A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I, Part 29

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 656

USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 29

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When Jefferson had taken office as presi-

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dent, the first of the acts of his administration to affect Kentucky was the repeal of the law creating Federal court systems in the United States, and the law under which internal reve- nue taxes were collected. Judge McClung, United States judge for the Kentucky district, was legislated out of office by this act, which required a bare majority of the congress for its adoption, whereas a Federal judge could not be dismissed from his office save by a two-thirds majority of the congress. This re- moval from office was no reflection upon the officials affected ; they were the innocent vic- tims of a change in the existing system.

A more popular measure was the repeal of the internal revenue taxation system, which bore hard upon the people of the agricultural sections of the country, who were often placed under great difficulties in the efforts to secure the money necessary to meet the demands of the revenue collectors. A feature of these acts of congress which has always been claimed as a cardinal principle of the Demo- cratic party, was the reduction of office-hold- ers and a corresponding reduction in expendi- tures. Sometimes this claim has been justi- fied ; at other times, it is grievous to relate, it has not been. It is an uncomfortable fact that no political party is ever quite so good as it claims to be.

At this early date in the history of the state there was no bank within its limits, though today no little village with a population of a few hundred, feels that it has its proper place upon the map unless it has a bank, however small may be its capital or the business de- mands for such an institution. The business of inaugurating banks in small villages, with capital stock in keeping with the size of the village, has grown almost to the dignity of a profession, while several counties in the state have established kindergartens for the educa- tion of bankers, and which turn out cash- iers "while you wait." It is gratifying to state that some of the young men thus entered into

the financial world, have, by merit, won their way and occupy high stations in the banking world of Kentucky. In such a deal of chaff it is not a matter for wonder that a few grains of real wheat should be found.

The first bank of Kentucky was incorpo- rated as an insurance company with "a nigger in the woodpile." The ostensible purpose of the company was to insure produce in transit. A seemingly innocent little clause in the char- ter of this company giving it authority "to take and give bills, bonds and obligations in the course of their business, and to receive and pass them by assignment; and such of the notes as are payable to bearer shall be nego- tiable and assignable by delivery." Thus the bills issued by the insurance company made payable to bearer, became the exact equivalent of bank bills and were so collectible under the act of incorporation. The somewhat oppro- brious term of corporation lawyer had not been invented in those days, but the gentleman was there under another name and seems to have done his work quite as well as his suc- cessor in these days of trusts and kindred combinations. There is nothing new under the sun, is truer than the average person be- lieves. This pseudo insurance company, con- ceived in fraud and brought forth in iniquity, continued its banking career until 1818, when it fell to pieces of its own weight, its paper descending the financial scale until it was nothing beyond the customary price of waste paper sold by the pound. Thus ended the first effort at the establishment of a bank in Kentucky and it was a deserved ending be- cause founded upon a fraudulent basis.

There was a surplus of courts in the State, a fact which the legislature set about remedy- ing. Too many courts mean not only too much litigation, but too much expense. In these days when lawyers, with an assumed odor of sanctity about them, employ runners and agents to induce the bringing of suits for damages for real or imaginary injuries, one

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could wish that the legislature might again reduce the number of our courts and decree infamy, as it should do, to the lawyer who so far forgets his dignity as an officer of the courts as to employ men to induce litigation that his pockets may be stuffed with illegal and illegitimate gains. This evil, patent to every- one who goes about the courts or reads the newspapers, is one deserving the attention of bar associations and of legislatures which

imate legal practice. No more dishonorable men exist anywhere, than the men who daily stir up strife for their own miserable profit.

Returning to the question of reduction in the number of courts in 1818, it may be stated that the district and general courts were abol- ished and a system of circuit courts, one for each county, established. This would seem an improvement, as it brought the people nearer to the courts thus giving them a more intimate

-MAM

"COURT DAY" IN GLASGOW

would have the bar as pure as the bench as it should be. So long as lawyers guilty of these practices are recognized as equals by their fellow members of the bar, the "ambu- lance chaser" will continue to exist bringing ill-gotten gains to his own pocket and discredit upon the honorable profession which he dis- graces. More than one-half of the litigation in the courts of Louisville consists of suits for damages, many of which would never have been brought but for the pernicious activity of the so-called lawyers who incite their self- . sought clients to litigation. No more honor- able men live in Kentucky than the members of the bar who devote their attention to legit-

acquaintance therewith and perhaps a greater respect ; as the litigant appearing in the cir- cuit court of his own county, felt that it was, to a certain extent, his own court from which he had the right to expect the fullest justice. But there has been from time immemorial a fly in the ointment. To each of these circuit judges who were required to be learned in the law, there were assigned two assistants, whose chief qualifications, it seems, was that they were not learned in the law or anything else. That this addition to the bench proved a fail- ure need scarcely to be stated. The assistant judges, feeling their importance, instead of advancing justice, as was the right of litigants,

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impeded its progress and became such intol- erable nuisances to judges, juries and litigants, that the law was speedily repealed and the complete authority of the court placed where it properly belonged, in the hands of the sin- gle judge on the bench.

One should not too strongly criticize the efforts of these pioneer fathers of the state to arrive at a proper medium of justice and of government. Not many years had elapsed since they had emerged from the dominion of a king. The system of the Republic was new to them as it was to the world, and they must, perforce, feel their way. That they some- times tottered and fell, as does the child in its first efforts to walk, is not surprising. That from those totterings came the almost perfect system of government this country now enjoys is the surprise of the old world, wedded to monarchical systems, and quick to predict the inability of the young Republic to stand alone.

Those who have read the preceding pages will understand the importance to Kentucky of unrestricted navigation of the Mississippi river. They will also appreciate the surprise experienced by the people when, in 1802, on the termination of the terms of the treaty with Spain, it was learned that it would not be re- newed and that there was no relief from this unexpected condition. The Spanish intendant, Morales, at New Orleans, issued a proclama- tion declaring that the privileges heretofore existing would be no longer extended though the stipulations of the former convention promised a continuance. Kentuckians were greatly excited by this information of a situ- ation against which they were powerless. Not only in Kentucky was there a feeling of indig- nation but throughout the United States the people were aroused at this evidence of bad faith. But time at last makes all things even, and in 1898 Spain paid her indebtedness to the United States when her armed bands quitted forever the islands of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. The indignation felt at the

bad faith of Spain was not diminished when it was learned that she had ceded her Louis- iana possessions to France by the secret treaty of Ildefonso in 1800. So intense was the feeling in the United States that at the next meeting of congress the senate endeavored to adopt measures looking to the seizure of New Orleans and the adjacent territory of Louis- iana, but this effort fortunately failed, as after events proved. From the bad faith of Spain in the matter of a continuation of the treaty guaranteeing the free navigation of the Mis- sissippi river, and the subsequent secret sale of its Louisiana possessions to France, there fi- nally resulted the acquisition by the United States of the vast territory included in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase. President Jefferson, with that wise foresight which char- acterized his political action, saw the great op- portunities lying before him, and at once took the proper steps to acquire this territory. As Kentucky was more directly interested than any other state, Governor Garrard was kept advised of every move made by the federal government. There was sent to France as minister at this time, James Monroe of Vir- ginia, a wise man of the sterling business qual- ities which fitted him for the commercial task submitted to him. That he was subsequently to become president of the young Republic had probably never entered his head when lie sailed away to France. However that may be, when he reached France he lost no time in bringing to a conclusion the important task submitted to him. Napoleon, beset by foes on every hand, great genius that he was, could not conduct his campaigns with an empty mil- itary chest. Money he must have and in his commercial stock there was but little which he could sell. He needed millions and Monroe had millions to offer for Louisiana. April 30, 1803, the negotiations were closed and when Napoleon accepted the sixteen millions paid him for almost an empire, he said: "I renounce the control of this territory with

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regret ; to attempt to hold it against my ene- mies would be folly." The territory thus added to the United States amounted to about two million square miles of the richest and most productive acres now within the borders of the Union-Kentucky's blue grass lands alone excepted. General Wilkinson. repre- senting the army, and Governor Claiborne, of Mississippi Territory, took formal possession of the new possessions in the name of the United States on December 20, 1803, and for the first time in the history of Kentucky's en- terprising citizens, the Ohio and Mississippi rivers flowed unvexed to the sea.

It may be, as was charged at the time by those who were in opposition to everything. that President Jefferson had no constitutional right to involve the United States in this pur- chase nor to expend what was then deemed a vast sum in an unwarranted extension of the public territory. These persons may have been right under a strict construction of the Constitution. Upon this question much use- less discussion has been had, but it has long since sunk into destetude, the general public, if not the world at large, having agreed that in this instance, at least, the end justified the means. The man of today who would ques- tion the propriety of the purchase of the Lou- isiana Territory would be considered as fit for admission into an institute for the feeble- minded.

In 1804, Mr. Jefferson was re-elected pres- ident, the contest for the position not having been marked by the excitement and bitterness of his initial campaign. The good people of Kentucky and elsewhere in the Union who have no particular fondness for the word Re- publican when used to designate a political

party, will be pleased to know that about this time the party represented by Mr. Jefferson began to be called the Democratic party, in- stead of the Republican party as it had hitherto been known. Shakespeare says "there's noth- ing in a name" but there are some people who do not agree with the poet.

In Mr. Jefferson's second cabinet, the IIon. John Breckinridge, author and mover of the celebrated Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, was appointed attorney general of the United States. His untimely death in 1806 robbed Kentucky and the Union of a man whose honesty of purpose and dignity of character, together with an intellect surpassed by none of his contemporaries, would have led to yet greater distinction, and the presidency was none too high a station for him to seek and win with the approval of an admiring and ap- preciative national constituency. Mr. Breck- inridge was a native of Staunton, Virginia, and died at the early age of forty-six years. In his twenty-fifth year he married Miss Mary Hopkins Cabell, of Buckingham county, Vir- ginia, and went to Albemarle county where he practised law for a time, subsequently remov- ing to Kentucky and settling in Lexington, near which city, on his estate of Cabellsdale, he died in 1806. He was a great man with great possibilities ; the first of his name in Kentucky to win distinction but by no means the last. It will be long until Kentucky for- gets John Breckinridge, the lawyer and states- man; Robert J. Breckinridge, the great theo- logian ; John C. Breckinridge, lawyer, states- man and soldier; Wm. C. P. Breckinridge, lawyer, soldier, statesman, and the most elo- quent of Kentuckians, past or present.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

BURR AND HIS AMBITIONS-BALLS TO BURR AND HIS PROSECUTOR-HENRY CLAY-COMMENCES POLITICAL CAREER-THREATENED WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN- KENTUCKY LEGISLATION -SEVENTH STATE IN POPULATION-HARRISON AT TIPPECANOE-DEATH OF DAVEISS AND OWEN.

Reference was made at an earlier period in this work of Aaron Burr, in connection with the "Spanish Conspiracy." During the summer of 1805, Burr appeared in Kentucky, visiting quietly for a time at Frankfort. He had prior to this fought the fatal duel with Hamilton, which, together with attacks upon the administration of Mr. Jefferson, had de- stroyed his political prospects. His was too active and brilliant a mind to remain quiescent. He must be always employed and must be first in every enterprise. After grasping at the presidency which for a time seemed within his reach, it must have been as gall and worm- wood to sink to the second place and, as vice president, preside over the sleepy senate. How his eyes must have turned toward that other man higher up, and how he must have hated him.

Leaving Frankfort Burr leisurely visited the chief points in the then accessible West and finally turning southward from St. Louis, reached New Orleans. In August he was again in Kentucky, stopping for a time in Lex- ington. In 1806, he was again in the West. It would prove an interesting chapter could one write into history the thoughts, desires, and schemes of that haughty brain in which burned the fires of an insatiable ambition. It has been charged that in his dreams he saw himself an emperor seated upon a splendid throne surrounded by a court, the ruling prin-

cess of which should be his beautiful daughter, Theodosia, the only being besides himself whom he ever truly loved. Sorrow's crown of sorrow was his to wear when this idol of his heart lost her life at sea. Whatever his dreams, whatever his ambitions, they came at last to naught and his name was writ in water, so far as success was concerned, and is re- membered today, only to be execrated by most of those who choose to think of him at all. He ruined the lovable but gullible Irishman, Herman Blennerhassett, who listened and was lost. He brought suspicion upon General Wilkinson, whom the closest student of the history of that period, must hesitate to declare guiltless of complicity in Burr's schemes of empire; he drove from the bench of Ken- tucky's highest court Judge Sebastian ; he es- caped conviction on a charge of treason, and retiring to New York died at an advanced age, a disappointed man whose heart had been eaten by the desire for the highest place among men and burned to cinders by an unholy ambition.

Efforts to secure his indictment by the Fed- eral grand jury at Frankfort proved unstic- cessful though the brilliant United States dis- trict attorney, Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, rep- resented the government. The magnetism of Burr, his attractiveness to the people of all classes, led to the failure to indict him being received with applause from those in the court room, while subsequently a public ball

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was given in his honor. There were not lack- learned that its report would be adverse to him and so he passed off the public stage.

ing those who honored Daveiss for his brilliant efforts, unsuccessful though they were, and who had not been won by the personal graces of the wily Burr. To the district attorney, therefore, a public ball was also given. A somewhat unusual manner of expressing ap- proval, one would say today, but one hundred years ago there were fewer people in Ken-

HENRY CLAY

tucky than now by very many thousands, fewer means of entertainment, fewer oppor- tunities for the coming together of kindred spirits. No trumpet's clarion call, summoning a baron's retainers to the defense of his cas- tle, met quicker response in the olden days, than did the sound of the violin's strings in those splendid days, one hundred years ago, when young Kentucky's heart beat raptur- ously and men were measured by their deeds and worth rather than by the miserable dol- lars they had accumulated.

In 1806, the legislature took up for consid- eration charges that Judge Sebastian of the court of appeals had, during his continuance in office, been a pensioner of the Spanish gov- ernment, and appointed a committee of inves- tigation. Judge Sebastian obligingly relieved this committee from the performance of some of its duties by promptly resigning when he Vol. I-13.

And now comes upon the stage one of the master spirits of his time, a man destined to write his name broadly upon the political his- tory of his country and to make Kentucky known wherever greatness and statesmanship are recognized and honored. Henry Clay had come to Kentucky at an early age from Han- over county, Virginia, where he was born April 12, 1777. He was the son of a Baptist minister of some local prominence, who died when his son was but five years old, leaving the future statesman and orator to the loving care of the mother who had a large family to rear and educate. Baptist ministers in those days, as in these, were not given to the accumulation of the world's goods. The mother was poor in all save those high attributes which have given to the world so many illustrious sons, and her family of children in after days, had occasion to recall with filial gratitude the sacrifices she had made in their behalf and the advantages she had given them from her slender store.

Henry Clay-great man that he was-was not greater than the good woman whom he honored himself by worshiping as his mother. He grew to manhood, inured to hardships; labored with his hands to eke out the scanty store at home, studied as opportunity came, laying firmly the foundations on which he afterwards erected the superstructure of his great public career. He was the friend of the people, the rich and the humble, the poor and the oppressed. He was a southerner to the manner born, yet was among the first of the statesmen of the country to advocate emanci- pation of the slaves, not only because it was right but because, with prophetic vision, he saw in the future the woes to flow from the curse of slavery. How fortunate for the coun- try had his suggestions been adopted; what bloodshed averted; what bitter aftermath of the struggle which came so few years after his death would have been averted. Above all

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else, Mr. Clay was a patriot ; he gave his great talents for the benefit of the whole peo- ple, and was greater than any political party ; broader than any political platform. He fa- vored internal improvements because they would favorably affect for good the greatest number compared to the money expended ; he was the father of what came to be known as the American System, which is but another name for a tariff upon foreign importations. In the days of Mr. Clay, men who favored the policy of protection were not commonly termed by the opponents of that policy, as "robbers" and "thieves." Perhaps men have grown less courteous as the years have passed.

Mr. Clay's legal education began when he was nineteen years old, when he took up his residence with the attorney general of Virginia, Robert Brooke, with whom he studied so assid- uously that at the end of a year's devotion to the principles of the law, he obtained a license to practice law from the court of appeals of his native state. Notwithstanding this short period of time devoted to legal study, Mr. Clay was equal to the demands made upon him when he met in the courts men older in years and in the practice than himself. No man ever met Henry Clay at the bar, on the hustings or on the floor of the senate who did not recognize a foeman worthy of his steel.

When Mr. Clay came to Lexington, he was less than twenty-one years of age. He contin- ued his studies, evidently recognizing that there was yet much for him to learn, but made no effort to engage in the practice of his profes- sion. He was studying not only his books but the people among whom he had cast his lot and one of whom he was henceforth to be, the most distinguished of them all. At last, he went to the bar, with modesty and expecting no great success. The Lexington bar was then, as now, an able one, and the young Vir- ginian, delicate in form and apparently not ro- bust in health, had giants to encounter. He met them fairly and perhaps to his own sur-

prise, successfully. He has said of himself, "that he immediately rushed into a lucrative practice." To follow Mr. Clay in his career is not the purpose of this work. Volume after volume has been written, telling in eloquent terms of the great successes and the great dis- appointments that came to him. Here only a passing reference can be made. When he came to Kentucky Lexington was a storm cen- ter of politics ; the bitterness of the contest be- tween the Republicanism of Mr. Jefferson and the Federalism of Hamilton was at its height. There was no such thing as neutrality in pol- itics then. Had there been, it would not have appealed to the positive character of Mr. Clay. He found a place suited to his beliefs in the Republican, or Democratic party of Jefferson, as it had now come to be called. The senseless bitterness of partisan politics is shown in the fact that Mr. Clay's bitterest political enemies in later life, those who most rabidly reviled him, were members of that same Democratic party in which he had spent the earlier days of his young manhood. The sentence against the man who dares to think for himself and to vote as he honestly believes is "anathema maranatha," a sentence usually declared by men who know not a principle of the party to which they belong and who represent only its prejudices.

In 1803 and again in 1806, Mr. Clay repre- sented Fayette county in the state house of representatives, and here began his remarkable political career. In 1806, when but twenty- nine years old, he was elected to serve out the unexpired term of General Adair in the United States senate. This term covered but a single session of the senate. Returning home after the adjournment of congress, he was a third time elected to represent Fayette county in the legislature. The people of Kentucky when next they are called upon to choose men to rep- resent them at Frankfort would do well to consider the wise example set them by Fayette county more than a hundred years ago. They

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may not find a Henry Clay to represent them, but the experiences of the near-by past indicate that they will make no mistake by changing the present system under which members of the house are selected and elected. There seems no possible reason to fear that they will go from bad to worse.

During this third term of Mr. Clay in the house he was elected speaker of that body and began the career as a parliamentarian which in later years was to make him so acceptable as

dation for that American System of which he became the author and which exists in a some- what enlarged form to the present day. The opposition to the effort of Mr. Clay to encour- age domestic manufactures was great but in the end was successful though not immediately so.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I, Part 29

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 656

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 656