties at March Term, 1837. An extract from their general presentments is here given, signed by Edwin T. Jenckes, foreman, and twenty-one other members of the Grand Jury :-
The Grand Jury, in conclusion of their business for the present term, cannot refrain from expressing their regret and surprise at the effort made by our Delegate in the last session of Congress to remove from this Judicial District all proceedings for land-claims and losses sustained in the years of 1813 and 1814 to the District of Middle Florida. This, if carried into effect, would prove ruinous to the interest of the unfortu- nate sufferers and claimants and defeat the ends of justice, as they would be constrained to abandon their claims for want of the means of prose- cuting them at so great a distance from their homes. The Grand Jury are of opinion that this uncalled-for measure on the part of Col. White was not gratuitous, but originated with some designing person, no friend to the welfare of East Florida. To the complaints of delay in the de- cision of these claims by his Honor Judge Reid, the Grand Jury are of one sentiment. They believe that he has done every thing in his power for the furtherance and speedy adjustment of them which his other duties . and the unfortunate state of the country would admit of; and, if any un- usual delay has occurred, it was in consequence of the claimants not being able, from the disturbed state of the country, to procure such testimony as would warrant the judge in making a decision without great injustice to the parties concerned. They cannot believe that the residents of Florida, and the citizens of the United States who are interested, have any conception of the arduous duties which the judge has to perform. The Grand Jury, in consequence of this effort of our Delegate in Con- gress, taken in connection with his circular letter of the 16th of February last, addressed " To the people of the Territory of Florida," wherein he has attempted by imputation to cast censure on Judge Reid for a delay
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.