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 40
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But Col. Towns, successful as he had been, riding in triumph over all opposition at the ballot-box, was at length, like other men, destined to failure. In 1846, he was a candidate for re-election to Congress, and was defeated in a contest with John W. Jones, Esq. It was doubtless a severe mortification; and, when he took final leave of Congressional life on the 4th March, 1847, it is very pro- bable he had gloomy views of the future as to political advance- ment. Little did he then dream that he was to be made Governor by reason of this very misfortune! Had he continued in the House of Representatives, the Democratic Convention of June, 1847, would have chosen another standard-bearer. But he was out of position, and had been too faithful to be neglected. Such
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was the case of Mr. Polk, in 1844. Had he not been defeated for Governor of Tennessee by Gov. Jones in 1843, it would not have oc- curred to the Baltimore Convention to take him up as an experiment.
On the same principle, the defeat of Mr. Fillmore for Governor of New York in 1844 made him President of the United States Had not Gov. Wright (the com- in 1850, by an obvious process.
petitor of Mr. Fillmore) carried the State of New York for Mr. Polk, it is certain that Mr. Clay would have been the President. Committed as he was, had he been elected President of the United States, there would have been no annexation during his term of office,-perhaps at no other time, with his policy established. If no annexation, then there would have been no war with Mexico, and of course no battles on the Rio Grande, at Monterey and Buena Vista, to make Gen. Taylor, the Whig candidate, President of the United States ; and, if no Whig President, then there could have been no Whig Vice-President. Thus it is shown that good fortune occasionally springs out of a seeming disaster. Mr. Fillmore sin- cerely grieved at the defeat of Mr. Clay, not permitted to see in the future that he himself, by means of that very defeat, was to become President of the United States and California received as a member of the Union, with consequences forming a new era in the history of civilization.
Mr. Fillmore and Col. Towns served together in Congress, and, no doubt, very kind personal relations existed between them. Both had been defeated: both rose to be Chief-Magistrates through defeat. The letter of Mr. Fillmore to Mr. Clay on the calamity of 1844 is incorporated in this memoir, not because the letter is well written and its statements true, but because its fore- bodings were unjust to the Democratic party,-as their administra- tions of the Government have since verified :-
MILLARD FILLMORE TO HENRY CLAY."
BUFFALO, November 11, 1844.
MY DEAR SIR :- I have thought for three or four days that I would write you ; but really I am unmanned. I have no courage or resolution. All is gone! The last hope (which hung first upon the city of New York and then upon Virginia) is finally dissipated, and I see nothing but despair depicted on every countenance !
For myself I have no regrets. I was nominated much against my will; and, though not insensible to the pride of success, yet I feel a kind of relief at being defeated. But not so for you or for the nation. Every consideration of justice, every feeling of gratitude, conspired in the
* Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, edited by C. Colton, p. 497.
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minds of honcst men to insure your election ; and, though always doubt- ful of my own success, I could never doubt yours till the painful con- viction was forced upon mc.
The Abolitionists and foreign Catholics have defeated us in this State. I will not trust myself to speak of the vile hypocrisy of the leading Abolitionists now. Doubtless, many acted honestly but ignorantly in what they did. But it is clear that Birney and his associates sold them- selves to Locofocoism; and they will doubtless receive their reward.
Our opponents, by pointing to the Native Americans and to Mr. Fre- linghuysen, drove the foreign Catholics from us and defeated us in this State
But it is in vain to look at the causes by which this infamous result has been produced. It is enough to say that all is gone; and I must confess that nothing has happened to shake mny confidence in our ability to sus- tain a free government so much as this. If, with such issucs and such candidates as the national contest presented, we can be beaten, what may we not expect? A cloud of gloom hangs over the future. May God save the country, for it is cvident the people will not !
So much by way of digression, yet not devoid of interest. The rival candidates for the Presidency in 1844 (Henry Clay and James K. Polk) are both beyond the casualties of time.
In the canvass of 1847, Gen. Duncan L. Clinch was nominated by the Whigs, and Col. Towns was nominated by the Democrats, for the office of Governor. After a spirited campaign, the result was 43,220 votes for Towns and 41,931 for Clinch, giving a ma- jority of 1289 votes to the former, who, at the session of 1847, in presence of both Houses of the Legislature, was declared duly elected Governor, and, after the usual ceremonies, took the oath of office. In 1849, he was again nominated by his party, and had the honor of beating Edward Y. Hill, his Whig competitor, by the increased majority of 3192 votes, the ballot standing 46,514 for Towns and 43,322 for Hill. With the pageantry usual on such occasions, the assembling of the Senate in the Representa- tive-Chamber, the presence of the judicial officers of the State by invitation, and, above all, the crowded gallery of fashion and beauty, giving splendor to the scene, the second inaugural of Gov. Towns was delivered,-victory enough to the farmer-boy! His laurels had been richly earned, and gracefully did he wear them.
The exciting subject between the North and South became more absorbing than ever in 1849 and 1850. An extract from the mes- sage of Gov. Towns to the Legislature at the session of 1849 is given :-
The Constitution, which declares that " No person held to service or labor in one Statc, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to
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whom such service or labor may be due," is wholly disregarded, and several States have passed laws virtually nullifying it. The slaveholder can no longer look to the Constitution as the charter of his rights. His slave is abducted, or feloniously stolen, and carried to a non-slaveholding State : he pursues it with the consciousness of an honest man, holds up the evidence of his title in one hand, and the Constitution in the other : he pleads for justice and his constitutional right: the judge that tries his case is sworn to support the Constitution of the United States; but that judge, with the smile of the hypocrite, and the curse of perjury in his throat, solemnly adjudges that property cannot exist in the slave, and the owner is insultingly turned from the bar of justice amid the derision and scoffing of the multitude, and your Constitution lies prostrate under the iron heel of a corrupt judiciary.
This is an epitome of the wrongs perpetrated upon us. Is it true or false? Have not several of the Northern States passed laws prohibiting our citizens from reclaiming their fugitive slaves? Have they not, time and again, refused to deliver, on the demand of the Executive authority of the Southern States, fugitives from justice charged with negro-stealing? These are stubborn facts that should come home to all. Robbed of your slave-property without the power of redress, opposed by brute force in assert- ing your rights, your criminal laws violated, your sovereignty outraged, your peace and quiet disturbed, your good name defamed; and, lastly, you are told, by way of giving point and anguish to the feeling of wrongs already inflicted, that you are not to participate on equal terms with the other States of the Union in the common property of all.
Is it, Representatives, for this that our fathers struggled in deadly con- flict? Was it for such a Union as this that the sages and patriots- many of whom breasted the storm of the Revolution-formed the Con- stitutional compact ? Was it designed that the States should not have the power of deciding each for itself what would or should not be pro- perty? or was it intended that any party or faction in this country, whether Free-Soil or known by any other name, might violate the most vital provision of the Constitution, so far as the South is concerned, with impunity? Feeling as I do the incalculable value of the Union in that purity of equality handed down to us by the great apostles of liberty that formed it, entertaining with ardor and sincerity a feeling of horror at all attempts by one section of the Union to violate the rights of another, and cherishing the spirit of liberty and equality, actual and positive, in government above and far beyond unequal laws and odious oppression, I may be permitted here to reaffirm the sentiments with which I went be- fore the people of the State in the late election, as containing my opinion that further aggression is not to be endured, and, if attempted by the Federal Government, must be repelled-all amicable means being first exhausted-by all the power, moral and physical, at the command of the State.
With the confident belief that the opinions here expressed accord strictly with those of the great body of our constituents, I feel it my duty to ask of you the passage of an act investing the Executive with the authority to convoke a convention of the people of the State to take into consideration the measures proper for their safety and preservation in the event of the passage of the Wilmot proviso, or other kindred measure, by the Congress of the United States. Relying upon the purity of our motives, and feeling deeply impressed with the magnitude of the duties
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that devolve upon us, let us ever be mindful that our strength and ca- pacity for usefulness come alone from that Being whose favor is success, whose aid is omnipotence.
The Legislature adopted the following resolutions, which re- ceived the Executive assent on the 8th day of February, 1850 :-
Whereas, the people of the non-slaveholding States have commenced and are persisting in a system of encroachment upon the Constitution and the rights of a portion of the people of this Confederacy, which is alike unjust and dangerous to the peace and perpetuity of our cherished Union : be it-
Ist. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia, in General Assembly convened, That the Government of the United States is one of limited powers, and cannot rightfully exercise any authority not conferred by the Constitution.
2d. Resolved, That the Constitution grants no power to Congress to prohibit the introduction of slavery into any Territory belonging to the United States.
3d. Resolved, That the several States of the Union acceded to the Confederacy upon terms of perfect equality; and that the rights, privi- leges, and immunities secured by the Constitution belong alike to the people of each State.
4th. Resolved, That any and all territory acquired by the United States, whether by discovery, purchase, or conquest, belongs in common to the people of each State, and thither the people of each State and every State have a common right to emigrate with any property they may possess ; and that any restriction upon this right which will operate in favor of the people of one section to the exclusion of those of another is unjust, oppressive, and unwarranted by the Constitution.
5th. Resolved, That slaves are recognised by the Constitution as pro- perty ; and that the Wilmot proviso, whether applied to any territory at any time heretofore acquired, or which may be hereafter acquired, is unconstitutional.
6th. Resolved, That Congress has no power, either directly or indi- rectly, to interfere with the existence of slavery in the District of Columbia.
7th. Resolved, That the refusal on the part of the non-slaveholding States to deliver up fugitive slaves who have escaped to said States, upon proper demand being made therefor, is a plain and palpable violation of the letter of the Constitution, and an intolerable outrage upon Southern rights ; and that it is the imperative duty of Congress to pass laws pro- viding for the enforcement of this provision of the Constitution by federal, judicial, and ministerial officers responsible to the Federal Government.
Sth. Resolved, That in the event of the passage of the Wilmot proviso by Congress, the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, the ad- mission of California as a State in its present pretended organization, or the continued refusal of the non-slaveholding States to deliver up fugitive slaves as provided in the Constitution, it will become the immediate and imperative duty of the people of this State to meet in convention to take into consideration the mode and measure of redress.
9th. Resolved, That the people of Georgia entertain an ardent feeling of devotion to the union of these States, and that nothing short of a per- sistence in the present system of encroachment upon our rights by the
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non-slaveholding States can induce us to contemplate the possibility of a dissolution.
10th. Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to forward copies of these resolutions to each of our Senators and Represen- tatives in Congress, to the Legislatures of the several States, except Ver- mont and Connecticut, and to the President of the United States.
Congress subsequently admitted California as a State into the Union, with its "pretended organization." This was perhaps the only one of the series of compromise-measures which devolved upon Gov. Towns the duty of calling a convention of the people.
On the 23d day of September, 1850, Gov. Towns issued a pro- clamation of considerable length, reciting the action of Congress and the course of the Northern majority, rendering it proper for Georgia to take measures for her own safety and happiness, and requiring elections to be held in the several counties on Monday, the 25th day of November, for delegates to a State Convention, to assemble in the Capitol at Milledgeville on Tuesday, the 10th day of December, 1850, each county to be entitled to double the num- ber of delegates that it has Representatives in the Legislature.
Just here, between the call of the Convention and the proceed- ings of that body, the author interrupts the course of the narrative to show that it was the melancholy privilege of Gov. Towns to give his official sanction, December 5, 1849, to the following resolutions relative to the death of Gen. D. L. Clinch :-
We have heard with pain and regret of the death of Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, distinguished for many years as an officer of the army. He ren- dered valuable services on every field of duty to which he was assigned. Honor, gallantry, and a faithful discharge of every trust were his shining virtues,-virtues which go far to redeem the infirmities incident to human nature, and gild his character with an imperishable halo. When such a man dies, the country mourns. In honor of his memory,-
Be it therefore Resolved, by the General Assembly, That, while in life Gen. Clinch commanded our esteem, in death we mingle our sympathies with his family, friends, and fellow-citizens.
Be it further Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be re- quested to furnish his family with a copy of this preamble and resolutions.
Here let a grateful community call to mind the fallen hero, who never turned his back upon a friend or an enemy, and let justice be done to his character. He is well entitled to the honor of having a county called by his name.
At the time appointed by the Governor's proclamation, the people in the several counties elected delegates to the State Con- vention. On the 10th December, 1850, two hundred and sixty delegates, representing ninety-five counties, appeared in the Repre-
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sentative-Chamber and organized. The Hon. Thomas Spalding was chosen President, William B. Wofford and Andrew J. Miller Vice-Presidents, and Robert S. Lanier Secretary.
On motion of Mr. Jenkins, of Richmond, a committee of three from each judicial district was appointed by the Chair, to report, for the consideration of the Convention, action appropriate to the occasion.
The President appointed the committee as follows :-
Middle District-C. J. Jenkins, Lawton, and Flournoy.
Eastern-F. S. Bartow, J. H. Couper, and Smith.
Southern-E. J. Blackshear, George Wilcox, and Gatlin.
Southwestern-W. H. Crawford, Taylor, and Irwin of Lee.
Chattahoochee-A. McDougald, Clarke, and Bivins.
Coweta-E. Y. Hill, Murphy, and Slaughter.
Cherokee-L. Tumlin, Lawhon, and Chastain.
Western-A. Hull, W. J. Hill, and Knox.
Northern-G. R. Gilmer, Baxter, and Long.
Ocmulgee-A. H. Kenan, Sanford, and Meriwether.
Flint-A. M. D. King, J. N. Williamson, and Robert Collins.
The report of the committee (of course the production of its chairman, the Hon. Charles J. Jenkins) occupies about nine large pages of the printed Journal of the Convention, and is confessedly one of the ablest papers ever submitted to any deliberative body. The author regrets that its length precludes it entire from this memoir. The resolutions with which it concluded, known by way of pre-eminence throughout the country as the GEORGIA PLAT- FORM, adopted by a vote of 237 to 19 in the Convention, are as follows :-
To the end, therefore, that the position of this State may be clearly com- prehended by her confederates of the South and of the North, and that she may be blameless of all future consequences :-
Be it Resolved, by the People of Georgia in Convention assembled: 1st. That we hold the American Union secondary in importance only to the rights and principles it was designed to perpetuate. That past associations, present fruition, and future prospects will bind us to it so long as it con- tinues to be the safeguard of those rights and principles.
2d. That if the thirteen original parties to the contract, bordering the Atlantic in a narrow belt, while their separate interests were in embryo, their peculiar tendencies scarcely developed, their Revolutionary trials and triumphs still green in memory, found union impossible without com- promise, the thirty-one of this day may well yield somewhat, in the con- flict of opinion and policy, to preserve that Union which has extended the sway of republican government, over a vast wilderness, to another ocean, and proportionally advanced their civilization and national greatness.
3d. That, in this spirit, the State of Georgia has maturely considered
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the action of Congress embracing a series of measures for the admission of California into the Union, the organization of territorial Governments for Utah and New Mexico, the establishment of a boundary between the lat- ter and the State of Texas, the suppression of the slave-trade in the Dis- trict of Columbia, and the extradition of fugitive slaves, and (connected with them) the rejection of propositions to exclude slavery from Mexican territories and to abolish it in the District of Columbia ; and, whilst she does not wholly approve, will abide by it as a permanent adjustment of this sectional controversy.
4th. That the State of Georgia, in the judgment of this Convention, will and ought to resist, even (as a last resort) to a disruption of every tie which binds her to the Union, any action of Congress upon the sub- ject of slavery in the District of Columbia or in places subject to the juris- diction of Congress, incompatible with the safety, domestic tranquillity, the rights and honor of the slaveholding States; or any act suppressing the slave-trade between slaveholding States; or any refusal to admit as a State any Territory hereafter applying, because of the existence of slavery therein ; or any act prohibiting the introduction of slaves into the Territo- ries of Utah and New Mexico; or any act repealing or materially modify- ing the laws now in force for the recovery of fugitive slaves.
5th. That it is the deliberate opinion of this Convention that upon the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law by the proper authorities depends the preservation of our much-loved Union.
In reference to the Western and Atlantic Railway, known as the State Road, Gov. Towns, in his message of 1849, thus expressed himself :--
The valleys between the almost innumerable ledges of mountains to be met with in this section of the State, containing large tracts of land equal in fertility to any in the Valley of the Mississippi, have been hitherto locked out from trade by natural barriers; the inhabitants, from almost insurmountable difficulties in obtaining a market, were deterred from all efforts to produce much beyond the requirements of domestic consump- tion; but now they are being aroused to action and to enterprise by the stimulating and magic influence of accessibility to the markets of the world. None can anticipate the capacity of this interesting region for agricultural products, to say nothing of its mines and minerals. If this be true,-and the receipts of our railroad prove it to be so,-what must be the increased business of the road when the hardened and industrious citizens of the mountain-regions of Tennessee are aroused by the induce- ment of a home market at remunerating prices? Will not their efforts be invigorated, and shall we not see the swelling tide of commerce rolling down from that region in such quantities as will bring to our treasury solid and tangible evidence of the wisdom of completing the road to the Tennessee River ?
In this picture, imperfect as it is, of our present and future prosperity; let us not be unmindful that much yet remains to be done to perfect and equalize, as far as practicable, the advantages and benefits of a judicious system of internal improvement that will meet the wants of every section. To travel on the smooth path of prosperity, it is of vast importance that we keep steadily in view the sacred principles of good faith to all men and in all things : therefore, let me in the most respectful manner recom-
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mend that no temptation, however strong, induce you to permit the net proceeds of the railroad to be applied to any other object until the last farthing of the existing liens be fully discharged. When that is done, we have an ample field for the exercise of a powerful element in the advancement of the social and intellectual condition of our youth. By prudent economy and wise forecast, the receipts from this road, after dis- charging the just charges against it, will furnish a fund by which a system of common schools can be extended throughout the State.
It will be a proud day for Georgia when, by her public improvements, the conviction is brought home to all that every section of the State has been stimulated to its greatest productive capacity, whether of agriculture, manufactures, or commerce; and prouder and more glorious still will that day be when, by the wisdom of her measures, she can boast of not having an uneducated son or daughter within her limits. These are the promi- nent objects to which your deliberations should be directed : they are worthy the consideration of the statesman, and, if accomplished, will com- mand the admiration of posterity.
The present very wise and just principle of taxation on the value of property of every description was recommended by Gov. Towns, as will be seen by a further extract from his message in 1849 :-
No system of taxation which does not bear equally upon the property of the whole people can be just. The property of every citizen is equally protected by law, and therefore natural justice would seem to demand that it should contribute equally to the support of Government. The maxim that equality is equity is peculiarly true in raising an income for the State; and though a wise discrimination in some instances in favor of specific property, with a view of stimulating production in which the public at large may have an interest equivalent to the surrender of its due portion of taxes, may be tolerated as an exception to the rule to be con- tinued for a season, yet these exceptions do not impair the essential, just, and enduring principle of ad valorem taxation.
Individual or political rights are equal with the poor and the rich : in this respect there can be no difference; and therefore, if a poll-tax is imposed at all, it should be set apart and applied to objects of education, in which all have an equal interest, whatever their condition may be. But as regards property this equality is not found to exist; and as Government is as much bound to protect and defend the citizen's right of property as it is his personal or political rights, so, in the same ratio as the aggregate property of one citizen exceeds that of another should your system of finance exact contributions of the one over the other for the support of Government.
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