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MEMOIR OF
JOHN HOWE PEYTON,
IN SKETCHES BY HIS
CONTEMPORARIES,
TOGETHER WITH SOME OF HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
LETTERS, ETC., ALSO A SKETCH OF
ANN M. PEYTON.
COMPILED BY
The Author of the History of Augusta County.
_Rudis Indigestaque Moles._
[Printed for private circulation.]
STAUNTON, VA.:
A. B. BLACKBURN & CO.,
MDCCCXCIV.
PREFACE.
The following sketches of John Howe Peyton, by some of his
contemporaries, and the scanty material gleaned from an imperfect file
of the _Republican Farmer_ (newspaper) of 1811-12, and from the
_Staunton Spectator_ from 1838 to 1847, (between 1811 and 1830, only a
few mutilated and unbound Staunton newspapers exist,) and a small parcel
of family papers, letters, etc., which escaped destruction during the
civil war; are all that can be found to throw any light upon the life of
one of Virginia's purest men and greatest lawyers.[1] And thus his fame
must largely rest upon the applause and praises, which his efforts
called forth, with his immediate hearers and admirers. This deplorable
want of material for a portrayal of his life and character, is not
peculiar to his case. Few of those who have astonished their
contemporaries by their wit and genius, and who were held in the highest
admiration in their day, have left behind them memorials sufficient to
justify their fame. This is so as to many of Virginia's eminent lawyers,
and of even some of her most renowned public men. As to some of these
the record is decidedly nebulous. Patrick Henry left behind such scanty
remains, that great as were his oratorical talents and patriotic
services, his fame rests rather upon the praises of others, than upon
what he left behind of his own work. In this reflected or traditional
way, his record is splendid, and so is that of John Howe Peyton, who,
without overrating his merits and doing injustice to the memory of any
of the jurists of the time, may be styled the greatest legal genius of
his day. The universal opinion of his contemporaries goes to prove that
in the science of criminal or penal law, of civil injuries or torts, and
as a Public Prosecutor he had no equal, and it is as well established
that in no department of the law had he any superiors. And this want of
material is equally true of his great contemporaries, such as Daniel
Sheffey, B. W. Leigh, and Chapman Johnson, so that like his, their fame
rests on tradition. Alas, that they had not left something of their own
productions--enough, at least, to enable us to have measured them as
thinkers, writers and speakers. That they were all great men is beyond a
doubt, for it is only the great man who touches the heart of the people,
as well as their intelligence.
[1] Note.--In the library and papers of his son, J. L. Peyton,
which were stored for safe keeping on his estate in Alleghany on Jackson's
River, and in the Valley of the Falling Spring, in the Spring of 1861,
there were many boxes of MSS., letters from various members of the
family, written between 1740 and 1860, and often the answers of them.
The letters were from John Peyton, who died in 1760, John Rowze Peyton,
John Sergeant, C. J. Ingersoll, Jos. R. Ingersoll, J. M. Berrian, Thos.
Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, Bishop Madison, Governor Tyler,
John Scott, of Fauquier, Dr. Alexander, D. D., Bishop Meade, B. W.
Leigh, Chapman Johnson, John S. Archer, Gov'r. McDowell, Governor
Campbell, Thos. H. Benton, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Wm. C. Rives,
Gen. Francis Preston, Wm. C. Preston, William Preston, J. M. Preston,
Wm. B. Preston, John Floyd, Judge A. G. Dade, John Yates, Bushrod
Washington, Gov. Thos. Mann Randolph, H. A. Wise, John Randolph, of
Roanoke, John Tyler, Spencer Roane, and others; and Mr. Peyton's letter
book, beginning about 1806. The whole of this invaluable mass was burnt,
or destroyed, together with Col. Peyton's library, by Federal troops
during the civil war. Cr.
There was little of incident or stirring adventure in the life of Mr.
Peyton, and this is the case generally, as to literary and professional
men, but the life of such a man should not be permitted to sink into
oblivion. He is represented by his contemporaries to have been a great
and truly good man, who pursued his profession, not merely to gain a
subsistence, but to do good, to advance justice and humanity, to promote
the well being of his fellow creatures, and the general interests of
society. Not his eloquence alone, but all of his powers were ever
exerted for the cause of right and justice. And thus his gifts became a
public benefit and blessing. If such a man does not deserve to be
remembered, we might well ask, who does?
During the two brief episodes in his professional life, when a member
first of the lower and then the upper House of the General Assembly, he
labored to improve the Criminal laws, the Land laws, the laws relating
to the rights of person and the rights of property; in fact, our whole
system of jurisprudence, and to advance the cause of popular education
and of internal improvements.
He was a man of large and progressive ideas, ready to accept any and all
improvements, if persuaded that the remedies proposed were, indeed
improvements, but while always ready to correct abuses, he was far from
believing that all change meant reform--was too sagacious and far
seeing, too much alive to the public interests, to encourage rash and
ill advised men or measures, was wise and firm enough to oppose all
fanatics and _doctrinaires_, in their excesses. In fact he stood in the
way of these men and opposed their measures, as tending to the
subversion of existing laws and the Constitution, and the introduction
of anarchy and confusion. As a Public Prosecutor, it was both his duty
and ambition to see the laws faithfully executed, and an example made of
evil doers. In a word, he was a man who sought to do his duty, not to
gain the applause of men, but to meet the approval of his God. At all
times, and on all occasions, he was zealous for the common weal; and
such was his goodness and magnanimity, that he desired to conceal,
rather than display his deeds, and derive fame from them. If his course
was beneficial to mankind--advanced the interest and prosperity of
society and his country--he was content. For himself, he asked nothing,
and always derived happiness from the preferment of others. Public
honors were often bestowed upon others, which were looked upon as his
due. So far from regretting it, or envying those who got them, he
enjoyed seeing competent men promoted and when incompetent men were
advanced, he would say, "let us make the most of them," so far was he
from and above the littleness of vanity and jealousy. In a word he
belonged to the class which "finds tongues in trees, books in running
brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." Of ambition for
noisy honors, newspaper notoriety, or office, he had none. If ambition
he had, it was gratified by the general recognition of the purity of his
motives, the inflexibility of his personal integrity, by the evidences
he constantly received that his labors to alleviate human suffering and
to cure social disorders, were understood and appreciated. If he had
ambition, it was to do good to his forlorn fellow creatures, to excel in
his profession, and this latter he did so eminently that the great
lawyers in every part of the State consulted him on many if not all
important cases and abstruse points, and for years no law was passed,
nor any important change made in existing laws, by the Legislature of
Virginia, without members of the body, especially of the judiciary
committee, asking his opinion and advice. That he had true ambition,
loved honorable fame, we doubt not, and thus this exalted passion was,
as we opine, the source of those noble actions and life-long labors,
which caused him to be so much honored while living, and to be so
venerated now that he is dead. And it is the duty of posterity to
bestow on him that praise, after his death, which he declined while
living.
Believing that the most efficacious method of exciting the talent of the
living, is to confer due honors on departed merit, we have, nearly fifty
years after his death, and thirty years after the destruction of his
papers and almost everything throwing light upon his life undertaken
this compilation. It must necessarily be very imperfect and incomplete,
but inadequate as it is, it seems well to preserve it, as showing a
wish, at least, to give to heaven-born talent its due.
We should like to have had sufficient material for fully portraying this
remarkable man, his actions, his feelings, his thoughts and his
adventures. Such a work would have derived additional interest from the
fact that it would have recalled and preserved the recollection of his
companions and friends, the kindred spirits of his day, now dead and
nearly forgotten. As this could not be done, we have garnered up, in a
fragmentary way, and not always in chronological sequence, the material,
some of it light and trivial, [for it is said, P's 1st, "of the Godly
man" "his leaf also shall not wither,"] presented in the following
pages, and while it is only a half lifting of the veil of oblivion, it
gives us a glimpse, at least, into an almost forgotten life, and serves
too, to keep in memory his interesting family of Montgomery Hall. Like
all families, it has been dispersed, but it richly deserves to be held
in memory and handed down to posterity.
In one of his eloquent sermons, Dr. Talmage thus speaks of oblivion,
which he styles the cemetery of the human race. "Why, just look at the
families of the earth how they disappear. For awhile they are together,
inseparable and to each other indispensable and then they part, some by
marriage going to establish other homes, and some leave this life, and a
century is long enough to plant a family, develop it, prosper it, and
obliterate it. So the generations vanish."
Mr. Peyton's family, forming no exception to the rule, has been
dispersed, but it survives in its branches and without signs of decay.
Indeed, some of the young shoots exhibit the life and vigor, the virtue
and valor of the original stock, which has stood for centuries, in the
language of Lord Bacon, "against the winds and weathers of time." May
these vigorous branches spread out, increase, keep pace with the grand
march of humanity, and the oblivion of the family be as distant in the
future as was its origin in the past.
This, we believe, will be the case, for we do not belong to those who
imagine that humanity is on the decline, that the energy of man is
decaying, that the heart is becoming harder, and the imagination and
intellect are dwindling away. On the contrary, in our opinion, man is,
on the whole, advancing, and will continue to advance, intellectually
and morally, until the world shall have answered all the purposes of its
creation and the immortal state begins. What else means the vast
improvement in morals, the ameliorations of war, the progress of
political science, the redemption of woman from her degradation and
bondage, the abolition of slavery, the general and wonderful progress of
the race the last hundred years.
To his descendants now scattered through the States of Virginia, West
Virginia, Maryland, New York, and the far West, this compilation will
possess deep interest, if it possess none for others, and for them and
their connections alone, it is designed. May the remembrance and
contemplation of his virtues inspire them with a desire to imitate
them!
MEMOIR
OF
JOHN HOWE PEYTON.
John Howe Peyton, who acquired so much fame as a lawyer, statesman and
orator, was descended from Henry Peyton, of "Acquia", Westmoreland
county, Va., the first of the Peytons to leave England for Virginia,
which he did about the year 1644. Henry Peyton died at his home
"Acquia", in Westmoreland county, 1659. We learn from the National
Cyclopedia of Biography that from the period of their settlement in
Virginia to the present day, 250 years, the family has been "prolific of
men full of gallantry and public spirit, of thrifty habits, hospitable,
charitable and generous, whose lives have been useful and blameless, and
whose characters were without blemish". The grandson of the first
emigrant, or Henry Peyton the third, who removed to Stafford county,
left among other issue, a son, John Peyton, of Stony Hill, Stafford, who
was the grandfather of John H. Peyton, and is described as a man of
"undeviating rectitude of conduct, of unshaken constancy in friendship,
active in benevolence and pure in his habits."
John Peyton left by his second wife a son, John Rowze Peyton, of Stony
Hill, Stafford county, who served seven years in the Revolutionary Army
and acquired by his dauntless valor and faithful discharge of duty, the
sobriquet of the "hero boy of 1776". He was a man of strong convictions,
probably of strong prejudices, and enforced his views in newspaper
articles, showing marked ability as a thinker and writer. His son, John
Howe Peyton, the subject of this sketch, was born at Stony Hill, April
27th, 1778, and died at Montgomery Hall, near Staunton, Augusta county,
Va., April 3rd, 1847. And it may be truly said that no one was more
loved, more honored or more mourned by those who knew him best.
When a boy attending a country school near his birth place, young John
Howe Peyton was conspicuous for the beauty and intelligence of his
countenance, the comeliness of his person, the quaintness of his humor,
the vivacity of his spirits, and the pungency of his wit. The lad was
fond of outdoor sports and all athletic exercises, in which he engaged
daily, thus in good time developing his strength and securing for life a
sound mind in a sound body. These pastimes, however, did not interfere
with his studies, to which he devoted himself for years assiduously. And
he succeeded so well, in both mental and physical exercises, that it was
commonly said of him, that he was a boy who seemed to have come from the
hand of nature, formed and destined to do extensive good, and to excel
in every pursuit. So superior was he generally to his young companions
that he was, before twelve years of age, pointed out as one who already
gave evidence of his future abilities. When only sixteen years of age,
he had grown into a young man of remarkable strength of body and vigor
of mind, was full of pluck and spirit, and had acquired no small stock
of learning. His father determined to send him to the North for further
education. Accordingly he was entered at Nassau Hall Princeton
University, N. J., in 1794, then, as now, one of the most famous seats
of learning in the country, and much patronized by Southerners. His
previous training prepared him well for the University, where he quickly
took and kept a leading place till his graduation as A. M. in 1797.
At Princeton he continued, as may be surmised, diligent in his studies,
and while going through the usual scholastic routine engaged in an
extensive private course of philosophical, metaphysical, historical and
general reading. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable, and he kept up
this habit in after years, and to give his family a taste for literature
was in the habit of reading aloud to his children of evenings the plays
of Shakespeare, the writings of Addison, Swift, Johnson, Goldsmith and
other standard authors. He also attended the debates in the Whig
Society, (an association of young collegians, formed for mutual
improvement,) where he won distinction as a speaker and debater. He was
singularly free from the usual vices of youth and that sensuality and
egotism, which is the source of so many miseries. In consequence of his
high standing as a scholar, orator and man--and no young man was more
noted for his exemplary habits, straightforward conduct and nice sense
of honor--he was held in great respect in the University, alike by
professors, tutors and fellow students. But he never showed the
slightest consciousness of his endowments or discovered any vanity at
the extent and variety of his attainments, and the impression they made
on others, but enjoyed his success with propriety and good sense. He
made many friends at Princeton, and if they were not afterwards of
service to him, they were certainly a comfort. His object then, as ever
afterwards, was not to shine, for ambition was not his failing, but he
was incited by a thirst for knowledge and a desire for excellence.
Having secured high academical honors, which are the laudable objects
of any young man's generous ambition, by taking his A. M. degree, he
returned to Virginia in 1797, immediately thereafter commenced, and in
due time completed his legal education, and in 1799 entered on the law
practice. Judge R. C. L. Moncure, President of the Supreme Court of
Appeals of Virginia, says of him in his private journal: "He took a
position on being admitted to the bar, which brought him immediate and
continued popularity as a lawyer, a pleader and a scholar." His progress
was indeed rapid, and he soon proved to be acute, deep, cautious,
methodical and persevering, with extraordinary administrative ability;
and was noted for his personal magnetism, his animal spirits and social
powers, as well as his forensic abilities.
At this time he was six feet two inches high, of strong, lithe and
vigorous frame, weighing about 180 pounds. His manners were affable and
engaging, and were characterized by dignity and grace. He was fond of
conversation, and his conversation was animated and instructive. He
always, indeed, spoke with so much point that he appeared superior to
others of his age in wisdom and understanding. To his solid attainments
and well-bred and polished manners he joined a generous heart, virtuous
principles and a chivalric sense of honor. These gifts and
accomplishments soon inspired all who knew him with respect and esteem,
and this admiration was due to none of those artifices so common with
"people's men," or of that subserviency which so often leads to
popularity, and which contra-distinguishes the man without principle,
who wants office, from the man of principle whom office wants. It was
also discovered that he was broad and liberal in his views and opinions
on politics and religion, and indeed on all social questions--was free
from cant and hypocricy, and was without any of that duplicity in youth
which is the forerunner of perfidy in old age. Toward all men he was
charitable, and did not require them to see things as he saw them; he
allowed of a difference of opinion without treating a man as a heretic
in religion, or a knave and traitor in politics because he sought to
serve God or his country by a different course or policy from himself.
He not only respected but venerated all men who were loyal to truth. His
influence was consequently very great and was soon enhanced by the
discovery that he was a man of stern and uncompromising integrity and
inflexible firmness, or unlimited courage, a courage which extended to
rashness, a man who could not be moved from the path of duty by "fear,
favor or affection," and we may add that he went through a long,
eventful and trying life without suspicion of any kind of vice. He was
soon looked up to as a person not only of eminent merit but exalted
character, who would, if the occasion arose, become a hero, ready and
able to defend the rights of the people and the liberties of his
country. Early in the century 1802-3 he was commissioned captain of a
volunteer company of cavalry and drilled his command, composed of young
gentlemen of Stafford and Spottsylvania counties over the country from
Acquia Creek to Fredericksburg, and the annals of British Field sports
were never illustrated by more daring feats of horsemanship, the
clearing of fences, gates, hedges and ditches, than were performed by
these Virginian riders.
In 1804 he married Susan, daughter of William Strother Madison, a niece
of the Right Rev. James Madison, Bishop of Virginia, and relative of
President Madison, by whom he left an only son, the late Col. William M.
Peyton, of Roanoke, who was himself a man of gifted intellect and
extensive acquirements, of upright and honorable character, who acquired
as a public speaker and member of the House of Delegates of Virginia, a
distinguished reputation for ability and statesmanship. We anticipate
events in order to state that after losing his wife by her untimely
death, he married in 1821 Ann Montgomery Lewis, a daughter of the old
Revolutionary hero, Major John Lewis of the Sweet Springs; by his wife
Mary, a daughter of the gallant Col. William Preston, of Smithfield,
Montgomery county, who was wounded at the battle of Guildford, from the
effects of which he died years afterward. By his second marriage he left
ten children. In 1806 he was elected to the House of Delegates. This
gave him little or no pleasure, as he preferred the profession but he
served several years, up to 1810 on public grounds. Though there was not
much scope in the House for his powers, he took an active part in all
business and in the debates, and such was his political sagacity, his
indomitable energy and his vehement eloquence, that he had almost
unrivaled power over his hearers and soon became a leader, inspiring his
followers with enthusiastic love and admiration, and was regarded by
them, if not by both sides of the Chamber, as the ablest man in the
House and the equal of any in the State. At that period he was as
remarkable for his wise and prudent counsels as for his invincible
eloquence.
During the session of 1809-10 Mr. Peyton made the celebrated report as
to an amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which is
appended to this sketch.
Staunton was early in the century a no inconsiderable town, and to
lawyer and litigant alike the most important point west of the Blue
Ridge Mountains, because the seat of the superior courts of law and
chancery--the jurisdiction of the chancery court extending over the
whole western part of the State. This fact caused many able and learned
lawyers to make it their home, among the most prominent were Judge
Coalter, Daniel Sheffey, Chapman Johnson, Briscoe G. Baldwin and Samuel
Blackburn, and the terms were attended by such legal lights, from other
circuits, as George Hay, William Wirt, P. P. Barbour, B. W. Leigh, L. W.
Tazewell, Henry St. G. Tucker and others. Staunton was then regarded,
and for many years later, as having the ablest resident bar in the
State.
In 1808, Mr. Peyton removed to the town to enter the arena against these
great men, and in a very brief period, indeed, he gained, in the opinion
of the court and the lawyers and of the people, the first place at the
bar. Such was his vigor, originality and learning, that Col. Preston,
one of his biographers, says that "he met in contest the strongest men
in each department of the law and he made himself a champion in all."
Daniel Sheffey said "he possessed gigantic power without effort, was
leader in his circuit and at the head of the profession."
From 1808 to 1846, when struck down by apoplexy, he bent the whole
energies of his mind and body to the profession--the only interruption
in this long period of practice being a brief episode of military
service, from 1812 to 1815, as Chief of Staff to Gen. Porterfield in the
war against England, and one of five years in the Senate of Virginia
from 1839 to 1845, when he resigned during his second term from ill
health. He did not desire, still less seek, a seat in the Senate, but
yielded to the importunities of his Rockbridge and Augusta friends, the
leading men of Rockbridge particularly importuning him to accept the
position, in order to promote, among other things, the fortunes of the
Virginia Military Institute; a school they esteemed of great importance
to the county and the cause of State education, and to which it was well
known Mr. Peyton was most friendly, for he was everywhere known and
recognized as the friend and promoter of learning and the liberal arts.
And his deep interest in the cause of education was evinced by his
acceptance of the position of trustee of Washington College in 1832,
which he held till he resigned in 1846, having during this long period
at great inconvenience to himself, attended the meetings of the Board,
of which he was an active and useful member. He also acted for many
years before and after 1832 as President of the Board of Trustees of the
Staunton Academy; was one of the founders of the Virginia Female
Institute at Staunton, and a member of the Board of Trustees; was one of
the most earnest advocates of the scheme for establishing the Virginia
Military Institute and suggested the union of the Institute and
Washington College under one management, believing that the United
University ought to be and would become one of the greatest seats of
learning in the country. He also accepted, in 1840, the position of
visitor to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, and wrote the able,
interesting and instructive report of the Board for that year. This was
said at the time to be the ablest report ever written on the condition,
the mode of instruction, the changes and improvements which should be
introduced in the course of study and discipline and the future
usefulness of West Point.
Education he considered the philosophy of the human mind, enriching it
with all that is useful or ornamental in knowledge, teaching us how to
avert evil and produce good. It was not so valuable for the learning
acquired, for to be well informed, was not, in his opinion, to be well
educated; as for the moral character it formed, for the habit of thought
engendered, for the preparation it was for the practical duties of
life--in a word, he regarded education or intellectual progress as the
sure forerunner of moral improvement.
It may not be out of place to mention here that his interest in, and
sympathy for the unfortunate and afflicted was manifested in various
ways, but especially by his services as a member of the Court of
Directors of the Western Lunatic Asylum at Staunton for over twenty
years, during ten of which he was President of the board.
Mr. Peyton's political life can be briefly summarized. He voted for the
election of James Madison and zealously supported his administration. He
also voted for James Monroe, and opposed the election of John Quincy
Adams, voting for Gen. Jackson. He voted for Jackson twice, reluctantly
when a candidate for a re-election, because of his refusal to sign the
bill to recharter the United States Bank, but under a belief that
Jackson's course was more due to the feelings created by the particular
time when congress passed the bill, it being just previous to his second
election, than to any settled hostility on his part to a United States
Bank, and he subsequently abandoned that party, and ever afterwards
adhered to the Whig party.
Mr. Peyton thus gives his reasons for abandoning the democratic
party--he said: "shortly after his (Jackson's) re-election, he commenced
a train of measures, to which I was utterly opposed, measures of a novel
and alarming character, which in their origin and their subsequent
developments, brought distress and embarrassment upon the banks, upon
the country at large, and especially upon all our commercial interests.
I allude to his wild, violent and undigested schemes of finance,
commencing with his pet bank system and ending with his order in
council, the specie circular. This warfare upon the bank of the United
States, the currency and the commerce of the nation, reduced us in 1837
to the degradation of witnessing a general suppression of specie
payments by the banks. These acts, connected with the corrupting system
of party discipline, introduced by that administration, with the view of
compelling private judgment to succumb to the behest of the party,
completely separated me from the administration of Andrew Jackson." (See
his letter of date May 1st, 1839, and addressed to the people of Augusta
and Rockbridge counties.)
In the Senate, he opposed the annexation of Texas, a revenue tariff, and
a war with England on the question of the Oregon boundary line, saying
in regard to Oregon, "while our title to the whole of that vast region
extending westward from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and
the 42nd degree of north latitude to 54 deg. 40' was certainly as good as
that of any other nation, and probably better, we had ourselves, on
repeated occasions virtually admitted that it was not so complete and
unqualified as to preclude all other claims to any portion of it; and
therefore a war for Oregon, unless an attempt was made to wrest it
forcibly from our possessions would be not only a blunder but a crime."
The annexation of Texas he opposed on many grounds. He declared first
that America was already too vast to be national, and too rich to be
democratic, and any extension of her borders would increase the evils.
Secondly, he objected to a clause in the constitution of Texas which
refused to the legislature power to pass laws for the emancipation of
slaves. Thirdly, he was opposed to the United States Government assuming
the debt of Texas and he thought annexation might lead to useless wars
about boundary, etc.
On the question of the tariff, he held that direct protection was a
legitimate object of legislation and he opposed any tariff which gave
merely incidental protection. He derived his doctrine on the question
both from the necessity and justice of the case, and the explicit
avowal of those who framed the constitution and of those who sat in the
first Congress under it, that it was designed and desired to lay duties
for the encouragement and protection of domestic manufactures and he
would allow no arguments of expediency to induce him to abandon his
ground and to fall in with the friends of a revenue tariff giving
incidental protection. This phraseology he denounced as a device of
demagogues who were willing to conceal or abandon their principles in
order to secure success. He also supported the "Monroe Doctrine,"
opposed nullification and secession, and favored a United States bank
and popular education by means of State aid. He also spoke on behalf of
a generous system of internal improvement and against the great liberty
of divorce. In a word, he gave a general support to the principles of
the old Whig party and occupied a position of commanding influence. His
speeches in the Senate, like those at the bar, were distinguished for
their clear, nervous brevity. And the great men of the day, B. W. Leigh,
John J. Allen, R. E. Scott, William C. Rives, Vincent Witcher, Wm.
Daniel, R. C. Conrad, and others, declared were equal to anything ever
heard in a deliberative assembly. He was consulted and deferred to for
the wisdom, sagacity and moderation of his counsels and was usually
styled the "Nestor of the Senate." His influence was paramount and
always exerted for the public good, and the prosperity of Virginia, for
half a century; indeed, up to the civil war, was to no inconsiderable
degree, due to the wise advice of this patriotic and public spirited
man.
Some years before he entered the Senate, he had grown stout, weighing
220 pounds, his fine silk-like hair was snowy white, his face florid,
his eyes bright, piercing and thoughtful, and in silence his calm and
serene countenance gave him a majestic and graceful appearance.
Alexander McD. Cowan, writing of him in the Vindicator newspaper of
Staunton, February 18th, 1887, says; "Mr. Peyton was a remarkably
handsome man, being of a fine figure and size, and with a face whose
every feature was well-nigh faultless in shape and expression. Indeed,
the word superb which used to be applied to the late Gen. Hancock's
commanding appearance, might with equal appropriateness have been
applied to John Howe Peyton." Gen. William Preston, of Kentucky, told
the writer he was, when he first met him in 1835-6 at the White Sulphur
Springs, the "finest specimen of the Virginia gentleman of the old
school, in his scrupulous, old fashioned courtesy, and open handed
liberality, in his dress and appearance, he had ever seen--was not only
an honor to the State but to human nature." His health was good up to
the age of 66 years, his step firm, his figure erect; in fact, he was as
straight as a dart, and there was something in his look which seemed to
arise from an innate disposition of the mind or the workings of a great
soul.
He kept up a large establishment at his elegant home of Montgomery Hall,
having over fifty servants about his premises, entertained a great deal
of company in a delightful manner, gave sumptuous dinners and a great
many of them, and of other entertainments--in fact, he kept open house,
and while he set no bounds to his generous hospitality, there was no
ostentation or vain display, though his house and furniture were
thoroughly well appointed. His guests were among the most distinguished
for talents and acquirements, for rank and station in the State and
country. It was said, therefore, that at Montgomery Hall you were sure
to enjoy the "feast of reason and the flow of soul." While he
entertained so well, he was himself abstemious in his habits and denied
himself animal food one day in every week.
He was wise and prudent in forming his intimacies and friendships, but
when once a man's friend, unless for some good cause, he was ever
constant and unchangeable, and there was no length to which he would not
go to serve a friend. On one occasion, when in the Senate, he sacrificed
the office of Governor of Virginia, to which he was about to be elected,
to serve a friend and to secure the election of his friend, as he did,
to the position of Judge. At another time, for he was a friend who
"abided in the day of trouble" he offered a friend in distress from
pecuniary losses, the occupation, use and proceeds of one of his estates
in Alleghany county, of nearly 5000 acres of land and a large number of
servants. In this munificent spirit of liberality and generosity, he
sought to provide for this unfortunate friend and his dependant family.
So constituted was he, that it was often said that if a man's friend, he
was the friend of his family, indeed of everybody connected with him--in
a word he took the whole tribe to his heart. As a master, he was kind,
humane, just and ever mindful of the wants of his servants, provided
every family with a good house and garden, extended to them the
privilege of raising poultry, pigs, etc., and of enjoying the fruits of
such care and industry as they chose to bestow on them, during time
allowed for this purpose. And he was so loved and respected by his
servants that they considered it a favor, not a task, to do his bidding.
But when there was occasion for it, he could be severe, and required a
strict account from all.
Every community has its leading spirit, who, to a certain extent,
impresses his character upon it and brings it up, in a measure, to what
that choice spirit is, and that is precisely what Mr. Peyton did. He was
identified with every interest of the people, with their trade and
commerce, with the material development of the State, and its moral,
educational and religious prosperity. He was honest and upright in the
highest degree, and never violated a trust, but was ever faithful to
every obligation. His heart was full of that charity which "vaunteth not
itself and is not puffed up." The poor, the afflicted, the distressed,
whether "in mind, body or estate," were recipients of his kind deeds,
and the widow and orphan knew him in their extremity. Principle dictated
all his acts and he never departed a hair's breadth from the line of
duty.
He was warm hearted, genial, and kindly, was fond of intellectual
society, in which he was sure to shine, was given to hospitality and
entertained more company probably than any gentleman of his day in
Virginia; in fact, lived with open house.
Among other accomplishments, it should be remembered that he was a
refined and robust writer, and had his professional and business
engagements permitted, he would doubtless have been a famous author. Now
and again he indulged, in an hour of leisure, in preparing an article
for the British Reviews. They showed eminent literary talents. Those
productions were, for the most part, destroyed in the library of his
son, Col. J. Lewis Peyton, which was stored for safe keeping during the
Civil War, on his Jackson River estate in Alleghany county, where they
were burnt by Federal troops. His essays were generally on subjects of
utility to the State and country, but some times his disquisitions were
on moral and metaphysical science, and were remarkable for their
clearness and force--no man, indeed, could have presented his views in a
more perspicuous, more forcible or convincing manner. Judge McCue says,
"his conception of a great subject and mode of expression were as clear,
distinct and demonstrative as were those of Edmund Burke."
In a brief sketch only his salient points can be touched upon. Enough
has been said, however, to present a fair idea of the superior mental
and moral endowments of this extraordinary man. For his wonderful
life-long labors he did not receive, though having a most extensive and
fairly lucrative practice--probably the largest of any lawyer in
Virginia--a tithe of the annual income of a modern millionaire, but he
accomplished great and noble ends, and no language can describe the
inward satisfaction, the mental pleasure he must have enjoyed. He
rejoiced in what riches cannot purchase, the love, admiration and
respect of every one, from the humblest mountaineer to the highest
official in the land.
His name has not perished and will not, but will grow greener with years
and blossom through the coming ages. This little tribute, it is hoped,
will extend and confirm the reputation of a man worthy of universal
admiration. May it, however, do more. The fame of the truly great can
only be of use when stimulating by example. Let every reader of these
pages consider what he can contribute towards the same great cause of
social melioration, what sacrifices he will make to reclaim the vicious,
instruct the ignorant, cheer the disconsolate, what selfishness and
bigotries he will relinquish; what benevolence, justice, charity he will
exercise, and what, in a word, he will do to imitate the example of
heroic worth given us by this truly wise and good man.
He was struck down by apoplexy in 1845, recovered sufficiently to walk
about his house, but was disabled in 1846, by a second attack
accompanied by paralysis. His mind, however, continued clear and
vigorous, though his voice was indistinct. This was illustrated by his
ability displayed on his sick bed, in a conversation with the late Col.
John B. Baldwin, in which he gave him the points and elucidated the
intricacies of an important and difficult law case, then in progress
and cited the authorities. Throughout his illness, he endured his
sufferings with patience and meekness, and died at Montgomery Hall,
April 3d, 1847, leaving the reputation of having been a perfect
gentleman, the soul of honor, and the pink of chivalry.
MR. PEYTON'S REPORT IN 1810.
VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE.
EXTRACT FROM THE MESSAGE OF GOV. TYLER OF VIRGINIA.
DECEMBER 4TH, 1809.
A proposition from the State of Pennsylvania is herewith submitted, with
Gov. Snyder's letter endorsing the same, in which is suggested the
propriety of amending the constitution of the United States so as to
prevent collisions between the government of the Union and the State
government.
HOUSE OF DELEGATES.
Friday, Dec., 15th, 1809.
On motion ordered that so much of the Governor's communication as
relates to the communication of the Governor of Pennsylvania, on the
subject of an amendment proposed by the legislature of the State to the
constitution of the United States he referred to Messrs. Peyton, Otey,
Cabell, Walker, Madison, Holt, Newton, Parker, Stevenson, Randolph,
Cocke, Wayatt and Ritchie.
Thursday, Jan., 11th, 1810.
Mr. Peyton from the committee to whom was referred that part of the
Governor's communications which relates to the amendment proposed by the
State of Pennsylvania, to the constitution of the United States, made
the following
REPORT.
The committee to whom was referred the communication of the Governor of
Pennsylvania, covering certain resolutions of the legislature of that
State proposing an amendment of the Constitution of the United States by
the appointment of an impartial tribunal to decide disputes between the
State and Federal judiciary, have had the same, under their
consideration, and are of opinion that a tribunal is already provided by
the Constitution of the United States to wit; the supreme court, more
eminently qualified from their habits and duties, from the mode of their
selection, and from the tenure of their offices, to decide the disputes
aforesaid in an enlightened and impartial manner than any other tribunal
which could be selected.
The members of the supreme court, are selected from those in the United
States, who are most celebrated for virtue and legal learning, not at
the will of a single individual, but by the concurrent wishes of the
President and Senate of the United States; they will therefore have no
local prejudices or partialities. The duties they have to perform, lead
them necessarily to the most enlarged and accurate acquaintance with the
jurisdiction of the Federal and State courts together, and with the
admirable symmetry of our Government. The tenure of their offices
enables them to pronounce the sound and correct opinions they may have
formed without fear, favour, or partiality.
The amendment of the Constitution proposed by Pennsylvania seems to be
founded upon the idea that the Federal judiciary will, from a lust of
power, enlarge their jurisdiction, to the total annihilation of the
jurisdiction of the State courts; that they will exercise their will
instead of the law and the Constitution.
This argument, if it proves anything, would operate more strongly
against the tribunal proposed to be created, which promises so little,
than against the State courts, which, for the reason given, have every
thing connected with their appointment calculated to insure confidence.
What security have we, were the proposed amendments adopted, that this
tribunal would not substitute their will and their pleasure in place of
the law? The Judiciary are the weakest of the three departments of
government, and least dangerous to the political rights of the
Constitution; they hold neither the purse, nor the sword; and even to
enforce their own judgments and decisions, must ultimately depend upon
the executive arm. Should the Federal judiciary, however unmindful of
their weakness, unmindful of the duty which they owe to themselves, and
their country, become corrupt and transcend the limits of their
jurisdiction, would the proposed amendment oppose even a probable
barrier to such an improbable state of things?
The creation of a tribunal, such as is proposed by Pennsylvania, so far
as we are able to form an idea of it, from the description given in the
resolutions of the Legislature of the State, would, in the opinion of
your Committee, tend rather to invite them to prevent collisions between
the Federal and State courts. It might also become in process of time, a
serious and dangerous embarrassment to the operations of the general
government.
Resolved, therefore: That the Legislature of this State do disapprove of
the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the
Legislature of Pennsylvania.
Resolved also: That his Excellency the Governor be, and he is hereby
requested to transmit forthwith a copy of the foregoing preamble and
resolutions to each of the Senators and representatives of this State
in Congress, and to the executives of the several states in the union,
with a request that the same be laid before the Legislature thereof.
The said Resolutions being read a second time, were, on motion ordered
to be referred to a committee of the whole House on the state of the
Commonwealth.
Tuesday, Jan. 23rd, 1810.
The House according to the orders of the day, resolved itself into a
Committee of the whole house on the state of the Commonwealth, and after
some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Stannard
of Spottsylvania, reported that the Committee had, according to order,
had under consideration the preamble and resolution of the select
committee, to whom was referred that part of the Governor's
communication which relates to the amendment proposed to the
constitution of the United States by the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
had gone through with the same, and directed him to report them to the
House without amendment, which he handed in to the clerk's table.
And the question being put, on agreeing to the said preamble and
resolutions, they were agreed to by the House unanimously.
Ordered that the clerk carry the said preamble and resolutions to the
Senate, and desire their concurrence.
IN SENATE.
Wednesday, January 24th, 1810.
The preamble and resolutions on the amendment to the constitution of the
United States, proposed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania by the
appointment of an impartial tribunal to decide disputes between the
State and Federal judiciary, being also delivered in, and twice read, on
motion was ordered to be committed to Messieurs Nelson, Currie,
Campbell, Upshur and Wolfe.
Friday, January 26th, 1810.
Mr. Nelson reported from the committee on the preamble and resolutions
on the amendment, proposed by the legislature of Pennsylvania, etc.,
that the committee had, according to order, taken the said preamble and
resolutions under their consideration, and directed him to report them
without any amendment.
* * * * *
"This important state paper," says Judge McCue, "can be seen in the
works of Daniel Webster, vol. III, pp. 352-54, and so able were these
views and resolutions, considered at the time, as to attract the
attention of the leading Statesmen of the country, and they guided the
other States in the adoption of similar resolutions, thus overthrowing
the effort of Pennsylvania to establish a separate and distinct judicial
department as arbiter between the Federal and State Governments."
In the great debate in the United States Senate between Daniel Webster
and Gen. Hayne, of South Carolina, Mr. Webster quoted Mr. Peyton's
preamble and resolutions, as so conclusive of the questions involved, as
to admit of no further discussion. In a subsequent pages of Judge
McCue's sketch, an interesting conversation between Mr. Webster and
Daniel Sheffey is reported.
DISEASE LEADS TO HIS CHANGE OF HOME.
For several years previous to 1808, Mr. Peyton suffered with a disease
of the stomach and bowels--a chronic disentary, which baffled the skill
of his physicians. He consulted many of the eminent doctors of Virginia
and Maryland in vain. The numerous remedies they prescribed were taken
without good effect or gave only temporary relief. As a last resort he
determined, on the advice of his family physician and his most intimate
friends, to try the efficacy of the mineral waters of the Virginia
Springs, and accordingly spent the summer of 1806-7 at that famous
resort, the old Sweet Springs, in Monroe county. A use of the waters in
a very brief period, gave him relief from his sufferings, and at the end
of the season his health was re-established. He quickly decided, painful
as was the severing of early ties, and the separation from friends, to
leave the malarial regions of lower Virginia, and to make his home in
the healthy and bracing climate, west of the Blue Ridge. Accordingly in
1808 established himself in Staunton.
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.