merely because it may comprise what is new? Is it not the glory of the
people of America, that, whilst they have paid a decent regard to the
opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a
blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule
the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own
situation, and the lessons of their own experience? To this manly
spirit posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world
for the example, of the numerous improvements displayed on the
American theatre in favor of private rights and public happiness. Had
no important step been taken by the leaders of the Revolution for
which a precedent could not be discovered; no government established
of which an exact model did not present itself,--the people of the
United States might, at this moment, have been numbered among the
melancholy victims of misguided counsels; must, at best, have been
laboring under the weight of some of those forms which have crushed
the liberties of the rest of mankind. Happily for America,--happily,
we trust, for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble
course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the
annals of human society. They reared the fabrics of government, which
have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a
great Confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to
improve and perpetuate. If their works betray imperfections, we wonder
at the fewness of them. If they erred most in the structure of the
Union, this was the work most difficult to be executed; this is the
work which has been new-modelled by the act of your convention; and it
is that act on which you are now to deliberate and decide.
CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON.
("_drawn by Mr. Madison, amid the tranquil scenes of his own final
retirement; and intended . . . . for his family and friends._")
The strength of his character lay in his integrity, his love of
justice, his fortitude, the soundness of his judgment, and his
remarkable prudence; to which he joined an elevated sense of patriotic
duty, and a reliance on the enlightened and impartial world as the
tribunal by which a lasting sentence on his career would be
pronounced. Nor was he without the advantage of a stature and figure
which, however insignificant when separated from greatness of
character, do not fail, when combined with it, to aid the attraction.
What particularly distinguished him was a modest dignity, which at
once commanded the highest respect and inspired the purest attachment.
Although not idolizing public opinion, no man could be more attentive
to the means of ascertaining it. In comparing the candidates for
office, he was particularly inquisitive as to their standing with the
public, and the opinion entertained of them by men of public weight.
On the important questions to be decided by him, he spared no pains to
gain information from all quarters; freely asking from all whom he
held in esteem, and who were intimate with him, a free communication
of their sentiments; receiving with great attention the arguments and
opinions offered to him; and making up his own judgment with all the
leisure that was permitted.
FOOTNOTE:
[4] By permission of Little, Brown, & Company, Boston, as also the two
following extracts.
ST. GEORGE TUCKER.
~1752=1828.~
ST. GEORGE TUCKER was born in the Bermudas, came early in life to
Virginia, where he married in 1778 Mrs. Frances Bland Randolph, and
thus became stepfather to John Randolph of Roanoke. He was a
distinguished jurist, professor of law at William and Mary College,
president-judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals, and judge of the
United States District Court of Virginia.
WORKS.
Poems: "Days of My Youth," and others.
Probationary Odes of Jonathan Pindar, Esq., [Satires].
Commentary on the Constitution.
Dissertation on Slavery: Letters on Alien and Sedition Laws.
Annotated Edition of Blackstone.
Dramas, [unpublished].
In addition to his ability as a writer, he possessed fine literary
taste; and his personal character was marked by great amiability,
courtliness, and patriotism.
[Illustration: ~William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.~]
RESIGNATION, OR DAYS OF MY YOUTH.
I.
Days of my youth,
Ye have glided away;
Hairs of my youth,
Ye are frosted and gray:
Eyes of my youth,
Your keen sight is no more;
Cheeks of my youth
Ye are furrowed all o'er,
Strength of my youth,
All your vigor is gone;
Thoughts of my youth,
Your gay visions are flown.
II.
Days of my youth,
I wish not your recall;
Hairs of my youth,
I'm content ye should fall;
Eyes of my youth,
You much evil have seen;
Cheeks of my youth,
Bathed in tears have you been;
Thoughts of my youth,
You have led me astray;
Strength of my youth,
Why lament your decay?
III.
Days of my age,
Ye will shortly be past;
Pains of my age,
Yet a while ye can last;
Joys of my age,
In true wisdom delight;
Eyes of my age,
Be religion your light;
Thoughts of my age,
Dread ye not the cold sod;
Hopes of my age,
Be ye fixed on your God.
JOHN MARSHALL.
~1755=1835.~
JOHN MARSHALL, third Chief Justice of the United States, was born in
Fauquier County, Virginia. He served as a soldier in the Revolution
and then practised law in Richmond. With Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
and Elbridge Gerry, he was sent to Paris in 1797 to treat of public
affairs; and it was on this occasion that Pinckney made the famous
reply to the propositions of Talleyrand, "Millions for defence, not a
cent for tribute."
He was chief-justice of the United States for thirty-five years, being
appointed in 1800 and holding the position until his death. One of the
most celebrated cases over which he presided was the trial of Aaron
Burr, 1807, in which William Wirt led the prosecution, and Luther
Martin and Burr himself, the defence. His services on the Supreme
Bench were not only judicial but patriotic also, as his decisions on
points of constitutional law, being broad, clear, strong, and
statesman-like, have done much to settle the foundations of our
government.
He died in Philadelphia whither he had gone for medical treatment. A
handsome statue of him by Story adorns the west grounds of the Capitol
at Washington, and his is one of the six colossal bronze figures
around the Washington Monument in Richmond. See Life, by Story, and by
Magruder.
WORKS.
Life of Washington.
Supreme Court Decisions.
Writings on Federal Constitution, [selections by Justice Story].
"He was supremely fitted for high judicial station--a solid judgment,
great reasoning powers, acute and penetrating mind; . . . attentive,
patient, laborious; grave on the bench, social in the intercourse of
life; simple in his tastes, and inexorably just."--Thomas Hart Benton,
in "Thirty Years' View."
POWER OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.
(_From Case of Cohen vs. State of Virginia, given in Magruder's Life
of Marshall._[5])
It is authorized to decide all cases of every description arising
under the Constitution or laws of the United States. From this general
grant of jurisdiction no exception is made of those cases in which a
State may be a party. When we consider the situation of the government
of the Union and of a State in relation to each other, the nature of
our Constitution, the subordination of the State governments to that
Constitution, the great purpose for which jurisdiction over all cases
arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States is
confided to the judicial department, are we at liberty to insert in
this general grant an exception of those cases in which a State may be
a party? Will the spirit of the Constitution justify this attempt to
control its words? We think it will not. We think a case arising under
the Constitution or laws, of the United States is cognizable in the
courts of the Union, whoever may be the parties to that case. The laws
must be executed by individuals acting within the several States. If
these individuals may be exposed to penalties, and if the courts of
the Union cannot correct the judgments by which these penalties may
be enforced, the course of government may be at any time arrested by
the will of one of its members. Each member will possess a _veto_ on
the will of the whole.
That the United States form, for many and most important purposes, a
single nation has not yet been denied. These States are constituent
parts of the United States. They are members of one great empire, for
some purposes sovereign, for some purposes subordinate. In a
government so constituted is it unreasonable that the judicial power
should be competent to give efficacy to the constitutional laws of the
legislature? That department can decide on the validity of the
Constitution or law of a State, if it be repugnant to the Constitution
or to a law of the United States. Is it unreasonable that it should
also be empowered to decide on the judgment of a State tribunal
enforcing such unconstitutional law? Is it so very unreasonable as to
furnish a justification for controlling the words of the Constitution?
We think not. . . . .
THE DUTIES OF A JUDGE.
Advert, sir, to the duties of a judge. He has to pass between the
government and the man whom that government is prosecuting; between
the most powerful individual in the community and the poorest and most
unpopular. It is of the last importance that, in the exercise of these
duties he should observe the utmost fairness. Need I press the
necessity of this? Does not every man feel that his own personal
security and the security of his property depends on that fairness?
The judicial department comes home, in its effects, to every man's
fireside; it passes on his property, his reputation, his life, his
all. Is it not to the last degree important that he should be rendered
perfectly and completely independent, with nothing to influence or
control him, but God and his conscience? . . . I have always thought,
from my earliest youth until now, that the greatest scourge an angry
Heaven ever inflicted upon an ungrateful and sinning people was an
ignorant, a corrupt, or a dependent judiciary. Our ancestors thought
so; we thought so until very lately; and I trust that the vote of this
day will show that we think so still. Will you draw down this curse on
Virginia?
FOOTNOTE:
[5] By permission of Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, of Boston, as
also the following.
HENRY LEE.
~1756=1818.~
HENRY LEE, "Light-Horse Harry," of the Revolution, and father of
General R. E. Lee, was born at Leesylvania, Westmoreland County,
Virginia. His father was also named Henry Lee, and his mother was Lucy
Grymes, the famous "lowland beauty," who first captured Washington's
heart. Her son was a favorite of his, and it is an interesting fact
that it was this same Henry Lee who delivered by request of Congress
the funeral oration on Washington. In it he used those now well-known
words, "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his
countrymen."
He was educated at Princeton, and joined the American army in 1777,
with his company, as Captain Lee. He rose successively to be major,
colonel, general; and after the war he served in the Continental
Congress and in the Virginia Legislature. He was injured in a riot at
Baltimore, while trying to defend a friend, and went to Cuba for his
health; but he died on his way home, at Cumberland Island on the coast
of Georgia, at the home of General Greene's daughter, Mrs. Shaw.
With his first wife, his cousin Matilda Lee, he obtained Stratford
House, where R. E. Lee was born; whose mother however, was the second
wife, Anne Hill Carter of Shirley.
WORK.
Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States,
edited by his sons, Henry and R. E. Lee.
General Lee's "Memoirs of the War" is a life-like and spirited
narrative of events in which he was an actor. The style is plain and
clear. His style as an orator is seen in his celebrated Funeral
Oration, of which we give the closing sentences.
CAPTURE OF FORT MOTTE BY LEE AND MARION, MAY, 1780.
(_From General Henry Lee's Memoirs of the War._)
This post was the principal depot of the convoys from Charleston to
Camden, and sometimes for those destined for Fort Granby and
Ninety-Six. A large new mansion house, belonging to Mrs. Motte,
situated on a high and commanding hill, had been selected for this
establishment. It was surrounded with a deep trench, along the
interior margin of which was raised a strong and lofty parapet. To
this post had been regularly assigned an adequate garrison of about
one hundred and fifty men, which was now accidentally increased by a
small detachment of dragoons, which had arrived from Charleston a few
hours before the appearance of the American troops, on its way to
Camden with despatches for Lord Rawdon. Captain M'Pherson commanded,
an officer highly and deservedly respected.
Opposite to Fort Motte, to the north, stood another hill, where Mrs.
Motte, having been dismissed from her mansion, resided, in the old
farmhouse. On this height Lieutenant-Colonel Lee with his corps took
post, while Brigadier Marion occupied the eastern declivity of the
ridge on which the fort stood.
The vale which runs between the two hills admitted our safe approach
within four hundred yards of the fort. This place was selected by Lee
to break ground. Relays of working parties being provided for every
four hours, and some of the negroes from the neighbouring plantations
being brought, by the influence of Marion, to our assistance, the
works advanced with rapidity. Such was their forwardness on the 10th,
that it was determined to summon the commandant.
A flag was accordingly despatched to Captain M'Pherson, stating to him
with truth our relative situation, and admonishing him to avoid the
disagreeable consequences of an arrogant temerity. To this the captain
replied, that, disregarding consequences, he should continue to resist
to the last moment. The retreat of Rawdon was known in the evening to
the besiegers; and in the course of the night a courier arrived from
General Greene confirming that event, urging redoubled activity, and
communicating his determination to hasten to their support. Urged by
these strong considerations, Marion and Lee persevered throughout the
night in pressing the completion of their works. On the next day,
Rawdon reached the country opposite to Fort Motte; and in the
succeeding night encamping on the highest ground in his route, the
illumination of his fires gave the joyful annunciation of his approach
to the despairing garrison. But the hour was close at hand, when this
joy was to be converted into sadness.
The large mansion in the centre of the encircling trench, left but a
few yards of the ground within the enemy's works uncovered; burning
the house must force their surrender.
Persuaded that our ditch would be within arrow shot before noon of the
next day, Marion and Lee determined to adopt this speedy mode of
effecting their object. Orders were instantly issued to prepare bows
and arrows, with missive combustible matter. This measure was
reluctantly adopted; for the destruction of private property was
repugnant to the principles which swayed the two commandants, and upon
this occasion was peculiarly distressing. The devoted house was a
large, pleasant edifice, intended for the summer residence of the
respectable owner, whose deceased husband had been a firm patriot, and
whose only marriageable daughter was the wife of Major Pinckney, an
officer in the South Carolina line, who had fought and bled in his
country's cause, and was now a prisoner with the enemy. These
considerations powerfully forbade the execution of the proposed
measure; but there were others of much cogency, which applied
personally to Lieutenant Colonel Lee, and gave a new edge to the
bitterness of the scene.
Encamping contiguous to Mrs. Motte's dwelling, this officer had, upon
his arrival, been requested in the most pressing terms to make her
house his quarters. The invitation was accordingly accepted; and not
only the lieutenant colonel, but every officer of his corps, off duty,
daily experienced her liberal hospitality, politely proffered and as
politely administered. Nor was the attention of this amiable lady
confined to that class of war which never fail to attract attention.
While her richly spread table presented with taste and fashion all the
luxuries of her opulent country, and her sideboard offered without
reserve the best wines of Europe--antiquated relics of happier
days--her active benevolence found its way to the sick and to the
wounded; cherishing with softest kindness infirmity and misfortune,
converting despair into hope, and nursing debility into strength.
Nevertheless the obligations of duty were imperative; the house must
burn; and a respectful communication to the lady of her destined loss
must be made. Taking the first opportunity which offered, the next
morning, Lieutenant Colonel Lee imparted to Mrs. Motte the intended
measure; lamenting the sad necessity, and assuring her of the deep
regret which the unavoidable act excited in his and every breast.
With a smile of complacency this exemplary lady listened to the
embarrassed officer, and gave instant relief to his agitated feelings,
by declaring, that she was gratified with the opportunity of
contributing to the good of her country, and that she should view the
approaching scene with delight. Shortly after, seeing accidentally the
bows and arrows which had been prepared, she sent for the lieutenant
colonel, and presenting him with a bow and its apparatus imported from
India, she requested his substitution of these, as probably better
adapted for the object than those we had provided.
Receiving with silent delight this opportune present, the lieutenant
colonel rejoined his troops, now making ready for the concluding
scene. The lines were manned, and an additional force stationed at the
battery, lest the enemy, perceiving his fate, might determine to risk
a desperate assault, as offering the only chance of relief. As soon as
the troops reached their several points, a flag was again sent to
M'Pherson, for the purpose of inducing him to prevent the
conflagration and the slaughter which might ensue, by a second
representation of his actual condition.
Doctor Irvine, of the legion cavalry, was charged with the flag, and
instructed to communicate faithfully the inevitable destruction
impending, and the impracticability of relief, as Lord Rawdon had not
yet passed the Santee; with an assurance that longer perseverance in
vain resistance, would place the garrison at the mercy of the
conqueror; who was not regardless of the policy of preventing waste
of time by inflicting exemplary punishment, where resistance was
maintained only to produce such waste. The British captain received
the flag with his usual politeness, and heard patiently Irvine's
explanations; but he remained immovable; repeating his determination
of holding out to the last.
It was now about noon, and the rays of the scorching sun had prepared
the shingle roof for the projected conflagration. The return of Irvine
was immediately followed by the application of the bow and arrows. The
first arrow struck and communicated its fire; a second was shot at
another quarter of the roof, and a third at a third quarter; this last
also took effect, and, like the first, soon kindled a blaze. M'Pherson
ordered a party to repair to the loft of the house, and by knocking
off the shingles to stop the flames. This was soon perceived, and
Captain Finley was directed to open his battery, raking the loft from
end to end.
The fire of our six pounder, posted close to one of the gable ends of
the house, soon drove the soldiers down; and no other effort to stop
the flames being practicable, M'Pherson hung out the white
flag. . . . . Powerfully as the present occasion called for
punishment, and rightfully as it might have been inflicted, not a drop
of blood was shed, nor any part of the enemy's baggage taken.
M'Pherson and his officers accompanied their captors to Mrs. Motte's,
and partook with them of a sumptuous dinner; soothing in the sweets of
social intercourse the ire which the preceding conflict had
engendered.
THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY.
(_From the funeral oration, 1800._)
First in war--first in peace--and first in the hearts of his
countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes
of private life; pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform,
dignified, and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around
him, as were the effects of that example lasting.
To his equals he was condescending, to his inferiors kind, and to the
dear objects of his affections exemplarily tender; correct throughout,
vice shuddered in his presence, and virtue always felt his fostering
hand; the purity of his private character gave effulgence to his
public virtues.
His last scene comported with the whole tenor of his life--although in
extreme pain, not a sigh, not a groan escaped him; and with
undisturbed serenity, he closed his well-spent life. Such was the man
America has lost--such was the man for whom our nation mourns.
Methinks I see his august image, and I hear falling from his venerable
lips these deep-sinking words:
"Cease, sons of America, lamenting our separation: go on, and confirm
by your wisdom the fruits of our joint councils, joint efforts, and
common dangers; reverence religion, diffuse knowledge throughout your
land, patronize the arts and sciences; let Liberty and Order be
inseparable companions. Control party spirit, the bane of free
governments; observe good faith to, and cultivate peace with all
nations, shut up every avenue to foreign influence, contract rather
than extend national connection, rely on yourselves only; be Americans
in thought, word and deed;--thus will you give immortality to that
union which was the constant object of my terrestrial labors; thus
will you preserve undisturbed to the latest posterity the felicity of
a people to me most dear, and thus will you supply (if my happiness is
now aught to you) the only vacancy in the round of pure bliss high
Heaven bestows."
MASON LOCKE WEEMS.
~1760=1825.~
MASON LOCKE WEEMS was born at Dumfries, Virginia, and educated in
London as a clergyman. He was for some years rector of Pohick Church,
Mt. Vernon parish, of which Washington was an attendant. His health
demanding a change of occupation, he became agent for the publishing
house of Matthew Carey of Philadelphia, and was very successful, being
"equally ready for a stump, a fair, or a pulpit." He played the
violin, read, recited, and was humorous and interesting in
conversation.
His writings are attractive and often very eloquent and forcible; but
we know not how much of his narratives to believe. His "Life of
Washington" is the most popular and widely read of the many lives of
that great man; to it alone we are indebted for the Hatchet Story.
WORKS.
Life of Washington.
Life of Franklin.
Life of Marion.
Life of Penn.
The Philanthropist, [a tract prefaced by an autograph letter from
Washington.]
THE HATCHET STORY.
(_From Life of Washington._)
The following anecdote is a case in point; it is too valuable to be
lost, and too true to be doubted, for it was communicated to me by the
same excellent lady to whom I was indebted for the last, [a relative
of the Washington family.]
"When George," she said, "was about six years old, he was made the
wealthy master of a _hatchet_! of which, like most little boys, he was
immoderately fond, and was constantly going about chopping everything
that came in his way. One day, in the garden, where he often amused
himself hacking his mother's pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the edge
of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree,
which he barked so terribly that I don't believe the tree ever got the
better of it. The next morning the old gentleman finding out what had
befallen his tree, which, by the by, was a great favorite, came into
the house, and with much warmth asked for the mischievous author,
declaring at the same time that he would not have taken five guineas
for his tree. Nobody could tell him anything about it. Presently
George and his hatchet made their appearance. 'George,' said his
father, 'do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry-tree
yonder in the garden?' This was a _tough question_, and George
staggered under it for a moment; but quickly recovered himself; and
looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth brightened with
the inexpressible charm of all-conquering truth, he bravely cried out,
'I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie; I did cut it
with my hatchet.'--'Run to my arms, you dearest boy,' cried his father
in transports, 'run to my arms. Glad am I, George, that you ever
killed my tree, for you have paid me for it a thousand-fold. Such an
act of heroism in my son, is more worth than a thousand trees, though
blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold.'"
JOHN DRAYTON.
~1766=1822.~
JOHN DRAYTON, son of William Henry Drayton, was born in South
Carolina, educated at Princeton and in England, and became a lawyer.
He was governor of South Carolina, 1800-2, and again 1808-10; and he
was District Judge of the United States at the time of his death.
WORKS.