LXXXII.
LXXXII. WILLIAM H. CABELL.
LXXXII. Governor.
LXXXII. December 1, 1805, to December 1, 1808.
William H. Cabell, born December 16, 1772, at "Boston
Hill," Cumberland County, Virginia, was the son of
Nicholas Cabell, and grandson of Dr. William Cabell, a
surgeon in the British Navy, who settled in Virginia in 1724.
After enjoying the best educational advantages, he graduated
in July, 1793, at William and Mary College, and then pursued
the study of law in Richmond. He was elected to the General
Assembly in 1796, from Amherst County, and was a member
of that body in 1798, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and on December
1, 1805, was elected Governor of Virginia, which office he
filled for three years.
An event which occurred in the administration of Governor
Cabell has served to give that period an almost romantic
interest. This was the trial of Aaron Burr, charged with
treason against the government in an alleged design to found
an empire in the western part of America. The trial was
remarkable for the association in it of so many distinguished
characters. It was a bitter contest, but, despite all the influence
brought to bear, Burr escaped conviction. The verdict
was, "Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty under the
indictment by any evidence submitted to us." His opponents
charged that he was a misguided, political intriguer, who
had checked the soaring greatness of Hamilton and quenched
that imperial soul; that he had entered a paradise and filled the
minds of Blennerhassett and his wife with dreams that chased
the sweet sunshine of domestic felicity from their home, and
made them wanderers and beggars upon earth; that he was a
wily schemer, who, after serving his country in many important
and honorable positions, had now laid his sacrilegious
hands upon the pillars of its Constitution, which he had so often
sworn to support—and these heated opponents claimed that
such a man should not pass again into the outer world, a free,
unfettered citizen.
But his freedom, though legally won, was only in the
seeming. His escape from conviction had been so narrow
and his fears of further prosecution were so great, that, after
remaining concealed for several weeks among his friends, he
sailed for Europe under the name of G. H. Edwards. He
remained in exile and poverty for several years, and finally,
returning to America, died in obscurity and neglect in New
York City.
So ended the life of Aaron Burr—a life once full of golden
promise. Endowed by nature with ability as a soldier and a
statesman, his distinguished talents had carried him on the
wave of popular favor almost to the chief magistracy of the
Nation, a position which he failed to reach by only one vote.
He served as Vice-President of the United States, and even
while his love of country seemed above suspicion, Ambition
led him, like Lucifer, to fall, and doomed him, like Lucifer,
"Never to hope again."
Upon the expiration of Governor Cabell's term as chief
executive of Virginia, he was elected by the Legislature a
Judge of the General Court, December 15, 1808, and in April,
1811, he was elected a Judge of the Court of Appeals. In
this last office he acted until 1851, when he retired from the
bench. He died at Richmond, Virginia, January 12, 1853,
greatly beloved and widely lamented. The following extract
from the resolutions of respect to his memory, by the Court
of Appeals and the bar of Virginia, will testify to the unusual
worth of this noble man.
"Resolved, That we cherish, and shall ever retain, a grateful remembrance
of the signal excellence of the Honorable William H. Cabell, as
well in his private as in his public life. There were no bounds to the
esteem which he deserved and enjoyed. Of conspicuous ability, learning
and diligence, there combined therewith a simplicity, uprightness and
courtesy, which left nothing to be supplied to inspire and confirm confidence
and respect. It was as natural to love as honor him; and both
loved and honored was he by all who had an opportunity of observing his
unwearied benignity or his conduct as a Judge. In that capacity, wherein
he labored for forty years in our Supreme Court of Appeals, having previously
served the State as Governor and Circuit Judge, such was his uniform
gentleness, application and ability; so impartial, patient and just
was he; of such remarkable clearness of perception and perspicuity, precision
and force in stating his convictions, that he was regarded with
warmer feelings than those of merely official deference. To him is due
much of the credit which may be claimed for our judicial system and its
literature. It was an occasion of profound regret, when his infirmities of
age, about two years since, required him to retire from the bench, and
again are we reminded, by his death, of the irreparable loss sustained by
the public and the profession."
The County of Cabell, formed in 1809 from Kanawha
County, was named in honor of Governor Cabell.
