witnesses.
"The other instance during the same term (cited by Judge Thompson)
occurred in the celebrated prosecution of Naaman Roberts for forgery--in
forging the name of Col. Adam Dickinson to a bond for six hundred
dollars.
"The body of the bond was confessedly the handwriting of the prisoner at
the bar. That was admitted. The signature was a tolerably successful
attempt at imitating the peculiar handwriting of Adam Dickinson. But no
expert could look at the whole paper and fail to see a general
resemblance between the body of the instrument and the signature,
raising a strong conviction in the mind that both proceeded from the
same hand.
"The defense strongly insisted upon excluding the body of the instrument
from the view of the witness, by covering it with paper, or turning it
down, and so confining the view to the signature only--upon the familiar
doctrine of the law of evidence forbidding a comparison of various
handwritings of the party, as a ground for an opinion upon the identity
of genuineness of the disputed writing. And this point was ably and
elaborately argued by the prisoner's counsel.
"The learned prosecutor met it thus:
"'_Gentlemen this is one entire instrument, not two or more brought into
comparison. Let me ask each one of you, when you meet your friend, or
when you meet a stranger, in seeking to identify him, what do you look
at? Not his nose, though that is the most prominent feature of the human
face; not at his mouth, his chin, his cheek; no, you look him straight
in the eye, so aptly called the "window of the soul." You look him in
the eye, but at the same time you see his whole face. Now put a mask on
that face, leaving only the eyes visible, as the learned counsel would
have you mask the face of this bond, leaving to your view only the fatal
signature_.
"'_If the human face so masked was the face of your bosom friend, could
you for a moment identify him, even though permitted to look in at those
"windows of the soul?" No; he would be as strange to you as this
accursed bond has ever been strange to that worthy gentleman, Colonel
Adam Dickinson, but a glance at whose face traces the guilty authorship
direct to the prisoner at the bar_.'
"This striking illustration seemed to thrill the whole audience as it
virtually carried the jury."
MR. PEYTON DECLINES A JUDGESHIP.
In 1824-5, Mr. Peyton received a highly complimentary letter from the
late Col. S. McD. Moore, of Lexington, then a delegate to the
Legislature from Rockbridge and attending the sessions in Richmond. The
Colonel informed him that a caucus of members had been held on the
subject of a judgeship then vacant, or about to become so, and that Mr.
Peyton's friends were so largely in the ascendancy that his nomination
by the caucus and election by the Assembly was certain, if only he would
declare his willingness to accept the position. The caucus had
adjourned over to await his reply. The Colonel went on to say that he
and two others had been deputed by the caucus with the agreeable duty of
communicating with him, to ascertain his views as to the matter. We do
not recollect what judgeship it was, but remember distinctly that
Colonel Moore mentioned that in case of election, it would lead to, or
require (we know not which) Mr. Peyton's change of residence to
Richmond. In this letter Col. Moore on behalf of himself and his
colleagues urged his friend to accept and presented many cogent reasons
why he should do so. Proof against all importunities, Mr. Peyton
politely but firmly rejected these overtures and declined under any
circumstances to allow his name to be used in connection with the
office. This circumstance is mentioned, not as an evidence of Mr.
Peyton's indifference to preferment, which has sufficiently appeared,
but to show the estimate in which he was held by the profession and to
present, so far as possible, clearly and truthfully, the history of his
life.
There is an old Spanish proverb which says, "Tell me whom you live with,
and I will tell you who you are." We can infer what manner of man he was
from the fact that through life, he was held in the highest esteem by
the enlightened men of the day. From the ranks of the virtuous and wise
came his friends, and what a source of happiness it must have been to
him. It has been well said: "There is no blessing of life that is in any
way comparable to the enjoyment of a discreet and virtuous friend. It
eases and unloads the mind, clears and improves the understanding,
engenders thoughts and knowledge, animates virtue and good resolutions,
soothes and allays the passions and finds enjoyment for most of the
vacant hours of life." If this be true, and who can doubt it? how much
greater the happiness to be blessed, not with one, but with many
friends, and those friends, themselves worthy of every honor and praise.
The steadiness and devotion of his friends is worthy of mention in this
connection, they never deserted or betrayed him--on the contrary,
through life, they gave him innumerable evidences of their appreciation.
Some of his youthful college friends, they were not simply companions,
among them Professor Comfort and the late John Yates, of Jefferson
county, Virginia, visited him at Montgomery Hall, forty years after they
parted at Princeton. And Mr. P's papers disclosed a correspondence with
numerous others, such as John Sergeant, Joseph R. Ingersoll, Richard
Rush, William Gaston, J. M. Berrien, of Georgia, and others of his
earlier friends, all of whom became prominent men.
For clearness of thought, force of reasoning and statesmanlike views on
all questions of moment he had no superior, and such was his sense of
justice and his impartiality, his powers of judicial analysis and
insight, or the judicial character of his mind, that we have often heard
the most gifted of his contemporaries regret that he had never sat upon
the Justice Seat, where in their opinion, he would have equaled, if he
did not surpass, the greatest judges who had adorned the bench of
Virginia.
* * * * *
Notwithstanding his refusal to stand as a candidate for a Judgeship, he
was voted for, in the General Assembly of Virginia in 1831-32, and came
within a few votes of election. The result gave him satisfaction, for
had he been chosen, he must have resigned, as unceremoniously as he was
elected. He always explained to his supporters that he could not give up
his extensive and lucrative practice, on account of his large and
expensive family, for a poorly paid judgeship--and besides he preferred
the active and exciting life of a lawyer, to that of a judge, or in a
word, the bar to the bench.
MR. PEYTON'S LETTER ON THE CONVENTION OF 1829-30.
For several years previous to 1829, the question of calling a Convention
to form a new Constitution for Virginia was agitated. There was a kind
of political fermentation on the subject of innovation, with many
persons, a strong desire to up-root the laws under which the State had
so long prospered, and make a new experiment in government. The Ultras
objected to the freehold basis of representation and demanded the white
basis, or manhood suffrage, they opposed a judiciary elected for good
behavior and demanded the election of judges at short intervals, by a
popular vote. They objected to various other conservative provisions of
the Constitution of 1776. Party spirit infused itself in all discussions
and no small excitement was created in the public mind--as a result of
the agitation on the subject. A convention, though opposed by the wisest
men in the State, was finally ordered, and persons nominated for
election were called upon to give their opinions through the newspapers,
on the various questions which would come before it.
Among those asked for their views was Mr. Peyton, who published in the
Staunton papers a long and able letter, in which he opposed the white
basis; the election of judges by a popular vote and for a term of years;
and advocated their election during good behavior, by the Legislature.
He advised the retention, generally, of the conservative features of the
old Constitution, and while he admitted that a few changes might be
made with advantage, warned the people against tampering with the laws,
the currency and the peculiar institutions of the South. He added that
he had voted against calling a Convention, believing that the
Constitution of 1776, was better than any the people were likely to get
from a new Convention; in a word, he bade them bear the "ills they had
rather than fly to others they knew not of."
The letter was so conservative in character and so conclusive of the
points at issue, that it was thought it would have gone a long way
towards preventing the call of a convention, had it been published
earlier. As it was, it only made the friends of organic change, more
determined. They were bent on giving form and substance to their dreams,
their passions were up and they would be satisfied with nothing else.
Some of the most advanced enthusiasts advocated, what are styled
"women's rights," their right to vote, to serve on juries, to hold
office and the like--others were opposed to allowing a man to enjoy the
fruits of his industry, and favored dividing out his income when it had
reached a certain sum; no doubt some would have liked the principal
divided also, others favored free inquiry, if any one knows what this
means in a country where investigation and thought are as free as the
air we breathe; free religion, which was supposed to have been settled
by Mason's act of 1776, legalizing all forms of worship, commonly called
the act of religious freedom, free morals and opinions, and it is not
unlikely there were others who favored free love as a means of
squelching out polygamy. One of the most notorious and eccentric of
these social reformers, was Fanny Wright, not, however, a native or
resident of Virginia; and it was said, with what truth we know not, that
the sum of her teachings amounted to this, that any man who donned a
whole coat and a clean shirt was an aristocrat and ought to be put down.
These misguided people sought to break the force of his views by a loud
outcry, saying he was an old Bourbon, entirely behind the age, a praiser
of times past, like Nestor in the Iliad; who wished the laws of Virginia
to remain unchanged and as unchangeable as were those of the Medes and
Persians, and would have it so if left alone. A looker-on would have
supposed this enlightened man and moderate conservative, from this kind
of ultra nonsense, as extreme in his policy as the notorious Lord John
Manners, a man of phlegmatical repulsiveness of manners, who in
admiration of his class, once exclaimed, with idiotic fatuity:
"Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die
But leave us still our old nobility."
The loss of Mr. Peyton's letter cannot be too much regretted. If
reviewed the whole history of the Judiciary previous to and from the
time of William III., when by act of Parliament the Judges were to hold
office during good behavior, up to a later act of one of the George's,
providing that their commissions were not to cease by demise of the
Crown, and down to his day. He argued earnestly also, in favor of an
independent judiciary, this question arousing his deepest interest, and
showed up the curse of a venial and corrupt one, having in its unsafe
keeping the lives, reputation and property of the people. He entered
also, into an elaborate discussion of the question of popular
representation, the first instance of which, it was stated, occurred in
Aragon in the twelfth century, &c., and discussing the basis of
representation, expressed himself, in case the freehold basis was
discarded, as in favor of the mixed basis, taking into account both
population and prosperity.
The letter breathed a really liberal and enlightened spirit in politics
and religion, and made him the idol of the liberal conservatives. The
extremists were, however, antagonized by it, and in their rage and
disappointment, set to work to mar, if not destroy, his influence. While
distorting and misrepresenting him and his opinions, they had the
"cheek," to say, they did it "more in sorrow, than in anger."
Not at all disturbed by the hurly-burly, he laughed heartily at their
nonsense, and said that these enthusiasts in their efforts to emancipate
man socially, morally, politically and otherwise from all the ills of
life, were innovators running after something they would never reach, as
the hind wheel of the carriage which is in constant pursuit of the fore
one without ever overtaking it. And when he got a chance at one of the
Ring Bosses, and he sometimes cornered one, he handled him after such a
fashion, that the Boss never wished to see him again. To these Bosses
distance ever afterwards, lent enchantment to the view, of this man of
relentless logic, keen irony and withering sarcasm. Many of these
so-called Reformers aimed at nothing worse than their own advancement.
* * * * *
From the foregoing synopsis of Mr. Peyton's letter it is evident, if he
did not say so, that, in his opinion, love of variety and change, a
desire to subvert the existing state of things, indicated both weakness
and ignorance; that it is not the strong-minded and right thinking who
desire to cut loose from the past, its traditions and customs and its
endearing associations, but the stupid, whose wild and dangerous
projects carried out, would, however, unconsciously to themselves, give
us poverty in lieu of prosperity, licence instead of liberty.
MRS. ANNE PEYTON.
HER REMOVAL TO AUGUSTA COUNTY.
During the year of 1829, Mrs. Anne Peyton, the widow of John R. Peyton,
the hero boy of '76, and mother of John H. Peyton, broke up her
establishment at Stony Hill and removed to Staunton. Some years before,
namely on February 1st 1826, her son, Rowze Peyton, was married to a
second wife, Eliza Murray, daughter of John B. Murray, a citizen of New
York City, but a native of England. His Northern bride did not find
plantation life congenial to her tastes and induced her husband to leave
Virginia. After a brief sojourn in New York City, Mr. and Mrs. Peyton
removed to Geneva, N. Y., where they long lived and both died, leaving a
large and interesting family, now connected by marriage with many of the
leading families of the Empire State--such as the Sewards, the Cuttings,
Spensers, deZengs, Wilmerdings, Rathburns and others.
The venerable and respected mother of John H. Peyton was affectionately
invited by her son and his wife, as soon as they heard of her intention
to leave Stony Hill, to make her home at Montgomery Hall, which she
decided to do. Mr. Peyton had built immediately, for her exclusive use,
a comfortable brick residence in the grounds of and near the mansion.
Here she took up her residence in the summer of 1829, and in that snug
abode, she spent in singular ease and tranquility the rest of her life.
At this time Mrs. J. R. Peyton was of large and striking person,
dignified and graceful in manners. She was over 70 years of age, dressed
in black, with a high-crowned white muslin cap and frill, a cap in the
style of what is now known as the Martha Washington cap, and she looked
at first sight eminently neat, precise and stately. She was in fine
physical preservation and her mind and memory unimpaired. She was very
accessible and companionable, she liked to see her friends and to chat,
and her conversation was always full of thought and poetry. Her
acquaintance with and knowledge of the leading Southerners of the pre
and Revolutionary era was extensive, and she possessed a large fund of
information on social, literary, and political topics. This and her
anecdotes, racy and amusing, caused her society to be courted by such
men as Gen. Baldwin, Daniel Sheffey, and Chapman Johnson. Her parlor was
the center of attraction and the rallying point of the family. Her
grandchildren especially gathered round her chair, and listened with
infantile delight, to her graphic accounts of the war, of the officers
and soldiers, of their hair-breadth escapes, of the battles, &c., and at
that early day became familiar with the names of the Washingtons,
Masons, Conways, Fitzhughs, Lees, Scotts, Marshalls, Moncures, Daniels,
Greenes, and other prominent people of the Northern Neck, and all more
or less connected with the bloody drama of the war.
At the premature death of her husband, when only 45 years of age, she
was left with the heavy responsibility of a large and helpless family,
and an extensive plantation and many slaves. Had she possessed less
character and spirit, less force and ability, she must have been
prostrated. The disaster, however, seemed to call forth her strength,
and gave such firmness and elevation to her character, that her friends
and neighbors were filled with admiration and delight. This excellent
woman, who had been during the prosperous period of her husband's life,
all weakness and dependence, now displayed heroic qualities, showed
herself equal to the trying position in which she was placed, displaying
a mental force and firmness truly astonishing,--every difficulty was
overcome, every obstacle put aside. She entered on her new career
soberly and seriously, devoted herself to the education of her children
and the management of their property. The children were taught to think
justly of themselves and kindly of others. She aimed to store their
minds with useful information and to form their moral and religious
characters--thus giving them correct, practical ideas and good habits.
Religion was the basis of her teachings and her children went into the
world with just notions of human life, prepared if prosperity smiled
upon them, to receive it with humble gratitude, and if calamity
supervened to endure it with dignified patience. A kind Providence
prolonged her life to see them a joy and a comfort to herself, and an
honor to Virginia. She governed and directed the affairs of her estate
with such skill and discretion that Old Stony Hill [3] put on a new
face, showed successful husbandry and yielded abundant crops--so much
so, that the casual observer even could not fail to see that both white
and black there enjoyed prosperity and content. Greatly attached to this
old family seat, where she had lived a half century, nothing but the
marriage of her six children and their departure for new homes of their
own, could have torn her from it. But when her only remaining son,
Rowze, who had married a New York lady, mentioned his purpose of leaving
Virginia and settling in New York, she quickly made up her mind to
accept the invitation of her favorite son, John Howe, and to end her
days at Montgomery Hall.
[3] STONY HILL. NOTE.--It may not be uninteresting to mention
that the Stony Hill mansion was an old red brick building erected in the
17th century, with a wide hall and Grecian portico, commanding an
extensive and beautiful view of Aquia creek and the Potomac river. The
dwelling had grown to be a large and rambling domicile under the
additions of four generations of the Peyton's, and all of them improving
men. This fine old colonial house was demolished during the first year of
the Civil-war, 1861-62, by Federal troops, on the spurious pretext that
it was a necessity to have at once material for baking ovens. The old red
bricks of this stately home, brought from England, as ballast in sailing
vessels sent out to fetch back tobacco to Bristol, were used to erect
many ovens in which bread was baked for the invading northern army.
When John Peyton lived at Stony Hill the estate consisted of 1900 acres
of fine land, and as far as the writer knows, still does. It is owned
and occupied in 1894, by Mr. Moncure, a son of the late President of the
Virginia Court of Appeals, Judge R. C. L. Moncure, whose widow still
lives, and is a descendent of John Peyton.
Mrs. Anne Peyton was a woman of worth, thoroughly honest, sincere and
straightforward, with a fund of practical common sense. Her
conversational powers were of no ordinary kind. A sincere, devout and
humble Christian, a good wife, devoted mother, kind and sympathetic
friend, she was in all respects a remarkable person. While it does not
come within our scope to here enter at length into her life and
character, it is right and due to her memory, that reference should be
made to her exalted piety. So domestic, unobtrusive, and retired was her
plantation life, that her name is little more than an echo in the age in
which she lived, and might scarcely be even that, if it had not been
kept somewhat in mind by the fame of her distinguished son. A
considerable part of her time, after she fixed her residence at
Montgomery Hall, was spent in the seclusion of her apartments, and much
of every day was given to meditation and prayer. She left behind many
voluminous manuscript books, in which she had copied the Psalms, the
Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and many striking passages from other parts
of Holy Writ, and containing many prayers, (original and quoted,) and
ejaculations, suited to various occasions. These were of the following
character, which will give an idea of the whole: "Supply, Oh Lord, the
wants of a heart which knows not even how to lay them open before thee,
which does not so much as think of doing it, and which too often shuts
out the light and consolation of which it stands in need." And--
"These, O Jesus, are the things I ask. Intercede for me, that I may be
truly sensible of the diseases that I labor under, and thankfully
embrace the means which thy goodness has ordained for my recovery. Grant
that the end of all my actions and designs may be the glory of God.
Enable me to resist all the sinful appetites of my carnal nature. Grant
that I may hunger and thirst after righteousness" &c., &c.
These MS. books contained also evidence that she prayed often, fervently
and importunately, and that like Anna, she served God with fastings and
prayers night and day. Luke ch. 2, v 37. She was never, however, "rash
with her mouth," heeding. Eccl., ch. 5, v 2. On the contrary, her words
were few and innocent of those vain repetitions against which our
Saviour warns us in Matthew, ch. 6, v 7.
AFRICAN COLONIZATION.
He advocated the colonization of our African population in Liberia and
was one of the managers of the Augusta County Colonization Society,
founded in 1831-32 to promote this end.
The managers submitted to the Society their annual report on the 21st of
April, 1832, the following extract from which will show the object and
purposes of the Society:
Concerning the colony of Liberia, we have no information to
communicate but such as the public prints have given from time to
time, to all who wished to know what was going on at that
interesting establishment. The sum of this information is, that the
colony, gradually advancing in numbers, advances also in every
branch of improvement and prosperity. We believe that in the whole
history of colonization, there has never been an instance elsewhere
of so cheering a degree of success from a similar amount of means
and exertions. Divine Providence has evidently smiled upon the
enterprise, and encouraged its friends to prosecute it with
untiring perseverance.
Shall we close this paper here? A feeling which we assuredly know
to be no other than a sincere regard for the honor and welfare of
our country, prompts us to offer to the society some additional
reflections.