Something of Men I Have Known | Page 4

of the time of the
courts was taken up by suits in ejectment, actions for assault and
battery, breach of promise, and slander. One, not infrequent, was
replevin, involving the ownership of hogs, when by unquestioned usage
all stock was permitted to run at large. But criminal trials of all grades,
and in all their details, aroused the deepest interest. To these the people
came from all directions, as if summoned to a general muster. This was
especially true if a murder case was upon trial. Excitement then ran
high, and the arguments of counsel, from beginning to close, were
listened to with breathless interest. It will readily be seen that such
occasions furnished rare opportunity to the gifted advocate. In very
truth the general acquaintance thus formed, and the popularity achieved,
have marked the beginning of more than one successful and brilliant

political career. Moreover, the thorough knowledge of the people thus
acquired by actual contact--the knowledge of their condition,
necessities, and wishes--resulted often in legislation of enduring benefit
to the new country. The Homestead law, the law setting apart a moiety
of the public domain for the maintenance of free schools, and judicious
provision for the establishment of the various charities, will readily be
recalled.
Politics, in the modern sense--too often merely "for what there is in
it"--was unknown. As stepping-stones to local offices and even to
Congress, the caucus and convention were yet to come. Aspirants to
public place presented their claims directly to the people, and the
personal popularity of the candidate was an important factor in
achieving success. Bribery at elections was rarely heard of. The saying
of the great bard,
"If money go before, All ways do open lie,"
awaited its verification in a later and more civilized period. As late
even as 1858, when Lincoln and Douglas were rival aspirants to the
Senate, when every voter in the State was a partisan of one or the other
candidate, and the excitement was for many months intense, there was
never, from either side, an intimation of the corrupt use of a farthing to
influence the result.
No period of our history has witnessed more intense devotion to great
party leaders than that of which we write. Of eminent statesmen, whose
names were still invoked, none had filled larger space than did Henry
Clay and Andrew Jackson. The former was the early political idol of
Mr. Lincoln; the latter, of Mr. Douglas. Possibly, since the foundation
of the Government, no statesman has been so completely idolized by
his friends and party as was Henry Clay. Words are meaningless when
the attempt is made to express the idolatry of the Whigs of his own
State for their great chieftain. For a lifetime he knew no rival. His wish
was law to his followers. In the realm of party leadership a greater than
he hath not appeared. At his last defeat for the Presidency strong men
wept bitter tears. When his star set, it was felt to be the signal for the
dissolution of the great party of which he was the founder. In words

worthy to be recalled, "when the tidings came like wailing over the
State that Harry Percy's spur was cold, the chivalrous felt somehow the
world had grown commonplace."
The following incident, along the line indicated, may be considered
characteristic. While Mr. Clay was a Senator, a resolution, in
accordance with a sometime custom, was introduced into the Kentucky
House of Representatives instructing the Senators from that State to
vote in favor of a certain bill then pending in Congress. The resolution
was in the act of passing without opposition, when a hitherto silent
member from one of the mountain counties, springing to his feet,
exclaimed: "Mr. Speaker, am I to understand that this Legislature is
undertaking to tell Henry Clay how to vote?" The Speaker answered
that such was the purport of the resolution. At which the member from
the mountains, throwing up his arms, exclaimed "Great God!" and sank
into his seat. It is needless to add that the resolution was immediately
rejected by unanimous vote.
Two-thirds of a century ago the Hon. John P. Kennedy wrote of the
lawyers of his day:
"The feelings, habits, and associations of the bar in general, have a very
happy influence upon the character. And, take it altogether, there may
be collected from it a greater mass of shrewd, observant, droll, playful,
and generous spirits, than from any other equal numbers of society.
They live in each other's presence like a set of players; congregate in
courts like the former in the green room; and break their
unpremeditated jests, in the intervals of business, with that sort of
undress freedom that contrasts amusingly with the solemn and even
tragic seriousness with which they appear in turn