burg, where he practiced law five or six years and evinced astonishing powers as an advocate; but he was never a sound and learned lawyer. It is said that he was an attendant at Grub Hill church at Paineville, in Amelia County, though a great infidel and gambler. Together with Burk, an Irish refugee, he founded the Paineville Infidel Club at Paineville. (According to Dr. Theodorick Pryor). He married, in 1795, Martha Peyton Tabb, eldest daughter of John Tabb, of Amelia County, who had a splendid fortune. His own paternal inheritance came to him about the same time and he thus had the command of wealth. His first wife died in 1805 or 1806, and he married then a widow Graham, née Frances Ann Gwynn, of Prince William County, who was the mother of Gen. Lawrence Graham, of Washington, and Miss Hartley Graham. She was a lady much younger than himself. There were children of both marriages. He was a great invalid. In 1816 he was attacked by a disease which undermined his health for the remainder of his life.

While living in Petersburg, Giles ran for Congress, 1790, to succeed Theodorick Bland, who died before the expiration of his term. He was opposed by a Colonel Edmunds, of Sussex County, an anti-Federalist, who had been an officer in the Revolution and had lost a limb in battle. The canvass was an animated one. Giles was elected, but did not take his seat, as Congress adjourned before he reached the capital. He was re-elected without opposition until 1798, when he resigned. He was elected as a Federalist, but soon became a Democrat and an ardent follower of Jefferson. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates from Amelia in 1798, for the purpose of championing the Virginia resolutions against the Alien and Sedition laws, in procuring the passage of which he co-operated with Madison. În 1800 he was again elected to Congress and declined re-election in 1803, at which time John W. Epes was returned. He was appointed to the United States Senate by the Virginia Council in 1804 to succeed A. B. Venable and was elected by the Legislature to succeed W. C. Nicholas the same year. He was one of the ablest supporters of Jefferson and Madison until 1811-12, when he joined the opposition. He was re-elected to the Senate in 1811 and resigned in 1815. He was again in the House of Delegates, 18161817, and was defeated for election to the United States Senate by John Randolph in 1825. He became Governor of Virginia in 1827. He was one of the four delegates who represented the district comprising Amelia, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Nottoway, Powhatan counties and the town of Petersburg, in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-30.

During the War of 1812 he was confessedly the leader of his party in the Senate, and during his encumbency was second only to Jefferson and Madison in developing the principles of the Constitution and giving that instrument a practical operation. Returning from a visit to Amelia County, Giles voted for the

declaration of the War of 1812, which declaration passed the Senate by a vote of 19 to 13. The Richmond Enquirer, of May 22, 1812, has: "Letters from the Simple to the Great, to Honorable William B. Giles, now at home." This was a letter bearing severe strictures on Giles for going home from the Senate when the question of war was to be voted on in that body; saying, that all along he had cried up the war, and then had retired behind the woods and vales of Amelia, and calling upon him to resign and let Virginia have some other person to represent her.

Dr. Richard F. Taylor thinks Giles was defeated for Congress in 1826 by William S. Archer; Mr. Harvie says he was not.

William Pope Dabney, in a letter dated December 22, 1892, states: "William Archer never beat Giles for Congress.12 He and John Randolph when first candidates got every vote in this [Powhatan] County. I never heard that William S. Archer, who, when he was a candidate for the reform convention of 1850-51,13 was called by John M. Daniel11 a 'political shite-poke whose speeches read as well backward as forward,' ever had the temerity to antagonize William Giles. I have heard that he said of Archer that when in Congress 'he never stormed a political rat-trap.' The general tradition is that Giles was born in Amelia and that he was of very obscure education and was the son of a shoemaker. Did you ever know that he contributed more than any one man in Virginia to prevent emancipation in 1830-1? He and Professor Thos. R. Dew15 first taught that slavery was a positive blessing."

For Giles's personal appearance, see Hugh Blair Grigsby's “The Virginia Convention of 1829-30, p. 23; Southern Literary Messenger, vol. 17, p. 297, article by Hugh R. Pleasants; "William Branch Giles," by Dice R. Anderson. For Jefferson's personal relations with Giles, see the "Writings of Thomas Jefferson," Collected and Edited by Paul Leicester Ford, 10 vols., passim.

Giles has been the object of bitter abuse by Northern writers. Henry Cabot Lodge pays his respects to him in the following elegant language in his "Alexander Hamilton": "A rough, brazen, loud-voiced Virginian, fit for any bad work, no matter how desperate." Henry Adams says, in his "John Randolph": "Giles, whom no man ever trusted without regret." William W. Story's "Life and Letters of Joseph Story," Vol. 1, p. 158, has the following: "Giles exhibits in his appearance no marks of greatness; he has a dark complexion and retreating eyes, black hair and robust form. His dress is remarkably plain and in the style of Virginia carelessness." Fred Scott Oliver's "Alexander

12 But see D. R. Anderson, "William Branch Giles," p. 218.

13 Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-51.

14 The brilliant and versatile editor of the Richmond Examiner. 15 Thomas Roderick Dew, professor in William and Mary College, author of influential works in support of slavery.

Hamilton" states: "The hero of this period was Giles, of Virginia, a preposterous pugilistic character, to whom notoriety was much and failure in calumny merely failure and not disgrace. Behind him we have always a vision of Madison with sponge and basin and a towel. He was a squat, untidy, black-a-vised little man with prodigious vitality, a quick eye and a shrewd oratorical gift in a mêlée; a stout fellow with loud lungs; in combat entirely without scruples.

As a man of talent, Giles stood in the front rank and was unrivaled in many of the attributes of his mind. His genius was of the first order, but his judgment, though good, bore no proportion to his genius. Patrick Henry was on the opposite side of a case with him in early life and predicted his eminence; so did George Mason, who met and talked with him in a hotel in Richmond. He was great in colloquy, and of his readiness in debate Dr. Southall relates the story told him by an old citizen of Amelia who was present when Giles, in his last days and in enfeebled condition, met at Amelia Courthouse, on the old tavern court, William S. Archer, then in his prime, for joint discussion, and completely swept Archer away.

From his entrance into Congress in 1790 his mind became a great storehouse of all history, national and state. Giles was a great debater; he had no superior in the American Congress in his time, a time including the best days of Madison, Bayard and Dexter. Hugh R. Pleasants, in Southern Literary Messenger of May, 1851, compares him to Charles James Fox, who was regarded as perhaps the greatest debater the world has ever seen. Giles said that Gallatin was the strongest and Bayard the next strongest man he ever met in Congress.16

Giles was always ready, never needed any preparation. He possessed the faculty of being able to reply at all times and without notice. He had no rant or vociferous declamation in delivery. A calm, though animated, conversational style was used by him; he indulged in no frantic gesticulation, never sweated like a carthorse in giving birth to his ideas. His words were full of thought, but not to overflowing. His character and tastes eminently qualified him for a great debater. Controversy was the element in which he lived. In private life this was a very marked trait. His public speeches resembled in delivery private conversation; his conversation had much the character of public speaking.

Sometime in John Adam's administration, Madison prepared to answer a speech of some Federal leader. The night before his speech was to be delivered he was taken sick, and as it was of the utmost importance that a reply be made, he sent for Giles and, placing his notes in the latter's hands, entrusted the

16 Mr. Watson states that the greater part of this and the following paragraph is taken from the "Sketches of the Convention of 1829-30," by Hugh R. Pleasants in Southern Literary Messenger, 1851.

cause to his care. Giles made, with the little time allowed, one of the ablest speeches ever heard in Congress.

Giles amused his later years by re-printing some of his speeches, but he has left nothing that can throw any general light on the stirring scenes through which he passed. He was the author of the celebrated letters in the Richmond Enquirer about 1820, on the tariff and "Hard Times." They were written at the "Wigwam." His literary remains are scanty, and materials for his biography are sadly small. He was less qualified as a writer than is common in the case of men of his talent. It is deeply to be lamented that in this country the collection of the opinions of our own wise, good and great men should so often be largely lacking. Statesmen most deeply skilled in political science, and especially in the principles of democratic government, have sunk into oblivion as their bodies have sunk into the grave. The voice of our fathers is heard by our children only in the murmur of indistinct tradition. That voice which might have ministered light to our minds, harmony to our opinions, stability to our principles and veneration for our institutions is silent.

Giles died at "The Wigwam" in Amelia, in the 69th year of his age, and is buried at that place.17

JAMES JONES.

Dr. James Jones was one of the leading men of Nottoway County. He was born on the eve of the Revolution in Nottoway Parish, Amelia (now Nottoway) County, Virginia. His paternal ancestors were of Welsh lineage and of honorable fame in the fatherland. A grandfather with two brothers came from Wales to America. One of the latter was Major Peter Jones, the old friend and fellow traveller of Colonel Byrd, of Westover, so well known to Virginia history. In his native parish, James Jones's parents were among the wealthiest and most reputable, and his education was unstinted. At Hampden-Sidney and the University of Pennsylvania he mastered the learning of his own country. He graduated from Hampden-Sidney College in 1791. Among his fellow students were many destined to much distinction in the various walks of life: William H. Cabell and Dabney Carr, so distinguished in the judicial annals of Virginia; Moses Waddell, the distinguished Georgia educator and sometime president of Franklin College. George Bibb, of Kentucky, famous in so many stations-as the colleague of Henry Clay in the Senate, the author of the great speech in reply to Mr. Webster, and not less as Governor of his native State-was another classmate.

The college, then as now, was a great seat of Calvanism, and could not fail to awaken the religious sentiment of our stu

17Dr. Joseph W. Eggleston, of Richmond, states that Giles is buried at the "Jeter (once Cadwell) place, cut off from the Wigwam plantation."

dent, who mainly for this gratification became, for a season, a student in the family of the celebrated Devereux Jarratt, an Episcopal clergyman and scholar of Dinwiddie.

From Philadelphia he repaired to the University of Edinburgh, at that date the principal center of medical learning in Europe, where he graduated with signal honors, returning to his native State and county a physician, whose education and talents soon placed him at the head of his profession.

It is worthy of remark that in colonial days the medical art seems to have suffered much neglect in Virginia, and doubtless the colonies generally. Among the first to espouse its study was Col. Theodorick Bland, of Prince George, subsequently so prominent in the Revolutionary struggle, and a brother of Richard Bland. He preceded Dr. Jones some years at Edinburgh, and from his diligence in seeking to improve the medical craft at home is justly considered a pioneer of the profession.

Shortly upon his return from Europe, Dr. Jones was wedded to Miss Catherine Harris, of Surry, a lady whose high qualities of heart and head well enabled her to promote his happiness and to grace domestic comfort.

The religious principles of his early life were not fostered at Edinburgh. The atmosphere of the university was decidedly skeptical, and he came back indoctrinated with the tenets of free thought and the infidel philosophy of Europe.

The Nottoway community was far from devout. The Jacobinic policy of Mr. Jefferson had prostrated the traditional church. Its prestige was struck down, and its creed was no longer a fruitful inspiration for men's daily lives. The disregard of historic precedent in the subversion of long standing political and ecclesiastical systems was working its logical effect upon the public mind. Men grew speculative and became revolutionary. Tom Paine's "Age of Reason" appeared in 1794 and was widely read in America. In Virginia its influence was particularly fruitful.

A number of wealthy and highly educated gentlemen of the Nottoway vicinity organized a "Tom Paine's Infidel Club," philosophic society for study and debate. They erected a hall in the little hamlet of Paineville, still extant and preserving the name. Dr. Jones was the foremost counsellor of its proceedings, though not a founder of the society, as has been asserted. It originated with William B. Giles and an Irish refugee named Burk. Giles had come over to Amelia from Hanover County in early life; his disbelief dated back many years.

The society flourished for several years, and it is hard to over-estimate the influence of such an institution, combining as it did social and intellectual prestige. To this day, I am credibly informed, the locality is not infrequently racked with religious controversy and schism.

Meanwhile Dr. Jones had established his home at "Moun