desire to avoid internecine strife among our own people (which must
have been immediately precipitated by a zealous minority, with
the local government, legislative and executive, in their hands)
impelled Mr. Badger, and those who acted with him, to decline to
take up arms against their own section in favor of the distant
authority of the national government, and as a consequence to unite
with those whose action they had deprecated and endeavored to
prevent, and with whom they had had little sympathy or cooperation
in the politics of the past. The support of the undertaking, if
concurred in by all the slaveholding States, which was confidently
represented to be certain, appeared to afford hope of a safer and
better future than its suppression by force. The determination of
the question, as I know, occasioned him pain and embarrassment,
but when made it was firmly maintained. He accepted a seat in the
Convention which passed the ordinance declaring the separation of
the State from the Federal Union, and gave to this ordinance his
sanction; not, however, without a distinct declaration of his
disbelief in the doctrine of secession as a constitutional right.
He also sustained measures for the prosecution of a vigorous war,
as, in his conception, the surest and shortest way to peace, but
was ever vigilant of the dignity and just rights of the State, the
encroachments of the military authority, the jurisdiction of the
civil tribunals and the protection and liberty of the citizens. He
sought no patronage or favor for himself or his family. His sons
served in the ranks of the army and bore their part in the perils
and adventures of war.
While it yet raged, he was stricken by the hand of disease, which
partially obscured his faculties and withdrew him from public view.
He survived, however, until after the return of peace, and in the
twilight of mind, with which he was yet favored, rejoiced in the
deliverance of the country from the calamities of war, and very
sincerely acquiesced in a return to his allegiance to the Government
of the United States.
These observations on the professional and public life of the
subject of our sketch have been so prolonged that the occasion will
permit but a few further remarks upon his general attainments,
his intellectual and moral character and usefulness as a citizen.
It was the remark of Lord Bacon that "Reading makes a full man,
conference a ready man, and writing an exact man." Mr. Badger's
reading was confined, with the exception of the dead languages,
which he had acquired in his youthful studies, to the literature
of our own language. With the most approved authors in this he
had a familiar acquaintance, and, as already remarked, excelled
in the accomplishments of a critic. The field of learning, which
next to jurisprudence he most affected, and perhaps even preferred
to that, was moral science. Upon the sublime truths of this
science, in the conversations with his friends, his remarks and
illustrations were often not unworthy of Alexander or Wayland,
Butler or Whately. "In it," says one of the most intimate of his
friends and contemporaries, "the rapidity of his perception and
accuracy of his deductions were marvelous. Place before his mind
any proposition of moral science, and instantly he carried it out,
either to exact truth, most beautifully enunciated, or reduced it to
an absurdity." To his acquisitions in the kindred topic of didactic
divinity, or theology as a science, only a professional theologian
can do justice. An earnest member of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, though but a layman, he ventured on more than one occasion
to discuss matters of discipline and doctrine in the character of a
pamphleteer, in opposition to clergymen of note, and in a memorable
instance with the head of the diocese himself with such signal
success that, although the Bishop ultimately united himself with the
Romish Church, whither Mr. Badger charged that he was tending, not
another member of his denomination left its communion.
He was averse to the labor of writing, and beyond an address before
the Literary Societies of the University, the reports, by his own
hand, of some of his speeches in Congress, and other pamphlets on
subjects political or religious, has left few written performances.
But he had the accuracy in thought and speech of a practiced writer.
In conversation he realized in the fullest sense Bacon's idea of
readiness, and shone with a lustre rarely equaled. The activity
and playfulness of his thoughts and the gayety of his disposition
inclined him to paradox and repartee to such a degree that his
conversation was oftentimes but amusing levity. But in a moment
it rose to the profoundest reflection and most fascinating
eloquence. His knowledge was ever at instantaneous command, as it
was far more the result of his own meditations than of acquisition
from others, and fancy lent her aid in giving a grandeur to his
conceptions on all the subjects of his grave discourse. After
all the public displays in which he enchained the attention of
judges, jurors, senators, and promiscuous assemblies with equal
admiration and delight, it is a matter for doubt, among those who
knew him well, whether his brightest thoughts and most felicitous
utterances, the versatility of his genius, and the vast range of
his contemplations were not oftener witnessed in his boon and
social hours, in the converse of friends, around his own hospitable
board, or at the village inn, or on a public highway--all without
pedantry or apparent effort, "as if he stooped to touch the loftiest
thought"--than in these elaborate and studied exhibitions. He
affected no mystery, and wore no mask, and stood ready in familiar
colloquy to make good, by new and apt illustrations, any sentiment
advanced in formal argument, or to abandon it as untenable if
satisfied of error.
His reverence for truth, to which allusion has been already made in
the course of these observations, was even above his intellectual
powers, his most striking characteristic. He was accustomed to speak
of it "as the most distinguished attribute of God himself, and the
love of it as giving to one moral being an eminence above another."
To its discovery he delighted to apply the powers of his remarkable
intellect, to its influence he was ready to surrender his most
cherished convictions whenever found to be erroneous.
The fruits of this were seen in the crowning virtues of his
character: he was a Christian of humble and intelligent piety
without intolerance toward others, a lawyer without chicanery or
artifice, a statesman without being a factionist, a party man above
the low arts of the demagogue, a gentleman and citizen enlightened,
social, charitable, liberal, impressing his character upon the
manners and morals of his times, ready to render aid in every good
and noble work, and prompt to resist and repel any evil influence,
no matter by what array of numbers, power or vitiated public opinion
supported. I have known no man to whose moral courage may be more
fitly applied the ideal of the Latin poet, as rendered in free
translation:
"The man whose mind on virtue bent,
Pursues some greatly good intent
With undiverted aim,
Serene beholds the angry crowd,
Nor can their clamors fierce and loud
His stubborn honor tame.
Not the proud tyrant's fiercest threat,
Nor storms, that from their dark retreat
The rolling surges wake;
Not Jove's dread bolt that shakes the pole,
The firmer purpose of his soul
With all its power can shake."
In the latter years of his life, actuated by a desire to be useful
in his day and generation, wherever opportunity and his ability
might allow, he accepted the office of justice of the peace, an
office which, to the honor of those who have filled it in North
Carolina from the first organization of civil government until
now, has ever been performed without pecuniary reward, and took
considerable interest in administering justice in the County Courts
of Wake, giving to this inferior tribunal the dignity and value of a
Superior Court, to the great satisfaction of the bar and the public.
He was thrice married; first, as before mentioned, to the daughter
of Governor Turner; second, to the daughter of Colonel William Polk,
and third, to Mrs. Delia Williams, daughter of Sherwood Haywood,
Esq., in each instance forming an alliance with an old family of
the State, distinguished by public service and great personal worth
from an early period. The last named lady, the worthy companion of
his life for thirty years, who survives him as his widow, receives
in her bereavement the condolence and sympathy, not merely of
this community and State, but that of those in distant lands and
in other States of the Union whom, not the lapse of years nor the
excitement of intervening events, nor the fiery gulf of civil war
shall separate from a friendship accorded to her and her departed
husband, as representatives of the personal character, the society
and domestic virtues of their native State in better days of the
republic. By the two latter marriages he left numerous descendants.
While taking his accustomed walk at an early hour in the morning
of January 5, 1863, he was prostrated by a paralytic stroke, near
the mineral spring in the environs of the city of Raleigh, and
although retaining his self-possession and ability to converse until
assistance was kindly furnished, on the way home his mind wandered,
and before reaching his residence his faculty of continuous speech
deserted him, never again to return. His mental powers after a brief
interval rallied, insomuch that he took pleasure in reading and in
listening to the conversations of friends, whose visits afforded him
much satisfaction; and, with assistance, he could walk for exercise
in the open air; but was never afterwards able to command language,
except for brief sentences, failing often in these to convey his
full meaning. In this condition he lingered until the 11th of May,
1866, when, after a few days' illness from renewed attacks of the
same nature, he expired, having recently completed his seventy-first
year.
My task is done. I have endeavored but "to hold the mirror up to
nature." If the image reflected appears, in any of its features,
magnified, it was not so intended. Yet the memory of a friendship,
dating back to kind offices and notice in my student-life, extending
through all my active manhood, may not have been without its
influence in giving color to the picture. But the character in
our contemplation was of no ordinary proportions. At the bar of
the State he wore the mantle of Gaston and Archibald Henderson
for a much longer period than either, worthily and well, with no
diminution of its honors. In the highest court of the Union he was
the acknowledged compeer of Webster, Crittenden, Ewing, Johnson,
Berrien, Walker and Cushing. That he did not sit in the highest seat
of justice in the State and nation, as proposed successively by the
Executive of each, is imputable to no deficiency or unworthiness for
the station, his adversaries being judges. In the Senate, when Clay,
Webster, and Calhoun still remained there, not to name others of
scarcely inferior repute, he was among the foremost, upholding the
rights of his own State and section with manliness and ability, but
with candor, moderation, and true wisdom, which sought to harmonize
conflicting elements and avert the calamities of civil strife. In
morals he was inflexible, without stain or suspicion of vice; in
manners and social intercourse, genial, frank, hospitable, with
colloquial powers to instruct, amuse, and fascinate alike, and "with
a heart open as day to melting charity." The fame of such a man is
a source of natural and just pride to the people of the State. This
sentiment is that which the poet describes in the Englishman, when
he sings
"It is enough to satisfy the ambition of a private man,
That Chatham's language was his mother tongue,
And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own."
How much he will be missed as a member of the community, as the
friend of order and law, religion and morality, as a professional
man, counsellor, and advocate of unrivalled ability and reputation,
as an intellectual and cultivated man, with armor bright and
powers ever at his command, presenting a model for the emulation
of our ingenuous youth, as a public character, as adviser and true
friend, but no flatterer of the people, and an unflinching supporter
of their rights, wherever truth and duty might lead, time and
experience may demonstrate. There is no public aspect, however, in
which his loss is so much to be deplored as in the relation he bore
to the past, and his probable efficiency in solving the problem
of the day. Who so capable of interpreting the Constitution which
forms our government, and the alleged laws of war by which it is
claimed to be suspended or superseded, as that gifted mind and
sincere nature, so trusted on these topics in former years, and
so thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teachings of Marshall?
Who so deserving to be heard on the best means of pacification and
reestablishment of order and right among thirty-five millions of
freemen as he who, by his temperance, calmness, and intelligent
constitutional opinions, in the commencement of our national
difficulties, incurred the censure of many in our own section of
country, without receiving the approbation of their adversaries? Who
so fitted for the exposure and correction of error, of allaying the
ignoble passions of hatred and revenge, and rekindling the national
affections inspired by a common and honorable history? Who so
skillful to remove the scales from the eyes that will not see, and
who so wise and brave to rebuke the age of faction, threatening to
realize the assertion of Mr. Fox, in his history of James II., that
"the most dangerous of all revolutions is a restoration?"
To that good Being, in whose hands are the destinies of nations and
individuals, by whose divine agency crooked paths are often made
straight and issue granted out of all troubles, in ways not visible
to human eyes, let us unite in commending every interest of our
beloved country.
* * * * *
The foregoing sketch, in the form of an address on the life and
character of George E. Badger, was delivered in Raleigh, July 19,
1866, at the request of the Wake county bar. Though much of it is
not strictly biographical, it is interesting on account of its
distinguished author, as well as for giving us a view of the times
and events discussed.
The address delivered by Mr. Badger at the State University in June,
1833, before the two Literary Societies, is said, by those who heard
him on other occasions, not to afford a fair illustration of his
great powers as a speaker. He was in fact never a florid orator,
powerful to move the passions above reason, but his mind was so
clear, his manner so unhesitating, his knowledge so great, his flow
of language so easy, his memory so accurate, and his presence so
commanding that he was bound to make a powerful impression whenever
he spoke to men in public or in private.
He was not greatest as a statesman--he had his run in the technical
learning of the law too long--statesmen must be early and specially
trained and educated in the business of statecraft.
He was too reserved, austere at times, and perhaps sensitive, ever
to win the affections of men in the same proportion that his great
talents commanded their respect and admiration.
His short tribute to Judge Gaston, hereto subjoined, is valuable for
the purpose for which it was uttered, and as a fair sample of his
style, showing his choice of words, in easy command, when occasion
called them forth. Judge Gaston died in January, 1844, and, at the
meeting held in honor of his memory, Mr. Badger said: "This meeting
of the members of the bar of the Supreme Court has learned with
profound grief the melancholy and totally unexpected bereavement
which the Court and the country have sustained in the death of
the Hon. William Gaston. Struck down suddenly by the hand of God,
in the midst of his judicial labors, dying as he had lived in the
enlightened and devoted service of his country, endued by learning
and adorned by eloquence with their choicest gifts, enobled by that
pure integrity and firm and undeviating pursuit of right which only
an ardent and animating religious faith can bestow and adequately
sustain, and endeared to the hearts of all that knew him by those
virtues which diffuse over the social circle all that is cheerful,
refined, and benevolent, he has left behind him a rare and happy
memory, dear alike to his brethren, his friends, and his country."
Governor Graham undertakes to set forth Mr. Badger's reasons for
finally favoring the secession of North Carolina from the Union, but
the reader will see from the subjoined resolutions that it is best
to allow Mr. Badger to speak for himself. He and the people of North
Carolina then assumed as axiomatic that Lincoln's call for troops
to invade the South was utterly without warrant of law. Strong as
was the language of the resolutions, it was not strong enough to
express the indignation of the people at Lincoln's usurping the
authority to begin the war on his sole responsibility. Not mainly
because the institution of slavery was threatened, nor yet because
we were wedged between seceding States, but because the people, as
one man, believed that the most vital powers of a government of
three departments had been violently seized by the Executive, that
the seizure was supported by a conspiracy of States, and that the
Constitution and the Union of the fathers were already outraged and
dismembered.
The resolutions above alluded to, and a part of the speech delivered
in the United States Senate, March 19, 1850, instructive in
themselves, are given also as specimens of Mr. Badger's style.
ORDINANCE OF SECESSION.
PROPOSED BY GEO. E. BADGER.
"Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and Hannibal Hamlin, of
Maine, were chosen President and Vice-President of the United
States by a party in fact and avowedly entirely sectional in
its organization, and hostile in its declared principles to the
institutions of the Southern States of the Union, and thereupon
certain Southern States did separate themselves from the Union, and
form another and independent government, under the name of 'The
Confederate States of America'; and
"Whereas, the people of North Carolina, though justly aggrieved by
the evident tendency of this election and of these principles, did,
nevertheless, abstain from adopting any such measures of separation,
and, on the contrary, influenced by an ardent attachment to the
Union and Constitution, which their fathers had transmitted to them,
did remain in the said Union, loyally discharging all their duties
under the Constitution, in the hope that what was threatening in
public affairs might yield to the united efforts of patriotic men
from every part of the nation, and by their efforts such guarantees
for the security of our rights might be obtained as should restore
confidence, renew alienated ties, and finally reunite all the
States in a common bond of fraternal union; meantime, cheerfully
and faithfully exerting whatever influence they possessed for the
accomplishment of this most desirable end; and
"Whereas, things being in this condition, and the people of this
State indulging this hope, the said Abraham Lincoln, President
of the United States did, on the fifteenth day of April, by
his proclamation, call upon the States of the Union to furnish
large bodies of troops to enable him, under the false pretense
of executing the laws, to march an army into the seceded States
with a view to their subjugation, under an arbitrary and military
authority, there being no law of Congress authorizing such calling
out of troops, and no constitutional right to use them, if called
out, for the purpose intended by him; and
"Whereas, this call for troops has been answered throughout the
Northern, Northwestern, and Middle non-slaveholding States with
enthusiastic readiness, and it is evident, from the tone of the
entire press of those States and the open avowal of their public
men, that it is the fixed purpose of the governments and people of
those States to wage a cruel war against the seceded States, to
destroy utterly the fairest portion of this continent, and reduce
its inhabitants to absolute subjection and abject slavery; and
"Whereas, in aid of these detestable plans and wicked measures, the
said Lincoln, without any shadow of rightful authority, and in plain
violation of the Constitution of the United States, has, by other
proclamations, declared the ports of North Carolina, as well as all
the other Atlantic and Gulf States under blockade, thus seeking to
cut off our trade with all parts of the world; and
"Whereas, since his accession to power, the whole conduct of said
Lincoln has been marked by a succession of false, disingenuous and
treacherous acts and declarations, proving incontestably that he
is, at least in his dealings with Southern States and Southern men,
devoid of faith and honor; and
"Whereas, he is now governing by military rule alone, enlarging by
new enlistments of men both the military and naval force, without
any authority of law, having set aside all constitutional and legal
restraints, and made all constitutional and legal rights dependent
upon his mere pleasure and that of his military subordinates; and
"Whereas, in all his unconstitutional, illegal and oppressive acts,
in all his wicked and diabolical purposes, and in his present
position of usurper and military dictator, he has been and is
encouraged and supported by the great body of the people of the
non-slaveholding States;
"Therefore, this convention, now here assembled in the name and
with the sovereign power of the people of North Carolina, doth, for
the reasons aforesaid, and others, and in order to preserve the
undoubted rights and liberties of the said people, hereby declare
all connection of government between this State and the United
States of America dissolved and abrogated, and this State to be a
free, sovereign, and independent State, owing no subordination,
obedience, support or other duty to the said United States, their
Constitution or authorities, anything in her ratification of
said Constitution or of any amendment or amendments thereto to
the contrary notwithstanding; and having full power to levy war,
conclude peace, contract alliances, and to do all other acts and
things which independent States may of right do, and appealing to
the Supreme Governor of the world for the justice of our cause, and
beseeching Him for his gracious help and blessing, we will, to the
uttermost of our power and to the last extremity, maintain, defend,
and uphold this declaration."
SPEECH ON SLAVERY AND THE UNION.
BY GEORGE E. BADGER.
I concur entirely in what has so often been said on this floor that
there can be no peaceable separation of this Union. From the very
nature of the case, from the character of our institutions, from the
character of our country, from the nature of the government itself,
it is, in my judgment, impossible that there can be a peaceable
separation of this Union. But if there could be, I agree entirely
with the honorable Senator from Kentucky, that the state of peace
in which we should separate must be speedily ended, must terminate
in intestine conflicts, in wars, which, from the nature of the
case, could know no amicable termination, no permanent peace but,
until the superiority of the one or the other side in the conflict
should be completely established, would admit of nothing but hollow
truces, in which each might breathe from past exertions, and make
preparations for future conflicts.