tion led him to an excessive participation in scenes of revelry, and sometimes in painful debauchery. Yet, such was the strength of his mental organization that, so long as his physical powers sustained the combat with his excesses, his mind retained its balance and in a great measure its brilliancy. An amusing circumstance of this feature of his character is related. Mr. Webber had a case in court which hung upon a demurrer, and, though deeply in his cups, awaited its call with the serenity and alertness of the most sober anxiety; but when the case was taken up, the opposing counsel, whose copious potations had disarmed his mental faculties, arose, and in piteous strains alleged his indisposition and beseeched the court for a continuance. Mr. Webber, aware of his advantage, and eager for the forensic contest, objected to the postponement, and stated to the court that, while he respected the infirmities of his brother, yet he himself was in the same identical predicament, and that there was no telling when either of them would be in any better health. The court, comprehending the situation and relishing the amusement of the occasion, ordered the counsel to proceed with their arguments; and in consequence of the peculiarity of his temperament, Mr. Webber, though he could scarcely maintain a respectable physical attitude and was at a disadvantage as to the merits of his case, gained an easy victory over his more besotted adversary.

But in spite of the depth and strength of his judgment, the astuteness and tenacity of his logical powers, and the command which he possessed over his intellectual resources, the faculties of Mr. Webber, both mental and physical, were greatly enfeebled by this bane of the legal profession, and enemy of all intellectual excellence, and while his usefulness was impaired, the number of his days was no doubt curtailed by his unfortunate

excesses.

CHAPTER V.

CHANCERY.

THE BENCH-CHANCELLORS AND VICE-CHANCELLORS-1821-1857-JOHN

A.

QUITMAN-ROBERT

H. BUCKNER

STEPHEN COCKE CHARLES

SCOTT-JOSEPH W. CHALMERS-JAMES M. SMILEY.

IN 1821, as already stated, the Legislature of Mississippi, upon the recommendation of Governor Poindexter, severed the common law and equity jurisprudence, and established a separate court of chancery for the State. The complex system which had hitherto existed amounted almost to a denial of justice in equitable cases, and was subversive of that uniformity and consistency which should characterize the decisions of all courts of justice, and upon which hinge the rights of property and the safety of the citizen. It was found that after weeks of intense contemplation of the fixed rules and settled maxims of the common law, the most learned and experienced judges found it difficult, on opening the chancery side of the docket, to transfer an untrammeled judgment to the clear and open field of equity. It was difficult for them to suddenly and ternporarily thrust their minds beyond the bar of the letter of the law into the true province of equity, which embraces its reason and spirit, and extends beyond its reach.

While it might be practicable and feasible to maintain a combination of equitable jurisprudence with that of the civil law which requires every case to be referred back to fundamental principles, and which is really the essence and source of equity jurisprudence, its mission is too incompatible with that strictum jus which constitutes the body and pith of the common law to be domiciled with it in one and the same jurisprudence. While it is true that, under our system, equity follows the analogy of

the law, if there be an analogy, yet its broad and copious principles declined to be harnessed harmoniously with technicalities or restrained by arbitrary limits.

The act of 1821, establishing a separate and distinct system of equity jurisprudence in Mississippi, rescued the noble science from that crude and confused administration upon principles of imaginary conscience and supposed right to which it had been subjected while held subsidiary to the principles and practice of the common law. And since its elevation to its true position as a supervisor of law as well as an adjunct, it has bounded beyond the mere visionary views of abstract justice, and, no longer subordinated to the peculiar condition of the conscience of the presiding judge, has leaped upon a platform of fixed principles and established rules which have been gathered from the garnered wisdom and experience of mankind.

In no other State, perhaps, has the system of chancery jurisprudence been developed, in the same length of time, to a higher or more felicitous degree than in Mississippi. The distinguished gentlemen who have occupied that bench, have elaborated, both by precedent and principle, every species and manner of relief that justice can demand or wrong and injury provoke within its sphere. They have prescribed a parry for the vis major of every untoward event and legal accident, and placed the victims of misfortune in the arms of redress. They have afforded a mantle for the brow of error and a shield for the unwary against the artifice of the cunning. They have uncloaked the hidden transactions of fraud, both actual and constructive, and vitiated every manoeuvre of falsehood and deceit. Indeed, they have caused the administration of our courts of equity to shed a benign and hallowed influence on every feature of society and upon all the multiplied concerns of life. Two of these gentlemen, Hon. J. G. Clarke and Hon. Edward Turner, having been judges also of the Supreme Court, have already been mentioned in connection with that bench.

JOHN ANTHONY QUITMAN.

In attempting a sketch of the life of this distinguished gentleman, I shall not endeavor to follow him through the war of Texan independence and the Mexican war. In these his career forms one of the brightest pages in the history of the United States. It records his glowing patriotism, fiery valor, and unconquerable bravery, which form a part of our national pride and national glory.

His name is immortally linked with the glory of Monterey, Chepultepec, Contreras, Puebla, and other memorable fields of the Mexican war, from all of which he emerged with his colors sparkling with glory, and with victory perched upon his standard. His was the first American flag that floated over the Mexican capital, and he was the first civil and military governor of Mexico-the only American who ever ruled in the ancient halls of the Montezumas.

His biography has been written in two volumes by the Hon. J. H. F. Claiborne, which, though I have not had the pleasure of seeing it, from my knowledge of the ability and eloquence of the distinguished author, I cheerfully recommend to the reader.

The following sketch of the life of General Quitman will be confined to his career as a citizen and member of the Bench and Bar of Mississippi. The facts have been culled chiefly from sketches published in 1848, during the life of General Quitman, by Ritchie and Heiss, and from the records of the period, which constitute an accurate synopsis of his professional and judiciai

career:

The grandfather of General Quitman is said to have held an important and responsible office under the great Frederick of Prussia, and is understood to have enjoyed the personal regard and confidence of that monarch. His father was also a native of Prussia, and was educated at the celebrated University of Halle, where he graduated with the highest honors of his class. The liberal principles and free sentiments common to that and other German universities were freely imbibed by the young student, and doubtless determined his settlement in America,