USA > Tennessee > Old times in Tennessee, with historical, personal, and political scraps and sketches > Part 6
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GEN. JACKSON PROTECTING A COURT.
If it will not fatigue you, ladies, I will give you another scene in Gen. Jackson's life not found in Parton. Although Parton's life is interesting, and written with reasonable ability, it should
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have been written by a Southern man, who had the advantage of an intimate acquaintance with the old hero, who had been in- spired by his genius, and had imparted to him the fires which burned in his patriotic breast. I was employed in the great will suit of Col. Anthony Bledsoe, who was killed by the Indians on the night of the 20th of July, 1787. It became necessary to look through the old muster records of Sumner county. I found the following entry upon the records of the fall of 1787; "The thanks of this court are tendered to Andrew Jackson, Esq., for efficient conduct." Signed by the two Douglasses and Muskle- wrath, Justices. Esq. James Douglass still survived. I took him to the clerk's office, read that entry signed by him, and asked him if he could explain the occasion of its being made. He in- formed me that he recollected all the circumstances well, and said the first County Court was held in a log cabin on the bank of the creek at one of the station camps. They had jurisdiction, and took steps to put down the fights and personal rencounters that were in those days very frequent. Gen. Jackson was the Attorney General for all Middle Tennessee. Two men named Kirkendall were the great bullies of that creek. They were spirited and powerful men. They held that the sitting of the court, taking such jurisdiction, invaded their dominions, and they went in, in a bullying manner, and dispersed the court, and ordered it never to meet again. Gen. Jackson heard of it and attended the next term, carrying upon his arm his saddle-bags, containing his long black bull dogs. He placed his saddle-bags in a corner of the house. The justices took the bench and the sheriff proclaimed the court open. The Kirkendalls appeared and ordered the court to disperse. In the confusion and terror of the hour the sheriff failed to arrest the parties and restore or- der. At this juncture Gen. Jackson appeared before the court and denounced the bullies and their conduct, and told the court if they would appoint him their officer he would arrest them and have order. His proposition was readily accepted. Jackson
seized one of the Kirkendalls, who was a terror to the county ; they clinched and got outside, and being on the edge of the bluff, the bully threw Jackson, and they rolled over and over down the bluff into the creek. When the bully thought he had con- quered Jackson he left him. But the old game cock came rush-
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ing up the hill, as wet as an otter, in search of his bull dogs. He grasped them, and pointing one at each of the bullies, ar- rested them and brought them before the court. They were heavily fined and order was restored, and hence the thanks of the court were tendered to Gen. Jackson for efficient conduct. Many are the pleasant reminiscences in regard to Gen. Jackson, handed down from sire to son, with which I might interest you, but I must hasten on and bring my address to a close.
THE CIVIL WAR AND OUR TROUBLES.
We come now to look over our desolated South, our burnt . houses and rifled fields, our noble dead, who have been slain or fallen in the greatest civil war that has ever marked the earth. The ruins of Fort Donelson may be seen but a few miles from this spot. The fort was named in honor of its founder, Gen. Daniel S. Donelson, a bold, patriotic, and able General, who fell in that war with his armor on. The vandalism of that war did not leave a single house standing of the ancient village of Dover, situated on the bank of the Cumberland, which comprised a part of the battle-field of Fort Donelson. It was there that my friend and partner, Col. Alfred Robb, fell at the head of his reg- iment. In private life he was as gentle as a lamb, in war as. fierce as a tiger. Take him all in all, I believe that he was the best man I ever knew. It was here that about thirteen thousand gallant Confederates, during three days of hard fighting, resisted the approach of seventy-five thousand Federals, commanded by Gen. Grant, aided by his fleet of gun-boats. In this great battle many of you this day present fought, and continued to rally around our Southern flag until it was furled and laid away for- ever upon the surrender of Gen. Lee and his army in 1865. Many were its glorious victories, and sad were its reverses, made more so by the fall of the flower of the American youth, whose places can never be supplied. It is not necessary here to inquire into the causes of this great civil war. It is sufficient to say that the South honestly believed that their cause was just, and they devoted their property and their lives to its maintenance. They are content to leave it to posterity, whose opinions will be freed from prejudice, to pass upon their conduct in this great struggle, confident that their manhood was maintained, and that their honor stands unsullied. We had just reasons to hope that
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when the war ceased peace would return, the Union be restored, with equal rights to all the States and all of our citizens, as had been voluntarily announced by the action of Congress and the terms of the surrender; but instead of these pledges being met and faithfully complied with, we have seen and felt-amidst our own ruins, bereft of fortunes and estates, having nothing left but our honor and good name, a public character unsullied and un- tarnished-that there has been an undying hate, as ferocious and as unrelenting as that of the savage, on the part of the Republi- cans of the North, who had control of the Government, toward the Southern States and the people of the South. We have wit- nessed the trampling upon the constitution by the nest of vipers ; their reconstruction measures, reducing sovereign States to mili- tary provinces, striking down the liberty of the citizen; their desolated homes made the scene of plunder and public robbery, in the form of legislation without representation, saddling the Southern States with a public debt of from $25,000,000 to 100,- 000,000 each, without any returning advantages to the people. We have seen an American Senate, with great unanimity, pass the civil rights bill, a misnomer which should be called a "social rights bill." These and other measures have gone through either house, without their constitutionality being challenged by the pickets placed upon the battlements of the constitution, to warn the people of the coming storm. This is the last feather at- tempted to be placed upon the camel's back. Although it has not yet met with the approval of the House, it only sleeps; the snake is scotched, but not killed. It is the Pandora's box with all its evils and poison, destined to be poured upon the devoted heads of the white race. It is intended as an insult and dis- grace to the white race, but it is certain that the direful evils at- tending its train will not be confined to that race; for the great- est woes and distress attending its march will fall upon the col- ored race, with whom we were living upon terms of peace and good will, exchanging our labor for theirs, and getting along reasonably well, while they were enjoying the sympathy, aid, and protection of our race. The whites submitted to heavy taxation for educational purposes, in which the colored race equally par- ticipated. For party purposes, the Republicans of the North have attempted to force this measure upon the people of the
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South. The great body of the negro race, we believe, have no desire to see this fatal issue pushed upon the white race, for they know that if the pillars of the temple are carried away, all will be buried under the same ruins. This social law is an off-shoot of the old blue light Puritanical law that imposed fines and pen- alties upon a husband for kissing his wife on Sunday. Just think of that! A man's young wife, dressed and adorned as a bride for the wedding, dallying around him, and if he dared to kiss her on a Sunday morning he was fined and imprisoned ! This was oppressive to the man. I know I should have been often punished under this law. I appeal to you, ladies, was not this hard upon the women? The fact is, the women had that law repealed, and I say that they were right. If we shall ever enjoy our liberties again, the administration of our government must be brought back and made to recognize the great principles announced by the fathers of the revolution and the authors of our system. It was by these principles, fairly brought to bear, that all of the great achievements of the past were made. If this shall not be, it is in vain that we may expect to be free. We are fast approaching centralism and despotism. The legislation of Congress and the action of the Executive department are hasten- ing us to this dangerous gulf. Sovereign States are denied the right of local self-government; they are regarded as having no sovereign rights; that Congress may trample upon the constitu- tion, come into the States, set aside their organic and statute laws, and legislate for States and counties, control their taxation, schools, marriages, and all the social relations of life. When this is consummated, our free institutions, established by our com- mon ancestors, will be subverted and an empire will be estab- lished in their stead. We have no power to divert this dire ca- lamity from befalling both races. We can not resist. We can only bear with patience and fortitude as best we can. The time has, however, I hope, arrived when the people of the North will see the dangerous tendencies of all these unconstitutional meas- ures; that they are destroying the rights of the States and of the people; taking away their local self-government; that the wrong done to the Southern States will ultimately extend and fall upon the States of the North. The States must be all equally free, or, under a despotism, all ultimately enslaved. The union of these
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States can not always be sustained by physical force, but by the much stronger attractive principle of equal justice to each State and mutual convenience and advantage. The sober sense of the masses of the Northern people may, and I hope will, save our country from being engulfed in such a despotism. Through the harmonious working of the true principle of the rights of the States, local self-government, we are destined to enter upon a new career of greatness, and arrive at greater achievements than we have heretofore attained under the patriotic administrations of Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson.
But if centralism is ultimately to prevail, if the institutions of our patriotic fathers are to be subverted, and an empire to be fas- tened upon the people; if that is to be the last in the great drama now being enacted, then the gallant people of the South will be acquitted by the judgment of mankind from responsibility for such a terrible catastrophe, and from such an atrocious crime against liberty and the rights of humanity. If this shall be our fate, produced by the hate and maddened fanaticism of the North, our honor and good name shall remain untarnished. The South- ern people will ever maintain their manhood unsullied. Their affections will still cling to their native South; they will still cherish the memory of their noble dead, "and the land of mem- ories," and will have the nerve to express their sentiments of the past, as well as their hopes of the future, and endorse and cher- ish the noble sentiments of Father Ryan, one of the most emi- nent divines, and one of America's best poets : .
"A land without ruins is a land without memories-a land without memories is a land without liberty ! A land that wears a laurel crown may be fair to see, but twine a few sad cypress leaves around the brow of any land, and be that land beautyless and bleak, it becomes lovely in its consecrated coronet of sorrow, and it wins the sympathy of the heart and history! Crowns of roses fade- crowns of thorns endure ! Calvaries and crucifixes take deepest hold of human- ity-the triumphs of might are transcient, they pass away and are forgotten -- the sufferings of right are graven deepest on the chronicles of nations !
" Yes, give me a land where the ruins are spread, And the living tread light on the hearts of the dead ; Yes, give me a land that is blest by the dust, And bright with the deeds of the down-trodden just ! Yes, give me the land that hath legend and lays, Enshrining the memories of long-vanished days. Yes, give me a land that hath story and song, To tell of the strife of the Right with the Wrong.
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Yes, give me the land with a grave in each spot, And names in the graves that shall not be forgot ! Yes, give me the land of the wreck and the tomb, There's a grandeur in graves-there's a glory in gloom ! For out of the gloom future brightness is born, As after the night looms the sunrise of morn ;
And the graves of the dead, with the grass overgrown,
May yet form the footstool of Liberty's throne,
And each single wreck in the war-path of Might, Shall yet be a rock in the temple of Right !"
Ladies and gentlemen, I am now done. I retire with the most profound feelings of love and gratitude for the honor you have conferred upon me by this friendly greeting, and hope that happiness and prosperity may attend each of you through life, and that our children's children may live to see a restored Union, with the sovereign right of the States to local self-government, with all the rights and liberties of the citizen enforced and main- tained.
AN OPINION OF THIS SPEECH.
e Judge John L. T. Sneed, of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, addressed a letter to the author, under date of " Near Memphis, Aug. 28, 1874," in which he expresses this opinion of the speech just given ;
" I have just read with great interest your remarkable speech at Erin, and while I write in my office, my wife is reading it aloud to a number of ladies in our little parlor. Measured by Mr. Jefferson's rule of criticism as given to William Wirt, I must be allowed to pronounce it the best thing of the kind I have read in many a day. Whether viewed as a graphic and somewhat truthful retrospect into the olden time, or as a delicate satire upon the fashions and follies of our own degenerate days, it is a success, and utterly inimitable by any one except the ven- erable author himself. Please count yourself my creditor for about forty of the most hearty 'cachinnations' I have enjoyed in years. I can only regret that I was not present to observe the 'stage effect' with which you delivered yourself; but having known your manner so long, I can well imagine how 'the thing was done.' I hope your literary executor will place this fine contribution to the humor of our day and generation into some more permanent form for preservation, for the benefit especially of the votaries of fashion as well as fun who are to come after us."
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IV.
READING LAW AND SOME OF ITS INCIDENTS-PICTURES FROM MEMORY OF THE MEN AND WOMEN AND THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF FIFTY YEARS AGO.
I Do not aspire to write a history-it does not come within the purview of these sketches. I merely intend, as I advance along the path of life, to give an occasional view of the sunshine and shadow that illumined or darkened my way; the smooth and rugged places as they have appeared to me ; a notice of the men who have filled the public eye, and who seemed to shape the course of events. My uncle, Maj. Jo. H. Conn, placed my brother and myself in the common schools until 1815; then at the acad- emy under the charge of John Hall, Esq .; then I was sent to the academy of Mr. McWhirter, in Wilson county, and then to that of Rev. Thomas B. Craighead, near Nashville. My uncle died in 1820, which cut me off from all resources, except some $1,500 I received from his estate. I was then thrown upon my own resources, and had to become self-reliant and make my way through the world as best I could. Necessity was continually spurring me in the side, and driving me forward to dare and do. I concluded to make the law my profession. I had witnessed the intellectual tournaments of Felix Grundy and other distin- guished lawyers at the bar, which fixed me in my determination to study law. Anthony Shelby, born to a fine estate, was the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Sumner county, and had been a lawyer with a good library for the times. I proposed to take charge of his office and perform all the duties of clerk for my board and the privilege of reading his books, which proposition was accepted, and I entered upon the duties of my new position. I became very popular with the members of the bar, being always promptly at my post and accommodating in the discharge of my duties. The distinguished lawyers who practiced at the Gallatin bar in 1820, were Felix Grundy, John H. Bowen, Wm. Hadley, John J. White, Andrew Hayes, Wm. Williams, Samuel Houston, and Gen. Wm. Trousdale ; all good lawyers, and some of them
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great orators, especially Felix Grundy. I am certain he was the greatest advocate that Tennessee has produced. I believe he had no superior in the United States, and as to Cicero and Demos- thenes, he could knock them into a cocked hat before a Tennes- see jury. Three of these gentlemen-Grundy, Houston, and Bowen-became distinguished members of Congress, while Hous- ton and Trousdale became Governors of the State. Gov. Trous- dale acted a noble and conspicuous part in the Creek and Seminole wars, distinguished himself in the battle of Chalmette, led his victorious columns through the battle-fields of Mexico, was twice wounded in this campaign, but still held his position until he saw the flag of his country waiving over the city of Mexico. On his return to Tennessee he was elected Governor of the State, and was afterwards appointed minister to one of the South Amer- ican republics.
At the time of which I am now writing the public distress growing out of the financial embarrassment of the people was appalling. The Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816. It stimulated speculation and the extension of the credit system, with all its deleterious bubbles, which brought about wide-spread calamity. The paper system of which it was the head, with its thousand State Bank co-workers, produced a vast expansion, which suddenly collapsed, spreading desolation over the country. This was a period of gloom and bankruptcy. The people had an abundance of shin-plasters, but no money, neither gold or silver nor paper convertible into specie; besides, there was a universal shrinkage of one hundred per cent in values of all kinds of prop- erty, real, personal, and mixed. There was no market for prop- erty of any description, and no sales were effected save those by the marshal, sheriff, or constable, and there were no purchasers at such sales except creditors or Shylocks. All industry was broken down, and there was no demand for labor, millions being thrown out of employment and on the highway to starvation. The sound of the hammer of the shop had died away, and in its stead was heard that of the auctioneer. It was at a time, too, when no exemptions of property were granted to heads of families. I have seen the last bed and cow and calf taken from a distressed and almost starving family, and publicly sold at a great sacrifice. It was then that the people rose up and demanded relief through
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the Legislatures of the several States. Stop laws, property laws, loan-office laws, replevin laws, and stay laws were enacted. Fre- lix Grundy was elected to the Legislature from Davidson county, and he became the leader of that body, and all such laws were enacted as gave temporary relief to the people. These " relief- laws" acted somewhat like stimulants administered to a sick man, which, when the effect passed off, left him in a worse condition than before the stimulants were administered. The Supreme Court delared all these relief measures unconstitutional, on the ground that they impaired the obligation of a contract, which was prohibited by the constitution of the United States. An addi- tional cause of distress to the people resulted from heavy pur- chases of public lands during the flush times of 1818. These lands were purchased at exorbitant prices, the purchasers paying one-fourth of the purchase money down-which was more than the land was really worth-and giving their notes for the remain- der, payable in three annual instalments. It was " nominated in the bond," that a failure to pay either of these instalments upon becoming due, would work a forfeiture of the whole amount pre- viously paid, while the land should revert to the Government, which was as heartless as the forfeiture exacted of Antonio by Shylock. The purchasers being unable to take up these notes when due, applied to Congress for relief. President Monroe re- commended the relief prayed for, and Secretary Crawford devised a measure which was carried through Congress, annulling the sales and requiring the lands to be sold again at a minimum price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, for cash, and those who had previously bought and paid the first instalment should have the privilege of repurchasing their lands, and with any sur- plus they could purchase other lands. Thus relieved, the people by their native energy and industry, stemmed this storm, and within a few years, had overcome the embarrassments that pressed so heavily upon them. Richard was himself again, and in a short time they became a well-to-do, prosperous people. These were. some of the brakes and rough paths the people had to tread on my first starting out in life for myself.
The war of 1812 brought some difficulties and embarrassments to the people of the United States, but then, on the other hand, it resulted in lasting advantages. At the close of the war the
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national debt amounted to nearly two hundred million dollars, then considered a very large sum, and that with the wear and tear of the war furnished the leading argument for the passage by Congress of the bill chartering the United States Bank. notwith- standing the vexed question of its constitutionality. A like feel- ing prevailed in the States, and resulted in the wholesale charter of State banks and private banking corporations, by which the currency was inflated and speculation stimulated, resulting in the disastrous panic of 1820. But the result of that war elevated our national character throughout Christendom, and as a necessary consequence, put an end to the insults and outrages upon our flag on the high seas. We have had no more impressments, no more searching of our ships; our flag has since then been respected and become the tegis of those who sailed under it, upon whatever sea our vessels have entered. Wherever the white sails of com- merce have penetrated, there the flag of our country is honored as the ensign of a great and powerful nation. The war was ne- cessary to assert our rights and maintain the honor and interests of the United States. It was bravely fought, gloriously con - cluded, and is one of the great eras in our history. It is said that it was the exertions of three men, Mr. Monroe, in the Cabinet, and Henry Clay and Felix Grundy, in Congress, that carried this great measure through, which constitutes the greenest chaplet to their memory.
Having served an apprenticeship of one year in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Sumner county, I concluded to go to Nashville to pursue the study of the law in the office of some distinguished lawyer of that city. We had no law schools in Tennessee at that day. I was determined to live within my means, by practicing the strictest economy. I wore good jeans clothing, made my own shoes and boots, and was, withal, a pretty fair tailor. I like to sew on buttons yet. I had heard of Judge Trimble and a distinguished lawyer of Nashville, named Wm. L. Brown, and determined to apply to one or both of them. I started on foot to Nashville, and stopped at the residence of Judge Trimble; introduced myself, told him I was looking out for a good man with whom to read law, and that I had stopped to see whether he would take me in and furnish me his books to read and give me the necessary instruction. The Judge excused him-
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self, saying that he had retired from the bar and that it would not suit him. I supposed, however, that being an overgrown, goslin-looking sort of a fellow, with jeans apparel, I did not fill his eye. I continued my walk towards Nashville, and stopped over night at Hinton's tavern, three miles from the city. Mr. Hinton was a kind old man, and learning the object of my visit to Nashville, did not charge me anything. I bulged into Nash- ville about ten o'clock one morning in the spring of 1821, to make my observations. I was a stranger and consulted no one, relying on my own judgment. I had heard that Wm. L. Brown was a great lawyer, and I concluded that he was my man, pro- vided I was satisfied with his looks. He was pointed out to me. He was a thin, dark, Cassius-looking fellow, with heavy black hair, that covered his forehead and fell down near to his eyes, with bushy eyebrows and a piercing eye. He was a quiet, taci- turn man, with no parade or show or even address. I did not think he was the make of a great lawyer; in short, I did not fancy him. I said to myself, I will not interview him, but will go further. I sauntered into the court-house that stood on the Public Square upon the ground now occupied by the present magnificent "temple of justice." I was a stranger, a " looker-on in Venice." Then for the first time I saw Col. Ephraim H. Fos- ter. He was arguing a case in the County Court, that then had civil and criminal jurisdiction. Col. Robert Weakley, as I after- wards learned, was the presiding justice. Col. Foster and the old Judge got at loggerheads; high words ensued, and each being game-chickens of the most approved blood, a fight ensued. Fos- ter threw a book at the Judge, who left the bench and drew his arms, and prepared to give battle to his antagonist. Foster quickly drew his, and a bloody rencounter would have ensued had not the numerous friends of each interfered and put a stop to the difficulty. There were not less than a dozen pistols drawn on both sides. I admired the gallant and noble bearing of Col. Foster. He was a man of commanding person, of courtly address, of fine conversational as well as of speaking powers, a fiery Hot- spur that would stake his life upon even a doubtful question of honor. I was so taken with him that I followed him all over the city, with his troops of friends, to hear him talk and give a hearty laugh. At length he made his way to his office, which was on
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