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 28
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on his part in bringing these claims to a speedy termination, beg leave to submit a statement of the following judicial duties which he is called upon annually to perform.
On the first Monday of January, he holds a court of appeals at Talla- hassee, which occupies some three or four weeks. He then returns to St. Augustine, and on the second Monday of March holds a court for St. John's and Mosquito. On the second Monday in April, he holds a court for Nassau; thence he goes to Alachua, and holds a court on the third Monday of the same month : the court for Duval sits next, on the first Monday in May, and lasts to the end of the month generally. He then returns home; and, on the second Monday in July, the court for land- claims commences its session, and usually continues through the months of July and August. This court adjourned, he holds a court of chancery, that sits on the second Monday of September, and by the time the busi- ness of this is through, the period arrives for holding the October Term for St. John's and Mosquito, which meets on the second Monday of that month ; for Nassau, on the second Monday of November; the court for Alachua, the third Monday of the same month; and for Duval, on the first Monday in December,-which, like the former, generally lasts to the end of that month. Thus ends the year, but not the labors of the judge. He has then to arrange his papers, transmit to Washington voluminous docu- ments, and prepare to hold again the court of appeals at Tallahassee on the first Monday of January,-as to this court are carried up, on certio- rari, all appeals from the multitude of justices' courts and courts of com- mon pleas.of the whole Territory.
The Judge for the District of East Florida acts as Chancellor and Master in Chancery, Judge of Appeals and a Commissioner of Claims, and Judge of Common Pleas and Sessions,-a most laborious and harassing duty for one individual, to say nothing of the correspondence necessarily growing out of these multifarious proceedings. Yet they have been performed, when the health of the judge and the state of the country would enable him with safety to travel. But strange to say, that although his duties are more than any other judge in the Territory, he is paid less; and- what is still more inexplicable to us-he is not paid the salary to which he is entitled by law. And the Grand Jury would here say, that from the facts in their possession the course of Judge Reid has been such as to promote the best interests of the United States, the prosperity and welfare of the inhabitants of this Judicial District, and should meet the approba- tion of all.
The Grand Jury request of his Honor the Judge that these present- ments may be read in open court and published in the Florida Herald ; and that he order a copy to be transmitted to our Delegate in Congress, and also a copy to each member of the Legislative Council.
In the midst of his judicial labors, onerous as they have been shown to be, Judge Reid was ready to comply with the request of his fellow-citizens to render the anniversary of Independence a feast of patriotic meditation by his ripe abilities. His address to the citizens of Augusta on the 4th July, 1813, has been already noticed. Twenty-five years afterward he stood before the people of East Florida, to discourse with them on the same great issue,-
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the rights of mankind, the blessings of liberty, and gratitude to public benefactors. An extract from his oration at St. Augustine on the 4th of July, 1838, is here given :-
In 1821, the provinces of East and West Florida passed into the hands of the United States, in consequence of a treaty previously entered into with Spain. The union of a portion of the subjects of an ancient and heroic monarchy with the citizens of the first republic in the world was a subject of great interest. It was a problem of curious speculation, whether the institutions of the United States were suited to the Spanish genius,- whether the American and Spanish feelings would chord together.
When the change of flags took place, the inhabitants of the Floridas were ripe for liberty. At a distance from the mother-country, they had been governed for the most part by wise magistrates, whose equitable rule diffused contentment and security and a knowledge and value of rights. The stern and inflexible integrity of WHITE, the devotedness of KINDE- LAN, the social virtues and high qualites of COPPINGER, are favorite themes with those who love to remember the governors of this land. But Florida had already imbibed free principles; she was not governed alone, when the union took place, by kingly prerogative exercised through an agent here. She, like the States, stood under the sacred shadow of a Constitution,-a Constitution the work of Spanish patriotism in 1812. The monument of Spanish liberty stands yet in your city. It is the only one, perhaps, in existence; for after the transfer of Florida to the States the pure monarchy was restored to Spain, and the stone obelisks-the waymarks of the revolution-disappeared before the potency of the returning sceptre, as well from the mother-country as the ultramarine provinces.
The native Spanish character is well adapted to free and liberal prin- ciples. It is like the beautiful image of the Spanish nation,-a combina- tion of strength and sweetness,-the Roman dignity with the polish of the kings of Cordova. The experiment has succeeded well in the Flori- das, and a few years have made the native inhabitants and the American emigrants one people.
And cordially and quietly and prosperously were we moving on, fellow- citizens, when the Government sought to remove the Indians from our Territory before the preparations for that purpose authorized the attempt. The Indians, stung by an indignity offered to Osceola, urged by his in- fluence, and operated upon by their young men, who were panting for war, gave a loose to their savage fury,-a fury which, notwithstanding the efforts of army and militia, remains yet to be subdued. The idea that the "war is over" is vain and delusive : it should not be indulged, because its tendency is to prolong hostilities, which may only be quelled by determined, vigorous, and constant effort. Though much has been done, much remains to be accomplished. The end is not yet : no longer beguiled by the promises of our own hopes and of these wretched bar- barians, let us rely upon a persevering energy to banish from the Territory a cruel, crafty, and ignoble foe.
How this war has been conducted it is not my purpose to discuss. A decision upon that question will be pronounced with better grace and more justice when the departing Seminole has breathed, like the Moor of Grenada, " his last sigh," and peace and good government shall again dispense their blessings.
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It is quite certain, however, that the United States army has contended with great and serious difficulties in the character of the enemy and of the country-the wild man and the wild woods-against which they have been operating. It is equally true that there have been examples of valor and achievement characteristic of, and creditable to, the American arms. History will remember the dauntless courage of CLINCH at the battle of Withlacoochee; she will connect the name of LEIGH READ with the ruins of the Block-house on the same stream ; she will inscribe upon her pages, with a pencil of light, the names of TAYLOR, HEILEMAN, HARNEY, LEE, PIERCE, FOSTER, and FANNING.
Nor have the inhabitants of Florida, fellow-citizens, been wanting in their duty. HERNANDEZ, MILLS, WARREN, PUTNAM, COOPER, and HAN- SON, and their brave associates, animated by the same spirit that mani- fested itself at Lexington, Bunker Hill, and the Cowpens, have obtained for our militia an enviable reputation. Ever fresh and green be the laurels they have gathered ! And there are others whose names should be on our lips on a day like this. Alas ! nothing that we can say, no praises that we can utter, can penetrate the gloomy tomb or " provoke the silent dust." McNEIL, CENTER, BROOKE, THOMPSON, MELON, WHEELOCK, WILLIAMS, VAN SWEARINGEN, and WALKER, are sleeping the sleep of death in the wilderness. "Deep is the sleep of the dead, low their pillow of dust, damp and cold the couch of their repose : when, oh, when shall it be morn in the grave, to bid the slumberers awake ?"
There are yet others, the mention of whom comes nearer to our own bosoms,-FLORA, GOULD, MARTINELLY. They were young and ardent spirits, with the promise of a bright career before them. The fond hopes of parents and friends rested in confidence upon them. In the very morning of their days they have fallen victims to the vengeance of the inhuman savage. Who could have thought that the date of their useful- ness was to be so brief,-that the chill of death was so soon to settle upon eyes beaming with courage, hearts bounding with patriotism ? They have " fought the good fight;" and to their bereaved friends, to their young companions in arms, the most soothing of all consolations remains :- THEY DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY !
There are yet other names. I should have mentioned them before ; and I hesitate now, because no words can give utterance to the feelings which belong to such a subject. When Leonidas fell with his noble Spartans at Thermopylæ, his countrymen erected a magnificent monu- ment, with this inscription :- " Go, passenger, and tell at Sparta that we died here in obedience to her laws." What more appropriate epitaph could be framed to impress upon the wayfarer the melancholy but heroic fate of DADE, GARDINER, FRASER, and their brave and devoted comrades ? And yet the sculptured marble could not tell more faithfully the sad tale of their surprise and massacre than do the sylvan graves prepared by the hands of valor for the remains of the valiant. Often, overgrown with long grass and wild flowers as they are, and shaded by the lofty and murmuring pines,-often shall these mounds of the forest conjure up before the traveller's imagination a vision troubled and bloody indeed, but resplendent with glory.
Judge Reid combined in himself an ardent fondness for litera- ture and a high capacity for official employments. Among the warm friends who stood by him to the last with their influence may
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be mentioned the late Hon. John Forsyth, unrivalled as a debater and diplomatist. In 1828, Judge Reid was chosen one of the Pre- sidential Electors, and, with his Troup colleagues, gave the vote of Georgia to General Andrew Jackson for President, and to the Hon. William Smith, of South Carolina, seven votes, and to the Hon. John C. Calhoun, two votes, for Vice-President of the United States. On that occasion Gov. Forsyth wrote the following letter :-
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, GA., MILLEDGEVILLE, November 21, 1828.
SIR :- I have the pleasure to inform you that you are chosen one of the Electors of President and Vice-President of the United States to which Georgia is entitled by the Constitution of the United States. Your presence in this place by 12 o'clock on the Monday preceding the first Wednesday in December next is required. You will be so good as to signify to me your acceptance of the trust conferred upon you, and to notify me of your arrival as soon as you reach Milledgeville.
ROBERT RAYMOND REID, Esq., Richmond county.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN FORSYTH.
More than ten years afterward, while Mr. Forsyth was Secre- tary of State, he addressed Judge Reid the following very cordial letter :-
WASHINGTON, February 13, 1839.
MY DEAR SIR :- I have your letter of the 1st instant, dated at Talla- hassee. What Col. White meant by saying that I approved of his course toward you, I do not understand. If he supposes ine to have approved of any thing unfriendly to you, he is most egregiously mistaken. He has frequently conversed about you, and I have always agreed with him when saying kind things or expressing friendly sentiments toward you.
As to the now-pending questions in Florida, I have never exchanged with him a word about them, and am not sufficiently acquainted with the part taken by you and others on them to have formed any judgment that would justify a word that could be tortured into condemnation of your course. As to the postscript of your letter, I am not aware that there is any actual hostility to you in this place which would require either your own presence or the exertions of friends to counteract. But on the point of fact I am not able to speak confidently. I keep systematically aloof from all troubles but those that belong to my own duties, and have as little to do as possible with schemes of private interest or personal malignity. My ancient regard for you and yours, which nothing has occurred to impair, would have induced me to have apprized you if I had known of any thing attempted to your prejudice by open enemies or pretended friends. Very truly, your friend and servant, JOHN FORSYTH.
In the course of the same year it became the pleasant duty of Mr. Forsyth to forward the following commission :-
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Martin Van Buren to all who shall see these presents,-greeting :
Know ye that, reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and ability of Robert R. Reid, I have nominated, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint, him Governor in and for the Territory of Florida, and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfil the duties of that office according to law; and to have and to hold the said office, with all the powers, privileges, and emoluments thereto of right appertaining unto him, the said Robert R. Reid, for the term of three years from the day of the date hereof.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.
Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the thir- teenth day of December, in the year of our Lord 1839, and of the Independence of the United States of America the sixty-fourth. M. VAN BUREN.
By the President :
JOHN FORSYTH,
Secretary of State.
By reference to the journal of Judge Reid in this memoir, it will be seen that the office of Governor had been sought for him, but that he had no very strong expectation of receiving it. It was certainly a compliment of high value. He was duly installed, and proceeded earnestly in the discharge of his Executive functions. It is said that in the course of his brief administration he vetoed several bills which had been passed by the Legislative Council, containing provisions which he could not approve. Of their details, or, indeed, of their general object, the author has never been informed. It is enough to say that he displayed firmness and gave offence to several who had previously been his friends. A gentleman who had seen these veto-messages assured the author that they were exceedingly able and well written. Perhaps copies might be obtained from the journals of the Council, or from the Executive Department at Tallahassee ; but their insertion would swell this memoir to an undue length. Indeed, the leading measures and events of Gov. Reid's administration are unknown to the author. He may have seen fragments of them in the news- papers of the day, but no distinct recollection of the matter is now retained ; therefore no comments will be attempted.
In 1840, he received a testimonial of which any man might feel justly proud. The signature of Judge Berrien gives it a melan- choly interest, as both parties are now in the grave. A copy is subjoined :-
The GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, incorporated December, 1839, at a meeting held in the city of Savannah on the fourteenth day of Septem-
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.
ber, A.D. 1840, elected his Excellency Robert Raymond Reid, of Florida, to be an honorary member of said society; and, in testimony whereof, have affixed their seal to this certificate and caused the same to be duly attested.
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN, President.
I. K. TEFFT, Corresponding Secretary.
WM. BACON STEVENS, Recording Secretary.
It is painful, and yet not altogether useless, to reflect how liable we are to calamity in the midst of honors and success. By refer- ence to his journal, extracts from which are given in this memoir, it will be seen that Gov. Reid was delighted with the promotion of his son, Midshipman Reid, to the command of a national vessel in the Exploring Expedition, and also how his heart was wrung by the tidings of his loss at sea. As Midshipman Bacon, who perished at the same time, was also a Georgian, and has many friends who will ever cherish his memory, it is deemed appropriate to notice a memorial to their worth, of which the following is an account from the Boston Mercantile Journal :-
NAVAL MONUMENT AT MOUNT AUBURN.
A new charm is added to this sacred resting-place for the dead. A' beautiful cenotaph of native marble has just been erected by the officers and scientific corps of the late Exploring Expedition to the memory of four of their promising young associates who lost their lives in the service of their country. This chivalry of feeling, which embalms the names and the memory of brother-officers, is a noble trait in the character of brave men, and is touchingly displayed in this plain but beautiful and appro- priate monument, on which, under chaplets of exquisitely-wrought flowers, each forming the shape of an urn, is inscribed the following simple story :-- On the first side,-" To the Memory of Lieut. JOSEPH A. UNDERWOOD, Midshipman HENRY, U. S. Navy." On the second side,-"To the Memory of Passed-Midshipmen JAMES W. A. REID, FREDERICK A. BACON, U.S.N." On the third side,-" This cenotaph is erected by THEIR ASSOCIATES, the officers and scientific corps of the U. S. Exploring Expedition." On the fourth side,-" Lieut. UNDERWOOD and Midship- man HENRY fell by the hands of savages, while promoting the cause of science and philanthropy, at Mololo, one of the Feejee group of islands, July 24, 1840. Passed-Midshipmen REID and BACON were lost at sea off Cape Horn, 1839."
The massacre of young Underwood and Henry was the most melancholy event of the whole cruise. They were murdered in sight of Lieut. Alden and his party, who were hastening to their assistance, but, unable to reach the shore with their boats, were obliged to moor them at the distance of a mile; and then, wading up to their waists, they fired on the savages as they advanced, and thus fortunately arrived in time to save the bodies of their comrades from the cannibals.
Passed-Midshipmen REID and BACON were on board the Sea-Gull, and sailed from Cape Horn in company with the Flying-Fish, commanded by the gallant Knox,-who, not liking the appearance of the weather, returned
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into harbor. The Sea-Gull, having twelve or fourteen persons on board, proceeded, and has never since been heard of.
Lieuts. Alden and Johnson, with Mr. Drayton, of the scientific corps, were appointed a committee to carry out the wishes of their associates in erecting a monument to the memory of the departed; and they have performed the duty in a manner which cannot fail to give the highest satisfaction to all concerned. The cenotaph is an Egyptian obelisk, twenty-two feet high and four feet at the base, erected at the cost of two thousand dollars.
The reader will at once conclude that to a heart so affectionate as that of Gov. Reid, to a nature of such exquisite sensibility, this bereavement was indeed overwhelming. No attempt will be made to describe the anguish of a father on such an occasion. He continued to discharge his official duties and those of a citizen, husband, and father in his usual bland and faithful manner. But the last scene is at hand, and the earthly career of Robert Raymond Reid is soon to close.
On the 28th day of June, 1841, he was seized with fever at Blackwood, his residence, seven miles from Tallahassee. His daughter Rosalie was likewise ill under the same roof. Medical aid was called in, without effect ; and, on the third day, Gov. Reid, with a tranquil spirit, yielded his soul to its Maker. Without knowing her orphanage, the gentle Rosalie, in her seventeenth year, followed her father to a better world the next day. On the 10th July, his grand-daughter, Rebecca Black, a lovely girl in her twelfth year, also passed away, and rested in the third fresh grave at Blackwood ! It was indeed a house of mourning.
The death of Gov. Reid created a deep sensation in the public mind. He was a man of exalted qualities. Like Sir James Mack- intosh, he never made wealth a principal object; and, like the dis- tinguished Scotchman, though he figured with éclat in many public trusts, and also in letters and philosophy, he was a stranger to freedom from embarrassments. This matter preyed heavily on his spirits ; and his soul was so elevated in its desires and aims, so far above selfishness, that he could never bring himself down to the methods commonly adopted to acquire wealth. His whole life was a struggle, a trying warfare between generosity of character and the actual condition of things to which he had to submit. He may have had faults ; it is certain he possessed a heart of noble impulses.
Gov. Reid left a mass of papers, including abstracts of cases decided by him while Judge of East Florida, sufficient to fill a large printed volume. In the investigation of land-claims he
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usually noted down the documentary title, then the proof, the points of law urged by counsel on both sides, and, finally, his opinion, supported by authorities. This course imposed on him much labor, as fully appears by the records he made out for his own use, which are, no doubt, the same in substance he reported to the President as by law required. In addition, Gov. Reid had a large collection of miscellaneous matter in the form of scrap- books, which he had cut from newspapers for twenty years or more,-some very curious and entertaining,-all serving as excel- lent materials for a publication which with proper arrangement could be made valuable and interesting. It is possible such a work may appear, under the direction of one who sustained a very dear relation to him.
The various offices he filled, in all of which he displayed ability, show the high estimation in which he was held by the public. He was very early in life a judge of the Superior Courts, then a Representative in Congress, Mayor of Augusta, Judge of the City Court, Elector of President and Vice-President, Judge of the United States in East Florida, and, last of all, Governor of the Territory. His record is a bright one for his children. May justice be done to his fame !
The following notice of his death appeared in a Tallahassee paper :-
Died, in Leon county, 1st July, 1841, the Hon. ROBERT RAYMOND REID, aged about fifty-two years.
Gov. Reid has held many important offices in this Territory and in the State from which he emigrated. He had been a member of Congress from the State of Georgia, a Judge of the Superior Court, and Judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer for the city of Augusta,-of all which trusts he acquitted himself with honor and to the satisfaction of the people. He was an accomplished gentleman, mild and courteous in man- ner, possessing a warm and kindly temper, with a mind of the most cultivated order. He was a profound and learned jurist, and as an accomplished belles-lettres scholar he was surpassed by few in this country.
In 1832, he was appointed by President Jackson United States Judge for East Florida, and in 1836 his commission was renewed. He con- tinued to hold the office of judge until December, 1839, when he was appointed by President Van Buren Governor of the Territory. Arduous and trying as was the latter station to one of his tender sensibilities, yet his official acts were such as will shed a lustre around his memory never to be dimmed. They are part and parcel of the history of Florida. In March last he was removed by Gen. Harrison, then President of the United States.
Disgusted with public life, on his removal he resolved to retire from it and devote the remainder of his days to the duties of his profession, for
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which his talents and legal acquirements so eminently qualificd him. But, ere he commenced the career marked out for himself, Death claimed him as his own.
Sound in understanding, elevated in morals, the model of the gentle- man, bland and fascinating in his manners, he was an ornament to society, with few his equals, none his superior. Death has left a void, an aching void, which naught can replace. The kind, indulgent father, the affcc- tionatc husband, the lenient master, he shone within the precincts of the domestic circle.
But the brightest spot in his cxistence, we conceive, was as President of the late convention at St. Joseph. In 1838, the Legislative Council of this Territory passed an act authorizing the people to elect delegates to a convention to frame a Constitution preparatory to entering into a State form of government. The body convened, and he was elected its President. There is sublimity in the sight of a people assembling in their primary capacity to devise mcasures for governing themselves. Such a spectacle seldom presents itself, and for the first time in our life we saw it in Florida.
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