No. III.
CHARACTERS OF MR. TAZEWELL, BY THE HON. GEORGE LOYALL; BY WILLIAM W. SHARP, ESQ., A PUPIL OF MR. TAZEWELL; BY THE LATE WILLIAM WIRT, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES; AND BY THE LATE FRANCIS WALKER GILMER, ESQ., PROFESSOR OF LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.
The sketch of Mr. Tazewell by Mr. Loyall appeared under the editorial head of the Norfolk Argus, on the 8th of May. It was written in haste, but it shows the impression which Mr. Tazewell made on that able and accomplished gentleman. None had a longer or a fairer view of Mr. Tazewell for forty-five years past than Mr. Loyall, and it was mainly owing to him that Mr. Tazewell was brought forward as a candidate for a seat in the Senate of the United States.
[From the Norfolk Argus of May 8, 1860. By the Hon. George Loyall.]
DEATH OF EX-GOV. TAZEWELL.
On Sunday, 11 o'clock A.M., Littleton Waller Tazewell breathed his last. It was in the Providence of God to prolong the life of this venerable and distinguished man beyond the term of four-score years, during which the beams of his genius irradiated the land of his birth. Among the last, if not the very last, of a noble and vigorous stock, to whom Virginia owes so much of her well-deserved fame, the main features of his character, as was said of an illustrious statesman of the last century, had the hardihood of antiquity.
It was impossible to behold Mr. Tazewell—his majestic form and massive brow—without a vivid impression of the superiority of his intellectual powers; and this impression was invariably deepened whenever a suitable occasion called for their exercise. It may be truly said that he was coeval with the outburst of our Revolutionary struggle, the period of his birth having preceded but a year or two the Declaration of Independence. After a thorough preparatory discipline, we find his name inscribed on the catalogue of William and Mary College, contemporary with those of John Thompson (Curtius) of Petersburg, John Randolph of Roanoke, Robert B. Taylor of this place, and other kindred spirits. He entered upon his professional career at a period when the bar of our State was thronged with men of extensive learning and the highest order of abilities. His success was not long a matter of doubt or speculation. Unambitious of distinction, in the commonly received sense, and unwilling to leave, even for a time, the comparatively humble field of his habitual labors, yet when summoned away to some new or larger theatre, (in the meridian of his fame it not unfrequently happened,) his efforts were marked by extraordinary brilliancy and power. It was universally conceded that, when roused upon such occasions to put forth his whole strength, the more strenuous and stern the combat, the more signal his triumph.
As was remarked of Lord Mansfield, so with Mr. Tazewell, the shackles of a law education and profession, perhaps, formalized, and, in some degree, repressed the splendor of his genius; still, whether in the senate chamber, the hall of legislation, or the court-room, his "speaking was the full expression of the mighty thought, the strong triumphant argument, the rush of native eloquence." His calm dignity and colossal strength, his luminous masculine and searching logic, the vast extent and variety of his research, the large stores of his affluent knowledge, marshalled and arranged with consummate skill and judgment, together with the fascination of his purely unaffected, earnest manner, the magic power of his unstudied action, and the thrilling intonations of his deep rich voice, rendered him, in his best days, "before public assemblies, almost irresistible." He managed his strength to such advantage, that few men dared to grapple with him "in a pitched field of long and serious debate." His general tone and style in debate were marked by an intense earnestness, whilst his narrative, possessing, from its striking naturalness and simplicity, a high degree of dramatic interest, was occasionally relieved with splendid passages of impassioned and stirring eloquence. Intrepid self-reliance, unwearied activity, far-reaching sagacity, clearness, and fulness, were the prominent characteristics of Mr. Tazewell's mind. Comprehending with intuitive glance the whole field of argument, he "launched into his subject like an eagle dallying with the wind." One of our leading statesmen declared, upon a memorable occasion, that "Tazewell was second to no man that breathed." Certainly, it is no exaggeration to say that, for robust discipline, vigorous reasoning, grasp and amplitude of thought, he was almost without a rival.
Virginia had conferred upon him her highest official trusts. Her generous confidence he requited with a deep and fervent devotion, laying upon the altar of her stern and simple political faith the offerings of matured wisdom, and upholding, in all seasons, with a lofty patriotism and the utmost energies of his powerful intellect, her right and honor. Standing upon the great principles that lie at the foundation of our institutions, the powers of the Federal Government, as limited and defined by the Compact, and the rights of the States in all their integrity, he regarded as vital to the preservation of the Confederacy and the stability of our republican system. Whether in repelling open assaults upon the Constitution, or meeting at the threshold covert abuses of delegated power, no man within our border saw more clearly, or more directly and firmly trod the path of duty before him. Personal asperities engendered by political strife, and which too often follow in the train of collisions of opinion and partisan warfare, were "alien to his nature." In his retirement from the public arena, during the last twenty years or more, he sympathized but little with the busy world.