USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. II > Part 20
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Col. Chappell was a good Member of Congress, and was much respected on account of his consistent course. He says he committed two great errors while in Congress. The first was in attending the first great Congressional Caucus to nomi- nate a candidate for President. This may, or may not, have
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been an error; but surely it was a very venial one. The great objection to a Congressional Caucus was, that those who were never intended to guide the people in that matter, in this way, usurped the power of making the President. This destroyed the Congressional Caucus, and instead of it have sprung up the Conventions appointed by the people to nominate the Presi- dential candidates. It is but another name for the same thing. And I confess I don't see the just objection to either. It is but a part of the machinery which consolidates the power of the different parties into which the people suffer themselves to be divided. It is true, if we could go back to the times when merit placed a man in power, I should say, let all caucuses and conventions perish ; but now they are necessary evils.
The second error of which Colonel Chappell accuses him- self was, in advocating the establishment of the United States Bank. He says: "I then deemed it necessary to aid in the fiscal concerns of the Government, not then being, as I after- wards became satisfied, that there was no authority given to Congress to establish such an institution." If the Colonel erred in this matter, he erred in very good and great company, such as his friends Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay.
So too, it seems, he thinks he committed a third error in voting for the Tariff of 1815, to protect domestic manufactures. This was, however, a popular Southern measure, intended to sustain the factories, which had grown up during the war. It is true, it laid the foundation for the Tariffs of protection, which ended in producing Nullification, and the abortive attempts at secession. But the Colonel here again had the companionship of Mr. Calhoun.
The Compensation Bill passed in 1815, which provided a salary of $1500 per annum to each Member of Congress, instead of a per diem allowance, induced Colonel Chappell's constituents, in 1816, to refuse to return him. This misfor- tune was by no means singular, for every Member who voted for it, with the exception of Henry Clay and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, and John C. Calhoun of South Caro- lina, was refused a re-election. In not quite forty years afterwards, the policy which gave rise to the Act of 1816, gave
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occasion to the Act which fixed the compensation of Members at $3,000, and not a solitary objection has been made by the people. They were at last convinced that those who worked by the day worked much more slowly than those who worked by the job.
Mr. (afterwards Judge Harper) having dissolved his partner- ship with Colonel Chappell, soon after he entered Congress, and the latter finding he could give little attention to his legal business, transferred the whole of his practice to the late Colonel James Gregg.
After failing in 1816 and 1818, to be returned to Congress, Colonel Chappell, unwilling to remain idle, and also, desiring to make his services available to the support of his young and increasing family, presented himself to the Legislature as a candidate for Secretary of State. He was disappointed in his candidacy ; and after due reflection, in 1821 or '2, returned to the Bar, and resumed practice in Orangeburgh, Richland, Fair- field, and Lexington, which he continued until the last ten years. He continued longer than he intended, that he might introduce his son into practice, but at his death his motive to continue at the Bar ended.
Colonel Chappell, at the instance of Judge Colcock, in 1830, or '31, accepted the office of a Director of the Branch Bank, at Columbia, and has ever since retained it until very recently. He has never held any office of emolument under the State although he has, ever since he attained his majority, been in her service. He is now in his seventy-eighth year, and when I last saw him, with the frost of many winters on his head he presented the same erect and manly person of six feet which I had seen for half a century, and the same plain, though courteous and kind manners.
Colonel Chappell had an easy, fluent, though not impressive elocution. He was a good lawyer, and certainly has been always regarded as an honest man.
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GEORGE WARREN CROSS.
George Warren Cross was born in Charleston, South Caro- lina, the 12th June, 1783. He was the only son of Captain George Cross, who was a zealous patriot in the war of the Revolution, and as a naval officer, rendered important service in the harbor of Charleston.
Col. Cross was educated at one of the best grammar schools in his native city, and at an early age commenced the study of the law, under the advice and direction of his uncle, Judge Lewis Trezevant, then one of the associate Judges of this State. The Judge was very conspicuous as a severe special pleader and thorough disciplinarian. With such an instruc- tor to fit him for his work, Mr. Cross was admitted to the Bar 17th December, 1804. He diligently applied himself to his profession, and in a few years enjoyed a handsome and in- creasing income. He had the advantage, in his youth, of learning to read and speak fluently, the French language, which he acquired at home, and by this he obtained many clients from the French citizens of Charleston and of other States, who were among the most liberal of his patrons. He was elected First Lieutenant of the Washington Light In- fantry, at its formation in 1807, when William Loundes was elected its captain, and William Crafts ensign. He succeeded to the command of the company in 1809, and held it until 1816, with the most flattering success, contributing much to its permanent establishment.
In 1816, he received the appointment of Colonel of the 16th Regiment of infantry, which he retained for many years. He, also, was several times chosen to represent his native city as a Member of the House of Representatives of South Carolina. In all these offices, he exhibited the highest integrity, fidelity and patriotism. He was an accomplished gentleman and a most affectionate son, husband and parent. He died in Charles-
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ton, after a very short illness, with symptoms of the prevailing cholera, on the 26th October, 1836.
Mr. Cross, as far back as 1808, rode the Southern Circuit. I have often seen him at Newberry. He was often employed, and had the reputation of a good lawyer.
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WILLIAM LOWNDES.
This distinguished and truly great and good man, was the son of Rawlins Lowndes, the first Governor of South Carolina, under the Constitution of '78, by his third wife. William Lowndes was born in Charleston, the 7th February, 1782.
At the age of seven, he went with his mother to England, where he had the benefit of an English grammar school, for three years. He then returned to Charleston, and received instruction from that eminent scholar, Dr. Simon Felix Gallagher, a Roman Catholic Priest. This gentleman said of Lowndes' facility to learn, that " his mind drank up knowl- edge as the dry earth did the rain from heaven."
Mr. Lowndes studied law with Chancellor DeSaussure, then a resident lawyer in Charleston, and was admitted to the Bar on the 9th January, 1804. He had previously, in September, 1802, married Elizabeth, the daughter of General Thomas Pinckney.
In 1804, he sought an'association with John S. Cogdell, Esq., in the practice of the law. The proposal was gladly accepted, and, for a short time, they practiced as partners.
In consequence of the injury done to his plantation by the great equinoxial storm of 1804, Mr. Lowndes abandoned the law, and gave himself up to the care of his planting interests.
In 1806, he was elected to the House of Representatives, in the General Assembly of South Carolina, and was again elected in 1808. His great talents, and the beautiful simplicity of his character, were seen and properly appreciated in his legislative services.
At the time of the outrage committed by the Leopard on the Chesapeake, in June, 1807, the indignation of the country roused its military spirit. Many companies were formed- among them the Washington Light Infantry, of which Mr. Lowndes was the first captain. This company has continued, ever since, one of the most popular, high-spirited and well-
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regulated corps of South Carolina. The Rev. Mr. Gilman, one of the most exemplary of men, for many years chaplain of the company, was accustomed to ascribe much of its high tone to the influence and example of its first commander.
In October, 1810, he was elected to the House of Represen- tatives in the Congress of the United States, to which he was successively elected, until 1822 ; at that time, on account of ill health, he resigned his seat.
He had a character there for wisdom and purity of purpose, which has seldom, if ever, been attained by any other member of Congress. He seldom participated in the debates, but when he did, all were anxious to hear every word he uttered ; for his speeches were truly as " apples of gold in net-work of silver." He was nominated by the Legislature of South Carolina, in 1820 or 1821, for the office of President of the United States.
Speaking of this nomination, he said : " It is an office neither to be sought nor declined." Would that this sentiment was universal in our country ! Then, indeed, we might expect wise and patriotic men to be our rulers !
He had visited England in 1818 or 1819, where his com- pany was much sought after by the wisest, most learned and best men of that country.
After his resignation he again embarked, with his wife and daughter, to cross the ocean, with a hope to restore his health. But the hope was vain ; he died on the passage, in the forty- first year of his life.
This was a sad event for our country. If he had lived, he probably would have been elected President of the United States, and his wisdom, moderation and purity might have saved us from the national divisions to which we have been subjected.
But God orders all things for the best, and it may be that he was taken away, to be spared from witnessing the estrange- ment of many of his old friends, by differences in political views.
Mr. Lowndes possessed, in an eminent degree, the happy combination of gentleness of temper, firmness of principle
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and force of mind, which constitute the highest type of char- acter. His manners had an easy, natural courtesy, and quiet dignity, which refinement, associated with purity and integrity, can alone impart, and whose charm none were able to resist. All who approached him, loved and admired his fine qualities In the military company, of which he was once the captain, and in the nation whose councils he adorned, his memory is alike cherished. On all sides he commanded the confidence which he never sought. He seemed to stand above the atmos- phere of party passion, and to be exempt froin its influences. If he had opponents, he had no enemies. Had he lived, he would have united, in all probability, the suffrages of the whole country, for its highest office, more nearly, than any man since the death of Washington.
His mind was of the highest order, his taste exact, his in- tellect clear, capacious and vigorous. It was carefullly and thoroughly cultivated. His library was one of the best in the Southern States. He was a scholar and statesman. His attention was not restricted to the legal or constitutional ques- tions which engage and engross mere politicians and leaders of parties. He delighted in the pursuit of letters and general knowledge.
In person, Mr. Lowndes was tall, slender and erect. His limbs were long and loosely put together ; his face without color, the cheek hollow, the nose straight, the eye gray and full of expression.
His manner of speaking was calm, pursuasive and impres- sive. His style clear, precise and forcible. His eloquence, however, owed its power, in popular assemblies, to something more than mere intellectual strength, or the charms of delivery. It was imbued with the influences of a life and character, on which Providence had bestowed the distinguished privilege of mingling with men and participating in public affairs, not only without a stain, but without fear and without reproach.
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JAMES MCKIBBEN.
This gentleman was born on the 4th day of July, 1783, at the place where the village of Union is located. His father, it is presumed, died when he was very young, as his mother was, for many years, a widow. He was educated by John Dunlap, Esq., a childless lawyer, of some eminence, who re- sided at Cambridge in old Ninety-Six. He placed him under the tuition of Dr. Abner Pyles, of Laurens District, who was then the most celebrated teacher in the upper country. Ben- jamin C. Yancey and John Caldwell were two of his fellow- students.
On leaving school, he studied law with his patron, John Dunlap, Esq., until his death; he then perhaps studied for a short time, at Union Court House. In 1804, the writer recol- lects to have seen him with P. E. Pearson and William F. Pearson as students-at-law with Samuel Thee, Esq., at New- berry Court House. In that year, Mr. McKibben was admit- ted to the Bar, and succeeded to the practice of Mr. Thee, who then removed to Louisiana. He was the only lawyer at Newberry for several years, and thus monopolized the entire business, which was large and lucrative. In 1806, he, with George Herbert, Esq., and Dr. Jacob Baille, was elected to the House of Representatives in the General Assembly of South Carolina; and, in 1808, was a second time elected, with Samuel E. Thomas and James Dyson. At this election, he was returned the third and last member. Spring Hill was then one of the election precincts; in counting the votes of that box, three votes were found for S. Griffin; Charles Griffin, Esq., was a candidate; if those votes were counted for him, he would be elected; the managers decided, that they could not be so counted, and the result was, that, by a majority of two votes, Mckibben was elected. This was displeasing to many, and increased the unfounded prejudice against @ lawyer, which had been, with difficulty, overcome by Mr.
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Mckibben. He offered himself as a candidate no more in Newberry District. He was, however, universally admitted to be the most useful Member which Newberry had then had. During his service, he and Judge Huger, then a Member from St. Andrews, had a passage on the subject of a name. Young John Harrington, either as a candidate for the Clerk's office, or in some other way, was presented, by Mr. Kibben, before the House. Judge Huger, entirely unused to the name, wished to correct Mr. Mckibben, and insisted it should be John Harrington, Junior. This, Mckibben indignantly re- pelled, affirming that he ought to know the name of his friend better than a stranger.
Mr. Mckibben never liked the law as a profession: he was fond of general literature, and the social enjoyments of his friends. The latter was often extended, in Newberry, at that time, greatly beyond prudence. He and Dr. Joseph Warren Waldo were great friends. They often indulged in a frolic at the Black Jack Tavern, two miles from Newberry; and when a little excited, they became fearless riders, and a run into the village was a piece of crack fun. On one occasion, the run came near a tragical termination. Mr. Harrington, for some purpose, had a log kitchen just below his store-house, where Julius Smith's celebrated Tupper House stands, The street to Mckibben's stable was between the store and the kitchen; Mckibben's horse, instead of halting, was bent on his own stable, and turning the corner suddenly, he pitched his mas- ter head-foremost against the end of the kitchen; stunned only for a moment, as he arose, he inquired, "whose still- house is this ?"
The consequence of his dislike of his profession, and the enjoyment of his friends, (in the, then, Newberry sense of the word,) was that he neglected the preparation of his cases. A young lawyer from Fairfield, David T. Milling Esq., settled at Newberry, and, although he could not make a speech at the Bar, yet he had been well trained to office work, and under- stood sharp practice. By diligent attention to his business, and a careful observance of every flaw, in his opponent's practice, he was soon enabled to obtain the leading position,
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and, by non-suiting Mckibben, again and again, to turn the attention of suitors from him.
During his practice at Newberry, occurred a matter which subsequently caused him great mortification. In a case on the Summary Process Docket, Judge Grimké, who presided, gave a decree for Mckibben's client; on his way to his plan- tation, Belmont, in Union District, the same day, perhaps, but after the adjournment of the Court, the Judge met with the other party, who gave him such a statement as induced him to think he had decided wrong. He wrote to Mckibben, stating his error, and desired him not to enter up his judg-
ment. This letter was borne by the party to Mckibben, who refused compliance with the Judge's request, and used harsh words. All was reported to the Judge. He put Mckibben under a rule to show cause, at the next term of the Court of Appeals, why he should not be struck from the roll of attor- neys. The cause was shown. The Court directed him to be reprimanded by the kindest and most benevolent magistrate in the State, Judge Waties. It was done, and, I presume, kindly and forbearingly done. But the sense of injustice so rankled in his mind and heart, that he scarcely ever after spoke to Judge Waties. That he was legally right in disre- garding Judge Grimké's directions out of Court, is true ; and yet he ought to have yielded to his written request, as a matter of respect, and if wrong, the Appeal Court, on bring- ing the matter fairly before it, would have redressed him.
The admission of John Caldwell and Anderson Crenshaw to the Bar, in the fall of 1809, and their settlement at New- berry, together with his diminished business, from the tri- umphs of Milling, determined McKibben to return to the place of his nativity. When he removed to Union is not pre- cisely ascertained. It probably was in 1810 or 1811.
He served a tour of six months in the Union Artillery company, under the command of Colonel Means and Major Dawkins, at Haddrell's Point, in the war of 1812. Brigadier- General Thomas Moore was in command, under Major-Gen- eral Butler. On the retirement of the Hon. Samuel Farrow from Congress, Mr. Mckibben was a candidate, and was de-
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feated by Colonel Wilson Nesbitt, of Spartanburgh, who, as Mr. Mckibben thought, was ungenerously brought forward and sustained by General Moore, whom he thought, as his commander, should have supported him. But he was much consoled on account of this disappointment by the manner in which he was elected by the Legislature, Major in the Brigade of State troops directed to be raised in December 1814, and to the command of which Judge Huger was appointed. To be associated with him, Colonel James R. Pringle, and Major Maner, was a high honor to any man. Owing to the close of the war, in the beginning of 1815, the Brigade was never mustered; but I feel sure if it had been, the fortune of Major Mckibben to raise his battalion, and to meet with the enemy, no braver or better officer would have been found.
In 1816, he was elected to the State Senate from Union District; and, in 1822, he was again returned. Here again, in the Legislature, his duties were faithfully performed. In July, 1828, he closed his life in a most sudden manner : he had eaten his breakfast at the house of his brother-in-law, John Gage, Jr .; he afterwards walked into the piazza, and sat down on a bench, immediately behind him; hearing a gurgling noise, his relative turned and caught his falling body; before he could ease him down, he was dead. This, his sudden death, was probably the result of suffocation.
It is probable that a disappointment in a projected matri- monial engagement contributed much to the inert, neglectful character, which somewhat diminished his usefulness. Mr. Mckibben settled down, a bachelor, and became, as Dr. Fraklin said, "like half of a pair of scissors, fit only to scrape a trencher." His life, when not employed in public, was very much that of a solitary ; he spent most of his time in his office, and employed himself in occasional instruction to the children of his sister, the wife of John Gage, Jr. He was much attached to her; and her death, in 1826 or '7, seemed to rend the last link which bound him to earth.
His nephew, Colonel Robert Gage, of Union District, has drawn his character in a few apt words: "His unselfishness in everything, his tender devotion to his friends, his perfect
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honesty, his kindness of heart, his gentleness, and yet in mat- ters of principle, his firmness and virtues, were conceded to him by all who knew him." The author knew him from 1804 to his death, (twenty-four years,) most of the time inti- mately; and can endorse all which his nephew ascribed to him. He was kind and generous in all his intercourse with men. To the youth, poverty, and inexperience of the author both at school and at the Bar, he afforded the opportunity to be heard and known. The first speech which he ever made in Union was in the fall of 1814, in a case of malicious pros- ecution brought by Mr. Mckibben against James Duncan, son of Alexander Duncan. His kind invitation to assist in that case gave the opportunity to the author, so desirable to a young lawyer, of making a speech and gaining a cause.
The Bar at Union, when Mr. McKibben returned, was prin- cipally occupied by Colonel Joseph Gist and Judge David Johnson, then the Solicitor of the Circuit. The latter, in 1815, was elected a Judge, and the former, in 1822, was elected to Congress. They were succeeded by A. W. Thomson, Z. P. Herndon, John W. Farrow, R. G. H. Fair, John H. Fernan- dez, Joseph S. Sims as resident lawyers, and by Thomas Williams, Jr., Robert Clendenin, John E. Gunning, John Caldwell, John B. O'Neall, Job Johnston and Robert Dunlap, from York, Chester, and Newberry. Before this array, Major Mckibben's business grew less and less; and he seemed to care very little about it.
The usage of the Bar before 1828, on the circuits of the upper country, abounded in conviviality. The argenti armo- rum lucubrations of Sir John Fortescue were rarely practiced. The bottle and cards were oftener studied than Blackstone. To the latter of these vices, Major Mckibben never yielded. He was, however, the child of fun in all his life; a joke was his delight, and he practiced upon his friends, and they on him, both at Newberry and Union. His friend, John Cald- well, as an attorney had issued a subpæna for a witness in Union, who took it into his head that the attorney was liable for his attendance; this notion Mckibben pretended to be- lieve was right, and he persuaded the man to see Caldwell
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before a Justice of the Peace; this was done, the summons treated with contempt, and the first thing Caldwell knew, his sulkey horse was seized in execution, and dragged up before the Court-House door for sale. It is needless to add that the whole matter was set aside, but the joke was rich food of en- joyment for Mckibben.
When he was admitted as a Solicitor in Equity, Judges James and Thompson rode the circuit together; to them, petitions for admission as Solicitors in Equity were presented, and by them granted. To them, Mckibben presented his petition. Tradition says, Judge Thompson examined him, and asked a solitary question: "If employed to file a bill in Equity, how much, Mac, would you charge ?" "Fifty dol- lars," was the answer. "That will do," said the facetious Judge, and the license was signed.
At Union, as Judge Johnson, in the year 1823, was calling the Common Pleas docket, he called a case in which Mckib- ben was the plaintiff's attorney. He stated his case to be for three hundred dollars-a wager on a horse-race. The Judge, in his quiet way, said, " Mr. Mckibben, such a case cannot be sustained; it is contrary to law." He very naively re- plied, "Well, may it please your Honor, I thought I would name .it to your honor," and quietly took his seat, and sub- mitted to the non-suit which followed.
As I have already said, he was fond of a joke, and it mat- tered little where it was, whether at the Bar or in the Legis- lature. When the author was Speaker of the House of Re- presentatives, and Mckibben was Senator, one of his jokes occurred, to which reference will be made, after a preparatory statement of another matter. Strangers had so much intruded on the Members of the House of Representatives, that com- plaints were made to the Speaker, who strictly charged the door-keeper, a good old Methodist, James Jenkins, to permit no such thing in future. The Duke of Saxe-Weimar was making the tour of the United States, and was then on a visit to Columbia. That good man and dignified magistrate, Chancellor DeSaussure, ever attentive to strangers, was con- ducting the Duke to the House of Representatives. The
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