69th year, and it has been truly said that there was no one in his
public and private relations who was more honored and beloved by those
who knew him best. Among the numerous letters received on this occasion
is the following. It alone has been preserved. It is from his brother,
Col. Rowze Peyton, of Geneva, N. Y., to Col. John B. Baldwin:
Geneva, N. Y., April 15th, 1847.
_My Dear Sir_:
The receipt of your letter conveying the melancholy intelligence of the
death of my much loved brother shocked me indescribably, notwithstanding
his long illness and the helpless condition he was in when I left twelve
months ago. I then hoped he might be spared a few years, as, if not
actively useful to himself, he could be, by his advice, exceedingly so
to his young and promising family. He was a most noble and generous man,
a true man in every sense, and in heart and mind a great and good man,
to whom I was ardently attached, and the thought that I shall never see
him again in this world, causes a sorrow and sadness which may be
imagined, but cannot be described. I sympathize, from the bottom of my
heart with his dear wife and children. It is a terrible loss to them,
and I pray they may have strength to bear it with Christian fortitude,
knowing that it is the fiat of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, who
disposes of us as he will, and to whose will we should bow with humble
submission. That this melancholy event may be sanctified to the
salvation of each individual member of his family, and all connected
with them, is the earnest prayer of, dear Baldwin,
Your sincere friend,
R. PEYTON.
MR. PEYTON'S RESIGNATION OF OFFICE OF ATTORNEY FOR THE COMMONWEALTH.
In our last paper, the appointment of Thomas J. Michie, Esq. to the
office of Commonwealth's Attorney for Augusta county, in the place of
John H. Peyton, Esq., resigned, was announced. We now learn from a
friend (having been absent from town at the time,) that upon returning
into the hands of the court the office which he had so long and so ably
and faithfully filled, _Mr. Peyton_ delivered a short but pertinent and
touching valedictory. He said it was just thirty-two years since he had
been honored by the court with the appointment, that in casting his
eyes along the bench, he recognized but a single magistrate[25] who was
present on that occasion. He saw the sons, however, the relatives and
friends of his former friends; and that alike from the fathers and the
sons, he had received tokens of confidence which had greatly gratified
him in the discharge of his duties during this long lapse of years. His
great purpose had always been to protect the rights of the Commonwealth,
and perform faithfully the duties of an officer of the court; and he
thanked the court for their forbearance when he had erred, and for their
uniform courtesy and kindness and the confidence they had ever shown
him.
[25] L. Waddell, Sr.
When _Mr. Peyton_ concluded his remarks so inadequately reported,
_Lyttleton Waddell, Esq._, a member of the court, presented the
following minute, which was adopted by a unanimous vote, and ordered to
be spread upon the records:
"AUGUSTA COUNTY COURT, }
1st day of June term, 1844. }
"_John H. Peyton, Esquire_, who has acted as Commonwealth's Attorney in
this county for thirty-two years, having on this day resigned the said
office, the Justices of the county, in full session at their June term,
do, with unanimous consent, express their high sense of Mr. Peyton's
long and valuable services. They add a willing testimony to the
distinguished ability, fidelity and zeal, with which he has guarded the
interests of the Commonwealth within the limits of the county--to his
impartiality, prudence, and firmness as a public prosecutor, and to the
commendable courtesy which has marked his intercourse with the Court, as
becoming a public officer and a representative of the Commonwealth. And
it is the will of the Court that this testimonial, as an additional
tribute of respect, be spread upon the records."
_Spectator, July 4, 1844._
Immediately after his resignation, the County Court, as the only honor
yet in their power to confer, elected him a member of their body, and on
several occasions, before his death, he presided in the Court where he
had so long practiced.
Mr. Peyton was a member of the committee, appointed in 1843, to prepare
an address to the people of Virginia, and aided in the preparation of
that able and interesting document, but as it covers over fifty pages
and may be found in the newspapers of the day, it is not necessary to
insert it here, in order to make clear what were his political opinions.
The committee was composed of B. W. Leigh, Robert W. Carter, James R.
Hubbard, Chas. J. Faulkner, Wyndham Robertson, Chapman Johnson, and John
H. Peyton, and was said to have united more talent than any similar body
ever raised in Virginia.
SKETCH OF JOHN HOWE PEYTON,
BY
COL. JOHN T. L. PRESTON, A. M., OF YALE, PROFESSOR OF
MODERN LANGUAGES &c., IN THE V. M. INSTITUTE.
The late John H. Peyton, Esq., of Staunton, Va., was one of the finest
specimens that we have ever known of the complete lawyer. During the
prime of his life he pursued the profession with a laborious assiduity
rarely equalled, and though as age advanced upon him he remitted his
efforts, he did not discontinue his practice until a short time before
his death, [he took no new cases after his 60th year]. None of his
contemporaries secured a more ample reward in either reputation or
pecuniary emolument.
We have spoken of Mr. Peyton as a complete lawyer. Law as a practical
profession, has several departments, and it is not unusual to see a
lawyer distinguished in some of them, with a compensating deficiency in
others. Some practitioners are successful collectors; some are much
esteemed as judicious advisers in matters not strictly legal; some are
designated good judges of law, or, in other words, safe counselors, and
with some the _forte_ is, Common law practice, while others are
distinguished as Chancery lawyers. The organization of the courts in
Virginia, and the nature of the business, at least in the interior,
requires every lawyer to enter upon the whole of this miscellaneous
practice; and it is not to be wondered at, that some, even good lawyers,
are not equally strong in every part. Mr. Peyton knew every part of his
profession thoroughly. He had studied diligently as a student, and had
known the expectant struggles of the young practitioner; he had
practised under the old system before the reorganization of the
judiciary, and afterwards under the new; he had met in contest the
strongest men in each department of the profession, and he had made
himself a champion in all. We may add that some lawyers who exhibit the
highest skill in securing the rights of their clients, are foolishly
ignorant of their own; in other words they let slip the fair,
well-earned profits of their profession. Not so with Mr. Peyton. He knew
the value of his professional services, he gave them to the fullest
extent to those who applied for them, and then he insisted upon just
remuneration. We notice this point, not at random, but to present a
feature belonging to the character of the complete lawyer.
The characteristic of Mr. Peyton's life was efficiency. This efficiency
had for its elements native vigor of intellect, great resolution of
character and courageous self-confidence, ample and thorough
acquirements and the quickness, precision and dexterity of action that
belong only to those who have been taught by a varied experience to
understand thoroughly human nature. In conversation, Mr. Peyton was
ready, entertaining and instructive. But conversation was not his
_forte_, though he was fond of it. He was not fluent. His manner was
sometimes too direct for the highest style of polished social
intercourse of a general nature, and besides he had a remarkable way of
indulging in a strain of satirical banter, when his words would be so
much at variance with the expression of his countenance, and
particularly with the expression of his mouth, that the hearer was often
in an uncomfortable state of uncertainty how to take him. His person was
large and his bearing dignified, but not graceful. His manner was
unaffected, but not without formality, nor was it perfectly
conciliatory. Some styled him aristocratic, while none could deny that
his self-respect and confident energy gave an imperious cast to his
demeanor. We have oftener than once thought applicable to him, in a
general way, those lines of Terence,
"Ellum, confidens, catus,
Cum faciem videas, videtur esse quantivis preti,
Tristis severitas inest in voltu, atque in verbis fides."
His voice was true and clear, and capable of sufficient variety, but
without a single musical intonation, and a little sharper than you would
expect to hear from a man of his size and form. If it is asked what is
the style of his speaking, it may be replied, just what might be
expected to belong to such a man as he has been described, that is to
say, never was the speaker a more complete reflection of the man than in
his case. We cannot believe that any one who knew him was ever surprised
when they heard him speak; what he said was just what they could expect
him to say. This is often the case with speakers and writers, but not
always. Energy, reality, and efficiency were his characteristics as a
man, and equally so as a speaker. Distinctness of conception lay at the
foundation of his excellence. Some great speakers, some even
pre-eminently great speakers, not unfrequently hurl unforged
thunderbolts. They feel the maddening impulse of the god, but give forth
their utterance before the true prophetic fury comes on.
Mr. Peyton's mind was no sybils cave whence came forth wind-driven
leaves inscribed with mighty thoughts disposed by chance, but a spacious
castle, from whose wide open portal issued men at arms, orderly arrayed.
He had hardly opened his case when the hearer was aware that he had
thought over the whole of it, had given a course to pursue, and would
close when he came to the end of it. This distinctness of conception
comprehended the subject as a whole, and shed its light upon each detail
belonging to it. This insured the most perfect method in all that he
said. Before he began to speak he had determined in his own mind, not
only the order of the different parts of his discourse, but also their
relative importance in producing the general impression. Hence, he was
never led away by the tempting character of any peculiar topic, to
expatiate upon it unduly; he did not take up matter irrelevant to the
case because it might touch him personally; he never spoke for those
behind the bar, nor did he neglect to secure the fruits of victory in
order to pursue an adversary to utter discomfiture. He spoke as a
lawyer, he spoke for the verdict, and expected to gain it by showing
that he was entitled to it. Some speakers hope to accomplish their
object by single, or at least, successive impulses--now a clinching
argumentative question, now a burst of brilliant declamation, and now a
piece of keen wit, or a rough personality. Such speakers forget, or do
not know, that a jury may admire, may be diverted, and even moved,
without being won. He that gains the verdict must mould, and sway, and
lead, and this is to be effected by continued, persistent pressure,
rather than by _tours de force_. This Mr. Peyton knew well and observed
it with perfect self-command. His hearers came away satisfied with the
whole, rather than treasuring up remarkable points and passages. Let it
not be supposed, however, that he was a cold speaker, who treated men as
mere intellectual machines, to be set in motion by the pulleys, screws
and levers of logic, far from it; he understood human nature well, and
knew the motive power of the feelings; but then he knew, too, that the
way to excite the most effective sympathy is not to make a loud outcry,
but to make a forcible exhibition of real suffering--that the best way
to rouse our indignation against fraud, deceit or oppression, is not to
exhort us to hate it, but to show its hatefulness. One of his most
distinguished contemporaries upon the same circuit was celebrated for
his powers as a criminal advocate; his manner was obviously upon the
pathetic order, perhaps a trifle too declamatory. We have seen them in
the same cause, and have thought that if the eloquence of Gen. Briscoe
G. Baldwin flushed the countenance quicker, the earnestness of Mr.
Peyton stirred the heart deeper. Of the oratory of a class of speakers
by no means rare (not, however, including in his class the distinguished
jurist above alluded to,) it has been well said, "declamation roars
while passion sleeps," of speaking justly characterised by this line,
Mr. Peyton's was the precise reverse. With him thought became passionate
before the expression became glowing, as the wave swells before it
crests itself with foam.
Mr. Peyton's language was forcible, pure and idiomatic. It served well
as the vehicle of his thoughts, but contributed nothing to them. There
is a real and legitimate advantage belonging to the masterly use of
words, of which many great speakers know how to avail themselves. Mr.
Peyton attempted nothing of the sort. His diction was thoroughly
English, with a marked preference for the Anglo Saxon branch of the
language, and his sentences came out in the most natural order with
unusual clearness and vigor, but not unfrequently with a plainness that
bordered upon homeliness. His style, however, was always that of
speaking, as distinguished from mere conversation--a distinction which
some of our modern speakers forgot, when in order to appear at their
ease, they treat, with no little disregard, not only the rules of
rhetoric, but the rules of grammar as well, and use words and phrases
which are (to take a word from the vocabulary which we are condemning)
nothing better than slang. On the contrary, there was in Mr. Peyton's
style the fruit of early studies and high-bred associations, a classical
tinge, extremely pleasant to the scholar, though not perhaps appreciable
by those for whom he generally spoke. It must not be supposed from what
has been said of his excellent method, that he resembled in this respect
some of our able, but greatly tedious lawyers, who take up, in regular
succession, every possible point in the case, however minute, and worry
us by officiously offering help where none is needed. So far from it, he
showed his consummate skill as well in what he omitted as in what he
handled, and, as a general thing, his speeches were shorter in
duration, and yet fuller of matter than those of his opponent. His use
of figurative language was easy and natural, and not stinted; but his
figures were always introduced as illustrations and not as arguments. It
is not unusual to meet with a speaker who is unable to enounce
distinctly the general principles he wishes to use, throw out an
illustration to enable himself to pick out the principle from it, or at
least to give his hearers a chance to do it for themselves; not so with
Mr. Peyton. He held up the torch of illustration, not to throw a light
forward to guide himself in his own investigations, but to enable those
following the more readily to tread the road along with him. He had a
very noticeable fondness for recurring to the primary fundamental
principles of morals, and doubtless he was restrained, by his practical
judiciousness, from indulging this disposition to the full. One of his
favorite books was Lord Bacon's essays, and under other circumstances he
might himself have been a distinguished moral essayist.
As well may be supposed, his general vein was grave. The high idea he
entertained of the dignity of his profession, and the earnestness with
which he gave himself to it, alike precluded either levity or
carelessness. However, he was fully able, quite ready upon occasion, to
avail himself of a keen wit, that was all the more effective, because it
was dry and sarcastic. It occurs to us to mention an instance, well
known to his circuit, not illustrative of his severity, but of his
pleasantry, in a criminal prosecution. He, as prosecuting attorney, was
opposed by two gentlemen of ability, whose pathos had been so great as
to draw abundant tears from their own eyes. One of them, a gentleman who
has since filled a distinguished national position (Hon. A. H. H.
Stuart, Secretary of the Interior of the United States, 1850-53) was
noted for the facility with he could cover over his brilliant eloquence
with the liquid varnish of his tears. On this occasion he had been
singularly lachrymose, and supported by his colleague, General,
afterwards Judge Baldwin, in the same way, the sensation produced was
very considerable. Mr. Peyton commenced his reply by regretting the
disadvantage the Commonwealth labored under in being represented by him
who was a very poor hand at crying, and certainly was not able to cry
against two at a time. The ludicrousness of the expression completely
neutralized the pathos of his opponents. He was not averse either to a
bit of farce, now and then, as is shown by a story told of him. In a
remote part of the circuit a lawyer wished to adorn a moving passage of
a speech he was just rising to make, with an apposite example, and
applied to Mr. Peyton, sitting beside him, to help him to the name of
the man in the Bible who would have his pound of flesh. With
imperturbable gravity, he answered Absalom! The effect of thus
confounding Shakespeare and the Bible may be imagined.
We have said that Mr. Peyton was thoroughly furnished in every part of
his profession; in one department his qualifications were peculiar and
unsurpassed. Without disparagement to others, it may be said, we think,
that he was the best Commonwealth's Attorney in the State of Virginia.
He was the lawyer of the Commonwealth, and he treated the Commonwealth
as a client, and he labored for her with the same industry, zeal and
fidelity that he manifested in behalf of any other client. The
oft-quoted merciful maxim of the common law, "better that ninety and
nine guilty men should escape than one innocent man suffer," he
interpreted as a caution to respect the rights of the innocent, and not
as an injunction to clear the guilty, and he labored to reduce the
percentage of rogues unwhipt of justice, as low as possible. With a
clearness and force rarely equaled would he point out the necessity of
punishing the guilty in order that the innocent might be safe, thus
exhibiting the absolute consistency of strict justice with true mercy.
So simply and earnestly would he do this, that he not only bound the
consciences of the jury, but also made them feel that they were
individually interested in the faithful execution of the laws. Here his
clear perception of the moral principles upon which rests the penal
code, and his fondness for recurring to general principles, stood him in
great stead. It was delightful to hear him expatiate upon this theme,
for upon no other was he more truly eloquent.
Mr. Peyton served at different times in both branches of the
Legislature, but we speak not of him as a politician. Our purpose has
been solely to exhibit some of the qualities which made him an eminent
member and ornament of the legal profession.
SKETCH OF JOHN HOWE PEYTON,
BY
WILLIAM FRAZIER, A. M., OF YALE.
"My personal acquaintance with Mr. Peyton," says Mr. Frazier in the
History of Augusta County, "commenced in October, 1824, when I entered
upon the practice of my profession at the Staunton bar. He was then, as
I learn from his biography, in his fifty-seventh year, and from that
circumstance only, it might be inferred he had passed his climatric.
Certainly nothing in his physical appearance or his forensic display
betokened a decay of power, bodily or mentally.
"Yet having amassed a handsome fortune, he established himself in a
beautiful home, surrounded by a large and interesting family, and he
felt himself entitled to some relaxation from the arduous demands of his
profession--or at least from its drudgery. He, therefore, relegated to
the younger members of the bar all minor causes, in the matter of taking
depositions and the like vacation duties. But for ten years following
the date of my introduction to him, there was hardly an important or
celebrated cause tried at the Staunton bar, whether in the State Courts
or the United States Courts, without the aid and illumination of his
splendid intellect; whilst also in Albemarle, Rockbridge and Bath
counties, he largely participated in the like weighty causes.
"In the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, his reputation throughout
the State enlarged the theatre of his professional service much beyond
that of his local circuit.
"I wish it were in my power to give a just and discriminating analysis of
his processes in the investigation and conduct of a great cause, or even
a fair description of his style of forensic argument. This much may be
safely said: that he seized, by apparent intuition, upon the strong and
dominating points in a case, not infrequently finding those, or some of
them, buried out of sight from a scrutiny less searching than his,
beneath a mass of irrelevant or conflicting testimony.
"Having thus entrenched himself in one, or a few strong positions, his
array of the facts was so masterly, his presentation of them so
luminous, and his arguments from them so logical, that he rarely failed
to carry the tribunal with him safely and irresistibly to his
conclusions. Discarding thus the minor points and less material phases
of the cause from his examination and discussion, or dismissing them in
a few rapid, searching sentences, his debate was conspicuous for its
compactness and logical order. Accordingly, his speeches did not
ordinarily exceed one hour, and even in the most complex and voluminous
causes they rarely went beyond two hours. I can recall but one occasion
in which he consumed nearly three hours. His style was fluent, but not
of that fluency which comes of redundant words and phrases, for I have
never listened to one so terse and vigorous. I think it can be said
there was hardly a superfluous word, and every sentence bore upon the
conclusion aimed at. It was, therefore, never a weariness to hear this
great advocate, and the promiscuous audience followed his argument, his
sarcasm or his invective, with as much apparent interest as did court
and jury.
"It has been written of him that he was equally versed and at home in
every department of the profession (unless admiralty and maritime law be
excepted) but I think it was as a common law lawyer that he excelled,
and that it was in the common law he found his chief delight. He was
perfectly conversant with the principles of the Feudal law and
immemorial usages of England as expounded by Littleton, Coke, Bacon, and
all the fathers and great interpreters of English jurisprudence.
"Having come to the Bar while special pleading was yet a legal science
and carefully practiced system, and before popular and not too well
informed legislatures sought to 'simplify' the practice of the law by
Statutes of Jeofails, he was, without doubt, one of the most practiced
and expert special pleaders of his time. His naturally astute and
logical mind, finding its expression through the channels of a terse and
luminous style, caused his pleadings in all their stages to be master
pieces of art.
"His fame as a prosecutor of the pleas of the Commonwealth has never been
surpassed, if equaled, in Virginia. On this field he achieved triumphs
of the most brilliant kind. His pride in his profession, and the great
principles of right and justice underlying it, no less his inborn
contempt for chicanery and fraud, not to speak of crime in its grosser
forms, combined to make him a terror to evil doers. Some critics, even
among the profession, sometimes were disposed to censure him as too
harsh and unrelenting towards the prisoner at the bar, but if every
circuit throughout our land possessed at this day so able, fearless and
conscientious a prosecutor as did the Augusta and the surrounding
circuit at that happier day in our history, perhaps we might find less
cause to deplore the depreciation of the public morals, which so
painfully invest the present era.