Memoir of John Howe Peyton Part 11

There seems never to have been a time that people did not wish Mr.

Peyton on the bench, and immediately after Judge Tucker's resignation, they began to nominate him, through the papers, for the vacant judgeship. He quickly put a stop to it, however, by declaring his entire unwillingness to take the office, not that he did not consider it an honor, but because at his then age, he was not willing to enter upon its onerous duties. We regret that among the beautiful tributes paid to him at this time, in the Richmond papers, we have not been able to get any other than that which follows.

JOHN H. PEYTON FOR THE COURT OF APPEALS.

_Sir_:

It will doubtless be inc.u.mbent on the next Legislature to elect a Judge of the Court of Appeals (to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Henry St. George Tucker). This is the Supreme Court of the State, whose decisions have the weight of law, and, therefore, it is of the highest importance that a profound lawyer should be elected. I propose for this place a man who has no superior as a sound reasoner, a profound lawyer and thinker, a good logician and a persevering worker; a man who possesses both genius and learning, I allude to that able, dignified and learned Senator for Rockbridge and Augusta, JOHN HOWE PEYTON, ESQ. For many years Mr. Peyton has practised in the Courts of Common Law and Chancery, and in the Court of Appeals and no one has acquired a higher reputation as a Jurist. If elected, his decisions will command the respect of every able jurist and honest man in the State.

It is not my wish to lessen the merits of others when I say Virginia has no better man, no abler lawyer, ALLEN.

August 12, 1841.

The following very interesting reminiscenses are taken from the Spectator of 1891. They were written by one of the most intelligent and cultivated gentlemen of Augusta, who is still, in 1894, living in the county. He wrote under the signature of "Senex." The opening sentences of Mr. Michie's speech const.i.tute in themselves a splendid biography of Mr. Peyton:

AN INTERESTING REMINISCENCE OF JOHN H. PEYTON AND THOMAS J. MICHIE.

At the November term, 1843, of the Circuit Superior Court, Staunton, a case which had excited great public interest, in which the late Hon.

John H. Peyton was one of the parties, was tried. It had reference to a change in the Hebron Church road through Montgomery Hall, on the lands of Mr. Peyton. Some time before a portion of the public road running entirely through these lands was closed by order of the County Court upon Mr. Peyton's motion, and another road established--the same road now, in 1894, in use. The closing of the road gave great offense to a neighborhood commonly called the North Mountain neighborhood. Upon their pet.i.tion at a subsequent term of the County Court the order obtained by Mr. Peyton was, during his absence in the Senate at Richmond, rescinded, thus re-establishing the road which had been closed at his instance. From this decision Mr. Peyton shortly afterwards appealed to the Circuit Court, then the appellate tribunal in such cases. Before the case came on for trial there was an excited controversy in the newspaper in regard to the whole matter in which it was freely charged that the order of Court obtained by Mr. Peyton was in the nature of a purchase and sale of the public rights in the road. When the case came up for argument before Lucas B. Thompson, the excitement among the friends of the parties was intense, the Court house was crowded to overflowing, princ.i.p.ally by the people of the North Mountain neighborhood.

For Mr. Peyton two of the most prominent members of the Staunton bar appeared, Thomas J. Michie and Hugh W. Sheffey; the other side was represented by A. H. H. Stuart and David Fultz.

The opening argument for Mr. Peyton was delivered by Mr. Sheffey, the junior counsel. He made a strong legal argument, closely following the record and confining himself strictly to the merits of the case. He was followed by Messrs. Stuart and Fultz, who maintained the very remarkable proposition that the order of the County Court obtained by Mr. Peyton was an invasion and violation of the public rights, which could be redressed in no other way than by annulling that order at a subsequent term of the County Court as had actually been done, and unless this last proceeding could be sustained, they contended that their clients would be the victims of a wrong for which they would be absolutely without remedy. In some of their remarks they were understood by Mr. Michie to a.s.sail Mr. Peyton personally. The Court adjourned until the next morning, when the excitement was greater and the crowd larger.

In the opening of his remarks the next day, Mr. Michie, who was evidently much excited, said: _"I regret the course which the counsel on the other side have pursued in going out of the record to a.s.sail my client--a man who has served his country with distinguished ability in various civil positions in time of peace, who has honorably and gallantly served and sacrificed his property for his country in time of war--a man whose honor and integrity have never been impeached in this or any other community, before this or any other tribunal. And so help me G.o.d, I will not suffer him, old, respected and honored as he is, to be hunted down by the blood-hounds now on his track."_ At this point Mr.

Stuart jumped to his feet and disclaimed any intention to a.s.sail Mr.

Peyton, to which Mr. Michie retorted, "_I suppose the gentleman will not have forgotten that he charged that the public rights had been bought and sold._" Mr. Stuart insisted that he had made no attack on Mr.

Peyton. Mr. Michie then delivered a powerful and earnest speech in which the position of his adversaries were literally pulverized. He declared as to the North Mountain people that they had come to Staunton in crowds and had attempted to brow-beat the halls of justice.

Judge Thompson, in delivering his opinion on the case, decided that the original order of the County Court obtained by Mr. Peyton was a valid and legal order, and that the remedy which the other parties had, if, indeed, the public convenience required that the old road should be kept open, was to pet.i.tion the Court under the general road law of Virginia to open the road _de novo_--thus deciding the whole case in Mr.

Peyton's favor. Thus ended a controversy which had excited a degree of feeling rarely exhibited in a case where so small a pecuniary, or property interest was involved.

PROTECTS A WEAK MINDED GIRL.

I remember Mr. Peyton's personal appearance and manners well. He made a great impression on me as a youth and I never knew any man who had more of what Edmund Burke styled the "chast.i.ty of honor, which felt a stain like a wound." His humanity and sense of right were deeply aroused in a case which occurred in Bath county in 1842, in which a man for speculative purposes sought to take the person and property of a girl of weak mind from the custody of her brothers. He was represented by John W. Brockenbrough, afterwards United States Judge for Western Virginia.

Mr. Peyton appeared for the girl and her brothers and in opposition to the proposition made by Brockenbrough's client delivered an impromptu speech in which the mean, selfish, cruel and avaricious nature of the proposition was so clearly and mercilessly exposed that Brockenbrough did not even attempt to reply, and the presiding Judge E. S. Duncan, a half-brother of Judge John J. Allen, dec'd, instantly decided that the custody of the girl and her property should remain in the hands of her brothers. It was evident that Mr. Peyton's high and generous nature was filled with indignation at what he regarded as a most atrocious proposition, and he spoke with an animation, warmth and energy, probably never exceeded in any other effort of his long and distinguished professional career.

SENEX.

_Spectator, 1891._

LETTER FROM JOHN HOWE PEYTON, ESQ., TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE AMHERST FESTIVAL.

Staunton, October 8th, 1843.

_Gentlemen_:

Your letter of the 2nd instant inviting me on behalf of the Whigs of Amherst county, to be present at a festival to be held at Amherst Court house, on the 19th of the present month, for the promotion of the Whig cause, has just reached me. I regret, that for reasons unnecessary to detail, it will not be in my power to accept your polite invitation. You judge rightly, however, in supposing that I cordially unite with you in the objects which you have in view. The next Presidential election is a subject so important and so deeply interesting to the nation, that it cannot be taken into consideration too soon. The issues involved in it are the same with those before the people in 1840, and affect so vitally the public welfare, that too much care cannot be bestowed upon our proper organization--not only to prevent the evils arising from misrepresentation and falsehood, by disseminating among the people correct information, but to secure a full and fair expression of the public sentiment. If these issues are fully and fairly explained, together with the mode and manner in which the Whigs have been disappointed in carrying their measures into effect by the lamentable death of President Harrison, I do not fear a different result in the ensuing election from that which occurred in 1840. Our opponents have not yet designated their candidate. We are as yet uninformed whether we are to encounter the subtle abstractions of the South Carolina nullifier, or the wiley artifices of the "Northern man with Southern principles" or whether we are to face both. Not so with the Whigs.

Henry Clay is so identified with the Whig cause and with Whig principles, that "all tongues speak of him, and the blear'd sights are spectacled to see him." He is distinctly pointed at by Whigs, in all parts of the Union, as the candidate for this distinguished station.

Let Whig clubs then be established in every county in the State; let the people be correctly informed what Whig principles are, and why the battle of 1840 is to be fought over again; let the people know that the Whigs are not only in favor of a sound currency but of a currency of uniform value throughout the Union--a national currency, consisting partly of the precious metals and partly of paper, convertible at pleasure into specie; and that they maintain, that in the present commercial condition of our country and of the world, this species of currency can be best attained by a well-regulated national bank. Let them know that we prefer indirect to direct taxation--that we are the friends of a tariff, to raise the necessary revenues for the general government--so arranged as to protect our home industry, and to create a home market. Let them know that we are the friends to a distribution of the monies arising from a sale of the public lands, according to some equitable ratio, and that we are not willing that a fund pledged by the States for specific objects, shall, after those objects are secured, be diverted to others not contemplated by the parties at the creation of the trust. Let them know that we, as our name indicates, are the friends of rational liberty; that we are for preserving the balances of power as established by the Const.i.tution, among the three co-ordinate branches of the Government--that we are the enemies of monarchy and all the monarchical tendencies of our Government--that we are in favor of restraining Executive power and patronage; and for an economical administration of the finances.

If these topics are fully discussed, and the people made clearly to comprehend their bearing, the election of a Whig President in 1844, can scarcely be questioned.

You will pardon me for entering upon these subjects so much at large, when addressing myself to those who are more capable of doing them justice, and more interested in the issue than myself. I am an old man, and cannot expect to reap many of the fruits of a Whig victory, but I have a country and family that will enjoy them; and therefore I feel a deep interest in their success.

As I cannot be personally present, permit me to offer as a sentiment:

_May a retreating Whig in the contest of 1844, be a character unknown and unheard of._

Accept the a.s.surances of my respect--Your fellow citizen.

JOHN H. PEYTON.

_Spectator, Nov. 23, 1843._

A DEPLORABLE ACCIDENT.

During the summer of 1843, while Mr. and Mrs. Peyton and the entire family were outing, on his Jackson river estate, called Isleham, or the "upper farm," for he owned another estate lower down the Jackson river, he accompanied, on horseback, a surveying party, engaged in locating or rectifying certain lines. At many points on their route, the surface was rough and hilly, and near the high banks of the river overgrown with brush. While riding up one of these steep banks, through undergrowth and brambles, his horse, a spirited animal, was beset by a swarm of bees.

The animal began to plunge and soon became unmanageable, and rushing through the trees and brush, either dragged Mr. Peyton off or he was thrown, falling heavily to the ground, stunned and helpless. It was thought at the time that he was fatally injured, but after being removed to the dwelling, he revived, after one of his tenants, Mr. Meadows, had drawn from his arm a quant.i.ty of blood. Dr. Payne, of Covington, an old friend and skillful physician, was by his bedside in less than two hours, and through his care and attention, Mr. Peyton was enabled to return to Montgomery Hall within a fortnight, and soon resumed his ordinary life. It is supposed that this accident was the beginning of the end, the commencement of his decline, that he never fully recovered from his injuries, which affected the hips and spinal cord. The following summer he was prostrated by an attack of apoplexy, but such were the recuperative energies of his vigorous const.i.tution, that he recovered from it, and attended the next session of the Senate after having made a visit to Col. Wm. M. Peyton, in Roanoke, where he was extensively and elegantly entertained and where it is thought he may have indulged imprudently--in his then state of health, in the luxuries of the table. The writer was with him on this visit, and remembers well the numerous and splendid dinner parties given him by General Edward Watts, George B. Tayloe, Mr. Oliver, Mr. Bowyer, Mr. Preston, of Greenfield, Mr. Langhorne, Mr. Burrell, Colonel Lewis, Dr. Griffith, Mr.

Johnston and others.

His friends in the Senate, saw with pain and regret his declining health, and Mr. Peyton himself realizing it determined to abandon all public employment. Accordingly in the month of December, 1843, he announced in the following letter his purpose to retire:

Richmond, Dec. 1843.

TO THE PEOPLE OF AUGUSTA AND ROCKBRIDGE.

_Fellow Citizens_:

The term for which I was elected your senator is drawing to a close, and as it is not my intention to become again a candidate for your suffrages, I feel it a duty inc.u.mbent on me to apprize you of it thus early, that you may have full time to select for yourselves a suitable successor.

In taking leave of the district I tender you my grateful acknowledgements for the distinguished honor which you conferred upon me four years ago by electing me to the station I now occupy. Whilst acting in the discharge of the duties devolved upon me by this elevated trust, it has been my anxious desire to promote your interests and the general welfare of my native State. That such is the opinion of my const.i.tuents I have not had the slightest reason to doubt. Under such circ.u.mstances it would be both my pride and pleasure to again serve you were it not for my peculiar situation.

I have now arrived at a period of life when the quiet and repose of the domestic fireside are much better suited to my tastes and more congenial to my feelings than the arena of politics and the strife of parties.

Besides this I have duties to discharge to a young and growing family incompatible with a longer continuance in public life.

I have felt the less difficulty in coming to this conclusion because I know I can do so without injury to the Whig cause or Whig principles, in the success of which the people of my district feel so deep an interest.

Their intelligence furnishes ample a.s.surance that my place will be filled wisely and judiciously; and that they will call into their service some one fully competent to the discharge of all the high duties of the station, and who will devote himself to the furtherance of those great principles and sound measures of public policy, which in the enlightened judgment of my const.i.tuents, lie at the basis of national prosperity.

Your fellow citizen, JOHN H. PEYTON, Richmond, 1843.

There were universal expressions of regret on this occasion. The Richmond Whig, edited by the distinguished and unfortunate, John Hamden Pleasants, who was killed a few years later in a duel with Thomas Ritchie, Jr., said: "The people of Rockbridge and Augusta and of the State generally, will see, with regret, the announcement of Mr. Peyton's purpose to retire from the public councils. Mr. Peyton came into the Senate of Virginia three years ago, and his accession contributed greatly to the object at that time much considered and desired by the State, to elevate the greatly declined and declining standard and character of that body for ability. The last spring elections have started another retrogradation in the same way and we are greatly concerned at any circ.u.mstance calculated to accelerate the down-hill march. The withdrawal of Mr. Peyton's rare talents, large experience, legal and general knowledge, moderation, firmness and courtesy, from any legislative body whatever, would be seriously felt."

_John S. Gallaher_, Senator from Frederick, said in the "Winchester Republican":