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 39
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
320
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
Resolved, That the Judiciary Committee be instructed to inquire into the expediency of altering and amending the 29th section of an aet enti- tled an act to revise and amend the Judiciary system of this State, passed February 16th, 1799, so far as regards the place where the right of pro- perty shall be tried when levied on in the possession of parties other than defendants in execution, with leave to report thereon by bill or otherwise.
P. 165. Mr. Towns, from the Committee on the Judiciary, reported a bill to alter and amend the first section of an aet entitled an act to alter and amend so much of the thirty-second section of the Judiciary, passed on the 16th February, 1799, as respects the claim of property in the Superior and Inferior Courts of this State, so far as regards the courts wherein claims shall be tried,-which was read the first time.
P. 353. The House took up the preamble and resolutions from Senate, upon the subject of the Tariff, Internal Improvement, and the re-election of Gen. Andrew Jackson, President of the United States.
Mr. Towns then moved the following preamble and resolutions in lieu of the preamble and resolutions from Senate, and of those offered by Mr. Beall of Twiggs :-
Whereas, the political crisis in our State as well as national affairs has arrived, when a determinate and unreserved expression of the senti- inents of the people may correct erroneous impressions in our State;
And whereas, the recent events in an adjoining State, and the expres- sion of opinions in our own, bespeak unfavorable indications to the con- tinuance of the peace, tranquillity, and happiness of our beloved country, which manifestations of feeling are too particularly notorious to be suscep- tible of misconstruction. In such impolitie as well as dangerous displays of political excitement every good citizen is bound, by those inestimable, patriotic ties of feeling, to rally around our Federal Government, which has heretofore reflected such lustre over our political, moral, and civil associations as to elicit the admiration of the world;
And whereas, at this momentous period the people of Georgia, by their Representatives now assembled, unhesitatingly avow a firm adherence to the principles expressed in the following resolutions :-
1. Be it Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby solemnly resolved by the same, That the present Federal Constitution is the bond of union between these United States. With a view, therefore, to avoid all cause of dissension and complaint, it is essential that the Federal Government in the exercise of its powers should, without deviation, adhere to a correct, literal construction of that instrument, and carefully avoid the usurpation of any right not expressly surrendered.
2. Resolved, That though the Congress of the United States may legiti- mately raise revenue for the support of Government, yet in so doing a just and prudent discretion ought to be exercised, constantly keeping in view a fair and just equalization of the burdens imposed among the several States.
Yet this principle has been greatly disregarded, and experience proves it in the existing Tariff of 1828. That law, manifestly [unconstitutional and] unjust in its conception, has also been partial in its operation, and still continues its baneful pressure on the most vital interest of the Soutlı, while the people of this State, with their accustomed patriotism, have yielded obedience to it; but they now urge in the most emphatic terms its modification and better adaptation to the interest of the whole.
321
GEORGE W. TOWNS.
3. Resolved, That Georgia, in common with the Southern States, is fully convinced of the importance of an early and successful extinguish- ment of the national debt, as then the demand for revenue should only be proportionate to the immediate wants of the Government.
4. Resolved, That as there are conflicting opinions, as well as an avowed hostility of the people, against the assumption by Congress to apply the national resources to the purposes miscalled " Internal Improve- ment," therefore this Legislature cannot forbear expressing their positive disapprobation of any such appropriations until the Constitution of the United States is so amended as expressly to surrender the guaranty of the power now claimed.
5. Resolved, That the people of Georgia contemplate with deep and ardent regret the frequent and open expressions of opinions unfriendly to the perpetuation of our present happy Union; they nevertheless cannot now refrain from declaring it as their firm and solemn belief that the pre- servation of the present General Government, as based on the Federal Constitution, is the rock on which our future safety depends, and that on the annihilation of political sentiments, other than those patriotically friendly to the continuance of this Government, not only depends the present, but future, existence and happiness of the people of these United States. That a wise and prudent discrimination between feelings tending in their consequences to union or disunion cannot be too closely cherished and appreciated as the sole hope and safety of this Republic. That dis- union, it is firmly believed, will bring in its train discord, misery, and civil war; and, finally, that the people of this State deem those as their worst and bitterest enemies who seek to sow the seeds of disunion and introduce the wretched doctrines of Consolidation and Nullification among them.
6. Resolved, That the people of Georgia, by their Representatives now in session, view with deep and interesting solicitude the re-election of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency of the United States, avowing an open and frank devotedness of feeling to his construction of the Federal Con- stitution as regards internal improvement, and of his administration generally.
Mr. Dougherty then moved that Mr. Towns's preamble and resolutions lay on the table for the present.
On which motion the yeas and nays were required to be recorded, and are,-Yeas, 86; Nays, 42.
The words in brackets in the second paragraph or argumenta- tive clause of the second resolution were inserted on motion of Mr. Beall of Twiggs,* by a vote of 100 to 26, before the resolu- tions were laid on the table.
The next record-glimpse that we have of Col. Towns is in the Senate of Georgia. The following extracts are given from the Journal of 1832 :-
P. 41. Committee on the State of the Republic .- Messrs. Harlow, Chap- pell, Nisbet, TOWNS, Wood of McIntosh, Wofford, Burch, Hines, Baxter, R. C. Shorter, King, Lucas, Cleveland.
* See Memoir of R. A. Beall, vol. i. p. 31.
VOL. II .- 21
322
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
P. 49. Mr. Towns notified the Senate that, after to-day, he will move the appointment of a committee to prepare and report a bill to relieve all persons from the provisions of an act passed 19th December, 1828, enti- tled an act to alter and amend the additional oath required by law to be taken by all officers, civil and military, to prevent the offence of duelling.
P. 123. Mr. Towns notified the Senate that, after to-day, he will move the appointment of a committee to prepare and report a bill to reduce the present number of justices of the Inferior Court, to define more properly the jurisdiction of said court, and for other purposes.
Notice having been taken elsewhere* in this work of the Anti- Tariff Convention held at Milledgeville in November, 1832, it is deemed proper that the action of the Legislature upon the plan submitted by the convention should also appear. It may be well to remark that both branches had a majority of Union men as con- tradistinguished from Nullifiers. The House had passed resolutions proposing to submit "Southern Convention," or "No Southern Convention," to the people of the several counties of Georgia on the first Monday in January, 1833, the returns to be certified to the Governor as in cases of election. The "Plan of a Southern Convention" adopted by the House and sent to the Senate con- tained seven articles to the effect,-
1. That Georgia invites Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- lina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi to meet in convention on the tariff and devise relief from the evils of that system.
2. Each State to send delegates equal to its representation in both Houses of Congress.
3. Convention not to be held unless five of the six States assent to the proposal.
4. Time and place of assembling the convention to be agreed on by correspondence.
5. Governor of Georgia to communicate proposals to the other States mentioned, to be made known to the people.
6. Governor to announce time and place of convention, and order an election for eleven delegates by general ticket to the Southern Convention.
7. If the Southern Convention shall agree upon a course of pro- ceeding, and recommend the same, then the Governor of Georgia to issue his proclamation to elect delegates to a State Convention ; and, if the proceedings of the Southern Convention be approved, the same shall be referred to the people for their final ratifi- cation.
# See Memoir of Hon. J. M. Berrien, vol. i. p. 37.
323
GEORGE W. TOWNS.
The following resolutions of the House accompanied the plan of which the foregoing is an abstract :-
P. 192. Resolved, That if the above plan of a Southern Convention is adopted by the votes of a majority of the citizens of this State, given in the manner therein described, it will be the right and duty of the different functionaries of the State Government to afford all necessary aid in facili- tating its execution.
Resolved, That we earnestly advise our fellow-citizens not to give their votes on the resolutions of the convention recently adjourned, as therein proposed. That convention manifestly consisted of delegates from a minority of the people; yet they submit their acts for ratification to the whole people, according to a form contrived by themselves, through the agency of persons appointed by themselves, while they themselves remain final judges of the ratification proposed. To sanction such a procedure would open a door for the grossest imposition, would establish an alarm- ing precedent for usurping the rights of the majority, and might ultimately expose us to all the horrors of discord and anarchy.
Resolved, That while we would provide a corrective for the possible continuance of those evils of which we have so much reason to complain, we still hope that the regular operations of the General Government will supersede the necessity of any extraordinary measures on the part of the Southern people; and that we recognise the happiest augury of better things in the growing certainty of the re-election of that illustrious patriot, Andrew Jackson.
Resolved, That we abhor the doctrine of nullification, as neither a peaceful nor a constitutional remedy, but, on the contrary, as tending to civil commotion and disunion ; and, while we deplore the rash and revo- lutionary measures recently adopted by a convention of the people of South Carolina, we deem it a permanent duty to warn our fellow-citizens against the danger of adopting her mischievous policy.
After which Mr. Chappell proposed therefor the following as a substi- tute :-
Whereas, a great and dangerous contest has long agitated our country in relation to the constitutionality and expediency of the protection extended by Congress to certain domestic productions and manufactures, by the imposition of heavy duties on articles of like kind imported from foreign countries ;
And whereas, the people of Georgia are deeply impressed with the conviction that duties imposed for the purpose of such protection are unwarranted by the Constitution and at war with the prosperity of the . Southern States ;
And whereas, the hostility of feelings and interests which this policy of protection has already engendered between the great geographical divisions of the country threatens danger to the Union itself, and has produced a crisis in which we behold a sovereign member of the Confede- racy deliberately and decisively arraying herself in perilous conflict against the common Government of all the States;
And whereas, also, the urgency and magnitude of the dangers attendant on the existing state of things requires a prompt recourse to the speediest mode provided by the Constitution by which this unhappy controversy can be safely and permanently adjusted :-
324
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
Be it therefore Resolved, as the sense of the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, That the Congress of the United States ought at its present session to propose to the States an amendment of the Constitution, having for its object the lasting settlement of the dangerous controversy between the different sections of the Union which has grown out of the Protective Tariff policy pursued by the Federal Government, and also having for its further object the express protection of the people of the United States against the assumption by Congress of the power to pursue such a policy, or any policy rendering the burdens of taxation unequal on the different sections of the country.
And be it further Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit a copy of this preamble and resolutions to each of the Senators and Representatives of this State in the Congress of the United States, and also to the Governors of the several States, for the purpose of being laid before their respective Legislatures.
Mr. Chappell's substitute was rejected, by a vote of 29 to 48, Mr. Towns voting in the negative.
P. 195. Mr. Harlow then proposed the following as a substitute for the last of the original resolutions of the House of Representatives :- 1
Resolved, That we nowhere find in the Constitution of the United States the authority given to this General Assembly to sit in judgment upon any act of a sister State in her sovereign capacity; that, although we deem the late action of South Carolina to be premature, we are still of opinion that we have no right, and it is highly impolitic for us, to offer to that State, united with us as she is in interest, the gratuitous indignity of our censure.
Mr. Harlow's substitute was also rejected,-29 to 48,-Mr. Towns voting in the negative.
The resolutions from the House of Representatives were then adopted,-Yeas, 49; Nays, 29,-Mr. Towns voting in the affirma- tive.
Although there seems to have been no controversy relative to the following proposition, it may answer for historical reference to insert it here :-
P. 236. The Senate took up the preamble and resolutions of the House of Representatives upon the subject of a Federal Convention, which were amended and agreed to unanimously, and are as follows :-
Forasmuch as throughout the United States there may exist many controversies growing out of the conflicting interests which have arisen among the people since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, out of the cases in which Congress claims the right to act under constructive or implied powers, out of the disposition shown by Congress too frequently to act under assumed powers, and out of the rights of jurisdiction either claimed or exercised by the Supreme Court, all of which tend directly to diminish the affection of the people for their own Government, to produce
325
GEORGE W. TOWNS.
discontent, to repress patriotism, to excite jealousies, to engender discord, and, finally, to bring about that event of all others most deeply to be deplored and most anxiously to be guarded against,-namely, a disso- lution of our happy Union and a severance of these States into hostile communities, each regarding and acting toward the other with the bitter- est enmity,-and the experience of the past having clearly proved that the Constitution of the United States needs amendment in the following particulars :-
That the principle involved in a tariff for the direct protection of domestic industry may be settled.
That a system of Federal taxation may be established which shall be equal in its operation upon the whole people and in all sections of the country.
Be it Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and acting for the people thereof, That the State of Georgia, in conformity with the 5th article of the Fede- ral Constitution, hereby makes application to the Congress of the United States for the call of a convention to amend the Constitution aforesaid in the particulars herein enumerated, and in such others as the people of the other States may deem needful of amendment.
Resolved, further, That his Excellency the Governor be and he is requested to transmit copies of this document to the other States of the Union and to our Senators and Representatives in Congress.
P. 257. The Senate took up the following report made by Mr. Harlow, Chairman, and laid on the table yesterday :-
The joint committee on the state of the Republic, to whom was referred the proceedings of the Convention of the people of South Carolina, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report,-
That a resolution having been agreed to by both branches of the General Assembly applying to the Congress of the United States for the call of a Federal Convention on the part of this State, in the hope that all matters of public difficulty and excitement which now agitate and distract our common country may thereby be peaceably and satisfactorily adjusted, it is inexpedient at this time further to legislate on these grave subjects.
Mr. Wood of McIntosh, from the same committee, made a long minority report, embracing military, commercial, and agricultural statistics, which he proposed as a substitute, and concluding as follows :-
Georgia cannot,-dare not,-by the consecrated obligation that she owes to her citizens and their God,-Georgia will not join Carolina in her perilous crusade against the union and the existence of this glorious and thrice-happy Republic. At this moment patriotism, councils, and wisdom admonish us to cool and deliberate action, and hope begins to gild our political horizon, bidding us to look for better times. In the recent message, the President expresses a decided opinion on this all-absorbing subject ; and from it certainty almost rises to our vision " that the Tariff will be reviewed with a thorough knowledge of all its bearings upon the
326
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
great interests of the Republic, and that there will be a determination on it so that none can with justice complain." This opinion furnishes evi- dence that the system is not riveted on us; nor ought any to despair of the Republic while Andrew Jackson presides over its councils. The com- mittee cannot refrain from directing the attention of the Legislature to that portentous body of combustible matter situated in the bosom of our sister State, and which, if conflicting parties once proceed to extremities, the seeds of a direful evil may be sown there that may hereafter bring forth mnost bitter fruit in our own State. Humanity shudders at even the mere possibility of such a catastrophe, and warns us to use every possible preventive. With that view, and to prevent all false calculations on the feelings and sentiments of the people of this State, your committee respect- fully recommend the following resolutions :-
Resolved, That while Georgia is deeply impressed with the embarrassed situation of her sister State, for whom she feels the most lively attach- ments, yet she cannot approve of the course pursued by the late South Carolina Convention, nor can she give her sanction to measures which have inevitably a revolutionary tendency, and, if persisted in, must ulti- mately lead to the dissolution of the Union.
Resolved, That South Carolina be respectfully invited to review the ground she has taken, and thereby leave open a door to an honorable adjustment of her difficulties with the General Government, as there is now just grounds to believe, from the President's Message delivered to Congress, " that the tariff system will be so modified that none can with justice complain."
And, on the question to agree to said proposed substitute, Mr. Wood required the yeas and nays to be recorded thereupon, and are,-Yeas, 27; Nays, 38,-Mr. Towns voting in the negative.
It may seem that the author is making too free use of docu- mentary matter for the purpose of this memoir. To this objection he replies that Col. Towns was a politician and identified with the questions of the day. His course, therefore, is necessary to be traced in order to do his character justice. One more extract from the Journal of the Senate will conclude the proceedings of 1832, so prolific of abstractions, and yet interesting to all who wish to consider the state of parties and the perils of that era :-
P. 282. Mr. Chappell submitted the following preamble and resolu- tions :-
Whereas, the great and cardinal principles which are essential to the security of the rights of the States of this Union against the encroach- ments of Federal power have been gainsaid and denied to an alarming extent by the President of the United States in his late proclamation ;
And whereas, doctrines are contained in said proclamation which, if permitted to obtain a practical ascendant, must inevitably degrade the States, from that sphere of sovereignty in which they are constitutionally entitled to move, to a condition of provincial subjection to the authorities of the General Government ;
And whereas, when the true and vital principles of the political system
327
GEORGE W. TOWNS.
of our country are disparaged and controverted by an elaborate manifesto issued from so high a source as that of the Chief-Executive of the Union, it is altogether fit and warrantable to invoke in support of those principles authority the highest and most revered which the history of our Govern- ment furnishes :
The General Assembly of the State of Georgia doth therefore declare, in the language of Thomas Jefferson, as adopted by the Legislature of Kentucky in 1798,-
That the several States composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Govern- ment ; but that by compact, under the style and title of a Constitution of the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself the residuary mass of right to their own self-government, and that whensoever the General Govern- ment assumes undelegated powers its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State and is an integral party, -- its co-States forming as to itself the other party; that the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.
And this General Assembly doth further declare, in the language of James Madison, as adopted by the Legislature of Virginia in 1798, --
That it views the powers of the Federal Government as resulting from the compact to which the States are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact ; as no further valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact : and that, in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of powers not granted by the said compact, the States who are parties thereto have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them.
And this Assembly further declares that it dissents from all those views contained in the afore-mentioned proclamation, which proceed on the prin- ciple that the States have no right through their constitutional function- aries to resist encroachments by the Federal Government on their reserved rights.
On motion of Mr. Tennille, this declaration of principles was laid on the table for the remainder of the session,-Yeas, 39; Nays, 21, -Mr. Towns voting in the affirmative.
This vote of the Senate ignored the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, and stamped them as of no weight or efficacy in Geor- gia; and yet they have been referred to as good authority since, and even by the very Senators who voted them down,-for laying them on the table in this summary manner was equivalent to their rejection.
The author thinks it probable that Col. Towns continued in the
328
BENCII AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
Senate until his clection to Congress, in 1834. He was re-elected in 1836, and served in the House of Representatives until the 4th of March, 1839. It was from this period that he achieved his proudest victories at the bar as an advocate. His practice was not again interrupted by any public employment until 1845, when he was a third time returned to Congress, having as his competitor the late Dr. Ambrose Baber, who had been nominated by the Whigs to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the Hon. Washing- ton Poe. This term completed a service of six years in the Coun- cils of the Union. The author has none of the speeches made by Col. Towns while in Congress, from which to draw specimens of his ability in argument. Without knowing the fact, or pretending to exact information from any quarter in relation to the success or influence of Col. Towns in debate, the author ventures the opinion, with all respect, that he was not as powerful on the floor of the House as in a court-room addressing the jury. And it may be said without any disparagement, as the opinion is certainly expressed in all kindness, that he was not the equal of Wilde, Clayton, Foster, or Glasscock, who had just preceded him, in maturity of prepara- tion, though he may have excelled them all in voice and manner,- which is said to have given a peculiar charm to his delivery. Col. Towns was never fond of poring over documents, or statistics, to clog his imagination. He generally took a common-sense view of any subject, and then made it attractive by ornamentation. In this, however, the author may possibly do him injustice. He con- fesses he has formed this opinion more from inference, other things known, than from actual opportunity. He never heard Col. Towns speak, either in the Legislature, at the bar, or on the hustings, as during most of his public carcer they did not reside in the same State.
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.