USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. I > Part 26
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In 1826, he was elected to the office of Commissioner in Equity for Cheraw District, then composed of Darlington, Marlboro' and Chesterfield, the duties of which office he continued to discharge with industry and fidelity, and to the entire satisfaction of all with whom he had official dealing, until the year 1841, when he sent in his resignation.
In 1842 he was elected to a seat in the State Legislature, as Senator from this district, where he served the State with his characteristic industry and ability, until the expiration of his term, and so much to the satisfaction of his immediate con- stituency, that he was re-elected to the Senate for a second term, and occupied the important position of Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, where his learning and talents were brought so conspicuously before the public view, and his worth so justly appreciated by his associates in the Legislature, that before the expiration of his second term in the Senate, he was elevated to the Chancery Bench in 1847, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Chancellor Harper.
In this high and dignified position he uniformly conducted himself with marked propriety, courtesy and good temper, and administered justice to all suitors with so much cheer- fulness, promptness and ability, as to secure for himself, both as a high Judicial Magistrate, and a man, the admiration and confidence of the members of the Bar throughout the State. His written opinions, as recorded in our Chancery Reports, evince the strength and vigor of his intellect and his extended research, and will ever remain as standing monuments of his claim to a high rank among the eminent Jurists of our State.
As a statesman, he was familiar with the whole system and history of our Government, had carefully studied its operation, and marked its tendency to the ultimate overthrow of Southern
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rights, which led him heartily to embrace the political faith of the State Rights School, to which he adhered with unwavering constancy and devotion. He was an advocate of State-inter- position in 1832, and proved the sincerity of his faith by enlisting as a volunteer in the service of the State to sustain her Ordinance of Nullification.
He was a Secessionist in 1850, and was elected by the people of this district, in 1851, as a member of the State Convention, which assembled in 1852. And being convinced that no action which he could approve would be taken by that body, he declined taking his seat, and sent in his letter of resignation.
As a politician, he was honest, firm and consistent. Possess- ing a clear and discriminating mind, well stored with varied learning, and disciplined by study and vigorous exercise, he formed his political opinions with care, expressed them with confidence, and maintained them with firmness. Sincere in his purposes, and unpracticed in the arts of dissimulation, he was fearless in following out the convictions of his own judgment and sense of duty, wherever they might lead, and never shrank from the responsibility of an open and manly avowal of his sentiments in reference to political questions involving the interests of the State or of his native district, for both of which he cherished an ardent and devoted affection.
As a citizen of the district, he entertained enlarged and liberal views and a noble public spirit, and manifested a lively interest in every important enterprise which was calculated to advance the prosperity of her people, and promote their intelligence and social well-being, as evinced on all suitable occasions, and especially in the zeal and untiring energy with which he labored for many years to promote our rail-road enterprises, and improve our agriculture, and in the generosity and cheerfulness with which his heart and purse responded to every call for the promotion of education and religion, and for the relief of the needy and destitute.
In his social intercourse with his friends and acquaintances he was undisguised, frank and cordial, and his manners toward all who approached him, were characterised by so
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much dignity, simplicity, and affability, harmoniously blended with intelligence and true benevolence of heart, as to render his society instructive and attractive to all, and repulsive to none.
The impression which such a character leaves upon society at large, cannot readily be obliterated, and the possession of such virtues as were beautifully exemplified in the life of the deceased, ought never to be forgotten by the living. Therefore
Resolved, That the death of our esteemed and beloved fellow-citizen, Chancellor Geo. W. Dargan, has affected us with profound and heartfelt sorrow; and while we bow with becoming submission to this afflicting dispensation of a mysterious Providence, we cannot but regard the removal of this great and good man and able and upright Judge from the sphere of his usefulness, as a public calamity, and the loss of one in whom were united so much learning, integrity and amiability of character, as irreparable to the whole circle of his friends and acquaintances.
Resolved, That as citizens of his native district, we will cherish with fondness the memory of the many virtues and excellencies of the deceased, who, while living, won our confidence and esteem, and secured for himself a well-merited distinction, and has left behind him an enduring fame, which, now that he is gone forever, we claim as a part of our com- mon inheritance.
Resolved, That, as a token of our sincere sympathy with the family of the deceased in their bereavement, a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions be transmitted to them ; and that they be also published in the Darlington Flag and Charleston Mercury.
On motion, the meeting then adjourned.
I. D. WILSON, Chairman.
F. F. WARLEY, Secretary."
It ought perhaps, in justice to Chancellor Dargan to be stated, that after his health began to decline, he expressed anxiety lest the public interest should suffer from his inability to take his place on the Bench, and spoke of resigning his office, but was dissuaded by his immediate friends and physicians, who
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thought he would soon be able to resume his duties. Not satisfied to act upon their advice alone, he sent a special message to his brethren of the Chancery Bench to ascertain whether, in their opinion, the public interest would suffer from his temporary absence from his post; and acted upon their advice, and that of many members of the Bar, in not sending in his resignation.
We append the following extract from a letter written by Rev. S. B. Wilkins, dated July 5th, 1859 :
" Chancellor Dargan was a man whom I had long known and highly valued. We were in College together, and after- wards admitted to the practice of law in the same class; we lived near each other, and practiced in the same Courts from 1323 to 1837, when I withdrew. Within that time we passed through one of the most exciting political struggles which has existed in our State and district. We found ourselves arrayed on different sides in that struggle, but its trying scenes did not seriously interrupt the feeling of personal friendship that had grown up between us. I could say much of his fair, honest, candid, honorable bearing at the Bar and on the political arena; I could say much of his manly, firm, unchanging personal friendships, for I have known and experienced them. I feel that by his death I have indeed lost a friend. But I forbear.
" His worth as a husband, parent, brother, friend, com- panion, citizen and Magistrate, is known, felt and acknowl- edged by all. His death is mourned as a private and public calamity ; but there is one subject connected with him of which I would add something.
" In 1837, soon after I had announced my design to withdraw from the Bar, I one day met his venerated father, who said to me 'I wish you would talk to George-I think he is a Christian.' Accordingly, I went and said to him, 'I have come to speak to you on the subject of religion-your own feelings and personal interest therein-if such conversation would be agreeable to you.' He answered that it would. We then, and from that time ever after, frequently-very fre-
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quently-had long, free, and most interesting conversations on personal religion ; and though he would never acknowledge that he had grounds to hope that he himself was a Christian, yet he often expressed as his, such sentiments as I think the Bible teaches, that none but Christians have. He said he preferred religious conversation to any other, when intro- duced by another ; that he did not introduce it himself, only because he feared that by so doing persons might understand him as professing more than he was conscious of feeling. He professed to venerate the Scriptures; to understand their teachings as orthodox Christians do; to admire the law of God ; to desire that the love of God might fill his soul. These, and such as these, were oft his repeated sentiments, at differ- ent times, under different circumstances and at distant inter- vals. He has asked me, and more than once have we kneeled together, where no human eye could see, and no human ear hear, in humble prayer to the God who heareth and who answereth prayer. He once said to me, that 'after you and I had travelled the same way, our roads have separated, but I love sometimes to meet you still.' Yes, valued friend, and I will hope that if it be my happy lot to have some humble place with the redeemed of the Lord, we shall yet find our roads again converged so as to bring us to meet in our Father's house on high, where parting shall never be known. It was my privilege to visit Chancellor Dargan but once during his last sickness : we then prayed together, and gladly would I have visited him oftener, had my circumstances permitted.
" Although what is written above is but a faint expression of my feelings, and the utterance of them even so far a mourn- ful pleasure to me ; yet I have been so long retired from the busy scenes of life, that I should hardly have ventured to offer anything in public, had not a mutual friend encouraged me to do so."
RECORDERS .
WILLIAM DRAYTON.
In attempting a sketch of the life of the eminently just and great man, whose name heads this article, I do so with a perfect consciousness, that, after my best efforts, it will still be imperfect. My first recollection of Col. Drayton was in December, 1811, when, as a college boy, I listened to his matchless defence of William Hasell Gibbes, Master in Equity for Charleston District, on articles of impeachment, before the Senate of the State. I have little recollection of the matter, beyond the beauty of language and the manner of the speaker Although it was my good fortune to know Col. Drayton, after he had passed through the war of 1812, had served with eminent ability as Recorder of the city, and when he was a distinguished Member of Congress, yet I never had the pleasure to hear him speak, save on the occasion to which I have alluded. I have, therefore, to rely on information from others, which I have sought from the best sources, and which I hope will enable me to place facts before the public.
Col. Drayton was born at St. Augustine, East Florida, 30th December, 1776. He was the youngest of ten children. His father, William Drayton, had been Chief Justice of East Florida, but was deprived of that office on account of suspected sympathy with the Revolutionary patriots of his native State. The mother of Col. Drayton was Mary Motte, of Revolutionary family. "She died soon after his birth. Mrs. Turnbull, the mother of Robert Turnbull, Esq., (the author of Brutus,) took and nursed him with Robert, who was then, also, an infant, and thus they grew up as foster brothers."
He was sent to school, in England, but on the death of his father, on the 18th of May, 1790, at the early age of less than fourteen years, the straitened circumstances of his family recalled him to Carolina; he had, however, acquired a taste for classic and belles lettres literature, for which he was remark- able to the close of life.
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At about fourteen, his education at school ceased, and he became an assistant in the Clerk's office of the Court of General Sessions and Common Pleas, for Charleston District, under his brother, Jacob Drayton, then Clerk. His training, though laborious, was, I have no doubt, of great service, and made him that patient, diligent man, remarkable for his precision and elegance at the Bar, in the army, on the Bench, and in the Legislative Hall. He was admitted to the Bar on the 12th of December, 1797. An incident here may be stated as illustrative of his high sense of honor and integrity. Soon after his admission to the Bar, "he had just collected about seven hundred dollars for his first, and perhaps only client, and was proceeding through the street to give it to him, when he stopped at the Court House, where a public meeting was being held, and had his pocket picked of the seven hundred dollars within. To have endeavored to excuse himself by explaining how and when he had been robbed, he felt would have discredited him in more ways than one with his client; so he immediately gathered together his few valuables and books, sold them and restored the lost money-his client quite unconscious of any unusual delay. Here he was then, a lawyer without money or a library."
Col. Drayton's first commission was Ist Lieutenant in the Ancient Battalion of Artillery, (7th December, 1801.) He was subsequently, (1st February, 1804,) commissioned Captain- Lieutenant. On the 20th May, 1803, he was admitted to practice in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States. " About this time," says his son, William Heyward Drayton, of Philadelphia, " he began to enter upon that practice, which became, between that period and March, 1812, one of the most extensive in the State; and among the eminent men of that time engaged at the Bar in South Carolina, he took the very highest professional stand as counsel, advocate, and man of honor."
One of his legal pupils, my brother, Chancellor Dunkin, says, "My first acquaintance with him was in the fall of 1811. He was then at the head of his profession, and I was a youth just graduated from college. But I remember well the situa-
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tion of the Charleston Bar at that time. Mr. John Julius Pringle, Mr. William Laughton Smith, Mr. John Ward, and others of that class, were passing away. Their places were taken by Mr. Cheves, Col. Drayton, and Col. Keating Lewis Simons, in the foremost rank. Immediately anterior, however, to the period of which I speak, to wit: in 1810, Mr. Cheves had succeeded Mr. Robert Marion, as Member of Congress from Charleston District, and, as a consequence, which I believe, has been uniform in South Carolina, he had with- drawn from the practice of his profession. This left in the hands of Col. Drayton and Col. Simons the command of the most important and lucrative business. For several years previously, the emoluments of Col. Drayton must have been very large, for he was engaged in every commercial cause of any interest or magnitude. About this time, I have frequently heard his annual professional income estimated at from fifteen to eighteen thousand dollars ; and, I may add, as an encour- agement to young and briefless lawyers, that, although then in the receipt of this large income, the first twelve months of his practice was confined to the issuing of a single writ."
Politically, Col. Drayton was a Federalist. This was the result, both of conviction and association. The most eminent men of Charleston were, generally, of that party. His inti- mate association with Edward Rutledge, would have inclined him that way. He thought with the party, that the war was uncalled for, and ruinous in its commercial consequences. Yet, like Judge Huger, he did not suffer this opinion to swerve him from loyalty to his country. Attached to the military, both from taste and association, he was among the first to offer his services to the General Government, and with "a promptness as honorable to the administration of Mr. Madison as was his offer to himself." The commission of Lieutenant-Colonel on the 12th March, 1812, was sent to him. He closed his Law office, surrendered his great income, as a lawyer, and accepted the commission. The offer of his services and acceptance of this commission, under the circum- stances, was evidence of a patriotism like that of '76. It spoke the same language which then called the bravest and
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best to the standards of the country, although ruin and personal danger were the consequences before them. On the 25th of July, 1812, he was commissioned Colonel of the 18th Regiment United States Infantry, and on the 18th December, 1814, Inspector General.
Shortly before the close of the war, he was associated with Generals Scott and Macomb in the preparation of a system of Infantry Tactics, for the drill of the United States Army, which was adopted by the Government, and became the guide for the militia in this State. This last fact shows the estima- tion in which he was held by the Government and army, as an accomplished officer and soldier. As a further evidence of his standing with the Government, the commission of Briga- dier-General was about being tendered to him, when the declaration of peace induced him to resign the commission which he then held ; for his services, as a citizen-soldier, were no longer needed, and he had no disposition to linger as an officer on the peace establishment.
He returned to Charleston and resumed the practice of law. In 1816, General Jackson urged upon Mr. Munroe the appointment of Col. Drayton, as Secretary of War. This showed the high appreciation which the hero of New Orleans had of him.
In 1819, he was appointed Recorder of Charleston. The Inferior City Court was that over which he was called to preside; its jurisdiction and salary had been increased, to make it worthy of such an incumbent as Col. Drayton. He held this judicial office until 1823, (as is stated in the memoir by his son, before me, but I believe the Colonel was elected in October, 1824, and took his seat in 1825,) when he was elected to Congress .* While he was the Recorder, to enable him to go on to Washington and argue before the Supreme Court the case of Bulow and Potter vs. The City Council, (1 N. and
* I was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in November, 1824. Judge Prioleau, Col. Drayton's successor, was elected Recorder in 1825, and stated this fact to me. At the vacation of his seat as a Member of the House of Representatives, I declined to issue the writ, holding that the office of Recorder was not an office under the Constitution of the State. The House received my decision.
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McC., 537,) he was permitted to resign, with the tacit under- standing that he was to be re-elected as soon as he returned. The Honorable Mitchell King, elected in his place, resigned as soon as his mission was accomplished, and Col. Drayton was restored.
His decisions, while he was Recorder, are scattered through 2d N. and McC., 1 and 2d McC. I select, as specimens Planters' and Mechanics' Bank vs. Cowing, 2 N. and McC., 439 ; Patton vs. The Bank, Idem., 464; City Council vs. Payne, Id., 475; Thomas vs. Dyott, Administrator of Best, 1 McC. 77; Jackson and others, vs. Watt, Id., 289; Greenwood vs. Naylor, Id., 414; Bompfield vs. E. Ward, 2d McC., 182.
The more perfect acquaintance with him of my brother, Dunkin, and his better opportunity of judging of the Colonel in his judicial station, makes me draw upon him for a portraiture. He says, "For a judicial station, he was emi- nently well qualified, very clear in his conceptions, a well read lawyer, ripe in judgment, with large experience, espe- cially in commercial causes, he at once imparted to the Court a confidence among the profession, and a popularity with the community which rendered this tribunal a favorite resort, both of lawyer and suitor. On and off the Bench, he was calm and dignified in his demeanor, and habitually courteous to the Bar. Altogether, he was a model Judge, and it was a privilege to practice before him. During the period of his administration in the City Court, the appeals were directly to the Appeal Constitutional Court, consisting at that time of Judges Nott, Colcock, Gantt, Johnson, Richardson and Huger. On looking over the reports of that day, it will be perceived that the ruling of the City Judge were very rarely reversed, and his report of the case, including his charge, was not unfrequently adopted as the judgment of the Court."
Col. Drayton's course in Congress was such as will now com- mand the respect, even of those who differed with him. He maintained with unflinching fidelity, his hostility to the Tariff, but true and faithful as he had ever been to his coun- try, he stood by her in, what he supposed to be, the hostile results of Nullification. He was the friend of Gen. Jackson,
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and felt, like him, "the Federal Union must be preserved." With the close of the great Nullification contest, he retired from public life, and soon after made Philadelphia his home.
His son, Col. Thos. F. Drayton, informed me that his father " did not remove from South Carolina on account of the Nulli- fication struggles and consequent estrangement of intimacies on account of political differences. That these estrangements had their influence in carrying him away at the time he went, I won't deny. But he had always resolved to leave the State whenever his mother-in-law, Mrs. Heyward died." The Colonel, it seems, had promised Mrs. Heyward, on his mar- riage to his second wife, her daughter, that during her life, he would not carry her daughter from her. "He always said, that the climate of the low country disagreed with him."
The close of his Congressional life was pretty much the close of his public life.
On the retirement of General Eaton from the office of Secretary of War, the appointment was tendered to Col. Dray- ton, but respectfully declined. He was afterwards offered the appointment of Minister to England. This he also declined, on the ground that his private fortune was not adequate. General Jackson, as his son, Col. Thomas F. Drayton, informs me, intended to have offered Col. Drayton a seat on the Supreme Bench, on the death of Judge William Johnson, " and it was," says he, " so well understood between the General and himself, that my father had made up his mind to return to South Carolina, and make Greenville his residence." " But Mr. Van Buren insisted, for political reasons, to have the vacancy on the Bench filled by Judge Wayne, and urged that Col. Drayton, having lately removed from South Carolina, his return to the State as a Judge of the Supreme Court, would be unacceptable. The General yielded, and Judge Wayne obtained the Judgeship."
These facts, stated by Col. Thomas F. Drayton, were new to me and most of Col. Drayton's friends. I have no hesita- tion in saying, that his appointment, as a Judge, instead of being unacceptable to this State, would have been highly acceptable. I say this without intending, in the slightest
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degree, to disparage the appointment of Judge Wayne. For him, both as a man and a Judge, I have the greatest esteem.
"In 1840, at the pressing instance of many old friends, he consented to bring all the powers of his mind to bear, as President of the then collapsed Bank of the United States, of Pennsylvania, in order, if possible, to resuscitate that mam- moth institution. He soon found, however, that the utmost hope of the sanguine could only be to pay the debts of the corporation, and that this could only be accomplished by the most energetic measures. As soon as he was convinced, from a thorough though rapid investigation, that the honest and manly, though unpopular course, was to place all the remain- ing assets of the Bank in the hands of assignees. This was done, and he retired from the presidency of an institution, where the mere routine of duty thenceforth rendered his longer supervision unnecessary."
This closed his public acts. His health had been delicate for some time, it now began to fail more rapidly, and, " on the morning of Sunday, May 24th, 1846, he died suddenly of disease of the heart, having, up to his last moment, continued in the possession of his faculties."
Thus, in his seventieth year, having nearly completed three- score and ten, the ordinary limits of life, was gathered to his fathers, the Bayard of South Carolina, of whom it can be safely written, he was without spot or blemish. It is only now and then that we are permitted to look upon such men. His life, rapidly sketched as it has been, will be a bright example for many of the young and good.
He was twice married. His first wife was Anna Gadsden, daughter of Thomas Gadsden ; his son, Thomas F. Drayton, the President of the Charleston and Savannah Rail-Road, is her representative ; his second wife was Maria Heyward; his son, Wm. Heyward Drayton, is her representative.
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