JOHN JAY JANNEY AND HIS "RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CORWIN" edited by JAMES H. HITCHMAN It is a fortunate occurrence when the unpublished recollections of an able recorder like John Janney are preserved. His comments on Thomas Corwin afford an exceptional contemporary view of Ohio courts, lawyers, and politics in the 1830's and 40's and vivid personal reminiscences about the former governor's ability to influence people.1 Corwin's political career spanned the years from 1818 to 1865, the era of sectional conflict. He was in turn a National Republican, Whig, and Republican, who served his state successively as state legislator, congressman, governor, and United States Senator. Corwin also was secretary of the treasury in the Fillmore cabinet and minister to Mexico during Lincoln's first administration. A moderate, he opposed the Mexican War and he tried to reach a compromise with the seceding states on the eve of the Civil War. Corwin possessed a remarkably expressive face, a musical, far-reaching voice, and a rare sense of humor. He thought that his habit of finding the humor in any situation hampered his career, but it seems likely that his buoyancy endeared him to his constituents. As a lawyer he was considered NOTES ARE ON PAGE 131 |
RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CORWIN 101
clever instead of learned, attaining
success in court because he knew how
to appeal to a jury. While not a church
member, Corwin nevertheless em-
phasized the use of Biblical phrases in
his speeches in order to achieve
greater effectiveness with his audience.
He was often in debt, because he
invested indiscreetly, became surety for
unreliable friends, or carelessly
collected bills. Corwin's chief traits
were a love of life, an irresistible
way with people, and zest for the gamble
and eminence of politics.2
His friend John Janney was well known in
Ohio during the middle
years of the last century. Prominent in
Columbus civic affairs, Janney par-
ticipated also in banking and railway
ventures. Although his charitable
work left a greater imprint, Janney's
activity in Whig and Republican
politics gave him state-wide and
national contacts with other men of
affairs.
Born on April 25, 1812, near Lincoln,
Virginia (known then as Goose
Creek Meetinghouse, Loudoun County),
Janney was raised a devout Qua-
ker.3 From his sixth to his fifteenth
year he attended the local Friends'
school. In his twentieth year he
matriculated at a day school in Alexandria,
where he studied "Euclid's
Elements" and "algebraic equations of the third
degree."
Sometime in the early 1830's,
"dissatisfied with slavery and its influ-
ences," Janney moved to Warren
County in southwestern Ohio.4 He lived
in the Quaker community of Springboro
for fifteen years, teaching, survey-
ing, and merchandising. He was also
clerk of the township for twelve years.
Activity with the local Whig committee
must have been creditable, be-
cause in 1844 he was appointed assistant
clerk in the Ohio House of Repre-
sentatives. Here Janney met most of the
leading men of the state.
In 1847, Samuel Galloway, then secretary
of state, appointed Janney
chief clerk in the office of the state
school commissioner. The following
year the Janney family moved to
Columbus. In 1850 he was elected secre-
tary of the board of control of the
State Bank of Ohio and worked in this
capacity until 1865.5 After one year as
assistant postmaster of Columbus,
Janney became secretary and treasurer of
the Columbus and Hocking Val-
ley Railway Company and performed his
duties until 1883. Elected several
times to the Columbus board of
education, he served two years as its treas-
urer. He was a director of the Ohio
Penitentiary during the Civil War, a
member of the state board of police
commissioners during this time, and
in 1867 held a place on the state board
of health. For many years Janney
was chairman of the Whig and Republican
city and county committees.
During the political campaigns of 1863
and 1864 he acted as chairman of
the state Republican committee.
Janney gave much of his energy to
benevolent projects. In both Spring-
boro and Columbus he was instrumental in
establishing a large number
of free schools and libraries. As chief
clerk to the school commissioner he
wrote an opinion which resulted in Negro
admission to public schools. He
aided in the founding of the Atheneum
library and reading room in Co-
lumbus. As a member of the city council
he was the author of the ordinance
passed in 1872 which created the Columbus public library and reading room. Janney enjoyed the opportunities he found in the Tyndall Society, Columbus Horticultural Society, Prisoners' Aid Society, and teaching in the Sabbath school of the Ohio Penitentiary. His consistent participation in good works also included speaking and writing on temperance. In 1835 Janney married Rebecca Anne Smith. They had three daughters and one son. Mrs. Janney died in 1886, but John Janney's long life did not end until December 11, 1907. Janney read and studied consistently, particularly in the natural sciences. He is remembered as a gentle, warm man, who adhered to his convictions and was reliable in all matters. He was especially helpful to young men starting their careers. His own career demonstrated a Quaker concern for morality in public life and faith in the judgment of the common man. John Janney observed an amazing span of American history. As a boy he watched Lafayette leave Thomas Jefferson's home. He heard John Quincy Adams speak and listened to Henry Clay. Janney knew William Henry Harrison, Salmon P. Chase, and Presidents Taylor, Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and McKinley. He regularly heard temperance and abo- litionist speakers, including Henry Ward Beecher, James G. Birney, and Joseph John Gurney. Other figures Janney either met or heard in Colum- bus were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Julia Ward Howe, Susan B. Anthony, Phillips Brooks, Edward Everett Hale, Booker T. Washington, and William Dean Howells. Of the many influential men known to Janney, Thomas Corwin must have had a special place in his memory when, near ninety, he set himself to writing the "Recollections" which follow. They are reproduced as he wrote them, with only an occasional word which he omitted supplied in brackets. |
RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CORWIN 103
Recollections of Thomas Corwin
I came to Ohio in October 1831, and
lived in Springboro, Warren County
fifteen years. Mr. Corwin lived in
Lebanon, and I heard him speak in the
fall of 1832: but from that time on to
his death, I heard him speak a great
many times. I have listened to a number
of the great orators of the coun-
try, and I have never heard one who had
so complete control of an audience.
He always quit while the audience wished
him to continue.
In conversation with three young men who
were studying law, one
asked him what they should read in
addition to their law studies. He re-
plied, somewhat to their surprise,
first, read the Bible. Read it, not alone
because of the religion in it, but read
it for its literature. You will find
many things in it which you can't
believe, and others that you should not
believe; but you will find in it more
for the good of mankind and its happi-
ness than you will find in any other
book. Read it so as to become familiar
with it, or else you will find
yourselves frequently at a loss in company,
that will annoy you. Read it so as to be
able to quote it and refer to it
readily, for no matter what subject you
may talk about you can get more
illustrations of your subject from it
than you can find in all your other
reading.
I never listened to a public speaker
outside of the pulpit who made as
much use of the Bible as Mr. Corwin. As
an illustration: at a Whig meet-
ing at Waynesville, where there were
about two hundred of the farmers
of the neighborhood present, he took for
his stand the chopping block in
a pork house, and for his text
Nebuchadnezzar and compared him and the
Democratic party. He traced the history
of the party and Nebuchadnezzar
and left them both eating grass. One
good old man came to me, after
listening to the speech, and said to me
very soberly, "Isn't it a pity Corwin
was not made a preacher!"
On another occasion in referring to some
advocates of the Democratic
party who were office holders under it,
he would quote something they
had said, and then with an expression of
countenance that would convulse
an audience without a word being spoken,
he would say in an inimitable
manner, "The ox knoweth its owner
and the ass his master's crib."
If he wished to enforce a point made, he
would do it with an apt quota-
tion from the Bible.
I have heard him on politics, at the bar
and on the platform. I served
on the petit jury at Lebanon during a
five weeks term of court, and Mr.
Corwin was on one side of several
important cases that were tried; and
while the lawyers of the State never
considered him one of the great law-
yers of the state, that experience made
me believe that his knowledge of
the law was very good and his use of it
very effective; for his positions
were uniformly sustained by the court.
And he gained all his cases during
the term.
The Lebanon bar was at that time thought
to be, by many, the strongest
bar in the state, and with the addition
of Robert C. Schenck of Dayton,
Aaron Harlan of Xenia and L. D. Campbell
of Hamilton who practiced
there, it was undoubtedly so in fact.
One of the most enjoyable opportunities
afforded during that term of
court was that immediately after dinner
the lawyers would return to the
court house and spend half an hour or an
hour in telling stories. Corwin
was the leader, but "Bob"
Schenck was a good second. Mr. Corwin was
not at all backward in telling stories
illustrating our jury system, for
104 OHIO HISTORY
which he had very little respect. One I
have heard him tell several times.
When he first commenced the practice he
formed a partnership with an
old lawyer in Dayton. The first case
they had was for robbery. A man
was seen to fall, drunk, into the
gutter. Rain had just fallen and it was
then freezing. Two men were seen to go
to the drunken man, take his
pocket book out of his pocket and walk
away with it. Immediately after
two men went to the help of the drunken
man and in raising him from
the ground they found his coat frozen
fast to the ground, and in lifting
him they tore his coat. Mr. Corwin said
he noticed that in the cross exam-
ination of witnesses his old friend had
been very careful to get before the
jury all the facts about the man being
fast to the ground and the tearing
of his coat.
When the prosecuting attorney had opened
the case and made his plea,
the old gentleman turned to Corwin and
asked him if he wished to address
the jury, to which he replied he hardly
knew what to say in such a case.
Well his friend replied, if you do not
wish to say anything I'll take the
case.
He had a pile of authorities on the
table before him so high that he
could just see the court over them. And
he commenced by reading numerous
authorities defining real estate,
showing that anything that is attached to
the ground is part of the real estate. A
post set in the ground, a board
nailed to that post or a shingle fastened
to the roof by a single nail were
every one a part of the real estate.
He then read equally profuse authorities
defining theft and robbery.
And this he followed by equally luminous
and voluminous authorities upon
the subject of trespass.
He then argued that an action for theft
nor larceny nor robbery could
not be against these men because the man
they are accused of robbing
was not subject to robbery, because he
was at the time as had been clearly
established by the witnesses of the
state, part and parcel of the real estate,
he was fastened to the ground. The only
action that could lie against these
two men was an action of trespass, and
these men must go free.
Corwin said it was to him one of the
most amusing comedies he had
ever heard, but in a few minutes the
jury took all the fun out of it by
returning a verdict of not guilty.
Another case at Hamilton was equally
interesting. A man was indicted
for murder, by stabbing a man in the
right breast. The testimony as to
the stabbing was positive, but no
witness was willing to say whether it
was on the right or the left breast, it
was so near the center they could
not say on which side. A lawyer who had
been on the bench many years
was for the defense, and Mr. Corwin said
the jurymen had heard him so
often expound the law from the bench
that they received his application of
it in a trial just as they used to from
the bench. He read authorities, show-
ing that an indictment must be made good
literally, and that had not been
done. The indictment was for stabbing a
man in the right breast and no
witness was willing to say on which side
of the breast the stabbing was
done, it was so near the center they
could not decide, therefore the crim-
inal must be discharged, because the
indictment was not sustained by the
testimony. And Mr. Corwin said that in less than ten
minutes the jury
returned a verdict of not guilty.
RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CORWIN 105
Mr. Corwin would tell similar stories
for an hour, illustrating the un-
certainty of jury trials.
My seat as juryman was so that Mr.
Corwin stood directly in my front.
I said to him one day that I should have
to change my seat or ask him to
reduce the number of his stories. I had
been qualified to decide cases of
dispute between neighbors, and I doubted
whether it was dignified to be
roaring with laughter at his stories. He
answered "Ah! Janney I don't
care whether you hear my stories or not.
I don't tell them for you at all:
but there is -- one side of you and --
on the other side. If you have any
doubt as to how they will receive a
proposition you are about to state, tell
them a good story, and while their
mouths are open laughing, they will
swallow anything you put at them."
One evening when Mr. Corwin and several
other lawyers were at the
hotel hearing and telling experiences,
he started up, looking at his watch,
said to the others, "We are a
committee to examine some young men for
admission to the bar, and they were to
meet at my office, and it is now
time." And turning to me he said
"come along Janney." At that time
there was not such an abundance of law
schools as now, but a young man
would study in some lawyers office,
under his instructions, and when
thought fit, would make application to
the Supreme Court, when in ses-
sion, when their application would be
referred to committee, upon the
favorable report of which they would be
admitted. One judge of the Su-
preme Court held a session in every
county in the state once every year.
On our way over from his office, after
the examination, I said to Mr.
Corwin "Was that a good and
sufficient examination you gave those young
men?" "Oh yes, it was a very
thorough and satisfactory examination. Why!
have you any fault to find with
it?" "Well no: but it was not exactly such
an examination as I expected to hear: I
have not studied law, but aside
from the pleading and forms of
proceeding, I think I could have answered
very nearly all the questions
asked." "Well now Janney you are asking en-
tirely too much. Did you expect me to
ask those young fellows any ques-
tions you could not answer? You were asking
too much entirely."
Some of the best speeches he ever made
were not reported. There was
a Colonel James Sweney living in the
neighborhood, who seemed to feel
his mission to be to make the Quakers of
the neighborhood "muster" or
pay their fines. They were all duly
enrolled and formed into companies,
but all refused to "muster."
The colonel once ordered a battalion muster
at Ridgeville, very near the center of
the Quaker settlement. Just as he
had got his forces in line, and guards
set around the field, three young
men, well mounted, every one with a good
"cow hide", leaped the fence,
and made chase for the colonel, one on
each side and one in the rear, and
by a vigorous use of their raw-hides
they started him round the field,
and, if my memory is not at fault they
rode him round the field twice, and
then leaped the fence again into the
road. Not only the spectators, but a
large per cent of those in line, roared
and shouted. While there was a small
number who were in sympathy with [the]
colonel, many who "mustered"
did so rather than pay their fine. The
enjoyment of the race was nearly
unanimous. To add to its ludicrous
character the colonel was an awkward
rider, riding with his stirrups too
short, his knees drawn up and his elbows
in the air: and he rode what used to be
known as a Chickasaw horse, a
106 OHIO HISTORY
serviceable kind of horse, but not at
all handsome. They were dappled in
color, sorrel, with small white spots
thickly set all over, and mane and
tail like a mules, almost hairless.
The colonel tried to have the boys
indicted for a riot. He could not
prosecute them for an assault, because
they did not strike him. They used
their cow-hides only on his horse. He
was unwilling to trust a magistrate
in the township in which the boys lived,
believing the Quaker influence
there would preclude a conviction; and
he therefore commenced proceed-
ings in a township where there were no
Quakers.
As soon as notice was served on the
boys, they went to Lebanon and
called on Mr. Corwin and asked him if he
would be at leisure on the day
set for trial. He said he had no
engagement; and upon being asked if
he would defend them, replied promptly,
"Yes boys, I'll be there." He
was evidently glad of the opportunity,
for he had a thorough contempt for
the whole system of militia training.
It having become generally [known] that
Mr. Corwin would defend the
boys, a large audience was present at
the trial. When examining the wit-
nesses Mr. Corwin was especially careful
to get a complete description
of that race round the field,
description of the colonel and his horse and
how he rode, and those who were present
said he got a very graphic
description of it.
I was [away] from home at the time and
did [not] hear the trial, but
many who were there and who had heard
Mr. Corwin many times said
his speech that day was the best one
they ever heard him make.
He would make an eloquent panegyric on
the government, closing it
with the reflection that it must have
power to protect itself in case of at-
tack. The time may come when the
constable and the sheriff may not be
able to protect or defend it; and he
would commend the colonel for his
efforts to organize and drill the
militia; but in doing so he should not
forget that there were some of the very
best men in the state who are
opposed to all military organization in
any form.
And then he would describe the colonel's
race around the field, giving
a minute description of the colonel's
horse and how he rode; first filling
his audience with enthusiastic love of
country, and then with uproarious
laughter at the colonel.
The boys were set free.
Mr. Corwin was a member of the Warren
County Colonization Society.
He was opposed to slavery, and in common
with the Whigs of that day,
was very much opposed to the fugitive
slave law. I heard him say that in
defending the North against an attack by
a Kentuckian because of our
unwillingness to return their fugitive
slaves he said to him, "You have
enacted a law, which [says], if I see a
bright mulatto girl, the daughter
possibly of some Kentucky gentleman and
a ruffian in full chase after
her, I must assist him. I give you fair
warning I'll obey no such law."
"Oh!" he said, "we don't
expect gentlemen to engage in that." "No! but
you pass a law which obliges me to do it
under penalty of fine and im-
prisonment in the penitentiary."
Mr. Corwin said that while he was a
member of Congress, whenever
the Colonization Society became badly in
need of funds the secretary
would call on him to raise some. On one
occasion, he was called on on
RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CORWIN 107
Friday with the statement that the
society had a vessel ready to sail
from Baltimore on the next Monday
morning, and they had just heard of
another family of freed slaves ready to
go but they could not be sent with-
out a thousand dollars, and the
secretary came to him to raise it for them.
Mr. C. said that he felt sure the poor
negros would be better off, free
in Liberia than slaves here, but upon
asking the secretary to whom he
should apply for help he got no useful
reply. He started out on Saturday
morning and called on the rich members
of Congress but failed to get a
cent.
The secretary advised [him] to go to
Baltimore which he did. He there
called upon wealthy men to whom he was
referred with no better result.
At last when he [be] came disheartened
and disgusted, and had vented his
indignation to a friend at the
professing Christians who would not aid
their fellow beings in escaping from the
horrors of American slavery, his
friends suggested to him to call on D--,
who was a very prominent
patent medicine manufacturer whose
advertizement was in nearly all the
newspapers of the time. His friend said
the doctor makes no profession,
was a hard swearer, and might and
probably would curse you and the
Colonization society, but he is rich and
one of the most benevolent men
in the city. Mr. Corwin said he found
the doctor in a dimly lighted dirty
hole at the rear of his drug store; and
upon introducing himself, the
doctor said "Oh! I know who you are
Mr. Corwin and I am glad to meet
you " but upon stating his business
he burst forth in a torrent of abuse
of the Colonization society, saying it
was not intended to benefit the negro
at all, but the slaveholder, by getting
the free negro away so that he
should [not] demoralize their slaves.
Mr. Corwin said he concluded the
best thing he could do was to draw the
doctors attention away from the
Colonization society as quickly as
practicable, which he succeeded in
doing and had an hours very satisfactory
talk with him, and found him
to be a very intelligent and affable
gentleman. After an hour's talk, Mr.
Corwin took his hat and started for the
door, but the doctor said "How
much money did you say you wanted?"
"A thousand dollars." The doctor
took up his pen, wrote and handed to Mr.
C. a check for a thousand dol-
lars. And when Mr. C. thanked him for
it, he said, "Let the poor niggers
go to where they wont be persecuted as
they are here." And just as Mr.
C. reached the door the doctor said
"Corwin, if you find that is not enough
to send the niggers off, come
back;" and Mr. Corwin said he found more
Christianity in that man whom they all
thought a profane old heathen,
than I did in all the loud professors.
Seeing notice of a meeting of the Warren
County Colonization Society
at which Mr. Corwin would make an
address, I attended the meeting,
hoping to learn what the purposes of the
society were and how it pro-
posed to accomplish them. When the
business of the meeting was com-
pleted, Mr. Corwin was announced for an
address. Instead of commenc-
ing his address, he said he saw Mr.
Janney in the audience, and he would
be glad to hear from him. This surprised
and confused me, but I said I
came to hear and not to be heard, and I
came hoping and expecting to
hear from Mr. Corwin something that I did not, but
would be glad to know,
that was what the colonization society
proposed to do, and how it proposed
to do it. Mr. C. took me as the text for
his address and scored me for not
108 OHIO HISTORY
knowing what the Colonization society
was trying to do. I ought to have
known long ago. He made me the point of
his speech during the hour, but
he answered my inquiry.
A foul murder was committed near
Springboro while Mr. Corwin was
Governor. The murderer was convicted and
sentenced to be hung. A. H.
Dunlevy, a prominent attorney of Lebanon
said to me there had never been
a man hung in Warren County, and he
wished there never should be, and if
I would circulate a petition among the
Quakers, asking for a commuta-
tion of his sentence to imprisonment for
life, he would get signatures to
one in Lebanon. Upon the petition being
presented to Governor Corwin,
he said promptly "Certainly, I'll
commute the sentence. I think the state
of Ohio can make a better use of any man
than to hang him." The change
of the sentence was not made known to
the prisoner, nor to the public
until the morning set for the execution.
I was living in Springboro at
the time, and very early in the morning
people commenced passing through
town, on horse back and in vehicles,
some of them living twenty miles
from Lebanon, on their way to see the
execution. In the afternoon they
were seen returning sadly disappointed
by their failure to see a man
hung.
One of the most enjoyable rides I ever
had was from Waynesville to
Columbus. The only means of public
conveyance then (1842) was the
stage. There was an opposition [line]
from Wheeling to Cincinnati and,
as part of their equipment they ran some
two horse, four passenger
coaches. One of these passed Waynesville
just at dusk, and on entering it,
I found Thomas Corwin and George J.
Smith occupying the front seat,
and we three rode to Columbus during the
night.
I was going to attend a Washingtonian
temperance convention on Feb-
ruary 22nd. On learning that, Mr. Corwin
said to me you are right. I
started out in the same way; and it is
the proper thing for a young man
to do. I saw there were a great many men
who were throwing away their
lives by drunkenness and debauchery, and
I felt it to be a duty to teach
them better; and I made temperance
speeches and did what I could to
teach them; but I concluded, after
awhile, that I was not making any
impression on the public mind and there
seemed to be so many who were
determined to go to the Devil and the
public seemed entirely willing to
let them go. I concluded that they might
go and be damned if they wanted
to, and I would take care of myself. But
he added you are not doing right.
You pick up some drunkard out of the
gutter, make him wash his face,
put clean clothes on him and put him on
the platform as a fearful exam-
ple. A rare case may be worth the
saving, but a man has no more right
to get drunk than he has to steal my
purse, and should be imprisoned
for the one as surely as for the other,
and if he will not keep sober, keep
him at work.
During the ride we talked about almost
everything and if talk flag [g] ed
at any time Judge Smith knew where and
how to touch Mr. C. He
would simply ask him if he had met Mr.
-- lately, giving the name of
some eccentric acquaintance, and that
would start him on anecdotes about
him that would keep us laughing half an
hour or more.
As an illustration of his power to
influence men let the following show.
He was a member of Congress in 1840,
when General W. H. Harrison
RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CORWIN 109
was a candidate for President. General
Crary of Michigan had made a
mean and wholly unjustifiable attack on
the military character of Gen.
Harrison. The next day Mr. Corwin
replied to it, in a speech which is a
classic in ridicule. I heard Mr. C. say
that upon his nomination as a
candidate for governor, on his way home
from Washington, he had as a
fellow passenger in the stage, a man who
engaged in a violent and ran-
corous attack on him for his reply to
Crary. There was no one in the
stage who knew Corwin, and he led the
man on to say all the hard things
about him that he could command. Mr.
Corwin said when they reached
Ohio he began to tremble with the
apprehension that someone would
recognize and reveal him, and whenever
the stage stopped he made himself
as small as he could in the corner; but
when they stopped at St. Clairsville,
and the door opened the first man he saw
shouted out "How do you do Mr.
Corwin." His critical companion
looked aghast and with a good deal of
astonishment said "Are you Tom
Corwin." "Yes sir, that's the name I'm
known by at home. Now tell me
yours." His name and residence were given,
and Mr. C. recognized him as a prominent
Democrat from the northwest
part of the state. He tried to excuse
himself for what he had said but
Corwin told him not to try that, for he
was glad to know what they thought
of him. Mr. Corwin commenced talking in
his inimitable way, and when
they separated, the man said to him
"Mr. Corwin, you are a candidate for
Governor of Ohio." "Yes sir,
so they tell me." "Well I'll vote for you."
And Mr. Corwin said he had learned he
did so, and again two years after-
wards.
Mr. Corwin had a power of facial
expression beyond any other person
I ever knew. He would utter a sentence,
and stopping short, would as-
sume an expression of countenance which
would convulse the audience
with laughter or fill its eyes with
tears.
He had quite a swarthy complexion. At
one time, when the abolition-
ists began to attract public attention,
it was not at all uncommon to have
a question put to a Whig speaker. At a
meeting one day while Mr. C. was
speaking some one in the audience asked
a question which I do not now
remember. But it bore on the rights of
the negro. Corwin stopped and
looking at the questioner with a mixed
and very peculiar expression said
"Do you think you ought to ask a
man of my color such a question as
that?" That put the audience in
such a mood that it shut off all further
interruption.
I was once present with Mr. Corwin when
some of his friends were
expressing their gratification for his
election as Governor. He said they
overestimated the honor of being
Governor of Ohio. The framers of the
constitution stripped the Governor of
Ohio of all power and made him
a mere dummy to fill the Governor's
chair. He has nothing to do but to
sign some deeds for canal lands sold,
commissions for Justices of the
Peace or Notaries Public and appoint a
colored brother to make the fires
and sweep the office: and pardon
Democrats out of the Penitentiary. If
you are looking forward to great honor
from the office, you are wrong.
At another time I heard Mr. Corwin
express the opinion that at a time
of great stress he doubted the
willingness of the people to come to the
help of the government, and hence he
feared it would lack power of self-
preservation; and he was satisfied that
was the opinion of a large
110 OHIO HISTORY
number of its founders. He said he had
just seen evidence that Oliver
Ellsworth was among the doubters. He
lived long enough to see the error
of such an opinion, for he lived through
the Rebellion.
Sam. Adams' grandson in the life of his
grandfather says, "Samuel
Adams, unlike Hamilton, Gouverneur
Morris, John Adams, Ames and
other of the Northern Statesmen, never
lost faith in the capacity of the
'common' people to govern
themselves."
Mr. Corwin possessed the ability to make
an anecdote to suit the case,
if he could not recall just the right
one for his purpose. It was a dangerous
experiment to interrupt him in any way
during a speech.
I have heard him tell the following: He
and Dan. Jennifer of Mary-
land were members of the House at the
same time. Jennifer, in common
with many eastern editors and orators,
always kept himself loaded with
a bit of grandiloquence, which was
credited to some western orator. And
when it happened that Corwin and
Jennifer were at dinner together,
Jennifer would fire off some western
eloquence at Corwin. One day, after
Jennifer had fired his squib at the
west; Corwin said to him Jennifer you
come from Maryland I believe, from
Worcester County. (One of the
poorest counties in the state, between
the ocean and Chesapeake bay.)
Yes sir. Well, Mr. Corwin replied, we
have in Warren county, Ohio, a
very reputable intelligent farmer by the
name of Brown, Daniel Brown.
It happened a few years ago that he was
called as a witness before the
court. And as is customary, he was asked
his age, to which he answered
twenty one. The attorney said Mr. Brown,
you did not understand me I
presume. I asked how old you are. Well,
I answered you. I am twenty one
years old. At this the judge said, Mr.
Brown, the court does not under-
stand, I think I have known you about
that long. And when I first knew
you you were a full grown man. Yes, that's
true, but Judge I'll explain
it to you. I was born in Worcester
county Maryland, and lived there
till I was twenty one years old: but God
Almighty will never charge that
against any man; and I came to Ohio then
and have lived here just twenty
years, and am just twenty one years old.
And Corwin said he was never troubled by
Jennifer afterwards.
THE EDITOR: James H. Hitchman is
an instructor in history at Portland
State
College, Oregon. He is working on his
doctorate at the University of California,
Berkeley.
JOHN JAY JANNEY AND HIS "RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CORWIN" edited by JAMES H. HITCHMAN It is a fortunate occurrence when the unpublished recollections of an able recorder like John Janney are preserved. His comments on Thomas Corwin afford an exceptional contemporary view of Ohio courts, lawyers, and politics in the 1830's and 40's and vivid personal reminiscences about the former governor's ability to influence people.1 Corwin's political career spanned the years from 1818 to 1865, the era of sectional conflict. He was in turn a National Republican, Whig, and Republican, who served his state successively as state legislator, congressman, governor, and United States Senator. Corwin also was secretary of the treasury in the Fillmore cabinet and minister to Mexico during Lincoln's first administration. A moderate, he opposed the Mexican War and he tried to reach a compromise with the seceding states on the eve of the Civil War. Corwin possessed a remarkably expressive face, a musical, far-reaching voice, and a rare sense of humor. He thought that his habit of finding the humor in any situation hampered his career, but it seems likely that his buoyancy endeared him to his constituents. As a lawyer he was considered NOTES ARE ON PAGE 131 |