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By Hon? orable Jos. D. Pope. The following address was delivered by request at the recent anniversary of the Law class of the South Caro Ji?a University in Columbia : Mr. President, Gentlemen of the University Law Association : You have asked me to speak to you on the life . and character of James Louis Petigrn, the great lawyer and the great citizen I* accept the Invita? tion, knowing the difficulty of the task your kindness has assigned me. Mr. Petigu's life was comparatively uneventful. It is true be occupied the highest position that a citizen can occupy in civil society-he was a great man in private life. But still the incidents of a public career are wanting. He never held political sta? tion, and yet he was a statesman. He never occupied a judicial position, and yet he was a great jurist. Ile never wrote books, and yet his life is itself a volume St to be a study. Ile never founded a charity, and yet he was a philanthropist. Ile needed no official trappings, for without them he was intrinsically great. Ile was the greatest private citizen that the South has ever produced. It is of such a man you ask me to speak. It seems to me there never was a time when I did not know Mr. Peti gru. Ile and my father were early friends, their friendship dating from college days I remember when but an urchin, hardly free from pinafores, I was taken by my father on an even? ing visit to Mr. Petigru's house, at the corner of Friend street. The old landmark is gone forever. It was then that he put his hand upon my head at parting and said: "Well, my boy, when you are grown you must read law in my office." And I did. Years afterward I entered the law office of Petigru & Lesesne, in St. Michael's alley, and there I learn? ed to know and appreciate the virtues o? a man richly endowed by nature and largely developed by culture. THE KEYNOTE OF HIS CHARACTER. The keynote to Mr. Petigru's great and lovable character can be sounded in alternate phrases of four words: He was not perfect ; he watt not saint ; he was so human. There was about him "a touch" of "nature" which is said to make "the whole word kin." This was the reason why men and women, old and young, rich and poor, white and black, so loved him. Ile did not stand upon a pedestal so high that humble folk could not reach the hem of his garment. The mantle that fell from him here on earth was white, and if it was not spotless the spots up? on ii were like the spots upon the sun. Mr. President, what words shall I employ to convey to this youthful as? sociation of expectant lawyers and to the younger generation of the present day a true idea of this many-sided man as he walked and talked and lived and acted among us in his day ? Shall I say that Mr. Pedigru was a genius? What idea will that convey of the man as he was in the flesh ? Surely, none. Some persons, per haps many, would say that Tenny? son, the laureate and the lord, is a genius. Does that give us au idea of the man as he lives to day I Camp? bell, the poet, was a genius ; Words? worth was a genius; Shelley, himself tiie skylark of English song, was a genius ; how does this convey an idea of either ? How 4oes it embody and present to the mind s eye the living presence of the one or the other of them ? Dr. Johnson, the great lexico? grapher, was a genius. Ile wrote ' The Vanity of Human Wishes ;" bat does this give us a true conception of the purblind, shambling old Tory who loved his church and honored the king? Surely not. Ott the other hand, turn if you please to his life by Boswell, (the latter himself a genius, notwithstanding the exaggerated, vulgar vitupeiation of Macaulay,) and you have at once before you the burly, big hearted, prejudiced old Britisher who despised Scotland and hated the Scotch. You have the'an? ecdote, the repartee, the biting sar? casm, the dogmatic assertion, as they fell from his lips. You know him just as if you had spoken to him this morning. You behold him in person. You see the autocrat of his literary club. You hear the great epigra inatic teacher, before whom even Burke was silent You see him as he lounged about in his great arm? chair and hear him 6ay : "Sir, I like a good hater." Or you can hear him as he holds forth on the posthumous fame of great authors : "Sir, good i ink, like good wine, loses nothing by its age." Again you can hear him as he repeats tiie witticism of Gai rick and applies it tv a great contem? porary : "lie writes like an angel and talks like poor poll." And you j join in the laugh with that contempo? rary when he replies : ''Tell him for me that he makes all his minnows { talk like whales." Thomas Carlyle was a genius ; he wrote stories about Cromwell and J Frederick ; but what clear concep- ! tion does this give you of the rough hewn, irascible old Scotchman, whose 1 bark, albeit, was believed to be worse ' than his bite. None. But, on the ! other hand, turn, if you please, to the : sketch of his own life, written by himself, (which his literary executor, j instead of being praised and thanked, ' has been criticised and villified for * publishing.) and you have to the life, j not the great writer but the man ; the ' egotistical fault-?nding, Ill-tempered, dyspeptic, snarling Diogenes, who 1 lived Chel8eaway and thence dogma- 5 tized to the world, and there, too, ' you ha.e in tesl life his overwrought, 1 much-enduring, long-suffering Jane. 1 OH ! FOR AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Placing Mr. Petigru in the com? pany of these great dead people, who in a sense still live, we opine that he should have written with his own hand the incidents of his own life for our delectation, or he should have been so fortunate as to have had a second Boswell to record them him. What a volume it would ha been What an education to ha had jotted down for us ready at ha the continuous flow of his spout; eous talk ; and such talk ! so rich, racy, so pungent, uttered here a yonder, in the streets, in the offi< in the Court, on the stage coach, the steamboat, at Steward's Cofi House in Tradd stieet, and above his magnificent table-talk in his 01 house, where he loved to receive 1 friends, and in turn at the tables those friends where he was always welcomed and honored gnest. Shall I say that Mr. Petigru was wit, a humorist and a man of c quence ? How would this bring nearer to a knowledge of the re man ? Trite, one may read and lea to appreciate his elegant precision the use of words, and this, one m? find amply illustrated in his codifie tion of our statute law, and in h charming and learned essay on eqnit True, one may read and admire tl beautifully rounded periods as th< dropped from his pen in the oratioi that he delivered here and elsewhei on literary or festive occasions. Wh then ? You may print the word but how are you to print the thunda and the lightning. How are you l print the tempest of his passion whe bareheaded, as it were, he went fort into the midnight storm and snei himself without reward, or the hop of reward, in defence of the rights < the poor, the feeble, the helpless, th wronged and the oppressed ? THE PASSION OF ELOQUENCE. This intellectual passion was striking feature of Mr. Petigru's mei tal structuie. It is in the struggle < contending passions in man's intricat nature that one discovers the inherei quality of genius. It is in the dea ing with contending emotions tba the matter is displayed. Mr. Pet gru possessed this great quality to remarkable degree. Hence his orij inal varied and picturesque eloquence On one occasion I asked a dist ii gnished life-long but by no mean friendly rival, Col. B. F Hunt, wha quality gave to Mr. Petigru his a( knowledged pre-eminence. Ile am wered in these words: "His lean iug is great, but it is not that ; hi reasoning faculty is large, but it is no that ; bis industry is untiring, but i is not that : it is his quaint, original magnetic eloquence When his feei ings are enlisted he is the greatcs public speaker I ever heard, and have heard them all. It was my good fortune on anothe occasion to test the accuracy of tb< generous praise lt was on the bc casion of the return that accomplishee orator, Wm. C. Preston, from Wash ington, (after his defeat for th United States Senate;) at which tim? the very small, but highly respecta ble, Whig party in Charleston (o which Mr. Petigru and Judge Bryar formed a two thirds majority) deter mined to receive him with great ap plaice. Mr. Preston had been elect ed to the Senate as a Nullifier, anc lie returned to us a Henry C?aj Whig. The reception given him on that occasion was grand, helped out as it was by Denjfcerats The meet? ing was held in what was known as the "Old Theatre," in Broad street The speakers on the occasion were Mr. Preston, Mr. Legare and Mr. Petigru Who would not go co heat nich a trio ? It was a libt ral educa? ron-au event in one's life. Mr. Preston spoke first, and his speech was au eloquent vindication of his po? etical course. Mr. Legare, who was expecting to be called into Mr. Ty? ler's Cabinet, spoke second, and it joes without the saying that his ?peech was superbly elegant. Mr. Petigru spoke last and he beat :hem both; his witty humour and wealth of anecdote and illustration bore off the palm. I remember after more than forty years the glittering shaft that he hurled at Mr Calhoun, who on his way to Washington, a short time before, had received a ;rand welcome and ovation during his stay in the old city. I remember Mr. Petigru's utterance word for word : "This dear old State of ours reminds me of a refined, rich, fat, lazy, old planter, who took his wine at dinner and his nap in the after? noon. Ile employed an overseer of unsurpassed abilities and turned over the management of the large estates to him. One morning the planter woke up and found the overseer mas? ter of the plantation.'7 Then he pro? ceeded to the end from height to height amid roars of laughter and rounds of applause. Mr. Preston's political career here closed, but he was a short time after elected presi dent of this institution, for his per? sonal popularity seemed to be greater than his political unpopularity. LITERARY TASTES ASP ACQUIREMENTS. But in estimating Mr. Petigru's power as an orator, his scholarly at? tainments should not be disregarded ; lie was thereby enabled to embellish Iiis speeches with exquisite turns of expression and apt quotations Ile loved the classics; he loved English literature no less than he loved the English law. Had he lived in the ear y days of the eighteenth century it is easy to imagine that his great na? ture would have expanded like a 9ower in the congenial atmosphere i)f the wits of Queen Anne's time. Kow he would have loved Addison ! How he would have been drawn to poor Pick Steele ! How he would liave admired the genins and pugna? city of the author of "The Rape of the Lock," even it at the same time lie despised his duplicity ! How he would have taken in at every pore the scholarly law learning of Murray, afterward more famous as Lord Mans? field ! Take as an illustration his al? most instantaneous reply to a fellow student's desparaging lines on the merits of Pope as a poet : "Pitty, that scribblers should aspire To write of Pope without his fire ; To criticise ic witless lines The wit, in ever.v page that shines ; To chide io verses dull and tame The poet's verse of endless fame ; I His taste assail in tasteless strains | And earn a Duncaid for his pains." i Mr. Grayson gives us these lines ( from memory after a lapse of m than haifa century. But perhaps tho young lac would prefer this effusion : The Aloe. Though bitter the Aloe 'tis pleasant to ga; On a pUot of such wonderful birth 1 That blossoms but once in the limited day I Allotted ?he children of earth, And such, ?ovesy maid, is the passion I prc Yet, ah ! it depeods upon jon Whether, doomed to endure like the A my lore Most be, like it, a bitterness too. He asks in a note : "How do 3 like them ? Short and sweet, aj Epigrammatic forsooth ! Tell your opinion. I suppose you th Tom Moore has reason to compl of the first stanza " The bitterness of the aloe was 1 It is said the young lady was not sponsive. Perpap8 she was prou perhaps he was poor, ne had 1 yet made a great name. His f< was not then, as it was afterwards, the topmost rung of the social ladd GREAT PHYSICAL AND MORAL CO?RAG1 Shall I say that Mr. Petigru was man of robust energy, of prompt ; tion, of dauntless physical and mo courage ? Shall I say that he fear no man and shirked no responsibili in the vindication of the right ? Tl was his natural inheritance. T cross between the Huguenot on t one side and She Scotch-Irish on t other is a gurantee that tlte fighti instinct is not dormant. It was r in his nature to halt, like Hamlet the play, between two opinior When his judgment prompted Iii to action he boldly took the reepon bility. He did not pause to solil quize. Ile did not stop to balan the question to do or not to do, b he was always ready at the rig time, in the light place and in ti right manner when the occasi< called "To take up arms against a sea of troub! And bj opposing end them." ne did not pause to weigh tl consequences to himself when 1 boldly confronted wealth a-d soci influence and angry passions, at without fee or reward, as it was f ways believed, brought an action f? damages for one Smalley, a helple? Yankee tramp, supposed to be ? Abolitionist, who, on the pretende charge of larceny, was convicted ar sentenced by a Court to be whipp? at the whipping post, (which punis ment was inflicted,) for which fortin grevious fraud upon the law Mr. Pet gru's indignant and pathetic el? quence wrung from a jury here i Columbia a compensatory verdict. A FrilEND TO THE FRIENDLESS. Ile did not stop to count the coi when solitary and alone he oppose his person to an angry mob i Charleston which was already in m< tion with concerted purpose to dei troy a negro chapel at the corner c Wilson and Beaufain streets, whic' purpose Mr Petigru by his tacit eic quence and courage arrested in mid career by saying to them ; "3Ien, le ns call a meeting ; if you are right will go with you ; if you are wronj you will carry out your purpose ove my dead body." ne did not sto] to count the cost when he, aided bj Joseph II. Dukes and Charles ll Simonton, the hitter then a youiif lawyer, now Judge- of the Distric Court of the United States, instituter, proceedings in the nature of ravish ment of ward to establish the free dom of Archy and ?lohn, two coloree pilots in Charleston harbor, upon thc ground that for very proper reason? these quadroons with their mother had been emancipated under the humauc provisions of the Act of 1S00. The suit failed, but Mr. Petigru believed he was right, he believed they had been unjustly deprived oi their liberty, and so believing he struck in their behalf. Ile did not stop to balance the consequences when he took np the cause of the illegitimate children of one George Broad, a foreigner, to whom their father had secured practical freedom through the instrumentality of a secret trust. Mr. Petigru having reason to believe that this secret trust was, in bad faith, about to be violated by some of the biers at law of the deceased trustee, caused pro? ceedings to be inst tuted in the natue of Ford, the escheator, and (there being no next of kin) he caused the property to be escheated to the State ; and th is done, he proceeded to pro? cure by his personal influence the emancipation of these unfortunate persons by an Act of the Legislature. (See State L. XII, p 416 ) Why, it may be asked, did Mr. Petigru .lake such a pait in matters of no personal concern to himself? To a nature like his, that the parties were poor and friendless and wronged fur? nished a sufficient reason. His sense of right rebelled at the injus? tice that those who were intended to be practically free should be reduced to the condition of absolute slavery. OPPOSED TO SLAVERY But there was a potential reason be? hind this. Born and brought up as he was. io a community where property in slaves was recognized by law, he cone the less hated sluvery. And yet b'e was no Abolitionist ; he was no whining fanatic. On the contrary, he himself owned slaves and was at one time the owner of a large number of them. I have beard bim say that in the condi? tion of the negro in this country the happiest lot for him was to belong to some humane master, whose interest it was to protect him as property, and thus secure to him the enjoyment of those few rights which tbe law allowed him Ile hated slavery, not in its domestic aspects, but as an institution. A few days after thc firing upon the Star of the West in Charleston harbor I happened to be in Mr. Petigru's office on business, and he said to me: "I never believed that slavery would last a hundred years. Now I know it will not last five." He hated human bondage as the an? titheses to his love of human liberty. Ile hated the mercenary skipper who brought hither these unhappy captives in war and ?nid them into bondage for Mexican dollars and Spanish doubloons. He hated the negro trader who bought and bold the slaves aa if chattels, aud ' for profit, separated the husband fr? the wife and the pareDt from the chi But be did cot hate, aod he could i bete, the humane masters (of whom was one) who bought the slave w their money wheo the relation was cognized throughout the world, or w took him as an inheritance. He cot not hate the master who in that rel ad fed and clothed and sheltered the slav who humanized him. who civilized hi who christianized bim ; who taught b to reject the fetich rites of the sava aod to joio in the praises of the li vi God. And Rome day, not far in t future, the Southern slav<?-owner, n< glibly denounced as the cruel ta master, will be recognized as the h man agency permitted by the Alojigh to work out the redemption of t negro race, and through this meaos civilize the great continent that n< lies in darkness, a prey to the copidi of foreign adventures aod the ambitio greed of foreign Powers. This leads us up to the questioi What were Mr. Petigru's political opi ioos ? Here again is presented the dil culty of the task I have assumed. < ? held no political position, and left b hind him no speeches on great politic questions ; no published letters discus iog public measures ; no recorded vc which would silently indicate his pi fereoce for aoy love of public polio He was simply a highly gifted, bardi worked lawyer, wiooiog his fame at his money by his forensic efforts. At yet his political opinions were w< known, and he was always ready to ave them. A MAN OF THE MINORITY. How, tbeB, it may be asked, did so happen that with his popular mai ners, his great training aod bis cot maoding talents he was not called io! public life aod honored with high polit cal station ? The aoswer is at hau Mr. Petigru seemed to have commence life io a minority ; he certainly lived i a minority, aod he surely eoded his da) io a minority. Housed with his nolit cal opinions he could not hope for pol tical advancement at the hands of tl people among whom he lived, and b whom he was personally revered aod bc loved. He could oot hope for Federa preferment by appointment either to th Bench or ioto the Cabioet, because tha comes not so much from merit as frot the political influence that one is sur. posed to be able to brio g to the party i power: aod it was well known that Mi Petigru had a very small politics following, either in this, his own State or io the South. Besides for sixty year political power was in the hands of party with which Mr. Petigru had n sort of political sympathy. Once, in deed, in that great evele of years h might have accepted office had it beei tendered him, and that was under th Whig Administration that came int power in 1841 under Geo. Harrison but that illustrious old soldier died with io a few weeks after his accession, ao( the successioo of Mr. Tyler opened thi door to a departure from party prioci pies aod ioaugurated a lioe of polic; which was repugoaot to Mr. Petigril'i seose of honor, for be believed that Mr Tyler had betrayed the party that hac elevated bim to office. To form a jus idea, therefore, of Mr. Petigru's opin ions on matters of public concernment he must be measured oot by his owo pub? lic cooduct or public acts, but by the moral tone of the man and the wei koown temper of his mind. What would have been his natural bias undei certain conditioos Y With whom would he have sided ? Where would he have placed himself had he been an actor in the scenes that tempered the quality and guided the action? of men ? I have sometimes placed him among historic characters and speculated as tc what would have been bis opinions, guided by his high sense of public duty. Of sorre things we may be sure. He would have lived socially with the best ; he would have enjoyed the good things in life that were set before bim ; he would have beeo oo Puritao, io thought or manner ; but be would have been as stern io his political integrity as was the elder Cato, without the harshness of that dogmatic old moralist A FEDERALIST OF TUE DEEPEST DYE. Mr. Petigru was, at all times, io fa? vor of law, of order aod of established government. He bowed to authority. His test of good citizenship might be expressed in one word-obedience. Hence, had he lived in the ?\mericao colonies, at the time wheo tha incipient movement agaiost the Crowo was risiog like a dark cloud in the sky, it is easy to believe that he would have sided with the Crown and the existing colonial governments ; that he would have been loyal ; that he would have opposed the Revolution, until a blundering minis? try and a wooden-headed King had driven him to cast bis fortunes for weal or woe with bis struggling countrymen. The "rebellion" ending in a success, aod therefore sanctified by it, he would have been among the first to have called for the ordaioiogof a Federal Constitu? tion, in order to secure thereby "a ?nore perfect Tinton Living, as he did, under a Constitution 50 ordainrd, he be? lieved that it e.-Ubii.-hed a government and was not a mere compact between the States. In this he was io a lean minority, North and South, but all the same, he died io the faith. He was a disciple of the school of Alexander Hamilton-he w?c for the Union first, for the Union last and for the Union all the time. Uc was the great speaker aod leader against nulli? fication io 1831. He was opposed to secession ia 1860 I think I can see him now as on one occasion in Judge Magrath's Court. He was opposing a motion arising under the Confederate sequestration law. Old, feeble and slowly sinking into the grave, quiver? ing in every limb, bis eyes Bashing, bis voice ringing. 1 think I can hear him as he uttered these words: "I oppose this act of arbitrary power, for I was born a free man." I have seen him shed tears over the death roll of thc killed in battle, aod I have seeD his eye kindle with pride wheo he was told of the fighting qualities of our boys in grey. Fortunately for him he died before our humiliation came. Had he lived into the period of reconstruction, I feel myself wholly at a loss where to place him, or to conjecture where he would have placed himself. He doubtless would bare been op posed to universal suffrage on principle and might have used his influence against it; but, failing in this, he would have accepted the situation ir good faith, including the enfranchise? ment of the emancipated slave, anc would have maintained to the last ex? tremity the civil rights of the freedman before the law. This he would have doue, I think, as a private citizen with? out office or the wish for office; the elements did not mix in him out o which, by any possibility, you coule have made a Democrat. Iodeed. 1 have sometimes doubted whether Mr Petigru believed in Democratic govern ment at all. I am inclined to think that he preferred the Government ol England to any other form of govern? ment koowo to history. He liked i ti stability, its conservatism, its love o order, its pure administration of the law, its respect for the rights of pro? perty, its staunch protection of personal liberty. Of one thing we may be cer tain, no matter what might have been his political predilections, had he lived in South Carolina during the era o "good, stealing'' he would have beer among the first to say, "Let us maret against the invading robbers-let m turn the rascals out P' PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. What a man he was ! Shall I say that Mr. Petigru wai noble and geoerous ? That his heart was 28 easily moved to pity as a wo? man's ? That his hand was as open ai the day to melting charity ? That he never forgot a friend or ceased to remem ber a kinduess ? When in early life pecuniary assistance was extended to him by a friend to enable him to com? plete bis education at this institution, he returned the kindness by bis success in bearing off in triumph the highest honors of his class ; he returned it in money by paying back the benefactor dollar for dollar ; he returned it in gratitude by erecting in after years, a monument on the grave of his benefactor. I am indebted to my friend, Judge McGowan, for a tran? script of the brief and beautiful epitaph that now stands in a quiet country graveyard in the county of Abbeville : ' Edward Collier, a native of L?nen ber:", Va , once the master of these acres. To the memory of an honest man. Careful of bis own without infringing ! on others. Of mild temper and sterling courage. Kind to the poor, friendly to all. A humane master and a good neig- bor. This stone is inscribed." What a man be was ! MR. PERIGRD IN A PASSION. Mr. President, let me show you another side of this many-sided man. The attempts to put the likeness of Mr. Petigru upon canvas cannot be said to have been successful. There wa9 a bust of bim in plaster that wns admi? rable. I have not seen the Courtenay bust of him in the City Hall, in Charleston, and therefore cannot speak of it as a likeness, but the people of the State owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Courteoay for perpetuating in marble the memory of their illustrious coun? tryman. The portrait before us can hardly be called a likeness. The one of him by his accomplished daughter, Mrs. Carson, which hangs in the room of the Supreme Court, represents a man too large, too portly, too massive for the original. Mr Petigru's elastic step and erect carriage, even in advanced life, made bim appear taller chan he was. His great muscular power seemed to make him larger than bc was. Hts rather low but broad forehead, his strong and massive chin and bis mag? nificent dark gray eyes gave a dignity of character and vivacity to a face that would otherwise have been homely There was upon his forehead a vein (wholly unobserved on ordinary occa? sions) assuming something of the thape of the letter **V" which in a moments of high physical or intellectual excite? ment flamed out like a veritable scarlet letter, it was a danger signal-it said more plainly tbau words : "Look out for the engine when the whistle blows." The hand was a striking feature of his person, it was the hand of the orator, sensitive, shapely and tapering I have sometimes thought he was a lit? tle vaia of it. Those of us who knew him well and heard him often, well remember how he would exhibit it while speaking as he daintily helped himself to the contents of hi9 golden snuff box ; how he would display it as he toyed with his spectacles io the course of his great arguments ; how with it he would constantly brush back from bis forehead bis abundant dark btown hair, that re? tained its color to the last and never lost its lustre. Speaking of his per? sonal characteristics, the professional green bag and bis gold-headed walking stick should by no means bc left out of the picture. A VOLUME IN A VOICB. But if these were remarkable charac? teristics of the man, what shall we say of that still more marked ?nd striking characteristic-bis voice ! Did just such a voice ever before or since add to the originaiity of any other man ? To say that it was remarkable is altogether too vague and indefinite To say that it wa9 peculiar does not carry the idea That mean French word "unique" comes nearer the mark. Can we think of the man without thinking of that voice; or rather, when his nam? is call? ed, do we not think of the voice first and the man afterwards ? Such a voice ! At times it was as shrill and discordant as the notes of a bag-pipe I have heard it in the pathetic as soft as the breathings of a flute. Let us recall his touching appeal, even to tears, in the habeas corpus before Judge Whitner at Charleston in behalf of the mother for the custody of her tender infant child. ? have heard it on occasions roll like the swell of Cathedral organs. Let us recall his spendid argument for the de? fense in the case of the Stat? vs. Martin, at the Beaufort Sessions. I have heard ii in passion crash like the blast of a bugle. Let us recall his grand burst of indignant eloquence in Smalley 's case here in Columbia. It seemed to vary with every emotion of the mind. It was suited to wit, to humor, to ridicule, to pathos, to invective, to wrathful in dign.ition, as the occasion seemed lo re-1 quire. Mr. Petigru possessed varied accom? plishments, but there was one, (if it be an accomplishment,) that he did o< possess, the vociferous volubility of th? peculiarly American product, the stum orator. He did not possess, what seem to be ?held by many in such supreme re gard, a redundant fluency of speech He would often pause upon the thought turn it in his mind until he could pre sent it in the most telling aspect he would dwell upon the word o change it until he got the righ one. With him there were no syn onyms-he must have the right word in the right place or he would rejec them ail until the exact one came to 6 his exqusite mosaic. A Georgia friend of mind, (Gen. H. R Jackson himself a poet and an orator.) speakinj in admiration of his fastidious taste said "His quiver seemed to be always full He would draw one arrow from it and i that did not suit he would return it an draw another, and if that did not sui he would draw a third, and if that wa at last the right one he would, hurl i with prodigious effect into the very cen tre of the bullseye." The discription i at once truthful and graphic. THE MANNERS OF THE MAN. Mr. Petigru's manners were warm hearty, often impulsive, and some times bordering even upon th? hilarious ; and yet no man stood mon upon social form and ceremony thai he did, the punctilio of etiquette. ? discourtesy he considered a broad of social duty ; I had almost said ; crime, and even the smallest matter would sometimes draw from him mild rebuke. I remember on on occasion a young' gentleman in th? office announced to him that "Coloner Grayson had called ; instantly, with ai expression of assumed distress upoi Ins face, he said to him : "Augustus spare him ; I am sure he never heh a commission in his life, and woul< feel like a daw in epaulettes." Oi another occasion a student in th? office had nursed his virgin bean into a hopeful growth. One day Mr Petigru stopped, looked at him wit! a twinkle in Iiis eye, and said to him "Julius Shaw, were you a youn< cornet of horse I should say nothing but for one following a civil professioi to carry a bearded face is not goof form." I wonder what he wonk say now could he 8ee a bearded par bon in the pulpit and a bearded Judgf upon tho bench. O, t?mpora ! ? mores ! On another occasion a deputy sheriff, doubtless a trustworthy per son in Iiis calling, had a paper to serve upon Mr. Petigrue. The depty, who was a Hebrew, opened the office door, walked in without salu? tation and with a thump threw thc paper on the table, walked out and slammed the door after him. In an instant itlie danger signal was oui, the scarlet letter was aflame, and Mr. Petigru, rushing to the head of the stairs, said to him : "Mr. G-, you have put upon me to? day an unpardonable rudeness, well knowing that I am a meek and patient man. It's well for you that Henry Lesesne is not here, feu* had he been here he would have kicked you down the stairs, you good for-nolhing, ill-mannered lineal descendant of the impenitent thief ! Now go I" Mr. President, let me show you another side of this many-sided man. The anecdote I am about to relate is trup, for Mr. Petigru used to tell it himself and enjoy it like a schoolboy. A YOUTHFUL FROLIC. It wag during the war of 1812. Ile was then keeping school and reading law in the old town of Beau? fort. The embargo was in force and Mr. Madison's gunboats were patrol? ling our coast. This gave rise to the notorious Hartford Convention "blue lights," its members were called. Mr Petigru was a sort of "blue light" himself, for he did not favor the war. He believed wi^li John Randolph that two peoples speaking the language of Shakes? peare and Milton could be better employed than slaying each other with the sword. One day a great friend of his by the name of Bowman, a one-armed man, came to him in de? light and said, "Petigru, I have got a bottle containing a little of the ver\ best ; it has run old Madison's embargo." "Bowman," he said, "day after to morrow is Saturday dies non for me ; let's make a day of it." "lt is done," said Bowman. So they got a horse and an old Bos? ton chaise, drove ten miles down the ferry, crossed and went two miles beyond into an oak grove. 1 think ? can see Mr Petigru now as he used to tell it and hear him say." "The luncheon was good, but the brandy was better." So coming home late in the evening, between them they let thc old horse run away and they were thrown out just at thc ferty. The ferryman draggem them on board of the flat boat. On a neighboring acclivity lived a Mr. Smith, Mr. Grassy Smith he was called, a man of great benevolence and withal something of a philosopher ; he impaled bugs, gathered rocks, dabbled in chemistry and knew something of medicine Engaged in these engrossing pursuits he turned his crops over to his driver, and the driver turned them over to the grass ; hence his natue ?>f Mr. Grassy Smith. Him thc ferryman sought and told in consternation that two men were dead or dying on thc flat boat. The good old gentleman rushed down to the ferry carrying his surgical instruments-a pair of tooth drawers and a lancet Ile took Bow? man's one arm and felt his pulse care? fully ; he then turned to Mr. Petigru ami felt his pulse carefully. Rising np he turned to the ferryman and, jerking his thumb ami shoulders said : '.They are both drunk," and walked away Mr. Petigru, raising himself as best he could on his left elbow, and extending his right hand he touched 1rs friend and said : "Bow? man thal is what I call a man ( f dis cernmcnt." Ile always in after life spoke of Mr. Grassy Smith willi the profoundest respect, and never came in his neighborho?)d without making part'cular inquiries about himself and iamiiy. HOW HE WON HI8 WIFE. Everything about Mr. Petigru was original. Did any one present ever ; hear of the original mannet in which ! Mr Petigru won hrs wife ? I cannot j \ouch for the truth of the story, for j it was long before my clay, but 3rears j ago it was the talk of the country ! side. lie was now a young bar? rister at Coosawhatehie, full of fire and genius, slowly but surely climb? ing up to the top of the hill. The lady's father I ad driven his coach ami four. Mr Petigru was making his own way in the world, still teaching his school in the morning and attend? ing to his profession in the afternoon and at night. One day he joined the sportsmen in following the hound? and was so fortunate as to bring down his first deer. Of course he had to undergo the ordeal of being blooded. Jlis face and hands were blooded, his white vest and trousers were blooded On returning home the young lady, catching sight of him, supposed that he had been mortally wounded and she fainted. When Mr. Prligrn heard of it he said: "Why, she fainted for me." In a short time the struggling young lawyer was upon his knees, and in a few months wedding bells were heard. Of this .*I know not l ow the truth may he, I tell you the tale as it was told to roe." Mr. President, let me show you another side of this many-sided man. A SPRING OF PIETY, BUT NOT EVERGREEN. The scene was still at old Coosawhatehie. Ile had years before gone to Charleston and he had become famous He had returned (as he often did) to argue on this occasion thc greate case of Taylor vs. Taylor, turning on a question of domicil. I heard that great argument, and walk? ing afterwards to the hotel I happened to join him. He lounged along, striking his green bag against hi? knee. In early life he had a friend living in that neighborhood whose cognomen was Sam (his sirname is unimportant to the story ) Ile and this fi ?end Sam had frolicked togeth? er ; they had visited the girls togeth? er, and together they had chased the wild deer "n the swamps of the Coosawhatehie. His friend had con? nected himself with that highly re? spectable denomination of Chrishans who believe that a truly converted soul may fall from grace or might "back? slide." Now, Sam had "backslided" twice or thrice, and Mr. Petigrn knew it. As we walked into the lobby of the hotel, which was crowd? ed, everybody stopped talking, ex? pecting to hear Mr. Patigru make some characteristic remark. At the ! moment he descried his old friend Sam, and wifh hand outstretced, he exclaimed : "Why, Sam, how are you, and how is all the family ?" "Thank God, Mr. Petigru, they are all well ; and I am happy to inform you that since I saw you last my son Tom," (the wild boy of the family,) has joined the Church" Mr Pet> gru'8 eyes twinkled. You could see the ruby in his cheek as he said : "Sam, I always knew there was a spring of piety in your family ; but, Sam, it is not an evergreen." This brought down the house and nobody joined in the applause more heartily than did good old Sam himself. SECESSIONISTS AS LUNATICS. But the sands are running hw in the hour-glass, and one mo?e chara? teristic anecdote must close this sketch, lt will be remembered that in December, 1860, the Seepssi? n Convention began its -i tings i i this city in the Baptist Church, now standing on Plain street. Mr Pet: grn was at the.time in Columbia at? tending the Court of Appeals. Walk? ing up to the Court with his green bag as usual lie was met by a plain countryman, who accosted him with the inquiry : "Stranger, can you show me the way to the Lunatic Asylum ?" "Yes, my friend, with pleasure; come with me." Arriving at the corner of Plain and Richardson streets he said, pointing to the Bap? tist Church, "You see that building, it looks like a Church, bnt it is not a Church ; it was a Church, but it is now a lunatic asylum ; go right there and you will" find one hundred and sixty four stark raving lunatics within it at this very minute. I was one < f those lunatic*, ami there are some ot" those escaped lunatics still scattered about the State." I cannot vouch tor the truth of this story, but it is so ?ike Mr. Petigru that it was accepted as true at the time, and its au? thenticity was not then, nor has it since been, questioned. SHOCKED BY T?IE SECESSION ORDINANCE. But l will now tell you what is ? rue. It will be remembered that the Convention adjourned from Co? lumbia to Charleston and sat in St. Andrew's Hall. On the morning of the passage of the ordinance of seces? sion 1 was going down Broad s'reet and saw Mr. Petigru coming up to? wards me. We approached each other at the City Hall and just at that moment the bells of the city pealed forth in gladsome and general unison. Mr. Petigru rushed up and exclaimed: "Where's tue fire P I sIU? : "Mr. Petigru, there is no fire ; those are the joy bells ringing in honor of the passage of the Ordinance of Secession." Ile turned instantly and said : "I tell you there is a fire ; they have this day set a blazing torch to the iemple of constitutional liberty, and, please God, we shall have no more peace forever." In an instant he turned and was gone. Ile sleeps his last sleep be? neath a monument erected by stranger hands within the precincts of St. Michael's Church, where in life he had worshipped, and within the sound of St.. Michael's bells, which for more than forty years had called him to prayer. And now, gentlemen. I have all imperfectly discharged the duty your kindness has assigned me. (iuod night ! "Ere jet the evening ends Let's close it with a parting rhyme And pledge a hand to mi Vouug ai- ?da ; * * * * * Ou life's wide scene you, too, have parts, That Fate ere long shall hid you piay j Good night! with honest, gentle heart* A kindly greeting go al VVA? S ' Good night !