Augusta, Georgia - History (part 7 of 17)

that the record and process aforesaid being inspected, our said Governor, with the assent of our said Council, may further cause to be done therein for correcting that error what of right and according to the law and custom of P3ngland, in force in our said Province of Georgia, ought to be done. Witness our said Governor in -Chief of our said Province, in Council, at Savannah, the .... day of in the fifteenth year of our reign. Jas. Wright.

On the return of the writ the cause was heard before the governor and council, but no councillor who had presided as judge at the rendering of the judgment under review was competent to sit, though allowed to attend and give in his reasons for rendering the same.

From the judgment of the governor and council an appeal lay to the crown, if the matter in dispute was ;^500 in value, or touched questions of general import as above stated, the royal revenue, office fees, etc. The appeal from the Court of Errors to the crown was to be made in fourteen days, and security was to be given as before, for the eventual condemnation money, costs, and damages. The papers were to be transmitted and the appeal pressed within one year from time of entering the same in the Colonial Court. The governor and council when sitting on appeals were styled the Court of P>rors.

In criminal causes there was no writ of error, but the governor could pardon all offenses save treason or murder, and in those could reprieve till the pleasure of the crown was known. He could also remit all fines imposed for misdemeanors, and if the fine was ;^200 or over, his refusal to remit could be carried by appeal to the crown.

From the vice admiralty an appeal lay, of right, to the crown, where the sum in question was ;^500 or over; if under that value the defendant had the right to petition the crown for leave to appeal ; on which leave, if granted, an appeal could be entered on giving the usual security. This given, an order in council was made directing the Vice-Admiralty Court to furnish the petitioner with a certified transcript of the record of the cause.

It but remains to speak of the Colonial Bar. The practitioners in the West India Islands had a much higher reputation in the profession than those of the continental colonies, one reason given being that the sugar planialions of thefornier were enormously valuable, while tiie landed interests of the latter were of much less importance. In Georgia the offices of counsel and attorney were united, and three classes of lawyers were known, first, those who had beeni regularly called to the inns of court in London ; these, on producing certificates^ were at once admitted to practice ; secondly, those who had served clerkshipsin Great Britain, Ireland, or the colonies; and thirdly, those who, through interest, were admitted to the bar without such preliminary training; these, in' the language of the times, being said "to turn lawyers." The practice in Georgia was good, so much so that it was complained that the attorneys were so busy using what small knowledge they begun with as not to have leisure to acquire any more. Chief Justice Stokes inveighs against the haste and carelessness of his bar, and such of the Carolina attorneys as came before him, instancing in particular that they would annex the several sheets of their indentures hind side before. This was probably the more distasteful to him, as he was himself a barrister, trained to all the nicety of Westminster Hall. The attorney's fee bill has these, among other items: Retaining fee, seven shillingsand a penny ; warrant of attorney, ninepence ; every attendance necessary in. the cause, one shilling and fivepence ; filing writ and signing same, two shillings and twopence ; copy of writ and notice, one shilling and fivepence ; if long and special, three shillings; drawing declaration plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, rejoinder in demurrer, or other pleading, two shillings and tenpence ; and, if special, double ; rule to plead, for trial, or other common rule, ninepence ; brief, three shillings and sixpence ; court fee, not exceeding twO' courts, three shillings and sevenpence ; pleading fee, seven shillings and a penny; "the attorney to pay the petit jury in every cause tried or enquiry executed, three shillings and sevenpence"; drawing judgment, one shilling

Such, then was the judicial establishment of Georgia under the colonial government. It is readily seen to have been the germ of the existing system. Our Superior Courts, Courts of Ordinary, Justice Courts, the old Inferior Court, our Georgia Militia District as the basis of the territorial jurisdiction of the courts, our system of appeals, are directly descended, name and thing, from

The form, and pomp, and style and circumstance of that day were wonderful. It was the era of huge seals, fine robes and high sounding titles. The- Colonial seal was of silver, and had on one side a figure, supposed to represent the genius of the Colony, offering a skein of silk to his majesty - it being then thought that the province was destined to become a silk raising country - withj the inscriptions, Hinc laiidem sperate Coloni (Find ye Colonists, your glory- here), and Sigi//uni Provincicc nostra: Georgice in America (The seal of our Province of Georgia in America). On the obverse were the royal arms and the inscription: Georgius II., Dei Gratia Magna' Brittanice Fr. et Hib. Rex Fidei Defensor, Bt'unswici et Lunenbergi Dux Saeri Romani Imperii Archi Thesaurarius et Elector ; or, George II., by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Luncnberg, of the Holy Roman Empire, Arch-Treasurer and Elector.

A stand of the colonial colors cost £T)0 sterling ; and the robes and mace of Mr. Speaker, with a gown for the clerk of the Commons, cost £iSO. By way of comparison it may be here noted that Rev. Mr. Ellington, at this time minister of St. Paul's at Augusta, received from the treasury a salary of but £\^ per year.

" Rules of precedency coniparecl and adjusted from the several acts and statutes made and provided in England for the settlement of the precedency of men and women in America, by Joseph Edmonson Mowbray, Herald."

Baronets, their wives. His Majesty's Attorney-General, his wife. Judge of the Admiralty, his wife. Secretary of the Province, his wife. Members of the Commons House of Assembly, their wives. Mayor, his wife. Aldermen, their wives.

Governor of the Province, his wife. Lieutenant-Governor, his wife. President of the Council, his wife. Members of His Majesty's Council, their wives Speaker of the Commons House of Assembly, his wife. Chief Justice, his wife. Treasurer, his wife. Associate Judges, their wives.

Beneath all the pomp and circumstance of the colonial establishment lay a wise, fairly proportioned and justly distributed form of government, the main and substantial features whereof, especially in the judicial department, yet remain. Under that establishment were reared a number of lawyers who, despite the chief justice's criticism, a criticism possibly tinged with the acerbity of the times, well understood the principles of the British constitution and the rules of the English common law. Out of their ranks came, as we shall see, some of the ablest champions of the cause of independence ; and, when the victory was won, the retention by their influence ot the substance of the old judicial regime, is the best testimony to its inherent worth.

The Judicial Establishment of 1776 - Constitution of 1777 - The Superior Court - Judiciary Act of 1778 - Reopening of the Courts in 1782 - Judiciary Act of 1789 - Two Circuits- Chief Justice Glen - Judge Few - Chief Justices Glen, Stephens and Wereat - Chief Justice George Walton -Chief Justice Osborne - Richmond Superior Court in 1787 - Benefit of Clergy - Branding and the Pillory - Grand Jury Presentments - Chief Justice Pendleton.

IN April. 1776, opposition to the royal authority in Georgia had progressed so far that the Provincial Congress formed a provisional government for the province, until other measures could be concerted. This instrument provided for the election of a president and commander- in chief and a council of safety of thirteen by the congress, and further directed as follows:

"That all the laws, whether common or statute, and the Acts of Assembly which have formerly been acknowledged to be of force in this Province, and which do not interfere with the proceedings of the Continental or our Provincial Congresses, and also all and singular the resolves and recommendations of the said Continental and Provincial Congress, shall be of full force, validity and effect until otherwise ordered.

"That there shall be a Chief Justice and two assistant judges, an attorneygeneral, a provost-marshal and clerk of the Court of Sessions, appointed by Ijallot, to serve during the pleasure of the Congress. The Court of Sessions or Oyer and Terminer, shall be opened and held on the second Tuesday in June and December, and the former rules and methods of proceeding, as nearly as may be, shall be observed in regard to summoning of juries, and all other cases whatsoever.

"That the President and Commander-in-chief with the advice of the Council, shall appoint magistrates to act during pleasure in the several parishes throughout this Province, and such magistrates shall conform themselves, as nearly as may be, to the old established forms and methods of proceedings."

Archibald Bullock was elected president of the province and John Glen chief justice. By the proceedings of the congress it appears that almost all the magistrates in the province had refused to act, "whereby all judicial powers are become totally suspended, to the great danger of persons and property" - a state of things which evidently led to the judicial reorganization, so to speak, embodied in the provisional constitution Under this instrument the affairs of the province were administered until on February 5, 1777, a regular State Constitution was adopted. By this a court to be called the Superior Court, was established in each county; it was to consist of the chief justice and three or more of the justices resident in the county; it had jurisdiction of all manner of causes, except admiralty; was to sit twice in each year; no cause was todepend therein more than two terms, nor were the costs in any action to exceed three pounds. In civil causes, either litigant dissatisfied with the verdict of the jury might appeal therefrom in three days to a special jury whose determination was final. The special jury was selected as follows: the plaintiff and defendant each chose six ; six more names were taken at random out of a box provided for that purpose ; the whole eighteen were summoned and ail their names put in the box, and the first twelve drawn were the jury. The special jury were sworn "to bring in a verdict according to law and the opinion they entertain of the evidence, provided it be not repugnant to justice, equity and conscience and the rules and regulations contained in the constitution, of which they shall judge." The special jury was the old Colonial Court of Errors and the King in Council. A register of probates for proving wills and granting letters of administration was to be appointed by the legislature in each county. The Courts of Conscience or Justice Courts, were continued as theretofore practiced, but their jurisdiction was extended to ten pounds. Admiralty causes were triable in a special court called by the chief justice in the county where the same might arise, with an appeal Irom one jury to another as in the Superior Court, and an appeal from the special jury to the Continental Congress. No person was allowed to plead as attorney unless authorized so to do by the Legislature. All civil causes were to be tried in the county of the defendant's residence, except in cases involving title to land which were triable in the county where the land lay. The parishes were formed into counties, the parish of St. Paul becoming Richmond county, so called after the Duke of Richmond, a friend of American independence. The Superior Court in Richmond was to meet on the fourth Tuesday in March and October.

In 1778 there was passed " An act for opening and regulating the Superior Courts in the several counties of this State, and for the more convenient administration of justice in the same, agreeable to the Constitution thereof," which made provision for the Superior Courts of the counties of Chatham, Liberty, Effingham, Burke, Richmond, and Wilkes, there being at this time but eight counties in the State, to wit: those just named and Camden and Glynn. In each county four justices of the peace were named - those for Richmond being John Walton, James McFarland, Dionysius Wright, and William Few - and these were made " assistant and associate judges," and, with the chief justice were to hold the Superior Court, and " have cognizance of all pleas civil and criminal, and of all causes of what nature and kind soever, according to the custom and usage of courts of law and equity." The jurisdiction of the court on the law side extended to all cases where the amount involved was over £ 10, or where title to land was involved, or in appeals from the register of probates. It is also likely, though not so expressly stated, that it had cognizance of appeals from the courts of conscience, the constitution of 1777 providing that those tribunals should " be continued as heretofore practiced," and there having been an appeal from them to the General Court under the colonial establishment in cases involving over forty shillings, as we have seen. The petition was to " contain the plaintiff's charge, complaint, allegation, or demand plainly and distinctly set forth, and be signed by the party or his attorney." All writs were to be tested by the chief justice or senior assistant judge of the county, directed to " all and singular the sheriffs of this State," and made returnable twenty days before the first setting of the court. The writ and a copy of the petition were to be served by the sheriff or his deputy on the defendant personally, or by leaving the same at his " usual and notorious place of abode," twenty days before court. The court was to award judgment according to the verdict of the jury, and award execution thereof within ten days thereafter. The court fees, or costs, were : to the chief justice, or, in his absence, the senior presiding associate, fifteen shillings ; the attorney, one pound ; the clerk and sheriff, each, ten shillings. If the execution were levied, the sheriff had : levy, ten shillings ; mileage, fourpence a mile ; commissions on sale, five per cent; making conveyance, one pound.

No one was a competent traverse juror unless a freeholder, that is, seized in his own right, in fee simple, fee tail, or for life, of fifty acres of land ; or a householder, seized, in like manner, of a town lot. No one was a competent grand juror unless seized of a like estate of not less than two hundred and fifty acres of land, or in the commission of the peace, and the associate justices were to annually go over the list of those so qualified and select the " most able and -discreet" thereof as grand jurors. A jury box was to be provided with four compartments, numbered respectively one, two, three, and four, and the names of the grand jurors written on separate pieces of paper, were to be placed in No. I, and of the traverse jurors in No. 3. On the last day of the term, in the presence of one of the associate judges and the clerk, some indifferent person was to draw out of No. i the names of thirty-six persons to serve as grand jurors at the next term, the slips to be then deposited in No. 2. Out of No. 3 were to be drawn thirty-six as petit jurors, the slips, as drawn, to be deposited in No. 4. When Nos. 2 and 4 were exhausted, the drawing was reversed back to Nos. i and 3. The clerk then entered the names on his minutes, and the sheriff delivered the jurors a precept ten days before court. From the petit jurors the act provided that " a jury shall be balloted and drawn for every cause, in like manner as has hitherto been used and accustomed in the courts of law in this State." That method no doubt was that of the English courts, where the names of the jurors were written on tickets which were then put in a box and shaken ; and the twelve first drawn were the jury, unless challenged. " Ministers of the several churches, or of any dissenting congregations, members of the executive council or house of assembly ; sworn attorneys, physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, mad men, idiots, and sick persons," were exempt from jury duty.

Where a caveat was filed before the register of probate either party might appeal from the determination thereon in four days, whereupon in ten days thereafter the associate judges were to meet and pass on the appeal, an appeal lying from their judgment to the Superior Court.

On the criminal side the court had cognizance of all offenses, and in capital cases could respite for thirty days after sentence. If the attorney general did not attend co prepare and prosecute indictments, the court appointed " any barrister or attorney at law, or other fit person," so to do.

On the equity side of the court it was provided " That where any case which may be, or heretofore was cognizable in a court of equity shall happen, the same shall be introduced by way of petition to the Superior Court of each county, as the case may require, which court is empowered to determine finally on all such cases as courts of equity have heretofore usually done."

In the same year, 1778, it was enacted that "all laws heretofore made in the then province, now State, of Georgia, and not repealed, and all the laws of England, as well statute as common, and heretofore used and adopted in the courts of law of the then province, now State, of Georgia, and which were used and of force at the time of the Revolution, shall be of full force, virtue, and effect, to all intents and purposes as were heretofore had and used, as the law of the land, any law, usage, custom, article, matter or thing at present adopted in a change of government to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, so far as the same do not contradict, weaken, hurt, or interfere with the resolves and regulations of the honorable the Continental Congress or any resolve or regulation of this or any former assembly, congress, or convention held in and for this State, and in particular the constitution of the same."

Inter anna cessant leges, however, and the fury of war soon closed the courts and silenced the voice of justice until in 1782 the British withdrew from the State. In the interim a State and a King's Assembly held alternate sway, and as each gained ascendancy, thundered forth acts of attainder against the adherents of the other. The State attainted Sir James Wright, Chief Justice Stokes, and other loyalists, and confiscated their estates, appointing commissioners in the several counties to bring such estates to the hammer, the commissioners for Richmond being Robert Walton, Seth John Cuthbert, Benjamin Few, William Glascock, John Walton, and William Jackson. The King's Assembly retorted with an act disqualifying from any office under the crown Governor Houstoun, Chief Justice Glen, Seth John Cuthbert, rebel major; William Glascock, rebel councillor; Robert Walton, rebel commissioner; Dionysius Wright, rebel judge, and many others, kindly offering to rehabilitate them on their giving security to be of good behavior, or serving " his majesty as a private soldier for and during the continuance of the present American rebellion ;" otherwise, when caught, " to be impressed and carried into his majesty's sea service."

In 1782, on the cessation of hostilities, the courts were ordered to be opened and, in order to simplify the practice, it was enacted "that in all cases whatsoever, demurrers, special pleas in abatement, and all unnecessary prolixity and nicety shall as much as possible be discouraged by the several courts within this State ; the general issue shall be usually plead, and all matters of fact which go to the merits of the dispute, and are for the advancement of justice between the parties at variance shall be allowed to be given in evidence under the said plea, though not coming within the strict rules of former practice ; and in every case it shall be at the discretion of the court to admit parties to avail themselves of substantial advantages as w^ell by motion as if the same had been brought on by a formal plea."

From the same act we learn that the courts of conscience held monthly sessions with jurisdiction up to forty shillings, and quarterly terms for causes of from forty shillings to ten pounds in value.

In 1789 the State was divided into two judicial districts, called respectively the eastern and western, the counties of Camden, Glynn, Liberty, Chatham, Effingham, and Burke composing the former; and Washington, Greene, Franklin, Wilkes, and Richmond, the latter. It was provided that there should be two judges of the Superior court, one for each district. This court had jurisdiction of all pleas, civil and criminal. In equity causes, the court was to have all the powers of a court of equity, referring issues of fact to a special jury. -Courts called the Inferior County Courts were established in each county, to consist of " the first five justices mentioned in the commission of the peace, or any three of them;" to hold quarterly sessions; and have jurisdiction of all civil causes, not involving title to land, with a right in defendant to remove any cause involving fifty pounds or over to the Superior Court, and an appeal thereto in all cases of over five pounds. Justice Courts were also established for the trial, without a jury, of cases not involving ov^er five pounds, with right of appeal to the Inferior Court. No person was allowed to practice law in the Superior or Inferior courts, unless so admitted by the Superior Court, after examination in open court. This act makes many rules of practice in the several courts thereby established, and may be regarded as the original Judiciary Act of this State. In 1791, 1792, 1793, 1796, 1797, and 1799 other acts of like general tenor were passed, the last named whereof is ordinarily known as the Judiciary Act, but the basis of our present judiciary establishment is marked out in that of 1789. Having progressed this far, we may compare the Colonial with the State establishment. In the colony the royal governor was the chancellor, the ordinary, and the judge in admiralty; the General Court was the court of common law jurisdition, having the powers of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer. The Inferior Court was a county court as to its quarterly sessions and a Justice Court at its monthly terms. An appeal lay from the Inferior Court to the General Court, and from the General Court to

The present judicial establishment of Georgia is this: Admiralty jurisdiction is vested in the Federal Courts, pursuant to the Constitution of the United States. The powers of the General Court and of the Royal governor as chancellor are vested in the Superior Court which is King's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, and Chancery. The powers of the King's governor as ordinary are vested in the Court of Ordinary, the State after first reposing them in a register of probates and afterwards in the Inferior Court, finally returning to the original name and style. The County Court has a jurisdiction subordinate to the Superior Court, and the Justice Courts, still sitting monthly, one less than the County Court. From the Court of Ordinary, County Court, and Justice Court an appeal lies to the Superior Court, and from that to the Supreme Court, our Court of Errors, The harmony and proportions are essentially the same, and justify the assertion that Sir James Wright and Chief Justice Stokes laid in their time the basis of a legal structure which has stood the test of over a hundred years.

Coming now to Augusta, it must be borne in mind that the county of Richmond was originally of great extent, reaching from McBean Creek to Little River on the northwest and to the Ogeechee on the southwest, thus necessitating a court-house at some central point. At the outbreak of the Revolution it was at Brownsborough, but in 1780 was established at Augusta for and during the war. In 1784 it was located "at the place where the road crosses the Little Kioka Creek, leading to the meeting-house;" and in 1790. by the act which cut off Columbia county, was fixed at Augusta, where it has since remained.

From 1777 until 1790, the Superior Courts were held, as we have seen, in each county by the chief justice of the State and the justices of the peace in that county as associate or assistant judges. As organized in 177S, the Superior Court of Richmond county was to be held by John Glen, chief justice, and John Walton, James McFarland, Dionysius Wright, and William Few, assistant judges, but no record remains of any session. Augusta was the scene of sanguinary hostilites for several years succeeding this date, and not until late in the year 1782 was the usual course of justice restored and the courts reopened. We find that in 1780 William Stephens was chief justice^ and in 1781 John Wereat, and that, in 1782, a session of the Superior Court of Richmond was held, but it does not appear who was then chief justice. In 1783 George Walton was chief justice ; after him Henry Osborne ; and in 1789 Nathaniel Pendleton who appears to have remained such until the above mentioned act of 1789 went into effect, which did away with the system of a chief justice and assistant judges presiding in the Superior Courts, and supplied their places with one Superior Court judge. From 1790, when this change took place, we have a complete court roll of the judges presiding in Augusta; but before speaking of them, will give such information as is obtainable in reference to the system under the chief justices. John Glen, first chief justice of the State, was a resident of Savannah, and early in 1775 was chairman of the first Provincial congress called in Georgia to concert measures of union with the other colonies in opposition to the crown, and in 1796 judge of the Superior Courts of the Eastern Circuit. John Walton was a delegate from Richmond to the second provincial congress, and was one of the committee appointed by that body to memoralize the royal governor. Sir James Wright, in the interests of the liberties of the subject, the memorial stating that the objects of the congress were "a reconciliation with our parent State on constitutional principles, as well as to endeavor to preserve the peace and good order of the province." Mr. John Walton was also a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778, and signed the Articles of Confederation. Dionysius Wright was a planter in Richmond, and one of the prominent Americans embraced by name in the British Disquahfication Act. William Few, the other associate judge with Chief Justice Glen, was long and honorably prominent in Georgia affairs. His father was one of the original settlers of Pennsylvania, coming over with Penn, and in 1776 the son removed to Georgia, and settled at Augusta. Here he at once attained prominence, and was sent as a delegate to the convention which framed the State constitution of 1777. In 1778 he guarded the western frontier against the Indians, and afterwards became assistant judge as above stated; in 1780 was sent as one of the delegates from Georgia to the Continental Congress, and again in 1782, 1785, 1786, and 1788. On the conclusion of peace he began to practice law in Augusta, and in 1787 was a delegate to the convention framing the Constitution of the United States, as also the Georgia Convention which adopted it at Augusta on January 2, 1788. On the inauguration of the government under the constitution, Mr. Few was elected United States senator and served in that body till 1793. In 1796 he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of the Middle Circuit, which included Augusta, and served in that capacity till 1799, when for the benefit of his health, he removed to New York. Of that city he was chosen mayor, and died there, after a long life of activity and honor, in 1828.

William Stephens, the second chief justice, was the son of William Stephens, who was governor of Georgia in 1743 under the regime of the Trustees, succeeding General Oglethorpe in that office. Chief Justice Stephens was clerk of the Commons House of Assembly under the royal government, and the first attorney-general of the State. From 1796 to 1798 he was judge of the Superior Courts of the Eastern Circuit, and afterwards United States district judge of Georgia.

Chief Justice John Wereat was the president of the Provincial Congress of 1776; was Governor in 1778; and president of the convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States in 1788. Me was a man of considerable financial ability, which proved of great assistance to the State in its struggle; and was noted for his kindness to the people about Augusta. The close of the Revolution found them distressed, impoverished, and almost starving, and to relieve them Governor Wereat put all his boats and slaves at work bringing provisions up the river and continued the good work until their needs were supplied.

Chief justice George Walton was a central figure in the history of this period. He was born in Virginia in 1740, and early developed that tliirst for learning which is the precursor of influence and renown. As a lad he was apprenticed to a carpenter who thought it extravagance to allow his apprentice a candle to read by at night, but the young scholar, gathering lightwood, pursued his studies by the light of his fire. After his indentures were out he removed to Georgia, studietl law, and in 1773 was admitted as a solicitor in Chancery. At the outbreak of the Revolution he at once took the patriot side and labored assiduously to have Georgia unite with her sister colonies in opposition to the crown. He was one of the committee to prepare an address from Georgia to the other colonies; was president of the Council of Safety, and in 1776 was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress where, on July 4, he signed the Declaration of Independence, with Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett, on behalf of Georgia. The same year Congress appointed him, together with Robert Morris, the celebrated financier of the Revolution, and George Clymer, of Pennsylvania, a special committee to attend to certain important affairs of the United States at Philadelphia, including the fitting out of the Continental frigates. In 1777 Congress again placed him on a special committee with instructions to distribute $1,000 in presents to the Indians of the Six Nations, and secure their good will to the Continental cause. In 1778 Mr. Walton was again appointed delegate to Congress, but in the latter part of that year returned to Georgia and. in the battle of December 29, at Savannah, commanded a battalion on the American right. In that disastrous defeat, he w.is severely wounded and taken prisoner. In 1779 he was exchanged, and on his return elected governor. The next year, the governor then being appointed annually, he was again sent as a delegate to Congress. In 1783 he was made chief justice of Georgia; in 1787, sent as a delegate to the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States; and in 1789 was again elected governor. On the expiration of this term he was made judge of the Superior Courts and presided in Richmond in 1790 and 1791. In 1793 he was again made judge of the Superior Court, and served as such till sent to the United States Senate in 1795. In 1799 he was again made judge of the Superior Court and sat therein till his death, at Augusta, February 2, 1801.

Judge Walton was, indeed, part and parcel of his times, and from his long continuance in public life, the high stations he held, and his wide and varied experience, it is greatly to be regretted that he did not carry out the purpose once entertained by him of writing a history of Georgia. His portrait hangs on the wall of the Superior Court room in Augusta, and in front of the court house stands a granite obelisk erected in his honor and in commemoration of his associates. Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall, both governors of Georgia like himself, in signing the Declaration of Independence.

Chief Justice Henry Osborne was a resident of Camden, and like Judge Walton, took a prominent part in the Revolutionary struggle. In 1788 he was member of the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States, but principally appears in the history of those times in a judicial capacity. The minutes of Richmond Superior Court in 1787-9 give a lively picture of legal procedure in the days of this chief justice. The presiding judges were Henry Osborne, chief justice, and Charles Crawford, James Mc- Farland, and James McNeil, assistant judges. The grand jury at March term, 1787. was Samuel Wilson, William Maddox, Archibald Beal, James Sims, David Maxwell, Thomas Pace, David Walker, William Jones, Randal Ramsey, jr., Thomas Green, jr., Thomas Hanson, William Winingham, Charles Bostwick, Nathaniel Cocke. Henry Turknett, James Stallings, Anthony Haynes,. Solomon Ellis, Joseph Thomas, Samuel Alexander, jr., and Stephen Day. The charge to the grand jury was delivered by the chief justice, who reminds them that the proper administration of the criminal laws depends on their cooperation, and invites their attention to the propriety of an amendment of the State constitution. The clerk of court was N. Harris, and Mr. Pendleton, an attorney, moves a rule against him for neglect of duty in reference to summoning jurors and entering a certain appeal. It seems the clerk had sent out no venire, and it is not till next day that petit jurors could be obtained, when James Tinsley, James Cobb, John Pitman, Jacob Bugg, Isham Bailey, Thomas Jones. William Hogg. John Lampkin, Job Jackson, Peleg Rogers, Reuben Barrow, and Samuel Langston appeared. On one day of court the assistant judges were Charles Crawford, William Glascock, and Thomas Low. Another day no chief justice appears, and the court is held by William Glascock, James Mc- Niel, John Cobb, and Henry Allison, assistant judges. It seems to have been the practice for any of the justices of the peace to come in and sit as assistant judges or depart at pleasure, and that the presence of the chief justice was not indispensable, provided as many as three judges occupied the bench. The attorneys whose names appear at this period are Nathaniel Pendleton, William Stith, Seaborn Jones, William Few, and Abraham Baldwin. A few terms later T. P. Carnes, Robert Watkins. P. Carnes, C. Jackson, Dickinson, Sullivan, Robert Porter, Huntington, and Williamson appear. Verdicts for considerable amounts were not uncommon, but there was an appeal in almost every litigated cause. One case will show the practice: plaintiff has a verdict for ;^28i I IS. 3d. 3f , and Jones, for defendant, moves an appeal; defendant brings in his sureties, and the clerk tests the bond. The entire record of the appeal is placed on the minutes, but does not exceed ten lines. Many judgments are confessed, and appeals dismissed for want of prosecution. Once an appellant refuses to prosecute his appeal and pays cost ; Jones, for appellee, objects and insists on a trial. Unanimously overruled. The bar moves the court for instructions as to the proper manner of appealing from the Inferior to the Superior Court. The court answers that the procedure is to be the same as governs an appeal from one jury to another in the Superior Court. The reference of cases to arbitration is a common feature. The confusion and depreciation of currency during the Revolution made it difficult very often to ascertain the true amount due in specie, and these references were made in order that the computations, often complicated, could be properly made. To obtain the testimony of non-resident witnesses, a rule was moved and order made that the other side should have so many days notice, and that the interrogatories should be received as evidence. A defaulting juror is fined ;i^iOO; and we find appeals from the Courts of Conscience. Five of these courts were held in the county, and their respective jurisdictional limits, and the places at which the court was to be held are specified in an order of court, namely, district No. i, at Augusta; No. 2, at Richmond Court House; No. 3, at Brownsborough ; No. 4, at Wrightsborough ; and No. 5, at Rocky Comfort.

One case seems to have attracted considerable attention. Ogilvie vs. Telfair and Kelsall, executors, Pendleton appearing for the plaintiff and Jones for defendants. Plaintiff moved a rule for defendants to show cause why execution should not issue on a judgment for ;^6.ooo obtained by him against them in the General Court of the then province, now State, of Georgia, in 1775. Defendants plead 7i?d tiel record, or that there was no record of such a judgment, and for further plea, that if there ever had been such debt it had been confiscated by the sequestration act of the State, plaintiff having adhered to the crown in the Revolutionary struggle. Plaintiff replied that his judgment was of record, and that by the treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannic majesty it was stipulated that creditors on either side should have no impediment in the way of collecting their debts. Defendants rejoined that said treaty did not extend to the judgment in question, the same having been sequestered before the peace, and was therefore no debt due plaintiff. Chief Justice Osborne delivered the opinion. Oyer, he said, had been had of the record produced, and, on inspection, it was. nothing more than a transcript from the books of the provost-marshal before the Revolution, and this was not, in the opinion of the court, a sufficient record to prove a judgment. Moreover, it was matter of notoriety that the records of the prothonotary's office had been <:arried away by the British in 1778, and plaintiff being a British subject, could, and should have produced the record, wherefore judgment for defendants.

On the criminal side of the court we see the common law in full operation. One Robert Parish is indicted for murder, but there seems to have been considerable diversity of opinion in his case, the bill being brought in with the entry " 14 say a true bill." Being put upon trial, the jury find that, according to the technical state of the law, he is guilty of manslaughter, but recommend lenity to the court. The judgment we give verbatim :

" And it is demanded of the said Robert Parish if he hath or knoweth anything to say wherefore the said judges here ought not upon the premises and verdict aforesaid to proceed to judgment and execution against him, who saith he is a clerk and prayeth the Benefit of Clergy; when, all and singular the premises being seen and by the said judges understood : It is Considered by the Court here that the said Robert Parish be burned in his left hand and delivered, and immediately he is burned in his left hand and delivered according to the form of the statute. Henry OSBORNE.

Another convict does not fare so well. Being found guilty of horse stealing, he is sentenced to stand in the pillory two hours, and then to be publicly whipped on his bare back on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, thirty-nine lashes each time, and then to be branded on the left shoulder with the letter " R," and be discharged.

Another fellow, a cow stealer, is sentenced to two hours in the pillory, a whipping of thirty-nine lashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, then six months' confinement in jail, with a flogging at the market-house in Augusta on the last Saturday of his imprisonment ; to be branded " R " on the shoulder, and discharged.

With all this, the grand jury presents as a grievance the lenity of the law toward horse and cattle thieves, and says the punishment should be death, unless recommended to mercy. It further complains of the non- enforcement of the laws by justices of the peace, particularly in the article of tippling- houses, gambling, and profane swearing, and says that " many fall into these vices their duty compel them to punish in others." It presents the inhuman practice of dueling as being then rampant and fashionable ; it declares the estray laws " little better than robbery," and presents divers persons by name for overcharging for liquor (the law then fixing a tariff for publicans), and one for having " a ball-battery," probably ten-pins. It presents as a grievance that the Legislature will sit for the transaction of public business on Sunday, in defiance of previous presentments, and declares all the surplus paper money should be destroyed. Each grand juror signs his name in full and affixes his seal thereto.

Chief Justice Nathaniel Pendleton, the last of the State's chief justices of this era, was admitted to the bar in 1785, and in 1787 was one of the delegates of Georgia to the convention which framed the Constitution of the United

States. In 1789 he was appointed cliief justice of Georgia. In the next year the system of liaving a chief justice for the whole State to preside in the Superior Court of each county in rotation with the resident magistrates as his associates was abandoned. The State was divided into two judicial districts and two judges were appointed to hold the Superior Courts therein.

Bench And Har Continued

AMONG the lawyers of this period, Abraham Baldwin occtipies a prominent place. He was born in Connecticut in 1754, graduated at Vale in 1772, was for some time a professor in that renowned college, and served as a chaplain in the Continental army. After the war he studied law and removed to Georgia, and was admitted to the bar in 1784. In 1785 he was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress and from this time to his death in 1807 was continually in public life. He served in the convention framing the constitution of the United States, and, with William Few, signed that instrument for Georgia. In the Continental Congress he was one of the three commissioners to settle the accounts of the States, and in 1788 we find him offering a resolution, which was adopted, recommending the States to pass laws preventing the transportation of convicted malefactors from foreign countries into the United States, Georgia having passed such an act in 1787. On the organization of the government of the United States, Mr. Baldwin was sent to Congress and served a number of terms. In 1799 he was made United States senator, and remained such till his death in 1807.

John Milledge was the son of John Milledge, one of the original settlers of Georgia, who came over with General Oglethorpe, and was a trusted friend and companion of the founder of Georgia. He was born in Savannah in 1757, and was given the best education the colony afforded, and then placed in the office. of the attorney-general to pursue the study of law. Mr. Milledge was an ardent patriot, sided with the colonists from the outset, and was one of the party which made Sir James Wright and Chief Justice Stokes prisoners, thus overturning the king's government. At the siege of Savannah and at the taking of Augusta, Mr. Milledge behaved with great gallantry, and after the war became one of the leading men of the day. From 1802 to 1806 he -was Governor of Georgia, and on the termination of his last gubernatorial

<;erm, in the latter year, was on June 19, 1806. elected to the United States Senate to succeed James Jackson, deceased. In 1807 he was re-elected for the full term, but resigned in November, 1809, and died at his residence near Augusta in 1818. In 1802 Governor Milledge was one of the commissioners, James Jackson and Abraham Baldwin being his associates, to negotiate the cession of Georgia's western territory to the United States. He was particularly and especially the friend of the State University, urged the importance of such an institution, and when the State had no land available for a site in a desirable location, purchased a tract him.self at a cost of $4,000 and generously donated it to the college. On this land much of Athens is built. In 1808 President Meigs, of the university, wrote Governor Milledge: "Your institution has taken a strong root, and will flourish; and I feel some degree of pride in reflecting that a century hence, when this nascent village shall embosom a thousand of the Georgian youths, pursuing the paths of science, it will now and then be said that you gave this land and I was on the forlorn hope."

Governor Milledge was one of the incorporators of the Protestant Episcopal Society of Augusta, chartered in 18 16 by the General Assembly, the incorporators named in the act being John Milledge, John Carter, Valentine Walker, George Walton, Thomas Watkins. Richard Tubman. Edward F. Campbell, Augustin Slaughter. Freeman Walker. Joseph Hutchinson, William M. Cowles, Walter Leigh, John A. Barnes. Milledge Golphin, and Patrick Carnes. The first Episcopal clergyman in Augusta was Rev. Jonathan Copp who labored diligently from 175 i to 1756. In 1758 we find St. Paul's recognized as the parish church in Augusta, and some years after Rev. Samuel Prink was rector. In 1764 he reports Augusta as having 540 whites, 501 slaves, and 90 Indians. In 1767 he was succeeded by Rev. Edward Ellington, who served until 1770. In 1786, after the turmoil of the Revolution was over, a new St. Paul's Church was built on the ruins of the old one burned during the war, and Rev. Mr. Boyd was pastor till about the close of the eighteenth century. After that no Episcopal Church organization was maintained, until the organization of the Protestant Episcopal Society in 18 16 as stated. In 1821, the present church was built, and its rectors since have been : Rev. Hugh Smith, 1819-1832; Rev. Edward Eugene Ford, 1832-1862; Rev. William H. Clark! 1 862-1 877; Rev. Chauncey C. Williams, the present incumbent, having been rector since 1877.

Soon after Governor Milledge's election to the Senate the State capitol was moved from Louisville, in JetTerson county, to a point in Baldwin county, which was named Milledgeville in his honor, and here was the seat of the State government till removed, in 1868, to Atlanta.

founded, and in 1766 settled in Savannah, where he took a prominent part in the Revolutionary struggle. In February, 1778, he was elected to represent the State in the Continental Congress, the delegation that year being Lyman Hall, George Walton, Joseph Clay, John Walton, Joseph Wood, Edward Langworthy and Edward Telfair. In 1780 he was again elected to Congress ; and again in 1781, 1782 and 1885. With John Walton and Edward Langworthy he signed the Articles of Confederation on the part and behalf of the State of Georgia. In 1786 he was elected governor of Georgia, and again in 1790, serving till 1793. During his latter administration President Washington visited Augusta, and was entertained by Governor Telfair. Washington's toast was, "The State of Georgia, and prosperity to Augusta." Telfair county is named after Governor Telfair.

William Harris Crawford, United States senator, minister to France, and twice a cabinet officer, began his career in Augusta. Mr. Crawford was born in Virginia in 1772, and early in life was one of the professors of the Richmond Academy. In 1806 he was elected to the United States Senate in place of Abraliam Baldwin, deceased, and re-elected in 181 1, but did not fill out this latter term. In 18 13 President Madison offered him the appointment of secretary of war, which he declined. He was then appointed minister to France, and on his return in 181 5, became secretary of war. In 18 16 he was appointed secretary of the treasury by President Madison, and on the coming in of President Monroe's administration, was again appointed to that high office. When President Monroe was re-elected, Mr. Crawford was again appointed to the treasury portfolio, and served till 1825. In 1824 he was voted for, for president, the other candidates being Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay, and the electoral vote standing: Jackson, ninety-nine; Adams, eighty- four; Crawford, forty-one; and Clay, thirty seven. In those days the electors of a State did not always vote as a unit, and Mr. Crawford received the following : New York, five ; Delaware, two ; Maryland, one ; Virginia, twenty-four; Georgia, nine; total, forty-one. The whole number of electors at that time was two hundred and sixty-one, and no candidate receiving a majority, the election was thrown into the house, where the vote, by States, stood: Adams, thirteen; Jackson, seven ; Crawford, four, thus electing Adams. John C. Calhoun having received one hundred and eighty-two votes in the electoral college, was chosen vice-president. In 1827 Mr. Crawford was elected judge of the Northern Circuit, which office he held until his death in sition at the bar, it was generally believed they instigated *a fiery young gentleman named Van Allen, of New York, a cousin of President Van Buren, to fasten a personal quarrel upon him. Mr. Crawford accepted the challenge and Van Allen was killed.

Later in life Mr. Crawford became involved in another affair with General John Clark. The general had preferred charges against Judge Tait, Mr. Crawford's fellow professor of the Richmond Academy, and Mr. Crawford then in the Legislature, championed his friend's cause. After a searching inquiry the committee reported the charges unfounded, which report was adopted by fiftytwo to four. General Clark was exceedingly restive under this result, and challenged Mr. Crawford. On the field, the general and his seconds are said to have harrassed Mr. Crawford with quibbles and controversies until he lost temper, and when put to the peg, suffered his disengaged arm to hang outside his body, so that General Clarke's ball, which would have otherwise passed harmlessly by, struck his wrist. In person Mr. Crawford was a tall, large, fine looking man of exceedingly imposing personal appearance, so much so that it is said the Emperor Napoleon remarked of him when presented at his court that he was the only man to whom he ever felt constrained to bow. Mr. Crawford was minister when the emperor was compelled to sign the famous abdication at Fontainebleau. and witnessed the entry of the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia into Paris at the head of 50,000 of the flower of their soldiery. As a lawyer, Mr. Crawford rendered signal service to the jurisprudence of Georgia. In conjunction with Horatio Marbury he compiled, at an early age, "Marbury and Crawford's Digest of Georgia Laws ;" and during the entire period he was on the bench, namely, from 1 827 to 1834, was chairman of the convention of Superior Court judges, which met annually to consider doubtful and difficult points of law arising in the several circuits, with intent to form a legal standard of interpretation and practice, there then being no Supreme Court. The decisions are to be found in ' Dudley's Georgia Reports." The value of these conventions led not long after to the establishment of the Supreme Court.

Robert Watkins compiled in conjunction with his brother, George, " Watkins' Digest," our oldest digest of Georgia laws, and fought a duel in 1802 with Governor James Jackson, growing out of this work. General James Jackson, as the most active opponent of tiie Yazoo sale and the author of the Rescinding Act, was elected governor in 1798. In this capacity he rejected the digest of Georgia laws prepared by Robert and George Watkins, on the ground that the compilers had inserted in the volume the Yazoo Act of 1 795, in defiance of the Rescinding Act, which declared it never to have been one of the laws of the State. B\' this means a costl\^ edition was thrown on the hands of the compilers to their pecuniary loss, and with the result of engendering a bitterness of feeling which developed into a hostile meeting some years afterwards between Governor J'ackson and Robert Watkins, which was conducted in the highest style of punctilio. While the seconds were arranging; the terms of the combat, the principals conversed "with great elegance and entire politeness" on different matters, so that no one would have imagined they were about presently to cut each other's throats. Then the seconds notified the combatants of the terms agreed on : You are to stand at the distance of ten paces; you are to fire at the word make ready, fire! a snap or a flash is to be counted as a shot, etc., etc. At the first fire both pistols went off into the ground ; the second was a blank shot; at the third Governor Jackson fell, shot, secii?idc7n a) tern, in the right hip. He insisted on another fire, but the surgeons claimed the right to first examine him ; and on their report that the ball might have entered the cavity, hostilities ceased. Mr. VVatkin's with great civility, offered his services to bear the wounded man from the field; and, on being carried off, the governor most affably remarked, " D - n it, Watkins, 1 thought I could give you another shot."

The Carnes were two in number, Thomas P., one of the commissioners who ran the line between North Carolina and Georgia, and judge of the Western Circuit from 1798 to 1803, and again from 1809 to 1813; and Peter Johnston Carnes, attorney-general of the Middle Circuit, from 1799 to 1804. At this time and for years after the bar wore black silk robes, and the sheriff gown and sword.

It has been stated that in 1789 the State was divided into two judicial districts, the eastern and western, Augusta being in the latter. In 1797 three judicial districts were made, called respectively, the Eastern, the Middle and the Western Circuits, Richmond being in the Middle Circuit, and so remaining until the Augusta Circuit, comprising the counties of Burke, Columbia, McDuffie and Richmond, was created in 1870. The judicial history of the Middle Circuit is, therefore, a long one and as brilliant as it is long. Of some of its judges and lawyers we have already spoken, and now resume the narrative. It will be impossible in th^ limits of this sketch to speak of all eminent in the legal profession at Augusta, and" we will therefore select some of the most striking characters. Some few years after Chief Justice Walton, the celebrated -Robert Raymond Reid became judge. Mr. Reid was prominent in public life for over a quarter of a century. In 1816, when but twenty-seven years of age, he was elected judge of the Middle Circuit ; in 1 8 1 8 was sent to Congress, and in 1 820 re-elected ; at the expiration of that term in_ 1823, he was made mayor of Augusta, and re-electtd to that office in 1824; in 1825 was again elected Superior Court judge, and being defeated of a re election by reason of having been a Clarke man in the contest between him and Troup for the governorship, in the days of "Troup and the Treaty," wa:, made judge of the City Court of Augusta in 1827, and re-elected to that office in 1829. In 1832 President Jackson appointed him judge of the United States for the district of East Florida, and in 1839 he was appointed by President Van Huren governor of Florida, in which office he died in 1841. This list of honors is sufficient to show what opinion was entertained of his legal abilities, but his literary talents were even greater. Who can read without emotion the beautiful story of his early life and first great sorrow as it appears in his diary. He was sent to a distant school and being a delicate, effeminate boy was roughly used by his stouter companions. Of this period he says :

"I was at last, after acquiring the character of a dull, lazy and unprincipled child taken home. My vices forsook me and my joys returned. Let those who have children take care how they send them forth at an early age to an unfeeling world! I was again with my mother, and again, in reading, writing, - thinking rapturously - looking at her benign face, listening to her voice, and imbibing her instructions, I was happy - too happy.

" About a year after I was sent to Savannah to the care of an aunt, and there I was as miserable as before. The boys imposed upon me ; my cousins cheated and scorned me; my aunt and uncle neglected and starved me. After some time I returned to my beloved home. I had no reputation for genius except at home. There I spoke to the admiration of my parents, and wrote both prose and poetry which they esteemed prodigiously fine. I also had a turn for drawing, with which my mother was delighted. After a twelve month passed in my heaven of home I was taken by my father to Augusta. The scene was changed. I met kind hearted boys, indulgent and friendly teachers, and kind friends. Among the first, James McLaws, always my friend, and afterward my brother-in-law; John Powell, a fine lad, the victim of disease too soon. My heart, which had always loved something or other - now a boy, and now were at dancing-school together ; and though she never acknowledged her affection, and I did not declare my own, we both well knew how dear we were to each other.

"To return, my mother died, and I received the heartrending news at Augusta. Great Father of mercies ! what were my sufferings, those who saw my agony alone can tell. I sat sometimes looking at the moon with streaming eyes, remembering the moments we had passed together by moonlight, and recalling all my poor mother's sorrows, her virtues, her voice, and her words. At other times, when all was still around me, and my companions were asleep, I have sobbed upon my pillow and drenched it in tears. My studious habits were abandoned,, and an all-absorbing grief possessed me. I determined to leave school ; and, opportunity affording, I went home.

"My poor mother's late residence was a desert;" but I walked about the garden, through her chamber, sat in her chair, and bewailed her with a grief most poignant. O! my beloved parent, dost thou inhabit other regions, and can it be that thou forgettest thy erring and unhappy and still helpless son ?

On thy death bed thou didst caress a Httle butterfly, fancyin*^ that my spirit liad taken a favorite and lovely form to commune with thine in its darkest hour ; and now I sometimes think when a butterfly comes to me fluttering around the candle at which I read, settling on my sleeve, or crosses my evening walk, that thou has not forgot, but art still near me O, loved long and ever, if my thoughts can be known to thee, and if thou iiast power to assist me, yield me thine aid ; take sometimes the place of my guardian spirit, and be ever near me ; and, oh, implore thy God and my God to forgive my follies and to grant me strength to bear up against the ills of life, and to overcome the envy and malice of my enemies "

In enforcing on his grand juries the necessity of maintaining the laws Judge Reid's literary turn did him good service. In one of the counties of his circuit the disgusting vice of drunkenness was exceedingly prevalent, and after stating this county was particularly afflicted in one respect, the judge said : "Need I tell you in plainer language it is drunkenness of which I speak ? Man is at best but the creature of frailty. The violence of passion agitates the human mind with continual tumult, and the voice of reason, like the cries of the shipwrecked mariner, is heard only in the pauses of the storm. But when a depraved appetite delivers its miserable victim to the influence of intemperance, it is then that reason is overwhelmed, pride forgets its consequence, intellect relinquishes its rich treasures, and that form which bore the impression and seal of divinity is changed into a bloated monster, with feelings and propensities at once bestial and disgusting. Many persons vainly imagine that infractions of the laws are venial when committed in a state of intoxication, and they sophistically argue that, laboring under a species of madness, they are driven to atrocities from which, in their moments of sobriety and self collection they would start with abhorrence. But the plea will not avail. This hideous vice conceals none of its deformities. It is true the brimming goblet may sparkle in the hand of pleasure, but beneath its transparent wave is seen the dark and deep and deadly poison. Roses m ly crown the cup, but they are cankered by tears of remorse and sorrow and disappointment. The unhappx' being who ventures to slake his thirst knows at the moment the perils which await him He has before witnessed its horrible effects. He has seen the fond father become the hater of his offspring, the tender husband transformed to the inveterate tyrant, the fciithful friend to the bitter enemy, the pride of society to the object of common scorn, and yet he will not abstain, yet will he swallow down the infuriating draught which shall make him the jest of the vulgar, the scoff of his foes, and the regret of his friends - which shall lift his arm against every man, and every man's hand against him. Let him then receive the consequences of his temerity; he has courted them with his eyes open. The law rejects his claim to its lenity, and intemperance adds a blacker shade to the enormities which it produces."

The grand jury were profoundly impressed with this ornate, and yet forcible, exposition of the legal doctrine that voluntary drunkenness is no excuse for crime ; thanked the judge "for his determined support of good order ;" requested the charge should be published, and called on the Legislature to grant no licenses to retail liquors except to inns, in small quantities, for travelers and strangers.

Judge Reid's pen could turn to humorous as well as serious thought. On assuming his position on the United States bench in Florida he found a very different class of lawyers from that to which he had been accustomed at home. One writer says: "The bar of the Middle Circuit always maintained a high character for abilities and courtesy. Its members fostered a lofty social bearing, neither oppressive by cold dignity, nor yet so free as to encourage rude familiarity. It was the happy medium which secured respect and business on terms compatible with true fame. Of this school Judge Reid was a loyal disciple." The Florida bar, as was perhaps natural in a territory newly opened, was of rougher mould, and the judge thus limns one of them :

" Getting on in court pretty well ; only one skirmish, and that with one of the bar, whose temper and habits and manner unfit him for social life. What shall we think of one whose literary attainments are not inconsiderable, whose physical and mental powers are, perhaps, extraordinary, whose industry and energy are vigorous and indefatigable, and yet whose love of self and ambition are unbounded, who is impatient of all restraint, suspicious, angry, and revengeful, with a spice of magnanimity and a gloss of good breeding, to which may be added violent passions irritable feelings, and unbounded craft ? All character. When we look to his gigantic stature, lofty brow, the deep furrows of passion around his eyes and on his cheeks, his surly mouth, formed not for sneers, but full of bitterness, rank bitterness ; and lastly his black eyes, in which you look as into deep and dark fountains of sin and remorse ; eyes which may be characterized by the word ' luciferian,' more than any other, we behold a being from whom we must stand apart, who can have no sympathy with us, and who, if we approach too near him, will certainly do us harm."

The bar of m hich this extraordinary character was a member gave the judge a specimen of its breeding by inviting him to a curious banquet, which he calls a " feast of shells." In a letter informing him that the gentlemen of the long robe thought very well of him, he was invited to a public dinner in his honor. No place was mentioned, and after waiting in expectation of an escort till the hour named, the judge sallied forth alone, having previously prepared a speech " to be delivered after the removal of the cloth, and in which everything that could be agreeable to the bar was carefully infused. ' As they treat me,' thought I, ' why should I not treat them in return ?' As well as I remember 'twas a pretty good speech, with several clever flights." After wan- dering about awhile the judge arrived at a house where it was understood the banquet was to be given, and reconnoitered his way into tiie parlor. There was no table therein, and but three chairs. Thinking there was some mistake, he was about to beat a retreat when a gentleman of the bar entered and somewhat restored the judicial equanimity by his cordiality. " Said I, ' the hour mentioned in my invitation has passed, so I thought I would come round ; but I fear I'm too early.' ' No,' he coldly replied,' but the dinner is too late.' ' Well,' said I, * I'll return home, and come back again.' ' Well, perhaps, '^ said he ' it might be as well and better than to stay here alone.' So I was preparing to abscond, when in came a few gentlemen, and other chairs being brought, we seated ourselves in a piazza, and a conversation commenced, during which some one or two other gentlemen dropped in. ' This,' said I to myself, ' is not a very promising beginning, but who knows how well it may end ?' So we talked of the heat of the weather, alligators, the Greek pun for at the tail, and the guests few and far between, and vacant chairs scattered from right to left. But few words were said. All seemed wrapped in their own gloomy thoughts. ' I wish,' said I to myself, ' I had been in Guinea before I accepted this invitation. Here is evidently something wrong." At length wine was introduced, and the judge began to look for better hours, but worse ensued. "This," said a commissary's man, "is the gift of our friend, Mr. , who left us this morning in the Agnes for Charleston. ' Come, gentlemen, 'fill your glasses,' said the president. 'Now,' thought I, ' he'll drink my health, and how shall I demean myself so as to be neither civil nor offensive ?' I resolved at once. ' The health,' said the president, ' of our absent who insisted he would not give one, and the president should. Then the president, looking for a moment like a thunder-storm, but, turning to me, said, ' If I give a toast, you'll not get under the table ?' ' Oh, no !' said I, good humoredly, ' I'll stick to you at all events !' Then they filled, and the president, in a hurried manner, said, * I'll give you our excellent friend and guest, the Hon. Robert Raymond Reid, the excellent judge of, etc., etc' They drank their wine. ' Now,' said I, ' if you will be pleased to fill your glasses, I'll give you a toast.' They filled. 'The hospitable and excellent citizens of St. Augustine.' They looked surprised. Toasts went on. One drank the judiciary, another the chief justice, another the memory of Julius C;vsar, another the memory of Noah, the drunken lawyer gave ' the memory of our departed friends,' and moreover he sung 'The Old Jackdaw and the Young Jackdaw,' and swore he liked no courts because they always made d - d rascally decisions against him.

"Thus flew the hours, and at length I escaped, leaving my brethren of the bar and guests, president, \'ice-president and all, scarcely less sorrowful or happy festival commenced. For my own part I never knew a compliment press so closely on the confines of insult. Why did I accept that invitation? 'Twas a false step. I went home and burned the notes of my speech."

The judge was a great admirer of Andrew Jackson, but hardly able to endorse all the eccentric movements of that hero when president. " He frocks and unfrocks at pleasure, but he is a magnificent fellow, and the best constitutional president since the days of Jefiferson, who was himself not sinless." Then he tells a story of old Hickory's taste in music, as related by Governor Duval. "I was," said he, "at the White House one evening, and tliere were Mrs. D. and Mrs. J., and a half dozen others, dressed up in the first style a la Parisieniie, and there were sofas and ottomans, and musical instruments, and lights, all of which, with the company, made a pretty picture. I had been invited to spend a sociable evening, and the ladies and the music made my heart throb as I entered the saloon, for, old as I am, I love both. Very soon I was asked if I would not approach a group, and listen to the splendid performance of a young gentleman just returned from Italy, and who played divinely. I left the side of the general, who was smoking in his large arm chair, and beheld, surrounded by beauty and fashion, a young man who sat on a low stool with a guitar across his lap. ' Good heavens,' thought I, ' Can the spirit of harmony reside in such a temple ?' He had a huge head, on the front of which his hair had been brushed in three ways, to the right, to the left, and in front, and then purposely, some confusion had been imparted to it. The hinder part had been closely cut. His neck was enveloped in a stock which closely compressed it, leaving two little points of shirt collar projecting under his chin. He wore large whiskers, innumerable chains and shirt buttons, was tightly laced, and bent forward in such a way as to give him, in his close habit, a monkey-like aspect. After some preluding, the creature opened his mouth and sung - no, that is not the word - he squalled, worked his eyes and heaved his breast, now sinking into a whisper, and now squealing so loud you might have heard him at the capitol. Never did I hear such horrible noises. But after a while I was relieved by the conclusion of the strain, when all pronounced it exquisite - an admirable Italian sonnet. I went back to the president. 'Well, governor,' said he, ' don't you like the music ?' ' General,' said I, ' its d - d stuff, between you and me. Come here, Tommy Blount. And now let me have leave to make this lad from the wilds of Tennessee, sing ' Blue Bonnets on the Border.'

' Certainly,' said the general, and Tommy, without any affectation, began to sin'^ In a moment, such was the force of his melody that the ladies and their sparks flocked around him. Their eyes glistened with pleasure and feeling; there was not the rustling of a ribbon to be heard. Tom's fine tones filled the spacious room, and made their way to all hearts except the youngster from his Italian travels. When the music was done, all were warmly expressing their pleasure. I looked round for Monsieur Squallini, and there he sat on the little stool, the lonesomest man I ever saw in my life. ' General,' says I, ' that's the sort of music for me.' 'Yes, governor,' said the president, 'that's the music that makes the goose flesh come, and nothing could be better except Washington's march upon the drum and fife.' "

Freeman Walker was one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day. He was born October 25^ 1780, in Virginia, and when seventeen years old came to Augusta and studied law with his brother, George Walker, then a leadinCT member of the bar. In 1802 he began practice, and soon rose to eminence, being equally distinguished for solid learning and bright and ready wit. In 1807 he was sent to the Legislature from Richmond county, and in 18 17 chosen mayor of Augusta by the city council, which then elected, and re-elected in 1818 and 18 19. In the latter part of that year he was elected to the United States Senate, and resigned the mayoralty on December 8, 18 19, in order to take his seat in that august body, succeeding the celebrated John Forsyth. In 1 82 1 Major Walker resigned his seat in the Senate, and in the next year was, for the fourth time, elected mayor of Augusta. The portrait of this distinguished and witty advocate hangs in the mayor's office, and represents him as a strikingly handsome man, with an air of quiet dignity through which lurks in his bright eye the spirit of merriment and humor. As has been elsewhere stated, he is believed to be the Freeman Lazenby of one of Judge Longstreet's lauf^hable " Georgia Scenes," and by his genial manners made hosts of friends. While somewhat quick in temper, he was ready to see the laughable side of a serious matter, as is amply evidenced by his encounter with the famous Judge Dooly, so celebrated for his wit and humor. While on circuit once, the bar supper waxed uproarious. The fun grew fast and furious, and in those days when the wine flew freely hard rubs were given and received. Judge Dooley was in more than ordinary spirits, and jested so long and roughly with Major Walker, that the latter's equanimity finally gave way, and catching up a chair he'advanced on his tormentor. The judge seized a large carving knife, and affairs looked serious. Several gentlemen seized the judge, and but one caught hold of Major Walker. With a comical look the judge cried out, " Gentlemen, one of you will be sufficient to prevent me from doing mischief; the rest of you had better hold Major Walker!" The laugh which followed restored the era of wood feeling, and the fun and frolic went on as before. Major Walker died at the age of forty-seven, and the opinion of his contemporaries is expressed

John P. King was another celebrated lawyer of the time. Mr. King was born in Kentucky, but at an early age made Georgia his home, and adopted the law as a profession in Augusta. In 1832 he was made judge of the City Court of Augusta, succeeding Hon. Robert Raymond Reid, who had been appointed United States judge in Florida. In 1833 Mr. King was appointed to the United States Senate in the place of Governor Troup, resigned, and in 1835 was elected by the Legislature, but resigned in 1837. On his return to Augusta Judge King seemed to foresee the enormous development of the railway system, and, abandoning the practice of his profession, turned his attention to railroad affairs. He was prominent in creating the Georgia Railroad ; was for very many years president of that company, one of the oldest, most useful and most substantial in the United States, and may be justly termed the father of the road. Judge King died in Augusta in 1887 at a very advanced age, being at the time of his demise the oldest United States senator surviving.

Nicholas Ware was also an Augusta lawyer of the old school. He was born in Virginia in 1776, studied law in Augusta, then attended the famous Gould Law School at Litchfield, Conn., and on his return began practice in this city. When Major Freeman Walker resigned the mayoralty of Augusta to take his seat in the United States Senate, Mr. Ware was elected in his place and re-elected in 1820, and a<4ain in 1821. In the latter part of 1821 he rerigned in order to enter the United States Senate, where he died in 1824. Mr. Ware was a strong friend of the Richmond Academy and distinguished for his literary tastes. Ware county is named after him.

One of the most celebrated lawyers of Augusta was John Forsyth. He was born in Virginia in 1781, and four years afterwards his father, an officer of the Revolution, removed to Augusta, Here the elder Forsyth was made United States Marshal, and in the enforcement of the law, lost his life. About 1795 a ca. sa issued out of the United States Court for the arrest of one Beverly Allen, a preacher from Wilkes county. Allen barricaded himself in a storehouse in Augusta, and when the marshal forced the door, shot him dead. The grave of marshal Forsyth is to be seen in St. Paul's churchyard, with an inscription laudatory of his services in the Revolution, and his unflinching courage in the execution of duty. On the tomb is also graven the insignia of the Order of the Cincinnati.

John Forsyth studied law in Augusta with Mr. Noel, and was admitted in 1802, when just of age. From 1808 to 181 i he was attorney general of the Middle Circuit, from 181 2 to 1818 was member of Congress, in 18 18 was elected to the United States Senate, but in 18 19 resigned in order to accept the position of United States minister to Spain. There he remained four years, and satisfactorily adjusted all the delicate questions growing out of the cession of Florida to the United States. In 1823, while still in Spain, he was re-elected to Congress, and returned at each succeeding election till he resigned in 1827 and was elected governor of Georgia. As governor Mr. Forsyth gave great attention to the amendment of the law. He urged the codification of the laws and the creation of a Supreme Court, which latter reform was adopted in 1845, and the former in i860. At the end of his gubernatorial term, in 1829, Mr. Forsyth was again sent to the United States, succeeding the celebrated John McPherson lierrien, of Savannah, and became the champion of President Jackson, in that body. In 183 i he was elected for the full term of six years. He stood by General Jackson manfully in the nullification issue, the bank question, and other exciting controversies of that time, and in 1834 became secretary of State, and for seven years was the head of the cabinet, holding during the second term of President Jackson and during the presidency of his successor, Martin Van Buren. In March, 1841, General Harrison became president, and appointed Daniel Webster secretary of State. In the fall of that year Mr. Forsyth died. One of the last objects to which he devoted his attention when secretary of State was the annexation of Texas, and while he did not live to see it accomplished, his efforts paved the way for that consummation a few years later. Mr. Forsyth is said to have been a model of manly beauty, and to have possessed a voice as clear as a silver clarion. His abilities as a diplomatist and a debater were so evenly balanced that it is difficult to say in which he excelled.

Bench And Bar, Concluded

Eminent Lawyers of Augusta, Continued - Richard I lenry Wilde - " My Life is Like tlie Summer Rose" - George W. Crawford - Charles J. Jenkins - Ebenezer Starnes- - Andrew J. Miller - William T. Gould - Henry H. Gumming - Governor William Schley - Judge John Shly - Judge Holt - Herschel V. Johnson - Court Roll of Judges from 1776 - Solicitors- General from 1796 - City Court of Augusta - Origin and History - Court Roll.

RICHARD HENRY WILDE was a most eminent lawyer, and, what is remarkable, as great in the civil law courts of Louisiana, where he practiced in the latter years of his life, as in the common law. Mr. Wilde was born in Dublin, September 24, 1789, and was reared from his thirteenth year in Augusta, where his widowed mother, by heroic efforts, supported a large family. Mr. Wilde aided her all his tender age and extremely delicate health permitted, and in the meanwhile read law incessantly by himself, being too poor to pay the fee then usual for instruction in a practitioner's office. Fearful he could not stand an examination, and dreading a failure at home, he made application in Greene Superior Court, then presided over by Judge Early, a rigid martinet, and more severe even than usual at the spectacle of a student applying for admission away from his own home. But a three days' examination failed to shake young Wilde, and he was triumphantly admitted. His success at the bar was immediate. In 181 5 he was elected to Congress, again in 1825, in 1828, and from that time continuously till 1835. ^^ ^^'^^^ .sailed for Europe and remained abroad till 1842, writing two learned works on the great Italian poets, Dante and Tasso. In 1842 he returned home, but shortly afterwards removed to New Orleans, where he took rank at once with the then leaders of the civil law, Prentiss, Benjamin, Soule, and others. In 1847 he died in that city of yellow fever. During his professional career Mr. Wilde was frequently engagj^d before the Supreme Court of the United States, but his fame as a lawyer makes him less known than one beautiful poem which met Byron's applause, and has been, by unanimous consent of the world of letters, acknowledged to be an unapproachable gem. It was written in 1820, and for some time there was a controversy as to whether it were original or a plagiarism from the Greek poet, A1c;eus. The facts are that after " My Life is Like the Summer Rose" was written by Mr. Wilde, Mr. Barclay, then British consul at Savannah, and a man of letters, translated it into Greek for the amusement of himself and friends, and this translation coming under the observation of some critic, was compared by him with the poem, with the result that Mr. Wilde was accused of plagiarism. Several eminent Greek scholars pronounced Mr. Barclay's translation not Greek poetry at all, but prose, and modern Greek prose at that ; and declared that no fragments of Alcaeus were extant at all resembling the poem. Mr. Barclay was much distressed at the use made of his translation, intended as it was solely for the private entertainment of himself and friends, and wrote Mr. Wilde a letter in which he stated that it was beyond question he was the author of the beautiful lines in controversy. The poem we here subjoin :

Yet on that rose's humble bed The softest dews of night are shed, As though she wept such waste to see ; But none shall drop a tear for me !

Yet when that leaf shall fall and fade, The parent tree will mourn its shade, The wind bemoan the leafless tree ; But none shall breathe a sigh for me.

George W. Crawford was born in Columbia, formerly Richmond, county December 22, 1798, and after graduating at Princeton, in 1820, began thJ study of the law in the office of Hon. Richard Henry Wilde, in Augusta. In 1822 he was admitted and at once established a fine practice. In March, 1 827 he was appointed attorney- general of the Middle Circuit, and in November'of that year elected for the full term and re-elected in 1828, serving until the fall of 1 83 1, when he was .succeeded by Charles J. Jenkins. In 1837 he was sent to the State Legislature and returned at each succeeding election, save one, till 1842. In that year he was sent to Congress, but in 1843 was elected governor. In 1845 he was again elected governor. His administration of this office was remarkable for the re-establishment of the credit of the State, which had become seriously impaired. The confidence of the banks and financiers of the State in Governor Crawford had much to do with this result, and the governor's confidence in the success of his own plans - for which he pledged his own means to the extent of $150,000 - had equally as good an effect. The bonds of the State were brought to par, and its monetary affairs happily rehabilitated. In 1849 President Taylor appointed Mr. Crawford secretary of war, but on the death of the president he resigned and retired to private life.

Charles Jones Jenkins was born in South Carolina in 1805, and educated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., under that famous preceptor; Rev. EHphalet Nott. Graduating in 1824, Mr. Jenkins began the practice of law in Augusta^ and in 183 1 was elected attorney- general of the Middle Circuit, retaining that position till 1834, being succeeded by that able jurist, Ebenezer Starnes.'' He served many terms in the Legislature from Richmond county, and was several times speaker of the House. In August, i860, he became one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia, and remained on that bench till the fall^^of 1865, when he was elected governor. Troubled days shortly ensued. In March, 1867, the State government was declared illegal by Congress and the State placed under military rule. Governor Jenkins resolutely recused to surrender his chair to General Ruger, who had been appointed military governor until uniformed force would be employed, when, stating that he was powerless to resist, he left the capitol. The key of the treasury and the great seal of the State he refused to give up under any circumstances, and carried them off with him. Determined to sustain the civil power, if possible, he filed a bill in the Supreme Court of the United States, in the name of the State of Georgia, to enjoin the execution of the reconstruction acts on the ground that Congress could not constitutionally prostrate a State under military rule. The Supreme Court held that this was a political question over which it had no jurisdiction On the restoration of the State government, in 1870, the Legislature adopted the following resolution : to have prepared, and, in the name of the people of Georgia, to present to Hon. Charles J. Jenkins, a seal to be the lac-simile of the one preserved and restored b)' him, except that, in addition to other devices, it shall have this inscription : " Presented to Charles J. Jenkins by the State of Georgia," and this legend, ' ' in arduis fidelis.

In 1877 Governor Jenkins was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention held that year, and was made president of the body. He died in 1883, bearing the name of " noblest Roman of them all."

Ebenezer Starnes was a sound and eminent jurist. In 1834 he was appointed attorney-general of the Middle Circuit, and was subsequently elected to the same position by the Legislature, and performed its duties till the fall of 1840.

In November, 1849, Mr. Starnes was elected judge of the Middle Circuit, and in February, 1853, while still on the bench, was appointed to the Supreme Court, vice Judge Warner resigned. At its next session the Legislature elected him judge of the Supreme Court for si.x years, but he resigned at the close of 1855. From the establishment of the Supreme Court of Georgia up to the time Judge Starnes left the Superior Court bench, there were many reversals of the judgments below, the proportion being forty-eigh; per cent., but out of thirty-eight Superior Court judges. Judge Starnes was the most generally sustained, but seventeen per cent, of his decisions being reversed. Judge Starnes was of a grave and dignified demeanor, a lawyer of ripe learning, and a man of kind heart We remember that he prided himself on being descended from Lawrence Sterne, the famous English writer, and once mentioned that the family crest was a starling, a bird which is the subject of one of Sterne's most beautiful passages.

Andrew J. Miller was a distinguished contemporary of Wilde, Crawford, Jenkins, and Starnes. Mr. Miller was born in Camden county, Georgia, in 1806, and at the age of sixteen was entered a cadet at the West Point Military Academy. His tastes lay in another direction and he soon returned home and began the study of law. When but nineteen he was authorized to be admitted to the bar by a special act of the General Assembly, and in 1825 entered on the practice of his profession. Mr. Miller verified the observation that labor is genius He devoted himself to a careful study and preparation of his cases ; was always prompt and ready, and soon stood at the front of the bar. In 1836 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, and in 1837 was sent to the State Senate, and continued to be a member of that body until his death in i8t6. He was twice president of the Senate, and even when not in the chair was the recognized arbiter in all questions of parliamentary procedure and law. He aided very greatly in projecting and accomplishing the Western and Atlantic or State road, and during his entire legislative life labored zealously in favor of the passage of a law reserving to a married woman the title to her property. Rules of law in vogue for centuries do not readily yield, and Mr. Miller passed away without carrying his favorite measure, but in 1866 it became law, and has now become a principle imbedded in the State constitution. In one of the many eulogies pronounced over Mr. Miller on his untimely demise, was one which especially referred to this fact. In the House of Representatives Mr. Thornton, of Muscogee, said : " He was, sir, the friend of woman, and I am glad that they, by their presence to-day, sanction the last act of respect paid to his name. He was the first who raised his arm and his voice to battle for woman's rights. For eighteen years he fought for the widow and her daughters, and he never would have ceased his efforts until he had carried his bill for the protection of their property. They should build him a monument to commemorate his exertions in their behalf. He was their friend and advocate."

Mr. Miller was at the time of his death a member of the State Senate, city attorney of Augusta, and president of the Medical College of Georgia. The Legislature sent a special committee to his obsequies, created a new county - Miller - in his honor, and ordered a monument to be erected to him.

William T. Gould was at the time of his death in 1 882, the Nestor of the Augusta bar. He was the son of the celebrated jurist, William Gould, whose law school at Litchfield, Conn., was in its time the most famous seat of legal learning in the United States, and was in point of legal attainments a worthy scion of such a stock. Judge Gould cared nothing for political preferment, but at the bar was for more than half a century a central figure. He was for many years attorney of the Georgia Railroad, and for most of the time from 185 i to 1876, was judge of the City Court of Augusta. He survived to an extreme old age, but retained his intellectual faculties unimpaired almost to the very last. There was none of the uncertainty or forgetfulness of the ordinary old man. During his active life the judge was a devoted Mason, and almost at the close of his career, when unable to leave his chamber, a litigation involving the title of the Masonic Hall arose. The minutes of the order gave some information on a vital point, but in such a concise ambiguous way as not to be of much value. One of the counsel in the case requested us to accompany him on a visit to the judge to seek information as to the facts. As soon as the matter was stated, and before the minutes had been shown him to refresh his memory, the veteran lawyer in a surprisingly terse, clear way, recounted all that had occurred at the meeting of half a century before. There was not a moment's pause or hesitation. It was a wonderful exhibition of the strength of human memory in the extremity of age.

was projected it was asserted that the city council possessed no legal authority to undertake such works, nor could the Le<^islature confer such power, but Colonel Cumming's legal opinion to the contrary was sustained by the Supreme Court of the State which held that the charter conferred the power, but if not the General Assembly had granted such authority, and was fully empowered by the constitution of the State so to do.