USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > Evansville and its men of mark > Part 22
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
ยก In the year 1832 (for example), there was established in London, by workingmen friendly to co-operation, a Bazaar, or " Labor Exchange." At first my father was re- quested to act as manager, which he did without salary, merely stipulating that no ex- pense or risk should devolve upon him ; but, after a time, the parties concerned thought they could manage better themselves, and my father withdrew. When at a later period (says one of his biographers,) the business was wound up, "there was a deficiency of upwards or twelve thousand dollars ; and when it was represented to Mr. Owen that it was through confidence in him that many persons had been led to make deposits, whose distress or even rnin would ensue if the loss were not made up, he assumed and paid the whole." Life of Robert Owen, Philadelphia, 1866, pp, 223, 224.
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My father's intention in bringing us up thus unconcerned about money and careless as to its acquisition was kind and commendable; it was far better than to have taught us that riches are the main chance in life, and that all things else should be postponed to money-getting ; but I am of opinion now that it was a grave mistake, nevertheless, I think a father ought to say to his sons, as I have said to mine : " Money is a power for good as well as for evil. It is an element of personal independence. Do not grasp after it, yet seek to acquire it fairly, honorably without doing hard things, especially without grinding others. Do not enter public life until you shall have set apart what suffices for a reputable living, and invested your savings with reference to absolute safety rather than to a high rate of interest. Thus, on solid ground yourself, you can the more effectively lend a hand to the cause of reform, and if you are elected a legislator, or to other civil service, you can act out your convictions, without fear that loss of office will reduce you to poverty."
My father took a less practical if more Scriptural, view of things, virtually telling us, "Seek first the good of human kind and all other things shall be added unto you." He protected us, however, to a great extent, from suffering while following such advice. For, at a later period, he conveyed to his sons, then citizens of the United States, the New Harmony property, his only surviving daughter being already provided for. All he required of us in return was to execute a deed of trust, of some thirty thousand dollars' worth of land, burdened with an annu- ity to him, during life, of fifteen hundred a year ; after that a life interest to his daughters-in-law, and the fee to their child- ren. The above annuity was his sole dependence for support during many years of his life. We, with the means he put into our hands, might have readily accumulated an assured inde- pendence by the time we reached middle age, had we known- which we did not-how to manage and improve Western prop- erty, and had we steadily followed up the pursuit of a compe- tency, as we ought to have done. There is more power in knowledge than in gold, no matter how large the pile.
In looking back upon myself as I was in those days, I have often wondered how far my after life might have been affected
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by the judicious advice of some cool-headed, dispassionate friend, one who, while sharing many of my aspirations, would have brought the chastening experience of a long life to mould and give wise direction to them ; what, for example, would have been the result if the Robert Dale Owen of seventy could have been the counselor of the Robert Dale Owen of twenty-five -talking over that eager youth's ideas of reform with him ; dis- secting his views of life here and his doubts of life hereafter ; correcting his crudities and calling in question his hasty con- clusions.
I found no such mentor, but met. instead, with a friend some ten years my senior, possessing various noble qualities, but with ideas on many subjects, social and religious, even more immature and extravagant than my own. This new acquaint- ance mainly shaped, for several years, the tenor of my life.
Frances Wright was a cultivated Englishwoman of good family, who though left an orphan at an early age, had received a careful and finished education, was thoroughly versed in the literature of the day, well informed on all general subjects, and spoke French and Italian fluently. She had traveled and resided for years in Europe, was an intimate friend of General Lafayette, had made the acquaintance of many leading reform- ers, Hungarian, Polish and others, and was a thorough repub- lican ; indeed, an advocate of universal suffrage, without regard to color or sex, - a creed that was much more rare forty years ago than to-day Refined in her manner and language, she was a radical alike in morals, politics and religion.
She had a strong, logical mind, a courageous independence of thought and a zealous wish to benefit her fellow-creatures ; but the mind had not been submitted to early discipline ; the courage was not tempered with prudence, the philanthropy had little of common-sense to give it practical form and efficiency. Her enthusiasm, eager but fitful, lacked the guiding check of sound judgment. Her abilities as an author and lecturer were of a high order ; but an inordinate estimate of her own mental powers and an obstinate adherence to opinions once adopted detracted seriously from the influence which her talents and eloquence might have exerted. A redeeming point was, that to carry out her convictions she was ready to make great sacri-
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fices, personal and pecuniary. She and a younger sister, a lady alike amiable and estimable, had always lived and journeyed together, were independent in their circumstances, and were devotedly attached to each other.
She had various personal advantages,-a tall, commanding figure, somewhat slender and graceful though the shoulders were a little bit too high ; a face the outline of which in profile, though delicately chiseled, was masculine rather than feminine, like that of an Antinous, or perhaps more nearly typifying a Mercury ; the forehead broad but not high ; the short chestnut hair curling naturally all over a classic head ; the large blue eyes not soft but earnest, When I first met her in Harmony in the Summer of 1826, some of the peculiarities of character above set forth had not developed themselves. She was then known, in England and here, only as the author of a small work entitled A Few Days in Athens, published and favorably received in London ; and of a volume of travels in the United States, in which she spoke in laudatory tone of our institutions and of our people. She condemned, indeed, in strong terms,- as enlightened foreigners were wont to do,-that terrible offence against human liberty 'tolerated, alas ! by our Constitution) which the greatest war of modern times has since blotted out.
But she did more than to condemn the crime of slavery : she sought, albeit with utterly inadequate means and knowl- edge, to act as pioneer in an attempt to show how it might be gradually suppressed. She had already purchased a large tract of unimproved farming land, situated in West Tennessee, about fourteen miles back of Memphis, on both sides of a small stream called by the Indians Ne-sho-ba, or Wolf River ; and she had bought and removed to that place nine negro slaves. Her con- fident hope was to prove that these people could, in a few years by their own labor, work out their liberty ; and with a strange ignorance alike of Southern character and of the force of life- long habits, and of the sway of selfish motive among the rich and idle, she was credulous to expect that the better intentioned among the planters of the South would gradually follow her example.
Miss Wright's vigorous character, rare cultivation, and hopeful enthusiasm gradually gave her great influence over me ;
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and I recollect her telling me, one day when I had expressed in the New Harmony Gazette, with more than usual fearless- nes, some radical opinions which she shared, that I was one of the few persons she had ever met with whom she felt that, in her reformatory efforts, she could act in unison. Thus we be- came intimate friends, and in the sequel coeditors.
Friends ; but never, throughout the years we spent together anything more. I felt and acted toward her, at all times, just as I would toward a brave, spirited, elder comrade of my own sex. Affections already engaged and the difference of age may have had their weight, but, aside from this, while I saw much to admire in Frances Wright, I found nothing to love.
Whether I was ever Quixotic enough to believe that her experiment at Nashoba-so she named her plantation-would, to any appreciable extent, promote negro emancipation, I can- not now call to mind. I think that the feature in her plan which chiefly attracted me was her proposal there to collect, from among the cultivated classes of England and America, a few kindred spirits, who should have their small, separate dwel- lings, contribute to a common fund enough for their support, and spend their time in "lettered leisure." I probably pic- tured to myself a woodland cottage, with honeysuckle-shaded porch, and with Jessie and myself as its inmates.
We learn from one of Homer's heroes that the gods
" Granted half his prayer; The rest the winds dispersed in empty air";
but I was less favored ; no part of my Tennessee dream was to be realized .- Atlantic.
Francis Brinley Fogg.
OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.
AS born in Brooklyn, Connecticut, on the 21st of September, 1795. His father, the Rev. Daniel Fogg -a native of New-Hampshire -- was a clergyman of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church, and fulfilled the duties of his sacred office for forty-one years, in the same parish, honored and es- teemed for his goodness and piety, by all men of all classes and every Christian denomination. His mother, whose maiden name was Brinley, came from one of the most respected and respect- able families in New-England-she ornamented and piously adorned a long life by the practice of all the virtues of her sex, and died a few years ago, in extreme old age, crowned with un- clouded hope and faith, and blessed to the last hour in the full enjoyment of all her faculties.
The immediate subject of this brief memoir-the oldest of his father's offspring-continued under the parental roof until he had reached his tenth year, receiving up to that age, such instruction only, as could be obtained at home and in the com- mon schools of the township. He was subsequently removed for further culture and improvement, to a classical academy in Plainfield, where he was quickly noted by his teacher, and all his youthful associates, for his extraordinary attainments in the ancient languages, and in the different branches of mathemat- ics. So rare and rapid, indeed, were the varied powers of his mind, that a few years of study at Plainfield earned him unri- valed distinction, and satisfied his friends that he possessed, in an eminent degree, an intellect sufficiently strong to master any language and every science, however abstruse or difficult of comprehension. When he left that academy, though only thir- teen years old, he was, in fact, an accomplished scholar in the
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Greek and Latin readings ; and having, ever since, industriously kept up his learning, he happily retains to this day, a ready and profound acquaintance with both of these languages.
There are few of those who shall read this rapid sketch, especially men of New-England, who will not have heard of the Hon. William Hunter, of Newport, Rhode Island-an able, great and eminent statesman and civilian-for some years a senator in Congress from his State, and, in the latter part of his life, American Minister to Brazil. Erudite and learned him- self, devoted to the beauties of literature and the fine arts, and the generous patron of genius in others, this distinguished gen- tleman, delighted with the early talents, the application and the remarkable acquirements of a promising kinsman, invited his youthful relative-the subject of these lines-to pursue his studies, including the study of law, in his family at Newport, and under his own immediate care and instruction. Nor could a more sincere friend, or competent teacher, have offered to dis- cipline and direct the mental energies of a virtuous and aspiring lad. The boon so nobly volunteered, was thankfully accepted, and henceforth, between the tutor and his pupil, a congeniality of taste and sentiment, and great natural endowments, genera- ting a warm mutual attachment, united age and boyhood in a bond of friendship which was never severed ; and which, in its happy consequences, blessed both the giver and receiver of an inestimable favor-the former, in the subsequent contemplation of the rich fruits of his own benificent care and culture ; the latter in the fortune, fame and honor he has since so proudly achieved among men.
Under the guidance of his accomplished master, the youth- ful student of our text, full of hope and courage, applied him- self dilligently ; and being gifted by nature with a powerful and retentive memory, and a mind capable of deep research and the severest mental service, garnered in a few years, abundant and lasting stores from every department of knowledge. He made especial and successful preparation in that particular branch to which he had resolved to devote his life; and having. at the age of twenty, sufficiently qualified himself, he made for- mal application for a legal commission, and obtained admittance to the Newport bar. Nor was he suffered to take this early and
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difficult honor without a close and critical examination before a learned and inflexible tribunal : for in the strict discipline of that day - more rigid by far than this - neither the courts of justice nor the people could be induced to countenance superfi- cial learning in the profession, or to patronize a presumptuous and half-taught candidate, who, unprepared for the high and responsible warrant, had the vanity to demand the dignity of the gown and green bag; and it is to be deplored-deeply de- plored, indeed-that the same stringent regulations, in regard to authorized membership in a great and indispensable depart- ment of our civil polity, does not still prevail in every part of our country ; for it must be readily granted by every consider- ate observer, that if the bar was only accessible to men of tried and established worth, with suitable qualifications, much public injury or mischief would be averted ; our courts would be, as they always should be, the venerated sanctuaries of justice, and the profession would be relieved of much of the prejudice and obloquy which ignorant, unworthy and discreditable empirics have too frequently cast upon it.
At the time, too, of which we now speak, the bar in the principal cities of New England-always renowned for learn- ing and integrity-was everywhere adorned and occupied by men whose just influence and popularity had monopolized the practice of the different courts, and left little or no immediate room for new beginners in the profession. A long, tedious and doubtful struggle awaited every junior aspirant for forensic honor and employment ; so long, indeed, that no young man of limited means, however great his courage or acquirements, could prudently hazard, on the most flattering prospective hopes, the probation he would necessarily have to encounter; whilst he tarried at the threshold, like the afflicted Hebrew, for the trou- bling of the healing waters of the pool, he must eat, and drink and dress ; and the charge for these, though never so cheap, would drain his scanty purse, and leave him to want and desti- tution, or to the cold, humbling, and reluctant charity of friends and relatives. It was so at that day in New England in every department of life ; it is more so now under the necessities of a largely increased and increasing population. But then, as now, the spirit of the " pilgrim fathers " stimulated their sons
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and descendants, and taught them that it was more noble and manly to strive for peace and happiness and fortune in a land of strangers, than to linger, sickened and discouraged under " hope deferred," around the graves of the unpromising homes of their ancestors. It was this spirit which made and still makes New England the hive whence issue to the "Great West" and everywhere over the civilized world, yearly, and large sup- plies of talent, of indomitable industry and enterprise, and, in a just homage to truth, we must add of men, most of whom carry with them, whithersoever they go, a characteristic trait of soberness, shrewdness, and accumulative industry. And it was this same spirit which, politely rejecting a generous offer from his great friend and instructor, Mr. Hunter, to join him in the profession at the Philadelphia bar, on equal shares in their practice, induced the subject of this short story, in the early dawn of manhood, to become a cheerful exile, and to follow his fortunes, whatever they might be, in a remote society, and among people of whom he had heard but little and knew still less. Accordingly, at a tender age in life, having only passed his twenty-second year, and with money barely sufficient to de- fray the necessary expense of traveling, he bade a painful adieu to his family, his friends, and all the loved scenes of his native land ; and, passing through Washington, where he remained a few days, he continued his journey, until, in the month of Feb- ruary, 1818, he reached and settled himself in Columbia, a beautiful and thriving village in Tennessee, about forty miles south from the city of Nashville.
Many there must be among his resolute countrymen, who, having enterprised a similar fate, could pencil, better than we can, the strong emotions of a young and lonely adventurer, when he finds himself seated, for the first time, in a new home, sur- rounded by an " unknowing and unknown " multitude, and withal, an object of attraction to every gazing and inquisitive eye. 'Tis then that the iron-hearted stranger-silently contem- plating the past, the present and the future-remembering all he had left and lost, and all he then beholds, and dreading the days to come with all their doubtful fortunes-sinks beneath his own profound reflection, and repents, perhaps, the folly or the courage that taught him, in an evil hour, to exchange every
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endearment and all the ties and tender associations of life for any hope or hopeful expectation of honor or of profit. Some, it is true, better able to conceal than to resist the feeling, may be too proud to show or acknowledge the amiable weakness. But the instincts of nature-the same in every human bosom- can not be so easily repressed ; and all mankind, of every clime, of every tongue, and of every condition, feeling the force of these instincts, prove this " common law " of humanity by submitting to its supremacy. Time, we admit, with new in- terests and new associations, may heal or harden the wounds of the exile's heart. Time will almost always mellow, sanctify, and finally cure the deepest and keenest cuts of the soul ; but, although it may obscure their brightness, time can never oblit- erate the fond and ineffacable images which memory has im- printed on the mind. In the spring-day of youth, in vigorous manhood, and alike in the dimness of old age-wherever we go or how far soever we may remove-we cling forever to cher- ished recollections, and pay eternal love and homage to the scenes and the joys and affections of our early, thoughtless, or happy hours. How it fared on this occasion with the subject of this brief history we know not. We are certain, nevertheless, that we should do gross injustice to his benevolent nature and to the deep attachments he always manifested, if we should suppose him incapable of painful reflections, where, under sim- ilar circumstances, much sterner hearts have bowed submissively and in sorrow to the uninvited, but grateful visions of the past. But whatever he may have suffered, we are sure he did not for- get his dignity, or give way to useless repinings. Opening an office at once, he returned to his studies with renewed eager- ness and ambition ; and cultivating in the meantime a proper acquaintance with the society into which he had so lately en- tered, it was not long before he engaged the notice and gained the respect and consideration of all observing people. Patron- age with its emoluments would have soon followed, but a more broad and elevated platform awaited the labor and the exhibi- tions of our young adventurer.
The late Hon. Felix Grundy, justly celebrated in his day as a distinguished statesman and an able and very eloquent advocate, possessing in a high degree the ready faculty of dis-
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cerning genius and merit under the most plain and unpretend- ing attire. He was, at the same time, equally ready to encour- age the growth and developments of such happy endowments wherever he found them; but especially, whenever he saw youth and talent struggling, unaided and unadvised, in a doubtful conflict against the united antagonism of poverty and , the cold and repulsive friendship of an unfeeling world. Re- markable, too, for an easy, kind and affable address, and for the most agreeable powers of conversation, that gentleman had, with many other attractive qualities, an eminent facility for winning the confidence and good opinion of all who enjoyed his society.
Fortunately for the subject of this memoir, Mr. Grundy was, at this particular period of our narrative, a regular attend- ant on the Columbia bar. There in that free and cordial inter- course which then signalized the members of the profession, an introduction between the parties, leading, as it did, to frequent intercourse, speedily satisfied that gentleman of the great per- sonal worth and extraordinary attainments of the youthful stranger; and he lost no time in frankly advising him of his faulty location, and earnestly commending his immediate removal to Nashville. The limited means and that natural diffidence which first induced Mr. Grundy's new acquaintance to seat himself in Columbia, were forgotten, or, soon overcome by the plausible arguments of his experienced counselor ; and thenceforth Nashville, with all its undeniable advantages, social and pro- fessional, became his home, and has ever since been the princi- pal theatre of his actions. This important move was executed in the latter part of 1818, and as a consequence, sealed for good the fortune of the worthy subject of this hasty treatise.
At the time of which we now write, Tennessee, though celebrated for her patriotism and for the heroic achievements which closed our last war with England in a blaze of glory, was little more than a strong frontier province, chiefly popu- lated-comparatively speaking-by a rough, but honest, brave, and unsophisticated people ; and Nashville, the acknowledged city of the State-was no more than a large and very respect- able village. Nevertheless, the Nashville bar, which in ante- rior years had acquired and always held a goodly fame, was
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then renowned and held throughout the State and in many for- eign parts, for the learning, the great abilities, and the honor- able bearing of its members. There were among them men whose giant powers and cultivated minds could have success- fully grappled with the learning and the lore of the oldest and most refined communities, and men, too, whose great names re- main to this day, richly perfumed in the history of the pro- fession. Their manner of practice was liberal, though, in the progress of the day in which they lived, they had not sufficiently learned to question or condemn the absurd technicalities of the law, those astute and fast departing mummeries of a distant and darker age of legal science. Their rivalries, were, for the most part, peaceful and honorable; and it was their habit to extend to their worthy juniors great condescensions and the kindest encouragement.
In their intercourse, which was always easy and informal, manhood and youth always mingled freely at the social banquet ; the former was never arrogant, and the latter never unmindful of proper observances to their superiors. Such was the bar, into which our adventurer had just entered ; such the character of its principal members. If he could not flatter himself with a prospect of immediate employment, he was sure, at least, of the society and friendship of men of agreeable and highly im- proved minds. He was, too, under the special regard and pro- tection of a liberal, generous and enlightened relative, residing not far from Nashville, whose good heart had opened an ample purse and placed its whole contents at his command. Pleased with the change of residence, and encouraged by the prospect before him, he seated himself again to his studies, well content to wait, in becoming patience, the issue of his exertions.
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