Virginia at that period were defined by an arbitrary custom, and often painfully prolonged; and chafing under restraints which prevented the immediate and full development of his talents, Mr. Clayton sought a more ample and less ceremonious field, and removed to Tennessee and settled at the flourishing town of Clarksville. Here he met many distinguished lawyers, such as Hon. Cave Johnson, Judge William Brown, Judge William Turley, and others, by whom the talents of the young Virginian were immediately recognized, and they gave him a kindly and friendly reception. He had been but a short time in Clarksville before he was employed in some of the most important cases at that bar, and established a reputation which placed him in the first rank of his profession. He then formed a copartnership with Mr. Turley, which continued as one of the leading law firms in that portion of Tennessee until the latter was elevated to the bench. But in the midst of his professional triumphs Mr. Clayton met, in 1832, with the greatest of reverses in the loss of the devoted wife who had espoused his early fortunes, encouraged his youthful hopes, and inspired his professional ambition. This event was a severe shock to his sensitive and affectionate nature, and seemed for a time to unsettle his plans, to mar his hopes, and to cast a settled gloom over all his prospects. But, fortunately, a circumstance intervened which promised some relief to his mind and drew him away from the scenes of his sorrow. He was appointed by General Jackson, then President of the United States, to the position of United States Judge for the Territory of Arkansas. He held this office, however, for only one year, and then resigned and returned to Clarksville. While in Arkansas he had occasion to visit the country bordering on the Mississippi River, where the cholera was then raging with fatal malignity, and having contracted this terrible disease in its most virulent form, his constitution was prostrated to such a degree as to indicate a settled infirmity fatal to the performance of his professional duties. But after a protracted state of physical debility the healthful breezes and inspiring scenes of his early triumphs restored his health, and now catching the enticing reports of the exceeding fertility, the scenic beauty, and flushed prospects of the country which

had been lately ceded to the United States by the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians in Northern Mississippi, he removed to this State in 1837, and settled on a plantation near the present village of Lamar, in Marshall County. His agricultural operations were successful. The forests, which had never echoed but to the whoop of the Indian, were soon felled by the slaves which he brought with him from Tennessee, and bountiful crops were the reward of his judgment and enterprise. He, in the mean time, however, relaxed none of his energy and devotion in the pursuit of his profession. He found in this State a vast field of litigation, and entered immediately upon a lucrative and growing practice. The loose system of banking establishments, their numerous failures, and the efforts made to fix liability on the individual members of these corporations, have already been referred to in this work as fruitful sources of litigation at that period in Mississippi.

In 1842 Mr. Clayton was elected to the bench of the High Court of Errors and Appeals to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Justice Trotter, and in 1844 was re-elected for a full term. His decisions are remarkable for profound learning, and for the many novel and important principles which they established in our jurisprudence. They are always clear and penetrating, embrace every hinging feature, and present a lucid exposition of every point necessary to disclose clearly the rights of the parties and the equity involved in the dispute.

Whilst upon the bench of the High Court, Judge Clayton delivered a series of opinions involving the question of the limitation of estates in our jurisprudence. These opinions, which met with the concurrence of the other judges, inculcated the doctrine that the Mississippi Statutes had so far modified the common law as, of themselves, to furnish rules amply sufficient to determine all questions of that character without recurrence to the artificial and technical principles of the English law.

And notwithstanding that, after his retirement from that bench, the High Court in the case of Jordan vs. Roach overthrew the doctrine which Judge Clayton had laid down, the new Code of Mississippi, 1880, by formally abolishing the rule in Shelley's case, and adopting provisions in support of his doctrine,

confirms the wisdom of his efforts to emancipate our jurisprudence from such antiquated technicalities.

A striking parallel between his manner of treating a question and that of Judge Sharkey is presented in their separate opinions in the case of Montgomery et al. vs. Ives et al. (13 S. & M., 161). Their conclusions in this case are identical, but reached upon grounds somewhat different, and which involve a conflict in the legal construction of historic data.

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Judge Clayton's term upon the High Bench expired in 1851, and he was a candidate for re-election; but as he had taken strong grounds for the doctrines of the States Rights party a short time before in the Nashville Convention, and in the Mississippi Compromise Convention, held in the early part of 1851, as well as during the canvass, in which an address which he published to the people constituted mainly the platform of the campaign, he shared the defeat of his party and returned to a vigorous practice of his profession, in copartnership with Hon. J. W. C. Watson, of Holly Springs.

On the election of Mr. Pierce to the Presidency he tendered to Judge Clayton, without solicitation on his part, the position of consul to Havana. This office he accepted, and repaired to the island of Cuba. At that time there was considerable excitement in the Southern States, caused by a report raised, no doubt by filibusters, that a treaty had been formed between France, England, and Spain for the purpose of "Africanizing Cuba."

Judge Clayton received instructions to investigate the matter and ascertain the truth as to the existence of such a treaty, and he entered zealously upon that duty. Having availed himself of every source and means of information, he became satisfied. that the alarm was false, and his report to his government to that effect calmed all apprehension in regard to it, and the strict enforcement of the neutrality laws during his residence in the island put an end to the projects of the filibusters. It was not long, however, before the failure of his health and uncongeniality of the situation caused him to resign and return to his home in Mississippi. But being attracted by the rapid growth and commercial prosperity of Memphis, he soon after removed