USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 43
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We follow this outline by interesting sketches, giving more in detail the leading characteristics of Mr. Peyton's mind and heart. These sketches were written by surviving contemporaries, who, from intimacy in daily life, had the best opportunities to know him as a man, a lawyer, statesman and citizen. The first is by Prof. J. T. L. Preston, V. M. I .:
The late John H. Peyton, Esq., of Staunton, Va., was one of the finest specimens that we have ever known of the complete lawyer. During the prime of life he pursued his profession with a laborious assiduity rarely equalled, and though as age advanced upon him he remitted his efforts, he did not discontinue his practice until a short time before his death, which occurred April 3, 1847, in the 69th year of his age. None of his contemporaries secured a more ample reward in either reputation or pe- cuniary emolument.
We have spoken of Mr. Peyton as a complete lawyer. Law, as a practical profession, has several departments, and it is not unusual to see a lawyer distinguished in some of them, with a compensating deficiency in others. Some practitioners are successful collectors ; some are much es- teemed as judicious advisers in matters not strictly legal ; some are favorite
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advocates, with a subdivision into those who are influential with the court, and those who are persuasive before a jury ; some are designated good judges of law, or, in other words, safe counsellors, and of some the forte is Common Law Practice, while others are distinguished as chancery law- yers. The organization of the courts in Virginia, and the nature of the business, at least in the interior, requires every lawyer to enter upon the whole of this miscellaneous practice ; and it is not to be wondered at that some, even good lawyers, are not equally strong in every part. Mr. Pey- ton knew every part of his profession thoroughly. He had studied dili- gently as a student ; he had known the expectant struggles of the young practitioner ; he had practised under the old system before the reorganiza- tion of the judiciary, and afterwards under the new ; he had met in contest the strongest men in each department of the profession, and he had made himself a champion in all. We may add that some lawyers who exhibit the highest skill in securing the rights of the clients, are foolishly ignorant of their own ; in other words, they let slip the fair, well earned profits of their profession-not so with Mr. Peyton. He knew the value of his pro- fessional services ; he gave them to the fullest extent to those who applied for them, and then he insisted upon just remuneration. We notice this point, not at random, but to present a feature belonging to the character of the complete lawyer.
The characteristic of Mr. Peyton's life was efficiency. This efficiency had for its elements native vigor of intellect, great resoluteness of charac- ter and courageous self-confidence, ample and thorough acquirements and the quickness, precision and dexterity of action that belong only to those who have been taught by a varied experience to understand thoroughly human nature. In conversation Mr. Peyton was ready, entertaining and instructive. But conversation was not his forte, though he was fond of it. He was not fluent, his manner was sometimes too direct for the highest style of polished social intercourse of a general nature, and besides he had a remarkable way of indulging in a strain of covert satirical banter, when his words would be so much at variance with the expression of his coun- tenance, and particularly with the expression of his mouth, that the hearer was often in an uncomfortable state of uncertainty how to take him. His person was large, and his bearing dignified but not graceful. His manner was unaffected, but not without formality, nor was it perfectly conciliatory. Some styled him aristocratic, while none could deny that his self respect and confident energy gave an imperious cast to his demeanor. We have oftener than once thought applicable to him, in a general way, those lines of Terence :
" Ellum, confidens, catus, Cum faciem videas, videtur esse quantivis preti, Tristis severitas inest in voltu, atque in verbis fides."
His voice was true and clear, and capable of sufficient variety, but with- out a single musical intonation, and a little sharper than you would expect to hear from a man of his size and form. If it is asked what was the style of his speaking, it may be replied-just what might be expected to belong to such a man as he has been described, that is to say, never was the speaker a more complete reflection of the man than in his case. We can- not believe that any one who knew him was ever surprised when they heard him speak; what he said was just what they would expect him to say. This is often the case with speakers and writers, but not always. En- ergy, reality and efficiency were his characteristics as a man, and equally
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so as a speaker. Distinctness of conception lay at the foundation of his excellence. Some great speakers, some even preëminently great speak- ers, not unfrequently hurl unforged thunderbolts. They feel the madden- ing impulse of the god, but give forth their utteranee before the true pro- phetic fury comes on.
Mr. Peyton's mind was no sybil's cave. whence came forth wind-driven leaves inscribed with mighty thoughts disposed by chance, but a spacious castle, from whose wide open portal issued men at arms, orderly arrayed. He had hardly opened his case, when the hearer was aware that he had thought over the whole of it, had a given course to pursue, and would close when he came to the end of it. This distinctness of conception com- prehended the subject as a whole, and shed its light upon each detail be- longing to it. This ensured the most perfect method in all that he said .- Before he began to speak he had determined in his own mind, not only the order of the different parts of his discourse, but also their relative im- portance in producing the general impression. Hence he was never led away by the tempting character of any peculiar topic, to expatiate upon it unduly ; he did not take up matter irrelevant to the case because it might touch himself personally ; he never spoke for those behind the bar, nor did he neglect to secure the fruits of victory in order to pursue an adversary to utter discomfiture. He spoke as a lawyer, he spoke for the verdict, and expected to gain it by showing that he was entitled to it. Some speakers hope to accomplish their object by single, or at least, successive impulses -now a clinching argumentative question, now a burst of brilliant declama- tion, and now a piece of keen wit, or a rough personality. Such speakers forget, or do not know, that a jury may admire, may be diverted, and even moved, without being won. He that gains the verdict must mould, and sway, and lead, and this is to be effected by continued persistent pressure, rather than by tours de force. This Mr. Peyton knew well, and observed it with perfect self-command. His hearers came away satisfied with the whole, rather than treasuring up remarkable points and passages. Let it not be supposed, however, that he was a cold speaker, who treated men as mere intellectual machines, to be set in motion by the pulleys, screws and levers of logic. Far from it ; he understood human nature well, and knew the motive power of the feelings; but then he knew, too, that the way to excite the most effective sympathy is not to make a loud outcry, but to make a forcible exhibition of real suffering-that the best way to rouse our indignation against fraud, deceit, or oppression, is not to exhort us to hate it, but to show its hatefulness. One of his most distinguished cotem- poraries upon the same circuit was celebrated for his powers as a criminal advocate ; his manner was obviously upon the pathetic order, and perhaps a trifle too declamatory. We have seen them in the same cause, and have thought that if the eloquence of Gen. Briscoe G. Baldwin flushed the coun- tenance quicker, the earnestness of Mr. Peyton stirred the heart deeper. Of the oratory of a class of speakers by no means rare (not, however, in- cluding in this class the distinguished jurist above alluded to,) it has been well said, "declamation roars while passion sleeps;" of speaking justly characterized by this line, Mr. Peyton's was the precise reverse. With him thought became passionate before the expression became glowing, as the wave swells before it crests itself with foam.
Mr. Peyton's language was forcible, pure and idiomatic. It served well the vehicle of his thoughts, but contributed nothing to them. There is a
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real and legitimate advantage belonging to the masterly use of words, of which many great speakers know well how to avail themselves.
Mr. Peyton attempted nothing of the sort. His diction was thorough- ly English, with a marked preference for the Anglo-Saxon branch of the language, and his sentences came out in the most natural order with unu- sual clearness and vigor, but not unfrequently with plainness that bordered upon homliness. His style, however, was always that of speaking as dis- tinguished from mere conversation-a distinction which some of our mod- ern speakers forget, when in order to appear at their ease, they treat with no little disregard not only the rules of rhetoric, but the rules of grammar as well, and use words and phrases which are (to take a word from the vo- cabulary we are condemning) nothing better than slang. On the contrary there was in Mr. Peyton's style the fruit of early studies and high-bred association, a classical tinge, extremely pleasant to the scholar, though perhaps not appreciable by those for whom he generally spoke. It must not be supposed, from what has been said of his excellent method, that he resembled in this respect some of our able but greatly tedious lawyers, who take up in regular succession every possible point in the case, how- ever minute, and worry us by officially offering help where none is need- ed-so far from it he showed his consummate skill as well in what he omit- ted as in what he handled, and, as a general thing, his speeches were shor- ter in duration, and yet fuller of matter than those of his opponent. His use of figurative language was easy and natural, and not stinted ; but his figures were always introduced as illustrations and not as arguments. It is not unusual to meet with a speaker who is unable to enounce distinctly the general principle he wishes to use, throw out an illustration to enable himself to pick out the principle from it, or at least to give his hearers a chance to do it for themselves ; not so with Mr. Peyton. He held up the torch of illustration, not to throw a light forward to guide himself in his own investigations, but to enable those following the more readily to tread the road along with him. He had a very noticeable fondness for re- curring to the primary fundamental principles of morals, and doubtless he was restrained, by his practical judiciousness, from indulging this disposi- tion to the full. One of his favorite books was Lord Bacon's Essays, and under other circumstances he might himself have been a distinguished moral essayist.
As may well be supposed, his general strain was grave. The high idea he entertained of the dignity of his profession, and the earnestness with which he gave himself to it, alike precluded either levity or carelessness. However, he was fully able, quite ready upon occasion, to avail himself of a keen wit, that was all the more effective because it was dry and sarcas- tic. It occurs to us to mention an instance well known to his circuit, not il- lustrative of his severity but his pleasantry. In a criminal prosecution, he, as prosecuting attorney, was opposed by two gentlemen of ability, whose pathos had been so great as to draw abundant tears from their own eyes. One of them, a gentleman, who has since filled a distinguished national position (Hon. A. H. H. Stuart, Secretary of Interior of the United States, 1850-3), was noted for the facility with which he could cover over his brilliant eloquence with the liquid varnish of his tears. On this occasion he had been singularly lachrymose, and supported by his colleague in the same way, the sensation produced was very considerable. Mr. Peyton commenced his reply by regretting the disadvantage the commonwealth labored under in being represented by him who was a very poor hand at
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crying, and certainly was not able to cry against two at a time. The ludi- crousness of the expression completely neutralized the pathos of his oppo- nents. He was not averse either to a bit of farce now and then, as is shown by a story told of him. In a remote part of the circuit a lawyer wished to adorn a moving passage of a part of a speech he was just rising to make, with an apposite example, and applied to Mr. Peyton, setting beside of him, to help him to the name of the man in the Bible who would have his pound of flesh. With imperturbable gravity he answered Absalom! The effect of thus confounding Shakespeare and Scripture may be imagined.
We have said that Mr. Peyton was thoroughly furnished in every part of his profession ; in one department his qualifications were peculiar and un- surpassed. Without disparagement to others, it may be said, we think, that he was the best commonwealth's attorney in the State of Virginia. He was the lawyer of the commonwealth, and he treated the commonwealth as a client, and labored for her with the same industry, zeal, and fidelity that he manifested in behalf of any other client. The oft-quoted merciful maxim of the common law, "better that ninety and nine guilty men should escape than one innocent man suffer," he interpreted as a caution to re- spect the rights of the innocent, and not as an injunction to clear the guil- ty, and he labored to reduce the percentage of rogues unwhipt of justice as low as possible With a clearness and force rarely equaled would he point out the necessity of punishing the guilty in order that the innocent might be safe, thus exhibiting the absolute consistency of strict justice with true mer- cy. So simply and earnestly would he do this, that he not only bound the consciences of the jury, but also made them feel that they were individual- ly interested in the faithful execution of the laws. Here his clear percep- tion of the moral principles upon which rests the penal code, and his fond- ness for recurring to general principles, stood him in great stead. It was delightful to hear him expatiate upon this theme, for upon no other was he more truly eloquent.
Mr. Peyton served at different times in both branches of the legislature, but we speak not of him as a politician. Our purpose has been solely to ex- hibit some of the qualities which made him an eminent member and orna- ment of the legal profession.
The following interesting sketch is from the pen of William Frazier, Esq., who was for ten years intimately associated in business intercourse with Mr. Peyton. It was originally published in the "Valley Virginian," and was thus introduced by the editor :
"Our readers will find Mr. Frazier's recollections of John Howe Peyton, on our first page, a most interesting article. All will derive pleasure from its perusal, but more especially the few surviving cotemporaries in our midst of that great lawyer. To the young, the article possesses a pecu- liar value. The distinguished men who have passed from the stage of life, and whose names are as " familiar as household words " to the old, or even middle aged, are to the young only historical personages ; they re- quire to be informed of what their fathers remember. Other sketches or recollections of Mr. Peyton are being prepared by a few of his professional brethren who survive, and who remember him when in the vigor of his intellect and the fullness of his fame. These, in all probability, will be in-
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cluded in a volume of memoirs, where it is proposed to preserve in a per- manent form the story of his useful and honorable life.
" We have heard that Miss Sarah L. Randolph, author of the life of Stonewall Jackson, contemplates a work embracing the lives of many, if not all, eminent Virginia lawyers. It is a much needed work, and we wish her every success in her praiseworthy undertaking."
" My personal acquaintance with Mr. Peyton," says Mr. Frazier, "com- menced in October, 1834, when I entered upon the practice of my profes- sion at the Staunton Bar.
He was then, as I learn from his biography, in his fifty-seventh year, and from that circumstance only it might be inferred he had passed his climatric. Certainly nothing in his physical appearance or his forensic display betokened a decay of power, bodily or mental.
Yet having amassed a handsome fortune, he established himself in a beautiful home, and surrounded by a large and interesting family, he felt himself entitled to some relaxation from the arduous demands of his pro- fession-or, at least, from its drudgery. He accordingly relegated to younger members of the bar all minor causes, and to his junior associates the preparation in pays of his chancery causes, in the matter of taking depositions and the like vacation duties.
But for ten years following the date of my introduction to him, there was hardly an important or celebrated cause tried at the Staunton Bar, whether in the State Courts or the United States Court, without the aid and illumination of his splendid intellect ; whilst also in Albemarle, Rock- bridge and Bath counties he largely participated in the like weighty causes.
In the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia his reputation through- out the State enlarged the theatre of his professional service much beyond that of his local circuit.
I wish it were in my power to give a just and discriminating analysis o his processes in the investigation and conduct of a great cause, or even a fair description of his style of forensic argument.
This much may be safely said : that he seized, by apparent intuition, upon the strong and dominating points in a case, not infrequently finding these, or some of them, buried out of sight from a scrutiny less searching than his, beneath a mass of irrelevant or conflicting testimony.
Having thus entrenched himself in one or a few strong positions, his array of the facts was so masterly, his presentation of them so luminous, and his arguments from them so logical, that he rarely failed to carry the tribunal with him safely and irresistibly to his conclusions.
Discarding thus the minor points and less material phases of the cause from his examination and discussion, or dismissing them in a few rapid, searching sentences, his debate was conspicuous for its compactness and logical order. Accordingly, his speeches ordinarily did not exceed one hour, and even in the most complex and voluminous causes they rarely went beyond two hours. I can recall but one occasion in which he con- sumed nearly three hours.
His style was fluent, but not of that fluency which comes of redundant words and phrases, for I have never listened to one so terse and vigorous. I think it can be said there was hardly a superfluous word-and every sentence bore upon the conclusion aimed at. It was, therefore, never a
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weariness to hear this great advocate, and the promiscuous audience fol- lowed his argument, his sarcasm or his invective, with as much apparent interest as did court and jury.
It has been written of him that he was equally versed and at home in every department of the profession (unless admiralty and maritime law be excepted), but I think it was as a common lawyer that he excelled, and that it was in the common law he found his chief delight. He was per- fectly conversant with the principles of the Feudal law and immemorial usages of England as expounded by Littleton, Coke, Bacon, and all the fathers and great interpreters of English jurisprudence. Having come to the Bar while special pleading was yet a legal science and carefully prac- tised system, and before popular and not too well informed legislatures sought to "simplify" the practice of the law by Statutes of Jeofails, he was, without doubt, one of the most practised and expert special pleaders of his time. His naturally astute and logical mind, finding its expression through the channels of a terse and luminous style, caused his pleadings in all their stages to be master-pieces of art.
His fame as a prosecutor of the pleas of the Commonwealth has never been surpassed, if equalled, in Virginia. On this field he achieved triumphs of the most brilliant kind. His pride in his profession, and the great principles of right and justice underlying it, no less than his inborn contempt for chicanery and fraud, not to speak of crime in its grosser forms, combined to make him a 'terror to evil-doers.' Some critics, even among the profession, sometimes were disposed to censure him as too harsh and unrelenting towards the prisoner at the bar. But if every cir- cuit throughout our land possessed at this day so able, fearless and con- scientious a prosecutor as did the Augusta and the surrounding circuit at that happier day in our history, perhaps we might find less cause to de- plore the depreciation of the public morals, which so painfully invest the present era.
It would be a halting and very defective sketch of this eminent jurist which failed to speak of his striking originality. Negatively speaking, there was little or no common-place and hum-drum in his forensic argu- ments, his debates in the Senate or his addresses from the hustings to his constituents. In a positive sense his speeches, at least on great occasions and when his powers were thoroughly roused, rarely failed to be marked by some flash of genius. I recall a conversation just after the close of a protracted and laborious June term of the Augusta Circuit Court, in which the late Judge Lucas P. Thompson and Gen. Briscoe G. Baldwin bore the leading parts. The last-named was paying generous tribute to Mr. Pey- ton's force and originality. Judge Thompson remarked, in substance, that he had never seen Mr. Peyton go through a cause deeply interesting and moving him in which he did not utter some view or sentiment illumi- nated by genius, or, at the least, some illustration marked by a bold origi- nality ; and he instanced two causes, tried at the late term-one a civil suit and a very heavy will case, in which he made a novel and scorching appli- cation of a familiar fable of Æsop. I forbear to give its details, because both the critic and his subject have passed from earth.
In the same cause three signatures were to be identified and proved- that of the testator and also of the two attesting witnesses-all three hav- ing died since their attestation. Many witnesses were called to prove the genuineness of the three names. Opposing counsel sought to badger the witnesses by urging them to specify what peculiar marks there were in the
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handwriting and signatures, whereby they could speak so positively as to their identity and genuineness. This of course, for the most part, they could not do, and in the argument of the cause before the jury the same counsel strove to throw discredit and contempt upon those witnesses (all men of good character) for their failure and inability so to describe the quality and peculiar marks in the calligraphy of the signers as to show they were familiar with their handwriting. In his reply to those sallies of his opponent, Mr. Peyton swept away the whole airy fabric by a single happy illustration :
"Gentlemen," he said, " you have often been assembled in crowds upon some public or festive occasion. Your hats have been thrown pell-mell in a mass with perhaps a hundred other hats, all having a general resem- blance. Suppose you had attempted to describe your hat to a friend or servant, so that he might go and pick it out for you. It has as many points for accurate description as a written signature-its color, height of crown, width of brim, its band, lining, &c. Do you think that friend or servant could by any possibility have picked out your hat for you ? And yet when you went yourself, the moment your eye would light upon it you instantly recognize it amongst a hundred or five hundred other hats. Familiarity with it has stamped its picture on your mind, and the moment you see it, the hat fills and fits the picture on your mind as perfectly as the same hat fits your head."
The jury were evidently won, and gave full credence to the ridiculed witnesses.
The other instance during the same term (cited by Judge Thompson,) occurred in the celebrated prosecution of Naaman Roberts for forgery-in forging the name of Col. Adam Dickinson to a bond for six hundred dol- lars.
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