USA > Indiana > Early Indiana trials: and sketches. Reminiscences > Part 13
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135
GEN. JACKSON AND HENRY CLAY.
to the House of Representatives will ever again be elected to the Presidency.
Ilad the matter rested with the simple vote of Mr. Clay for Mr. Adams,-had Mr. Clay retained the Speakership, and refused to take office under Mr. Adams, his defense would have been far less difficult for his friends, but most unfortunately the card of George Kreemer had been published, charging bargain and corruption between Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams,-that Mr. Clay had bargained with Mr. Adams to give his vote to Mr. Adams for President, in consideration of his appointment to the office of Secretary of State. However false this charge was-now admitted by the friends and enemies of Mr. Clay so to be, Mr. Clay, by accepting the office of Secretary of State under Adams, made the transaction hard of explanation, and in the minds of thousands it never was satisfactorily explained, but stuck in the public mind, and affected every subsequent election in which the name of Mr. Clay was before the people .- The results of the after contests of Mr. Clay for the Presidency have been attributed to many causes, but had he cast his vote for Gen. Jackson instead of Mr. Adams, or had he declined to hold office under Mr. Adams after he was elected, I entertain no doubt whatever that Mr. Clay would have succeeded Gen. Jackson as President of the United States by a triumphant majority.
Gen. Jackson was no speaker, much less an orator. Like Thomas Jefferson, he was unable to debate the most common question. On one occasion, while he was chairman of the Military Committee, in the Senate of the United States, the bill he had reported was violently attacked in a set speech by Mr. Cobb, of Georgia. The General listened a few minutes to the speech, got up, walked around to the seat of Gen. Harrison and asked him to defend the bill, which he did effec- tually. Gen. Jackson said not a word on the subject. Such was the case with Thomas Jefferson, the admitted draftsman of the Declara- tion of Independence. He left the defense of that immortal instrument to John Adams and others, without opening his mouth.
Of the eloquence and powers of Henry Clay, in debate, I may say something when I come to sketch some of the Senators with whom I served. One incident, however, I notice now. Mr. Clay, Mr. Critten- den, Gen. Metcalf, and Mr. Harden paid Indiana a visit on one occa- sion. They entered the State at Richmond, came on the line of the Cumberland road to Indianapolis where there was an immense gather- ing.' Mr. Clay addressed the people with his usual eloquence. His comrades also made excellent speeches. The next day they left for Madison. Several of us. in private carriages, accompanied them as
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
far as Columbus. We arrived there about dusk. The road was dusty, and Mr. Clay was almost exhausted. He determined not to speak, and the rest of us went over to the court-house, leaving Mr. Clay lying on the bed. The house was crowded to suffocation. The moment we entered there was a cry for Mr. Clay, and we were compelled to send for him. He entered and walked up to the stand, intending to show himself and retire; but as he bowed, an old fellow in the back part of the room bellowed out at the top of his voice, " Hurrah for Gen. Jackson!" I saw the fire flash from the eyes of Mr. Clay. He paused a moment, raised himself up to his full hight, and with his highest volume of voice replied, ""Hurrah for Gen. Jackson, that's your cry, is it? and where's your country ?"-He followed the idea with one of the most eloquent, brilliant and thrilling speeches of thirty minutes I ever heard him make: he spoke of Rome in the days of Cæsar and Pom- pey, the country lost, while some hurrahed for Cæsar, and some for Pompey; he begged of the audience to look to their country and not become the mere followers of men. Ile retired amid the thundering applause of the audience.
I may again notice Mr. Clay among the Senators, and Gen. Jackson as President.
137
SUPREME COURT, UNITED STATES.
[THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 10, 1857.
SUPREME COURT, UNITED STATES.
IN January, 1827, the House adjourned over from Friday to Mon- day. I took Saturday to look into the Supreme Court. I had never seen the court in session. The form of the court-room oblong, the bar some three feet below the surrounding platform, one door only for entrance. The floor of the bar handsomely carpeted, with a long table standing in front of the judges; cushioned, roller arm-chairs for the lawyers ; the judges seated in a row, on a seat some few feet from the wall, so as to leave a passage behind. The Attorney General sat at the right of the judges, the clerk at the left, the marshal at the platform on the left. The room plain, with side, cushioned sofas for ladies and auditors. In front of the judges, on the opposite wall, was seen the Goddess of Justice, holding the scales equally balanced, while busts of Chief Justices Ellsworth and Jay, stand on either side. These Representatives exhibited their sightless eyeballs as emblems of the character of the court, which is blind to the parties, while the scales are held in equipoise, as to the justice to be administered. I entered the room as the hand of the clock was pointed to eleven. The judges were just coming in from their side-room. The marshal met them, and robed them with long, black-silk gowns, tied at the neck and reach- ing to the feet. I looked for the wigs to follow, like the representation of Sir William Blackstone, and I had some expectation of seeing the cocked hats surmounting the wigs, but the dress judicial did not go that far. I had never seen any thing like it before. It reminded me of the man who, having repeated several times that he would die at the stake for the religion of his father, was asked, "What was your father's religion ?" "I do not exactly know, but it was some thing very solemn." So with me; I did not exactly know what the gowns were for, but I thought the Court looked very solemn ; that is, I thought so, but I was careful to keep my own counsels, as the marshal kept his eye occasionally in my direction. The judges were all seated, and the marshal, in a kind of nasal tone, cried out, " Yea, yea, yea, yea ! the Supreme Court of the United States is now in session. All persons having business before the court will be heard. God save the United States and this honorable court." The court was opened. Chief Justice Marshal was seated in the middle, on his right were Justices Story, Thompson and Duval ; on his left, Washington, Johnson and Trimble. William Wirt, Attorney General, was at his desk, and the Clerk at his table. I had a fine opportunity for the first time to see these great judges in session.
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
I looked upon the Supreme Court of the United States as the con- servative power of our government, uncorrupted and incorruptible, standing aloof from popular excitements and partisan influences, with no other motives than to transmit the judicial ermine to pos- terity pure and unsullied. I had long heard of Chief Justice Mar- shall ; had eited his opinions as of the highest authority ; had read ·his life of Gen. Washington ; and there he sat before me, aged and venerable. He was above the common hight; his features strongly marked; an eye that spoke the high order of his intellect. Ile wore a short cue, black coat, breeches buckled at the knee, long black- silk stockings, and shoes with fine buckles. His manner on the beneh was exceedingly kind and courteous to the bar. He heard with the greatest attention the arguments and authorities of counsel. Chief Justice Marshall deservedly stood first in the judiciary of the United States, aud I think of the world, at his day.
JUDGE BUSHROD WASHINGTON, who sat at the left of the Chief Justice, was a much smaller man than Judge Marshall, venerable in appearance, with a face the index of a long life of laborious thought; his reported opinions show that he had a sound legal mind, but not of the very first order.
JUDGE STORY was at that time young looking, though the hair had left the forepart of his head. He was of the common size of men, fine features, and a countenance marking him as a deep thinker. He was considered at that early day the commercial judge of the bench. Judge Story went upon the bench quite a young man, and rose by degrees until he filled America and Europe with his fame.
JUDGE SMITH THOMPSON was in middle life ; he had been Secretary of the Navy and was considered a sound lawyer. He was said to have been a great student and a sound judge. His opinions read well.
JUDGE GABRIEL DUVAL was the oldest looking man on the bench. His head was as white as a snow-bank, with a long white cue, hanging down to his waist. He did not impress me at the time as being even up to medioerity on the bench, and subsequent examina- tions of his decisions have only confirmed my first impressions.
JUDGE JOHNSON, looked like a good-natured, fat Alderman of fifty- five. I thought he would not kill himself by labor ; was rather a surface than a deep judge. He was a good man, but never ranked with the first intellects on the bench.
JUDGE TRIMBLE was comparatively a young man at that time, to all appearances of a robust person, and strong constitution. He looked as if he would be one of the last to be called away, and yet he was one of the first, and Judge MeLean was appointed, by President
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SUPREME COURT, UNITED STATES.
Jackson as his successor. He was a man of decided talents, and would, no doubt, have distinguished himself on the bench had he lived. Ile lies sleeping beneath the soil of his own Kentucky.
WILLIAM WIRT sat at his table, with his face to the bar, where I was sitting. I looked upon him as one I had known before. I had read his life of Patrick Henry, his British Spy, his speech against Aaron Burr before Chief Justice Marshall. I had walked over, and seen Blannerhassett's Island, in the Ohio river, as it really was in 1817, and I had read it converted into classic grounds by the magic power of his pen. In person Mr. Wirt was much above the ordinary size of men. His face might be cast in the same mold with Thomas H. Benton's-the eye, the nose, the forehead, the chin, the mouth, indeed the whole bust of these distinguished men was very much alike, as I thought at the time I saw them together.
The Chief Justice called a case in which Mr. Ogden, of New York, was counsel for the plaintiff in error, and Hugh Lawson White, of Tennessee, for the defendant. Mr. Ogden was absent. Judge Mar- shall .- " What will you do with this case, Judge White ?" "Mr. Ogden is not here and I can take no steps in his absence." "You can have the writ of error dismissed." "I am wholly incapable of taking advantage of the absence of counsel ; let the case pass until Mr. Ogden arrives. I understand from Mr. Foote that he will be here in the course of two months." The case was passed; I was struck at the time with the professional courtesy of Judge White, which I afterward learned was a part of his character. The case of the United States vs. 350 chests of tea, was then called, and I had an opportunity of hearing William Wirt, Daniel Webster and Richard S. Cox. The argument of the case lasted all day. It was a great professional treat to me, to hear the eminent lawyers before the first judicial tribunal of the world. The case was opened by Mr. Wirt. I expected much from him, but I soon found that I was looking in the wrong direction for his forensic powers. I anticipated when he rose that tropes and figures, classic allusions, beautiful say- ings and high-toned eloquence would fall from his lips as he pro- cecded. How different was the William Wirt addressing the Court. He commenced by distinctly stating the case in all its minutiæe, treat- ing the Court as if they were entirely ignorant of the facts. When he had done with the statement, to which the Court gave the most profound attention, he made his legal points briefly, distinctly, and then took up the argument-reading and commenting upon his authorities as he went. His language was plain; his argument
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
strong. Mr. Webster and Mr. Cox sat taking notes. The William Wirt of the " British Spy " was not there in that argument.
MR. RICHARD S. Cox followed in an argument of some two hours, showing that he had made himself master of the case. He spoke with eloquence and power, meeting and combatting the authorities of Mr. Wirt, as I thought, successfully.
MR. WEBSTER followed Mr. Cox. It was the first time I had ever heard that great man. He was then in the pride of his years, and to say that he came fully up to my expectations would not do justice to the idea I wish to convey. It was the clearest and most powerful law argument I have ever heard to this day. The powers of his mind were brought to bear upon a full preparation. Like Mr. Wirt, his manner was plain ; no flourish of language ; no attempt at eloquence ; his power was in his thorough knowledge of his subject and the dis- tinctness with which he stated his position. He spoke over two hours, and was followed in the close by Mr. Wirt, in a speech of much greater power than his first effort. The argument over, court adjourned, and I returned to my room highly pleased with my first day in the Supreme Court of the United States.
141
SENATORIAL ELECTION.
[MONDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 14, 1857.
SENATORIAL ELECTION, 1836.
THE August election of 1836, for Senators and Representatives, had resulted in a decided majority on joint ballot against the Demo- cratie party. There was to be a United States Senator elected by the next Legislature to succeed Gov. Hendricks, whose term was about to expire. Gov. Hendricks and Gov. Noah Noble were supposed to be the prominent candidates of the two parties. Gov. Boone was a can- didate, and my name was spoken of. Previous to the meeting of the Assembly I had seen my Whitewater friends, and ascertained that they would stand by me in solid phalanx. I had counted my reliable strength and found it to be only thirty-five out of a joint body of one hundred and fifty, but I believed the friends of Gov. Noble and Gov. Hendricks could not coalesce. My hopes were that the friends of Gov. IIendricks, would, in the end, prefer me to Gov. Noble, and unite with my friends and control the election. The Legislature met on the first Monday in December. Lieut. Gov. David Wallace, Presi- dent of the Senate, Charles H. Test, Secretary. In the House, Caleb B. Smith was elected Speaker, receiving 84 votes, and Jehu T. Elliott, principal Clerk. The sixth day of December, 1836, arrived. Gover- nors Hendricks and Boone were at Washington, Gov. Noble in his room near the HIall. I was seated in the lobby of the House. The Joint Convention met. The Journal of the House says :
" The Senate came in from their chamber and took their seats on the right of the Speaker's chair, the President of the Senate on the right of the Speaker, when both houses of the General Assembly proceeded to the election of a United States' Senator to fill the vacan- ey of the Hon. William Hendricks, whose term of service expires on the 3d day of March next. Mr. Vawter acting as teller on the part of the Senate, and Mr. Evans acting as teller on the part of the House.
CANDIDATES.
1st Balloting.
2d Balloting.
: 3d Balloting.
4th Balloting.
5th Balloting.
6 99 6th Balloting.
7th Balloting.
Stlı Balloting. & 9th Balloting.
Noah Noble.
50 49 55 60 65 58 59 64 63
William Hendricks
.41 41 47 50 40 37 25
6 1
Oliver H. Smith
35 41 35 34 38 44 57 73 79
Ratliffe Boone ..
22 12 9
3
3
5 3 3
Tilghman A. Howard
1
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
" Oliver H. Smith having received a majority of all the votes given, was, by the President of the Senate, in the presence of both Houses of the General Assembly, deelared duly elected United States Senator for the State of Indiana, for and during the term of six years from , and after the fourth day of March, 1837."
It will be seen by the balloting that my thirty-five friends stood by me, except on the fourth ballot, when I fell off to thirty-four. This brought on the erisis between Gov. Noble and myself. The friends of Gov. Hendricks believed that if I went down, Gov. Noble would rise. The night previous to the election, I was lying on my bed at Brown's when a member came into the room and asked me to get up and go to a room in Browning's Hotel. General Noble had been there. I remarked " All right, my friends are all generals." About one o'clock at night my devoted friend, the young Speaker, Caleb B. Smith, came to my room and informed me that Richard W. Thomp- son, Thomas Dowling, James Collins, and other leading friends of Gov. Noble, had proposed to hold a eaueus of our friends to seleet which one of us should be the candidate against Gov. Hendricks. " Please say to those gentlemen, that I am a candidate for United States Senator before the Legislature, and not before any caneus of the members." He left the room and soon returned. "The friends of Gov. Noble now propose to leave it to the FIRST ballot to decide the question ; if he has a larger vote than you on the first ballot your friends will go to him, and elect him on the second ballot; if you shall have the most votes on the first ballot then his friends will go to you and elect you on the second." " Will you please say to those gentlemen, as my answer to the proposition, that I leave it the LAST ballot, whoever shall have the majority of all the votes cast on the last ballot will be the Senator, I desire no further proposition on the subjeet." Thus ended the matter. The election came on and resulted as stated.
I shall always gratefully remember my friends on that trying occa- sion, and especially the fact that upon every ballot I received every vote from my Congressional District without distinction of party ; that among my warmest and most valued friends, through the whole exciting contest, I ean name my first landlord, at Counersville, New- ton Claypool, then a State Senator, and my two law students who had been members of my family, Jonathan A. Liston of the Senate, and Caleb B. Smith, Speaker of the House of Representatives. The General Assembly, that session, was composed of the first men of the State. Gov. Noble numbered among his friends many of the most talented of both Houses, Richard W. Thompson, Thomas Dowling,
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SENATORIAL ELECTION. 1
Enoch McCarty, Robert Dale Owen, Austin W. Morris, James Collins, Othniel L. Clark, David Guard, Henry P. Thornton, William T. T. Jones, John Beard, John Dumont, Daniel Seigler, John Walker, John Vawter, David H. Colerick and others. My friends were equally talented. I name, Newton Claypool, William Watt, Caleb B. Smith, Robert Hanna, Henry Brady, Marks Crume, William H. Bennett, Thomas D. Walpole, David Macy, Austin M. Puett, George K. Steel, Lott Bloomfield, Jolin H. Cook, Richard J. Hubbard, Benjamin F. Reeve, Jonathan A. Liston, Daniel Mace, Thomas Gale, Thomas D. Baird, Thomas R. Stanford, William Elliott, Abner M. Bradbury.
Of the distinguished friends of Gov. Hendricks who came over to my support, and to whom, with my original friends, I finally owed my election, I gratefully name, David Hillis, George Boone, Samuel Chambers, Thomas Smith, David W. Daily, David M. Dobson, Paris C. Dunning, Samuel Milroy, Milton Stapp, Abel C. Pepper, John P. Dunn, Joseph A. Wright, Delana R. Eekles, Joel Vandeveer, Wil- liam Marshall, Joel Long, Gen. Depaw and George W. Ewing.
The election over, the convention adjourned "without day." The members left the hall in a bustle. I lost my hat and walked up to my room bare-headed. The next night, carly, the long room of Mr. Brown's hotel was crowded ; they had a joyous time, in which I was most happy to see the friends of my competitors participating. The next morning I left for home on my horse ; the road was almost im- passable. I arrived at home the second night, and the next morning followed on the trail of five hundred hogs, that I had fed in my own cornfield, on my Whitewater farms. Late in the evening I reached Henrie's Mansion House in Cincinnati, covered with mud. There were many inquiries about the result of our Senatorial election ; I was asked if there had been an election. "Which is elected, Hen- dricks, or Noble ?" "Neither." " Who then can it be ?" " I am elected." " You! What is your name ?" "Oliver H. Smith." " You elected a United States Senator! I never heard of you before." " Very likely." The next day I sold my hogs to Graham & Shultz, for seven dollars per hundred, received over seven thousand dollars cash and two days after was at home with my family.
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
[TUESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 15, 1857. SUPREME COURT OF INDIANA.
THE Supreme Court met at Corydon in May, 1817. Judges Seott, Holman and Johnson on the bench. There were at that term but two cases, on motiou before the Court. The first motion was made by Reuben Kidder, and the other by my distinguished colleague in Con- gress, Thomas H. Blake, whom I shall notice again before these sketches close. The second term was held in the fall of the same year - Judges Scott, Holman and Blackford on the bench. Three cases only were decided, one by each of the judges. I mention these facts for the comparison by the bar of the business then, before the highest judicial tribunal of the State, and the 800 canses now on the docket of the Supreme Court. Then, as now, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was only appellate, and the state of the docket then, as now, indicated the business before the lower courts. The spirit of change ultimately attacked the bench; there was no objection to the old judges ; they had the confidence of the bar and the public in a high degree. The reports of their decisions stood even higher than those of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and were held as good authority in most of the States. Gov. Ray, soon after his clection, let it be known that there would be a change upon the Supreme bench. At that time the judges of the Supreme Court were " appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." The circuit judges were elected by the Legislature.
Soon after the inauguration of Gov. Ray, I was offered a seat on the bench, but having no judicial ambition, and not being willing to be laid on the bench at a salary of 700 dollars, I had the fortitude to resist the temptation, and Gen. John T. Mckinney, Col. Stephen C. Stevens, and Judge Blackford were nominated to the new bench, and confirmed ultimately by the Senate. Many Senators strongly objected to the change, and at first refused to confirm the nominees, in the vain hope of forcing the Governor to nominate the old judges. Judge Blackford at the time, I presume, believed he was nominated because of his superior qualifications. But it was not to that circum- stance he owed his continuance on the bench, but to the fact that he had been the unsuccessful competitor of Gov. Ray, and the Gov- ernor thought he could make friends in the Blackford ranks by nom- inating him. I have already sketched my opinion of Judge Black- ford.
145
SKETCHES OF SUPREME JUDGES.
SKETCHES OF SUPREME JUDGES.
GEN. MCKINNEY was a fair lawyer, and gave good satisfaction as a judge, but died before he had reached the meridian of his life, or had been long enough on the bench to fully develop his judicial character. His opinions in Blackford's Reports are sound law.
COL. STEVENS stood high at the bar, was one of the strongest advo- cates in the State, but the diffusiveness of his opinions supplied too many obiter dicta for other cases, in the opinion of many sound mem- bers of the bar. IIe was one of the most laborious judges upon the bench, and furnished Blackford's Reports with many valuable opin- ions. Judge Stevens resigned his seat upon the bench to return to the practice, in which he was perfectly at home, where I leave him.
CHARLES DEWEY, one of the oldest and best lawyers of the State, now took a seat on the bench. The Judge brought with him a matured mind, and a large experience as a practitioner. Many doubted at the time, whether he could sustain on the bench his high reputa- tion at the bar. But, as his judicial powers were developed, he rose as a judge and fully sustained himself in the opinion of the bar, who are good judges and safe depositories of the judicial reputations of the judges. Many of Judge Dewey's opinions will be found in Blackford's Reports. He was dropped from the bench, with Judge Jeremiah Sullivan, by Gov. Whitcomb, and Samuel E. Perkins and Thomas L. Smith appointed, with Judge Blackford, to the new bench.
JUDGE SULLIVAN stood deservedly high at the bar. He was a fine lawyer of many years standing, in one of the first schools of practice of the State. The purity of his life and character gave him a reputa- tion when he took his seat upon the bench, that stamped his opinions with high authority. He retired from the bench to his practice, in the meridian of life. Many of his valuable opinions are reported by Judge Blackford in his volumes.
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