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RALEIGH REGISTER,
Second Floor of Fisher Building, Favetteville
Street, next to Market House.
VOL. I.
RALEIGH, N. ., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1884.
NO. 29.
WW i
By P. M. HALE.
. J : .
CHARITY.
The Spectator.
lllie rich man gave his dole, not ill-content
To find his heart still moved by human woe;
The poor man to his neighbor simply lent
The scanty savings he could scarce forego.
The one passed on and asked to know no more;
The other's wife all night, with pity brave,
That neighbor's dying child was bending o'er,
And never deeming it was much she gave. ;
Oh: God forgive us that we dare to ask
Solace of eostly gifts and fruitless sighs!
Scorn on the sigh that shuns the unweleome
task, . i
iiThe dole that lacks the salt of sacrifice!
No gilded palm the crushing weight can lift;
No soothing sigh the maddening woe can
cure;
"Tis loive that gives its wealth to every gift;
" 111 Wjould the poor man fare without the poor.
BEYOND THE RIDGE.
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
Just Reached by Col. Andrew' Road.
Hale's Coal and Iron Counties. J
The climate of the mountain
counties" is as healthful as can be found
anywhere in the world. Malaria is a dis
ease never seen there except in the person
of some invalid from the lowlands, whose
physician has prescribed the ozone of the
mountains as a better remedy than all the
drugs mentioned in the dispensatory. Be
sides the pure Air, the equable climate, the
crystal waters, and the resinous balsams of
the highest mountains, there are innumer
able medicinal springs of more than ordi
nary healing virtue. Most extraordinary
of anv vet discovered are
THE WARM SPRINGS
in the north-western corner of the State,
six miles from the Tennessee line, to
which a train of the North Carolina West
ern railroad runs daily from Salisbury,
taking passengers from- the Richmond and
Danville at that place. The station bears
the name of the springs, and has become
:i great resort for' both pleasure seekers
and invalids. Soon after the war a large
hotel was built there, to which additions
have been made nearly every season, not
excepting the present. Situated in the
midst of lovely scenery, and tie centre of
many upique natural curiosities, it would
be a deghtful summer resort, but with
these springs as the central attraction,t
will in time become a second Saratoga
drawing"guests to its hotel from all part's
of the continent, and from Europe. This
place, with the beautiful scenery in its ,
immediate vicinity, is but one of the nu- i
merous attractions of the mountains.
ASHEVILLE
has long been noted for the loveliness of,
its surroundings, and for the courtesy of
its people to visitors. It has grown to be
the seat of a large and lucrative trade with
the people of surrounding counties, and in
it are many elegant houses, the summer
homes of families of wealth and refinement
from both Northern and Southern States.
There are few towns of its population in
the Union which have a future as bright
as that which has dawned upon this capi
tal of Buncombe County.
Those who climb the tortuous track of
the railrbad to Swanannoa Gap, and go
thence either to Asheville or to Pigeon
River, have no conception of the broad
plateaus kind wide beautiful valleys to be
een further westward. The first idea of
these is obtained at
WATNESYILLE, -
the capital of Haywood County, which is
said to be the highest town east of the
Rocky Mountains. Thm town will be ac-
! ( essible by railroad by midsummer of this
year and soon become a favorite resort for
. tourists and sportsmen. The creeks a
bound in speckled trout, and in the early
fall there are plenty of quail.' Here is a
broad and -beautiful valley, surrounded by
rich rolling land, affording fine pasturage.
Great crops of wheat, corn and oats re
ward the labors of the agriculturist, and
on every hand are evidences of the pros- !
perity of " the people. A short ulistance !
from it is a fine white sulphur spring, near
to which a commodious hotel has been j
built. A short distance frorn town are the
saw mills and . other buildings of the
Mitchell Lumber Company, an Indiana
corporation, which has purchased an im
mense number of black walnut trees and
is now ngaged in felling and hauling
them' to mill, in expectation of the speedy
coming of the railroad.
JACKSON COUNTY,
nexfwest of Haywood, is another immense
body of land, in which are a few lofty
mountains, and great areas of farming and
grazing land. In these two counties are
many mines of copper and mica, and in
the latter are extensive and well defined
veins of nickel and chrome ore6. In both
apples, peaches, and grapes are produced
in perfection, and each is noted for the
size and quality of the beef cattle fattened
' on its mountain ranges and hillside pas
tures. Webster, the capital of Jackson
County, is:a small and pretty village built
on the level summit of a high knoll, from
which it overlooks the country in every
lirection. It is about four miles from the
Western Railroad, with which it will ulti
mately be connected by either a branch
railway or a plank-road. A large back
country finds its market and obtains its
'oods there" In the southern part ofthis
ounty, not far from the South Carolina
border, is Casher's valley, a long and
broad tract of well-watered land, noted
far and near for its beauty,, and for its
ulaptability to stock-raising and tillage.
I. ...ill l. , - l. f o,,iT roil.
ii win ue suuic yeaio jci utiuit anj j
road will pass through that part of the
mountains, but Henderson does now and
both Franklin and the new town of Highr
lands willultimately afford all necessary
transportation to the graziers, who have
long been in the habit of driving their
stock across the Blue Ridge into South
Carolina,
Swain on the north and Macon on the
. south are the pair of counties next west of
Haywood and Jackson. Through the
former flows the Tennessee River in a
northerly direction, passing by Franklin,
ihe county seat, then making asharpturn
to the west, where it receives the waters
of the Tuckaseege to its bosom, and from
there to the Great Smoky Mountains it is
the dividing line between Swain and
(iridium counties. Macon is in some re
spects one of the most remarkable subdi
visions of this mountain country. Girt'on
the south by the Blue Ridge Mountains,
from whose crest much of South Carolina
mid a large section of Georgia may be seen
with the unassisted eye; dotted with lofty
peaks " irhieh proudly prop the ,'' and
are covered with magnificent timber to
their summits, all of these lofty peaks easy
of ascent ; watered by innumerable streams,
some of which wind sinuously through
verdant meadows, while others dash in
grand (a.aracts down the steep cliffs and
through bowers of laurels and rhododen
drons; mountains rich in many valuable
minerals which have scarcely been pros
pected at all ; streams teeming with trout ;
woods amd thickets, favorite haunts of
deerr. bears, wild turkeys, and lesser game ;
a soil that in many places never fails to
reward the labor of the husbandman; the
home of the vine, and of many a dainty
fern and flower that would be prizes to
northern florists; such is especially the
southern end of this county, where is lo
cated the young and growing colony of
"Highlands, wherein more fine houses have
been erected in the eight years of its ex
istence than in any other place on these
mountains, Asheville alone excepted.
Further north is
FRANKLIN,
the county seat, a flourishing village, with
some handsome and many comfortable
houses. The best public edifice in any of
these western counties is the court house,
a brick building that is a model in its way,
and creditable to the taste and liberality
of the people. Lieutenant-Governor Rob
insonjias his residence in the village, and
the yard in front of it, bright with flowers
from spring to fall, gives evidence of the
good taste of the ladies of his family.
Franklin has long and deservedly had a
reputation for the excellence of its schools
and the attention paid to the education of
its youth. One of these days the railroad
from Athens will pass through the town
and give to it renewed life and activity,
for the fertile fields, the splendid pasture
lands, the noble forests and the varied
minerals of its mountains will all swell the
tide of its business and quicken the ener
gies of the people of Macon county. Seven
miles distant is the little hamlet called
Car-too-ge-chay, with its neat Episcopal
church, whose white, tapering spire shines
like a finger of silver against the dark
green back ground of mountain forests.
This church was built partly by the offer
ings of the people, and in part by the lib
erality of the bishop of the diocese, and
of southern and northern churchmen. It
is as yet a missionary station, the people
doing what they Can, and the general mis
sion fund making up all deficiencies.
Sometwenty miles west of Franklin, on
the upper Nantahala, is
Ml'SDAYS,
a place made famous by Christian Reid's
beautiful sketch published some years ago
by the Appletons, called "The Land of
the Sky." That idyllic love story of a
summer in the mountains painted this
L place in brilliant colors which were true
to nature. Munday is a famous sports
man, who knows where the trout hide in
the dancing river, and where among the
laurels to start his hounds for the coerts
of the deer. His house is always open to
travelers, and his table never lacks the
best of game from the woods and waters.
A tour of the mountains without a short
stay at this resort is something to be ever
regretted. Following a northerly road
from thence,
VALLEYTOWN,
in Cherokee county, is reached in time for
dinner at the quaint home of a widow lady
named Walker. Here again is a broad
plateau, covered for the greater part with
a grove of stately oaks. The house itself,
a two-story frame building, fronts upon a
yard in which rows of box and some shrub
evergreens are trimmed into square masses
of rather solemn-looking borders. This
good lady, whose husband died early in
the civil war, has reared a large family of
sons to man's estate, and they are now
among the most respected and thrifty citi
zens of her own and the two adjacent
counties. One of them is a merchant and
occupies u well-stocked store on the oppo
site side of the road, where he does a con
siderable and profitable trade. Inside, the
house is neat, homelike and sunny, and
the table is always bountifully supplied
with food well cooked and nicely served.
From thence the road continues through
an undulating country until it reaches the
summit of Red Marble Gap in Macon coun
ty, not far from its northwestern line.
Following the rough trail (called road by
courtesy), the traveler passes down through
one of the most weird ravines to be found
anywhere in these mountains, and he is
glad at least to reach the narrow valley of
THE NANTAHALA
which has been dashing over precipices,
and through the darkness of dense forests
ever since he lost sight of it a few miles
north of Munday's. At the entrance of
this valley is the farm of Nelson, a perfect
type of the best kind of mountaineer far
mers a quiet, thoughtful, earnest man
who cultivates his land thoroughly, looks
after his stock, notes nil the changes of
the season, is a weather prophet that
would put Vennor to shame, and is.a good
neighbor and obliging host. Some four
miles below his place is the property of
the Jarrett estate, on which, besides val
uable farm land, and several thousands of
acres of grand timber, there is a high
mountain of marble, white, black, gray,
plaided, and the ".North Carolina Onyx "
so called. In the same vicinity is a very
large vein of white soapstene which was
mined for some time in the interest of a
Cincinnati firm engaged in the manufac
ture of lava tips for gas burners. This
infant industry was destroyed by heavy
.importations from Germany, which were
sold at a price much less than they could
be made for here. The beauty of this
part of the valley Cannot be portrayed in
fitting words. The rushing river, the
high mountains with scores of streams
dashing down their precipitous sides, the
forests of immense poplars and beeches,
of black walnut and oak, of birch and
maple, of hemlock and cedar, surpass all
description, while the rocks are covered
with mosses, tiny ferns, and multiform
lichens, and the rich soil along the river's
bank from spring to fall is a mass of
blooms. About the middle of March the
air is laden with the fragrance of arbutus,
whose masses of white and pink blossoms
fill all the crevices on the upper side of
the highway. A bright pink phlox nods
above them, while in the cavities where a
little earth has lodged between the road
and the river delicate lilies are opening
their purple bells, and wax plants covered
with srorav shine like the work of the
Frost King. Leaving this enchanted re
trion and continuing down stream, the
changed timber indicates a totally differ
ent soil. Instead of Limestone it is slaty
formation; the timber is light, poor, and
of little value, and there is a scarcity of
vegetable life. Here the road runs high
up the mountain side and is well kept for
several imiles, but in descending a new
geological belt is entered, the timber im
proves, and wild; grass and herbage are
! seen once more. Finally the road becomes
a cut blasted out of a flinty rock, (a rough
and unsafe place for any but sure-footed
beasts), close to the water's edge. Yet
over this, heavily laden teams pass almost
daily, carrying produce to market, and re
turning with store goods. Soon after
passing this dangerous point, the traveler
enters Swain county, still following the
Nantahala whose mouth is not many miles
ahead. As he nears it the mountains slope
farther away, the valley widens, and a
few settlers' cabins are seen. About three
miles from the confluence with the Ten
nessee is the stockRde, occupied by the
seventy-five convicts whdhave commenced
the work of grading the Western Rail
road up the river towards Red Marble
Gap. These with their overseers, guards,
cooks, and the hired skilled laborers,
make quite a force, and as both powder
and dynamite are used whenever needed,
they will make rapid progress through
this difficult territory. The present method
of reaching
CHARLESTON,
the capital of Swain county, from the
south or west, is by fording the river not
far from the stockade, and climbing a
mountain which has been settled by many
good farmers during the last twenty years,
the traveler having first forded the Ten
nessee river about two miles from the Nan
tahala. On this mountain can be; seen the
perfection agriculture has reached in this
part of the world orchards, cojfa fields,
wheat lands, and sheep pastures fire every
where. As has been sajd by many trav
elers, it is in truth a second Switzerland,
but without the denser population of that
country. The houses also do not rise one
above another, as though built on terraces,
but usually occupy a cove, the common
name for a level stretch of land scooped
by nature in the side of the mountain, a
warm sheltered nook, where cabins, out
buildings and fruit trees are protected from
heavy winds and tempestuous storms.
But a few miles from, the northern base of
this mountain is Charleston, a small vil
lage on the banks of the Tuckaseege, twelve
miles from its mouth. On this side the
valley is narrow for several miles up stream,
but on the other it spreads out into broad
meadows and magnificent stretches of high
table land, the soil everywhere being ex
ceedingly fertile.
' SWAIN COUNTY, AND GRAHAM,
its next neighbor, are alike in many res
pects, but unlike in others. Both of them
are rich in iron and copper ores, in the
quantity and excellence of their timber, in
their prospects of gold and silver (as yet
they are prospects only), and in their fine
lands for tillage and grazing. Swain,
however, got the start of its neighbor in
population, and having the advantage of
being nearer to Asheville and equally near
to Tennessee, it has gained upon the other
rapidly In numbers and wealth. To these
the railroad wil contribute continually,
and as from the natural formation it must
follow the north! side of the river into the
adjoining State, population will increase
in a much greater ratio than heretofore.
Now the most western settler of that re
gion lives near to Hazel Creek, a bold
clear mountain stream about sixteen miles
from the State line. The entire valley in
Swain county, from six miles west of
Charleston, seems to have been arranged
by nature purposely for a railway, and
from that point until within three miles of j
tne aiviaing line, tne estimated average
cost of grading, bridging and laying down
cross-ties does not exceed $6,000 a mile.
One peculiarity of this part of the State
is that while very little arable land is seen
near the banks of the Tennessee, yet on
crossing the high ridge that walls-in its
course, or journeying up the valley of any
one of the creeks that have cut channels
through it to the river, the eye ranges over
avast region admirably adapted to every
department of agriculture.
The last two counties at the extreme
western end of the State are ;
CLAY AND CHEROKEE.
The first1 is a county of comparatively
small area, but a large proportion of it is
fertile and well watered. In it are mines
of corundum and other minerals of value,
and it is inhabited by a people noted for
industry, energy and intelligence. It has
plenty of timber, fine water powers, and
raises large crops of grain and many fat
cattle. Hayesville, its chief town, is built
on a hillside, and has a superior academy,
while in the suburbs are two new churches,
one of them of an architectural design
both novel and pleasing. Railroad or not,
the citizens of that county are determined
to thrive, and believing that a good edu
cation will be worth more to their chil
dren than bank stocks or railway shares,
they are investing all their spare money to
secure the best that can be had. Chero
kee, though last, is any thing but least of
the counties of western North Carolina,
and in some respects she has advantages
over all her sisters. Not to speak of her
timbers, which are equal to any, her ores
and nuggets of gold, her marbles and
soapstone, she has in her immense beds of
iron ores the sources-of fabulous wealth in
the hereafter that is fast comins. The
broad, lengthy and rich valleys of the Val
ley River, the Hiwassee and Notteley, will
yield an indefinite store of corn and wheat
every year when suitably cultivated, while
the numerous tributary creeks and
branches flow through land equally arable
and fertile. If any one sub-division- of
North Carolina can fully verify the an
cient promise to the Hebrews of a land
flowing with milk and honey, Cherokee
county is that favored place. Whether
considered as a grazing, a farming, a hor
ticultural, a market gardening, a dairy, or
a manufacturing country, Cherokee can be
either or all. Cornering in between Ten
nessee and Georgia, destined to be united
with the railroad system of the former
State before another year has come and
gone, and with the great copper belt of
Tennessee a little later on, she, first of all
her sisters, will reach the great cities of
the Cotton -States with her products, and
feed them from her teeming granaries and
orchards. Then market gardening will
pay, and the rearing of veal, lamb and
mutton for the shambles. Winter apples,
always worth more in the cities of the
Cotton States than oranges, will no longer
be left to waste, but the enormous surplus
that the hogs have heretofore devoured
will be carefully gathered and turned Into
gold. The Cherokee people are worthy of
the blessings in store for them. They
have waited patiently, worked faithfully,
and sacrificed much to secure the end that
will soon be attained, and in their early
prosperity every citizen of the State will
share, for whatever benefits even the least
of the commonwealth is equally an advan
tage to the whole.
Ought Not to Complain.
Arkansaw Traveller. I
" What h;ab yer named your boy ?" asked
an acquaintance of old Nelson.
" I'se named him airter myse'f."
"Wall, I alius makes it er rule neber
ter name er chile airter er libin' pusfion."
"W'y, so?"
" 'Case yer see, de libin' pusson mout
turn out bad. He mout be hung. It is
hard dn er boy when his namesake am
hang."
" Dat's a fack," replied Nelson, "an'
ef I hader thought "er dat I wouldn' er
named de boy airter myse'f, fur it am
hard on er boy when his namesake is
hung, but in dis hcah case it wouldn' be
no harder on de hoy den it would on de
namesake. If I could' stan' hit he
oughtenter complain."
"OLD hickory;
THE REIGN OF ANDREW JACKSON,
The 9Ian who was never "Found Out."
Mr. Higginson in Harper's Magazine.
Dr. Von Hoist, the most philosophic of
historians, when he passes from the period
of John Quincy Adams to that of his suc
cessor, is reluctantly compelled to leave
the realm of pure history for that of biog
raphy, and to entitle a chapter ' ' The Reign
of Andrew Jckson." This change of
treatment could, indeed, hardly be helped.
Under Adams all was impersonal, method
ical, a government of laws and not of men.
With an individuality quite as strong as
that of Jackson as the whole nation
learned ere his life ended it had yet
been the training of his earlier career to
suppress himself, and be simply a perfect
official. His policy aided the vast pro
gress of the nation, but won no credit by
the process. Men saw with wonder the
westward march of an expanding people,
but forgot to notice the sedate, passion
less, orderly administration that held the
door open, and kept the peace for all. In
studying the time of Adams, we think of
the nation ; in observing that of Jackson,
we think of Jackson himself. In him we
see the first popular favorite of a nation
now well out of leading-strings, and par
ticularly bent on going alone. By so much
as he differed from Adams, by so much the
people liked him better. His conquests
had been those of war, always more daz
zling than those of peace; his tempera
ment was of fire, always more attractive
than one of marble. He was helped by
what he had done, and by what he had
not done. Ev'en his absence of diplomatic
training was almost counted for a virtue,
because all this training was then necessa
rily European, and the demand had
ripened for a purely American product.
It had been quite essential to the self
respect of the new republic, at the outset,
that it should have at its head men who
had coped with European statesmen on
their own soil and not be discomfited.
Thiswas the case with each of the early
successors of Washington, and in view of
his manifest superiority this advantage
was not needed. Perhaps it was in a dif
ferent way a sign of self-respect that the
new republic should at last turn from this
tradition, and take boldly from the ranks
a strong and ill-trained leader, to whom
all European precedent and, indeed, all
other precedent counted for nothing. In
Jackson, moreover, there first appeared
upon our national stage the since familiar
figure of the self-made man. Other Presi
dents had sprung from a modest origin,
but nobody had made an especial point of
it. Nobody had urged Washington for
office because he had
because he had been a surveyor s
lad : nobody had voted for Adams merely
because statelv old ladies designated him
as "that cobbler's son." But when Jack
son came into office the people had just
had almost a surfeit of regular training in
their Chief Magistrates. There was a cer
tain zest in the thought of a change, and
the nation certainly had it.
It must be remembered that Jackson
was in many ways far above the successive
modern imitators who have posed in his
image. He was narrow, ignorant, violent,
unreasonable ; he punished his enemies and
rewarded his friends. But he was, on the
other hand and his worst opponents
hardly denied it chaste, honest, truthful,
and sincere. It was not commonly charged
upon him that he enriched himself at the
public expense, or that Lie deliberately in
vented falsehoods. And as he was for a
time more bitterly hated than any one who
ever occupied his high office, we may be
very sure that these things would have
been charged had it been possible. In
this respect the contrast was enormous be
tween Jackson and his imitators, and it
explains his prolonged influence. He
never was found out or exposed before the
world, because there was nothing to detect
or unveil ; his merits and demerits were as
visible as his long, narrow, firmly set feat
ures, or as the old military stock that en
circled his neck. There he was, always
fully revealed ; everybody could see him;
the people might take him or leave him
and they never left him.
Moreover, there was after the eight
years of Monroe and the four years of j
Adams an immense popular demand for j
something piquant and even amusing, and
this quality they always had from Jackson, j
There was nothing in the least melodra
matic about him ; he never posed or atti
tudinized it would have required too
much patience ; but he was always piquant.
There was formerly a good deal of discus
sion as to who wrote the once famous
" Jack Downing" letters, but we might
almost say that they wrote themselves.
Nobody was ever less of a humorist than
Andrew Jackson, and it was therefore the
more essential that he should be the cause
of humor in others. It was simply inevit
able that during his progresses through
the country there should be some amusing
shadow evoked, some Yankee parody of
the man, such as came from two or three
quarters under the name of Jack Downing.
The various records of Monroe's famous
tours are as tame as the speeches which
these expeditions brought forth, and John
Quincy Adams never made any popular
demonstrations to chronicle; but wherever
Jackson went there went the other Jack,
the crude first fruits of what is now known
through the world as "American humors."
Jack Downing was Mark Twain and Hosea
Biglow and Artemus Ward in one. The
impetuous President enraged many and
delighted many, but it is something to
know that under him a serious people first
found that it knew how to laugh.
The very extreme, the perfectly need
less extreme, of political .foreboding that
marked the advent of Jackson furnished
a background of lurid solemnity for all
this light comedy. Samuel Breck records
in his diary that he conversed with Daniel
Webster in Philadelphia, March 24, 1827,
upon the prospects of the government.
"Sir," said Mr. Webster, "if General Jack
son is elected, the government of our
country will be overthrown; the judiciary
will be destroyed; Mr. Justice Johnson
will be made Chief Justice in the room of
Mr. Marshall, who must soon retire, and
then in half an hour Mr. Justice Wash
ington and Mr. Justice Story will resign.
majority will be left with Mr. Johnson,
and every constitutional decision hitherto
made will be reversed." As a matter of
fact, none of these results followed.
But the very ecstacy of these fears stim
ulated the excitement of the public mind.
No matter how extravagant the support
ers of Jackson might be, they could
hardly go farther in that direction than
did the Websters in the other.
But it was not the fault of the Jackson
party if anybody went beyond them in ex
aggeration. An English traveller, Wil
liam E. Alexander, going in a stage-coach
from Baltimore to Washington in 1831,
records the exuberant conversation of six
editors, with whom he was shut up for
hours. "The gentlemen of the press," he
says, "talked of 'going the whole hog'
for one another, of being 'up to the hub'
(nave) for General Jackson, who was 'all
brimstone but the head, and that was aqua
fortis,' and swore if any one abused him
he ought to be 'set straddle of an iceberg,
and shot through with a streak of light
ning.' " Somewhere between the dignified
despair of Daniel Webster and the adula
tory slang of these gentry we must look
for the actual truth about Jackson's ad
ministration. The fears of the statesman
were not wholly groundless, for it is al
ways hard to count in advance upon the
tendency of high office to make men more
reasonable. The enthusiasm of the edit
ors had a certain foundation ; at any rate
it was a part of their profession to like
stirring times, and they had now the prom
ise of them. After four years of Adams,
preceded by eight years of Monroe, any
party of editors in America, assembled in
a stage-coach, would haveshowered epi
thets of endearment on the man who gave
such promise in the way of lively items.
No acute journalist could help seeing that
a man had a career before him who was
called "Old Hickory" by three-quarters
of the nation, and who made "Hurrah for
Jackson!" a cry so potent that it had the
force of a popular decree.
There was, indeed, unbounded room for
popular enthusiasm in the review of Jack
son's early career. Born in such obscurity
that it is doubtful to this day whether he
was born in South Carolina, as he himself
claimed, or on the North Carolina side of
the line, as Mr. Parton thinks, he had a
childhood of poverty and ignorance. He
was taken prisoner as a mere boy during
the Revolution, and could never forget
that he had been wounded by a British
officer whose boots he had refused to brush.
Afterward, in a frontier community, he
was successively farmer, shop-keeper, law
student, lawyer, district attorney, judge,
and Congressman, being first Representa
tive from Tennessee, and then Senator,
and all before the age of thirty-one. In
Congress Albert Gallatin describes him
as "a tall, lank, uncouth-lpoking per
sonage, with long locks of hair hang
ing over his brows and face, and a queue
down his back tied in an eel-skin; his
dress singular, hi manners and deport
ment those of a bacTcwoodsnaan." He re
mained, however, but a year or two in all
at Philadelphia then the scat of national
government and afterward became a
planter in Tennessee, fought duels, sub
dued Tecumseh and the Creek Indians.
winning finally the great opportunity of 1
his life by beinv made a Major-General in
the United States army on May 31, 1814.
He now had his old captors, the British,
with whom to deal, and entered into the
work with a relish. By way of prelimi
nary he took Pensacola, without any defi
nite authority, from the Spaniards, to
whom it belonged, and the English whom
they harbored; and then turned, without
orders, without support, and without sup-
plies, to undertake the defence of New
Orleans.
Important as was this city, and plain as
it was that the British threatened it, the
national authorities had done nothing to
defend it. The impression prevailed at
Washington that it must already have
been taken, but that the President would
not let it be known. The Washington
Repulli-can of January 17, 1815, said,
"That Mr. Madison will find it conven
ient and will finally determine to abandon
the State of Louisiana, we have not a
doubt." A New York newspaper of Jan
uary 30, quoted in Mr. Andrew Steven
son's eulogy on Jackson, said: "It is the
general opinion herehat the city of New
Orleans must fall." Apparently but one
thing averted its fall the energy and will
of Andrew Jackson. On his own respon
sibility he declared martial law, impressed
soldiers, seized powder and supplies, built
fortifications of cotton bales, if nothing
else came to hand. When the news of the
battle of New Orleans came to the seat of
government it was almost too bewildering
for belief. The British veterans of the
Peninsular war, whose march wherever
they had landed had heretofore seemed a
holiday parade, were repulsed in a manner
so astounding that their loss was more
than two thousand, while that of the
Americans was but thirteen. Bv a single
stroke the national self-respect was re
stored ; and Henry Clay, at Paris, said,
"Now I can go to England without mor
tification. "
All these things must be taken into ac
count in estimating what Dr. Von Hoist
calls "the reign of Andrew Jackson."
After this climax of military success he
was for a time employed on frontier serv
ice, again went to Florida to fight Eng
lishmen and Spaniards, practically con
quering that region in a few months, but
this time with an overwhelming force.
Already his impetuosity had proved to
have a troublesome side to it; he had vio
lated neutral territory, had hung two In
dians without justification, and had put to
death, with no authority, two Englishmen,
Ambrister and Arbuthnot. These irregu
larities did not harm him in the judgment
of his admirers; they seemed in the line of
his character, and helped more than thev
hurt him. In the winter of 1823-4 he was
again chosen a Senator from Tennessee.
Thenceforth he was in the field as a candi- '
date for the Presidency.
There was at that time (1824) no real
division in parties. The Federalists had
been effectually put down, and every man
who aspired to office claimed to be Democratic-Republican.
Nominations were ir
regularly made, sometimes by a Congres
sional caucus, sometimes by State Legisla
tures. Tennessee, and afterward Penn
sylvania, nominated Jackson. When it
came to the vote, he proved to be by all
odds the popular candidate. Professor
W. G. Sumner, counting up the vote of
the people, finds 155,800 votes for Jackson,
105,300 for Adams, 44,200 for Crawford,
46,000 for Clay. Even with this strong
popular vote before it, the House of Rep
resentatives, balloting by States, elected
on the first trial John Quincy Adams.
Seldom in our history has the cup of pow
er come so near to the lips of a candidate
and been dashed away again. Yet noth
ing is surer in a republic than a certain
swing of the pendulum, afterward, in favor
of any candidate to whom a special injust
ice has been done, and in the case of a
popular favorite like Jackson this might
have been foreseen to be irresistible. His
election four years later was almost a fore
gone conclusion, but, as if to make it
wholly sure, there came up the rumor of a
"corrupt bargain" between the successful
candidate and Mr. Clay, whose forces had
indeed joined with those of Mr. Adams to
make a majority. For General Jackson
there could be nothing more fortunate.
The mere ghost of a corrupt bargain is
worth many thousand votes to the lucky
man who conjures up the ghost.
When it came the turn of the Adams
party to be defeated, in 1828, they attrib
uted this result partly to the depravity of
the human heart, partly to the tricks of
Jackson, and partly to the unfortunate
temperament of Mr. Adams. The day
after a candidate is beaten everybody
knows why it was, and says it was just
what any one might have foreseen. Eze
kiel Webster, writing from New Hamp
shire, laid the result chiefly on the candi
date, whom everybody disliked, and who
would persist in leaving his bitter oppo
nents in office. The people, he said, "al
ways' supported his cause from a cold
sense of duty, and not from any liking of
the man. We soon satisfy ourselves," he
added, "that we have discharged our duty
to the cause of any man when we do not
entertain for him one personal kind feel
ing, nor can not, unless we disembowel
ourselves, like a trussed turkey, of all that
is human within us." There is, indeed,
no doubt that Mr. Adams helped on his
own defeat, both by his defects, and by
what would now be considered his virtues.
The trouble, however, lay further back.
Ezekiel Webster thought that "if there
had been at the head of affairs a man of
popular character, like Mr. Clay, or any
man whom we were not compelled by our
natures, instinct, and fixed fate to dislike,
the result would have been different."
But we can now see that all this would
really have made no difference at all. Had
Mr. Adams been personally the most at
tractive of men, instead of being a consci
entious iceberg, the same result would
have followed, the people would have felt
that Jackson's turn had come, and the de
mand for the "old ticket" would have
been irresistible.
Accordingly, the next election, that of
1828, was easily settled. Jackson had 178
electoral votes ; Adams but 83 more than
two to one. Adams had not an electoral
vote south of the Potomac or west of the
Alleghanies, though Daniel Webster, writ
ing to Jeremiah Mason, had predicted that
he would carry six Western and Southern
States. In Georgia no Adams ticket was
even nominated, he being there unpopular
for one of his best nets the protection of
the Cherokees. On the other hand, but
one Jackson elector was chosen from New
England, and he by less than two hun
dred majority. This was in "the Maine
district that included Bowdoin College,
and I have heard from an old friend of
mine the tale how he, being then a stu
dent at Bowdoin, tolled the college bell
at midnight to express the shame of the
students, although the elector thus chosen
(Judge Preble) was the own uncle of thk
volunteer sexton.
But even this important fact was really
quite subordidate, for the time being, in
men's minds. The opposition to Jackson,
like his popularity, was personal. It was
not a mere party matter. 1 he older states
men distrusted him, without much regard
to their political opinions. When Monroe
asked Jefferson in 1818 if it would not be
well to give Jackson the embassy to Rus
sia, Jefferson utterly disapproved it. " He
would breed you a quarrel," he said, " be
fore he had been there a month." At a
later period Jefferson said to Daniel Web
stcr : "I feel much alarmed at the pros-
pect of seeing General Jackson President
He is one of the most unfit men I know of
for such a place. He has had very little
respect for laws or constitutions, and is, in
fact, an able military chief. His passions
are terrible. When I was President of
the Senate he was a Senator, and he could
never speak on account of the rashness of
his feelings. I have seen him attempt it
repeatedly, and as often choke with rage.
His passions are no doubt cooler now ; he
has been much tried since I knew him ;
but he is a dangerous man." And dan
gerous indeed the public office-holders
soon found him. As has been already
a large part of those who held office
under Adams were already partisans of
Jackson ; but the rest soou discovered that
a changed policv had come in. Between
March 4, 1829." and March 22, 1830, 491
postmasters and 230 other officers were re
moved, making, as it was thought, with
their subordinates, at least two thousand
changes. Mr. Sumner well points out
that it is unfair to charge this, as we often
do, solely upon Jackson. Crawford, as
has already been seen, prepared the way
for the practice; it had been perfected in
the local politics of New York and Penn
sylvania. It was simply a disease which
the nation must undergo must ultimately
overthrow, indeed, unless overthrown by
it ; but it will always be identified, by co
incidence of time at least, with the Presi
dency of Andrew Jackson. If not the
father of the evil, he will always stand in
history as its godfather.
It is a curious fact in political history
that a public man is almost always, to a
certain extent, truthfully criticised by the
party opposed to him. His opponents may
exaggerate, they may distort, but the in
stinct of the people or even of any large
portion of the people generally goes to
the right point, and finds out the weak
spot. Jackson was as vehemently attacked
as Jefferson, and by the same class of peo
ple, but the points of the criticism were
wholly different. Those who had habit
ually denounced Jefferson for being timid
in action were equally hard on Jackson for
brimming over with superfluous courage,
and being ready to slap every one in the
face. The discrimination of charges was
just. A merely vague and blundering as-
i sailant would have
been just as likclv to
call Jackson a coward and Jefferson a
fire-eater, which would have been absurd.
The summing up of the Federalist William
Sullivan, written in 1834, was not so very
far from the sober judgment of posterity.
"Andrew Jackson .... is a sort of lusis
reipublicn; held by no rules or laws, and
who honestly believes his sycophants that
he was born to command. With a head
and heart not better than Thomas Jeffer
son had, but freed from the inconvenience
of that gentleman's constitutional timidi
ty, and familiar with the sword, he has
disclosed the real purpose of the Ameri
can people in fighting the battles of the
Revolution and establishing a national re
public, viz., that the will of Andrew Jack
son shall be the law and only law of the
republic."
Really General Jackson himself would
not have so very much objected to this es
timate could he have had patience to read
it. He was singularly free from hypocrisy
or concealment, was not much of a talker,
i and
took very little trouble to invent fine
names for what he did. But on another
point where he was as sharply criticised
he was very vulnerable ; like most igno
rant and self-willed men, he was easily
managed by those who understood him.
Here again was an illustration of the dis
cernment of even vehement enemies. No
body charged Jefferson with being over
influenced by a set of inferior men, though
all the opposition charged Jackson with
it. The reason was that it was true, and
during the greater part of his two admin
istrations there was constant talk of what
Webster called the "cabinet improper," as
distinct from the cabinet proper what
was known in popular phrase as tne ;
"kitchen cabinet." Here again came in i
the felicity of Jack Do wning's portraiture,
The familiarity with which this imaginary
ally pulled on the President's boots or
wore his old clothes hardly surpassed the
undignified attitudes popularly attributed
to Swartwout and Hill and Van Bnren.
THE DEAD BISHOP.
GEORGE F. PIERCE PASSES INTO
HIS FINAL REST.
Close of a Remarkable and Illustrious
Life Family History Early Days of
the Great Itinerant Later Life
The Deathbed.
fAtlanta Constitution.
Bishop George F. Pierce is dead !
What sorrow this announcement will
bring to thousands of hearts is not within
human power to tell. Ever since that day
in 1834, when, in the prime of manhood,
his gifts were consecrated to God, his has
been a life of labor. In the days when
there were not even roadways in Georgia,
on his little pony, Cherokee Prince, the
son of Lovic Pierce followed the wilder
ness paths in search of his appointments.
He preached with earnestness; he grew to
be a part of the tradition of every Metho
dist household. The years brought him
honors, but no relief from work, for his
was a labor which could only be laid down
with his life. From ocean to ocean
his voice, like that of the Great
Baptist, has been heard calling men to
salvation. But life's task is now over,
and the good bishop sleeps, while his
bride of half a century weeps by his side,
and clasping her hands her silent prayer is
for that reunion which only another world
can bring.
When the news went abrpad that George
F. Pierce lay stretched on the bed of death
a thrill of pain came over his friends. Tel
egrams poured in from General Toombs;
from Dr. Fitzgerald, the friend of his
Californian itineracy; from Dr. McFerran;
from his brother bishops, all hoping for
his restoration to life. The bishop had
faith in his power to live. Dr. Alfriend,
whose practiced eye saw that death was
the only relief, found it. necessary to tell
the bishop that the time had come. The
sick man, turning wearily in his bed,
smiled and asked :
"How long will I have to wait ?"
. "Only a few hours."
All heads were bowed. The touch of
God's finger made every tongue silent.
Thus the hours passed. Friends came In
and received the good man's blessing.
Daylight brought with it delusive hope,
that even yet he might live. At eight
o'clock it was observed that he was grow
ing worse. Silently his wife took her
place by the dying man's side, holding his
hand in her's. Children,, grandchildren,
great grandchildren, friends, neighbors,
grouped about the bed. Breathing grew
harder; eyes were suffused with tears. At
fifteen minutes to nine a voice whispered:
"He is dead!"
And thus the story of a life was told !
a lite that snail long serve as a sweet mem
ory and an example for those who- knew
him.
It is but a few months since the prepa
rations for his golden wedding brought to
Bishop Pierce and his bride of fifty years
the congratulations of friends in all parts
of the union. Through an interview with
a representative of the Constitution the
bishop permitted the world to get an inside
view of his home, and to share in the joy
which crowned an active life of over half
a century. On that occasion Bishop Pierce,
in an informal way, gave the story of his
family, substantially, as follows:
THE FAMILY Tit EE.
"There were
family," he said
three branches of our
in answer to a question.
"Two brothers went north, and were lost
sight of, while the third found his home
in Halifax county. North Carolina, where
my father was born in 1784. The family
is of English and Genevan origin, the
Pierces being English and the Flournoys
from Geneva. Many members of the lat
ter family are now to be found in Vir
ginia. When Franklin Pierce was presi
dent I called upon him, and we found
great similarity in many of our family tra
ditions, but no positive proof of relation
ship. However, I said jocularly to the
president :
" Since you have reached the presidency,
we will agree to call you Cousin Frank."
" After my father was born, but while
yet ap infant, my grandmother removed
to SoSuth Carolina, where he became deeply
identified with the State, and later still
he became a citizen of Greene county,
where my father grew up and married
Miss Annie M. Foster, daughter of Colonel
Geoi-ge W. Foster, in 1809. At this time
he vijis presiding elder of the Oconee dis
trict; extending from Jackson county in
the north to St. Mary's in the South, and
as far west as the frontiersmen dared to
go. I was born in 1811, at the home of
my grandfather, three miles from Greens
boro, in one of those hewn log houses
such as were fashionable in those early
days. The family lived in Greensboro
until 1836, and afterward at Columbus. I
went to school in Greensboro, first to Mrs.
Scott, and afterwards to her husband, Mr.
Archibald Scott, one of the most famous
teachers of his day. One peculiarity of
his teaching was this: The pupil was at
perfect liberty to do what he pleased, but
he had to have his lesson. When the les
son was not perfect, Mr. Scott had a good
supply of hickory and the muscle to wield
it. As a result the lessons were generally
perfect. At the age of fifteen I was sent
to Athens University, and graduated in
1829. Among those who were my com
panions were Robert Toombs, Alexander
H. Stephens, Howell Cobb, and several
others whose names have since become im
pressed upon the history of the State.
None of-my own class, however, became
specially distinguished, though many of
them took respectable plnces in the world.
During my college days my father was
pastor of the church in Athens. Under
his teaching a powerful revival of religion
took place, through which I professed re
ligion. I graduated at my eighteenth
year.
OX THE CIRCUIT.
'Returning home, following the natural
bent of my inclinations, and under the
advice of my uncle, Colonel Foster, I
began the study of the law. A year later
my convictions led me to seek service in
the church. The district conference, up
to that time, consisted of South Carolina,
Georgia and Florida. In 1831, however,
the Georgia Conference was organized, and
I became one of its first members. I was
appointed to the Alcova circuit, composed
of Putnam, Jasper, Newton and Morgan,
with Rev. Jeremiah Freeman as my senior
in charge of the circuit. Within the first
quarter he broke down under the exces
sive labor, and I was left alone to fill twenty
two appointments over a territory so vast
that my home seemed to be continually in
the saddle. I preached twenty-four ser
mons every twenty-eight days, besides
sermons on extra occasions, such as wed
dings, funerals and household services.
During that vear I received into the church
i 150 members. The second year, youth
i though ! was, I was sent to Augusta as the
i junior to James O. Andrew, whose name
afterward became so prominent, In May
j of that year Mr. Andrew was elected
bishop, and for the second time I found
myself in sole charge of a very responsible
trust.
A SPICE OF ROMANCE.
"The third year found me appointed to
Savannah and here," said the bishop,
speaking with the air of a man whose im
agination recalls a pleasant picture, "I
met Miss Annie M. Waldron. She was an
orphan, living with her married sister, the
wife of Mr. Benjamin Snider, at that time
one of the leading business men of Savan
nah. Our meetings resulted in the old
story told so often. Wc were married on
the 4th of February, 1834, at the residence
of Mr. Snider. A large company was
present, nearly all of whom are now dead.
In the years which have passed they have
dropped off one by one, till now but few
remain, and they are waiting for the great
summons. Rev. Richard I. Winn, the
clergyman who performed the ceremony,
still lives, a citizen of Texas. I was re
appointed to Savannah the year following,
with the intimation that I would shortly
be transferred to Charleston, S. C, for
Dr. Capers, who was to locate in Georgia.
At the close of a year I returned to Geor
gia, and was reappointed to Augusta.
During all these years the church had
made great progress. I was then appoint
ed presiding elder of the Augusta district,
during which time great revivals were
held.
"In 1839 I was appointed president of
the first female college in the world, locat
ed at Macon. Owing to financial embar
rassment I subsequently resigned and ac
cepted the agency to collect funds for the
institution. In 1842 I was stationed in
Macon, whence I was reappointed in Au
gusta for the years 1843 and 1844, during
which time I built St. John's church. I
was then appointed for three years presidi
ing elder of the Augusta circuit, and then;
1848, I was transferred to Columbus.
That summer Judge Longstreet resigned
the presidency of Emory College, and I
was appointed to fill the vacant chair,
which I held until 1854. . During all these
years I never meddled with affairs of the
world, neter became entangled with out
side questions, and never allowed college
or other duties to interfere with the regu
larity of my preaching. There is only one
safety for a preacher unremitting work
and never ceasing preaching.
RAISED TO THE EPISCOPACY.
"In 1854 the general conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, metL
in Columbus. By that body I was elected
to be one of the genepal superintendents of
the church. My duties have occupied all
my time, and called me from sea to sea.
I have been absent from home months at a
time, spending weeks on the cars, and
undergoing many hardships of travel
VIEWS ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The bishop had decided views on every
topic of importance, which he never hesi-
tated to express. He did not believe in
choirs, as they introduced an element of
bickering into the church, the singers
being filled with envy and jealousy, scan
dalizing each other instead of worshipping
God. The Methodism of the present day
he looked upon as lacking in the personal
earnestness of an earlier period there
being a disposition now to regard the
edicts of society which were not always in
accord with the Christian code. He did
not fully approve of the agitation for per
fect holiness. So anxious was he to be
correctly quoted upon this topic that with
his own hand he wrote the following lines
when waited upon by The Constitution's
representative last February :
" The subjectof sanctification, or Chris
tian perfection, or holiness, has been the
matter of controversy in the church, prom
inently, at different times from Wesley's
day down to the present. The great diffi
culty has been, not so much an actual dis
agreement upon the subject itself, as in the
attempt to define what is undefinable. To
convey an idea in precise terms what is a
matter of fact and of feeling rather than of
doctrine, is always sure to confuse the com
mon mind, and to provoke controversy.
The scriptures unquestionably teach that
holiness of heart and life is an essential to
salvation. But to express exactly what it
is, how it is to be obtained, would be to
any man a very difficult undertaking.
There are general views of the subject in
which all, I think, may harmonize. I re
joice in the recent revival of this subject,
and while I do not agree with the views or
methods of its modern advocates in all
respects, I think the agitation has done and
is doing good. It has led to inquiry, dis
cussion, self examination, and stimulated,
a great many to seek a higher life and a
deeper religious experience. Good has
been accomplished and more general good
will follow, if its peculiar advocates are
prudent and judicious in their teaching,
and are faithful to their own professions.
I think that if less was said in the way of
personal claims and professions, and the
doctrine left to vindicate itself by the lives
of those who are the subjects of this work
of grace, it would be better for all con
cerned. A preacher may present the truth
and enforce it and commend it, deriving
his arguments from his own experience, as
illustrative of scripture preaching, with
out claiming himself to be an example of it.
I believe, in holiness, and have struggled
through life to illustrate it in spirit and in
conversation, but have never felt called 'by
the spirit to avow those high attainments
which some of my brethren report con
cerning themselves. I do not discredit
their testimony nor deny the facts of their
experience, but think it more modest and
humble, saying less of one's self and leav
ing character to the judgment of the
church and the world."
THE CHURCH AND SLAVERY.
The bishop, whose service, either as
delegate to the general convention or as
bishop on the bench, has beenjn consulting
councils of the church during the entire
time in which the slavery agitation split
the church, and developed into the war
between the States, is a prominent figure
in history. In possession of such experi
ence he declared that never once in any of
the governing councils of the church was
the question of slavery or politics discussed ;
that the gospel, pure and simple, was the
only question with which they concerned
themselves. Re-union with the Northern
church he considered undesirable. The
education of the negro, beyond certain
limits, was harmful to the negro himself
as well as dangerous to the whites. The
future he regarded as full of hope, how
ever, as the good sense of the people
would lead them out of all difficulties,
provided they did not forget God.
Taken altogether George F. Pierce was
a great man. Great as he made himself,
he would have been equally great in what
ever calling of life he undertook. He was
surrounded in his late years by a happy
and appreciative family, who anticipated,
his every want, and at the last moment
cased his dying pillow with the tenderness
born of love.
For the year ending August 31, Texas
exported $99,551,845 worth of ' produce.
More than half of this was of cotton, on a
crop short 400,000 bales.
1