Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-01-07

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towards my neighbors.
WIN. FRAZIER.
MY RECOLLECTIONs OF THE LATE JOHN
HOWE PEYToN.
My personal acquaintance with Mr..
when entered upon the practice of nv
profession at the Staunton Bar.
He was then, as learn from his BIZ
ography, in his 57th year, and from that
circumstance only it might be inferred
he had passed his climaoteric Certainly,
nothing in his physical appearance or
his forensic display betokened a decay of
power, bodily or mental.
Yet having amassed handsome for
tune, established himself in beautiful
home, aud surrounded by large and
interesting family he felt himself enti-
tied to some relaxation from the ardu-
GUS demands of his profession-or at least
from Its drudgery. He accordingly rel
egated to younger members of the bar
all minor causes, and to his junior asso-
ciates the preparation in pays of his
Chancery causes, in the matter of TAX
ing depositions and the like vacation
duties. seaj.
But for ten years following the date
OF my introduction to him there was
hardly an important or 0rcelebrated cause
tried at the StauntOn Bar, whether in
the State Courts or U. s. Court, without
the aid and illumination of his splendid
intellect; whilst also in Albemarle,
Rockbridge and Bath counties he large
ly participated in the like weighty eau
ses. 434
In the Supreme Court of Appeals of
Virginia, his reputation throughout the
State enlarged the theatre of his profess
sional service much beyond that of his
local Circuit.
l wish it were in my power to give a
just and discriminating analysis of his
processes in the investigation and con-
duct of great cause, or even q fair de-
scription of his style of forensic argu
ment. l5-
This much may be safely said that he
seized, by apparent intuition, upon the
strong and dominating points in q case,
not infrequently finding these, or some
of them, buried out of sight from a
scrutiny less searching than his, beneath
a mass of irrelevant or conflicting testi-
mony. ............
Having thus entrenched himself in
one or few strong positions, his array
OF the facts was so mastery, his presen-
tation of them SO luminous, and his ar
guments from them SO logical that he
rarely failed to carry the tribunal with
him safely and irresistibly to his con-
clusions.
Discar.ilng thus the minor points and
less materialHphases of the cause from
his examination and discussion, or dis
rr.ic iv,rx hnr ssrr
sentences, his debate was conspicuous
Accordingly his speeches ordinarily did
not exceed one hour, and even in the
most complex and volumious causes
they rarely went beyond two hours.
can recall but one occasion in which he
consumed nearly three hours.
His style was fluent, but not of that
fuency which comes of redundant words
and phrases; for have never listened to
one SO terse and vigorous. I think it
can be said there was hardly supsrflu-
GUS word-and every sentence bore up
on the conclusion aimed at. It was
therefore never q weariness to hear this
great advocate, and the promiscuous au-
dience followed his argument, his sar-
casm or his iavective. with as much ap-
parent interest as did Court and Jury.
It has been written of him, that he
was equally versed and at home in any
department Of the profession.( unless adj
niralty and maritime law be excepted)
but think it was as q common lawyer
that he excelled, and that it was in the
common law he found his chief delight.
He was perfectly conversant with the
principles of the Feudal law and imme-
mortal usages of England as expounded
by Littleton, Coke, Bacon, and all the
fathers and great Interpreters Of English
Jurisprudence. Having. come to the
Bar while special pleading was vet le-
gal science and carefully; practised sys-
tenn. and before popular and not too well
informed legislatures sought to "sinapi-
ty" the practice Of the law by Statutes
Of Jeofails. he was, without doubt, one
Of the most practiced and expert special
pleaders of his time His naturally as
tute and logical mind finding its express
sion through the Channels of terse and
luminous style, caused his pleadings in
all their stages to, be, masterpieces of
art. -, 80
His fame as q Prosecutor of the Pleas
Of the Commonwealth has never been
surpassed. it equally. in Virginia. On
this field he achieved triumphs of the
most brilliant kind. His pride in his
profession, and the great principles of
right and justice underlying it, no less
than his Unborn contempt for chicanery
and fraud, not to speak of crime in its
grosser forms, combined to make him
q terror to evil -doers.' Some critics,
even among the profession, sometimes
we're disposed to censure him as too
harsh and unrelenting towards the pri-
soner at the bar. But if every circuit
throughout our land possessed at this
day so able, fearless and conscientious a
prosecutor as did the Augusta and the
surrounding circuit at that happier day
in our history, perhaps we might find
less cause to deplore the deprivation OF
marks the present era.
1t would be halting and very defect
i've sketch of this eminent iurist which
failed to speak of his striking originality
Negatively speaking, there was little ol
no common place and hum drum in bis
forensic arguments, his debates In the
Senate or his addresses from the hust-
ings to his constituents. In positive
sense his speeches, at least on great ec
casions and when his powers We're tho
roghly reused, rarely failed 10 be mark
ed by some flash of genius. l recall
conversation just after the close OF .
protracted and laboriOus June term o.
the Augusta Circuit Court, in which the
late Judge Lucas P. Thompson and t3en
| Briscoe g. Baldwin bore the leading
parts The last named was paying gen
erous tribute to Peyten's force .ant
Io~;rirol;tx, T,duo n1h or, psOp remark ed