DEATH OF MR. JUSTICE BARBOUR OF THE SUPREME COURT, AND
APPOINTMENT OF PETER V. DANIEL, ESQ., IN HIS PLACE.
Mr. Phillip P. Barbour was a representative in Congress from
the State of Virginia when I was first elected to the Senate in
1820. I had the advantage--(for advantage I truly deemed it for
a young member)--to be in habitual society with such a man--one
of the same mess with him the first session of my service. Nor
was it accidental, but sought for on my part. It was a talented
mess--among others the brilliant orator, William Pinkney of
Maryland; and the eloquent James Barbour, of the Senate, brother
to the representative: their cousin the representative John S.
Barbour, equal to either in the endowments of the mind: Floyd of
Virginia: Trimble and Clay of Kentucky. I knew the advantage of
such association--and cherished it. From that time I was intimate
with Mr. Phillip P. Barbour during the twenty-one winters which
his duties, either as representative in Congress, or justice of
the Supreme Court, required him to be at Washington. He was a man
worthy of the best days of the republic--modest, virtuous, pure:
artless as a child: full of domestic affections: patriotic: filially
devoted to Virginia as his mother State, and a friend to the Union
from conviction and sentiment. He had a clear mind--a close, logical
and effective method of speaking--copious without diffusion; and,
always speaking to the subject, both with knowledge and sincerity,
he was always listened to with favor. He was some time Speaker of
the House, and was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court
by President Van Buren in 1837, in place of Mr. Justice Duval,
resigned. He had the death which knows no pain, and which, to the
body, is sleep without waking. He was in attendance upon the Supreme
Court, in good health and spirits, and had done his part the night
before in one of the conferences which the labors of the Supreme
Bench impose almost nightly on the learned judges. In the morning he
was supposed by his servant to be sleeping late, and, finally going
to his bedside, found him dead--the face all serene and composed,
not a feature or muscle disturbed, the body and limbs in their easy
natural posture. It was evident that the machinery of life had
stopped of itself, and without a shock. Ossification of the heart
was supposed to be the cause. He was succeeded on the Supreme Bench
by Peter V. Daniel, Esq., of the same State, also appointed by Mr.
Van Buren--one in the first, the other in the last days of his
administration.
A beautiful instance in Mr. Barbour of self-denial, and of fidelity
to party and to personal friendship, and regard for honor and
decorum, occurred while he was a member of the House. Mr. Randolph
was in the Senate: the time for his re-election came round: he
had some personal enemies in his own party, who, joined to the
whig party, could defeat him: and it was a high object with the
administration at Washington (that of Mr. Adams), to have him
defeated. The disaffected and the opposition combined together,
counted their numbers, ascertained their strength, and saw that they
could dispose of the election; but only in favor of some one of the
same party with Mr. Randolph. They offered the place to Mr. Barbour.
It was the natural ascent in the gradation of his appointments; and
he desired it; and, it may be said, the place desired him: for he
was a man to adorn the chamber of the American Senate. But honor
forbid; for with him Burns's line was a law of his nature: _Where
you feel your honor grip, let that still be your border._ He was
the personal and political friend of Mr. Randolph, and would not be
used against him; and sent an answer to the combined parties which
put an end to their solicitations. Mr. John Tyler, then governor of
the State, and standing in the same relation with Mr. Barbour to Mr.
Randolph, was then offered the place: and took it. It was his first
step in the road to the whig camp; where he arrived eventually--and
lodged, until elected out of it into the vice-presidential chair.
Judge Barbour was a Virginia country gentleman, after the most
perfect model of that most respectable class--living on his ample
estate, baronially, with his family, his slaves, his flocks and
herds--all well cared for by himself, and happy in his care.
A farmer by position, a lawyer by profession, a politician of
course--dividing his time between his estate, his library, his
professional, and his public duties--scrupulously attentive to
his duties in all: and strict in that school of politics of which
Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, John Taylor of Caroline, Mr. Monroe,
Mr. Macon, and others, were the great exemplars. A friend to
order and economy in his private life, he carried the same noble
qualities into his public stations, and did his part to administer
the government with the simplicity and purity which its founders
intended for it.