USA > Indiana > Early Indiana trials: and sketches. Reminiscences > Part 12
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BRITISH AUTHORITIES IN INDIANA COURTS. 123
for the defendant in one of the most conclusive speeches ever deliv- ered in that court-house. He said, " If the Court please, I shall not attempt to follow the learned gentleman, in his long speech, nor even to read and comment on his anthorities ; they may all be well enough in the right place, in their proper jurisdiction ; but they have no bear- ing whatever in this Court, in this jurisdiction. I hold in my hand a book from which I will read a few extracts." The Court .- " What book is that, General Noble?" "It is the Declaration of Indepen- dence." " Yes, that is coming to the point ; read it, General." The General read,-" When in the course of human events, it becomes neces- sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have con- nected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station, to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them "-" We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, for the rectitnde of our intentions, do in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies, are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British erown, and that all political connec- tion between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." The General ceased reading. The Court .- " That is conclusive. These British authorities were all cut off on the 4th day of July, 1776. Judgment for the defendant."
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
[SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1857. REV. JOHN P. DURBIN.
IN the woods of early Indiana, there were assembled for worship at a small log sehool-house one Sabbath morning, several of the neighbors from the settlements around. It was getting late and there was no preacher yet. But in a few minutes there was seen riding up on his pony, singing a Methodist hymn, a young preacher, a mere youth, small of stature, young in appearance, spare in person, light hair, blue eyes, high forehead, kind and benevolent in countenance, wearing a short frock-coat. It was John P. Durbin, commencing his journey on his cireuit. He preached, his zeal was great, his voice strong for his appearance, but he seemed to forget that it required eare and training to preserve it in its volume and tone.
Time rolled on and when still a young man, Mr. Durbin found himself involuntarily upon the superannuated list, his voiee had given way, while his mind was growing into the stature of a man. For years he abstained from all ministerial labors, much against his will, without any improvement of his voice. Under the advice of an elder who encountered similar difficulties, Mr. Durbin commenced preaching again, in his eommon conversational tone of voice. At first the con- gregations were hardly satisfied ; but the more they heard him, the better they liked him, until there were few who drew larger eongrega- tions, or held them with deeper feelings. Time rolled on.
We heard of Dr. Durbin at Augusta College, Kentucky, and after- ward as President of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. IIe was about to sail on his tour to Europe and Asia, when I saw a notice in a Washington eity paper that he would preach his farewell sermon in Wesley Chapel. Early in the evening I entered. The house was so crowded that my seat was near the door. After a short and feeling prayer, the hymn was read in a solemn tone :
Plunged in a gulf of dark despair We wretched sinners lay, Without one cheerful beam of hope, Or spark of glimmering day.
With pitying eyes the prince of grace Beheld our helpless grief; He saw, and-Oh ! amazing love !- He ran to our relief.
Down from the shining seats above, With joyful haste he fled, Entered the grave in mortal flesh, And dwelt among the dead.
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REV. JOHN P. DURBIN.
Oh! for this love let rocks and hills Their lasting silence break ; And all harmonious linman tongnes The Savior's praises speak.
Angels! assist our mighty joys; Strike all your harps of gold; But when you raise your highest notes, Ilis love can ne'er be told.
The hymn was sung, the whole congregation rising, and the text announced. For the first half hour the preacher was very common- place. His small figure, weak voice, and diffident manner, were any thing but prepossessing. By degrees he rose with his subject and became towering, sublime and powerful, above all my anticipa- tions. His subject was INFIDELITY. He was surrounded by a large number of the preachers of the Baltimore Conference. His discourse seemed to be directed to the preachers. I was not prepared for his questions and answers. " Brethren, we preach that men are infidels because they make no profession of religion. Is this so? I think not. I doubt whether there ever was an infidel who had lived in a Christian land under a preached gospel. I illustrate. Take a boat with ten passengers, five of them professors of religion, standing at the head of their churches, and five what the world calls infidels : blind-fold, turn them out into the suek of the falls of Niagara, take of the blinds and let them see the cataract before them, and know that in a few minutes they must inevitably be dashed into the foaming waters below, that there is no earthly hand that can save, and do you not believe that the supposed infidels will be among the first on their knees imploring mercy ? He is not dead but sleepeth, and it is the duty of the preacher to arouse him from his slumber, to show him that his little beat is tending rapidly to the cataract, and unless he awakes and pleads for mercy ere it is too late, he must be lost forever."
Time still rolled on, and in the early part of May, 1856, I was sitting in my parlor at Indianapolis, when there entered with a light step and pleasant smiling countenance, a small, graceful man, and introduced himself as the Rev. John P. Durbin, come to stay with me during the General Conference. He had greatly changed since last I saw him, still I should have recognized him by his eyes and month. He was a most welcome guest. I no longer looked upon him as a mere Methodist preacher. As such, indeed he would have been welcome at my house, but since I had seen him he had traveled over Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor ; had visited Naples, Cairo, Memphis, the Pyramids, the Red Sea, the Arabian Deserts, Mount Sinai, Petra, Hebron, the Holy Land, Bethany, Mount Zion, the
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Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Mountains of Lebanon, Horeb, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gethsemane, the Tombs of the Pharaohs, the Pools of Sol- omon, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Mount Tahor, Damascus, Balbec, Smyrna, Ephesus, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, and Constantinople ; had rode the milk white Arabian steed on the banks of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and given to the world his observations on Europe and the East-such was Dr. Durbin as he then stood before me. During the month he was with me, we often passed over to Palestine. Ilis fine conversational powers, the clear- ness of his mind, the ample store of his knowledge, made our inter- course of a character not to be forgotten.
The Sabbath was approaching, and it was announced that Dr. Durbin would preach at Robert's Chapel. I went with him to church. I had not heard him since his Washington sermon. The house was crowded. The Doctor kneeled in prayer ; it was short, and thrillingly sublime and affecting. The hymn was given out and sung by the congregation, when the Doctor rose, and in a low ione of voice com- meneed his sermon. His subject was, " The Christian sacrifice without the gates of Jerusalem, and the Jewish sacrifice within the temple." I had frequently heard these subjects preached upon, but I confess that the Doctor placed them in a new light before my mind. He spoke of the time that these great events transpired ; showed from Scripture and calculations that the crucifixion of Christ, without the gates, which was the Christian sacrifice, took place at the same time that the Jewish sacrifice in the temple was made, and at the moment that Christ cried, " It is finished," and expired on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent asunder, the priesthood on earth was ended, and the great high-priest was translated to heaven. He spoke of the hody of Christ, and answered his own question, " What was its nature ?" " I answer, he was of the nature of his parents, human and divine ; his mother was Mary, and his father was God." As the sermon progressed the Doctor grew in power, and closed as he had done at Washington, the last half-hour in much higher strains of pulpit eloquence than his beginning seemed to indicate. Take this sermon all in all, there have been few such preached in our city, for sublimity, beauty and power. Church over, we returned home. I remarked to the Doctor that I thought he was too systematic for an ordinary Methodist sermon. His reply was that it was his custom to preach from short notes, that he believed in system order and prep- aration, as well as fervent zeal, that from his notes he could repreach any sermon he had delivered since his return from his Eastern tour.
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REV. JAMES FLOY.
REV. JAMES FLOY.
THE companion of Dr. Durbin at the General Conference, was the Rev. James Floy, of the city of New York, another distinguished divine, who when but a youth was selected as the pupil from the United States, of the royal gardens of London; remaining years abroad, and became one of the first horticulturists, botanists and florists of our country, as he is now one of the first preachers in the Methodist connection. Dr. Floy preached but one sermon during his stay in our city. It was at night, at Wesley Chapel. His opening prayer was very short ; the congregation sang the beautiful hymn,
Children of the heavenly king, As ye journey sweetly sing ; Sing our Savior's worthy praise, Glorious in his works and ways.
Ye are traveling home to God,
In the way the fathers trod ; They are happy now, and ye Soon their happiness shall see.
Shout, ye little flock! and blest
You on Jesus' throne shall rest ;
There, your seat is now prepared,- There, your kingdom and reward.
Fear not, brethren ! joyful stand On the borders of your land; Jesus Christ, your Father's Son, Bids you undismayed go on.
Lord! submissive make us go, Gladly leaving all below; Only thon our leader be, And we still will follow thee.
The text-" And Peter answered him, and said, Lord if it be thou, bid me eome unto thee, on the waters. And he said eome. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus."
From the text the sermon embraced the power of God, and the power and duty of man to obey the divine injunetion ; that when God commands, he gives power to obey. " He said to Peter, ' come,' and he walked upon the water. Ile said to the siek of the palsy, 'Arise, take up thy bed and go unto thine house,' and he arose. He said unto the sea, 'Peace, be still,' the winds ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to the devils 'go,' and they went into the herd of swine. He said, 'daughter be of good eomfort,' and the woman was
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made whole from that hour. He touched the eyes of the blind, and their eyes were opened. IIe said to the man with the withered hand, 'Stretch forth thine hand,' and he stretched it forth, and it was restored like the other. He said to the brother of Martha and Mary, ' Lazarus come forth,' and the dead arose. There is no excuse for neglect of duty. God requires of man only what he gives him ability to perform, and if he is lost, God is not in fault-the consequences are with disobedient man."
The General Conference adjourned, and these eminent divines returned to the field of their labors in Philadelphia and New York.
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EARLY INDIANA LAWYERS, ETC.
[MONDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1857.
EARLY INDIANA LAWYERS.
AMONG the prominent young men of the carly Whitewater bar was Judge Charles H. Test, a son of the Hon. John Test. Ile was a young man of fine talents and great energy of character. At quite an carly age he took a high position among the ablest of the profession. In person he was slender, about the medium hight, a small head, high forehead, and teeth projecting. He was not a very handsome man, and still his countenance lit up so well when speaking that he passed without particular observation. One instance, however, that looked like an exception to this remark I remember. James T. Brown had ยท drawn an indictment against a man for gambling, but had forgotten to charge a wagering for money or other valuable articles. Judge Test moved to quash the indictment on the ground that it was " bad on its face." Brown seeing the point, and knowing that he was gone, rising with his peculiar waggish look-" Mr. Test, if every thing is quashed that is bad on its face, what would become of you?" The forte of the young Judge was before the jury upon facts. He made a strong argu- ment, and his sympathetic appeals were unsurpassed. His habits were strictly temperate. IIe held the offices of President Judge of the Circuit and Secretary of State many years, and then returned to the practice in the county of Wayne where he now resides, in fine health, in the meridian of life.
A LAWYER FINED.
I HAVE several times introduced to the reader James T. Brown, of Greensburg. He was of the youngest class of lawyers when I first . knew him. By nature he was a man of fine powers, and yet a great wag. I could fill an article with interesting incidents in which he was a party. Let one suffice to show the character of his mind. On one occasion he was employed to defend a case before the Circuit Court. The judge was not very learned in technicalities, knew but little Latin and much less Greek. The jury were taken from the country, ordi- nary farmers. The plaintiff's counsel had opened. Brown rose and spoke two hours in the highest possible style, soaring aloft, repeating Latin and translating Greek, using all the technical terms he could bring to the end of his tongue. The jury sat with their mouths open. The judge looked on with amazement, and the lawyers laughed aloud. Brown closed; the case was submitted to the jury without one word of reply. Verdict in the box against Brown. Motion for a new. 9
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trial. In the morning Brown rose and bowed to the Court, " May it please your honors, I humbly rise this morning to move for a new trial ; not on my own account; I richly deserve the verdiet; but on behalf of my client, who is an innocent party in this matter. On yesterday I gave wings to my imagination and rose above the stars in a blaze of glory. I saw at the time that it was all Greek and turkey-tracks to your honor and the jury. This morning I feel humble, and I promise the Court if they will grant me a new trial, I will bring myself down to the comprehension of the Court and jury." The judge .- " Motion overruled, and a fine of five dollars against Mr. Brown, for contempt of Court." "For what ?" "For insinuating that this Court don't know Latin and Greek from turkey- tracks." "I shall not appeal from that decision, your honor has' comprehended me this time."
NEW ASSIGNMENT.
THERE came to Connersville in early times, a learned lawyer I call Martin Hale, a fine scholar. Ile made high pretensions, wore a long quene, a nicely-plaited ruffled shirt, and over all, a tartan plaid cloak, the first I had ever seen. He was looked upon as altogether superior to us woods' lawyers, and foolishly remarked that " He had come to Connersville to settle because there was no talent there." I was at work in my garden in my shirt sleeves, when I saw him approach- ing. He inquired if Mr. Smith was about home. I told him that was my name: "It is the Counselor Smith, I want to see." "I am the man." He turned on his heel and walked on without a word, and afterward told a gentleman at the hotel that I could not impose myself on him as a lawyer. Soon after he brought an action of trespass, vi et armis, for a most aggravated assault and battery. For the defendant, I filed a plea of "justification" -- on the lot of my client using no more force than was necessary to remove the plain- tiff from the premises. Mr. Hale took up the plea, looked remarkably wise,-" He thinks I have never read the doctrines of new assign- ments, but I will show him." He sat down and filed a " new assign- ment," that the assault and battery was committed in the highway, and not on the premises of the defendant. I answered "not guilty in the highway." The jury was sworn, the Court confined the proof to the liighway, and consequently there was no evidence in the case, as the assault was really committed on the lot of the defendant. Verdict for defendant. Mr. Ifale left us soon after, with the remark to the judge that he could not practice in a court that knew nothing
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STOPPING REPORTS, ETC.
of the science of " new assignments," that he was a first-class lawyer where he came from, but it would take him too long to get acquainted with our practice. The judge was somewhat irritated, but I told him that friend IIale was like the Irishman that hired for a ferryman, and got on the wrong side of the oar. Employer .- " You told me that you were a good ferryman." Patrick .- " And so I was in Ire- land, but I have not got acquainted with this country water yet."
STOPPING REPORTS.
WHILE I was a student of law I had a valued fellow by the name of Merritt S. Craig, who settled and died young at Versailles, in Ripley county. Mr. Craig was a Kentuckian, of the family of Craigs of Boone county. In person large, with remarkably big protruding eyes, and one stiff knee. Mr. Craig was a noble specimen of the Kentucky character-open, frank, and hospitable. He was liberally dealt with by nature, but his opportunities were not sufficient to bring out his forensic powers. Like most young lawyers of his day he entered the field of politics too young. Was many sessions a mem- ber of the House of Representatives. He was a great electioneerer, and never was beaten. Just before an election his chances looked desperate. His defeat in the eyes of others was certain. All man- ners of reports had been circulated against him through the county. The last week had come, something must be done or all was over with him. Craig saw his time, stepped into a grocery, turned over the counter, broke all the bottles, took the faucet out of the whisky cask, and threw the little grocer out of the door, but paid him for his property. The news flew like wildfire over the country, all other stories were merged in the grocery matter. The act was decidedly popular, as drinking-houses were odious, and Mr. Craig was elected by a larger majority than he had ever before received, although he was not a Son of Temperance.
COL. JOHN DUMONT.
LET me not forget my valued friend Colonel John Dumont, of Vevay. I became acquainted with the Colonel in the Legislature of 1822-3, at Corydon. He was one of the most talented men of the body-always ready, but modest and retiring to a fault. In personal contests he had no equal in the House. On one occasion the question was, " whether we should elect a revisor of the laws, or revise them ourselves ?" In the House, Mr. Dumont and myself,
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with others, had opposed a Legislative revision, on the ground that we were not qualified to revise in session; that the work would be imperfectly done. Our views ultimately prevailed, and Judge Benjamin Parke was elected Revisor. During the debate Dr. Childs, of Wash- ington county, in reply to my remarks, insisted that we were qualified to do the work ourselves. "Mr. Speaker, the wisdom of the State of Indiana is on this floor." Mr. Dumont .- " The gentlemen says the wisdom of Indiana is on this floor. I can hardly presume that the wisdom of my county is here, and I should be very sorry, Mr. Speaker, to think that the wisdom of Washington county is on this floor." Mr. Dumont was a good lawyer, and an honest man. He was a candidate for Governor against Col. David Wallace -- ran on the branch of the internal improvement system known as " Classifica- tion," while Governor Wallace went for the construction simultane- ously of the whole works. Col. Dumont was clearly right, but the majority went with Gov. Wallace. The Colonel was the husband of Mrs. Julia L. Dumont, a lady of high literary attainments, and the father of Col. Ebenezer Dumont, of the late Mexican War.
JOHN S. NEWMAN.
JOHN S. NEWMAN, of Wayne county, was another of my early valued friends. Mr. Newman was a fine practical lawyer, with a head as clear as a bell, a remarkably matured judgment at an early day in his profession. His strong, vigorous intellect made him a safe coun- selor and a valuable co-laborer in heavy cases. As a speaker, he was above mediocrity, but he never attempted that kind of impas- sioned eloquence that rises in some advocates to such hights as to carry the jury and outsiders with rapturous applause with the speaker. His talents are of the order called " useful," the most valuable in the end. Mr. Newman is now president of the Indiana Central Railway, in fine health.
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GEN. JACKSON AND HENRY CLAY.
[WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 9, 1857.
GEN. JACKSON AND HENRY CLAY.
TIME has rolled on, since these great men filled the publie mind, and they have both gone to their fathers. I knew them personally- was at one time an ardent personal and political friend and supporter of Mr. Clay. I am aware that I am treading on delicate ground, and that this sketch of these great leaders may be subjected to partisan criticism. It matters not. These sketches are my own, and not the opinions of others. Never were two men more alike than Gen. Jack- son and Henry Clay ; and yet in some particulars they differed widely. They were both poor boys, were self-made men ; neither liberally edu- cated ; each the projector and accomplisher of his own fortune and fame. Both were pioneers of the valley of the Mississippi. They were possessed of iron wills, born for leaders. Neither would ever play second to any other man; both would be chiefs or nothing. Neither conld brook opposition from friends or enemies. Each was the original of himself, requiring implicit obedience to his will : nei- ther ever quailed before an enemy. Each was jealous of the fame of the other; both were ambitious, unquestionable patriots-true lovers of their country, ready at all times to peril their lives for its honor and glory. Each was the leader of a great party. The fame of each filled the civilized world. In person they were alike, tall, spare, com- manding, long necks, heads ereet, complexion light, eyes gray and sunken, faces long, foreheads high, features prominent and projecting, mouths wide, arms and fingers long and slender, step easy and grace- ful, private associations kind and courteous-both the admired, hon ored and respected of their friends. Each graced his social parties to the admiration of strangers as well as friends. Both, like Napoleon the First, absolute in the execution of their purposes. Gen. Jackson was one of the greatest military commanders of the age, upon the seale of the field of his battles. He needed no Secretary of War to instruet him how to marshal his army or when to strike the blow upon the enemy. He combined the military qualifications of Wellington, with the bravery of Charles the XII., and the judgment of Washington, without their opportunities of bringing his high qualities, as a eom- mander, into action on extended fields. The battle of New Orleans, when viewed through the glass of time, with no political prejudices to obscure the vision, was one of the most brilliant military achievments recorded on the pages of history. Henry Clay, too, like Gen. Jack- son, was possessed of military talents of a high order, although they were not brought into action on the tented field. This was well known
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to those who knew him best. In 1812, Gen. Harrison, then in com- mand of the Northwestern army, wrote to Mr. Clay, from Cincinnati : " I inform you that, in my opinion, your presence on the frontier of this State would be productive of great advantages. I can assure you that your advice and assistance in determining the course of operations for the army, to the command of which I have been designated by your recommendation, will be highly useful. You are not only pledged in some manner for my conduet, but for the success of the war-for God's sake then, come on to Piqua as quickly as possible, and let us endeavor to throw off, from the Administration, that weight of reproach which the late disasters will heap upon it," alluding to Ifull's surrender at Detroit. I had it from high authority, that Mr. Madison in 1812, contemplated placing Mr. Clay at the head of the army, but was over- ruled by his Cabinet, solely on the ground that Mr. Clay could not be spared from the House of Representatives, as the efficient leader of the friends of the Administration during the war. They were both highly qualified by nature for great military commanders. Both aspired to the first office in the gift of the American people. General Jackson was successful, and Mr. Clay failed-here was a difference as to results, but not as to qualifications. No man in America was better qualified for President than Henry Clay, and no other man would have filled the executive chair with greater credit to himself or more honor to the nation. Thousands in the United States and Europe will long wonder why it was that Henry Clay never reached the Presidential chair. Being connected with all his campaigns, in the press, on the stump, and in private circles ; I answer, because Mr. Clay voted for John Quincy Adams against Gen. Jackson, in the House of Repre- sentatives, and then accepted from Mr. Adams the office of Secretary of State. Gen. Jackson had received the highest vote of the electoral colleges, John Quincy Adams the next highest, William H. Crawford the next, and Henry Clay the lowest, but no one received a majority of the whole number. This threw the three highest, Gen. Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William H. Crawford, into the House of Representatives, of which Mr. Clay was Speaker. The Constitution of the United States, made the three equally eligible, but public opin- ion had awarded the election to General Jackson, who had received the highest vote, and the result of the vote of Mr. Clay for Mr. Adams, however pure, and however justified by Mr. Clay, was never satisfae- tory to the mass of the American people. It required explanations continually, and threw upon the friends of Mr. Clay the defensive in every field of political contest. I think the question is now settled by the public voice, that no minority candidate of the three returned
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