USA > Texas > The bench and bar of Texas > Part 34
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plead they had ample warrant in the letter of the law for doing all they have done and for abundant sharp practice besides. There is no limit to the amount of villainy which the law makes possible and permits.
" It has been said to be ' the common method of all gov- ernments now received in the world to allow almost every- thing that tends to the corruption of manners, and then to restrain those corruptions; a work,' it is added, ' far be- yond the power of the longest experience and greatest prudence.' The act in question is a resort to one of those pernicious practices that tend to destroy public liberty. It proposes to legalize the ill-designs of inveterate knaves, never boldly attempted to be carried into effect by legisla- tion in a republic until it is declining to its fall. It was most truly said by Fletcher that ' a government is not only tyranny when tyrannically exercised, but also when there is no sufficient caution in the constitution that it may not be exercised tyrannically.' ' All governments,' he said, 'are tyrannical which have not in their construction a suf- ficient security against arbitrary power.'
" This act is tyrannical because it intrusts arbitrary power to five men or a less number, to be exercised without power of control or security against abuse in any quarter. It puts it in their power arbitrarily to annul the votes of whole parishes and cities, and so makes the right of suffrage of all the citizens depend upon their favor, their caprice, their interest, their irresponsible will. It is, therefore, not only violative of the rights of men ; it not only makes the elec- tive franchise and title to office, both of which are property, exist or disappear at the pleasure of four or five men having perpetual succession, but it makes the government of a State a tyranny, and not republican even in form."
Perhaps the most important and effective speech made by Judge Hancock in Congress was that on Indian affairs de- livered in the Forty-third Congress. By this speech he was enabled to change the policy of the government towards the Indians so far as to prohibit the issuing of rations to them for more than seven days at a time, and to cause the order that they would not be permitted to leave the reservations
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unless accompanied by an officer of the United States. These regulations have prevented any raid from being made into Texas since that time,, except from Mexico.
In 1876 he was assailed by Col. D. C. Giddings, the Democratic nominee for Congress, for having failed as a Southern Union Democrat to keep his promise to defend the Southern people against the violent attacks which were then being made by Radical partisans in Congress ; and it was charged by Col. George Flournoy, an orator of Gal- veston, that he had been elected to Congress by the Texan Democracy for the sole purpose of mollifying the asperity of the North towards the people of the South, and that Galveston Democrats rejected him because he did not de- fend them when Blaine, Morton and others were heaping calumny and slander and falsehood upon them on the floor of Congress.
To these charges he published an elaborate reply and refutation which he concluded with the following observa- tions : -
" Why should I have been brought into this Congressional contest? My merits or demerits could neither add to nor take from those of Col. Jones or Col. Giddings, and whether I may have at all times done the wisest and best thing, or sometimes erred in judgment, as I often do, being but a frail, fallible mortal, almost every day looking back to find some error of yesterday I would correct, could in no way aid the people to a correct judgment in deciding be- tween these aspirants. It was known I had been invited and gone to a remote part of the State, and taken no part in the contest, wished to take none further than vote for Col. Giddings, as I did, he being the nominee of the con- vention before which friends had placed my name, which in honor bound me, as well as duty to my friends, to abide by the action of the convention ; they both claimed to be, and, I doubt not, have ever been, Democrats, and it was the people's right to choose between them. The action of the convention was only persuasive, not binding on them. On principle, as also by usage, they are, and should be, left free to vote as, in their judgment, will best subserve the
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public welfare. For me to have sought to inflence their selection, as between two Democrats, as to which of them should be my successor, would have been not free from criticism, besides both professed to be my warm personal and political friends. My friends and staunch supporters brought Colonel Giddings's name before the convention, supported and secured his nomination. The same men canvassed for him, and elected him, and he, till he reached Galveston, wherever he spoke of me, employed terms of eulogy and approval; but of those who conspired for my defeat, at all hazards, here he found himself among the chief priests, and then Judas said, ' Hail Master, and kissed him.' It seems, too, it had become popular with some of the would-be leaders in Galveston to abuse and say spiteful things of me. I have not been able to do a tithe of what I wished to advance the growth and prosperity of that city. The little I have done ought not to excite the enmity of that class of persons who are ever ready to become the enemy of those who render them favors and benefits, to show how independent they are. I remember, too, that among the most gloomy and foreboding features of our political history are those instances where artful, designing and ambitious demagogues conspired to move the public mind, by falsehood and misrepresentation, to passion and prejudice, till the people displaced, for a time, from their confidence, men deserving better of them than I have the ability to do. I have made no murmur of complaint and feel I ought to have been allowed to remain silent. If my defeat does not reflect the wish of the people of this district, in their own good time they will rebuke those who refused to reflect their views. I have not thrust myself upon the people, at any time, and have only held office and served them when they have manifested a desire to have me do so ; but it seems determined, the people shall not mani- fest such wish if any manner of falsehood and misrepre- sentations can prevent.
" In Congress I have pursued that course, and observed, in my intercourse with others, that demeanor and deportment towards them which I believed best, to enable me to accom-
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plish results deemed beneficial to those I had the honor to represent and all the people of Texas. I have not been able to accomplish all, or near as much as I could have wished, for their benefit. How far I have succeeded is shown by the record and known of many men. I have not paraded my humble achievements for the applause or the gratitude of the people, or for comparison with results effected by my colleagues ; each has ever done, most cer- tainly, all in his power; far be it from me to seek to de- prive any of the merit of his conceptions, labor or influence. They are all able, efficient and faithful, and deserve, as they have received, well of their constituents.
" Had the people who had honored me by electing me their representative, or of Texas or the South, been traduced or reviled, a failure to have properly repelled the slander or defended them, would have been a proper subject of criti- cism ; but assaults made upon individuals should be con- sidered and treated responsive to the purpose aimed to be accomplished by the assailant and the wrong or injustice to the individual assailed with reference to the facts and con- ditions of the subject-matter about the conduct of which the assault is made. The purpose was a common expedient resorted to by the demagogues, both North and South, as everywhere else, when occasion requires, to influence the passions and rekindle the prejudices of the people by revi- talizing dead and past issues, as questions pending before and to be decided on by them in a pending political contest. The alleged cruel treatment and great suffering of prison- ers, in consequence of the brutal and tyrannical conduct of the war under and by authority of Mr. Jefferson Davis, were the subjects aptly selected to be presented to, discussed before, and passed upon by the people in electing a Presi- dent of the United States. Questions in no way connected with the different theories and measures of governmental policy maintained by the contending parties, or that could. in any degree, aid the people to decide on the respective merits of opposing candidates ; but well calculated to effect the object desired of diverting the public mind from the real issues involved in the election, by reviving the preju-
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dices and passions of the people and inducing them to again pass on the merits of secession and the war, rather than on the inefficiency, malpractices and corruptions of the admin- istration and party in power. No doubt, had it been per- mitted, the party bringing forward these false and dead issues of secession and the war, would have kept up their discussion through the session of Congress and till the ter- mination of the presidential contest. Considered in a political aspect, to have protracted discussion, the Demo- cratic party could have gained nothing and might have lost much. Regarded in that light, enough had been said, and from the most effective quarter, when Mr. Cox and Mr. Kelley had spoken. How far Mr. Davis might be affected by the assault on him was proper to be determined by his personal friends and past political associates. They deemed it a duty to defend and vindicate his name, though his whole course had already become history, not to be changed by what politicians might think or say of him for partisan purposes. So far as secession and those engaged in the effort to accomplish it, or still keeping it up may have been brought in by implication, though I do not conceive that either was, even by implication, reached by the assault on Mr. Davis, I could not have been a proper advocate for either.
" It is well known I opposed secession. I did so upon my convictions that it was wrong- very wrong-would bring war, desolation and disaster upon the country, ruin and death to thousands, whatever the result, and success would eventuate in the overthrow of republican government and the establishment of a monarchy. Others favored the measure upon their convictions, equally sincere, proven by the highest testimony man could offer, the yielding up of life itself, that none of my apprehended evils would follow and that great ultimate good would be accomplished. A great problem in the science of human government was in- volved, upon which the wisest men might honestly differ. But on that account, if good and truly patriotic, they would retain no personal enmities, when the issue should be settled
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and passed into history. When the war was over, I knew no feeling of enmity or unkindness towards any one on account of difference on the question of secession. My law partner, for over a score of years, and I returned to our old office near the same time, he from the Southern army, in which he had served as a soldier, and I from a section of country held by the Union army. We resumed our places at our accustomed desks and took up business where we left off without, I am sure, a recognizable change in our mutual feelings of friendship, respect and confidence, as they were before secession began. I so felt and acted towards all who disagreed with me ou that momentous question. That feeling and conduct have been reciprocated by many zealous secessionists, who faithfully performed every duty devolved on them by the attempted revolution. But when the contest was ended, they returned to their alle- giance and duty as became honest men and patriots, and I am proud to be able to claim many such among my most trusted friends and supporters. I have ever been as ready to trust and to serve them as if we had never differed. It has been my pleasure, as I believe it my duty, to do all in my power to alleviate the people in their distress, and to ameliorate their condition as left by the war, to shield and defend them from what I deemed an unwisely rigorous policy, to rehabilitate them with all the political rights, that by prudent and vigilant use of them they might secure to themselves good government and renewed prosperity. No one can truthfully say I have not freely used every influence my position and humble ability gave me for the accomplish- ment of these results. But I was as pronouncedly and unqualifiedly opposed to secession as any man could have been in favor of it. No reasonable man would expect me to become its advocate or defender in Congress, and the defense of the leaders, arraigned for the mode of conducting the war, manifestly might be appropriately left to members who co-operated with them in carrying it on - were better prepared by greater familiarity with the facts, and inter- ested in vindicating the conduct of their leaders - than be
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required of members who from the first disapproved seces- sion, and would not likely have the same familiarity with the transactions complained of.
" Though I have been as well abused and as wantonly mis- represented, and from as malicious and selfish motives, as any man in the State, I have not before this deemed it nec- essary to make any defense. But, on this occasion, the attacks are so extraordinarily monstrous in their moral de- formities when their accuracy is tested by the public records of the country, that I felt it due as well to the people as to myself that they should know from these authentic sources, the facts. For in my retirement, now soon to occur, from all political position, I have the satisfaction of know- ing that I never have been afraid to tell the people the truth, and then abide their ultimate judgment."
In social life, Judge Hancock is a man of exceedingly popular traits of character. He is devoted and constant in his personal attachments, and has many warm friends throughout the State who would sustain him for any posi- tion of public trust, and would have been glad to have seen him occupy a place in Mr. Cleveland's Cabinet, as one who would have possessed the confidence of the North and would have been true to the interest of the South. But in his re- tirement from long public service he no doubt enjoys the sweetness of that repose which follows the conscientious performance of honestly conceived duty.
He was married in November, 1855, to Miss Sue E. Richardson, who is a native Texan, and the granddaughter of Hon. Asa. Brigham, first secretary of the treasury of the Texas Republic. This admirable lady has woven into his busy life every charm of domestic felicity.
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JOHN SAYLES.
This eminent lawyer and legal writer is a native of New York and was born in Vernon, Oneida County, on the 9th of March, 1825. His father, an eminent physician, and a native of Rhode Island, was of English descent and belonged to one of the oldest families of the country. His ancestor came to America in the ship with Roger Williams, and afterwards married his daughter. The mother of John Sayles was the grand-daughter of John Sergeant, a celebrated divine and missionary to the Stockbridge Indians of Massa- chusetts, and was connected with the families of Edwards, Dwight and Sedgwick, which have produced many members distinguished for their scholarly learning and ability.
The early advantages of the subject of this sketch were good. He was educated at an academy in his native town and at Hamilton College, New York. His father was a man of limited means, and in his fifteenth year young Sayles taught school to help to defray the expenses of his collegiate course. On leaving college in 1844, he found his fate depending entirely on his own resources ; but buoyed by his genius and ambition, and supported by the staff of a virtuous resolution, he stepped boldly upon the journey of independent life ; and while no glittering prospects at that time charmed his view, his destiny was haloed with the devout benizons of a father's blessing and the hallowed guerdon of a mother's prayers. These were his only patri- mony. With these he went forth, and his energy and determination soon cleared away the untoward circum- stances that clustered in his pathway.
Soon after having completed his course in Hamilton College, seeking for a propitious field for his labors, he turned his eyes towards the South, as if impelled by those
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warm and generous feelings which sought and found a con- geniality among its hospitable people, and in 1844 went to Georgia and engaged in teaching there one year. In 1845 he removed to Brenham, Texas, where he taught school a year and a half. He studied law while engaged in teach- ing and was admitted to the bar at Brenbam in 1846, where he has since continued to reside and practice.
He was a member of the Fifth Legislature in 1853-55, and was chairman of the sub-committee to which was referred the criminal codes reported to that Legislature. With this exception he has never permitted the attractions of political office to allure bim from the jealous duties of his profession, which he loves with the fondness of a devotee.
In 1849 he married Miss Mary Gillespie, a most excellent and accomplished lady, the daughter of Barry Gillespie, a prominent lawyer of Washington County, and soon after- wards formed a copartnership with his father-in-law, which continued until the death of the latter in 1851. After which he was associated four or five years with W. T. McFarland, and in 1857, the firm of Sayles & Bassett was formed, and continues to exist.
He was early imbued with the sentiments and principles of the people with whom he had cast his lot, and became thoroughly Southern in his views. When the Civil War began in 1861, he was made brigadier-general of the Texas militia and was subsequently adjutant-general on the staff of General Magruder in the Confederate service.
As a lawyer General Sayles is brilliant and profound. The faculties of his mind are quick, energetic and grasping, and are always at his command. He has mastered every principal feature of law, and his familiarity with funda- mental principles, the philosophy of legal science and the decisions of the courts, furnishes him with a store of prece- dent from which his genius never fails to model an apt analogy. He is quick to perceive the substance and char- acter of a proposition, and his powers of analysis readily penetrate the most complex questions of law and fact. His cases are carefully and thoroughly prepared, and he is thus
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prepared not only to avail himself fully of the merits of hi- own side of the question, but to anticipate the points made by his adversary. He embodies his thoughts with the in- terest of his clients and elings to their cause with the fidelity of a zealot.
His arguments are always logical and closely woven, and the presentation of his cases clear, forcible and convincing. His opinion, as special judge, in The State v. Delesde- nier, 7 Texas, 95, is an exemplification of eminent judicial qualities; and his elaborate argument in Hancock v. Mc- Kinney, 7 Texas, 384, and in Fowler et al. v. Stoneum, 11 Texas, 478, in the former of which he discussed the character of concessions and the difference between perfect and imperfect titles, and in the latter the question of fraudulent conveyances, are strikingly illustrative of his qualities as an advocate.
While Gen. Sayles has given to his profession all that allegiance which Lord Eldon says it demands, his knowl- edge of law, combined with his fondness for its philoso- phy and literature, the energy and business qualifications which abetted and developed his talents, led him into the paths of legal tuition and authorship. In 1880 he was one of the law faculty of Baylor University, near Bren- ham; and his law works are of great merit and value. These are well known to the profession, and are en- titled : -
" A Treatise on the Practice in the District and Su- preme Courts of Texas." First edition, 1858; second edition, 1873 ; third edition, 1882.
" Treaties on the Civil Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace in the State of Texas." First edition, 1867; second edition, 1877 ; third edition, 1882.
" Treaties on the Principles of Pleading in Civil Ac- tions in the Courts of Texas." 1872.
" The Probate Laws of Texas." 1871.
" Constitution of Texas, with Notes." First edition, 1872; second edition, 1884.
" Laws of Business and Form Book." 1872.
" Notes on Texas Reports." 1874.
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General Sayles is also a bright and devoted Mason, and in 1852 was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, and has prepared a work entitled "Texas Masonic Jurispru- dence," which has passed through two editions ; the first in 1879, and the second in 1882. .
These works are of the greatest utility. They are in general use throughout the State, and are considered the standard authority upon the various subjects of which they treat. He is personally a great favorite with the courts and the bar of the State. His frank, open and amiable charac- ter, his brilliant talents and legal accomplishments, render him an ornament to his profession, and he is esteemed and loved by his neighbors and friends.
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NATHAN G. SHELLEY.
Nathan George Shelley was born in Hawkins County, Tennessee, on the 20th of February, 1825. His father was a brick mason, and, in search of labor, moved his family to Talladega County, Alabama, while Nathan was a boy.
The educational advantages of N. G. Shelley, were due to his own exertions and were confined to such opportuni- ties as intervened while laboring with his father as a brick mason. His time thus alternated between mental and physical labor until he reached the age of sixteen years, when having saved some means allowed him for his labor, he entered Emory and Henry College, in Virginia, in 1841, and remained there one year, when it became necessary for him to return to his home and resume the pursuit of his trade to relieve the necessities of his family occasioned by the financial embarrassment of his father. He immedi- ately took charge of his father's business, and while thus shouldering the responsibilities of the family he began the study of law under the tuition of Messrs. Chilton & Rice, both of whom have since that time held the office of chief justice of the State. But in 1846 he imbibed the patriotic spirit excited by the Mexican war, and having heard of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de le Palma, he left his studies and enlisted for the war as a private soldier in a company organized and commanded by his uncle, Captain Jacob D. Shelley, and served the time for which he had enlisted.
At the termination of the Mexican war he returned to his home in feeble health and without means, and accepted employment for a season as a clerk in a wholesale grocery store. He afterwards, in order to obtain means to pur-
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sue the study of law, served as deputy clerk of the Circuit Court.
In 1849 he received his license to practice from the Cir- cuit Court at Talladega, and, in connection with such practice as he could obtain, took charge of the editorial department of the Alabama Reporter, a newspaper pub- lished at Talladega, and during the two years he was con- nected with that journal gained considerable reputation as a terse and forcible writer, and exerted a recognized influence in the arena of politics.
In 1851 he was elected to represent his county in the Legislature of the State, and was re-elected in 1853. In this capacity his intellectual and physical energies had a broader and more prominent scope, and he promoted the interests of his constituency in a manner which gave the highest satisfaction and gained for him both patronage and popularity.
In consequence of failing health he spent the winter of 1854 in Texas, and was so much benefited by the climate that he determined to seek a home in the State, and in 1855 removed to Austin, where he still resides.
In 1856 he formed a copartnership with W. H. D. Car- rington, Esq., which continued until the civil war, and his practice constantly increased as his abilities and energies became known to the people.
In 1861 he was chosen to represent Travis County in the Legislature, and in 1862 was elected attorney-general of Texas, and held that office more than a year after his term had expired, in consequence of the declination of his successor to qualify. During this time he was sent by the Governor of Texas to Richmond to adjust the accounts of the State with the Confederate government for frontier service, and on his return connected himself with the command of his brother, and was with the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnson in the campaign from Dalton to Atlanta. The ob- ject of his mission was accomplished with ability and fidelity, and in a manner satisfactory to all parties.
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