Worthily in the muster roll of the prominent men who have contributed to the greatness of Alabama, must appear the name of Judge Samuel Farrow Rice. For many years he was conspicuous in the public affairs of the state and was in some respects a remarkable man. A native of South Carolina, Mr. Rice was trained for the bar in the law office of the distinguished William C. Preston. He came to Alabama in 1838, and from that time till his death, was identified with the history of the state. His first service was that of an editor of a paper in Talladega, from which county he was twice sent to the lower house of the legislature. After this, for a period, he abandoned politics and was devoted to the practice of law, being at one time a partner to John T. Morgan.
Mr. Rice was not without congressional aspiration, which he sought to gratify several times, but was always defeated. Four different times did he sustain defeat in congressional races. General McConnell defeated him in 1845, Mr. Bowdon in ’47, Alexander White in ’51 and Hilary A. Herbert in ’78. But he was never soured by defeat, and always accepted it in a jocular way. No one enjoyed a joke more at his own expense than Judge Rice. This was illustrated by the good nature with which he learned that an old rustic in the cow country of southeast Alabama declined to support him at one time because, as he said, “Rice ain’t got no stubbility.”
Removing to Montgomery in 1852, Mr. Rice became a partner in the law firm of Belser & Rice, but two years later he was elected one of the justices of the supreme court of the state. He was on the bench in that exalted tribunal for four years, during the last three of which he was chief justice. In the early part of 1859 he resigned from the supreme bench and was chosen to represent Montgomery County in the legislature. During the following four years he served as senator from Montgomery and Autauga counties. After the close of the war Judge Rice never held office, though, as has been said, he ran against Mr. Herbert for Congress.
Possessed of an unusually brilliant intellect and of a wit as keen as a rapier, as well as a diction of remarkable smoothness, and a port of serene dignity, he was a formidable contestant on the stump and in the rough and tumble of the court room. Tall, and as straight as a flag staff, with a face of classic mold, over which there was ever an expression of playful humor, he was always listened to with delight, especially since there were frequent flashes of merriment from his gifted tongue. A Democrat till the last years of his life, he became a Republican.
It is related of him that during the days of the reconstruction regime, he was at one time arguing with great earnestness some proposition before one of the incompetent judges of that period, for which judge he shared in the contempt experienced by the able members of the bar, when he was suddenly interrupted by the court and was told that the courthad ruled on that point only the day before. Pretending not to hear the court, he continued until again interrupted in the same way by the court. Disdaining to notice him, Rice continued. He was then ordered by the court to take his seat, but still he proceeded as though he did not hear him. Addressing the proper official, the court ordered a fine of fifty dollars to be affixed, whereupon Judge Rice quietly sat down. The next day a case came before the court the nature of which was such that the presiding judge was ineligible to serve. Because of the prominence of Judge Rice, the court called on him to preside during the trial of the case. With characteristic dignity Judge Rice took the bench, looked quietly over the docket, and, straightening up, called to the official who had complied with the order of the judge the day before, and asked:
“Was there not a fine of fifty dollars affixed against one S. F. Rice here on yesterday?” Being told there was, he simply remarked:
“Well, the court will remit that fine today.”
This was done in the most imperturbable manner and then he proceeded with the case in hand. The incident produced a sudden burst of laughter, which was hardly suppressed when, with stern dignity, he commanded: “The sheriff will preserve order in court!”
After he became a Republican he was frequently joked by those who had known him in the days of his most ardent Democracy, but he was never without a jolly parry to every thrust made, and always in the most felicitous way. Talking to one who had long known him, he was asked at one time whathis political principles then were. With playful banter he said: “I am a Republican with Democratic variations.” His reason for becoming a Republican was assigned by himself as a belief that a state should have two parties, and he was willing to show his magnanimity by joining the Republicans. However, he had but little to do with politics till he was nominated in opposition to Colonel Herbert. They canvassed the district together, and in strict truth Colonel Herbert was favored by larger crowds because he was accompanied by Judge Rice. Staid and serious, Colonel Herbert possessed none of the striking elements of a popular speaker. On the other hand, Rice had them all and he found delight in giving to them full expression, often at the expense of his practical opponent.
Intellectually, Judge Rice was a prince among men. He was justly ranked among the ablest lawyers of the state, and as a converser he was rarely excelled. In his lighter moods his conversation was almost boyish in its vivacity. Nor did anything seem to quench its freshness and piquancy. He seemed to know something about everything and everything about some things. However men differed from him, he was so luminous and cheery that he became the center of a group of ready listeners in any circle in which he appeared.
In debate he was one of the greatest of strategists. With quick and incisive discrimination he could detect the weak points of his opponent and would marshal his forces on these so as to lead one to forget other points of strength. If interrupted, his repartee was usually so crushing thathe stayed in dumbness any disposition to interfere, no matter how unfair his opponent might have at the time thought him to be. This repartee was rarely ever offensive, but, on the other hand, was so couched in ironical politeness and assumed suavity as to make it tenfold stronger. While his career was not devoid of much of the zigzag, yet his life was one of long usefulness to the commonwealth.
For many years Judge George W. Stone was a familiar figure in the public circles of Alabama. He was among the distinguished self-made men of the state. His early scholastic advantages were limited, extending not beyond the confines of a village school, yet he came to take high rank as a jurist, being regarded in the height of his power as one of the really great lawyers of the state. He was favored in being able to prosecute his studies privately, and the judgment exercised by him in his self-selected course of reading, gave evidence of that solidity of character and acuteness of discrimination which distinguished him throughout his professional and public career.
Before removing from his native state, Tennessee, to Alabama, he was admitted to the bar. He settled first in Coosa County, and later removed to Syllacauga, and later still to the town of Talladega, where he entered into co-partnership with the Honorable W. P. Chilton. It was in the office of this firm that Senator John T. Morgan was fitted for the bar. The picture of this eminent jurist riding a scrawny pony, with his huge saddle-bags of leather well filled with books of law, along rough roads to attend rural courts, in the early stages of his practice, is still the occasion of laudable pride of allusion among the older citizens of central and eastern Alabama counties. The first official position held by Mr. Stone was that of circuit judge, to which position he was appointed by GovernorFitzpatrick in the place of Judge Shortridge on the occasion of the death of the latter. The service of Judge Stone on the bench was so satisfactory that he was subsequently elected over formidable candidates for the same position for a period of six years. He declined to offer for re-election after the expiration of his term, and removed to Hayneville, Lowndes County, where he engaged in the practice of the law for a period of years. In 1849 his name was prominently mentioned in connection with the governorship of the state. In 1856 Judge Stone was again summoned from his private practice by being elected to the supreme bench of the state, which position he continued to hold throughout the period of the Civil War. In 1865 the legislature engaged his services jointly with those of John W. Sheppard, Esq., to prepare a revised penal code of Alabama, one adapted to the conditions occasioned by the war.
The habits of study acquired by Judge Stone in his boyhood days in meeting the demands occasioned by the deficiency of his education were never abandoned. He was doggedly persistent in mastering every detail of a subject, and seems to have acquired a passion for routine fractional work. He took nothing for granted, never assuming that it was true, till he had satisfied himself from the authorities. This gave a critical cast to his mind which, in turn, resolved itself into the utmost exactness with respect to each minute particular on any subject which would absorb his attention. With painstaking exactness he would con over a minute point for hours, in order to bring it into exact adjustment. His arguments were perfectly mortised,no matter how much time was necessary to effect this end. His labors in his office were assiduous, and a case entrusted to his care never suffered the slightest negligence or inattention. Others might find time for the chase or on the stream, but Judge Stone was usually found in his office, at his desk, hammering out his cases. His studies were varied, as he would now and then unbend from his law books to delve into choice literature, of which he was quite fond. His literary taste was the highest, and occasionally he would give rein to his Pegasus and dash off a bit of fugitive poetry. This was done by way of diversion, as he never sought publication for such productions. His concentration was remarkable, and he could husband his resources with great readiness, ease, and skill.
The devotion of Judge Stone to his library prevented his attention to social intercourse, and, like most students, he was somewhat austere in his bearing. The glitter and clatter of the social circle had no charms for the man whose thoughts moved on serious and solid lines. His companionship was largely his books, of which he had a choice selection.
In life, he was prized as an attorney for his rigid attention to cases entrusted to his care; as a judge, for the accuracy and minuteness of his opinions, as well as for his unquestioned fairness, and as a private citizen, for his solid and substantial worth. No condition could swerve him from a course of conscientious judgment, and no temptation was sufficient to betray him into a course the least doubtful. Behind all this was a manly courage and conviction to sustain the serenity of his judgment.
Thus lived and died this distinguished Alabamian, as much admired for his private virtues as for his official service. In most respects a model man and citizen, he was a typical official of the other days when men loved honor more than gain, and prized integrity above the price of rubies.
To all this was added Judge Stone’s devotion to the cause of religion. He was a devout Presbyterian of the old school, and never suffered his religious convictions to be trenched on by the plausible pretexts of worldly maxim. In this he was as firm and stern as he was in all other relations in life. No juggling of politics for temporary advantage, no suggestion from the high plane of right could deflect him from a course of rigid scruple. His standard was honor, not applause; integrity, not gain; uprightness in all things, not momentary success.
This was the life lived by this eminent jurist, and this the bequest given as an example to those who should come after him. The passing of a man like this was the occasion of profound sorrow throughout the state that he had so long served with distinction.
To present the merited claims of a typical southern planter of the olden days is the purpose of this sketch. Than these princely planters of the old South in the golden age of cotton, no more honorable, cultured, dignified, or hospitable class ever existed. None is more worthy to represent the great planting class of the South, and especially of Alabama, than Joel Early Matthews, who died at Selma, May 11, 1874.
Mr. Matthews sprang from Revolutionary sires. His grandfather, General George Matthews, was a distinguished soldier in Washington’s army. After the close of the Revolution, General Matthews removed from Virginia to Georgia, and became one of the three representatives sent by the state of Georgia to congress. In addition to this honor, he was made governor of Georgia for two terms. The father of the subject of the present sketch was Colonel C. L. Matthews, who found great pride in the education of his son in the leading colleges of the South, he having taken a course at the University of Georgia, supplemented by another at the University of Virginia. His first ambition was the bar, but he eventually abandoned that and adopted planting. In those early days planting and the bar were regarded the two most eminent vocations in the South.
Purchasing a plantation in the heart of the black belt, near Cahaba, on the Alabama River, Mr. Matthews spent his life there. His broad acres offabulous fertility were his constant pride and care, and his palatial home was one of the most splendid in the South. Nothing like the sumptuous hospitality of the old-time southern planter was ever before equaled, and the conditions which entered into these superb abodes of elegance, ease and courtliness will never be again. Immensely wealthy, the elegant mansion of Mr. Matthews rivaled in all its appointments the palace of an English lord. There was nothing lacking to contribute to ease, comfort, pleasure, and culture.
Like others of his great class in the South, Mr. Matthews did not content himself with the mere enjoyment of that afforded by the wealth of his vast estate.
He was an exceedingly busy man, not only in the successful direction of his own interests and in dispensing rare hospitality, but he directed his energies as well to the promotion of the well-being of society, and the enhancement and development of the resources of the state. To him the advancement of education and religion were matters of as serious concern as were his own private affairs. His plethoric purse was always available to the demands of needs, and nothing was of light esteem to this generous patriot and planter.
The leisure afforded by his wealth was devoted to reading and study. His library was stocked with the choicest standard works of ancient and modern learning, and his library table was always laden with the leading periodicals of the time. In these rural mansions of the old South were often met some of the most profound and thoughtful of men,of whom Mr. Matthews was a type. He had a passion for the study of the science of government, but his studies were not confined to that particular branch of thought. His fund of information was comprehensive, and his learning versatile. He found peculiar delight in the study of Shakespeare, the histories of Gibbon and Hume, the works of Bacon, Addison, Macaulay, and others. With the study of these came a passion for the study of the Scriptures, and the science of government as expounded by Jefferson and Calhoun, the interpretations of the limitations and powers of the federal constitution of whom he accepted.
Mr. Matthews had crossed the boundary of a half century of his life when hostilities between the North and the South began. Though deeply interested in the principle of secession and thrilled by the patriotism which swayed the country during the exciting days of the early sixties, he felt that he was too old to share in the actual fray, but pledged his fealty and fortune to Alabama in the pending crisis. In token of this he sent his check for fifteen thousand dollars in gold to Governor Moore, to be used by him at his discretion for the defense of the state, which was acknowledged in the following letter:
“Executive Department,“Montgomery, Ala.,“January 28, 1861.“Mr. Joel E. Matthews, Cahaba, Ala.“Dear Sir:—Your munificence for the protection of the state is accepted and the evidence of it placed upon record in this office. The praise of one man,although he speaks as one having authority, is but a small part of the reward which your patriotism deserves and will receive. When the present time shall have become historic, this donation will be an heirloom to your posterity and the example which you have set will be a source of power to your state compared to both of which the liberal sum of money which you have given will be as nothing. As chief executive of the state, and acting under a deep sense of responsibility, I have been compelled to do all in my power to strengthen the sense of resistance in the southern mind and to deepen the current flowing toward the independence of the state in defense of her constitutional rights. What I have been compelled to do by conviction of duty, you have done voluntarily, and to that extent deserve more freely of the gratitude of your fellow citizens. Trusting that an approving conscience and the gratitude of your state may be your ample reward, and commending you and the state to the protecting goodness of Providence, I remain, very respectfully your obedient servant,“A. B. MOORE,“Governor of Alabama.”
“Executive Department,“Montgomery, Ala.,“January 28, 1861.
“Mr. Joel E. Matthews, Cahaba, Ala.
“Dear Sir:—Your munificence for the protection of the state is accepted and the evidence of it placed upon record in this office. The praise of one man,although he speaks as one having authority, is but a small part of the reward which your patriotism deserves and will receive. When the present time shall have become historic, this donation will be an heirloom to your posterity and the example which you have set will be a source of power to your state compared to both of which the liberal sum of money which you have given will be as nothing. As chief executive of the state, and acting under a deep sense of responsibility, I have been compelled to do all in my power to strengthen the sense of resistance in the southern mind and to deepen the current flowing toward the independence of the state in defense of her constitutional rights. What I have been compelled to do by conviction of duty, you have done voluntarily, and to that extent deserve more freely of the gratitude of your fellow citizens. Trusting that an approving conscience and the gratitude of your state may be your ample reward, and commending you and the state to the protecting goodness of Providence, I remain, very respectfully your obedient servant,
“A. B. MOORE,“Governor of Alabama.”
The patriotic sentiments of Mr. Matthews did not cease with this donation, for he uniformed and equipped several military companies at his own expense and was generous in the relief of the widows and orphans of those killed in battle. Sharing in the gloom occasioned by the result of the war, he was tempted to remove to Brazil in order to produce cotton in that empire. On visiting the country hewas cordially greeted by the emperor and urged to become a subject, but he gave up the idea. When Emperor Dom Pedro visited America in 1876 he made diligent inquiry of Mr. Matthews, with whom he was greatly impressed.
The life and career of Joel Early Matthews was a distinct contribution to the weal of Alabama. Though wealthy, he was modest and devoid of arrogance; though unusually well informed, he had respect unto the lowliest. He was an ornament to the citizenship of the state, and when he passed away his loss was universally mourned.
No one of more marked individuality ever appeared among the public men of Alabama than Judge Edmund S. Dargan. He had peculiar characteristics which, so far from concealing, he seemed to cherish them. These peculiarities were quite out of the ordinary, and not infrequently excited much merriment. Still Judge Dargan was a man of distinguished ability.
Springing from an Irish ancestry in North Carolina, where Judge Dargan was born in 1805, he was gifted with those sinewy physical qualities which had been borne by his forbears across the seas from the bogs and fens of the Emerald Isle. Left an orphan boy by the death of his father, who was a Baptist minister, when the son was but a boy, he showed genuine pluck by joining in the rough encounters of the world in an effort to procure an education. In his younger years no ambition above that of a plodding country farmer seems to have possessed him, for he was a common laborer till he was twenty-three years old, though his mental activity led him to a diligent study of the classics, to which he devoted every spare hour.
He seemed suddenly to have been inspired by a rare vision of life, for he abruptly left his farm work and entered on the study of the law in the neighboring village of Wadesboro, N. C. A year later, he removed to the young state of Alabama, which was in 1829, just ten years after the state had been admitted into the Union. Locating in AutaugaCounty, he taught a private school for a period of three months.
On making application for admission to practice law it was found that Mr. Dargan was duly qualified by past study, and he entered at once on the practice in the courts, after settling at Washington, in Autauga County. His settlement in this rural village was a brief one, for he soon removed to Montgomery. His quiet and studious habits and his habituation to hard work served him well in his new environments, for naturally such a young man would excite attention and win confidence. His practice steadily grew and his reputation for close and rigid attention to business and ability to transact it, rapidly raised him above the man of plodding mediocrity and won for him a place of public esteem. Yielding to the solicitations of friends, he offered for the legislature from Montgomery County, but was defeated. A year later, however, when he was thirty-six years old, he was elected by the legislature to the circuit of the Montgomery district. He retained the office but one year, when he resigned and removed to Mobile and entered on the practice of the law.
In 1844 Judge Dargan was elected to the state senate from Mobile, which position he held just a year, when he resigned to enter into a congressional race against Honorable William D. Dunn, one of the most popular and polished men of the district. In their combats on the stump the difference between the two candidates was most novel. Dunn was neat and tidy of dress, polished in manner, and elegant of diction, while Dargan wasindifferent alike to all these, and rather prided himself on their absence from his being. The advantage lay on the side of Dargan from the fact that in spite of his rough and uncouth exterior he was a forceful speaker, and commanded the attention and confidence of the most thoughtful, while his disregard for dress and apparent contempt for polish won the plaudits of the rustic population. In debate he was Dunn’s equal, if not his superior, while the difference between them otherwise made him the successful competitor.
One session in the National Congress seemed to gratify his ambition, for at its expiration he declined a renomination. Soon after his retirement from congress he was elected by the legislature to the supreme bench of the state, and two years later, on the retirement of Judge Collier from the chief justiceship, Judge Dargan was elected to succeed him. After serving three years in this function he resigned and resumed private practice of the law in Mobile.
Here Judge Dargan was profitably engaged in the practice of the law when the war began, and in 1861 he was chosen to represent Mobile in the constitutional convention. No sphere could have been better suited to his taste and qualifications, and he was ranked one of the foremost members of that body.
Judge Dargan’s career in the public service closed with his membership in the Confederate Congress, where he served for two years only, and declined further service in that capacity. It was while he was a member of the Congress of the Confederacy thatGovernor Foote of Tennessee, a member of the same body, took occasion to reflect seriously on Judge Dargan in the course of some remarks on the floor, when Dargan promptly sprang to his feet, seized Foote in the collar, with his right hand upraised, as though he would strike him. But before violence was demonstrated, the matter was adjusted and the incident closed. This led to an animadversion on the part of E. A. Pollard, in one of his works on the Civil War, on Judge Dargan, whom Pollard accused of raising a bowie knife with the view of stabbing Governor Foote. This reckless writer was descanting at length on the inferior type of manhood in the Confederate Congress, and made the statement just given in substantiation of his charge. The truth is that Judge Dargan was at his desk writing when Governor Foote assailed him in the speech, and when he arose he still held the pen in his fingers.
Numerous anecdotes are still related of Judge Dargan, especially with respect to his garb. His shoes were sometimes of the cheapest styles, and he preferred leather strings to any others. Members of the bar used to relate how careful he was sometimes to mar his appearance before appearing before a jury in an important case, how careful he was to untie his shoes before leaving his office, so that they might gape the wider, and how often his hair was unbrushed and his shirt collar was thrown open.
When unengaged, the position of Judge Dargan was that of drowsiness. Under this condition he wore an expression of indifference and unconcern.But when he would arise to speak he was suddenly transformed. His eyes would dilate and glitter, his nostrils grow thin under the intensity of animation, and the dullness of his face would give way to a radiance that would inspire. In the sweep and current of discussion he was a giant, and in the clearness and forcefulness of presentation he had but few superiors.
In 1849 a woman philanthropist, Miss D. L. Dix, of New York, a sister of General John A. Dix of that city, visited Alabama with the end in view of establishing a hospital for the insane of this state. She was actuated to undertake the task of visiting all the states in which there were not such institutions, by a singular experience which had come into her life. A cherished friend of hers had become insane, and it had fallen to her lot to nurse that friend till death. It was no ordinary task which she assumed, particularly at that time, when the country was ringing with the heated politics growing out of the discussion of abolitionism, and when there was a special antipathy for northern people in the states of the South. But she so impressed everyone with the intensity of her spirit and her loyalty to the distressed, that nothing was thought of but the angel of mercy that she was, moving quietly over the land and pleading for the sufferers from idiocy, epilepsy and insanity, defraying her own expenses, for she was amply able to do this, and quietly giving her life for others, and they who were afflicted with the malady of insanity. Nor were her labors confined exclusively to this class, but she inspected the prisons of the country, the jails and penitentiaries, and sought to mitigate the sufferings of the prisoners. Before taking formal action with the authorities of the state, Miss Dix traveled over the state and acquainted herself withthe conditions especially of the insane. She found at least seven hundred sufferers from idiocy, epilepsy, and insanity. Equipped with these facts, she was prepared to make her appeal.
For thirty years Alabama had been a state, but her people were so engrossed with the affairs personal and public, wrestling with the giant difficulties incidental to a new state, that institutions of mercy had been largely if not altogether neglected. For the unfortunate lunatics no provision had ever been made. Miss Dix found them confined as criminals in prison, with environments to distract and make incurable rather than otherwise, or else they were confined in friendly homes and closely guarded, while a fraction of the number was sent to insane hospitals in other states.
Arriving finally at Montgomery, this gifted woman presented the claims of her mission to the governor and most influential members of the legislature, and by means of a memorial addressed to the legislature, she aroused action which culminated in the appropriation of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the erection and equipment of a hospital for the insane of the state. The law was not enacted, however, till 1852, and the institution was not built and ready for inmates till July, 1861. It was of supreme importance in the inception of an enterprise of this character that a thoroughly equipped physician, qualified for this special work, be procured. Ample time was taken to find this man, and when found he proved to be Dr. Peter Bryce, of South Carolina.
At the time of his election to this important postDr. Bryce was only twenty-six years old, but his previous training and experience had given him the amplest equipment for a position so responsible, and time proved that a more fortunate selection could not have been made. Trained in the medical department of New York, after quitting which he had become assistant physician in the South Carolina Hospital for the Insane, none could have been better qualified for the superintendency of the new insane hospital of Alabama.
Dr. Bryce at once impressed everyone with his fitness on his arrival and on his assumption of his important station. Quiet and unassuming in manner, gentle and persuasive, and withal sympathetic and tender, his natural gifts were supplemented by a thorough knowledge of the most advanced scientific treatment of the insane. He entered on his important mission and held it to the close of his life.
His task was herculean from the outset. Besides superior qualifications for the station to which he had been called, he must have administrative force. Thorough organization was necessary before the work proper could even be begun. The adjustment of means to an end in all the minute ramifications of the hospital must be secured. The institution must not only be set agoing, but when once begun, must be without relaxation or cessation. More than all that, there must be prospective provision made for an increased and increasing dependency of the unfortunate, for the population of the state was rapidly growing, and of course there would be an increasing demand for occupants yet to come. The responsibility was onerous, the duty exacting, thesupervision minute, and skillful treatment in each case absolutely necessary.
His service gave universal satisfaction. The praises of the young superintendent resounded throughout the state, and even beyond. Hundreds who came and were restored whole, left with blessings on the head of the young and lovable superintendent. In his retreat of benevolence he labored on year by year, was rarely before the public, and his tremendous work was known only to a limited few. Confidence in him grew to be supreme, and his fame went abroad to other states, and the hospital for the insane in Alabama was noted among similar institutions throughout the country.
Dr. Bryce took a position in the most advanced of the medical fraternity of Alabama. The learned papers presented by him before the medical convention of Alabama, from time to time, with special reference to the disorders of the mind, were regarded as being those of the highest value. He was a devotee to his profession, and his fame grew with the expansion of the institution committed to his care.
In addition to all this, Dr. Bryce was a great favorite in the social circles of cultured Tuskaloosa. His quite dignity, pleasing demeanor, and his learning and culture, won for him a place in the most elevated circle, while his perennial sunshine of heart made him an idol to the unfortunate inmates of the hospital. He became one of the first citizens of the state, and by dint of sheer merit, he held this position to the close of his useful life.
No man of more exalted personal character ever entered public life in Alabama than Governor John Gill Shorter. He had all the virtues of a Christian statesman. Gentle, refined, highly cultured, modest, he was yet a firm and faithful official. His presence produced an atmosphere of purity and awoke the profoundest respect.
A graduate from the University of Georgia in the class of ’37, for Georgia was his native state, he removed with his father, General Reuben C. Shorter, to Eufaula, then called Irwinton, and after a course of study entered on the practice of the law. Six years afterward he was appointed by Governor Fitzpatrick solicitor of the judicial district in which he resided. In 1845 Mr. Shorter was elected senator from Barbour County, the first from that county after it was formed from Russell County. His bearing and service at once attracted attention, his ability was promptly recognized, and when Honorable George Goldthwaite was promoted to the supreme bench, Mr. Shorter succeeded him as the judge of the judicial circuit, in which capacity he served for nine years, being elected from time to time without opposition.
When the question of withdrawal from the Union was before the secession convention of Georgia, Judge Shorter was sent as one of the commissioners from Alabama. He later became a member of the provisional congress of the Confederacy, and soon became a candidate for governor of the state inresponse to a popular demand. In 1861 he was elected governor.
The storm of war breaking over the country, there was imposed on the governor an unprecedented burden, attended with unique embarrassment of an appalling nature. Questions of a complicated nature arose in consequence of the haste necessary to meet the tide of hostilities bearing southward, and in the excitement of the hour and the extremity of the period, the people were divided on numerous important issues, and from the outset, the administration of Governor Shorter was beset behind and before with most perplexing entanglements. The strenuousness of the times imposed burdens on him never before borne by a governor. The difficulty was enhanced by the fact that on the governor reposed the settlement of all questions on which public sentiment was divided. The most conflicting demands arose from the turbulence of the times and the passion of the period, but the serene man at the capitol sought tranquilly to do his duty, unswayed by aught else than a supreme sense of public responsibility. His patriotic and philanthropic disposition led him to seek to provide for the families of soldiers on the field, but this produced adverse sentiment on the part of many. With zeal and interest, he sought to protect by every possible means the exposed borders of the state against a hostile army, and gave special attention to the fortification of Mobile by garrisoning the outposts of that city as strongly as possible.
As the war progressed and the demand for additional troops grew, it became necessary to conscribemany who had failed to volunteer, and this became the occasion of fresh difficulty, as it always does. In the execution of the law enacted by the Confederate Congress relative to the tax in kind for the support of the army, Governor Shorter had to stem a current of popular opposition, and was held responsible by the masses for that which he did in compliance with the laws of congress. Added to all this was the necessity of the imposition of increased taxation for the support of the state government, and for the redemption of its bonds. In the prosecution of necessary tasks like these he became the victim of much popular wrath and unjust abuse. But duty was clear, and without wavering the breadth of a hair, or without chafing under the conditions, Governor Shorter met his obligations with steadiness and firmness. To have done less than he did would have made him recreant to his obligation, and everyone who did his duty at that time, and under conditions so stressful, fell under the same unreasonable public condemnation. A man of less nerve and less granite in his soul would have been swept off his feet in a public ordeal like this.
On the expiration of his term, in 1863, he was a candidate for re-election, opposed by Thomas H. Watts, then attorney general of the Confederacy, and an opponent of Governor Shorter at the previous election.
Public sentiment had grown so morbid during the tempestuous times of the former administration, that Governor Shorter failed of re-election. There was a burst of ungrateful expression of popularfeeling, but the result was not unexpected. Governor Shorter had borne immense burdens in the face of popular clamor, and naturally and logically he preferred the indorsement of a people for whom he had done so much, while, on the other hand, it was a relief to be unburdened at the end of two years.
After facing the odds, formidable and imposing, during the first two years of the struggle, and after resisting the inertia of popular discontent at every step, he retired from office with a stainless reputation, and, viewed at this distance, his course during the trying period of his administration is thoroughly vindicated, and in the galaxy of Alabama governors none has ever been more patriotic, none more firm in the prosecution of public duty, none calmer in a storm than John Gill Shorter. With the same serene temper with which he had deported himself in office, he retired to private life and resumed the practice of the law in the city of Eufaula.
With this distinguished statesman the claims of religious obligation rose supreme. His life was a living sermon. His honor was never questioned, nor was his religious character impeached, nor his personal piety ever challenged. In his character was the happiest blend of childlike gentleness and robust manhood. In a period of doubt and storm he publicly insisted that “there is a truth in religion; it is all true; and there is a power in the atonement of Christ. It is a glorious reality. The atonement of Christ will stand firm as the everlasting hills.”
Governor Shorter died in the prime of manhood, being only fifty-four when he passed away. At the time of his death there was no more popular manin the state. An account of his triumphant death was broadly published throughout the country and created a profound impression.
With faith unnerved by the presence of death, he closed his earthly career with words quoted from an old and familiar hymn:
“To Canaan’s fair and happy land,Where my possessions lie.”
Having quoted this couplet, he said, “I want to be off”—and died.
Of a meek and unpretentious mold, Bishop N. H. Cobbs never failed to impress the public with his deep piety and exalted character. Rising from an humble station in life, and ascending by dint of merit to the highest place within the gift of his church, there was nothing in his bearing to indicate his consciousness of the honor attaching to his position. There was a total absence from his manner of that self-assertion and sense of self-importance so often attaching to those as highly honored as was Bishop Cobbs.
Conjoined to this was a cordiality of spirit which loosened all restraint and made everyone whom he met, feel that he had met a friend. A placid smile as natural as sunshine mantled his face and lent an additional charm to his personality.
The individual merit of Bishop Cobbs was shown by the fact that, with the scantiest educational advantages in early life, he turned his stock of information to the greatest use by teaching school in the rural districts of Virginia. With him, to teach was to learn, for in order to give effective instruction he had to prepare the way in advance by assiduous nightly study. After all, this is the most effective way of procuring a solid education, provided one knows how and what to study. Mr. Cobbs always brought to his rustic classes the enthusiasm derived from knowledge newly found, and the enthusiasm was contagious, as it always is under conditions like these.
By such methods as these the young man came to widen and deepen his capacity, and thus became qualified to grapple with the profounder studies which still lay ahead. He was neither superficial nor artificial, but always solidly practical, because he had already learned to be sure of his footing by reason of the conditions attendant on his early struggles. Naturally modest, he won self-confidence by closeness of application, and from this happy blend came that rotundity of character which made him the man he was.
His heart was already fixed on the ministry, and up to the age of twenty-eight, during his career as a country school teacher, he was prosecuting his theological studies. At the time already indicated, when he had arrived at the age of twenty-eight, he was ordained deacon in Trinity Church, Staunton, Va., and a year later, was made priest in Richmond. He became pastor in Bedford County, Virginia, and in conjunction with his pastoral work he officiated as chaplain in the University of Virginia, being the first minister to serve within the walls of that famous institution. From 1826 to 1841 he served in the general convention of his church as one of the clerical deputies from the diocese of Virginia.
In 1841 Rev. Cobbs was nominated bishop of Texas by the house of bishops, but the clerical and lay deputies declined, from motives of policy, to sanction the action. The honorary title of doctor of divinity was given him by Hobart College in 1843 and during the same year he became the rector of St. Paul’s Church, in Cincinnati. Another step was taken to raise him to the bishopric by the clergy ofIndiana, but the laity, assuming, for some reason, that if elected he would not accept, did not ratify the action. However, in 1844 the clergy and laity of Alabama invited him to the episcopate and late during that year he entered on his new sphere and for seventeen years, the ripest period of his life, he served in Alabama.
On the assumption of the charge of his diocese he found but few Episcopalians in Alabama, the number scarcely reaching as many as five hundred. He set himself at work without delay to effect a thorough organization of the scattered few, and before the close of his life had multiplied the numbers many times over. In grappling with the difficulties of a new field, the resourcefulness acquired in his early life stood him well in hand. He brought to his difficult task not only an administrative equipment gained by hard experience, but an economical ability which he had acquired in his earlier years. He was just the man temperamentally and otherwise fitted for a pioneer work such as he undertook in Alabama.
One possessing the gifts which Bishop Cobbs had, might have shone more resplendently, but he was shrinkingly modest, and by this was much kept from public recognition. He was an indefatigable worker and was as quiet as he was effective in the execution of his plans. Without effort he won popularity, and to his quiet demeanor and humility is his church in Alabama most indebted. Under his auspices a diocesan school was founded, an orphanage established, and a system of missions maintained, and through these agencies vast good was effected.
Bishop Cobbs had none of the striking elements of the popular pulpit orator. He was terse and condensed in statement, and yet projectile in force. Behind his utterances lay a dynamic conviction which was imparted and impressed. His preaching was more to the heart than to the mind. He believed, therefore he spoke.
He shared deeply in the sentiment awakened by the issues that shook the country in the early sixties, and predicted a bloody fratricidal war, but he was spared a participation in its horrors. On January 11, 1861, while the secession convention was assembled in Montgomery, and while the pulse of excitement beat strong, and just prior to the adoption of the ordinance of secession, Bishop Nicholas Hamner Cobbs passed to his reward.
Of one of the earliest families to remove to the state, and one of the most distinguished, Honorable Leroy P. Walker was among the most eminent of her citizens. His father, Honorable John Williams Walker, was a distinguished citizen, having been one of Alabama’s primitive statesman, in recognition of which one of the counties of Alabama was named for him. But the son, Honorable Leroy P. Walker, attained to national eminence. A profound scholar, a great lawyer, a distinguished statesman, he is justly ranked among the first of Alabamians.
In early manhood he was made a brigadier general of militia, but his first appearance as a public servant was in 1843, when he represented Lawrence County in the state legislature. He was modest and retiring during his first term, being of a calm and studious disposition, but in 1844 he was drawn into more active life and took a deep interest in legislative matters.
Subsequently removing from Lawrence to Lauderdale County, he appeared, in 1847, as a representative from that county. In 1849 he was honored with the speakership of the house, and in the approaching session was again given that distinction. This repeated election carried with it great significance, as the legislature at that particular period was adorned by a number of the most distinguished citizens of the state. He won much esteem from the membership of the house by his dignity, impartiality and ability.
The distinction thus won, coupled with his recognized ability as a jurist, led to his election to the judgeship of the fourth judicial circuit in 1850. Three years later he resigned his position on the bench and was induced to return to the legislature. Ripened by years of experience in public life, he at once became recognized as one of the leading men of the body, and was conspicuous in the absorbing question then before the country, that of internal development. In the light of the present, the sagacity of Judge Walker may be seen in the following resolution submitted by himself to the legislature of Alabama:
“Resolved, That the committee on internal improvement be instructed to inquire into the expediency of affording state aid to a railroad company connecting the navigable waters of the Mobile Bay and the Tennessee River, and report, should it be deemed expedient, some plan, by bill or otherwise, having this object in view; but in no event is the community to designate the termini of the road.”
This initial measure, at that early day, coupled with the notable speech which he delivered in support of the resolution, indicates a sagacity which makes Judge Walker a pioneer of the development of the marvelous resources of the state. Among the participants in the discussion of that initial question were such men as Percy Walker, Thomas J. Judge, John Cochran, J. L. M. Curry, Joshua L. Martin, and A. B. Meek.
After this notable session of the legislature, Judge Walker retired to private life, resuming the practice of the law, and did not reappear till called out by thestirring scenes of 1860. An intense adherent of what was called the southern movement, Judge Walker supported Breckinridge and Lane. He was an ardent secessionist, and was one of the commissioners to Tennessee to confer with the state authorities concerning the best policy to be adopted by the slave-holding states.
On the occasion of the creation of the Confederate government, Judge Walker was named for the secretaryship of war in the Davis cabinet. While Fort Sumter was being bombarded Judge Walker and General Beauregard were in constant communication by wire concerning the progress of the attack. When the news was flashed to Montgomery that Fort Sumter had fallen, Montgomery, the new capital of the Confederacy, became a scene of intoxicated joy. The city was filled with excited crowds, torch-light processions, and speaking was galore. Among others, Judge Walker was called on to speak, and, sharing in the exuberance of joy, declared that the Confederate flag would float over the dome of the capitol at Washington, over Independence Hall, and even over Faneuil Hall, Boston, before our armies would retire from the field.
This enthusiastic outburst was regarded as ill-timed and unwise, as its logical effect would be to weld northern sentiment against the new-fledged Confederacy, whereas up to this time this sentiment in the North was divided. Emanating from so high a source, it was construed as representing the sentiment of the people of the South, and then began the solid South against the solid North. Edward Everett and Stephen A. Douglas, both of whomhad held in check the popular passions of the North with the hope of some amicable adjustment, now advised the people to take up arms in self-preservation since their homes were threatened by a determined invasion. For an utterance which was pronounced untimely, Judge Walker was blamed by Union men, both North and South, and was charged with the responsibility of precipitating the war and of making more compact the sections one against the other.
But it was idle to conjure thus with words. Judge Walker bespoke the regnant sentiment of the South. The war was inevitable and honest as were the sentiments and efforts on the part of some to avert it, the people thirsted for blood, and nothing short of war would satisfy. The sentiment cherished by the South was reciprocated by the North and the expression of Judge Walker, while it might not have been fastidiously diplomatic, was sheer honesty. To have used a single expression of a man as an occasion for concentration of northern sentiment, was the convenience of a pretext. In due time the result would have been that which came, whether Judge Walker had ever used the expression or not. Men often toy with words and use them, as Talleyrand suggests, to conceal ideas.
For more than a year Judge Walker remained in the Confederate cabinet, when he retired and was commissioned as a brigadier general in the active service. He had organized and equipped the armies of the Confederacy, and had supervised the original movements on the field. Assigned to an inactive command at Mobile, he requested more activeservice on the field, and for some reason this was denied him, when he resigned from the army, was appointed a military judge, and held that position throughout the war.
During the dark period of reconstruction Judge Walker was as conspicuous as any in assisting in guiding the state through this perilous time, and closed his life as one of the most distinguished of Alabama citizens.
The name of William L. Yancey is generally associated with two chief facts, namely, that of secession and that of his brilliant oratory. The beginning of Mr. Yancey’s life was clouded by an unfortunate circumstance, that of killing Dr. Earle, of Greenville, S. C., for which he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and a fine, but was pardoned by Governor Noble, after about three months. In the light of subsequent events and after all passion had subsided, this unfortunate occurrence was popularly adjudged a deed of self-defense.
There was something remarkable in the career of Mr. Yancey in that his friends neither in the opening period of his life, nor for some years afterwards, ever suspected him of the qualities either of leadership or of oratory which he developed, and until conditions prevailed by means of which these elements were called into exercise, did Mr. Yancey himself come to discover himself.
First, he was a planter near Greenville, S. C., and later in Dallas County, Ala. This was followed by the editorship of the Cahaba Democrat, and later of the Argus, a democratic paper published at Wetumpka. He had previously studied law at Sparta, Ga., and Greenville, S. C., but had never applied for license to practice.
His advent into public life was when he represented Coosa County in the legislature, which was during the early stages of his professional career. Later he became a state senator from the districtcomposed of the two counties of Coosa and Autauga.
Mr. Yancey’s entrance into national politics was in 1844 when he was elected to Congress to succeed Dickson H. Lewis, who had been promoted to a seat in the National Senate. In his maiden speech on the floor of Congress, Mr. Yancey became the recipient of a great distinction. Though the youngest member of the party, he was chosen to defend the Southern democrats against a furious assault made on them by Mr. Clingman, a whig member from North Carolina. John C. Calhoun, then secretary of state, sent for Mr. Yancey the evening before he was to speak, and advised him not to do his best in his first encounter.
This first effort in Congress gave Yancey national fame. It awoke comment throughout the country. The Baltimore Sun, speaking of the effort, said, among other things: “He is comparable to no predecessor, because no one ever united so many qualities of the orator.” Mr. Clingham’s speech was too well answered at every point for the reply of Mr. Yancey to be satisfactory to him. While himself severe, he was offended at the severity of Mr. Yancey’s arraignment, and according to the custom of that time, challenged the Alabamian to a duel. Both Clingman and Yancey repaired to Baltimore to settle the difficulty on what was then esteemed “the field of honor,” Clingham being the aggressor throughout, but they were interrupted by a civil process, and both returned to Washington, satisfied with the result.
In 1846 Mr. Yancey, having served two years inCongress, resigned his seat from the necessity of repairing his fortune, and entered successfully on the practice of law in Montgomery. Without losing interest in public affairs, he continued rigidly devoted to his profession for about ten years.
In 1848 Mr. Yancey’s relations to the democratic party became impaired because of his withdrawal from the national convention at Baltimore, which convention nominated General Cass for the presidency. His action was based on the refusal of the Baltimore convention to incorporate into the national platform certain resolutions adopted by the Alabama convention, in the event of the rejection by the national convention of which, the Alabama delegation was instructed to withdraw. Only one other and himself withdrew from the convention at Baltimore, and during the succeeding campaign he remained quiet. For all this he was subjected to much censure.
With a period of ebbs and flows which come now and then to a political party, the elements had calmed by 1858, when, at the head of the electoral ticket of Alabama, Mr. Yancey carried the state for Buchanan. Being of decided and pronounced views, and one who did not believe that principle was divisible, Mr. Yancey won the unenviable distinction of being a “fire eater,” but he followed duty as he saw it, and encountered the penalty always accorded to one of stern and fixed adherence to principle.
Meanwhile the drift of the country was toward conflict. A states’ rights democrat, Mr. Yancey insisted on the maintenance of this principle as theonly hope of safeguarding the constitution. Accordingly in the Alabama convention held in 1859, to select delegates to the national convention to be held at Charleston, Mr. Yancey procured the adoption of a platform suited to his views. At the head of the Alabama delegation he attended the Charleston convention which declined to adopt the views presented in the platform of the Alabama convention, and as is well known, a disruption of the party followed. The subsequent results of that event are too well known to be repeated here.
The election of Mr. Lincoln in the quadrangular presidential contest, precipitated the crisis. Secession followed with William L. Yancey as its chief apostle. His vast powers now at their zenith, were brought into full exercise, and the country rang throughout with his fearless declaration of states’ rights. In the creation of the new Confederacy, Mr. Yancey bore a conspicuous part, and President Davis left to his choice any position which he might accept, and he chose the mission to Great Britain.
In England he employed every honorable means to induce the recognition of the Southern Confederacy, as an independent power, but his efforts were unavailing. At the end of a year he returned to America and announced that if the South should win her independence it would be the result of her own effort. During his absence abroad Mr. Yancey was chosen as senator to the Confederate congress, but his leadership in that body was obscured by the diversion of public thought to the armies on the field.
Mr. Yancey died near Montgomery in July, 1863.Had the Southern Confederacy succeeded, and had Yancey lived, his popularity would have been boundless, but with the “lost cause” was linked in the minds of many, the diminution of the fame of the splendid and brilliant leader of the cause of secession in the states of the South.
Among others who have contributed to the greatness of the commonwealth of Alabama should be named Gen. Henry W. Hilliard, whose career was both eventful and remarkable. His early life was distinguished by a precocity which showed itself in his graduation with distinction from South Carolina College, in its palmiest period, at the early age of eighteen.
At twenty-three Mr. Hilliard was chosen a professor in the University of Alabama, in which position he not only sustained his earlier reputation as a scholar, but was quite a favorite in the best circles of Tuscaloosa society because of his rare social qualities. At twenty-four he was selected by the legislature of Alabama to deliver an address on the occasion of the death of Charles Carroll, the last of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Though notified of his choice for this function but a few days before the oration was to be delivered, Hilliard acquitted himself with merit, and at once established his fame for scholarship and oratory in Alabama. The address was published by the legislature of the state and popularly read.
Having been admitted to the bar at Athens, Ga., where he practiced two years before removing to Alabama, he resigned his professorship after three years, removed to Montgomery, and resumed his law practice. Being a licensed minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he would now andthen preach. He soon entered on a good practice in Montgomery, and became a favorite in the most intelligent social circles of the capital city, where his graces were much admired.
In 1838 Mr. Hilliard entered on public life as a representative in the legislature from Montgomery County, was a delegate to the Whig convention in 1840, for he belonged to the state’s rights wing of that party, and assisted in the nomination of Harrison and Tyler, he being responsible for the nomination of Mr. Tyler for the Vice Presidency. Placed on the electoral ticket in Alabama, he canvassed the state in the interest of Harrison and Tyler. In 1841 he was elected to Congress, declining a foreign mission that year, but later accepting the mission to Belgium, which was tendered him by Mr. Tyler, who after becoming President recognized the service rendered by Mr. Hilliard in his behalf in procuring for him the Vice Presidency.
Resigning after two years of service at Brussels, Hilliard returned to Alabama, and was successively elected to congress for a period of years, defeating, at different times, such men as John Cochran and James L. Pugh, both of Barbour. So creditable was the first speech made by Mr. Hilliard on the floor of congress, that ex-President John Quincy Adams, then a member of the House, went across the hall to congratulate him.
In congress, as ever elsewhere, Mr. Hilliard impressed all, not only by his ability as an orator, but as a scholar, and a resourceful one. The recognition of this latter fact led to his appointment as one of the original regents of the SmithsonianInstitution. His varied ability resulted in unusual demands being made on him, for he was diligent, active, and resourceful, and measured up to every obligation imposed.
Mr. Hilliard was on the electoral tickets of Fillmore in 1856, and of Bell and Everett in 1860. In the formation of the Southern Confederacy he was one of the commissioners appointed by President Davis to assist in the adjustment of Tennessee matters preparatory to the admittance of that state into the new confederation. During the Civil War he raised a body of troops which was known as Hillard’s Legion, and was given a commission as brigadier general. After the close of hostilities General Hilliard located at Augusta, Ga., where for a while he engaged in the practice of the law, and later removed to Atlanta.
He was appointed by President Hayes minister to Brazil, which position he filled during the years 1877-81, and the mission to Germany was tendered him when that of the Brazilian should close. Among the brilliant events which entered into his life was that of a participation in the emancipation of the slaves in Brazil during his incumbency of the diplomatic ministry to that country. It was during that time that the question became a paramount one in that country, and his views were sought concerning the results in the North American states, in reply to which solicitations he wrote a long letter, which was a turning point in the colossal movement, and assured the success of the proposed reform. In appreciation of this service a great banquet was given in his honor in Rio Janeiro, on theoccasion of which he delivered an address which was as remarkable as the letter which he had previously written. Both the letter and the address were embodied by Lord Granville, secretary of state for foreign affairs, in the Gladstone ministry, in the official blue book of Great Britain.
In a brief sketch like this, so imperfectly drawn, one gains but an imperfect idea of the manysidedness of the character and usefulness of General Hilliard. As orator, statesman, diplomat, author and soldier, General Hilliard led a long public career of unusual distinction, marked by utility and crowned with intellectual luster.
He had not the consummate skill and gifts of oratory possessed by his gigantic rival, Yancey, whom he encountered at different times in debate. Hilliard was an elocutionist rather than an orator, and brought to the stump and forum all the culture and niceties of that art. He was to Yancey that which Edward Everett was to Webster. Webster and Yancey were like mountain torrents, bearing all before them with resistless force. Everett and Hilliard were like the summer brook, winding with graceful curve amidst green meadows, flashing in splendor, but fructifying in their onward course. The ability to speak effectively was derived by Hilliard more from culture; that of Yancey more from nature. Hilliard could speak on almost any occasion with effectiveness; Yancey needed the afflatus of the hour derived from a sea of upturned faces, an expectant multitude, a subject of consuming interest. Gifted with a voice of music, the diction of Hilliard was classic, facile and fervid.
Like a few others of our public men, Hilliard found diversion in the employment of his fertile pen, from which came such productions as “Roman Nights” and “De Vane.” Throughout his life he illustrated the character of the Christian statesman.