THE PUBLIC MEETING.
The meeting announced to take place at 12 o'clock, July 20th, for the reception of Mr. Peyton's portrait, was duly held in the Court House on the day and at the hour specified. It was largely attended by the county officials, among them Hon. Lyman Chalkley, Judge of the County, N. B. Watts, Sheriff, Wm. A. Burnett, County Clerk, and others, including the Supervisors, namely, Elijah Coiner, T. M. Smiley, H. B. Wilson, Samuel Forter, Silas H. Walker, and Wm. A. Crawford, the members of the Bar and many others, among whom were a number of fashionable and elegant ladies, including Mrs. and the Misses Atkinson, Mrs. Elder and daughter, Mrs. W. P. Tams, Mrs. Wm. Frazier, Miss Malcomb, Mrs. W. E. Craig, &c., &c.
On motion of Capt. Thos. D. Ranson, seconded by Wm. P. Tams, Esq., Capt. George M. Cochran was called to the chair. Capt. Cochran explained briefly the object of the meeting, when Capt. Bumgardner arose and said:
capt. james bumgardner's speech.
Gentlemen of the Board of Supervisors:
The late lamented Judge Stout, who did much to entitle him to be gratefully remembered by the people of Augusta County, requested that a copy of the portrait of John H. Peyton might be made, to be placed on the walls of this Court room.
In accordance with that request the portrait has been made, and on behalf of Col. John Lewis Peyton and the other descendants of John H. Peyton, I deliver this portrait to you, as the representatives of the County of Augusta, in order that the purpose of Judge Stout may be carried into effect; and that this portrait may be placed in that group of illustrious citizens, with all of whom he was closely associated in life, and with whom he is entitled to be grouped and remembered in all time to come, as one of the men who have made the Staunton bar famous and honored, and who in their day enjoyed and deserved to enjoy, the esteem and admiration of their countrymen.
John H. Peyton was born in Stafford County, Virginia, in the year 1778. He inherited the virtues of patriotism, devotion to duty, courage and honor from his father, who illustrated them in the highest degree as a soldier of the Revolution. His academic career was distinguished by faithful application and great ability, and he graduated at Princeton, taking with high honors the degree of Master of Arts in the year 1797. After finishing his academical course he went earnestly to work to prepare himself for his professional career in which he rendered such faithful and honorable service to the Country and in which he earned so much honor and distinction. He studied law under the advice and tuition of Judge Bushrod Washington of the Supreme Court of the United States, and with his ability, and taught by such a master, it is not surprising that the accuracy and extent of his legal knowledge placed him in the front rank of the great men of his profession, who were his contemporaries. He commenced the practice of the law on the Fredericksburg Circuit. In the year 1806 he was elected as a Member of the House of Delegates from the County of Stafford, and was again elected in 1807. As a debater he had no superior on the floor of the House.
Mr. Peyton removed to Staunton and commenced the practice of the law in the Courts held in Staunton and the adjoining Counties in the year 1808, and he devoted himself to the practice of the law from that time until near his death in 1847. His great and recognized ability in the practice of his profession is shown by the fact that he was appointed Attorney of the Commonwealth for this Circuit immediately after his removal to Staunton, and three years later in 1812, Attorney for the Commonwealth for Augusta County. Chapman Johnson, who said he himself was not suited for the office, resigning it that Mr. Peyton might be elected, whom he declared was the ablest public prosecutor in Virginia. During the year 1812 he served as Chief of Staff of General Porterfield. In his army service he established his reputation as an able, enterprising and gallant officer. With the exception of his service in the House of Delegates, in the Senate and in the Army, his time and energies were spent in the arduous duties of his profession.
He was Mayor of Staunton in the years 1816 and in 1817, but his performance of the duties of that office was not, of course, any serious interruption to the laborious work of his profession. From 1812 (when he was appointed Attorney for the Commonwealth for the county of Augusta) he filled that office continuously until 1844, serving in the mean time for two terms in the Senate of Virginia from 1836 to 1844, when he resigned from ill health. And now, because sirs, during that long period he was one of the great men of this bar, because he was one of the great citizens of Augusta and of Virginia, because it is of interest and benefit to the Commonwealth, that the memory of her great and able men be preserved and cherished, this picture was asked for, that its presence on these walls might be a perpetual evidence of his ability and virtues, and evidence of how the people of this county recognize, reverence and honor those lofty attributes of mind and heart, which give fame and distinction to the locality in which they are displayed. It is now forty-seven years since Mr. Peyton passed away. Since his death nearly two generations have been born and died. Of the men now living in this county very few personally knew Mr. Peyton, or personally know the position he occupied in the estimation of the bar, of the men, and of the community of his day and time. That position is clearly shown by the written expressions of many great men of his day, and as these expressions will convey a clearer idea of Mr. Peyton's character than I am able to give in any other way, I think it most proper on this occasion to quote them.
Mr. Peyton was the author of the celebrated report opposing the Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, proposed by the State of Pennsylvania, for the alleged purpose of preventing collisions between the Federal Government and the State Governments; concerning which report Mr. Webster said, that "the reasoning and conclusions were unanswerable" and on another occasion said, "it was a misfortune that he was not in Congress."
Benjamin Watkins Leig said, "He was the greatest lawyer west of the Blue Ridge."
Chapman Johnson said, "He was the greatest criminal lawyer and public prosecutor I have ever seen."
Judge Henry St. George Tucker said, "He was one of the most profound and learned of lawyers."
Daniel Sheffy said, "He possessed gigantic power without effort, and was not only a great but a good man."
Major James Garland, of Lynchburg, said, "There was no greater lawyer in the Commonwealth."
Judge Alexander Rives wrote that "I know no lawyer in Virginia for whom I have the same admiration, respect and esteem."
John B. Baldwin said, "He was the greatest common-law lawyer he ever knew."
Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin said, "He had more strength, originality and learning than any lawyer of his acquaintance."
Judge Lucas P. Thompson said, "His sentiments were illuminated by genius."
Sidney S. Baxter, late Attorney General of Virginia said, "No lawyer in Virginia equalled him in debate."
Thomas J. Michie said of him: "That he was a man who had served his country with distinguished ability in various civil positions in time of peace, who has honorably and gallantly served and sacrificed his property in time of war, a man whose honor and integrity have never been impeached in this or any other community."
Judge R. C. L. Moncure in speaking of him as a young lawyer said: "He took a position on being admitted to the bar which brought him immediate and continued popularity as a lawyer, a pleader and a scholar."
T. M. Green, a distinguished lawyer and author, of Kentucky, said: "John Howe Peyton was eminent as lawyer, statesman and orator."
Professor J. T. L. Preston, late of Virginia Military Institute, said: "He was a champion in every branch of his profession."
The late James D. Davidson, of Lexington, said: "I regarded him altogether as a superior being."
The late William Frazier said: "His pleadings were master pieces of art."
The late Judge McCue said: "In his discourses he displayed a soundness of view, an extent of research, a manliness of principle, an accuracy of learning and a vigor of style surpassing anything I ever heard."
Mr. Peyton was as eminent for stern integrity as for learning and ability, and in that connection a writer, whose name I will not call, as he is still living, said: "I never knew a man who had more of what Edmund Burke styled 'the chastity of honor which felt a stain like a wound.'"
I have heard many lawyers who personally knew Mr. Peyton as a lawyer, speak of him, and, without exception, they placed him in the very front rank of the great lawyers of his day, and the late Judge H. W. Sheffey, with whom I was associated for so many years as a partner, spoke of him often and alluded to his appearance in a celebrated cause, which at the time of the trial, made a most profound impression upon the community and said that Mr. Peyton's description of the facts connected with the corpus delicti, and the behavior of the accused at the time was the most dramatic, powerful and stirring burst of eloquence he had ever heard or read, and that during the utterance of the speech there was not a dry eye in the crowded Court House.
It will be observed that these statements are made by men qualified in the highest degree to estimate justly human character and ability, and who had the very best opportunity of judging the character and ability of Mr. Peyton, as they were intimately associated with him at the bar and in public life; and their testimony therefore is conclusive, that Mr. Peyton was a man of commanding ability, of the highest culture, of profound legal learning, of the sternest integrity and the strictest honor, and is worthy to be commemorated in the manner proposed by placing this portrait in the group which now adorns these walls, and I now take great pleasure in presenting it to you for that purpose.
At the close of his discourse the audience warmly applauded Captain Bumgardner, as it had repeatedly done during its delivery.