Memoir of John Howe Peyton Part 10

Dabney and her sister, Mrs. Price, and more so with John Dabney, who strikes me as a superior young man. Taylor is expecting his son, Dr.

James Taylor, from Philadelphia, every day, where he has successfully concluded his medical studies. Their daughter Susan, who has been spending the winter in Alexandria, is also expected home in a few days.[13] They wish to give them a royal reception, and wish our daughter Susan to come up for the merry making. Mrs. Taylor says if she will do so she will send her to the Natural Bridge, &c. I have told her I knew you would not part with Susan at this time, but I thought it probable you would allow her to spend a week with them in May, after my return from the courts. She was glad to hear this and said she would send her son Robert and John Dabney to Staunton to escort her at that time.

[13] Susan Taylor married some years subsequently Hon. John B. Weller, M. C. from Ohio, and afterwards Governor of California.

Tell the overseer to take the calves off my grain, and let them run in the clover field back of the house--the grain is so far advanced now that the calves will injure it. I hope he has finished corn planting.

Write me at the Warm Springs, either by Tom Michie or Wm. Frazier, telling me how the farming operations are going on, and how aunt Towles and our dear little children are.

Aunt McDowell, who is here, sends her best love to you, Mrs. Towles and sister Green. Mrs. Taylor says if Susan will come to her in May, she will meet her relations, the McDowells, who will return from Abingdon in April and be at home, and also Jane Preston, and other relatives who are coming with the McDowells, from Southwest Virginia for a visit to Lexington. I have time to say no more, as I am called to court.

Yours affectionately, JOHN H. PEYTON.

The following extract from the Spectator possesses such interest that we make no apology for introducing it here:

JEFFERSON, STUART, PEYTON.

We have been much interested recently in reading the early history of the University of Virginia as developed in the unpublished letters of Jefferson and J. C. Cabell. One of the letters particularly struck us.

It is from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Cabell, and dated Monticello, May 13th, 1825, and contains the warmly expressed opinions of two of our former citizens as to the professional ability, general qualifications and high character of the late Judge Dade, who was urged by his friends as a suitable person to be made Professor of Law in the new inst.i.tution, Judge Stuart and Hon. John Howe Peyton were on a visit to Monticello at the period when Jefferson was perplexed by the declension of this Professors.h.i.+p by Mr. Gilmer, and Mr. Jefferson gives the substance of what Judge Stuart and Mr. Peyton said to him.

The letter will be read with interest by all, but more particularly by those who remember Judge Stuart and Mr. Peyton, two of our famous men of the past, both of whom died full of years and honors, bequeathing fortunes and leaving families, which have inherited their genius.

JEFFERSON'S LETTER.

DEAR SIR:--Every offer of our law chair has been declined, and a late renewal of pressure on Mr. Gilmer has proved him inflexibly decided against undertaking it. What are we to do? The clamor is high for some appointment. We are informed, too, of many students who do not come because that school is not opened; and some now with us think of leaving us for the same reason. You may remember that among those who were the subjects of conversation at our last meeting, Judge Dade was one; but the minds of the board were so much turned to two particular characters; that little was said of any others. An idea has got abroad, I know not from what source, that we have appointed Judge Dade and that he has accepted. This has spread extensively, perhaps from a general sense of his fitness, and I learn it has been received with much favor, and particularly among the students of the University. I know no more myself of Judge Dade than what I saw of him at our Rockfish meeting, and a short visit he made me in returning from that place. As far as that opportunity enabled me to form an opinion, I certainly thought very highly of the strength of his mind, and the soundness of his judgment. I happened to receive Mr. Gilmer's ultimate and peremptory refusal while Judge Stuart and Mr. Howe Peyton, of Staunton, were with me. The former, you know, is his colleague on the bench of the General Court; the latter has been more particularly intimate with him, as having been brought up with him at the same school. I asked from them information respecting Mr. Dade, and they spoke of him in terms of high commendation. They state him to be an excellent Latin and Greek scholar, of clear and sound ideas, lucid in communicating them, equal as a lawyer to any of the judiciary corps, and superior to all as a writer; and that his character is perfectly correct, his mind liberal and accommodating, yet firm and of sound Republican principles.

This is the substance, and these, I may say, the terms in which they spoke of him, and when I consider the character of these two gentlemen, and their opportunities of following what they attested, I could not but be strongly impressed. It happened very much to my gratification, that General c.o.c.ke was here at the same time, received the same information and impression, and authorizes me to add his concurrence in proposing the appointment to our colleagues; and to say, moreover, that if on such further inquiry as they may make, they should approve the choice, and express it by letter, in reference to a meeting for a conference on this subject, I might write to Judge Dade, and on his acceptance, issue his commission. I should add the gentlemen above named were confident that he would accept, as well from other circ.u.mstances, as from his having three sons to educate. Of course this would put an end to the anxieties we have all had on this subject. The public impatience over some appointment to this school, renders desirable as early an answer as your convenience admits. Accept the a.s.surance of my great esteem and respect.

TH. JEFFERSON.

MR. PEYTON'S WELCOME TO HENRY CLAY.

In August, 1839, Henry Clay pa.s.sed through Staunton on his return from Was.h.i.+ngton to his Kentucky home. The people determined to give him a warm greeting. A meeting was held and arrangements were made for his reception, and John H. Peyton was selected to make a speech of welcome.

A procession of gentlemen on horseback met the coach, in which Mr. Clay was travelling from Charlottesville, near Glendale, the present residence of George L. Peyton, Esq., and escorted him to town. On arriving in front of the Eagle Hotel, now the Spectator office, Mr. Clay descended from the coach and was met by _Mr. Peyton_, who welcomed him in a handsome and appropriate address in which he referred to his long and distinguished public services, his champions.h.i.+p of const.i.tutional freedom and his patriotic labors on behalf of the best interests of the country and tendering him the warm hospitalities of the town during his stay.[14]

[14] NOTE.--The late Wm. Frazier, who was present, informed us that it was the most felicitous address he ever heard from one great man to another, and he greatly regretted that a stenographer had not been present to take it down.

Mr. Clay, though laboring under a cold and great fatigue, replied in his usual happy manner. After entering the Hotel, and a short rest, he held an informal reception, when the princ.i.p.al people of the town and neighborhood were presented. There was, of course, no time for conversation, but Mr. Clay made many facetious remarks to his admirers as they pa.s.sed one after another during the hand-shaking.

CAMPAIGN OF 1840.

In December, 1839, Mr. Peyton was a delegate to the National Whig Convention, which met at Harrisburg, Penn., to decide between the claims of several rival candidates for the Presidency. General Harrison, of Ohio, was nominated for the Presidency, and John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice President. And immediately afterwards the celebrated "log-cabin and hard cider" campaign commenced. Log cabins and hard cider became the party emblems, and both were features of all the political demonstrations of the canva.s.s, which witnessed the introduction of the enormous ma.s.s meetings and processions which have since become common in all Presidential elections. There was more clap-trap and less appeal to reason in this than in any Presidential election in our history.

Harrison was chosen by a vote of 234 against an electoral vote for Van Buren of 60, and was inaugurated at Was.h.i.+ngton March 4th, 1841.

MR. PEYTON'S SPEECH IN THE CANVa.s.s OF 1840.

On his return to Virginia, such was his taste and so pressing the nature of his private affairs, that he took little active part in the celebrated canva.s.s.

But upon the occasion of a grand ma.s.s meeting at Staunton on the 28th of October, 1840, he spoke in the Court House to a crowded audience of ladies and gentlemen, and made a magnificent speech, showing up the political life and character of Martin Van Buren, his political tergiversations, intrigue, subserviency, treachery and heartless selfishness. It was like a prosecution of a prisoner at the bar, and persons who were present declared that they had never seen or heard anything like or to equal to it.

MR. PEYTON'S SPEECH IN CHARLOTTESVILLE.

Having much business to be settled Mr. Peyton attended the Autumn term, 1840, of the Superior court of Albemarle and was invited by the "Central Tippecanoe Club" to address the people. The "Charlottesville Advocate,"

edited by the talented Thomas Wood, a man who had few superiors in Virginia as a writer, thus refers to it:

"_Mr. Peyton_ made one of the most felicitous efforts we have heard during this whole canva.s.s. We shall not undertake to report his speech; we would do him injustice by such an effort. We will say, however, that few speakers are better qualified to entertain and instruct the public mind in reference to the great questions now agitating the country. He understands thoroughly the character of Martin Van Buren.

"He has watched him closely ever since he entered public life, in 1812, the opponent of James Madison, and drew a most faithful picture of him from that time down to this. Van himself, could he have heard Mr. P., would have been forced to admit, that a more exact likeness never was drawn. He traced him with much minuteness throughout his tortuous and slimy career, and showed to the satisfaction of every man present, that he had been alternately the lickspittle and libeller of almost every man in the country. So in reference to almost every important question which has agitated the country for the last 30 years, Martin had been found on both sides--and no man could tell what his principles were. Mr. P.

ridiculed in a most inimitable manner, amid roars of laughter from his audience, the claim set up by Van's Southern friends, that he 'is a Northern man with Southern principles.' Even were it true, Mr. P.

contended that it did not elevate Martin in his estimation, for that if there were any one thing he abominated more than another, it was a Northern man with Southern principles or a Southern man with Northern principles. He went for no such half-frog half-tadpole animal.

"Mr. P. laughed at the very idea of Martin Van Buren being held up to the country as a Republican. He remembered well the part he took in the memorable contest between Mr. Madison and DeWitt Clinton. He was then leagued with the blue light Federalists, and his course ever since had been in utter disregard of the good old Republican doctrines of '98 and '99."

VISITOR TO WEST POINT.

Sometime before, June, 1841, he was appointed a visitor to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and attended the meetings of the Board of Visitors, where he so impressed the Board, that he was selected to write their report for that year, which he did.

From West Point he visited his brother, Col. Rouze Peyton, at his home in Geneva, and in the company of the late Randolph Harrison, of Elk Island, James river, General Bernard Peyton, of Richmond, Colonel Hill Carter, of s.h.i.+rley and others, and made a delightful excursion to Niagara Falls.

At the next session of the Senate Mr. Peyton was a working member. He never discharged any duty in a perfunctory manner, but as chairman of the committee on the Judiciary labored zealously in behalf of reform in our laws.

MR. PEYTON'S LETTER ON BEHALF OF THE BAR TO JUDGE TUCKER.

In 1841, H. St. George Tucker resigned his position as a Judge of the Court of Appeals, in order to accept the position of Professor of Law in the University of Virginia. The following proceeding took place. A meeting of the bar a.s.sembled over which Mr. Peyton presided, and the meeting appointed him a committee of one to express their sentiments on the occasion which he did, and the Court adopted them as its sentiments and ordered them to be placed on record, as follows:

Virginia: At a Court of Appeals held at Lewisburg on Thursday, the 5th day of August, 1841:

Present: The Honorable Francis T. Brooke, William H. Cabell, Robert Standard and John I. Allen. The remaining members of the Court of Appeals cordially concurring with the Bar in their sentiments expressed in their letter to the late President of the Court on his retiring from office, it is ordered that their letter and reply to it be put upon the records of the Court:

_Dear Sir_:

At a late meeting of the Bar of the Court of Appeals at Lewisburg, a.s.sembled for the purpose of giving expression to the feelings occasioned by your retiring from the office of President of that Court, I had the honor to act as Chairman, and to be instructed by the meeting, with perfect unanimity, to communicate to you their sentiments of sincere regret and most kind and respectful regard. We know from observation the great responsibility, the arduous labor and high qualifications required by the eminent station which you have so long and so ably filled. The talent, the learning and research displayed in your judicial opinions are known to the country at large. But none can know and appreciate, so well as the officers of your Court, the spirit in which your duties have been most promptly and unremittingly discharged. Your untiring application, unaffected zeal and exemplary fidelity, have won our humble applause; but our hearts have been touched by your uniform gentleness, kindness and courtesy of deportment, as well in the hall of justice as in the private circle; and you take with you our regrets, not merely for the loss of the public officer, but of the delightful companion and friend. I have thus endeavored, though imperfectly, to express the sentiments of our public meeting, to which let me add the a.s.surances of my

Great respect and regard, JOHN H. PEYTON.

Lewisburg, August 1, 1841.

NOMINATED FOR JUDGE TUCKER'S JUDGEs.h.i.+P.