USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 1 > Part 3
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The chief battle in this General Assembly was over some Democratic resolutions, originated mainly by Lucius J. Gartrell and W. W. Clayton, declaring for strict state rights; for a national territory equally slave and free, and branding the Wilmot proviso as unconstitutional. The report of the committee on the state of the Republic, introductory of
20
DISUNION FORESHADOWED.
these warm resolutions, was written by Col. Thomas C. Howard, the chairman of the House committee, regarded then as the most promising young man in the state. An inimitable conversationalist, flashing, witty and fervent, there is no man in Georgia that has ever surpassed him as a talker. He was then and is to-day a remarkable man. His report on these resolutions was a brilliant piece of writing. The debates over these resolutions were sharp and at times stormy. In the Senate, Miller and Brown had numerous skirmishes. Governor Colquitt told the writer that the Democrats had a sense of security when Brown had charge of the Democratic side that they had under no other leader. His speeches were to the point, clear and forcible, and his readiness and resources equal to any occasion. The resolutions were finally passed. Among them is the following:
" 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 persistence in the present sys- tem of encroachment upon our rights by the non-slaveholding states cau induce us to contemplate the possibility of a dissolution."
These resolutions provided for calling a State Convention in certain contingencies. They illustrate the inflammatory agitation that was convulsing the country upon the subject of slavery, and the contempla- tion of a severance of the union as an ultimatum that came ten years later. On the final passage in the Senate the vote stood thirty-five yeas to three nays, Andrew J. Miller being one of the nays. In the House the vote stood ninety-two yeas and twenty-eight nays. Charles J. Jenkins was the leader of the union party in the House. Mr. Jenkins has been one of the purest and ablest public men the state has ever had. Hle afterwards became Governor and Judge of the Supreme Court, and President of a Constitutional Convention of 1817. Possessed of pune- tilious integrity and high ability, known for an adamantine firmness and courage, patriotic and public-spirited, no man in the state has enjoyed a larger measure of respect than Mr. Jenkins. He has been a citizen of which any commonwealth could be proud.
In connection with these resolutions the general assembly elected C. J. McDonald, M. H. McAllister, C. Dougherty and William Law as delegates to a convention of the people of the slave-holding states of the union to be held on the first Monday in June, 1850, in Nashville, Tennessee, called in conformity with a recommendation of the people of Mississippi, to take some harmonious action in defense of the in- stitntions of slavery and the rights incident to it under the Constitu- tion of the United States. C. J. McDonald had been governor of the
Wed ,da Vidai.l. den donadonidistinta die schule
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ANDREW J. MILLER'S " WOMAN'S BILL."
state from 1839 to 1843, and was a gentleman of ability who possessed to a large degree the confidence of the people. M. H. McAllister was a citizen of Savannah, looming up prominently for public honor, but who injudiciously sacrificed the sure promise of distinction in Georgia by removing to California. C. Dougherty and William Law were both lawyers of fine ability. Dougherty was a citizen of Athens, of bright mind, member of a gifted family. He was defeated for governor on a close vote by McDonald. Law was a citizen of Savannah, and became a distinguished judge.
One of the notable battles in this legislature was over a measure that became in those days known as the hobby of Andrew J. Miller, called his " Woman's bill." The object was to secure to married women their own property independent of the husband. Miller was sent to the legislature time and again, and at every session he introduced this measure, only to be repeatedly defeated. It finally became the law, and its success was due to the persistent agitation of the persevering Miller. Joseph E. Brown had the old-fashioned notions of the marital relation and fought all of these new-fangled ideas. Miller's Woman's bill was defeated by a vote of twenty-one yeas to twenty-three nays in the Senate, Brown voting no. A bill to limit the liability of husbands for debts of wives incurred before marriage, did pass the Senate, how- ever, and Brown vindicated his consistency by voting against it. During the consideration of the Woman's bill Judge Richard H. Clark offered an amendment submitting the Woman's bill to a popular vote at the governor's election in 1851. Senator Woods proposed an amend- ment allowing females between sixteen and fifty years to vote. The amendments were both rejected by only a small majority. Judge Clark has been a well-known figure in Georgia matters. A delightful gentle- man socially, a writer of exquisite culture, a thorough lawyer and yet with a decided bias to literature, Judge Clark has held a high position. He has been one of the codifiers of the Georgia statute law, and a judge of admitted ability. He is now judge of the city court of Atlanta.
At this session of the legislature important legislation was had on the divorce law. Joseph E. Brown, as may be expected, fought every proposition widening the domain of divorce, and maintained rigid adherence to all of the strictest ideas of marriage sanctity. He was for striking out as grounds of divorce intermarriage within the Levitical degrees, desertion for three years, and conviction for crime, and finally voted against the bill. An effort was made to incorporate the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance, and referred to a special committee
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23
THOMAS BUTLER KING.
with Brown as chairman, who was known to be an ardent temperance champion. He made a strong report against it, arguing that any legis- lation of the sort would injure the cause of temperance, which was making progress, and should depend for success upon inherent moral influence.
Senator Brown gave a marked instance of his thoughtfulness of the interest of his immediate constituents, and his successful method of doing things in a little post route matter. Mr. Boyd offered resolutions for mail arrangements to be secured between Marietta and the towns of Roswell and Cumming. Brown moved and carried the motion to strike out Roswell and Cumming and substitute Canton therefor.
As illustrating the temper of the people on the subject of slavery, an episode occurred in the Senate which deserves mention. Among the marked and influential public men of that day was the Hon. Thomas Butler King. He was a wealthy planter on the coast, a gentleman of aristocratie family, of high social influence and very strong ability. He was a Congressman and went later as Commissioner to Europe. Senator Brown introduced resolutions reciting that it was reported that Mr. King had resigned his seat in Congress and was in California, alleging that he represented the cabinet at Washington, and was seeking to become a Senator from California under a Free-soil Constitution, and resolving that it was derogatory to a Southern representative in Con- gress to advocate the admission of California into the Union as a free state, and still more derogatory to such an individual to accept a seat in the National councils purchased by moral treason to that portion of the Union that has fostered him, and that Mr. King's conduct met the unqualified disapprobation of the General Assembly.
The resolutions were taken up by a vote of twenty-one to sixteen, and made the special order for a future day, among those voting in the affirmative being Senator Thomas Purse of Savannah. Final fetion was never taken on them, they being based upon misapprehension of Mr. King's real attitude. As a further exemplification of the temper of the times upon this absorbing question it may be stated as an incon- gruous attempt to embody the spirit of the people that a military com- pany in Lagrange was incorporated as the " Georgia Constitutional Guards of Troups."
This legislature passed a special act allowing a young man to practice law, who has occupied a large portion of the publie attention since, Mr. Osborn A. Lochrane. A poor Irish youth; he began his career in this country as a drug clerk in Athens, Ga. He made a speech in a debating
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Joseph & Brown
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MILLER'S PROPHECY OF BROWN.
society that attracted the attention of Chief Justice Lumpkin, who advised him to read law. He did so, and has been a noted person in Georgia matters. He cuhninated his profession by a seat on the Supreme Court as Chief Justice. Judge Bleckley said of him to the writer, that he possessed a dual intelligence ; one, a flashing surface sparkle of froth and pleasantry, and underneath a strong, industrious, logical mind, searching, original and vigorous. He has built into for- tune and national repute as a lawyer. The friendly bonhommie of his nature has made enmity to him impossible. Tolerant to all political creeds, genial and humorous, full of business capacity, a thinker and an orator, Judge Lochrane has been a conspicuous example of unusual success, achieved by a capable intelligence sun-shining itself through the world.
Senator Brown's career as a state senator was a noted step in his upward progress. It was too limited an arena and too short an episode to give him a state repute. It enlarged his local fame and home influ- ence. It formed a valuable part of his public education. It brought him into acquaintance with many of the leaders of thought in the state. It strengthened his confidence in his own powers and resources. And it was a curious piece of discernment, prophecy and candor in his venerable and distinguished opponent and rival in leadership, Andrew J. Miller, to have used this remark :
"Joe Brown will yet stamp the impress of his greatness upon the future history of the state."
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CHAPTER IV.
HERSCHELL V. JOHNSON AS GOVERNOR.
Howell Cobb and C. J. McDonald in 1851 .- The Union Victorious over Southern Rights .- H. V. Johnson and C. J. Jenkins in 1853 .- Alfred H. Colquitt makes Jolinson Governor .- Southern Rights Triumphant .- Brown an Elector .-- The Whig Party Riven .- C. J. Jenkins for Vice-President .- The Tornado of Know-Nothing- ism .- A Mad Flurry and a Hard Fight .- Alex. Stephens and His Political Shroud .- The Triangular Contest for Governor .- II. V. Johnson, Garnett Andrews and B. H. Overby .- Brown's Race for Judge against David Irwin .- An Acrimonious Battle .- Young Brown Victorious .- Brown is a Perilous Political Fighter .- Gad- distown Stands to Brown .- Brown a Rare Judge -Racy Anecdotes of His Judicial Administration .- Brown Comes to the Edge of Ilis Destiny.
RETURNING home to the practice of law, Mr. Brown gave his atten- tion with all the vigor of a decided nature and strong abilities to his con- genial profession. He continued practice until the fall of 1855, when he took his chances before the people of his circuit for election to the office of judge. The method of selection of judges had been changed from election by the legislature to election by the citizens of each judicial circuit.
During the intervening period Howell Cobb had been elected Gov- ernor of Georgia, and served from 1851 to 1853, beating ex-Governor McDonald in a well-contested race. The Southern Rights question had been made an issue, and Mr. Cobb, representing the Union party, had whipped the fight. Mr. Cobb was one of the really great men of the nation. Entering political life young, he had been almost uninterrupt- . edly successful. As a representative in Congress, a United States senator and a Cabinet minister, he had reflected luster upon his state, and made a national reputation for statesmanship. Wise, conservative, able, resolute, amiable and social, Mr. Cobb was one of the most popular and esteemed public men Georgia has ever had.
In 1853, Herschell V. Johnson was elected Governor, beating Charles J. Jenkins by a small majority in one of the closest and sharpest cam- paigns of Georgia annals. The Southern Rights party had received a- black eye in the defeat of its candidate, ex-Governor MeDonald, by Howell Cobb in 1851, and it was claimed that the issue was settled. But the Southern Rights men made a new effort in 1853, under H. V.
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ALFRED U. COLQUITT ELECTS JOHNSON.
Johnson, and this time they succeeded, though by a close shave. It was in this race that Alfred H. Colquitt made his first important political fight. He took the field as the nominee of the Democratic Southern Rights convention for Congress against James Johnson, the Union can- didate. The Union men in this district, the second, had a. majority of fully three thousand. It looked like a forlorn hope to overcome it. But young Colquitt and that other bright youngster, Thomas C. Howard, took the stump, canvassing through the congressional district for two months, riding in a buggy and making daily speeches. It was a lively battle and proved to be the crucial point of the gubernatorial contest. Young Colquitt had all the prestige of his gifted father's wonderful name and popularity. He was handsome, genial, able and eloquent. Added to this was the guidance of his father, who was an unprece- dented political leader. The result was a surprise of effective work. Young Colquitt swept the district triumphantly, carrying the guber- natorial guerdon on his strong shoulders, and he had the glory of not only winning his own election by a reversal of the heavy majority against his party, but of securing the success of his party candidate for Governor.
The only political part that Joseph E. Brown took very actively in these contests, was that in 1852 he was nominated on the Democratic electoral ticket for Pierce and King, and kept up his practice of politi- cal success by receiving the highest vote of any on the ticket, though he was its youngest member. It will recall an interesting fact of that campaign to state that a convention held in Macon nominated Daniel Webster for President and Charles J. Jenkins for Vice-President. Mr. Jenkins had declined to support either Pierce, the Democratic candidate, or Gen. Scott, the Whig candidate for the presidency. The national controversies on the slavery question had played the wild with parties in the South, and especially in Georgia. The Whigs were driven from their national party alignments. Robert Toombs and Alex. II. Ste- phens, the chief Whig leaders in Georgia, had declared the Whig party north unsound on slavery, so dear to them, and came to the Democratic party. A number of the Whig leaders in our state found it hard to yield their old antagonism to the Democracy. It was a mixed state of things among the Whigs, some supporting the Democracy, some sup- porting the Whig candidate, Scott, and some in the middle and southern parts of the state refusing to support either. Another issue split both Whigs and Democrats in Georgia, and that was the Union and Southern Rights question. But its effect was more disastrous to the Whig
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KNOW-NOTHINGISM.
organization. Mr. Jenkins' attitude in the presidential campaign lost him strength in his gubernatorial race.
Right upon this disintegration of the Whig party was sprung a new political question, that furnished a new distraction for the seething po- litical elements. It swept the country like a prairie on fire. In the history of political agitations there never has been an. instance of a more sudden or furious public storm than that created by "KNOW- NOTHINGISM." Crushed in the national contest and hopelessly riven in the Southern states, the Whig party found a temporary refuge in this new-fangled American party. It had a large following in Georgia for a while and a respectable one too. It was bitterly fought. Ex-Gov. McDonald, Howell Cobb, Alex. H. Stephens, Robert Toombs and Hiram Warner wrote strong letters against it, while Mr. Stephens made some of the ablest speeches of his career on this subject. The term of Mr. Stephens in Congress was out. He was uncertain of running again. He wrote a letter to Judge Thomas W. Thomas against Know-Noth- ingism in response to a request for his views. He was vigorously assailed, and declared to have made his political shroud, when, with that defiant audacity that has marked his life, 'he announced his can- didacy and proceeded to test the issue of his "political shroud." His speeches were masterpieces, and he converted the shroud into a wreath of political laurels, returning to Congress by a majority of over 2,000.
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The gubernatorial issue was Know-Nothingism. H. V. Johnson was almost unanimously re-nominated by the Democratic convention, of which James Gardner was president. The candidate of the Know- Nothings was Garnett Andrews, and the temperance men ran B. H. Overby. The contest was sharp and animated. Johnson was re-elected, his vote being 54,476 against 43,750 for the American candidate, and 6,261 for the temperance man, and his majority 10,726 over Andrews, and 4,465 over both of the other candidates. The American party showed a surprising strength, and illustrated how Know-Nothingism had clutched the country. Mr. Charles J. Jenkins, as in the presidential contest, followed a peculiar course. In a short and characteristic letter, he stated, "Being neither a Democrat nor a Know-Nothing there is no place for me in this contest."
As the reader will readily divine, Joseph E. Brown was a decided Anti- Know-Nothing. Its secrecy, its religious proscription, its warfare upon foreigners, little suited his republican tastes and political liberality. He was too thoroughly imbued with the spirit of our free institutions to
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BROWN AND IRWIN.
encourage ideas and theories so antagonistic to the genius of our demo- cratic government. In his race for judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit the Know-Nothing issue was sprung against him, though Judge David Irwin, his opponent, claimed not to be a member of the order. Judge Irwin was one of the leading citizens of our state, and is living to-day respected and honored for his abilities and worth. He was in active political life in 1840, an ardent Whig. He was a candidate for elector on the Clay ticket in 1844. He was a decided Union advocate in the Southern Rights contest of 1850, and the years following. He had, to a large degree, the confidence of the people of his section. He had been elected to the bench in 1857, and was seeking re-election at the hands of people who knew and esteemed him in endorsement of a just and able administration of the law. It will thus be seen that a more for- midable opponent young Brown could not have had.
The contest was lively and became acrimonious. Judge Irwin's friends attacked Brown savagely. Brown's friends were not slow to strike back without gloves. The press was kept warm with attacks and counter-attacks. The new county of Pickens, which was formed at the previous session of the legislature through the active agency of that well known legislator, L. J. Alred, and with the aid of Mr. Brown, gratefully remembered the latter, and at a meeting of the Democracy in Jasper in June, gave a ringing endorsement of Brown's candidacy. Irwin's friends charged that Brown was a partisan candidate and pull- ing down the bench into political mire ; that Brown had sometime worn unlawful weapons, etc., etc. Brown's friends retorted that Irwin was a Know-Nothing ; that he was slow in dispatching business, and had allowed the dockets to get behind ; that he was afraid to keep order in the court ; that he had always fought the Democracy, etc. The cam- paign showed how, in a hot struggle, good men can be belabored and lampooned. Brown gave his popular and powerful competitor a striking defeat. He had a reasonable majority to start with. But the fight strengthened Brown largely. He had the same methods then he has used since. He was aggressive, vigilant, untiring, arousing an impas- sioned interest in his friends, and recriminating with all the vigorous audacity of his nature. The truth is that Georgia has never had a more fearless and potential political fighter than Brown. Woe be it to his adversary who goes at no-quarter hitting and has a weak record. Cool, resourceful, relentless, our publie annals show no more perilous political opponent than he has proven himself in such a multiplied variety of desperate battles as demonstrate that his masterly powers were natural.
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BROWN AS A JUDGE.
Of the eleven counties in the judicial circuit Irwin only carried three by small majorities, Campbell, Cobb and Polk. The aggregate majority in the three counties was only 68 ; Cobb, Irwin's own county, only giving him two majority. The remaining seven counties, Cherokee, Fanning, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Paulding, Pickens and Union, gave Brown 2,898 majority; Union with her now historie Gaddistown standing gal- lantly to her young son by adoption with his famous bull-plowing expe- rience, and rolling up for him a good solid majority of 517 in a vote of 1,000. It was a remarkable victory, especially in view of the strong man Judge Brown had to defeat. It was a fair, square fight too, even, equal and honestly won.
Judge Brown's administration of the bench was in many respects the most extraordinary phase of his public career. Though he had served only two years when he was called to a higher place of trust, his brief period of judicial presiding was eventful, and is a tradition of power and success in these mountain counties to this day. Numbers of anec- dotes are current illustrating his salient qualities and positive manage- ment. He kept perfect order and an unbroken discipline. For years there had been a sort of steady drift to a loose, easy governing of the courts, so much so that it was a matter of complaint that it retarded the dispatch of business. Lawyers had acquired a large latitude of free- dom. Much of the power of the judge had been gradually yielded in criminal matters, the injurious practice having grown of allowing solicit- ors to compromise the grade of verdicts on the basis of certain agreed amount of fines fixed beforehand. This of course tended to make the administration of criminal justice a matter of pecuniary accommodation to the prosecuting officer. Judge Brown was just the man to remedy these matters and he did remedy them. He had nerve for anything. He tackled these practices promptly. He instituted perfect order in the court-room, which aids the rapid dispatch of business. He drove through the dockets until he cleared them. He kept counsel to the point, and stopped legal discussion when his conclusion was reached. He made his mind up with that decisiveness that has marked him in all things. The opinion is universal in his circuit that he was the best judge they ever had. If he had any fault it was a leaning to severity. He kept juries and court officers to their duty. Jurors and counsel were always on hand to the minute.
At one of the mountain courts the Solicitor General got on a spree. The Judge promptly appointed a solicitor for the time in his place. The intoxicated solicitor started to rebel, when the Judge coolly
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29
ANECDOTES.
stopped the insubordination by quickly informing the officer that upon any further demonstration he should order him to jail.
At another court a drunken fellow, a very desperate rowdy and defi- ant of the authorities, came into the court room and made a good deal of noise. The Judge promptly fined him. The fellow paid the fine and started out staggering noisily, and making much fuss with his creaking boots. The Judge determined to make an effective example of him, and ordered the Sheriff to collect another fine for the noise he made in going out with his creaky boots. Thoroughly subdued and despair- ing of getting out noiselessly, the fellow slipped down on his knees and crawled out of the court house, humbly deprecating the Judge's wrath. The incident created much amusement and satisfied the people that Judge Brown meant to have order in his court. His iron will brooked no resistance to his legal authority. It must be held in mind that off from the railroads, in the rude mountain sections, men are more inclined to be impatient of restriction. There seems to be something in the mountain air that makes its citizens wilder when insubordinate. At the same time it is true that in those regions there is a very large meas- ure of reverence given to the majesty of the law, as embodied in the Judge. He is a sort of an autocrat, and regarded with high respect as the powerful agent of the resistless and awful genius of the law.
In the intellectual and legal qualifications of a judge, perhaps there has never been in Georgia one to surpass Judge Brown. An analytical mind of unusual strength, close discrimination, patient research, quick legal intuitions, an exhaustive study of authorities, a logical power of argument and a clearness of statement extraordinary, constituted an array of elements of fitness for judicial duty rarely equaled. An un- usually small proportion of cases in his ridings were taken up to the Supreme Court, and his decisions were rarely. overruled. A firm, an honest, and an able Judge, he made the court honored as a model tri- hunal of justice. Frowning down unnecessary delays, he enabled suitors to get speedy trials. Adamantine in his stand against crime and crimi- nals, he administered the criminal law with a resolute hand. He al- lowed no compromises with wrong, but struck down vice and violence whenever they showed themselves. Absolutely impartial, he was gov- erned by neither favor nor prejudice, and decided the right as he honestly saw it, irrespective of personal considerations. A man of christian character, he held in earnest keeping the good of society and the pres- ervation of morals. Possessing a business sense of marvelous practi- cality, he carried into the management of his courts that system, dis-
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