USA > Virginia > A history of Virginia : from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time. Vol. II > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
views have accorded with those of others in the same circumstances, we cannot say. The Act of Congress authorizing the retrocession was ap- proved on the 9th of July, 1846, and the vote of the county and town having shown a large majority in favour of the measure, nothing remained but its ratification by Virginia. On the 13th March, 1847, the Legislature passed an act, by which this part of the " District" was reunited to the Common- wealth.ª Provision was made for extending to it the judicial rule of the state, and for organizing its internal polity. The county and town were joined to the county of Fairfax, for all the purposes of suffrage for representation, either in the state or the General Government.
Such an occurrence has novel and interesting features for Virginia. She has sent forth many emigrants, has been the mother of many states ; she has been impoverished by the very generosity which has enriched younger sovereignties, and few indeed have been the direct benefits she has de- rived from her munificence. But when she finds a number of her children voluntarily returning to her bosom, she may hope that she has not entirely lost her claim upon the affections of those who have gone out and established permanent interests in distant parts of America.
the author in a speech delivered by a Sess. Acts 1846-47, pages 41- Mr. Fendall, in Fredericksburg, 48. Friday night, Sept. 18, 1840.
CHAPTER VIII.
Review of the present condition of the State proposed-Her Laws- Changes in the Civil Code-Amelioration of the Criminal Code-Peni- tentiary-Statistics-Free coloured population-Laws as to slaves- Courts of justice-Delay in Court of Appeals-Proposed revisal of the law-Literature in Virginia-George Sandys's Ovid-Munford's Homer -Poets of Virginia-Lighter prose works-Historical works-News. papers-Southern Literary Messenger-Colleges-William and Mary- Washington-Virginia Military Academy-Randolph Macon-Emory and Henry-Rector-Hampden Sidney -Medical department-Lunatic Hospitals-Institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind-Religion in the state-Freedom of conscience-The Baptists-Statistics-The Methodists-Statistics-The Presbyterians-Division in 1837, 1838- Statistics-The Episcopalians-Progress of their church-Statistics- Other sects-Jews-Roman Catholics-Religious incorporations-Peti- tion to Legislature of 1845-46-Debate before Committee of Courts of Justice-Agricultural interest of Virginia-Statistics-Manufactures- Mining-Finances-Subjects of taxation-Population of the state- Virginia compared with Massachusetts-Statistics-Sluggishness of Virginia-Three causes assigned-Want of education-Ignorance in the state-Want of internal improvement-Old James River Company -James River and Kanawha Company-Work accomplished by it- Other improvements proposed-Slavery-Its evils-Public sentiment with regard to it-Its decrease-Statistics-Virginia Land Company in England-Conclusion.
HAVING attended Virginia from her birth, through the varied fortunes of her life, to the present time, it will be proper that we shall now present a view of her general condition and prospects. This will lead us again to speak of the past, but only so far as shall be necessary in order to illustrate the present. Important as may have been the action
456
LAWS.
[CHAP. VIII.
of our state in the general system, and imposing as her example must always be, it cannot be denied that she no longer holds the high position in the confederacy that she once occupied. If it be true that she has fallen behind her sisters, that she lan- guishes while they prosper, that she is indolent while they are active, her people ought not to shut their eyes to her faults. And if for her ills there be a remedy which perseverance can secure, wis- dom will not refuse to hear encouragement to seek this remedy. It is believed that what will now be presented will convince the candid that Virginia is in a more prosperous condition than has generally been supposed; that her worst maladies are sus- ceptible of cure, and that she has in herself a re- cuperative power which is rapidly diffusing itself throughout her whole system, and restoring her to more than pristine vigour.
Our review will be appropriately opened by re- marks upon the Law of the state, its progress and present aspect. In a previous chapter, we have endeavoured to explain the great changes in the civil jurisprudence of Virginia, wrought under the influence of the Revolution. It will not be neces- sary to add much to what has been said on this subject. Farther changes have indeed been effect- ed,-all have been important, and some salutary ; but they have been of a character interesting rather to lawyer and client, as such, than to the people at large. The Common Law of England is yet the broad basis on which rests our legal system; and though, since the Revolution, innovations upon the
457
PENITENTIARY.
common law have been practised with unsparing hand, yet now the Legislature touches it lightly. The people love it, and well-trained lawyers reve- rence it more and more. It is not probable that any other general system will ever be substituted for it in Virginia.
In the criminal law of the state, great changes have occurred within seventy years past. The code has been softened and improved. Cruel and unusual punishments have been abrogated. The punishment of death is inflicted by hanging by the neck, and as to white inhabitants, it is re- tained in three cases only : treason, murder in the first degree, and the felonious burning of a house in a town. Other grave felonies are punished by confinement in the penitentiary during a series of years, and in some cases of repeated conviction, during life. Misdemeanours, in general, are pu- nished by fine, and imprisonment in the common jails.
The Penitentiary System of the state has worked well; its superintendence has been careful, and its abuses have been few. The convicts have proper medical attendance, and except in extreme cases, they are not subjected to solitary confinement. The Penitentiary, though not applicable to slaves, applies to free negroes and mulattoes, as well as whites.ª The internal division is into five wards, in each of which some species of healthful and
a See 1 R. C. 616-631 .- The not go into operation until March Penitentiary System was adopted by 25th, 1800.
Act of Assembly, in 1796, but did
458
PENITENTIARY.
[CHAP. VIII.
profitable labour is enforced upon every convict able to work. Boot and shoemaking, tailoring, black- smithing, stonecutting, axe-making, weaving, spin- ning, carpenters' work, coopering, painting, and other industrial pursuits, are carried on with vigour, and produce each year an average of nearly twenty- four thousand dollars, or about one hundred and twenty dollars for each convict. Besides these, there is a garden attached to the buildings, which is worked by the inmates, and which produces in value nearly four hundred dollars per annum. The whole number of convicts, on the 30th Sep- tember, 1846, was two hundred and twenty-five, of whom one hundred and forty-three were white, and eighty-two coloured; two hundred and eighteen were males, and seven females.ª During the forty- five years from 1800 to the beginning of 1845, the number has greatly varied ; the annual average being one hundred and forty-six. In this period, the great- est number was two hundred and twenty, in the year 1823. Since that time the number has diminished, though in irregular proportion. At the opening of 1845, the total was one hundred and ninety-seven. During the above period, the whole number of white males received, was eighteen hundred and fifty-four ; of white females, thirty-six ; of coloured males, five hundred and thirty-four ; of coloured females, sixty-three. Thus the whole number of white convicts received, has been eighteen hundred and ninety ; and of coloured, composed of free
ª Pen. Report, 1846; Doc. No. 1, page 33.
459
FREE NEGROES.
negroes and mulattoes, five hundred and ninety- seven.ª
Let it be remembered that during the forty years from 1800 to 1840, the average white population of Virginia was six hundred and twenty thousand, while in the same time, the average free coloured population was thirty-seven thousand souls. There- fore the number of white convicts was one in about three hundred and twenty-eight, and the number of free coloured convicts, one in about sixty-one. An ominous disparity ! which has constantly press- ed upon the attention of the reflecting men of the state. The free negroes and mulattoes are unques- tionably the most vicious and corrupting of the varied material composing our social system. But they have souls, feelings, rights. It will require all that humanity and wisdom united can suggest, so to legislate with regard to them as to check the evils they produce, and yet grant them justice and mercy.
And in this connexion, it must be stated that the criminal law, as to free coloured persons and slaves, differs widely from that applied to whites. The free negroes occupy an equivocal and most unhappy position between the whites and slaves, and the laws affecting them partake of this pecu- liarity. Capital punishment is inflicted on them for offences more lightly punished in whites.b They are entitled to trial by jury in cases of homi- cide, and in all capital cases ; but for other crimes, they are tried by Justices' Courts of Oyer and Ter-
a Report, 1846, Table ix. page 35.
b Supplement, 238, 247.
460
LAWS AS TO SLAVES.
[CHAP. VIII.
miner, who must be unanimous in order to convict. They are subjected to restraint and surveillance in points beyond number. It is vain to say aught against the general policy of these measures; they are the inevitable results of evils which time alone can cure.
An inexperienced examiner, in reading the cri- minal code of Virginia as to slaves, would declare that it was stained with blood. And, in truth, it is appalling to note the number and the character of the offences for which death is denounced against them. But it affords the purest consolation to re- flect that these laws seldom operate in practice. To say that the capital execution of a slave in Vir- ginia is as rare as that of a white person, may not be true; but it is true that the disparity in number in such cases, is far less than the ignorant suppose. The executive is clothed with the merciful power of selling slaves condemned to die, and transporting them beyond the limits of the state. The owner then receives value; but if a slave so transported returns, he is liable to execution, without reprieve, and the owner loses his value.2
From the Law itself, we may now turn to the mechanism by which it is administered. Justices of the peace in Virginia are, in general, not paid for their labours. Each justice has jurisdiction in many petty offences, and in civil claims, definite in character, which do not amount to more than twenty dollars. Justices compose the County and Corporation Courts. These sit monthly, and have
a 1 R. C. 430.
461
COURTS OF JUSTICE.
extensive powers, civil and criminal, legal and equitable, original and appellate. Next, the state is divided into ten judicial districts, and each dis- trict into two circuits, except the fourth, which contains three circuits. Thus, in all, there are twenty-one circuits. In each of these, in general, a single judge presides, uniting in himself the jurisdictions both of law and chancery. But in the twenty-first circuit, embracing the County of Henrico and City of Richmond, there are two judges, one of whom presides in law and the other in chancery. Therefore the number of Circuit Judges in the state is twenty-two. The Circuit Courts have jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, and appeals lie to them from the County and Corpora- . tion Courts. They sit twice a year in every county in the state.
Next, is the General Court, composed from the Circuit Judges. They are required to arrange themselves into four classes of five or six judges each, one of which is, in annual rotation, exempt from attendance. Thus, fifteen judges are required to attend the General Court, of whom eleven con- stitute a quorum.ª They have original jurisdiction in cases of probate of wills and granting letters of administration, and in some public claims; and appellate jurisdiction from the Circuit Courts in all criminal cases. Finally, the Court of Appeals of Virginia is composed of five judges, specially elected, though in some peculiar cases Circuit Judges may constitute a Special Court of Appeals.
ª Am. Almanac, 1847, 256.
462
COURTS OF JUSTICE.
[CHAP. VIII.
This court has no original jurisdiction, but it is the supreme civil tribunal of the state. Appeals in law and chancery lie to it from the Circuit Courts, and its decision is final. It is deeply to be re- gretted that, in consequence of the pressure of its business, the Court of Appeals is far behindhand in its decisions. Causes which have accumulated for a series of years remain undecided on its docket, and it is probable that an original appeal now ob- tained, could not be heard for nearly seven years from this time.ª This disheartening evil is be- lieved to be attributable neither to judges, nor law- yers, nor clients. The judges work assiduously about two hundred and fifty days in each year, the lawyers are ready for argument, when their causes are reached, and clients are seldom in fault for delay in their own suits. The evil chiefly arises from the imperfect performance of the judi- cial machinery connected with this department. In the Legislature, several attempts have been made to apply correction, but nothing has yet been done. It is hoped that the attempt will be renewed until a perfect remedy shall be applied.
We have seen that from time to time the legal system of Virginia, with its incidents, has been subjected to revisal, that order and improvement might be introduced. The last re-arrangement was conducted under the superintendence of Ben- jamin Watkins Leigh, who was aided by William Waller Hening and William Munford. It took place in 1819. In this case, the labours of the
a See Robinson's Reports, ii. Preface.
463
LITERATURE.
learned superintendent were confined to an accu- rate collection and classification of the general laws of the land, according to a scheme prescribed by the Assembly. He was not required to suggest reforms.ª The result was the production of the two volumes of our " Revised Code," which, with public statutes since passed, continue to exhibit the law of the state. Within a few years past, another and more thorough revisal has been determined on. The civil and criminal laws of Virginia have been committed to John M. Patton and Conway Robin- son, whose instructions as to suggested reforms are broad, and approach nearly to those under which acted Messrs. Jefferson, Pendleton, and Wythe, in 1777. During the coming session of the Legisla- ture, a report is expected from these gentlemen. Those who know them best believe that, united, they possess accurate legal learning, indefatigable industry, well-balanced judgment, and liberal views of public policy. Virginia expects much from their counsels. Could she obtain a good code, it were better that it should be made like the laws of the Medes and Persians, than that it should continue to tremble in ceaseless fluctuation.
We pass now to some remarks upon the litera- ture of the state. The attempt to introduce such a head may excite the surprise of those who can find no literature except in the classic treasures of anti- quity, or the accumulated stores of modern Europe. The question may be asked, where is the literature of Virginia, and it would not be easily answered.
ª See 1 R. C., Preface, and page 14.
464
SANDYS'S OVID.
[CHAP. VIII.
It is a melancholy truth that her people have never been a reading people. In the mass, they have shown an indifference to polite letters and to edu- cation in general, depressing to the mind that wishes to see them respectable and happy. Until a great change shall be wrought in this respect, the state can never assume her proper dignity. Never- theless, from her settlement to the present time, men have occasionally lived in Virginia who have loved learning with sacred affection, exceeded by none ever felt in America. They have risen supe- rior to all sinister influences, and have shone the more brightly, because surrounded by darkness like that of Gothic ages.
In the year 1621, George Sandys was appointed Treasurer of the London Company for Virginia, and while in the Colony, he entertained himself during leisure hours in translating Ovid's Metamorphoses into English verse. The work was published in 1632, under the title of " Ovid's Metamorphoses Englished, mythologized, and represented in figures." Sandys was one of the scholars of his day, and his work drew forth praises from competent critics.ª There was little in the unbroken forest, the savage scenes, the rude settlement, which Virginia then presented, to accord with the warm colourings and passionate descriptions of the Roman poet. The translator drew inspiration from his author, and his own bosom. Pope was charmed with the work, read it with rapture at nine years of age, and always after- wards mentioned it with enthusiasm. When some
ª North Am. Review, July, 1846, 150.
465
MUNFORD'S HOMER.
of the most graceful pens of Queen Anne's reign rendered Ovid into English, Sandys fell into obli- vion ; but a few time-worn copies of his book may yet be found in Virginia, to remind her of the first lover of the Muses who lived on her soil.
It is remarkable that in modern years, another great poem of antiquity has been translated into English verse by a Virginian. William Munford was born in Mecklenburg County, in 1775. He graduated at William and Mary College, studied law under Chancellor Wythe, was admitted to the bar, and practised with success during many years. He represented his native county in the House of Delegates, was afterwards in the State Senate, was chosen a member of the Council of State in 1806, and was elected Clerk of the House of Delegates in 1811. In addition to his other duties, he reported the decisions of the Court of Appeals, first alone, and then in connexion with William Waller Hen- ing, with whom he also united in aiding Mr. Leigh in the revisal of 1819. But amid these public labours, Mr. Munford found time to gratify his literary taste by translating the whole of Homer's Iliad into English blank verse. At the time of his death, July 21st, 1825, he left his work complete, and prepared for the press. Various circumstances delayed its appearance until 1846, when it was published in Boston, in two elegant octavo volumes. The man of letters in America, will read this work with pride and pleasure, and profound critics have long since demonstrated its excellence as a transla- VOL. II. 30
1
466
CARTER - MAXWELL.
[CHAP. VIII.
tion.ª We do not expect to see it supersede Pope's Paraphrase of the Iliad. Nine thousand of the most musical couplets that the English language is capable of producing, will be read while any taste is left in the world. But they will be read, not because they have the simplicity, the fire, the sublime power of Homer, but because they have the melody, the feeling, the fascinating graces of Alexander Pope. Cowper's version of the Iliad is too rude to be popular. The reader who knows only English, and who wishes to know how and what Homer really wrote, will read Munford's translation.
Of original poetry, Virginia has not yet pro- duced any work that promises to endure the test of time. We have already noticed the " Land of Powhatan," by St. Leger Landon Carter. It has some beauties but more deformities. It has been very little read. Mr. Carter's subsequent volume, " Nugæ by Nugator," contains specimens of better poetry than any in his earlier work; but its title will probably foreshadow its fate, as accurately as its author could have expected. William Maxwell, of Virginia, has published a volume of poems, which might now be in circulation, had it not con- tained some imitations of Catullus and other Latin poets, and certain fables in verse, which were not adapted to the taste of the nineteenth century. The '" Missionary's Grave," in this collection, is simple and beautiful, and other detached pieces might be found equally pleasing and elegant.
a See South. Quar. Rev. July, 1846, 1-45 ; North American, 149-165.
.
467
POETRY AND PROSE.
Added to these, the press of the " Old Dominion" has sent forth from time to time short poems, graceful enough to please when they appeared, but not so instinct with the true " afflatus" as to escape final oblivion.
Of the lighter species of prose writing, our state has produced enough to show that time and culti- vation only are required to make her respectable. Some of the novels written by her children, male and female, have attracted public favour. " Edge-
hill," and " Yorktown," are yet in print.
William
Wirt's British Spy, has long been admired. His speculations in physics are ingenious, though be- hind his own subsequent experience; his sketches of the great men of Virginia are free and glowing ; his " Blind Preacher" has drawn tears of genuine feeling from many readers. Mr. Wirt's " Old Bachelor," though not equal in interest to the Spy, yet abounds in pleasant portraitures of men and manners.ª Many light fragments left by massive minds in the state, add to her humble literary stores. The Letters of John Randolph, of Roanoke, published since his death, are interesting from as- sociation, but they have not increased his fame.
In the more solid departments of literature, Vir- ginia has not been entirely recreant to her duty. Her earliest History is that which takes its name from the renowned John Smith. It is a confused mass of information, furnished by nearly thirty writers. Beyond denial, the best parts were from Smith's own pen. Beverley wrote a volume on
ª See Evan. and Lit. Mag.
.
468
HISTORY.
[CHAP. VIII.
the Colony, which was first published in 1705. He gives a meagre and prejudiced sketch of the His- tory of Virginia, in the first part of his book; but the last part is devoted to her physical condition, agriculture, natural products, laws, manners, abo- rigines,-and this is spirited and valuable. Rev. William Stith, President of William and Mary College, was an accomplished scholar and an ex- cellent man. He wrote the History of the Colony to 1624, and published it in Williamsburg in 1747. Our obligations to him have been acknowledged in the first volume of this work. John Burk was an Irishman by birth, but practised law in Petersburg for several years. He wrote three volumes of our history, and intended to continue it, but he unhap- pily fell in a duel with a Frenchman, with whom he had engaged in a political dispute. Mr. Burk's volumes show genius and a love of freedom; but his style tends constantly to the exaggerated and bombastic, leaving the reader in painful doubt whether he can safely trust himself to such a guide. He published in 1804. Skelton Jones wrote a few pages of a continuation, and Louis Hue Girardin completed the volume to the close of the Revolu- tion. This performance has been already noticed. J. W. Campbell, of Petersburg, wrote a small, but valuable work on Virginia, published in 1813. His son, Charles Campbell, has accomplished and is still applying well-directed labour in the same depart- ment. Rev. William Henry Foote, of Romney, has published a volume of "Sketches of North Carolina," embracing many interesting reminis-
469
BIOGRAPHY.
cences which time threatened to destroy. Much may yet be expected from Mr. Foote's love of history.
The writings of the professed statesmen of Vir- ginia have been generally political, and do not fall within our present purpose. Mr. Jefferson's " Notes" are still reckoned among the most agree- able of his works. They were originally prepared in 1781, at the request of M. De Marbois, of the French legation, then in Philadelphia. The work was revised two years afterwards, and was first printed in Paris for private circulation. A very inaccurate and rude French translation having ap- peared, the author consented that a London book- seller should publish the English original, " to let the world see that it was not really so bad as the French translation had made it appear."a Mr.
Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry has been deservedly
popular. It can hardly be excelled in grace, warmth, and the power of enlisting attention. And whatever doubts may once have prevailed, it is be- lieved that the authenticity of the great body of the work will bear a rigid test. Professor Tucker's Life of Jefferson is clearly written, and considering the difficulty of the subject, it is eminent in can- dour. John Marshall's Life of Washington is learned and accurate, but it wants compactness and energy. Did our plan embrace remarks upon professional works, we might find in the law-books prepared by Virginians, matter for rational pride, and well-based hope.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.