Southern Literature From 1579-1895 Part 8

(_17 Oct., 1784._)--The time I have lately pa.s.sed with the Marquis has given me a pretty thorough insight into his character. With great natural frankness of temper, he unites much address and very considerable talents. In his politics, he says his three hobby-horses are the alliance between France and the United States, the union of the latter, and the manumission of the slaves. The two former are the dearer to him, as they are connected with his personal glory. . . . .

(_20 August, 1785._)--Subsequent to the date of mine in which I gave my idea of Lafayette, I had other opportunities of penetrating his character. Though his foibles did not disappear, all the favorable traits presented themselves in a stronger light, on closer inspection.

He certainly possesses talents which might figure in any line. If he is ambitious, it is rather of the praise which virtue dedicates to merit than of the homage which fear renders to power. His disposition is naturally warm and affectionate, and his attachment to the United States unquestionable. Unless I am grossly deceived, you will find his zeal sincere and useful, whenever it can be employed on behalf of the United States without opposition to the essential interests of France.

PLEA FOR A REPUBLIC, ALTHOUGH A NEW FORM OF GOVERNMENT.

(_From the "Federalist," 14th No._)

But why is the experiment of an extended Republic to be rejected, merely because it may comprise what is new? Is it not the glory of the people of America, that, whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience? To this manly spirit posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world for the example, of the numerous improvements displayed on the American theatre in favor of private rights and public happiness. Had no important step been taken by the leaders of the Revolution for which a precedent could not be discovered; no government established of which an exact model did not present itself,--the people of the United States might, at this moment, have been numbered among the melancholy victims of misguided counsels; must, at best, have been laboring under the weight of some of those forms which have crushed the liberties of the rest of mankind. Happily for America,--happily, we trust, for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more n.o.ble course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They reared the fabrics of government, which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great Confederacy, which it is inc.u.mbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate. If their works betray imperfections, we wonder at the fewness of them. If they erred most in the structure of the Union, this was the work most difficult to be executed; this is the work which has been new-modelled by the act of your convention; and it is that act on which you are now to deliberate and decide.

CHARACTER OF WAs.h.i.+NGTON.

("_drawn by Mr. Madison, amid the tranquil scenes of his own final retirement; and intended . . . . for his family and friends._")

The strength of his character lay in his integrity, his love of justice, his fort.i.tude, the soundness of his judgment, and his remarkable prudence; to which he joined an elevated sense of patriotic duty, and a reliance on the enlightened and impartial world as the tribunal by which a lasting sentence on his career would be p.r.o.nounced. Nor was he without the advantage of a stature and figure which, however insignificant when separated from greatness of character, do not fail, when combined with it, to aid the attraction.

What particularly distinguished him was a modest dignity, which at once commanded the highest respect and inspired the purest attachment.

Although not idolizing public opinion, no man could be more attentive to the means of ascertaining it. In comparing the candidates for office, he was particularly inquisitive as to their standing with the public, and the opinion entertained of them by men of public weight.

On the important questions to be decided by him, he spared no pains to gain information from all quarters; freely asking from all whom he held in esteem, and who were intimate with him, a free communication of their sentiments; receiving with great attention the arguments and opinions offered to him; and making up his own judgment with all the leisure that was permitted.

FOOTNOTE:

[4] By permission of Little, Brown, & Company, Boston, as also the two following extracts.

ST. GEORGE TUCKER.

~1752=1828.~

ST. GEORGE TUCKER was born in the Bermudas, came early in life to Virginia, where he married in 1778 Mrs. Frances Bland Randolph, and thus became stepfather to John Randolph of Roanoke. He was a distinguished jurist, professor of law at William and Mary College, president-judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals, and judge of the United States District Court of Virginia.

WORKS.

Poems: "Days of My Youth," and others.

Probationary Odes of Jonathan Pindar, Esq., [Satires].

Commentary on the Const.i.tution.

Dissertation on Slavery: Letters on Alien and Sedition Laws.

Annotated Edition of Blackstone.

Dramas, [unpublished].

In addition to his ability as a writer, he possessed fine literary taste; and his personal character was marked by great amiability, courtliness, and patriotism.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ~William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.~]

RESIGNATION, OR DAYS OF MY YOUTH.

I.

Days of my youth, Ye have glided away; Hairs of my youth, Ye are frosted and gray: Eyes of my youth, Your keen sight is no more; Cheeks of my youth Ye are furrowed all o'er, Strength of my youth, All your vigor is gone; Thoughts of my youth, Your gay visions are flown.

II.

Days of my youth, I wish not your recall; Hairs of my youth, I'm content ye should fall; Eyes of my youth, You much evil have seen; Cheeks of my youth, Bathed in tears have you been; Thoughts of my youth, You have led me astray; Strength of my youth, Why lament your decay?

III.

Days of my age, Ye will shortly be past; Pains of my age, Yet a while ye can last; Joys of my age, In true wisdom delight; Eyes of my age, Be religion your light; Thoughts of my age, Dread ye not the cold sod; Hopes of my age, Be ye fixed on your G.o.d.

JOHN MARSHALL.

~1755=1835.~

JOHN MARSHALL, third Chief Justice of the United States, was born in Fauquier County, Virginia. He served as a soldier in the Revolution and then practised law in Richmond. With Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Elbridge Gerry, he was sent to Paris in 1797 to treat of public affairs; and it was on this occasion that Pinckney made the famous reply to the propositions of Talleyrand, "Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute."

He was chief-justice of the United States for thirty-five years, being appointed in 1800 and holding the position until his death. One of the most celebrated cases over which he presided was the trial of Aaron Burr, 1807, in which William Wirt led the prosecution, and Luther Martin and Burr himself, the defence. His services on the Supreme Bench were not only judicial but patriotic also, as his decisions on points of const.i.tutional law, being broad, clear, strong, and statesman-like, have done much to settle the foundations of our government.

He died in Philadelphia whither he had gone for medical treatment. A handsome statue of him by Story adorns the west grounds of the Capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton, and his is one of the six colossal bronze figures around the Was.h.i.+ngton Monument in Richmond. See Life, by Story, and by Magruder.

WORKS.

Life of Was.h.i.+ngton.

Supreme Court Decisions.

Writings on Federal Const.i.tution, [selections by Justice Story].

"He was supremely fitted for high judicial station--a solid judgment, great reasoning powers, acute and penetrating mind; . . . attentive, patient, laborious; grave on the bench, social in the intercourse of life; simple in his tastes, and inexorably just."--Thomas Hart Benton, in "Thirty Years' View."

POWER OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

(_From Case of Cohen vs. State of Virginia, given in Magruder's Life of Marshall._[5])

It is authorized to decide all cases of every description arising under the Const.i.tution or laws of the United States. From this general grant of jurisdiction no exception is made of those cases in which a State may be a party. When we consider the situation of the government of the Union and of a State in relation to each other, the nature of our Const.i.tution, the subordination of the State governments to that Const.i.tution, the great purpose for which jurisdiction over all cases arising under the Const.i.tution and laws of the United States is confided to the judicial department, are we at liberty to insert in this general grant an exception of those cases in which a State may be a party? Will the spirit of the Const.i.tution justify this attempt to control its words? We think it will not. We think a case arising under the Const.i.tution or laws, of the United States is cognizable in the courts of the Union, whoever may be the parties to that case. The laws must be executed by individuals acting within the several States. If these individuals may be exposed to penalties, and if the courts of the Union cannot correct the judgments by which these penalties may be enforced, the course of government may be at any time arrested by the will of one of its members. Each member will possess a _veto_ on the will of the whole.

That the United States form, for many and most important purposes, a single nation has not yet been denied. These States are const.i.tuent parts of the United States. They are members of one great empire, for some purposes sovereign, for some purposes subordinate. In a government so const.i.tuted is it unreasonable that the judicial power should be competent to give efficacy to the const.i.tutional laws of the legislature? That department can decide on the validity of the Const.i.tution or law of a State, if it be repugnant to the Const.i.tution or to a law of the United States. Is it unreasonable that it should also be empowered to decide on the judgment of a State tribunal enforcing such unconst.i.tutional law? Is it so very unreasonable as to furnish a justification for controlling the words of the Const.i.tution?