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 35
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VIENNA, 24th February, 1851.
DEAR SIR :- Untoward circumstances and increasing age have pre- vented my compliance with my desire to give you reminiscences of the Georgia bar; nor can I hope to aid your very meritorious undertaking as I wish to do. But I will endeavor occasionally to drop you some hints, and when we may be together we will converse upon proper subjects connected with your design, and you must take notes.
For the present, I would remark that White's Statistics, under the head of Early county, gave rather a tame, but, as far it goes, true, charac- ter of the great and good Peter Early, my favorite of the Bench and Bar of Georgia. Avail yourself of what is said there, and, if you please, of what follows.
He received the rudiments of his classical education under the tuition of Doctor Waddell,-that chaste and ripe scholar Mr. Wirt, in his British
-
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Spy, so eloquently describes as the blind parson,-and was then educated and graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey. He then studied law with (I think) Mr. Hopkinson, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia,-was present at the great Congressional debate upon the reception of Jay's treaty, and heard that wonderful and overwhelming last speech of the great orator Fisher Ames,-saw him fall and borne out of the hall of the House of Representatives. Never shall I forget his bright, tearful eyes as he portrayed that overwhelming scene. That unsurpassed appeal of Mr. A. so completely overwhelmed the whole House and audience that Mr. Giles, of Virginia, arose and observed that it was plain to be per- ceived that the members were too much excited and agitated to consider- ately vote, and therefore he moved an adjournment.
Having completed his legal course, Mr. Early returned to Georgia, and next devoted his attention to the study of the Constitution of his adopted State and the United States, and the judiciary system thereof, until the commencement of the circuit of courts for the Western district, when he went with the court and bar around, and attended strictly each court, and made notes of all matters that arose, especially the expositions of the court of the judiciary system and points of practice; and then, and not until then, he applied for licence and was admitted. This was in 1801.
Being thus thoroughly prepared, in 1802 he came to the bar. To all these advantages was added a clear, strong, discriminating mind, wonder- fully endowed with the power of analysis and condensation. He interro- gated his witness directly to the point, and upon direct or cross examina- tion seemed to have the power of drawing out the desired facts. He seldom spoke more than twenty or thirty minutes. To all these were added a fine form. He was about the stature and size of Aaron Burr, *__ square shoulders and well proportioned, of fair and healthful complexion, light brown hair and penetrating blue eyes, of deportment, voice, and manner that proclaimed to all who saw him that he was a MAN. His voice was full, and somewhat authoritative. No wonder, then, that in one year he was in the very front rank of the bar, and in two years at its head. He was truly a noble, honest man, warm friend, always inflexible in the cause of truth, virtue, and justice.
My much-esteemed friend, you must let this suffice for the present, and take from your aged servant the will for the deed.
C. B. STRONG.
P.S .-- He was fond of song and anecdote, but never sung, and seldom told stories himself. He was especially fond of a young limb of the law (your humble servant) who was rather choleric and impatient of contra- diction, and prone, when his statements were questioned or he was inter- rupted, to a passionate reply. In private, in the most friendly manner, (when he presided as judge,) he told his young friend it would not do; he feared in open court he would have to rebuke him. The young friend said that he regretted the effervescence of his nature, and was trying, but found he could not restrain it. "Well, then, sir," said the judge, "I will aid you. When I perceive you are going too far, I will put my finger upon my nose; and then you must hold in." " Agreed," was the reply. Some short time after, the young gentleman was earnestly arguing a point of law before the court, when the judge struck his nose with his fingers ;
* Judge Strong saw Col. Burr on his trial for treason at Richmond in 1807, and heard Wirt, Wickham, and Luther Martin.
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whereupon the advocate dropped upon his seat. "Go on," said the judge; "you were taking an original and interesting view of the sub- ject." "I thought so," was the reply ; "but the court might decide the matter."
When the court suspended for dinner, the judge sought his young friend and asked him why he had got in such a pet. "Why, I thought I was orderly, though earnestly, speaking to the point; and why, there- fore, did you put your finger upon your nose ?" "Why, d-n it," said the judge, "I was only brushing one of Uncle Toby's obtrusive flies away which had lighted upon it." The young man, if not cured, was greatly amended of his fault. Now, you will judge whether the above is worth something or nothing, and act accordingly.
One more recollection. Mr. Giles, and other distinguished advocates, held him in such high estimation, that they thought if he had been appointed manager of the trial of the impeachment of Judge Chase, that the result might have been different. Mr. Randolph was, as such, out of his proper element. G. B. S.
The scene is now closing. The last time the author saw Judge Strong was on the third day previous to his death, at Perry. He was then in health apparently, and quite cheerful. On the night of the first day of May, 1851, he expired ! An account of his last moments, by Col. D. C. Campbell, then editor of the Federal Union, is here given from his paper of May 6, 1851 :-
DEATH OF HON. C. B. STRONG.
The numerous friends of Judge Strong will be pained to learn of his demise. He was in attendance last week at the Superior Court of Hous- ton county, and in the enjoyment of his usual health and spirits. On Thursday night, after having spent the evening with a number of his friends cheerfully and with his usual vivacity, he retired to rest. The next morning he was found in his bed a stiffened corse. So gently did his spirit take its exit, that Judge Stark, who occupied the same room, was ignorant of the event till after he had left the chamber and been summoned to breakfast.
Judge Strong has long been prominent in Georgia. For a greater number of years, we believe, than any one else, he has occupied a seat on the bench of her Superior Courts. If not the senior, he was among the oldest practitioners at the bar in the State. He has descended to the grave at the maturity of man's allotted years, after an active and useful life, leaving behind him many mementos of his ability and worth, and numerous friends who will deplore his death, venerate his name, and cherish his memory.
But the day before his death we had a long and social interview with Judge Strong; and it is due to his memory that the subject discussed, and his views upon it, should be presented to the public. It is well known that Judge Strong, a native Virginian, was an enthusiastic disciple of the Virginia republican school; that nevertheless for years past he has been a leader of the Whig party in Georgia ; and that within the last few months he has repudiated the action of that party and taken a prominent stand among the friends of State rights and Southern rights. In the interview
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to which we have referred, he stated that his recent course had been grossly misrepresented ; that he abandoned his old Whig associates because they had abandoned their State-Rights principles ; that their new Constitu- tional Union party was a misnomer,-it should be called the consolidation Union party ; that that party gave indications, as they were now acting, that they would ultimately yield all the rights of the States and by their concessions involve the South in all the horrors of emancipation ; that he was now, as he ever had been, a republican, an advocate of State rights ; that the Democratic party had not abandoned the republican faith ; that he was prepared to act with any, he cared not who, who would sustain that creed ; that names were of no consequence, and that he was willing to take the name of Democrat, or any other name, so that he could sustain a creed upon the maintenance of which he believed the Union and the liberties of the people were involved. He cordially approved the Wilkin- son platform.
In this way he defined his position; and, in order to save his course from misapprehension, he wished that position defined before the public. When we left him, it was with the understanding that he would address us a letter, presenting the views of which we have given but an outline for publication in this journal of to-day. Had his life been spared a day-or two longer, the public would have been advised from his own pen of the position he had assumed and had determined to occupy.
Allusion having been made by Col. Campbell to the Wilkinson platform, as exhibiting the latest political opinions of Judge Strong, the platform itself is subjoined as an act of justice. It was adopted at a public meeting of the citizens of Wilkinson county, in April, 1851, and is copied from the Federal Union :-
THE WILKINSON RESOLUTIONS.
As meetings are now being held for the appointment of delegates to the Convention on the 20th of May, we again lay before our readers, and commend to notice, the resolutions adopted in Wilkinson :---
" Resolved, That in the present eventful crisis of our country's history, when all the tendencies of the Government are to the consolidation of its powers, that it is essential to the preservation of the Constitution in its purity, and of the liberties it was designed to secure, that those great fundamental republican principles should be cherished and sustained which have conducted our country to the proud elevation which she now enjoys among the nations of the earth.
" Resolved, That among these great fundamental republican principles we recognise as cardinal and paramount that the Federal Government is a Government of limited powers, having no control over the States or the people thereof, except that expressly conceded, or that necessary to carry into effect conceded powers ; that, as a necessary consequence, the States are sovereign as regards all the rights not there conceded; and that it becomes the people thereof at all hazards, as they love the Constitution and the Union, vigilantly to guard and protect themselves against all encroachments upon those rights reserved to the States.
" Resolved, That these doctrines, taught and illustrated by Jefferson and Madison,-doctrines which gloriously triumphed in 1800,-have ever
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been recognised and adopted by all real republicans ; and that they are doctrines concerning which Troup men and Clark men, Union men and State-Rights men, in Georgia, never heretofore differed.
" Resolved, That these are now, as they have ever been, the doctrines of the Democratic party; and we still hold their maintenance essential to the preservation of the Constitution, the Union, and the liberties bequeathed to us by our fathers ; and that inasmuch as the States of the Southern section of this Union are in a doomed minority and vitally inte- rested in an institution secured by the Constitution, it is suicidal, especially on their part, not pertinaciously to adhere to it as the sheet-anchor of their safety.
"Resolved, That upon the agitating question which now divides the North and the South, Georgia, in her sovereign capacity, by her Con- vention in December last, defined her position ; that, as Georgians loyal to the expressed will of the people, we acquiesce in that position, and pledge ourselves to sustain it, and to do all that we can to see that Georgia 'takes no step backward.'
" Resolved, That we approve of the convention proposed to be held in Milledgeville by the friends of republican principles, of democracy, and of the rights of the States, which can be no other than the friends of Southern Rights, for the purpose of nominating a candidate for Governor, and earnestly but respectfully suggest that the convention assemble on the last Wednesday in May next."
The day before his death, Judge Strong addressed a letter to his young friend, Theodorick W. Montfort, Esq., then of Knoxville, but now of Oglethorpe, and Solicitor-General of the Macon circuit, which, as being the last he probably ever wrote, the author has been permitted to copy :-
PERRY, April 30, 1851.
DEAR SIR :- I hope you have received my last. I have since ascer- tained that the firm at - is - and -: they are worth at least $50,000, real and personal property, besides stock in trade, &c .; prudent, safe men.
In an election in Dooly for tax-collector, with a half turn-out, our State- Rights Democratic candidate beat the Union men one hundred and ten votes ; and, if we will but be united, we can do it through the State. While the Union consolidation party are laboring to gull and hold on the deluded Democrats who had gone over to them, we must be careful not to drive off the Whigs who have come to us. Some of them are squeamish, and wish to preserve at least the appearance of consistency. This may be done by a recognition of State Rights to which both parties (I speak of the rank and file) subscribed in 1832-33. This the Wilkinson reso- lutions have done, and which I think the most practical platform which can be adopted to hold on to what we have got and beat the Federalists, which I trust in God we may do. Do show this letter to Howard and others.
I wish it distinctly known that I consider the Whigs as utterly having fallen from grace, and as so far and completely having abandoned their State-Rights principles proclaimed by them in 1833 as forever to have forfeited my confidence and co-operation.
VOL. II .- 19
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I am with the Southern State-Rights party, now and forever, come weal or woe, and therefore beseech that there may be no strifes among us. I care not a groat what they may call me. The body of the Democrats are with me, and I am heart and soul with them.
As to the proper candidate for Governor, I care not for myself whether he has heretofore been called a Democrat or Whig, so he is sound now. It would be best to seek some man of the people who is generally known and loved by the people; for such candidate has been seldom started without victory. Whereas, if mere politicians start a candidate, the people will be cold and indifferent; but when they indicate one of their own men, then they go it with a rush and secure victory.
The North are boasting already that the Union is stronger than slavery ; and it will not be long before they will prove that it is stronger than the right of trial by jury, liberty of the press, and one other guarantee in the Constitution,-or, in fact, of doing what they please.
God prosper and grant victory over -, and the Federalists, and the devil !
C. B. STRONG.
As our friends are making an effort throughout the State to unite upon the Wilkinson platform, I think it best that we should avoid any thing like an explicit recognition of the Georgia Convention submission. In a word, I believe united we can succeed ; divided, we will fail. All strife we must avoid.
C. B. S.
The sudden death of Judge Strong created a deep sensation throughout the State. Proceedings of the bar were had in several counties to testify respect. This memoir will conclude with a copy of those at Perry, where he died. It is a melancholy privilege to record that Rufus W. McCune, Esq., who reported the annexed resolutions, has since gone to the grave. He died about the 1st of February, 1856, scarcely in the prime of life.
HOUSTON SUPERIOR COURT, Friday morning, 2d May, 1851.
At the opening of the court this morning, on motion of Col. Poc, (on account of the death of Judge Strong,) the court was adjourned until to- morrow morning, eight o'clock.
When the members of the bar called his Honor Judge Stark to the chair, and Amos W. Hammond was appointed Secretary.
On motion of Solicitor-General McCune, Gen. Warren, Col. Cobb, Mr. Hall, and Mr. Stubbs were appointed by the Chair to prepare and report resolutions suited to the occasion, at half-after 7 o'clock, on to-morrow morning.
On mnotion, a committee, composed of Messrs. Hall, Stubbs, Rogers, and Gen. Warren, was appointed to act in concert with the citizens and others to superintend the funeral.
On motion, the meeting of the bar adjourned until to-morrow morning, half-after 7 o'clock.
Saturday morning, half-after 7 o'clock, the members of the bar met according to adjournment, when Solicitor-General McCune, Chairman of the Committee appointed to prepare and report resolutions suited
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to the occasion, made the following report, which was unanimously adopted :-
HOUSTON SUPERIOR COURT, April Term, 1851.
The Hon. Christopher B. Strong is dead !
He, who two days ago was among us full of life and health, now sleeps in death !
Death at all times and under all circumstances is calculated to produce melancholy and sadness ; but, when it comes unannounced and unheralded by the ordinary warnings and snatches from our midst one honored and beloved, the melancholy and sadness become profound and marked.
Our deceased brother and friend entered upon the discharge of his professional duties the present term of the court with his accustomed energy and zeal, and with apparently reinvigorated health.
The term had progressed four days, and he was constantly in his place and attentive to his duties.
He enjoyed on the evening of the 1st inst. the pleasures of a May party in this village, and, as he freely mingled among his friends, both young and old, contributed very greatly to the mirth and hilarity of the gay fête. After returning to his room and conversing with some friends, he retired at an early hour, and in the morning was found dead in his bed ; he having died apparently without a struggle or a groan. Thus are we solemnly admonished that " there is but one step between us and death," and that " in the midst of life we are in death."
Christopher B. Strong was a native of the State of Virginia, but emi- grated to Georgia, when quite young, with his father, where he resided during the whole of his long and eventful life. He entered upon the practice of the law in 1808, and, by means of the native powers of a gifted intellect and his singular ability as a public declaimer, he was at once thrown into lucrative employment in his profession.
At a very early age he was promoted to the bench, in which office he continued for a number of successive terms, adorning the ermine with an ability, honesty, and inflexible firmness rarely equalled. His impress is therefore strongly marked upon the judicial history of Georgia. Judge Strong, as has been before fitly remarked, was emphatically the " Nestor of the bar." Although for very nearly half a century engaged either at the bar or upon the bench in the active duties of his profession, and often thrown in fierce collision with members of his brotherhood, there is no man, living or dead, who ever charged Judge Strong with professional dishonor. Though the deceased had chosen the former as the theatre of his labors, he had a magnanimous patriotism that would make any sacrifice for the good of his country. When his adopted Georgia, that he so much loved, called upon her sons to protect her soil from the incursions of a savage foe, Judge Strong cast aside his law-books and briefs, and exchanged the endearments of friends and home for the privations and perils of the camp. As long as the history of Ottasee and Callibbee sur- vives, the remembrance of Col. Strong's services upon his country's battle- fields will be perpetuated.
When quite young, Judge Strong married a beautiful and accomplished lady in the State of Virginia, for whom he entertained the most ardent attachment. Though she has been dead many years, yet, true to the affection of his early manhood, he never married again, and to the last day of his life fondly cherished the memory of her worth and virtues.
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Our deceased friend encountered many afflictions and painful mis- fortunes, but he met adversity with a Roman fortitude honorable to his memory.
As a parent he was indulgent, kind, and affectionate, a true and stead- fast friend, an honest, patriotic, and charitable citizen. Judge Strong was for a number of years before his decease a member of the Episcopal Church, and we are allowed to hope that his spirit has found a resting- place with his Savior and his God.
While the court is arrested in the discharge of business and thrown into sudden gloom and sadness, it becomes us to bow in humility to that inscrutable Providence which has thus afflicted and bereaved us.
In view of the death of Judge Strong, the committee present the following resolutions :-
Resolved, That the members of the bar here assembled deeply feel the loss they have sustained in the death of their brother, Christopher B. Strong, who was respected and loved by them all.
Resolved, That to his friends it is a matter of mournful gratulation to reflect that he passed away in the maturity of ripe age, known, beloved, and respected throughout the limits of the proud State which he had made the home of his adoption and affection.
Resolved, That, as a further mark of respect, we will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.
Resolved, That the presiding judge be requested to have these reso- lutions entered upon the minutes of the court, and that the clerk send a copy to the family of the deceased, and that they be published in the public gazettes of the city of Macon.
After which, on motion of Solicitor-General McCune, the meeting of the bar adjourned sine die.
JAMES H. STARK, Chairman.
AMOS W. HAMMOND, Secretary.
The proceedings of the members of the bar upon the melancholy occasion of the death of the Honorable Christopher B. Strong, former Judge of this Court, having been communicated to the court,-
It is, upon motion of Rufus W. McCune, Solicitor-General, ordered that said proceedings be entered upon the minutes of this court, as a perpetual memorial of the regard and esteem in which the court holds the memory of the illustrious deceased, and as an undying token of the feelings of kindness and admiration which his brethren of the bar enter- tain for him.
A true extract from the minutes of Houston Superior Court, this May 5,1851.
WM. H. MILLER, Clerk.
NOTE TO THE MEMOIR OF JUDGE STRONG.
In the narrative, the claim of Judge Strong to certain estates in Switzerland has been noticed. Since then, the author has
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been furnished by Col. Bailey with the following additional par- ticulars, for which he is under great obligations to his respected correspondent :-
As touching the fortunes of the family in America, a few facts may not be uninteresting to the general reader.
The patent of nobility in the Latin tongue, and written on parchment, dated 1711, making Emanuel de Graffenreid a baron of England, by Queen Anne, to him and his male heirs forever, together with the seal and gold star and many of his letters, are now in the possession of John De Graffenreid, Esq., of Dougherty county, in this State, one of his lineal descendants.
In one of his letters the baron details a very remarkable incident that occurred touching this same star on one occasion when he accompanied his surveyor, Lawson, into the interior, in running the lines of his colony. The Indians, becoming alarmed at seeing so large a part of their country marked off, notified the surveyor that he must desist. Finding that their warning was not heeded, they gathered their warriors and fell upon the surveying-party in their camp at night, and put to death all but the sur- veyor and the baron on the spot. These they took alive, and proceeded to prepare a big fire, saying they would roast and eat them for supper. When they had killed Lawson, and were barbecuing him, De Graffenreid, remembering to have heard it said the Indians never put to death a chief, sought an interview with their leader and asked him " if it was not unlaw- ful to kill a king." The Indian answered "it was." The baron replied, "I am the king of the Palatines," and exhibited his star as his insignia. This saved his life, the Indians deciding he must not be hurt, but must leave the country. A long and bloody war between the Indians and English followed.
In the beginning of this century, the heirs of this vast estate in North Carolina employed William Johnson, Esq., of Charleston,-afterward one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States,-to investigate their title to the property, and, if not barred, to bring suit.
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