August term of the court he appeared at the Orange bar. The rule
then required, between the admission to practice in the County Court
and the admission to practice in the Superior Court, a novitiate
of one year. This period he spent in Hillsborough that he might
continue to profit by the instruction of his learned preceptor. At
the end of the year he received his Superior Court license. It was
now a question where he should establish himself for the practice of
his profession. The counties of Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Lincoln
were filled with his blood relations, connections and friends. They
were among the most distinguished for their wealth, intelligence
and Revolutionary service. Their combined influence would give
him command of all the important business of those counties, and
place him at the outset in the position of a leader of the bar. The
prospect in Orange and the adjoining counties was widely different.
In these latter counties he would have no adventitious advantages.
The business of these counties, moreover, was engrossed by an able
and a numerous bar. At the first court which he attended after he
obtained his Superior Court license they mustered to the number of
twenty-six. A large proportion of these were young men recently
admitted to practice; but after deducting these, and many more of
longer standing and respectable position, there still remained a bar
which for learning, abilities and eloquence was never surpassed in
this State. Of resident lawyers there were Thomas Ruffin, Archibald
D. Murphy, Willie P. Mangum, Francis L. Hawks and Frederick Nash;
of lawyers attending the court, from other counties, there were
George E. Badger, William H. Haywood and Bartlett Yancey. What
recollections of renown connected with the forum, the Senate, and
the church flood the mind as we recall these names! Fain would
I pause to contemplate the career of these illustrious men, by
which the character of North Carolina was so much elevated in the
consideration of the world, and so much of honor brought to the
State. But other subjects press upon me--subjects of more immediate
interest.
Notwithstanding this formidable competition--a competition which
might well dismay one at the outset of professional life--Mr.
Graham resolved to fix his residence at Hillsborough. Two reasons
were assigned by him for this conclusion: first, an unwillingness
to relinquish the foothold he had gained in the county courts of
Orange, Granville and Guilford; second, a reluctance to sever the
associations formed with his professional brethren at those courts.
Another reason, quite as potent, probably, was a well-grounded
confidence in his own abilities, and in his knowledge of his
profession. Against such men he entered the lists, and against such
he had to contend; not indeed all at the same time, but all within
a period of two years. It may be mentioned as an instance of the
vicissitudes of human life, that five years from the August of that
year--1827--not one of those illustrious men remained at that bar.
His first case of importance in the Superior Court was one which,
from peculiar causes, excited great local interest. It involved an
intricate question of title to land. On the day of trial, the court
room was crowded and the bar fully occupied by lawyers--many of them
men of the highest professional eminence. When he came to address
the jury, he spoke with modesty, but with ease and self-possession.
His preparation of the case had been thorough, and the argument
which he delivered is described as admirable, both as to matter and
manner. When he closed Hon. William H. Haywood, who had then risen
to a high position at the bar, turned to a distinguished gentleman,
still living, of the same profession, and inquired who had prepared
the argument which Mr. Graham had so handsomely delivered. The
answer was, "It is all his own;" to which Mr. Haywood replied with
the observation, "William Gaston could have done it no better."
Mr. Graham knew none of that weary probation which has been the lot
of so many able men. His argument in the case just mentioned at
once gave him a position of prominence. It was not long before he
attained a place in the front rank of his profession. Here, with the
large stores of professional knowledge which he had laid up, it was
easy to sustain himself. His high mental qualifications, his habits
of study, his perseverance, his unalterable faith in his cause,
brought to him a constantly increasing business, and a constantly
widening reputation. He was early, for so young a man, retained in
the most important causes in the courts in which he practiced, and
his associate counsel generally gave him the leading position in the
trial.
In 1833 he was elected a member of the General Assembly from the
town of Hillsborough. His first appearance on the floor has an
interest from the relations subsequently existing between him
and the distinguished man to whom the motion submitted by him
had reference. He rose to move the sending of a message to the
Senate to proceed to the election of a Governor of the State, and
to put in nomination Governor Swain. A day or two after he had
the satisfaction of reporting that that gentleman--who was ever
afterward united to him in the closest bonds of friendship--had
received a majority of votes, and of being named as first on
the committee to inform him of his election. He took, from the
beginning, an active part in the business of the House relating to
banks, law amendments and education.
I record an incident which attests the high consideration which he
had already acquired in the country, and the importance attached
to his opinion. Judge Gaston had been elected in 1833 to a seat
on the Supreme Court Bench by a majority of two-thirds of the
General Assembly. He had been brought up in the Roman Catholic
faith--the faith of his fathers--the faith in which he died. The
thirty-second section of the old constitution declared incapable
of holding office all those who "deny the truth of the Protestant
religion." Some dissatisfaction had been expressed at his accepting
a judicial office under a constitution containing this clause,
which in the opinion of some, excluded him. For some time he did
not deem it necessary to advert to the matter. In 1834--November
12--he addressed a letter to Mr. Graham, enclosing a written paper,
in which he stated succinctly, but with great clearness and force,
the reasoning by which his acceptance had been determined. In the
conclusion of his letter he referred it to Mr. Graham's judgment,
to determine what degree of publicity should be given to the
paper. Whether it was ever published we do not know; but when we
consider Judge Gaston's high station and great name in the country,
and that the purity of that name was in a measure at stake, the
incident must be regarded as a singular tribute to the character
which Mr. Graham had thus early established. It is well known how
Judge Gaston availed himself of his place in the Convention of 1835
to set forth to the world the reasons by which his decision had
been influenced--reasons so cogent and conclusive as to satisfy
every mind. It is known, too, that the object of the great speech
delivered by him then--an object happily accomplished--was to bring
about such a modification of the obnoxious clause as to deprive it
of all sectarian intolerance.
Mr. Graham was again a member from Hillsborough in the year 1835.
In the organization of the committees the post of chairman of the
Committee on the Judiciary was assigned to him, and the journals
bear testimony to the diligence with which its duties were
discharged. It was through him, in his capacity of chairman, that
the various reports of the commissioners to revise the statute
laws of the State--the _Revised Code_ being then in progress--were
submitted to the House.
From the abilities displayed and the high position held by him in
the Legislature, we should naturally expect to find him in the
Constitutional Convention of 1835. It has been well said that the
county of Orange has been to North Carolina, what Virginia has been
to the Union, the mother of statesmen. On this occasion, by one of
those caprices which sometimes seize upon communities as well as
individuals, the noble old county seemed to care little for her
ancient renown. There seems to have been no action by the county
to secure delegates worthy of her former reputation. We learn from
the remarks of one of the delegates in the Convention, that there
were ten candidates in the field, and that the successful candidates
were returned by so small a vote as to call forth a taunt from a
member of the Convention. In such a contest Mr. Graham had no desire
to enter the field; indeed, whenever he offered himself for the
suffrages of his countrymen, it was as the chosen champion of the
principles of a great party.
He again represented the county of Orange in the Legislatures
of 1838 and 1840, in both of which he was elected Speaker. This
withdrew him from the arena of debate, and we learn little more of
him from the journals of those sessions than the uniform punctuality
and universal acceptability with which he discharged the duties of
that high trust.
A revolution in the politics of the State brought about a vacancy,
in 1840, in the representation from North Carolina in the Senate of
the United States. Mr. Strange, under instructions, had resigned his
seat; the term of the other Senator was near its end. There were
thus two terms to be filled by the Legislature of 1841. Mr. Mangum
was elected for the full term, Mr. Graham for the unexpired term.
This election was considered by Mr. Graham as the most emphatic
testimonial of the confidence and favor of the State which he
received during his life. Mr. Mangum and he were residents of the
same county, and of the many able men who might justly advance
claims to the other seat Mr. Graham was the youngest. Certainly an
election under such circumstances constituted a tribute of peculiar
significance and value.
He was among the youngest members of the Senate when he took his
seat; but he soon commanded the esteem and respect of the entire
body. That, it has been truly said, was preëminently the age of
great men in American parliamentary history, and of such he was
regarded as the worthy compeer. "He never rose to speak," says a
distinguished gentleman (Mr. Rayner), who was himself a member of
Congress at that time, "that he did not receive the most respectful
attention. When the Senate went into Committee of the Whole he was
usually called upon to preside. Reports from him as chairman of a
committee almost invariably secured the favorable consideration of
the Senate." From the same authority we learn that the relations
existing between him and Mr. Clay were of the most kindly and
intimate character, and that Mr. Clay "regarded him as a most
superior man, socially and intellectually."
The period during which Mr. Graham was in the Senate was one of
the most stormy in our political annals. The Whig party had just
achieved a great victory, and Harrison and Tyler had been elected
by an immense majority. That party reckoned confidently that it
would now be able to carry out those great principles of government,
for which it had so long contended, and which had been so signally
approved in the recent election. In the midst of these patriotic
anticipations, General Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler succeeded to
the Presidential chair. Mr. Tyler had adopted the platform of the
Whig party, and in his address, upon assuming the duties of his
high office, he did not intimate the least change of policy from
that which his predecessor had announced in his inaugural. He had,
moreover, retained the same constitutional advisers. The statesmen
of the Whig party now set to work to redeem the pledges which had
been made to the country. A great financial measure was passed; this
was vetoed by the President. A second measure of the same kind,
framed in conformity to the views indicated in his veto message, was
passed, which was vetoed in like manner. A tariff bill was passed,
but this shared the same fate. Efforts were made to pass these
bills over the President's veto, but in every instance the veto
was sustained by the opposite party. The result of these repeated
disappointments was that all hope of united and efficient action
in carrying out the great principles of the Whig party was finally
abandoned.
The administration of Mr. Van Buren had largely exceeded the
revenues. Provision for this deficiency had to be made by the
incoming administration. To meet an emergency so pressing a bill
was introduced, known as the "Loan Bill." It was strongly opposed,
among others, by Mr. Calhoun, in a speech of characteristic force
and compass. So far as the Whigs were concerned it was an appeal by
the administration for aid, to a party which it had betrayed. Mr.
Graham only recollected that the good of the country was involved,
and gave it his support. "I will not," said he, "stop the action of
the government by denying it the means of going on, no matter who
may be in power." The speech which he delivered on this bill was
eminently able and statesmanlike. He demonstrated the necessity of
the measure; he traced out the cause of the deficiency, and pointed
out the remedy. The subject has little interest to the general
reader at this day, yet in that speech there are passages of such
profound reflection and philosophic scope as will give it a value to
the political student at all times.
When the Apportionment bill in 1842 was under consideration, very
strong opposition, headed by Mr. Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, and Mr.
Wright, of New York, was made to the districting clause. Mr. Graham,
on June the 3d, addressed the Senate in support of the clause. In a
calm, condensed, weighty and conclusive argument, he demonstrated
that the district system of electing Representatives to Congress,
was in conformity to the true theory of representative government,
and was the one contemplated and expected by the framers of the
government; that it was sanctioned by usage almost unanimous in the
old States, and by the usage of two-thirds of the new; that the
general ticket system was fraught with evils, public and private;
nay, with dangers to the Union. There was a passage in that debate
which so forcibly illustrates the high moral plane upon which he
discussed public affairs that I cannot pass it by. It was objected
by Mr. Woodbury, of New Hampshire, that if the act were passed
by Congress, it had no means of enforcing it. He wished to know
whether an armed force or a writ of mandamus would be sent to the
State Legislatures to compel them to lay off the districts. In
reply Mr. Graham showed that if, notwithstanding the law, a State
should return members according to general ticket, the House of
Representatives, as judge of the election of its members, could
pronounce such election a nullity. "But the duties of the States
under our Constitution," said he, "are not to be determined by
their liability to punishment, but by the covenants into which they
entered by that instrument. It is faith, honor, conscience, and
not the 'hangman's whip,' on which, at last rest the blessings of
this noblest human institution which has ever been devised for the
security, the welfare and happiness of man." In this exclamation,
he unconsciously announced those great principles by which his own
conduct through life was regulated, and to whose slightest behest he
ever yielded an unhesitating obedience.
A short time after--July 25, 1842--he received the following
letter from Chancellor Kent: "I thank you for your speech on the
districting clause of the Apportionment bill. I have read it
carefully, and I deem it in every respect logical, conclusive, and a
vindication of the power assumed by the bill, in language clear and
specific, tempered with due moderation and firmness. The district
system is essential to check and control the cunning machinery of
faction."
After the expiration of his term--March 3, 1843--Mr. Graham resumed
the practice of his profession.
In 1844 he was nominated by the Whig party of North Carolina for the
office of Governor. He had not sought the nomination; nay, would
have declined it if he could have done so consistently with his high
conceptions of the duty of a citizen. In 1836 he had married the
daughter of the late John Washington, Esq., of New Bern, a lady of
rare beauty and accomplishments--a union which brought to him as
much of happiness as it is the lot of man to know. From this union
a young and growing family was gathering around him. His patrimony
had not been large, and the requirements of his family demanded his
constant professional exertions. He was now at the summit of his
profession, and his emoluments would be limited only by the nature
of the business in an agricultural State, where commerce existed to
only a small extent, and manufactures were in their infancy. His
attention had been much withdrawn from his profession during his
senatorial career, and besides the expense and loss of time in a
State canvass, he would, if elected, be entirely precluded from the
exercise of his profession during his term of office. The salary
of the office was small, and a residence in the capital as Chief
Magistrate would render necessary an increased scale of expense. On
the other hand were considerations of great weight. Letters came to
him from many gentlemen of high standing in various parts of the
State, pressing his acceptance by every consideration that could be
addressed to an elevated mind. Moreover, he was not unmindful of
the honors which had been conferred upon him, and not ungrateful.
He held, too, that the circumstances must be very exceptional
which could justify a citizen in withholding his services when
called to a public station by the general voice of the people. To
determine his duty cost him much anxious reflection; but the latter
consideration proved decisive. The decision once made, he acted with
his accustomed energy.
His nomination was hailed with satisfaction throughout the Union.
Among other letters which he then received, giving expression to
this feeling, was one from Mr. Clay. In conclusion he thus expressed
himself: "Still, I should have preferred that you were in another
situation, where the whole Union would have benefited by your
services."
His opponent was Colonel Mike Hoke. He was born in the same county
with Mr. Graham, and was nearly of the same age. He was a gentleman
of fine person, of fine address, of considerable legislative
experience, and of high position at the bar. The canvass was well
contested on both sides; on the part of Mr. Graham it was conducted
with surpassing ability. When it came to the vote he led his
competitor by several thousand majority.
He was inaugurated on the 1st of January, 1845, the oaths of office
being administered by Chief Justice Ruffin. The _Raleigh Register_
of that date remarks, that "the audience which witnessed the
ceremony, for everything that could make the occasion imposing,
has never been surpassed within our recollection. The lobbies and
galleries were crowded with strangers and citizens, and a brilliant
assemblage of ladies."
His first term was so acceptable that he was elected to the second
by a largely increased vote. His two terms embrace that period,
during which North Carolina made the greatest progress in all her
interests. The messages of his very able predecessor, Governor
Morehead, followed up by his own, drew the attention of the whole
State to the subject of internal improvements, and a powerful
impulse was given to that great interest.
In a letter, Mr. Webster writes as follows: "The tone which your
message holds, in regard to the relations between the State
Government and the General Government, is just, proper, dignified
and constitutional, and the views which it presents on questions
of internal policy, the development of resources, the improvement
of markets, and the gradual advancement of industry and wealth,
are such as belong to the age, and are important to our country
in all its parts." His earnest recommendation of a geological
survey elicited from Prof. Olmstead, a letter commending his views
expressed in that regard, in which he said: "There is no State in
the Union which would better reward the labor and expense of a
geological survey than North Carolina."
In 1849 he delivered the address before the literary societies
at Chapel Hill. His subject was a cursory view of the objects
of liberal education. This address stands out in wide contrast
to those which have been customary on such occasions, and is
solid, sterling, practical. It is a vindication of the University
curriculum.
Public honors have been coy to most men; it was the reverse in his
case. They waited around him with perpetual solicitation. In 1849,
Mr. Mangum, one of the confidential advisers of the President, wrote
to Mr. Graham that he might make his election between the Mission to
Russia and the Mission to Spain. Subsequently the Mission to Spain
was tendered to and declined by him.
Upon the accession of Mr. Fillmore to the Presidency, a seat in the
Cabinet was tendered to Mr. Graham. In the letter addressed to him
by the President, informing him of his appointment, he said: "I
trust that you will accept the office, and enter upon the discharge
of its duties at the earliest day. I am sure that the appointment
will be highly acceptable to the country, as I can assure you, your
acceptance will be gratifying to me." In a letter couched in proper
terms, dated July 25, he communicated his acceptance.
In a letter dated the 19th of February, 1851, Mr. Benton wrote as
follows: "I have just read a second time, your report on the Coast
Survey. I consider it one of the most perfect reports I ever read--a
model of a business report, and one which should carry conviction to
every candid, inquiring mind. I deem it one of the largest reforms,
both in an economical and administrative point of view, which the
state of our affairs admits of."
He resolved, being strongly supported by the President, to send
an expedition to Japan and bring that empire within the pale and
comity of civilized nations. The command was assigned to Commodore
Perry. The event showed what statesmanlike sagacity was exercised
in planning the expedition and in the selection of its leader.
Everything that was contemplated was accomplished. The success of
that expedition constitutes one of the principal claims of Mr.
Fillmore's administration to the admiration of the country and of
posterity. Its success constitutes, indeed, an era in the history of
the world. Its results have been great and cannot but be enduring.
It has placed our relations with Japan upon a just and honorable
basis. It has given a new direction to much of the commerce of
the world--pouring its fertilizing tide through the heart of the
American continent. Its effects upon Japan are but beginning to be
seen; yet already they exceed what would have been brought about in
the ordinary course of affairs in a thousand years. No people have
ever availed themselves of the light of a superior civilization
as the Japanese have. In that light they have seen the unfitness
of many of their old institutions and have abandoned them; they
have seen the unfitness of their language for foreign intercourse,
and are preparing to substitute the English language. The changes
thus made are harbingers of progress which will justify the most
lively anticipations for the future. The friends of humanity and
religion, especially, hail the prospect with delight. They see in
what has been already done, the prospect of an entire change in the
institutions of that land. They hope, at no distant day, to see
liberal institutions introduced there. They hope to see a universal
recognition of popular rights, where the bonds of caste have been
so inexorable; to see equal laws take the place of a despot's will,
and to see the Christian religion again introduced, never more to be
disturbed in its peaceful reign.
Another expedition was sent out in 1851 under the direction of the
Navy Department. The object was the exploration of the valley of the
Amazon in the interests of commerce. The instructions to Lieutenant
Herndon--to whose charge the expedition was confided--contained
in the letter of Mr. Graham, of February 15th, were full and
particular. They embraced the position of the country--the
navigability of its streams--its capacities for trade and
commerce--and its future prospects. In February, 1854, the report
was published by order of Congress. It contains the most ample
information upon all the points embraced in the instructions. In the
London _Westminster Review_ of that year, it was noticed with just
credit to the author, and due recognition of the enlightened policy
which projected the expedition.
A part of the triumph of the compromise of 1850 belongs to North
Carolina. Her favorite statesman was then in the Cabinet, and
shared in the counsels by which these results were brought about.
During the progress of these measures he was in constant conference
with their author, and to the opinion of none did their author pay
greater deference.