IN JORDAN CRITTENDEN.

JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN was born in Wood

His

ford county, Kentucky, in the year 1785. father was accidentally killed in the woods when John was a child, and his mother reared him in the paths of industry, and imbued him with a keen appreciation of the attribute of honor, which was a marked characteristic of his whole life.

He was carefully educated for the law, and after his admission to the Bar, commenced the practice in Hopkinsville. Shortly afterward he settled in Frankfort, the capital of the State, where he rapidly arose to eminence in his profession. At the age of thirty-one he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Frankfort district, and was elevated to the Speakership. Almost immediately he was sent to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy, taking his seat in the Congress that convened in the fall after Mr. Monroe's accession to the Presidency, whose administration he earnestly supported. At the end of the term for which he had been elected, he resumed the practice at Frankfort. He was successively elected to the Legislature for several sessions, and in 1835, returned to the United States Senate, where he served until General Harrison was elected President, when he was called to the Cabinet as Attorney General. President Harrison's death occurred a month after his inauguration, and Mr. Crittenden resigned, but was returned to the United States Senate to succeed Henry Clay, retired. He was re-elected, but before the

expiration of his term, he resigned to accept the Governorship of his State, to which he had been elected by the Whig party. When Millard Fillmore, by the death of General Taylor, succeeded to the Presidency, Mr. Crittenden was the second time called to the Department of Justice, where he remained until the inauguration of Franklin Pierce. In 1855 the Legislature of Kentucky returned him to the United States Senate, and at the end of his term he was elected to the Lower House of Congress, which was the first meeting of that body under President Lincoln. He was undoubtedly the most distinguished person in the House. He had never served in that body, his whole political life in Congress having been in the Senate.

Mr. Crittenden was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by John Quincy Adams, but was rejected by the Senate, which was controlled by the adherents of General Jackson. The cause was purely political. His ability as a lawyer did not enter into the problem as a factor; that he was able, and competent was never questioned. Henry Clay, who plainly saw that he would not be confirmed, wrote to him to, "cultivate calmness of mind and prepare for the worst event."

Mr. Crittenden, during his whole course in the Senate, supported almost every measure advocated by his illustrious colleague, Henry Clay, and the principles of the Whig party, of which they were such prominent exponents.

Mr. Blaine, in his "Twenty Years of Congress," says of him: "Mr. Crittenden's ability was of a high order. He stood at the head of that class of statesmen who were next to the highest grade. Like so many other eminent Whigs, he was excluded from the full recognition of his power by the overshadowing prestige of Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster. The appearance of Mr. Crit

tenden in the House in his seventy-fourth year, was his patriotic response to the roll-call of duty. He loved his country, and his whole country, and every effort of his waning strength was put forth in behalf of the Union. It was his influence, more than that of any other man, which saved his State from the vortex of rebellion. But for his strong hold upon the sympathy and pride of Kentucky, the malign influence of Breckinridge might have forced the State into the Confederacy. Mr. Lincoln considered Mr. Crittenden's course entitled to the admiration and gratitude of every man who was loyal to the Union." Mr. Crittenden's famous resolution in relation to the war, received only two negative votes in the body. It reads as follows:

"That the deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the country by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against the Constitutional Government. In this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that the War is not waged in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or the overthrowing or interfering with the rights, or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are accomplished, the War ought to cease."

Mr. Crittenden had himself been a soldier in the war of 1812, with Great Britain, and had served with distinction. In person, he was tall, powerful in muscuíar development, and the very impersonation of that dignity which characterizes the true gentleman of the old school. His manners attracted at once. He was courageous, and his temper was superb in its exposition of good breeding. He was the most successful lawyer of

his era in Kentucky. He possessed that rare accomplishment of determining the character of men, and won his cases by candor and honesty of purpose. It is said of him, that "he spoke as a gentleman to gentlemen, and never used harsh things to harrow the feelings of a jury. He understood mankind. He was clear. He aimed to be candid, and to be comprehended. He could bring tears to his own eyes or his auditors, but they were heartfelt, earnest and honest expressions of his belief."

Among the cases in which this celebrated lawyer was retained, is the case of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Matt. Ward. The defense alleged, a "blamable necessity, not justifiable, but excusable." Ward had murdered his teacher, and alleged that it was done in self-defense. He was cleared, but only through the great efforts and ability of his counsel. Closing paragraphs of Mr. Crittenden's speech read as follows:

** Gentlemen, my task is done; the decision of this case-the fate of this prisoner, is in your hands. Guilty or innocent; life or death; whether the captive shall go free, or be consigned to a disgraceful and ignominious death, all depend on two words from you. Is there anything in this world more like Omnipotence, more like the power of the Eternal, than that you now possess?

fore

Yes, you are to decide; and as I leave the case with you, I implore you to consider it well and mercifully beyou pronounce a verdict of guilty—a verdict which is to cut asunder all the tender cords that bind the heart, and to consign this young man, in the flower of his days, and in the midst of his hopes, to shame and death. Such a verdict must often come up in your recollectionsmust live forever in your minds.

"And in after days, when the wild voice of clamor that now fills the air, is hushed; when memory shall review this busy scene, should her accusing voice tell you

you have dealt hardly with a brother's life; that you have sent him to death, when you have a doubt whether it is not your duty to restore him to life. Oh! what a moment that must be; how like a cancer will that remembrance prey upon your hearts!

*

"There is another consideration of which we should not be unmindful. We are all conscious of the infirmities of our nature; we are all subject to them. The law makes an allowance for such infirmities. The Author of our being has been pleased to fashion us out of great and mighty elements, which make us but a little lower than the Angels; but He has mingled in our composition weakness and passions. Will He punish us for frailties which nature has stamped upon us, or for their necessary results? The distinction between these, and acts that proceed from a wicked and malignant heart, is founded upon eternal justice; and in the words of the Psalmist, 'He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.' Shall not the rule He has established be good enough for us to judge by?

"Gentlemen, the case is closed. Again I ask you to consider it well, before you pronounce a verdict which consigns this prisoner to a grave of ignomy and dishonor. These are no idle words you have heard so often. This is your fellow citizen-a youth of promise, the rose of his family, the possessor of all kind of virtues and manly qualities. It is the blood of a Kentuckian you are called upon to shed. The blood that flows in his veins has come down from those noble pioneers who laid the foundations for the greatness and glory of our State-it is the blood of a race who have never spared it, when demanded by their country's cause. It is his fate you are to decide. I excite no poor, unmanly sympathy. I appeal to no low, groveling spirit. He is a man, you are men, and I only want that sympathy which man can give to

man.