Some Virginia Lawyers of the Past and Present.
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SOME VIRGINIA LAWYERS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT. By Sallie E. Marshall Hardy. III. AT the inauguration of William Lyne Wilson, LL. D., as president of Wash ington and Lee University, Professor Henry Clay Cameron, D.D., of Princeton College truly said : " When a son of Virginia treads his native soil, Antaeus-like he seems to gather new strength; his heart beats quicker, his whole nature thrills with emotion, and his soul rejoices that he can say ' I am a Vir ginian.' The sons of Virginia are proud of her history. And are her sons not right in their pride and devotion to her? Glance at her history from the first settlement at Jamestown to the present day, and consider what she has done for the nation." Joseph Carrington Cabell was born Dec. 26, 1778, at "Liberty Hall" on James River. His father, Colonel Nicholas Cabell, was a revolutionary soldier, and in the Senate of Virginia. In 1796 he went to William and Mary College, where he was a great favorite with the venerable president, Bishop Madison. He studied law in the office of his distinguished brother, Governor Wm. H. Cabell. His health failing, he spent some years traveling in this country and abroad, much of the time in Paris. While in Switzerland he visited Yverdun, and be came so much impressed with the system of the celebrated Pestalozzi, especially in primary instruction, that years later he en deavored to have it introduced in Virginia. I am indebted to Mr. James Alston Cabell, himself a most courtly gentleman, and a member of the present Richmond bar, for a sketch of Mr. Cabell compiled from " Cor respondence of Jefferson and Cabell " and "Cabells, and their kin." Mr. Cabell had much to do with the founding of the University of Virginia and its early success. While in Williamsburg a
Mr. De Le Coste, a foreign savant, con sulted him about founding a museum of natural history in connection with William and Mary College. Mr. Cabell entered heartily into the plan and applied to Presi dent Jefferson, through his private secre tary, Mr. Isaac C. Coles, for aid; whereupon Mr. Jefferson, invited him to take the lead in putting before the public the need of such an institution, but on a large scale; and the outcome was the University of Virginia. Mr. Cabell was in the legislature of Virginia for thirty years, remaining there, it is said, at the solicitation of Mr. Jefferson, and in spite of offers of cabinet positions from Presidents Monroe and Madison, to watch the interests and secure the success of the University. He was one of the original in corporators, and the first president of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company, chartered March 16, 1832, the water-way which was designed to connect the great west with the seaboard. One who heard him speak said : " I have heard many of the most distinguished orators in the United States; but very few who, for copious, easy, instructive and agreeable elocution, excelled him." His reports as president of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company, and as rector of the University of Virginia, are very complete and able. Judge Allen, the learned president of the Virginia Court of Appeals, said : "Mr. Cabell's 'Defense of the Line ' was one of the ablest arguments I ever heard read on any subject." He died Feb. 5, 1856, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, at his country residence, Edgewood, in Nelson county, Virginia. His wife survived him. She was univer sally known as " Cousin Polly," and when
